Sunday, February 07, 2010

Blog Logs

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

Andaman & Nicobar Islands
4760, All India Radio-Port Blair (presumed) 1701-1730* Feb 6. Non-stop, repetitive indigenous chanting/singing and music; 1727 announcement (too weak to ID language). Believe AIR Leh scheduled for 1700*; poor.Several hours after my local sunrise! (Ron Howard, CA/Cumbre DX)

China
5050, Guangxi Beibu Bay Radio, 1424, Feb 6. Brief bit in English; “I am Eric Maskin, the 2007 Nobel Laureate in economics. The launch of CAFTA [China ASEAN Free Trade Area] to bring mutual benefits to all the countries of ASEAN. I think it is a very exciting development. I look forward to seeing what happens”; CAFTA came into existence on Jan 1 and is the world’s third largest free trade zone; into “Top Music” show of easy-listening songs. Vietnamese with only the program name in English. Even though this station primarily plays music, they obviously emphasize the economy of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and the Beibu Bay Economic Zone in their news and as reflected on the BBR website (Ron Howard, CA/Cumbre DX)

Ethiopia
6030, Radio Oromiya, 1517, Feb 6. Already on the air with repetitive HOA music and singing. Weekends (observed on a Saturday) have an earlier sign on than the weekday *1522. It was Bruce Churchill who first noted the difference (Thanks Bruce!); heard through CNR-1. Seems this one is no longer all that rare anymore!

7165, Radio Ethiopia, 1537, Feb 6. Pop music and Horn of Africa music in vernacular (Afar scheduled) 1600 xylophone like music (very similar to the Radio Oromiya interval signal) “This is the external service of Radio Ethiopia broadcasting in English in the 31 meter band and 41 meter band in shortwave and 303 meters on medium wave. Our program begins with a news summary.” Pop songs in English, many brief news items with music bridges to 1630 another “external service of Radio Ethiopia.” News in English, causing interference-signal mostly poor.(Ron Howard, CA/Cumbre DX)

India
4850, All India Radio-Kohima, 1323-1340, Feb 6. Naga segment 1340-1350, news and sports in vernacular; 1350-1401.* News and sports in English (Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh calls on states to work together with Center to bring food prices under control, Congress leader challenges Nagaland to enroll 1 lakh members, 22 taxi drivers arrested, security forces gun down four militants, list of medals won at the South Asian Games, etc.). IDs: “This is All India Radio Kohima” and “This news comes to you from All India Radio Kohima”; mostly fair. Erratic schedule since their special broadcast on eve of Republic Day (Jan 25); not on the air every day (Ron Howard, CA/Cumbre DX)

Indonesia
9680, RRI Jakarta, 1133-1145. Tune-in to steady music which was typically Indonesian. At 1134, the signal dropped off the air suddenly for about ten seconds, then it came back up. Overall signal was good (75.0 dBm)(Chuck Bolland, FL)

9526, Voice of Indonesia, 1122-1130. Female announer in Chinese with comments. Thus assumed this was VOI being on 9526 and in Chinese at this time. Signal was fair too. (Chuck Bolland,FL)

Malaysia/Sarawak
5030, Sarawak FM via RTM, 1418 + 1444, Feb 6. Vernacular. Saturday format of repetitive indigenous music accompanied by chanting/singing, along with on-air phone call. Would think that this unique chanting would help folks to confirm they are hearing this station on Saturdays. Fair signal. (Ron Howard, CA/Cumbre DX)

Papua New Guinea
3290, Radio Central, 1114-1120. Weak signal here with typical music and a male's comments afterwards. Very Threshold signal. (Chuck Bolland, FL)