There are probably two main reasons for why DXers enjoy the world of radio; first, the thrill of chasing and identifying an exotic signal from far away; and second, the programme content, from news to music, always in languages both familiar and unknown. There is an extra frisson of excitement when pulling in those elusive transatlantic medium wave stations from across the pond.

While most eastern seaboard stations in Canada and the US use English as a first language, many others also broadcast for the diverse local populations, including in French, Spanish, and in a host of Asian languages. Less so in the voices of indigenous communities, but I wrote about that in the past (RadioUser, September 2017: 43) and will, no doubt, return to a similar topic later this year when I visit The Navajo Nation in Utah and Arizona.

 

Short Wave

Graham Smith logged the Voice of Palestine, broadcasting in Arabic from Tehran in Iran, on 6070kHz at 0325 UTC. The Voice of Palestine is listed under Iran in the World Radio TV Handbook (WRTH 2019: 476-477). It is on the air in Arabic from 0230 to 0420 UTC on 7380kHz, and from 1930 to 2030 on 1161kHz. Incidentally, the Voice of the Islamic Republic of Iran, which is the external service of the state broadcaster Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, is rebranding to become known as Pars Today.

http://parstoday.com/en

The BDXC Guide to Medium Wave and Short Wave Broadcasting in the Middle East, East Mediterranean and the Caucasus, Including a Complete List of Medium Wave Radio Stations in the Region (of January 2019) states that the Voice of the Islamic Palestinian Revolution (to give it its full name) originates from Iran and broadcasts in support of Palestinian groups (Fig. 1). It uses IRIB transmitters at Chabahar, Sistan and Baluchistan (600kW), Qasr-e Shirin (600kW) Sirjan (500kW) and Zahedan (500kW). It airs from 0320 to 0420 daily in Arabic on 6070 and 6085kHz from Sirjan; also, from 1930-2030 on 765 and 1161kHz from Chabahar, Sistan and Baluchistan, and on 6060kHz from Zahedan.

Although recognised as a nation state by 136 of the 193 United Nations member states, the WRTH does not yet afford Palestine a separate listing. However, the ITU does include Palestine in its list of geographical codes as ‘PSE’. The Voice of Palestine is part of the Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation which was established in July 1994. The radio station was originally known as the Voice of Palestinian Revolution, before the 1993 Oslo Accords. The station was launched on 17 October 1998.

The BDXC Guide notes that the Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation is the state broadcasting station for the Palestinian Territories of West Bank and Gaza and broadcasts on FM only. Several other private broadcasting stations also operate on FM in the territories. Audio from Al-Quds TV is broadcast to Palestine (West Bank & Gaza). This satellite channel broadcast began transmitting in November 2008. The station is Palestinian and licensed in London. An audio feed of Al-Quds TV was first heard in late January 2009, and Arabic is broadcast between 0230 and 0530 UTC via the 500kW short wave transmitter of IRIB at Zahedan.

bdxc.org.uk/mideast.pdf

There are other support groups and radio stations around the world that campaign for international recognition, human rights and a voice for Palestine (Fig. 2). CKUT Radio in Montreal has hosted a programme, with participation by the International Middle East Media Center, in Beit Sahour in the West Bank of Palestine, and involving a number of radio stations.

Another station, which also went by the name the Voice of Palestine, was first aired in the 1970s on Co-op Radio in Vancouver; it continued until 2012. Under the Olive Tree was broadcast on CKUT radio in Montreal since 2005, and on CFRC Radio in Kingston since 2009. These Palestinian radio programmes are another example of the long history of community broadcasting in North America, by and for indigenous peoples. You can also listen to stations from Palestine online, playing a wide range of music. 7Ria 92.7 is my current favourite from that part of the world.

www.radio-home.net/palestinian-radio-stations.php

https://ckut.ca

https://tinyurl.com/yxeexe8f

Lionel Clyne heard one of Radio Romania International's many transmissions at 1523 UTC on 9810kHz. It was broadcasting in Romanian from Galbeni, with a SINPO of 54555. Lionel commented that, when he entered it into his well-worn log book and single-purpose Jornada HP computer, he counted 120 earlier entries for RRI station over the past 22 years, ranging from 5910 to 21580kHz.

