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| (L-R) Rich Cuff, Dave Reitz, Rich D’Angelo and Ed Mauger |
ANOTHER SUCCESSFUL DXPEDITION
TO FRENCH CREEK
Final Winter Season Report by Rich D'Angelo
TO FRENCH CREEK
Rich writes:
Our final DXpedition of the season was held at French Creek State Park on January 30, 31 and February 1, 2018. The other DXers also attending were all NASWA members: Rich Cuff, Ed Mauger and Dave Reitz. Winter weather greeted us with an inch or two of snow on the ground by the time we arrived, making antenna work all the more fun. I began setting up my 500 feet of wire enjoying snow drippings along the way.
The afternoon DX session was fairly good with the possible reception of RRI Palangkaraya on 3325 kHz being the highlight. Later saw a slew of Ethiopian stations making appearances including Radio Amhara and Voice of Peace and Democracy. Also, Radio One from Zambia was heard with the great Fish Eagle interval signal.
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| Guest contributor, Rich D'Angelo |
Our final morning was pretty good with Radio Cultural Amauta finally showing up. I heard Radio Logos open its morning program at 1102 UTC. It was good to finally hear two All India Radio 60-meter band outlets with English news at 1230 UTC; AIR – Chennai (4920 kHz) and AIR – Thiruvananthapuram (5010 kHz). A fairly productive DXpedition overall. However, two mild disappointments were no clear sign of Radio Deegaanka Soomaalida – Jijiga in Ethiopia (5940 kHz) which was buried under Rádio Voz Missionaria or Radio Apintie - Paramaribo in Suriname (4990 kHz). Nothing from Papua New Guinea (Madang or Bougainville). Another no-show was Zanzibar Broadcasting Corporation – Dole (6015 kHz). Although not logged, I believe I spotted Al-Azm Radio – Jeddah (11745 kHz) from Saudi Arabia operating seemingly on a twenty-four-hour schedule.
ANGOLA 4949.75, Rádio Nacional de Angola - Mulenvos, 0154-0235 Jan 31, continuous music 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, *1259-1335 Jan 31, caught the tail end of IS prior to woman announcer with English station ID announcement followed by a man preaching from Book of Romans. Closing station ID and announcements at 1314 followed by IS and into another language. Poor to fair.
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| Dave Reitz checking frequencies. |
BANGLADESH 9455, Bangladesh Betar – Dhaka, 1316-1344* Jan 31, man and woman announcers in discussion in the listed Nepali language. Light instrumental music followed. Poor.
BANGLADESH 15105, Bangladesh Betar – Dhaka, *1228-1259* Feb 1, flute IS followed by time pips and a man announcer with opening of English language service. News read by a man announcer followed by news commentary. A music program closed out the broadcast. Poor.
BOLIVIA 3310, Radio Mosoj Chaski – Cochabamba, 2336-0005 Jan 30, man announcer in Quechua followed by vocal selection before a woman announcer began speaking in the Spanish language. The man finally returned just before the hour with station ID and some announcements before starting up some musical selections. Fair.
BOLIVIA 6134.8, Radio Santa Cruz – Santa Cruz, 0037-0116 Jan 31, two male announcers with a long discussion in the Spanish language. Nice series of station IDs beginning at 0058 followed by more discussions. Fair to good signal.
BRAZIL 4985, Rádio Brasil Central – Goiânia, 0031-0057 Jan 31, early the channel was covered with RTTY but no in the clear with fair signal playing Brazilian pop vocals and plenty of station Ids and announcements in the Portuguese language.
BRAZIL 9665, Rádio Voz Missionaria – Camboriú, 2226-2243 Jan 30, nice vocal selection by a male singer followed by a long Portuguese language religious talk by a man announcer. Poor.
BRAZIL 4774.9, Rádio Congonhas, 2228-2258 Jan 31, man announcer with Portuguese language talks hosting nice pop music program. Nice station ID by announcer followed by jingle station ID at 2233 before several songs. Another station ID by male announcer at 2252. Poor to fair signal. Thanks to Dave Valko for the tip alert about this Brazilian station.
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| Ed Mauger |
CHINA 4800, Voice of China - Golmud, Qinghai, 1124-1146 Feb 1, man and woman announcers in Chinese language with flute music in the background. Some sort of dramatization at 1136. Poor to fair.
CHINA 6165, Voice of Shenzhou – Beijing, 1153-1219 Jan 31, woman vocals followed by a woman talking in the Chinese language. Music fanfare at 1200 followed by news. Vocal selections after the news. Poor to fair.
CHINA 6200, Voice of Jinling - Nanjing, 1227-1246 Jan 31, opening with male vocal selection followed by station ID and opening in the Chinese language. Program was a mixture of music and talks. Fair.
CHINA 9620, China Radio International – Kashi, 2156-2158* Jan 30, two men and a woman announcer with discussion of popular English language phrases. Carrier cut while the woman was discussing #6. Fair.
CHINA 11900, China Radio International – Kunming-Anning (Yunnan), 1349-1356* Jan 31, a man announcer talking about wildflowers before a brief vocal segment. Then a woman announcer with closing station ID and announcements ending English language program. Poor to fair.
