NASWA Journal Columns · Flashsheet #295, September 23, 2007

Flashsheet #295, September 23, 2007

Last Updated on September 24, 2007 by Ralph Brandi

Next Deadline: Sunday, Sept. 30, 2007 at 1700 UTC (1300 EST/1200 CST/1100 MST/1000 PST).

All loggings to be sent to Mark Taylor at: markokpik@tds.net and Rich D’Angelo at rdangelo3@aol.com .

LOGS:

2460h  UNIDENTIFIED.  0832-0843, 9/18/07, English.  Presumed harmonic of easy-listening oldies w/ a real “smoky” sound to them. YL at 0840 re “Music of your life” concert promo. Fair/choppy, gone at 0900 re-check. (Barbour-NH)

2485 AUSTRALIA.  VL8K (Katherine), 1053 – 1102, 9/22/07, in English. Rugby commentary – including a goal, R. National ID at ToH, back to rugby.  Also 1053, 9/23/07 fair, // 2310 poor. (Taylor-WI)

2485  AUSTRALIA.  ABC NT Katherine, 1127, 9/23/07.  Very poor with talk in English  (Ronda-OK)

3200 SWAZILAND.  Trans World Radio, 0359, 9/17/07.  IS, IDs in English, into German program with music; // 4775 (Brandi-NJ)

3240  SWAZILAND.  TWR-Manzini, 0331, 9/23/07.  Fair with man speaking in Ndau (listed); children’ chorus @ 0344; ID @ 0345 and off  (Ronda-OK)

3335  PAPUA NEW GUINEA.  R East Sepik, 1158, 9/23/07.  Pop music to tentative ID, then long continuous talk by M starting at 1200. Poor. (Schiefelbein-MO)

3339.96  HONDURAS.  HRMI, Radio Misiones Internacionales, 0650-0900+, 9/22/07.  Reactivated. Had been off the air the past several weeks, but now back on the air. Spanish religious talk with English translations heard past 0715. Later heard with a variety of Spanish pops/ballads. local music. IDs as “Radio MI” and “Radio Misiones Internacionales”. Still here at 1100 check. Fair signal. (Alexander-PA)

3340 HONDURAS.  HRMI, around 0545, 9/22/07.  During 90m bandscan, besides REE Costa Rica on 3350 there was a much weaker Spanish signal on 3340, presumably HRMI active once again (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

3340  HONDURAS.  HRMI, 1019-1037, 9/22/07, Spanish.  Ballads w/ ID annmt at 1034. Weak but clear.  (Barbour-NH)

3340  HONDURAS.  HRMI/Radio Misiones Int’l, 1043, 9/23/07, in Spanish. Contemporary tunes with occasional quick IDs between songs, right through ToH. Heard longer apparent ID around 1120, then more music. Fair. (Schiefelbein-MO)

3340  GUATAMALA.  HRMI (Presumed), 1051, 9/23/07 in Spanish.  Upbeat vocals w/ male announcer.  (Taylor-WI)

3396  ZIMBABWE.  Zimbabwe Bdcst. Co., 0135 – 0230, 9/23/07, in local language w/ occasional EE.  Afropop and ballads through ToH, mention of Zimbabwe in what might have been an ID at 1202, segued music after. (Taylor-WI)

3810  ECUADOR.  HC280D (Guayaquil), 1103 – 1106, 9/18/07, in Spanish.  Time pips w/ time announcements in Spanish.  Poor w/ voice QRM. (Taylor-WI)

4605.04  IRIAN JAYA-INDONESIA. RRI Serui (presumed),1041-1100, 9/22/07, Vernacular.  Light vocal/instrumental music in language, audible under QRN floor. Gradually fading-out by ToH. Poor. 3976-RRI Pontianak also heard in this time frame w/ same signal strength/quality. (Barbour-NH)

4699.41  BOLIVIA.  Radio San Miguel (Riberalta), 0910-0930, 9/22/07.  Local Bolivian music. Spanish announcements. Poor.  Weak. (Alexander-PA)

4699.4 BOLIVIA.  R. San Miguel (Riberalta), 1049, 9/23/07. Threshold audio popping above noise with hints of music.  Faded quickly (Strawman-IA).

4699.4  BOLIVIA.  Radio San Miguel (Riberita) (P), 1058 – 1101.  In and out of the static floor with music and woman announcer.  Not good enough to tell if there was a ToH ID or not.  Poor with bad flutter. Thanks to Jerry Strawman’s tip.  (Taylor-WI)

4716.67  BOLIVIA. Radio Yura (Yura), 1005-1020, 9/22/07.  Spanish talk, rustic Bolivian music. Rapid-fire announcements. Poor. Weak. (Alexander-PA)

4746.87  PERU.  Radio Huanta 2000 (Huanta), 0950-1010, 9/22/07.  Peruvian music. ID, Talk in local language. Weak. (Alexander-PA)

4746.88  PERU.  R. Huanta 2000 (presumed), 1050, 9/23/07. OM & YL tlk at threshold level. High-pitched female voice definitely cut through noise better than OM (Strawman-IA).

4750  INDONESIA.  RRI Makassar (presumed), 1338, 9/21/07. Muezzin at the rather late hour of 1338; not much else was left on 60m, not even Cuba 5025. High local noise level. (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

4775  SWAZILAND.  TWR-Manzini, 0343, 9/17/07.  Fair with program in Lomwe (listed); ID in English @ 0355 and off; at 0359 a pleasant “good morning” greeting in English and into German program; a second “good morning” greeting in English @ 0435 and into English program; // 3200 poor throughout the time period  (Ronda-OK)

4790, RRI Fak2 (presumed), 1304, 9/22/07.  Qur’an; unlike the morning before, this signal outshone 4750 which also had Qur’an but not //. 4605 weak with talk, and nothing audible on 4870 or 4920. (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

4790  PERU.  Radio Vision, Chiclayo, 0212, 9/20/07.  Ending some kind of live religious service. Not bad except for QRN and CODAR. (Dexter, WI)

4790.15  PERU.  Radio Vision (Chiclayo), 0139 – 0203, 9/22/07, in Spanish. OM preaching, OM shortly talks w/ YL, then empassioned talk by YL.  ID at 0201 w/ ‘onda media, e onda corta’ frequencies. Back to talk / preaching by OM. (Taylor-WI)

4845  MAURITANIA.  Radio Mauritanie, 0255-0306, 9/20/07.  Man with talk in Arabic, segment of instrumental music followed by another man with Koran recitation.  Good signal and presumably on late for Ramadan.  (D’Angelo-PA)

4845  MAURITANIA.  RT Mauritanie, 0222, 9/21/07.  Assumed on extended sked for Ramadan. Good. (Dexter, WI)

4905 TIBET.  Xizang PBS, Lhasa, 1220-1238, 9/21/07.  Music program (indigenous traditional music, pop songs, etc). Clearly parallel with 4920 (weak) and 6200 (fair). (Howard-CA)

4909.2  ECUADOR.  R. Chaskis del Norte (presumed) , 1055, 9/23/07. Andean vocal w/flute at only S1 level. Long-winded OM in possible nx or announcements @ 1101 (Strawman-IA).

4909.2  PERU.  Radio Chaskis (Taubata) (P), 1108, 9/23/07.  Rustic band music in Andean style w/ male announcer.  Poor. (Taylor-WI)

4919  ECUADOR.  Radio Quito (Probable), 1120, 9/22/07. Distinctive S. Am. contemporary vocals, OM announcer – annoying whistle on frequency. (Taylor-WI)

4975.97  UGANDA.  Radio Uganda, 0255-0325, 9/21/07  Tune-in to English religious messages. Local African music at 0300. Some US pop music. Quite surprised when they played “YMCA” by The Village People! I haven’t heard that song in a long time. Promos for upcoming programs. Fair to good. (Alexander-PA)

4976  UGANDA.  Radio Uganda, 0225, 9/22/07. Poor with man in local language. (Dexter, WI)

4976 UGANDA.  R. Uganda, 332, 9/22/07. Pop mx at best level in a long time. Frequent announcements. Overall fair-poor due to t-storm static (Strawman-IA).

5010  INDIA.  AIR, Thiruvananthapuram (presumed), 1238, 9/23/07. Threshold audio w/ OM in extended tlk (Strawman-IA).

5030  CHINA. CNR-1 jammer, 1125-1155+, 9/21/07.  Chinese talk. Local music. Very weak. Much better on the following parallel frequencies: 6110, 7280, 9680, 9780, 11665, 11710, 11785, 11825, 11990, 12110, & 12040. Some frequencies with echo effect. (Alexander-PA)

5910 COLOMBIA.  Marfil Estereo, 1130, 9/23/07. SP ballads. Feded away but back by 1136. Slop from presumed DW relay, Bonaire, 5905 (Strawman-IA).

5920  RUSSIA.  R.Rossi (Petropavlovsk Kamchatsky), 1012-1033, 9/18/07, Russian.  OM and YL w/ talk, presumed news headlines at 1030. More talk w/ ID in passing  at 1032. Fair over co-channel WBOH which took over the frequency at BoH. // 5940 Arman-fair.  (Barbour-NH)

5945  UNID.  1245, 9/22/07.  Talk by man that had the cadence of preaching; perhaps in English; address with numbers in English @ 1259 and off @ 1300; perhaps Bible Voice?  (Ronda-OK)

5952.46, BOLIVIA.  Radio Pio Doce (Siglo Veinte), 0220-0234*, 9/20/07, Spanish talk. Sign off with River Kwai march at 0232 along with closing announcements. Usually signs off with the River Kwai march. Difficult reception with strong splatter from 5950-Okeechobee, Florida. (Alexander-PA)

5964.95 MALAYSIA.  Klasik Nasional FM via RTM, 1111-1140, 9/22/07. Islamic sunset call to prayer (Kuala Lumpur sunset at 1109), reciting from the Qu’ran, ballads and pop songs, in vernacular, weak. This has been operating on a somewhat erratic schedule recently, as also noted by Dan Sheedy and John Wilkins. (Howard-CA)

5985  RWANDA.  Sudan Radio Service (Kigali), 0300-0329, 9/21/07. Abrupt sign on with IDs. English news at 0302. Program about development of schools in Sudan. Some Afro-pop music.  Fair level but mixing with a weaker co-channel WYFR. (Alexander-PA)

5985.80 MYANMAR.  Myanma Radio, Yangon (presumed), 1337-1412, 9/22/07. Heard in the usual vernacular and indigenous music/singing, poor-fair.  Checked to hear if they had any special coverage of the Buddhist monks protesting in Yangon, but guess they did not want to publicize what was happening there. (Howard-CA)

6010  MEXICO.  R. Mil, 1302, 9/22/07.  EZL vocals in Spanish; R. Mil ID @ 1305; all at fair level.  This is a station that I hear only rarely (Ronda-OK)

