READING INTERNATIONAL RADIO GROUP The next meeting will be on September 26 in Room 3, Reading International Solidarity Centre, 35-39 London Street, Reading at 2.30 p.m. For more information email me or phone 01462 643899.
ABKHAZIA Avto Radio Russia, an FM station, heard relayed on 9495 July 22 with song "Love Hurts" and advertisements in Russian and identification 1113 to 1118 closedown. This was after end of news of Apsua Radio from Sukhumi which starts at 1100 daily. Apsua radio noted Monday to Friday with news in vernacular and some Russian at the new time of 1700-1715, music and close/down around 1720. (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, Australian DX News via DX Listening Digest)
Abkhazia Radio heard on 9495.5 with folk music and vernacular programme at 0811 August 11, weak on clear channel. On August 19 they signed off at 0814, the sign off tune is usually Ballade pour Adeline by Richard Clayderman. The transmitter is slightly over modulated and has hum on the carrier. (Robert Foerster, Germany, DX Listening Digest)
ANGOLA Radio Nacional Angola heard on 4949.7 August 2 from 2224 with just empty carrier, fair strength but no audio perceived. (Carlos Goncalves, Portugal, DXLD)
ARMENIA Voice of Armenia noted on 4810 at 1800 July 26, start of Arabic broadcast. Instrumental version of National Anthem, identification ”Huna idhaati Djumhuriyati Armenia men Yerevan”. Frequency and postal address announced afterwards. (Dmitry Mezin, Montenegro, DX Window)
AUSTRALIA Radio Symban is back on 2368.5. Two weeks ago the new aerial had difficulties in being secured in place and some minor damage occurred. Testing is now taking place. The new aerial system took 2 cranes to get into the air. It is mounted in a timber yard, in Inner Sydney at Marrickville. This is about 5 miles in a direct line west of Sydney’s Internal airport. The power is 50 watts for test purposes. The station is using a loop, and an mp3 player to check various systems. Radio Symban welcomes reports by email to dxer@fl.net.au or if you would like to write a report to receive a hard copy reply, please enclose 2 US dollars to cover the cost, to John Wright, 29 Milford Rd, Peakhurst NSW 2210, Australia. (John Wright, Australian DX News via DX Listening Digest)
A good signal here in Northland New Zealand at 0708 30 July and very good at 1930 recheck. (Bryan Clark, DXLD)
I had a weak carrier July 30 at 2000 on 2368.486 here in Finland, maybe them? (Mauno Ritola, ibid.)
The actual measured frequency is as you report. (David Sharp, New South Wales)
Also heard in California 1225-1337 same day. Best reception after my local sunrise, which was about 1311. Heard their Greek style music and singing. (Ron Howard, ibid)
The transmitter site is located at Danas Timber, Victoria Rd, Marrickville (Sydney). The antenna appears as a loaded vertical, so it's more compact in size, and is sited on the rooftop of the main timber yard building. The transmitter appears to be located on the roof in a metal shielded small air-conditioned box upon which the antenna is sited. (Ian Baxter, Shortwave Sites Yahoo group)
The transmitter was switched off August 4. This was due to the fact that a local private automatic branch exchange was radiating the signals on its phone lines. They were heard again on August 13. (John Wright, Australian Radio DX Club via DX Listening Digest)
Australia’s Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, says the continued detention of Aung San Suu Kyi is a new low for Burma’s military regime. A Burmese court convicted Ms Suu Kyi of breaching the country’s security laws and sentenced her to spend another 18 months under house arrest. The Prime Minister has also announced the Government and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation have agreed to Ms Suu Kyi’s previous request to have Radio Australia resume broadcast service to Burma. He says it is a gesture of solidarity to her and opens a new channel of international contact for the people of Burma. (News reports August 11 via Media Network)
Radio Australia CEO, Hanh Tran, says that a service to Burma in English is imminent with a Burmese language service to follow. Radio Australia has served audiences in the region for nearly 70 years, however much of that capacity was constrained in the late 1990s as a result of budget cuts. ABC International director Murray Green said this latest move to re-introduce Burma as a service area was another milestone in the strengthening of the ABC’s presence in the region.
The new services will utilise proven shortwave radio distribution as well as digital technologies to communicate to Burmese nationals and Burmese expatriates. (Radio Australia via Mike Bird, DX Listening Digest)
Radio Australia already broadcasts in English to Burma. One Shepparton transmitter on 329 degree azimuth is targeted at CIRAF zone 49, which includes Burma and the rest of SE Asia as far as Vietnam: 2330-0700 17750, 0700-1300 11945, 1430-1700 11660. Although Darwin would be better, shortwave listeners know how well Radio Australia gets out from
Shepparton, and it is part of Radio Australia‘s mythology that Shepparton is deficient. (Glenn Hauser, Media Network blog via DX Listening Digest)
BANGLADESH Radio Bangladesh is noted back on 4750 from 15 August in the mornings and evenings. (Jose Jacob, India, DX Listening Digest)
An email from their engineer says their schedule on 4750 is 0545-1300, however I heard them August 24 at 1400 with Bangla news. (Supratik Sanatani, India, ibid)
BENIN I received the following information from James Burnett, the regional Engineer for TWR Africa, regarding the status of the TWR shortwave relay in Benin:
There is not much progress yet on getting the Shortwave from Benin going. We are presently waiting for the powers that be to grant us a license and then, Lord willing we hope to proceed. The 100 Kilowatt AM station on 1566 kHz is running well. So this is still a year or two away. (Brandon Jordan, Tennessee, DX Listening Digest)
BENIN/BURKINA FASO/CHAD All these stations are missing on their usual evening frequencies according to my observations in the past three weeks or so. (Thorsten Hallmann, Germany, DX Listening Digest)
BRAZIL Radio Rural Santarem has ceased shortwave transmissions on 4765. The station’s director said this was due to the high cost of transmitter repairs and electricity. The station has increased its power on mediumwave. (Celio Romais,@tividadeDX via DXLD)
CANADA CFRX is off the air and has been for about a week. Apparently there was a problem with the Antenna Tuning Unit at the base of the vertical, which in turn created a very high swr for the transmitter. This caused an issue with the new transmitter and will require some repairs. So, it may be off for a while until the transmitter gets back from the manufacturer. (Julian Smith, Canada, DX Listening Digest)
Radio Canada International heard testing on August 19 on 9625 from about 0845 onwards. Interval signal followed by identification in English and French continuously. Still on at 0912. Normal sign-on time here is 1100 for the Northern Quebec Service heard almost daily. (Robert Foerster, Germany, DX Listening Digest)
CKZN is off frequency, noted in Portugal 2250 until 2300 on 6160.9 until it was blocked by strong Radio Netherlands on 6165, on 6160.9, with interview. Heard again on 6160.9 August 29 from 0840 to 0955 fade out, CBC news bulletin at 0900. Poor strength but clear channel. (Carlos Goncalves, ibid)
CHINA CNR8, the minorities service, noted in Kazakh August 8 at 0946 on 15415. Although the signal is low, a clear channel provides good reception. This is the highest frequency for this service. 15390 in parallel gives similar reception, 13700 is stronger and 11780 and 11630 are heard more or less like the 19 metre band frequencies. 12055 is blocked by DRM. (Robert Foerster, Germany, DX Listening Digest)
According to Chinese DXer Li Wang, Guanxi Foreign Broadcasting Station is planning to expand their broadcast and to change the name to The Voice of Beibu Bay Radio. Test broadcasts began on August 18 at 1000 in Vietnamese, English, Thai, Mandarin and Cantonese on 5050 and 9820. Regular broadcasts will begin in October. They are also constructing 12 FM relay stations in the border area.
