The Radio Kitchen

I haven’t spent much time eavesdropping on these net gatherings and I don’t know enough about how they work, but I have heard a number of ragchew groups over the years. And it can be as interesting or boring as any group of friends sitting around bullshitting. One thing that’s distinct (and a little odd) is that the biggest topic of discussion when hams gather on the radio is the radios and gear they’re using to have their conversation. By nature, these guys (and they are almost always guys) are gear heads, geeks and electronics aficionados. So if they’re not carrying on about their transceivers, they’re talking about computers, TV’s, or other radios or toys. But sometimes they talk about what’s going on around the house in more personal terms, and that’s where it can get interesting (to me). But rarely do the conversations get intimate or bizarre or emotional. They know they can be easily heard, and there’s some basic rules and etiquette that comes along with being a ham operator. And although I’m sure it happens now and then, I’ve never heard a ham spew on another or be anything less than polite.

While most of what you hear are just guys socializing and jargon-ridden small talk, public service has always been an important (and at times strategic) element of the amateur radio scene. During emergencies and disasters hams often play an important role in saving lives, like during Hurricane Katrina.

As I said, when I turn on the radio I’m usually more interested in programming rather than casual conversations. But there is an appeal in the hearing the real home broadcasting of ham radio, even if it’s very rarely exciting or controversial.

Most hams broadcast on sideband (SSB) because they get more oomph out of their transmitters that way. So in order to hear them you need to have a radio that has SSB functionality (although there are ways to listen to sideband with one or two ordinary shortwave radios). While the DE1103 is a solid inexpensie receiver, it’s not as easy as it should be to focus in on SSB signals with the Degen 1103, I found that once I did get a good copy of a ham conversation (by carefully adjusting the fine tuning to de-weird the audio) I could scan through that same ham band and generally not have to fine tune again. From what I’ve read, ham broadcasters generally use lower sideband (LSB) when on the 40 meter band on down, and upper sideband (USB) when they’re using the 20 meter band on up. But unlike normal shortwave broadcasting, they don’t hold to the 5kHz rule (with all frequency’s ending with a 5 or 0). For example two of the frequencies the recordings below were found on 3937kHz and 7197kHz.

Anyway, the world of ham radio is quite complicated, with a long heritage and plenty of jargon. And the hams themselves seem to be getting older as well. While it’s hardly dying, there isn’t a big youth movement in the amateur radio hobby right now. Most of the guys you’ll hear in these clips are middle-aged to elderly, and many sound to be from more isolated areas of south and midwest. I have heard hams from around New York City from time to time, but it just seems like it’s probably more common way to communicate out in the low population zones where it’s not so easy to find many friends to sit around and “ragchew.” And whether you listen or not, that seems like a good thing. It’s not as common as it used to be, but it’s still nice to hear that radio is serving such an purpose in people’s lives.

So, here’s nine chunks of hamcasting from late night on Friday September 29 (or early morning on the 30th). It gives you an idea what you might hear if you scout out these bands late at night. But I should tell you that there’s plenty of action earlier in the evening, on these bands and others. I apoligize in admitting that the files below are wrongly marked 09-28-06, but I’ve already uploaded them with the wrong date and I don’t feel like doing it all over again. I’m sure that’ll okay with you. If you’re keeping track, add a day or two.

It was raining that night, and somewhere over the horizon there must have been some lightning as well, which you’ll hear. Some of the recordings are better than others, and on a few you’ll catch a bit of simultaneous conversations or off-frequency buzziness. The fi isn’t so hi half the time. However, if you take the time to listen you’ll get a nice pink stack of homespun heartland geekiness from a number of night owls roosting in their ham shacks.

Ham Conversation #1 Late Night Coffee 09-29-06

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The louder voice here is Larry, who had downed a coffee or two so he could stay up late and banter on the radio. Like most of the hams I received that night, it sounds like they’re country folk (Even folks in suburbs don’t have chores). Larry plans to barter some garden harvest for spare parts (for his antenna?). At the end of this clip I believe they’re discussing the wisdom of pacing yourself when climbing your tower to work on your ham radio antenna.

Ham Conversation #2 Ham Radio Etiquette 09-29-06

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A little bit of a discussion on the rules and manners of ham radio social intercourse. Roundtable discussion groups can last many years, and while civility is routinely practiced within amateur radio itself, it can be bad manners to jump into a group of long standing radio buddies and leap into the festivities without being invited or spending time on the sidelines. Other operators and groups are more open about things, like the larger moderated net mentioned here– “The Freewheelers.”

Out of all these clips, the fidelity on a few of these is rather dodgy. Quite a bit of crosstalk, and my reception is slightly off frequency.

Ham Conversation #3 Pig Psychology & Modern Farming 09-29-06

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Believe it or not, here’s a ham radio chat centering around the pink sweet meat itself. Jerry the swine farmer offers some tips and tricks of the hog trade. Learn how to fool a pig into loading itself into a trailer, and how offering the porkers extra helpings of fresh water can improve your yield and dollar return.

While animal husbandry and farming in America is overwhelmingly run by corporate interests these days, independent farmers are still out there. But as you hear in this clip, there are more options (fish and tree farming) to raising traditional crops and animals nowadays.

Ham Conversation #4 RF Woes

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Reception not great here either. Lots of distant thunderstorms all through this clip. In fact, this conversation is about interference, namely the RF horrors of entertainment and household electronics. The radio spectrum where the shortwave and ham bands reside sadly coincides with the majority of the same frequencies many modern appliances and electronics radiate as noise. For example, one of the fellows in this discussion bemoans the horrible RF noise of his giant TV, calling it a “splatterbox” (That’s a new slang term to throw around.). And there’s another problems– the damn Dell printer bleeding noise into the repeater. Some "freaky stuff."

Ham Conversation #5 Gadget Tweakers 09-29-06

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Lots of talk of programming, frequencies, and resetting things. Men. Can you imagine two women chatting sociably about such esoteric electronic dilemmas?

Ham Conversation #6 Geek Geezers 09-29-06

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Here’s some aging good old boys boasting how they were playing games on computers and sending email decades before "it was cool." Then their ragchew associate "Terry" breaks into the conversation. but he’s “a speck-tad off frequency” and distorted. Eventually Terry adjusts himself (coming down fifty cycles or so) and begins to sound more human.

Then the discourse drifts into radio esoterica– single, dual and triple conversion receivers, selectivity, big antennas, radio kits, and a recollection of a radio with so much gain you could “hear a mouse cut cheese on the other side of the Earth.” And then there’s that ankle injury…

Ham Conversation #7 Bait and Switch 09-29-06

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Some tales of electronics shopping– a small victory in a bait and switch scenario, and the sad story of a defective Shure microphone that kept “fryin’ like freakin’ bacon in the pan.” Also, some insight into the correlation between audio quality and signal manhood.

Ham Conversation #8 Bad Luck 09-29-06

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In my limited experience in eavesdropping on the ham bands I’ve heard plenty of tales of poor health and some tragic stories now and then. But the bad luck discussed here is of more a financial nature. One of the guys here (John) mentions he’s in the middle of Ohio. Then their friend Jim pops up (from near Allentown, PA) who they haven’t heard from in “a coon’s age.” Apparently he has a “bodacious signal,” but I’m sure not getting a good copy on it from upstate New York.

Ham Conversation #9 Antenna Talk 09-29-06

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Typical rig talk– wires, dipoles, pulleys. And also some updates on the garden crops.

That’s it. In the next post, shortwave. It’s been a little while. And the next time you see a live pig, think of how you might cajole him into a trailer.

Thanks for listening.

(This post originally appeared in Beware of the Blog.)

Now this happens to be an area in which I have a fair amount of experience. I’ve been listening to shortwave for almost 30 years. I help produce a monthly magazine on the topic, serve as a member of the board of directors of the largest shortwave radio club in the Americas, and am webmaster of a popular and well-regarded site for that club. I think that in an earlier entry The Professor briefly mentioned how some people have elaborate setups with long antennas and expensive radios and such.

I am one of those people.

So I figured that maybe the audience that eats this stuff up at Beware the Blog might be interested in what you can hear with an outdoor antenna specifically constructed to be good at receiving shortwave and a top-notch radio. On June 28, between 1855 and 2013 UTC (2:55 and 4:13 pm), I tuned through the 25 meter band, extending from 11500 to 12200 kHz, recording as I tuned. My shack is down the shore in Monmouth county, about 30 miles south of Jersey City. I’m about 5 miles from the ocean and maybe 2 or 3 miles from the bay. I have a couple of external antennas, one long piece of wire about 300 feet long, and another about 100 feet long in a configuration called a T2FD. My main receiver is an AOR AR-7030 Plus, a tabletop communications receiver designed by the genius English engineer John Thorpe. AOR offers an optional noise blanker and notch filter, and I had those installed when I bought the radio. When I sent the radio back to the U.K. for servicing a couple of years ago, I also had AOR retrofit the radio with the ability to receive digital shortwave broadcasts. The radio is basically all tricked out.

One thing you’ll notice as you listen is that most of these stations are the same international broadcasters you can hear with a portable receiver. There’s often a conception out there that one of these expensive tabletop receivers are required to hear oddball weak stations. But the truth is that what these radios and the antennas associated with them really get you is better reception of the stations you can already hear for the most part, and the ability to "clean up" a messy signal to some degree. You can hear almost anything on a portable that I can hear on my radio. You probably won’t hear it as well, and not as often. But when the conditions are right, you can do amazing things with a portable receiver. The reason to get a tabletop communications receiver is to do those amazing things even when the conditions are just shy of right.

