Tag Archives: Recordings

Catching a USAF HF-GCS transmission in Morocco

My buddy, @K7al_L3afta (on Twitter), posted this interesting recording of the US Air Force High Frequency Global Communications System on 15,016 kHz USB at 18:01 UTC yesterday:

I don’t believe I’ve ever heard or noticed this type of USAF HF-GCS transmission before. Sounds almost like a numbers station.

Update: SWLing Post reader, Daniele, comments:

It’s an EAM, “Emergency Action Message”:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_Action_Message

http://mt-milcom.blogspot.it/p/what-is-emergency-action-message-or-eam.html

http://www.monitoringtimes.com/html/eam.html

Thanks, Daniele!

As I’ve mentioned before, @K7al_L3afta lives in an urban area of Morocco and his shortwave radio listening is plagued with radio interference (RFI). Still, he seems to snag some interesting catches on the shortwaves just like this one which he said he caught by “turning the tuning knob randomly.”

Serendipity is, indeed, the best type of SWLing!

You can follow @K7al_L3afta on Twitter by clicking here.

Shortwave Radio Recording: beHAVior Night via WBCQ

Pulling Radio Santa Cruz out of the interference

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I recorded Radio Santa Cruz early this morning around 05:00 UTC on 6,135 kHz using the TitanSDR I currently have under review.

Radio Santa Cruz‘s 10 kW signal from Santa Cruz, Bolivia, was very much audible here in North America, though RSC was competing with another station on-frequency at the time. Actually, Radio Santa Cruz was broadcasting slightly off-frequency–6134.8 kHz instead of 6,135 kHz. In this case, the fact that RSC was slightly below frequency helped me delineate the station’s audio from that of a competing station.

In the screen-grab of the narrowband channel from the Titan SDR (above–click to enlarge) you can see two distinct carriers spaced only .2 kHz apart (represented by the two peaks in the spectrum display and two parallel vertical lines in the waterfall display).

Here is what the audio sounds like in normal AM mode when we center on the Radio Santa Cruz frequency of 6,134.8 kHz:

You hear a hetrodyne and garbled noise from a competing station. Not pleasant audio.

If we change from the AM mode to eLSB mode (essentially, the TitanSDR’s version of synchronous detection on the lower sideband) we are ignoring all of the noise in the upper sideband, allowing the desired signal of RSC to pop out.

You can see in the screen-grab above that now only the lower sideband of the RSC signal is highlighted. Here’s a 21 minute recording:

Makes quite a difference!

It’s easy to see competing signals and interference on an SDR’s spectrum display, but if you hear something similar on your portable, try the techniques above to see if it clears up the signal.

If your receiver lacks a selectable synchronous detector, much of the same results can be gained by zero-beating (tuning in) the desired signal in lower sideband mode. Of course, if you have a receiver that lacks SSB mode, the best you can do is tune slightly below frequency in AM, in which case the results will not be as dramatic.

Conclusion? Listening in single-sideband or with a selectable sync detector might be all you need to dig a signal out of the interference.

Shortwave Radio Recordings: Voice of Nigeria

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For your listening pleasure: the Voice of Nigeria–recorded on January 28, 2015, starting at 10:00 UTC on 9,690 kHz.

The past few days, the signal out of Ikorodu has been much stronger than normal, so I’ve spent several afternoons listening to the wonderful sounds and music from the Voice of Nigeria.

Click here to download the recording as an MP3, or simply listen via the embedded player below:

Shortwave Radio Recordings: Radio Slovakia

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For your listening pleasure: the English language service of Radio Slovakia–recorded on January 23, 2015 at 1230 UTC on 9,955 kHz.

This broadcast of Radio Slovakia comes by way of the World Radio Network and is relayed by Radio Miami International (WRMI).

Click here to download the recording as an MP3, or simply listen via the embedded player below:

Shortwave Radio Recordings: Radio Berlin International, Final episode of DX-tra

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Many thanks to Shortwave Radio Audio Archive contributor, Richard Langley, who writes:

[The following is a] recording of the penultimate English broadcast from Radio Berlin International (RBI) and the last broadcast in the particular time slot. It was also the last broadcast of the popular DX program DX-tra.

RBI ceased broadcasting at the end of the day on 2 October 1990, the day before German reunification took place.

In addition to the final episode of DX-tra, the recording features the news (in progress as the recording starts a minute or two after 00:45), Commentary, RBI Press Review, and Spotlight on Sport. There are several “goodbye” songs including “The Final Countdown” by the Swedish hard rock band Europe, and “Goodbye Blue Sky” by Pink Floyd and some announcer goodbye comments like “the voice of the disappearing German Democratic Republic,” “that was it,” and “the last day of the good old GDR.”

The 45-minute recording ends with the familiar RBI interval signal and, at 01:30 UTC, the first part of the German-language transmission, also the last in its time slot.

This recording was made in Hanwell, NB, Canada, with a Sony ICF-7600D receiver and supplied wire antenna draped around Richard’s home office. This recording begins around 0045 UTC, October 2, 1990 on a frequency of 9,730 kHz.

Click here to download this recording as an MP3, or simply listen via the embedded player below:

Shortwave Radio Recordings: Helliniki Radiophonia

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It’s been a while now since 9,420 kHz–a former Voice of Greece frequency–should have gone off the air. Fortunately, it has not.

The station is no longer referred to as the Voice of Greece; it’s now a relay of ERT Open, otherwise known as the Helliniki Radiophonia (you’ll hear this name in the station ID).

Friday evening, I recorded nearly four hours of Helliniki Radiophonia because I love the music programming they air during weekends, yet I rarely stay up late enough to listen live. With this recording, I’ll enjoy Greek music most of my working day today–and you can, too!

Simply click here to download an MP3 of the full recording, or simply listen via the embedded player below.

The music begins, in earnest, a little after 17:00–enjoy: