Thursday, October 29, 2009

Blog Logs

a glimpse of what hobbyist are logging on shortwave

All times UTC // parallel frequency *sign-on sign-off*
English unless otherwise indicated

Australia
9580, Radio Australia (Shepperton). 0926-0943. Australia Talks program with listener ring ins concerning calling in sick and absenteeism. Signal very good, // 9590 Poor. (Joe Wood, TN).

Bolivia
3309.95, Radio Mosoj Chaski, 0937-1000. Male's brief Spanish comments. Music to announcer's chat. Signal fading in/out and noted at a poor level. (Chuck Bolland, FL)

6075, Radio Causachun Coca, 1015-1030. Station's very weak signal, and here while the signal drops out periodically to nil then fades back in. One thing about this band regardless of the frequency, there's always enough splatter to interfere with the target's reception. At 1019, a female joined the conversation. Station's signal remained at a poor level.(Chuck Bolland, FL)

6155.20, Radio Fides, 1005-1015. Spanish newscast with focus on place names, to music at 1008. Canned promos and station ID. For the first few minutes of this logging, the signal was at a fair level although if had some splatter interfering with it. The signal was surprisingly audible this morning eventhough there was fading and splatter. (Chuck Bolland, FL).

6134.82, Radio Santa Cruz, 1011-1020. Noted a male and female's Spanish program comments. Signal very poor with splatter. (Chuck Bolland, FL)

Brazil
5045, Radio Cultura Ondas Tropicais, (presumed)0955-1005. Music noted to 0957 for Portuguese comments. Fair signal quality. (Chuck Bolland, FL).

5044.99, Radio Cultura do Para, 0450-0520. Mostly continuous Portuguese music of pops/ballads. ID at 0517. Good signal quality. (Brian Alexander, PA)

Canada
6030 CFVP Calgary at 1940. Country music, IDs as “Classic Country AM 10-60”. Frequency carries audio of station CKMX. Fair to good Oct 24 (Harold Sellers, BC, Canada/ODXA)

China
7315, China Radio International at 1713 in English with “News and Reports”, reporting on car safety, //7335 good. Very good signal (Harold Sellers, BC, Canada/ODXA)

7620 Central People’s Broadcasting Station, Beijing, with talk at 1718 in Chinese to Taiwan. Weak signal (Harold Sellers, BC, Canada/ODXA)

Cuba
5025, Radio Rebelde (Habana). 0409-0420. Spanish. Is the revolution dead? I just heard Radio Rebelde playing “Spanish Lullaby” by Madonna aka “The Material Girl.” ID and Spanish cover versions of US pop mx. (Joe Wood, TN).

Djibouti
4780, Radio Djibouti, *0300. Open carrier noted at 0254N. Sign on with national anthem, reciting from the Qur’an. Into assumed Arabic. Signal poor with CODAR interference. Even in the middle of winter, with the best of propagation, I do not often hear this one (Ron Howard, CA/Cumbre DX)

Egypt
6290, Egyptian Radio. (Kafr Silim-Abis). 0332-0339. Arabic service. Traditional Arab music from lady announcer. Poor signal quality. (Joe Wood, TN).

Equatorial Guinea
5005, Radio Nacional Bata (Bata), 0459-0503, Spanish (per schedule). Weak carrier at 0459 followed by national anthem at 0500. Talk at 0503. Very poor signal, just above noise during anthem, and too weak to understand any of talk. Audio was also weak. First log on this frequency in 2009. (Jim Evans, TN)

Ethiopia
6890, Radio Fana, 2035-2045. Horn of Africa music to vernacular talk. Weak but readable. Stronger on // 6110 - but with co-channel QRM. (Brian Alexander, PA)

Euro-pirate
7550.04, Radio Amica, 0430-0450. Euro-pop music. Italian IDs. Fair to good signal. (Brian Alexander, PA)

Guam
5765, AFN, 1032-1045. Steady news and commentary from the radio networks NPR in the USA. Noted signal at fair level with minimal fading. (Chuck Bolland, FL).

Honduras
HRMI (presumed) 0945-1000. Noted steady popular Spanish music at tune in. Signal was fair. (Chuck Bolland, FL).

