Chrissy Brand shares some exciting summer schedules and looks at key radio anniversaries. Readers share their latest news and tips, including a decoding of the first SAQ Alexanderson transmission since 2016.

 

I enjoy trawling the broadcast bands at all times of the year but, for me, summertime listening brings its own special magic. Once the sun goes down on a day walking the hills or working in a city office, I'm happy to head home to tune along the bands.

Many decades ago, it was the long warm summer nights that first hooked me onto world band radio. Back then, part of the thrill was listening to classical music from a Conservatoire on Radio Moscow, catching the news from Down Under on Radio Australia or hearing Latin American music on Radio Bras.

In addition to this, the hunting down and identifying of low-powered stations in unfamiliar languages, particularly on the tropical bands, opened up a whole new world to me.

That excitement has not subsided and some of the stations I listen to today could be logged regularly back in the early days. TRT Voice of Turkey, The Voice of Vietnam, The Voice of Mongolia and Radio New Zealand International still form part of my staple radio listening.

Thanks to Channel 292 in Germany on 6070kHz from 1930 UTC, relatively new programmes can be heard, including From the Isles of Music and Uncle Bill's Melting Pot. Another newcomer is a free radio station called Charleston Radio International, heard on 5140 kHz. It plays 1920s and 1930s foxtrot, jazz and schlager music. Station announcements are made through a synthesised female voice.

 

Summer Schedules

Let's have look at some of the English language schedules for the stations mentioned above. You can start the day early with TRT The Voice of Turkey's hour-long broadcast to Europe, Asia and the Americas at 0300 UTC, on 6165 and 9515kHz. The station maintains its lunchtime slot, a rarity for many short wave stations these days. An hour at 1230 UTC (on 15450kHz) is a welcome opportunity to pause and hear what is happening in the world, from the Turkish state's point of view. Whether or not you agree with the views – and the slant of the news reported – there is often a good choice of cultural programmes to hear and this can transcend political and geographical borders. The two other broadcasts scheduled for Europe are at 1830 UTC on 9785kHz and 2200 UTC on 9830kHz.

From Hanoi, The Voice of Vietnam broadcasts in Cambodian, Chinese, English, French, German, Indonesian, Japanese, Lao, Russian, Spanish, Thai and, of course, Vietnamese (Fig. 1). Its English to Europe broadcasts air from 1600 to 1630 UTC on 7220, 7280 and 9730kHz and from 1900 to 1930 UTC on 7280 and 9730kHz. These are also aimed at the Middle East and Africa. English to North America is on from 0000 to 0030 UTC and 0100 to 0130 UTC on 7315kHz. The Voice of Vietnam beams its English service broadcasts across Asia from 1130 to 1200 UTC, 1230 to 1300 UTC, 1330 to 1400 UTC, 1330 to 1400 UTC and 2330 to 0000 UTC, all using 9840 and 12020kHz.

When I first started DXing, The Voice of Mongolia seemed an ‘exotic’ catch and, on the rare occasions I heard it, I listened intently, straining to hear the programme details over the mush. Today, it is easier to hear on 6005kHz from 0700 UTC, thanks to the rebroadcast from Kall Krekel in Germany. The station beams English directly to Asia from 0900 to 0930 UTC on 12085kHz and again at 1530 UTC on 12015kHz.

 

Readers' Reports

Bob Houlston decoded one of the historic SAQ CW transmissions, from 1000 to 1006 UTC on VLF 17.2kHz on May 1st. Usually scheduled to take place twice a year, this was actually the first one since 2016. The next transmission is due on July 1st from Grimeton (callsign SK6SAQ) in Sweden, to mark Alexanderson Day.

The May Day broadcast was part of the European Route of Industrial Heritage's contribution to the European Year of Cultural Heritage. It included thousands of young people simultaneously dancing at 100 ERIH sites, to the strains of Beethoven's Ode to Joy (The Fourth Movement of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony).

There was also a dance event entitled WORK it OUT (Figs. 2 and 3).

Bob's decoded text was as follows: "CQ CQ CQ DE SAQ SAQ SAQ SAQ = THIS IS GRIMETON RADIO/SAQ IN AN EXTRA TRANSMISSION USING THE ALEXANDERSON 200KW ALTERNATOR ON VLF 17.2KHZ. TODAY WE CELEBRATE THE RADIO STATION AS PART OF THE DAY OF INDUSTRIAL CULTURE HERITAGE. WE DO NOT REQUEST QSL REPORTS ON THIS TRANSMISSION.WE ALSO PLAN TO TRANSMIT ON ALEXANDERSON DAY JULY 1ST I I 1ST AT 09.00 I I T 9RTT UTC = SIGNED MS WORLD HERITAGE GRIMETON RADIO STATION AND THE ALEXANDER ASSOCIATION = AR DE SAQ SAQ SAQ VA".

