19 June 2020

Radio SE-TA 2 - a new German voice is back on the air in 2020

 SAVE THE DATE!

RADIO SE-TA 2 – A NEW GERMAN VOICE IS BACK ON THE AIR IN 2020!

RADIO SE-TA 2 is broadcasting primarily to German citizens in Europe and the world, who live outside of Germany. Our programs include information and music from Germany and the world
to maintain the connection to their home.

A quarterly program series starts on July 4th, 2020 with a one hour show called "Let's Go Rock'n Roll".

This time our program is from Nauen via the facilities of MEDIA BROADCAST on 6095 kHz with a radiation power of 125 KW. The reception area will be all of Central Europe.

These quarterly programs will always be aired on the 1st Saturday in the new quarter.
Summer period: 10.00-11.00 UTC (= 12.00-13.00 CEST).
Winter period: 11.00-12.00 UTC (= 12.00-13.00 CET).

Transmissions are already booked as follows:
04.07.2020 / 03.10.2020 / 02.01.2021 / 03.04.2021 - safe the dates!

Your letters with comments, criticisms, music requests and reception reports are welcome to: SE-TA/at/web.de

We'll get back to you in 2020/2021 with our response and ask for your valued patience.

Yours sincerely
Christoph
Radio SE-TA 2

Source: station's mailing list

16 June 2020

How russian radio blocks Ukrainian songs

Quite ridiculous and funny thing was observed today during short-distance Es hop from Krasnodar region: I have received local song request show on Radio Rossii Kuban on 66.20 MHz (via transmitter in Tbilisskaya) at 08.25 UTC, and the audio has suddenly been switched to another program (probably federal stream of Radio Rossii?) right when Radio Rossii Kuban played Ukrainian folk song Varenychky.  After the end of the song, the program has been switched back to the local channel. One can hear that change is abrupt, so it can not be a fade-out and fade-in of another signal from a different transmitter:



No comments :))))

09 June 2020

Svitle Radio Emmanuil on 88.0 MHz from unknown location

Right now (19.12 UTC) I hear local Christian station Svitle Radio Emmanuil on new frequency of 88.0 MHz. Location of the transmitter is unknown. The signal is not strong, like TX is somewhere in Kyivska oblast or some LP FM (FM modulator?) in Kyiv. The audio is lagging on ~6 sec. in comparison with transmitter in Kyiv on the frequency of 67.28 MHz.

Btw, the station celebrates 15th Anniversary these days.

UPDATE1: off now (10th of June 2020, 21.03 UTC);
UPDATE2: the signal is still on now and then! (30th of June 2020, 18.30 UTC).

Strange unidentified station in English on 88.2 MHz

Strange unidentified station in English language is sometimes audible on the frequency of 88.2 MHz during Es openings to Middle East (together with Lebanese, Israeli and Turkish transmitters).

The transmission received on 25th of May 2020 at 14.10 UTC consisted of the concert recordings of classical music and comments by male voice. Ukrainian composer Ihor Stravinsky has been mentioned. The program content didn't match neither format nor broadcast schedules of BBC Radio 2 and RTÉ Radio 1, also no propagation from UK and Ireland was observed then. Here is audio:



Any idea what it could be?

UPDATE: probably CyBC-RIK Radio 4 (RIK Classic) from Cyprus (see comment).

28 May 2020

Es catches 22.05.2020 - 24.05.2020

22.05.2020

09:30 69.59 MHz 404 Radio Rossii Shakhun'ya (tent.) 17 kW 1330 km 46 °
09:51 67.04 MHz DAG Radio Rossii Kochubey (tent.) 20 kW 1370 km 113 °
10:10 69.95 MHz DAG GTRK Dagestan Gergebil/Gora Zuberkha 20 kW 1540 km 118 °

