ETHIOPIA ON SHORTWAVE

A brief summary of recent broadcasting activities.

This blog post first appeared in the April 2024 issue of The Spectrum Monitor magazine. It has been edited and updated. Further details on this excellent publication are available at www.thespectrummonitor.com

With Ethiopia, all times and frequencies are subject to change without notice!

Ethiopia is identified as a multi-ethnic state with over 80 different ethnic groups. It is also a country with a rich and colourful history. For years now, the Ethiopian radio scene has been quite volatile, almost as much as the political situation in the country itself and the Horn of Africa region in general. 

In recent years, a few shortwave stations have gone by the wayside, including Radio Deegaanka Soomaalida in Jijiga on 5940 kHz and Voice of the Tigray Revolution in Addis Ababa on 5950 kHz. I was disappointed to see Tigray Revolution disappear, as I always enjoyed their brand of lively African songs. 

The Radio Ethiopia national service in Addis Ababa has had a chequered history of on-and-off operations in recent years, depending on political instability and regional wars. Sadly, it has not been heard since October 2023. The station has a 100 kW transmitter on 7110 kHz in Amharic that used to operate at the following times: 0400-1000, 1300-1500, and 1600-1800 UTC. There is value, however, in occasionally checking the frequency just in case the station reappears. Fingers crossed!

Ethiopians Still On Air

Although often regarded as challenging DX, the following stations can still be heard:

Radio Fana (a.k.a. Fana Broadcasting Corporate S.C.) also has a 100 kW transmitter in Addis Ababa on 6110 kHz, broadcasting in the Amharic, Oromo, Somali, and Afar languages between 0255 and 2100 UTC. The station is usually well-heard here in Australia between 1800 and 2100 and in North America between 0300 and 0500 UTC.

Radio Oromiya broadcasts principally in the Oromo language, although other languages such as Arabic, Amharic, Somali, and occasionally English have also been noted. The schedule is 0255 to 2000 UTC on 6030 kHz. Co-channel interference is often observed from Radio Martí and China's CNR 1 / CNR 2 outlets. The station is operated under the auspices of the Oromia Regional State Government.

Amhara State Radio (a.k.a Radio Amhara) is also in Addis Ababa and can be heard in Amharic between 0300 and 2100 on 6090 kHz. However, its operations are rather irregular these days. In the past, Amhara Radio was well-heard when the channel was not registered to other broadcasters. Unfortunately, in the A24 transmission season, the station is clobbered for part of its schedule by co-channel occupants CRI and KBS World Radio. 

External Broadcasters Targeting Ethiopia

Some "legitimate" broadcasters have daily or weekday-only services beaming to Ethiopia, including VoA, BBC, Adventist World Radio, Vatican Radio, IBRA Radio, and Deutsche Welle. The languages used are Amharic, Oromo, and Tigrinya. 

Added to the above are what I call the second-tier political outfits Oromia National Media (ONM), Raadiyoonii Dirree Shaggar, and Voice of Oromo Liberation, which can be regularly heard via several broadcasting brokers.

And then there is the third-tier group, occasional political "pop-up" broadcasters who suddenly appear, stay for several transmission seasons and then disappear. Keeping track of these second and third-category stations can be challenging. Because they inhabit the 19 and 16-metre bands between 1600 and 1800 UTC, these stations are difficult to monitor here in SE Australia as they are propagationally closed for me. Cue the Kiwi remote SDRs! 😉

73 and good DX,

Rob Wagner VK3BVW

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