My Short Wave Archive: January 2015

 GREETINGS, welcome to memories of Short Wave radio broadcasts heard Sunday, January 4, 2015.

The previous post of the thread, My Short Wave Archive: May 2014, can be found here.

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.

January 2015 : Short Wave

• [Sunday] 4 January [2015]: 1237 UTC: 10000 kHz: WWV Boulder, Colorado, USA.
  Fluctuating signal, good to fair reception [Time signal station].
  To 1249 UTC.
• 4 January: 1252 UTC: 11520 kHz: WEWN Birmingham AL (USA)  Music, followed by speech from male, thanking listeners for tuning to WEWN - Part of the EWTN Network - confirming we are listening to WEWN, reminder to retune to 15 MHz for the next broadcast starting very soon. Signing off this frequency - Frequency closed.
  Fair reception, English language broadcast to Europe and Middle East on an alternative frequency.
  Frequency closed at 1257 UTC.
• 4 January: 1324 UTC: 11640 kHz: "Classical music programme - with speech between pieces - Speech from a male, which I believe to be Chinese. Has a slight lilt of French, too! Oh, I am so confused. I think this could be an Unidentified for me, but did sound most like Chinese. Lovely music, though."
  Fair reception, logged to 1332 UTC.
  [Most likely to have been China Radio International]

EWTN [WEWN] QSL, September 2012.

•    4 January: 1335 UTC: 11730 kHz: "I can hear a broadcast, drowned out by noise - Jammed broadcast?"
  Logged to 1339 UTC.
  [Possibly Radio Free Asia]
• 4 January: 1352 UTC: 12085 kHz: Radio Australia  Male speaking of multi-cultural communities in Australia and speaking of the same in South Africa. Corresponding speech from male guest [in studio] - or on telephone.
  Female with news headlines at 1400 UTC, including sport - Tennis results and the weather.
  New programme now on air, music from The Who 'My Generation' used to illustrate piece, about a child and grandparent. Programme about generations.
  Focus on the life of a priest in World War One at the Vatican.
  Fair reception, English language to Asia and Austaralasia via Shepparton (Australia).
  Logged to 1417 UTC.
• 4 January: 1450 UTC: 12115 kHz: Reach Beyond Australia  Females with verses from the Bible. 'Cynthia found her home in Christ'. Female continues with a reading. Bible references. Continuing to 'Spread the word'. Reading from Corinthians II.
  1500 UTC: ID? The broadcast that has just ended was 'Words To Live By'.
  On air now: Male speech.
  Fair reception; Logged to 1510 UTC.
  
• 4 January: 1523 UTC: 13845 kHz: WWCR-3 Nashville TN USA  Female speaking of God, on a broadcast with propagation. The vocation of following Christ to God.
  This is University Network via WWCR-3 Nashville, Tennessee, USA.
  English language to Europe and America.
  Fair to poor reception; "Not very audible."
  Logged to 1535 UTC.
• 4 January: 1554 UTC: 15420 kHz: BBC World Service  Male speech in English "One final thing", "Thank you Andrew" Speech being lost in the propagation. ID at 1557 UTC during a promo.
  1600 UTC: Time pips, news headline: Events in Nigeria.
  'Sportsworld' with Caroline and guest Mark Lawrenson. Football: FA Cup Third Round weekend: Manchester City v Sheffield Wednesday, Aston Villa v Blackpool. Mark Lawrenson gives his reaction to the fixtures. Live match commentary coming up from Huish Park in the third round of the FA Cup: Yeovil Town versus Manchester United. Also playing today: Chelsea v Watford, Stoke v Wrexham. Southampton also play today.
  Fair to poor reception.
  Sheffield United have beaten Queen's Park Rangers.
  English to Africa (East and South Africa) via Seychelles.
  Loss of reception at 1617 UTC; regained at 1620 UTC, with a report from Huish Park: 0 - 0 at half time.
  Logged to 1637 UTC.

Thank you for visiting Reporting From The Fox Tower!

January + February 2017 on air

MID February and it is a Six Nations Sunday, a tournament which this blog has reflected upon (briefly) over past years. Spoiler alert: Ireland and England won on Saturday; Scotland v France is underway, five minutes played, no score.

I have had a couple of evenings listening to the Roberts R881 over the first six weeks of this year, here are the logs of what I heard on Short Wave and, to begin, Medium Wave. Notes: Time in UTC (GMT), frequency in kiloHertz (kHz), power in kiloWatt (kW) or MegaWatt (MW).

January 2017: Medium Wave.

