{"id":19615,"date":"2016-06-21T19:40:48","date_gmt":"2016-06-21T23:40:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/?p=19615"},"modified":"2016-06-21T19:44:38","modified_gmt":"2016-06-21T23:44:38","slug":"catch-the-2016-bbc-antarctic-midwinter-broadcast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2016\/06\/catch-the-2016-bbc-antarctic-midwinter-broadcast\/","title":{"rendered":"Catch the 2016 BBC Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Sony-ICF-SW55-Midwinter-Antarctica\"<\/a>

Listening to the 2016 BBC Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast in the parking lot of the Saint-Anne-de-Beaupr\u00e9 Basilica in Qu\u00e9bec, Canada.<\/p><\/div>\n

Only a couple of hours ago, I packed up the\u00a0Sony ICF-SW55<\/a><\/strong> and CC Skywave<\/strong>\u00a0portables in\u00a0search of a quite spot to listen to\u00a0the BBC World Service\u00a0Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast<\/a>. I’m currently traveling in Canada and staying in a condo–the RFI in this building couldn’t be much worse. There was no way I’d hear the broadcast through the noise.<\/p>\n

In search of an outdoor listening spot, I stopped at a couple open\/green areas but in both cases, there was radio interference nearby. Finally, I found a quiet spot in the rather large parking area next to the gorgeous Saint-Anne-de-Beapr\u00e9 Basilica<\/a>.<\/p>\n

At this point, I only had three minutes to put a fresh set of batteries in the Zoom H2N recorder<\/a>, connect it to the ICF-SW55 and hope that somehow<\/em> I’d hear the 7,360 kHz broadcast from Ascension Island which, in fact, was directed toward Antarctica–not Canada!<\/p>\n

I had my fingers crossed as the time hit\u00a017:30 local (21:30 UTC).<\/p>\n

Fortunately, I was rewarded with a signal!<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0Not\u00a0exactly armchair listening, but let me tell you I’m as pleased as punch!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

After tinkering with the position of the receiver, antenna and recorder, I discovered that I achieved the best reception by placing the Sony on top of my car.<\/p>\n

\"Sony-ICF-SW55-van2-Midwinter-Antarctica-001\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I ran the line-out audio (orange cord) to my Zoom H2N recorder inside the van and monitored the broadcast with my earphones hooked to the recorder.<\/p>\n

\"Sony-ICF-SW55-van-Midwinter-Antarctica\"<\/a><\/p>\n

About halfway through the broadcast, I remembered I had the CC Skywave<\/a> in my bag as well, so I turned it on and walked around the van. It, too, could receive the BBC Ascension Island signal with some strength, but the SW55 had an edge on it in terms of AGC stability.<\/p>\n

\"CC-Skywave-Midwinter-Antarctica\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Still, very impressive reception for such a small\u00a0portable with such a modest antenna.<\/p>\n

It’s always a treat to enjoy the BBC Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast live, knowing that\u00a0the BAS crew, wintering over in Antarctica, are enjoying it at the same time!<\/p>\n

That, in a nutshell, is the magic of shortwave radio.<\/p>\n

Please share your recordings!<\/h2>\n

I’ve already received almost a dozen recordings from SWLing Post<\/em> readers! \u00a0Thank you so much!<\/p>\n

If you have a recording of the 2016 Midwinter Broadcast that you’d like to submit, please do so by Friday. Sometime this weekend, I plan to publish a post with all of the recordings and your photos.<\/p>\n

