Below are my final loggings during my recent European trip. They're all from a rural area about 70 km from Luhansk in the extreme south-east of Ukraine. A very good quiet location, even using just the Kaito 1103 and a few feet of random wire. I recorded many interesting segments on my Edirol R-09 mp3 recorder. I hope that some of you found my loggings of interest!........Walt Salmaniw, Victoria, BC
ABKHAZIA 9495, 0458-, Apsua Radio Jul 06 Luhansk region in Ukraine is much closer to Abkhazia than the other areas I monitored. Reception was good, with a jingle ID for 'Apsua Radio'. Suffered from 9490 splatter from 05:00. Russian ads at 05:02, but seemingly off at 05:04. (Salmaniw, Luhansk Ukraine)
ALBANIA 13750, 1315-, Radio Tirana Jul 07 Excellent reception in English to North America. Can't hear them at this time on the WCNA, though. (Salmaniw, Luhansk Ukraine)
CHINA 15190, 0959-, CRI Jul 07 Looking for Equatorial Guinea and no luck. Instead, CRI is very strong here in English. (Salmaniw, Luhansk Ukraine)
INDIA 17510, 1051-, AIR Jul 07 Very good reception in English with ID for the GOS of AIR. (Salmaniw, Luhansk Ukraine)
KAZAKHSTAN 9355, 1530-, Golos Pravoslavya Jul 06 Very good reception of this program, known in English as the Voice of Orthodoxy. The speech portions (all in Russian) had somewhat narrow modulation, although the music was normal. (Salmaniw, Luhansk Ukraine)
LATVIA 9290, 0830-, Latvia Today Jul 07 Good reception in English with Latvia's economic performance. On recheck at 09:50, there was non-stop music followed by a Radio Joystick ID in German, with a postal mail address in Germany, and finally 'Charlie Quinn' saying bye-bye. (Salmaniw, Luhansk Ukraine)
LIBYA 17870, 1457-, Voice of Africa Jul 07 Fair to good reception with an ID in English. They also announced 21695 which was not heard. This was my final logging for this European trip. Overall, I had a lot of fun, and heard a number of stations impossible to hear in North America. Also, I was surprised by the continued strength of shortwave in Europe, compared to what's available on this side of the pond. There's life in the old girl yet!. (Salmaniw, Luhansk Ukraine)
LIBYA 17870, 1533-, Voice of Africa Jul 06 Engish news at fair to good level. (Salmaniw, Luhansk Ukraine)
NIGERIA 15120, 2030-, Voice of Nigeria Jul 05 One of the stronger African stations heard in English, and one of very few in that language! Good reception with English news and then into a '60 minutes' program. (Salmaniw, Luhansk Ukraine)
POLAND 9695, 1759-, Polish Radio Jul 05 Checked once more about the Hebrew service. Very good reception with ID in Polish/English, then music bridge and ID as 'Kol Polin' and into Hebrew news. (Salmaniw, Luhansk Ukraine)
RUSSIA 171, 1512-, Radio Chechnya Svobodnaya Jul 06 Bandscanned the LW band during the afternoon in Luhansk, and again only 3 stations heard with 171 by far the strongest with big band music. Also heard was Ukrainian Radio on 207 (poor to fair) and 261 Radio Rossii from Taldom north of Moscow at fair level. (Salmaniw, Luhansk Ukraine)
RUSSIA 21660, 1545-, BBC World Service Jul 06 I was surprised to hear anything on 21 MHz, but the BBC was coming in very well with business news. Checking the WRTH website seems to indicate this is from Armavir. I could hear a faint cochannel IS from Vatican RAdio. (Salmaniw, Luhansk Ukraine)
SAUDI ARABIA 15250, 1200-, BSKSA Jul 07 ID in English as Radio Jeddah, and into English news at good level. (Salmaniw, Luhansk Ukraine)