In early February 2019, I contacted Radio Romania International regarding the station's new series of QSL cards and was told that, "The 2019 QSL cards will be about garments for celebration, chains made of coins and adornments from the western part of Romania. Due to the fact that the state budget for 2019 is far from being approved, and due to the public procurements procedure, we will have huge delays in producing the QSL cards. We will try to find a solution to produce them first in an online version."

You can send reception reports by snail mail, email or through an online form:

www.rri.ro/en_gb/pages/receptie

Lionel also heard the Voice of Turkey at 2002 UTC on 6050kHz from Emirler. This English programme (Letterbox) acknowledged reception reports from around the world. The programme is currently scheduled as parts of its Friday broadcasts and can be heard at 1345 UTC on 12035kHz, 1745 UTC on 11730kHz, 1945 UTC on 6050kHz, 2145 UTC on 9610kHz, and 2315 UTC on 5960kHz.

It's great to have Radio Exterior de España back in English on short wave (RadioUser, January 2019: 48). The national Spanish service never left the band and puts out a powerful signal. Lionel logged it at 1530 UTC on 9690kHz with a football commentary.

KNLS, the Alaskan-based Christian station, was logged by Lionel in Arabic via the Mahajanga transmitter in Madagascar on 11985kHz at 1924 UTC (Fig. 3).

Timm Breyel is an active DXer in Malaysia with a very fine blog. He sent a reception report to KNLS in 2014, after hearing an hour-long English transmission from Anchor Point, Alaska on 9920kHz from 1500 UTC. In a blog post, Timm wrote, "Reception report was emailed on 28 July 2014. Subsequent emails were sent as late as 2015, then again in early 2016. Finally! On 26 April, a QSL card arrived in the mail. This QSL must have travelled by dog sledge, then a tug boat around the world, before reaching Malaysia. It took nearly two years My first QSL from KNLS (back in 2011) has a storied life as well."

http://shortwavedxer.blogspot.com

Radio Tirana celebrated its 80th Anniversary late last year. A well-written overview of the station's history can be found online. With Italian intergovernmental help, Albanian Radio launched in 1937. Radio Tirana started in November 1938, with foreign language services a year later. The station has been housed in its current building since 1965. The online history states that, "with the exception of some older recording equipment, from the German Democratic Republic and the Soviet Union, all the studios and equipment were new. They came from China and were installed together with Chinese experts. This created the possibility for Radio Tirana to launch a daily programme of 18 hours, from 5 am to 11 pm."

Radio Tirana was a dominant voice on short wave for many years, peaking in the 1980s, with 21 language services and 83 hours of programmes a week. Today, it is one of over sixty stations in Albania. Medium and short wave services have been decimated and yet, there has been an unlikely increase in the station's audience numbers, through online listening. According to the website, "technological development has helped us to be listened to around the world. With the reduction of medium and short wave broadcasts, we were afraid that we might lose our traditional listeners – radio enthusiasts; but a survey showed us that we now have more listeners than before." Thanks to relays, Radio Tirana is still on short wave (Fig. 4). You can hear it in Europe from Kall in Germany on 6005kHz at 1330 UTC Mondays to Saturdays. It is aired to the Americas on 5950 and 9395kHz at 0230 UTC daily. If you can't hear it that way, listen to English, German, Turkish and other languages online.

https://tinyurl.com/ya5fr6ld

A newcomer to short wave last November was Supreme Master TV, Constructive Programming for a Peaceful World (Fig. 5). It is based in Vietnam and broadcasts in several languages including Hungarian and Mongolian. Lionel logged it in English on WRMI (15770kHz) from Okeechobee, Florida at 1548 UTC. The full schedule for Supreme Master TV, via WRMI, is from 1100 to 1400 UTC on 7570kHz, from 1400 to 2000 UTC on 15770kHz, and from 2100 to 0000 UTC on 9455kHz. The latter time slot also sees 4980kHz beamed towards the Caribbean and Latin America.

