[IRCA] MW in South Africa

[Barry McLarnon <bdm@xxxxxxxxxx>]

I recently spent some time in South Africa - I didn't do any serious DXing, 
but I was able to do some casual listening with a Sangean PR-D5.  In the Cape 
Town area, the AM band is extremely empty: a daytime band scan revealed only 
one station, on 567.  Nighttime listening was more interesting... here's some 
notes from a quick 'n dirty band scan done on Nov 11 around 2000-2100 UTC.  
Most of the ID's are based on guesswork, as I didn't sit on a given channel 
for long.  I also didn't listen late enough at night to look for possible TA 
signals.

531  BOTSWANA  R. Botswana - likely the one with talk in unk lang
567  SOUTH AFRICA  Cape Talk - EE talk
630  UNID  - music, AA(?) talk, probably Tunisia
639  UNID  - reggae music, maybe Kenya or Uganda
657  SOUTH AFRICA  R. Pulpit - gospel music
693  UNID  - African music, likely Nigeria
738  MOZAMBIQUE  R. Mocambique Emmissao Nacional - presumed, with jazz
810  UGANDA  R. Uganda Red Network - probably the one with African music
846  SOUTH AFRICA  Umhlobo Wenene FM - Afro-pop music, talk in accented EE + 
other lang
855  UNID  - instrumental music
873  BOTSWANA  R. Botswana - lively Afro-pop, talk in unk lang
891  LESOTHO  Lesotho Nat. B'casting Service - likely the one with pop music
909  BOTSWANA  Voice of America - EE talk, Afro-pop music
972  BOTSWANA  R. Botswana - likely the one with talk in unk lang
990  TANZANIA  R. Tanzania - presumed, with African music and talk in unk 
lang
1026 UNID  - slow, soft pop music
1071 BOTSWANA  R. Botswana - African music
1089 NIGERIA  Adamawa B'casting Corp. - presumed, with African music, talk in 
unk lang
1152 UNID  - talk in unk lang, maybe Kenya?
1170 UNID  - talk in unk lang
1197 LESOTHO  Family Radio - EE religious talk
1215 UNID  - two stations mixing, likely Botswana and Tanzania
1224 UNID  - two stations, likely Mozambique and Nigeria
1233 KENYA  Kenya B'casting Corp - religious talk in EE + other unk lang
1260 UNID  - talk in unk lang
1287 SOUTH AFRICA  R. Welgedacht - gospel music, EE talk
1323 CYPRUS  BBC World Service - BBC news
1350 BOTSWANA  R. Botswana - African instrumental music, talk in unk lang
1377 UNID  - African music, either Swaziland or Tanzania
1404 UNID  - music, weak, maybe Angola
1422 UNID  - AA(?) talk, music
1440 CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC  R. Centrafricaine - FF talk
1458 UNID  - talk in unk lang, Angola?
1467 ANGOLA  Emissora Provincial do Kuando - likely the one with instrumental 
music
1485 UNID  - pileup of several stations
1503 UNID  - pileup of several stations
1512 SAUDI ARABIA BSKSA - Koranic chanting
1521 SAUDI ARABIA BSKSA - AA talk
1530 SAO TOME ET PRINCIPE Voice of America - EE pop, "Music Mix Network"
1539 UNID  - talk in unk lang
1566 BENIN  Trans World Radio  - talk in FF

I also did a bit of listening in Dubai during a layover there (as in South 
Africa, listening from a hotel room with a barefoot radio, so not exactly 
optimal).  The nighttime AM band in Dubai was quite full, especially the 
lower half.  There were numerous parallel transmissions - in several 
instances, I heard the same program on four or five successive channels.  I 
didn't attempt any IDs or keep any notes, but in a fairly quick band scan, I 
didn't hear any transmissions in English at all.

No profound insights into international DX here, but I hope it's of some 
interest - it was fun to hear something different on the band, anyway.

Barry

-- 
Barry McLarnon VE3JF  Ottawa, ON
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