DX Logs – Free Radio

Some latest free radio loggings

5815  Orion Radio – Pirate      Netherlands  34434  English & Dutch  Several ID’s heard – ‘Orion Radio’  0741 UTC  16/05/2010

6202  Radio Scotland – Pirate      Netherlands  34433  English & Dutch  Announces website – www.radioscotland.nl – Clash ‘London Calling’. Many 50′s Oldies  0907 UTC  16/05/2010

6215  King Shortwave – Pirate          23222  English  Station ID’s just as ‘King Shortwave’. 60′s jingles played.
Many 60′s oldies.  0813 UTC  16/05/2010

6283  Radio Shadow          24232      British pops. No ID’s heard. Tentative Logging  0751 UTC  16/05/2010

6320  Radio Sonic – Pirate      Netherlands  34323  English  Oldies & Schlager music – ID’s  0841 UTC  16/05/2010

DX Logs

More Logs For April and May …
549  Deutschlandfunk  Nordkirchen/Thurnau  Germany  42443    0330 News Headlines  0330 UTC  30/04/2010

567  Radio Nacional 5  Various  Spain  33333  Spanish  Male and female presenter. Light hearted chats with phone callers.  0337 UTC  30/04/2010

612  Radio Nacional  Various  Spain  34343  Spanish  Station spoof with presenter singing version of Madonna ‘Like A Prayer’. Many Radio Nacional IDs.  0339 UTC  30/04/2010

846  Radio North  Carndonagh  Ireland  22232    Non stop mainly country music. ID ‘Radio North with Night Time Country Gold  0427 UTC  30/04/2010

1530  Celtic Music Radio  Shieldhall Wharf, Glaow  United Kingdom  32332  English  Non stop celtic and country music.  0236 UTC  09/05/2010

2485  ABC Territory Radio (VL8K)  Katherine  Australia  24222  English  Country & Western Show – News at 2030  2021 UTC  08/05/2010

2485  ABC Territory Radio (VL8K)  Katherine  Australia  14221  English  Country & Western programme. Very faint. News at 2030. Hard to make out  2023 UTC  08/05/2010

4765  Tajik Radio 1  Dushanbe-Yanivul  Tajikistan  34322  Tajik  Female Commentary, long chanting song.  2359 UTC  29/04/2010

4790  Radio Vision  Chiclayo  Peru  24222  Spanish  Tentative logging. Religious preacher ranting in Spanish.  0128 UTC  09/05/2010

4905  PBS Xizang  Tibet (Lhasa)  China  34333  Tibetan  Phone callers with female presenter  2120 UTC  08/05/2010

4976  Radio Uganda  Kampala  Uganda  34323  English  Interview about new project – mentions of Uganda and local currency as ‘shillings’.  2012 UTC  08/05/2010

6055  Radio Rwanda  Kigali  Rwanda  33433  French  African Hilife Music – clear mention of Rwanda by presenter.  2002 UTC  08/05/2010

6210  Radio Border Hunter – Pirate    Netherlands  44444  English & Dutch  Usual Pops, Shouts Out and ID’s  0904 UTC  09/05/2010

7110  Radio ETHIOPIA    Ethiopia  33222  Vernacular  Music and announcements before sign off at 2100 with what sounded like national anthem. Ended with what sounded like recording of jets flying!  2045 UTC  08/05/2010

7520  WYFR (Family Radio)  Okeechobee, FL  United States  44333  Spanish  Spanish preacher, hymns.  2316 UTC  29/04/2010

9250  ERTU Wadi El-Nil  Abu Zaabal  Egypt  34222  Arabic  Voice of the Arabs prog, I think – relay of Home Service.  2107 UTC  08/05/2010

13760  Voice of Korea  Kujang  Korea, North  34433  English  Usual commentaries on US  1333 UTC  09/05/2010

15540  Radio Kuwait    Kuwait  45544  English  Feature on women in Kuwaiti society. How to make Arabic coffee  1903 UTC  08/05/2010

