On Sunday, 21 June 2015, the BBC World Service officially transmitted the 2015 BBC Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast–an international radio broadcast intended for a small group of scientists, technicians, and support staff who work for the British Antarctic Survey.

This is one of my favorite annual broadcasts, and I endeavor to listen every year. This year, the SWLing Post called upon readers to make a short recording of the broadcast from their locale. We received a total of thirty (!) recordings, from every continent (save Antarctica, that is; I’m sure the BAS team were too busy celebrating)…Wow! Thank you, participants!

Below are the entries, roughly organized by continent and country/region, including reader’s photos if provided. (If I’ve somehow missed including your entry, please contact me; I’ll amend this post.)

So, without further ado….

The Recordings

Africa

Morocco

SWL (Shortwave Listener): @K7al_L3afta

Location: Chaouia-Ouardigha, Morocco

Notes: The BBC World Service Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast. Woofferton transmitter.

Receiver: Tecsun PL-660 + 15m wire antenna.



Asia

India

SWL: Babul Gupta

Location: Barasat, West Bengal, India

Notes: Babul listened to the broadcast with his ICOM IC-R75 receiver, connected to a 176 meter long beverage antenna oriented in a West South direction.

Malaysia



SWL: Timm Breyel

Location: Subang Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia

Notes: Here is a sound file of the broadcast monitored in central Malaysia, using the frequency 5.985 kHz via Ascension Island at 21.30 UTC. By 21.35 UTC, QRM from presumably Myanmar Radio overwhelmed this frequency. Worst of all, reception on 9.590 kHz via Wooffeton was in audible due to strong QRM from PBS Xizang. Transmission on 5.905 via Dhabbaya was the only audible signal after 21.35 UTC, and it was a paltry (SINPO) 15341, best heard in USB.

Australia

Australia

SWL: Rob Wagner (VK3BVW)

Location: Mount Evelyn, Victoria, Australia

Notes: All three freqs noted here at Mount Evelyn, southeastern Australia: 5905.1 – Off freq and with a slight hum but a good signal, 5985 – Best of the three freqs, strong and clear, 9590 – Good signal but with moderate QRM from PBS Xizang co-channel. Pity! I suspect that freq would not have been as good down south either. Overall, a reasonable success this year.

Australia



SWL: Michael Stevenson

Location: Port Macquarie, NSW on the east coast of Australia

Notes: “5905 kHz Dhabbaya was only just fair and rather noisy while 5985 Woofferton was fair and still noisy with 9590 kHz Woofferton was the strongest signal but was marred by CRI China here in Port Macquarie, NSW on the east coast of Australia!”

New Zealand

SWL: Chris Mackerell

Location: Motueka, New Zealand

Notes: Receiving setup: Elad FDM-S2 SDR, Wellbrook ALA-1530S+ loop. QTH Marahau, Tasman District, New Zealand 41.00S 173.01E

Europe

Cyprus

SWL: Arjen Huisman

Location: Kissonerga, Cyprus

Notes: Attached my recording of the BBC Antarctic Midwinter broadcast on 5985 kHz. last Sunday June 21st. Something about my listening conditions: I have been listening with a JRC NRD-535DG to which a 13,5 longwire has been connected, hanging outside on the (large) uncovered balcony of my apartment, 3rd (top) floor.

I live about 500m from the coastline of the western part of Cyprus, about 8 km. north of the city of Paphos in a village called Kissonerga. Generally reception conditions are very good here, so close to the sea with no high buildings around.

Denmark

SWL: Willy Andersen (OZ4ZT)

Location: Soeborg near Copenhagen, Denmark

Notes: Willy used an Icom IC-756 Pro with an inverted V antenna. He noted that 9590 kHz and 5985 kHz were equal in signal strength and quality.



Germany



SWL: Gunther Rose

Location: Wetter, Germany

Notes: Here is my recording of the last 1,5 minutes of the Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast 2015 on 5985 kHz. My receiving-setup: Tecsun PL-880 with telescope antenna (indoor near a window on the 4th floor), line out to Macbook (audacity-software) Unfortunately I got lots of RFI from my neighbour’s powerline adapter so the signal from Wooferton was strong but not noise-free.

Italy

SWL: Alessio Proietti

Location: Rome, Italy

Notes: Receiver: Tecsun PL-660 Antenna: Homemade dipole 20 meters long, 6 meters height Frequency: 5985 kHz AM



Italy



SWL: Gabriele Somma (IZ8094SWL)

Location: Salerno Roccapiemonte, Italy

Notes: recorded the broadcast on his Icom IC-PRC1500 with an antenna at 10 meters high.



Italy

SWL: Giuseppe Morlè (Joseph)

Location: Ponza island in the Tyrrhenian Sea, Italy

Notes: I heard the BBC broadcast with my AOR AR 3030 receiver and Mini Whip antenna, and Tecsun PL-660.

Netherlands

SWL: Jonathan Marks

Location: University Twente, Netherlands

Notes: Here’s a clip from the University Twente SDR reception from Woofterton 5985 from 2145 onwards.

