Logbook - African Signals and Others!

4869.91   INDONESIA.  RRI - Wamena. Lovely relaxing Indo pop songs with rare anncts at 0950, fair on July 25, but appears to be a bit irregular with its transmissions these days.

4895   INDIA.  AIR - Kolkata. English news at 1533, fair to poor with rapid fades, July 24.

4910   INDIA.   AIR - Jaipur. Hindi talks at 1530, poor signal and haven't heard this one in a while, July 24.

4930   BOTSWANA. VOA - Moepeng Hill. Very early f/in 1525 with English programming, reasonable signal, July 24.

4975.95   UGANDA.  R. Uganda - Kampala. Surprised at this early f/in 1515 with local language programming, weak at first but improving on July 24.

6175   USA.  VoVietnam - Cypress Creek. Vietnamese service  to Mexico is still rocketing in here at 0520. The strongest on the band at this time. Suddenly at 0528, the VoV programming was interrupted by an English annct for World Vision, then at 0529 an ID for WHRI, then off. The EiBi list incorrectly lists this at Spanish at this time. July 20.

7120   SOMALIA.  R. Hargeisa. On late for Ramadan in Somali with earnest talks at 2015, good signal on July 18

7205   SUDAN.  R. Omdurman - Al-Aitahab.  Arabic at 2020 under the stronger RFI-Issoudun. It would be interesting to know how much QRM France's WAf service causes to listeners in in Sudan and other parts of EAf. At 2025, a monster signal from VoTurkey signed on to begin its English service to Pac, which squashed both Sudan and France. July 18

7275   TUNISIA.  RTVTunisia - Sfax. Arabic service to Eu, s/on just before 0500 and off at 0600, fair signal, July 20. There’s a trap to this one! On July 2, 3, and 19, I was hearing modulation around 0615 to 0715 f/out. Thought I might have been hearing the traces of a long path African such as the scheduled Nigeria. I had a sneaking suspicion that something was not right here. So on July 20, I monitored Tunisia’s s/off and found that the station often leaves its TXer on long after s/off. Mystery solved…..although it would have been nice to hear Nigeria!!

7300   ENGLAND.  HCJB - Woofferton. 2100 s/on for the 15-minute Tachelhit service to NAf, then into Arabic 2115-2145 s/off. Tachelhit is a Berber language spoken in Southern Morocco and Algeria. It is quite different to Arabic and is not really an Arabic "dialect" as such. Apparently, male speakers will be bilingual in Tachelhit and Arabic, while female speakers tend to be monolingual using only Tachelhit. There is quite a difference in the sound of the two languages, so you can easily pick the changeover between the two programs on HCJB. To my ears, Tachelhit sounds softer and much less guttural (less from the back of the throat) than Arabic. Solid signal July 18.

7325   SAO TOME.  VOA - Pinheira. Hausa service to WAf at 2030 to 2100, not strong but in the clear, July 18.

7485   SINGAPORE.   BBC - Kranji. Burmese s/on 1345, good signal and NF from several months ago ex 5890, July 24

9690   NIGERIA.  VoNigeria - Ikorodu. S/on 0800 and news in Hausa for the WAf service. Fair to poor signal July 19.

9860   ENGLAND. KBS - Woofferton. Nice signal this day at 0735 for the Eu service in Korean, s/off 0800, July 19.

9975   PALAU.  Nippon no Kaze - Medorn. Korean programming accompanied by light jamming at 1500 after the KTWR s/off. July 24. I see some DX groups listing this as a separate station from Furusato no Kaze, but it's one and the same station isn't it? Just using a different name for the Japanese broadcasts.