6025.05  DOMINICAN REPUBLIC.  Radio Amanecer Internacional, 2155-2220, 9/16/07.  Gospel music. Spanish talk. IDs at 2205.  Several “La Voz de Esperanza” announcements. Fair level but some weak adjacent channel splatter. (Alexander-PA)

6025 DOMINICAN REPUBLIC.  Radio Amanecer Internacional, 2322-0003, 9/18/07. Man with Spanish religious talk alternating with inspirational vocal selections.  ID at 2328 and again at 2353.  Fair to good signal until top of the hour when squeezed by China Radio International via Sackville on 6,020 kHz. (D’Angelo-PA)

6025  UNID.  0420, 9/21/07.  Fair with pleasant vocals in Spanish; no ID @ 0430; music continued past 0445 with no ID; perhaps R. Amanecer?  (Ronda-OK)

6025 DOMINICAN REPUBLIC.  R. Amanecer Internacional, Santo Domingo, 0838-0908, 9/21/07.  On 24 hrs? Sounded like sermon in Spanish, religious music/singing, 0903 musical fanfare, “Radio Amanecer Internacional”. Mostly fair, briefly good, slight QRM after strong RA sign-on at 0900 on 6020. (Howard-CA)

6030  CANADA.  CFVP, 0504, 9/17/07. Country music heard faintly in the noise, song “Death and Taxes (and Me Loving You)” heard, in // to web feed @ http://www.classiccountryam1060.com, ID heard @ 0524 as Classic Country AM 1060. Fading in and out of intelligibility, mostly out. Made more difficult to hear by VOA signon on 6035 @ 0528.  First time heard, last Canadian regional needed.  Been trying for this one for >20 years.  Heard on the E1. (Brandi-NJ)

6049.64  MALAYSIA.  Asyik FM via RTM, 1043-1116, 9/22/07, In vernacular. Indigenous chanting/singing, pop songs, many singing “Asyik FM” jingles, 1111-1114 Islamic sunset call to prayer (Kuala Lumpur sunset at 1109), fair, with moderate het from 6050.0 (perhaps from RTM Sarawak Sibu, but I have never been able to hear any audio from them).  (Howard-CA)

6055  JAPAN.  R. Nikkei, 1315, Wed 9/19/07.  JOZ2, plays some classical and other good music, and is well worth listening to, despite being in Japanese — except at 1315, there was a discussion with a segment every so often in English! Perhaps it was just being translated into Japanese, but each segment was fairly long and not faded under as for voice-over. 1329 sign-off announcement with frequencies, callsigns, powers, 1330* Also listened Thu Sept 20 to some classical music but it was interrupted at 1244 for Japanese announcements and ID. The radio was already tuned to 6055, since we had been enjoying the music on La Bañera de Ulises from Spain until 0555 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

6079.99  BOLIVIA.  Radio San Gabriel, La Paz, 1040-1100, 9/22/07,  Presumed with non-stop nice local flute music, rustic vocals. Fair level but overall poor signal due to DRM QRM on low side. (Alexander-PA)

6080 SINGAPORE.  RSI, 1322-1332, 9/22/07.  Strong reception, program of “Retro-African” music, ID “Radio Singapore International, a view from Singapore”, BoH news, item about the Buddhist monks protesting in Yangon, etc. (Howard-CA)

6089.84  NIGERIA.  Radio Nigeria, Kaduna, 2135-2201, 9/21/07.  Poor under DRM noise with vernacular talk. Covered by Anguilla-6090 at 2201 sign on. (Alexander-PA)

6089.85 NIGERIA.  R.Nigeria-Kaduna (presumed), 2126-2040, 9/18/07, Vernacular.  Hi-life music, anncr. at 2130 followed by brief Ko’ran chanting (call to prayer?) and OM until signal wiped out by 6090 DGS-Anguilla carrier. Poor. (Barbour-NH)

6095  NEW ZEALAND.  R. New Zealand, 1342, 9/22/07.  Good with listenable Pacific Island choral music; ID @ 1344  (Ronda-OK)

6110  CHINA.  PBS Xizang (Lhasa), 1238 – 1245, 9/23/07, in listed Tibetan. Alternating man and woman announcers with musical interludes after 1240. Signal strength good, QRM from co channel VoA (N. Marianas) very poor.  PBS Xizang // 7310 – Poor. (Taylor-WI)

6120  SINGAPORE.  R. Singapore Inatl, 1215, 9/23/07. Indo service listed w/ OM & YL alternating in presumed nx. S1 on peaks but clear (Strawman-IA).

6134.75  BOLIVIA.  Radio Santa Cruz, 0012-0045, 9/20/07.  Coverage of futbol match with two fast talking male announcers in Spanish. Goal at 0029 followed by brief announcements and ID.  Poor to fair.  (D’Angelo-PA)

6160  CANADA.  CKZU, 1259, 9/22/07. Vancouver coming in well at 34443, with ID as “CBC Radio One in British Columbia”, plug local “North by Northwest” show following news, 1300 World Report (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

6165  CHAD. RNT, N¹Djamena, 2215-2231*, 9/20/07.  French talk, local tribal music. Sign off with National Anthem at 2230.  Fair to poor. Co-channel QRM from a weak Croatia. (Alexander-PA)

6190  SOUTH AFRICA.  BBC-Meyerton, 0400, 9/21/07.  Fair-good with ID in English and into news; IDs @ 0404, 0406, and 0412  (Ronda-OK)

6195  SINGAPORE.  BBC relay, 1330, 9/22/07.  Poor with BBC World Service ID and into next program  (Ronda-OK)

6205.91, IRAN.  VOIRI, 0027-0125, 9/20/07,  Sign on with lite instrumental music. Opening announcements & Iranian National Anthem at 0030. Koran at 0031. Talk in unidentified language at 0033. Variety of Mid-east music, lite instrumental music. Koran at various times throughout broadcast. Abrupt sign off. Good. Strong.  (Alexander-PA)

