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.

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!

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).

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.

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.

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.