Miscou Island DX-pedition 2005

Brent Taylor reporting - Niel Wolfish reporting

Location: Miscou Island on the northern tip of New Brunswick province, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. 47°59'40"N, 64°32'43"W. Click here to fly to our DX site on Miscou with Google Earth if you have it installed.

Participants: Ken Alexander, VE3HLS, and Niel Wolfish of Ontario, Geoff Rivett (Saint John) and Brent Taylor (Doaktown) of New Brunswick.

Antennas: Two Beverages, and one EWE

BEV1: As a hedge against an active Sun wiping out TA DX for all or part of the week, we deployed our longest Beverage along a NNW-SSE axis. As there is little to our north to cause QRM from southern stations, we decided not to bother terminating this Beverage. The distance straight-line distance from feedpoint to far end was 1836 feet. The actual length of the wire, allowing for sand dune detours, we closer to 2000 feet.

BEV2: Our other Beverage was strung at a bearing of exactly 90 degrees true, and therefore was aimed directly at Tunisia, central Africa and Madagascar. We terminated this Beverage to reduce QRM from stations to our west (which was a stroke of non-genius on my part...see below!).

EWE: Our third antenna was a EWE, which Ken constructed and brought with him on his flight, made of aluminium poles at each end, at a length of 9 feet each, joined by 16 ga jacketed hookup wire - separated from ground by wooden dowels of a few feet in length. The null end of the EWE was terminated with a variable resistor - which was pre-configured after computer modeling to be just over 1400 Ohms. We decided to not fiddle with it on the first night. This turned out to be our BEST antenna, and we were astounded with its quietude, while still delivering decent RF levels in to our listening post. It was oriented to try to null local pest CJVA-810 (at a bearing of 233-degrees), and did a fairly good job. The EWE worked so well, when Geoff and I left this morning the remaining two DXers on Miscou were considering rolling up the 90-degree Beverage altogether, or re-deploying it in another direction.

Receiving Equipment: Three Wellbrook active multicouplers - one for each antenna - each feeding four receivers. Each listener could switch between and combine any two of the three outdoor antennas, and we all had Quantum Phasers for peaking and nulling. Geoff also had a Quantum QX Pro loop. Ken and Niel each brought their AOR-7030s, Geoff had his Drake R8, and I had my Icom R-75 with Kiwa mods. We also had an assortment of portable radios (most of the Sony line from the last 25 years, as it turned out <G>).

Brent's Report

DX - Night/Day One/Two (of seven)

We all arrived late on Friday evening, well after sunset, so there was no time to string antennas. We socialized for several hours over several of New Brunswick's finest Beverages.....not the antenna kind...caught up on recent events, and then we tuned around a bit with our portables. I had a great copy on COPE Spain on 1215 (although I expected Virgin Radio to be better given the STI). Other coastal souther Europeans were strong also.

On Saturday we busied ourselves with stringing the Beverages and erecting the EWE. After that work was done it was time to configure the listening positions, which took over an hour. There was about $15,000 worth of stuff on that small cottage's wooden table by the time we were done, just in time for DX.

Saturday night's DX started about 1.5 hours before local sunset. Carriers were noted on almost all of the splits early on, with the strongest and earliest being 1044 SER Spain, 1422 (Algeria?p) and 1584 SER Spain. Best early audio was 1296 COPE Valencia with a soccer game (futbol, surprise!). By local twilight practically all of the TA splits were lit up nicely, with the usual stuff reported regularly by Mark, Marc, Chris, and Bruce from the East Coast of New England.

Our biggest mystery started at 2157Z, and continued for almost 15 minutes on 1224. It was a hit parade of pop music, including great copy on Tom Jones' "Kiss," followed by "I'm a Believer" by Smashmouth. Never did get an ID despite lingering for all that time. We would like to hear from someone across the Pond who can fill us in on the formats of the stations found on 1224. Of course, we are hoping it was Israel. By 2213 the usual COPE was back up, with a full ID and taking a phone call from a listener. We moved on...

