** GERMANY [non]. 15215, Feb 21, 2023, *1559.5 cut on with Radio
Öömrang opening annual broadcast via FRANCE. S7/9+5 into Maryland SDR.
First in German, then English as 500 kW at 5-6 pm local time, for
expats in NYC, where more Frisians now live than on the original
island. 1602 German; as to be expected mostly in German supposedly
with some Frisian mixed in, and occasional English announcements such
as 1619, with contact info, produxion and funding credits. I reminded
the WOR group about this at 1558, and reports from all over N America
ensued. At 1638 I check it direct to OK: S9/+10 with some deep
fades.

Of course, the non-fluent in German or Frisian can`t get much out of
it, and to make matters worse, totally oblivious to this annual event,
Pres. Biden made his big speech in Warsaw around 1640, drawing us
away.

At 1656 repeat English about credits and contacts, into German but
chopped off air at 1658* before can finish. Hansjoerg Biener in
Germany provided the WOR iog with this background:

``Öömrang Special Broadcast: What did you listen to?

Since 2006, Amrum native Arjan Koelzow has sponsored an annual
shortwave broadcast aimed at the global community of Amrum exiles,
particularly those in New York. (The most recent wave of emigration
was after World War II.) The broadcasts started via Juelich but were
transferred to Wertachtal in 2009 and later to Issoudun (France) as in
this year:
Tuesday, February 21, 2023, 1600-1700 h UTC: 15215 kHz (Issoudun 500
kW, 300°)

The broadcast coincides with a local festival, the Biikebrennen. At
https://www.ndr.de/ratgeber/reise/nordseekueste_sh/Biikebrennen-2023-Wo-die-Feuer-an-der-Nordsee-lodern,biikebrennen4.html
you will find the following information about the custom:

"The Biikebrennen is seen as the oldest remaining North Frisian
custom. It was originally a pagan ritual, and Christian missionaries
tried to end the custom around the 10th century. However, the
Biikebrennen continued as a cheerful carnival celebration. Therefore,
it had to take place before the start of Lent. [So, it is celebrated
on St. Peter’s Day now.] At first there were no large piles of wood
burning [as in other German midwinter or midsummer customs], but
individual fires on long poles. A straw doll, the pider, often went up
in flames too. This particular custom has survived in some places to
this day. Later the Biiken burned to drive away the winter. [...]

Since the 19th century, the Biike fires have also been a symbol of the
North Frisians' sense of togetherness and sense of tradition. Children
use the festivals to play pranks on adults. In some places, they even
have no school the next day, St. Peter's Day in honor of the
fishermen's patron saint. In 2014, UNESCO registered Biikebrennen in
the national register of cultural heritage.”

At the beginning of the 2023 programme, it was announced that it would
run parallel to Biikebrennen; but the NDR information gave the Amrum
time for Biikebrennen as 1800 h local time (1700 h UTC). This year the
programme was mostly in German with some Frisian interspersed. The
content of the word oriented programme included old stories from Amrum
(e.g. the finding and hiding of a 200-liter barrel of rum in early
World War II. Later in the war, the authorities hit back at the local
population: If you can recover and hide items washed ashore, you can
also recover dead bodies of seamen and airmen.), but also interviews
with pupils and teachers of the Öömrang-Skuul. Particularly
interesting was the tale of a cultural clash of its own kind when a
Amrum school class visited another school class on the mainland. In
all seriousness, someone asked whether electricity and television were
already available on Amrum.
(Dr Hansjoerg Biener)`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, WOR)

** TURKEY [and non]. 5910, continued from last report, of TRT EQ
coverage in Turkish on the IRDR frequency placeheld by SMG Vatican
site, in clear before 0100 but what about the CCI as registered
afterwards, UT Feb 21:

*0058 via Maryland SDR, classical musiQRM cuts on from RRI, S9+10 atop
TRT, shows 0 Hz offset; but via UTwente it`s +004 Hz making heavy SAH,
RRI also atop. 0100 RRI opening Romanian for NAm. But how will they
compare in the EQ area? Closest KiwiSDR is Cyprus, so I get on that by
0120: S9+25 TRT atop with yelling and other noises outside any studio.
By 0200 the CCI is very heavy. 0215 at Maryland SDR, RRI is atop the
CCI as to be expected. At 0301 now Romania is off but CRI English via
Cuba is on: At Cyprus weak S6/S7 algo, TRT off earlier than 0400? No,
at UTwente, TRT still heard at .004, S9+25 with sirens; at Maryland,
only CRI is heard at 0301. By 0400 no 5910 signal into Cyprus (Glenn
Hauser, OK, WOR)

** TURKEY [non]. 5960, Tuesday Feb 21 at 2258, BBC WS English via OMAN
until 2259* leaving nothing well past 2300. Neither VOT nor XJPBS
comes on. Recheck 2312, now Chinese from EAST TURKISTAN, std
denunciation, has appeared: rarely does it start right at 2300.
Monitored UTwente in background rest of hour and never any show by TRT
again tonight. Something`s always erroneous at Emirler (Glenn Hauser,
OK, WOR)

** U S A. 347 MCW kHz, Feb 21 at 0226, AFK, 25-watt ND beacon at
Nebraska City NE. 349 RG OKC is still OFF, so at 0753 I detect algo on
349, just too weak to copy. But DXinfocentre has only one US station
listed, 25 watt GW in GreenWood MS - and only one other anywhere, 1E
in Black Tickle! NL, 25 watts. I`d love to hear that one (Glenn
Hauser, OK, WOR)

** U S A [and non]. WORLD OF RADIO 2178 monitoring: ``From: Richard
Lemke, St. Albert, Alberta, Canada, the desk of Richard’s listening
Post,
Radio: JRC NRD-535 HF, Antenna: random long wires in the trees, Dear
Glenn: Confirming World of Radio #2178, WRMI:

9395, 0131, S9 signal, 0159, February 18 UTC 2023 [Sat]
9395, 0130, 0159 (45433), (55433) 0159, February 21 UTC 2023 [Tue]
(Lemke, Richard -AB)``

Missed checking here, UT Tue Feb 18 at 0130 on 9395, so glad Richard
got it. Next:

0030 UT Wednesday WRMI 9395 to NNW
1000 UT Wednesday Unique R, Australia 5035 USB [low power]
2200 UT Wednesday WBCQ 7490v to WSW
0130 UT Thursday WRMI 9395 to NNW
0130 UT Thursday WRMI 5010 to S

Full schedule including AM, FM, webcasts, satellite, podcasts:
http://www.worldofradio.com/radioskd.html

Like our website, a noncommercial service for which financial support
is appreciated. Thanks this week to Joe Caberlin, VE1EJ, Ontario for
some US$ and a book to Glenn Hauser, PO Box 1684, Enid OK 73702 USA

One may also contribute by MO or cheque on a US bank to above address;
or via PayPal, not necessarily in US funds, to
woradio at yahoo.com (Glenn Hauser, OK, WOR)

** VANUATU. 7260, Feb 21 at 0755, RV audible with music while no
Nigeria on 7255- (Glenn Hauser, OK, WOR)

UNIDENTIFIED. Trans-Atlantic 9/kHz split JBA MW carrier search, Feb 21
at 0221 when EurAfrica are still dark: only 621, 684, 837, 855-2, 1089
kHz, correlating Spain except for 621 Canary; 1089 UK TalkSport
synchros, which BTW has applied to turn off some of its lower-powered
relays. At 0736, still detect the slow beat on 855, and no 846 TP
Kiritimati: evidently off as Gary Pence, KM5X, was not getting it into
Oahu SDR at 0611, 0850 on this Tuesday (Glenn Hauser, OK, WOR)

This report dispatched at 0003 UT February 22