** BONAIRE. VOA attempted to get airtime on TWR 800 Bonaire last year,
in order to reach adjacent Venezuela without the inconvenience of
shortwave, but first started after 0000 UT with HJHJ 600 Barranquilla,
Colombia, as I monitored last summer. Now a TWR deal is in effect per
this via El Dial, Spain:
``Antillas Holandesas
AER, 20/03/2021 18:39, https://aer.org.es/archivos/26720, EA2-0800
Según Erminy Fernando en el grupo de FB Cadena DX, la VOA ha iniciado
transmisiones a Venezuela desde las instalaciones de TWR en Bonaire
(800). Reportado 2100-2230 con el programa “Venezuela 360”,
presumiblemente de lunes a viernes. (Rafael Rodríguez en el grupo
DXing.info fb, vía Ydun’s Medium Wave Info).(via El Dial)``
Now that it`s Monday March 22, I check for it via TWR`s own Bonaire
SDR. At 2142 an interview is underway with someone fluent in Spanish
but with obvious American accent -- I wonder why such people don`t
make a little more effort to tighten up their dixion. Seems to be
about the border situation; and then another one about the pandemic in
the US, neither of which very pertinent to Venezuela. 2159 VOA ID and
sign-off, quick ID as ``PJB-98, Apreciamos su sintonia`` and back for
more VOA. 98? What`s that about, an FM frequency? There`s no PJB or
any other Bonaire FM station in the 98s listed in WRTH 2021.
While sufficient, the 800 signal is not superstrong on TWR`s own SDR
--- they must be deliberately attenuating it, understandably. On the
waterfall, much stronger signals show on 550, 710 and 910 which are
obviously Caracas, and 860 from Curacao (Glenn Hauser, OK, WOR)
** IRAN. Another check of VIRI March 22 to confirm whether still on SW
in English, despite reports that some or all languages would quit. At
first no signals at 1920 on 6040 & 11880, monitoring both via SDRs in
Holland and Ireland where I have been getting IRRS with WOR. But both
cut on late at *1922:30, again like yesterday without the formal
sign-on procedure but instead JIP English, something about Pakistan
just ending. 1923:40, music, ID as ``Voice of the Islamic Republic of
Iran`` and schedule as 1920-2020 UT on 6040 to Europe, 11880 to South
Africa, also on FM 91.5 for Tehran, several satellites, mobile phones.
1924:48 some traditional music; 1929:06 ``IRIB English Radio, coming
up, the news``; 1930 chimes and news.
I check again for the *2350 Spanish broadcast March 22 and there it is
via Bonaire SDR, standard opening with IS, NA, ID, Qur`an, on 5980
with splash from CRI/Cuba 5990; and 7230 with SSB and AM QRhaM, since
after all, Iran is INTRUDING into the W Hemisphere hamband.
So it seems that all this talk about quitting SW was a false alarm,
started by LVRII itself announcement in Spanish, but since then others
have heard them also announcing a new A21 sked for Spanish! It may be
confusion inside the organization, or even a power struggle? There are
at least three entities involved, IRIB, VIRI, and Pars Today. It`s
never been clear to me exactly how these relate to each other.
Anyhow, this has encouraged me to listen to Iran a lot more than I
ever have; remember even when they had a separate English for North
America in our evenings, called `Voice of Justice`? Not sure of its
lifespan, but I see it in my handy 2005y WRTH (Glenn Hauser, OK, WOR)
** OKLAHOMA. 1460, March 22 at 1902 UT, KZUE El Reno with series of
promos for Grupo Fórmula, and more totally México-centric programming
as they plug into Fórmula feed every afternoon, not sure of exact
times. At least there is no jittering on the audio like during music
the last time I tuned by. Surely it`s not the only Unitedstatesian
doing so, but in NRC AM Log KZUE`s Grupo is filed only under La
Tremenda with two FM translators on 97.7. KZUE is a 500-watt daytimer
but plenty to reach Enid; caradio again (Glenn Hauser, OK, WOR)
** U S A [non]. VOA now on 800 to Venezuela: See BONAIRE
** U S A [and non]. WORLD OF RADIO 2078 monitoring: confirmed Monday
March 22 from 1902:18 on IRRS 7290 via Bulgaria. Started late and as I
feared, not flexible enough not to cut me off before finished, at
1930:06, onward to IRRS ID with PO Box, and Feature Story News again.
As monitored via UTwente SDR: strong signal holds up, but so does the
ACI splatter from 7290 Vietnam and 7295 East Turkistan, which cannot
be avoided.
Earlier: carrier on at *1857:10; no sign-on but 1900:38 JIP FSN in
progress, not just half a minute of headlines as customary; 1901:34
cut to IRRS ID; 1901:46 *more* spurious FSN; finally cut it off at
1902:18 for WOR. Another problem is annoying skipping of my audio, but
this must be a UTwente thing, since another SDR at Curlow, Ireland is
not skipping, but just as QRMed.
Note that from next week, March 29 after the imposition of DST in
Italy, this airing shifts one real UT hour earlier to start circa
*1801v. Per HFCC A-21 the QRM situation then will be: 7280 still
Vietnam in Spanish; 7290 Iran in Russian until 1750, and hope it`s off
in time, but even more so, CNR China until 1805. 7285 & 7295 both
clear; but 7300 Iran in German until 1820. Next:
1030 UT Wednesday WRMI 5850 to NW
2100 UT Wednesday WRMI 7780 to NE
2100 UT Wednesday WBCQ 7490v to WSW
2200 UT Wednesday WRMI 9955 [jammed?] to SSE
0130 UT Thursday WRMI 5010 to S
Full schedule including AM, FM, webcasts, satellite, podcasts:
http://www.worldofradio.com/radioskd.html
Our non-commercial broadcasts and website depend on voluntary support:
thanks this week to Gerald T Pollard, Raleigh NC, for a generous check
to Glenn Hauser, P O Box 1684, Enid OK 73702, with comment,
``Equinoctial greetings to the Recording Angel of Shortwave,
who is in especially fine voice these days`` [sic]
One may also contribute, not necessarily in US funds, via PayPal to
woradio at yahoo.com (Glenn Hauser, OK, WOR)
** U S A. 7489.957v, March 22 at 2226, WBCQ has shifted from the plus
side circa 7490.1 or .2, down to here, as Allan Weiner is conversing
with a caller about radio, evidently an `AAAWWW` playback. Also
applies amid `From the Isle of Music` Cuban hour at 0030 UT Tuesday
March 23. I wonder why the change; random or deliberate, and just
can`t land on .000? (Glenn Hauser, OK, WOR)
** VENEZUELA. 6205.031v, March 23 at 0005, 0007, 0010.5 between tunes,
Radio Onda Corta Venezuela is now inserting Morse Code IDs as ROCV. S7
into Bonaire SDR, the AM signal remains rather distorted but sounds
less so when tuned in SynchAM mode. Another one at recheck 0120 (Glenn
Hauser, OK, WOR)
** VENEZUELA [non]. VOA now on 800 to Venezuela: See U S A [non]
This report dispatched at 0300 UT March 23
http://www.hard-core-dx.com/article.php?story=20210323031502634