6295  EURO-PIRATE. (Ireland).  Reflections Europe, 2115-2230, 9/16/07. Tentative. English religious programming with talk & religious music. Religious sermon. Very weak. I hear these guys just about every Sunday but never strong enough to pull out an ID. (Alexander-PA)

6330 UNIDENTIFIED.  0039-presumed 0059*, 9/23/07, Mandarin. Choral-like / instrumental music b/w brief talks by announcer. OM and YL from 0045; mostly YL.  Programming had a CRI “feel” to it. Fair at t/in, fading out by ToH to barely audible level so unsure if 0059 s/off is correct or I just lost the signal.  (Barbour-NH)

6400.08, EURO-PIRATE. (Scotland), Weekend Music Radio , 2115-2155, 9/16/07. English DJ chatter. Pop music. Acknowledged listeners¹ reports. “WMR” IDs. Poor to fair. (Alexander-PA)

6875.1  PIRATE.  The Crystal Ship, 1445-1455, 9/22/07.  Rock music, ID. Weak. Poor in noise. (Alexander-PA)

6925 usb PIRATE.  Northwoods Radio, 0127-0130*.  Vocal selection followed by a man announcer in English with ID and e-address: “This is Northwoods Radio … northwoodsradio@yahoo.com.”  This was followed by a CW ID and some RTTY. Poor to fair.  (D’Angelo-PA)

6925  PIRATE.  Northwoods Radio, 1625-1643+, 9/22/07.  Suppressed carrier USB. Rock music. Call of loon & ID at 1643, followed by CW & SSTV. Gave yahoo address. Weak. Poor in noise. (Alexander-PA)

6925 usb PIRATE.  Ground Zero Radio? 2108-2125, 9/22/07.  Tentative with air raid sirens, civil defense announcements. Ad for tranquilizers. Poor to fair. (Alexander-PA)

6925  PIRATE.  Northwoods Radio, 2251, 9/22/07.  Rock and pop tunes, loon call IDs, Yahoo email address given for reports. Poor, mostly audible only on the peaks. (Schiefelbein-MO)

6925 usb  PIRATE.  Wolverine Radio, 0117-0124*, 9/23/07.  Several men in English talking sports.  Off with Wolverine Radio ID. Fair.  (D’Angelo-PA)

7115  GERMANY.  IBC Tamil (Wertachtal), 0050 – 0100, 9/19/07 in Tamil.  Talk by Woman then Man, ID, S. Asian folk – type music, 0100 off. (Taylor-WI)

7120  SOUTH AFRICA.  BBC-Meyerton, 0437, 9/17/07.  Fair-poor with discussion in English of Uganda politics: ID @ 0438; // 3255 at good level  (Ronda-OK)

7120  SOUTH AFRICA.  BBC relay, 0358 – 0404, 9/20/07, in English.  “Network Africa” program, program announcements, ID sequence, news. Fair.  // 7160 (Ascension Island) Fair. (Taylor-WI)

7125  GUINEA.  Radio Guinee (presumed), 2250-2255, 9/19/07.  Highlife vocals hosted by a man with French talk.  Poor to fair until carrier cut at 2255 and didn’t return before Russian powerhouse opened at 2300.  (D’Angelo-PA)

7130.0  MALAYSIA/SARAWAK.  Sarawak FM via RTM, 1318-1355, 9/23/07.  YL DJ with EZL pop songs, in vernacular (language and format sounded same as heard on Asyik FM), only one ID heard for “Sarawak FM” and did not note any of their usual singing station jingles, almost fair reception, QRM (Taiwan on 7129.87, CNR-1 [// 5030] in Chinese on 7130.0 and CNR-2/CBR [// 6155] with “English Evening” on 7130.0), but even with all this QRM Sarawak FM held up fairly well. 1355 covered by open carrier.  Heard // 5030, under strong CNR-1. Wish to again thank Dan Sheedy for the alert that this was being heard so well. Nice surprise to be able to enjoy this station that I rarely hear.  (Howard-CA)

7165  RUSSIA.  VOR, via Vladivostok, 1230, 9/23/07. Russian choral mx was only S1 but steady (Strawman-IA).

7165  RUSSIA.  VOR-Vladivostok, 1242, 9/23/07.  Fair-poor with choral music in Russian; then into Russian talk  (Ronda-OK)

7210  ETHIOPIA.  Radio Fana (T), 0416 – 0426, 9/20/07. in Amharic.  Man and Woman each with a short talk, Horn of Africa music, male announcer w/ short musical bridges.  Very poor. (Taylor-WI)

7220  PAKISTAN.  Radio Pakistan (Probable), 1157 – 1211, 9/22/07, in Chitral.  Talk by OM, S. Asian music, 1200 short announcement by OM w/ ment. of something close to Pakistan, YL, 1206 more S. Asian music, obliterated by ham QRM 1211 – 1213, OM & YL talk, 1219 mu. br., YL,  (fading) 1223 Mu. Br., YL, 1225 f/out.  Fair – poor.  Jim Ronda reports 1223 when modern Asian-style music and vocals was heard; brief announcement @ 1227 and then off. Poor. (See Voice of Vietnam below.)  Language note: Citral (pron. “chetrar”).  Wikipedia says it is the language of the Khowar people of the Northwest Frontier province of Pakistan – where Osama Bin Laden may be hiding.  DX Toolbox shows the evening greyline going through the area about 1200.  (Taylor-WI; Ronda-OK)