A page on Bob's website illustrates how to receive the transmission, even if you don't have a radio (convert an old PC into a VLF receiver). He thanked Norman G8ATO of Verulam ARC for technical advice.

g4pvb.eu5.net/saq.htm

http://alexander.n.se

[see also the short article on Grimeton SAQ in last month’s issue; RadioUser, June 2018: 33 – Ed.]

Among his logs this month, Lionel Clyne had one unidentified station. He heard it from 1740 UTC on 6375kHz. At the top of the hour, there was no identification nor any continuity announcements of any kind, "just a mixed bag of fairly boring music."

This was probably Radio Harmony, a new free radio station. It plays a wide range of music including easy listening, oldies, chanson and opera (Fig. 4).

Email: [email protected]  

Graham Smith noted that WRMI is still using 7780kHz in the A18 season. He heard a programme in Italian at 2300 UTC, then Radio Slovakia International in Slovak at 0000 UTC and English at 0030UTC. Graham also heard right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, aired by WWCR from Nashville, on 4840kHz at 0200 UTC.

www.infowars.com

He noticed that Bretagne 5 on 1593kHz was off the air but returned on April 20th. However, its absence made it easier to hear the Romanian station Radio Cluj, which signs on at 0300 UTC on the same frequency.

Also, at 0300 UTC, Radio Kuwait is in Arabic on 5960kHz. Graham wrote, "You don’t hear Radio Kuwait much these days. I think it was originally intended to be a general station for the Arab world, rather like Al Jazeera Arabic today."

Graham can sometimes hear the religious station Radio Eli on 1035kHz broadcasting late at night in Russian. Reception is not very good though.

http://radioeli.ru

Listening on the short waves at 0700 UTC, Graham heard Saudi Arabia in the 19m band, the Voice of Turkey in Turkish in the 22m band, China Radio International in Chinese in the 25m band and an unidentified station broadcasting hits from the 1960s in the 49m (‘Europe’) band.

The Romanian station Antena Satelor has changed its slogan to Noi între ai noștri, which translates as 'Ourselves amongst our own'. The station can be heard broadcasting Romanian folk music through the night on 153kHz long wave from 2100 UTC. It has a programme guide in Romanian online.

www.antenasatelor.ro/grila-emisiuni.html

Tony Stickells received Radio Caroline on 5820kHz and was surprised to hear it on a short wave frequency, since the station now has a medium wave licence. This broadcast of Caroline will have been a pirate relay, rather than the ‘official’ station because they wouldn't want to endanger the recently-won licence after all those decades of trying.

On 5895kHz, Tony received a test transmission in English of LKB/LLE on SSB, from Bergen in Norway.

Other logs of note included a clandestine broadcast to North Korea on 5917.5kHz. This was the Voice of Freedom from South Korea, which wasn't being jammed and was quite clear on a few days. On 6080kHz, Radio Marumby was logged from Brazil, playing Latino music.

On 5955kHz, a new logging for Tony was Radio Gazeta from Sao Paulo in Brazil, playing some fabulous South American music. This isn't listed on short wave in WRTH 2018 but is under FM (on 88.1MHz); the nearest to it is the 10kW station Rádio Guaíba on 6000kHz from Porto Alegre. Has anyone else heard Radio Gazeta?

Another new catch for Tony was Adygeyan Radio from Russia on 6000kHz.

Canadian station CFRX (Newstalk 1010 in Toronto) on 6070kHz was clear on many nights; it only uses 1kW. On 7140 and 7180kHz, Tony received the station Voice of the Broad Masses from Eritrea. On 7335, 9465 and 9470kHz, he heard Nippon no Kaze and Furusato No Kaze, both using the same transmitter in Taiwan. Tony concluded that, "I actually managed 1,005 different stations, my highest-ever number; but this is due to the record facility and the Cross Country Wireless pre-selector with my SDR."

 

Anniversaries

The magic of short wave – and DXing in general – is still thriving in New Zealand, The New Zealand Radio DX League celebrates its 70th anniversary this year.

www.radiodx.com

The club held a convention in Mangawhai, which included a talk by Denis 'Doc' O’Callahan, one of the original Radio Hauraki pirates. This was a famous New Zealand station that started in the 1960s.

The delegates, inevitably, discussed the future of the DX hobby and were encouraged by the slight rise in club membership over the past year. The main point was that SDR web radios have opened up DX opportunities to people, some of whom had left the hobby due to local noise and the difficulty of erecting an antenna.

 Adrian Sainsbury, frequency manager for Radio New Zealand International, also spoke about the use of remote SDRs in helping to assess the quality of RNZI’s transmissions.

Meanwhile, in Europe, two 50th anniversaries will doubtless be a reason for some commemorative programmes across the continent.

