Blog Logs

Thanks to the contributors for tonights post of Blog Logs.

Gayle VH

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

9610 11/19/08 2303 Radio Romania International. News broadcast by female announcer.
9740 11/19 2305 BBC World Service. The World Today program. SINPO 34343
13362USB 11/19 2307 Armed Forces Network. PBS-All Things Considered program
10320USB 11/19 2308 Armed Forces Network. PBS-All Things Considered program
9625 11/21 2219 CBC Northern Quebec Service - '60s Country music hits with native language announcements . SINPO 45444
6160 11/22 0012 6.160 CBC Vancouver. Traffic report. SINPO 45544
15360 11/22 0014 BBC World Service. SINPO 35434
9740 11/22 0016 BBC World Service . SINPO 33433
9410 11/22 0017 BBC World Service. SINPO 34433
(Jerry Brookman, Kenai, Alaska)

Argentina

15344.91-.62v, Radio Nacional, 2237-2245 + 2359, Nov15. Spanish, various songs (ballads in French, etc), serious drifting, fair. Nov 13 heard RAE on 15344.45v from 2212-2235 (Ron Howard, CA)

11710.92, RAE, 0059-0120+, Nov 15. Tune-in to interval signal. Spanish ID announcements at 0101. Into English programming at 0103. Local Spanish ballads. English news at 0110. Fair. (Brian Alexander, PA)

Australia

2485 VL8K Katherine, NT 1318-1336 Nov 16. Female announcer with chat or interview with OM, followed by five minutes of ABC news at 1330. // to2325 (fair) and 2310 (poor) until 1335, when there was a program note for"105.7 FM" on VL8K which was not // to the other two; back in // again at1336 with "Sunday Night" program. 2485 the best of the lot with fair/goodsignal. (John Wilkins, CO)

Belgium

9970 RTBF Intlernational. Station heard in French talk and music with IDs at 1529 on19 Nov. Good signals, but suddenly creamed by R.F.Chosun tuning up on freq at 1533. (Al Muick, Kabul, AFG)

Bhutan

6035, BBS (presumed), 0032-0103, Nov 20. Thanks to Bruce Churchill's recent tips, heard long interview (woman asking briefquestions, followed by long answers by a man), BBS schedule indicatesa cultural program in Dzongkha, brief indigenous string instrumental music at start and end of interview, 0051 segment of indigenous chanting till 0100. Intermittent light QRM from Spanish speakingstation (assume Colombia), mostly poor, but almost certain it wasthem (their sunrise was 0026 and my local sunset was 0054).[Ron Howard, CA]

Bulgaria

5900, Radio Bulgaria, 0040-0055 A male and female, in English language, broadcasts a number of schedules for different Shortwave broadcasters. Unfortunately, Radio Bulgaria had a jammer on this freq for awhile earlier, butby 0050 had almost disappeared from fading. ID at 0050 with address.At 0051 annoucements by a male followed by local music. Signal was fair on 5900.

(Chuck Bolland, FL November 22, 2008)

China

4940, Voice of Strait, 1500-1525, Nov 16 (Sun.). Time pips (5+1),briefly in Chinese, music fanfare, "This is the Voice of Strait,Fuzhou, China", into program in English (believe it was called "Focuson China"), presented by two Chinese announcers (Gary and an unnamed woman), news about China with music bridges between items (taxi driversprotest in Sanya to stop illegal operators; 4 students killed afterjumping from a fire at Shanghai Business School on Fri.; martial artsin Hong Kong; two pandas (Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan) will shortly be sent from the mainland to Taiwan, etc.), poor to fair, light QRM from assume AIR Guwahati (back to their normal frequency today, after being on 4900yesterday). This program may only be broadcast on Sunday. I need toc heck about Saturday. Back in 2005, I often heard Gary and Jacqueline(Ms. Diao) with their "Focus on China" program, heard back then on Sat.& Sun. from 1430-1500, but then they changed the schedule to a time Icould not hear them, so hearing them today with their new schedule wasvery nice. In the coming weeks their reception should improve. (Ron Howard-CA)

Clandestine

3985, Echo of Hope (presumed), 1446, Nov 13, in Korean, heavy jamming,// 6003 (light-moderate jamming and QRM from Voice of Russia on 6005)and 6348 (also jammed). Have never been able to hear CNR-2/CBR whichis listed as being on 3985 (Ron Howard, CA)

5910, Shiokaze/Sea Breeze, *1400-1430*, Nov 14, in English. "Today's News Flash", "Today's News on North Korean Issues", almost all theitems dealing with the possibility of Kim Jong Il being sick, heard with very heavy accent, the canned IDs are somewhat clearer, fair.Seems that the segment in French is permanently gone. Still hearingAnthem, followed by reciting from the Qur'an, in Arabic, afterShiokaze goes off the air. (Ron Howard, CA)

