Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor and noted political cartoonist, Carlos Latuff, who shares the following illustrated radio listening report of a recent Vatican Radio broadcast.
Carlos notes:
Vatican Radio: Pope Leo XIV visits a care home for the elderly in Angola
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor and noted political cartoonist, Carlos Latuff, who shares the following illustrated radio listening report of a recent BBC Africa broadcast.
Carlos notes:
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor and noted political cartoonist, Carlos Latuff, who shares the following illustrated radio listening report of a recent Vatican Radio broadcast.
Carlos notes:
Vatican Radio: Pope Leo XIV criticizes foreign exploitation of Africa during Mass in Cameroon.
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor and noted political cartoonist, Carlos Latuff, who shares the following illustrated radio listening report of a recent Vatican Radio & BBC broadcast.
Carlos notes:
Vatican Radio & BBC: Pope Leo XIV lands in Cameroon for second leg of his Apostolic Journey
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dan Greenall, who shares the following update:
A follow-up to my post last month: https://swling.com/blog/2026/03/is-nasional-fm-on-shortwave-full-time/
I am now hearing RTM regularly on shortwave on both 11885 kHz and 15295 kHz through Kiwi SDR’s located in Southeast Asia and Australia. As Timm Breyel pointed out, programming seems to be in Chinese on 11885 with IDs noted as “Sabah V FM” at the 52-second and one-minute mark of the attached recording. Voice announcements on 15295 continue to be in presumed Malaysian, but identification can be heard as Nasional FM at the 6:05, 6:14, and 6:20 marks of the second recording. These are both coming from the Kajang Transmitting Station near Kuala Lumpur. It will be interesting to see how far afield their signal can be heard.
Sabah V FM April 2, 2026 on 11885 kHz at 0128 UTC:
Nasional FM April 2, 2026 on 15295 kHz at 0255 UTC:
73
Dan Greenall, Ontario, Canada
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor and noted political cartoonist, Carlos Latuff, who shares the following illustrated radio listening report of recent Vatican Radio & BBC broadcasts.
Carlos notes:
Vatican Radio & BBC: Pope Leo XIV begins Africa trip
by Dan Greenall
A half century ago, the BBC World Service used a number of different interval signals. A few minutes prior to the start of a broadcast, a recognizable, often repeating tune would be played that would enable listeners to more easily locate the BBC in a crowded band on a typical analog receiver.
A peek into the 1975 World Radio TV Handbook notes a few of these. There was the Morse signal V (as in, V for Victory), primarily used for broadcasts to Europe. It was also identified as 4 notes tuned B-B-B-E, and an example can be found on Jerry Johnston’s page of shortwave interval signals:
https://www.iaswww.com/swmp3/intervalsignals/simple_is.php
Next, a version of the children’s nursery rhyme “Oranges and Lemons” was used during the 1970’s, and I have managed to save a recording of it here:
https://archive.org/details/oranges-and-lemons_202510
Then, there were the three notes “B-B-C” in tonic scale. This was assigned to the World Service for Africa and other services.
Finally, though not listed in this edition of the handbook, was the highly recognizable sound of the Bow Bells. This one came into common use during World War Two when it was broadcast as a symbol of hope for the people of Europe. At least one source states that the original recording was made in 1926, now 100 years ago. Many recordings of the Bow Bells interval signal can be found online via YouTube.
More recently, many of the BBC World Service broadcasts seem to start up very abruptly. An open carrier appears on the frequency to be used only minutes, or even seconds, before the program (already in progress) begins. One example is noted in this recording made on February 5, 2026, just prior to 2200 UTC sign-on, on a frequency of 11645 kHz.
However, two of the above-mentioned tuning signals appear to still be occasionally in use. The three-note B-B-C was observed on March 4, 2026, at 0028 UTC on 7445 kHz. This recording was made through a Kiwi SDR on the island of Cyprus.
I also logged them using their Bow Bells interval signal on December 28, 2025 at 2358 UTC on 6155 kHz while listening on a Kiwi SDR in Thailand. Here is how they sounded then.
As well, SRAA reporter Paul Walker noted reception of the Bow Bells back in September 2025 on 9410 kHz. Follow this link to his report:
I would be curious if other listeners have heard any of these interval signals recently preceding BBC World Service broadcasts.