2009 MW DX Logbook

Bruce Conti, Nashua NH (42°43'N 71°31'W); RFSpace SDR IQ, variable termination SuperLoop antennas 13 x 20-m east and 15 x 23-m south. All dates/times are UTC.

Transatlantic DX

531 ALGERIA Chaîne 1, El Ain Beida (35°49'N 7°19'E) SEP 6 0050 - Good, over Spain; distinctive vocal parallel 153 kHz.

531 FAROE ISLANDS Kringvarp Føroya Útvarpid, Akraberg (62°01'N 6°46'W) JAN 22 2300 - Good, well over Spain; an adult contemporary music selection was allowed to run out followed by a moment of dead air, then "klokkan" time check (Thanks Jurgen Bartels and Bjarne Mjelde!) with possible time pips was heard over RNE Spain time pips. New country, thanks to e-mail alerts from the Cape Cod DXers. Audio uploaded to dxclipjoint.com Loco the DX Cat page.

OVATION images show Faroe Islands clear of the auroral oval January 22, and under the cover of the oval February 14.

531 SPAIN RNE5 synchros SEP 22 0000 - Fair; time marker and fanfare into news parallel 585, 603, etc. NOV 6 2325 - Good, over Algeria; talk parallel 585 kHz.

549 ALGERIA Chaîne 1, Les Trembles (35°17'N 0°34'W) JAN 9 2300 - Good; time marker, ID, and fanfare into news in Arabic.

549 GERMANY Deutschlandfunk synchros JAN 26 0600 - Fair; classical music, DLF time pips. SEP 21 2359 - Good; music with "Deutschlandfunk" voice-over and time marker into news.

549 SAUDI ARABIA BSKSA Qurayyat SEP 6 0230 - Noticed strong pre-sign-on open carrier. 0240 test tone. 0300 Koranic vocal parallel 594 kHz. SEP 26 0243 - Fair; pre sign-on test tone continued until 0258, then at 0300 program parallel 594 kHz.

576 CANARY ISLANDS // SPAIN RNE5 synchros NOV 6 2340 - Fair; talk parallel 585 kHz.

585 SPAIN RNE1 Madrid (40°28'N 3°52'W) FEB 1 0600 - Good; bumper music, time marker, and fanfare into "Radio Nacional de España, Informativos."

594 PORTUGAL R.Sim, Muge (39°05'N 8°41'W) NOV 6 2343 - Good; orchestral instrumental, woman in Portuguese.

594 SAUDI ARABIA BSKSA Duba SEP 6 0158 - Huge pre-sign-on open carrier noted through the hour. 0240-0248 loud test tone over presumed Portugal. 0250 talk parallel 1521 kHz. SEP 26 0240 - Excellent; pre sign-on test tone, 0245 talk. NOV 8 0235 - Excellent; pre sign-on test tone.

603 SPAIN RNE5 Monte Viejo (42°01'N 4°33'W) and La Corchuela (37°20'N 6°00'W) JAN 9 2300 - Good; time marker, fanfare, "Radio Nacional de España, Informativos." JAN 25 0600 - Good; bumper music, time marker, and fanfare into "Radio Nacional de España, Informativos," parallel 585 kHz. SEP 22 0000 - Good; time marker and fanfare into news, parallel 585 kHz.

612 MOROCCO RTM A, Sebaa-Aioun (33°54'N 5°23'W) SEP 7 0120 - Good; North African vocals.

621 CANARY ISLANDS // SPAIN RNE1 synchros, Santa Cruz de Tenerife et al. FEB 1 0600 - Fair; Informativos parallel 585 kHz.

639 CZECH REPUBLIC Ceský rozhlas, Svinov and Liblice OCT 30 2300 - Through Spain; sign-off with instrumental national anthem. New log.

639 SPAIN RNE1 La Coruña et al. JAN 9 2259 - Fair; "Radio Nacional" announcement not parallel other RNE frequencies, then bumper music, time marker, fanfare, etc. parallel 603, 621, etc. SEP 6 0051 - Good; telephone talk parallel 531, 558, 585, 603, 621, etc. 0300 mixing with an unID signal.