Shortwave schedule is 2300-0100 and 1000-1600. The English programme is currently broadcast 0800-1000 when the station is only on FM. Identifications, including in English, every hour. (Takahito Akabayashi, Japan, DXLD)
Beibu Bay is more familiar to Americans as the Gulf of Tonkin. The new identification is “This is Beibu Bay Radio” and often has “Learn about the world, get to know China”. In California 5050 is regularly heard with decent reception, while parallel 9820 usually has heavy interference. Frequent English identifications heard. (Ron Howard, ibid)
COLOMBIA Improvements have been made to the transmission equipment and antennas for stations Marfil Estereo 5910 and La Voz de tu Conciencia 6010. The main objective was the installation of a new system of antennas for optimal coverage of 6010 in Colombian territory and reduce their intensity elsewhere. The design is developed by Canadian engineers who worked with Radio Logos in Bolivia and the contribution of other donors have been able to do this work which includes the work of more than 15 people since it was necessary to modify the transmitter too. This is intended to provide solutions to the longtime situation presented by Radio Mil, Mexico. At 5910 signal improvements to the existing antenna seeks wider coverage in Latin America. (Rafael Rodriguez, Colombia, DX Window)
For several weeks now Radio Havana Cuba has been jamming La Voz de Tu Conciencia radio transmissions with communist broadcasts in English from about 0500-1100, a key time slot when many people tune in and the signal goes a long way. There are 80,000 Galcom solar radios fix tuned to our two short wave frequencies that have been distributed. We have already filed a complaint about this new problem but the help and decision of the international agency is nonbinding and each country is autonomous.
Another thing that we can do is to up the power on our transmitters so that our signal will dominate in Colombia. We have a new transmitter which just arrived in the container from Canada which is twice as powerful as the one we presently use. However it will require antennas, some additional parts, labour and modifications in order to tune it to our frequency and an adequate transmitter shack for the installation. All told it will take about US$ 32,000 to get this new system up and running properly. (Russ Stendal via Jerry Berg, Dxplorer via Wolfgang Bueschel)
CROATIA At our last Stuttgart DXers meeting with Erich Bergmann, Roland Schulze and Y.T., we agreed that Croatian Radio on 3985, 6155 and 7355 broadcasts at a very tiny level this year, around 10 kw. (Wolfgang Bueschel)
CUBA Radio Havana language/frequency usage from 0500 is now variable, the English service is being heard later than previous 0700 sign off. On August 23 6060 and 6140 heard in parallel at 0736 in Spanish with commentaries about Honduras and Venezuela. On August 24 6060 heard at 0732 with English service. On August 26 6000 and 6140 were in Spanish at 0715, 6060 was in English and still carrying English at 0840 recheck. (Mike Barraclough)
6060 signed off at about 1000 August 26, had been in English with good reception. 6000 6120 and 6140, all in Spanish, continued to past 1005. (Ron Howard, California, DXLD)
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC Radio Discovery conducted special tropical band transmissions
from the Punta Cana HFCC conference in conjunction with the inauguration of a new radio station in the Dominican Republic. The Dominican Telecommunications Institute, INDOTEL, authorized provisional transmissions by Radio Discovery from the Dreams Punta Cana Resort on the east coast of the Dominican Republic with low power (100 watts) on the frequency of 4730 in a combination of three different modes: standard AM amplitude modulated, single sideband, and WinDRM, which is a form of DRM transmission used by amateur radio operators.
The broadcasts took place throughout the week of the HFCC/ASBU B09 Conference August 17-21 during various daytime and nighttime hours. The antenna used was a half-wave dipole.
After the HFCC/ASBU Conference, Radio Discovery was due move to Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic, and will resume transmissions from there in the near future. (Jeff White, DX Listening Digest)
Radio Discovery is not exactly new! Jeff previously operated it briefly from the Dominican Republic in the 1980s, just above 15 Mhz. (Glenn Hauser, ibid)
ECUADOR The end date for international broadcasts from Radio Station HCJB in Ecuador has been moved up as the missionary radio ministry defines new strategies for future outreach. Anticipating the opening of the new Quito airport near the station’s international transmitter site in Pifo, staff members have already dismantled all but 14 antennas and towers. Present shortwave broadcasts in Portuguese, Spanish, German and indigenous languages, including Quichua, had earlier been announced to end no later than April 1, 2010. These international broadcasts will cease between September and November 2009.
