The Radio Kitchen

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

(download)

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

(download)

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

(download)

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

(download)

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

(download)

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.)

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.)

While the 1103 seems to be both a groundbreaking and relatively inexpensive (less than $100) SW portable, Degen has a higher end receiver in the pipeline that’s got a lot of radio geeks twitching in anticipation. It’s the Degen 1108, a larger and more substantial portable offering SW/AM/FM/LW (and air band) with two four inch speakers AND the ability to record radio as MP3 files! (Now THAT sounds like a good idea.) And, of course it plays MP3′s as well. There’s plenty more bells and whistles being integrated into this thing, and it seems like the designers are actively considering the desires of shortwave radio listeners. It sounds like it could be quite a rig. You can read more details here. The Degen 1108 (Chinese model) is supposed to be available by the end of this year, and an International/American (probably branded as “Kaito”) version should follow shortly. I have not been able to find any pictures of a DE1108 prototype online yet. If you’re really interested in this radio, there’s already a Yahoo group established with ongoing discussions about the possibilities and potentials of this new receiver.

In the meantime, here’s an early evening band scan from Easter Sunday 2006 traversing the dial with my BCL-2000. I had jumped around on different bands trying to figure out where to listen, balancing out trying to find a busy spread as well as figuring out where I had the best chance of getting over the inherent RF noise of my Brooklyn apartment. 31 meters seemed to offer a decent scan and not as much noise, so at around 6:43 EDT (or 2243 UTC) I hit record and jumped in around 9200 kHz and started up the dial. And here’s what happened.

Segment 1-31 Meter Band (9355 to 9555 kHz) 04-16-06  19:03

(download)

9355 – EWTN Global Catholic Radio Network

In Spanish. Sounds rather holy, but it’s Easter for Christ’s sake.

9400 – KOL Israel

In Hebrew, I believe. Two men, one interviewing another on the phone. Sounds like serious business. Probably a political discussion.

9420 – Voice of Greece

Lots of loose RF stepping on this signal, with a gentleman speaking at a rapid pace, all which makes this broadcast sound even more Greek to my ears.

All the noise at this frequency is just awful. What’s broadcasting this mess? My refrigerator? The fuse box? Some power tools down the street? Whatever it is it’s got me looking forward to sitting on the porch of my friend’s house upstate listening to low volume signals like this accompanied by silence.

9505 – RDP Internacional Portugal

Quite a bit of noise here too, however the man and woman speaking here sound much more relaxed than the announcers on the last two frequencies.

9545 – Deutsche Welle

A steady stream of German speech. It doesn’t sound like news.

9550 – Radio Habana Cuba or Radio Rebelde, Cuba (?)

A fairly clear signal, male and female tag team announcers. At first I thought that this might be China or Vietnam broadcasting in Spanish. But it’s just a little too late for the Spanish broadcast from Vietnam and the Chinese transmissions on this frequency emanate from China and would be unlikely to come in this strong on my setup in Brooklyn. It sounds to me like the announcers may be giving out program schedule information. And from the clarity, I’m betting it’s Cuba. Both of these networks are said to broadcast at this frequency. Any enlightenment on this one would be appreciated.

9555 – The Broadcasting Service of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

A half million watts from all way from the Arabian Peninsula. I’ve never heard any English broadcasts from Saudi Arabia on shortwave. As I was writing this I started listening to this webstream– their European service broadcasting in English. I heard an editorial about how Western style “democracy” doesn’t work in Islamic countries and how it sets free the “animal appetites.” Unfortunately, once I realized it was pretty interesting stuff I wasn’t able to get a recording setup together before his calm and deliberate diatribe gave way to some rather pedestrian techno rock. 

Listening to this anti-Western editorial make me think of two things. For one, there really are still a lot of interesting radio broadcasts to be found on the internet (IF you’re willing to suffer through some dodgy sounding digital compression). This site has been a good portal for “scanning” international radio on the internet for ten years now.

Secondly, the editorial I heard further illuminates the paradoxical relationship between the Bush Regime and their good friends in the Saudi government. The state-sponsored broadcast I heard was the antithesis of support for the supposed “democracy” that Bush seems to think we’re fostering in Iraq. Anyway, back to the band-scan.

