Blog Logs - South America

Whether you’re a fan of the shortwave stations in South America, or have only a curious interest, now is a perfect time to try your hand at monitoring the varied station from there. Conditions should remain good during the winter months for hearing an Argentine tango, a Bolivian charango or a Peruvian huyanos. During the Christmas holidays, many stations extend their broadcast hours for Christmas programming. Let me know how you did, and we’ll post your results. It’s a fascinating world down south and this time of the year one not to be missed. If you’re a Monitoring Times subscriber, refer to the foreign MT EXPress pages for my complete, by-hour listing of all South American stations on shortwave. Good luck.
Gayle Van Horn

A sampling from hobbyist logs

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

Argentina
5415 USB, Radio Continental 2044. Victor Hugo Morales with play-by-play soccer match of Boca vs San Lorenzo. (Horacio A. Nigro, Montevideo, Urugyay/HCDX)

Bolivia
3309.95 Radio Mosoj Chaski (presumed) 1010-1020. Not much of a signal here, but making out a male announcer’s comments in Spanish to 1013, followed by music. Chuck Bolland, FL)

4409.8 Radio. Eco, Reyes, 2328-2336, 28 Nov, Castilian. Chatter to Indian tunes. SINPO 34342, noted adjacent channel interference. (Carlos Goncalves, Portugal/wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Nov 29)

4451.2 Radio Sta Ana, Sta Ana del Yacuma, 2330-2339, 28 Nov, Castilian. Talks and music. SINPO 23341 with adjacent utility interference. (Carlos Goncalves, Portugal/wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Nov 29)

4699.94 Radio San Miguel 1003-1015. Spanish language comments and mentions of “San Miguel.” Signal was poor. (Chuck Bolland, FL)

4796.5 Radio Lipez, Uyuni, 2332-2345, 28 Nov, Castilian. Musical ballads. SINPO 24341,
with adjacent utility interference. (Carlos Goncalves, Portugal/wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Nov 29)

4796.46 Radio Lipez, 0950-1000. Noted male’s Spanish comments, but no details. Audio was muffled and signal very poor. (Chuck Bolland, FL).

4865 Radio Logos, Sta Cruz de la Sierra, 2214-2227, 27 Nov, Castilian. Soft tunes to religious programming. SINPO 44332, unusually strong, noted interference from Brazil. (Carlos Goncalves, Portugal/wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Nov 29)

5942.47 Emisoras Pio XII, 0122-0135. Generally noted music with announcer voice-overs in Spanish with comments. (Chuck Bolland, FL)

6075 Radio Causachun Coca 1050-1105. Spanish chat/announcements from male/female announcer duo. Mentions of “Bolivia” at 1054 as signal dropped out making listening difficult.

6134.77, Radio Santa Cruz, 0104-0107*, Tuned in just before sign off; gave frequencies; clear ID: "Radio Santa Cruz"; Bolivian flute music till off (Ron Howard, CA/Cumbe DX)

6134.80, 0949-1000. Spanish text and commentsto 0954. Music commenced with very weak station signal. (Chuck Bolland, FL).

6155.26
Radio Fides, 0957-1005. Tune-in to announcer’s Spanish comments.Noted mentions of “Santa Cruz. Station ID at 0959, followed by canned ads and local time check (Chuck Bolland, FL).

Brazil
4754.9 Rádio Imaculada Conceicao 2344-2350. Portuguese religious services to music at 2345. Poor signal quality observed (Jim Evans, TN).

4775 Rádio Tarma 2320-2330. Poor signal with static crashes and fading. Seems to be a second male conversing with the first (Chuck Bolland, FL).

4845 Rádio Cultural Ondas Tropicais (presumed) 0105-0115. Announcer’s Portuguese talk at only a threshold level with minimal utility interferences (Jim Evans, TN).

4865 Rááio Alvorada (Londrina) 2324-2334. Presumed this station in Portuguese amid moderate signal quality. Also heard on subsequent monitoring (Jim Evans, TN).

4885 Rádio Clube do Para 0420-0431. Very good reception for Portuguese programming. Canned station jingles, ID and fast-paced Brazilian music (Chuck Bolland, FL).
4885 Radio Clube do Para 0304-0314. Announcer Portuguese talk-overs Brazilian music (Joe Wood, TN).

4925 Rádio Educacao 2338-2349.Talk over guitar music at 2348. Poor signal qualitty with moderate CODAR interference (Jim Evans, TN).

