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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dan Greenall, who writes:
Hi Thomas,
Judging by the 60 dB over S9 signal strength on a Kiwi SDR receiver in South Korea, I would say the Voice of America is getting into its target area very well.
They have a Korean language broadcast on 9310 kHz beginning at 1530 hours UTC using their Tinang transmitter in the Philippines. I made a couple of recordings, which are as follows:
April 29, 2026, leading up to 1600 hours UTC (programming in progress), presumed news about King Charles’ visit, “VOA” heard a few times around 3:04 and 3:10:
April 30, 2026, starting at 1527 UTC, open carrier with tone, carrier off after 40 seconds. carrier back on around the 1:44 mark with English ID and Yankee Doodle briefly, then off, Yankee Doodle resumes at the 2:03 mark, then programming in Korean:
Since my original post on March 9, I’ve noticed the Voice of America is no longer using 7500 kHz for its 2200 UTC broadcast in Mandarin Chinese. According to short-wave.info, they are now using 9625 and 11590 kHz from 2200 to 2230 UTC. Shortwave.live has them here as well, but in recent checks using remote SDRs, I have been coming up empty on 9625, and a bit of a mess on 11590. Other listed times and frequencies checked for the Mandarin service have not been heard either.
Back in the early 1970’s, Radio Voice of the Gospel, station ETLF, in Addis Ababa was the best way to hear this country, though it was by no means an everyday occurrence here in southern Ontario, Canada. Their distinctive drum interval signal was the first 4 notes of “A Mighty Fortress.” Or perhaps you would be lucky to hear “Elizabethan Serenade” being played prior to the start of their broadcast. Two recordings I have managed to save can be found at the Internet Archive here: https://archive.org/details/etlf-ethiopia-1971
In 1977, the station was nationalized by the Provisional Military Governing Council of Ethiopia and renamed the Radio Voice of Revolutionary Ethiopia.
Later, in the late 1990’s, a couple of Ethiopian stations could readily be heard thanks to their out of band frequencies. The Voice of Tigray Revolution used 5500 kHz and I recorded their signal on February 21, 1999 while at a DX Camp in Coe Hill, Ontario.
Today, a few stations are still listed as broadcasting on shortwave from Ethiopia, namely Radio Oromiya on 6030, Amhara State Radio on 6090, and Radio Fana on 6110 kHz.
When active, they all seem to suffer from low modulation levels and co-channel interference (primarily from Chinese stations). Recently, I was able to discover that Radio Fana is still using the same interval signal as they did in 1999, by listening on a Kiwi SDR in Mombasa, Kenya.
Here is a recording of their sign on at 0300 UTC on April 26, 2026 on 6110 kHz.
They now seem to ID as Fana Media Corporation, even though programming is not in English.
Listen at the 3:05 mark for this. Also, the modulation level jumps up significantly about the 3:28 mark.
Additionally, I have included a recording of their sign off on April 1, 2026 beginning at 2053 UTC and concluding with the Ethiopian national anthem.
The low-powered Australian, Radio 567 from Wee Waa, NSW, seems to be back on the air after several months’ absence.
I heard them with a good signal on April 22, 2026, beginning around 4970 kHz at 1717 UTC tune-in, using Kiwi SDR’s in Queensland, Victoria and South Australia. The signal was even audible using the Kiwi in Perth, Western Australia.
Their format is oldies music from the !950’s, 60’s and 70’s, and here is a recording I made where they play a few commercials and give a station ID.
Here is another recording made tonight, April 24, 2026 at 0018 UTC on 4970 kHz. Huge signal on the VK3SOL SDR in Strathbogie, Victoria.