The Pifo closure will impact Radio Station HCJB’s Quichua Language Service with some programming moving from the shortwave frequencies to local AM and FM channels. Investigations are also being made regarding the possibility of transferring HCJB-2, the ministry’s 37-year-old FM station in Guayaquil, Ecuador’s largest city, into the hands of local partners. The mission’s newer strategy, begun in the 1990s, has been to reduce its emphasis on shortwave in Latin America while focusing on “radio planting” or assisting local ministries realize their dream of beginning a Christian radio ministry. More than 300 local stations have been helped in these endeavours worldwide, including about 60 in Latin America. HCJB Global also continues to expand its training ministries across the region.
“The way people consume media has changed,” said HCJB Global President Wayne Pederson. “So we have the opportunity to change to delivery systems such as satellite, FM Internet and podcasting. The closing of shortwave in Latin America is strategic because of the planting of local FM radio stations across the region and around the world. These stations are staffed and programmed by local believers who can speak to the culture in their own communities.” (HCJB Global Weekly News via John Wesley Smith, DXLD, Allen Dean)
HCJB continues shortwave broadcasts from Australia. It would not have been especially difficult or expensive for HCJB to move one of its shortwave transmitters elsewhere in Ecuador to serve remote parts of the Andean region, where local affiliated FM and medium wave stations are not available. And for old time's sake. Presumably this will also end programme feeds from Quito to partner stations in Brazil using Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) shortwave. (Kim Andrew Elliott, kimandrewelliott.com, ibid)
The German service of HCJB says the closure date for Pifo has been set as September 30. They plan to continue the broadcasts using third party facilities. (Kai Ludwig, ibid)
La Voz del Napo heard on 3279.9 0305-0315 July 31 with Spanish religious talk and hymns, SINPO 25232. (Anker Petersen, Denmark, PLAYDX, ibid)
EGYPT Still very distorted signals from Radio Cairo in Arabic to West Africa 0700-1100 on 15790. The 100 kW invested in this broadcast are, on most days, a waste of precious energy. On August 17 they were heard with quite a strong signal but almost unreadable modulation at 0917. About a week ago, there was almost no modulation at all. (Robert Foerster, Germany, DX Listening Digest)
ETHIOPIA Voice of the Tigray Revolution heard on August 8 on 6170 signing on 0258 to past 0310, Tigrinya announcement after Horn of Africa interval signal, identification and Horn of Africa music, SINPO 25232 parallel to 5950, SINPO 35333. The station was also heard on 6170 at 1855 with fair signals. (Anker Petersen, Denmark, PLAYDX via DX Listening Digest)
FAROE ISLANDS Faroese Broadcasting Corporation/Kringvarp Foroya observed with a weather report in English at 0750-0752 on August 19 on 531, within their "Summarmorgun" (summer morning) breakfast show. This is aired around this time daily, or possibly weekdays only, for four months of the summer, I first noted it on 3 June this year. Monitored with good reception, SINPO 34444, via a Global Tuners receiver situated on the north coast of Northern Ireland, which gives an almost complete seapath to the Faroes.
Looking at the programme guide on their website this station must have the longest "overnight" programme in the world, on Sundays their "Nattarrasin" show starts at 1812 local time and goes right through to 0730 the following day. (Dave Kernick, Interval Signals Online via DX Listening Digest)
FINLAND Scandinavian Weekend Radio audible with fair strength on 11720 August 7 with tuning signal and announcements in English from 2052. Rock music and programme in Finnish from 2101 on clear channel. More surprisingly, I can hear them also on parallel 6170 with clear fair signal from 2101. Think this is the first time I've heard their 49 metre channel here in southern England. (Alan Pennington, BDXC-UK)
The station is on the air at every month on the first Saturday for 24 hours, starting at 0000 local time. (2100 Friday UTC). They broadcast on 1602 and on 11720, 11690, 5980 and 6170, using one frequency in each band at any one time. (Mike Barraclough)
FRANCE The petition for declaring Radio France International’s social plan illegal has been rejected, the works committee even has to pay 3,000 Euro for the proceedings. The French Satmag reports the result as "unions KO".
Commenting on this decision, RFI management said that they will start in early September to implement the social plan and that now a window for voluntary agreements has opened. Unionists write in their blog that they are surprised about a public body being allowed to introduce such a social plan, completely lacking measures to save job positions and only providing measures for downsizing RFI. No dismissal will be accepted "dry", full legal action will be taken at short notice. (News reports via Kai Ludwig, Germany, DX Listening Digest)
FREE RADIO Test transmissions are often heard these days on 7550, for example around 1200 on August 12. They come from Radio Amica, website www.radioamica.splinder.com. (Robert Foerster, Germany, DX Listening Digest)
Radio Amica noted here at 0636 August 12, pop music and identifications in Italian, fair strength with some fading but little interference. (Mike Barraclough)
According to QSL letters from Radio Amica, the power is 1 kW, antenna was originally a quarter wave vertical, now an inverted V. (Shortwavedx.blogspot.com)
Laser Hot Hits 4025 relay was raided on July 30 by the authorities. As a result, we will not be on shortwave in the near future. We are considering future plans and may be able return on lower power. (Station via Shortwavedx.blogspot.com)
GREECE Radio Filia programmes in various foreign languages 0500-1000, including English, were not noted here when I checked 11645 on July 27 and, as of August 31, have not returned to the air. The news stories on their website are being kept up to date but their live internet stream is carrying Kosmos 96.3. (Mike Barraclough)
August is the main holiday month in Greece. Maybe ERT5 is short of technical personnel. During Orthodox Christmas and Easter holidays, Radio Filia programmes do not appear on shortwave. Wait until September. (Wolfgang Bueschel)
GUINEA Radio Guinee noted back on 7125 August 3 with what seems to be a stronger signal but also with stronger audio/modulation; vernacular programme with African pops prior to 2200 when changed to French for the usual 2200 newscast that typically runs up till 2230. (Carlos Goncalves, Portugal, DX Listening Digest)
HONDURAS Radio Missions International heard on 3340 0820-0850 August 23 with contemporary Christian music and several English identifications, English sermon with Spanish translations at 0842. (Brian Alexander, Pennsylvania, Cumbre DX)
INDONESIA Voice of Indonesia heard 1700-1857 on 9524.9 August 20, good signal, Spanish identification at 1800. (Wolfgang Bueschel)
IRAN Dr Arash Irandoost, a pro-democracy activist who advocates Regime Change in Iran, has floated the idea of starting a shortwave radio station, Radio Neda, to force regime change in the country. Writing on the Right Side News website, Dr Irandoost says:
“I have been discussing the merits of establishing shortwave radio broadcasting with media experts and those interested in over throwing the Islamic Dictatorship of Iran. Despite its vast natural resources, Iran is still a third world country. However, almost all Iranians own radios and use it regularly to get their news and entertainment. Radios are not illegal and almost all automobiles are equipped with shortwave band. Shopkeepers, housewives, taxi drivers, street vendors, and factory workers listen to the radio on a regular basis. Besides, they are very cheap thanks to China and Korea imports. A note worthy of mention here is that Khomeini successfully used the shortwave broadcast from France for almost a year to broadcast his propaganda against the Shah and prepare the people for uprising prior to revolution of 1979.” (Media Network)
KURDISTAN Voice of Iranian Kurdistan heard on new 4795 0245-0315 July 26, presumed Kurdish talk by man and woman, heterodyne and jamming 23232. Audio disappeared 0300, possibly fade out, but jamming continued till past 0315. Not heard on 4800-4900. On July 31 they were heard on 4789 and on August 3 4780 with audio jumping to 4795. (Anker Petersen, Denmark, PLAYDX via DX Listening Digest)
MALAWI Per communications just received from James Burnett, Regional Engineer at Trans World Radio Africa, their TWR Malawi partner has committed to getting the Malawi shortwave relay station on the air by the end of the year.
