Tag Archives: 2021 Antarctic BBC Midwinter Broadcast

Please share your recording of the 2021 BBC Midwinter Broadcast to Antarctica here!

Halley VI: The British Antarctic Survey’s new base (Source: British Antarctic Survey)

In the comments section of this post, I’d like you to share your recording of the BBC Midwinter Broadcast to Antarctica!

In years past, I’ve created a post with all of the Midwinter recordings curated in one article. This usually takes me 12+ hours to prepare over a couple of weeks as many of the audio clips and video recordings must be formatted for the site and embedded. There is also a lot of discussions back/forth confirming details with listeners. This year, my schedule is such that if I try to piece one of these articles together I might not have it published for many, many weeks. That and I will not have reliable internet service over the next couple of weeks.

Instead, I’d like to try something new!

Please comment with your recording on this post!

Listening to the 2017 BBC Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast from the back of my vehicle in Saint-Anne-de-Beaupré, Québec, Canada.

I’ve created this dedicated post where you can comment and include links to audio and video of your 2021 Midwinter Broadcast recordings. This will allow you to post your logs and recordings at your convenience without my availability becoming the bottleneck.

Here’s the format I’d like you to leave in your comment of this post:

Name:

Listening location:

Notes: (Include frequencies and any details about your receiver and antenna.)

Link to audio or video: (YouTube, Vimeo, Internet Archive, SoundCloud, etc.)

Video and Audio Recordings

There is no way to directly upload audio in your comments, however, you can link to the recordings if you upload them to the Internet Archive (which I’d highly recommend) or any of the video streaming services like YouTube and Vimeo–or audio services like SoundCloud.

If you have a photo you’d like to include in your comment, send me an email from the same address you used in your comment. I’ll manually post the image at the top of your comment when time allows.

As with each year, I’ll make sure the BAS team and the BBC receive a link with all of your recordings!

Click here to comment with your recording of the 2021 BBC Midwinter Broadcast to Antarctica!

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Help record the 2021 BBC Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast today (June 21, 2021)

Halley VI Research Station on the Brunt Ice Shelf in Antarctica (Source: British Antarctic Survey Team)

Every year, the BBC broadcasts a special program to the scientists and support staff in the British Antarctic Survey Team. The BBC plays music requests and sends special messages to the small team–35 individuals this year–located at various Antarctic research stations. Each year, the thirty minute show is guaranteed to be quirky, nostalgic, and certainly a DX-worthy catch!

After successful listener events from years past, I’m once again calling on all SWLing Post readers and shortwave radio listeners to make a short recording (say, 30-60 seconds) of the BBC Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast today and share it here on the SWLing Post. Details on this below.

Time and frequencies

The 2021 Midwinter Broadcast will take place from 21:30-22:00 UTC on June 21, 2021 and will be broadcast on the following four frequencies:

  • 6035 kHz from Dhabbaya
  • 6170 kHz from Ascension
  • 7305 kHz from Woofferton
  • 9505 kHz from Woofferton

Recording the Midwinter Broadcast has become an SWLing Post community tradition! Read our previous post for more details.

I’m especially fond of this broadcast as it always falls on my birthday and it’s always fun capturing this unique DX!

Share your recording and notes with us!

In years past, I’ve created a post with all of the Midwinter recordings curated in one article. This usually takes me 12+ hours to prepare over a couple of weeks as many of the audio clips and video recordings must be formatted for the site and embedded. There is also a lot of discussions back/forth confirming details with listeners. This year, my schedule is such that if I try to piece one of these articles together I might not have it published for many, many weeks. That and I will not have reliable internet service over the next couple of weeks.

Instead, I’d like to try something new!

Comment with your recording!

During the Midwinter broadcast, I will publish a dedicated post where you can comment and include links to audio and video of your 2021 Midwinter Broadcast recordings. When this post is available, I will link to it here. This will allow you to post your logs and recordings at your convenience without my availability becoming the bottleneck.

So that there’s no confusion, I’ve turned off comments on this post so that comments are left on the appropriate article.

