IRIB To Discontinue Shortwave Broadcasts

I received the email below from Iran's IRIB English Radio on April 3rd...

"Greetings

IRIB English radio has recently planned to broadcast its programs via
Internet and satellite and based on this plan, the shortwave broadcast 
of our radio will be unfortunately discontinued. As a radio hobbyist 
and an audience of IRIB English Radio based in Tehran, Iran, what do 
you think about this idea? Do you think we should take this measure 
and act as we have planned or you still prefer to follow our programs 
via shortwave radio? Please let us know and help us to make the best 
decision."

I replied to the email and let them know that shortwave is still a necessary
service to many around the world, as not everyone can always have access
to the internet. Besides that, shortwave signals are more difficult to block by
hostile governments than radio signals are. If you want to add your two cents,
email Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting at englishradio@irib.ir.

Radio Exterior de España Leaving Shortwave

Well, this shouldn't come as a surprise, but according to various sources,
Spain's shortwave broadcasts will cease as of October 1st of this year. Radio
Exterior de España is only the latest international shortwave broadcaster to
leave shortwave, following other nations such as Holland, Canada and Taiwan.
Over the last few years, I was able to enjoy REE's shows on 9535 khz, transmitted
from Noblejas, Spain. The reason for the shutdown is likely to be the oft-cited
budget cuts which have stricken so many international broadcasters as of late.
REE is expected to continue on the Internet, but of course that won't be the
same, and probably won't have the same audience. SWLs and DX'ers aren't
the only ones upset over the news: the Spanish labor union Union Sindical
Obrera calls the decision "surrealist, dantesque, contradictory, and above
all, pathetic". I would have to agree with that assessment. 

With one more national broadcaster shutting down, I will now be left with
Radio Habana, CRI, Radio Nacional Amazonia and religious crazies as my 
only easy SWL listening options. Yipee.

Invitation to Mexican DX Meeting 2013

[The information below was  recently posted as a comment under
one of my posts. I thought I'd put it up here for those who may
be interested. -B.]

Dear friends of Radio, DX clubs, SWL, Ham radio:

I like to invite to our Mexican DX Meeting, we would like to accompany us
and talk about his radio station, SWL stations or Radio Shack.

More information:

19th National and International Meeting of DXers and Shortwave Listeners
July 18 - 20, 2013

What is this Meeting?
This is the annual get-together for all radio enthusiasts: DXers, radio
experimenters, shortwave listeners, associations, groups, clubs and radio
listeners in general; from Mexico and any part of the world, as well as
representatives of international and local radio stations.

For more details, e-mail to:  mcruz_dx@yahoo.com.mx


Thanks!

If you can not attend, please share the invitation. Live the shortwave and
DXing!

Organizers are Radio Educacion - Onda Corta 6185 kHz and Mr. Juan Jose
Miroz - radioamateur and swl.

Shortwave Logs for May, 2013

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.

[BRAZIL] 05-09-13, 0210, 6180 -- Radio Nacional de
Amazonia in Portuguese. Two males probably talking
about a futbol game. Reception marred by loud whine
and interference . Not as good as R. Nacional on
11780, where it is almost always excellent. SINPO
42333.

[SPAIN] 05-09-13, 0215, 9535 -- Radio Exterior de
Espana in Spanish from Noblejas at 350 KW, per Aoki.
One female interviews another, apparently regarding
a book on Cuba. SINPO 44444, somewhat better than
normal for this frequency.

[MOLDOVA/RUSSIA] 05-09-13, 0220, 9665 -- Voice of
Russia in English from Kishinev-Grigoriopol, Moldova.
Two males talk, can't quite tell what about. Bad
interference and noise. SINPO 42322.

[EGYPT] 05-09-13, 0223, 9720 -- Radio Cairo in English
from Abu Zaabal, 250kw. Female talks, hard to understand
due to noise, but could tell it was English. SINPO
33222. Also heard R Cairo w/ Middle Eastern music on
05-16-13 on 9965 khz, 0055 UTC, similar reception.

[USA/TAIWAN] 05-13-13, 0108, 11565 -- R. Taiwan Intl
in Spanish from Okechobee, FL. News by male, relations
w/ PRC, then weather. This followed by details on some
sort of contest. SINPO 44334.

[TURKEY] 05-13-13, 0113, 9770 -- Voice of Turkey,
500kw from Emirler. Spanish. News by female, Israeli
budget, other world news. Muddy, mediocre reception
at best. SINPO 33222.

[ROMANIA] 05-13-13, 0118, 9700 -- Radio Romania Intl
in French. Male interviews female. Some fading but otherwise
very good, SINPO 55455.

[AUSTRALIA] 05-13-13, 0120, 19000 -- Radio Australia
Intl from Shepparton @ 100 kw, end of reggae-sounding song, 
then ID at 0121. Female interviews German/Tongan female
artist from Auckland. SINPO 44333. Heard the same on 21740,
as normal.

More Cuban Spy Numbers...Now With Data!

One recent afternoon (April 2nd, around 2330 UTC), I was
sitting on my second floor patio, and scanning the shortwave
bands on my Tecsun PL-380, with a 15 foot wire attached to
the whip antenna. I came upon what sounded like the usual
Cuban spy numbers, but this time on 17540 khz, where I don't
normally hear them, certainly not at this hour. No big deal,
as I hear presumed cuban numbers stations all the time, but
this time there were less numbers being read, and the sets of
numbers were interrupted by data bursts/modem sounds. This
was actually not the first time I've come across these voice/
data spy transmissions, but I'll admit I only started hearing
these particular ones within the last 3-4 weeks. This time, I
decided to finally get off my ass and make a recording. Click
below to listen and/or download.

https://www.box.com/s/ueptz8b3gx9ov1p9dxze

Voice of Greece QSL

On August 24, 2012, I received Voice of Greece on 15630 khz, and
heard the usual Greek and/or foreign music. It was one of the first
times I'd logged Greece, and badly wanted to send a reception
report. I could not find a good email address anywhere, so I took
the unusual step (for me, at least) of sending them a QSL request
by regular mail. If I remember right, I got VOG's address from the
excellent blog South East Asia DXing (if you need a mailing address,
it is at the bottom of this post). Anyway, I wrote a brief report, put it
in an envelope with two or three stamps, and off it went.

After several months, (sometime in January this year), I received
an envelope containing a big, folded map of Greece, a sheet with
a VOG schedule and my eagerly anticipated QSL card, with a
picture of some ancient Greek jewelry on the front. Since my
initial loggings of VOG, I have found myself listening to it very
often, although mostly on 9420 khz, rather than 15630. The
quality of the transmissions varies, with some days earning
something like a SINPO rating of 44344, but more often it's
more like 33233, or worse. Still, it's almost always on when I
do my SWLing in the evenings, and the strange, idiosyncratic
music is always cool to listen to.

QSL card, front and back, is pictured below.

Voice of Greece
432 Messoghion Av
15342 Aghia Paraskevi
Athens - GREECE

or

POB 60019
15310 Aghia Paraskevi
ATTIKIS
Athens - GREECE

Shortwave Logs for January, 2013

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.

[MOLDOVA] 01-10-13, 0035, 7290 -- Voice of
Russia in English from Kishinev-Grigoriopol  at
500 kw, per Aoki. Male announcer, technology and
business news. SINPO 44233, lots of ambient noise.

[GREEECE] 01-12-13, 2220, 9420 -- Voice of
Greece is sometimes barely audible on this frequency,
but reception was slightly better this night. Music and
greek talk by two males. SINPO 34333. Great station
for music when it comes in decently.

[USA] 01-12-13, 2225, 15440 -- Radio Taiwan Inter-
national in English, from Okechobee, Florida. Female
interviews male (about food?), followed by the segment
"Classic Shorts". SINPO 54555, excellent reception.

[CUBA] 01-27-13, 0730, 9330 -- Cuba's "Atencion"
spy numbers station, this time on a frequency which I
don't recall hearing it on before. Aoki lists nothing here
at this time. Female voice reads strings of numbers,
interspersed with data/modem type sounds. SINPO
32333. Listened until 0738. Would've made a recording,
but I'm laaaaazy.

[BRAZIL] 01-28-13, 0037, 11780 -- Radio Nacional
de Amazonia in Portuguese. Caught the end of the song
"Black Sabbath" by the band of the same name, followed
by male announcer saying "memorias musicales", then more
music, not rock this time. SINPO 33233.


COMMENTS: Not a very active month for logging stations
for me, mostly due to me doing most of my DXing outside
and not being a huge fan of the cold. Nothing new or
terribly interesting this month, no new or weird stations.
I'm still hearing Canada's CHU time station on 3330 khz
regularly, although very weak. Radio Habana Cuba still
strong all over, still listening to them almost daily on
5040, 6165 and 11760 khz.

Radio Habana Cuba QSL card

Way back in July 2012, I sent Radio Habana Cuba a QSL request by
email to radiohc@enet.cu, for shortwave reception on 11750 khz. For
some reason, that doesn't sound quite right at the moment. Buuut, I'm
too lazy to check my logs. And let's face it, what frequency doesn't RHC
broadcast in? Does it even matter?

Several months later (early January  2013) I received a QSL package
from Cuba in the mail. The envelope was badly torn, basically open;
this happens to my correspondence from Iran as well, so no real surprise
there. Free countries (unlike Cuba?)  routinely open and check their
citizens' mail, right? Aaaanyway...Pictures of the QSL (back and front)
are below, along with a postcard and Jose Marti pocket calendar .
Thanks, RHC!

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!

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!

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.