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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, DanH, who writes:
The YouTube channel Phuong DPRK Daily recently posted a video titled Listeners to Radio “Voice of Korea” in Pictures. This video offers a look at photos of VOK Voice of Korea (DPRK) shortwave listeners. I recognize the voice of one of the VOK newscasters as the narrator of this video. It is interesting to take note of the shortwave receivers shown in the photos as well. This video was also posted on the Voice of Korea website on September 25, 2020.
I listen to the English Language Service of VOK Voice of Korea from my suburban listening post in Northern California, USA. The VOK English language broadcasts beamed to South America usually provide the best reception for me. Here is my most recent reception video of VOK. It was recorded on November 10, 2020.
There are more reception videos of VOK available at my website Willow Slough DX. These videos include newscasts read by the male announcer heard on the photo album video.
Happy SWLing! The shortwave broadcast bands are beginning to improve after the long nadir of solar minimum!
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, TomL, who shares a recording he made of the Voice of Korea on June 14, 2018. This English broadcast focuses on the Singapore summit and is, no doubt, historic in its content. [Note that we’ve posted other recordings on the Shortwave Radio Audio Archive.]
TomL notes:
Recorded on my noisy Lenovo laptop, SDRPlay RSP2, and an unamplified 18.5 foot antenna on the roof of my SUV.
I’m most impressed with the quality of his recording–VOK is not the easiest station to snag in the US midwest:
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, DanH, who writes:
I recorded and edited clips from two Voice of Korea SW broadcasts in English at different times earlier today (UTC). The radio clock in this video is fairly accurate and is set to UTC. The VOK announcer reads a list of VOK English language broadcast times and frequencies near the end of the video. Happy listening! Propagation conditions aren’t that bad.
Thank you for sharing this, Dan. I’m travelling at the moment but will certainly listen via one of my favorite WebSDRs. I’m hoping some listeners will submit recordings to the shortwave archive!
I’ve copied the times and frequencies below for reference:
Front page of the North Korean newspaper “Rodong” on April 28, 2018. (Source: Mark Fahey)
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dean Denton–our intrepid 13 year old DXer. Dean writes:
How are you doing? I have found a recording on the archives of a recent North Korean recording of the Voice of Korea on the Panmunjon Summit, between both North and South Korean leaders.
Not only am I pleased with the news, but I have uploaded the full 1 hour recording of the English broadcast on my YouTube Channel:
Great job snagging this particular VOK recording! You’re following a long tradition of SWLs before you who’ve made an effort to capture these fascinating bits of radio history. Keep up the great work, Dean!
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, DanH, who writes:
I put up a couple of videos on my “Willow Slough DX” YouTube channel nine hours ago that may rate at least an Arte Johnson (Laugh-in) “verrry interestink”. These are two videos of the North Korean shortwave station Voice of Korea operating with their new time zone and on their new schedule.
These are the two most recent videos of SW station receptions that I have posted during the last couple of days.
[The first video] is the VOK shortwave sign-on recorded at the newly scheduled time of 04:00, May 5, 2018 UTC on 15180 kHz. Distance: 5600 miles. Receiver: Sangean ATS-909X. Antenna: suburban 83m horizontal loop. Receiver location: Davis, California, USA. North Korea has changed its time zone to match UTC +9 which is used by South Korea. I was accustomed to tuning in Voice of Korea at 38 minutes past the scheduled hour for the English language news. Now I tune in at 8 minutes past the same hour. VOK broadcasts that were scheduled for 04:30 UTC now begin at 04:00 UTC. At the time I write this VOK shortwave programs listed on Short-Wave.info still show the old times:
[The second video] is the VOK shortwave newscast at the new time of 04:08, May 5, 2018 UTC on 15180 kHz. Some interference is heard half way through the clip:
Thanks for sharing this, Dan! It never crossed my mind that VOK would change their international broadcast time based on the fact they shifted their country’s time zone. From a North Korean perspective, though, I suppose this makes sense. Thanks for the tip!
Front page of the North Korean newspaper “Rodong” on April 28, 2018. (Source: Mark Fahey)
With North Korea in the global spotlight, I’ve been making every effort to listen to the Voice of Korea on shortwave. Unfortunately, from here on the east coast of North America, conditions have simply not been in my favor.
Fortunately, a couple of SWLing Post and SRAA contributors have had my back.
Yesterday, Richard Langley, uploaded a great VOK recording made with the U Twente WebSDR on April 28 at 13:30 UTC on 13760 kHz. Thank you Richard!
This morning, North Korean propaganda specialist Mark Fahey uploaded the following VOK recording to the archive and included notes and insight:
[The recording is] off 9,730 kHz so a mint shortwave file.
Recorded at the “Behind The Curtain” remote satellite and HF receiving site near Taipei, Taiwan (the site is remotely operated from Freemans Reach in Australia and was specifically established to monitor North Korean radio & television 24×7).
Remote Module #2 fully weather sealed and ready to deploy.
[…]I must say getting a good recording off shortwave is quite a challenge, just going to their satellite circuits far easier!
[T]he reason for the almost hi-fi quality is that I used the real-time audio enhancement and noise reduction techniques I presented at the Winter SWL Fest. The signal in reality was much noisier:
[I] also have long domestic recordings (which is what I have been focusing on rather than VOK).
[…]Of course domestic in Korean – but that has been my main interest/monitoring – what does the regime say to the domestic audience–?
They seem quite serious (I mean genuine) even acknowledging South Korea as a separate place and Moon being the president of this place. The domestic propaganda now not hiding the fact that South Korea is a separate sovereign nation, which is very un-North Korean propaganda!
The news is still kind of breaking in North Korea and the radio reflects that – the reports sound like Friday was yesterday. It takes a long time for North Korean media to report anything, so news from 3 days ago is presented as if it only happened 3 hours ago.
Also since it’s all topical I will include a YouTube link to a Voice Of Korea Documentary (propaganda to our ears of course–!) that has recently been posted to the Arabia Chapter of The Korean Friendship Association:
