Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Country #82: Radio Uganda

After a few 'dry' weeks, finally a new country:

4976 KHz Radio Uganda, Kampala, Uganda 20FEB2014, 19:50 UTC In English, male and female presenters, station Id before hour. 20:00 British pop song, 20:04> more similar musical items. Audible until 20:17 Overall weak signal. Noisy with tast fading. Country #82

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

The most played voice of all times: Jane Barbe @ WWVH

You probably know that most recorded song of all times is "Yesterday" by The Beatles. But do you know who is the most played voice of all times?

Known as "the time lady", Jane Barbe had weekly audience of over 300 million listeners! Barbe landed her voice to US telephone companies for both time signal and pre-recorded messages.

Even today, long after she passed away, her voice is still on air 24/7, providing an important and valuable service.

For thousands of mariners and sailors with no access to satellite communication, Internet or mobile phones, her voice still provides a comfort on the open seas and path to safe harbour.

Last night I've recorded a 1 minute sound clip of Jane Barbe's voice, a reception of the Time and Frequency standard signal transmitted form station WWVH located at Hawaii.

Click here to listen to Jane's immortal voice.

No wires, no borders: just a pure magic of radio waves...

Monday, January 27, 2014

QSL confirmation #15: DW via Kigali, Rwanda

Received today: a lovely QSL card from Deutsche Welle, transmitter site Kigali, Rwanda, heard on 15275 KHz.

Request was submitted via DW website.

Thank you DW, auf Wiederhören !

DW Deutsche Welle via Kigali, Rwanda. Loud and clear! Heard daily after local sunrise on 15275 KHz. Recording of Deutsche Welle, Rwanda 15275

Thursday, January 23, 2014

Country #81: Radio Hargaysa, Somalia on 7120 KHz

Radio Hargaysa, Somalia, heard on 18 January 2014 from 15:00 - 16:03 (and later) on 7120 KHz. In Somali. Loud and clear, peaking S9+15dB. Various male speakers, with a couple of typical fast beat Horn of Africa technopop songs.


Radio Hargaysa, Somalia on 7120 KHz .

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Country #80 : Radio Congo, 6115 KHz

What a catch! Radio Congo, Congo on 6115 KHz. January 16, 2014. From around 16:40 - 18:24 UTC. Male speaker, interview and commentary. Very long, and very monotone speech. Noisy, but steady carrier, S6. Best around 17:20 then progressively worse. No music or time signals. Odd air at 18:24. This is my country #80 !

Monday, January 20, 2014

Confirmation, country #15: Seychelles 15420

QSL letter received from BBC Indian Ocean relay station at Seychelles confirming reception on 15420 KHz. Signed by Mr. Jose Tambara, senior engineer. BBC Seychelles will cease all operations as from end of March 2014.

The transmitting station was opened by BBC in 1988. Current setup: two Marconi B6132 250 KW transmitters using pulse width modulation. Antenna system are six Marconi 4-band arrays strung across four towers.

Certainly, to receive a proper QSL card would be nice, but the QSL letter is equally appreciated.

Thursday, January 16, 2014

Country #79: Yemen Radio, Sana'a 6135 KHz

6135 Yemen Radio, Sana'a, Yemen. In Arabic, audible form 14:06 UTC to closing down, at 15:02 UTC. The last two minutes under Voice of America from Thailand. Male and female speakers, until 14:25 then a music / vocal. Second half of the program containing mostly what sounded like a religious segment, perhaps Koran reading. Overall, the signal was weak and noisy, as one would expect in the middle of Australian summer. [Country #79]

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Recordings of Radio Japan via United Arab Emirates and Radio Romania


13870 KHz Radio Japan via Dhabbaya, UAR 15 JAN 2014 15:15 - 16:00 in Urdu, S9+ good copy, some noise. News female/male preseneter. At closing time request for reports via PO BOX in Karachi, Pakistan.


13840 KHz Radio Romania International, Tiganesti, Romania. 15 JAN 2014 14:29 - 14:57 UTC in Russian. News. S9 loud and clear.

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

QSL #14 AFN radio, Diego Garcia

Received today: a confirmation card from American Forces Network, broadcast centre for reception of Diego Garcia radio transmitter on 12759 KHz as reported in December.

Request was mailed on December 19th to

American Forces Radio and Television Service
NMC DET AFRTS-DMC,
23755 Z St, Building 2730
Riverside, CA 92518-2017
USA

Thank you AFRTS!


[image source AFRTS Facebook page]

Radio Japan via Tashkent, Uzbekistan 11695 KHz

Radio Japan via Uzbekistan. News in English from 14-14:30 UTC. Overall, very good copy. Frequency: 11695 KHz. While the speaker starts the broadcast with "This is NHK World Radio Japan, broadcasting from Tokyo", the actual transmitting site was Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

Recording of Radio Japan, Uzbekistan 11695 KHz.

Monday, January 13, 2014

QSL #13: Ascension Island, Africa, Radio Japan

On short-wave, Radio Japan uses 11 overseas transmitters to 'cover the world'. One of them is located on Ascension Island, with antenna pointed to South America. Definitely, not an easy one to catch from Sydney!

A beautiful color card arrived in just couple of weeks time confirming the reception report submitted via NHK website.

Thank you Radio Japan!

DW Deutsche Welle via Kigali, Rwanda 15275 KHz

DW Deutsche Welle via Kigali, Rwanda. Loud and clear! Heard daily after local sunrise on 15275 KHz. Recording of Deutsche Welle, Rwanda 15275

Saturday, January 11, 2014

Radio Milne Bay NBC-Kundu, Papua New Guinea on 3365 KHz.

3365 KHz Milne Bay PNG loud! Received on 11 JAN 2014 15:05 UTC. Signal strength S9+10 dB, in English. Probably the best reception since I've started chasing broadcasters. Antenna: 18m vertical.

Recording of NBC Radio Papua New Guinea, Milne Bay 3365 KHz

Country #78: Kyrgyz Radio 1 Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, 4010 KHz

Country #78 was heard and logged this morning on 4010 KHz:

Kyrgyz Radio 1 Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan . 11/1/2014 17:00-18:00 UTC in Kygryz, two male speakers, mostly talk. Slightly undermodulated, noisy but on a clear channel. Best around 17:10 on USB.

Overall, the band was in a very good shape at sunrise, with the follwing stations heard between 3900-4000 KHz:

3912 Voice of the people of Korea, 11/1/2014 from 17:00 in Korean, male speaker, jammed on USB squeaky whistler otherwise very good copy. S8.

3955 Radio Taiwan Int, Woofferton, UK, 11/1/2014 form 19:02-20:00 (late start) in German, male good copy S8.

3965 VO Isl R IRAN, Kamalbad, Iran, 11/1/2014 17:00-17:49 in Russian, female speaker good copy, clear freq. S9. About Ukraine, South Korea etc. Station ID 17:50 off-air

3965 R Taiwan Int. Issoudun, France 11/1/2013 form 18:00 in English. Time signal , station ID " This is Radio Taiwan International" m+F speaker Weak S4 noisy but on clear ch. Best at 18:34

3975 Vatican Radio, Vatican 11/1/2014 form 19:38 - 19:59 {CL}In Latin, Liturgy, S8.

3985 Echo of Hope, Korea 11/1/2014 form sunset to sunrise, best around 17:00 in Korean, female speaker, 18:56 male speaker, jammed. S9+10

3990 PBS Xinjiang, China. 11/1/2014 17:00 - 18:03 (CL)in Urumqi. Average signal on clear freq. Mostly central Asian / Chinese music. S7

4005 Voice of Islamic R IRAN, Kamalbad, Iran 11/1/2014 form 19:15 in French id Est issues, as of 19:20 mostly instrumental, piano.as of 19:23 Station ID " Govorit Iran" in Russian.