Spain on 684 was absolutely dominating by 2215. It was loud and virtually interference-free, despite being sanwiched between Montreal and Boston/Halifax.

BBC Radio 5 on 693 was armchair at 2217, with an interview. It was // 909. Talksport 1089 was also loud, with a live phone interview of an American named Brian about the effects of Hurricane Rita.

We think we heard Guinea on 1295 at about 2306Z. It had traditional music very similar to what we have all heard regularly from Nouakchott, Mauritania on MW and SW (at least, before the coup...). There were breaks with a man talking, and none of us could identify the language.

Our next mystery came just after 0100Z Sunday, on 1350 KHz (after some pretty nifty phasing). Clear, loud, Arab-style music which persisted for several minutes. None of our listed stations seem to match that type of programming. We looked on 9495 for Georgia's parallel signal but could not find a match. (Consensus seems to be, since then, that we heard Radio Orient in France)

SUNDAY MORNING: Hello, Western Canada!

Well, the best part of my short stay on Miscou had nothing to do with TAs, as it turned out. I have since seen on some of the DX lists that several others had a good copy of Brandon/Winnipeg on 880 on the weekend. Same here! I was the first to rise at about 0545 Miscou time, 0445 ELT. The rest followed within a few minutes and we were all back at our posts by 0500 ELT. Snacking on cereal, drinking juice, tea and coffee.

With WCBS nulled/phased out, at 0501 ELT I copied a weather forecast in Celsius, followed by the Canadian lottery numbers from the night before. Then into country music with no audible ID. We have no doubt who it was, and former Winnipegger Niel Wolfish was quite confident we had Manitoba.

With that almost-logging, we got a little bolder and looked farther west. Within a few minutes Geoff thought he heard a reference to Calgary on 660 with WFAN phased out. I passed him my NRC Domestic Log to he could see if there was such a creature and...sure enough....there was CFFR listed in all its glory. We all tuned to 660 at around 0520, phased, and all heard "It's My Party," "What a Wonderful World," "Black Magic Woman," and the dead giveaway for a Canadian, "As the Years Go By," by Mashmakan. Then, the ID, "Calgary's station for good times!" and into Strawberry Alarm Clock's "Incense and Peppermints" @ 0529.

Thinking we could go even further, I asked Niel, "What's CKWX's frequency?" He (who seems to have the Domestic Log committed to memory) said, "1130." Hmm, WBBR just pounds in here, but what the heck. I tuned to 1130, started switching and phasing and before long had a woman talking, in a newscast, about "Cloverdale," and then "boundaries." Neil and I both had it by then, and after the woman announcer threw to a male there were frequent mentions of the "Lower Mainland," then into hockey scores at 0545, with the Canucks' exhibition game first - mentioning Ed Jovanovski, and then CFL football; followed by baseball. Considering baseball is in the final throes of a pennant chase, and the NHL regular season has not even started yet, we were confident at that point it was CKWX. Niel confirmed it when he heard, with the same voice used for the promos on sister station "680 News" in Toronto, many of the exact same phrases and styles on 1130.

Next, at 0549 EDT, we all arrived on 1140 just in time to hear, "Southern Alberta's community radio station, AM-1140." Then it went into a C&W song. That was CHRB in High River. We could hear it dominating on 1140, with no phasing required, on all of the antennas. It was about half-daylight on Miscou by that point.

In less than an hour, I had heard three new provinces from New Brunswick, bringing me from 6 to 9. And only my third West-Coast station EVER (after KFI and KNX 30 years ago). Before it was too late I trolled for Saskatchewan but came up empty. Next time...

In summary, while we all went with TA and SA DX in mind, I returned home very stoked about the conditions to the west. I have regained an appreciation for the thrills of domestic DX. None of us anticipated it. We had, as mentioned above, terminated our East-West Beverage to favour Africa. By the time I decided to leave the radio and dare to run the 1000-feet plus to undo the termination...it was too late, and too light. Interestingly, the conditions to Western Canada did not translate into Western USA enhancement. No KSL, KGO, or anything else one might expect. Nothing from WOAI or WBAP either. WOAI was my farthest-west SRS domestic two years ago from Miscou.