I am now hearing RTM regularly on shortwave on both 11885 kHz and 15295 kHz through Kiwi SDR’s located in Southeast Asia and Australia. As Timm Breyel pointed out, programming seems to be in Chinese on 11885 with IDs noted as “Sabah V FM” at the 52-second and one-minute mark of the attached recording. Voice announcements on 15295 continue to be in presumed Malaysian, but identification can be heard as Nasional FM at the 6:05, 6:14, and 6:20 marks of the second recording. These are both coming from the Kajang Transmitting Station near Kuala Lumpur. It will be interesting to see how far afield their signal can be heard.
Sabah V FM April 2, 2026 on 11885 kHz at 0128 UTC:
Nasional FM April 2, 2026 on 15295 kHz at 0255 UTC:
A half century ago, the BBC World Service used a number of different interval signals. A few minutes prior to the start of a broadcast, a recognizable, often repeating tune would be played that would enable listeners to more easily locate the BBC in a crowded band on a typical analog receiver.
A peek into the 1975 World Radio TV Handbook notes a few of these. There was the Morse signal V (as in, V for Victory), primarily used for broadcasts to Europe. It was also identified as 4 notes tuned B-B-B-E, and an example can be found on Jerry Johnston’s page of shortwave interval signals:
Then, there were the three notes “B-B-C” in tonic scale. This was assigned to the World Service for Africa and other services.
Finally, though not listed in this edition of the handbook, was the highly recognizable sound of the Bow Bells. This one came into common use during World War Two when it was broadcast as a symbol of hope for the people of Europe. At least one source states that the original recording was made in 1926, now 100 years ago. Many recordings of the Bow Bells interval signal can be found online via YouTube.
More recently, many of the BBC World Service broadcasts seem to start up very abruptly. An open carrier appears on the frequency to be used only minutes, or even seconds, before the program (already in progress) begins. One example is noted in this recording made on February 5, 2026, just prior to 2200 UTC sign-on, on a frequency of 11645 kHz.
However, two of the above-mentioned tuning signals appear to still be occasionally in use. The three-note B-B-C was observed on March 4, 2026, at 0028 UTC on 7445 kHz. This recording was made through a Kiwi SDR on the island of Cyprus.
I also logged them using their Bow Bells interval signal on December 28, 2025 at 2358 UTC on 6155 kHz while listening on a Kiwi SDR in Thailand. Here is how they sounded then.
As well, SRAA reporter Paul Walker noted reception of the Bow Bells back in September 2025 on 9410 kHz. Follow this link to his report:
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Dan Greenall, who write:
Hi Thomas
I still have a tendency to scan the utility frequencies from time to time, much as I did over 50 years ago. Now, though, I can listen in through the various Kiwi SDR receivers scattered around the globe. Having obtained my amateur ticket in 1974, I got a lot of practice copying the CW repeating “markers”, especially those in the maritime bands.
Recently, on March 20 at 1821 UTC, to be exact, I came across a CW signal repeating the same message over and over on 6839 kHz, while tuning my friend Ken’s Kiwi SDR in Northern Thailand. The text read: VVV Q2M Q2M Q2M de NYZ NYZ
At first, I thought NYZ might be some kind of U.S. military callsign, but I decided to confer with an expert, Ary Boender, at the UDXF in the Netherlands. My e-mail was sent out at 10:57 am local time, and by 11:02 I had my answer! And not at all what I expected.
My thanks to Ary and the UDXF, the Utility DXer’s Forum. This is a very useful site and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in Utility DXing. Check it out here: https://www.udxf.nl/index.html
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dan Greenall, who writes:
Hi Thomas
Regarding a post on the WRTH Facebook page from December 17, 2025, there was a report that “Nasional FM” was testing a new transmitter in Kajang, near Kuala Lumpur. It seems I heard them last night around 0200 hours UTC using my friend’s Kiwi SDR in northern Thailand. I’ve attached a brief recording of their transmission in Malaysian.
Hi Thomas,
They have a Korean language broadcast on 9310 kHz beginning at 1530 hours UTC using their Tinang transmitter in the Philippines. I made a couple of recordings, which are as follows:
