How can you listen to that? It’s not even stereo

Posted on February 17, 2026 by onedeckpete

Big shout to regular Imaginary Stations listener Friedrich-Walter Adam in Germany for posting up his clip of the Downbeat on Shortwave show on last weekend’s Imaginary Stations via Shortwave Gold on youtube.

Some say we are mad for listening to different recordings of shortwave shows but each listener, depending on where he or she is, and what they are listening to it on and what time will get a different mix thanks to the groundwaves or the ionosphere and that is something else in our book. But is it in stereo they ask?

The youtube clip features Alpha Seven – Rain chime (beatless remaster) and Múm – There Is A Number Of Small Things (2019 Remaster). It was Justin Patrick Moore who originally recommended Alpha Seven‘s The haunted testcard tapes and here’s two great tracks off it. In stereo.

A view from the lakes

Posted on February 17, 2026 by onedeckpete

Cheers to Rich in the Lake District for sending this lovely snap today and don’t it look great up in the background? “A lovely day here, freezing and sunny.” It wasn’t bad here in London today either, bright and sunny. And no rain for a change.

Do you reckon sping is on its way? Or not very far away?

Who listens to shortwave these days?

Posted on February 16, 2026 by onedeckpete

A big thanks again to DJ Frederick and all the Imaginary Stations Crew for broadcasting the Downbeat on Shortwave 3 show over the weekend via those radio transmitters at Shortwaveradio.de

The show featured a “hands across the ionsphere” collaboration between Jesse Yuen from Perth, Australia and One Deck Pete from south London, UK who played two 15 minute mixes each in a back to back style featuring some downtempo business.

We’ve posted up two recordings of the show. The first is the super stereo studio recording, clean as a whistle.

Then the off-air recording via the shortwaves recorded in glorious mono. There’s added texture to the show thanks to signals bouncing off the ionosphere/groundwave propagation. Enjoy both recordings!

Tracklistings:
One Deck Pete Mix 1
Alpha Seven – Rain chime (beatless remaster)
Múm – There Is A Number Of Small Things (2019 Remaster)
Submersible – Teak Forest

Jesse Yuen Mix 1
Siva – Respect (version)
Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Mainu Apne Pyar Wich (Mystic Jungle Remix)
Coyote – Living In Heaven

One Deck Pete Mix 2
Rauschwerk – Oxidation (timeless space mix)
Kris Kemist – Casio Hip Hop
Junior Y Su Equipo – La Borrachita
Terror-Cactus – Descalzo

Jesse Yuen Mix 2
Michael Shultz – Weather report excerpt
Elijah Minnelli – Venn Diagram (Dub)
The Modern Pop Ensemble – Brakhage (Stereolab cover)
OK EG – Open Sky

It may be raining here…

Posted on February 15, 2026 by onedeckpete

It’s a terrible day today here in London. It’s tipping it down, feels about zero degrees and last night we even put some protection around the mimosa plant we have in a large pot near the house, just in case.

It’s a lot better over the other side of the world in Perth, Australia where our Downbeat on Shortwave collaborator Jesse Yuen is, and he’s sent a couple of pictures of the gardening work he did yesterday in the searing heat of 36 °C but today is a nicer 26 °C. Above is a view of the front garden which is coming along nicely (in October he sent us a post about starting work on his garden here) and yesterday he put some steel edging in. Looks great!

Also he planted a hakea pin cushion plant, that we had never heard of before. He said, “They have amazing flowers when mature” and he’s right there (below).

Cheers for the update Jesse and we look forward to seeing more pictures of the garden as they are inspiring.

Around the world on the 45th Parallel

Posted on February 11, 2026 by onedeckpete

Last weekend, Imaginary Stations beamed their Annual 45th Parallel Midwinter Broadcast via the ionosphere using the services of the great Shortwave Gold. From a secret shortwave laboratory in the mountains way up north, the broadcast had tracks featuring the circle of latitude, music from above, below and along the magic line, and also tunes to keep us warm during this mid-winter season thanks to DJ Frederick and Justin Patrick Moore.

And at 07.15 One Deck Pete brings us a mix called Above and Below the 45th Parallel.

Tracklistings:
Radio Lario – 30 Degrees North
Boca 45 – Forty Five
Haj i Ji – Above and below (RSD remix)
The 45 King – Armen
The Soulfulists – 4 degrees warmer

So get wrapped up, get a cup of hot cocoa in your hands and make sure you’re wearing those warm comfy slippers and enjoy this show of the highest (45 degrees) order,

Music for winter walks

Posted on February 9, 2026 by onedeckpete

Cheers to WillJeff for sending on his latest mix called “Music for winter walks 2026”. It’s a mix of songs he’s been listening to while out walking the dog. It’s a lovely mix of stuff we’ve never heard of before and one to have on in the headphones while stepping out for a stroll as there’s some wonderful stuff on here. Cheers Will!

Tracklistings:
Marku Ribas – Musseke
Kwashibu Area Band – Mpaebo Mu Asomdwee
Sabine McCalla – Sunshine Kisses
Jonny Faith – Ibrium
Gelli Haha – Normalize
Saul, Natty Wylah – Coalesce
JIM – Phoenix
Land of the Loops – I Confess

Slow mo shortwave

Posted on February 9, 2026 by onedeckpete

Imaginary Stations will be bringing another Downbeat on Shortwave (show number 3) this weekend (cheers Fred!) on Saturday 14th February 2026 at 1200 UTC and on Sunday 15th February 2026 at 1000/1400 hrs/2100 UTC on 6160 kHz.

Our good dub gardening friend Jesse Yuen from North of The River Swan, Perth, Australia and One Deck Pete from SE23, will be bringing you two 15 minute mixes each in a back to back downtempo style.

Tune in your shortwave radio or if you haven’t got one, via an online Software Defined Radio here (tuned into 6160 kHz) at the right time this weekend in AM mode and listen in and chill out to their slow-mo selection.

Well it looked smaller on the website

Posted on February 7, 2026 by onedeckpete

We popped to B&Q this morning to get a container for a newly aquired mimosa plant that we can’t decide where to actually put it in the garden. One in a pot may be good and can be moved around until we find the right spot. The pot was bigger than we thought!

The birthplace of Michael Fish

Posted on February 6, 2026 by onedeckpete

We’ve just come back from a couple of days at the south coast. We had some alright weather at Eastbourne (above, looking towards the Holy Well, Beachy Head is around the corner and the cliffs above are where we met a character with a rucksack here the other year) but when we went to Brighton, it tipped it down and somehow with the constant rain, the town lost a bit of its sparkle.

This rainy weather is enough to send you into a downward spiral but spring will grace us soon with its presence. We’ve started off some seeds, the chillies that aren’t really doing that much from since the last time we looked but it’s only been a week, it’s just that time of year but we stuck some Moneymaker tomatoes and a couple of Quick Fire Chillies in pots with a freezer bag over the top on various windowsills. Fingers crossed!

The rail/musical connection

Posted on February 5, 2026 by onedeckpete

While researching a rail mix for a future shortwave transmission we remembered this ambient mix of The KLF’s Last Train to Transcentral which we first heard one evening on the John Peel show. The day after, we were going through Brixton Station and popped into Solar Records, (a record shop now long closed, which was just inside the station. More on the shop here) to see if they had the tune.

We remember the guy behind the counter telling us he had some copies but had sent his entire stock back because all of the copies were warped. We are sure he may told us that every copy of the single pressed was warped on purpose as an “art” thing. Not sure if it was true or not but we didn’t bother looking for the tune after that as who wants a warped record?*

News Update: according to discogs: “Limited to 1000 copies (*another 1000 were warped and therefore destroyed)”

Years later we were going through Charing Cross train station, and we saw the owner of that record shop in a train inspector’s uniform with a nice hat inspecting tickets at the ticket gate. The moral of this tale is music and trains do connect us all!

Weeds up to me knees

Madtone, gardening and life