I've now moved on to Ukraine, and specifically to western Ukraine, land of many castles and gently rolling hills. The area was rural with minimal RF noise, although our time was short to dx. Here is a smattering of results from this part of my trip. From here we travelled south and west into the Carpathian Mountains....a fantastically beautiful region of mountains, akin to Switzerland in my opinion (but at a tenth of the price). I predict that when this part of Ukraine becomes discovered by tourists, it'll become very popular!
ABKHAZIA 9494.8, 0416-, Abkhaz Radio Jun 29 Easy-listening music with a somewhat distorted signal. EZL music. Presumably Abkhazian. Female announcer took a phone call at 04:26 with, 'Allo'. Probable ID at 04:32 as Apsua Radio. 'Abkhazia' heard with a reverb effect at 04:54. By 05:00 pretty much impossible to hear due to adjacent channel on 9490. (Salmaniw, Brody Ukraine)
BELARUS 7105, 1950-, Radio Station Belarus Jun 28 Excellent reception in Polish, then into English at 20:00. // 7390 almost as strong, while 7440, although equally strong, but much lower in modulation and with some hum. This was my first logging from Ukraine. In this case, near Brody a small city to the east of Ukraine's western capital of Lviv. After this batch, we left for the Carpathian mountains which I'll report next. (Salmaniw, Brody Ukraine)
HUNGARY 6025, 2100-, Radio Budapest Jun 29 I'm not sure if anyone else noticed this, but the multilingual IDs during the IS included languages that were used in the past by Radio Budapest, for example Ukrainian. I hadn't noticed this on previous days. Announced a program from the archives, but first news in English. Very good reception, but a cochannel English religious station could just be heard. Nothing heard on my listed // of 9525. (Salmaniw, Brody Ukraine)
HUNGARY 6195, 0230-, Radio Budapest Jun 30 Presumably the last broadcast in foreign languages by Radio Budapest was obliterated here in Ukraine by the BBCWS in English cochannel. I could make out 'Thank You' at 02:57 and then off the air. (Salmaniw, Brody Ukraine)
RUSSIA 15110, 0410-, Tatarstan Wave Jun 29 Good reception with sign-on in Tatar and Russian. Checked again at 08:15 and at that time, 11925 is heard at excellent level with news in Russian and an ID. (Salmaniw, Brody Ukraine)
UNID 6335, 0412-, Voice of Iraqi Kurdistan Jun 29 Fair level, with a station playing middle east style music. Checking my WRTH shows that this might be Voice of Iraqi Kurdistan, presumably from Iran. (Salmaniw, Brody Ukraine)
The next part of the journey involved driving into the lovely Carpathian Mountains. This was the quietest RF area of my travels. If you've never experienced low (no) RF, than it's a real treat.....No noise between channels at all. One assumes that there is a technical glitch, but there isn't.....provides incredibly good S/N ratios. No wonder our grandparents and great grandparents routinely heard trans-Oceanic stations without a lot of difficulty.
ABKHAZIA 9495, 0359-, Apsua Radio Jul 01 Brief IS, then ID'd as Apsua Radio with muddy but strong audio. The frequency is normally 9494.75 but I was not able to record the frequency any more accurately on the Kaito 1103. (Salmaniw, Transcarpathia, Ukraine)
ALBANIA 7425, 0245-, Radio Tirana Jul 01 Excellent reception of the English North American service. // 6115 also very good. (Salmaniw, Transcarpathia, Ukraine)
BOTSWANA 4930, 0329-, VOA Jul 01 Earth and Sky program in English, followed by issues in the news. Good level. (Salmaniw, Transcarpathia, Ukraine)
GERMANY 9695, 1820-, Polish Radio Jul 02 My earlier observation was incorrect. Here there was a full program in Hebrew from Poland, via Germany. The station calls itself, 'Kol Polin' and is frequently mentioned. Very good signal except for a small amount of splatter from 9690. ID'd at 18:28. (Salmaniw, Transcarpathia, Ukraine)
HUNGARY 6025, 1859-, Radio Budapest Jun 30 There was talk that the 29th might be the final broadcast, but today (a Saturday), Radio Budapest carried the program 'Insight Central Europe'. Again no mention of a last broadcast. Excellent level as was // 3975. (Salmaniw, Transcarpathia, Ukraine)
ROMANIA 5975, 1858-, Radio Romania International Jul 02 Very good reception with RRI's IS. A big change from the 1700 broadcast which is not well heard. Into Ukrainian for half an hour. // 7210 (50 kw vs 5975 which is 250 kw), also at good level, but with weaker modulation. Had been cochannel VORWS, but has apparently signed off by the TOH. That was the final western Ukrainian logging. (Salmaniw, Transcarpathia, Ukraine)