SAUDI ARABIA 17660, 1535-, BSKSA Jul 06 Fair to good in French with some deep fades over a weaker cochannel. IDs as Radio Riyadh (at 15:40), followed by the NA, another ID and then a reading from the Koran. Sign-off announcement at 17:53 mentions English in a few minutes, but they cut the transmitter at 15:57 before this happened. (Salmaniw, Luhansk Ukraine)
SOUTH AFRICA 4880, 1827-, SWR Radio Africa Jul 06 In the rural location in south-east Ukraine I was able to hear SWR Africa direct from South Africa at fair level. // heard were 11810 (good level with some splatter from 11805), and 12035 (very good). (Salmaniw, Luhansk Ukraine)
TAIWAN 9485, 1314-, Shiokaze Jul 07 English at fair level (much weaker than on the WCNA, but still a treat!) with bios of disappeared Japanese citizens. This was on a Saturday. (Salmaniw, Luhansk Ukraine)
TIBET 4905, 1755-, Xizang-Tibet Jul 05 A presumed logging of Lhasa. Bizarre programming for early July: Jingle Bells, followed by Auld Lang Sye. Reception was good. Go figure! This was my first logging from a rural location in the Donbas (south-east corner of Ukraine). Although extremely quiet still, there seems to be a slight increase in RF noise. (Salmaniw, Luhansk Ukraine)
UKRAINE 1359, 1500-, Radio Tsentr Jul 06 The MW band is pretty much dead in Ukraine during the day. I did a bandscan in Luhansk during the afternoon and heard a single Ukrainian station, that being Donetsk (Dokuchaievsk) with 50 kw and relaying Radio Tsentr (as opposed to what's listed in the WRTH). Otherwise, the following Russian MW stations were also heard: 549 Radio Mayak (Novocherkassk), 567 Radio Rossii (Volgograd), 810 Radio Mayak (Volgograd), 945 Radio Rossii (Rostov-na-Donu), 1089 Commonwealth Program aka Sodruzhestvo (Tbilisskaya). Besides these, I had forgotten about aeronautical beacons in the MW band. I heard: 617 with dah-dah-dit, 721 with dah-dah-dit-dit-dit, and 1155 with dit-dah-dit dit then dit-dit-dit. I recall rarely hearing these on the west coast of North America during dxpeditions. During the night, of course, the MW remains alive with stations all over Europe and Asia well heard. (Salmaniw, Luhansk Ukraine)
ABKHAZIA 9495, 0458-, Apsua Radio Jul 06 Luhansk region in Ukraine is much closer to Abkhazia than the other areas I monitored. Reception was good, with a jingle ID for 'Apsua Radio'. Suffered from 9490 splatter from 05:00. Russian ads at 05:02, but seemingly off at 05:04. (Salmaniw, Luhansk Ukraine)
ALBANIA 13750, 1315-, Radio Tirana Jul 07 Excellent reception in English to North America. Can't hear them at this time on the WCNA, though. (Salmaniw, Luhansk Ukraine)
CHINA 15190, 0959-, CRI Jul 07 Looking for Equatorial Guinea and no luck. Instead, CRI is very strong here in English. (Salmaniw, Luhansk Ukraine)
INDIA 17510, 1051-, AIR Jul 07 Very good reception in English with ID for the GOS of AIR. (Salmaniw, Luhansk Ukraine)
KAZAKHSTAN 9355, 1530-, Golos Pravoslavya Jul 06 Very good reception of this program, known in English as the Voice of Orthodoxy. The speech portions (all in Russian) had somewhat narrow modulation, although the music was normal. (Salmaniw, Luhansk Ukraine)
LATVIA 9290, 0830-, Latvia Today Jul 07 Good reception in English with Latvia's economic performance. On recheck at 09:50, there was non-stop music followed by a Radio Joystick ID in German, with a postal mail address in Germany, and finally 'Charlie Quinn' saying bye-bye. (Salmaniw, Luhansk Ukraine)
LIBYA 17870, 1457-, Voice of Africa Jul 07 Fair to good reception with an ID in English. They also announced 21695 which was not heard. This was my final logging for this European trip. Overall, I had a lot of fun, and heard a number of stations impossible to hear in North America. Also, I was surprised by the continued strength of shortwave in Europe, compared to what's available on this side of the pond. There's life in the old girl yet!. (Salmaniw, Luhansk Ukraine)