4985 Rádio Brazil Central 0439-0450. Brazilian pop music to chat. (Joe Wood, TN).

5045 Rádio Globas Santos 0315-0338. Tentative reception on this one. Station ID with mentions of “Guaruja Paulista.” but never got a clear ID. Strong signal during do-wop music to 0330. Strong signal but hampered by fades. (Joe Wood, TN). Additional monitoring 0525-0535 (Joe Wood, TN)

5044.98 Rádio Cultura do Para 0554-0630. Reactivated station with mostly continuous pops/ballad tunes. Station ID at 0601 and 0628 (Brian Alexander, PA)

5045 Rádio Cultural Ondas Tropical 0540-0605. Nice program of Brazilian vocal jazz tunes. Station identification at 0600 into more traditional Braz music (Joe wood, TN)

5940.01, Rádio Paz no Vale, 0000-0100, Dec 13, Portuguese religious programming with talk and music. Jingles. ID. Fair signal. (Brian Alexander, PA)

5045 Radio Cultura 0531-0612. Blues and folk music with quick, partial station ID over the music. Another quick ID as “Radio Cultura.” into more music. Very good signal reception (Joe Wood, TN)

5955, Rádio Gazeta (presumed)1057-1101, Noted two males in Portuguese with comments prior to the hour. On the hour however, the signal is completely blocked by China on 5960. Brazil’s signal fair to 1100. (Chuck Bolland, FL)

5990, Rádio Senado 1017-1030. Portuguese conversation among two lady announcers to canned ID and program items at 1023. (Chuck Bolland, FL)

6009.91, Rádio Inconfidencia, 2250-2310, Dec 12, Statio ID to Brazilian pops/ballads. Portuguese talk. Fair but weak adjacent channel splatter. (Brian Alexander, PA)

6009.96 Rádio Inconfidencia *0702-0720. Abrupt sign-on at 0702 after Cuba on 6010 signed off at 0658. Local music and Portuguese station identifications and promos. Signal in the clear with good quality (Brian Alexander, PA)

6085.95 Rádio Banderintes 0235-0300. Noted Anguilla off for a bit allowing Brazilian reception. Station promos, talk, ads and jingles. (Brian Alexander, PA).

9564.96 Rádio Tupi 1517-1522. Super Radio Deuse e Amor programming relay. Poor signal observed (Jim Evas, TN).

9645.32 Radio Bandeirantes 0630-0645. Portuguese programming though weak with interference from Vatican Radio on 9645 // 6089.95 (Brian Alexander, PA)

11725 Rádio Novas de Paz, Curitiba PR, 1912-..., 29 Nov. Religious programming and songs with interfernce from Deutsche Welle’s German service, with Radio New Zealand International faint in the background (Carlos Goncalves, Portugal/wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Nov 29)

11895 Rádio Boa Vontade, Pto Alegre RS, 1921-1934, 28 Nov. Religious sermon, 10 kW?!
More likely just 1 kW; 15421, adjacent interference at 1930. (Carlos Goncalves-POR, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Nov 29)

Ecuador
Radio Quito 4928.92, 1019-1030. Partial ID noted as, “escucha Radio Quito..” into canned announcement. Signal observed as fair (Chuck Bolland, FL).

Peru
4746.9 Radio Huanta 2000 (presumed). Male/female announcements, occasionally breaking through the noise (Jim Evans, TN).

4746.90 Radio Huanta Dos Mil 1043-1100. Noted on frequency in Spanish with text and comments throughout monitoring (Chuck Bolland, FL)

4954.95 Radio Cultural Amauta 1110-1130. Lady announcer’s text to program announcements (Tom Banks, TX)

4774.94, Radio Tarma, 1051-1105, Noted Huaynos music at tune in with difficulty due to
weak signal and fading. In between music has program comments. Signal veryn weak and drops out after the hour. (Chuck Bolland, FL)

4775, Radio Tarma 1037-1050. Spanish comments to Peruvian huyanos music. Noted local weather interferences, and poor signal quality for station (Chuck Bolland).

4790 Radio Vision 0045-0100. Good signal noted so far with nice Peruvian huaynos tunes. At 0015 additional announcer comments during fair signal (Chuck Bolland, FL)

4824.4 Radio Maranon 2334-2346. Spanish text to non-stop Peruvian music program. Threshold level signl, weak but above the noise most of the time (Jim Eva, TN).

4835.46, Radio Maranon 1036-1051. Peruvian music at tune-in to announcements. Station ID, signal weak but readable amid CODAR interference (Chuck Bolland, FL).

4835.47 Radio Maranon *1015-1025. Live Spanish voice-overs to music and “canned” promos and clear station identification as, “Radio Maranon.” (Chuck Bolland, FL). Noted on subsequent monitoring 1104-1115.

4955 Radio Cultural Amauta 1050-1100. Steady Spanish comments spaced by “Radio Amauta” identification. Music observed during poor signal quality (Chuck Bolland, FL).

4955 Radio Cultural Amauta (Huanta) 2325-2336. Religious programming in Quechua language interspersed with occasional bars of local music. Poor signal but holding steady just above the noise level (Jim Evans, TN).

5039.20 Radio Libertad 1034-1100. Spanish comments to huaynos music. Comments and canned jingles to ID. Signal fair and difficult to hear over the music (Chuck Bolland, FL)

6019.30, Radio Victoria, 1103-1115, Not much of a signal here, but could hear a weak
signal of Spanish comments from a male mixing with another station on 6020.
(Chuck Bolland, FL)

6173.79, Radio Tawantinsuyo 1005-1015.Spanish comments from announcer, sounding like a religious sermon. Brief music at 1007, noted poor signal quality (Chuck Bolland, FL).

9720 Radio Victoria 2304-2312. Upbeat religious sermon in Spanish amid poor signal quality. Observed equal strength co-channel religious programming from Radio Veritas Asia from the Philippines. (Jim Evans, TN).