If you’ve listened to any of The Professor’s recordings, you’ll notice one thing different about these recordings: as I approach a station, you will hear a descending tone. The reason for this is that when I scan a band, I typically do so in sideband mode rather than AM mode. An AM signal consists of a carrier and two sidebands. The sidebands carry the audio information, and they are mirror images of each other. Someone realized many years ago that this meant that one of the sidebands was redundant, and that it was possible to transmit recoverable audio by transmitting only one sideband and no carrier. Radios that can tune sideband transmissions have the capability of generating their own carrier to replace the missing one on the signal. So how does this explain the descending tone? When I tune across an AM signal in sideband mode, the carrier of the AM signal and the carrier generated by the radio generate what’s called a heterodyne; basically, the tone that you hear is defined by how far apart the two carriers are. A radio-generated carrier that’s 800 hertz away from the carrier of the AM signal the radio is receiving generates an 800 hertz tone. As the tuner approaches the carrier, this tone drops in frequency. Ideally, with a radio with sufficient resolution, you can place the radio-generated carrier right on top of the signal’s carrier. This is useful for a couple of reasons: first, on a weak, fading signal, the radio-generated carrier is likely to be far more stable, allowing the receiver to decode the sidebands without the fading one associates with shortwave. Second, when you’ve placed the radio-generated carrier right on top of the signal’s carrier, whatever frequency the radio shows is the station’s frequency. It’s surprising how often they’re a little bit off the frequency they’re supposed to be on. In some cases, with stations that are known to be off frequency all the time, this can even help you identify the station. The tone that’s generated by the carriers when they’re separated is called a "beat", so when you’ve successfully placed the two carriers together, that’s called "zero beat". Not all stations that generate a heterodyne have recoverable audio. So tuning in this manner is a good way to find even weak stations (although I wouldn’t log a station simply based on hearing its heterodyne; that’s considered bad form).

There are radios out there that do this heterodyne hunting automatically. This feature is called "synchronous detection", and what happens is that the radio finds the carrier, locks on to it, and substitutes its own carrier automatically. You would think this would be something you would find only on expensive tabletop radios, but the two best synchronous detectors produced in a non-military radio are on portable receivers, the classic Sony ICF-2010 (now discontinued, but produced for 20 years, a testament to its high quality) and the brand new etón E1XM.  The synchronous detector on my 2010 is far better than the one on my early Drake R8, and probably even a little better than on my AOR AR-7030 Plus. These radios are definitely at the high end of the spectrum of portables, but you can get a radio with an excellent synchronous detector for much less; the Sony ICF-7600GR typically costs less than $150 and has pretty much the same circuit that much more expensive ICF-2010 had. With synchronous detection, you can reduce the fading that can make shortwave difficult to listen to, and in most implementations, you can select one or the other sideband to listen to. That’s very useful; if there’s a strong station 5 or 10 kilohertz above a station you’re trying to hear, tuning to the opposite sideband can make a signal that’s being interfered with perfectly listenable. That’s one reason I tune in sideband mode, but these portable receivers make it easy to do that at a fraction of the cost.

The 25 meter band presented here is a transitional band; at times of low sunspot numbers, like now, it is mostly a daytime band; at times of high sunspot numbers, as we’ll probably see in about four or five years, it’s useful at night as well. At this hour of the day, the band is open to quite a bit of the world, including Europe, Africa, and parts of Asia. A few hours later, shortly before sunset at your location, European stations would likely be inaudible, but more Asian stations would be available. This is prime listening hours in Europe and Africa, so many of the broadcasts recorded here are directed there, and merely overheard here in North America. That’s one of the neatest things about listening to shortwave is this ability to eavesdrop on the world. One other nice thing about this reception is a relative lack of U.S. religious and fringe political broadcasts. Personally, I’m not a fan of those broadcasts, and tend to tune right by. There are a couple of instances of them in these recordings, but they’re far outweighed by national and even local broadcasters.

Segment 1 – 25 meter band 06-28-2006  20:55

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11605 – Deutsche Welle

This sounds like it might be Arabic via their transmitters in Wertachtel. One thing that’s interesting about listening to broadcasts in languages you don’t understand is that, once you’ve listened to a number of broadcasts, you can often figure out what kind of program is being aired. This is toward the end of the hour, and there are addresses in a number of countries being given. The largest international broadcasters often open postal addresses in other countries so that their listeners in that country can write them without having to pay for anything more than domestic postage. There’s a brief stinger after the addresses that gives the identity of this station away; this brief piece of music is used in all their language services.

 11620 – All India Radio

News from India in English via transmitters in Aligarh. And tuned in just in time to get the ID at the top of the hour! Shortwave is full of broadcasts like this, offering a different perspective on the news than we usually get in the U.S.

11630 – Golos Rossii

Russia’s external service in Russian via Moscow. The news ends, then there’s an ID for "Radio Compania Golos Rossii", just like what we heard a few seconds earlier from All India Radio. Radio is radio. One of the nice things about my tabletop receiver is that I can play with the sound, trying to get better reception by switching which sideband I listen to or engaging different filters. You can hear some of that here.

11650 – China Radio International (maybe)

Too weak to really tell.

11655 – Radio Netherlands

English via transmitters at Flevoland. Radio Netherlands is a station that definitely punches above its weight in international broadcasting. The people who make the programs there have a visceral understanding of what it means to make interesting radio of a certain sort. As a result, their programs often win awards at festivals like the International Radio Festival in New York each year. One other interesting aspect of their broadcasts is that they don’t flinch from covering the darker side of life. So, for example, you get this program about alcoholism, something you wouldn’t expect to hear from most international broadcasters.

Radio Netherlands’ programs compare favorably to those of the BBC, from a station in a country that doesn’t speak English as their first language and made with a tiny fraction of the budget. They do it by deploying their limited resources carefully, by hiring excellent people, and by being clever. For example, when the BBC World Service shut down its shortwave broadcasts to North America a few years ago, Radio Netherlands seized the opportunity and bought up many of the now-silent transmitter hours for a few weeks so that when people tuned in expecting to hear the BBC, they would hear some excellent programming in English, but from Radio Netherlands. They couldn’t afford to buy most of the time permanently (although North America did gain a morning broadcast from them that wasn’t there before as a result), but they gained some listeners and some goodwill from the BBC’s now abandoned listeners.

11655 – Voice of the Arabs (Egypt)

Arabic music via Abu Za’bal. This is pretty faint, but you can hear the music, slightly distorted because I was tuning in SSB and didn’t have a perfect zero beat here. There are a number of stations that broadcast hours and hours of Arabic music, many of which come in much more strongly than this.

11680 – BBC World Service

Arabic broadcast from the BBC via their transmitters in Rampisham. Whatever they’re talking about, it has something to do with Israel.

11690 – Deutsche Welle

Arabic from DW via Wertachtel, Germany.

11695 – China Radio International

French transmission via a relay in Cerrik, Albania. CRI is really an up-and-comer in international shortwave broadcasting. At a time when the BBC and Deutsche Welle are abandoning large patches of the globe and the VOA is cutting its English broadcasts in favor of focusing on surrogate home services in Arabic, Farsi, and other language, CRI is expanding its broadcasts. It’s investing in relay stations to ensure that they’re widely heard everywhere. And it has seriously upgraded the quality of its programming. This is not your father’s Radio Beijing.

11705 – Radio France International

 If Radio Netherlands punches above its weight, RFI has long punched below its weight. Much like its insistence that French is the language of diplomacy long after English has usurped its former position there, so French is the language of international broadcasting. They focus largely on former colonies, so perhaps there’s a justification for their approach. They have an hour or two per day to Asia and maybe a bit more to Africa in English, and most of the rest of their broadcasts are in French. They’re well respected, particularly for their reporting in Africa, but within Anglophone communities perhaps not as visible as they could be.

Segment 2 – 25 meter band 06-28-2006  19:53

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11735 – Radio Tanzania Zanzibar

This station is a great example of a station that’s worth listening to despite having no clue what the presenters are saying. Mostly, they broadcast music, and it’s beguiling. Typically, there’s a fair sprinkling of the local taarab music, mixed with Arabic pop, Indian filmi music, and African music, largely South African and Congolese style. I like the use this station as an example of how I switch between being a DXer and being a program listener. The first time I heard this station, I was thrilled to add a new station and a new country to my log. The next 70 or 80 times I listened, it was because I loved the music. I actually took to listening to this station most afternoons while I worked for a while.

This particular reception is not the best representation of their programming. The reception is a little weaker than usual, and this kind of unaccompanied Arabic singing is not what I usually hear. That said, I still enjoy listening to it. RTZ typically starts fading in around mid-afternoon; given that it’s summer and that this recording was made not long after the longest day of the year, that fade in is fairly late. In the winter, it’s much earlier. There’s a five minute news broadcast in English every weekday at 1800 UTC, relayed from their local FM station aimed at tourists, Spice FM. That’s not so easy to hear at this time of year, but in the autumn and winter, it comes in quite clearly.

Given that, this station comes in much better an hour or so later. Check out this bonus reception of RTZ from 2017 to their closing at 2100 UTC. Without question, it’s one of my favorite stations in the world.

Radio Tanzania Zanzibar – 11735kHz – 06-28-2006   42:37

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Meanwhile, back to the bandscan…

11740 – Holy Koran (Saudi Arabia) mixing with Radio Farda

Many Arabic countries broadcast readings of the Koran. Saudi Arabia has a station entirely devoted to it. While the readings sound quite musical, it’s considered offensive to describe it as "music" or "singing". The Saudi station is mixing with Radio Farda, a U.S. station aimed at Iran, broadcasting in Farsi and serving as a surrogate domestic service in much the same way that Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty did for Warsaw Pact countries and the Soviet Union during the Cold War. Sadly, this is usually being done at the expense of the Voice of America, which has a reputation for impartial news reporting and probably does more good for America’s image abroad than all of these surrogate stations combined.