DX Logs

Here are some of my latest loggings for March & April 2010

603  BBC Radio 4  Newcastle  United Kingdom  32332  English  ‘Farming Today’ prog.  0633 UTC  24/04/2010

1010  WINS  New York, NY  United States    English  Discussion on homosexuality  0442 UTC  17/04/2010

1026  Downtown Radio  Knock Breckan  Ireland  22422  English  Whispered female ‘Downtown Radio’ ID. Music from Oasis and Bob Dylan.  0545 UTC  24/04/2010

1116  BBC Radio Guernsey  Unknown  United Kingdom  22322  English  Report on Ferry Services to St.Malo. Sarnia women’s rugby team.  1738 UTC  26/03/2010

1130  WBBR  New York, NY  United States  32333  English  Show presented by Charlie Rose. Traffic report mentioned George Washington Bridge. Commercial for local BMW dealer  0212 UTC  24/04/2010

1449  BBC Asian Network  Peterborough  United Kingdom  33233  English  2 DJ’s talking about ‘new chart show’. Phone number 81869 given out.  1654 UTC  26/03/2010

1584  BBC Radio Nottingham  Unknown  United Kingdom  42333  English  Gun Crime on Nottingham’s streets.  1710 UTC  26/03/2010

3350  Radio Exterior de España  Cariari  Costa Rica  34222  Spanish  Jovial discussion by OM & YL  0230 UTC  24/04/2010

3815  Kaalait Nunaata Radio  Unknown  Greenland (Denmark)  23222  Greenlandic  Pop Music oldies, Long talk 2200, s/off 2211, USB Transmission  2121 UTC  22/04/2010

4699  Radio San Miguel  Riberalta  Bolivia  24322  Spanish  LA Music, woman with speech. Sign off 0200  0151 UTC  24/04/2010

4810  Armenian National Radio  Gavar (formerly Kamo)  Armenia  44233  Arabic  Arabic Announcements, lovely Armenian music.  1925 UTC  21/03/2010

4840  WWCR (World Wide Christian Radio)  Nashville, TN  United States  55555  English  Full ID at 0200 – faulty audio playback, audio cutting out. English Religious programming  0200 UTC  24/04/2010

4845  Radio Mauritanie  Nouakchott  Mauritania  24222  French  Long speech by OM – reception improving towards 1900.  1835 UTC  25/03/2010

4895  Zimbabwe Community Radio  Meyerton  South Africa  24322  English & Vernacular  Double English ID at 1811 ‘Zimbabwe Community Radio’, then into Vernacular. Many mentions of Zimbabwe and singing.  1811 UTC  25/03/2010

4905  PBS Xizang  Tibet (Lhasa)  China  44333  Tibetan  YL Speech in Chinese and Chinese Music  2126 UTC  23/03/2010

4905  PBS Xizang  Tibet (Lhasa)  China  44334  English  English News then feature on Tibetan Weddings,  2231 UTC  22/04/2010

4910  ABC Territory Radio (VL8T)  Tennant Creek  Australia  22221  English  Male & Female presenters with phone callers. Barely Intelligible.  2152 UTC  23/03/2010

4915  Radio Difusora de Macapa  Macapa AP  Brazil  34222  Portuguese  LA Music, female presenter  0216 UTC  24/04/2010

4975  Voice of Russia  Yangi-Yul  Tajikistan  34333  English  Science programme with Estelle Winters  1706 UTC  27/03/2010

4976  Radio Uganda  Kampala  Uganda  24232  English  Attempted (!) Phone-in. Presenter unable to put callers to air, every call failed!  1910 UTC  25/03/2010

4985  Radio Brasil Central  Goiania  Brazil  34232  Portuguese  Male and female announcements, LA Mx. Noisy band  0224 UTC  24/04/2010

5010  Radio National Malagasy  Unknown  Madagascar  24322  French  Partly French programme, partly Malagasy plus African style music  1805 UTC  21/03/2010

5935  WWCR (World Wide Christian Radio)  Nashville, TN  United States  33333  English  Female fire and brimstone preacher.  0547 UTC  17/04/2010

