Submission to the Shortwave Archive: All India Radio

All India Radio recorded in London, UK on August 5, 2019 at 1759 UTC on the frequency of 9445 kHz using SDR#, AirSpy Mini, SpyVerter and DX Engineering NCC-1 phaser connected to two Wellbrook ALA1530S+ antennas (positioned indoors) to mitigate severe local man-made interference. The transmitter has a power rating of 250 kW and is located in Bengaluru, India. The news bulletin mentions the presidential order under Article 370 relating to Jammu and Kashmir, issued on the day of the broadcast.

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Submission to the Shortwave Archive: Radio Thailand (English)

Radio Thailand's English service recorded in London, UK on August 2, 2019 at 1900 UTC on the frequency of 9920 kHz using SDR#, AirSpy Mini, SpyVerter and DX Engineering NCC-1 phaser connected to two Wellbrook ALA1530S+ antennas (positioned indoors) to mitigate severe local man-made interference. The transmitter has a power rating of 250 kW and is located in Udon Thani, Thailand.

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Back to blogging

Current portable, wideband shortwave spectrum recording set-up: GPDWin, AirSpy R2, Spyverter 2, Bonito GI300 isolator, Bonito MA305 portable antenna. Photo taken in Lanzarote, Las Canarias, Spain

I hope that this post marks my return to regular blogging for London Shortwave. I know I had said this in one of my previous posts over a year ago, but this time I am more optimistic. Many things have happened since I last blogged: several stations have sadly gone off air, I have traveled to a few far flung destinations where I managed to do some radio monitoring, and I have experimented with further miniaturising my portable spectrum capture set-ups.

Something different! This may be the first video footage of the Abuja Lugbe transmitting station on Twitter (shot by yours truly). This station is used to beam @voiceofnigeria's shortwave DRM signal to the world! More info: https://t.co/Rku4rGKlIr 📡 @SWLingDotCom @realmarkfahey pic.twitter.com/iS8DLetBQK

— London Shortwave (@LondonShortwave) July 11, 2019

One of the things I would like to write about first is my PocketCHIP SDR recording solution. I was originally planning to share a step-by-step set-up guide last year, only to discover that PocketCHIP's maker, NextThingCo, had gone out of business and stopped selling the units. However, it turns out that there are still some for sale, so this should still be relevant to the SDR community.

NextThingCo's PocketCHIP

I was also lucky enough to receive one of the first AirSpy HF Discovery SDR production units, which I look forward to evaluating and writing about on this blog. I hope you stay tuned and visit again for more updates.

P.S. I hope my blogging efficiency will improve with the help of this neat little device. Continue reading →

Greece and Turkey's shortwave broadcasts recorded one early July evening

Some traditional Greek and Turkish music for your listening pleasure.

Both recordings were extracted from a spectrum capture of the 31 meter band made outdoors in London, UK on July 2, 2019. The recording equipment comprised of GPDWin, AirSpy HF+, Bonito GI300 and Bonito MA305 portable active antenna. Continue reading →

Tecsun sessions in a London park: Radio Fana, Voice of America, AIR National Channel

On August 6th, 2018, while recording the 22 and the 19 meter bands outdoors using my ultra-portable spectrum capture set-up, I decided to dust off my trusty Tecsun PL-680, hook it up to a simple long wire external antenna and use this rather sensitive radio to venture out to the opposite end of the shortwave spectrum: the 49 meter band. After tuning around for a few minutes I came across Radio Fana on 6110 kHz, which is one of Ethiopia's national stations broadcasting in the Oromo language. Below is my recording of it, starting at 1800 UTC, which I have also shared on the Shortwave Archive.

Radio Fana's transmitter is located in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The transmission is non-directional and typically has a power rating of 100 kW. Reception improves markedly around the 30 minute mark in the recording.

At 1900 UTC China Radio International's blowtorch signal eclipsed Radio Fana's transmission, so I continued exploring the nearby frequencies. By chance, I stumbled across an English news bulletin from the Voice of America on 6080 kHz that alluded to what Radio Fana had just been reporting in Oromo (namely, the unrest in the Somali province of Ethiopia that resulted in the resignation its regional leader):

After listening to this news bulletin I decided to jump across to the 31 meter band and quickly found myself listening to this rather nice song on All India Radio's National Channel on 9380 kHz:

After spending the past few months mostly recording portions of the shortwave spectrum outdoors with my various software defined radios I had forgotten how much fun it is to use the Tecsun PL-680 radio, the sensitivity of which easily rivals that of most of the SDRs I have used so far. I'll be sure to use it more often to discover what's happening on the bands while I'm making outdoor spectrum recordings. Continue reading →

Shortwave gems: July – August 2018

All India Radio, recorded outdoors on 11560 kHz in London, UK on 31/07/18 at 1658 UTC with GPDWin, AirSpy R2, SpyVerter 2 and Bonito GI300 and Bonito MA305 portable active antenna. Audio only:

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Radio Japan, recorded outdoors on 15445 kHz in London, UK on 06/08/18 at 1833 UTC with GPDWin, AirSpy R2, SpyVerter 2 and Bonito GI300 and Bonito MA305 portable active antenna. Audio only:

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Radio Oromiya (Ethiopia), recorded outdoors on 6030 kHz in London, UK on 11/08/18 at 1856 UTC with Gole1, AirSpy HF+ and Sony AN-LP1 portable active loop antenna. Audio only:

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The Ghoul (UK pirate station), recorded outdoors on 6316 kHz in London, UK on 11/08/18 at 1902 UTC with Gole1, AirSpy HF+ and Sony AN-LP1 portable active loop antenna. Audio only:

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Submission to the Shortwave Archive: Channel Africa

Channel Africa recorded outdoors in London, UK on July 31, 2018 at 1700 UTC, on the frequency of 11885 kHz using GPDWin, AirSpy R2, SpyVerter 2, Bonito GI300 isolator and Bonito MA305 active antenna. The transmitter is located in Meyerton, South Africa. This transmission had a power rating of 500 kW and was directed towards Central and West Africa. The recording contains a news bulletin discussing contested election results in Zimbabwe and Mali.

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