My Short Wave Archive: March 2014

 EXTENDED warm wishes to another post of the continuous thread of memories of radio broadcasts, heard via Short Wave Radio.

The previous post of the thread, My Short Wave Archive: May 2013, can be found here.

This post brings memories of Short Wave radio broadcasts heard Thursday, March 27, 2014.

Housekeeping notes: Times in UTC (GMT), frequencies in kiloHertz (kHz). Transmission power in watts or kiloWatts (kW). Logs transcribed from the original notes.

Receiver used: Roberts R881.

March 2014 : Short Wave

• [Thursday] 27 March [2014]: 1615 UTC: 7265 kHz: China Radio International  Male speech, followed by ID - Presumed China Radio International, broadcasting in Russian? Fair reception.
  Female speech, news broadcast? Speech regarding François Hollande, President of France.
  Logged to 1620 UTC.
• 27 March: 1632 UTC: 9410 kHz: BBC World Service  Football speech - European football - On the BBC World Service. Football season is coming to a close - Bayern Munich are Champions of Germany, Paris Saint-Germain favourites to be Champions of France, Juventus favourites to be Champions of Italy? [Real] Madrid and Barcelona lead the charge to the title in Spain.
  Fair reception, English language to South Asia via Kranji, Singapore.
  Premiership title race in England lead by Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea.
  World reaction to football news on 'Sport Today', presented by Ian Payne.
  Logged to 1650 UTC.
• 27 March: 1654 UTC: 9435 kHz: China Radio International  Learn to speak Chinese on China Radio International. "I won't go to the company today". "Supermarket".
  Excellent to good reception, English language via Kashi, China.
  Programme comes to a close with the announcement of the contact email address.
  Off air at 1658 UTC.
• 27 March: 1712 UTC: 9500 kHz: Radio Australia  Music programme, broadcast is parallel to 12085 kHz. Music programme with a selection of tango tunes, such as 'Blind Man's Ally'. Male host.
  Fair reception, English to Asia and Australia via Shepparton, Victoria, Australia.
  'Daily Planet' programme: 'Tangalo' were the featured band (Link on the Radio Australia website).
  Logged to 1730 UTC.
  [Short Break]
  [1755 UTC: 9500 kHz: Broadcaster playing the piece of music 'Puffing Billy' by Eric Coates! (Railway nostalgia music).]

[Break]

• 27 March: 2245 UTC: 9575 kHz: Medi 1 Morocco  High tempo music with African flavour, speech, clips of music by Dire Straits, Santana, Michael Jackson, speech in French language.
  Female speech, ID as 'Medi Un' - This is Medi 1, Morocco.
  Good reception.
  Male speech, French language, "Come with us" in English language, speech in French, music: Bob Marley 'Is This Love' on the 'Album Story' programme (Link on the Medi 1 Radio website).
  Logged to 2255 UTC.
• 27 March: 2309 UTC: 9855 kHz: Radio Australia  Female host meets a Samoan cricket team, who were talking about community interaction with the teams and the history of cricket in Samoa.
  Fair reception, English to Asia and Australia via Al Dhabbaya, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
  One of the visiting cricketers has brought a cricket bat into the studio.
  Logged to 2325 UTC.

Thank you for visiting Reporting From The Fox Tower!

Shortwave Sunday: March 2016

LOOKING back through this blog, it is an online record of the various radio broadcasts I have heard over the decade and more that this blog has been in existence. Sunday 6 March was another of those lovely days spent beside the radio, listening to the Shortwave bands. Here is a record of what I heard that day.

[Housekeeping: Times in UTC (GMT); Frequencies in kiloHertz (kHz); Transmission powers (where applied) are kiloWatts (kW).]

1110 UTC : 6210 kHz : Radio Merlin International (UK Pirate). High energy dance music - Relay of Energy FM Tenerife 'This is Energy', ad break. Dance mix of Ellie Goulding's 'Love Me Like You Do'. Moderate to poor reception. To 1132 UTC.
*Radio Merlin website*

1145 UTC : 6295 kHz : Radio De Zwarte Panter [Radio The Black Panther] (Dutch Pirate). Dance music. Fade out - Loss of signal.
*Radio De Zwarte Panter website*

1316 UTC : 9560 kHz : Radio Slovakia International (Slovakia). Good to moderate reception. English to Europe via Radio 700 (Kall-Krekel, Germany). 'Slovakia Today' with Katarina Richterova and colleagues. To 1330 UTC.
*Radio Slovakia website*

1412 UTC : 9580 kHz : Medi 1 Radio (Tangier, Morocco). 'Intermission': Music: Annie Lennox 'Whiter Shade of Pale', Grace 'You Don't Own Me'. Fair reception.
*Medi 1 website*

1433 UTC : 9655 kHz : Radio Romania International (Romania). Strong to good reception. Romanian to Central & West Europe. Speech and music. To 1506 UTC.
*Radio Romania website*

1520 UTC : 9690 kHz : Radio Exterior de España (Spain). Strong to moderate reception. Spanish to North America. 'Tablero Deportivo' ['Sports Board'] covering the Barcelona football match; Repeated mentions of Suarez and Messi. To 1535 UTC.
*Tablero Deportivo website*

1545 UTC : 9785 kHz : China Radio International (China). Good to moderate reception. English worldwide via Jinhua, China. Sports report: American football, dog sled racing. Report about the popularity of new movies. Music: Solo artists on tour in China. Weather forecast prior to close of the broadcast. To 1553 UTC.
*China Radio website*

1612 UTC : 9875 kHz : China Radio International (China). Good reception. English worldwide via Kashi, China. Social media in China. Music: Uncle Kraker 'Writing It Down'. LinkedIn releases list of top ten jobs in China. To 1624 UTC.
*China frequencies website*

1644 UTC : 11600 kHz : Overcomer Ministry (USA). Brother R G Stair singing in praise of the Lord, then loudly highlighting words from the Scriptures, the Gospel, the Tabernacle. Quotations. Broadcasting from The Tabernacle: Requesting if European listeners could contribute "One thousand to one hundred thousand dollars to buy airtime"! Moderate reception. English to Europe & Middle East via Spaceline, Bulgaria. Off air abruptly at 1659 UTC.
*Overcomer Ministry website*

1700 UTC : 11600 kHz : Bible Voice India. "You are listening to Bible Voice India". Moderate reception. Change of language. Speech with occasional musical interlude. To 1710 UTC.