Before concluding this little report, I want to say how much we missed Jacques D'Avignon, VE3VIA, this year as he is recuperating at home. We spoke of him often, and look forward to Jacques' return next year for the sixth annual Miscou event.

I also want to report that, after a horrendous noise level last year, we reported it to my local power utility, NB Power. After some early frustration and some follow-ups by Jacques and me, NB Power's northern New Brunswick manager called me personally last week to report that their crews had gone to Miscou, found the problem and fixed it over the summer. He wished me success and told me to call him personally if there were any problems with his utilitiy's lines. The conditions were perfect, quiet, and free from QRM. We are very grateful to NB Power for the time and expense it took to work the problem for our crew of DXers.

Notable Loggings:

660 CFFR AB Calgary – 9/25 0520 – Fair, with WFAN phased/nulled. 60s and 70s gold and, then, "Calgary's station for good times," and into Strawberry Alarm Clock's "Incense and Peppermints" @ 0529. New province. (BT-NB)

880 CKLQ MB Brandon – 9/25 0501 – Fair, with WCBS phased/nulled, with Loto 6/49 winning numbers, weather forecast for NW winds and temperatures in Celsius, and into C&W song with no call-letter ID. New province. (BT-NB)

1130 CKWX BC Vancouver – 9/25 0535 – Fair, with WBBR nulled/phased. News with woman anchor, several mentions of “Lower Mainland,” a traffic report mentioning Vancouver area locales including “Cloverdale.” Then, into sports at 0545 with CFL football, NHL exhibition Canucks game (lead story), and MLB scores. Reception confirmed using recording of that program hour provided a few days later over email by CKWX’s kind CE! New province! Best domestic logging in 30 years of DXing from NB. (BT-NB)

1140 CHRB AB High River – 9/25 0549 – Good, on all three antennas and no need to phase, in occasional WBBR slop with immediate ID, "Southern Alberta's community radio station, AM-1140." Then it into C&W song. New! (BT-NB)

Niel's Report

Now that I've had a chance to transcribe my scribbles, here's a rundown of the Trans-Atlantics logged this past week on the DXpedition with Ken Alexander, Geoff Rivett, Roger Roussel and Brent Taylor. My listening was done on an AOR-7030+ mostly using a EWE antenna designed to try and null nearby 810-CJVA.

Nothing exciting logged in the way of Latin American stations. The same Cubans that I can hear from home for the most part.

162 FRANCE France Inter, Allouis SEP 24 2331 – Good with “We Are The Robots” by Kraftwerk.

189 ICELAND RUV, Gufuskálar SEP 26 2019 – Fair signal with The Beatles’ “Rocky Racoon” and Coldplay’s “Politik”.

207 ICELAND RUV, Eidar SEP 28 2312 – Noted under Morocco with Louis Armstrong music parallel to 189.

225 POLAND Polskie Radio, Solec Kujawski SEP 27 0243 - Presumed the one here with a non-English version of “White Shade of Pale”. ++++ SEP 28 0000 – 5 pips + 1 at top-of-the-hour into newscast read by man in Polish.

252 IRELAND RTE Radio 1, Clarkestown SEP 27 0300 – Woman with news, weather and ID. Fair with Algerian station.

531 SPAIN RNE 5, various SEP 26 0530 – Good with time pips and ID by woman as “Radio Cinco” into news read by man. Parallel to a fair 558.

549 ALGERIA Alger Chaîne 1, Les Trembles SEP 27 2258 - Strong with Arabic male vocal parallel to 153 and 891.

558 SPAIN RNE 5, various SEP 26 0531 – “Radio Cinco” news read by man. Fair and parallel to 531.

612 MOROCCO RTM, Sebaâ-Aioun SEP 27 2345 - Parallel to 207 with Arabic male vocals. Fair to good signal.

639 SPAIN RNE 1, various SEP 28 2255 – Man and woman in discussion with lots of laughter (probably a discussion about how hard it must be to DX from Spain with the numerous RNE 1, RNE 5, COPE and SER outlets!). Parallel to 684.

675 LIBYA Radio Jamahiriyah, Benghazi SEP 28 2139 - Female host playing stringed Middle-Eastern music. Poor and parallel to 1053 at this time.

675 NETHERLANDS Arrow Rock Radio, Lopik SEP 25 2235 – Fair under Libya with Supertramp song.

684 SPAIN RNE 1, Sevilla SEP 24 2210 – Man and woman with what sounded like a newscast. Good signal. Parallel to 693-poor, 738-fair, 774-fair and 855-good.

693 ENGLAND BBC Radio 5, Droitwich SEP 26 0127 – Parallel to 909 with interview program.

711 FRANCE France Info, Rennes SEP 27 0241 – Fair with woman talking about Algeria. Not as good as signal on 1206.

738 SPAIN RNE 1, Barcelona SEP 24 2210 – Man and woman with what sounded like a newscast. Fair signal parallel to 693, 774 and 855.

765 SWITZERLAND RSR Option Musique, Sottens SEP 27 2301 - Blasting in at this time with French newscast and ID at 2303.

774 SPAIN RNE 1, various SEP 26 0537 – Parallel to 855 with Spanish talk and a very noticeable echo effect.

837 AZORES RDP 1, São Miguel SEP 28 2226 – Mixing with COPE. Portuguese announcer playing Oasis’ recent hit “Lyla”.

837 CANARY ISLANDS/SPAIN COPE, various SEP 28 2225 - Talk about a Madrid soccer team mixing with the Azores station. Parallel to 900 and a very strong 999.

855 SPAIN RNE 1, various SEP 26 0537 – Good with talk by man in Spanish. Parallel to 774.

864 EGYPT Holy Koran R. Santah SEP 26 0002 – Man reciting Koran; fair. Mixing with France.

864 FRANCE France Blue, Villebon-sur-Yvette SEP 26 0004 – Parallel to 1494 with pop music. Mixing with Egypt.

873 SPAIN SER, various SEP 27 0412 - Woman speaking in Spanish. Parallel to 1116. Fair signal.

882 SPAIN COPE, various SEP 28 2235 – Noted in passing with same programming as on 999.

891 ALGERIA Alger Chaîne 1, Alger SEP 27 2256 - Good with Arabic male vocal parallel to longwave 153 and 549.

891 PORTUGAL Radio Renascença, Villa Moura SEP 28 2131 – Man speaking in Portuguese, parallel to 963. No sign of Algeria at this time.

900 SPAIN COPE, various SEP 28 2222 – Over top of CKDH-Amherst with commercials and talk about a Madrid soccer team. ID sounded like “Cope Cadena”. Parallel to 837 and a very strong 999.

909 BOTSWANA Voice of America, Sebele Pikwe SEP 28 2115 – Began to surface with the same VOA programming as on 1530-Sao Tome. VOA Classic Rock Show playing Rolling Stones tunes “Lady Jane” and “2000 Light Years From Home”. VOA news headlines at 2130 and then “Sympathy For The Devil”. No sign of BBC yet on 909. It would have been really cool if the VOA was playing The Beatles instead of The Rolling Stones and they fired up “One After 909”!!!

945 FRANCE France Info, Toulouse SEP 24 2355 – Noted with classical music parallel to 1557.

963 PORTUGAL Radio Renascença, Seixal SEP 27 2150 – Man in Portuguese interviewing somebody. Parallel to 891. Fair signal with somebody else in here.