Here in phase-ridden (and occasionally fading) lo-fi is an extended 12 and a half minutes of vintage Egyptian pop music. I took the tape to a couple of my Yemeni friends down at the local bodega and they recognized one of the songs immediately. And they were both quite effusive about the greatness and beauty of the number. And I had to agree. I understand I’ll now be getting a dub of the guy’s greatest hits next weekend. Nice.

As you can hear, the broadcast from Saudi Arabia ends abruptly without notice right at the top of the hour. It’s seven p.m. local (EDT) time here, 2300 UTC

In the next chapter– either more of this recording, or I’ll jump to a band scan of the 25 meter band from the same evening which might have been more interesting. Or maybe that little Degen will arrive from China, and I’ll hop on that little horsey and go for a ride. We’ll see..

Thanks for listening.

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

As far as content, what you’ll get in this bandscan is (in most ways) less than compelling. It’s more about radio reception itself, and what the lonely end of the AM band sounds like from New York City at night. If you’re tickled by the sound of a dozen or more distant radio stations buzzing together at once then you’re going to enjoy this audio sampling.

There is nothing amazing or profound here and it’s not easy listening. Some DXers love to dig into these less popular AM frequencies and seek out the teeny transmissions out in the noise. This can take plenty of skill and patience, and good equipment and antennas can make all the difference.

The reception in this recording is accomplished with my trusty Panasonic RF-2200. Since it’s an analog rig I verified a number of these frequencies with a nearby digital receiver– a Sangean ATS-505. And unless there was loud local bleed over from another frequency, the old Panasonic had a much better grasp on the reception. The RF-2200 (even in Brooklyn) is a hearty performer on medium wave.

More than any other band scan I’ve offered in this series, this is a real noisefest. While I do hope that many readers download and check out the audio provided in these posts, I should admit that this particular scan may only be of interest to those who ears are attuned to dodgy AM reception. And while I think I’ve offered some pretty compelling and unusual broadcasting in this series, the content here isn’t really the point. It’s the lonesome sound of the forgotten end of a nearly forgotten broadcast band in the middle of the night.

However, for a strange guy like me there’s still a musicality in barely making out a voice in a sea of unintelligible signals, as well as just being awash in a multitude of extremely faint radio stations all at once. And this experience is unique to AM radio. No where on the FM or shortwave dial can you hear so many stations simultaneously. And for me personally, there’s something promising in the electronic hubbub. It means I’m listening to a sensitive AM radio, and that I may hear a station or program I’ve never heard before.

I assure you, if digital broadcasting one day usurps analog amplitude modulation on medium wave the sound of multitudes of stations offering incomplete digital data on frequencies like these is going to offer something much more raw and much less human. That said, I’m not convinced this will ever happen, but if it does DXing will never be the same.

Brooklyn Late Night Medium Wave Scan 04-10-06 (1220 to 1450kHz)  23:04

(download)

1220  – WHKW Cleveland, OH

Just to the right of WHPT in Philadelphia I found this. Something about Jesus and school. Maybe some information about the ongoing sadistic war on Christianity. In this mess I also hear reference to Pat Robertson’s evil “American Center for Law & Justice,” sort of like the anti-ACLU which basically works to protect the rights of theocrats and their kind, not human beings in general. I believe this is a rebroadcast of the ACLJ’s “Jay Sekulow Live!”

Although this is a 50,000 watt station it’s a very directional signal aiming north and south and not easy to hear out on the east coast. When I was a kid this was WGAR, a normal radio station. Actually, this frequency in Cleveland has gone through quite a few changes in the last couple decades, which you can read about here.

1230 & 1240 – Nothing But Noise

Quickly skipped over. Really couldn’t hear anything over the background roar.  In fact these two frequencies (along with 1340, 1400, 1450 and 1490 kHz) are known as “graveyard frequencies.” Originally known as “local channels,” these frequencies were allotted to very low power stations to serve local communities. Before 1960 a station broadcasting at these spots on the dial could only put out 250 watts. These days they’re allowed to play with up to 1000 watts.

1250 – WMTR Morristown, NJ

With a crowd of distant stations pulsing in the background, you hear a lo-fi rendering of the beginning of an insurgent 60′s hit by the Spencer Davis Group. Back in the 70′s and 80′s the AM dial was teeming with oldies stations like this. No longer. The ones that are left are mostly on FM these days, and often try to skew their programming too a slightly younger crowd by dumping MTV-era pop into the mix. While I don’t tune in WMTR very often, I don’t believe they’ve done that yet.

