Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Blog Logs

All times UTC // parallel frequency *sign-on sign-off*

Antarctica
15476, R.N. Arcangel San Gabriel (Esperanza Base), 1857-1906. Spanish. Argentine ballad music, more classical than pop, with short announcements by man and woman. Moderate signal with deep fades and some good peaks. Recheck at 2045-2100* found poor signal with fading and more ballads, now more pop than classical. My first log of LRA36 this year. Usually hear it a couple of times in September or October. (Jim Evans, TN)

Canada
6030, Calgary - CFVP relaying CKMX (AM 1060),0307-0404. Playing C&W songs (Lorne Green with“Ringo”, etc.) Local ads (Apex Hearing Systems, Jack Carter Chevrolet Cadillac, etc.). Station IDs “Southern Alberta’s own hometown station, Classic Country AM 1060.” Monday continues to be a clear for them (absence of Radio Marti and jamming). Signal poor to fair reception (Ron Howard, CA/Cumbre DX)

China
11785, China Radio International (tentative), 1130-1205.Okay this station was on top of the VOA's transmission above and was transmitting in Chinese language. Thought I might hear Indonesia here at 1130, but Japanese was schedule for them at that time and I didn't hear any Japanese during the entire period. So, going with CRI for this one which never missed a beat in their broadcast (Chuck Bolland, FL)

5050, Beibu Bay Radio, 1207. Vietnamese service. Chinese language lesson (Chinese numbers: yi, er, san, si, wu, liu, qi,ba, jiu and shi). Station ID at 1230 in Chinese-Vietnamese-English (“This is Beibu Bay Radio”). Road to Health segment to announcer with piano background music. Station ID in Vietnamese, mentioning “FM.” Easy-listening songs to 1300 pips and same multi-language ID to “BBR news” (even the news and weather are given with background music). Weather report for (list of Asian cities and Vietnamese ballads at 1308. Still heard after 1510.Signal almost fair, light to moderate All India Radio-Aizawl interference. (Ron Howard, CA/Cumbre DX)

7245, CNR-2/China Business Radio, 1430-1459. “English Evening” program with John and Chinese lady. Today is Teachers Day in China, segment of “Studio Classroom.” Signal fair-good // 6155, 7265,7315, 7335, 7375, 9820 and 9775, with 6065 remaining off the air (Ron Howard, CA/Cumbre DX)

Ethiopia
6090, Amhara State Radio, *0257-0350. Station sign on with interval signal. Talk at 0300 into Horn of Africa style music. Rustic vocals. Anguilla still off the air. No sign of Nigeria either. Interference from Brazil but signed off around 0315. Ethiopia weak at sign on but improved to a fair to good level by 0320 and in the clear for about 15 minutes between 0315-0330. Co-channel interference from Voice of Hope/AWR from Austria at their 0330 sign on with English ID and into listed Farsi. (Brian Alexander, PA)

India
5040, All India Radio-Jeypore, 1302. Live coverage of India vs Sri Lanka tri-series final cricket match, coverage in Hindi and English (different announcer today - Australian accent?). Ads in Hindi, // 4880 AIR Lucknow; 1434 tuned out – still playing (Ron Howard, CA/Cumbre DX)

4990, All India Radio-Itanagar, 1411. Subcontinent songs to 1415 musical fanfare, into local news bulletin in Hindi. Musical fanfare at 1420 to “Good evening. This is All India Radio Itanagar. The news read by . . .” Sports news, did not hear a weather forecast today. Back to Hindi at 1425. Mostly poor and very rough copy with only afew words made out.

9425, All India Radio-Bengaluru - National Channel. Seems the new schedule for “Vividha”, the program in English from 1435 to 1500, is now only on Monday and Wednesday, not Friday. For the past three Fridays have heard programming in Hindi after the 1430 to 1435 news bulletin in English. (Ron Howard, CA/Cumbre DX)

Indonesia
3976.0, RRI Pontianak, 1252. In Bahasa Indonesia. Indigenous ballads to 1300 station ID and frequencies (“R-R-I Pontianak”- just gave the abbreviation). Signal poor-fair (Ron Howard,CA/Cumbre DX)

9680, RRI Jakarta, 1048-1133. Nice signal this morning, noted two males in a Indonesian language conversation at tune in. Later canned promos which was followed with the Qu'ran. This type of activity continued until the hour. Signal was good. (Chuck Bolland, FL)

4749.93, RRI-Makassar, 0955-1005. Male announcer in Indonesian with comments over background music. Qu'ran presetation at 1002. Signal was fair.(Chuck Bolland, FL/HCDX)

Voice of Indonesia, 9525, 1640. Indonesian programing with romantic songs. SINPO 44433.(Pedro Turner-POR CT2KET, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews)

RRI stations on the following frequencies in the period 1200-1300 UTC.
3325 Palangkaraya (presumed, buried by Radio Bougainville, Papua New Guinea was absent)
3960 Palu, 3976 Pontianak, 3987 Manokwari, 3995 Kendari, 4750 Makassar and 4925 kHz Jambi (the strongest of the regional stations by far, it wasn't as strong last year).

RRI Jakarta on 9680 kHz was very strong all day from opening at 2200 to after 1300. During the middle of the day, it was the only station audible on 31 meters. On Wed 16 Sept I tuned in to an English progamme at 0810 UTC called "KGI" which was celebrating 20 years on air. It ended at 0830 when Indonesian resumed.

This year I didn't hear RRI Nabire around 0800 UTC because of RNZI's strong DRM transmission on 7285 kHz at that time.

