Midsummer Medium Wave, July 2017

JULY 2017 on the Medium Wave band began with an evening tuned to 1179 kHz, which, in days gone by, was home to Radio Sweden. Let's take a trip down memory lane with this 1991 QSL card!

A log of broadcasts received on the Medium Wave band of the Roberts R881, Tuesday 11 July 2017.
Housekeeping notes: Times in UTC (GMT), frequencies in kiloHertz (kHz) and transmission powers in watts or KiloWatts (kW).

• 11 July: 1957 UTC: 1197 kHz: A trace of audio on this frequency, most likely to be Absolute Radio, UK [400 watts via Wallasey, Merseyside].
• 11 July: 2006 UTC: 1215 kHz: Absolute Radio, UK. Strong to good reception, up to 200 kW via Moorside Edge, West Yorkshire. Music: Guns 'n' Roses 'Sweet Child O' Mine', Kings of Leon 'Down South' recorded live at BST Hyde Park. Station ID (transmission echo on the audio!), music news: Mark Knopfler to play on the new Killers album? Music: Radiohead 'High And Dry' from the album 'The Bends', Dire Straits 'Romeo And Juliet'. To 2022 UTC.
• 11 July: 2045 UTC: 1233 kHz: Absolute Radio, UK. Good to moderate reception, most likely to be 300 watts via Sheffield. Promo for the Absolute Radio smartphone app, music from Bob Marley and the Wailers 'Could You Be Loved', station ID, ads: British Gas boilers, 'Game of Thrones' on Now TV. Music: U2 'One' from the album 'Achtung Baby', Gorillaz 'Dare' and Madness 'It Must Be Love'. To 2113 UTC.

• 11 July: 2117 UTC: 1242 kHz: Absolute Radio, UK. Strong to moderate reception, most likely 1 kW via Stockton-on-Tees. Music: No Doubt 'Don't Speak', station ID (transmission echo audible). Music: Ash 'Shining Light', promo for the Christian O'Connell breakfast show. Music: Fleetwood Mac 'Everywhere' and Liam Gallagher 'Wall Of Glass'. To 2130 UTC.
• 11 July: 2138 UTC: 1251 kHz: Smooth Radio, UK. Good to moderate reception, most likely to be 760 watts via Great Barton, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk. Music: Spandau Ballet 'True', station ID for Smooth Radio, male speech, lost to the noise floor. Ad break: Dartford Crossing, The Sun, PPI, hearing solutions, British Gas new boilers. Music: 'What Becomes Of The Broken Hearted', ID 'Smooth Love'. Music: Christina Perri 'Jar of Hearts' and Phil Collins 'Groovy Kind of Love'. To 2153 UTC.

I also heard a mix of broadcasts at 2159 UTC on 1260 kHz, one of which I believe was Smooth Radio, most likely to be via Bristol, Bath or Wrexham. I heard Al Green 'Let's Stay Together' and a 2200 UTC news bulletin: Wimbledon 2017: Johanna Konta [GB] in the Semi Finals. I could also hear music of an Asian flavour, though I believe I heard a Smooth Radio ID at 2206 UTC.

That completes the log for July 2017. Enjoy the weekend!

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Short Wave: April 2017

BEGINNING this post with a QSL received recently from Laser Hot Hits [above], verifying a report I submitted following reception on 9 October 2016.

Moving on to Short Wave logs for April - Stations logged today, Saturday 8 April 2017.

Housekeeping notes: Times in UTC (GMT), frequencies in kiloHertz (kHz) and transmission powers in kiloWatts (kW).

April 2017: Short Wave

• 8 April: 0949 UTC: 15490 kHz: Radio Saudi [BSKSA], Saudi Arabia. Moderate to poor reception, 500 kW via Riyadh. Music with vocals, Arabic language speech from 10:00 UTC, male speech (news headlines?) with an audio 'stab' between spoken items. Short music clip, followed by female speech with music in the background. Music and sounds include a doorbell! To 1010 UTC.
• 8 April: 1031 UTC: 17490 kHz: China Radio International, China. Moderate to poor reception, 500 kW to Europe, Asia and Australasia via Kashi, China. Female speech, English, speaking about a fire. Very faint reception, due to QRM - Man-made interference, including a very strange 'clicking' noise... The interference is the kind produced by 'plasma'-type televisions. Reception improves slightly - To 1038 UTC.
• 8 April: 1051 UTC: 17710 kHz: Deutsche Welle, Germany. Poor reception, 250 kW to Africa via Meyerton, South Africa. Very faint speech, male and female speech in the Swahili language. The 'clicking', as reported on 17490 kHz, continues across the band. Slight uplift of signal at 1055 UTC - Off air at 1100 UTC.

• 8 April: 1128 UTC: 17805 kHz: Radio Saudi [BSKSA], Saudi Arabia. Moderate to poor reception, 500 kW via Riyadh. Male speech, accompanied by music, peaks very briefly above the noise floor. Male Arabic speech, telephone callers on the air. To 1140 UTC.
• 8 April: 1201 UTC: 21505 kHz: Radio Saudi [BSKSA], Saudi Arabia. Moderate to poor reception, 500 kW via Riyadh. An upbeat programme, battling the noise. Male and possibly female speech, music, speech, fade out... Fade in. Male speech, Arabic, with background audio. To 1210 UTC.

That completes the log of broadcasts received from the 19-meter to the 13-meter bands. Until the next time, enjoy.

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