The Shortwave Radio Audio Archive is a podcast that contains off-air recordings from the shortwaves. These recordings represent the wide variety of stations found on the shortwave, long wave and medium wave radio spectrums (30-30,000 kHz)
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Many thanks to SRAA contributor Dan Greenall, who shares the following recording and notes: Broadcaster: Radio Peking 1970's Frequency: 15.060 MHz (likely) Reception location: Ancaster, Ontario, Canada Receiver and antenna: Hallicrafters S-52 using a longwire antenna Notes: A recording of the interval signal ("The East is Red" melody) and sign on in Spanish of Radio Peking in the People's Republic of China in the early 1970's. They were heard regularly on shortwave direct from China in the 19 metre band. Radio Peking: Circa 1970s Dan Greenall Download
Many thanks to SRAA contributor Liam Spencer, who shares the following recording and notes: Broadcaster: Voice of Mongolia (Mailbox Program) Date of recording: May 13, 2024 Starting time: 14:43 UTC Frequency: 12.015 MHz Reception location: KiwiSDR in Khabarovsk, Russia Receiver and antenna: Unknown Notes: Here is a recording of Voice Of Mongolia Mailbox show which occurs every Monday and was hosted by Bilguun and Robert during this time. This was recorded during the 14:30 to 15:00 UTC slot on 12015, which is a challenging catch, even on WebSDRs, due to Voice of Korea interference on the same c
photo by derek oven on unsplash A live, off-air, half-hour recording of the BBC World Service special Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast on 21 June 2026 beginning at 21:30 UTC. The broadcast, hosted by Cerys Matthews, featured messages and music for the members of the staff of the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) overwintering in Antarctica at the Rothera (Antarctic Peninsula), King Edward Point, and Bird Island (South Georgia) research stations. In addition to personal messages from family and friends, there were interviews with Professor Dame Jane Francis, Director of BAS; and Lousiane Ferlier, an
Many thanks to SRAA contributor Bruce MacDonald, who shares the following recording and notes: Broadcaster: Radio Exterior de Espana Date of recording: Unknown Starting time: Unknown Frequency: not recorded Recorded in Hounslow, west London Receiver and antenna: Sony portable stereo radio cassette player with built-in whip antenna Notes: Recording from late 1984 or early 1985 of the DX programme transmitted by the English section of Radio Exterior de Esapana (REE). This was broadcast to Europe on a Sunday, but I did not record the time of transmission. I did not record the frequency, at a gues
Many thanks to SRAA contributor Dan Greenall, who shares the following recording and notes: Broadcaster: Deutsche Welle and Radio Berlin International 1970's Date of recording: Circa 1971 Reception location: Ancaster, Ontario, Canada Receiver and antenna: Hallicrafters S-52 using a longwire antenna Notes: During the height of the Cold War, shortwave broadcasts from both West and East Germany could be heard here in southern Ontario, Canada. Deutsche Welle, the Voice of Germany from Cologne in the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany). Heard here with their familiar interval signal and sign
Many thanks to SRAA contributor Dan Greenall, who shares the following recording and notes: Broadcaster: Deutsche Welle and Radio Berlin International 1970's Date of recording: Circa 1970 Reception location: Ancaster, Ontario, Canada Receiver and antenna: Hallicrafters S-52 using a longwire antenna Notes: During the height of the Cold War, shortwave broadcasts from both West and East Germany could be heard here in southern Ontario, Canada. Radio Berlin International, the Voice of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) signing on with their interval signal and ID for their English langua
Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Sarah Boucher, who shares the following recordings of two ABC Melbourne radio closedowns, captured via the ABC's domestic inland shortwave relays: Recording 1Broadcaster: 3AR Melbourne (ABC) Date of recording: Circa 1950s Shortwave relay: VLH-9 on 9.68 MHz (30.99 metres) Notes: This is a 3AR Melbourne closedown announcement, relayed on shortwave via VLH-9 (9.68 MHz) as part of what the announcer describes as the ABC's "Northern Australian Service." During the sign-off, 3AR identifies itself as also transmitting through the regional stations 2CO Riverina, 3GI Gi