The 1968 Paris uprisings came close to causing a revolution to take place at the time. Christian Ghibaudo brought to my attention that French station RTL celebrated the 50th anniversary of the events of May 1968, with a web radio station called RTL Radio 68. It was audible online for 24 hours from May 3rd at 1600 UTC. It was also broadcast from 2300 to 0230 UTC (May 3rd and 4th) on 234kHz long wave and locally on FM.

https://tinyurl.com/y9uz9xyx

www.rtl.fr/emission/rtl-mai-68-50-ans-apres

www.rtl.fr

Back to 2018; with national strikes and public unrest at President Macron's attacks on services and workers' rights, many people feel a repeat performance could be on the cards. Tune to Radio France International's English service once a day at 0600 UTC for an hour-long broadcast on 11830kHz.

The year of 1968 also witnessed the Prague Spring and a Soviet military intervention on the streets of Prague to suppress a people's movement. Both Radio Prague and Radio Slovakia International have covered these events from many angles in the past. I look forward to this year's offerings. I hope to visit both stations in the summer, as part of a trip which will take in the EDXC Conference in Bratislava and Vienna, to be held from August 31st to September 3rd.

Radio Prague is on at 0230 UTC on 7780kHz to Europe and the Americas, at 0300 UTC on 9395kHz to the Americas and at 1200 UTC on 9955kHz to the Americas. Radio Slovakia International (Fig. 5) can be heard in English on short wave this summer, with 30-minute broadcasts from 0030 UTC on 5850 and 7780kHz, then on 6005kHz at 1100, 1430 and 1530 UTC. In the evenings, it is on from 1900 UTC on 3985kHz.

 

Finally

The annual survey of what can be heard on the tropical bands and from other domestic short wave broadcasters was published in April by Anker Petersen. The Domestic Broadcasting Survey covers 2850 to 17900kHz and includes the Tropical Bands Survey (Fig. 6). It lists – in order of frequency – all active domestic short wave stations, based on loggings from DXers around the world during the past year. It can be downloaded, free of charge, at this URL:

www.dswci.org

 

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.

TS = Tony Stickells, Wrexham. SDRplay RSP2, AOR AR7030 and a 500ft long wire.

 

Short Wave Logs

 