11755 – YLE Radio Finland

Finnish via Pori. This station recently decided to stop transmitting on shortwave, and in fact are already off the air. In lieu of this, they’re saying they can better reach their audience of expatriate Finns via satellite and the Internet. They used to broadcast in English as well. Several years ago, they had a wonderful English service that broadcast a half hour a day, with a number of releases throughout the morning that were easy to hear here in North America. Then they moved their broadcasts to the North American evenings and largely lost their audience. I had a conversation with the head of Radio Finland at the Winter SWL Fest in Kulpsville, Pennsylvania, several years ago shortly after they made this move, and told her why I thought this was a bad move. In the evenings, they were competing against the dozens of other broadcasters who were trying to reach North America at the same time, and they kind of got lost in the noise. But their morning broadcasts, which coincided nicely with breakfast time across the continent, had little competition. I don’t want to take credit for the move, but the next season they reinstated their morning broadcasts. Unfortunately, by then their audience had moved on, and it wasn’t much after that when they discontinued broadcasting in English. That was a shame; they had excellent programming that I enjoyed listening to.

11775 – Caribbean Beacon

The late Dr. Gene Scott® has been covered pretty extensively in The Professor’s musings, but I have to say that I particularly like this clip where he talks about getting laid. This is a nice example of the Good Doctor’s more eccentric approach to evangelism.

11780 – Radio Nacional da Amazonia

 Portuguese language domestic broadcast from the capital, Brasilia. This is a national service, aimed at areas in the Amazon and the interior of Brazil that are not well served by AM and FM stations. They play some interesting music, and, unlike international broadcasters, they include commercials. Latin America has a tradition much like North America’s with small local commercial broadcasters dominating the scene as opposed to monolithic national broadcasters like in the rest of the world. Even a large national broadcaster like this one can sound like a commercial broadcaster. There are dozens of shortwave stations in Brazil, and this is one of the strongest and easiest to hear.

Segment 3 – 25 meter band 06-28-2006  15:17

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11785 – Possibly Radio Free Asia via Tinian, Northern Mariana Islands, or Chinese Jammer

The music here is clearly Chinese. Radio Free Asia, the U.S.’ surrogate home service for China and a few other countries, is jammed by the Chinese using transmissions of traditional Chinese music. It’s not uncommon in this circumstance for propagation to favor the jamming station and not the jammed station. So it’s probably the case here that we’re hearing the jammer, but not the jammed. That said, the fact that I can hear the jammer more clearly here in the eastern U.S. is no indication that the same is true in China itself; often times when propagation is different at the transmitter site and the jammer site, the jammer will have little effect on the transmission it is attempting to jam.

Most jamming is unpleasant to listen to, such as the diesel engine-like sounds used by the Cubans against Radio Marti. The Chinese jammers, on the other hand, aren’t half bad, and can be listened to for their program content. I wonder if the jammers QSL….

11795 – Deutsche Welle

German via Kigali, Rwanda. The largest shortwave stations, like the BBC, VOA, and Deutsche Welle, maintain numerous relay stations around the world. This way, the signal doesn’t have to travel too far to reach its intended audience. This transmission is from Rwanda, and is one of the easiest ways to hear that country. It’s perhaps not as interesting as hearing Radio Rwanda though. Radio Rwanda is not an easy catch; its broadcast on 6055 kHz is usually covered by one European broadcaster or another. There is a five minute window from 2055 to 2100 UTC after Radio Slovakia signs off but before Rwanda signs off when Rwanda can occasionally be heard. Interestingly, that last five minutes of their broadcast every day is usually filled up with IDs in a number of languages, including French and English.

11810 – Radio Jordan

Arabic via Qasr al Kharana. At this hour, there will be a lot of this sort of unadorned vocalization, which is often broadcasts of the Holy Koran.

11820 – Holy Koran (Saudi Arabia)

This is the same station as on 11740, but this time not mixing with Radio Farda. This transmission is aimed at Arabs in Europe. America is in the same direction from Saudi Arabia (just a little further away), so this broadcast typically pounds in here.

11835 – UNID

Not sure who this is, but they’re in Arabic.

11850 – Voice of Turkey

French via Emirler. There’s an ID in French, "La Voix du Turkey", toward the end. The best source for IDs in languages you don’t understand is the World Radio TV Handbook. They typically print IDs in many or most of the languages any broadcaster transmits in. So you don’t need to speak the language in order to ID the station.

11855 – probably BBC

Hausa, the language of northern Nigeria, via Ascension Island in the middle of the south Atlantic Ocean. Probably. I don’t hear an ID, so this goes down as tentative in the logbook.

11895 – possibly China Radio International

Sounds like Chinese, but pretty weak.

11915 – Holy Koran (Saudi Arabia)

More of the same station as on 11820. The clicks you hear in here are the sound of me flipping between the two frequencies to confirm that they’re the same broadcast. Finding parallel frequencies like this can be used as a way to identify stations in a language you don’t understand. It’s not as good as hearing an identification or an interval signal, but it will do in a pinch.

11930 – Radio Marti

America’s anti-Castro surrogate domestic service to Cuba. Totally wiped out by those diesel noises. Not nearly as listenable as the Chinese jamming, is it?

11940 – China Radio International

English via Kashi. Their English language program is closing. This is a good time to get an ID, as is the beginning of a broadcast.

Segment 4 – 25 meter band 06-28-2006  18:15

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11945 – Radiodiffusão Portuguesa

Portuguese to Africa via Lisbon. This station used to broadcast in English, but stopped about five years ago, along with all other foreign languages. Now they only broadcast in Portuguese, aimed primarily at expatriates and former colonies. On weekends, you can hear soccer broadcasts on this station, which are almost as animated as the Spanish-language broadcasts on Univision during the World Cup.

11975 – Voice of America

English to Africa via São Tome, a small island off the west coast of Africa. This station is very weak. VOA is often much stronger and easier to hear, but not on this frequency at this hour.

11995 – Radio France International

French to Africa via Moyabi, Gabon. This is relayed via the transmitters of Africa Numero Un, a commercial shortwave station broadcasting to Africa that plays some excellent African music. RFI also often plays some great African music and can be worth listening to in French for that. This is just a news broadcast, however.

12015 – Radio Exterior de España

Arabic from the home of the Moors.  Lots of talk about American-Arab relations.

12025 – UNID

Not sure who this is, but they’re broadcasting in Arabic too.

12050 – Radio Cairo

Relay of their domestic service in Arabic via Abu Za’bal. Egypt is the home of much of the Arabic language music industry, so Radio Cairo can be worth listening to for the music. Unfortunately, they’re legendary for their poor audio quality.

12070 – Voice of Russia

English service via Moscow with the latest news. This is followed up with a program promo in the dulcet tones of Estelle Winters, an expat Brit who has worked for VoR for several years. That high pitched voice really cuts through the static. She came to the Winter SWL Fest in Pennsylvania several years ago, and served as the keynote speaker. She also brought a prize for the Fest raffle, a no-expense paid trip to a golf resort just outside Moscow (she was appropriately sheepish about it, but it was all she could get someone to donate). I was sitting in the back of the room next to two of my best friends when this exciting prize was drawn in the raffle. The one friend muttered to himself "Please, Dear God, not me" as the winning ticket was drawn; two seconds later, his name was called out, and I and our other friend burst out laughing.

12085 – Radio Damascus

Syria’s English service via Adhra is not an easy catch here in North America. I think this is English, but it’s awfully muddled. You can hear me trying to adjust the radio to get a better sound, but nothing really worked.

12095 — BBC World Service

English to Africa via Ascension Island. This frequency used to be on the air pretty much 24 hours a day from a variety of transmitters around the world, and could therefore be heard at almost any time of day. With the BBC de-emphasizing shortwave, that’s not so much the case any more.

12160 – WWCR

World Wide Crackpot Radio, from Nashville. I couldn’t leave you without at least one example of the fringe politics and questionable claims that emanate from the modern day equivalent of Doc Brinkley and the border broadcasters. The odd sound here is a result of my not quite accurately zero beating this signal.

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That’s it. Again, much appreciation to Ralph Brandi for his work and insight in providing the meat and audio for this post. (And you can check out his personal blog here.) I hope you can do this again sometime Ralph.

But, it sure would be swell to hear some reception from other reader/listeners as well. I like the bandscanning format a lot, but I’m open to historic or rare recordings of shortwave as well. And as far as bandscanning, I’d really like to hear some reception from around the country and the world, on AM as well as shortwave. If you’re interested in making recordings of scans, or have some radio recordings sitting around that might provide compelling content please send me an email. And if you’d like any tips or suggestions I might have as far as recording or encoding radio for the web, drop me an email as well. While it would be great to get more audio contributions from experienced DXers like Ralph, if you have an interest in shortwave or venturing through far off late night AM signals AND have a tape recorder, you could do this too.

If you’d like to write about shortwave or the reception you’ve recorded (as Ralph has here), that’s great, but not compulsory. However, providing a log or notes offering the frequencies (and local or UTC time they were received) would be extremely helpful. I’d really like to hear what it’s like to tune across the AM or shortwave dial in Alaska, California, Luxembourg, Guam, New Zealand, just about anywhere (especially not in the NE U.S. and the Midwest, the only locations I’ve offered bandscan recordings so far). My preferences are that there’s some English language broadcasting in the mix, and that at least some of the reception has enough clarity to be understood.

Thanks for listening.

(This post originally appeared in Beware of the Blog.)

Here’s part one of the audio…

Segment 1-41 Meter Band (6855 to 7345 kHz) 06-04-06  22:28

(download)

6855 – WYFR – Family Radio – Open Forum

It’s old weird Harold Camping again, the commander in chief over at Family Radio in Oakland, California. It’s hard to believe, but this call-in talk show has actually been on the air for forty-five years. And in all of its glory, it can be heard on well over a hundred radio stations and worldwide via shortwave (and now the internet). The format is simple– People call up Harold and ask questions about the bible, or ask his interpretation of what the bible says about certain events, issues or activities. And Camping’s counsel is quirky and harsh, filtered through his strict Calvinist and apocalyptic beliefs and his dogmatic adherence to the King James translation of the good book.

