Tag Archives: David Goren

Capturing spectrum and logging band openings last night

Logs:

31 meter band beginning 00:00 UTC, 25 OCT 2014

9410 BBC English Nakhon Sawan
9420 ERT Open/VOG Greek
9455 China National Radio 1 Chinese
9470 AIR National Channel Hindi/English (vy wk)
9475 WTWW English
9510 China Radio International Russian
9520 PBS Nei Menggu Chinese AND Radio Romania International Romanian
9565 Radio Tupi/Super Radio Deus e Amor Portuguese (QRM from CRI 9570)
9570 China Radio International English
9586 Super Radio Deus e Amor Portuguese
9590 China Radio International Spanish
9630 Radio Aparecida Portuguese
9645 Radio Bandeirantes Portuguese
9660 Radio Taiwan International Chinese
9665 China National Radio 5 Chinese or possibly KCBS Pyongyang Korean
9690 All India Radio English
9700 Radio Romania International English
9705 All India Radio English
9710 China Radio International Portuguese
9730 Adventist World Radio Manumanaw Karen or possibly 9730 Myanmar Radio Burmese
9740 BBC English (vy weak)
9800 China Radio International Spanish
9810 Radio Havana Cuba Spanish
9820 Radio 9 de Julho Portuguese
9855 Voice of America Tibetan
9860 Voice of Islamic Rep. of Iran Spanish
9870 AIR New Delhi Hindi
9880 Voice of America Chinese (vy weak)
9935 ERT Open, VOG Greek
9965 Radio Cairo Arabic
10000 WWV Ft. Collins

25 meter band beginning 0100 UTC, 25 OCT 2014

11520 EWTN (WEWN) English
11580 SOH Xi Wang Zhi Sheng Chinese/Cantonese
11590 Radio Japan Hindi (vy weak)
11620 China National Radio 5 Chinese
11640 Radio Free Asia Uyghur
11650 China Radio International Chinese
11670 Radio Havana Cuba Spanish
11695 Radio Free Asia Tibetan
11710.7 Radio Cairo Spanish (transmitter noise)
11760 Radio Havana Cuba Spanish
11780 Radio Nacional da Brasilia Portuguese
11825 Bro Stair
11840 Radio Havana Cuba Spanish
11855 Radio Aparecida Portuguese
11870 EWTN (WEWN) Spanish
11905 Sri Lanka BC English/Hindi
11955 Radio Romania International French
12020 VoA Deewa Radio Pashto
12025 UNID
12070 Radio Cairo Spanish (jammed or transmitter noise?)
12105 WTWW Spanish

Shortwave Shindig QSL

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Happiness is receiving your Shortwave Shindig QSL card which sports the superb Shindig logo by Jeff (K1NSS).

Did you miss the Shindig broadcast? Click here to listen to off-air recordings.

Also, click here to check out all of David Goren’s work at Shortwaveology.net.

I hope the Shindig will do another live broadcast in 2015. Stay tuned!

One more week to get your Shindig T-shirt at a discount

Numbers Stations in the news

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There have been a lot of numbers in the news lately.

Earlier this week, David Goren’s numbers station radio documentary was featured on the ABC Radio National show, Sounds Like Radio.

Click here to listen.

This morning, I also noticed this excellent BBC News Magazine piece on numbers stations, which includes an interview with Akin Fernandez, the creator of the Conet Project.

Here’s an excerpt from The spooky world of the ‘numbers stations’:

“This is the era of hyper-tech espionage, encrypted emails and mindboggling cryptography. But you can hear a very old-fashioned form of espionage on shortwave radio.

It is 13:03 on a Tuesday in a little crammed room of the BBC Monitoring building in Caversham and what is suddenly heard on a shortwave receiving station is a 10-minute message in Morse code.

There is a small community of aficionados who believe messages like this are a throwback to the era of Cold War espionage. They are the mysterious “numbers stations”.