1825 UTC : 11600 kHz : End Time Coming (UK). Moderate reception. English to Europe. Male speaking to a congregation, quoting directly from a copy of the Bible - Audio of pages being turned. Abrupt end of sermon for contact details of ETC Ministry. Close of broadcast at 1830 UTC.
*ETC Radio website*

1847 UTC : 11670 kHz : All India Radio (India). General Overseas Service IV. Strong to good reception. English to Europe and Africa. 'Welcome to Studio One' went on location to meet a climber who traveled to Kabul, Afghanistan, to go climbing. "It is time for the news - Please stand by". 1900 UTC news broadcast: Female leaders should have more belief in themselves. Fears militants and would-be terrorists have traveled to India. To 1902 UTC.
*All India Radio website*

1914 UTC : 11790 kHz : Follow The Bible Ministries (USA). 250 kW transmission via Ascension Island, South Atlantic Ocean. Strong to moderate reception. "Life should be one continual prayer to God", break-up of broadcast from time to time. Quote from John, Chapter one. Break in transmission. Mark, chapter one, verse 35. Break in transmission. "Reading the Bible daily is important". To 1920 UTC.
*Follow The Bible Ministries website*

1923 UTC : 11810 kHz : BBC World Service (UK). 'Focus on Africa'. Social media; Football; Private doctors. Industry in Tanzania is growing. Promo for Matt Reinhardt with 'Americana' in half an hour. 1930 UTC news headlines: Former US First Lady, Nancy Reagan, has died. News from Syria and NATO. Police in Northern Ireland investigate a bomb. Moderate reception. English to West & Central Africa via Ascension Island. To 1941 UTC.
*Focus on Africa website*

1953 UTC : 11900 kHz : Voice of America (USA). Moderate reception. French to North west Africa - 100 kW via Sao Tome and Principe (Pinheira). 'Soul USA' playing James Brown 'Papa's Got A Brand New Bag', followed by speech...

1958 UTC : 12075 kHz : Voice of America (USA). Moderate reception. French to North west Africa via Selebi-Phikwe, Botswana - 100 kW transmission. 'Soul USA' playing Joe Cocker 'With A Little Help From My Friends'. To 2000 UTC.
*Soul USA website*

That concludes the log for March. Please note that not all broadcasts I heard that day have been included; I omitted the 'talk back' channels, usually semi-scrambled, between port and craft; I also omitted a log, simply because, it was two broadcasts listed at the same time, same frequency, and I haven't yet been able to tell them apart.

Please do click on the weblinks that follow the majority of logs. Please note that not all of the websites linked to are in the English language.

Until the next time, kind regards and enjoy.

International Listening Update, March 2014

TEN MONTHS have passed since I last tuned the Short Wave band of my radio, to listen to broadcasts from all over the world. I took the opportunity to spend some time beside my radio on the afternoon of Thursday 27 March. The results of what I heard are here. All times are UTC (Universal Time Co-ordination, also known as GMT - Greenwich Mean Time); All frequencies are kHz (kiloHertz).

• 1615 UTC, 7265 kHz : Unidentified broadcast - Possibly China Radio International, broadcasting in the Russian language. Reception was fair. Male speech, female speech, news regarding France. Speech regarding President Francois Hollande, France. To 1620 UTC.
• 1630 UTC, 9410 kHz : BBC World Service - 'Sport Today'. European football: Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain, Juventus, Real Madrid, Barcelona. Reception was fair. English to South Asia via Kranji, Singapore. Premiership football in England: Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea. World reaction via social media. To 1650 UTC.
• 1650 UTC, 9435 kHz : China Radio International - Learn to speak Chinese, referring to phrases such as "I won't go to the company today" and words such as "supermarket". Reception was good. English broadcast worldwide via Kashi, China. To 1700 UTC.
• 1710 UTC, 9500 kHz : Radio Australia [ABC - Australian Broadcasting Corporation] - 'Daily Planet' music programme, referring to the band 'Tangalo'. Male host. Reception was fair. English to Asia and Australasia via Shepparton, Victoria, Australia. To 1730 UTC.
• 1755 UTC, 9500 kHz : Unidentified broadcast - Speech interspersed with intro to the track 'Puffing Billy' by Edward White! To 1800 UTC.

• 2245 UTC, 9575 kHz : Medi 1 Radio, Morocco - 'Album Story' programme. Speech, followed by clips of tracks by Dire Straits, Santana and Michael Jackson. Female speech in French. Reception was good. Male speech, music by Bob Marley. To 2255 UTC.
• 2310 UTC, 9855 kHz : Radio Australia [ABC - Australian Broadcasting Corporation] - Female host with round table discussion regarding sport in the community and history of cricket in Samoa. Reception was fair. English to Asia and Australasia via Al Dhabbaya, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. To 2325 UTC.

That concludes the log of broadcasts I heard Thursday 27 March. I hope not to leave it so long next time!