WRMI stated that the programmes consist of news about global warming, animal rights, peace news, nature’s beauty, the cinema scene, healthy living, science and spirituality, literature, being vegan and green, secrets of the universe and lectures by Supreme Master Ching Hai.

Programme comments can be emailed to [email protected], and reception reports should go to WRMI at [email protected]

I have enjoyed the Supreme Master TV Channel online at this URL:

www.suprememastertv.com

 

Medium Wave

There are some good transatlantic logs this month from Scott Caldwell and Tony Stickells, reflecting what was heard by other UK DXers in January.

You should also check out the February issue of the British DX Club's newsletter Communication.

Tony had a problem with his 500ft-long wire, due to water ingress, but the 250ft dipole that is a lot noisier, still brought in the results, He heard 13 transatlantic stations and commented that he now has, "a super way to identify many stations, I use my Amazon Echo! What a great accessory for station ID! You can get nearly all MW stations from across the world on it via Tune-in and other sources. There is also a short wave for ID. I listen to the station through the headphones and then say Alexa 'access radio player'; then, 'Alexa play WINS from New York' – and it plays! A time-saving method. The best for me for the month was CNR1 on 1377kHz identified with my new love, Alexa."

Graham Smith found pages at Radio NL that tell the history of Dutch medium wave broadcasting, and another that shows the end to the Flevoland transmitter masts.

https://tinyurl.com/yy6wq2bj

https://tinyurl.com/y26h6cac

 

Log Contributors

GS = Graham Smith, Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk. Sony ICF-SW600 and a telescopic antenna.

LC = Lionel Clyne, Faversham, Kent. Lowe HF-150, random wire or homemade loop.

OR = Owen Rutherford, London. Lowe HF-150 and a Wellbrook loop.

SC = Scott Caldwell, Warrington, Cheshire. Realistic DX394, Sony ICF2001D, Lowe HF225, Wellbrook loop.

TS = Tony Stickells, Wrexham. SDRplay RSP2, AOR AR7030 and a 250ft-long wire.

 

Short Wave Logs

 

UTC	kHz	Station and location	Language	SINPO	Initials
0325	6070	Voice of Palestine, Tehran	Arabic	35554	GS
1527	13680	Voice of Hope Africa, Lusaka	English	35233	LC
1530	15770	Supreme Master TV, Okeechobee, FL	English	35333	LC, OR
1539	7570	Voice of Korea, Kujang	English	25234	LC
1548	7440	Channel 292, Rohrbach	English	35333	LC
1600	15580	Voice of America, Botswana	English	45434	LC, OR
1817	11975	BBC World Service, Ascension Island	English	35334	LC, OR
1822	9445	All India Radio, Bengaluru	English	45233	LC, OR
1829	9690	Radio Exterior de España, Noblejas	Spanish	35222	LC
1900	12160	World Wide Christian Radio, Nashville, TN	English	35333	LC, OR
1902	3875	Shortwave Radio, Winsen	English	25333	LC
1911	12095	BBC World Service, Ascension Island	English	45344	LC, OR
1918	11985	Adventist World Radio, Talata-Volonondry	Arabic	45344	LC
1919	6180	Radio Romania International, Ţigăneşti- Saftica	German	45554	LC
1923	6135	Voice of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Sirjan	French	35344	LC
1924	11965	KNLS Alaska, Mahajanga	Arabic	45444	LC
1930	6120	TRT Voice of Turkey, Emirler	Turkish	35344	LC
1930	6050	TRT Voice of Turkey, Emirler	English	45444	LC
1940	6040	Voice of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Sirjan	English	35334	LC
2014	5990	Radio Romania International, Galbeni	Romanian	55455	LC
2026	5950	KBS World, Issoudun	French	54555	LC, OR
2031	5940	Radio Algérienne, Issoudun	Arabic	55344	LC
2046	9690	Radio Exterior de España, Noblejas	Spanish	45333	LC
2050	9420	Voice of Greece, Avlis	Greek	55434	LC, OR
2106	6195	Voice of America, Botswana	English	35323	LC