5990  Radio Senado  Unknown  Brazil  43333  Portuguese  LA Music, commercial for station website, full ID ‘Radio Senado’  2112 UTC  22/04/2010

6005  BBC Worldservice  Ascension  Unknown  44333  English  News Headlines, no European flights because of volcano in Iceland  0533 UTC  17/04/2010

6050  HCJB (Voice of the Andes)  Quito  Ecuador  22332  Spanish  OM & YL with discussion, SP Rlg Music. Followed by programme in English  0236 UTC  17/04/2010

6890  Radio Fana  Addis Ababa area  Ethiopia  32222  Vernacular  OM & YL Talks. Whitney Houston sing. S/Off 2101  2057 UTC  22/04/2010

7540  Denge Mezopotamya  Unknown  Ukraine  55544  KURDISH  Speeches in what I assume is Kurdish language  1823 UTC  25/03/2010

9250  Nile Valley R.’Wadi El Nile’  Abu Zaabal  Egypt  23222  Arabic  ME style music, announcements  2131 UTC  22/04/2010

9625  CBC Northern Québéc Service  Sackville  Canada  32433  English  News. ID in English ‘This is CBC News’. Into French with phone-in at 2111  2109 UTC  23/03/2010

11730  Radio PILIPINAS  Tinang  Philippines  43433  English/Filipino  Two full Id’s after news, frequent mentions of ‘Pilinipas’ and discussion by three studio presenters,  1807 UTC  26/03/2010

11975  Voice of America  Bonaire Neth. Antilles  Netherlands Antilles  34433  Special English  Special English feature on the life of Mark Twain  1935 UTC  21/03/2010

Back In Business

It’s been a while since my last post on this blog, and a lot has happened since – like I’ve moved house and am no longer plagued with the RFI problems I mentioned.
Basically I’ve moved to a country location and although there are adjacent houses, the QRN from them is not too bad.
I’ll post some pictures of my new setup soon, as well as some new loggings ….
But for now … we’re back in the business of DX’ing!

Dx’ing is so difficult these days!

I write this as I wait to move house soon – probably in 6 weeks or so.
As far as DXing goes, a move could not come at a better time because of the horrific RF interference I mention below. I’ve not been able to identify it – if I could I’m not sure that I’d be able to do anything about it anyway.
So – I’m going to buy an RFI ‘sniffer’ to take with me when choosing prospective new dwellings. The estate agent will no doubt think I’m completely nuts. I don’t care.
And – as it happens – I’ve discovered some pretty horrendous sources of RFI within my existing place: despite the fact that I’m pretty careful in trying to minimise it. I never buy switched mode power supplies, for example.
But I discovered a power supply supplied with a quite expensive Pico ‘internet radio’ – it cost £150, but the power supply that comes with it is cheap and nasty and causes massive interference throughout the house. And probably several other houses too. It’s also undoubtedly ‘legal’. Whether the authorities would acknowledge it as a source of interference, I don’t know. But I’ve now thrown it away.
So although we read lots about mains borne RFI through home networking devices that, sadly, is not the end of the story.
If you escape that particularly devastating hobby-wrecker there are many more modern devices which are almost as capable of ruining this fine hobby.
Trouble is – things are likely to get worse, not better.

The RFI has got me …

Well, it had to happen I suppose …

The blight of any DX’ers hobby has struck me. Horrendous and persistent interference across just about all the shortwave bands, starting at about 1.9 Mhz , and still in evidence up to about 13 Mhz.

What is it? Haven’t got a clue, except I’m fairly sure that it’s not the dreaded ‘networking over the mains’ phenomenon which really is a major threat to the hobby. I’ve listened to some examples online, doesn’t sound like that. It’s got a distinctive tone at its heart, accompanied by what sounds like bursts of data.

And, sadly, I’ve no doubt that in terms of the law it’s probably not ‘illegal’. The standards applied to all kinds of modern appliances seem incredibly lenient and biased towards the user, not the DX’er.

The only crumb of comfort is that I’m due to move house soon, so will escape this nightmare.

