The captivating realm of shortwave radio never ceases to amaze me with its jewels from across the world! In my DXing experience of over 25 years I have listened to numerous broadcasts from both hemispheres, collected some treasured QSLs for personal glory (not to mention the tons of mail correspondences) and amassed hours of my audio recordings to enchant my leisure! My love for radio germinated from listening to 'Border Crossings' on the Voice of America, way back in my early teen. I would cling to my portable AM radio at bed-time listening to the fascinating realm of notes and beats from different continents! In fact even now, whenever a familiar tune playing on radio draws my attention, I halt my daily proceedings to enjoy few minutes of boundless joy!
In my earlier post I have mentioned how, in recent years, I was gradually drawn towards DXing using WebSDRs. And, there's one more reason to it. I have developed a fondness towards listening to music on low powered stations, predominantly on AM mode (mostly in Europe) and which otherwise are impossible to hear from my QTH without the aid of a WebSDR. There are however, sporadic broadcasts that some of these stations conduct over shortwave, by renting airtime from transmitters in Europe, Asia and Africa to reach a global audience. And I try to log such broadcasts targeted to my part of the world with the aid of my shortwave radios. Although, in most instances, the broadcasts suffer heavy interference from static electrical field disturbances or from overlapping signals from high-powered broadcasters like those originating from China. Tough as it may seem, I try to correlate my DX catches with a simultaneous web-streaming of the program, to help me verify the reception, at times.
Herein, I am sharing one of such experiences. This post is about 'C.M.Obrecht Shortwave Radio' verification from Moosbrun, Austria, dating back to early 2022. Before I go to the specifics of this DX-catch, let me give you an intro of C.M. Obrecht. The following is written with information curated from an excerpt in the British DX Club bulletin.
"C.M.Obrecht, full name - Claudius Matthias Obrecht hailing from Switzerland, is not only a talented musician but also the proud operator of an officially registered Swiss private radio station. Born and raised in the charming town of Hofstetten-Flüh, Switzerland, in 1980, Obrecht's passion for electronic music and synthesizers ignited at the tender age of 16. It was his father, an ardent Jean-Michel Jarre fan, who introduced him to the mesmerizing world of electronic music through a remarkable concert. From that moment on, Obrecht was captivated, and his love affair with synthesizers and electronic sounds began. At the age of 17, armed with a Yamaha Cs1x "ROMpler" and a Doepfer MS-404, Obrecht embarked on his musical journey. Back then, digital "ROMplers" were all the rage, but his desire for more led him to stumble upon the Korg Volca analogue synthesizers in 2015. This discovery breathed new life into his passion, fulfilling his long-held dream of owning a collection of diverse analogue synthesizers.
By day, Obrecht works as a software developer and programmer, constantly expanding his skill set in various languages. He has delved into Swedish, Slovak, Russian (with a focus on reading and writing), Polish, Czech, Slovenian, Hungarian, and, naturally, his mother tongue, German. However, it is in the realm of shortwave radio that C.M.Obrecht truly shines. Broadcasting on different frequencies, he reaches a global audience through platforms like ORS Moosbrunn, Channel 292, Media Broadcast, WRMI Miami, and Encompass Woofferton. He sometime uses DRM mode of broadcast to reach countries those are using DRM as a bona fide medium of public communication.
His programs encapsulates mostly, his own captivating musical compositions. To keep his fans informed, Obrecht regularly shares updates about upcoming broadcasts through his social media accounts. This way, eager listeners can stay in the loop and never miss a chance to tune in to his enthralling transmissions. He has a Mixcloud account where some of his shows are uploaded - both, his own and those from Channel 292. You can listen to his shows on Mixcloud here.
Now coming back to my first encounter with C.M.Obrecht on the airwaves, it was on January 28, 2022, that I listened to his musical program on 11735kHz via ORS Moosbrunn, beamed towards Asia & Australia between 1215-1240 UTC from my QTH in Kolkata, India. Station ID was in German with mention of C.M.Obrecht Station and contact details was shared. I like trance and EDM and exposed to this genre quite a bit. C.M.Obrecht’s electronic music tracks were original, fresh and interesting.
I was enthralled with this sonic adventure unlike any other in recent times and ever since been following his musical journey. If you're interested to listen, here are his channel links on Bandcamp and Soundcloud .
Happy Listening!
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