7220  VIETNAM. Voice of Vietnam, 1230 – 1303. 9/22/07. Following s/off of Radio Pakistan. 1230 a Russian language program began that was most likely VoV as per its schedule; the program heard from 1208 until 1227 was at a poor level sometimes peaking to poor +.  The Russian language program was quite faint but clearly Russian.  Mark reports: 1258 Russian language ending, 1300 change to Mandarin, opening ann. by man, musical bridge, talk by man.  Poor.  (Ronda-OK; Taylor-WI)

7255  NIGERIA.  Radio Nigeria, 2244-2258*, 9/19/07.  Talk by man announcer in Hausa language alternating with Koran recitations. ID and closedown announcements at 2256 followed by orchestra National Anthem.  Good signal. (D’Angelo-PA)

7260  THAILAND. Radio Thailand, *1100-1110, 9/20/07. Thanks to Rich D’Angelo tip. Sign on with gongs, English ID & into Vietnamese at 1101. Fair to good. (Alexander-PA)

7275  NIGERIA.  Radio Nigeria (Abuja), 0550-0620, 9/22/07.  English religious talk. ID & news at 0600. Weak but in the clear. (Alexander-PA)

7280  CHINA.  Voice of the Strait-Fuzhou, 1108, 9/22/07.  Fair-good with usual mix of pop and traditional music  (Ronda-OK)

7290  SOUTH AFRICA.  BBC-Meyerton, 0444, 9/17/07.  Fair with Portuguese/English lesson based on the song “Stand by Me”;  BBC ID in Portuguese @ 0446  (Ronda-OK)

7300  CHINA / RUSSIA.  Firedrake jamming, 1233 – 1240, 9/22/07 w/ Chinese –probable Mandarin under. At 1240, Firedrake disappeared, and Voice of Russia, 1240 – 1245, in Mandarin came up with a man talking. Mistake on the Firedrake’s frequency?  No one else of interest to the Chinese are on at or near this frequency at this time. (Taylor-WI)

7440  UKRAINE. Radio Ukraine International, 2315, 9/21/07.  Last spring, RUI announced plans to move the NAm transmitter from 7440 to 5830 on Sept 23, but this did not happen. We still heard it on 7440, at check in Ukrainian, so presumably continuing until 0400 including the English hours at 0000 and 0300. This sked appears to be the updated one: http://www.nrcu.gov.ua/index.php?id=162 showing some of the other planned changes did take place on Sept 20, not Sept 23, and some did not. English to Europe at 21 has moved to 5840, and 5830 is in use at 0000 and 0300, or does that transmitter stay in Ukrainian overnight?  (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

7445, TAIWAN.  Radio Taiwan International (Paochung), 1125-1200, 9/20/07, English programming with radio-drama. ID at 1147. Closing announcements at 1157 with ID & schedule. Fair signal strength but poor, muffled audio. (Alexander-PA)

9265 UNITED STATES.  WMLK, 1712, 9/20/07. ID, invitation to visit if you’re Christian and passing by Bethel, mention of Assemblies of Yahweh; signal weak, S2 or 3, and noisy most of the time, but occasionally there was a “swoop” sound, then the audio would be strong and clear for a few seconds before going back to being noisy. Transmitter problem?  This station is usually in the skip zone for me (Brandi-NJ)

9290, LATVIA.  Latvia Today, Ulbroka, 1945-2002*, 9/16/07.  Tune-in to English programming with “Latvia Today” ID at 1951. Weak but readable. (Alexander-PA)

9329.71 UNITED STATES. WBCQ, 1717, 9/20/07.  Christian cover of Kiss’ “I Want To Rock ‘n’ Roll All Night” as “I Love The Lord With All My Might”, followed by other such adaptations (Wings “Live and Let Die”, “China Grove”, Billy Joel’s “You May Be Right”, The Beatles’ “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds” as “Look In The Sky, You’ll Find Him”, “Spirit In The Sky”, Aerosmith’s “Walk This Way” as “Walk His Way”, pretty funny stuff), program “The Apologetic Radio Show” hosted by Rod Hembree within “The Good Friends Network” program, joking about “we got through the show and didn’t even try to sell you some gold” before offering a QSL card that will “make you the envy of the DX world”. (Brandi-NJ)

9300.5  RUSSIA.  Voice of Russia, 2350 – 0003, 9/19/07, in Portuguese / Spanish.  Woman, 2356 flute tune, Man prob. w/ ending announcements, Kremblin Bells, ID, Noticias.  Poor with severe ³motorboat² QRM. (Taylor-WI)

9335  NORTH KOREA.  Voice of Korea, 1327 – 1340, 9/20/07, in English.  Man reading or reciting from a text, usual Korean operatic music, talk by a woman.  Fair with low static. (Taylor-WI)

9385 UNITED STATES WWRB, 1755, 9/20/07. Brother Stair ranting, break in to mid rant at 1759:30 with ID as WWRB, back to Brother Stair (Brandi-NJ)

9450  CHINA.  CNR-1, 1402-1411, 9/16/07.  Good signal, with strong echo (operating more than one jamming transmitter and out of sync, causing echo). Also heard firedrake/music jamming here, all for the purpose of jamming the Sound of Hope (scheduled for 1400-1600). CNR-1 clearly // 5030. (Howard-CA)