Counter to the sharp edges of Camping’s grim advice, is his slow tranquilizer baritone which plods through each call with a a sad hypnotic cadence as solves all worldly problems and concerns with his dim and robotic “chapter and verse” responses. I have yet to hear an entertaining dust-up with an apostate caller on Open Forum, but I imagine might be fun. A really good prank call could make me really love this show one day.

However, the particular call that kicks off this dial scan is an interesting one. The caller has a thick accent, perhaps Pakistani, and he asks Camping some rather pointed questions about Islam and Camping’s odd beliefs. While the gentlemen couches his inquisitiveness by saying that he’s a faithful Christian, his questions seem to be aimed at gently unbuckling Harold’s sturdy bible belt for us all to take a peak at Camping’s tight and twisted undergarments. And the caller seems to do a pretty good job.

His first question is about the Prophet (Mohammed), how he honored Jesus in the Koran and said a lot of the same kind of stuff as the Christian savior. Hmm. I just try to imagine ANY radio evangelist saying saying something overtly positive about the Prophet (especially these days).

According to Camping, the bible was just around back then, and the guy who wrote the Koran probably borrowed a few of the bible characters to give his book some authority. According to Camping, the Koran and every other holy book ever written are just the “writings of men” not the “word of god” like the King James Version of the bible. And of supernatural events described in the Koran? Camping says that either the writer made them up OR if such events actually occurred they had to be the work of the devil. And according to Camping and other like-minded KJV enthusiasts, the founding of any other religion or utilizing any other texts (or bibles) is just plain Satanic anyway. Not a lot of wiggle room there– the whole world is evil, except for Harold and his flock.

Then he asks Mr. Family Radio about this “Church Age” thing. What is it? It seems a little disingenuous when the caller says he hears all these "Christians" talking about it all the time, since it’s Camping’s personal theory and isn’t all that popular. You see, Camping likes to predict the end of the world. He’s done it several times, and so far it hasn’t worked out for him. His last big doom date was 1994 (I think he’s up to 2011 these days), and when the world didn’t go up in smoke he came up with another idea. Instead his 1994 moment became the “end of the church age,” and Camping said all right-believers should quit attending church, and get their holy teaching from broadcasters, like him. Of course, the churches that carried on doing what they do, despite Campings pronouncements are, of course, Satanic.

Okay, it’s more complicated than that. WAY more complicated. Mr. Camping has neatly divided all of history into seasons, chapters and epochs, and added all sorts of other stuff for fun. (If you’re curious, take a look at his convoluted discussion of such matters here.) For a guy with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering, Camping does a lot of thinking. And he has plenty of other odd theories as well.

So, as Camping just starts to get up a little head of steam with his cockeyed epitemology I turn the dial and move on. Listening to him is like taking a bad tranquilizer, it makes you feel calm and uneasy at the same time. Although the call was interesting, Camping himself is just so dull and depressing. (Also briefly discussed Camping in a previous post.)

7105 – BBC World Service

Broadcasting from Ascension Island in the South Atlantic. Not sure of the language. But you can taste the anticipation for the upcoming World Cup.

7120 – BBC World Service

Broadcasting from South Africa this time, in English. A impassioned discussion on the need for fuel efficiency and conservation of petroleum products. Reception here is poor but listenable. Well maybe not to some ears, but you can hear what they’re saying. Sure would be nice if there was some spot on the dial where this broadcast was loud and clear from the U.S.

7125 – Voice of Russia?

Maybe. That’s all I could come up with that matches the time of this broadcast. It’s just a snippet of pop song here. VOA broadcasts on this frequency as well, and I wondered if this might be Radio Farda or Radio Sawa, VOA’s Middle-Eastern propaganda outlets.

7135 – Radio France Internationale

Energetic discussion, French Females.

7150 – Radio France Internationale

More French, possibly about “cinema.”

7160 – BBC World Service

In English, from Ascension again. Poor reception. I think this might be a continuation of the earlier discussion regarding our planet’s petroleum problems.

7170 – Deutsche Welle

In Arabic I believe, from Germany. Accompanied by a rather thick buzz.

7220 – (Not sure…)

While I could find no online documentation that “Voice of the Democratic Path of Ethiopian Unity,” a Clandestine service, is broadcasting at the time of the recording (just before 0500 UTC), this does sound to my ears something like that. The accent is African, and the announcer sounds rather serious. Anyone have any insight on this. The clip is short.

7225 – Deutsche Welle

Germany, broadcasting from Rwanda. It sounds like Arabic pop to me.

7235 – RAI (Italy)

In English, from Rome with some adjacent broadcasting (SSB?) making it difficult to listen to. Some news about Italian troops leaving the American created nightmare in Iraq. I wish this came in better, I don’t hear English broadcasts from Italy all that often.

7250 – Vatican Radio

Sounds like some Catholic information, in French.

7260 – Radio Algerienne International (Algeria)

A man speaking in Arabic, I believe. And a signal relayed from the UK.

7275 – Radio Tunis

Some spirited Arabic pop music, with an interjection from a young and slightly sassy female announcer/DJ. Good signal from North Africa.

7315 – WHRI – World Harvest Radio

Some contact information from Christians in Indiana.

7325 – BBC World Service

Sounds like news (In Arabic?), from the UK.

7335 – CHU – Ottawa, Ontario

It’s the official time, Canadian style. It’s 0459 UTC (almost 1am EDT)

7345 – Deutsche Welle

Their Interval signal, warming up for a new broadcast coming up at 0500 UTC. I don’t stick around for the curtain to rise.

And here’s part two.

Segment 2-41 Meter Band (7405 to 7780 kHz) 06-04-06  50:44

(download)

7405 – Radio Marti

It’s US propaganda for the Cubans. It would be easier to understand if Cuba wasn’t broadcasting all that electronic gurgling on top of it.

7415 – WBCQ

It’s “Shortwave Overnight,” a relatively new program on WBCQ, running from 1 to 3am EDT (0500 to 0700 UTC) on Saturday night, or Sunday morning. (I’ve always thought that the next day should start around 6am instead of midnight.)

The hosts, LF Midwood and Miss Gina, have just taken over the show at this time, and before this WBCQ’s Timtron was a host (and perhaps others have taken a turn as well). I like the idea of this program a lot– an offbeat late night call-in show on international shortwave. And it’s not bad, although I could do without some of the classic rock interludes. A stoned Texan calls in to report a possible UFO he’s watching out in his yard, and recounts being followed by a saucer on a drug run one night, and a retired country DJ calls in to make radio small talk in this clip. (There’s also a one second silent spot from when the tape ended.)

An old associate of WBCQ stalwarts (and Radio NewYork International alums) Allan Weiner and Johnny Lightning, LF Midwood has since ended his relationship with WBCQ, at least professionally. Don’t know the details, but Johnny Lightning’s RNI site (which I had linked to here) has been replaced by this new one, which briefly recounts the falling out. (As I’m writing this, Johnny’s new site, or blog, is still rather bare bones.)

While this isn’t the greatest radio I’ve ever heard, it’s good. And it sure would be swell if more shortwave programming had a little tiny bit of the the adventuresome spirit of WBCQ. Really.

7465 – WHRI – World Harvest Radio

Let’s pray for young Jeff, the rebel.

7475 – Voice of Greece

Sounds ritualistic, with holy type reverb. Orthodox, I suppose. I let the music play here for a few minutes. Kinda soothing.

7505 – KTBN  Salt Lake City, UT

“All we need are a few volunteers to start a revolution. It might as well be us.”

It’s Max Lucado, author and inspirational minister speaking at “The Promised Land,” the Austin mothership for a franchise of Texas megachurches. Have you heard of these things? These giant mall-like suburban worship centers are sprouting up like monster mushrooms, especially in the south. Thousands of folks attend the services at these “churches.” This particular megachurch sits on twenty-six acres? And did I mention that Mr. Lucado has a Texas megachurch of his own?

Anyway, it’s all about finding “the sweet spot.” And I did think it odd that such an important fella as Lucado hadn’t heard the word “eclectic” until just recently. And then to wrap it all up Lucado requests the Promised Land band play a fast number. And instead of a gospel stomper, you hear a hard rock Texas funky (almost hip-hop) Jesus rave-up that I have a hard time explaining. Suffice to say it’s kind of an audience participation number with a lot of "feeling". And from what I understand this is typical megachurch entertainment– Christian rock for the masses.

7250 – WYFR – Family Radio

Not sure of the language here, eastern European I think.

7540 – EWTN

Catholic programming, for our Latin American friends.

7780 – WYFR – Family Radio

More of Harold Camping’s warped Christianity, in German this time.

Thanks for listening.

(This post originally appeared in Beware of the Blog.)

Most (but certainly not all) of what I did capture in English on shortwave during this were those damned US Christian shortwave broadcasters, as well as some decent AM DXing scans, which I have yet to revisit.

In this post I’m offering a late night scan of the 49 meter band (from June 30, 2006), which is primarily a ghetto of Jesus-casting in the US at that time. The 49 meter band (the frequencies directly surrounding 6000 kHz or so) is the most popular shortwave broadcast band overnight, but after midnight very few international broadcasters aim their mighty transmitters toward North America with English broadcasts (except Cuba and perhaps China, which never seems to stop broadcasting in English and dozens of other languages on shortwave). What you typically get in the wee hours are a few distant stations intended for other continents in between the stronger signals spewing English language Christian evangelism and propaganda, most originating from the US.

Although there have been rare instances where I’ve heard something actually inspirational or original from a Christian shortwave broadcast, I can’t think of any right now. In this scan, you get the usual– heaping helpings of righteous ignorance, lots of authoritarian blather, and some creepy xenophobia thrown in for good measure. At its worst, shortwave bible-banging is full of intolerance and disdain, if not hatred, for those who are the wrong color or don’t embrace the beliefs of the particular sect transmitting the propaganda at hand.

In this sampling you’ll hear a bit of that. So, let’s scrape the bottom of the 49 meter barrel, starting out just before 2:30 AM (0624 UTC) on Friday night (or Saturday morning) June 30, 2006 (or July 1 if you’re a stickler).

