Blog Logs - Africa

Today's edition of Blog Logs, focuses on what DXers are monitoring from Africa. The following logs have been excluded from my Broadcast Logs column in Monitoring Times magazine for space constraints.
Special thanks to all the contributors.
Gayle Van Horn

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

Chad
RN Tchadienne (N'Djamena), 4904.97, *0429-0440. Sign-on eith Balafon interval signal. National anthem at 0430 followed by opening French ID announcement. Afro-pop music and local tribal music at 0432. Signal poor in noisy conditions. I do not usually hear an interval signal. (Alexander).

RN Tchadienne (N'Djamena), 4905, 0536-0600. French newscast covering Cameroon. Station identification at -542 into local indigenous music, followed by unknown langauge. (Wood)

RN Tchadienne (N'Djamena), 4905, 0539-0550. Nice S9 signal quality though hampered by fades. Discussion of African countries withC had and Benin mentioned. Hip-hop music at 0547. Signal fair-good. (Wood).

Egypt
Radio Wadi El Nile, 9250, 2257-2300.* Tune-in the Holy Qu’ran recitations, followed by Arabic announcements. Closing music and off the air for fair signal quality. (Alexander).

Eritrea
VOBME, 7175, *0355-0407. Program 2. Interval signal to talk at 0400. Signal weak, covered by noise jammers at approximately 0405. (Alexander).

VOBME, 7165, *0356-0410. Station sign-on with interval signal initially on 7175 kHz at 0355, but moved to 7165 at 0356. Talk by announcer at 0400. Horn of Africa music at 0406. Signal fair-good until covered by noise jammer at 0409. (Alexander).

VOBME, 7209.98, *0355-0420. Station sign-on with interval signal to talk at 0400. Brieg breaks of Horn of Africa music. Tribal chants at 0413, followed by local rustic music. Signal fair-good. Alexander).

Ethiopia
Radio Ethiopia, 7110, *0259-0320. Station sign-on with electronic keyboard interval signal. Amharic talk at 0300. Horn of Africa music at 0304. Signal fair-good. Observed very weak on // 5989.33, 9704.18. (Alexander).

Radio Ethiopia, 7110, 0416-0449. Amharic service. Announcer with program format sounding like a "man on the street" interviews to electric versions of Horn of Africa music. Signal. fair (Wood).

Radio Ethiopia, 9559.51v, *0659-0720. Sign-on with electronic keyboard interval signal. Talk at 0700. Horn of Africa music at 0704. Signal very poor amid noisy conditions. Signal constantly drifting between 9559.25 - 9559.67 during this period. Threshold signal on // 7165.(Alexander).

Radio Fana (tentative) (Addis Ababa). Amharic. Horn of Africa music with promos from station announcer. Newscast at 0500 with mentions of Addis Ababa during poor signal quality. (Wood).

Voice of Tigray Rev., 5980, *0255-0310. Station sign-on with interval signal. Talk at 0300 to Horn of Africa music at 0301. Signal weak but readable. Parall on 5950 poor, mixing with Okeechobee, Florida. (Alexander).

Equatorial Guinea
Radio Africa, 15190, 1130-1150. Presumed this station with English religious programming. Signal poor with low modulation. Some signal peaks up to a fair level at times. (Alexander).

Radio Nacional, Malabo 6250, *0527-0640. Abrupt sign-on with continous local African music. Spanish announcements at 0603 to possible news at 0609. Mentions of "Malabo" and "Radio Malabo" identifications. Poor-fair signal with occasional RTTY interference. (Alexander).

Radio Nacional, Malabo 6250, 1950-2011.* Spanish text to local African tribal music and Afro-pops tunes. Abrupt sign-off mid-song. Signal poor in noisy conditions. (Alexander).

Guinea
Radio Conakry, 7125, 0620-0645. Tentative on this station with Afro-pop music to local tribal music. French announcements. Good-strong carrier but weak modulation. (Alexander).

Libya
Voice of Africa 17725, 1445-1500. Noted program in English covering political news and commentaries. Station ID at 1450 as, "Voice of Africa," with background music. (Bolland).

Voice of Africa 21695, 1455-1515. English talk about local geography. Station identification to item on Libyan politics. Afro-pop music. Signal weak, beter on // 17725. (Alexander).

Madagascar
RTV Malagasy via Antananarivo, 5010, *0250-0330. Abrupt sign-on with local pop music. Euro-pop tunes to station interval signal. National anthem at 0258. Brief Malagasy announcement at 0301 to local music. Signal fair-good, reduced carrier on USB. (Alexander).

RTV Malagasy via Antananarivo, 5010, (presumed) 0331-0348. Still on frequency and in USB + carrier mode. Non-stop music of African hi-life, ballads and pop tune Manic Monday. Signal poor-fair. (Howard).

RTV Malagasy via Antananarivo, 6134.92, 1445-1525. Thanks to DXer John Wikins this station was on this freq. Heard in conventional DSB mode after the sign-off with 5010.0 (only in USB + carrier mode), with a delay of several seconds on 6134.92. Both days noted similar reception. Signal on 6134.92 fading out and most shortly after 1500, while 5010.0 continued to improve after 1450. (Howard).

Clandestine-Voice of Tibet via Madagascar relay, 17550, 1400-1427. Came on the abruptly at 1400. During the half hour, noted a series of news and commentary segments in presumed Tibetan. Signal good. (Bolland).

Mali
RTVM, 9635, *0800-0820. Sign-on with opening French identification announcements and flute interval signal. Vernacular talk at 0801. Signal fair. Very weak on // 7284.58 (Alexander).

