** CHINA. Firedrake Feb 18:
7555, very poor at 1338, with het on hi side, 7557, no doubt against V. of Tibet as in Aoki, only 1330-1342 via TAJIKISTAN. Had slept past 1330 so no check of the VOT blob on 7414/7413 today where I have never heard any Firedrake. The ChiCom may have noticed how bad it sounds coming out of own transmitter so no need to jam it from outside!
Scanned for FD at 1445-1453; none found 10-19 MHz
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** COSTA RICA. 5965, Feb 18 at 0610, I notice that REE relay is in deadair, some intermittent audio drop-ins; recovered a few minutes later (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ERITREA [non]. 11620, Feb 18, carrier on at about *1557.5; 1600 some programming but very weak. This is the new clandestine for Eritrea, first reported last week, Feb 11 by Ivo Ivanov, who could tell the powerful signal was coming from Kostinbrod, near him in Sofia, Bulgaria, and also audible on 2x = 23240. Jorge Freitas also heard it the next day, not audible in Brasil, but very good via Twente, Netherlands remote receiver, recorded at closing:
http://www.ipernity.com/doc/75006/14251860/
Tarek Zeidan says it`s Arabic with an African accent, but no ID on that clip, nor did I hear one. Then Ivo copied the ID as ``Idhaa-tu Sharoopa (or Sharooka)``. On Feb 14, Hiroshi and S. Hasegawa in Japan reported it as ``unID Arabic station starts in HOA music at *1600 UT on 11620; ID sounds like "Idhaat al Sarooka", i.e. This is Sunrise``. Recorded at 1608:
http://mediacat.phbb.ne.jp/mcat/BImage.asp?pn=722.64462
Then I found its Arabic website,
http://gash-barka.com/barka/index.php/news/news-reports/9-uncategorised
including as Google translated:
``alhirak Popular Movement for Democracy and Justice
Gash Barka Popular movement for democracy and justice
Announcement initiated the Sunrise Radio
Today, corresponding to 02/06/2013 begins Radio Sunrise officially broadcast programs into Eritrea and neighboring countries and on this occasion and great achievement has been made by the resolve of the Free people of this country, congratulate and oppressed people at home and abroad this Launches that will express their aspirations and hopes for a better life. Please everyone's cooperation and to inform parents and knowledge at home and in neighboring countries this news. Listen to the radio sunrise and to you the following:
Hour broadcast: seventh pm GMT Asmara [sic]
Power Frequency: 11620 khz Shortwave sw1 .... short wave
Days: from Monday to Friday, one hour every day
Language: At the moment the only Arab
This hope that this will impair radio and offer a variety of programs like it and for those wishing to contribute to us in this national project, will keep you at a later announcement in this regard. Care of Ntmana, you have fun.
Sunrise Radio
Administrative Council
Popular Movement for Democracy and Justice
Abrar House
45 CRAWFORD Place
London W1H 4LP
Nearest Tube station: Edgware road, Hammersmith, central, and district lines; Buses 6, 16, 18.27, 98, 414, 36, 7, 23, 205, 436``
So might as well take a tube and bus and visit them! And there is a lot more on their site in Arabic one could translate.
Chris Greenway replies to the DXLD yahoogroup: ``Thanks! From the name, I suspect this may be linked to the mediumwave station (918, ex-909) of the same name (Al-Sharq, literally meaning East, but also meaning Dawn/Sunrise) that broadcasts to Eritrea from Mekelle in northern Ethiopia (see page 502 of WRTH 2013). This is normally referred to by its Tigrinya name, Dimtsi Weghata (Voice of the Dawn).``
WRTH shows its website as http://www.sallina.com and it has lots of English, but really seems to be a different station. Streamer says it`s on Arabsat as Radio Wegahta, but nothing about 11620.
Today`s Aoki has an entry for this, but with incorrect initial assumption about the language:
11620 Sharoopa 1600-1700 .23456. Somali 50 195 Kostinbrod(Sofia) BUL 02320E 4240N ERI b12 Feb. 11-
Yes, it does appear to be M-F only, and apparently running the same program every day.