49 Meter Band (5765 to 6160 kHz) 07-01-06  49:05

(download)

5765 – WWCR (Nashville, TN) – Scriptures For America

It’s the “Scriptures For America” program, with Pastor Peter J. Peters of LaPorte, Colorado. Tonight he’s offering a replay of his Martin Luther King holiday special broadcast from January of this year. And what a tribute it is.

Okay, it’s not a tribute at all. This is a venomous indictment of MLK. Pastor Peters is a leading figure in the American “Christian Identity” movement, a racist theology based on the rather kooky theory that white folks, or “Aryans” (or just generally pale Americans) are descendants of the "lost tribes of Israel." That said, it doesn’t stop these bizarre Caucasoid practitioners from despising Jews (who one would assume they believe are actually their ancient cousins), and of course, loathing African-Americans (and basically all brown and black people). And that’s not all. Christian Identity types really HATE homosexuals, and many aren’t too fond of Catholics either. No surprise, a similar theology has been quite popular in South Africa as well.

Anyway, you get the idea. To make a long story short, Pastor Peters is a hateful little racist asshole who happens to have an international radio show. Funny how Peters barely mentions the civil rights movement (or any need for such a thing in America during MLK’s era) in this nasty diatribe. Nothing original here. It’s basically a restatement of the John Birch Society case against Martin Luther King that’s been passed around in racist circles for decades. Much of it is based on rumors based around the infamous FBI surveillance of King, under the pasty guiding hand of J. Edgar Hoover.

What made King such a bad guy to Peters and the Birchers? Well, apparently he was a naughty person first and foremost. But more importantly, they’re outraged that anyone would honor a communist sexual deviant, who was also a false prophet (whatever that means). And what really pisses off Peters? King’s “wild interracial sex orgies,” of course. (Of course, when Jeff Gannon, Karl Rove and George W all locked themselves up in the White House bathroom for an hour, that wouldn’t technically be "interracial.") To Peters the group sex thing is kinda bad, but it’s the skin color stuff that is almost too sinful for words. “Interracial marriage is a violation of god’s law,” Peters says. It’s “a ploy to weaken America’s strength!” No mention of bodily fluids.

What I felt was mildly amusing in all the hatred and spite, was that Peters actually decries the policies of torture and our loss of privacy rights under Bush, despite the fact that Bush seems as close to Peter’s beliefs as any US President in our lifetime. Perhaps he’s only concerned that government sponsored torture might not be used exclusively on black and brown people. Peters doesn’t seem to find any problem with the FBI snooping on King’s every move for years.

5850 – EWTN – Eternal Word Television Network (Vandiver, AL)

From scary racist Protestant blather, to equally frightening crap from this huge Catholic shortwave station in Alabama. On the phone is nasty old Phyllis Schlafly, who made a name for herself by fighting equal rights for women and public school sex education for decades. She also once said the atomic bomb was a gift from god. And lately she’s been promoting the idea that an independent judiciary is just a plain bad idea. According to Schlafly, some judges have too much power (i.e. independence), especially on the Supreme Courts. According to her recent book, these judges are “supremacists,” which is her terminology for what other rabid right-wingers refer to as judicial activists. It’s shorthand for judges who make decisions Phyllis and her ilk find distasteful, or somehow not Christian enough, whatever. It’s a catchy term, right?– supreme court, supremacists, super-bad… Easy to remember. However, if you happen to look up the word “supremacist” you’ll notice that it a tern defining certain humans who believe that their race, religion, belief system or culture is superior, or are more deserving of certain rights, privileges and freedoms than people who are not like them. So, Rowe vs. Wade was a matter of supremacy? Of what, secularism? Please.

Make no mistake about it. Half-wit theocrats like Schlafly and Peters are TRUE supremacists, and these days like-minded people who want to scrap our secular representative republic for something more like Taliban rule are working overtime behind the scenes to make this country a religious state. It’s happening within the Catholic and Protestant church in this country, and it oughtta scare the hell out of you. That is, unless you’re a zombie too.

5920 – The Fundamental Broadcasting Network

Holy singin’ in a big room. How much joy can you handle?

5935 – WWCR – Gene Scott

Hearing an old-fashioned money grubbing (dead) preacher is kind of a relief after all that hate and prudish garbage. Even if it is a bunch of tired gobbledygook about how HE us gave his son, and that makes us givers, or something "axiomatic" like that. Amen.

5950 – WYFR – Family Radio

Spreading Harold Camping’s warped Christian message around the world in Español.

5965 – Radio Exterior de Espana

The first secular broadcast here. Lots of weather noise. Some guitar action.

5985 – WYFR – Family Radio

More Jesus for all garbage, in a Chinese language I believe. With the contact information given in slow distinct English.

6005 – BBC World Service (from Ascension Island in the South Atlantic)

If there was one blip in the news cycle that seemed to eventually snowball into what has become a huge ongoing human disaster in Lebanon, it was the capture of the young Israeli soldier mentioned in this newscast. That already seems so long ago.

And what is really irritating, especially in a time of a major world crisis, is that the BBC World Service is now difficult, and at times impossible, to hear in North America on shortwave. The BBC has decided that American shortwave listeners just aren’t worth the time or money. Sure, it’s still a great news source (much better than NPR), but it’s really not the world service it once was. I wonder if the planet really starts to go up in a ball of flames if the BBC might butch up and offer North America the English service they need and deserve via shortwave again. After all, If things get really bad shortwave could again become the only way to hear what’s happening around the globe.

Gosh, am I pessimistic today or what?

6030 – Radio Marti

It’s freedom lovin’ America, spreading democracy to Cuba via radio instead of using good old fashioned warfare and torture. Broadcasting from North Carolina, I believe this signal is being jammed by Cuba with their infamous “havana gurgle” machine.

6070 – Radio Mundial Mahanaim (Santiago, Chile)?

One thing for sure, this is NOT CFRX (a shortwave simulcasting relay of talk station CFRB in Toronto, which I did hear at other times at this frequency while in Michigan).

It’s a pop song, in Spanish with guitar (and perhaps flute) with hip hop overtones. Not that I’m crazy about this song, and the reception is piss poor, but in my opinion this one stop on the 49 meter band had more humanity and sanity than any other signal I came across that evening. However, the clip is short here.

6090 – Gene Scott

Beggin’ for money from the grave again. I wonder how many years it will go on?

6110 – RAI – Radio International Italy (Rome)?

Or maybe a Christian station in Chile. Not sure. Very poor signal.

6160 – Radio Habana Cuba

In English. AWFUL reception.

Thanks for listening!

(This post originally appeared in Beware of the Blog.)

Segment 4-31 Meter Band (9805 to 9885 kHz)  32:07

(download)

9805 – VOA (relay from Morocco)

Unknown language. Arabic?

9820 – Radio Habana Cuba

In English, not nearly as clear as their broadcasts on 6000 kHz. News, like the Bush Administration bullying Chile to vote against Venezuela at the U.N.

9830 – Hrvatska Radio (Croatia)

Croation, I suppose.

9835 – BBC World Service?

I believe this is a from a relay in South Africa, broadcasting in Swahili. Something about Bird Flu (the H5N1 virus).

9845 – BBC World Service?

If I’m right, this is BBC broadcasting from Cyprus this time, in Arabic. Nice place for a relay to the Middle East. The sun never sets on those BBC relays.

9855 – The Voice of America? (from Morocco)

In Arabic? It’s a male announcer, and another station with a female announcer (which I believe is a bleed over from the Voice of Russia just 5kHz up the dial) stomping on this signal, as well as an obnoxious buzz washing over the whole mess.

9860 – The Voice of Russia

This is Russia’s English service. Old fashioned radio, Eastern European style. Some former Soviet bloc countries, Russia in particular, are very TRADITIONAL with their English language international service. Many of the announcers I hear now, were on the air a couple of decades ago, including the narrator of the historic tale included here.

He’s talking about OLD Russian history, Ivan the Terrible and the 13th century, all embellished with rich and historic musical interludes.

9865 – The Voice of America (from Morocco again)

Arabic pop music, I guess. Nice. Although it’s not easy to hear VOA broadcasts in the U.S., it’s obvious they’re out there, broadcasting in languages like Arabic.

9880 – The Voice of Russia (From Armenia)

In English. Now it’s a narrative on the 4th century Russia with another announcer. Not sure if this is the same thing as we just heard on 9865.

9885 – VOA (From Botswana)

In English this time. In a “Today in History” moment Tony Collins brags about U.S. space walking. Funny isn’t it. The Russians dig many centuries deep into history to position themselves on international radio. The U.S. brags about their 1960′s scientific prowess.

And here’s the second MP3 for this post:

Segment 5-31 Meter Band (9905 to 9970kHz) 06-03-06  24:59

(download)

9905 – Radio Nile

Wow. A clandestine broadcast from Madagascar, in English! Not rock solid clear, but solid reception from the other side of the globe. This is actually a morning show in East Africa, specifically aimed at Sudan.

How to they have such a whopping signal? Funding. Formerly “Radio Voice of Hope” , Radio Nile is a broadcast service largely (if not entirely) funded by the Dutch government and a couple of Christian groups who actually seem to be interested in helping the underdogs, and promoting peace and democracy (unlike some of their U.S. counterparts). It’s run by the “New Sudan Council of Churches” in support of the southern rebels (mostly black), opposed to the official Sudanese government in the north (where the population is largely Arabic and Muslim).

The accents are thick, some of it is not in English and the reception throbs a bit, but it’s interesting listening if you give it some attention. In between reggae and African music the male and female hosts (passionately) discuss the ongoing civil war, religion and African and global politics.

