STATION NEWS AND THE LOG BOOK
STATION NEWS AND THE LOG BOOK
July 25, 2017
STATION NEWS
RUSSIARon Howard (Ocean Beach CA, USA) reports that over the past week, Radio Sakha via Yakutsk has been reactivated on both 7295 and 7345 kHz in the period between 1000 and past 1100 UTC. However, operations appear sporadic and without any regularity to the broadcasting schedule. Ron also reports moderate to heavy interference from co-channel and adjacent frequency broadcasters. It will be interesting to see if this station resumes regular services soon. It is an exceedingly difficult one to catch here in Australia due to heavy QRM.
While it's great to see the welcome return of Radio Kuwait to shortwave after several years absence, why put the only English language service currently available in DRM? Surely that is not catering to the vast majority of listeners who own non-DRM capable receivers! If you are one of the lucky ones who can access DRM mode, then you can tune in between 1800 and 2100 UTC on 15540 with the English service to Western Europe, supposedly at 250 kW. However, if you don't have DRM, you can enjoy the dulcet tones of a 10+ kHz wide spray of industrial grinding noise! 😠 Welcome back to shortwave, indeed!
SOUTH SUDAN
There was an interesting article at Deutsche Welle online regarding the cancellation of Radio Tamazuj's internet broadcasts into South Sudan. The government there has become increasingly hostile towards the media. Yet, shortwave broadcasts still exist and Radio Tamazuj continues to get its message into its target zone on the following schedule:
0330-0430 on 9600 via SM Galeria
0330-0430 on 11650 via Talata-Volonondry1430-1500 on 15150 via Issoudun
1430-1530 on 15550 via SM Galeria
1500-1530 on 15150 via Talata-Volonondry
All broadcasts are in Sudanese Arabic.
ERITREA
A long but quite detailed article appeared in The Guardian online newspaper last week, reporting on the mission and work of Radio Erena. Radio Erena: a beacon of hope for Eritrea is well worth reading in helping to understand the importance of radio in the Internet Age. Here's a small extract:In the early days of Radio Erena, there were reports of listeners being sent to prison. The state made an example of people, to discourage others. Now, though, it seems to have accepted that if it wants to close Erena down, it needs to attack the station itself rather than its listeners. Quite simply, they have become too numerous. For obvious reasons, no official listening figures for Radio Erena are available. But when Simon and his colleagues ask new arrivals in Europe how many people back at home are tuning in, the reply is always the same. “You can’t imagine how important it is,” they’ll tell him. “It’s the only thing that gives anyone any hope.”
Transmissions are via the Kostinbrod site in Bulgaria and the current schedule is:
1700-1730 on 11965 Tigrinya (weekdays)
1730-1800 on 11965 Arabic (weekdays)
1700-1800 on 11965 Tigrinya (Sat/Sun)
FROM THE LOG BOOK
Here are some monitoring observations from the past week:👍 3320 SOUTH AFRICA. R. Sonder Grense - Meyerton. Laid back pop ballads at 2045, fair to poor signal.
4930 BOTSWANA. VoA - Moepeng Hill. Fabulous listening at 2042 with bright Afro dance music, fair signal.
👍 4949.74 ANGOLA. R. Nacional - Mulenvos. Afro dance music at 2039, then into Portuguese anncts at 2040, weak signal.
4960 SAO TOME. VoA - Pinheira. Hausa news on weekdays for WAf at 2035, VoA ID jingle at 2036, poor signal. Scheduled for English news at this time on the weekends.
👍 4965 ZAMBIA. Voice of Hope Africa - Makeni Ranch. The weekday only service at 2029 with religious pop music. Heavily accented English with ID and preaching at 2030, fair signal.
👍 5020 SOLOMON IS. SIBC - Honiara. Morning programming with a mix of English and local Pidgin anncts with pop music interludes at 2025, fair signal.
👍 6030 ETHIOPIA. R. Oromiya - Addis Ababa. Discussion/interview program in the Oromo language at 1935, excellent signal until s/off at 2000.
👍 6090 ETHIOPIA. R. Amhara - Addis Ababa. Groovy Afro music programming at 1940, spoilt by co-channel QRM from CRI-Urumqi's Romanian service to Eu at equal strength.
👍 6110 ETHIOPIA. R. Fana - Addis Ababa. Amharic chat at 2055, then boppy Horn of Africa song. A brief s/off ID at 2059 then the usual closing anthem. Fair signal.
👍 6130 SWAZILAND. TWR Africa - Manzini. Portuguese service to Angola at 1945, pleasant listening to wonderful African choirs in full voice - this is the type of preaching I like! Fair signal.
6145 ENGLAND. KBS World R. - Woofferton. French service to WEu at 1950, good signal.
6170 GERMANY. VoA - Bablis. Kurdish service to ME at 1953, fair signal.
👍 6180 GERMANY. Deutscher Wetterdienst - Pinneberg. S/on 2000 with German weather forecasts. A weak signal but in the clear.
6185 ENGLAND. RTI - Woofferton. German to Eu with closing IDs at 1957, good signal.
7280 VIETNAM. VoV - Son Tay. German to Eu at 2010 with the news, fair signal.
7360 VATICAN. Vatican R. - SM Galeria. English to CAf at 2015, fair signal.
7425 IRAN. VOIRI - Zahedan. Arabic to NAf at 2020, poor signal.
7550 INDIA. AIR - Bengaluru. Hindi to Eu at 2023, fair to poor signal.
9400 PHILIPPINES. FEBC - Iba. S/on 1000 in Mandarin to EAs, good signal.
9655 FRANCE. R. Algerienne - Issoudun. Arabic to CAf at 2053, poor signal.
👍 9700 NEW ZEALAND. RNZI - Rangitaiki. News at 0500 to Pacific, NF (ex 11725).
9710 VATICAN. R. Japan - SM Galeria. English to WAf at s/on 1930, very good signal.
👍 9800 INDIA. AIR - Bengaluru. Nepali service at 0225, usually signing off 0230, but not until 0240 when the transmitter was suddenly switched off in the middle of the news. Someone went to sleep.
👍 9855 VATICAN. VoA - Sm Galeria. S/on 2100 in French to Af (weekdays only), NF (ex 9885), poor signal.
👍 11960 NTH MARIANA IS. RFA - Tinian. Noted at 2110 in Korean to EAs with "industrial" noise jamming, NF (ex 7460).
13710 GUAM. KTWR - Agana. Mandarin to EAs at 1035, poor signal.
👍 15515 KUWAIT. R. Kuwait - Sulaibiyah. Long talks (perhaps storytelling?) in Arabic at 0615, punctuated with occasional bursts of Arabic musical interludes, reactivated service with a good signal as noted.
15580 PHILIPPINES. FEBC - Bocaue. The Sundanese service at 1020 with music programming, into the Sasak language at 1030. fair to poor signal.
👍 15745 TAJIKISTAN. RFA - Dushanbe. S/on 1100 in Tibetan to EAs with no jamming on this occasion. NF (ex 7470) and poor signal.
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