Sad thing is .. if I wasn’t .. that would be the end of my hobby for good.

Is that fair?

DX Loggings

BOTSWANA   VOICE OF AMERICA  4,930  2048GMT   EE  34333  18-JUL Chirpy African style DJ, lovely African MX  (SG)

CHINA   CHINA NATIONAL RADIO  4,800  2040GMT   UU  33223  18-JUL Long Talk by OM in Chinese Language  (SG)

CUBA   RADIO HAVANA  6,060  0608GMT   EE  44433  19-JUL Extended news bulletin – plug for website  (SG)

CYPRUS   CYPRUS BC  5,930  2315GMT   GR  44444  18-JUL Discussion programme in Greek.  (SG)

EQUATORIAL GUINEA   RN GUINEA ECUATORIAL  6,250  1945GMT   UU  33222  26-JUL Long speech by OM in vernacular language, then African-style language  (SG)

ERITREA   VOICE OF BROAD MASSES OF ERITREA  8,000  0433GMT   AA  34333  24-JUL Long talks in, I think, Arabic interspersed with short bursts of local music  (SG)

GABON   RADIO TV GABONAISE 1  4,777  1849GMT   FF  32222  01-MAY OM with frequent mentions of ‘Gabonaise’  (SG)

GERMANY   PAN AMERICAN BC  15,205  1415GMT   EE  24222  04-MAY Poor reception, but carrying ‘Back To Gospel Hour’. Sign off 1430, with no announcements  (SG)

KOREA, NORTH   VOICE OF KOREA  7,570  2132GMT   EE  34333  30-APR Frequent ID’s as follows: ‘This is Voice of Korea’ without a ‘the’. Song called ‘The Bosom of the General Is The Cradle of our Life’!! Poor Audio, buzz on transmission occasionally (SG)

MADAGASCAR   RADIO NEDERLAND WERELDOMROEP  7,425  1957GMT   EE  24333  18-JUL Newsline News Programme, ID ‘ Radio Netherlands Worldwide’.  (SG)

MAURITANIA   RADIO MAURITANIE  4,845  2045GMT   AA  44333  18-JUL Prolonged Arabic chanting,  (SG)

MAURITANIA   RADIO MAURITANIE  4,845  2200GMT   AA  44333  23-JUL News in Arabic, many clear ID’s of ‘Mauritanie’.  (SG)

MOLDAVA   RADIO PAYEM E-DOOST(BAHAI)  7,480  1826GMT   PE  44444  01-MAY Long speech by guest with female presenter. Website mentioned; www.bahairadio.org Buzz on audio at times (studio problem not transmitter!) (SG)

NETHERLANDS ANTILLES   VOICE OF AMERICA  17,550  1915GMT   FF  24222  26-JUL Jazz programme, then ID at 1930 “Voici La Voix de L’Amerique” followed by News  (SG)

SOUTH AFRICA   BBC WORLDSERVICE  3,255  2059GMT   EE  24332  18-JUL ID, News 2200  (SG)

SPAIN   ONDA CERO RADIO CATALUNA  540  0203GMT   SS  22222  26-JUL Many clear ID’s and jingles after news. “If Tomorrow Never Comes” by Ronan Keating. Light Pops 734 Miles (SG)

SYRIA   RADIO DAMASCUS  9,330  1854GMT   GG  44434  01-MAY German sevice, full ID ‘Radio Damascus’, then into French Service at 1900 Really terrible tone on audio (SG)

TAJIKISTAN   TAJIK RADIO 1  4,635  2313GMT   TA  33222  26-JUL Russian Style Music – non stop.  (SG)

UNITED KINGDOM   BBC RADIO JERSEY  1,026  1445GMT   EE  22332  04-MAY Request show – mentions of ‘St. Helier’ and St. Brelade.  (SG)

UNITED KINGDOM   BBC SOMERSET  1,566  0520GMT   UU  32443  24-JUL Review of local papers and ID ‘BBC Somerset News Headlines’  (SG)