The online Africalist gives its future plans as to operate on 4870 with 1kw. (Brandon Jordan, Tennessee)
MALAYSIA Sarawak FM heard on 7130 at 1542 tune-in August 18, westernised pop song,
male presenter in vernacular which to me sounded akin to Bah Malaysia. Ham interference, lost audio, carrier appeared to have gone at 1557 check so missed actual sign off. (Martien Groot, Netherlands, DX Listening Digest)
The 50 kW Kajang transmitter used by Voice of Malaysia for the transmission in Chinese 1000-1200 is a bit off frequency. As PBS Xinjiang is only a few Hertz away from nominal 11885 this results in a heterodyne of about 500 Hz heard regularly, for example on August 17 at about 1010. The frequency for the Voice of Malaysia appears to be 11884.5. (Robert Foerster, Germany, DX Listening Digest)
MAURITANIA Radio Mauritanie appears to be off the air on 4845 and 7245. (Carlos Goncalves, Portugal, DX Listening Digest)
MONGOLIA Radio Voice of Mongolia in Russian was heard via the facilities of Voice of Russia in Russian on Sunday August 9 at 1905-1915 on shortwave 7310 11630 and 12055. (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, DX Listening Digest)
MYANMAR Myanmar Radio observed schedule August 17 was 5915 2300-0530, 1000-1535, 5985 2300-0130, 0930-1535, 7200 0030-0230, 9730 0300-0700 (Nay Pyi transmitter), 9730.8 0730-1130 (Yegu transmitter). (Victor Goonetilleke, Sri Lanka, Dxplorer via DX Window)
NIGER La Voix du Sahel is back, heard on 9705 August 13 from 1830 with local music, identification and frequency announcements in French followed by local language and flute music, French again at 1900, fair with somewhat weakish audio and a hum.
Active every day since but times vary widely. Heard 0700 sign off several times, also till 2100 or later but on August 19 sign off was 1901. (Thorsten Hallmann, Germany, DX Listening Digest)
NIGERIA Bodo the technician onsite at the new shortwave station at Abuja, Nigeria says that in the transmitter building, there are currently three TSW2300 from Thomson (250 kW, 5.9-26 MHz). They are full DRM ready. Currently they have "only" the curtain antenna. Its a 16-dipole array with azimuth of 0 degrees and the other 16-dipole array with azimuth of 285 degrees. The beam can be switched to +15, +30 and -15, -30 degrees. There is another antenna in work. It will be a rotatable antenna, it’s a huge antenna with 32 dipoles, 16 for high and 16 for lowbands. (Ian Baxter, Australia, Shortwave sites Yahoo group)
Voice of Nigeria put a new final stage tube in service. Noted August 11 with superb modulation on 15120, not the former shredded splatter audio, during the 0700-0800 French service. (Wolfgang Bueschel)
Radio Nigeria Enugu 6025, seems to be off air once again. (James MacDonell, Nigeria, DX Listening Digest)
OMAN Radio Oman heard on 15355 at 0353 August 1 in English, pop music, then talk about the United Nations followed by: "There's much more on the way, on Radio Oman.". Off at 0358 during dance cover of Depeche Mode's "I Just Can't Get Enough." Fair reception. (David Sharp, New South Wales, DX Listening Digest)
This English service is listed 0300-0400 on 15355 but rarely reported. (Mike Barraclough)
PERU An unidentified Peruvian station heard on 4888.2 from 1050 August 2 in Spanish, religious talk and Christian music. (Arnaldo Slaen, Argentina. Cumbre DX)
Noted in Florida August 9 on 4888.3 2330 to 2350 with weak signal, some audio but fading. (Bob Wilkner, ibid)
POLAND Polish Radio external service no longer uses 198 as of July 30, all transmissions on this frequency have ceased. (David Crystal, Israel)
PHILIPPINES The Radio Pilipinas 1730-1830 transmission on 15190, 11720 and 9395 on August 2 carried a recording of a Manila domestic FM station instead of its own programming. Heard at 1730 tune-in with identification "Business Talk on DWBR 104.3 FM Business Radio" then references to it being "Saturday morning" in Manila. Quite good reception on all three frequencies. Programming is mostly in Tagalog with some English.