It’s only thirty some miles away, but their nighttime 7000 watts isn’t all that impressive here in Brooklyn. It’s a little better during the day, and once you get across the Hudson and into New Jersey reception improves pretty quickly. Considering that New York City no longer has an “oldies” radio station or ANY English language music formats on the AM dial, I’ll bet there’s probably a few diehard folks in the city who remember the heyday of AM Top 40 stations like WABC and WMCA and keep a little radio near the window tuned to hear Fats Domino and the Dave Clark Five on WMTR.

1260 – Nothing Intelligible

1270 – Nothing Intelligible (plus WADO bleeding into the frequency)

1280 – WADO New York, NY

This has been a Spanish language news and talk station in New York City for over forty years. It’s coming in strong, and you get the ID with a little music.

1290 – Nothing Intelligible (WADO bleeds into this frequency as well)

1300 – A Jumble of Stations

This is typical of frequency stops where there’s no local station. Just how many layers of distant radio signals are piled on top of one another here in this throng of sound? What’s interesting to me is that it seems that it seems to be a dozen or more male voices talking at once. Which shouldn’t be surprising, since that’s what most of AM radio is these days– the sound of so many men talking. Years ago, this type of accidental collage would have been mostly music with a few voices all pulsating together.

1310 – A Jumble of Stations

Another mass of voices, not as loud as the mob at 1300 kHz.

1320 – Nothing Intelligible (WADO bleeds into this frequency as well)

1330 – WWRV New York, NY (Radio Vision Cristiana)

Christian propaganda in Español coming in strong with a reverb sheen and soothing music. Strangely enough, this station is rebroadcast with a monster transmitter from the Carribean and can be received locally in New York at 540 kHz as well (which I had mentioned in this post). Christian broadcasting, it’s relentless.

1340 – Another Jumble of Distant Stations

This is another one of those “graveyard frequencies.”

1350 – Another Jumble

Another mess of stations, but with a sappy adult contemporary ballad faintly leading the pack.

1360 – Another Jumble of Stations

1370 – Jumble

However, there seems to be two stations in front on this frequency. One or both seem to be playing commercials. And it’s just a few minutes after 3 am at this point, a typical time for spots after or during the news. I think I hear a violin in there somewhere.

1380 – WKDM New York, NY

A mambo! This frequency in New York has been broadcasting in a number of languages (mostly Spanish) since the 1960′s and has a few call letter changes as well. It’s currently a “ brokered” ethnic station, meaning people who speak languages than English buy blocks of programming to do their thing. Obviously, it’s Spanish here and a bit nostalgic as well.

1390 – Another Jumble of Stations

Many stations here again. Could that be CCR ever so slightly sticking out atop this pulsating audio slop?

1400 – Unknown Talk Station

Coming in very poorly on this graveyard frequency, it’s a right-wing female talk host spouting off about the immigration bill in the Senate. Not much to go on here, but a little detective work leads me to think this might be WSTC in Stamford, CT or WWGE in Loretto, PA, or maybe something else.

1410 – KQV Pittsburgh, PA

Some patient dial manipulation and antenna tweaking pulled this one up out of another frequency pile up. In fact, in a moment of DX happenstance the station seems to come in at it’s strongest right when they give the ID. This was a successful top 40 station for many years, and now it’s all news all the time. Oh, and El Rushbo was a hotshot rock jock here years ago too.

1420 – Jumble

More messy reception with a nice heterodyne whine for your pleasure.

1430 – WNSW Newark, NJ

Not coming in as well as usual, this is another brokered (mainly ethnic) station at this end of the dial in NYC. And they’re playing some sweet Spanish ballads. Sounds Mexican to me, but what do I know.

Earlier in the evening you can hear big band/standards stalwart Danny Stiles on this frequency playing old and moldy classics and rarities. And via the miracle of minidisc recording he also broadcasts late in the night on a stronger frequency in the city on sister station WPAT at 930 AM.

1440 – Unknown Christian Station

Not coming in very well. A creepy preacher carrying on. Something about a human conspiracy (is there any other kind?) in ancient Rome. Don’t really know what this is. I suppose it could be WNYG out on Long Island, but offering only 38 watts after sunset that seems unlikely.

1450 – One More Messy Jumble of Stations

One more stop in the graveyard. Absolutely nothing to hear at this frequency except that fact that somewhere out there a whole bunch of stations are using up electricity.