24.05.2020

10:13 69.08 MHz 404 Radio Rossii Kuznetsk (tent.) 17 kW 1140 km 68 °
10:17 66.62 MHz404 Radio Rossii Buzuluk (tent.) 17 kW 1520 km 72 °
10:19 67.07 MHz404 Radio Rossii Novospasskoye (tent.) 17 kW 1230 km 69 °
10:20 71.09 MHz404 Radio Rossii Saratov (tent.) 17 kW 1090 km 77 °
10:21 70.04 MHz404 Radio Rossii Kuvandyk (tent.) 17 kW 1890 km 76 °
10:23 66.44 MHz404 Radio Rossii Perelyub (tent.) 17 kW 1380 km 75 °
10:27 68.84 MHz404 Radio Rossii Meshcherskoye (tent.) 17 kW 980 km 70 °
10:34 68.48 MHz404 Radio Rossii Yershov (tent.) 17 kW 1250 km 78 °
10:43 70.40 MHz404 Radio Rossii Veshkayma (tent.) 17 kW 1200 km 64 °
10:58 68.36 MHz404 Radio Rossii Stepnoye (tent.) 17 kW 2070 km 67 °
11:00 68.68 MHz404 Radio Rossii Mezhozernyi 0.4 kW 2000 km 67 °

All the stations were identified by ID jingles, RDS, playlists or parallel web streams. Power values are ERP, distances are approximate.

RX: Airspy Mini SDR
ANT: 80 mb dipole

22 May 2020

Skyline Radio Germany back on the air 2020

 SKYLINE RADIO GERMANY - BACK ON THE AIR IN 2020! - PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD!



IT'S ALWAYS ROCK'N'ROLL - NOTHING ELSE MATTERS!

Shortwaveradio.de kindly gave us the 5th possibility to be on air with some brandnew shows via their transmitters in Northern Germany.

If you would like to try to catch our programmes, 6 hours on May 30th, 2020, Saturday before Whitsun, 14.00 - 20.00 UTC would be a good time to give us a listen again.

Try the 75 and 49 metre band shortwave on 3975 and 6160 kHz! Let's keep fingers crossed that propagation is good again!

We received more than 40 reception reports again in December 2019 and we hope we can be as successful as then again! So don't hesitate to write in again.

It might be a good chance for you to grab our first brand-new 2020 eQSL-card design! Attention: This one is available as eQSL-card only!

For our listeners outside of Europe: please check the various WebSDRs, and we will verify every correct reception report with our eQSL also.

We look forward to your reception reports, criticisms and commendations to: SKYLINE RADIO GERMANY, P.O.Box 2702, 6049 ZG Herten, The Netherlands or via e-mail to: skylineradiogermany/at/web.de

Have a great time with us and Good DX,
DJ Jan-Hendrik

Source: station's mailing list

20 May 2020

Es catches 17.05.2020 - 19.05.2020

17.05.2020

15:58 88.60 MHz TUR Radyo Harman - Ankara Ankara-Dikmen 3 kW 1180 km 170 °
15:59 90.00 MHz TUR Radyo Manavgat - Manavgat Manavgat/Türkbeleni Tepe 1 kW 1510 km 177 °
17:36 88.50 MHz ??? UNID (Kurdish?) ? ? kW ???? km ??? °
17:36 89.40 MHz SYR SRTV 1 Dimashk (tent.) Ayn al-Arab 150 kW 1630 km 154 °
17:36 90.00 MHz TUR TRT Radyo 1 ? ? kW ???? km ??? °
17:37 88.80 MHz TUR TRT Radyo 1 ? ? kW ???? km ??? °