648 SPAIN RNE1 Badajoz (38°53'N 6°58'W) SEP 21 2336 - Fair; talk parallel 639 and 657 kHz.

675 NETHERLANDS R.Maria, Lopik (52°01'N 5°03'E) SEP 7 0115 - Good; instrumental church music.

693 UNITED KINGDOM BBC Radio 5, Droitwich et al. OCT 25 0400 - Good; "On digital and online, this is BBC Radio Five Live" into news.

702 FRANCE RMC Col de la Madone (43°47'N 7°25'E) OCT 30 2258 - Fair; Chinese orchestra music at apparent end of CRI broadcast, then an announcement by a woman in French and off.

702 IRAN IRIB Kiashar-Rasht (36°24'N 49°56'E) SEP 12 0000 - End of a male choral vocal, then an announcement in Azeri that became lost in propagational fading, "...mübarәk ramazan ayinin." Translation, "...of the Holy month of Ramadan," thanks to Dmitry Mezin at RealDX. Azerbaijan is a primary target of 702 kHz broadcasts.

711 FRANCE France Info, Rennes (47°51'N 1°30'W) SEP 6 0300 - Good; fanfare and "Le Journal" news. OCT 30 2300 - Good; fanfare into news, "Bon soir..."

720 PORTUGAL RDP synchros SEP 22 0000 - Distinctive time pips parallel 666 kHz.

747 NETHERLANDS Radio 5, Flevoland (52°23'N 5°25'E) FEB 8 0000 - Fair over RNE5, to excellent; time pips (two short, one long), international news in Dutch.

756 GERMANY Deutschlandfunk, Braunschweig & Ravensburg JAN 23 2200 - Excellent; "Deutschlandfunk" with fanfare, time marker, and news in German. SEP 6 0045 - Good; classical music parallel 6190 kHz. SEP 7 0200 - Good; "Deutschlandfunk" with fanfare, time pips, and woman in German.

765 SWITZERLAND RSR Option Musique, Sottens (46°39'N 6°44'E) JAN 23 2200 - Fair; Option Musique jingle and news in French.

774 SPAIN RNE1 synchros JAN 25 2240 - Good; discussion in Spanish. An unID intermittent signal would pop up between 773 and 775.5 kHz, the 775 audio sounded parallel 774 RNE.

783 MAURITANIA R.Mauritanie, Nouakchott (18°07'N 15°57'W) MAY 1 2353 - Fair, subject to deep fades; an impassioned speaker, then African highlife or similar music parallel 4845 kHz.

783 SYRIA R.Syria 1, Tartus (34°55'N 35°52'E) SEP 7 0158 - Fair; Koran, announcement, and unequivocal interval signal. NOV 8 0250 - Good; Middle Eastern vocals with heavy string orchestra accompaniment. At 0300 fading to poor; guitar interval signal.

819 EGYPT ERTU Batra (31°09'N 31°27'E) SEP 12 0305 - Fair; dry reading in Arabic with deliberate pauses between items, parallel 6290 kHz. OCT 30 2350 - Good; Middle Eastern music and announcements parallel 6290 kHz.

837 FRANCE France Info, Nancy (48°53'N 6°14'E) SEP 6 0000 - Good, well over Canaries/Spain; fanfare and woman with news.

855 SPAIN RNE1 synchros FEB 6 2300 - Good with a half second delay between synchros; time pips and Informativos.

864 ARMENIA Hayastani Azgain Radio, Gavar (40°25'N 45°11'E) SEP 19 0200 - Presumed over France Bleu; pipe organ instrumental music, man in Eastern European language. SEP 26 0200 - Topping the frequency; "VOA Washington DC" and "www.voanews.com" mentions in an unID language, R.Liberty Turkmen program per EMWG and WRTH. A new country for the logbook!

