Shortwave gems special: Electronic music on the 40m amateur radio band

Lately, I have been able to make more frequent outdoor trips for recording parts of the shortwave radio spectrum using my portable set-up. While reviewing one such recording from August 31st, 2021, I noticed something highly unusual: a continuous music mix on one of the amateur bands, modulated as a lower single sideband audio signal. For readers who are unfamiliar with radio communication regulations, broadcasting music is strictly prohibited on all amateur bands in most jurisdictions. However, it turns out that the frequency in question – 7055 kHz – has now been used for some years by a number of hams for antagonistic on-air exchanges. It is likely that, in an act of desperation, someone had decided to put a stop to that (at least temporarily) by relentlessly broadcasting music using their single sideband transceiver.

Here's some trance music on 7055 kHz. Recorded on 31/08/21 at 1722 UTC with #AirSpy Mini / SpyVerter 2, 2x6m dipole. https://t.co/YytzXh6E2Q pic.twitter.com/5vzFxcAlET

— London Shortwave (@LondonShortwave) September 2, 2021

The music itself is a mixture of trance, ambient house and drum & bass, but what makes this recording truly special are the various amateur radio artefacts that get superimposed onto it, such as morse code and other non-voice communications. To my ears, this gives the transmission the atmospheric feel that is so emblematic of shortwave radio in general, although perhaps in a somewhat exaggerated form. Below is the full recording for your listening pleasure:

Shortwave gems: August - October 2020

All recordings were made with AirSpy HF+ Discovery and YouLoop antenna positioned on the balcony.

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:

Shortwave gems: June 2018

Three very interesting tracks I found in my spectrum recordings this month:

Shortwave gems: April 2018

Some interesting music I found in the spectrum recordings I made this month with my ultra-portable spectrum capture set-up:

Shortwave gems: September 2017

Some interesting music I found in the spectrum recordings I made this month with my portable spectrum capture set-up:

Shortwave gems: March 2017

This month's episode of the shortwave gems series, extracted from my indoor spectrum recordings:

Carnatic instrumental music from All India Radio that at times sounds like a mixture of Trance and Drum & Bass!

A very interesting performance from Radio Thailand that is strangely reminiscent of a certain famous band form the west (which one is it?).

A pop song from the Voice of Turkey that seems to have borrowed a bar or two from "Don't You Worry Child" by The Swedish House Mafia.

Folk music from Radio Romania International.

Shortwave gems: February 2017

Some great music this month, extracted from my spectrum recordings:

A fast-paced, intense musical composition recorded from the Voice of Greece.

A vocal piece in Arabic, performed in a surprising style, recorded from Radio San'aa.

A song recorded from the Laotian service of FEBC Radio (broadcasting out of the Philippines).

Dreamy Carnatic instrumental music recorded from All India Radio.

Shortwave gems: January 2017

Below are some of my favourite pieces of music that I managed to extract out of the shortwave static earlier this month, using my portable spectrum capture set-up:

Two in one! Catchy Dubstep and R&B tunes recorded from Medi1.

A melodic tune captured from China Radio International Cantonese broadcast.

An Indian song recorded from Radio Afghanistan, Kabul.

Another song from All India Radio's Baluchi service.

Shortwave gems part 6

In this post I upload more music from my shortwave recording archives. Clips no. 2 and 3 are a bit noisy but I'm posting them as they are, since Shazam can't recognise them (otherwise I would have included them in my shortwave playlist series).

A song taken from an outdoor recording of Denge Kurstistane, which, to my ear, sounds like it could be a fusion of Kurdish and Irish musical traditions.

Below is another song that reminded me of Irish music, taken from an outdoor recording of Radio Oromiya (Ethiopia).

A slow, mellow tune from the Voice of Nigeria, recorded outdoors.

Orchestral music by Pannalal Ghosh from All India Radio, recorded indoors.

Shortwave gems part 5

Below are a few more interesting shortwave clips from my archives. Many thanks to Gordon VK2UB for the tune identifications, which you can find in the comments section.

A tune recorded outdoors from Radio Joey, a pirate radio station supposedly run by a 14 year old DJ from the Netherlands.

Persian Jazz fusion from Radio Farda, recorded outdoors.

A Japanese war-time song from NHK Radio, recorded outdoors.

Hypnotic carnatic classical vocal music from All India Radio, recorded indoors.

Shortwave gems part 4

In this post I upload a few melodic audio clips extracted from an outdoor shortwave spectrum grab made on April 15th, 2015. The nice surprise about these recordings is that I managed to recover the spectrum file containing them, which I thought was corrupted and not playable beyond the short snippets I included in my original post. I used Audacity to repair the file, and now the remainder of it — some two extra hours — play flawlessly. Being able to hear this capture in its entirety for the first time in 18 months feels like time travel. I'm especially pleased about this recovery as the recording contains a station that is no longer on shortwave: Zimbabwe's Radio Dialogue.

A song recorded from Radio Dialogue.

A song heard on Voice of America's Somali service.

An interesting fusion of Persian and Spanish music from Radio Farda.

Light music broadcast on DPRK's Voice of Korea.

Shortwave gems part 3

In this post I upload a few interesting shortwave clips from my archives, made using my indoor recording set-up.

A Romanian folk song recorded from Antena Satelor's long wave transmission.

An interesting fusion of western classical music with Arabic vocals recorded from Morocco's Medi1.

A song by Wadih El Safi recorded from Radio Damascus's medium wave transmission.

A qawwali by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan recorded from All India Radio.

A slow, dreamy song recorded from The Voice of Turkey.

Shortwave gems part 2

In this post I continue uploading some of the more interesting things I have recently heard on shortwave using both my outdoor and indoor recording setups. Some of these recordings were made using standalone shortwave radios while the others were extracted from my SDR spectrum captures.

A mellow atmospheric tune from Medi1 radio, Morocco. Recorded indoors.

Sudanese light pop music from Radio Tamazuj. Recorded outdoors.

A song recorded from North Korea's domestic radio service, KCBS Pyongyang. The performer makes the surprising move of copying Whitney Houston's vocal style towards the end of the track, something that would probably have been considered too western and decadent in North Korea only a short while ago. Recorded outdoors.

Funky Indian film music from All India Radio, recorded indoors.

Traditional Greek music from the Voice of Greece, recorded indoors.

Shortwave gems part 1

In this post I include some of the more interesting things I have recently heard on shortwave using both my outdoor and indoor recording setups. Some of these recordings were made using standalone shortwave radios while the others were extracted from my SDR spectrum captures.

Very interesting vocal style heard on Ethiopia's Radio Fana. Recorded outdoors.

A British Airways flight bound for Antalya communicating with a ground control station over Stockholm Radio about a disturbance onboard. Recorded outdoors.

More of the traditional Korean clarinet music that is rather unusual for North Korea's shortwave service. Recorded outdoors.

Tajikistan's shortwave service, usually a difficult catch in Western Europe. Recorded outdoors.

Some incredible vocal dexterity from the Moldovan singer, Laura Lavric, heard on Romania's longwave service, Antena Satelor, recorded indoors.

Raï and Hip-Hop fusion on Algeria's Jil FM, received on mediumwave indoors.