9485  CLANDESTINE [to No. Korea].  Shiokaze/Sea Breeze via Taiwan, 1306-1311 & 1316-1320, 9/22/07 (Sat.), in English.  IDs “This is Shiokaze Sea Breeze from Tokyo, Japan”, details and stories about abductees (believe this may be the identical program that was on last Sat.), fair to good till 1318, due to absence of the usual splatter from 9480, which did not start till suddenly on at 1318. (Howard-CA)

9505  USA.  WYFR via Rampisham, 2109, 9/19/07.  The usual stuff, but in FF and aided by flutter. (Dexter, WI)

9550  RWANDA.  FEBA Radio via Kigali, 1930, 9/21/07.  W talk, listed in Songhai. Drums, religious sounding instl at 1944, M in language. This is shown as running to 2000 on Thurs/Fri. (Dexter, WI)

9580  GABON.  Afrique #1, 1830-1930 UTC 9/15/07.  Afropop/soul mx from 1830-1900, tlk in FR 1900-1910, then Afropop and a little soul again.  Still going when called away from radio 1930.  Clear IDs, fair to poor signal before 1900, progressively fair to good after.  (Tilford)

9599.24 MEXICO.  XEYU, Radio UNAM (presumed), 0012-0047, 9/22/07.  LA ballads, long segment of EZL piano music, poor-fair, best in LSB, QRM from strong Cuba on 9600.0. From 0328-0341 re-checked and was fair to good with Cuba absent, but tuned back again at 0355 to hear Glenn’s program in Spanish, on 9600.0, with Radio Nederland ID. (Howard-CA)

9599.2  MEXICO. XEYU, Radio UNAM, 1341, 9/14/07.  Besides the weak carrier I found at 1340 Sept 13, also heard much better, Spanish discussion of state, federal and city politix. S9 +18 or SINPO 34443. Still needs more modulation but readable. Then at 0552 Sept 15 on 9599.2, good modulation in classical music, and signal stronger than JOZ3 on 9595. Also; Keeping track of when XEYU is active: 1333, 9/19/07.  Spanish discussion about Mexican history, poor but readable (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

9599.29  MEXICO.  Radio UNAM (Mexico City), 0150-0200, 9/21/07.  Spanish talk. ID at 0152. A regular lately, but once again fighting it out with Cuba on 9600. Fair to good signal strength but must use ECSS- LSB to avoid Cuba on 9600. (Alexander-PA)

9615  RUSSIA.  WYFR (Irkutsk) , 1310, 9/18/07, in listed Indonesian.  Long sermon-type talk by M, couple of apparent IDs mentioning “Oakland, California”. Into EE at 1400 w/Harold Camping, but signal almost gone by then. Per AOKI this is via Irkutsk. Poor. (Schiefelbein-MO)

9650  UNITED ARAB EMIRATES.  Radio Japan, 2159, 9/19/07, in Japanese. Announcement (in English) about upcoming schedule changes, ID, and into Japanese-lang programming. Fair w/splatter from stronger // 5kHz away on 9655 (via Ascension). (Schiefelbein-MO)

9680 INDONESIA.  RRI Jakarta, 0900-0934, 9/23/07 (Sun).  Singing KGRE jingle, ID in Bahasa Indonesian (BI) for KGRE & the Indonesia Australia Language Foundation, into English with KGRE program #5701 presented by Kevin and Maggie, talking about SMP students and the KGRE’s Joeys Club, song “Blue Sky Mine”, segment “Quick Fix” about using in & on for dates, mentions KGRE has new recording studios, mostly good. Suddenly off in mid-sentence about 0909, open carrier on & off, back on at 0912:40 without the KGRE program. Pop music, YL in BI, mentions K.G.R.E. (explaining why they went off the air?), more pop songs, on-air phone conversation. At 1000 noted RRI ID and into the usual Ramadan/Islam program in BI. A big thanks to Dan Sheedy for the tip! For the past two years during Ramadan I didn’t hear KGRE during their usual 1000-1020 time slot (Sun. & Wed.), so assumed they were completely preempted, but maybe if I had tuned in an hour earlier I could have heard them. They have an extensive website: http://www.kangguru.org/index.htm .  (Howard-CA)

9705, NIGER.  LV du Sahel (Niamey), 2110-2200*, 9/16/07.  Variety of French & US pop music, ballads. Some local tribal music. French talk. Koran at 2153-2158. Sign off with choral National Anthem at 2159.  Test tone at 2200 & off. Fair signal strength level but overall poor signal due to adjacent channel splatter from both sides. (Alexander-PA)

9765  ENGLAND.  RT Algerienne via Rampisham, 2000 on 9/21/07.  Appearing with time pips at 2000.  Into M in AA, brief W in AA and into Koran. (Dexter, WI)

9765  MADAGASCAR.  Radio Voice of the People, 0425-0458*, 9/23/07.  Tune-in to vernacular talk. English IDs. Brief breaks of Afro-pop music. English at 0440 with program about human rights in Zimbabwe. Closing ID announcements with schedule, address, and web site address a 0457. Good. Strong, but slight QRM from weak music loop jammer. (Alexander-PA)

9785 RUSSIA.  RS Tikhiy Ocean, 0843-0900*, 9/18/07, Russian.  YL and OM w/ talk and a few musical selections. ID’s at 0848, 0850 and s/off. Poor/fair. (Barbour-NH)

9905  OPPOSITION.  Radio Free Asia (Palau), 2120, 9/19/07 in listed Mandarin.  Poor and  //11740 and 13625 both of which were also poor. (Dexter, WI)

9965  PALAU.  KHBN, 1248, 9/23/07, in Mandarin.  M talking in soothing Mandarin over muzak, audio oddly pinched-sounding like the hi/lo ends were cut off. Good signal. (Schiefelbein-MO)