18.05.2020

11:49 87.90 MHz GRC Erotokritos FM Iraklion/Rogdia (tent.) 4 kW 1720 km 197 °
11:58 90.70 MHz GRC Dream FM 90.7 Iraklion/Rogdia (tent.) 1 kW 1720 km 197 °
11:59 88.10 MHz GRC Fly FM 88.1 Iraklion/Rogdia (tent.) 0.5 kW 1720 km 197 °
12:09 88.80 MHz GRC Skai FM (tent. new frequency?) ? ? kW ???? km ??? °
12:23 87.50 MHz GRC Radio Amore (tent.) ? ? kW ???? km ??? °
12:25 88.30 MHz GRC Viva FM 88.3 Katerini/Kontariotissa ? kW 1290 km 212 °
12:30 91.80 MHz GRC Prisma FM (Sifnos) Sifnos/Artemonas ? kW 1560 km 199 °
12:31 90.50 MHz GRC ERA 1 Proto Programma (tent.) Borsas 8 kW 1530 km 207 °
12:32 88.80 MHz GRC Loud 88.8 (tent.) Kalampaka/Koromilia 0.5 kW 1380 km 214 °
12:32 91.30 MHz GRC ERA 2 Deutero Programma Akarnanika/Perganti 100 kW 1480 km 214 °
12:33 89.60 MHz GRC Super FM 89.6 Hania/Malaxa 2 kW 1730 km 200 °
12:40 88.90 MHz GRC Hit FM 88.9 Athina/Ymittos (tent.) 54 kW 1480 km 203 °
12:40 89.20 MHz GRC Music 89.2 Athina/Ymittos (tent.) 40 kW 1480 km 203 °
12:40 89.50 MHz GRC Ekklesia ti Ellados (tent.) Athina/Ymittos (tent.) 60 kW 1480 km 203 °
12:41 88.60 MHz GRC Legend 88.6 (Athens) Athina/Ymittos (tent.) 30 kW 1480 km 203 °
12:42 88.00 MHz GRC Menta FM 88 (tent.) Athina/Ymittos (tent.) 40 kW 1480 km 203 °
12:42 92.00 MHz GRC Galaxy 92 FM (tent.) Athina/Ymittos (tent.) 32 kW 1480 km 203 °
12:45 87.60 MHz BUL BNR Radio Shumen Shumen 100 kW 810 km 201 °
12:45 89.00 MHz BUL BG Radio Shumen 0.46 kW 830 km 200 °
12:45 91.40 MHz BUL Darik Radio (Varna) (tent.) Shumen 3 kW 830 km 200 °
12:50 88.90 MHz BUL BNR Radio Horizont (tent.) Royak 3 kW 840 km 197 °
13:07 89.30 MHz GRC Radio Paleohora ? ? kW ???? km ??? °
13:09 90.10 MHz ??? UNID in Arabic ? ? kW ???? km ??? °
13:12 92.30 MHz GRC Lampsi 92.3 FM Athina/Ymittos (tent.) 100 kW 1480 km 203 °
13:48 90.90 MHz GRC ERA 3 Trito Programma Athina/Ymittos 100 kW 1480 km 203 °
13:49 89.30 MHz GRC ERA 3 Trito Programma Kalamata/Likodimo/Petalidi 35 kW 1640 km 208 °
13:49 90.40 MHz GRC Kanali 1 Piraeus Athina/Ymittos 40 kW 1480 km 203 °
13:50 88.00 MHz GRC Life FM 88.0 Kalamata/Likodimo/Petalidi 1 kW 1640 km 208 °
14:10 97.40 MHz GRC Rythmos 97.4 (tent.) Hania/Malaxa 2.5 kW 1730 km 200 °
14:35 98.20 MHz GRC Magic FM 98.2 Hania/Malaxa (tent.) 2 kW 1730 km 200 °
14:58 94.40 MHz GRC ERA 1 Proto Programma Charakas-Akhendrias 35 kW 1760 km 196 °

19.05.2020

07:58 68.87 MHz 404 Radio Voskreseniye Nizhniye Sergi 17 kW 2010 km 59 °
08:00 67.79 MHz TAT Kunel Radiosy Yar Chally 4 kW 1580 km 59 °
08:01 69.92 MHz 404 Radio Orfey Yekaterinburg 4 kW 2100 km 58 °
08:05 69.29 MHz 404 Radio Rossii Baranchinskiy (tent.) 17 kW 2060 km 54 °
08:10 67.01 MHz 404 Radio Rossii Ural Nizhniye Sergi 17 kW 2010 km 59 °
08:10 68.72 MHz 404 Radio Rossii Perm Oktyabrskiy 6.3 kW 1890 km 58 °
08:10 70.43 MHz 404 Radio Rossii Ural ? ? kW ???? km ??? °
08:11 66.62 MHz 404 Radio Rossii Orenburg (tent.) Buzuluk 17 kW 1520 km 72 °
08:11 67.10 MHz 404 Radio Rossii Perm Barda 17 kW 1790 km 56 °
08:12 68.36 MHz 404 Radio Rossii Chelyabinsk Stepnoye 17 kW 2070 km 67 °
08:14 66.65 MHz 404 Radio Rossii Perm Kungur 17 kW 1890 km 55 °
09:05 70.07 MHz 404 Radio Rossii Kurilovo (tent.) 17 kW 1410 km 36 °
09:26 67.07 MHz 404 Radio Rossii Novospasskoye (tent.) 17 kW 1230 km 69 °

UNID in Arabic - 18.05.2020 - 13.09 UTC - 90.1 MHz, the signal had quite wide deviation, audio was not parallel with web-streams of Al Qur'an Al Karim (LBN), ERTU Al-Quran al-Karim (EGY), SBA Al-Quran al-Karim (ARS) and Radio Masr (EGY):


All the stations were identified by ID jingles, RDS, playlists or parallel web streams. Power values are ERP, distances are approximate.