Image: vintageradio.nl Many thanks to SRAA contributor Bruce MacDonald, who shares the following recording and notes: Broadcaster: Radio Sofia, Bulgaria Date of recording: Unknown Starting time: Unknown Frequency: not recorded Recorded in Hounslow, west London Receiver and antenna: Sony portable stereo radio cassette player Notes: A snippet from an old-school DX programme from the English service of Radio Sofia, Bulgaria. This comprises mainly listening tips for rare stations as heard in Europe. Some mention made of the time of year and solar cycle conditions as Solar Cycle 21 was drawing down
Droitwich Transmitting Station (Source: Wikimedia Commons) Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Andy Wang, who shares the following recording and notes: Broadcaster: BBC4 Date of recording: June 26, 2026 Starting time: 19:58UTC Frequency: 0.198MHz Your location: Web-interface wideband software-defined radio at the University of Twente in Enschede, The Netherlands Your receiver and antenna: "Mini-Whip" antenna in AM mode with 9.09 kHz RF filtering Mode: AM Safe for children?: Yes Notes: BBC4 on longwave 198KHz was shutdown on 27 June 2026 at 00:00 UTC. After the shutdown, the station is repeatedly
Many thanks to SRAA contributor Andrew, who shares the following recording from Radio 4. “I chose to record the programme on one of my old radios received on the soon-to-be-discontinued Droitwich 198kHz transmitter. The radio is a Pye Mistral (picture attached) which was (almost) the first radio that I even had around 1972. It might even be tuned to the right place on the dial ("Radio 2", 1500m). That was the station that was broadcast on that wavelength back then. It is not a well-performing radio, but it has a wide-ish audio bandwidth and the recording is probably as nice-sounding as it can
CHU Transmitting Site in Ottawa, Canada (Source: NRC) Many thanks to several SRAA contributors who have shared recordings of CHU Canada during its final days as a shortwave time signal station. This first recording was sent to us via Ronald McKinnon and is the National Research Council’s own recording of the final minutes of CHU on the air. Here are the notes that accompanied this recording: Broadcaster: National Research Council CHU Date of recording: June 22, 2026 Starting time: 14:08:00 UTC Frequency: 3.33 MHz Location: Ottawa, ON Canada Receiver and antenna: Raddy RF320 with built-in anten
This is the BBC Midwinter Broadcast to Antarctica recorded on June 21, 2026 at 09:30 UTC in Foulden, Scotland, UK. The radio was an Elecraft KX2 connected to a 31-foot 9:1 random wire antenna in the back garden. The broadcast starts on 9460 kHz, but I then move to 12070 kHz because it had slightly less local noise. BBC Midwinter Broadcast to Antarctica: June 21, 2026 Thomas Witherspoon Download Personal note The BBC Midwinter Broadcast remains one of my favorite SWLing events of the year. I simply love the idea that the BBC would broadcast from two different sites on three different frequencie
Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Dan Greenall, who shares the following recording and notes: Broadcaster: Xing Xing Guangbo Diantai (Star Star Broadcasting Station) Date of recording: March 16, 2026 Starting time: 2358 Frequency: 19.052 Your location: Thailand Your receiver and antenna: Kiwi SDR with Wellbrook loop Mode: Single Side Band Safe for children?: Yes Notes: This is a "numbers station" broadcasting in Mandarin Chinese, presumably sending encrypted messages to Taiwanese intelligence agents in mainland China, from Taiwan. It appears to follow a set daily schedule, and begins each trans
Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Paul Harner, who shares the following recording and notes: Broadcaster: Radio Sandino, Managua, Nicaragua Date of recording: March 25, 1984 Starting time: 0730z/1:30 AM local time Frequency: 6200 kHz RX location: St. Louis, MO Receiver and antenna: Sony ICF-2001, longwire Radio Sandino (Managua, Nicaragua): March 25, 1984 Paul Harner Download
Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Paul Harner, who shares the following recording and notes: Broadcaster: Radio Nacional Da Amazonas Date of recording: August 14, 1984 Starting time: 0809z Frequency: 6180 kHz Reception location: St.Louis, MO Receiver and antenna: Icom IC R-71-A Rádio Nacional da Amazônia: August 14, 1984 Paul Harner Download
Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Dan Greenall, who shares the following recording and notes: Broadcaster: Israel Broadcasting Authority, Jerusalem 1971 Date of recording: Circa 1971 Starting time: 2130 UTC Frequency: 9.625 MHz Reception location: Ancaster, Ontario, Canada Receiver and antenna: Hallicrafters S-52 using a longwire antenna Mode: AM Notes: The Israel Broadcasting Authority used to broadcast in various languages on shortwave in the early 1970's. Their English language transmission to Europe could often be heard well here in southern Ontario, Canada between 2045 and 2130 hours UTC o
Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Liam Spencer, who shares the following recording and notes: Broadcaster: Radio Nacional da Amazonia Date of recording: July 16, 2025 Starting time: 00:05 UTC Frequency: 11.780 MHz Reception location: Berthoud, Colorado, USA Receiver and antenna: Sihuadon D-808 with telescopic antenna Mode: AM Notes: Here's a recording pulled from my radio archive of Radio Nacional da Amazonia from Brazil on the shortwave frequency on 11.780 MHz from July 16th, 2025. What's interesting is that this was recorded on a weekday, and usually, back-to-back music is not heard on weekda
Many thanks to SRAA contributor Dan Greenall, who shares the following recording and notes: On March 16, I listened to V32 using the SV1BTL SDR in Athens, Greece. The voice came on at exactly 1800 UTC, but right up to 1759, the bubble jammer was being heard on that frequency. There did not appear to be any jamming during the actual "broadcast". The signal was very strong, averaging 20 dB over 9. At 1823 UTC, there were 12 users listening on this particular SDR, and 8 of them were tuned to 8742 kHz! V32 Persian/Farsi Numbers Station: March 16, 2026 Dan Greenall Download
Many thanks to SRAA contributor Dan Greenall, who shares the following recording and notes: I made the following recording (March 15, 2026 at 1822 UTC on 7842 kHz USB)) of V32 using a Kiwi SDR in Alvito, Italy. The "tavajjoh" (3X) announcement comes around the 6:09 mark, after which the numbers seem to run together more, rather than distinct groups of 5. V32 Persian/Farsi Numbers Station: March 15, 2026 Dan Greenall Download
Many thanks to SRAA contributor Dan Greenall, who shares the following recording and notes: Broadcaster: Radio Ghana circa 1971 Frequency: 11.850 Recption location: Ancaster, Ontario, Canada Receiver and antenna: Hallicrafters S-52 using a longwire antenna Notes: Back in 1971, Radio Ghana from Accra had an external service, this one beamed to North America and the Caribbean on 11.850 MHz shortwave. Here are two brief recordings of their drum interval signal followed by sign on in English. Radio Ghana: Circa 1971 (Recording 1) Dan Greenall Download Radio Ghana: Circa 1971 (Recording 2) Dan Gree
Many thanks to SRAA contributor Jim Jordan, who shares the following recording of Radio Farda being actively jammed. Jim also shares these notes: Broadcaster: Radio Farda Date of recording: January 28, 2026 Starting time: 1700 UTC Frequency: 7.5 MHz Your location: NW UK Your receiver and antenna: Lowe HF 150 plus 50m random Notes: A bit reminiscent of trying to listen to Radio Liberty during the Cold War Radio Farda (Being Actively Jammed): January 28, 2026 Jim Jordan Download
Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Dan Greenall, who shares the following recording and notes: Broadcaster: Xing Xing Guangbo Diantai (Star Star Broadcasting Station) Date of recording: March 16, 2026 Starting time: 2358 UTC Frequency: 19.052 MHz Receiver location: Thailand Receiver and antenna: Kiwi SDR with Wellbrook loop Mode: Single Side Band Notes: This is a "numbers station" broadcasting in Mandarin Chinese, presumably sending encrypted messages to Taiwanese intelligence agents in mainland China, from Taiwan. It appears to follow a set daily schedule, and begins each transmission with the
Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Dan Greenall, who shares the following recording and notes: Broadcaster: V32 Persian/Farsi numbers station Date of recording: March 13, 2026 Starting time: 0226 UTC Frequency: 7.842 MHz Receiver location: Israel Receiver and antenna: Kiwi SDR with MLA-30+ Active antenna Mode: Single Side Band Notes: Background material obtained via Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty. This radio signal first started broadcasting on February 28, about 12 hours after the United States and Israel began bombing Iran. A man's voice can be heard speaking Persian, counting out a series
Many thanks to SRAA contributor Liam Spencer, who shares the following recording and notes: Broadcaster: Polish Radio External Service (Via WRN and WRMI) Date of recording: September 26, 2025 Starting time: 02:59 UTC Frequency: 9.455 MHz Reception location: Berthoud, Colorado, USA Receiver and antenna: Sihuadon D-808 with telescopic antenna Notes: After the withdrawal of most Overcomer Ministry broadcasts in the Summer of 2025. WRMI began relaying the World Radio Network North American stream to fill the empty hours. While this is great for many shortwave listeners, as we get to hear stations
Many thanks to SRAA contributor Paul Walker, who shares the following field recording of Radio Ndarason Internationale on 12,050 kHz made on October 26, 2025 at 1836 UTC in McGrath, Alaska. Radio Ndarason Internationale: October 26, 2025 Paul Walker Download