CLANDESTINE 7320, Denge Kurdistan – Yerevan, 2016-2200* Jan 30, Kurdish language talks by a man and woman announcers followed by nice music program. Weak at tune in but steadily improving to fair by closedown. Just noticed in DX Mix that Dengê Welat is a new name of former Dengê Kurdistan.
CLANDESTINE 4450, Voice of the People – Goyang (South Korea), 1143-1154 Jan 31, woman announcer with talk in the Korean language followed by some instrumental music and then a man talking. //3480 (poor) and 6600 (jammed). Fair with some CODAR QRM.
CLANDESTINE 9720, Radio Erena – Kostinbrod (Sofia), *1700-1800* Jan 31, Nice opening with woman announcer providing several station IDs and opening announcements in listed Tigrinya language. Program mainly of talks and some musical breaks. Good signal.
CLANDESTINE 15110, Radio Nigeria – IPOB – Kostinbrod (Sofia), *1600-1700* Jan 31, opened with tribal singing followed by a man announcer in presumed Hausa language. Appeared to be news followed by discussion program with various different males noted speaking. A few minutes of tribal music was noted between talk segments. Otherwise, the program was mainly talking. Poor to fair. The WRTH Update is calling this Radio Na Gaskiya (Radio Truth).
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| Rich Cuff hard at work. |
ETHIOPIA 5940, Radio Deegaanka Soomaalida – Jijiga, 0403-0422 Feb 1, buried under Portuguese language station Radio Voz Missionaria in Camboriu, Brazil which was partially ID and then by noted //9665. Deegaanka Soomaalida noted with Horn of Africa music and possible Somali language talks. Very poor amid QRM.
ETHIOPIA 6090, Amhara State Radio - Addis Ababa, *0256-0331 Jan 31, open carrier until IS started at 0258 followed by man announcer with clear “Amhara” mention in station ID. Local music until news at 0316 by a man and woman announcer. Poor to fair.
ETHIOPIA 6110, Radio Fana - Addis Ababa, 2015-2101* Jan 30, terrific program of Horn of Africa vocals hosted by a man announcer with Amharic language talks. Closedown station ID and announcements followed by choral National Anthem. Fair. Again, *0256-0312 Jan 31, IS and man announcer in the Amharic language with news at top of the hour. Fair to good.
ETHIOPIA 7234.6/7/8v, Voice of Peace and Democracy – Geja Jewe (tentative), 0407-0434 Jan 31, tuned in to a vocal selection quickly followed by talk by a man announcer in listed Tigrinya language. Brief music at 0416 followed by another long talk by another man announcer. 0426 group vocals and local music. Frequency slowly drifting upward. Poor and audio seemed somewhat suppressed.
FRANCE 5950, KBS World - Issoudun, 2033-2101* Jan 30, French language program with talk by two women announcers and children’s singing near closedown. A man and woman announcers with closedown announcements followed by instrumental music. Fair to good. (D'Angelo-PA/FCDX)
GUATEMALA 4055, Radio Verdad – San Esteban, 1143-1203 Jan 31, Choir vocals noted with a man preaching afterwards. Fair.
INDIA 4920, All India Radio – Chennai, 1231-1244 Feb 1, a woman announcer with the news in the English language. At 1235 mentioned that was the end of the news. Into local program of Hindi vocals. Poor to fair with //5010 at poor level.
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| Looks like a DX Cabin! |
INDIA (Goa) 11620, All India Radio – Panaji, 1340-1430* Jan 31, Nepalese language program featuring talks and Hindi music. Fair at tune in but slowly deteriorating by closedown.
INDIA (Goa) 11560, All India Radio – Panaji, *1530-1545* Jan 31, a woman announcer opened the English news program with station ID (“Good evening. This is All India Radio with the news at 9”). The fifteen-minute English news program followed. Good signal.
INDONESIA 3325, RRI Palangkaraya (presumed), 2219-2251 Jan 30, man announcer with talk in presumed Indonesian language hosting a program of Indonesian music. Very poor and eventually lost to Spanish language QSO taking place on channel.
JAPAN 3925, Radio Nikkei 1 – Nagara, 1058-1140 Feb 1, woman announcer speaking in the Japanese language followed by a man announcer talking. Later some music programming. Poor and about the same level as //6055.
JAPAN 6115, Radio Nikkei 2 – Nagara, 1106-1139 Feb 1, woman announcer speaking in the Japanese language. Group discussion program from 1136 in Japanese. Fair.
MADAGASCAR 15155, Adventist World Radio Nairobi - Talata-Volonondry, 1833-1858* Jan 31, English program with plenty of station IDs and contact information requesting listeners to get in touch with them; also, a man and later a woman with religious stories and vocal selections. Fair.
OMAN 15140, Radio Sultanate of Oman – Thumrayt, *1400-1416 Jan 31, woman announcer opened the program with news headlines and then the news. Tuned away and when returned noted they were gone and didn’t return today. Good signal while it lasted.