WRTH 2009 lists DWBR as a station of the Philippine Broadcasting Service which also operates Radio Pilipinas. I'm not sure if this is usual Sunday programming on Radio Pilipinas, or if perhaps they are carrying DWBR because of the recent death of former president Corazon Aquino? (Dave Kenny, Caversham, UK, BDXC-UK)
Stuttgart Germany based Roland Schulze and his wife Cora, latter who is a Philippine national, both lived some 15 years in East Asia, reported August 9: We confirm the very special Sunday only transmission via RPO Manila. Domestic program DWBR "Business Radio" of FM 104.3 MHz at Manila is relayed - instead of RPO program. (Wolfgang Bueschel)
SAINT HELENA Radio St. Helena (RSH) Day 2009 will be on Saturday, 14 November. The "Party On-The-Air" will have the following schedule:
2000–2100 to India / Southeast Asia , 2100–2200 to Japan / Asia , 2200–2330 to Europe, 2330–0100 to North America / Central America / Caribbean. The transmission will be on 11092.5 kHz in Upper Side Band as usual.
Radio St. Helena is very pleased to announce that the newly designed RSD 2009 QSL cards will be sponsored by the highly respected Japan Short Wave Club. This good news has been reported by Mr. T. Ohtake of the JSWC. It can truly be said, that without the very generous help of the JSWC, there would not have been a RSD Revival in 2006.
To get a QSL from Radio St. Helena, you must send a written and verifiable reception report by airmail and include sufficient return postage. Email-reports will be not be verified. Recordings will not be returned. In Euro-countries, please send a 5-Euro banknote. Otherwise, please send 3 or more US dollar banknotes to cover the required return postage. Address is Radio St. Helena, P. O. Box 93, Jamestown, St. Helena STHL 1ZZ, South Atlantic Ocean, via AIRMAIL, via United Kingdom and Ascension
The last two lines of the above address are very important and should be written as shown to RSH. Emails and telephone calls from DXers everywhere are very welcome during the broadcasts. A special email address will probably be announced in October. Gary Walters and his Team at RSH wish everyone excellent listening conditions, hope that you enjoy the programming, and hope that the sunspots will be kinder to us this year. (Robert Kipp via Rich D‘Angelo, Michael Beesley, Allen Dean)
SERBIA Shortwave from International Radio Serbia Bijeljina will continue till the end of this year, for sure. The webpage gave a wrong translation from Serbian to English. The correct translation is: The only shortwave station of Serbia will also continue broadcasting through satellite and the internet. (Dragan Lekic, Serbia, DX Listening Digest)
SLOVAKIA Radio Rasant is heard on the second Saturday of the month via IRRS on 9510. The station is student run. Their address is Stadische Realschule Sundern, Rotbuschweg 28, D 59846 Sundern, Germany. (Allen Dean)
This is in the 0800 slot as mentioned last month though the information I reported only covered July and August transmissions. (Mike Barraclough)
SPAIN Monitored Radio Exterior de Espana (REE)`s Spanish DX programme Amigos de la Onda Corta Saturday August 15 0505-0530 via their web stream instead of shortwave 6055 5965 or 9630. The entire programme was devoted to an interview with REE technical director Jose Antonio García M. about DRM They will have one DRM transmitter going toward North America by yearend at Cariari, Costa Rica, and plan to add another after that, which could cover South America or any other target. Besides the one DRM at Noblejas, they plan to add three or four more DRM-capable transmitters in next few years as old transmitters are replaced, but also continue on analogue. The show repeats at 0005 Sundays. (Glenn Hauser, DX Listening Digest)
SUDAN Radio Peace has moved from 4750 to 4740. Noted there August 10 signing on at 0222, threshold signal, strengthening from 0325 with organ music, identification in English 0330, long monologue in Arabic 0340-0350. (Brandon Jordan, Tennesee, Cumbre DX)
TAIWAN The Radio Taiwan International Mandarin service for the Mainland on 7185 moved to 7385 from August 15 at 1000-1700.
