STATION NEWS & DX QUICK TIPS September 25, 2021
9710 CHINA. CRI - Kashi. At 0000 on Sep 24, in what was the Portuguese service, now with this endless "CRI Music" programming that seems to be replacing normal CRI broadcasts in certain languages these days. The same programming but different music was also noted on 9800 at the same time in place of the Spanish service. Recently, I have noted this in a few other services as well including European languages e.g. Croatian, German, Albanian, Italian, etc plus a few Asian languages like Amoy, Hakka. Usually, the whole scheduled service is just music or part music/part regular programming. Yet, other languages haven't been touched and continue with regular CRI programming. All a bit strange! What's the story here? Has President Xi decided that too much money was being spent on language services that held no audience? If so, why go to the expense of keeping the transmitters running with just music? Is that to keep their "spot" on the dial in case another broadcaster decides the channel is empty and jumps onto it (probably unlikely!). The B21 transmission season begins on October 31. Are there going to be major changes? Whatever the decision behind these changes, I'm much preferring the music programming rather than propaganda and faux news stories. Fair signal.
9975 USA. KVOH Voice of Hope - Rancho Simi, CA. To CAm with Spanish songs and anncts at 0012. Fair signal, Sep 24.
11665 MALAYSIA. RTV Malaysia - Kajang. Wai FM relay at 0020 with music and rapid-fire Malay anncts. Fair signal, Sep 24.
11780 BRAZIL. R. Nacional da Amazônia - Brasilia. At 0026 with a weak signal underneath the dominant co-channel CRI-Jinhua. Vibrant music programming and Portuguese anncts. Sep 24.
12055 PHILIPPINES. FEBC - Bocaue. At 0034 in the Lahu language to SEAs with Gospel songs and preaching. Changes to the Wa language at 0045 until s/off 0100. At slightly better strength than the co-channel CNR 17-Lingshi in Kazakh. Sep 24.
12070 PHILIPPINES. FEBC R. Liangyou - Iba. At 0046 in Mandarin with preaching to EAs, good signal until s/off 0100, Sep 24.
13580 U.A.E. BBC - Dhabayya. At 0532 with English WS news to EAf. Weak signal, Sep 21.
13685 IRAN. VoIRI - Sirjan. At 0530 in Swahili to EAf, weak signal, Sep 21.
13695 FRANCE. R. France Int'l - Issoudun. At 0527 in French to CAf with commentary, fair signal, Sep 21.
13710 INDIA. AIR - Bengaluru. At 0046 in Mandarin to EAs, mixed with heavy CNR jamming ('cos China is a bit grumpy with India at the moment!!), good signal until AIR s/off 0113 and jamming ended at 0115, Sep 24.
15030 INDIA. AIR - Bengaluru. 0523 in Arabic to ME, fair signal and slightly over-modulated audio. Sep 21.
15285.02 SAUDI ARABIA. Saudi R. Int'l - Riyadh. Swahili to EAf at 0457, news at 0500. Fair to poor signal and somewhat rough (distorted) audio quality, Sep 21.
15365 U.A.E. R. Mashaal - Dhabayyya. Beamed to Pakistan with R. Mashaal Pashto ID sung in hip hop style at 0452 in amongst music programming, fair signal, Sep 21.
15435 PHILIPPINES. FEBC - Bocaue. At 0050 to s/off 0100 in the Tai-Nua language to SEAs. Good signal, Sep 24.
15514.71 KUWAIT. R. Kuwait - Sulaibiyah. At 0514 in Arabic to EAs with news and many mentions of Kuwait. Way off frequency but reasonable signal strength and quality (see 15530), Sep 21.
15530 KUWAIT. R. Kuwait - Sulaibiyah. At 0504 in English with Islamic religious programming to Eu. Good strength but horribly distorted audio quality, reminiscent of R. Cairo from a few years back. These guys have got more money than God, courtesy of the oil industry. So, why can't they spend a little of it on maintaining their transmitters? Sep 21.
15590 THAILAND. R. Thailand - Ban Dung. English to WNAm at 0030-0100 with news and music programming, good listening and a lovely signal. Into the Thai service at 0100, Sep 24.