864 FRANCE France Bleu, Villebon-sur-Yvette (48°41'N 2°14'E) FEB 6 2259 - Good; French vocal, announcement by a man and woman with France Bleu mentions, and news in French. FEB 7 2345 - Good; Saturday night classic disco music program. Not the same tired old songs played on U.S. oldies radio, Bleu plays music like what was once heard on Boston's WBOS "Disco 93" back in the day. SEP 12 0300 - Good; time check, "Radio France Bleu" jingle with voice-over, and a nostalgic French vocal.

873 SPAIN SER synchros SEP 6 0000 - Good; fanfare, "Cadena Ser, Servicios Informativos."

882 UNITED KINGDOM BBC R.Wales, Washford (51°10'N 3°21'W) FEB 6 2340 - Good; '70s classic hits, Stylistics "You Make Me Feel Brand New," and Doobie Bros. "Listen to the Music." SEP 6 0029 - Fair; BBC World Service promos.

909 UNITED KINGDOM BBC Radio 5 Live synchros SEP 19 0200 - Good with synchro echo; "On digital and online, this is BBC Radio Five Live" into news.

936 ITALY Rai Radiouno synchros FEB 7 2300 - Pre sign-off test tones parallel 1062 kHz.

945 FRANCE France Info, Toulouse (43°21'N 1°20'E) SEP 7 0000 - Good; fanfare, "...France Info, Le Journal."

963 FINLAND Radio 86, Pori (61°28'N 21°35'E) SEP 26 0400 - Fair; end of Russian program, "Daleye vy uslyshite... na estonskom yazyke." Translation: "Next you'll hear... in Estonian language," thanks to Dmitry Mezin of RealDX. Another new country for the logbook!

963 TUNISIA RTT Tunis (36°48'N 10°10'E) FEB 6 2259 - Poor and presumed; sounded like a national anthem and possible sign off.

972 GERMANY NDR Info, Hamburg (53°31'N 10°07'E) SEP 12 0401 - Fair; news with NDR Info mention into report.

972 LIBYA Libyan Jamahiriya, Sirte APR 4 0053 - Good; speaker in Arabic, then North African instrumental music through the hour with a brief voice-over announcement by a woman, parallel 1053 kHz.

999 MOLDOVA Voice of Russia, Grigoriopol, Maiac (47°14'N 29°24'E) SEP 26 0500 - Poor; bells of "Great Gate of Kiev" interval signal under COPE Spain and 1010 WINS-HD interference.

999 SAUDI ARABIA BSKSA R.Quran, Tabuk FEB 7 2301 - Fading up nicely with Koran. APR 25 0128 - Good, over Spain; Koranic recitations.

1017 GERMANY SWR Cont.Ra, Wolfsheim (49°53'N 8°03'E) JAN 2 2320 - Good; news/talk in German.

1044 MOROCCO RTM A/C, Sebaâ-Aioun (33°54'N 5°23'W) JAN 4 0001 - Under SER Spain; choral national anthem.

1044 SPAIN SER R.San Sebastián, Monte Igueldo JAN 2 2158 - Good; network talk with synchro echo. 2159 local break with R.San Sebastián ID; well on top of the other SER station. 2200 synchro echoed time marker into news.

1053 LIBYA Libyan Jamahiriya, Tripoli (32°50'N 13°00'E) APR 4 0055 - Parallel 972 kHz; fading over/under TalkSport, noted on frequency tonight, not producing the usual sub-audible het against nominal.

1053 ROMANIA R.Iasi, Iasi (47°10'N 27°37'E) SEP 27 0259 - Fair; sign-on with choral national anthem.

1053 unID JAN 31 0600 - Heard through TalkSport; test tones about 10 seconds in length separated by about 30 seconds. No sign-ons listed in EMWG specifically at this time.

1062 DENMARK Danmarks Radio, Kalundborg (55°40'N 11°04'E) SEP 26 0347 - Excellent; weather data, then Black Eyed Peas "Let's Get It Started" and Toto "Rosanna" leading up to the hour and news, 0403 open carrier, 0413 off leaving weak Rai Radiouno Italy synchros alone on the frequency.

