Shortwave Greetings

I always wanted to record shortwave broadcasts as the world turned into the New Year, but who wants to forfeit a New Year’s Eve celebration?   It was easier to tune into London each year (7:00 PM Eastern Standard Time) to hear Big Ben ringing in the New Year, and then go out.  But with the turn of the Millennium, I could no longer ignore the thought.  

When I decided to catch shortwave broadcasts from around the world at the turn of the Millennium, I knew it would be a huge undertaking.  What I didn’t know was if the old 1955 Zenith Trans-Oceanic shortwave radio my dad gave me would be up to the task.  I had an engineer check it out for safety reasons.  He tweaked a few things and thought it would work okay, but said I should always unplug it after use.  The tubes get hot.

I ran that receiver for hours at a time, tuning well into the night up to the big day.  I remember feeling despair at times because of all the unknowns.  It was December in Maine, and the storms could be fierce.  And because the electricity always goes out even on a clear day, a local problem could sink me. 

But there loomed the big one: that Y2K would shut everything down.  So, I started recording broadcasts of countries preparing for the world to come to a halt, in case I missed the turning of the New Year.  I recorded a somewhat dry report from Lithuania worrying about Y2K, and from Nova Scotia thinking out loud as to how it would plan for the possible shut down.

The sky did not fall, and the broadcasts came through.  Here then is the sound of the world coming through the airwaves...

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I published an article on the huge task of creating this radio piece.  The article was published in The Radio Post from Dublin and in the newsletters of the Association of Independents in Radio and the New England Antique Radio Club.

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Reception verification or QSL cards from some of the stations I tuned into, include:

KOL Israel External Service

Radio Australia International

Radio Austria International (ORF)

Radio Canada International

Radio China International

Radio Japan International

Radio Netherlands International

Radio Vlaanderen International (Brussels)

Swiss Radio International

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