RNZ Pacific ringing in the New Year

After a long break, I am very happy to be bringing this blog back to life with a topical post on this New Year's Eve. This morning, I headed out ot my usual outdoor recording location in a nearby park with a new portable spectrum recorder I have built using a Raspberry Pi Zero 2W. I arrived just in time to record RNZ Pacific (formerly Radio New Zealand International) welcoming in the year of 2025, thirteen hours ahead of us here in London.

Spectrum capture in progress #AirSpy #PiZero #PiZero2W #Shortwave

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— London Shortwave (@londonshortwave.bsky.social) 31 December 2024 at 11:14

Below are my recordings of this special broadcast, extracted from the spectrum capture I made in the park. The first recording starts at 10:48 UTC with the clocks turning to midnight in New Zealand 12 minutes later. Following a short news bulletin describing the celebrations taking place across the country, the station proceeded to rebroadcast the BBC World Service's Annual New Year Concert. The second recording starts just a few seconds shy of 12:00 UTC with another news bulletin followed by "Inside Out" with Nick Tipping, dedicated to New Zealand's jazz musician Rodger Fox, who passed away earlier this year, aged 71.

While making the above recordings, I was also monitoring this broadcast in real-time with my Belka portable shortwave receiver. I hope you enjoy these recordings and I am wishing you all a happy 2025!