Poland

SWL: Dominik

Location: southwest Poland

Notes: 5845 kHz

Portugal

SWL: Sérgio Pimenta

Location: Porto, Portugal

Notes: [H]ere is my reception in Portugal (Porto, northern of Portugal), using a Tecsun PL-310ET with just the telescopic antenna on my kitchen window, very strong signal.

Romania

SWL: Tudor Vedeanu

Location: Gura Humorului, Romania

Notes: Receiver setup: Eton E1XM, 60m wire antenna.

Russia

SWL: Dennis

Location: Moscow, Russia

Notes: BBC Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast 2015 – for SWLing.com. Moscow. Grundig Satellit 1400 built-in mini whip.

Spain

SWL: Michael Haun

Location: Menorca, Spain

Notes: Please find 2 recordings from your special Midwinter broadcast: 5905 kHz (S9+10, rapid fading, quite noisy) and 5985 kHz ( S9+40, fantastic signal).

Receiver used was a PERSEUS SDR and a 5×10 meters active loop antenna. Keep up the good work and 73 also to all in the Antarctica!

Turkey

SWL: Oktay Egi

Location: Istanbul, Turkey

Notes: I am located in Istanbul, Turkey. I used Sony ICF-SW77 for listening with internal antenna on 5905 KHz. The sound was not clear but understandable. Time was 21:35 UTC.

United Kingdom

SWL: Mark Harper (MW1MDH)

Location: Saltney, England

Notes: “I’m running an IC-R75, on an internal, RF systems Windom, the ATU isn’t connected in the attached video. I’m located in Saltney, which is about 2 miles west of Chester, but just over the Welsh border by about 200 yards, I’m also just north of Wooferton! Hope the audio is ok, I’m running my 75 on an external speaker, just off to the side.”

United Kingdom

SWL: “Driverfilms”

Location: Newcastle Under Lyne in Staffordshire, England

United Kingdom

SWL: Andrew Svonja

Location: Hinckley, Leicestershire in the Midlands in the UK

Notes: On Sunday 21/06/15 at 21:30 UTC I recorded a segment of the BBC Winter Solstice broadcast to the Antarctic–SINPO reading was a complete 5 across the board

United Kingdom

SWL: Stephen Cooper

Location: Southport, England,

Notes: 9,590Khz on the Elad FDM-S2 with a 15m random wire.

North America

Canada

SWL: Fred

Location: London, Ontario

Notes: The recording was made using a camera in AVI format, which has been converted to MP3. The time stamp on the video is 17:46 EST. The recording is from a Grundig Yacht Boy 400. The best reception was by laying the Grundig flat with the radio antenna facing North East. No longwire or external aerial was used. I was also able to receive the signal on my Tecsun PL-380, but the signal was very muffled with excessive static.

Canada

SWL: Richard Langley

Location: Hanwell, New Brunswick, Canada

Notes: Richard listened to the broadcast on 9,590 kHz. He notes that it was received on a Tecsun PL-880 receiver with a Tecsun AN-03L 7-metre wire antenna in AM mode with 3.5 kHz RF filtering.

United States

SWL: Dan Robinson

Location: Potomac, Maryland, USA

Notes: using a JRC NRD-515 receiver, with Wellbrook 1530 loop antenna.

Dan also included the following audio recording:



United States

SWL: Frank Colella

Location: Westchester County, New York

Notes: Sangean ATS-909 receiver

United States

SWL: Thomas Witherspoon

Location: North Carolina, USA

Notes: I recorded the broadcast on a total of three SDRs simultaneously: the TitanSDR Pro, Elad-FDM-S2 and the WinRadio Excalibur.

I was very pleased to hear the broadcast on 9590 kHz. Since North Carolina was not in the path of this broadcast, it was a weak signal. All three receivers were using the same large outdoor horizontal delta loop at 60′ above the ground.

The following embedded audio player, should contain all three recordings. Note that the FDM-S2 recording (which is perhaps the best of the three) starts in the middle of the broadcast.



South America

Brazil

SWL: Flavio PY2ZX

Location: Brazil

Notes: Also noted the three frequencies in Brazil but 9590 kHz sounds better despite the presence of PBS Xizang. Great to hear such friendship spirit through the shortwaves! Congratulations BBC and BAS team. My recording:



Colombia

SWL: Rafael Rodriguez R.

Location: Bogota, Cundinamarca, Colombia

Notes: Greetings from Colombia. I could only hear the signal at 9590 KHz. The location is [at] a park close to my house (aprox. Lat 4 72 62 N Long 74 02 85 W; alt 2577 m over level sea).

I use a Degen DE1103 with Sony AN61 Antenna, to record a Sony ICD-P320 digital recorder.





Thank you!

Once again, many thanks to all of you who submitted your recordings of the BBC Midwinter Broadcast! We’ll be sharing this post with both the British Antarctic Survey and the BBC World Service. And to all of you, from the SWLing Post: Happy Midwinter! Happy Summer/Winter Solstice!

Please note that any map graphics used in this post were originally designed by NuclearVacuum and Ssolbergj–they have been modified for this post under a Creative Commons License CC BY-SA 3.0.

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