Equatorial Guinea

15190, Radio Africa, 2232-2245, Nov 15, Tony Alamo reading from the Bible, along with his comments, woman read letterfrom listener in Ghana, fair (Ron Howard, CA)

Ethiopia

7165, Voice of Peace & Democracy, via Radio Ethiopia transmitters, 0358-0430*, Nov 21, tune-in to Horn of Africa music and announcements in Tigrinya. Talk at 0400. Local drums. Some Horn of Africa music but mostly continuous talk. Fair signal but occasional noise jammer making for poor reception. Fair to good signal on // 9560.13v-varing up to 9560.47 at times. Listed for Mon, Wed, Fri only. (Brian Alexander, PA)

9704 Radio Ethiopia heard at 1348 on 20 Nov with Amharic talk andAfrican music. Decent S3 signal until 1358 when a Chinese ether pollution specialist signed on at 9705 kHz. Only Chicom listed on this freq, is China's PBS Xinjiang but they are sked'ed to be off at this time. (Al Muick, Kabul, AFG)

5005, Radio Nacional, Bata, 2245-2256*,Nov 14, Afro-pop music. Spanish announcements. Sign off with National Anthem at 2253. Weak in noisy conditions. (Brian Alexander, PA)

6250, Radio Nacional, Malabo, *0516-0530,Nov 15, on with Afro-pop music. Spanish . (Brian Alexander, PA)

Germany

7315, Sudan's Radio Dabanga, via Germany 0435-0527*,Nov 21, mostly continuous Horn of Africa style music. Some Arabicannouncements. Short talks. Many IDs. Good signal. (Brian Alexander, PA)

India

4950, Radio Kashmir, Srinagar, *0118-0126, Nov 20. Tuned in at 0109 to hear an open carrier with test tone, tone went off justbefore the start of the AIR interval signal, into subcontinent music and singing. At 0125 briefly played interval signal again, lost after that, very weak, best inUSB. Hope this will improve over the next month so I can get somedetails for a reception report. Their local sunrise was coming up at0138. [Ron Howard, CA]

7115 AIR heard at 1730 on 20 Nov. in Maldivian with male talk and no interval signal or sign on formalities just carrier and then right into programming. The audio was so distorted, I could barely make out what was being said. The spectral display looked sick and there was a very bad buzz on the audio. Sounds like a filter cap in the main supply or in the modulator section isabout to blow its oats. This is one sick transmitter and someone in mastercontrol should be called on the carpet for allowing this to get on the air, and their engineer should be hung up by his/her thumbs! (Al Muick, Kabul, AFG)

4900, AIR Guwahati (presumed), 1428-1447, Nov 15, in thepast this was their alternate frequency. Subcontinent music andsinging, two men having a long conversation in vernacular, poor withQRM from Voice of Strait. Almost every day I check on VOS here andthis is the first time I have noted QRM. In the past I couldoccasionally hear AIR Guwahati mixing with VOS on 4940, but todayonly heard VOS in the clear on 4940. Overall was a good morning forAIR stations. Wanted to check for the AIR "News at nine" (1530 UTC) in English, but by then only heard VOS on 4900. This was also heardtoday by Dave Valko (Ron Howard, CA)

Indonesia

4750, RRI Makassar, 0953-1015 Noted a male in possible Qu'ransinging/praying until 0956, at that time a female comments briefly in Indonesian language. At 0959 Islamic type singing again by a male. This continues throughthe top of the hour. At 1014 a male comments. Signal was poor. (Chuck Bolland, FL November 18, 2008)

9680, RRI Jakarta, 1109-1130 Noted steady Pop music at tune in. There's two other stations on this freq besides Jakarata.. At 1113 music ceases breifly and signal is lost in the QRM. By 1119 there's so much interference on this frequency, I can't pull out Jakarta anymore from all of it. (Chuck Bolland, FL November 17, 2008)

3976.02, RRI-Pontianak, 1554-1614, Nov 15, in Bahasa Indonesian. DJ playing songs and with on-air calls, mostly fair.4749.94, RRI-Makassar, 1456-1500*, Nov 15, in BI, pop song, SCI, ID and off, poor with QRM from China and Bangladesh (Ron Howard,CA)

9525.9, Voice of Indonesia, 1301-1320, Nov 15. Opening English ID announcements at 1301. English news at 1303. Weak but readable initially but very poor in noisy conditions by 1320.(Brian Alexander, PA)

