243 – Coordinated Universal Time

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Last night and this morning, I continued finding more interesting radio signals to record from the shortwave radio. I found a spot in my apartment near the window that seemed to be receptive, especially when using my slinky (yes, a slinky) hooked up to the Grundig radio’s antenna with an alligator clip. This solution isn’t official but I’ve found that it helps my radio to pick up some of the shortwave stations better. There are more complex & correct ways to set up a slinky antenna. Searching, I’ve found a lot of them are stretched out horizontally, usually using two.
 
The most interesting things I’ve found so far are beeps, tones, and strange static/white noise patterns. This is great raw material to work with when creating music. Surprisingly, I’ve picked up broadcasts from Asia in addition to Latin America. I say I’m surprised because my radio is not a high-end model. I assume this is a product of location (living in a higher elevation in Pittsburgh).
 
The recording I’m posting today is a transmission from CHU Canada. It broadcasts a frequency that is synchronized to atomic clocks. Here is a wikipedia article about the station: CHU Canada.
 
Download this recording.
 

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