11775   GERMANY.  Overcomer Ministry - Nauen. A very rocky start (and I don't mean musically!!) to this English transmission at s/on 2000 with multiple layers of Br. Stair talking at the one time, while a high-pitched female singer bellowed out over the top of him, stops and starts in audio, one-second loops (like an old scratched LP records) - laughable really!! Appears to be an NF, July 18

11780   BRAZIL.  R. Nacional Amazonia - Brasilia. Footy broadcast with lots of shouting at 2120, fair signal July 14.

11850   BULGARIA.  Overcomer Ministry - Kostonbrod. English preaching 2035 to s/off 2100. Believed to be Bulgarian site (although not confirmed by HFCC yet), strong level and // 11775, July 21.

11870   PHILIPPINES. R. Veritas Asia - Palauig. Conclusion of the Bangla service at 1426, then English ID's with freq anncts, into the Zou language at 1430. Good signal July 24.

11885   SAO TOME.  VOA - Pinheira. Thirty minute Hausa service 0700-0730 at fair level, NF ex 11785, July 18.

13760   DPRK.  VoKorea - Kujang.  French service with revolutionary ballads at 0635 aimed at LAm and quite weak here, July 8.

13785   IRAN.  VOIRI - Kamalabad. Arabic to ME 0720 with Koran and talk, weak signal and mixed with VoR's English to FE which was also weak, July 19.

13860   GERMANY.  R. Farda - Lampertheim. Farsi to Iran, weak and fluttery 0735, July 19.

13880   IRAN. VOIRI - Ahwaz. Just past the end of the 22mb, this is the only station assigned to this freq. Noted at 1140 in Dari with a very quiet signal on July 21. Schedule runs from 0830 to 1430 and it can be noted almost continuously throughout this time period, subject to propagation conditions.

15490   PHILIPPINES.  VOA - Tinang.  English s/on 1400, NF ex 12120 but poor signal, propagation conditions not conducive to listening at this time of night here, some jamming noted on July 24.

15615   UNIDENTIFIED.  Shaky reception at 1440 with alternating strange fading and surging of the signal. Language appeared to sound Middle Eastern. This could be the new station R. Salam Watandar reported recently in other DX press allegedly from Kostinbrod, Bulgaria. July 24.

17500   RUSSIA.  VoR - Novosibirsk. English to Eu 0720 but very weak July 21.

17550   IRAN.  VOIRI - Kamalabad. Arabic service to NAf noted 0700 and battling it out with CNR 1. Would be interesting to know if their respective target audiences suffer any QRM. The Twente remote rx indicates both are of equal strength in Europe! July 21

17690   SRI LANKA.  R. Azadi - Iranawila. Someone recently reported this station as being via Kuwait. I believe this is actually coming from Sri Lanka at that time (0419) as per the HFCC frequency registration, which shows it doesn't transmit from Kuwait till 0730 onwards. In fact, R. Azadi switches to Ban Dung, Thailand from 0530-0730, before then moving onto Kuwait. The IBB appears to be demonstrating judicious use of the txer sites available to them for this service!!  There can be some uncertainty between 17690 with 17670. The later frequency runs // and DOES come from Kuwait at that time before it switches to Sri Lanka at 0600 till that freq s/off at 0700. Confusing, isn't it?

17730   SAUDI ARABIA.  BSKSA - Riyadh. Big signal at 0610 for the NAf service with Arabic telephone talkback discussion on Africa. Pity about the accompanying hum in the audio! This is // 17740 which is squirted towards Eu (with no hum!) but struggles under the stronger CRI SEAs Mandarin service. July 21.

17780   KUWAIT.  RL - Kuwait. Russian service to Siberia with ID at 0600. Weak signal on July 21.

17895   SAUDI ARABIA - R. Riyadh. Arabic service to CAs at 0545 with Quran programming, fair to poor signal but in the clear till the much stronger CNR 1 s/on 0600 on 17890, July 21.

21580   FRANCE.  RFI - Issoudun. French to CAf at 0715, weak signal. Interestingly, VoR on 21800 and 21820 were booming in, but nothing else on the band, July 9.

73 and have a great weekend everyone!

Rob VK3BVW