Israel

9990 Kol Israel, heard 19 Nov. at 1501 with sign-on in FS and news. English recordings of Simon Peres. Loud signal, but not quite S5. If Irecall correctly, they were going to quit SW a few years back. (Al Muick, Kabul, AFG)

Madagascar

5010, RTV Malagasy, 0250-0300, Nov 21, local pop music. Announcements in Malagasy. Good signal in reducedcarrier USB. (Brian Alexander, PA)

North Korea

9995 Voice of Korea heard 19 Nov. at 1518 with Arabic program targeted to the Middle East. The signal was S3 at best. I was quite surprised at the lack of strength, especially as it is supposed to be beamed to the Middle East. *Al Muick, Kabul, AFG)

Northern Marianas

7445 Radio Free Asia, heard at 1500 on 20 Nov. English sign on by man/female announcers to newscast in Mandarin. Immediate and terminal jamming by China National Radio (not registered on frequency). Pounding sigs from both stations, but equally unusable. So what happened to Firedrake? The jugband got a month or so off? (Al Muick, Kabul, AFG)

Peru

4746.77, Radio Huanta Dos Mil, 0011-0030 Signal not that strong,but still readable with a male in Spanish comments. A utility station popson the freq periodically while CODAR is continuously squeezing the freqwith it's noise. At 0021 a female begins chatting. Signal was poor. (Chuck Bolland, FL November 22, 2008)

4835.5, Radio Maranon, 1017-1030 Initially noted Huaynos music for afew minutes. At 1021 a male in Spanish language comments and a few moments later a female joins in. At 1025 a canned ID followed by live comments with time check and station ID, followed by Huaynos music. Signal was between poor and fairduring the period. (Chuck Bolland, FL November 18, 2008)

4954.93, Radio Cultural Amauta (pres), 1037-1045. With a male in steady Spanish comments. Can't pull out the details since the audio of this station isn't very strong. However, heard the word "Amauta" at 1041 mentioned during the comments. Noise from the band overwhelms the a poor signal. (Chuck Bolland, FL November 18, 2008)

4775, Radio Tarma, 1030-1045 Barely audible with CODAR churingaway on top of this freq, noted typical Peruvian Pop music. Heard somecomments at 1035. Signal was threshold. (Chuck Bolland, FL November 17, 2008

4955, Radio Cultural Amauta, (presumed)1037-1045 Noted a male in either Quechua or Aymara language comments. Every so often, "Peru" is mentioned.Signal was poor with fading. (Chuck Bolland, FL November 17, 2008)

4955, Radio Cultural Amauta, Huanta, 2300-2315. Nov 14. Spanish talk. Peruvian music. Promos, ads. Weak. (Brian Alexander, PA)

Russia

6075, "Radio Rossii Kamchatka" via Petropavlovsk-Kamchatka, 0810-0900, Nov 20, before 0810 heard the news with usualIDs for "Radio Rossii" and "programa Radio Rossii", 0810 musicalfanfare and new ID: "Radio Rossii Kamchatka" (in the past I do notrecall them ever mentioning Rossii in their ID, was just "KamchatkaRadio"), into local programming, interview, BoH "This is Kamchatka",local news with many mentions of Kamchatka, several more "RadioRossii Kamchatka " IDs, played Russian songs, ToH pips (5+1), thenback to "programa Radio Rossii" IDs, fair. radio Rossii clearly off the air during same time period on 7200(Yakutsk) and 7320 (Magadan). Unable to check 5935 due to strong WWCR.[Ron Howard, CA)

Sri Lanka

5860, Radio Farda, 0031-0045, Noted a male in Persian Languagecomments until about 0035. At that time music presented. A tune from DeanMartin. At 0038, male in Persian again with live ID as, "Radio Farda", then into Persian music. Signal was good. (Chuck Bolland, FL November 22, 2008)

Sudan (non)

via Sines, Portugal, 17745 NF, Sudan Radio Service,*1500-1531, Nov 15. New Frequency. ex-17690. English programmingwith IDs. “Lets Talk” program about local Sudanese issues. Shortbreaks of local music. Talk about human rights violations in Sudan.Multi-lingual IDs at 1530. Arabic at 1531. Poor to fair. (Brian Alexander, PA)

Taiwan

9680, Taiwan International, (tentative) 1109-1130, Noted a male in Mandarin language comments. At 1114 a female joins in briefly. The comments continue during the period while signal remains at a fair level. (Chuck Bolland, FL November 17, 2008)

Vietnam

6165, Voice of Vietnam (tentative) 1055-1059 With a pretty fair signal, noted Vietnamese type music until 1059. At that time however, Radio Nederlandt unes up on the frequency blocking everything. (Chuck Bolland,FL November 17, 2008