 

Medium Wave Logs

 

kHz	UTC	Station	Location	Country	SINPO	Initials
531	1152	Kringvarp Føroya	Akraberg	Faroe Isles	44424	TS
540	1153	MR1 Kossuth Rádió	Solt	Hungary	45555	TS
558	2310	Radio Slovenija 1	Murska Sobota/Nemčavci	Slovenia	52533	TS
570	0432	CFCB	Corner Brook, NL	Canada	33333	SC
580	0416	CFRA	Ottawa, ON	Canada	33333	SC
590	2314	VOCM	St. John's, NL	Canada	43354	SC, TS
600	2316	CBNA	St. Anthony, NL	Canada	43333	SC
621	0110	ERTU Sawt al-Arab	Batrah	Egypt	53343	TS
670	0117	WSCR	Chicago, IL	USA	54243	TS
670	0532	WSCR	Chicago, IL	USA	33222	SC
675	0119	Qatar Media Corp	Al-Arish	Qatar	54334	TS
680	0119	WRKO	Boston, MA	USA	45233	TS
680	0516	CFTR	Toronto, ON	Canada	33333	SC
700	0700	WLW	Cincinnati, OH	USA	33333	SC
710	2354	Radio Rebelde	Chambas	Cuba	42343	TS
740	0526	CHCM	Marystown, NL	Canada	33333	SC
750	0001	CBGY	Bonavista Bay, NL	Canada	55454	SC, TS
760	0446	WJR	Detroit, MI	USA	32222	SC, TS
790	0148	WAXY	Miami, FL	USA	22222	SC
830	0300	WCRN	Worcester, MA	USA	22222	SC
864	0121	ERTU Al-Quran al-Karim	Santah	Egypt	52343	TS
900	1043	RAI Radio1	Milan	Italy	35333	TS
950	0125	CKNB	Campbelltown, NB	Canada	33222	SC
1010	0118	CFRB	Toronto, ON	Canada	32222	SC
1010	2154	WINS	New York, NY	USA	42243	SC, TS
1020	0410	KDKA	Pittsburgh, PA	USA	22222	SC
1062	2157	Country Radio	Praha/Zbraslav	Czech Republic	53433	TS
1062	2157	RAI Radio1	Cagliari/Decimoputzu	Italy	53433	TS
1071	2157	Al Nour Radio	Tartus/Amrit	Syria	52333	TS
1130	0414	WBBR	New York, NY	USA	33333	SC
1140	0106	CBI	Sydney, NS	Canada	32222	SC
1200	0050	WXKS	Newton, MA	USA	45333	TS
1200	0140	CFGO	Ottawa, ON	Canada	32222	SC
1377	2201	CNR 1	Xinyang	China	53333	TS
1386	2202	Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty	Viešintos	Lithuania	54444	TS
1390	2202	WEGP	Presque Isle, ME	USA	45243	TS
1400	2205	CBG	Gander, NL	Canada	45233	TS
1430	0055	CHKT	Toronto Island, ON	Canada	44243	TS
1500	0431	WFED	Washington, DC	USA	22222	SC
1540	0005	WNWR	Philadelphia, PA	USA	44344	TS
1580	0645	WFME	New York, NY	USA	33333	SC
1593	0013	Bretagne 5	Saint-Gouéno	France	55555	TS

 

 

This article was featured in the April 2019 issue of Radio User