I don’t know enough about the political situation in and around Sudan to say all that much about it, but with shortwave you can hear directly from concerned parties who are directly affected by the suffering and injustice. In Africa, shortwave is alive and well. And the ability to pick up a broadcast in English, from a third world country over eight thousand miles away via the radio is still damn compelling to me. It’s the kind of thing that makes me power up my shortwave radios again and again. And that’s why there’s well over twenty minutes of Radio Nile on this recording.

Unity, equality, progress…

9915 – Radio Sultanate of Oman

Female announcer. Arabic, I think. Again, a strong signal from far away.

9925 – Radio Television Belgium French

Unknown language. Male announcer.

9970 – Radio Television Belgium French

Same service. French this time. A whimsical whistling pop number, a female announcer, then a bad pop song.    

That’s it. The end of a three week exploration into a couple of hours of traversing just one of the shortwave bands. I thought there was a lot there.

And thanks for listening.

(This post originally appeared in Beware of the Blog.)

Shortwave radio is unlike standard U.S. AM and FM listening in so many ways. At one hour you can hear one particular station, and in the next hour or two another one might take it’s place on the dial. Stations often broadcast on several frequencies at once, or change the frequencies they use through the year. Add to that the fact that reception is directly affected (both negatively or positively) by changes in the atmosphere, conditions in outer space around the Earth, and what’s happening on the sun itself, it adds so many variables that makes listening to shortwave both a challenge and (if you don’t mind some strange audio artifacts and a bit of noise) as rewarding as radio gets.

 So, here’ s the scan, starting in Romania…

Segment  2-31 Meter Band (9645 to 9700 kHz) 06-02-06  22:09

(download)

9645 – Radio Romania International

Spanish programming. Nice old-fashioned bumper music. It sounds like news.

9650 – Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting?

I believe this is Iran broadcasting in Russian. Quite faint. A male and then female announcer followed by some Classical music, which sounds like moody and dark Russian classical music actually. I think there might be an ID in here as well….somewhere.

This is an atrocious copy of this signal, but hard core DXers listen to this kind of noise soup all the time, but if you have some fancy equipment you could clean this up a bit. But it still wouldn’t sound clear.

9660 – Voice of China Reborn

It’s a clandestine broadcast from Taiwan, which is often jammed by China. Lucky to catch this one. They only broadcast for ten minutes twice a day! It’s an announcer (speaking a Chinese language) with moody music in the background. Another station is eating away at the signal (which seems to be the Voice of Russia 5kHz up), but it’s fairly strong. I believe I hear a word that sounds like “democrat” or “democracy” in all this. Would be very interested in the subject matter, if any readers speak the language.

9665 – The Voice of Russia

 It’s the new version of Moscow Mailbag (I wrote about the late Joe Adamov– the host of Moscow Mailbag for almost fifty years– in this post). I believe the new host is Yuri Reshetnikov.

Anyway, I miss old Joe. Still, this does remind me of the old days of Moscow Mailbag a bit, as the so-called “war on terror” has replaced the cold war as the major vector of international disharmony. A listener writes to ask if Iran has been helping the Chechen rebels, who of course are the biggest (Islamic) terrorist threat within modern Russia. Iran is Russia’s friend the host insists, and seems to insinuate that the idea of Iran helping out the Chechnyans is U.S. propaganda, and then he remarks about how Turkey (a U.S. ally) HAS been offering the rebels a hand. He also mentions how insane it would be for the U.S. to use military force against Iran. Maybe Bush oughtta take a deeper gander into Putin’s eyeballs next time.

Then again, the listener question about cable and satellite TV in Russia today speaks to what a different world we live in since the cold war. Instead of clunky old Soviet TV, they now get most of the same glossy cable crap that we love here in America. Moscow Mailbag started out as English language propaganda tool, offering western listeners insight into the dark and secretive Soviet Union. Now it’s a bit of an artifact, offering the same service at a time when the U.S. might be a bit more dark and secretive than even Russia.

9860 – WYFR – Family Radio

Bible stuff, in Spanish.

9690 – China Radio International

English service from a relay in Spain. It’s a male/female team, also answering mail (or email) from listeners. But what a difference between this superficial happy-talk and Moscow Mailbag. No controversy here, just chipper hosts reading gushing fan mail from international listeners. It kind of reminds me of the perky proceedings of Radio Disney, only with Chinese accents. The hosts are like leaping puppies attempting to please everyone, especially the Chinese government.

Even one note of bad news is all hope and sunshine. At one point the male host remarks: “We are very sorry for the latest earthquake that struck part of Indonesia. And we hope that everything is going fine with the people in the quake stricken area, and that life will come back to normal for them.” Deep, eh?

In general, I find all this blank cheerfulness rather disturbing. While I’m quite accustomed to (and expect) propaganda from international state broadcasts, this kind of absurdly carefree banter smells of something really dark and twisted lurking under the surface– kind of like some shortwave evangelists out there.

9700 – Radio Romania International

Poor reception with deep phasing effects. In Spanish.

And here’s part 2 of the audio for this post–

Segment  3-31 Meter Band (9715 to 9790 kHz) 06-02-06  18:48

(download)

9715 – WYFR – Family Radio

In Spanish. De Cristo, all that jazz.

9720 – Radio Tunis (Tunisia)

Arabic pop music. I love this stuff, and let the tape roll for a few minutes on this station. A female announcer speaks a bit before I turn the knob.

9715 – The Gene Scott Network (from Costa Rica)

Some hokey musical interlude on the Gene Scott show, which never seems to end. Kind of a fake country rave-up. As I’ve said before, Gene remains as worldwide as he is dead.

9745 – HCJB (Ecuador)

In Spanish. HCJB has been a huge shortwave presence for decades. They seem to be one of the biggest Christian outlets in the Western Hemisphere, outside of U.S. of course. And they’re very friendly.

9750 – BBC World Service

In English, a poor signal coming in from an island in the Indian Ocean. A discussion of global warming. Alot of U.S. shortwave listeners were pissed off when BBC quit providing English language shortwave service to North America a few years back. A damn shame.

 9780 – Republic of Yemen Radio

A male announcer and then some more Arab pop. The acoustic guitar here is beautiful and intricate. The signal is weak, but there’s no interference getting in the way. The reception you hear is probably a good example of the advantages of DXing outside of a major urban area.

According to this site, Yemen is only broadcasting with 50 kilowatts at this frequency. If that’s true, it furthers the positive ruminations on the Degen 1103 that I’ve offered here.

9790 – China Radio International

A relay from Cuba this time, in English. “Moments in Love” by the Art of Noise is often used as bumper music on CRI. It’s perfect– a phoney and profound sounding theme for a government broadcast faking emotive and empathetic content. Yuk.

That’s it for this week. Appreciate hearing feedback, suggestions and corrections. Or if you’ve got something to add to the conversation, please leave a comment.

Meanwhile, I’m blocking out some days this summer away from the megalopolis here to have some more fun with this new portable. And I hope to pass along some of the high points here.

Thanks for listening.

(This post originally appeared in Beware of the Blog.)

So, after a rainy, splashy, traffic-tangled drive out of the city and up the New York Thruway I set up camp on my friend’s porch by 10:30 Friday night and powered up the Degen. After noodling around a bit, I decided the 31 meter band sounded promising. So I switched on the recorder and started up from the bottom of the band. And there was PLENTY to hear. Although I scanned and recorded through the night and Saturday late as well, this was the best stretch of reception I ran into the whole weekend. Have a listen…

 This recording starts at 10:34 pm EDT (0234 UTC)

Segment 1-31 Meter Band (9345 to 9610 kHz) 06-02-06  31:19

(download)

9345 – KOL Israel

It seemed like a good omen hearing soulful old Albert King at the onset of this scan. A solid (though phasey) signal from Jerusalem. After Mr. King plays the blues, and then there’s a brief announcement in Hebrew (mentioning John Lee Hooker) which leads into a 70′s groove rock number.

9365 – (Not sure)

Very faint, and not in English. Sounds Chinese perhaps, certainly not English. China does broadcast on this frequency, but not at this time as far as I can tell. Another suspect might be a VOA in Kuwait, and other Middle Eastern countries have supposedly been found on at 9365 kHz as well. Any readers have a clue on this one?

This is difficult listening. Turn it up and drive somebody out of the room. As the announcer drones on, a distorted adjacent station is all over the signal. As I turn the dial, you hear the distortion become clear American hyperbole, just 5kHz up…

9370 – WTJC – Fundamental Broadcasting Network
(North Carolina, USA)

Wow. This is some heavily stylized preachin’ here. While it saddens me that shortwave in the U.S. is overrun with evangelical claptrap and Bible content, there is certainly some compelling content (like that Adam & Eve soap opera in my last post).

The first thought in my head when I hear this character’s bizarre phrasing and hyperbolic delivery is it sounds like some over-the-top parody or cartoon (and what a muscular larynx!). But it’s for real. It’s easy to miss the authenticity in this kind of thing when you’ve just heard the reverberations as dramitic and comedic cliches over the years. Like an auctioneer or carnival barker, this guy is practicing a long standing oral craft. But to be fair, the purpose is to scare the shit out of you and drive you to succumb to an alleged higher power (and not to lure you into taking a peek at the pig-boy in the booth).

9420 – Voice of Greece

Greek pop, I guess. Folky and funky. A nice signal beaming in from almost 5000 miles away. Then there’s an announcer for a minute or two, and I turn to…

9440 – Radio Slovakia

Sounds like a male and female team giving schedule information in an Eastern European language.

9505 – WFYR Family Radio

It’s Harold Camping, a co-founder of Family Radio, and the leader of the Christian radio network for nearly fifty years. Along with Gene Scott and Brother Stair, Mr. Camping’s voice is instantly familiar to anyone who spends a little time listening to shortwave radio in North America (and perhaps the Western Hemishpere). Without the histrionics of fire and brimstone  provided by the old coot we heard a few minutes before this, he’s still offering the same choice to the listener– you want Jesus or this lake of fire?