Last year while in Port Douglas I was able to hear RRI Sorong on 9743 kHz around 0800 UTC, but this year there was a Chinese language station on the frequency.(Barry Hartley-AUS Sony ICF SW7600W, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Sept 18/BC-DX #930)

Israel
15778.00, Galei Zahal, 1955-2005. Slightly off nominal 15785 kHz with local pop music. Hebrew talk. // 6973 - both frequencies weak. Thanks to tip from Wolfgang Bueschel. Heard the next day at 2025 on 15785.47v with a slightly wobbly signal. (Brian Alexander, PA)

Malaysia
RTM Kuching on 5030 kHz heard 1000 to after 1200 UTC, but suffering terrible co-channel interference from (I presume) China.

Doing better was 7270 kHz around 1200 UTC with a strong signal. On 16 Sept they had a listeners' phone in program until 1230 UT when what sounded like Koran chanting began. Occasional announcements as "Wai FM" in Malay.

On 7295 kHz Traxx FM Kuala Lumpur was well heard at 1230 UTC on 16 Sept with a listeners "call in to win a prize" programme presented by a male and female DJs. (Barry Hartley-AUS Sony ICF SW7600W, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Sept 18/BC-DX #930)

Mali
9635, RTMN 0750-0830. Tune-in to vernacular talk. Flute interval signal and French ID announcements at 0759. Guitar interval signal at 0800. Vernacular talk at 0801. Variety of Afro-pop music, local string music, and rustic vocals. “Radio Mali” ID. Good signal. This frequency does not usually sign on until 0800. Apparently they made the switch from 5995 to 9635 earlier than the usual 0800 by mistake. (Brian Alexander, PA)

Mexico
4800 XERTA - Radio Transcontinental America (presumed), at 0450-0514 UT on Sep 12, man with talk in Spanish, possible ID at 0500 UT followed by music and more talk. Very poor with heavy QRM from CODAR.(Rich D'Angelo-PA-USA, DXplorer)

6104.76 XEQM, Radio Merida, at 1040-1100 UT, Noted a male and female in Spanish language conversation. At 1045 UT noted promos mentioning "Candela". This was followed with music. Signal was fair to good as it continued to fade in and out. (Chuck Bolland-FL-USA/HCDX)

6010.00 Radio Mil, 0953-1005. Spanish talk and ballads. Ads, promos. ID at 0957 UT. Poor in noisy conditions.(Brian Alexander-PA-USA, DXplorer Sept 18/BC-DX #930)

6010.00, Radio Mil, Mexico City, 1005-1035. Spanish pop music. Spanish announcements. IDs. Ads, promos. Noted in the clear but poor in noisy conditions. (Brian Alexander, PA)

Niger
La Voix du Sahel (Niamey), 2152-2300.* French/Vernacular langauge from Woman talking. Flutes at 2153 followed by chanting in local language. Four pips at 2200, then more chanting with male leader and group of men. Announcements by woman at 2254 and apparent Qu'ran recitation by man. Announcements and choral anthem at 2258. Surprisingly good signal at 2153, deteriorating after 2220, at noise level after 2245Rapid fading throughout the broadcast. (Jim Evans,TN)

Philippines
15285, Radio Pilipinas/VOP, 0204-0233. English program Dateline Malacañang. Malacañang Palace is the official residence of the President of the Philippines, so naturally this program was about the activities and travel plans of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Station ID as, "Radio Pilipinas Overseas Service, The Voice of the Philippines." Signal weak. (Ron Howard, CA)

Pirate (U.S.)
6240AM, WBNY, 2341. 0030+ Poor signal. Show with a lot of elements. Al Weiner talking about Commander Bunny. ID was done by female voice to announcement that the world was coming to an end in four seconds. Fifties rock tune, a Whole lot of Monkey Business followed by a Collective Soul song. Ceasar Rabbit audio bit was played. Music song Behind Red Eyes. (Majewski CT/FRW 710)

Pirate (Euro)
6870, Radio Playback International, 0100-0120.+ Oldies pop music. ID at 0101. Poor. Weak in noisy conditions.(Brian Alexander, PA)

6925USB, WTCR, 0209. Signal S9/fair/static. Good audio, sign-on with 20th Century Fox theme tune into blues, urban contemporary and 60's/70's music from the Doors, Lou Reed, Traffic and Joan Armatrading.(Hassig-IL/FRW 710)

Thailand
11785, Voice of America relay, 1130-1205. Chinese comments and and features with the usual VOA theme between segments and some English heard when a recorded comment was presented. Signal was fair (Chuck Bolland, FL)

USA
7505.63v, WRNO, 0149. Pop songs to 0159 “This is WRNO Worldwide, broadcasting frequency 7505 kHz.” Religious sermon by Pastor Ray Bentley. Signal fair (Ron Howard, CA/Cumbre DX)

Vanuatu
3945, Radio Vanuatu, 1204. Sounded like Pidgin. Christian religious sermon, long winded today and running late. Ended with: “Thank you Lord … amen … have a nice day.” Brief sign off announcement (“Radio Vanuatu … half past 5” [sign-on time?] at 0520. Did not have time to give frequencies. National anthem to 1222*. Sign off times varies daily between three to five minutes. This is now regularly heard every day and so far the format after 1200 is always the same (Ron Howard, CA/Cumbre DX)

Zambia
6065, Radio Christian Voice/CVC, 1504-1538. African hilife music. Text in African vernacular, many “Radio Christian Voice” IDs. Signal poor-fair (Ron Howard, CA)

Radio Christian Voice/CVC, 0441-0451. Contemporary Christian music. Lady announcer with local time check and and greetings to listeners-several were mentioned by name followed by listeners’ letters.Full ID as “Radio Christian Voice Lusaka” with postal and email addresss at 0446. Fair signal quality (Joe Wood, TN)