Thursday, January 9, 2014

QSL #12: Radio Trans Mundial, Brazil

Thanks to kindness of Mr Rudolf Grimm, station verifier, a full data QSL card was received today from Radio Trans Munidal, Brazil, heard on 11735 KHz on November 11, 2013.

Station website: Radio Trans Mundial, Brasil 11735 KHz

Radio Trans Mundial
Caixa Postal 18113
04626-970 São Paulo SP
BRAZIL

rtm@transmundial.com.br

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Time signal 25 MHz MIKES, Finland

Time standard signal emitted by Centre for Meteorology and Accreditation, MIKES, Espoo, Finland was received on January 7, 1 from 09 to 11 UTC.

MIKES transmitter is 100W into a vertical antenna, 25.000 MHz. The time code is same format as DFC77 but it does not contain any ID. Unfortunately I was so excited about this very first reception that I forgot to record it :-(

However I was able to pull six "pips" after the band closed well after the local sunset. The pips are 1000 Hz of the main carrier, on both side bands.

Recording of time signal 25 MHz MIKES, Finland

Here is the link to other time signals received in Sydney.

Monday, January 6, 2014

China Radio International via Cerrik, Albania, 7215 KHz

Founded on December 3, 1941 as Radio Peking, China Radio International [CRI] broadcasts 1,520 hours of programming each day (24 hours in English), including news, current affairs, and features on politics, the economy, culture, science and technology. CRI has the most comprehensive foreign service in Asia with more than 50 shortwave transmitters are used to cover most of the world.

This morning, a loud and clear CRI signal originating from Cerrik, Albania, was heard on 7252KHz just after local sunrise. Program content: news in Arabic.

Recording of China Radio International via Cerrik, Albania, 7215 KHz

Sunday, January 5, 2014

QSL card from NHK World, Radio Japan

Full data verification card received on January 6 for reception of NHK World, Radio Japan 9625 KHz, broadcast in English.

This beautiful high gloss QSL card depicts a scene from Kyogen, traditional Japanese comic drama.

For program schedule see www.nhkworld/english

New clandestine to Horn of Africa: Oromo Voice, 17850 KHz

New clandestine to Horn of Africa: Oromo Voice

Very good copy in Sydney , solid S8 with antenna pointed via short path to Europe. Male presenter. January 4, 2014. 16:00 - 16:30 UTC.

Recording of Oromo Voice 17850 KHz

From http://oromovoice.org/:

On January 1, 2014, the Oromo Voice Radio (OVR) will commence broadcasting to Oromia at the frequency of 17850 KHz in the 16 meter band. The new, independent broadcast will take place on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays. The broadcast service will be provided in two languages: Afaan Oromo (Oromo language) and English.

The OVR broadcast will include, not limited to, the following major segments: news, news analysis, guest interviews, documentary, and cultural shows. In its English broadcast, OVR will reach out to Oromo neighbors for the purpose of exploring and identifying areas of common interests and common strategies, which are relevant to the survival of the peoples in the Horn of Africa during the 21st Century.

The Oromo Voice media website (www.oromovoice.org) will operate and function as the twin media outlet of this new critical and ambitious outreach to the Oromo nation and its neighbors. The Oromo Voice website, in addition to posting all the contents of the Oromo Voice Radio broadcast, will post other relevant educational materials -in that sense, the website will have more expanded educational services.

OVR and Oromo Voice website are owned and operated by the Madda Walaabuu Media Foundation (MWMF), which was established in October 2013 by a collection of concerned community leaders, human rights activists, feminists, attorneys, journalists and intellectuals.

MWMF is a non-governmental, non-partisan, and non-profit organization, incorporated and registered in Washington, D. C., USA

Thursday, January 2, 2014

QSL #11 PMA, Micronesia

QSL #11 . A proper, full-data card with a lovely stamps arrived today from The Cross Radio, V6MP. Their 1KW radio signal transmitted on 4755 KHz was heard number of times during the month of November. QSL request was sent to The Cross Radio, PO Box 517 Pohnpei, FM 96941, Federated States of Micronesia.

Recording

Thank you PMA!