17530 MADAGASCAR. World Christian Broadcasting - Mahajanga. Mandarin to EAs 0445, fair signal, Sep 21.
17720 TURKEY. VoTurkey - Emirler. Malay service to SEAs at 0435 with music selections. Fair to poor signal, Sep 21.
EQUIPMENT: Yaesu FTDX3000, FRG-7, Kenwood TS2000
ANTENNAS: 100m long horizontal sky loop, 30m full wave delta loop, 20m double bazooka
LOCATION: Mount Evelyn, VIC, Southeastern Australia
The Sinking of a Pirate Ship
An interesting audio program is on the BBC website that is worth listening to if you are into old pirate radio station history:
Nick Richards was a DJ for Radio Caroline, an unlicensed offshore radio station operating off the coast of the UK. This was the late 1970s, and millions of people were tuning in, but there were problems with the ship. Because of its illegal status, it couldn’t go to shore for repairs, and it was rotting below the waterline. The DJs did their best to keep the ship afloat, until they faced one storm too many. Nick spoke to Outlook’s Harry Graham. (from the BBC website)
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w3ct1k3m
Wanna Buy A Radio Station?
This below appeared on the National Association of Shortwave Broadcasters Facebook page several days ago:
Family Broadcasting Corporation, owner of WHRI shortwave in Cypress Creek, South Carolina, has informed us that WHRI is for sale. The station has two ABB 500-kilowatt transmitters and one Harris SW-100B 100-kilowatt transmitter, as well as six curtain array antennas.
Transmitters:
(2) ABB SK-55 500 kW
(1) Harris SW-100B 100 kW
Antennas:
TCI 4/4/1 High/Low Band Curtains 152 degrees, slews -30/-15/0/+15/+30
TCI 2/2/.5 High/Low Band Curtains 188 degrees, slews -15/0/+15
TCI 2/2/.5 High/Low Band Curtains 245 degrees, slews -15/0/+15
TCI 2/2/.5 High/Low Band Curtains 315 degrees
TCI 2/2/.5 High/Low Band Curtains 25 degrees
Thomcast 4/4/1 High/Low Band Curtains 72 degrees, slews -25/-13/0/+13/+25
Split Feeds (One transmitter feeding two antennas):
Split 1: 25 degree and 188 antenna
Split 2: 315 degree and 245 antenna
The asking price is $1.5 million, which includes the 380 acres of land at the site. For more information, contact:
Tony Agostino
Family Broadcasting Corporation (FBC)
Email: tagostino@familybroadcastingcorporation.com
Fax: (574) 299-4050
Office: (574) 291-8200
Actually, the asking price of $1.5m doesn't seem unreasonable given the amount of land and the high-powered transmitters and antennas. Sounds to me like they might be looking for a quick sale. However, they need to find someone with $1.5m in their back pocket who doesn't expect to make their money back anytime soon!
73 and have a great weekend everyone!
Rob Wagner VK3BVW
CLICK HERE for VK3BVW Live Stream (Clublog)
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© Rob Wagner, Mount Evelyn DX Report, and contributors 2012-2021
on the WHRI story Rob its been reported that WBCQ Alan Weiner brought it in August for 1.25million USD -https://swling.com/blog/2020/08/wbcq-purchases-world-harvest-radio-whri/
ReplyDeleteAnonymous, that report in the SWLing Post dates back to August 2020. I do remember seeing the SWLiing Post item last year but had heard nothing more about it until Weiner complained on his WBCQ website. It appears that the sale may have not gone through, perhaps? Seems that FCC has put it on hold? Anyway, my news item above comes from the NASB Facebook post dated several days ago. So I assumed that is the latest news on this matter, unless you can tell me anything more recent. 73, Rob VK3BVW
DeleteRob this Rickie Matthews don't know why the system doesn't use my name for the comment but I also posted his open letter on WBCQ's web page thanks
DeleteRob this is the latest I can find Rickie Matthews
Deleteadditional Alan Weiner has not been approved by the FCC to buy WRHI-the FVV gas not giving him a reason or even contacted him about it -http://www.wbcq.com/
ReplyDeletethe FCC has not granted Alan Weiner's- WBCQ- application to buy the station yetr
ReplyDeleteG'day Rob, thanks for the update in RCI.
ReplyDeletePaul.