Tag Archives: Dan Greenall

A DXer Looks Back at the Voice of America

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by Dan Greenall

50 years ago, Voice of America broadcasts could be found all over the shortwave dial.

In addition to a number of transmitter sites located stateside, the VOA used to broadcast from a number of other facilities located in overseas countries in order to help get its signal into all corners of the globe.  Many of these “relay” stations made for challenging DX catches and there was even an award offered by NASWA to those providing sufficient proof of reception of them all.  An example of this can be found on this link: https://k5nd.net/2011/06/voice-of-america/

The familiar tune of Yankee Doodle (heard at the beginning and end of a transmission) along with station ID in English would often include the particular transmitter site in use.  Several old recordings of these can be found on my links to these on the Internet Archive.

Technical staff hired to help maintain equipment at overseas facilities were often licensed amateur radio operators. See the attached scans of two QSL cards from amateurs who worked at the station near Monrovia, Liberia.

Most of the various VOA transmitter sites are listed below. Some include links that will lead to related historical information, articles and/or photographs and are well worth exploring.

VOA Greenville NC  

VOA Bethany OH

VOA Dixon/Delano CA

VOA Marathon, FL

VOA Wooferton UK

VOA Kavala Greece

VOA Thessaloniki Greece

VOA Rhodes, Dodecanese Islands

VOA Monrovia, Liberia

VOA Tangier, Morocco

VOA Okinawa, Ryuku Islands

VOA Poro/Tinang, Philippines

VOA Udon Thani, Thailand

VOA, Sri Lanka

VOA Sao Tome

VOA Botswana

A year ago, in January 2025, I made a couple of recordings, using remote SDR receivers, of some Voice of America programs being broadcast from their Botswana transmitter site.  These have been uploaded to archive.org and can be found here: https://archive.org/details/voa-africa-via-botswana-relay-january-19-2025

Since March 16, 2025, it seems the only former VOA transmitters being used are Greenville, NC (Radio Marti), Tinang, Philippines (Radyo Pilipinas world service), and Wooferton, UK (BBC and others).

Taiwan on Shortwave – Then and Now

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by Dan Greenall

For nearly a half-century, The Voice of Free China broadcast programs via shortwave to a worldwide audience from Taipei, Taiwan. As a relatively new SWL in the early 1970’s, I was always excited to hear English language programs from that part of the world, far away from southern Ontario, Canada, where I lived. There was no relay from WYFR or Radio Miami International at that time, so the signal from Taiwan needed to travel over 12,000 km (7500 miles) to reach my receiver.

I made this recording of their interval signal and sign-on in early 1971.

In 1998, the name of the station changed to Radio Taipei International, then again in 2003 to Radio Taiwan International.

Today, Radio Taiwan International continues to offer programs on shortwave in a number of languages from a transmitter in Taiwan, though there appears to be only one English-language broadcast per day, that being from 1600 to 1700 hours UTC on 9405 kHz. Here is a recording of the station signing on at 1600 UTC on January 1, 2026 using a remote SDR located in Japan:

And here they are signing off for the day on December 27, 2025 at 1700 UTC on 9405 kHz, again using a Kiwi SDR in Japan.

 

The station is received well in southern Ontario during their daily 2200 UTC broadcast in Spanish on 15770 kHz. This transmission is aired using the facilities of Radio Miami International in Okeechobee, Florida. The Kiwi SDR used for this recording is located in my hometown of London, Ontario.

Some holiday reading for shortwave listeners

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by Dan Greenall

Attention all SWL’s!   For those of you with a little extra free time over the holiday season, I would highly recommend having a look at two books that were written by a couple of very respected DXer’s from the past.  They are both available on the Internet Archive and their respective links can be found below.

Shortwave Voices of the World by Dr. Richard E. Wood   (1969)

I have mentioned this one before, but in case you missed it, you will find it here.

https://archive.org/details/shortwave-voices-of-the-world-richard-wood-ed-1-pr-1-1969

The World in My Ears by Arthur T. Cushen   (1979)

Newly uploaded, this one comes in two parts.  Part One describes his early days and how his listening began, while Part 2 gets into the hobby in general.

https://archive.org/details/the-world-in-my-ears-part-1/the%20world%20in%20my%20ears%20part%201/

Happy reading!

Check Your Time with the LM Chime

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by Dan Greenall

Shades of the 1970’s.  Commercial AM radio (in English) the way it used to be. Heavy on nostalgic music from the 1960’s to the 1990’s, plenty of good old style jingles, and of course, the LM chime every hour.

Decades ago, the “LM” used to stand for Lourenco Marques Radio as the station was based in this city in Mozambique. Today, it is Lifetime Memories Radio, and broadcasts to Maputo and the surrounding area, where it can be heard on 87.8 FM. The station also broadcasts on 702 kHz medium wave from a transmitter near Johannesburg, South Africa, and can be heard worldwide via Kiwi SDR or online stream here   https://lmradio.co.za/

In addition to the live stream, be sure to read about the rich history of the station that began in 1936. The station was shut down in 1975 when Mozambique gained independence, but has re-emerged in the 21st century.  A visit to the LM Radio museum is well worth the trip.  https://lmradio.co.mz/history/

In 1973, I was able to hear Radio Clube de Mocambique on 4855 kHz shortwave from here in Canada.  If you listen closely, you can hear the LM chime.