That’s it for my impromptu scan of the upper end of the AM band. Considering the fact that my apartment is less than five miles from 50,000 watt WQEW at 1560 kHz the next few frequencies are polluted by the Radio Disney garbage they spew into the atmosphere. The signal is so strong that it bleeds into my stereo system if there’s bad connection and you can hear the station by just picking up the pay phone down the street.

During the 1990′s, WQEW was the home of damn good standards/nostalgia station, but in 1998 the owners of the license (The New York Times) saw fit to rent out this wide-coverage clear channel frequency to the freaks at Disney/ABC for their automated kiddie format. Those guys at the Times are such visionaries.

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

That said, I didn’t read every post in this thread, but from what I looked at most of the posts seemed informative and constructive. Rec.radio.shortwave, and the radio discussion groups in general on Usenet, are sadly prone to inane flame wars and childish off-topic garbage these days. Yet I still find this shortwave newsgroup to be a decent source for news and information. However, it’s not uncommon to see a reasonable discussion in that group turn worthless after one dopey post.

Speaking of that, I won’t ramble any longer. Here’s the other half of the 41 meter band-scan offered last week. Nothing as sonically pleasant as the Turkish music I featured, and there’s a number of nearly non-existent broadcasts in the mix on this recording. But it is unedited reception. It’s really what you might have heard that night on your own radio in the northeast U.S., except I’m the one who chose when to turn the dial.

Segment 2-41 Meter Band (7305 to 7545 kHz) 03-01-06

(download)

7305 – Vatican Radio

Holy stuff I’m sure. Sounded like Italian to me at first. But that’s kind of what Spanish with a heavy Italian accents sounds like when it’s a rather faint buzzy radio signal.

7320 – Libyan Jamahiriya Broadcasting & BBC from Cyprus (unknown language)

Here’s an interesting accidental collage– emotional and frothy Arabic on top of a steadfast BBC newsreader. From all the handwringing I’d guess the Libyan broadcast is of a religious nature. The BBC fellow is very hard to read, but I do hear the word "Iraq" in there somewhere. The BBC signal is from a relay on the island of Cyprus in the Mediterranean, while the Libyan broadcast is being relayed from central France.

7335 – Vatican Radio

Very faint, some language, again sounds like an Italian accent, VERY faint with Brooklyn RF taking its toll. Lots of buzz. Imagine you have a all sorts of tech tools to eliminate much of the inherent noise and gradually pull in a crappy signal like this and turn it into something cogent and you have an idea of what raw reception a serious DXer might contend with to log some distance or exotic catch.

7345 – Radio Prague

Rather faint, but present. Female newsreader. I believe might be Spanish with a Czech accent. Something about Californica. Fanfare right before I move up the dial.

7390 – Voice of Russia

Very difficult read, unknown language, slight buzz, thick whine. If you’re not annoyed by listening to this low-volume indistinct human voice within a wavering noise envelope like this (and could potentially have some interest in the nature of the content) then maybe you should pick up a shortwave radio, if you don’t already own one.                  

7400 – Radio Bulgaria

Nice and clear compared to what you just heard, although there is another distant broadcast chewing on the edges of this reception. Male and then a female speaking in an unknown language, and then a mediocre pop song kicks in.

7405 – Voice of America (from Greenville, NC)

This is the news in “Special English," a tradition on VOA. What’s special about it? It’s headlines read at slow pace and with a limited vocabulary. I assume this is somewhat similar to what the morning briefing for Mr. Bush might sound like.

Actually, the headlines in this segment are all concerning labor and economic issues in Latin America, the assumed target for the this broadcast.

7415  – WBCQ (Nothing…)

Here that silence! While there’s no discernable noise at 7415, there’s not any WBCQ Either. And that’s what I’ve been able to hear from WBCQ in Maine at this time on almost any given night for months now, which is a big disappointment. When 7415 powers up in the afternoon I can usually pick them up here in the city as before, but after dark “The Planet” has been MIA.

I’ve heard second-hand that the folks at WBCQ have said that their 7415 signal “hops” around the country and reception from further away has been much better than it has been here in the Northeast and Midwest. If somebody from the WBCQ posse, or just a more knowledable radio mind, can clear up what’s going on with 7415 lately, I’d like to know. Some of the more interesting shows on all of U.S. shortwave run on this frequency.

