STATION NEWS AND THE LOGBOOK - October 7, 2014
 |
| Announcers at Bhutan Broadcasting Service |
STATION NEWS AND THE LOGBOOK
October 7, 2014
STATION NEWS:
RUSSIASo then.........Has everyone been enjoying listening to the Voice of Russia since their glorious return to shortwave on October 1? No? Mmmmm....neither have I!! As I mentioned in a recent Station News blog post, a number of people were declaring that VOR WILL return on October 1, based on nothing more than a bunch of registrations in the HFCC list. We do need to be careful about what appears in that list. As helpful as it is, it is really only a guide to a broadcaster's intentions of how they plan to use the shortwave spectrum. And of course, not all shortwave broadcasters use HFCC anyway. BUT....keep listening, because something might appear.....maybe!! Don't hold your breath.
JAMMING OF BBC THAILAND
On October 1, at the height of the peaceful Hong Kong protests, I noted BBC - Nakhon Sawan on 12010 kHz with heavy jamming of the English service to East Asia at 2315 UTC. And, yes, jamming of BBC has been going on for a long time now. But currently I suspect Beijing is most concerned that its citizens might hear about those "naughty" Hong Kong residents getting too uppity over their freedom and democracy. Interestingly, I also checked the Kranji (Singapore) transmitter on 11850 kHz at the same time and found that, both here at Mount Evelyn and on the Philippines remote receiver, this frequency was not jammed at all. Although Kranji's 11850 kHz is targeted to SEAs and Indonesia, it would be possible for any enthusiastic Chinese resident to tune into that frequency and hear BBC unjammed. At 0000 UTC, 13725 kHz kicks in via the Thailand transmitter with a continuation of the English service to EAs. Again, jamming was heard but the signal into the Hong Kong remote receiver was so strong that jamming was well in the background and largely ineffective. However, at the same time on 15650 kHz and also targeting China, no jamming could be heard at all on neither the Hong Kong remote nor here at Mount Evelyn. On this day, at least, it seemed that the Chinese administration was putting up only a half-hearted effort in trying to stop transmissions into mainland China.
BHUTAN - ON AIR AGAIN
Over the past month, there have been some encouraging report that the Bhutan BS in Thimphu has been reactivated on 6035 kHz. This is great news! As far as I know, the first information came through from Alokesh Gupta (India) at the end of August, and subsequently reported by Gautan Kumar Sharma on his blog at http://www.gkcalling.blogspot.com.au. Recently, Ron Howard in Ocean Beach CA, USA sent me his logging as follows:
BHUTAN. 6034.96, BBS, 1145-1310, Sept 7. Heard daily with poor reception. 1145-1205 mostly below threshold level; 1205-1213 bits of talking heard; 1213- 1229 indigenous music; 1230-1256 with a cute BBS program I have often heard in past years with YL chatting on the phone with young children and the kids also singing (no music - just singing); clearly running past their normal sign off; fairly sure still on at 1310, but unable to confirm just when they went off the air.
And again just a few days ago, here in Australia well-known DXer Craig Seager, Bathurst NSW, sent this note:
6035 BBS, Thimpu. Quite exceptional tonight, vocal group 1226, flute music 1230, ID and talks in vernacular. Phone interview 1231. Best using LSB, Sept 29.
So this is one to try out for - always good to hear a station back on the air. But watch out for the Chinese PBS Yunnan station also operating on this frequency at these times.
On October 1, at the height of the peaceful Hong Kong protests, I noted BBC - Nakhon Sawan on 12010 kHz with heavy jamming of the English service to East Asia at 2315 UTC. And, yes, jamming of BBC has been going on for a long time now. But currently I suspect Beijing is most concerned that its citizens might hear about those "naughty" Hong Kong residents getting too uppity over their freedom and democracy. Interestingly, I also checked the Kranji (Singapore) transmitter on 11850 kHz at the same time and found that, both here at Mount Evelyn and on the Philippines remote receiver, this frequency was not jammed at all. Although Kranji's 11850 kHz is targeted to SEAs and Indonesia, it would be possible for any enthusiastic Chinese resident to tune into that frequency and hear BBC unjammed. At 0000 UTC, 13725 kHz kicks in via the Thailand transmitter with a continuation of the English service to EAs. Again, jamming was heard but the signal into the Hong Kong remote receiver was so strong that jamming was well in the background and largely ineffective. However, at the same time on 15650 kHz and also targeting China, no jamming could be heard at all on neither the Hong Kong remote nor here at Mount Evelyn. On this day, at least, it seemed that the Chinese administration was putting up only a half-hearted effort in trying to stop transmissions into mainland China.
Over the past month, there have been some encouraging report that the Bhutan BS in Thimphu has been reactivated on 6035 kHz. This is great news! As far as I know, the first information came through from Alokesh Gupta (India) at the end of August, and subsequently reported by Gautan Kumar Sharma on his blog at http://www.gkcalling.blogspot.com.au. Recently, Ron Howard in Ocean Beach CA, USA sent me his logging as follows:
BHUTAN. 6034.96, BBS, 1145-1310, Sept 7. Heard daily with poor reception. 1145-1205 mostly below threshold level; 1205-1213 bits of talking heard; 1213- 1229 indigenous music; 1230-1256 with a cute BBS program I have often heard in past years with YL chatting on the phone with young children and the kids also singing (no music - just singing); clearly running past their normal sign off; fairly sure still on at 1310, but unable to confirm just when they went off the air.
