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.

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