7475 Voice of Greece

Some ouzo drenched song stylings, in a mournful manner. And then an announcer…

7500 Radio Bulgaria

That thick whine, and some VERY quiet music and then a female announcer becomes more distinct. Unknown language, which I assume is Bulgarian but I don’t know. Another broadcast splatters in, not much else.

7505 – KTBN  Salt Lake City, UT

Now, for some real drama. Actually, it’s a documentary on one of one of the most famous military operations of post WWII era, "Operation Thunderbolt,” the 1976 Israeli hostage rescue mission at the Entebbe airport in Uganda.

Actually, KTBN is just mainly an audio feed from the “Trinity Broadcasting Network,” the biggest Christian TV network in the U.S. And do you think this is a regular feature on hostage rescues on TBN? Not likely.

While the Entebbe raid was a brave and incredible effort to save lives, to many it was armed conflict at its finest. And when you consider that it was also a major historical victory against a band of terrorists that had little if any international repercussions, you can see why the retelling of this harrowing and successful mission might also be a propaganda tool to bolster support for the ongoing Israeli occupation of Palestinian land and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

7520 – WYFR (Worldwide Family Radio)

Very faint, which is fine as far as I’m concerned.

7545 – KOL Israel

In Hebrew. Years ago I recall hearing quite a bit of English language programming from Israel, but in my casual listening over the last few years I don’t think I’ve heard much more than news headlines in English from Israel.

And the reception of this station kicks in with music. Which brings me to this observation. Sometimes, you can still get the gist of a the lyrics of a pop song without understanding a word of the language used. Here’s a possible case in point.

There seems to be an urgent narrative element to the song that begins this sampling of KOL. It’s my guess this is a story song, a hurrah to some brave Israeli person, town, or the country itself–. Something rousing with flutes!

Although this song is a much catchier tune, it reminds me of “The Ballad of Roger Young,” a right-wing folk song about a soldier who sacrifices his life to save his buddies, which I was forced to sing in elementary school. I seem to recall some screed about the glories of the Vietnam War attached to it by the music teacher as well.

I have a couple of Israeli albums I’ve found in thrift stores with songs celebrating the Six Day War that they sound quite a bit like this song. Then again, forgetting context I can imagine that it’s Yma Sumac belting out some seafaring theme song on a ship in a 50′s South Pacific action-adventure flick. If anybody who speaks Hebrew could enlighten me on the lyrics of this song, or the general content of this clip from Israel, I’m certainly curious.

After the epic “yo-ho-ho” anthem, there’s some chatting, another rousing number, then more talk and the cheerful windup of the program with outro music. Then I believe there’s a several promos for some upcoming features, which sound very similar to advertising. Some fast paced productions, obviously promoting or selling something.

This ends this little review of the 41 meter band, including a few stations on either side of its official boundaries. Questions and comments can be left on this post, if appropriate, or you can send me an email. Other posts in this radio blog series can be found here. I’m very interested in corrections and translations, as well as general feedback.

Next week? Back to the AM dial I think. And in future posts I may just cherry pick a bunch of shortwave band-scans I’ve made here in Brooklyn with my old Zenith Transoceanic over the last few years, or maybe I’ll think of something else to talk about in the meantime. If you have any ideas, email me.

Thanks for listening.

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

Before I go on to the band scan for this week, I wanted to mention a few (free) podcasts that may interest readers of this blog series. Clandestine Radio.com offers “Global Crisis Watch” (XML feed here), a program reporting on (and promoting) democracy movements around the world. It’s a rather urgent show featuring interviews of journalists, broadcasters and activists involved in fighting oppression around the world. And of course, there’s some good information on shortwave and other radio broadcasts from time to time. It’s an interesting half hour delivered to your hard drive every week. The Global Crisis Watch is a cutting edge international news put together by a couple of guys instead of a government or corporation.

Although not many are aware of it, there’s quite a bit of pirate radio activity on shortwave and the podcast “Pirates Week” (XML feed here) offers a weekly overview of that scene. This podcast varies in length and is a much more loose and light affair than Global Crisis Watch. It’s an amalgam of many related diversions– discussions of assorted radio gear and computers, details of the realities of seat-of-the-pants broadcasting, as well as clips of shortwave pirates at play and tips on where and when to find ‘em on your radio. Also the Mediageek has a well-kept and extensive blog and podcast (RSS feed here) where he explores all sorts of media products, broadcasting trends, and the inherent toys that make it all possilbe. And his most recent podcast features an interview with Ragnar Daneskjold, the host of “Pirate’s Week." According to Ragnar, a nice warm illegal transmitter running 40 watts on shortwave can give you coverage of most of the U.S. on a good night. Hmmm…

