{"id":14453,"date":"2015-08-29T07:48:26","date_gmt":"2015-08-29T11:48:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/?p=14453"},"modified":"2015-08-29T07:52:45","modified_gmt":"2015-08-29T11:52:45","slug":"guest-post-brians-1974-mix-tape-of-off-air-shortwave-radio-recordings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2015\/08\/guest-post-brians-1974-mix-tape-of-off-air-shortwave-radio-recordings\/","title":{"rendered":"Guest Post: Brian’s 1974 mix tape of off-air shortwave radio recordings"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"HalliDial\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Many thanks to SWLing Post\u00a0and Shortwave Radio Audio Archive<\/a> contributor, Brian Smith, for the following guest post and vintage recording:<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

Shortwave Radio 1974: Canada, Argentina, Spain, West Germany, Albania, utility stations<\/h2>\n

-Brian Smith (W9IND)<\/strong><\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

But it wasn’t. I soon discovered that it was simpler to just edit my notes as I was jotting them down \u2014 not spend time on endless searches for specific information located all over on the tape. To make a long story shorter, I abandoned my “audio notes” plan after a single shortwave recording: This one.<\/p>\n

\"Hallicrafters<\/a>

Hallicrafters S-108 (Image source: DXing.com)<\/p><\/div>\n

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 Nothing great in terms of sound quality; I was using a Hallicrafters S-108 that was outdated even at the time.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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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 \u2014 a date I deduced by researching the Major League Baseball scores of the previous day.)<\/p>\n

Guide To The Recording<\/h2>\n

00:00<\/strong> \u2014 CBC (Radio Canada) Northern and Armed Forces Service: News and sports.
\n07:51<\/strong> \u2014 RAE (Radio Argentina): Sign-off with closing theme
\n09:14<\/strong> \u2014 Department of Energy station in Belton, Missouri: “This is KRF-265 clear.”
\n09:17<\/strong> \u2014 Interval signal: Radio Spain.
\n09:40<\/strong> \u2014 New York Radio, WSY-70 (aviation weather broadcast)
\n10:22<\/strong> \u2014 Unidentified station (Spanish?): Music.
\n10:51<\/strong>\u2014 Unidentified station (English): Historic drama with mention of Vice President John Adams, plus bell-heavy closing theme.
\n14:12<\/strong> \u2014 Unidentified station (Spanish?): Male announcer, poor signal strength.
\n14:20<\/strong> \u2014 Unidentified station (Spanish): Theme music and apparent ID, good signal strength.
\n15:16<\/strong> \u2014 Unidentified station (foreign-speaking, possibly Spanish): Song, “Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep.”
\n17:00<\/strong> \u2014 Deutsche Welle (The Voice of West Germany): Announcement of frequencies, theme song.
\n17:39<\/strong> \u2014 Unidentified station (English): Interview with the Rev. Barry Downing, author of \u201cThe Bible and Flying Saucers.\u201d
\n24:36<\/strong> \u2014 One side of mobile telephone conversation in SSB, possibly from maritime location.
\n30:37<\/strong> \u2014 Radio Tirana (Albania): Lengthy economic and geopolitical talk (female announcer); bad audio. Theme and ID at 36:23, sign-off at 55:03.
\n55:11<\/strong> \u2014 Italian Navy, Rome: \u201cVVV IDR3 (and long tone)\u201d in Morse code.<\/p>\n

Click here to download the recording as an MP3<\/a>, or simply listen via the embedded audio player below:<\/p>\nhttps:\/\/archive.org\/download\/CBCArgentineSSB3\/CBC,%20Argentine,%20SSB%203.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