Nigeria
Radio Nigeria (Kaduna) 4770, 0532. Barely above the threshold with Afro-pop music during poor signals. (Wood).

Voice of Nigeria, 9690, *0758-0810. Opening theme music to vernacular talk and tribal music at 0759. Vernacular talk at 0800. Radio drama to station ID. Signal very good. (Alexander).

Seychelles
BBC relay, 6005, 0220-0230. Two male's conversing to news and program features. Noted "BBC" mentioned often. Signal was poor. (Bolland).

South Africa
Channel Africa, 17770, 1502-1515. Female announcer's English comments during fair signal quality. (Bolland).

Swaziland
Trans World Radio via Manzini, 4775, 0410-0415. Baraque Christian music, hampered by sweeper interference. Poor signal quality. (Wood).

Tunisia
RTV Tunisienne (Sfax) 7275, 0501-0510. Arabic newscast with musical interludes between items. Talk of Iran. (Wood).

Uganda
UBC, 4975.97, 2120-2130.* Continuous African hi-life music. Station abruptly “pulled the plug” at 2130. Signal poor-fair. (Alexander).

Zambia
CVC via Lusaka, 4960, 0415-0424. Vernacular announcement to contemporary Christian music. Signal fair. (Wood).

Zanzibar
Radio Tanzania-Zanzibar. English Spice FM newscast. Into Swahili talk at 1811. Local pop music. Signal not as strong as usual but audio much better. Clear and clean audio without the distortion or wobble. (Alexander).

Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe BC (Gweru) (presumed) 4828, 0427-0440. Vernacular text to non-stop local pop music. Poor signal with heavy CODA interference. First time anything other than a carrier heard on 4845 so far this year. (Evans).

Contributors:
Brian Alexander, PA
Chuck Bolland, FL
Jim Evans, TN
Ron Howard, CA
Joe Wood, TN

Blog Logs - Africa

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

Benin
7210, ORTB, Cotonou (tentatvie), 0620, Weak signal. QRM at 2225. (Petersen in Dakar, Senegal)

Chad
4905, RNT, N’Djamena, 1800-2130. Advertisements in French, Afropop, news, SiNPO 34333. (Boc16,Mille). Not heard lately. (Anker Petersen)

Djibouti
4780, Radiodiffusion du Djibouti, Arta, 0346-0415 and 1825-2103. Nice Horn of
Africa vocals, 0359 ID, talked in Arabic prior to music bridge at 0400. News and discussion program. Afropop and 2100 national anthem // 1539 MW. 34433. (D'Angelo, Boc16, Mille and Romero)

Egypt
9250, Radio Wadi El Nile, Abu Zaabal, 2120-2124. Arabic talks, referring to Sudan, ID, music, SINPO 45444. (Romero)

Equatorial Guinea
5005, Radiodifusion de Guinea Equatorial, Bata, 2122-2128. Spanish talk, SINPO 23332. (Mille)

Eritrea
5100.00, Radio Bana, Asmara, *0354-0415 fade out. Carrier on, repeated music with drum.
0400 sign-on, Vernacular talk, Horn of Africa song, SINPO 25232. (Jensen via NASWA, and Petersen)

Ethiopia
6110, Radio Fana, Addis Ababa. Conversation in Amharic, into Horn of Africa vocals, fair. (Ronda)

7110, Radio Ethiopía, Addis Ababa, 1652-1845. Still here, vernacular talks, local folk muusic.
SINPO 23442. (Bernardini, Romero)

9704, Radio Ethiopía, Addis Ababa, 1840-1846. African Vernacular, probably Oromo, piano,
SINPO 34443. (Romero)

Gabon
9580, Africa No. 1, Moyabi, 2120. Afropop songs, many in French; studio chatter in French, fair. (Ronda)

Madagascar
5009.8, Radio Nasionaly, Ambohidrano, 1555-1915.* Local pop tunes, Malagasy nouncement ID as "Radio Madagasikara", they also tried to send a speech by someone, but the audio was distorted. SINPO 24322. (Boc 16, Méndez, Mille and Savolainen in DXplorer). Also heard at 0302-0322. (D'Angelo)

Mauritania
4845, Radio Mauritanie, Nouakchott, 0625. Call to Prayer - heard at the same time outdoor from the local Minaret in Saint-Louis (!), 45434. No other SW stations audible at this hour on 90 and 60 mb! Also heard at 1835-1910 and 2206-2215 in Vernacular /Arabic, 35443 - SINPOn 55555. (Petersen in Dakar and Saint-Louis, Senegal). Also heard at 0524-0537 and 2052-0050, Mar 06 and 22-25, long Arabic vocal, talks. Good signal with fluttery conditions. (D'Angelo, Boc16 and Ronda)

Rwanda
6055, Radio Rwanda, Kigali, 2051-2100.* Vernacular, song by W.Huston, talk with mention of "Radio Rwanda" and some song in the background - almost good with slight fading, weak IRIB signal on the same channel. (Timofeyev in HCDX)

Sudan
7200, Sudan Radio and TV Corporation, Omdurman, 0409-0427.* Arabic discussion by various men with frequent mentions of "Sudan". Instrumental music ended program at 0424 followed by news items but carrier cut at 0427 and never returned this night. Fair. (D'Angelo).

Zambia
5915, Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation, Lusaka, *0247-0257. Familiar Fisheagle interval signal, followed by national anthem at 0250 before noise and co-channel QRM from BBC at *0257.20, Poor.
(D'Angelo).
(DSWCI/DX Window # 373 via A Petersen)