ROMANIA 7165, 1700-, Radio Romania International Jul 02 Ukrainian program at good level, except for a cochannel station. (Salmaniw, Transcarpathia, Ukraine)
SERBIA 7240, 1831-, International Radio of Serbia Jun 30 In English with an ID at 1835 as, 'You are listening to the International Radio of Serbia'. The transmitter suddenly cut out at 1836. Cochannel WYFR in English, but still good at times. I heard this station a number of times in central and eastern Ukraine with even better results. The announced // of 6100 was never heard. (Salmaniw, Transcarpathia, Ukraine)
UKRAINE 657, 1930-, Radio Ukraine International Jun 30 There are barely any MW transmitters left in Ukraine. During the day, the band is practically empty. Chernivtsi, in the Carpathian mountains in the west of the country still has a 25 kw transmitter used for both RUI programming to Romania and for local programming. At 19:30, the local program switched to RUI's IS, Ukrainian ID, and then into the Romanian 30 min. program. Fair to good. (Salmaniw, Transcarpathia, Ukraine)
UKRAINE 7440, 0307-, Radio Ukraine International Jul 01 RUI in English with Ukrainian Diary at good level. // to 7530 at fair level. In the past, the secondary frequency to Europe/Russia continued with programming in Ukrainian, so this is a change. (Salmaniw, Transcarpathia, Ukraine)
USA 5070, 0235-, WWCR Jul 01 Very good reception with Glenn Hauser's World of Radio (an older edition). Another excellent time in Europe to hear Glenn. (Salmaniw, Transcarpathia, Ukraine)
USA 7415, 0313-, WBCQ Jul 01 Excellent reception, with comedy show called 'Shore to Shore HF'. (Salmaniw, Transcarpathia, Ukraine)
VATICAN 4005, 0328-, Vatican Radio Jul 01 Polish programming at this time. In the past this frequency carried a multilingual program, so I'm no sure whether this continues or not. (Salmaniw, Transcarpathia, Ukraine)
VATICAN 6185, 0300-, Vatican Radio Jul 01 Low key religious program in Ukrainian at excellent levels. // 7335 at good to very good level, cochannel to CHU also well heard. (Wakt Salmaniw, Transcarpathia, Ukraine)
ABKHAZIA 9494.8, 0416-, Abkhaz Radio Jun 29 Easy-listening music with a somewhat distorted signal. EZL music. Presumably Abkhazian. Female announcer took a phone call at 04:26 with, 'Allo'. Probable ID at 04:32 as Apsua Radio. 'Abkhazia' heard with a reverb effect at 04:54. By 05:00 pretty much impossible to hear due to adjacent channel on 9490. (Salmaniw, Brody Ukraine)
BELARUS 7105, 1950-, Radio Station Belarus Jun 28 Excellent reception in Polish, then into English at 20:00. // 7390 almost as strong, while 7440, although equally strong, but much lower in modulation and with some hum. This was my first logging from Ukraine. In this case, near Brody a small city to the east of Ukraine's western capital of Lviv. After this batch, we left for the Carpathian mountains which I'll report next. (Salmaniw, Brody Ukraine)
HUNGARY 6025, 2100-, Radio Budapest Jun 29 I'm not sure if anyone else noticed this, but the multilingual IDs during the IS included languages that were used in the past by Radio Budapest, for example Ukrainian. I hadn't noticed this on previous days. Announced a program from the archives, but first news in English. Very good reception, but a cochannel English religious station could just be heard. Nothing heard on my listed // of 9525. (Salmaniw, Brody Ukraine)
HUNGARY 6195, 0230-, Radio Budapest Jun 30 Presumably the last broadcast in foreign languages by Radio Budapest was obliterated here in Ukraine by the BBCWS in English cochannel. I could make out 'Thank You' at 02:57 and then off the air. (Salmaniw, Brody Ukraine)
RUSSIA 15110, 0410-, Tatarstan Wave Jun 29 Good reception with sign-on in Tatar and Russian. Checked again at 08:15 and at that time, 11925 is heard at excellent level with news in Russian and an ID. (Salmaniw, Brody Ukraine)
UNID 6335, 0412-, Voice of Iraqi Kurdistan Jun 29 Fair level, with a station playing middle east style music. Checking my WRTH shows that this might be Voice of Iraqi Kurdistan, presumably from Iran. (Salmaniw, Brody Ukraine)
The next part of the journey involved driving into the lovely Carpathian Mountains. This was the quietest RF area of my travels. If you've never experienced low (no) RF, than it's a real treat.....No noise between channels at all. One assumes that there is a technical glitch, but there isn't.....provides incredibly good S/N ratios. No wonder our grandparents and great grandparents routinely heard trans-Oceanic stations without a lot of difficulty.