\n

Brian, this is\u00a0a brilliant recording–regardless of audio quality–and we’re very thankful you took the time to share it. Propagation has left something to be desired as of late, so time traveling back to 1974 has been incredibly fun.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Post Readers:<\/strong> If, like Brian, you have off-air recordings on tape that you’d like to share, please contact me<\/a>!\u00a0Even if you don’t have the means to transfer your\u00a0tapes to a digital format, I’m a part of a\u00a0small community of shortwave radio archivists who would be\u00a0quite willing to help.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Many thanks to SWLing Post\u00a0and Shortwave Radio Audio Archive contributor, Brian Smith, for the following guest post and vintage recording: Shortwave Radio 1974: Canada, Argentina, Spain, West Germany, Albania, utility stations -Brian Smith (W9IND) Want to know what shortwave radio sounded like in 1974? This 55-minute recording, recovered from a cassette, was never intended to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3194,3,305,1557,288,746,43,1409],"tags":[4146,4149,3963,29,4150,328,4154,4153,4151,4147,3257,4148,4152,3258,4106,4082,2479,737],"class_list":["post-14453","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-guest-posts","category-news","category-nostalgia","category-podcast","category-radio-history","category-recordings","category-shortwave-radio","category-specials","tag-1974-shortwave","tag-armed-forces-service","tag-brian-smith","tag-cbc","tag-department-of-energy-belton-missouri","tag-deutsche-welle","tag-hallicrafters-s-108","tag-italian-navy-shortwave","tag-new-york-radio-wsy-70","tag-off-air-shortwave-recordings","tag-radio-argentina-exterior","tag-radio-canada","tag-radio-tirana","tag-rae","tag-recordings","tag-shortwave-radio","tag-shortwave-radio-audio-archive","tag-shortwave-radio-recordings"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pn3uc-3L7","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":17638,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2016\/03\/radio-time-travel-brians-1974-shortwave-radio-recording\/","url_meta":{"origin":14453,"position":0},"title":"Radio Time Travel: Brian’s 1974 shortwave radio recording","author":"Thomas","date":"March 7, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post and SRAA\u00a0contributor, Brian D. Smith (W9IND),\u00a0for 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\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Broadcasters"","block_context":{"text":"Broadcasters","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/broadcasters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"HalliDial","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/HalliDial.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/HalliDial.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/HalliDial.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/HalliDial.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":31516,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2018\/04\/shortwave-radio-recordings-ham-radio-contacts-between-w2pvf-sk-and-two-antarctic-stations-circa-1974\/","url_meta":{"origin":14453,"position":1},"title":"Shortwave Radio Recordings: Ham radio contacts between W2PVF (SK) and two Antarctic Stations, circa 1974","author":"Thomas","date":"April 7, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to Bill Hemphill (WD9EQD) who is one of our newest contributors at the Shortwave Radio Audio Archive (SRAA). Bill approached me at the Winter SWL Fest this year\u00a0noting that he has a wide variety of radio-related audio recordings to share with the SRAA and the SWLing Post. This\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Ham Radio"","block_context":{"text":"Ham Radio","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/ham-radio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/LU1ZE-QSL-Card-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":14241,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2015\/07\/shortwave-radio-recordings-radio-st-helena\/","url_meta":{"origin":14453,"position":2},"title":"Shortwave Radio Recordings: Radio St. Helena","author":"Thomas","date":"July 31, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to\u00a0Shortwave Radio Audio Archive contributor, Brian Smith, who\u00a0shares the following recording of Radio St. Helena Day 2006 and\u00a0notes: \"Beginning in 1990, Radio St. Helena was known for transmitting an international shortwave radio broadcast only once a year -- and sometimes not even that -- on a frequency of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"radiosthelena","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/radiosthelena.gif?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":42724,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2020\/04\/check-out-this-amazing-qsl-and-off-air-audio-from-shortwave-pirate-the-purple-nucleus-of-creation\/","url_meta":{"origin":14453,"position":3},"title":"Check out this amazing QSL and off-air audio from shortwave pirate “The Purple Nucleus of Creation”","author":"Thomas","date":"April 8, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"This morning, I uploaded a recording of 2001 shortwave pirate The Purple Nucleus of Creation to the Shortwave Radio Audio Archive (SRAA). The recording was submitted by Adam C. Smith, a regular over at the SRAA. 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How many of you remember Ian McFarland's Shortwave Listener's Digest on Radio Canada International? It was certainly one of my favorite DX and SWL shows! Our good friend Tom Laskowski recently sent in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "DX"","block_context":{"text":"DX","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/dx\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/IMG_0135.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/IMG_0135.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/IMG_0135.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14453","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14453"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14453\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14453"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}