Shortwave Radio Recordings On MiniDisc (2001-2012)

"I acquired my first shortwave radio back in 1998 or 1999. Living in San Francisco at that time, I found a wealth of signals being broadcast from across the Pacific towards the US. This was before cellphones became ubiquitous, so the radio spectrum was relatively free of interference, even living in a city. I quickly found that when I got out of any urban environment, I could receive more signals and with better clarity. So with every opportunity for travel, I took a shortwave. By 2000, I had upgraded by then to a smaller Grundig portable with a wind-up antenna and a MiniDisc recorder in tow. I held out acquiring a flash-drive digital recorded until the summer of 2012, with the technology of the MiniDisc already obsolete by then. This collection represents some of the more interesting finds from that collection of MiniDisc recordings." – Jim Haynes, Northern California, 19 August 2020.

Side A:

1. Random tuning across various bands, picking up WWVB the time channel in the US, the American evangelist Brother Stair, German and Spanish newscasts. Recorded in 2003, Northern California.

2. UBV-76 - the infamous Soviet-era Buzzer signal with a rare message being delivered at the top of the hour. Recorded in Barcelona, April 2001.

3. A chorale joined by an SSB tone. Unknown date and location.

4. Romanian language lesson, as recorded in Barcelona, April 2001.

5. Detuned voices, South Carolina, 2007.

6. Trumpeting fanfare cut to RTTY transmission. I'm not sure if this cut was done internally switching from station to station, or if I made the cut in the minidisc itself. I believe it was the former. Unknown date and location (probably Tennessee).

7. Morse code transmission. Estonia, 2007.

8. Sparse three dot transmission (the letter S, perhaps?) within a series of high energy utility signal bursts. The purpose of which escapes me. Unknown date and location.

9. Ham Radio Relay Transmission. Unknown Date. Probably Northern California.

10. I always called this utility signal 'the calliope.' I have no idea what its purpose is. Unknown date. Unknown location.

11. This percolating utility signal was recorded in South Carolina, 2008.

12. Ham Radio Communication. Summer 2001. Tennessee.

13. Unknown Shortwave noise. Unknown location. Unknown date.

Side B

1. Tuning in a SSB Ham radio broadcast. Unknown date, location.

2. A brief snippet of a science fiction reading about 'Professor Cantrell' Barcelona, 2001.

3. WWCR / Alex Jones broadcast. Christmas 2006, Nashville. I have no desire to re-broadcast any of that man's bullshit. But I politely ask that you take note of my editorial hand in response to Jones' caller.

4. Peculiarly warbling SSB detuned transmission. Melbourne, Australia, 2003.

5. A conspiracy theorist speaking about fluoride and water fluorination. I heard him numerous times in the early '00s, but I am not sure of his identity. Other topics included home schooling and garden cultivation. Northern California, 2005.

6. WBNY with Commander Bunny. One of the strangest pirate radio broadcasts. Unfortunately, the WBNY transmitter is very weak, and this was most understandable snippet of the recordings. South Carolina, 2007.

7. Outlook on BBC World Service, discussing the future of payphones. Northern California, 2005.

8. HF-GSC at 4724 kHz transmission from Andrews Air Force Base. This was one of the only times I actually wrote down a frequency, which is still being used as of 2020. Recorded in Death Valley, 2012.

9. Radio Damascus. Estonia 2007.

10. SSB detuned transmission with distant crosstalk. Unknown location and date.

11. End of broadcast and interval signals for Radio Romania. Recorded in South Carolina, 2012.

12. Interval signal for Radio Vatican. Recorded in Estonia, 2007.