1062 IRAN IRIB Kerman SEP 13 0020 - Fair; monotone speaker followed by Koranic vocal parallel 1188 kHz.

1062 ITALY Rai Radiouno synchros JAN 2 2300 - Poor; signed off with test tones. FEB 7 2258 - Fair; flourish with "Rai" ID and brief announcement in Italian, four short test tones separated by approximately 25 seconds, then signed off. NOV 6 2215 - Fair with synchro echo; light pop vocals and talk. 2259 signing off with abbreviated anthem, then test tones and off.

1089 RUSSIA R.Rossii/VOR, Tbilisskaya (45°22'N 40°10'E) SEP 27 0158 - Over TalkSport; test tones, then 0200 sign-on with time pips and "Golos Rossii..." ID.

1089 UNITED KINGDOM TalkSport synchros JAN 2 2200 - Good; "From the Sky News Center, TalkSport News at Ten," lead story about rail service disruption. Weak 1 kHz het on the low side likely 1088 Angola. SEP 13 0000 - Good; "From the Sky News Center, TalkSport News."

1116 ITALY Rai Radiouno synchros NOV 6 2300 - Sign-off test tones through SER Spain.

1116 SPAIN SER synchros APR 25 0100 - Fair; "Cadena Ser, servicios informativos."

1125 SPAIN RNE5 synchros JAN 4 0000 - Fair; time marker, fanfare, "Radio Nacional de España..." news. NOV 4 2340 - Good; talk parallel 1098 and 1107 kHz.

1134 CROATIA Glas Hrvatske, Zadar (44°06'N 15°15'E) AUG 8 0040 - Good; talk and music parallel 3985 kHz, signature long time pips on the hour. SEP 26 0025 - Excellent; news/talk parallel 7375 kHz.

1143 KALININGRAD R.Mayak, Bolshakovo (54°54'N 21°42'E) SEP 27 0200 - Fair but well over Spain; two cycles of R.Mayak interval signal chimes, time marker, and a woman in Russian. New log.

1152 ROMANIA România Actualitӑti, Cluj (46°42'N 23°34'E) SEP 27 0200 - Fair, alone on the frequency; music with "România Actualitӑti..." voice-over ID, ethnic music. New log.

1161 IRAN IRIB Abadan SEP 13 0000 - Good; Koranic vocal through the hour, presumed Iran.

1179 SWEDEN R.Sweden International, Sölvesborg (55°59'N 14°40'E) NOV 6 2230 - Good; interval signal, "Radio Sweden, Stockholm," and "To the Wide, Wide World" music, then "You're listening to Radio Sweden broadcasting to Europe on medium wave, 1179 kilohertz," and news in English with lead story about swine flu.

1188 IRAN IRIB R.Payam, Tehran SEP 13 0020 - Good; monotone speaker followed by Koranic vocal parallel 1062 kHz.

1206 FRANCE France Info, Bordeaux (44°57'N 0°11'W) JAN 4 0000 - Excellent; "Un heure France Info," and fanfare into "Le journal" news. Audio uploaded to Loco the DX Cat page of dxclipjoint.com.

1215 KALININGRAD VOR Bolshakovo NOV 1 2358 - Over/under Absolute Radio; five cycles of interval signal, "This is Moscow. You're tuned to the World Service of the Voice of Russia." NOV 4 2300 - Under Absolute Radio; "You're tuned to the World Service of the Voice of Russia," and news in English.

1215 UNITED KINGDOM Absolute Radio synchros JAN 4 0201 - Excellent; "Here's a scary thought. You're only six degrees of separation away from Gary Glicker. Here's a scarier thought. You're only two degrees of separation away from someone who doesn't know we're called Absolute Radio." Say what? Audio uploaded to Loco the DX Cat page of dxclipjoint.com. SEP 27 0301 - Good; "Absolute Radio, we're one year old!" into ad string.

