Tag Archives: Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast Recordings

My Recording of the 2026 BBC Midwinter Broadcast to Antarctica

5 Replies

by Thomas (K4SWL)

First, a huge thank you to everyone who has submitted recordings of this year’s BBC Midwinter Broadcast to Antarctica on our recording-sharing post. It’s been a real pleasure browsing reception reports and recordings from around the globe.

If you haven’t yet shared your recording, there’s still time! Please add it to the original post here.

(Please post your recording there rather than in the comments of this post so we can keep all of the recordings together in one place.)

I thought I’d share my own recording of the broadcast because this year’s reception was especially memorable. Unlike previous years when I’ve listened from the United States or Canada, I’m in the UK this year—and the results were brilliant. Both frequencies transmitted from the Woofferton site delivered excellent audio quality.

Recording notes:

This is the BBC Midwinter Broadcast to Antarctica recorded on June 21, 2026 at 09:30 UTC in Foulden, Scotland, UK. The radio was an Elecraft KX2 connected to a 31-foot 9:1 random wire antenna in the back garden. The broadcast starts on 9460 kHz, but I then move to 12070 kHz because it had slightly less local noise.

Click here to download.

Thank you again to everyone who has contributed recordings and reception reports.

The BBC Midwinter Broadcast remains one of my favorite SWLing events of the year. I simply love the idea that the BBC would broadcast from two different sites on three different frequencies via shortwave to a relatively small audience of British Antarctic Survey scientists wintering over in Antarctica.

It’s always a joy to listen live, knowing that they’re celebrating midwinter with parties at their stations and hearing the voices, messages, laughter, and well-wishes of loved ones carried to them over the air by shortwave radio.

In an age of instant communications, there’s still something magical about that.

Please share your recording of the 2024 BBC Midwinter Broadcast to Antarctica here!

33 Replies

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!

Time and frequencies

Our intrepid contributor, Richard Langley, reports the following message from the British Antarctic Survey:

The BBC Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast will be transmitted at 21.30 GMT on 21 June on shortwave frequencies: 9585kHz, 11685kHz and 9870kHz.

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 2024 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.

To be clear: I will not have the ability to upload your videos for you–so please don’t email me your video files–you’ll simply need to upload them to a service above and share them here with a link in the comments. 🙂

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

Please share your recording of the 2023 BBC Midwinter Broadcast to Antarctica here!

58 Replies

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 once again, 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.

The past two years, this format worked brilliantly, so we’re doing it again…

Time and frequencies

Our intrepid contributor, Richard Langley, reports:

According to a posting on Glenn Hauser’s World of Radio IO group, the following frequencies are confirmed for the broadcast on 21 June 2023 [at 21:30 UTC]:

    • 7255 kHz Dhabbaya 250 kW
    • 12005 kHz Woofferton 300 kW
    • 13810 kHz Woofferton 250 kW
      (Ascension relay – not being used)

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 2023 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 2023 BBC Midwinter Broadcast to Antarctica!

Help record the 2023 BBC Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast today (June 21, 2023)

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 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

Our intrepid contributor, Richard Langley, reports:

According to a posting on Glenn Hauser’s World of Radio IO group, the following frequencies are confirmed for the broadcast on 21 June [at 21:30 UTC]:

    • 7255 kHz Dhabbaya 250 kW
    • 12005 kHz Woofferton 300 kW
    • 13810 kHz Woofferton 250 kW
      (Ascension relay – not being used)

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!

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 2023 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!

Please share your recording of the 2022 BBC Midwinter Broadcast to Antarctica here!

45 Replies

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 once again, my travel schedule is such that if I try to piece one of these articles together I might not have it published for many, many weeks.

Last year this format worked brilliantly, so we’re doing it again…

Time and frequencies

The 2022 Midwinter Broadcast will take place from 21:30-22:00 UTC on June 21, 2022 and will be broadcast on the following four frequencies:

  • 7305 kHz from Ascension
  • 9505 kHz from Woofferton
  • 12065 kHz from Woofferton

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 2022 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 2022 BBC Midwinter Broadcast to Antarctica!

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

33 Replies

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!

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!