The Mandarin service at 1400-1800 has moved from 7130 to 6075, parallel to 6145. (S. Hasegawa, Nagoya DX Circle via DX Listening Digest)
TANZANIA Voice of Tanzania Zanzibar presumed the station noted on 6015 at 0400 to 0420 August 19 with Swahili news fading out on clear frequency after co-channel BBC had left 0359. Has since been heard daily but no positive identification. (Martien Groot, Netherlands, DX Listening Digest)
UNITED KINGDOM Radio Caroline broadcast on 531 throughout the August Bank Holiday weekend. The station said that it was a test broadcast and presenters said that they were testing a new transmitter, an email address for reports on the tests was read out. It wasn’t listed as an RSL by Ofcom and it is believed that they may have been operating using a non operational licence (formerly test and development). Reception here was fairly good using an Eton E5, stronger signals than when Suzy Radio had an RSL on the same frequency. (Mike Barraclough)
Latest RSL’s from the Ofcom website:
Arreton, Isle of Wight: Bestival Radio 87.7 September 10 to 14
Bury: Project Radio 87.9 August 20 to September 20
Chorley: Southlands FM 87.7 September 30 to October 2
Croft on Tees: Radio Croft 1602 September 12 to 13
Glasgow: Subcity Radio 106.6 September 14 to 20
Goodwood: Radio Goodwood 87.7 September 18 to 20
Kenilworth: Nationals FM 87.7 September 17 to 20
London NW1: Frieze FM 87.7 October 9 to 18
Portland, Dorset: Sail for Gold Radio 87.7 September 15 to 19
Rockingham: Radio Rockingham 1602 September 19 to 20
Southampton Awaaz FM 87.7 September 14 to October 11
Sutton, Surrey: Youth FM October 5 to November 1
UNITED STATES WRNO was running only 3 hours a day, and mostly rock music instead of preaching, slow to reach its potential after a year back on the air, and never on reserved daytime channel 15590. Heard on August 17 at 0114, 7505 with good music modulation, steady S9+22, identification at 0116 as WRNO Worldwide and gospel rock. Signal had faded down a lot by 0400 sign-off, carrier to 0401:30.
However on August 20 they were still on the air at 0604 but very undermodulated. At 1335 still on 7505. A live announcement at 1337 said hat from next week they would be on shortwave for 12 hours a day. (Glenn Hauser, DX Listening Digest)
As of August 18 WWCR temporarily moved from 15825 to 15820 for testing, still on 15820 as of September 1. (Mike Barraclough)
Because of anticipated federal budget cuts, Radio and TV Marti will eliminate 35 positions. Also, their programming is about to be changed. Radio and TV Marti will lay off 20% of their workforce in a shake-up aimed at retooling the struggling anti-Castro stations in the face of a steep federal budget cut.
In its funding request to Congress, the agency that oversees the Miami-based Radio and TV Marti submitted a budget that allocates $2.4 million less on the controversial broadcasts. The U.S.-funded broadcasts, aimed at breaking the information blockade on the island, will change formats in response to the proposed budget cut. Radio Marti will go to an all-news format, and TV Marti will have a five-minute news update every half hour, with other shows in between. (Miami Herald via Media Network)
URUGUAY The inauguration of the shortwave operation by 6045-USB, CXA61, Radio Sport 890, Montevideo, reported some time ago is delayed since there is current work with the medium wave transmitters at the site and they want to avoid RFI problems among the equipment according to Gustavo Cirino, Technical manager. The transmitter is ready to go to air and its operation has already been authorized. Power will be 2.5 KW USB. His E-mail is cx7at@adinet.com.uy or cx7@hotmail.com It will have a 24 hour schedule.
Radio Universo, Castillos has been testing since July 15, 0000-0130 on 6055. An email August 12 said they planned to increase power in one months time. (Horacio Nigro, Uruguay, August 7, DX Listening Digest)
ZIMBABWE Zimbabwe Community Radio are not too happy about the poor reception of the current relay via Dhabbaya, UAE on 5950. They tested last month for three days at 1755-1855 on 3955 via Meyerton but reception in Zimbabwe was unsatisfactory.
On August 24 they were noted testing on 4865 via Meyerton, music loop at 1752 tune in, programming started at 1755. (Jari Savolainen, Finland, DX Listening Digest)
CONTRIBUTORS Germany: Wolfgang Bueschel, Israel: David Crystal, UK: Allen Dean, Michael Beesley, United States: Rich D’Angelo. MIKE
