Voice of Croatia To End SW Transmissions On Jan. 1

Per Horacio Nigro, posting in Glenn Hauser's DXLD Yahoo! group,
the Voice of Croatia will terminate its shortwave broadcasts on
January 1st, 2013, just a few days from now. So, another SW broad-
caster bites the dust :(  Apparently, they will continue to broadcast on
midwave for Europe, and on the internet.

Per Mr. Nigro, you can hear the final VOC broadcasts in Spanish
on 7375 khz, at 2330 and 0330 UTC. No specifics on broadcasts
in other languages. Mr. Nigro's source, in Spanish:

QSL cards from CHU (Canada) & Radio Okapi (S. Africa)

On 11/20/12, I was surprised to hear Canada's time station 'CHU' on 3330
khz. It was pretty weak and faded often, but I could hear tones like those on
WWV, and the time being read by robo-voices in English and French. I emailed
them shortly thereafter at radio.chu@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca, and received an email
reply by the next day. A week or so later, I received a QSL card in the mail
(mailed from Buffalo, NY, interestingly enough). The front and back are pictured
below. The Aoki B12 schedule, as well as the station's QSL card, have CHU
listed on this frequency with a transmitter power of only 3 kw (!!!)

Then, on 11/24, I heard Radio Okapi on 11690 khz. This is a station
that broadcasts into the troubled Democratic Republic of Congo, in
this instance apparently from Meyerton, South Africa. Radio Okapi
is run by the humanitarian organization Fondation Hirondelle (out of
Switzerland) and the UN. I sent them a reception report to the email
address contact@radiookapi.net, and a less than two weeks later, I
received a QSL letter. Not a card, as it was printed on regular printer
paper, which I don't mind. After all, if the folks that run this important
service want to save some money by sending these out instead of printing
QSL cards, I'm more than okay with that. Very nice of them to respond
in the first place.

That's all for now...I probably won't be posting again until the new
year (unless I log some really interesting stuff, or get my Cuba QSL
package before then). Thanks for reading, and happy holidays!

Shortwave logs from Euless, TX for 11/18 to 11/24/12

Country in brackets is the transmitter site and not
necessarily the country of origin, unless specified.
If two countries are in brackets, first one is
transmitter site. After that, the date, time and
frequency in kHz is listed. All times in UTC and
all stations heard on TECSUN PL-380 portable in
Euless, Texas, USA, with 25 foot reel wire antenna,
on a second floor, unless otherwise noted.


[IRAN] 11-18-12, 2345, 7325 -- Weak, SINPO 23222.
Seemingly Voice of Iran in Chinese. Ballad-type music with
male singing.

[CANADA] 11-20-12, 0255, 3300 -- CHU, a time signal
station transmitting from near Ottawa. Automated time tones
and male voice reading time in French and English. Pretty
weak, SINPO 23222. Also heard modem/data-like noises. I
guess I still get a chance to QSL a Canadian station even
with RCI gone.

[FRENCH GUYANA/FRANCE] 11-23-12, 1955, 21690--
Per Aoki, this is Radio France International, transmitting from
Montsinery, French Guyana, on 500 kw. Two males talking in
French, abruptly off at 1959, with the broadcast scheduled off
at 2000.  SINPO 34233.

[USA] 11-23-12, 2000, 15225 -- Voice of America in French
from Greenville, SC. Excited male DJ introduces music,
mostly Latin-sounding, thought I heard "Shakira" mentioned.

[SOUTH AFRICA/ DRC] 11-24-12, 0405, 11690 -- Per Aoki,
this is Radio Okapi, transmitting from Meyerton, SA, at 250 kw.
Apparently this station was set up by the UN and NGOs to
broadcast news and information across the Democratic Republic
of Congo, mostly on FM. Language is supposed to be Lingala/
French, and I did hear a lot which sounded like French. Male
and female seem to read news headlines, made out words like
"Goma" (city in the DRC) and "Hutu". SINPO 34333, surprisingly
clear.

[EGYPT] 11-24-12, 0422, 9965 -- Radio Cairo, very weak and
noisy, SINPO 23222. Chanting by male with Islamic-sounding
music in background.

QSL cards from Croatia, Germany and Cuba

Back in July, I heard Voice of Croatia on 9925 khz, and sent
them a reception report by email (several times and to several
addresses over several weeks, as it turned out), but they finally
responded with an e-QSL on September 13th. This was followed
a couple of weeks later by the same QSL letter that I received by
email, but this time by postal mail from Croatia. Wasn't expecting
that! But then, even more unexpectedly, a couple of weeks after
that, I received a Voice of Croatia QSL card by mail! It is
pictured below (top). Damn, VOC, you really came through in
the end. Huzzah!

In other QSL news,  I heard Germany's Deutsche Welle, trans-
mitted from Kigali, Rwanda, in East Africa, on October 21st
(as logged here). I sent them a reception report by email to
info@dw-world.de, and about 3 weeks later I received a QSL
card (pictured below, under the V. of Croatia card), mailed
from DW Customer Service in Bonn, Germany. The back of
the card can be seen in the second picture.

 

Finally, on September 15, I heard Cuba's Radio Rebelde on 5025
khz, and I sent them a reception report to web@radiorebelde.icrt.cu
two days later,  including an mp3 recording of my reception (they
apparently require this for QSL requests). On November 8th, I
received an email from Radio Rebelde with an e-QSL ( :-/ )
attached. It is displayed below. A big thanks to these three
shortwave broadcasters who took the time to acknowledge my
reports!

Voice of Russia B12 Schedule

Straight from Voice of Russia, here is their B12 shortwave schedule,
good from October 28, 2012 to March 30, 2013. Download from
the link below, document is in Word format (.doc).


VOR B12 SCHEDULE

IRIB's Weird-Ass QSL Propaganda Jamboree

On August 11, 2012, at 0340 UTC, I heard the Islamic Republic of
Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) English language broadcast, Voice of Justice
on 13650 khz. E.W., of the blog Cobalt Pet suggested I email them
a QSL request, because they normally send out some pretty interesting
stuff. I emailed them at  englishradio@irib.ir, and within a few days,
received an acknowledgement by email, with an IRIB shortwave schedule
attached, letting me know my QSL would be mailed soon. So, in early
October, I find a large, heavy envelope from Iran stuffed into my mailbox.
It looked like it may have been opened and re-sealed (USPS? Homeland
Security?). Inside I found a pretty crazy array of Iranian propaganda.





















