Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Ulis Fleming (K3LU), who shares the following video via Twitter and notes:
Spain: Must see newsreel video of the 1954 inauguration of REE/RNE shortwave radio transmitters:
Click here to watch video at the RTVE archives.
Many thanks for sharing this excellent bit of radio history, Ulis. I was just telling a friend that Radio Exterior de España still has one of the biggest signals out of Europe into North America these days on 9690 kHz.
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Richard Langley, who writes with an update to our previous post regarding the Radio Exterior de España shortwave expansion:
Listening to [Monday] night’s recording, I note that during the English program, they mentioned that the foreign language programs in English, Arabic, French, Portuguese, Russian, and Sephardic (Ladino or Judeo-Spanish, I presume) all will be returning to shortwave. They gave the English schedule as Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays at 23:00 UTC with a repeat on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays at 03:00 UTC.
Thank you for sharing this, Richard. I’m impressed that REE has added so many language programs back to their shortwave services.
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Tracy Wood (K7UO), who
I just listened to REE’s 30-minute English broadcast for this Friday with Alison Hughes and Justin Coe…! (REE is relayed on Hispasat so audio quality is superb.)
Big news! Engliish is coming back to shortwave starting 29 October along with the other foreign languages..
The podcast of Friday’s show with the formal announcement (and frequencies) has yet to be posted but it will be here: http://www.rtve.es/alacarta/audios/emision-en-ingles/
Tonight’s show was very celebratory with lots of old shortwave audio clips, well worth a listen in its own right.
Many thanks for the tip, Tracy! These are exciting times for REE shortwave listeners. Click here to read our previous post about the REE shortwave expansion.
Listen to this show via the embedded player below:
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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Ed (K4CWM), who notes that Radio Exterior de España have announced they’re expanding their shortwave broadcast schedule. Ed has kindly translated the press release into English (click here to read the original in Spanish):
Radio Exterior de España to increase its short wave broadcast schedule
Radio Exterior de España, the international channel of RNE will broadcast eight hours a day from Monday to Sunday on short wave starting on October 28th . It is an increase of four hours in the transmission that was previously made from Monday to Friday.
With this increase, Radio Exterior of Spain sets a new stage that reinforces its programming with new features of its own production. This will augment public service and promote and disseminate Spanish culture and language. In short, it strives to place Spain on the global horizon of the time in which we live.
“En clave turismo“, “A golpe de bit“, “Without a doubt“, “Said with music” and “Tiempo flamenco” are incorporated into a consolidated program along with features such as “Españoles en la mar“, “Marca España” , “Punto de enlace“, “Mundo solidario“, “Artesfera“, “Open Europe“, “America today“, “Africa today” and “Asia today“. Programs to which is added the emblematic “A language without borders”, in-keeping with its mission to take Spanish culture to all corners of the world.
From a technical point of view, Radio Exterior de España will broadcast its programming from Monday to Friday, for West Africa and the South Atlantic, the Middle East, the Indian Ocean and Gran Sol, from 16:00 to 24:00 UTC.
The emission frequencies:
- West Africa and South Atlantic, 11,685 KHz, 25 meter band.
- Middle East, Indian Ocean and Gran Sol, 12,030 KHz, 25 meter band .
For North and South America, Radio Exterior de España will broadcast short-wave, from Monday to Friday, from 19:00 to 03:00 UTC.
The emission frequencies:
- South America, 11,940 KHz, 25 meter band.
- North America and Greenland, 9,690 KHz, 31 meter band .
On Saturdays and Sundays, the RNE International Channel will transmit its signal from 15:00 to 23:00 UTC. The emission frequencies and the coverage areas are the following:
- West Africa and South Atlantic, 11,685 KHz, 25 meter band .
- South America, 11,940 KHz, 25 meter band .
- North America and Greenland, 9,690 KHz, 31-meter band.
- Middle East, Indian Ocean and Gran Sol, 12,030 KHz, 25 meter band.
In addition to eight hours per day of shortwave transmission, Radio Exterior de España broadcasts its 24 hour uninterrupted programming through the Internet, DTT, mobile applications and satellite:
- Ses Astras 1M: frequency 11.626.5 MHz. Vertical polarization.
- Hispasat 1E: frequency 12,052 MHz. Vertical polarization.
- Asiasat 5: frequency 3,700 MHz. Vertical polarization.
- Eutelsat 5 West A: frequency 3,727 MHz. Right circular polarization.
- Intelsat Galaxy-23: frequency 4,191.35 MHz. Vertical polarization.
The changes in programming and frequencies are effective from October 28, 2018 to March 31, 2019.
Many thanks for the tip, Ed!
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, David Iurescia (LW4DAF), who notes that Radio Exterior de España’s has announced winter frequency changes on their website.
David passed along an English (Google) translation of the REE notice:
Due to the winter time change, from October 29, Radio Exterior of Spain changes its emission frequencies in Short Wave.
From Monday to Friday, between 19 and 23 hours, universal time coordinated, Radio Exterior of Spain will offer its emissions in 11,685 kilohertz for West Africa and the South Atlantic. At 15,390 kilohertz for South America and the Pacific Ocean. At 9,690 kilohertz for North America and Greenland. And at 15,500 kilohertz for the Indian Ocean, Middle East and Great Sun.
On weekends, for West Africa and the South Atlantic, between 15 and 19 hours, universal time coordinated, at 17,755 kilohertz; and between 19 and 23 hours at 11,685 kilohertz.