PERÚ 4747.6, Radio Huanta 2000 – Huanta, 2329-2352 Jan 30, back on the traditional channel with a man announcer with Spanish language talks hosting a program of OA vocals. Fair signal but very heavy CODAR QRM.
PERÚ 4775, Radio Tarma - Tarma, 0002-0201* Jan 31, man announcer with Spanish language talk and station IDs with plenty of OA music. Music program continued to 0158 when a man gave nice station ID and frequency announcements closing broadcast. Instrumental music followed until carrier terminated. Poor at first but steadily improving to fair.
PERÚ 4810, Radio Logos - Chazuta, 1055-1137 Jan 31, man announcer with religious talks followed by choir vocals. Another talk but fading by tune out. Fair signal but marred by loud pulsating noise; needed LSB while tuning. Again, *1102-1121 Feb 1, on a little later this morning with group singing at opening followed by a man announcer in Spanish with station ID and shouting followed by a female vocal selection. Poor.
PERÚ 4955, Radio Cultural Amauta - Huanta, 1043-1110 Feb 1, finally noted on last morning with a woman announcer speaking in the Spanish language followed by OA vocals by a male singer. Time check noted at 1054 followed by formal station ID at 1100 including instrumental music of El Condor Pasa. Poor.
PHILIPPINES 9620, Voice of America - Tinang, 2257-2302* Jan 30, caught the tail end of Mandarin language program with closedown but nice English station ID (“This is the Voice of America, Washington, DC signing off”) followed by Yankee Doodle theme. Quite poor.
PHILIPPINES 9345, Far East Broadcasting Corporation - Iba, 1446-1512 Jan 31, Mandarin language program with short talks with a man and woman alternating with vocal selections. Poor signal.
PHILIPPINES 9600, Vatican Radio - Tinang, *2200-2227* Jan 31, opening with Vatican theme instrumental music followed by opening of the Mandarin language program with a female announcer. News by man and woman followed by short talk segments. Fair.
PHILIPPINES 11900, Vatican Radio - Tinang, 2339-2359* Jan 31, woman announcer with long religious talk in the Vietnamese language. Many short segments with instrumental music bridges followed. Closedown station ID and announcements followed by Vatican instrumental theme music until carrier terminated. Poor to fair.
SOUTH AFRICA 3345, Channel Africa - Meyerton, 0346-0407 Jan 31, feature in the English language about corruption investigation followed by Sports Update. Rousing “Africa Rise and Shine” announcements by a man followed by rap vocal. Nice station ID by woman announcer before news stories. Poor to fair.
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| The snowy cabin at French Creek State Park, PA. |
SWAZILAND 3240, Trans World Radio – Mpangeloa Ranch, 0332-0346* Jan 31, tuned in to a group vocal selection prior to a man announcer with a long religious talk in the listed Ndau language. Station ID and closedown announcement at 0345 followed by IS and carrier cut. Fair.
SWAZILAND 9940, Trans World Radio – Mpangeloa Ranch, 1946-1950* Jan 31, man and woman announcing tea with French language talks before closing vocal. Station ID and closing announcements followed by IS. Good signal.
TAIWAN 7300, Radio Taiwan International - Danshui/Tanshui/Tamsui (Taipei province), 1214-1227 Feb 1, Chinese language drama program followed by nice vocal selection by a male singer. Fair to good. //6045 was poor.
THAILAND 5875, Radio Thailand - Udorn, 1127-1129* Feb 1, man announcer with closing remarks in the listed Chinese language followed by familiar gongs. If they came on in the Japanese language at 1130 I didn’t hear that.
THAILAND 9390, Radio Thailand - Udorn, 2012-2044* Jan 31, man announcer with English language formal station ID closing German language program. After fifteen minutes of dead air, the English program started at 2030. Numerous station IDs and news program. Fair with mild slop from 9395.
THAILAND 9390, Radio Thailand - Udorn, 1235-1248 Jan 31, man announcer in English with news from the Public Affairs Department; several station IDs with World News at 1240. Good signal with some mild slop from 9395.
VIETNAM 9839.8, Voice of Vietnam - Son Tay, 1239-1258* Jan 31, English news read by a woman announcer followed by station ID and weekly Letterbox program. Close with station ID and contact information. Fair with although //12019.1 was poor.
ZANZIBAR 11735, Zanzibar Broadcasting Corporation – Dole, 1801-1816 Jan 31, woman announcer with the news in the English language. Fair signal marred by static.
That’s it from Wyomissing!
73, Rich
Equipment: Ten-Tec RX-340, Drake R-8B and an Eton E1, 500-foot wire essentially north for the RX-340 and 250-foot wire essentially northeast for the R-8B and a whip antenna for the E1.
Once again, many thanks to Rich D'Angelo for allowing us to enjoy reading about the success that he and his three companions gained from this latest winter DXpedition at the French Creek State Park in Pennsylvania, USA. Hopefully, our MEDXR readers can log some of these stations in their part of the world!
73 and Good DX to you all,
Rob Wagner VK3BVW
Subscribe!! Follow @robvk3bvw 
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