Signal very poor here, no comparison to e.g. 15535 R. Dabanga, inbooming via Vatican, but maybe Spaceline 11620 does the job to Eritrea.
As one of the world`s most repressive dictatorships, Eritrea certainly deserves all the opposition radio it can get!
BTW, in the previous hour, 1500-1557, 11620 is occupied by Romania in Arabic // much better 17540, an echo apart, so widely divergent propagation paths? Or because sites are different, Galbeni and Tiganeshti respectively (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** IRAN. 17550, Feb 18 at 1452, very poor in Arabic, but modulation OK, from VIRI, 500 kW, 259 degrees from Kamalabad at 1030-1630. Nothing on 17156 but if we ever hear that blob again, need to checked whether 17550 be missing (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** KURDISTAN [non]. 11510, Feb 18 at 1422, Denge Kurdistan with great ululating music, and as always marred by IADs. This 100 kW, 100 degree transmission via PRIDNESTROVYE often comes in well way over here, especially during this hour (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MEXICO. 540, Feb 18 at 0633 UT, took less than a minute after tune-in to Mexican music to hear not one, not two, but by 0635, three IDs from XETX, La Ranchera de Paquimé, Nuevo Casas Grandes, Chihuahua. The middle one was a full ID with studio address, etc., and all also mentioning their FM. 5 kW dominating the channel, again raising questions about whatever became of 150 kW XEWA, SLP? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MEXICO. Channel A2 NTSC, just turned on at 1514 UT Feb 18 as some weak sporadic-E video fades in with antenna south; all I can make out is HOY, which means it`s the net-2 ``Today`` show, maybe from XEW-TV itself. At 1538 a meteor burst provides some audio so quickly that I can`t tell if it`s Spanish or not. No Es at all is showing on either 6m ham map (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** NEW ZEALAND. 5950, Monday Feb 18 at 1342, it`s an on-week for `Mailbox` as I catch the end of David Ricquish`s feature on radio in American Samoa, about KSBS. Only two letters mentioned, to maintain the name of the show, both glowing DRM reports from Pennsylvania and Oregon. Adrian Sainsbury also referred to having tested 15720 [AM] at 11-13 and decided to keep it instead of 17675; no mention of 11725 where we also heard it testing before 1300. Program over at 1551. Need to go listen to it all via http://www.rnzi.com/pages/audio.php
First attempt to play it had every word repeated, no good (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** OKLAHOMA. 960, UT Monday Feb 18 at 0600 UT, surprise, KGWA modulation stays on with Fox `news`. Must be a couple weeks since they did this instead of providing a 5-minute Fox-hole for DX. This carrier has a constant hum which becomes more obvious during the dead air, especially when trying to null it (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** PERU [and non]. 5980.0, Feb 18 at 0104 tune-in to talk on very weak signal, having missed the CNR1 jammer timesignal 0100* --- again tonite R. Chaski remains talk rather than music, and carrier cut as closely as I could time it at 0106:23.5*. Another overrun from CRI via CUBA 5990 imposed unscheduled English still at 0104, but it and its splash were off before R. Chaski quit (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SPAIN. 15385, Feb 18 at 1449, REE Sephardic service, Mondays only at 1425-1455, fair with short/longpath echo (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 5085-AM, UT Monday Feb 18 at 0107, WTWW-2 is on with country music; lately Ted Randall has been doing his show on Sunday instead of Saturday nights (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 5050-USB, Feb 18 at 0105, WWRB is again in pure SSB; presumably runs 0100-0500 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 7385, UT Mon Feb 18 at 0007, WHRI `Pirating with Cumbre` here but not on 5920 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** VIETNAM [and non]. 11605, Feb 18 at 1420 and still at 1445, whoop-whoop or siren jammer and het against something. Aoki shows this hour contains R. Free Asia in Vietnamese, 250 kW, 250 degrees via Tanshui, Taiwan. This is typical VietCom jamming, also applied to 9920 FEBC at 1200-1330 during its minority language services. Yet Aoki does not have 11605 asterisked as jammed (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
7555, very poor at 1338, with het on hi side, 7557, no doubt against V. of Tibet as in Aoki, only 1330-1342 via TAJIKISTAN. Had slept past 1330 so no check of the VOT blob on 7414/7413 today where I have never heard any Firedrake. The ChiCom may have noticed how bad it sounds coming out of own transmitter so no need to jam it from outside!