UNITED KINGDOM   BLAST 1386, THAMES VALLEY UNIVERSITY  1,386  0845GMT   EE  22322  27-JUL ID ‘Blast 1386′ into news, programme trail for Wednesday afternoon programme out of News  (SG)

UNITED STATES   RADIO MARTÍ  6,030  0450GMT   SS  24322  17-JUL Spanish Programming, ID at 0459 – ‘Radio Marti’.  (SG)

This report was generated by Shortwave Log.

http://www.shortwavelog.com

DX Loggings

ALGERIA NAT.R.OF SAHARA ARABD REP. 6,300 1939GMT AA 44444 18-APR
Arabic Music, full ID at 2002 followed ny news (SG)

BRAZIL RADIO GLOBO 11,805 2024GMT PP 23232 18-APR
Excited presenter taking phone calls. Destroyed by interference from R.
Romania Int at 2030 (SG)

CHAD RADIODIFFUSION NATIONALE TCHADIENNE 4,905 2048GMT FF 44333 18-APR
DJ playing excellent African music, several ID’s (SG)

NETHERLANDS ANTILLES VOA 17,550 1945GMT FF 13322 18-APR
News and commentaries on events in Africa. At 1958, ID, then French pop music programme with (I think) ‘Bel Monte’. (SG)

UKRAINE RADIO UKRAINE INTERNATIONAL 7,510 2105GMT EE 55544 18-APR
Programme about Ukranian culture and the difference between Ukranian and Russian speakers in the country. (SG)

DX Loggings

ASCENSION ISLAND (U.K.) COTTON TREE NEWS RADIO 9,525 0731GMT EE 34333 16-APR
News read by Edward Kambu incl. speech given by US Ambassador Perry talking
about clean water and energy needs of Sierra Leone. ‘You’re listening
to news from CTN’ (SG)

CHILE VOZ CHRISTIANA 15,410 2032GMT PP 34333 16-APR
Good pop music with Latin flavour, DJ pretty anonymous but did take a couple
of phone calls from listeners. ID for service as ‘Sua A Voz. ID with News
at 2100 ‘CVC Noticias’. (SG)

CHINA CHINA NATIONAL RADIO 4,750 2225GMT UU 24232 10-APR
(SG)

NORWAY SW RADIO AFRICA 12,035 1830GMT EE 32332 13-APR
Heated discusion between female presenter and callers on phone-in about
post-election violence. Severe splatter from freqs above and below. Short
burst of music and s/off 1859 (SG)

ROMANIA RADIO ROMANIA INTERNATIONAL 15,220 1235GMT EE 34222 12-APR
Romanina cultural buildings and the history of the Internet (SG)

SOUTH AFRICA IRIN (UN) RADIO 15,170 0725GMT FF 24333 14-APR
Relay of Radio France International African Service. Audio breaking up
(as if bad digital link) for a while, abrupt off at 0759 (SG)

UNITED KINGDOM FOREST OF DEAN RADIO (COMMUNITY STN) 1,521 1730GMT EE 22332 12-APR
Eddie Kendrick and Daniel Meek interviewing band (SG)

UNITED KINGDOM RADIO ALGERIENNE VIA UK 7,150 2210GMT AA 44444 13-APR
Long talk by OM and Arabic Music. // 9710, which was considerably worse
signal (SG)

DX Loggings

IRAN VOICE OF ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN 7,260 1900GMT FF 55555 09-APR
French to Arabic language lesson and news summaries. (SG)

IRELAND BBC RADIO ULSTER 1,341 0715GMT EE 34333 07-APR
Travel News & ID “BBC Radio Ulster Travel News” (SG)

KUWAIT RADIO KUWAIT 15,110 0618GMT EE 24222 08-APR
‘Kuwait inthe International Arena’ (SG)

SOUTH AFRICA RADIO SONDER GRENSE 3,320 1830GMT AK 24222 09-APR
Discussion in Arfikaans. Heavy QRN (SG)

UNITED KINGDOM TAY AM 1,584 1950GMT EE 33434 09-APR
Country Music Show. No news scheduled at 2000! Distance to my QTH 331 miles!
(SG)