Also, the ultimate source of all things shortwave is Glenn Hauser. The guy is dedicated. His “World of Radio” program, which broadcasts on quite a number of shortwave stations, is also a podcast (XML feed here). While not high in entertainment value, it’s a helluva dose of up-to-date shortwave news, views and frequency listings. On his World of Radio site, as well as his weekly “DX Listening Digest” Mr. Hauser puts out some great web resources which provide valuable information for mega-geeks and weak-kneed newbies alike. And it’s all listener and reader supported!

Okay, on to this recording of reception on the 41 meter band . Actually, this scan begins just before the that band and then traverses up the numbers. The frequencies are in kilohertz. It’s Wednesday night, March 1st and Bush is over in Asia eating Indian mangoes I think. It’s early evening here, one of the best times to catch foreign broadcasters offering up English language programming for the Americas (and Spanish ones too for that matter). And more importantly, at this hour the band isn’t a kooky Christian radio ghetto yet. Closer to midnight and beyond the shortwave bands are flooded with hallelujah bullshit and not much else, at least not in English. But at 0100 UTC (all shortwave schedules basically follow the time in London, and in a 24 hour manner), which is 8 pm Eastern Standard Time, the biblical blather is only part of the mix, not the dominant force.

Actually, this begins right before eight, a fine time to start a band scan. Let’s begin.

Segment 1-41 Meter Band (6875 to 7300 kHz) 03-01-06

(download)

6875 EWTN Global Catholic Radio Network

It’s right before the top of the hour, 8 p.m. here, 0100 hours UTC. Most international shortwave stations play something called an “interval signal” in between programs, an identifying snippet of music that may include other sounds or the official ID of the station. Listening to shortwave you begin to get familiar with the these little ditties because they usually repeat for a couple minutes right before a new program ensues, and can help listeners ID a station as well as find a particular program on the dial before it begins. Interval signals almost always come at right before the top of the hour, and occasionally precede the 30 minute point as well.

So, this clip begins with the EWTN’s official and soothing interval music and then their ID. This site has a huge archive of interval signals past and present. They all stream in real media. Pretty cool. I was slightly thrilled to find this one, the interval signal of Radio RSA from the 1970′s– a chirpy bird with folky guitar. This took me back to my where my interest in shortwave really began. Christmas 1971. Santa was kind enough to set me up with a cheesy eight-track tape player-AM/FM stereo. But the shoddy Hong Kong technology inside offered me a really surprising gift– stray images of shortwave stations on the AM dial! And the two stations I recall getting quite well on this little woodgrain wonder were Radio Habana Cuba and Radio RSA. I became quite familiar with that chirpy bird and the plucky guitar, and after sending them a letter I was embarrassed for years when a glossy program guide from a faraway racist regime would show up in my mailbox every few months. Then a Christmas or two later I scored a flip-cover multi-band box that introduced me to the wondrous world of cold war shortwave propaganda.

Anyway, after the interval and the ID, it’s non-stop excitement on EWTN– a Catholic with a computer. Sounds like he’s giving a presentation in front of a bunch of well dressed white folks. Anyway, the guy has a laptop, maybe running a PowerPoint presentation or something and it’s all about catechismclass.com, a web site about guess what? Yawn.

6890 – WWRB USA – The Overcomer Ministry

Last week I carried on about old Gene Scott, which was easy because he’s such a rich character. But in truth, there was hardly any Gene Scott to hear in that clip. I should have waited until I had some substantial Scott audio to play before I spent so much time talking about the guy. Same deal here. Brother Stair’s presence on shortwave trumps Scott’s around the clock radio preachin’, and there isn’t much of him on this scan. But if you’re new to shortwave, Brother Stair’s raspy staccato delivery may be the first voice you really become familiar with because he’s ALL over the bands. And he’s ALMOST as interesting as Gene Scott, but hardly as endearing. However, he is still alive.

Since there’s not much of the Brother Stair in this band scan, I’ll wait to say much more until I find a more representative clip. But in the world of radio evangelism, Stair is pretty unique– kind of a combination of Elmer Gantry, Rumpelstiltskin and Jim Jones. Otherwise known as “Brother Scare,” this old goat somehow manages to enslave babes with his wild-eyed shortwave harangues. I knew there must be some more earthly reasons why so many holy shysters spend all that time yammering on shortwave.