At the apex of the Cold War, radio lovers across the globe started to notice bizarre broadcasts on the airwaves. Starting with a weird melody or the sound of several beeps, these transmissions might be followed by the unnerving sound of a strange woman’s voice counting in German or the creepy voice of a child reciting letters in English.

[…]Times have changed and technology has evolved, but there’s evidence that this old-fashioned seeming method of communication might still be used. Shortwave numbers stations might seem low-tech but they probably remain the best option for transmitting information to agents in the field, some espionage experts suggest.

“Nobody has found a more convenient and expedient way of communicating with an agent,” says Rupert Allason, an author specialising in espionage issues and writing under the pen name Nigel West.

“Their sole purpose is for intelligence agencies to communicate with their agents in denied areas – a territory where it is difficult to use a consensual form of communications,” Allason says.

A former GCHQ officer, who does not wish to be named, whose duty was to intercept signals towards the UK and search for these numbers stations in the 1980s is also adamant that these were broadcasts to agents in the field or in residencies or directed to embassies.

It was “one-way traffic” – the transmitters broadcast numbers to the recipient. The recipient did not reply.”

[…]”This system is completely secure because the messages can’t be tracked, the recipient could be anywhere,” says Akin Fernandez, the creator of the Conet Project – a comprehensive archive of the phenomenon of numbers stations. “It is easy. You just send the spies to a country and get them to buy a radio. They know where to tune and when,” he says.

Continue reading on the BBC Magazine website…

If you would like to know more about numbers stations, click here to read other numbers posts.

Click here to go to David’s website, Shortwaveology.net.

Shortwave Shindig rebroadcast, April 18 and 19

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This just in from David Goren at Shortwaveology:

Shortwave Shindig rebroadcast!

The show originally broadcast on 3/14 will be heard again on WRMI: Friday, April 18, at 6-7 pm ET (2200-2300 UTC) and Saturday, April 19 at 11 pm-12 midnight ET (0300-0400 UTC April 20) — both on 9955 kHz from Okeechobee.

The “Shortwave Shindig” T: you know you want one

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[Update (04/10/14): Check out promotional pricing for SWLing Post readers below.]

Remember that incredible live Shortwave Shindig broadcast of a few weeks ago? If you missed it, check out one of these recordings.

David Goren, radio producer and Shortwavelogist behind the broadcast, has printed up a series of terrific T-shirts to commemorate the event. Your purchase of a shirt will not only elevate your social standing (I mean, who has a T-shirt with the word “shortwave” on it?), but importantly, it will also help support more such broadcasts and radio productions out of the studios of Shortwaveology in future.

And did I mention that the funky retro logo design, above and right, is by the talented Jeff Murray, K1NSS? Gotta love it.

These shirts are 100% cotton and available in black (see right) or white.

I don’t want to over-promise here, but I understand that wearing the Shortwave Shindig shirt can increase your chances of hearing the elusive Bhutan Broadcasting Service and many other signals–perhaps even ones that have recently gone off the air. Moreover, this shirt is 100% QRM free.

What are you waiting for?

Hop over to this page on Shortwaveology.net and order yours today!

And, dear readers, thanks for hanging on to my hard sell: this one’s for a good cause.

UPDATE: Many thanks to David Goren who is offering a 10% discount to SWLing Post readers! Simply enter the promotional coupon code “swling” at checkout. Total cost will then be $18 shipped! Click here to order your shirt. This promotion will only be available for two weeks, ending April 24, 2014.

Shortwave Radio Recordings: The Shortwave Shindig

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Many thanks to SWLing Post reader, Matthew Williams, who recorded The Shortwave Shindig on 7,570 kHz at 2:00 UTC on March 15, 2014. Matthew was using his Kenwood TS-590S and an 80 meter doublet antenna at his home in New York state.

Here’s his recording, hot off the press:

If others were able to record The Shortwave Shindig, please comment with a link to your recording, your location and your receiver. I will post them on them on Shortwave Radio Audio Archive.