1269 GERMANY Deutschlandfunk, Neumünster (54°03'N 9°51'E) SEP 26 0027 - Good; English folk/rock vocals, announcement in German, parallel 549 and 756 kHz.

1377 FRANCE France Info, Lille (50°31'N 2°59'E) SEP 18 2330 - Excellent, no problem getting around local 1370 WFEA; fanfare into news by a woman with France Info ID.

1386 LITHUANIA CRI Sitkunai (55°02'N 23°49'E) JAN 1 2200 - Usual sign-off noted.

1404 FRANCE France Info synchros SEP 18 2350 - Fair; orchestra instrumental parallel 1377 kHz.

1413 SPAIN RNE5 synchros SEP 18 2328 - Good; telephone talk in Spanish parallel 1305 kHz.

1422 ALGERIA R.Algérienne, Algiers (36°40'N 3°09'E) NOV 1 2225 - Good; discussion in French parallel 252 kHz.

1431 DJIBOUTI R.Sawa, Arta (11°31'N 42°50'E) JAN 1 2315 - Good; hourly news in Arabic parallel 1548 Kuwait. 2330 returned to music separate from 1548 kHz.

1431 UKRAINE R.Kultura, Kopani JAN 1 2200 - Apparent scripted top of the hour ID with the same woman and theme music as heard previously (Dec 27, 2008), then a program featuring pipe organ and flute instrumentals.

1449 LIBYA Libyan Jamahiriya, Misurata (32°46'N 15°05'E) SEP 18 2350 - Unstable signal, varying poor to good; Koranic vocals.

1457.58 ALBANIA Fllakë (41°22'N 19°31'E) JAN 1 2330 - Signed off, leaving unID UK stations clear of the loud het.

1457.81 ALBANIA CRI Fllakë (41°22'N 19°31'E) NOV 1 2250 - Loud het against 1458 Sunrise Radio. Off at 2330 leaving Sunrise Radio in clear.

1467 FRANCE TWR Roumoules (43°47'N 6°09'E) JAN 1 2330 - Excellent; end of English program, one cycle of interval signal, then open carrier for several minutes. Loud het from 1467.3 Iran. NOV 1 2259 - One cycle of TWR interval signal, then carrier was off momentarily, returning with "Rendezvous" program in English. 2345 sign-off with TWR address info, "Good night," one cycle of interval signal, and off.

1476 SPAIN Euskadi Irratia, Miramon NOV 1 2300 - Fair; Euskadi ID with fanfare into news parallel a weaker 1386.06 kHz which suffered local 1370 WFEA interference.

1503 IRAN IRIB Sarasary, Bushehr (28°58'N 50°51'E) FEB 1 0001 - Good; Koranic vocals. APR 27 0100 - Fair; Koranic vocals through the hour.

1503 SPAIN RNE5 Piñeira and La Línea de la Concepción JAN 1 2300 - Synchro echoed double time pips under Iran. SEP 18 2300 - Fair with synchro echo; time marker, fanfare into news.

1521 SAUDI ARABIA BSKSA Duba (27°20'N 35°45'E) JAN 31 2350 - Excellent, 20 dB above adjacent 1520 domestics. SEP 6 0215 - Excellent, s9+20; Koran. SEP 18 2300 - s9+20.

1530 VATICAN R.Vaticana, Vatican City (42°03'N 12°19'E) SEP 13 0340 - In WCKY null; one cycle of interval signal, brief announcement, and religious vocal.

1548 KUWAIT R.Sawa, Kabd-Kuwait City (29°10'N 47°32'E) JAN 1 2300 - Good; Mideast pop vocal, R.Sawa ID and promos into more music.

1557 FRANCE France Info, Fontbonne (43°46'N 7°25'E) SEP 13 0400 - Good; fanfare into "Le Journal" news.

Pan-American DX

530 CUBA R.Enciclopedia, La Habana JAN 9 2300 - Fair in CIAO null; woman with ID, "...CMBQ Radio Enciclopedia, desde la Habana, Cuba" and easy listening instrumentals.