The signal’s weak and there’s some phasing going on, but Stair is in the middle of one of his usual unflagging rants. Some important information here about the Antichrist perhaps. Occasionally I find him mildly entertaining, but not this time. His “Overcomer Ministry” rents this international transmitter from WWRB 24/7, but he broadcasts on plenty of others too. Now you know why some people in other countries might think we’re strange. Read more about the sordid details regarding this twisted geezer here and here.

7125 – Voice of Russia

In Russian. Sounds like the news. Nice sounders. Something about Bosnia…

7160 – WRMI Radio Miami International (Radio Republica)

Wow, it’s almost unbelievable, another U.S. shortwave station NOT run by Christian crazies. It seems incredible, but I looked around their website and saw absolutely nothing about lambs, blood or that horrible lake of fire. Maybe they’re just coy Christians. Either way, they do allow the Bible people to rent time on their transmitters. There’s just not a long line of normal people out there willing to put up the dough to broadcast on shortwave. So like WBCQ, WRMI needs to take the cash where they can find it.

This particular broadcast is put on by an organization known as “Radio Republica.” They’re for non-violent change in Cuba, human rights, that kind of stuff. As far as I can tell they’re not related to Radio Marti and any propaganda arm of the U.S. government.  But they’re not making Fidel happy either.

Of course, this broadcast is in Spanish. This short clip features a smokey voiced woman who might be talking about a “political prisoner.” They’re signal is often jammed by Cuba, and I’ve read that Radio Republica just started using this frequency.

7180 – Voice of Russia

In Spanish. I believe this is news.

7250 – (Unknown in Spanish)

It’s strange, but this one’s out of order. I might have backed up to find Radio Slovakia after this OR I wrote down the wrong frequency. Nonetheless, it’s VERY clear and most likely originating from North America. Could be Christians doing their dirty work, but I have no idea. If anybody can translate this (or knows of a Spanish broadcast on 7250 at this hour) and can make sense of this reception, I’d appreciate it. There is some urgency in this program.

7230 – Radio Slovakia International

This is a typical English international broadcast from overseas that you might stumble across on shortwave. It’s around ten after the hour and we probably just missed some headlines. And now it’s time for some features on local doings in Slovakia. And at 150 Kilowatts of power from well over 4000 miles away, it’s coming in quite nicely.

Apparently there’s a bunch of illegal weapons stockpiled in closets and attics across the Slovak Republic, and the government’s trying to get people to voluntarily hand them over. Previously loose gun laws have tightened up quite a bit since the end of the cold war. While thousands of Czechs gave up their guns in a similar program, the Slovaks are a bit more wary about letting go of their weaponry so far.

The next story– all about a Slovak high school course on how to prepare a business plan. (And please, when producing radio and the subject of money comes up, don’t even THINK about playing that damn Pink Floyd song again.) Jeez. Enough already.

However, this is still one of the small joys of shortwave radio– hearing small regional stories from thousands of miles away that would never garner coverage in American media.

7270 – Radio Cairo

Spanish talk, female speakers, Middle-Eastern pop bumper music. Plenty of countries beaming Spanish language programming to the Americas. After all, probably a higher percentage of Spanish speakers on this side of the world know how to operate a shortwave radio.

7285 – Hrvatska Radio (Croatia)

Unknown language, broadcast from a relay in Germany.

7300 – Voice of Turkey

As far as music on shortwave radio, this is one of my favorite stops lately. It’s a program of haunting, beautiful and catchy Turkish music. One of these songs has lodged itself in my brain, and it keeps playing there– a comforting exotic loop in the background when I’m lost in thought, and that’s fine with me for now. A couple weeks ago I was haunted by “Saturday In The Park” by Chicago. WHY I ask? What did I do to deserve this?

I have an old Zenith Transoceanic in my room, and throbbing modulated music like this from afar played through that warm old tube radio could make you cry. Or, at least it could make me cry. You might laugh. The music plays on in this clip for almost 15 minutes. A female announcer talks between tracks.

That’s it for this week. And as if there’s any enlightenment you can offer– mistakes I’ve made in this post, or translate any of the foreign languages in this band scan– either may assist me in amending or correcting this post in the future. Please post a comment or send me an email here. Other articles in this blog series can be found here.

Thanks for listening.

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