11610  GERMANY.  WYFR (Wertachtal), 2050, 9/19/07, Arabic. Announcements/talk to ID/website at ToH, then alternating M/F announcers talking with bits of EE scattered in. Good. (Schiefelbein-MO)

11775 USA. R. Marti, 0055-0110 9/17/07.  Music by Ana Gabriel until TOH, then news in Spanish.  Bumped up against this trying to bring in Brazil on 11780. No Cuban jammer heard (unlike 6030 where usually present in background), and Marti clobbered Brazil, even with USB and LSB.  Could have been mistaken for N. American rather than Caribbean target from strength and clarity of signal.  (Tilford)

11785 NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS. Radio Free Asia via Tinian, 2303-2359* 9/19/07.  Talk by a man and woman in Mandarin Chinese, brief musical segments, interviews and news.  Fair and // 11760 (Poor to fair) and 15430 (poor).  (D’Angelo-PA)

11810  GREAT BRITAIN.  R. Algerienne-Woofferton, 1912, 9/19/07.  Fair with Koran chanting; spoken commentary and back to chanting  (Ronda-OK)

11815 BRAZIL. Radio Brasil Central, 2234-2305, 9/21/07.  Man hosting program of Brazilian pop music with Portuguese talks, jingle IDs and ad string. Fair to good.  (D’Angelo-PA)

11835  UNID.  2144, 9/21/07 in AA. M/W with slight echo effect. Some kind of ID at 2200. Good but with a slight fade.  (Dexter, WI)

11840 INDIA.  AIR via Delhi, broadcasting to NE Asia, 1312-1315*, 9/22/07, (scheduled 1145-1315).  Heard in Chinese with Indian music, jammed by CNR-1, both simultaneously off at the same time.  (Howard-CA)

11945  ENGLAND.  Southern Sudan Interactive Radio Instruction, 0630-0700*, 9/21/07.  Very tentative with English talk. A lot of door bell type sound affects. Very weak. Just to weak to catch an ID.  Listed for M/W/F only. (Alexander-PA)

11990  KUWAIT.  R. Kuwait, 1803, 9/19/07.  Good with ID in English and into “Islam and the Destiny of Man” program; slipping to fair @ 1905 recheck (Ronda-OK)

12035  GREAT BRITAIN.  R. Southwest Africa-Rampisham, 1751, 9/19/07. Fair-good with news and what seemed a phone-in program in English; ID and web address @ 1755; ID and list of frequencies @ 1801  (Ronda-OK)

12050  EGYPT.  Radio Cairo, 0040-0055, 9/22/07.  Strong signal strength but very distorted, unusable audio with Arabic talk, Mid-east music. (Alexander-PA)

12085 SYRIA.  R. Damascus, 2020, 9/18/07. Typical Arabic vocals with percussive instrument accompaniment.  Better audio modulation than usual but still way short. S2-3 carrier (Strawman-IA).

12085  SYRIA.  R. Damascus, 1835, 9/20/07.  Fair-poor with Koran chanting; into songs with instrumental accompaniment; short anthem and announcement by woman and into German program as scheduled; increasing to fair level by 1848; ID @ 1850  (Ronda-OK)

13620D KUWAIT.  Radio Kuwait, 1257, 9/17/07.  Arabic music, ID @ 1300, news brief, music @ 1303, into apparent radio drama with SFX of sheep bleating in background.  S/N 14-17 dB for 11 kbps stream, 99% intelligible, only a few dropouts (Brandi-NJ)

13750  ALBANIA. Radio Tirana 1301, 9/18/07.  R. Tirana coming in well, but in Albanian instead of English! 1315 abruptly switched to English with ID, 1317 music.  Drita Çiço explains: “Glenn, this was because of blocked radio/relay on Dajt mountain. Sorry.” (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

13775  AUSTRALIA.  CVC (Darwin), 1401-1432, 9/18/07, in Mandarin / English. Music and talk at t/in. “Lets talk in English” language lesson prg. re “personality” at1410. Poor/fair w/ 13780-DW splash. (Barbour-NH)

15120  NIGERIA.  VON, 2045, 9/21/07. Very strong signal, even much stronger here than VOBI via WHRI 15665, as if in a radio war, woman talking in English, but awful muffled modulation, so on that basis alone the choice between them was easy. Off at 2056*.  (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

15150  CHINA.  Firedrake/music jamming, 0006-0011, 9/22/07.  Heard under fair VOA (Thailand) in Chinese and singing VOA jingle, weak, with unidentified station under both of them. (Howard-CA)

15260  GERMANY.  AWR-Julich, 2028, 9/19/07.  Fair, concluding program in French with ID and Ivory Coast address; off @ 2031 (Ronda-OK)

15345.18 ARGENTINA.  RAE, 2341-2355:35*, 9/21/07.  LA ballads, tango music, IS, with “RAE, Argentina” ID, fair. (Howard-CA)

15450  TURKEY. VOT, 1250-1320, Thu 9/20/07.  Live from Turkey, was propagating much better as we get into equinox. The two hosts were gabbing as usual, without any phone calls. They mentioned not having heard from former regulars Christopher Lewis and David Crystal, and also that they were getting so many calls that the phone lines were jammed and could not put them on the air. I assume they were joking. Someone allegedly called but did not want to reveal name or location; maybe on next week (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

15510  RUSSIA. Voice of Russia (Probable), 1334, 9/14/07.  SW Asian music, with some buzz. Thought it might be another motorboating transmitter, but with BFO on, the carrier was stable, so the buzz was only on the modulation. This is listed as VOR, Samara site in Pashto/Dari (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