Scanned for FD at 1445-1453; none found 10-19 MHz
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** COSTA RICA. 5965, Feb 18 at 0610, I notice that REE relay is in deadair, some intermittent audio drop-ins; recovered a few minutes later (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ERITREA [non]. 11620, Feb 18, carrier on at about *1557.5; 1600 some programming but very weak. This is the new clandestine for Eritrea, first reported last week, Feb 11 by Ivo Ivanov, who could tell the powerful signal was coming from Kostinbrod, near him in Sofia, Bulgaria, and also audible on 2x = 23240. Jorge Freitas also heard it the next day, not audible in Brasil, but very good via Twente, Netherlands remote receiver, recorded at closing:
http://www.ipernity.com/doc/75006/14251860/
Tarek Zeidan says it`s Arabic with an African accent, but no ID on that clip, nor did I hear one. Then Ivo copied the ID as ``Idhaa-tu Sharoopa (or Sharooka)``. On Feb 14, Hiroshi and S. Hasegawa in Japan reported it as ``unID Arabic station starts in HOA music at *1600 UT on 11620; ID sounds like "Idhaat al Sarooka", i.e. This is Sunrise``. Recorded at 1608:
http://mediacat.phbb.ne.jp/mcat/BImage.asp?pn=722.64462
Then I found its Arabic website,
http://gash-barka.com/barka/index.php/news/news-reports/9-uncategorised
including as Google translated:
``alhirak Popular Movement for Democracy and Justice
Gash Barka Popular movement for democracy and justice
Announcement initiated the Sunrise Radio
Today, corresponding to 02/06/2013 begins Radio Sunrise officially broadcast programs into Eritrea and neighboring countries and on this occasion and great achievement has been made by the resolve of the Free people of this country, congratulate and oppressed people at home and abroad this Launches that will express their aspirations and hopes for a better life. Please everyone's cooperation and to inform parents and knowledge at home and in neighboring countries this news. Listen to the radio sunrise and to you the following:
Hour broadcast: seventh pm GMT Asmara [sic]
Power Frequency: 11620 khz Shortwave sw1 .... short wave
Days: from Monday to Friday, one hour every day
Language: At the moment the only Arab
This hope that this will impair radio and offer a variety of programs like it and for those wishing to contribute to us in this national project, will keep you at a later announcement in this regard. Care of Ntmana, you have fun.
Sunrise Radio
Administrative Council
Popular Movement for Democracy and Justice
Abrar House
45 CRAWFORD Place
London W1H 4LP
Nearest Tube station: Edgware road, Hammersmith, central, and district lines; Buses 6, 16, 18.27, 98, 414, 36, 7, 23, 205, 436``
So might as well take a tube and bus and visit them! And there is a lot more on their site in Arabic one could translate.
Chris Greenway replies to the DXLD yahoogroup: ``Thanks! From the name, I suspect this may be linked to the mediumwave station (918, ex-909) of the same name (Al-Sharq, literally meaning East, but also meaning Dawn/Sunrise) that broadcasts to Eritrea from Mekelle in northern Ethiopia (see page 502 of WRTH 2013). This is normally referred to by its Tigrinya name, Dimtsi Weghata (Voice of the Dawn).``
WRTH shows its website as http://www.sallina.com and it has lots of English, but really seems to be a different station. Streamer says it`s on Arabsat as Radio Wegahta, but nothing about 11620.
Today`s Aoki has an entry for this, but with incorrect initial assumption about the language:
11620 Sharoopa 1600-1700 .23456. Somali 50 195 Kostinbrod(Sofia) BUL 02320E 4240N ERI b12 Feb. 11-
Yes, it does appear to be M-F only, and apparently running the same program every day.
