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DXPEDITION TO
FRENCH CREEK STATE PARK
By our guest contributor, Rich D'Angelo
DXPEDITION TO
My thanks to long-time expert DXer, Rich D'Angelo, for allowing me to post the results of his fabulous DXpedition to the French Creek State Park, Pennsylvania. There are lots of wonderful DX loggings here that will be of great interest to our US and northern hemisphere readers of the MEDXR blog.
Rich writes:
Tuesday-Thursday we did a DXpedition to French Creek State Park. I was joined by Kris Field, John Figliozzi, Rich Cuff and Ed Mauger. It was quite warm when we arrived but cold and wet weather soon arrived.
Overall, listening conditions were pretty good. VOA Botswana on 4930 seems to be running extended schedule these days. It was nice to hear Rádio Nacional Amazônia (11780) once again. I don’t think that I have ever logged the Chinese station on 4990 before (tuned in looking for Apintie). The Voice of Amara on 15360 had a decent signal until the jammer pretty much covered the station. Thanks to Dave Valko's tip, I was able to log Alcaraván Radio on 5910. Cell towers must have been improved since we had some level of cell service most of our stay. Radio Mali on 5995 had a decent signal and respectable audio until seemingly someone opened a carrier on the channel reducing audio quality. It happened both days around the same time. At home I usually listened to them with almost no audio after 2300.
Three Peruvians were heard mornings and evenings – Huanta 2000 (4764), Tarma (4775) and Cultural Amauta (4955) – but Logos was not heard. I had a very tentative Apintie (4990) but now I wonder if perhaps it was the Chinese station? We had a couple of evening 19-meter band receptions (Radio Taiwan International on 15320 at 0400* and FEBC on 15560 at 0130*) while the band was essentially dead. Zanzibar Broadcasting Corporation on 6015 was heard both evenings after 0300. Finally, I always enjoy hearing the English news from ZBC on 11735 at 1800.
ANGOLA 4949.7, Rádio Nacional de Angola - Mulenvos, 0150-0220 Dec 7, continuous vocals until 4-time pips at 0200 followed by station ID and news in Portuguese language. Several announcements after the news followed by a man announcer hosting a music program. Poor to fair.
ARMENIA 9745, TWR India - Yerevan-Gavar, *1245-1317 Dec 6, fifteen-minute sf interval signal until man announcer with opening ID and announcements in English. A man followed with a long religious talk. ID and IS at 1315 into another language. Fair.
BOLIVIA 5952.5, Radio Pio Doce – Siglo, 0214-0230* Dec 6, caught a few musical selections prior to a man announcer in the Spanish language with station ID and closedown announcements followed by Colonel Bogey March. Poor to fair.
BOTSWANA 4930, Voice of America – Moepeng Hill, 2201-2232 Dec 5. Tuned in to the news in the English language followed by a music program hosted by a male announcer. Fair to good signal. Noted again at 0100 with news. Clearly operating past traditional 2100 sign off and before standard 0300 opening. Presume extended schedule perhaps operating 24 hours a day because of Zimbabwe?
BRAZIL 4985, Radio Brasil Central – Goiânia, 2304-2333 Dec 5, peaking through the usual RTTY QRM with fair signal with a woman announcer with Portuguese language talks hosting a music program. Several IDs and announcements.
CHINA 4800, Voice of China - Golmud, 1105-1136 Dec 6, man and woman announcers in Chinese language with flute music in the background. Seemingly news at 1106 with remote reports. Music fanfare at 1110 followed by another man speaking. Poor with some QRM from CODAR.
CHINA 4990, Hunan PBS – Changsa (presumed), 1005-1023 Dec 7, looking for Radio Apintie but noted Chinese talk and music. Definitely, a Chinese station but too weak to get station ID.
CHINA 6115, Voice of the Strait - Fuzhou, 1133-1152 Dec 6, woman announcer with Chinese language talk followed by a man announcer. Poor to fair but fading fast.
CHINA (Tibet) 4820, Xizang PBS - Lhasa, 1056-1137 Dec 6, woman announcer with Chines language talk followed by a man prior to 1100 ID and instrumental music. Another long talk followed. Poor to fair with light CODAR QRM.
CLANDESTINE 7320, Denge Kurdistan – Yerevan, 2136-2200* Dec 5, Kurdish language talks followed by flute music and vocal selections. A man announcer at 2158 with closedown followed by seemingly start of an anthem which was rapidly terminated. Fair.
CLANDESTINE 9720, Radio Erena - Sofia, *1657-1739 Dec 6, open carrier to instrumental music opening at 1700. Several station IDs by man announcer with listed Tigrinya language opening announcements. Into news program which was followed by some musical selections. Fair to good.
CLANDESTINE 15360, Voice of Amara - Issoudun, 1703-1738 Dec 6, missed opening but in the clear with a man and woman doing the news in the listed Amharic language. When another man began talking at 1710 the white jammer bounced on the channel blocking 95% of the available audio. Very effective! Fair signal before jamming commenced.
COLOMBIA 5910, Alcaraván Radio – Puerto Lleras, 0318-0352 Dec 6, man announcer with long religious talk in the Spanish language. Thanks to Dave Valko tip. Fair to good signal. Re-check after 0400 and apparently closed down.
ETHIOPIA 5950, Voice of Tigray Revolution – Addis Ababa, *0254-0301 Dec 6, familiar IS to opening announcements which were essentially wiped out by QRM. Quite poor.
