CRI Sneaks Programming Into US Midwave Radio

From Reuters:

Beijing’s covert radio network airs China-friendly news across 
Washington, and the world

By Koh Gui Qing and John Shiffman

Filed Nov. 2, 2015, 1:40 p.m. GMT

Part 3: The Chinese government controls much of the content broadcast 
on a station that is blanketing the U.S. capital with pro-Beijing progra-
mming. WCRW is part of an expanding global web of 33 stations in which 
China’s involvement is obscured.


BEIJING/WASHINGTON – In August, foreign ministers from 10 nations
blasted China for building artificial islands in the disputed South China Sea.
As media around the world covered the diplomatic clash, a radio station that
serves the most powerful city in America had a distinctive take on the news.

Located outside Washington, D.C., WCRW radio made no mention of China’s
provocative island project...[CONTINUE READING]

New Frequencies and Times For Radio Exterior de España

Spain's shortwave broadcaster, Radio Exterior de España, has published new
scheduled and frequencies on its website. For us here in North America, REE
will be transmitting on 17855 khz, from 1800 to 2200 hours UTC on weekdays,
and from 1400 to 1800 hours UTC on weekends. The full listing (in Spanish)
can be seen here. Good to see this from a shortwave broadcaster that until
very recently was getting ready to shut down!

Deutsche Welle Closing Kigali Transmitter March 28th

Another one bites the dust, as Germany's Deutsche Welle will be shutting down
its relay site (their last one, actually) in Kigali, Rwanda. Apparently March 28th
is the final day of transmission from Kigali, so if you're never logged or QSL'd
this location, do so now! No budget cuts had been announced by DW, which
makes the closure somewhat of a surprise.

Radio Exterior de España Returns To Shortwave!

Woohoo! According to the Spanish news site Prnoticias.com, new head of
Spain's state broadcast units (RTVE),  José Antonio Sánchez, has reversed
the old leadership's decision regarding Radio Exterior being pulled off
shortwave radio. According to the article, the reversal was largely motivated
by complaints from many in the fishing industry, who relied on REE via
shortwave while out at sea. Shortwave broadcasts will resume "as soon as
it's feasible to do so", but no date has been given. More info in the news 
article (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 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.

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.

¡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