972 SPAIN RNE 1, various SEP 26 2142 – Parallel to a stronger 855 with man in Spanish. Fair signal with Arabic station underneath (Libya, parallel to 675) that started to take over at 2148

981 ALGERIA Alger Chaîne 2, Alger SEP 25 2148 – Presumed with woman singing over stringed instrument.

981 ??? SEP 28 0500 – Woman with what sounded like a station promo. Not in Portuguese. Good signal for a brief period of time. Greece?

999 SPAIN COPE, Madrid SEP 28 2225 – Parallel to 837 and 900 with soccer talk. 999 consistently had a killer signal all week.

1008 CANARY ISLANDS Punto Radio, Arucas SEP 25 2143 - “El Mirador del Deporte” program and “Punto Radio” ID at 2145. Over the SER station that was parallel to 1116.

1008 SPAIN SER, various SEP 25 2145 - Under Punto Radio with same talk program as 1116. ++++ SEP 28 2035 – Parallel to 1116 and 1179 with commercial.

1008 ????? SEP 25 2341 - Somebody weak with Tracey Ullman’s “They Don’t Know” and also Manfred Mann’s “Doo Wah Diddy Diddy”. Possibly Radio 10 Gold from Holland?

1026 NIGERIA Jigaawa Broadcasting Corporation, Dutse SEP 28 2143 - African drum music heard over/under Spain. Male announcer in unknown language. Seemed to go off the air at 2204 after a possible call to prayer and also the National Anthem. No ID heard, but clearly it was the Nigerian anthem that we heard. It sounded familiar to me and also matched up with the anthem posted at www.intervalsignals.net.

1026 SPAIN SER, various SEP 25 2139 – Fair and parallel to 1116 with telephone interview in Spanish.

1035 PORTUGAL Rádio Clube Português, Porto Alto SEP 26 2115 – Good with Rod Stewart and Eric Carmen tunes. Station promo and what sounded like a Subaru commercial at 2122. ID and jingle as “Rádio Clube Português” afterward +++ SEP 27 0236 – blasting in with songs by Bob Dylan and Blondie.

1053 ENGLAND TalkSPORT, various SEP 27 0150 - Phone-in program with talk about the Labour Government. Fair over Spain and not quite as good as parallel 1089.

1053 LIBYA Radio Jamahiriyah, Tripoli SEP 28 2139 - Female host playing stringed Middle-Eastern music. Parallel to a weaker 675.

1062 DENMARK Danmarks Radio, Kalundborg SEP 27 0400 – Danish talk by woman (newscast?) mixing with Italy.

1062 ITALY RAI Radio 1, various SEP 27 0358 – Woman giving out phone numbers. ID as “RAI-Radio Televisione Italiana-Radio Uno”. Played Italian
National Anthem at 0359. Newscast read by woman at 0400 at same time as Denmark started to fade in. Parallel to a weaker 1575.

1062 ??? SEP 27 0228 – somebody playing a Sean Paul song. Denmark?

1071 SPAIN Euskadi Irratia, Bilbao SEP 26 2302 - Woman reading news. Poor and parallel to 1197.

1080 SPAIN SER, various SEP 25 2315 – Noted under WTIC-Hartford with the same Spanish talk as on 1116.

1089 ENGLAND TalkSPORT, various SEP 27 0155 - Phone-in program with talk about the Labour Government. Good signal, better than parallel 1053.

1098 SPAIN RNE 5, various SEP 25 2131 – Parallel to 1107 with Spanish dialogue and noticeably bad echo effect.

1106.8 ??? SEP 25 2338 – Het here on the low side of 1107 noted.

1107 SPAIN RNE 5, various SEP 24 2145 – “Radio Cinco” ID and talk by man. Good signal. +++ SEP 25 2128 – Strong with Rolling Stones’ “Brown Sugar”. ID and time pips at the bottom-of-the-hour.

1116 SPAIN SER, various SEP 25 2126 – “Cadena SER” ID by woman and Mazda commercial . Fair to good signal.

1152 ROMANIA România Actualitata, Cluj SEP 27 0327 – Faded up with the same programming as 1179. Pop music and female announcer. ID by woman at 0330.