India/Andaman & Nicobar Island
4700, All India Radio-Port Blair (tentative). Not heard on their normal 4760. This same situation was also observed earlier this year. Heard at 1401, Oct. 21 with subcontinent music; in Hindi. At 1512 switched over to Delhi programming with ads and news in Hindi. Noted that both 4970 (fair-poor) and 5040 (fair) also switched over to Delhi at the usual time of 1512 (Ron Howard, CA/Cumbre DX)

Indonesia
9680, RRI Jakarta, 1043-1108. Regular local music from Indonesia, with WYFR causing interference in French. WYFR goes off the air at 1045, leaving Jakarta in the clear and with a good signal. Program comments at 1047 in Indonesian. Qu'ran recitationa followed for a few minutes. (Chuck Bolland,FL)

3344.96 RRI Ternate(presumed) 1339-1403 Oct 18. Segued vocals with no announcements until 1359, but the announcement was too weak to copy, back to music at 1400. (John (Wilkins, CO)

3976.06 RRI Pontianak 1243-1256. Regional vocals, subcontinental-ish sounding, man ancr hosting. Good signal with amateur radio interference. (John Wilkins, CO)

Kuwait
11630, Radio Kuwait. 2026-2100.* Best reception of this station in several months. Traditional US C&W music with pops mixed in. No announcement breaks between songs. Newscast at 2045-2050, followed by more pop music. Station ID, schedules and station sign-off with national anthem and time signal pips. (Joe Wood, TN)

Laos
6130 Lao National Radio 1358-1412. Lao vocal music to 1412 tuneout. Fair in the band noise. (John Wilkins, CO)

Malaysia
7295, Traxx FM at 1708-1720. Western pop music from late 50s and 60s including Peggy Sue by Buddy Holly and a of couple songs by Connie Francis, no announcer noted. Poor Oct 24 (Harold Sellers, BC, Canada)

Mexico
6010, Radio Mil (Mexico City). 0855-0910. Spanish ID’s at 0900 and 0910. Insipid pop music with male announcer. Signal poor.(Joe Wood, TN)

Myanmar
5985 Radio Myanmar 1329-1333. Usual station interval signal and chimes, followed by talk or news. Good signal punching through the band noise. (John Wilkins, CO)

Nigeria
7255, Voice of Nigeria (Ikorodu), 2135-2150. French. Lively West African pop music with male DJ. Mention of Nigeria and multiple IDs. Very good signal with some fading, signal improving over time. (Jim Evans, TN)

North Korea
2850.02 Pyongyang BC Stn 1319-1335+. Classical instrumental music and Korean operatic vocals. Lady announcer spoke briefly after each segment. Very good signal. (John Wilkins, CO)

Northern Marianas
7280, Tinian Radio Free Asia at 1707 in Mandarin. Easy-listening songs. //7290 7290 not listed in Aoki, EiBi, etc poor. Good Oct 24 (Harold Sellers, BC, Canada)

Papua New Guinea
3334.97 Radio East Sepik 1318-1336. Hotel California tune and other English pops. Lady ammouncer to canned announcement at 1329, mentioned 3335 kilohertz and "?? point 7 FM." More pop and island music followed at 1330. Good signal. (John Wilkins, CO)

Peru
4857.46, Radio La Hora, 2302-2315. Male in steady Spanish comments or news. Could be news since he's mentioned place names in Ecuador and "Ecomonico." Signal was fair to good.(Chuck Bolland, FL)

4890.80, Radio Chota,(presumed) 2323-2335. Spanish comments with female commenting in the background. CODAR noted on top of Chota, so it's difficult to copy the audio. So much noise here. The signal was poor. (Chuck Bolland, FL)

4890.81, Radio Chota, (presumed) 1030-1045. Very faint signal here under CODAR or other type of man made noise. At 1030, brief program comments, followed by music. Could just make out the music as I listen. Announcer at 1035 in Spanish. I tried to notch out the CODAR, but it's impossible. Continued to hear bits and pieces of the signal as time passed. (Chuck Bolland, FL)

4955, Radio Cultural Amauta Huanta, 2340-2359. Two males in Spanish with comments. Mention again of place names from Peru during talking. Also heard the word "...Amauta..." during live comments. Signal was fair. (Chuck Bolland, FL)

Russia
6160, Radio Rossii via Monchegorsk (site per Aoki),0231-0241. Equal strength and mixing with Vancouver (talk show), Newfoundland not heard. In Russian with music program of Jackson, Como, etc.. Noted clearly // 5920 (fair – very nice to hear them here without the interference, 5940 (fair), 7200 (the best of all of them) and 7320 (fair) (Ron Howard, CA/Cumbre DX)

Solomon Islands
5019.97 SIBC 1335-1400. Presumed station with English talk, probably BBCWS but too weak to tell. Time pips at 1400.(John Wilkins, CO)

Venezuela
(tentative) 4939.93, Radio Amazonas, 2330-2345. Tuned in while music in progress. Afterwards a male comments in Spanish. At 2337 back to music. Music sounds like part of the pop charts. Believe I heard "Venezuela" earlier and also a name as "San Martin" later. Signal was fair but a lot of noise.(Chuck Bolland, FL)

Zanzibar/Tanzania
11735, Voice of Tanzania-Zanzibar, 1800-1810. English news. "Voice of Tanzania-Zanzibar" ID at 1805. Into presumed Swahili talk at 1809. Poor signal due to noisy conditions and poor, muffled audio.(Brian Alexander, PA)