• 25 January: 1812 UTC: 540 kHz: MR Kossuth Radio, Hungary. Good to strong reception, 2 MW via Solt, Hungary. 'Sports World' covering a Women's volleyball Cup match.
• 25 January: 1906 UTC: 549 kHz: Jil FM, Algeria. Good to strong reception, up to 600 kW via Sidi Hamadouche, Algeria. Music and speech, French and Arabic services.
• 25 January: 1935 UTC: 567 kHz: RNE Radio 5, Spain. Moderate to poor reception, up to 100 kW via Murcia, Spain. Male and female speech, Spanish.

• 25 January: 1958 UTC: 585 kHz: BBC Radio Scotland, UK. Good to strong reception, 2 kW via Dumfries, Scotland. Football! Heart of Midlothian v Raith Rovers in the Scottish Cup - GOAL Hearts 0 - Raith Rovers 1 (Deflected goal). Also playing: Celtic 0 - St Johnstone 0.
• 25 January: 2018 UTC: 585 kHz: RNE Radio Nacional, Spain. Good to strong reception, up to 100 kW via Madrid, Spain. MORE football! Celta Vigo v Real Madrid - Male commentators mention Bale, Iker Casillas, Sergio Ramos, referee blows his whistle. Isco. [Full Time: 2-2]
• 25 January: 2036 UTC: 603 kHz: BBC Radio 4, UK. Good to strong reception. 2 kW via Wrekenton, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, England. 'Future Proofing': How sport plays its part in society. Link into the 'Four Thought' programme.

• 25 January: 2108 UTC: 621 kHz: RTBF International, Belgium. Strong to moderate reception, 300 kW via Wavre, Belgium. 'Viva Sports' Male speech, presumably at a football fixture. Mentions of 'goalkeeper', 'El Classico', 'Anderlecht'. Full Time? Male in quiet studio reading football scores. Music: Clean Bandit 'Rockabye'.
• 25 January: 2148 UTC: 639 kHz: RNE Radio Nacional, Spain. Good to strong reception, up to 600 kW via various transmission sites. Football: Celta Vigo v Real Madrid - Male commentary. Full Time? Highlights package.
• 25 January: 2209 UTC: 639 kHz: CRo2 Dvojka, Czech Republic. Good to moderate reception, 1500 kW via Prague. 'Night Micro forum' with Marie Retková. Female conversation, music: Frank Sinatra 'Strangers In The Night'. Conversation continues.

February 2017: Short Wave.

• 2 February: 1201 UTC: 9430 kHz: FEBC International, Philippines. Moderate reception, 100 kW to Asia, via Bocaue, Philippines. Music, top of the hour idents in various languages, music. Chinese - Mandarin language.
• 2 February: 1240 UTC: 9560 kHz: Vatican Radio, Vatican City, The Vatican. Poor reception, 250 kW to Asia + Oceania via Philippines. Chinese language programme, female and male speech. ID signal.
• 2 February: 1312 UTC: 9645 kHz: Reach Beyond Australia, Australia. Moderate to poor reception, English language to Asia, via Kununurra, Australia. 'Hope for the Heart' programme with male and female voices.

• 2 February: 1345 UTC: 9740 kHz: BBC World Service, UK. Moderate to poor reception, female speech at length, male on telephone. English to East + South East Asia via Kranji, Singapore.
• 2 February: 1452 UTC: 9880 kHz: China Radio International, China. Good to moderate reception, 100 kW via Nanning, China. Cambodian language - Music, female speech, ID sequence, off air at 1457 UTC.
• 2 February: 1509 UTC: 9900 kHz: Voice of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Iran. Moderate to poor reception, 500 kW via Sirjan, Iran. Hindi language - Very muffled speech, heavy propagation. Music, female speech. [Online as 'ParsToday']

• 2 February: 1532 UTC: 9920 kHz: BBC World Service, UK. Good to moderate reception, 250 kW via Nakhon Sawan, Thailand. Urdu language: Female speech, translating an American English male, translating an English speaking female.
• 2 February: 1555 UTC: 11635 kHz: BBC World Service, UK. Poor reception. 250 kW via Kranji, Singapore. Urdu language: Female in studio, with male on phone. Music, female speech. Off air at 1559 UTC.
• 2 February: 1606 UTC: 11725 kHz: China Radio International, China. Poor reception. 150 kW via Cerrik, Albania. Arabic language: Flamboyant music, male speech, extended music.

• 2 February: 1617 UTC: 11735 kHz: Either Zanzibar Broadcasting Corporation, Zanzibar [50 kW via Dole, Zanzibar, Swahili language] Or Rádio Trans Mundial, Brazil [50 kW via Santa Maria - Camobi, Brazil, Portuguese language]. Moderate reception, male speech, music.
• 2 February: 1632 UTC: 11815 kHz: Voice of Turkey, Turkey. Strong to moderate reception, 500 kW via Emirler, Turkey. Turkish language, male speech, music.
• 2 February: 1639 UTC: 11900 kHz: Voice of America, USA. Moderate to poor reception, English to Africa via Sentech, Meyerton, South Africa. Female and male presentation team of 'South Sudan In Focus'.