ABKHAZIA 9495, 0359-, Apsua Radio Jul 01 Brief IS, then ID'd as Apsua Radio with muddy but strong audio. The frequency is normally 9494.75 but I was not able to record the frequency any more accurately on the Kaito 1103. (Salmaniw, Transcarpathia, Ukraine)
ALBANIA 7425, 0245-, Radio Tirana Jul 01 Excellent reception of the English North American service. // 6115 also very good. (Salmaniw, Transcarpathia, Ukraine)
BOTSWANA 4930, 0329-, VOA Jul 01 Earth and Sky program in English, followed by issues in the news. Good level. (Salmaniw, Transcarpathia, Ukraine)
GERMANY 9695, 1820-, Polish Radio Jul 02 My earlier observation was incorrect. Here there was a full program in Hebrew from Poland, via Germany. The station calls itself, 'Kol Polin' and is frequently mentioned. Very good signal except for a small amount of splatter from 9690. ID'd at 18:28. (Salmaniw, Transcarpathia, Ukraine)
HUNGARY 6025, 1859-, Radio Budapest Jun 30 There was talk that the 29th might be the final broadcast, but today (a Saturday), Radio Budapest carried the program 'Insight Central Europe'. Again no mention of a last broadcast. Excellent level as was // 3975. (Salmaniw, Transcarpathia, Ukraine)
ROMANIA 5975, 1858-, Radio Romania International Jul 02 Very good reception with RRI's IS. A big change from the 1700 broadcast which is not well heard. Into Ukrainian for half an hour. // 7210 (50 kw vs 5975 which is 250 kw), also at good level, but with weaker modulation. Had been cochannel VORWS, but has apparently signed off by the TOH. That was the final western Ukrainian logging. (Salmaniw, Transcarpathia, Ukraine)
ROMANIA 7165, 1700-, Radio Romania International Jul 02 Ukrainian program at good level, except for a cochannel station. (Salmaniw, Transcarpathia, Ukraine)
SERBIA 7240, 1831-, International Radio of Serbia Jun 30 In English with an ID at 1835 as, 'You are listening to the International Radio of Serbia'. The transmitter suddenly cut out at 1836. Cochannel WYFR in English, but still good at times. I heard this station a number of times in central and eastern Ukraine with even better results. The announced // of 6100 was never heard. (Salmaniw, Transcarpathia, Ukraine)
UKRAINE 657, 1930-, Radio Ukraine International Jun 30 There are barely any MW transmitters left in Ukraine. During the day, the band is practically empty. Chernivtsi, in the Carpathian mountains in the west of the country still has a 25 kw transmitter used for both RUI programming to Romania and for local programming. At 19:30, the local program switched to RUI's IS, Ukrainian ID, and then into the Romanian 30 min. program. Fair to good. (Salmaniw, Transcarpathia, Ukraine)
UKRAINE 7440, 0307-, Radio Ukraine International Jul 01 RUI in English with Ukrainian Diary at good level. // to 7530 at fair level. In the past, the secondary frequency to Europe/Russia continued with programming in Ukrainian, so this is a change. (Salmaniw, Transcarpathia, Ukraine)
USA 5070, 0235-, WWCR Jul 01 Very good reception with Glenn Hauser's World of Radio (an older edition). Another excellent time in Europe to hear Glenn. (Salmaniw, Transcarpathia, Ukraine)
USA 7415, 0313-, WBCQ Jul 01 Excellent reception, with comedy show called 'Shore to Shore HF'. (Salmaniw, Transcarpathia, Ukraine)
VATICAN 4005, 0328-, Vatican Radio Jul 01 Polish programming at this time. In the past this frequency carried a multilingual program, so I'm no sure whether this continues or not. (Salmaniw, Transcarpathia, Ukraine)
VATICAN 6185, 0300-, Vatican Radio Jul 01 Low key religious program in Ukrainian at excellent levels. // 7335 at good to very good level, cochannel to CHU also well heard. (Wakt Salmaniw, Transcarpathia, Ukraine)