Although once popular with many Christian broadcasters and assorted church leaders and their flocks, Camping’s Family Radio doesn’t have so many friends in the broader Jesus community these days. Seems it all started when he started prognosticating the end of the world. When one particular predicted apocalypse didn’t occur (September 15, 1994), Camping put his own significance on the date anyway, claiming the “church age” was over, and right-thinking believers should get their preachin’ and prayin’ via the radio from now on (and now the internet as well). Well, this pissed off a LOT of believers. And since Camping has gotten progressively more goofy, Family Radio seems be suffering from a bit of financial trouble and has lost a few stations. Churches who used to broadcast on Family Radio are long gone now, and the stern lectures and reprisals of Harold Camping have filled the gaps. A few times I’ve heard at least two separate Camping broadcasts on simultaneous shortwave frequencies at the same time.

And he never sounds very happy.

9515 – WHRI (World Harvest Radio)

A loud clear boring contemporary Christian pop song (in English). The Jesus rock stuff tries hard to sound so MOVING. Barf, I say.

9520 – VOA (Voice of Ameica)

From a relay site in Hungary. Some European language.

9535 – Radio Exterior de Espana (Spain)

Classical music, then the ID in Spanish. Quite clear and snappy from across the Atlantic.

9550 – Radio Habana Cuba

A lousy signal here in upstate New York. In Spanish.

9560 – (Not sure, CRI?)

Cute music box.. an interval sound perhaps, but for what station? As you hear, it suddenly died. Probably the end of a broadcast. I suspect this was China, or some other country relaying their signal from Sackville, Canada. While it lasted, it was VERY clear.

9570 – China Radio International

From Albania, or Cuba this time, in a Chinese language.

9590 – Radio Netherlands

In Spanish.

9600 – RNV (Radio Nacional de Venezuela)?

Either that or Radio Rebelde, either way it’s Spanish, and probably originating from Cuba.

9610 – (Not sure)

Don’t know what this is, and it’s an English language broadcast with narrative content and a station in another language is munching on the signal. From what I can ascertain, it may be the BBC coming from the Republic of Seychelles, an island Nation in the Indian Ocean. Or maybe something else. Anyone have a clue?

There you go, that was one side of a sixty minute cassette. This scan goes much longer, and I’ll continue it next week.

Thanks for listening.

(This post originally appeared in Beware of the Blog.)

And me? I’m still fooling around with my new receiver, a Degen 1103. I was finally was able to record a couple of decent shortwave dial scans with it. Not fascinating samples of international broadcasting, but viable samples of shortwave reception from the middle of this massive megalopolis. Scroll down for some MP3s from a scan of the 41 meter band from last Friday.

It’s been several months since I’ve had a chance to do some DXing without struggling with the dense radio noise floor of city life. But next weekend I’m going to spend a couple days 100 miles or so north of New York, and I look forward to lots of silence between frequencies and hopefully pulling in some stations I’ve never heard before.

And in this dial scan you’ll hear some of the RF noise you can’t escape on AM and shortwave around here. After a couple weeks of playing with this portable, I can tell you that twirling the tuning knob of the Degen 1103 IS similar to an analog setup. However, as I mentioned in the last post there are some quirky digital artifacts audible as you move through the numbers. And what I’ve also noticed is that some RF noise is just WORSE with this digital receiver. It’s like a nasty buzz or roar coming out of the speaker gets an added jagged digital edge that even grates on MY nerves, and I’m fairly immune to the static, buzzes and crashes inherent in shortwave listening.

All that said, there have been some nights when I’ve had a few minutes to step outside and quickly skip through the bands, and this little Degen just throbs with reception across the dial. It’ll be nice to sit out on that porch upstate and take some time to find out what’s out there.

And lastly, I’d like to solicit some readers of this blog for some audio content. While I’ll continue to post my own radio recordings here, I’d like to have a wider variety to offer. If you have some interesting shortwave or AM DX recordings to share OR have the ability to make some I might be able to use here, please send me an email. Off the top of my head, here’s some of the kinds of radio recordings I’d be very interested in checking out for possible inclusion here:

1. Historic shortwave recordings. Any compelling shortwave radio from the past, especially from the cold war era and before. Strange, historic, or rare recordings would be nice, but not necessary. Please include ID’s of stations or logs if you have them.

2. Interesing shortwave or AM radio (or long wave) recordings from around the country or the world. ID’s or logs would be very helpful. Let me know what you have, or can get.

3. Bandscans. Anybody with a decent receiver who can scan the bands from other parts of the country or the world, it would be great if you could offer a sampling of what can be heard where you are, or have been. I would prefer if you would spend some time on interesting broadcasts you come across, and again logs for these recordings would be ideal. I’d like to get some AM dial scans of the AM dial from other areas of North America especially. It would be nice to get complete journey’s of the dial, from 530 or 540, up toward 1700 kHz. Contact me if you have questions or ideas. Any dial scans from decades ago would be VERY welcome here.

I can’t promise I’ll use anything for sure, but it would be great if you could offer your listening experiences for consideration. Ideally, I’d like it to be in an mp3 format I could snatch from you over the internet, but CD’s or cassettes via snail mail would be fine as well. If I could just get even a few DXers to regularly contribute it would really add a lot to this little funhouse. I’ll certainly credit you if I post your recordings. If you think you might be able to offer something, please DO send me an email.

Meanwhile, here’s a partial scan of the 41 meter band I recorded in Jersey City last Friday just after 7 p.m. (2300 UTC). There is some raw noise from time to time and reception wasn’t fantastic, but there was a variety of international content in between the domestic bible bangers. And here’s what it sounded like…

Segment 1 – 31 Meter Band 05-26-06  16:14

(download)

9330 – WBCQ – “The Good Friends Network”

And a big chorus of Caucasian hallelujah to you too!.

9345 – KOL Israel

In Hebrew. "Nel blu dipinto di blu" (Volare) however, is definitely Italian. I’m surprised I don’t hear more English content from Israel.

9355 – (unknown)

I thought this was the Catholics on EWTN, but it doesn’t sound like religious content. Russia broadcasts on this frequency as well. Any DXers or Spanish speakers have a clue on this one?

9370 – WTJC – The Fundamental Broadcasting Network

Oh boy. You hear this kind of thing a lot on Christian shortwave, a dramatization of bible “history.” Typically, these are “news” constructs, with a make-believe correspondent at the crucifixion or something. But this is different. It’s a soap opera (or sitcom) set at the VERY beginning of humanity. And in this clip you’ll hear the first quarrel EVER. I guess that’s what can happen if you ascend to a higher state of existence– You can disagree. 

In mainstream monotheistic theology, it’s how we “fell from grace.” Apparently, Adam and Eve could have frolicked forever in happy-go-lucky ignorance, but a certain snake came along and led them to snack on the fruit that imparted them with the weighty knowledge of good and evil. Oops. I guess one way to piss off a power hungry supernatural being is just to get smarter.

The Gnostics, on the other hand, had a completely different interpretation of this story. They saw this act of rebellion against god as the first act of human salvation against a cruel and oppressive creator. And the snake– a GOOD guy. While I don’t personally look for guidance from bible myths and allegories, the Gnostic interpretation of this narrative makes a lot more sense to me.

As I said, these reenactments are popular fodder on religious shortwave stations. I guess these religious dramas make the bible more REAL for believers. And you wondered why the fundamentalists are so frightened by that DaVinci code movie. Fictional entertainment. It’s powerful stuff.

And my god, the AWFUL noise scanning out of this frequency.

9415 – Radio Prague

VERY faint. A song and a lotta noise. Not really listenable.

9420 – Voice of Greece.

A slightly anthemic pop song. Female singer. Greek I assume.

9500 – Radio Bulgaria

Extremely faint. Scanned right past it.

9525 – Radio Netherlands

With all the monks and reverb that popey sound in the background, I figured it was EWTN. But, perhaps it’s a documentary feature on Catholics. I don’t know, but I think it’s Dutch.

9535 – Radio Exterior de Espana

Sounds like news, delivered at a rapid pace in Spanish.

9545 – Deutsche Welle

The same as above, in German.

Segment 2 – 31 Meter Band 05-26-06  12:17

(download)

9700 – Radio Bulgaria

Commentary in English. A bit muddy and a lot of fading.

9715 – Radiodifusao Portuguesa

Loud and clear. A cheery pop number. Sounds like the 1980′s. A funky little toe-tapper with complimentary shortwave phasing effects.

9725 – Gene Scott

Mr. Scott bragging about his huge broadcasting presence. This particular broadcast is coming from Costa Rica, by the way.

Although Gene Scott no longer walks the Earth, he seems to have found immortality on shortwave. As long as the money keeps coming in.

Ouch! The NOISE after moving past this frequency is nasty.

9840 – WHRI (World Harvest Radio) – Radio Liberty

Old Stanley Montieth. Barely readable.

9855 – Radio Kuwait

A drama of some kind, in Arabic. I wonder if snakes are involved?

9875 – Radio Vilnius

The beginning of the Friday English language program from Lithuania. This is old fashioned international broadcasting. Quite listenable, with a little throbbing as the radio waves bounce over the Atlantic. In general, countries that used be part of the eastern bloc are more likely to maintain an English language service to North America than the rest of Europe.

The news focuses on an ongoing Lithuanian corruption scandal. I guess we have more in common with the E.U. than I thought.

9895 – Radio Netherlands

In Spanish…

9925 – Hrvatska Radio

Croatian folk rock, I guess. Spooky with a flute.

9975 – EWTN

Everything you need to become a do-it-yourself Catholic apologist by simply utilizing your internet browser. A very slick promo.

9985 – WYFR (Family Radio)

Just a few seconds of Protestant profundity, prophets and persecution. It’s palpable.

That’s it for now. Ane to those of you who have linked to this site, I thank you. I really appreciate it.

As usual, thanks for listening.

(This post originally appeared in Beware of the Blog.)