RX: Airspy Mini SDR
ANT: 80 mb dipole

11 May 2020

Will russia restart shortwave jamming?

Interesting results of shortwave observations and following discussion started by Token forum member were posted on HFU message board: strange DSB-modulated signals on at least four frequencies: 5708, 9008, 9022 and 9024 kHz were regularly active in April between 0300 and 0500 UTC on weekdays. Sometimes on two frequencies simultaneously.

The audio sounded like looped recording of mixed male and female voice speeches taken from programs of USSR All-Union Radio: short clippings of local and international news concatenated and mixed into the one recording. I just recalled that I have already heard this sound formerly when listened to audio clips posted by American DXers. That was sample from Rimantas Pleikys' website, dedicated to deliberate radio jamming, and described as: "Speech-like signal (USSR 1976-1988, USSR/Poland  1980-1988)". The audio, as it turns out, was identical!

What is the "speech-like signal jamming"? Some people of the older generation in ex-USSR countries are probably remember that phenomenon and well familiar with it. Others can find clear answer in Rimantas Pleikys' article "Radio Jamming in the Soviet Union, Poland and other East European Countries". Rimantas writes that some countries of the Soviet Bloc started to broadcast speech resembling signal since year 1976. This was quite efficient jamming technique, because its sound, composed of male and female announcers speech, is well conformed with typical timbre of the human voice.

Signal strength, simultaneous broadcasts on several frequebcies and regular schedule basis of the strange April transmissions actually argue in favour of its official origin and tell us that it was not a fraud/joke organized by some radio pirates. Moreover, numerous TDoA analysis attempts, carried by American DXers, reveal signal source somewhere near Khabarovsk area (russia).

Thus, deliberate jamming is the leading assumption on purpose of these transmissions for the moment. It was rather test, not actually a real jamming yet, as no other signals were observed on the same frequencies. However, it remains unclear what is the possible target of the jamming, because all russian-language "enemies' voices" have already left shortwave bands since Soviet/post-Soviet era? May be it's a preparation for an assistance to "Chinese comrades" in fight against VOA, RFA, RTI, SOH?

The frequencies selected for the tests allow for conclusions that some NATO utility stations operating on adjacent channels could be potential targets. Some of them are using Link-11 (MIL-STD-6011) standard NATO protocol, but I guess, the speech resembling signal is more suitable for jamming of voice communications.

05 May 2020

eQSL from Radio Northern Europe International

Thanks to Roseanna for the nice QSL from Radio Northern Europe International via Channel 292.

12 April 2020

World Music Radio is back on 15805 kHz

After having been off the air since September 2019, World Music Radio (WMR) is now back on 15805 kHz using a 3 element yagi beamed south - every Saturday and Sunday at 07-20 UTC.

The transmitter power is 200 Watts and the signal is audible almost worldwide for dedicated short wave enthusiasts, also known as DXers and DX listeners.

However a very good receiver, a good aerial and a listening site without man made interference - as well as patience – and listening at the right time of the day is needed to catch WMR on 15805.
Best reception is in Southern Europe, but it is also possible to receive 15805 kHz in the Middle East, all over Africa, in parts of South America and the Eastern part of North America. Also in Asia “on a good day”.

Sometimes 15805 suffers from some interference from a Chinese station on 15800 kHz.

Sometimes short skip propagation is providing excellent reception in Central Europe. But propagation is changing all the time and catching the low power signals from WMR on 15805 is really a challenge for DXers in most places – unlike catching big international stations which use 100,000 – 500,000 Watts of power.

Please note that the signals of WMR on 15805 kHz are only suitable for AM listening, so don’t use SSB.

15805 kHz is also audible locally in Eastern Jutland, Denmark, as a "ground wave signal".

Source: station's Facebook page.