Short Wave on the Sangean ATS-405, May 2018

ANOTHER sunny, Sunday afternoon, the day after Harry and Meghan's Royal Wedding at Windsor, which was followed by Chelsea Football Club's FA Cup victory over Manchavster United at Wembley later in the day.

Before all that took place, I spent the evening of Friday 11 May 2018 tuning the Sangean ATS-405 on the Short Wave band. The logs in a moment, but first, housekeeping notes: Times in UTC (GMT), frequencies in kiloHertz (kHz). Transmission power in watts or kiloWatts (kW).

Short Wave: May 2018

• [Friday] 11 May [2018]: 1841 UTC: 3320 kHz: Radio Sonder Grense, Afrikaans language via South Africa. Speech / vocals, female. Poor reception. To 1845 UTC.
• 11 May: 1849 UTC: 3330 kHz: CHU Canada, male voice, Time Signal broadcast. Poor reception. To 1853 UTC.
• 11 May: 1905 UTC: 3975 kHz: Shortwave Radio, broadcasting to Europe via Winsen, Germany. Good to Moderate reception. 'Stafford's World': Music from Bob Dylan; Bee Gees 'Nights On Broadway'. Male host [Mark Stafford] speaking about the history of the Bee Gees in the USA and UK up to Saturday Night Fever. Music: Talking Heads 'Take Me To The River'; Ray Stevens 'Get Down To Business, Mr Businessman; Agnetha Fältskog; Deep Purple. To 1922 UTC.
• 11 May: 1924 UTC: 3985 kHz: Radio Slovakia International, music, female speech. Moderate reception. ID for Slovakia, contact details including email, listen via shortwave, also listen online. Radio Slovakia International to Europe [English service] via Kall-krekel, Germany (Shortwave Service). To 1930 UTC.

• 11 May: 1932 UTC: 3985 kHz: ID in German for Shortwave Service; Radio Tirana International in German. Male speech, soft music. Web address. Good to Moderate reception. ID, music. Radio Tirana via Kall-Krekel, Germany. To 1953 UTC.
• 11 May: 1958 UTC: 3995 kHz: HCJB Germany, 1.5 kW transmission. Music from clarinet and piano; Female and male speech in German. HCJB via Weenermoor, Germany. Music and speech. Moderate reception. To 2009 UTC.
• 11 May: 2034 UTC: 4653 kHz: Presumably Air Traffic - Speech between males, with details of numbers - 3, 5, 2, with references to the phonetic alphabet 'Romeo' and numbers '3, 7, 5, 0' and various sounds on the transmissions. Male voice sending transmissions with frequencies - Sometimes other voice is heard. Could be Shannon Aeradio, Ballygirreen, Co Clare, Ireland. Moderate reception. To 2056 UTC.
• 11 May: 2113 UTC: 4800 kHz: Music, followed by female speech, Chinese? Possibly CNR-1, Golmud, China. Female Chinese speech over a music bed, into a song. Strong to good reception. Music with female speech in Chinese. To 2122 UTC.
• 11 May: 2125 UTC: 4820 kHz: Music, Good to Moderate reception, continuous music. Possibly PBS Xizang, Chinese, 20-2230 UTC, 100 kW via Lhasa-Baiding, Tibet; - or - Voz Evangelica, Spanish, 10-05 UTC, 5 kW via Honduras.
• 11 May: 2216 UTC: Unlisted frequency of 5845 kHz carrying BBC World Service - Spurious broadcast? 'News Room' with news stories including Donald Trump and John McCain, British citizens taken hostage in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Eurovision Song Contest takes place this weekend. Sport: Nadal knocked out of latest tennis tournament. Good to moderate reception. Sport: Tennis, golf: Report by Ian Carter at the golf. To 2225 UTC.

• 11 May: 2230 UTC: 5860 kHz: Music: Toni Braxton 'Unbreak My Heart' to time pips (Time Signal) at 2230 UTC, male speech, audio 'stab', two males speaking, male speech continues. Female speech. Good to Moderate reception. Male speech. This broadcast could possibly be Radio Farda, Persian, 15-00 UTC, 250 kW via Kuwait. To 2236 UTC.
• 11 May: 2244 UTC: 5930 kHz: Strong, clear, male speech, in what I believe to be Arabic - Predominantly speech broadcast, music at 2253 UTC. Strong to good reception. Speech and music up to 2259 UTC - Off air at 2300 UTC. Possibly Radio Algerienne Chaine 1, Algeria, 2211-23 UTC, Arabic, 500 kW via Issoudun, France. To 2300 UTC.

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DX Extra: Friday 11 May 2018: 2314 UTC: 107.5 FM: Eden FM, Penrith. 25 watts via Penrith. ID: 'This is your community radio station, Eden FM'. Music: Bryan Adams (+ Chicane?) 'Don't Give Up'; Richard Ashcroft 'Fill The Night With Colour'. ID: 'Your community radio station, your 107.5 Eden FM'. Music: 'Never Can Say Goodbye'. Moderate to poor reception. 25 watts via Penrith. Music: Tim McGraw & Faith Hill 'The Rest of Our Life'. To 2324 UTC.

All for now.