1161 SPAIN Euskadi Irratia, San Sebastián SEP 27 0013 - Female announcer playing “Gimme Some Lovin” by The Spencer Davis Group. Parallel to 1071 and 1197.

1169 ??? SEP 27 2318 – Big het here below 1170, but never any audio. Iran, I assume.

1170 UNITED ARAB EMIRATES Radio Sawa, Al-Dhabbaya SEP 26 0117 – Woman in Arabic talking about Israel. Under WWVA and parallel to 1431-Djibouti.

1170 ??? SEP 27 2343 – Who would be playing “Maid Of Orleans” by Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (from 1981)? Looks like a few of the UK stations listed here are possibilities.

1179 ROMANIA România Actualitata, various SEP 27 0305 – Jingle that sounded like “Radio Romania”. Woman playing pop music by Ace Of Base and also talking on phone with listener. Strong signal at this time

1179 SPAIN SER, various SEP 28 2031 – Excited announcer in Spanish also heard on 1008, 1026, 1116, 1485 and 1602.

1179 SWEDEN Radio Nederlands relay, Sölvesborg SEP 25 2316 – In English with “Week Ahead” program. Went into “Vox Humana” program after ID at 2330. Good signal, mixing with Spain.

1187.9 MOROCCO RTM, Casablanca SEP 28 2155 –Presumed to be Morocco. Parallel to 1044 with Arabic woman singing.

1188 ??? SEP 27 0254 – Somebody playing a dreary version of “Michael Row Your Boat Ashore”. {I think I can rule out Iran…}

1197 ENGLAND Virgin Radio, various SEP 25 2309 – Weak with commercial for Barclay’s Bank. Parallel to 1215 and Rod Stewart’s “You Wear It Well”. Parallel to 1215.

1197 LESOTHO WYFR relay, Maseru SEP 26 2244 - On top of frequency with religious phone-in program. Spanish station began to appear and ruin things around 2258. ++++ SEP 28 2146 – Noted weak with religious programming.

1197 SPAIN Euskadi Irratia, Vitoria SEP 27 0013 - Female announcer playing Spencer Davis Group song. Fair signal parallel to 1071 and 1161.

1206 FRANCE France Info, Bordeaux SEP 24 2138 – In French with talk about a car accident. Fair signal at this time. This and 1377 were usually the best France frequencies in Miscou.

1215 ENGLAND Virgin Radio, various SEP 25 2311 – Good over Spain with spots for Barclays Bank and Sky TV. Music by Boston and Rod Stewart. Parallel to a weaker 1197. Could not hear the 1233 outlet.

1215 SPAIN COPE, various SEP 24 2136 – Good with soccer broadcast. Parallel to 1224 and 1296. Usually Virgin Radio had a better signal on the frequency.

1224 ?????? SEP 24 2156 – Somebody with Bon Jovi’s “Runaway”, Tom Jones’ cover of “Kiss” @ 2200 and Smashmouth’s “I’m A Believer” at 2204. Mixing with COPE, who eventually took over. Maybe this was the non-COPE station on the frequency, Radio Popular de San Sebastian?

1224 SPAIN COPE, various SEP 24 2202 – ID heard, mixing with the 1224 mystery station.

1242 FRANCE France Info, Marseille SEP 25 2136 – Newscast. Poor signal parallel to 1404 and 1557.

1251 LIBYA Voice of Africa, Tripoli SEP 26 2222 – Talk about Palestine and then some Middle Eastern music. Good signal.

1269 GERMANY Deutschlandfunk, Neumünster SEP 27 0213 – Poor with Classical music. Parallel to an equally poor 1422.

1287 SPAIN SER, various SEP 28 0442 – Poor with same talk program as on 1116.

1296 ENGLAND Radio XL 1296 AM, Birmingham SEP 27 0239 – Under Spain with Subcontinental/South Asian/East Indian music.

1296 SPAIN COPE, Valencia SEP 24 2133 – Good with soccer broadcast. Parallel to a poor 1215 (with noticeable echo effect) and a fair 1224.

