The Shortwave Radio Audio Archive

Thomas Witherspoon

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)

  • Radio Ghana: Circa 1971

    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.

    28 March 2026, 12:22 pm
  • Radio Farda (Being Actively Jammed): January 28, 2026

    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

    21 March 2026, 12:29 pm
  • Xing Xing Guangbo Diantai (Star Star Broadcasting Station): March 16, 2026

    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 tune of a Chinese folk song played on a flute. This is followed by station ID, given twice, and a few announcements in Mandarin, then a sequence of numbers read in groups of four. An excellent article about this station can be found on the Mount Evelyn DX Report written by Rob Wagner VK3BVW in May 2025.

    18 March 2026, 4:33 pm
  • V32 Persian/Farsi Numbers Station: March 13, 2026

    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 of apparently random numbers. The numbers are read out for varying stretches of time, followed by a pause in which the word tavajjoh -- which translates as "attention" -- is spoken three times. (around the 48 second mark in the attached recording)

    Beginning on March 4, the signal started to be jammed, with a cacophonous screech of electronic noise that made it all but impossible to hear the numbers. The original transmission paused for a period of time, then moved to another shortwave frequency.

    The transmission, that has been dubbed V32 by at least one group, is called a numbers station, a Cold War-era tool that employs radio transmissions and old-school cryptology to transmit secret messages, usually to spies around the world. It's location is suspected to be somewhere in central Europe.

    The attached recording of V32 was made on March 13, 2026 around 0230 hours UTC on 7842 kHz upper sideband USB using a Kiwi SDR located in Israel. I began the recording on 7841.9 kHz, but switched after a few minutes to 7842 kHz. This will account for the change in voice pitch.

    Also attached is a brief recording of the jamming signal, or “bubble jammer”, made on March 6, 2026 on 7910 kHz (V32’s original frequency) at 0218 UTC.

    13 March 2026, 3:55 pm
  • Polish Radio External Service (Via WRN and WRMI): September 26, 2025

    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 that used to broadcast on shortwave again. WRMI isn't making any money from broadcasting the World Radio Network, and it is unknown how long these will last. On September 26th, I recorded the Polish Radio External Service, as they became part of my daily listening thanks to WRMI. I used a cassette tape to record the broadcast. Sometime during the recording, a few seconds of the broadcast were cut as I had to flip over the tape to continue recording.

    7 March 2026, 9:50 am
  • Radio Ndarason Internationale: October 26, 2025

    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.

    28 February 2026, 12:10 pm
  • Radio Netherlands ('Media Network' Program): April 29, 1982

    Many thanks to SRAA contributor Paul Harner, who shares the following recording and notes:

    Broadcaster: Radio Netherlands 'Media Network' Program

    Date of recording: April 29, 1982

    Starting time: Unknown

    Frequency: unknown

    Reception location: St.Louis, MO

    Receiver and antenna: Sony ICF-2001

    Notes: This is a partial recording of "Media Network," though most of the program is on this recording. My interest in this specific show was the feature on Radio Luxembourg, This program is not in the Jonathan Marks archive of his "Media Network" shows.

    21 February 2026, 11:35 am
  • Radio Union (Lima, Peru): July 1, 1994

    Many thanks to SRAA contributor Paul Harner, who shares the following recording and notes:

    Broadcaster: Radio Union, Lima Peru July 1994

    Date of recording: July 01, 1994

    Starting time: 0730-0815 UTC

    Frequency: 6115 kHz

    Your location: St.Louis, MO

    Your receiver and antenna: Icom IC R-71-A

    Mode: Single Side Band

    Notes: Radio Union in Lima was a longtime favorite station of mine from the late 1980s through the 1990s. Radio Union was well heard in the overnight hours, and featured salsa, chicha, and huayno music. Long after it left shortwave, I listened to the station online, until it closed down a few years ago.

    18 February 2026, 12:39 pm
  • Radio Netherlands ('Media Network' Program): April 23, 1987

    Many thanks to SRAA contributor Paul Harner, who shares the following recording and notes:

    Broadcaster: Radio Netherlands 'Media Network' Program

    Date of recording: April 23, 1987

    Starting time: Unknown

    Frequency: Either 6165 or 9590 kHz

    Reception location: St.Louis, MO

    Receiver and antenna: Icom IC R-71-A

    Notes: I recorded "Media Network" using a timer, and reused these tapes weekly. In this case, it became a time capsule. It is also not a show that is on Jonathan Marks' archive site.

    11 February 2026, 12:31 pm
  • Voice Of America (Breakfast Show): August 02, 1975

    Many thanks to SRAA contributor Paul Harner, who shares the following recording and notes:

    Broadcaster: Voice Of America 'Breakfast Show"

    Date of recording: August 02, 1975

    Starting time: Unknown

    Frequency: unknown

    Your location: St.Louis, MO

    Your receiver and antenna: Multi-Band portable

    4 February 2026, 12:26 pm
  • NDR - Gruss an Bord: December 24, 2025

    COPYRIGHT NDR

    Live, off-air, two-hour recording of the special annual Gruss an Bord program from German broadcaster NDR, Norddeutscher Rundfunk, on 24 December 2025. Gruss an Bord features music and greetings to and from mariners around the world. The Christmas greetings were recorded at an event in Hamburg.

    Relatives and friends had the opportunity to wish their loved ones at sea a happy holiday and a happy new year. The Hamburg event was recorded on the third Sunday of Advent, 14 December, in the Duckdalben International Seamen's Club and was hosted by Susanne Stichler. The program included a number of special guests including Bishop Kirsten Fehrs; Hamburg's Senator for Economic Affairs, Melanie Leonhard; the Federal Government's Maritime Coordinator, Christoph Ploß; and Vice Admiral Axel Deertz. Music was provided by the folk music duo of Frank Grischek and Ralf Lübke. The broadcast was primarily in German, however there were several minutes in English when Filipino seamen were interviewed and some of the songs had English lyrics.

    In addition to being carried on the NDR Info and NDR Info Spezial networks, the broadcast was transmitted around the world on shortwave using transmitters at Nauen, Germany; Issoudun, France; Tashkent, Uzbekistan; and Okeechobee, Florida, U.S.A.; and was organized by Media Broadcast.

    The scheduled frequencies (kHz) were:
    6030 (via Issoudun) for the Northeast Atlantic,
    6080 (via Tashkent) for Europe,
    9635 (via Nauen) for the Indian Ocean,
    11650 (via Issoudun) for the Atlantic and Indian Oceans,
    13830 (via Nauen) for the Southern Atlantic, and
    15770 (via Okeechobee) for the Northwest Atlantic

    Monitors reported that the program did not air on 9635 or 11650 kHz.

    This recording was made in Hanwell (just outside Fredericton), New Brunswick, Canada. It is of the transmission on the frequency of 15770 kHz for the full two hours.

    The recording was made primarily using a Belka-DX receiver in pseudo-synchronous (AM2) mode with a bandwidth of 50 Hz - 2.7 kHz outdoors with a Tecsun AN-03L 7-metre wire antenna Reception was quite good for the most part with a bit of fading at times. But that receiver was initially tuned to 13830 kHz with a weaker signal. However, 15770 kHz was being recorded simultaneously with a KiwiSDR 2 software-defined radio receiver in narrow AM (AMN) mode with noise cancelling and with a W6LVP indoor magnetic loop antenna. So, the recording here has about a 4-1/2-minute splice from the KiwiSDR receiver at the beginning with the remainder of the recording from the Belka-DX receiver. A few seconds of the end of the program are missing as WRMI cut over to other programming before the complete end of the program.

    2 February 2026, 8:22 pm
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