• 2 February: 1736 UTC: 11930 kHz: Radio Marti, USA. Moderate to poor reception, Spanish to Cuba via Greenville, North Carolina, USA. Strong speech from a male, with female speech too.
• 2 February: 1750 UTC: 11945 kHz: NHK World Radio, Japan. Good to strong reception, 250 kW via Issoudun, France. Music: Earth, Wind & Fire 'Boogie Wonderland', Japanese speech, music. Female speech, male speech, ID, time signal for 1800 UTC, ID. Male speech: News bulletin. Female speech.
• 2 February: 1828 UTC: 11975 kHz: BBC World Service, UK. Good reception, 250 kW to Africa, via Ascension Island. French language service, male speech, ID as 'BBC Afrique', ID set to music - Off air at 1829 UTC.

• 2 February: 1835 UTC: 12075 kHz: Voice of America, USA. Strong to moderate reception. French language service to Africa, via Botswana. Male and female speech, with idents.
• 2 February: 1854 UTC: 12160 kHz: WWCR 2, USA. Poor reception, 100 kW via Nashville, Tennessee, USA. English language: Male voice with web address, music, female speech.
• 2 February: 1925 UTC: 15400 kHz: BBC World Service, UK. Good to strong reception, English to West + Central Africa via Ascension Island - Football! Ghana v Cameroon in the African Cup of Nations - Live commentary from the Stade de Franceville, half an hour played. Ghana corner, dispossessed, Cameroon corner - 30 yard shot on goal, Ghana 'keeper punches the ball out. 0-0 on 30 minutes in the Semi-Final. Ghana have a shot on goal - Wide of the post.

That completes the logs for January and February - Much more comprehensive than I thought! I hope you have found this post informative and interesting. Until the next time - Enjoy.

📻

Short Wave on a Sunday

NOT JUST ANY old Sunday, but the first Sunday of the year - Sunday 4 January, 2015. It has been a while since I listened to the Short Wave band, so it was nice to catch up with the international airwaves. As always, times in UTC (GMT) and frequencies in kiloHertz (kHz). Here we are:

• 1237 UTC, 10 000 kHz : NIST Radio Station WWV, Boulder, Colorado, USA. National Institute of Science and Technology radio station, broadcasting the Time Signal and other associated information. Moderate to good reception. To 1249 UTC.
• 1252 UTC, 11 520 kHz : EWTN Global Catholic Radio, Birmingham, Alabama, USA - Also known as WEWN Global Catholic Radio. Conclusion of Sunday Mass from the EWTN Chapel. This broadcast is English to South East Asia, also Middle East, Africa, India - And Europe. Moderate reception. Frequency closed at 1257 UTC.
• 1324 UTC, 11 640 kHz : Unidentified broadcast - Classical music programme, with speech between pieces. I believe the broadcast to be Radio Taiwan International, broadcasting Chinese via Kouhu, Taiwan. Moderate reception. To 1332 UTC.
• 1335 UTC, 11 730 kHz : Unidentified broadcast - Broadcast(s) covered by noise - Possibly blocked or jammed? Schedules for the time and frequency show Radio Belarus, broadcasting Belarusian via Minsk-Kalodzicy, Belarus, or Voice of the Islamic Republic of Iran, broadcasting Urdu via Kamalabad, Iran. To 1339 UTC.
• 1352 UTC, 12 085 kHz : Radio Australia, English to Asia via Shepparton, Victoria, Australia. Programme was 'Sunday Nights with John Cleary' from ABC Local. News headlines at 1400 UTC. Moderate reception. To 1417 UTC.
• 1450 UTC, 12 115 kHz : Reach Beyond Australia, formerly Known as HCJB Australia. English to South & South East Asia via Kununurra, Australia. The programme was 'Words To Live By'. Moderate reception. To 1510 UTC.
• 1523 UTC, 13 845 kHz : WWCR-3, Nashville, Tennessee, USA, relaying The University Network for worldwide reception, primarily Europe and the Americas. Poor to moderate reception. To 1535 UTC.
• 1554 UTC, 15 420 kHz : BBC World Service with the conclusion of a broadcast, ID and speech from 1557 UTC, news headlines at 1600 UTC. 'Sportsworld' with guest Mark Lawrenson, who has "got 'Final Score' on"! FA Cup Third Round weekend : Live match commentary coming up from Huish Park - Yeovil Town v Manchester United. This broadcast is English to East & South Africa via Seychelles. Poor to moderate reception. To 1637 UTC.

May I also take this opportunity to wish you a belated Happy New Year.
Regards, Martin.