UTC	kHz	Station	Language	SINPO	Initials
0001	5965	China National Radio 1	Chinese	45545	GS
0005	5920	WHRI, USA // 9955	English	55555	OR, TS
0009	7315	Voice of Vietnam	English	43323	OR, TS
0032	5850	Radio Slovakia International, Okeechobee FL, USA	English	35333	TS
0117	6000	Radio Habana Cuba // 6165	English	44444	OR, TS
0121	6080	Radio Marumby, Curitiba, Brazil	Portuguese	35343	TS
0127	6185	Radio Educación, Mexico City	Spanish	35433	TS
0140	5850	Radio Canada International, Okeechobee FL, USA	English	45434	TS
0213	7780	Radio Ukraine International Okeechobee FL, USA	English	45544	TS
0233	5130	WBQC The Planet, Monticello MN, USA	English	45444	TS
0312	4875.3	Radio Difusora Roraima, Boa Vista RR, Brazil	Portuguese	35333	TS
0332	7140	Voice of Broad Masses // 7180, Eritrea	Vietnamese	35433	TS
0400	5925	Voice of America	English	45545	GS
0504	5975	NHK Radio Japan, Moosbrunn, Austria	English	55555	OR, TS
0508	6060	Radio Habana Cuba	English	55444	OR, TS
0533	9700	Radio Romania International	English	55555	TS
0548	6155	Radio Ö1, Moosbrunn, Austria	German	55555	OR, TS
0606	7505	WRNO, New Orleans LA, USA	English	45434	TS
0639	9650	Radio Nationale Guinéenne	French	35312	TS
0709	7425	Radio New Zealand International	English	45324	OR, TS
0711	6005	Voice of Mongolia, Kall Krekel, Germany	English	45344	TS
0808	9635	RTVM, Bamako, Mali	Bambara	34223	TS
0935	9395	WRMI Tru News, Okeechobee FL, USA	English	35222	TS
1003	9330	WBCQ The Planet, Monticello MN, USA	English	45423	TS
1005	6005	Radio Argentina Exterior, Kall Krekel, Germany	German	45444	TS
1006	9900	BBC WS, Kranji, Singapore, // 11695	English	45334	TS
1106	15130	Radio Romania International // 15320, 13750	English	55545	OR, TS
1115	13695	All India Radio GOS	English	45323	TS
1122	15575	Reach Beyond Australia	English	35232	TS
1217	15630	Radio Free North Korea, Tashkent, Uzbekistan	Korean	45444	TS
1240	15450	TRT Voice of Turkey	English	55555	TS
1307	15575	KBS World Radio, South Korea	English	45433	TS
1413	7625	Voice of the Wilderness, Tashkent, Uzbekistan	Korean	35323	TS
1416	15140	Radio Sultanate Oman	English	55555	LC, TS
1423	15520	Radio Exterior de España	Spanish	55444	TS
1425	15580	Voice of America	English	55544	TS
1440	6005	Radio Slovakia International, Kall Krekel, Germany	English	55344	TS
1445	9330	TWR, Yerevan, Armenia	English	45444	TS
1446	13680	Voice of Hope Africa, Lusaka, Zambia	English	33223	TS
1450	9885	National Unity Radio, Tajikistan	Korean	45433	TS
1505	7280	Living Water Ministry, Philippines	Korean	35323	TS
1510	17530	Voice of America, Sao Tome	English	45444	TS
1514	9515	KBS World Radio // 9785	English	44444	OR, TS
1520	11735	ZBC, Radio Zanzibar	Swahili	45434	TS
1523	11775	Caribbean Beacon, Anguilla	English	35343	TS
1541	9425	Voice of Korea // 9435	English	45444	OR, TS
1556	9625	Channel Africa, Meyerton, South Africa	English	33223	TS
1607	9405	Radio Taiwan International	English	35343	TS
1617	6025	PBS Xinjiang, Lhasa, Tibet // 6130	English	45434	TS
1637	11645	Voice of Korea // 11710	English	34344	TS
1643	7445	BBC WS, Madagascar	English	45434	TS
1643	15520	TRT Voice of Turkey	English	45544	TS
1644	15565	Vatican Radio	English	35222	TS
1709	13590	Voice of America, Woofferton, UK	English	35334	TS
1709	15400	BBC WS, Ascension Island // 17780	English	45444	OR, TS
1710	11810	Radio Romania International	English	55555	TS
1710	15420	Voice of Oromo Liberation, Nauen, Germany	Oromo	45223	TS
1718	6155	Furusato No Kaze, Paochung, South Korea	Japanese	43333	TS
1751	7550	All India Radio // 9445	English	45544	OR, TS
1803	13580	Radio Bangladesh Betar	English	35333	TS
1818	7255	Voice of Nigeria	English	45333	TS
1842	5915	ZNBC Radio 1	English	24233	TS
1845	5950	Dimtsi Woyane Tigray	Tigrinya	45233	TS
1851	6030	Radio Oromiya	Oromo	34343	TS
1854	6065	Voice of Hope Africa	English	43343	TS
1903	6070	From the Isle of Music, Channel 292	English	45444	TS
1903	9390	Radio Thailand	English	55545	TS
1912	9730	Voice of Vietnam // 7280	English	52543	OR, TS
1938	11635	Voice of Korea	English	35313	TS
1943	11815	Radio Brasil Central	Portuguese	44123	TS
1945	15315	Radio Sawtu Linjilia Voice of the Gospel, France	Fulfulde	44233	LC
2002	5905	DWD Pinneberg	German	45555	TS
2004	7205	Radio France International	French	55555	TS
2008	11910	Voice of Korea, Pyongyang	English	45312	TS
2010	7360	Vatican Radio // 9670	English	45444	LC, TS
2018	9810	IRIB WS	English	45444	TS
2038	9620	TRT Voice of Turkey	English	44534	TS
2043	7220.1	Voice of Vietnam	English	45333	TS
2047	6135.2	Radio Aparecida	Portuguese	34333	TS
2048	6170	Radio Romania International	English	55555	OR, TS
2051	7490	WBCQ The Planet, MA, USA	English	35333	TS
2113	5939.8	Radio Paz No Vale, Camboriú SC, Brazil	Portuguese	25343	TS
2116	6040.7	Radio RB2, Curitiba, Brazil // 9725.4	Portuguese	33222	TS
2138	5955	Radio Gazeta, Sao Paulo, Brazil	Portuguese	35333	TS
2148	5840	World Music Radio, Denmark	English	45544	OR, TS
2156	5995	RTVM, Mali	French	44223	TS
2158	6015	KBS Hanminjok Bangsong 1	Korean	35223	TS
2210	11880	Radio Habana // 5040	English	45222	OR, TS
2213	7315	Radio Romania International // 7325	English	55455	OR, TS
2215	6134.8	Radio Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, Brazil	Spanish	33223	TS
2311	5910.3	Alcaravan Radio, Puerto Lleras, Colombia	Spanish	33223	TS
2320	9630.6	Radio Aparecida, Brazil	Portuguese	35343	TS
2324	9720	Radio Habana	English	45434	TS
2325	6070	CFRX (CFRB), Toronto ON, Canada	English	33333	TS
2343	4845	Rádio Cultura, Manaus, Brazil	Portuguese	35323	TS
2343	7410	Athmeeya Yatra Radio	Burmese	35323	TS

 

This article was featured in the July 2018 issue of Radio User