Signal very poor here, no comparison to e.g. 15535 R. Dabanga, inbooming via Vatican, but maybe Spaceline 11620 does the job to Eritrea.
As one of the world`s most repressive dictatorships, Eritrea certainly deserves all the opposition radio it can get!
BTW, in the previous hour, 1500-1557, 11620 is occupied by Romania in Arabic // much better 17540, an echo apart, so widely divergent propagation paths? Or because sites are different, Galbeni and Tiganeshti respectively (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** IRAN. 17550, Feb 18 at 1452, very poor in Arabic, but modulation OK, from VIRI, 500 kW, 259 degrees from Kamalabad at 1030-1630. Nothing on 17156 but if we ever hear that blob again, need to checked whether 17550 be missing (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** KURDISTAN [non]. 11510, Feb 18 at 1422, Denge Kurdistan with great ululating music, and as always marred by IADs. This 100 kW, 100 degree transmission via PRIDNESTROVYE often comes in well way over here, especially during this hour (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MEXICO. 540, Feb 18 at 0633 UT, took less than a minute after tune-in to Mexican music to hear not one, not two, but by 0635, three IDs from XETX, La Ranchera de Paquimé, Nuevo Casas Grandes, Chihuahua. The middle one was a full ID with studio address, etc., and all also mentioning their FM. 5 kW dominating the channel, again raising questions about whatever became of 150 kW XEWA, SLP? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MEXICO. Channel A2 NTSC, just turned on at 1514 UT Feb 18 as some weak sporadic-E video fades in with antenna south; all I can make out is HOY, which means it`s the net-2 ``Today`` show, maybe from XEW-TV itself. At 1538 a meteor burst provides some audio so quickly that I can`t tell if it`s Spanish or not. No Es at all is showing on either 6m ham map (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** NEW ZEALAND. 5950, Monday Feb 18 at 1342, it`s an on-week for `Mailbox` as I catch the end of David Ricquish`s feature on radio in American Samoa, about KSBS. Only two letters mentioned, to maintain the name of the show, both glowing DRM reports from Pennsylvania and Oregon. Adrian Sainsbury also referred to having tested 15720 [AM] at 11-13 and decided to keep it instead of 17675; no mention of 11725 where we also heard it testing before 1300. Program over at 1551. Need to go listen to it all via http://www.rnzi.com/pages/audio.php
First attempt to play it had every word repeated, no good (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** OKLAHOMA. 960, UT Monday Feb 18 at 0600 UT, surprise, KGWA modulation stays on with Fox `news`. Must be a couple weeks since they did this instead of providing a 5-minute Fox-hole for DX. This carrier has a constant hum which becomes more obvious during the dead air, especially when trying to null it (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** PERU [and non]. 5980.0, Feb 18 at 0104 tune-in to talk on very weak signal, having missed the CNR1 jammer timesignal 0100* --- again tonite R. Chaski remains talk rather than music, and carrier cut as closely as I could time it at 0106:23.5*. Another overrun from CRI via CUBA 5990 imposed unscheduled English still at 0104, but it and its splash were off before R. Chaski quit (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SPAIN. 15385, Feb 18 at 1449, REE Sephardic service, Mondays only at 1425-1455, fair with short/longpath echo (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 5085-AM, UT Monday Feb 18 at 0107, WTWW-2 is on with country music; lately Ted Randall has been doing his show on Sunday instead of Saturday nights (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 5050-USB, Feb 18 at 0105, WWRB is again in pure SSB; presumably runs 0100-0500 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 7385, UT Mon Feb 18 at 0007, WHRI `Pirating with Cumbre` here but not on 5920 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** VIETNAM [and non]. 11605, Feb 18 at 1420 and still at 1445, whoop-whoop or siren jammer and het against something. Aoki shows this hour contains R. Free Asia in Vietnamese, 250 kW, 250 degrees via Tanshui, Taiwan. This is typical VietCom jamming, also applied to 9920 FEBC at 1200-1330 during its minority language services. Yet Aoki does not have 11605 asterisked as jammed (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