1314 NORWAY NRK, Kvitsoy SEP 26 0012 – Noted with strong signal playing Johnny Horton’s “North To Alaska”.

1332 ROMANIA România Actualitata, Galati SEP 26 0012 – faded up over messy frequency with a version of “Those Were The Days” (not the Mary Hopkin version). Male announcer who intially fooled me as I thought he was speaking Portuguese. Played some piano music and eventually I realized that this was parallel to 1458. Also noted some Middle-Eastern style music underneath. (Iran?)

1341 NORTHERN IRELAND BBC Radio Ulster, Lisnagarvey SEP 26 0005 - Good with BBC news,

1341 SPAIN SER, Léon SEP 25 2055 – What sounded like a wrap-up of soccer matches with scores and clips from games. Parallel to 1116, 1485 and 1584 at this time. 1350 ?????? SEP 25 0107 – Somebody in the mess with Middle-Eastern flavoured music. (Radio Orient from France?)

1359 SPAIN RNE 1, Madrid SEP 27 0223 – Fair signal with man and woman talking to each other. Parallel to a poor 855 and a fair 972.

1368 ENGLAND Manx Radio, Foxdale SEP 28 0439 - Played Peaches And Herb oldie followed by ID: “The sound of your life…. Manx Radio”. Also gave URL. Then went into another oldie. Poor to fair signal.

1377 TANZANIA Radio Free Africa, Mwanza SEP 25 2238 – Fair signal mixing with France. Woman in Swahili talking on phone and some lively African music heard. ++++ SEP 26 2136 – Better than previous day. Poor with no sign of France. Man in Swahili playing soul/R&B music. IDs heard at 2147 and again at 2200 after some kind of flute music was played.

1385.9 GUINEA Radio Rurale, Labe SEP 25 2214 – Decent signal with man in African language (not French). Played lively “hi-life” music and mentioned Labe a few times. Nice ID caught at 2228.

1386 ???? SEP 29 0255 – Somebody weak with pop and soul music and female announcer. Not sure of language.

1404 ???? SEP 27 2338 – somebody playing Elton John instrumental “Song For Guy” underneath the France Info station. Maybe this was the France Bleu outlet?

1413 SPAIN RNE 5, various SEP 26 2226 – “Radio Cinco” ID and talk by man. Fair signal with the synchronized transmitters seemingly “out of synch” on this channel.

1422 ALGERIA Radio Culture, Algeirs SEP 25 2051 – Man in Arabic with reverb speaking over a soundbed of stringed music which reminded us of Led Zeppelin’s “Kashmir”. Good signal.

1422 GERMANY Deutschlandfunk, Heusweiler SEP 27 0213 – Under Algeria, with the same Classical music as on 1269.

1431 DJIBOUTI Radio Sawa, Arta SEP 25 2152 – On top of frequency with a combo of Arabic pop and Western pop music (including song by Shaggy). ID and station promos by woman in Arabic at 2204.

1458 ENGLAND Capital Gold Manchester, Asthon Moss SEP 29 0302 – Faded up over Sunrise Radio with ID: “On 1458 AM this is Capital Gold Manchester”, followed by pop music.

1458 ENGLAND Sunrise Radio, Brookmans Park SEP 26 0045 – Fair with London-area commercials, ID and Subcontinental/South Asian music.

1458 ROMANIA România Actualitata, Constanta SEP 26 0033 – Going back and forth between 1332 and 1485 I was finally able to confirm that these two were parallel with a male vocal. ID at 0035. Poor signal in mess with Sunrise Radio and possibly a third station. Also had 1332/1458 parallel with Bryan Adams’ “Cuts Like A Knife” at 0051.