Besides  my QSL card, there was a 2012 calendar, a copy of "Islamic
Awakening" magazine, a copy of "ZamZam" (seemingly a children's
magazine), a thank you letter, a copy of IRIB's radio schedules and two
books, one of them titled "Islam, The West and Human Rights". I've
read a couple of dozen pages of the book, as well as some of "Islamic
Awakening".  No big surprises as far as the content. The main theme
seems to be that human rights do best under Islam, and that all people
should have all kinds of freedoms...but only within the confines of
presumably fundamentalist Islam. Oh, and the West is imperialist.
While I acknowledge that theUSA has a very bad track record with
Iran (we've helped overthrow their government at least once, and
supported the tyrannical Shah, among other blunders), the tone of
propaganda like this (and Radio Habana Cuba's) seldom ceases to
amuse me.

This book also has a full color, page-sized photo of the late Ayatollah
Khomeini a few pages into it. Creepy. The other book is called
"Spirituality and Politics From Imam Khomeini's Viewpoint". I haven't
done more than skim through this one, but I don't expect the content
to be much different. All in all, a fairly impressive QSL package, even
if I find myself largely disagreeing with the ideas it is trying to promote.

Recent shortwave logs from Euless, TX

Country in brackets is the country of transmission. If 
two countries are in brackets, first one is transmitter site,
followed by the country of origin. After that, the date, 
time and frequency in kHz is listed.  All times in UTC and 
all stations  heard on TECSUN PL-380 portable with the 
radio's  telescoping whip antenna. All stations heard from
a second floor patio in Euless, TX, USA. 

















[RWANDA/GERMANY] 10-21-12, 0400 UTC, 9470 --
Deutsche Welle in English from Kigali at 250kw. News,
including a  piece on the Colombian armed group FARC.
Male interviews female. SINPO 43233.

[CUBA] 10-26-12, 0150, 11760 -- News in Spanish
by female, the abruptly off the air at 0154. Because of
Hurricane Sandy, I assume? SINPO was 44344 before
this. Checked back at 0205z, male was reading news
but signal was very weak now, seemingly off air again
at 0207.

[ROMANIA] 10-26-12, 0200, 11795 -- Radio Romania
in Spanish. ID at top of hour, then intro by male and
female. Headlines by female at 0202; King Michael's
birthday, news about budget and economy in Romania
and Europe. SINPO 43344, very good signal.

[USA/TAIWAN] 10-26-12, 0212, 9680 -- Radio Taiwan
in English transmitted from Okechobee, FL. Male and
female talk about Taiwan government giving people
subsidies to have children (!), also talk about decreased
wages in the country, $12K a year is the average now,
among lowest in developed world, but optimism was
expressed. SINPO 43344, some light interference and
fading on occasion, but very good all around.

Shortwave, mediumwave and FM logs for 10/10 to 10/11/12 from near Yucatan, MX

Me and  my wife Emily went on a honeymoon cruise
to the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico last week, and
I was able to do a little DXing from our room balcony
on the way from the port of Progreso to Cozumel on
10/10/12, and on the way back from Cozumel on
10/11/12, both times in more or less the same area.
Logs start after my standard disclaimer below:

Country in brackets is the country of transmission. If 
two countries are in brackets, first one is transmitter site,
followed by the country of origin. After that, the date, 
time and frequency in kHz is listed. I neglected to notate 
times on some stations. All times in UTC and all stations 
heard on TECSUN PL-380 portable with the radio's 
telescoping whip antenna. All stations heard from the 
balcony of our stateroom on the starboard side of the 
Carnival Triumph cruise ship, halfway between Progreso 
and Cozumel, Mexico. Approximate location for both 
10/10 and 10/11 loggings is latitude, 21.828187, 
longitude -88.308105.


10/10/12


[MEXICO] XEZ 105.1 FM, Grupo Formula Yucatan, Merida.
Business related talk and advertisements in Spanish. Average signal.
Website: http://grupoformulayucatan.com.mx/genteenaccion.html.

[MEXICO] Planeta XHRRF 88.5 FM, Merida. Ad for 'Partido del
Trabajo' (Worker's Party) in Spanish, then music.

[MEXICO] Retro 103.1 FM, Merida, old American pop music, "Power
of Love" by Huey Lewis. Web:  http://www.cadenarasa.com/retro/

[CUBA] 2317z, 1620 AM, Radio Rebelde Cuba. Sports and news by
male, station ID heard. SINPO 32222.

[MEXICO] 94.5 FM, XHVG? Two males talk about the Zeta leader
killed recently. I seemed to hear an ID mentioning Radio Formula Yucatan.

[UNIDENTIFIED] 2315z, 1530 AM. OM talk, weak signal. No info
online. VOA per Aoki??? Wrong time, though.



10/11/12


[UNIDENTIFIED] 2216z, 11850 khz. Foreign language talk,
weak. KSDA-AWR Guam, or Vatican Radio per Aoki??? Another
mystery.

[SAUDI ARABIA] 2216z, 11820. Male chant in Arabic. Radio
Riyadh. 

[TURKEY] 2218z, 9830. Male reads news in English. Voice of
Turkey per Aoki A12. SINPO 33222.

[CUBA] 2220z, 9810 & 9710.  RHC in Spanish, female talks in
piece about historic Cuban hotel. SINPO 44454.

[UNIDENTIFIED] 2222z, 9955. Foreign language, male talk.
34333. Maybe WRMI??

[BONAIRE] 2224z, 15265. NHK World in Japanese transmitted
from the former Netherlands Antilles. SINPO 44444.

[HONDURAS] 2230z, 630 AM. Radio America, "Hora del
Cafe" w/ host Victor Manuel Zelaya, talks to male about the coffee
industry in Honduras. Religious talk at 2259, then news show at
2300, "Expreso Informativo", with various announcers. SINPO
34333. Listened off an on to this station for nearly an hour.

[COLOMBIA] 2305z, 1170 AM. Radio Caracol,  ID @ 2309.
Sports news in Spanish by male. Weak, but completely readable.
A real surprise to hear this from the waters off Yucatan.

[MEXICO]  2310z, XHYI , Mix 93.1 FM, Cancun. Pop music
in English, Queen's "I Want To Break Free"... the long version that
I rarely get to hear. Queen's music was everywhere in Progreso
and Cozumel, the Mexicans are obviously fellow fans of the band.

[BRAZIL] 2320z, 11780. R. Nacional da Amazonia, male talk
in Portuguese. Weak signal, but I could tell it was Brazil.

[SPAIN] 2321z, 9535. R. Exterior Espana, news by male in
Spanish, transmitted from Noblejas. SINPO 55455.

[GREECE] 2323z, 9420. Voice of Greece, YL talk in Greek,
SINPO 24232.

[ALBANIA / CHINA] 2324z, 7210. Weak, Chinese/Spanish
language lessons. CRI, transmitted from Cerrik, Albania.

[USA] 2325z, 15000. WWV from Colorado, very weak.

[UNIDENTIFIED] 2330z, 14240. Ham operator? Distorted,
male voice.

[GUATEMALA] 2344z, 4055. Spanish talk, weak. Radio
Verdad, from Chiquimula, Guatemala, per Aoki. This seems
to be an evangelical religious station.

QSL from NHK World's Spanish Service (Japan)

On 5 September, 2012, at 0940 UTC, I heard NHK World Radio --
in Spanish -- on 6080 khz (it was logged here). The transmission came
from the trasmitter in Bonaire, in the southern Caribbean. I promptly
went to their website and filled out the the contact form requesting a
QSL. Less than three weeks later, I received a long, slim white
envelope from Japan. It contained the QSL card (filled out by hand),
a radio schedule poster, a postcard and a flier promoting the Spanish
service. The package also included a blank reception report form for
future QSL requests. It could be folded to make its own envelope.

The image below shows the postcard on top, and the front of the
QSL card (the pointy hat one) at the bottom. Below that image,
you can see the back of the QSL card, and the last image is
the Spanish service promotional sheet.

Me and my wife just got back from a honeymoon cruise to Mexico,
and I was able to log some interesting stations.  More on that in an
upcoming post!

Voice of Croatia A12 Schedule

I know this is only good until 10/28/12, but just in case you were
wanting to listen to Voice of Croatia until the new schedule is
published, you can download their A12 schedule here. I
received this file as an attachment to an e-mail reply to a
QSL request I had sent VOC.

I hadn't made a new post in a while, as I had been busy
getting married to my lovely lady, Emily.  We're going on our
honeymoon in a few days, so there's probably not going to
be any postings until the middle of October. See you all then!

Shortwave logs for 9/6 to 9/15/12 from Euless, TX

Country in brackets is the country of origin of the
transmission, and not necessarily the transmitter site,
unless specified. If two countries are in brackets, first
one is transmitter site. After that, the date, time and
frequency in kHz is listed. All times in UTC and all
stations heard on TECSUN PL-380 portable in
Euless, Texas, USA, with 25 foot reel wire antenna,
on a second floor, unless otherwise noted. Recordings
made with Olympus VN-120PC digital recorder,
with line input from SW receiver.


[MADAGASCAR / VATICAN] 090612, 0342, 7360 --
Vatican Radio in Swahili, trasmitted from Talata-
Volondry, Madagascar. Talk from OM and YL, SINPO
34233.

[ASCENSION/UK] 090912, 1605, 17640 -- BBC
World Service, from Ascension Island, SINPO
34222. Lots of noise, but I could tell it was in
English. YL & OM seem to talk sports news.

[GREECE] 091312, 0115, 9420 -- Per Aoki, this
comes from Avlis, at 170kw. Best reception I've
had for Voice of Greece so far, 44344! Listened
for a few minutes and heard some great Greek
music. Sweeeet.

[BRAZIL] 091312, 0120, 6180 -- Radio Nacional
de Amazonia in  Portuguese. SINPO 44344, very
strong, as is common with Radio Nacional on this
and 11780. Txmitter is in Brasilia per Aoki. Male
and fem. talk over futbol game.

[CUBA] 091512, 0030, 5025 -- Radio Rebelde, much
more geared towards domestic consumption than
RHC is, and it shows in the non-controversial nature
of what I regularly hear on here, which is usually
sports-related. No exception tonight, as I hear the
sports show "Deportiva", where two guys discuss
the latest in Cuban baseball. You can call in at
838-4562. Not sure if you can call from abroad.
Recording made and available at the URL below:

https://www.box.com/s/o0uyw7xtjxyyf7xxov1b

[CYPRUS/UK] 091512, 0326, 12035 -- BBC from
Limassol, 250 kw per Aoki. Very weak, could barely
hear OM talk, faded out a couple of times. SINPO
23111.

[KUWAIT] 091512, 1400, 21540 -- I'm finally awake
and free at the right time of day to hear Radio Kuwait.
YL talks in Arabic, then middle eastern-sounding
music bumpers, then male talks with female chanting
and music in background. Made out "Kuwait", "Koran".
SINPO 44344. Recording at the link below:

https://www.box.com/s/i4i1hkl0utgwb918yjdt

[SAUDI ARABIA] 091512, 1416, 21505 -- Radio
Riyahd, from Saudi A. at 500kw. Definitely not
coming in as well as Kuwait, 23222. Another first
time reception for me. Brief, awful recording made,
link below:

https://www.box.com/s/s4cw6wdtwma5bjciibyv

[USA] 091512, 1426, 11715 -- KJES, Catholic
religious station from Vado, New Mexico, 717
miles west of me. Male recites Bible verses, children
repeat with robotic delivery. Choral music, then a
child reads the station ID at 1430. Noooot creepy
sounding at all. Very strong, 55455. Recording
made, and available at the link:

https://www.box.com/s/xn1fxiber9cep58ksxjb

Voice of Croatia e-QSL

Back on July 30th, I heard Voice of Croatia in English on one
of their "summer" frequencies, 9925 khz. A few days later I
began one of numerous attempts to send the station a reception
report and QSL request. First I tried the main email address
on Voice of Croatia's website, hrt@hrt.hr. That promptly got
returned, as the account was "over quota". I tried a couple of
more addresses I found online. Same thing. I thought I was
going to have to send VOC my request by...uggghh...snail
mail. But, finally, I found a good e-mail address on someone's
blog (probably this one). So I e-mailed Mladen.Golubic@oiv.hr
on September 12, and the next day, I received an electronic
QSL attached to an email, along with a VOC schedule.Woo-
hoo!! I feel like I really earned this one. Take a gander below.
You can download for a better look at this link.

Schedule for Iranian Radio (IRIB)

I recently received an email reply from IRIB from a reception
report I had sent them for their English shortwave broadcast.
Along with the reply, they sent an updated schedule for Iran's
international broadcasts, including shortwave. You can take a
look or download from the link below. It is in Word format (.docx):

http://www.fileden.com/files/2011/4/5/3109946/IRIB_ENGLISH_SERVICE__SCHEDULE-A12%5B1%5D.docx

Shortwave logs from Euless, TX for 8/30/12 to 9/5/12

Country in brackets is the country of origin of the
transmission, and not necessarily the transmitter site,
unless specified. If two countries are in brackets, first
one is transmitter site. After that, the date, time and
frequency in kHz is listed. All times in UTC and all
stations heard on TECSUN PL-380 portable in
Euless, Texas, USA, with 25 foot reel wire antenna,
on a second floor, unless otherwise noted. Recordings
made with Olympus VN-120PC digital recorder,
with line input from SW receiver.

[GERMANY / CROATIA] 08-30-12, 0210, 9925 --
Radio Croatia in English from Wertachtal, per Aoki A12.
Male and female read frequencies for RC. I seem to
have tuned in near the end of their very brief English
broadcast (15 minutes). SINPO 43333, pretty good.

[ROMANIA] 08-31-12, 0218, 11795 -- Radio Romania
International in Spanish. Fem. talks about Romanian
architecture, music at 0222. Some noise but otherwise
 a very good signal, 45344. Txmitter is Tiganesti,
 Romania, per Aoki, 300 kw.

[EGYPT] 09-01-12, 0255, 9315 -- Finally, a sort-of-okay
signal from Radio Cairo! Some fading at first, lots of
noise, but I can at least tell more or less what I'm hearing.
Per HFCC & Aoki, this should be English. Can't know
for sure, because I listened for about 10 minutes and all I
heard was Middle Eastern music. Which was nice, but I
didn't hear any talk or an ID at the top of the hour (0300).
Tuned away at 0302, came back at 15. Music remained on,
signal was still okay, SINPO 32333. Made a recording,
link to listen or download is below:

https://www.box.com/s/t56uok6566g8dmhe9m87


[MAURITANIA] 09-01-12, 0304, 7245 -- Per Aoki, this
is Radio Mauritania in French/Arabic...or it's Voice of
Tajik. The latest of Glenn Hauser's DX Listening Digests
seems to agree that this is most likely Mauritania. This
and Egypt...must be a good night for propagation from
Africa, because I rarely hear Egypt (never as well as
tonight) and this is my first time getting anything on
this freq. Signal was unfortunately terrible, 21211,
distorted w/ lots of interference. Heard what may have
been a male talking, perhaps chanting.

[CUBA] 09-02-12, 0615, 5800 -- Morse code message,
sounded repetitive, but no idea what the content was.
On for at least 10 minutes. Per Aoki, this is a Cuban
spy station. Makes sense. SINPO 44334.

[COSTA RICA / SPAIN] 09-02-12, 1840, 17850 --
Great signal for Radio Exterior, in Spanish. Two males
comment on recently finished live football game (I
wanna say Real Madrid vs Levante). Paralympics
coverage at 1845, Spain won 2 new medals in London
that day. SINPO 55455, txmitter is Cariari, Costa Rica.

[BONAIRE / JAPAN] 09-05-12, 0940, 6080 -- NHK
World in Spanish, transmitted from the former Nether-
lands Antilles. Surprisingly strong, SINPO 55455. News
about fighting in Syria, North Korea's assembly meeting,
a flood control system in Thailand, among others.

[SAO TOME AND PRINCIPE / USA] 09-05-12, 1445,
17530. Voice of America's news show "International
Edition", in English, from the Pinheira txmitter @ 100kw,
per Aoki. News by OM, editorial about US government's
position on women's rights at around 1455. Off air at
1500. SINPO 34333.

Voice of Russia QSL card

Near the end of July, I sent a reception report to Voice of Russia by email,
from a logging from July 22nd, on 13775 khz, for their English service. On
August 6, I received an email reply from Elena Osipova with VOR
acknowledging receipt, and letting me know that a QSL card was being
mailed (some VOR schedules were also attached to the email). Less than
two weeks later, I received the above card in the mail. Very nice!

Email for VOR is world@ruvr.ru.

Shortwave broadcast logs for 8/24 to 8/26

Country in brackets is the country of origin of the
transmission, and not necessarily the transmitter site,
unless specified. If two countries are in brackets, first
one is transmitter site. After that, the date, time and
frequency in kHz is listed. All times in UTC and all
stations heard on TECSUN PL-380 portable in
Euless, Texas, USA, with 25 foot reel wire antenna,
on a second floor, unless otherwise noted.

[CUBA] 08-24-12, 0048, 5025 -- Radio Rebelde coming
in very nicely, SINPO 54334. Sports show presumably for
domestic audience, male announcer scolds audience over
complaints their call-in phone number is always busy,
says people are misdialing it, repeats the number several
times. Listened for about 10 minutes, and it was same
caller the whole time, going on and on; suspiciously
articulate and good on air for a "random" sports radio
caller. Hrmm.

[BRAZIL] 08-24-12, 0203, 11780 -- Radio Nacional
Brasilia in Portuguese. Male reads news, ID at 0204,
ballad played at 0205. 43244.

[SPAIN] 08-24-12, 0359, 9535 -- Radio Exterior de
Espana in Spanish, txmitter is Noblejas, 350 kw per Aoki.
Female gives phone number for listeners to call and leave
messages, which may get played on air: 800-34-100-100.
Said it works from US, Germany, Brazil, UK and a few
other countries I couldn't write down. News at 0400 by
male, mentions wildfires in Spain. SINPO 54344.

[GREECE] 8-24-12, 2348, 15630 -- Voice of Greece in
Greek. Music and some talk, weak signal, lots of noise.
23122.

[CANADA / VIETNAM] 08-25-12, 0349, 6175 -- Voice of
Vietnam in English. YL talks, hard to understand through
bad QRM (pretty sure I heard RN Brazil, which was on at
6180). Made out words "revolution", "1945...liberated the
country". Started 41422, improved around 0355 to 43444.
Silence at 1358, pop music abrubtly on a few seconds later.
Spanish programming started at 0400 with OM talking about
labor issues in different countries. Txmitter is Sackville,
Canada (thanks go to Dan Ferguson).

[EGYPT] 08-25-12, 0141, 9315 -- Radio Cairo, supposedly
in Spanish. Lots of noise, distorted/muddy speech from
possible male, impossible to understand, for a change.
22121.

[RWANDA / GERMANY] 08-26-12, 1805, 21780 -- Deutsche
Welle in Hausa, txmitted from Kigali, Rwanda @ 250 kw.
Excellent signal! SINPO 55455. Male read news, made out the
word "Aleppo" (as in Syria).

[USA] 08-26-12, 1810, 17895 -- Voice of America in English.
Aoki shows that at this freq., but not at this time. Same when
checking VOA's website schedule. Txmitter site might be Sri
Lanka? Male talks about human rights in Ethiopia, then female
w/ story about government policy around the world to deal
with drought. 43333. EDIT: Eike Bierwirth, Glenn Hauser and
Dan Ferguson have informed me that the txmitter site for the
above is Greenville, SC, USA. This per HFCC, which I had
neglected to check, for some reason.

Vatican Radio QSL

On July 27th, 2012, I happened to pick up Vatican Radio in English,
relayed via Sackville, in Canada (a relay which was ended permanently
soon after). I logged it and promptly sent an email to Vatican Radio
with my reception report. Unbeknownst to me at the time, the receiver
I was using was faulty and I reported the wrong frequency, 9500 khz,
when it probably should've been 9610.

Regardless, three weeks later I got an envelope in the mail from
them with a QSL card, a postcard, two Vatican Radio stickers and
a couple of schedules printed on glossy paper. Not bad, considering
I didn't even report the correct information. It could be that, with
the gradual decline of shortwave radio as a medium and Vatican
Radio's significant cutbacks, the folks at VR may not care too
much about their reception reports nowadays. I reached this
conclusion when I saw that the frequency field in my QSL card
didn't even list a frequency, it only says "31 m" (for the 31 meter
band). Whoever read my email probably just said "f*ck it" and
scrawled whatever on my card. Not complaining, though, I'm
grateful for the souvenirs (pictured below).

It was hard for me not to notice how creepy Pope Benedict
looks in this postcard. But he is a pretty creepy-looking guy,
on a good day. The other card had a picture of the inside of
the Chapel of the Annunciation on the front. This was probably
my most significant contact with the Catholic Church since
I graduated from catholic high school 17 years ago.

Email for Vatican Radio: english@vatiradio.va

Shortwave broadcast observations for 8/21/12

Country in brackets is the country of origin of the
transmission, and not necessarily the transmitter site,
unless specified. If two countries are in brackets, first
one is transmitter site. After that, the date, time and
frequency in kHz is listed. All times in UTC and all
stations heard on TECSUN PL-380 portable in
Euless, Texas, USA, with 25 foot reel wire antenna,
on a second floor, unless otherwise noted.

[SPAIN] 082112, 0055, 6055 -- It's not often that I run
into REE in English, but it looks like I caught the tail end
of a broadcast. OM in English IDs and reads frequencies,
then some music which sounded like an interval signal.
SINPO 43444.

[BRAZIL] 082112, 0058, 6180 -- Radio Nacional da
Amazonia from Brasilia at 250 kw. Male announcer talking
to another male on phone in Portuguese.  Headlines at
0059. SINPO 43333.

[GREECE] 082112, 0100, 7475 -- Very weak, noise-
riddled transmission. OM reading/talking in foreign language.
Per HFCC, this is Voice of Greece, in Greek. Whoa,
definitely a first time station for me. 22222, txmitter is
in "Avlis" per HFCC, but I can't find any location by
that name online. I assume it would be in Greece.

[MOLDOVA / RUSSIA] 082112, 0103, 9665 -- Voice
of Russia in English. Female hosted segment "Out and
About". 33233. Txmitter in Kishinev-Grigoripol, Moldova,
per Aoki.

[SERBIA] 082112, 0106, 9685 -- Heard male reading in
foreign language, weak signal and lots of noise, 23133.
Thought it might be CRI in Chinese first, but from what
I could make out, this was probably a European language.
Another first time reception? Yes, per Aoki A12. Nice.

[ROMANIA] 082112, 0110, 9700 -- Eastern European
Night continues, apparently, now with Radio Romania Intl
in French, broadcasting from Tiganesti, 33233. Noisy but
steady. OM reads news in French.

[GERMANY / CROATIA] 082112, 0112, 9925 -- Croatian
Radio in vernacular, 2 males talking. 34243, not terrible.
Txmitter is Wertachtal (Bavaria, Germany) per Aoki and
HFCC.  The latter says transmission should've been over at
0100, the former says 0300.

[USA] 082112, 0115, 11775 -- Radio Marti from Greenville,
SC, in Spanish. Male and fem. interview someone via phone,
a Cuban exile, what else? 32222. Bad interference, maybe
Cuban jamming?

[USA] 082112, 0118, 11870 -- EWTN in Spanish from Vandiver,
AL. Male with female voices in background reciting prayers. Pro-
bably the rosary. Yawn. Comes in great, for all the good it does
me, 55445.

[UNIDENTIFIED] 082112, 0121, 21600 -- I keep hearing a
strong carrier on this frequency around this time of night. Aoki
and HFCC show nothing, but there is a Chinese jammer at 21605.
Per Aoki, jamming Radio Free Asia on 21595 and BBC from
Cyprus in Uzbek on 21590. Alrighty then.

Shortwave broadcast observations for 8/17/12

Country in brackets is the country of origin of the
transmission, and not necessarily the transmitter site,
unless specified. If two countries are in brackets, first
one is transmitter site. After that, the date, time and
frequency in kHz is listed. All times in UTC and all
stations heard on TECSUN PL-380 in Euless, Texas,
USA, with 25 foot reel wire antenna, on a second
floor, unless otherwise noted.


 
[THAILAND / UK] 081712, 0245, 17795 -- BBC World Service in
English, transmitted from Nakhon Sawan, Thailand, per Aoki.
50/100 dbu on signal strength meter, but very noisy and hard to
understand speech. Did hear a reference by male announcer to
'the BBC'. Jolly good, then.

[USA] 081712, 0249, 2500 -- WWV on 2.5 mHz, male voice reading
time and tones. First time I've actually received WWV on this
frequency. SINPO 33333.

[CUBA] 081712, 0250, 5025 -- Per Aoki schedule, Radio Rebelde
from Cuba, Spanish. YL and OM talk about theater and arts,
43333. First time station for me.

[JAPAN] 081712, 0255, 5960 -- OM talk in what sounded like
Japanese, saying names of US states, "Illinois, Ohio...". SINPO
32222, noisy and with significant QRM. Aoki says R. Kuwait
also on at this time, but this didn't sound like Arabic.

[BRAZIL] 081712, 0258, 6180 -- Radio Nacional, male announcer
reads off all the different R. Nac. station names in Portuguese.
32333. Didn't stick around after that.

[EGYPT] 081712, 0300, 9305 -- Per Aoki A12, this is Radio Cairo in
Arabic. Muddy, noisy, almost impossible to understand, as described
in Glenn Hauser's logs. Not worth a rating.

[COSTA RICA/SPAIN] 081712, 0301, 9630 -- R. Exterior de
Espana in Spanish. Male & fem. read news, good reception,
54454. Story about fishing-related tensions between Spain and
British Gibraltar. From the txmitter in Cariari, Costa Rica.

[RUSSIA] 081712, 0314, 15425 -- Started off weak with choral-
sounding music, got a bit better to 34333. YL in english, then
more music at 0316.

[CHILE / USA] 081712, 1800, 17680 -- CVC La Voz, religious
station in Spanish. This is their last day transmitting on sw from
their Calera de Tango site in Chile. Received it with no wire
antenna, from the parking lot at my job in West Dallas, near a
bunch of power lines. Not bad, everything considered! SINPO
34333. Male ("Erwin Dorado") reads news headlines at hourtop
(1pm CDT): Paraguay elections, talk about a hurricane, sports
news w/ different OM at 1802. I'll be QSLing them soon. Last
chance today.

Observations of shortwave broadcast listening from August 14 to 16, 2012.

Country in brackets is the country of origin of the
trasmission, and not necessarilly the transmitter site,
unless specified. After that, the date, time and frequency
in kHz is listed. All times in UTC and all stations heard
on TECSUN PL-380 in Euless, Texas, USA, with 25 foot
reel wire antenna, on a second floor, unless otherwise
noted.

[CUBA] 081412, 0128, 5040 -- Great signal again from
RHC's Spanish service. Music, then news at 0130. I
scanned the shortwave bands a few minutes later, and I
could hear the exact same broadcast on 15230, 11760,
9810, 6120 and 11680. Overkill much, RHC?

[USA] 081412, 0139, 11530 -- Family Radio, religious
programming in Portuguese, directed at Brazil, no
doubt. OM preaching in non-insane way. SINPO 55455.
Txmitter is supposed to be in Okechobee, FL, 100kw.

[SPAIN] 081412, 0325, 9535 -- Radio Exterior de Espana,
in Spanish. Show ID "Espanoles en la Mar" ("Spaniards
at Sea"), station ID by YL. SINPO 54444. From Noblejas
txmitter site, per AOKI A12 schedule. Excellent signal
tonight with good modulation.

[NEW ZEALAND] 081412, 0338, 15720 -- The usual on
here, Radio New Zealand Intl. Some sort of audio
documentary, in which some guys were thatching
something. A hut, maybe? 43344.

[TAIWAN] 081412, 2350, 17725 -- I seldom get to listen
to R. Taiwan's Spanish service, so I'm glad I ran into this.
Sounded good, 54444. Economics news, then talk about
renewable energy in Taiwan, including a solar plant that
would power 1,000 homes.

[AUSTRALIA] 081512, 0000, 21740 -- Once again, R.
Australia's English service comes in very handsomely
on this frequency, but not as good as I've heard it, 44344.
Directed towards Asia-Pac., per announcement before
ID at 2359. Headlines at top of hour read by Ashley
McGee [sp?], including contoversy over Australian
plans to process boat refugees in PNG or places other
than Australia itself.

[CHINA] 081512, 0259, 21600 -- Carrier signal, listened
for a few minutes, but just silence. Per the Shortwave
schedule app on my Android tablet, this is a jammer vs
R. Free Asia, originating from commie China. Sure,
I'll buy that. 19dbu signal strength. No wire antenna,
just the Tecsun's telescoping one.

[CUBA] 081512, 0300, 17705 -- IS, then news headlines
in Spanish, YL & OM. First couple of minutes marred by
technical problems. First, the opening news theme played
for too long (maybe 1 minute+). Then , it sounded like
people talking over each other for several seconds.
WTF? Anyway, something about Paraguay, and how
Simon Bolivar's face is being seen in Cuba for the first
time. No wire antenna.

[BRAZIL] 0815, 0309, 11780 -- R. Nacional Amazonia,
agitated male talking in rapid Portiguese over stock back-
ground music. 44334.  No wire antenna.