ETHIOPIA 6090, Amhara State Radio - Addis Ababa, 2045-2102* Dec 5, man announcer with Amharic language talk followed by Horn of Africa music programming. ID at 2100, closing announcements and instrumental music followed by Choral National Anthem. Fair. Next day noted at 2022 with fair signal and Horn of Africa vocal selections ad discussion by a man and woman in Amharic language.
ETHIOPIA 6110, Radio Fana - Addis Ababa, 2043-2057 Dec 5, man announcer with Amharic language talks and various local instrumental and vocal selections. And again - 6110, Radio Fana - Addis Ababa, 0354-0416 Dec 6, nice Horn of Africa vocals until 0359 with station ID by a man announcer followed by news with another man and a woman announcer in presumed Amharic language. Poor to fair.
KOREA (North) 6170, Radio Pyongyang - Pyongyang, 1118-1127* Dec 6, woman announcer with English language talks hosting program of operatic vocals. At 1125 station ID and announced broadcast schedule. Before closing. Poor but //6185 as poor to fair.
MALI 5995, Radio Mali (ORTM), 2234-2256 Dec 6, man announcer with French language talk speaking to another man from a remote location. Music programming followed hosted by a man and woman announcers. Poor to fair signal. At 2253 seemingly, a carrier opened up on channel blocking Mali’s audibility significantly. At home when I hear Mali between 2300-2400 I just assume it has poor modulation. However, the studio modulation seems fine until this “carrier” pops on the channel.
OMAN 15140, Radio Sultanate of Oman – Thumrayt, 1420-1447 Dec 6, man announcer hosting English language pop music program from the local FM station with “Call to Prayer” segment at 1440. Good signal although seemingly missed starting at scheduled 1400.
PERÚ 4764, Radio Huanta 2000 – Huanta, 2251-2303 Dec 5, end of OA vocal followed by man announcer with Spanish language talk, station ID and announcements followed by more music. Blocked by a carrier opening up on 4,765 at 2303. Poor to fair. Again, 1043-1104 Dec 6 with excited man hosting morning music program, Fair with slight CODAR QRM.
PERÚ 4955, Radio Cultural Amauta - Huanta, 2331-2353 Dec 5, talk by a man and woman announcer in the Spanish language followed by an OA vocal selection. Program mainly of long talks. Poor.
PHILIPPINES 15560, FEBC Radio - Bocaue, 0126-0130* Dec 7, man announcer speaking in the Japanese language with closing station ID and broadcast schedule information. Closed with nice IS. Fair signal and by far the best on a very limited activity band at this hour.
SAUDI ARABIA 11745, Al-Azm Radio - Jeddah, 1347-1418 Dec 6, continuous Middle Eastern vocals until 1400 station ID by a man announcer with brief Arabic language talk before another vocal. Fair to good.
SINGAPORE 3915, BBC – Kranji, 2226-2257 Dec 5, several mentions of BBC followed by English language talk features. Poor to fair.
SOMALILAND 7120, Radio Hargeisa, 1924-2002* Dec 6, talk by a man and woman in the Somali language with HOA vocals shortly thereafter. Poor at tune in but steadily improving by closedown. Off rather quickly with quick announcements and short instrumental music segment.
SURINAME 4990, Radio Apintie - Paramaribo (very tentative), 2220-2237 Dec 6, very weak signal but occasional talk by a man announcer heard. Could have been Dutch but not really sure as very weak signal with deep fades. Very tentative at best.
SWAZILAND 3240, Trans World Radio – Mpangeloa Ranch, 0331-0346* Dec 6, tuned in to a vocal selection prior to a man announcer with a long religious talk in the Ndau language. Station ID and closedown announcement at 0345 followed by IS and carrier cut. Poor.
SWAZILAND 15105, Trans World Radio – Mpangeloa Ranch, *1555-1627* Dec 6, music station ID (“this is Trans World Radio, Swaziland”) and music box IS to open in listed Kirundi language. Poor to fair.
TAIWAN 15320, Radio Taiwan International - Paochung, 0335-0400* Dec 7, English language program with discussion about China’s one child policy with a journalist, several station IDs and Chinese language lesson. Fair with moderate fading. At 0400 the Chinee language program opened.
THAILAND 9390, Radio Thailand - Udorn, *1201-1244 Dec 6, man announcer in English mentioned Malaysian program was next. Retuned at 1233 and caught the English language news program with ads for Bangkok Airways. Fair. Noted again, *1230-1244 Dec 7 as English news was my last log for this DXpedition. Fair.
VATICAN 15620, Radio Veritas Asia - Santa Maria de Galeria, 1530-1554* Dec 6, Tagalog language program hosted by a lively female announcer. Closedown station ID and announcements prior to carrier being terminated. Good signal.
VIETNAM 9635.8, Voice of Vietnam HS-1 Son Tay, 1032-1044 Dec 7, off channel really helped figure out who this was with a man and woman announcers talking in listed Vietnamese language. Some music. Very weak at tune in but steadily improving.
ZANZIBAR 11735, Zanzibar Broadcasting Corporation – Dole, 1753-1816 Dec 6, Swahili language talk by several men. 5+1 time pips at 1800 followed by a woman announcer in English with a nice station ID and news program. More English station IDs at 1805 and at end of the news at 1809. Back into Swahili language program after the English news. Fair.
That’s it from Wyomissing!
73, Rich
Thanks again, Rich. I'm sure everyone will enjoy reading and be inspired by your very successful DX trip. This is the reason why I keep banging on about getting into the great outdoors with the radios and antennas, folks!
Who said shortwave broadcast listening is dead????!!
Best 73 to all,
Rob Wagner VK3BVW
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