1467 FRANCE Trans World Radio, Roumoules SEP 24 2055 – Noted with Arabic program. Fair signal.

1485 SPAIN SER, various SEP 25 2043 - Sporting event in Spanish. Poor signal. A second station in here also.

1494 FRANCE France Blue, Bastia SEP 26 0004 – Parallel to 864 with pop music.

1512 BELGIUM Radio Vlaanderen International, Wolvertem SEP 28 0413 – Noted with good signal. Man and woman speaking in Flemish.

1521 SAUDI ARABIA BSKSA, Duba SEP 28 2236 - Woman in Arabic parallel to shortwave 9555 and 9870. Strong.

1521 SPAIN SER, Castellón SEP 26 2222 – Over top of Saudi Arabia with Spanish talk parallel to 1116 and 1485.

1529.9 ??? SEP 25 2042 – Het here on the low side of 1530 noted.

1530 SAO TOME Voice of America, Pinheira SEP 28 0347 - UTC time check and talk about Chevron refineries. ID by man 0350. Good over
WCKY-Cincinnati. +++ SEP 28 2111 – All alone with VOA Classic Rock Show featuring The Rolling Stones. Parallel to 909-Botswana.

1530 VATICAN CITY Vatican Radio, Vatican City SEP 28 0355 - Beginning to dominate with program in Hungarian. Parallel to shortwave 4005. +++ SEP 28 0243 – Woman in Slovenian, parallel to 4005. Good over a messy frequency.

1539 GERMANY Evangeliums Rundfunk, Mainflingen SEP 28 0402 – Fair with German talk by man noted here. Didn’t stick around for more details.

1548 ENGLAND BBC Radio Bristol, Mangotsfield SEP 28 0423 - Woman with station promos… “Radio Bristol” ID heard at 0435 after weather forecast. Hard to tell what was going on here as a second station was mixing in with Bill Withers oldie (Capital Gold?).

1548 SCOTLAND Radio Forth, Edinburgh SEP 29 0250 - faded up with “Radio Forth” ID by man and outro to “Light My Fire”.

1548 KUWAIT Radio Sawa, Kuwait SEP 27 2316 - Better than Djibouti-1431 at this time with woman speaking in Arabic.

1548 ???? SEP 27 2303 – weather forecast by English accented-man. Could not pull out anything IDable. Lost to Kuwait. +++ SEP 27 2321 – Surfaced again with Simon & Garfunkle’s “I Am A Rock”. +++ SEP 28 0405 – What sounded like a sportscast after they played the “Theme To Rocky”. Male announcer said to tune in again at 5 o’clock and then played Phil Collins’ “Groovy Kind of Love”. +++ SEP 29 0039 – station playing “Endless Love” and a Bryan Ferry song. Mixing with second station where announcer was reading newspaper headlines.

1557 FRANCE France Info, Fontbonne SEP 25 2136 – Newscast. Fair and parallel to 1242-poor and 1404-poor

1575 ITALY RAI Radio 1, various SEP 27 0402 – Poor with same newscast read by woman as was on 1062 at this time.

1575 SPAIN SER, various SEP 28 2216 – All alone on frequency at this time with phone interview. Parallel to 1116 and 1584.

1575 UNITED ARAB EMIRATES Radio Farda, Al-Dhabbaya SEP 29 0227 – Over top of Spain at this time with Middle Eastern music and ID by man at 0230 in Persian.

1584 CEUTA Radiolé, Cueta SEP 25 2157 - Good signal with music that sounded Latin American. ID by woman as “Radiolé” at 2200. Over top of SER. +++ SEP 28 2020 – Fair signal with music that sounded like a Tango.

1584 SPAIN SER, various SEP 28 2216 – Even with Radiolé with Spanish teletalk. Parallel to 1116 and 1575.

1593 KUWAIT SEP 29 0238 – Woman and man speaking in Arabic and Middle Eastern music. Listed as “Radio Free Iraq” at this time.

1602 SPAIN SER, various SEP 28 2032 – Excited announcer in Spanish. Poor signal. Parallel to 1008, 1026, 1116, 1179 and 1485.

Posted on October 17, 2005