Because propagation on AM and SW varies so much, if you’re going to dig into a section of the radio band to explore what’s out there, it’s good to be able to sample some bands first to find out where the action is. Unlike playing with an analog set, you can’t whip through the dial and pick out signals quite as quickly with the 1103. But even when I speed though the numbers at top speed I do get a sense that I’m hearing a viable sample of each 1 kHz stop along the way. Which is unlike my other digital portable (a Sangean ATS-505) where it takes a fraction of a second for each step to reveal itself. Zooming through a band at a rapid pace yields a bunch of useless silence. As reader Ralph noted on a earlier post, high end digital receivers have a much greater resolution (smaller “steps") and scanning is practically the same as using an analog rig. But for eighty (to a hundred) bucks this radio gets the job done.

The pseudo analog tuning display isn’t necessary, but it does give you a helpful visual roadmap of where you’re at. I do wish the numerical readout was a little larger. This is where the BCL-2000 is better in low-light or in the dark. The display is brighter and numbers are larger. Also the “jog dial” which you use to tune the DE1103 also serves a number of functions, most notably the volume control. It takes a minute to get used to, but I didn’t find it nearly as annoying as other reviewers did. As far as actual scanning, going through the dial can yield a mild chirp between steps if you’re passing a number of active frequencies. In general, scanning slowly solves this digital annoyance, but not completely.

I also should note that it seems the same basic radio with a big fat numerical readout instead of an extensive analog dial simulation is now available. It’s the Eton E5 (which was supposed to be released as the Degen 1106, but they sold the design to Eton). From what I’ve read, it’s the same basic receiver as the Degen 1103 with a more traditional shortwave radio layout and has more presets available. However, the E5 lists for around $150 and to me those features aren’t worth an extra seventy bucks.

As I’ve noted before, I live very close to a booming clear channel AM station, WQEW at 1560 kHz. On other radios I have here (especially the BCL-2000), nearby frequencies are wiped out by WQEW. With the 1103 I can now hear WWKB at 1520 in Buffalo and WCKY at 1530 in Cincinnati. Also the image of WQEW blasts in on 650 kHz on the BCL. With the Degen I haven’t been able to pull in WSM in Nashville there yet, but WQEW’s Radio Disney bullshit doesn’t haunt that frequency on the Degen. I also heard a listenable read of WLS at 890 in Chicago at night, which is a real feat considering the wide swath of bandwidth WCBS (at 880) grabs here in the city.

So, I look forward to taking this little unit away from the city and hearing what I can DX under better conditions. My apartment is an RF nightmare. I tried plugging in an external antenna (the radio comes with a LONG one) and was totally frustrated by how the just pulled in MORE noise. That night I also found out that the little battery charger for my digital camera blasts a nasty pulse on the 41 meter band.

Bottom line, I’m already recommending the Degen (or Kaito) 1103 to readers who might be thinking about purchasing a relatively inexpensive shortwave radio. From what I can tell, before now you couldn’t purchase a new radio with this kind of overall performance for near this price. The BCL radios are nice, and I do recommend them as well, but I have to admit that while I like some features (notably analog tuning with an easy to see digital display and an RF gain control) A LOT, I’m more enchanted by what the BCL radios could or should do rather than the actual experience of how it performs in real conditions. Let’s hope later models are an improvement.

While I picked up a some interesting stuff playing around with the Degen this weekend, I wasn’t able to record a dial scan I’d want to present here. Reception wasn’t what it was a day or two before and the weather here in the northeast has been really lousy. There was plenty of lightning out over the horizon playing havoc with the AM and shortwave bands. On Sunday night (Mother’s Day) there was no rain here, so a little after eight in the evening I sat on my front stoop flipping through the 41 meter band and caught a few broadcasts I thought I’d share. For the first time I picked up a couple of shortwave pirate broadcasters, which was almost exciting. At least for me.

Hopefully over the next couple weeks I’ll be able to offer a dial scan or two more representative of what the 1103 can really do. But for now, this post offers four radio samples which represent the DIY side of shortwave. Some (or all) of this programming probably originates from the homes of the broadcasters themselves. While much of the shortwave you’ll pick up in the states is major international stations and Christian U.S. goofballs, there is more to be heard.

Here’s the audio…

6925 – The Voice of Mike Gaukin  3:17

(download)

This is an SSB (or sideband, broadcast). Again, I don’t want to get into too much technical radio talk, but sideband is different than typical amplitude modulation, or AM broadcasting. From what I understand, the signal lacks a “carrier” and is more “efficient in its use of electrical power and bandwidth” than AM. In other words, you get more bang for your buck on the transmitter end, with the signal having a greater reach with less power. It’s a favorite method of broadcasting for hams and radio pirates. And this is most certainly pirate programming.

While any shortwave can receive an SSB signal, but to be able to make any sense of it you need to have a radio with an SSB or BFO feature. When you tune one of those muffled and/or buzzy voices, switch on the SSB capability and “clarify” the station with a tuning knob until the voice starts to sound human. The Degen 1103 and my Panasonic RF-2200 both have this feature, the BCL radios do not. Without it you do miss some of what’s available on the dial.

Although I’ve heard a number of recordings of shortwave pirates this is the first one I’ve come across that I recognized was one (Of course, often I wasn’t able to access an SSB signal). Every shortwave pirate recording I’ve heard always sounds like crap as far as signal quality, and this one was no exception. It starts out with that “bound and gagged” sound of untreated SSB, then when I push the SSB button and tweak the wheel it quickly clears up.

It starts out with a juvenile Opie and Anthony phone prank, which I gather involves calls to (auto parts?) stores and repeating the word “buttplug” over and over again with a variety of intonations. This confuses and frustrates the store clerks on other end of the line, and well.. hilarity ensues. Oh, your sides will ache…

Anyway, then a male voices announces that he is “The Voice of Mike Gaukin” as well as “a gay faggot.” (Which is I gather must be the opposite of a straight faggot.) The there are references to “Kracker Radio” and another pirate group (I guess?) “The Bowling League.” And to add to the fun, the announcer has electronically mutated his voice, and this could fool you into thinking you haven’t correctly tuned into the sideband. I guess there’s all sorts of ways to have fun.

I don’t get capture much of this “program.” Just over a minute here. At 8:23 EDT (0023 UTC) it’s all over and the static takes over. So, who is Mike Gaukin and why is he investing his time and electricity to tell the world about his gay faggotry? Well, some internet searches bring up a number of references to the “Voice of Mike Gaukin” pirate broadcast. And from the time I’ve spent browsing around, it seems that Michael Gaukin is a real guy and “Kracker” of Kracker Radio doesn’t like him very much, and has an ongoing slander campaign going online and on the radio. Here’s an alleged rap sheet on Gaukin from Kracker’s site.

Or maybe there’s something totally different going on. I have no idea. It’s all a bit too teenage boy for my taste. But if you want to dig deeper into the Mike Gaukin mystery, you can start here or here.

6950 – Kracker Radio  4:01

(download)

Then a few quick nudges of the knob and I’ve found Mr. Kracker himself. This pirate broadcast is straight ahead AM and not sideband. Electric guitar with an effects pedal. Then an electronically tweaked voice which sounds suspiciously identical to the Voice of Mike Gaukin. Although it’s not easy to sort out the collage-ish interlude between songs, references to penises and marijuana are evident. Then it’s King Missile and “Detachable Penis,” which I cut off here when the storm static was eating up the signal.

I’ve read that this little piece of property on the 41 meter band is quite popular with shortwave pirates. Weekends (and perhaps holidays) are supposedly good times to look for them. I’m not totally sure if these two broadcasts are from the same person, or just related persons, but the content is the same junior-high wiener wagging fun.

But, isn’t it something? Young guys with some radio equipment more or less have access to the world airwaves and it’s all about their little dangling dachshunds and their favorite sphincter muscle. Sheesh. I thought the Christians were like broken records.

I’d guess both of these pirate broadcasts originate from somewhere in Ohio.

7240 – Southern Ham Operator  1:07

(download)

Again, this is SSB and you can clearly hear the process of tuning in a sideband signal. Ham (or amateur) radio is a great broadcasting tradition– usually guys in their gadget rooms filled with legal radio equipment (and licenses) who chat among themselves on specific frequencies, sometimes talking to fellow hams around the globe. Not all use sideband, but most do. The conversations are often a bit boring and from what I’ve heard there’s a lot of discussion about the trivial details and functions of their radio equipment, or just small talk about what’s going on around the house that day.

That said, hams also provide an important free-standing network of communication around the country and the world. It’s not all fooling around.

This clip is awful short. Just a good-bye really. And the accent? I think either Tennessee or the Carolinas. Of course, he could be broadcasting from anywhere, probably in the eastern U.S.

7415 – WBCQ – Radio NewYork International  19:31

(download)

It’s WBCQ again, the most creatively programmed shortwave station in America. Yes, there are some scary jesusmongers and right-wing freaks on WBCQ too, but there’s also some entertaining talk and music programming for a change, especially on their 7415 kHz signal.

This is Johnny Lightning’s “Radio NewYork International,” a Sunday Night talk and comedy show originating live from Brooklyn. I don’t know how he gets the audio up to the transmitter in Maine, but I imagine it’s via a phone line. Johnny takes calls and chats and rants and generally seems to have a great time every Sunday night.

The name of the show comes from the original Radio NewYork International, an offshore pirate station in the late 80′s (run by WBCQ head honcho Allan Weiner, Mr. Lightning and others) located on a ship off Long Island which the FCC shut down in 1988.

RNI is a solid four hours of homegrown radio, with lots of bits and jingles and some serious issues occasionally broached amid all the silliness. It’s a New York City radio broadcast to the world and it’s too bad more people in the city don’t even know it exists. It’s a freewheeling (and frequently manic) onslaught of opinion, stories and bad jokes, and like some of the best shows on WBCQ it’s as human and entertaining as American shortwave radio gets these days. In this sample you get almost twenty minutes.

Thanks for listening.

(This post originally appeared in Beware of the Blog.)