Tag Archives: Recordings

1933 Aluminum disc recordings from a DXer in England

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Mark (AE2EA) with the AWA, who writes:

Your loyal followers might be interested in this video of airchecks
recorded on aluminum discs in England of US broadcast stations in late
1933, from the Antique Wireless Museum.

From the AWA description:

These audio clips were recorded on aluminum discs using more of an embossing than cutting action. Reading an AWA Facebook post that the AWA doesn’t have the equipment or experience to digitize the very fragile audio information on these discs, [email protected] volunteered to do so. He did a great job is highly recommended for your consideration as a service for archival digitization and restoration.

The discs were in Peter R. Testan’s collection because they included recordings of station WBBC in Brooklyn, NY that his dad, Peter J, started. As well as being a broadcast owner and engineer, Peter J. Testan was also a ham operator. Pictures of his ham shack were featured in a recent issue of the AWA Journal.

While the calls are identifiable, the other programming in these recordings is difficult to listen to. The Creative Director of a New York City radio station remarked after listening: “”It’s so funny because I have DXers sending me EXACTLY the same quality audio as on these discs. Nothing has changed in nearly 100 years!!!”

The audio quality in this video has been enhanced from the original aluminum disc recordings through the use of bandpass filtering, noise reduction and compression, with the goal of removing some of the artifacts of the recording process.

The Wikipedia entry for aluminum discs is pretty succinct: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aluminum_disc

If you enjoyed this video, consider becoming a member of the Antique Wireless Association at https://antiquewireless.org/homepage/membership/

Absolutely mazing! Thank you so much for sharing this, Mark!

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“Alfons and the Magic Christmas Tree” read by Clayton Howard on HCJB DX Patry Line in December 1974

Studio Recording of the KMTS Winter Test Transmission on December 17, 2020

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If you missed the KMTS (or is that KTMS?) test broadcast on the 17th of December 2020, you’re in luck. I’ve just discovered a studio recording of the entire broadcast on Soundcloud, via a Post reader tip.

I’ve embedded a Soundcloud audio player below, but you can also listen via Soundcloud:

I’ll admit that this broadcast had a lot of listeners scratching their heads–a bit of a mystery. Reminded me, to some degree, of the Boards Of Canada pirate radio broadcasts some years ago, and the mystery surrounding a BoC album release. Also reminded me on one of my all-time favorite pirate radio stations: Radio Strange Outpost. But, of course, this wasn’t a pirate station.

I know this: I absolutely LOVE the KMTS test broadcast! What fun! Kudos to the producer (or producers)! I’ll add this to the Shortwave Radio Audio Archive. If anyone was able to make a full off-air recording of the broadcast, please contact me and I’ll add that along with the studio recording.

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Using the Icom IC-705 to record a local AM broadcast station

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In my previous post, I mentioned how much I enjoy the built-in digital audio recorder in the new Icom IC-705. While I wouldn’t buy a QRP transceiver specifically for built-in audio recording–there are less expensive options out there–it is an incredibly useful feature in my world.

After publishing that post, I was reminded that Monday morning (October 12, 2020) I connected the IC-705 to my homebrew Noise-Cancelling Passive Loop antenna mounted indoors at my parents’ house.

My NCPL antenna

Their house is like so many others in that it is inundated with RFI (radio frequency interference). I find that the NCPL antenna does a fine job mitigating most of that noise on the mediumwave band when I position it so that the bulk of the interference is nulled.

Monday morning, I tuned the IC-705 to my favorite local AM station: WAIZ on 630 kHz.

Weekday mornings, Dave and his “Wacky Wake-Up Crew” always put me in the right mood. They’re incredibly goofy/corny and 100% original.

It’s extraordinarily rare these days to find a local radio station, with local talent, creating a local daily radio show. Almost all of their ads are local, too.

I made the following off-air recording for myself, but decided to upload it for others to enjoy. I’m not sure what the receiver audio EQ or bandwidth filter was set to when I recorded this. It’s not a demo of receiver performance, just a little radio fun.

Enjoy:

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April’s collection of Japanese language WebSDR recordings for September 2020

April’s collection of Japanese language WebSDR recordings for July and August 2020

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, April TimeLady, who writes:

Please find in this email links to two months of Japanese SDR recordings I have made. One is for July and the other is for August. I have uploaded them to archive.org. I send you these links because I think it may interest your audience to listen to Japanese language SDR recordings. Nearly all of the domestic broadcast recordings are NHK, specifically the late night program since I like it. Enjoy!

July 2020 recordings

August 2020 recordings

Thank you for sharing your off-air recordings with us, April!

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Richard shares recordings of The Buzzer

Recordings

The Buzzer recorded July 18, 2020 at 01:07 UTC on 4625 kHz in AM mode:

The Buzzer recorded July 18, 2020 at 08:26 UTC on 4625 kHz in upper sideband mode:

Thank you for sharing this, Richard!

Like you, I have difficult receiving The Buzzer from North America (especially in summer conditions with QRN). That’s where KiwiSDRs really come to the rescue. Thanks again for sharing your recordings.

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