Give them a listen, but first, check out these sample recordings made between November 27 and December 8, 2025, through a Kiwi SDR located near Johannesburg:

2025-11-27:

2025-11-28:

2025-11-28:

2025-11-29:

2025-12-04:

2025-12-08:

Radyo Pilipinas World Service Back On The Air

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Dan Greenall, who writes:

Hi Thomas

As per the announcement on the SWLing Post, Radyo Pilipinas did indeed return on the air December 1 at 0200 hours UTC on the announced frequencies on 12020, 15640 and 17665 kHz. I was able to hear all three frequencies quite well using the LA6LU SDR in Thailand, and made this 11 minute recording of them near the beginning of their broadcast on 15640 kHz:

Hopefully, Radio Thailand can make a similar arrangement with the USAGM.

73

Dan Greenall, Ontario, Canada

Thank you so much for sharing this with us, Dan!

DXing the Middle East – Then and Now

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by Dan Greenall

This region consists of the western part of Asia from Turkey to Iran including the Arabian Peninsula and Egypt. Decades ago, most of the countries had a shortwave broadcasting service that made intriguing DX targets for listeners like me. Some were relatively easy to hear, while others provided more of a challenge as they did not offer broadcasts to North America (where I live) or programming was not in English. Here are a few recordings that I made over the years and have uploaded to the internet archive.

Click on titles to access Internet Archive pages with additional information.

TURKEY 1970

EGYPT 1971

ISRAEL 1971

LEBANON 1971

SYRIA 1971

JORDAN 1973

IRAQ 1971

IRAN 1971

SAUDI ARABIA 1971

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES (DUBAI) 1983

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES (ABU DHABI) 1990

QATAR 1999

As 2025 draws to a close, only a few countries from the Middle East seem to be consistently logged by the shortwave listener.

The high powered transmitters in Turkey and programming in a variety of languages provide worldwide listeners a great opportunity to tune into this part of the world. A musical interlude accompanied by frequent identifications precedes their transmission. This recording was made on July 31, 2025 at 0254 UTC leading up to 0300 sign on in English on 7275 kHz. Reception was made using a remote SDR in the UK:

The Al Dhabbiyah tramitter site in the United Arab Emirates is used by a number of international broadcasters including FEBA Radio, IBRA Media and the BBC. This recording of FEBA made on June 24, 2025 captures their sign off just prior to 0230 UTC on 9540 kHz on a KiwiSDR in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia:

IBRA Radio Ibrahim is noted using the same interval signal on June 19, 2025 around 1700 UTC also on 9540 kHz. A remote SDR in Kenya was used to make this recording.

 

Another relay transmitter is located at Al Seela in Oman and is largely used by the BBC for broadcasts into Asia. This recording, made November 20 at 2328 UTC on 11645 kHz, shows them being received by the KiwiSDR at Haida Gwaii, British Columbia off of Canada’s west coast. The effects of an over-the-pole signal path is evident here:

Other stations may emerge on occasion. For example, early in 2025, a station called Republic of Yemen Radio was being heard on 11935 kHz reportedly broadcasting in Arabic from a transmitter in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Reception was quite good in February using a remote SDR in Addis Ababa, however, in later months the transmitter seemed to develop a bad hum or buzz. You can listen to recordings made in February and then in April by following this link to the Internet Archive.

I would encourage all listeners to report reception of new stations broadcasting from this region to the SWLing Post so others might have the opportunity to try and tune in for themselves.

Good Listening from Brazil on Shortwave in 2025

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by Dan Greenall

Fifty years ago, there were dozens, if not hundreds, of Brazilian shortwave signals to hear on shortwave. As with the rest of the world, this is no longer the case. However, especially with the advent of remote SDRs to assist with the enjoyment of the DXing hobby, there are still a number of stations broadcasting from Brazil that are well worth a listen, even if you don’t understand Portuguese. Here is a sampling of what can be heard in 2025.

Radio Nacional da Amazonia 6180 and 11780 kHz

This is perhaps the easiest station to hear for overseas listeners. They run high-powered transmitters and have been widely reported in many parts of the globe. The station began a short daily broadcast in English and Spanish in late March, but I’m not sure if this is still going, as I haven’t checked recently. Here is a recording from April 18:

The transmitter power used by the next two stations is unknown, so the use of a remote SDR to hear them well may be required. Overseas listeners can look for them anyway, but note that their schedules seem to be irregular. Broadcasts consist mostly of popular music with frequent station ID’s in Portuguese between selections.

Radio Ancora (free radio?) Bahia, Brazil 6200 kHz

Recording 1 – September 13, 2025 at 2337 UTC:

Recording 2 – September 13 at 2358 UTC:

Recording 3 – September 14, 2025 at 0223 UTC:

Online presence here: https://ancoraonline.wshost.com.br/timetable

Radio Casa (free radio?) Amparo, Brazil 5900 kHz

Recording 1 – September 16, 2025 at 2020 UTC:

Recording 2 – September 16, 2025 at 2015 UTC:

Recording 3 – September 24, 2025 at 2200 UTC.

Online presence here: https://radiocasa.net/

The last two stations should be audible to DXers outside Brazil.

Radio Inconfidencia, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais 6010 and 15190 kHz

With 5 kW of power, Radio Inconfidencia gives a full identification in Portuguese at the top of most hours that includes callsigns, frequencies, and location. It is on the air around the clock.

Radio Inconfidencia full ID recording – September 16 at 2158 UTC on 15190 kHz:

Radio Inconfidencia second recording – September 15 at 2353 UTC on 15190 kHz:

Radio Voz Missionaria, Camboriu SC 5940 and 9665 kHz

Using 10 kW of power from the south of Brazil, Radio Voz Missionaria should be heard, at least on occasion, in many parts of the world. This station also operates 24 hours a day.

Recording – Radio Voz Missionaria – April 23 at 2357 UTC on 9665 kHz: