Cuban Spy Numbers Station (HM01) On 11635 khz

While doing some shortwave listening on my back porch in Fort Worth,
TX recently (5/10/15), I came upon the well-known HM01 spy numbers
station from Cuba. This time I caught it on 11635 khz, at exactly 1800 UTC.
Signal quality was very good, but you can hear from yourself in the video
below. I listened on a Tecsun PL-380 with a 25-ft wire antenna, with cloudy/
rainy conditions.

Shortwave Logs From Fort Worth, TX for April 2015

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 Fort Worth, Texas, USA, with 25 foot reel wire 
antenna, on a first floor, unless otherwise noted.

[SPAIN] 04/19/15, 2028, 17855 khz -- Radio Nacional de Espana
in Spanish. Male announcers call futbol game, teams unknown.
SINPO 33343; first time receiving REE on this frequency since
they "came back".

[USA] 04/19/15, 2030, 17790 -- Male announcer (I believe he said
his name was "Tim Taylor") preaches and prays in English. SINPO
45455, very good signal. Almost certainly RMI from Okechobee,
FL.

[CUBA] 04/19/15, 2031, 17730 -- Radio Habana Cuba in Arabic,
male(?) announcer reading presumably news. Thought at first it
might not be Arabic, as it sounded kind of off compared to what my
ear expected, but it is Arabic per Aoki schedule. SINPO 44344.

[USA] 04/19/15, 2034, 15000 -- WWV time station from Fort
Collins, Colorado. The usual, reception about average. SINPO
33233.

[EGYPT] 04/22/15, 0317, 9965 -- Radio Cairo in Arabic, coming in
very decently all the way from North Africa, for once! Middle-Eastern
sounding music with male vocal (?). Clapping heard at end of song,
which was immediately followed by tune from what seemed like diffe-
rent artist at 0320. SINPO 34333.

[BRAZIL] 04/23/15, 0308, 11780 -- Radio Nacional da Amazonia,
in Portuguese. Acoustic guitar music with male vocal. Really good
signal tonight even for this station, at times it almost sounded like it
could've been local AM radio. SINPO 44454, but sometimes as good
as 45545.

[UK/VIETNAM] 04/24/15, 0235, 12005 -- Voice of Vietnam in
English, transmitted from Woofferton, UK. News headlines by alter-
nating male and female announcers. Heavy accents left me unable to
understand much of what was being said, but picked up mentions of
a Cuba/EU meeting and the Iran nuclear negotiations. SINPO 43344.

Shortwave Logs From Fort Worth, TX for 02/15/15

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 Fort Worth, Texas, USA, with 25 foot reel wire 
antenna, on a first floor, unless otherwise noted.

[RWANDA/GERMANY] 02/15/15, 1828, 17800 khz -- Deutsche Welle
from Kigali, Rwanda, in Hausa language. Two males talk on unknown
subject. Decent signal for daytime, considering this is coming from 
East Africa. Listened for about five minutes. SINPO 33233.

[USA] 02/15/15, 1842, 15610 khz -- EWTN (Catholic) Radio transmitting
from Vandiver, Alabama. "Vatican Insider" program with female announ-
cer. Strong, clear signal with a little noise, as typical for this frequency. 
SINPO 44344

[CUBA] 02/15/15, 1845, 11635 -- Atencion Cuba spy station with short
set of numbers being read in Spanish by female ("tres, dos, ocho, 
siete, siete"), followed by data-like sounds for several seconds, then
more numbers, and so on. SINPO 45454, good signal. It seems like
Cuban spy activity hasn't slowed down since the beginning of thawed
relations with the US.

[USA] 02/15/15, 1858, 15825 -- Religious talk by male, then station ID
and new show at top of hour (Dr. James Blank [sp?]). Male prays while
female translates into Spanish. SINPO 44344. 

Shortwave Logs For 1/29-1/30/15

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 Fort Worth, Texas, USA, with 25 foot reel wire 
antenna, on a first floor, unless otherwise noted.


[CUBA] 01/29/15, 0410, 5025 -- Radio Rebelde in Spanish, with male
 and female announcer reading personal ads listeners have apparently
sent in from all over Cuba. Some looking for friendship, some looking
for men or women only. Reception was a bit noisy. SINPO 43344.

[CUBA] 01/29/15, 0413, 5040 -- Radio Habana Cuba in Spanish.
Latin music, with male announcer interrupting here and there. Recep-
tion much like Radio Rebelde: not great, not terrible. SINPO 43344.

[USA] 01/29/15, 0415, 5890 -- WWCR from Nashville, TN at 100
kw with good ol' Brother Stair ranting about the British Empire and
its evil (??). He then asks listeners for reception reports. 55455, very
good signal.

[VATICAN] 01/29/15, 0417, 7360 -- Vatican Radio in the Tigrinya
language of Eritrea and Ethiopia,  transmitting from Santa Maria de
Galera at 500 kw. Two males  talking, lots of noise and some inter-
ference. SINPO 43243.

[CUBA/CHINA] 01/29/15, 0420, 9790 -- China Radio International
in Cantonese, transmitted from Havana at 250 kw. Surprisingly bad
signal marred by interference and noise, unlike what I normally
receive on this frequency. Male announcer. SINPO 32233.

[GREECE] 01/30/15, 0100, 9420 -- Helliniki Radiophonia from
Avlis. Male and female talk in Greek. SINPO 33222.

[USA] 01/30/15, 0106, 8420 -- Ship-to-shore communication station
from Mobile, Alabama. Morse code usually heard on here, but
tonight just pulsing and other sounds. SINPO 33222.

[CUBA/CHINA] 01/30/15, 0108, 9580 -- China Radio Int'l from
Havana. Male announcer with news in English, mentions story of
Japanese hostage being held by Islamic State. 44344, good signal.

[BRAZIL] 01/30/15, 0112, 11780 -- Radio Nacional de Amazonia
from Brasilia at 250 kw. Latin music, followed by station ID and
chatter from male announcer in Portuguese. SINPO 43344.

New CEO For Agency That Runs US Shortwave

From a Broadcasting Board of Governors press release:


WASHINGTON – Respected journalist and media executive Andrew
Lack was sworn-in today as the Chief Executive Officer and Director
of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, the federal agency that
oversees the five networks and broadcasting operations of U.S. intern-
ational media. Those networks include the Voice of America, Radio
Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio and TV Martí, Radio Free Asia,
and the Middle East  Broadcasting Networks.

Lack is the first-ever CEO of U.S. international media.  Creating the
position of a CEO has been a key objective of the agency’s governing
board and the Administration.

“We are at a unique time in the extraordinary history of this agency.
The 21st Century’s global war on information is increasingly threatening
to our country and our values,” said Lack. “I am lucky to join a great
group of journalists and news professionals spread across the globe who
care so deeply about our critical role in that battle.”

Lack’s selection follows an almost year-long search process that began
in October 2013...[CONTINUE READING]

China Could Take Over Spain Frequencies

With Spain's national shortwave broadcaster  'Radio Exterior de 
España' seemingly leaving the international radio scene for good, 
the Spanish newspaper 'El Faro De Vigo' is reporting that some 
frequencies which REE had used to broadcast Spanish-language 
programming on China Radio International's behalf could be taken 
over outright by the Chinese.


From the article (translated from Spanish):


Through an agreement with China, REE issued two hours daily 
in Spanish to Asia from a center in Xi'an. By suspending this 
service, the frequencies used for Spain's zone would be free and 
China would be willing to acquire them. That is how it is explained 
by the Spanish SWL Association (AER), part of the Platform in 
Defense of the Short Wave, which ensures that China has already 
requested the reservation of frequencies to HFCC (High Frequency 
Co-ordination Conference) -in charge of controlling and 
distributing the use of frequencies; this means it would cost Spain  
more time and money  to recover them [if it were to change its 
mind regarding shortwave].

According to AER, frequencies are "controlled" in an unofficial 
way by the HFCC, so that when a country "reserves" a frequency, 
it can be used over a year, but if they do not, it is freed up. When 
using frequencies next to China from the center of Xi'an, and at 
the breaking of the agreement with Spain, the Asian country is 
now seeking to stay with them.

Thus, part of the Indian Ocean and the Pacific would remain 
without coverage.

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.

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

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.

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.