540 GRENADA GBC St. George's (12°04'N 61°45'W) JUL 18 0830 - Fair; BBC promos, parallel 555 St. Kitts.

555 ST. KITTS & NEVIS ZIZ Basseterre (17°19'N 62°44'W) FEB 1 0600 - Excellent; BBC World Service promos, time marker, and BBC news. SEP 26 0300 - Good; soca music.

560 CUBA R.Rebelde, Moa (20°40'N 74°56'W) FEB 1 0600 - Under CFOS; tropical music parallel 710 kHz.

590 CUBA R.Rebelde, unknown location JUL 18 0830 - Under WEZE; nostalgia parallel 560, 600, 610, 670, and 710 kHz.

620 CUBA R.Rebelde, multiple sites FEB 1 0600 - Under WVMT; tropical music parallel 710 kHz.

720 VENEZUELA YVQE Oriente 720, Porlamar (10°56'N 64°12'W) JUL 18 0100 - Fair; "En Venezuela Oriente..." time check.

750 VENEZUELA YVKS RCR Caracas (10°29'N 67°00'W) AUG 8 0035 - Excellent; Espacio Deportivo program with "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" organ bumper music.

820 CUBA CMDE R.Reloj, Contramaestre (20°18'N 76°15'W) APR 25 0900 - 'RR' Morse code heard through WNYC. Also noted on 860, 870, 950, and 960 kHz.

870 CUBA CMDT R.Reloj, Sancti Spíritus (21°56'N 79°26'W) and unID location JAN 25 2301 - Good, over WHCU; syncopated clock, minute marker, and RR code with echoed audio indicating more than one R.Reloj on the frequency.

899.52 BRAZIL ZYJ454 R.Tamoio, Rio de Janeiro JUL 31 0030 - Het against 900 kHz. Poor tropical DX conditions overall.

960 CUBA R.Reloj, multiple sites JAN 30 2300 - Beeps and ticker under WHAK.

1070 DOMINICAN REPUBLIC HIBI Hibi Radio, San Francisco de Macorís JAN 3 0000 - Fair, but briefly dominant over nulled CHOK; announcements for "Una hora" with San Francisco de Macorís address and phone number. New log. Thanks to Jean Burnell, Rocco Cotroneo, and Mauricio Molano Sánchez of RealDX for help with identification.

1540 BAHAMAS ZNS1 Nassau (25°00'N 77°21'W) FEB 6 0000 - Presumed under WDCD; "Time now for a check of the world sport news..." in Caribbean-accented English.

1620 US VIRGIN ISLANDS WDHP Frederiksted, St.Croix (17°43'N 64°53'W) FEB 2 1000 - Fair; the usual pre-recorded ID, "You are listening to WDHP 1620 AM, in the United States Virgin Islands... at number one Mahogany Road, Frederiksted, and our studios at number 79A Castle Coakley, Christiansted. We are in St. Croix." Then a religious program.

Transpacific DX

693 JAPAN JOAB NHK2 Tokyo NOV 7 1102 - Over/under 690 CINF; woman in Japanese parallel 747 JOIB. New log, Japan #3.

747 JAPAN JOIB NHK2 Sapporo (43°05'N 141°37'E) NOV 7 1058 - Fair; woman in Japanese parallel 693 and 774 kHz. Signals also noted on 837 and 864 kHz but no audio. 747 JOIB continued fair to good beyond 1150 UTC, while 693 JOAB was buried under 690 CINF and 774 JOUB was clobbered by 770 WABC analog. NOV 8 1100 - Good; three pips followed by a softer tone, fanfare and woman in Japanese. mp3 audio clip

819 NORTH KOREA KCBS Pyongyang (39°05'N 125°23'E) NOV 8 1100 - Tentative; not much audio but clear four time pips separated by 10 seconds each.

828 JAPAN JOBB NHK2 Osaka NOV 8 1058 - Fair; discussion in Japanese parallel 747 kHz. New log, Japan #4.

73 and Good DX! Return to ¡BAMLog! Home.