Please\u00a0send your recordings with any notes and photos to my email address which can be\u00a0found on the Contact page<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Only a couple of hours ago, I packed up the\u00a0Sony ICF-SW55 and CC Skywave\u00a0portables in\u00a0search of a quite spot to listen to\u00a0the BBC World Service\u00a0Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast. I’m currently traveling in Canada and staying in a condo–the RFI in this building couldn’t be much worse. There was no way I’d hear the broadcast through the […]<\/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":[3,43,1167],"tags":[3892,419,3919,327,420,1998],"class_list":["post-19615","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-shortwave-radio","category-whats-on-shortwave","tag-antarctic-midwinter-broadcast","tag-antarctica","tag-bbc-antarctic-midwinter-broadcast-test-broadcasts","tag-bbc-world-service","tag-bbc-ws","tag-british-antarctic-survey-team"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pn3uc-56n","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":57060,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2023\/06\/june-21-2023-the-antarctic-midwinter-broadcast-from-the-bbc\/","url_meta":{"origin":19615,"position":0},"title":"June 21, 2023: The Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast from the BBC","author":"Thomas","date":"June 18, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"It's that time of year again! Time to tune into one of the most unique broadcasts transmitted by the BBC World Service: the Midwinter Broadcast to Antarctica. If you have confirmed the 2023 frequency details, please share them in the comments. (Source: BBC Media Centre) Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast The Antarctic\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Tecsun-PL-330-BBC-Midwinter-Antarctica.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Tecsun-PL-330-BBC-Midwinter-Antarctica.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Tecsun-PL-330-BBC-Midwinter-Antarctica.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Tecsun-PL-330-BBC-Midwinter-Antarctica.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Tecsun-PL-330-BBC-Midwinter-Antarctica.jpeg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":13739,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2015\/06\/thanks-for-recording-the-2015-bbc-antarctic-midwinter-broadcast\/","url_meta":{"origin":19615,"position":1},"title":"Thanks for recording the 2015 BBC Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast!","author":"Thomas","date":"June 22, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to those of you who made\u00a0a video or audio recording of your reception of the 2015\u00a0BBC Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast. I'm\u00a0putting together a post with all of the recordings to publish by mid-week.\u00a0If you haven't yet sent in your recording, please do so today! Simply contact me\u00a0with a link\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Broadcasters"","block_context":{"text":"Broadcasters","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/broadcasters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"1024px-Antarctica_6400px_from_Blue_Marble","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/1024px-Antarctica_6400px_from_Blue_Marble.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/1024px-Antarctica_6400px_from_Blue_Marble.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/1024px-Antarctica_6400px_from_Blue_Marble.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":43861,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2020\/06\/british-antarctic-survey-annual-midwinter-broadcast-test-today-june-14-2020-at-2130-utc\/","url_meta":{"origin":19615,"position":2},"title":"British Antarctic Survey Annual Midwinter Broadcast test today (June 14, 2020) at 2130 UTC","author":"Thomas","date":"June 14, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to the British DX Club who shares the following information about a BBC Midwinter Broadcast test being held later today: The annual 30-minute Midwinter broadcast to British Antarctic Survey staff in Antarctica is scheduled by BBC WS for Sunday 21st June. Ahead of this, two frequencies will be\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Halleywinter-BAS-Antarctica-Survey-e1561117722151.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Halleywinter-BAS-Antarctica-Survey-e1561117722151.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Halleywinter-BAS-Antarctica-Survey-e1561117722151.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Halleywinter-BAS-Antarctica-Survey-e1561117722151.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":13713,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2015\/06\/reminder-help-record-the-2015-bbc-antarctic-midwinter-broadcast-today\/","url_meta":{"origin":19615,"position":3},"title":"Reminder: Help record the 2015 BBC Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast today!","author":"Thomas","date":"June 21, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"As a reminder:\u00a0I\u2019m calling on all SWLing Post\u00a0readers and shortwave radio listeners to make a short recording (say, 30-60 seconds) of the BBC Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast and share it\u00a0here at the Post (frequencies and time below). The recording can be audio-only, or even a video taken from any recording device\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Broadcasters"","block_context":{"text":"Broadcasters","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/broadcasters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"800px-Antarctica.svg","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/800px-Antarctica.svg_.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/800px-Antarctica.svg_.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/800px-Antarctica.svg_.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":13543,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2015\/06\/help-record-the-2015-bbc-antarctic-midwinter-broadcast-on-june-21\/","url_meta":{"origin":19615,"position":4},"title":"Help record the 2015 BBC Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast on June 21","author":"Thomas","date":"June 10, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Every year, the BBC broadcasts a special program to the scientists and support staff in the British Antarctic Survey Team.\u00a0The BBC plays\u00a0music requests and sends special messages to the small team of 40+ located at various Antarctic research stations.\u00a0Each year, the thirty minute show is guaranteed to be quirky, nostalgic,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Broadcasters"","block_context":{"text":"Broadcasters","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/broadcasters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"800px-Antarctica.svg","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/800px-Antarctica.svg_.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/800px-Antarctica.svg_.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/800px-Antarctica.svg_.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":60034,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2024\/06\/please-share-your-recording-of-the-2024-bbc-midwinter-broadcast-to-antarctica-here\/","url_meta":{"origin":19615,"position":5},"title":"Please share your recording of the 2024 BBC Midwinter Broadcast to Antarctica here!","author":"Thomas","date":"June 21, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"In the comments section of this post, I'd like you to share your recording of the BBC Midwinter Broadcast to Antarctica! Time and frequencies Our intrepid contributor, Richard Langley, reports the following message from the British Antarctic Survey: The BBC Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast will be transmitted at 21.30 GMT on\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/halleyvi_antony_dubber_bas-Antarctica.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/halleyvi_antony_dubber_bas-Antarctica.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/halleyvi_antony_dubber_bas-Antarctica.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\/19615","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=19615"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19615\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19615"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19615"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}