[SPAIN] 081612, 2328, 9535 -- R. Exterior Espana in
Spanish at first, hard to understand due to bad QRM,
22322. Improved a bit after 2330 to 32323. Time pips
at 2329, then YL reading headlines in Catalan. Good
times.

Observations About CB Radio in Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas

As a pre-teen in 1980s Puerto Rico, I was big into CB radio, as
many others were at the time. After a couple of years, though, my
interest waned and I left CB. Many years later, I bought a used
Realistic TRC-415 mobile unit on eBay and put it in my car, with a
magnetic base antenna. Not much seemed to be going on in the
CB bands then, and I honestly wasn't as interested in it as I
thought I was. So, before long, I put the CB away and forgot
about it. Recently, I found it while going through some old boxes,
and decided to put it in my car again.

My commute to work is now different than it was since I
bought the mobile unit a few years ago, and this time I was
able to hear a lot more. Practically nobody has been able to
copy ME, though, with the exception of a contact in Grapevine
which my fiancee was able to make late one night while I
drove us back from a local bar. I know that I need a better
unit and antenna (and a SWR meter), but that's not happening
just yet.

I do monitor CB on my way home from work 2-3 times a
week, usually while driving through Irving and the DFW
Airport area, and I've noticed a few patterns:


Channel 2 seems to be used  almost exclusively by Spanish-
speakers.

Puerto Ricans seem to like to hang out on Channel 9 (the
'Emergency Channel', but apparently this isn't enforced
very well, if it ever was). Good to see Puerto Ricans
still into CB, even all the way over here. Just don't try to
use Channel 9 for emergencies near DFW Airport.

Channel 6 normally sees the most activity, with some
high-wattage units making appearances, one in specific,
which I haven't been able to clearly identify.

Other than that, I just hear a lot of truckers with extremely
rural accents that I can almost never understand.

I will transmit every now and then to see if anybody can
copy me, but other than the nighttime contact described
above, no dice. I usually do this on channels 6, 8 and 9,
at around 5:00-5:30PM CDT and I go by the handle
"W.E.M.Y." Give me a shout if you hear me.

I'm looking to upgrade my CB set-up sometime in the
near future, and I will post here when and if I do. We do
have a CB shop in the area, which I need to check out
sometime soon: Ike's CB Shop. Their Facebook page
is here. I'll post more observations when something new
happens.

Radio Taiwan International QSL Cards

Sometime in early to mid July (I lost the e-mail that I sent) I emailed
a reception report to Radio Taiwan International, for one of their
English broadcasts. Less than a month later, I received an envelope
with a QSL card acknowledging my reception report, as well as a
newsletter, a postcard and some forms for RTI's "Listener's Club".
Here are some pictures. Thanks, RTI!

E-mail address for Radio Taiwan: rti@rti.org.tw

Shortwave observations from 8/10/12 to 8/13/12

Some observations of shortwave broadcast listening from
August 10 to 13, 2012.

Country in brackets is the country of origin of the
trasmission, and not necessarilly the transmitter site,
unless specified. After that, the date, time and frequency
in kHz is listed. All times in UTC and all stations heard
on TECSUN PL-380 in Euless, Texas, USA, with 25 foot
reel wire antenna, unless otherwise noted.

[SPAIN] 08/10/12, 0247, 6055 -- Radio Exterior de Espana.
Spanish. Two males talking  about sleep and health. Do spaniards
sleep more, or less, compared to other Europeans? Apparently
they get less sleep, due to different work schedules and social
habits. Vely intelesting. Per Shortwaveschedule.com, this came
from the 350 kw Noblejas transmitter, in Spain itself. SINPO
44333.

[USA] 08/10/12, 0300, 4840 -- WWCR, Nashville, TN. Talk show
with two males discussing power company rip-offs. Alex Jones at
0300, "live from Austin". Some talk about blacks and abortion.
44344.

[ROMANIA] 08/10/11, 0305, 11795 -- English, Radio Romania
International. "Radio Newsreel", YL reading news.Talk about Olympics,
Romania was ranked 22nd in medals, at the time of the broadcast. Tax
policy, IMF, Romanian budget deficit. End of the contest "My Cultural
Bucharest" announced. Excellent reception, SINPO 54444. Transmitter
loc. Tiganesti, Romania, 300 kw.

[CUBA] 08/11/12, 0320, 11760 -- Spanish, Radio Habana Cuba.
Fidel Castro speech from 8/22/1975 dealing with the anniversary
of the Communist Party of Cuba. SINPO 45444. Recording made
and available at the link: https://www.box.com/s/8f3965fa3aa798544fdf

[CHINA] 08/11/12, 0325, 9690 -- English, China Radio Int'l.
Good signal, 43344. News headlines, then OM on show about
words after 0330. First word for tonight: "anticippointment",a
combination of anticipation and dissapointment. Never heard it
before. Per Aoki, transmitted from Noblejas, Spain @ 350 kw.

[IRAN] 08/11/12, 0345, 13650 -- English, Voice Of Islamic
Republic of Iran. Weak reception, marred by noise, fading in and
out, but was able to make out OM, some talk about drought and
the expected rise in worldwide corn prices. Afghanistan was
mentioned. Per shortwaveschedule.com, txmitter is in Sirjan,
Iran. First time hearing this station.

[RUSSIA] 08/11/12, 1330, 15510 -- OM talking in non-English
language. Per Aoki A12 schedule, this is Voice of Russia in
Pashto, presumably directed at Pakistan/Afghanistan. SINPO
33222.

[NORTH KOREA] 08/11/12, 1338, 11710 -- Voice of Korea in
English, poor reception, 23222, lost it a few times. Was able
to make out "korean workers" and "Japan", which was mentioned
several times. I'm sure in a less than positive light,
considering the source. Choral-sounding music, YL singer at
1342, more talk at 1346, "1940s...Japan", perhaps talking
about the Japanese occupation of Korea of 1910-1945? First
time station for me, recording made:
https://www.box.com/s/d3d2313acc37fa76da9b

[CUBA] 08/13/12, 1220, 11760 -- Happy Birthday, Fidel Castro!
I always remember, because he shares a b-day with my sister.
Turned this on before work at around 7:20 AM CDT, Spanish,
OM talking about how USA & Co. are paying off Syrian diplomats
to defect and turn against Assad. Syrian official in Mauritania
was offered at least a million, plus $20k/year to defect. I
can't verify that independently, atm. Great signal, just using
the Tecsun's telescoping antenna, no wire! SINPO 55455.

[NEW ZEALAND] 8/13/12 -- Web QSL received today in my e-mail
for my reception report on 6/26/12, 0300-0310 UTC, 15720 khz,
from their "Thompson CSF 100 kw transmitter is located at
Rangitaiki, east of Lake Taupo, and is linked to our studios
in Wellington, 340 kms south of the town Taupo." From Adrian
Sainsbury, Frequency Manager. Pictured below.

Voice of Russia Schedules for Summer 2012

These were sent to me via e-mail by Voice of Russia, in Word format:


https://www.box.com/s/77ce47ad3d65265fa430

https://www.box.com/s/78951cf7636cc727bde9



Program schedule also available here:

http://english.ruvr.ru/radio_broadcast/schedule/

Shortwave bands, observations from 8/7/12 to 8/9/12

Some recent observations from the shortwave bands. All of these were
heard with a Tecsun PL-380 portable with a 25 foot Sangean reel wire
antenna in Euless, Texas, USA. All times in UTC unless otherwise
specified. Frequencies are in kilohertz. Header format is country/date/
time/frequency.

[USA] 8/7/12, 0330, 15000 -- Heard WWV with robot

male voice reading the time.Almost right away, I noticed the

tones sounded odd, like they were being  doubled, or overlayed. 

Then when the time announcement came again, I heard the male 

voice, and a second later a female voice. Turns out I was 

hearing WWV (Fort Collins, CO) over WWVH (Hawaii). Both

sounded strong.

[SPAIN] 8/7/12, 2255, 15110 -- Caught the very end of some Radio
Exterior de Espana show. YL & OM read frequencies and times.
Abruptly off the air at 2256. SINPO 55344.

[USA] 8/8/12, 0028, 3260 -- "The Herman Cain Show" and ID for
"Better Life Radio", 1630 AM, Dallas/Fort Worth. WTF? Sounded
great, 55555. But what was this doing on shortwave?


EDIT: Glenn Hauser on DXLD has provided an explanation for
what I heard:

Bill, in Euless you are very close to the transmitter site of 
KKGM 1630, which is somewhere SE of Hurst. Welcome 
to the world of harmonic DXing. Strong MW signals may 
sometimes be heard on integral multiples of their frequency : 
2 x1630 = 3260. This could either be due to actual radiation 
of a fraction of the station`s power on the multiple, or 
produced inside your receiver due to overload. I suspect
the latter since you are so close, and there have been no 
other reports of KKGM being heard on 3260 at a greater 
distance.

Thank you to Mr. Hauser for being a living encylopedia of every-
thing broadcasting. Check out his World of Radio at
http://worldofradio.com.

[TAIWAN] 8/8/12, 0335, 5950 -- Radio Taiwan International in
English. Male announcer, chinese music show. 55455. RTI has
been coming in much more strongly than normal for me this
week.

[RUSSIA] 8/9/12, 0000, 9800 -- Voice of Russia (per VOR's
schedule, which they emailed to me). Terrible modulation,
couldn't make much out. Much better on 15425, which I 

checked at 0230, and had news headlines by OM and ID.

[ROMANIA] 8/9/12, 0245, 11945 -- Per shortwaveschedule.com,
this would be Radio Romania in Spanish. Very weak and noisy,
but could make out choral-sounding music, OM speaking Spanish
at 0247, but couldn't make out enough to know what was going
on. I'll go with this being R. Romania.

[BRAZIL] 8/9/12, 0255, 11780 -- Radio Nacional da Amasonia,
strong and clear, 55455. Male announcer in Portuguese, ID and
jingle was played. Then, a different OM comes on, talking
very animatedly for a few minutes, no idea what about. I know
Spanish, but not Portuguese, unfortunately.

[CHINA] 8/9/12, 0300, 9790 -- Carrier signal for a couple of
minutes, then "Beijing Hour" show abruptly blasts into my
headphones at top of the hour, scaring the sh*t out of me
during a brief moment of distraction. Male announcer in English.
54455, great reception on this and other stations that hadn't
been sounding all that greatlast week. Propagation conditions
must've been very good this night, since it wasn't just CRI
coming in perfectly.

[ROMANIA] 8/9/12, 0300, 9645 -- English service this time. 

YL reads news: Angela Merkel visits Moldova, spat between 

Sweden and Belarus, fighting in Aleppo, Syria. Strong, 55444.

[AUSTRALIA] 8/9/12, 1230, 11945 -- Got up a little too early
for work (around 7AM central) and decided to go to the patio
for a smoke and some SWLing. Radio Australia in English came
in beautifully. News by OM, including talk about plight of
Tongan immigrants in New Zealand, as well as of Afghan
refugees elsewhere. 55444. 

¡Atención! A Cuban spy station

For decades, shortwave radio has been used to transmit coded
messages to spies or other covert operatives. Stations that are
dedicated to this are usually referred to as "numbers stations".
The station will broadcast a voice, sometimes automated, some-
times live, that will read a sequence of numbers. The voices can
be female, male or even children, and the transmissions are
often capped by a distinctive tune, tone, word(s) or song.

The idea is that the person receiving the broadcast will write down
the numbers, and decode the message using a one-time pad.
These days, one of the few entities still operating numbers stations
is the communist government of Cuba. Their station at 5898 kHz is
usually referred to by listeners and dx'ers as "¡Atención!". I
was recently able to hear it and record it, late on a Saturday night.
Well, more like Sunday morning. It was past 2AM central time.
(July 22nd, 2012)

Click below to listen to a couple of recordings from that night.
CREEPY!

Click on the links below to hear or download the mp3 files.


https://www.box.com/s/48d55ab6c74eb663cf1f

https://www.box.com/s/d5fabdf98bad41e405a1