Radio Kahuzi, 6210.2 khz from DR Congo

I was checking for Europirates on new year day in the 1730 - 1745 UTC range, and noticed a station on 6210.20 -- it was clearly African in nature, and I had a thought that it could be something from Africa rather than some relay in Europe or some pirate with an African flavor.  The Kiwi site was the http://southwest.ddns.net:8073/

It sounded like some sort of special new years broadcast -- announcer mentioning various locations in Africa, including "Rwanda and Tanzania....." and "Senegal......"  There was a music bed beneath him -- I had to resort to LSB reception to null out some maritime talkers on or nearby the frequency.

Around 1745-1747 the announcer was clearly beginning to end the program, and sure enough there was an instrumental piece, then what sounded like an interval signal instrumental, then an abrupt shutdown at 1747.

Give a listen to the attached mp3 -- I threw this out to a number of experienced DX'ers and Ron Howard came back with the following item which I assume was on DXLD, though I can't seem to locate it.  Anyway, it does appear that what I heard is the very rare Radio Kahuzi -- a wonderful new year's present, kind of a throwback to the good ol days (Dan Robinson, Jan 2, 2019, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

This is certainly Radio Kahuzi based on my previous loggings of this station on 6210; however, the signal strength is quite noticeably better than any of my loggings and now wondering if they have upgraded xmtr or antenna. I have a good relationship with Barbara and Harold "Smitty" Smith in Florida who are the station's admin staff - Barbara is the sister of Radio Kahuzi's manager, Richard MacDonald. Richard and his wife Kathy have been in DR Congo for many years with Radio Kahuzi and as you can imagine have had many narrow escapes from the unrest in that part of Central Africa. Dan, if you want I can e-mail this recording to Barbara and she and Smitty will quite quickly determine if this is indeed Radio Kahuzi. The native choral singing later in the recording is very similar to what I've heard in the past, most recently (2012) from 4S7VK (Victor's) Perseus server site in Sri Lanka. (Bruce W. Churchill)

I think Radio Kahuzi's reactivation is not connected to the general elections (presidential, legislative, municipality) took place on Sunday, 30th December 2018 except on 3 troubled terrytory. After the elections a telecommunication restriction have been imposed as the AFP news agency's news article shows below. Maybe Kahuzi's electricity supply have increased due to the ongoing rainy season. Yes, it were good to know more about Kahuzi's current location and its parameters, if they are really in Bukavu, the capital of South Kivu province (Sud-Kivu in french) and what the radio station owners are doing in that very big country.

Fulfilling the information vacuum after the elections is the task of the former shortwave broadcaster, Radio Okapi - an U.N.-backed radio station - which is on FM Congo-wide. Around the capital of the Dem.Rep.Congo, Kinshasa and along the borders of the DRC, radio stations can be heard from the neighbouring countries. In the case of Kinshasa, Republic of Congo's stations due to the proximiti of Rep. of Congo's capital, Brazzaville which is on the other coast of the river Congo facing with Kinshasa. This is why the AFP article mentions that people are visiting Kinshasa's markets for easier internet access via mobile phone networks penetrating from Republic of Congo. However the article doesn't mentions that FM stations from Rep. of Congo are also penetrating since radio waves doesn't recognise human-made borders.

The AFP's article mentions that RFI's broadcasts are jammed, but it didn't mention which broadcasts and on which band. (Tibor Gaal, Budapest, Hungary)

website: www.radiokahuzi.com / radiokahuzi.blogspot.com