Here’s the format I’d like you to leave in your comment of the dedicated post:

Name:

Listening location:

Notes: (Include frequencies and any details about your receiver and antenna.)

Link to audio or video: (YouTube, Vimeo, Internet Archive, SoundCloud, etc.)

Video and Audio Recordings

There is no way to directly upload audio in your comments, however, you can link to the recordings if you upload them to the Internet Archive (which I’d highly recommend) or any of the video streaming services–like YouTube and Vimeo–or audio services like SoundCloud.

If you have a photo you’d like to include in your comment, send me an email from the same address you used in your comment. I’ll manually post the image at the top of your comment when time allows.

As with each year, I’ll make sure the BAS team and the BBC receive a link with all of your recordings!

Spread the radio love

Four frequencies will be used for the 2021 BBC Midwinter Broadcast

Many thanks to Richard Hollingham with Boffin Media, who writes:

Hi – I’m (proudly) the Executive Producer of the Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast. It’s made by Boffin Media for the BBC….I’m about to deliver this year’s edition.

In terms of the broadcast itself, following the test on Monday, the BBC’s decided to transmit on all four of the frequencies [noted here] this year.

Because it’s a unique broadcast, the SW version is 30 minutes long whereas the global version is 26′ 29″ (to fit the standard World Service half hour, following the news bulletin). The SW version also has a different introduction as it’s aimed just at our audience of 35 in Antarctica.

Fascinating! Thank you for sharing this, Richard. We’ll be listening!

As a reminder, here are the frequencies courtesy of Richard Langley:

  • 6035 kHz from Dhabbaya
  • 6170 kHz from Ascension
  • 7305 kHz from Woofferton
  • 9505 kHz from Woofferton
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Possible frequencies for the 2021 BBC Midwinter Broadcast

Halley VI: The British Antarctic Survey’s new base (Source: British Antarctic Survey)

Click here to read an update to this post (17 June 2021).

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Richard Langley, who follows up with the following information about the 2021 Midwinter Broadcast to Antarctica:

As usual, there was a test of this year’s possible frequencies yesterday (14 June) from 21:30 to 21:45 UTC.

They were:

    • 6035 kHz from Dhabbaya
    • 6170 kHz from Ascension
    • 7305 kHz from Woofferton
    • 9505 kHz from Woofferton

As has been the case in past years, three of these frequencies will be chosen for the actual broadcast. Here in NB yesterday, good signals were received on 6170, 7305, and 9505 kHz. 6035 kHz was not heard.

Thank you for sharing this, Richard!

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The 2021 BBC Midwinter Broadcast to Antarctica next week!

Halley VI Research Station on the Brunt Ice Shelf in Antarctica (Source: British Antarctic Survey)

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, David (G4EDR), who writes:

I know that you and many of the readers of the SWLing Post like to tune into the annual BBC WS Antarctic Mid Winter broadcast. I requested some information from the BDXC (of which I am a member) about this year’s broadcast and got the following reply:

The broadcast will be on Monday 21 June from 2130-2200 utc. There are usually three extra SW frequencies beamed to Antarctica, these have not yet been confirmed but last year’s frequencies (which may be the same this year) were 5790 and 7360 via Woofferton and 9580 via Ascension.

This year its also being carried on most of the World Service English streams from 2132-2200, however the only shortwave outlets at this time are to Africa on 11810 and 12095 via Ascension. For those of us in the UK it should also be on the BBCWS DAB stream at the same time.

Its slightly shorter via the regular WS streams so to hear the full broadcast we should listen to the special Antarctica frequencies.

Thank you for sharing this and for the reminder, David!

I look forward to the Midwinter broadcast every year! It falls on my birthday and almost without fail also happens when I’m travelling. This year will be no exception.

I will still welcome photos and recordings as in years past as I love sharing these! I might ask, however, that readers and listeners simply leave their videos, audio, and notes in the comments section of the relevant post. Maybe I can even offer a little prize to a random listener–that would be fun!

Stay tuned! Please comment or contact me should you learn of the frequencies the BBC will use this year!

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