15560  RUSSIA.  Vatican Radio-Novosibirsk, 0212, 9/20/07.  Fair with man speaking in Hindi  (Ronda-OK)

15665 USA.  V. of Biafra International via WHRI, 2041, Friday 9/21/07.  Tune in with speaker denouncing atrocities of Gowan, etc. Signal VG fading deeply during which the long-path echo could be heard. 2053 played ‘God Bless Africa’, 2055 sign-off ID still imagining it is on “15.67 MHz”, some hilife music and 2159 WHRI closing. Meanwhile, I was also hearing NIGERIA, q.v. It seems VOBI has some vague plan to increase from weekly to daily broadcasts, so should check this on non-Fridays too (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

15700  BULGARIA. R. Bulgaria, 1325, 9/20/07.  R. Bulgaria was accompanied by ratchy spurs at roughly 15685 and 15715 during talk modulation peaks; and 15700 itself had a ringing sound in the background. Recheck at 1344 during music, no spurs heard, perhaps modulated just enough less to avoid them (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

15725D  PORTUGAL.  Deutsche Welle, 1307, 9/17/07.  News in German, talk about McDonnell Douglas MD80 in connection with airplane crash in Phuket, Thailand, talk about German peacekeeping troops in Congo, into sports report @ 1325.  Audio about 90% intelligible, 14-16 dB S/N for 18.08 kbps, getting better as morning progresses with few dropouts by 1325 (Brandi-NJ)

15730  SAO TOME.  VOA relay, 2008, 9/19/07.  Good with country music program in French; listeners requests and lots of studio chatter  (Ronda-OK)

17660 GABON.  Afropop music distraxion, 1358, 9/14/07.  Good signal on peaks but somewhat distorted with some deep fades, Sept 14. During a brief pause I could hear something else underneath. Could Sawt al-Amal be back? Nothing else listed but NHK Yamata at 305 degrees. No sign of ANU 17630 or 19160 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

17700  ENGLAND. Radio Solh, 1346, 9/19 & 20/07.  More evidence that R. Solh, is playing exactly the same program every day: Some days before, we had noticed the CD skipping during music at 1346 UT, and exactly the same thing happened on Sept 19 and Sept 20. Altho we still haven`t found a new time for the old Solh theme, we enjoy especially the call-and-response tune at 1416 and the one which follows at 1421, Sept 19 and presumably every day. Reception has equinoxially improved lately (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

17825  JAPAN.  NHK-Yamata, 0057, 9/22/07.  IS @ 0057; ID and into news in English @ 0100; by 0110 slipping to fair and by 0115 to poor; // 15325 barely audible.  Logged since these English transmissions direct from Yamata will soon be a thing of the past  (Ronda-OK)

17919 /  17621  U S A.  KVOH, 2047, 9/21/07.  Very weak spur on 17919, and one matching on 17621, thus from KVOH 17775. I could barely match the audio on modulation peaks. This is about what I would expect as the fundamental was not at super-strong level as it sometimes can be, bringing up the spur levels with it.  (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

18960  UNIDENTIFIED. 1335, 9/19/07.  Weak 1 kHz tone test fading in and out; what could it be? The only known broadcasters on this band are 18910, 18930, 18980, 19010. 18 MHz band is also subject to second harmonix from 9 MHz, but in this case I doubt it came from 9980 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

Contributor/Editor Comments:

From Gerry Dexter:  Sharon and I had a wonderful evening in Minneapolis with Tom and Julie Gavaras on Friday, September 14.  For the ladies this was a First Contact. Tom and I managed a few radio words here and there.

From Mark Schiefelbein:  Been a while since I checked in! A trifecta of a busy schedule + radio repairs + a summer thunderstorm bringing down my antenna kept me away for awhile. Replaced my deceased homebrew T2FD w/a Wellbrook loop. The difference really is impressive, not so much in the signal strength, but what it can do with the RF urban noise jungle I live in – even compared to the old T2FD (a low-noise antenna design itself).

Contributors:

Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg, PA .  Equipment: TenTec RX-340, 100′ longwire

Scott R. Barbour Jr. Intervale, NH.  Equipment: R8, R75, NIR10, MLB1, 200′ Beverages

Ralph Brandi Middletown, New Jersey, United States. Equipment: Elad FDM77, Drake R8, Etón E1, 300′ mini-Beverage antenna

Rich D’Angelo, 2216 Burkey Drive, Wyomissing, PA 19610, U.S.A.  Equipment: Ten-Tec RX-340, Drake R-8B, Eton E1, Lowe HF-150, Eton E5, Alpha Delta DX Sloper, RF Systems Mini-Windom, Datong FL3, JPS ANC-4

Gerry Dexter Lake Geneva WI.  Equipment: NRD 515, NRD 545, eton E-1

Ron Howard  Monterey, CA.  Equipment: Etón E1 & E5

Glenn Hauser Enid, Oklahoma  Equipment: FRG-7, DX-398/ATS-909, YB-400, ICF SW07, random wires

Mark Schiefelbein Springfield, MO. Kenwood R-5000; Wellbrook 330S loop

Jerry Strawman Des Moines, IA.  Equipment: JRC NRD-545; Wellbrook 330S Loop, Alpha Delta Sloper

Mark Taylor, Madison, Wi., USA.  Equipment: R75, E1, Sat. 800; Eavesdropper, Flextenna, 110′ random wire.

Bill Tilford.  Equipment: Grundig Sat 800 with whip

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