And again just a few days ago, here in Australia well-known DXer Craig Seager, Bathurst NSW, sent this note:
6035 BBS, Thimpu. Quite exceptional tonight, vocal group 1226, flute music 1230, ID and talks in vernacular. Phone interview 1231. Best using LSB, Sept 29.
So this is one to try out for - always good to hear a station back on the air. But watch out for the Chinese PBS Yunnan station also operating on this frequency at these times.
LATIN AMERICAN SURVEY 2014 Thank you to all those who have responded with kind words about the release of the latest LA survey a few days ago. There have been nearly 200 downloads in just four days. Listeners in the northern hemisphere may find this little document useful as you approach your winter DX season. If you haven't got your copy yet, the link and some information about the survey is on the last blog post at http://medxr.blogspot.com.au/2014/10/latin-american-survey-2014-available.html
FROM THE LOGBOOK
3200 SWAZILAND. TWR Africa - Manzini. Quite a good signal in English with a religious music show at 1926, Oct 6.
3255 SOUTH AFRICA. BBC - Meyerton. English ID at 1930, fair signal on Oct 6.
3320 SOUTH AFRICA. R. Sonder Grense - Meyerton. Fair signal with quaint instrumental music and Afrikaans anncts at 1933, Oct 6.
4755.52 MICRONESIA. The Cross R - Pohnpei. Religious rock music program at 1045, weak and fluttery on Oct 1.
4765.06 TAJIKISTAN. Tajik Radio 1 - Yangiyul. Weak signal in Tajik with possibly a current affairs program at 1923. A little off frequency as is often the case with this station, Oct 6.
4780 DJIBOUTI. RTV Djibouti - Doraleh. Weak signal and difficult listening on Oct 6 at 1915 with news reporting in either Arabic or Afar. Pity the signal wasn't better because the usual utility QRM was absent on this day.
4810 ARMENIA. Armenian Public Radio - Yerevan. Start of the Arabic to ME at 1900 with ID and news. Weak signal but readable on Oct 6.
9375 FRANCE. R. Algerienne - Issoudun. S/on 2000 with it's rather long and joyfully bouncy national anthem, then a short song with IDs overlaid. Finally, five minutes later, the opening "ceremony" was concluded and followed a few words of prayer. Great signal on Oct 6.
9380 INDIA. AIR - Aligarh. Vividh Bharati service in Hindi at 1958. Strong carrier but audio was well down on Oct 6.
9390 THAILAND. R. Thailand - Ban Dung. English to Eu at 1948 with reports on public events in Bangkok. ID and Facebook links at 1955. Changes to the German service at 2000. Nice signal and pleasant listening on Oct 6.
9525.91 INDONESIA. RRI - Jakarta. English service at 1055, pop music show. ID and station info 1058. Then into the Mandarin service from 1100. Fair to poor signal on Oct 1.
9635 TURKEY. VoTurkey - Emirler. French news and current affairs to WEu at 1940, good signal on Oct 6.
9810 SOUTH AFRICA. RFI - Meyerton. French programming to CAf at 1953, good signal on Oct 6.
9810 BOTSWANA. VOA - Moepeng Hill. French current affairs show to Af at 1950, good signal Oct 6.
9870 INDIA. AIR - Bengaluru. Vividh Bharati service with lively Hindi talk and lots of music at 0930 f/in. Weak at first but improved somewhat after 1045, Oct 1.
9940 SWAZILAND. TWR Africa - Manzini. Heavily accented French programming at 1945, targeting CAf and with a good signal on Oct 6.
11735.03 TANZANIA. Zanzibar BC Radio - Dole, Zanzibar. Fabulous signal at 2015 with wonderfully jivey East African songs and Swahili chatter. Heard through till s/off at 2100. Great listening on Oct 6. Here's a recording of the broadcast with two excerpts, as noted this morning:
11770 ANGUILLA. Caribbean Beacon - Anguilla. American religious programming at 1130, fair signal but QRM from CRI - Baoji in Vietnamese on 11780, Oct 1.
FINALLY:
I'm on the road again from October 12 and away for 3-4 weeks. I will be travelling through New South Wales and Southern Queensland during that time. I will have my camera (of course!) and a radio onboard, and I will endeavour to post any logbook notes to the blog. But postings could be somewhat irregular over the next four weeks.
73 and good DX to all,
Rob Wagner VK3BVW
FINALLY:
I'm on the road again from October 12 and away for 3-4 weeks. I will be travelling through New South Wales and Southern Queensland during that time. I will have my camera (of course!) and a radio onboard, and I will endeavour to post any logbook notes to the blog. But postings could be somewhat irregular over the next four weeks.
73 and good DX to all,
Rob Wagner VK3BVW
Rob
ReplyDeleteThanks for the all the info. I too have tried in vain to copy V.O. Russia. Maybe they will pop up soon.
Listening here has been a bit sparse of late due to work commitments but I am hoping to get more done soon, especially at w/e during the day. I would like to try to add Bhutan to the log!
Regards
Charlie (UK)
Hi Charlie, Nice to hear from you. Tomorrow, I'm heading up north for 3 or 4 weeks, taking a radio and aerials as well. Perhaps Bhutan ?? ;-) I just checked out your website: http://shortwavelisteninguk.wordpress.com. Some great work there. Congrats. Is this a relatively new venture? I've added your site to my blog's RH side pop-out menu under Other Top Sites. I'd be grateful if you could add MEDXR to your Blogroll, too. Best of DX to you Charlie, Rob VK3BVW
Delete