LIBYA 17870, 1533-, Voice of Africa Jul 06 Engish news at fair to good level. (Salmaniw, Luhansk Ukraine)
NIGERIA 15120, 2030-, Voice of Nigeria Jul 05 One of the stronger African stations heard in English, and one of very few in that language! Good reception with English news and then into a '60 minutes' program. (Salmaniw, Luhansk Ukraine)
POLAND 9695, 1759-, Polish Radio Jul 05 Checked once more about the Hebrew service. Very good reception with ID in Polish/English, then music bridge and ID as 'Kol Polin' and into Hebrew news. (Salmaniw, Luhansk Ukraine)
RUSSIA 171, 1512-, Radio Chechnya Svobodnaya Jul 06 Bandscanned the LW band during the afternoon in Luhansk, and again only 3 stations heard with 171 by far the strongest with big band music. Also heard was Ukrainian Radio on 207 (poor to fair) and 261 Radio Rossii from Taldom north of Moscow at fair level. (Salmaniw, Luhansk Ukraine)
RUSSIA 21660, 1545-, BBC World Service Jul 06 I was surprised to hear anything on 21 MHz, but the BBC was coming in very well with business news. Checking the WRTH website seems to indicate this is from Armavir. I could hear a faint cochannel IS from Vatican RAdio. (Salmaniw, Luhansk Ukraine)
SAUDI ARABIA 15250, 1200-, BSKSA Jul 07 ID in English as Radio Jeddah, and into English news at good level. (Salmaniw, Luhansk Ukraine)
SAUDI ARABIA 17660, 1535-, BSKSA Jul 06 Fair to good in French with some deep fades over a weaker cochannel. IDs as Radio Riyadh (at 15:40), followed by the NA, another ID and then a reading from the Koran. Sign-off announcement at 17:53 mentions English in a few minutes, but they cut the transmitter at 15:57 before this happened. (Salmaniw, Luhansk Ukraine)
SOUTH AFRICA 4880, 1827-, SWR Radio Africa Jul 06 In the rural location in south-east Ukraine I was able to hear SWR Africa direct from South Africa at fair level. // heard were 11810 (good level with some splatter from 11805), and 12035 (very good). (Salmaniw, Luhansk Ukraine)
TAIWAN 9485, 1314-, Shiokaze Jul 07 English at fair level (much weaker than on the WCNA, but still a treat!) with bios of disappeared Japanese citizens. This was on a Saturday. (Salmaniw, Luhansk Ukraine)
TIBET 4905, 1755-, Xizang-Tibet Jul 05 A presumed logging of Lhasa. Bizarre programming for early July: Jingle Bells, followed by Auld Lang Sye. Reception was good. Go figure! This was my first logging from a rural location in the Donbas (south-east corner of Ukraine). Although extremely quiet still, there seems to be a slight increase in RF noise. (Salmaniw, Luhansk Ukraine)
UKRAINE 1359, 1500-, Radio Tsentr Jul 06 The MW band is pretty much dead in Ukraine during the day. I did a bandscan in Luhansk during the afternoon and heard a single Ukrainian station, that being Donetsk (Dokuchaievsk) with 50 kw and relaying Radio Tsentr (as opposed to what's listed in the WRTH). Otherwise, the following Russian MW stations were also heard: 549 Radio Mayak (Novocherkassk), 567 Radio Rossii (Volgograd), 810 Radio Mayak (Volgograd), 945 Radio Rossii (Rostov-na-Donu), 1089 Commonwealth Program aka Sodruzhestvo (Tbilisskaya). Besides these, I had forgotten about aeronautical beacons in the MW band. I heard: 617 with dah-dah-dit, 721 with dah-dah-dit-dit-dit, and 1155 with dit-dah-dit dit then dit-dit-dit. I recall rarely hearing these on the west coast of North America during dxpeditions. During the night, of course, the MW remains alive with stations all over Europe and Asia well heard. (Salmaniw, Luhansk Ukraine)