On Saturdays and Sundays, between 15 and 23 hours, at 15,390 kilohertz for South America and the Pacific Oceans; at 9,690 kilohertz for North America and Greenland; and 15,500 kilohertz for the Indian Ocean, Middle East and Great Sun.
These are the frequency changes of the Spanish Foreign Radio Broadcast Wave emissions that will come into effect on October 30 due to the time shift to the winter.
Radio Exterior of Spain can be followed through satellite radio in all parts of the planet 24 hours a day uninterruptedly:
SES Astra 1M: frequency 11,626.5 MHz. Vertical polarization.
Hispasat 30W-5: frequency 12,015 Mhz. Vertical polarization.
Asiasat 5: frequency 3,960 Mhz. Horizontal polarization.
Eutelsat 5 West A: frequency 3,727 Mhz. Circular polarization.
Intelsat Galaxy 23: Frequency 4,191.35 Mhz. Vertical polarization.
Radio Exterior of Spain is heard on the Internet, in streaming or in the podcast of all its programming.There are also mobile applications (link for Apple app or Android) for mobile applications, such as phones and tablets. And from any municipality and province of Spain you can enjoy, through television, Radio Exterior of Spain by DTT.
Thanks for the tip, David!
Many thanks to SWLing Post and SRAA contributor, Brian D. Smith (W9IND), for the following guest post and recording.
Note that Brian could use your help to ID a few unidentified broadcasters in this recording. If you can help, please comment:
Shortwave Radio 1974: Canada, Argentina, Spain, West Germany, Albania, utility stations
Want to know what shortwave radio sounded like in 1974?
This 55-minute recording, recovered from a cassette, was never intended to be anything but “audio notes”: I was an 18-year-old shortwave listener who collected QSL cards from international stations, and I was tired of using a pen and a notepad to copy down details of the broadcasts. I wanted an easier way to record what I heard, and my cassette tape recorder seemed like the perfect means to accomplish that goal.
But it wasn’t. I soon discovered that it was simpler to just edit my notes as I was jotting them down — not spend time on endless searches for specific information located all over the tape. To make a long story shorter, I abandoned my “audio notes” plan after a single shortwave recording: This one.
Hallicrafters S-108 (Image: DXing.com)
Still, for those who want to experience the feel of sitting at a shortwave radio in the mid-1970s and slowly spinning the dial, this tape delivers. Nothing great in terms of sound quality; I was using a Hallicrafters S-108 that was outdated even at the time. And my recording “technique” involved placing the cassette microphone next to the radio speaker.
Thus, what you’ll hear is a grab bag of randomness: Major shortwave broadcasting stations from Canada, Argentina, Spain, Germany and Albania; maritime CW and other utility stations; and even a one-sided conversation involving a mobile phone, apparently located at sea. There are lengthy (even boring) programs, theme songs and interval signals, and brief IDs, one in Morse code from an Italian Navy station and another from a Department of Energy station used to track shipments of nuclear materials. And I can’t even identify the station behind every recording, including several Spanish broadcasts (I don’t speak the language) and an interview in English with a UFO book author.
The following is a guide, with approximate Windows Media Player starting times, of the signals on this recording. (Incidentally, the CBC recording was from July 11, 1974 — a date I deduced by researching the Major League Baseball scores of the previous day.)
Guide to the Recording
0:00 — CBC (Radio Canada) Northern and Armed Forces Service: News and sports.
7:51 — RAE (Radio Argentina): Sign-off with closing theme
9:14 — Department of Energy station in Belton, Missouri: “This is KRF-265 clear.”
9:17 — Interval signal: Radio Spain.
9:40 — New York Radio, WSY-70 (aviation weather broadcast)
10:22 — Unidentified station (Spanish?): Music.
10:51— Unidentified station (English): Historic drama with mention of Vice President John Adams, plus bell-heavy closing theme.
14:12 — RAI (Italy), male announcer, poor signal strength.
14:20 — Unidentified station (Spanish): Theme music and apparent ID, good signal strength.
15:16 — Unidentified station (foreign-speaking, possibly Spanish): Song, “Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep.”
17:00 — Deutsche Welle (The Voice of West Germany): Announcement of frequencies, theme song.
17:39 — Unidentified station (English): Interview with the Rev. Barry Downing, author of “The Bible and Flying Saucers.”
24:36 — One side of mobile telephone conversation in SSB, possibly from maritime location.
30:37 — Radio Tirana (Albania): Lengthy economic and geopolitical talk (female announcer); bad audio. Theme and ID at 36:23, sign-off at 55:03.
55:11 — Italian Navy, Rome: “VVV IDR3 (and long tone)” in Morse code.
Click here to download an MP3 of the full recording, or simply listen via the embedded player below:
Wow–what an amazing trip back in time, Brian! Thank you for taking the time to digitize and share your recording with us.
Post Readers: If you can help Brian ID the few unidentified stations in his recording, please comment!
Note that Brian is a frequent contributor to the Shortwave Radio Audio Archive. Click here to listen to his contributions.
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Andrea Borgnino who, as a follow-up to his post yesterday, is sharing the following photos of the Radio Nacional de España (RNE) Casa de la Radio in Pozuelo, Madrid, Spain. Andrea also includes some excellent interior shots of the Radio Exterior de España studios. Click on the images below to enlarge:
Again, thanks so much for sharing these, Andrea!
