On a sea day sailing from Rotterdam to Cork, Ireland, so a bit of time to compile some further bandscans from our stateroom on the HAL cruise ship, the Zuiderdam. A reminder that my equipment is very basic: A small portable, the XHData D808 (modified for MW use by Gary Debock) and a few feet of random wire across our balcony. Reception has been very good overall, with noise not much of an issue. A pleasant change to scan the SW bands, and actually hear a lot of pretty decent stations. Look out, though. China seems to be virtually everywhere (similar to other places on this planet I've visited in recent years)! Any errors are my own. Comments always welcome! 73, Walt PS: A good MW session is still to be compiled. Sorry for the delay!
ASCENSION 17830, 1745-, BBC Aug 13 Poor level in English to Africa. A bit too late in the evening to propagate well this way. (Salmaniw,Zuiderdam Norwegian Sea) ASCENSION ISLAND 15400, 1737-, BBC Aug 13 Good to very good reception with African accented English, beamed to W Africa. (Salmaniw,Zuiderdam Norwegian Sea) AUSTRIA 17570, 1745-, AWR Aug 13 Moosbrunn must be a relatively underutilized transmitter site. Sure hope it doesn't follow Sentech's lead and call it a day! AWR programming in Maasai to E Africa at good level. (Salmaniw,Zuiderdam Norwegian Sea) BOTSWANA 13630, 1733-, VOA Aug 13 Excellent reception in Portuguese to S Africa, but carrying on to the Norwegian Sea. News program. (Salmaniw,Zuiderdam Norwegian Sea) BOTSWANA 15580, 1737-, VOA Aug 13 VOA in English at good level. This site gets out very well, as I often hear it as well at my home in Victoria, BC!. (Salmaniw,Zuiderdam Norwegian Sea) CHINA 11650, 1717-, CRI Aug 13 Found another Esperanto frequency from China. Again, I didn't ID the language until looking it up! Very strong signal. (Salmaniw,Zuiderdam Norwegian Sea) CHINA 11680, 1718-, CRI Aug 13 Very strong signal in listed Swahili. Everywhere on the dial you'll find CRI!. (Salmaniw,Zuiderdam Norwegian Sea) CHINA 11690, 1718-, CRI Aug 13 OMG, yet another Chinese transmitter, this time in French at excellent level. (Salmaniw,Zuiderdam Norwegian Sea) CHINA 11825, 1724-, CRI Aug 13 Croatian programming with Chinese lessons at very good level. (Salmaniw,Zuiderdam Norwegian Sea) DENMARK 5840, 1705-, World Music Radio Aug 13 From this time, ENE of the Faroe Islands, and continuing to Bergen, Norway, and leaving Bergen, WMR was well heard only using the whip on the XHData D808 receiver. Mostly non-stop music with occasional short IDs for WMR or World Music Radio. I have not heard any further information, ads, or URL or email addresses noted (unlike Radio Northern Star on MW and 5895 kHz). No sign of 15805, so likely a weekend operation only?. (Salmaniw,Zuiderdam Norwegian Sea) EUROPIRATES 6293, 1912-, multiple Aug 15 I did a quick bandscan looking for Europirates during our North Sea crossing between Bergen, Norway and Rotterdam, Holland. There were many! Amongst them, were as follows: 6293 strong, with a Dutch folk song. 6275 weak (and seems // to 6293), 6265 fair/good with non-descript music, 6225 very weak, 6205 very strong, and should be Laser Hot Hits, supposedly from Ireland. I'll be interested to see whether I hear them during our 3 port visits in Ireland! Also: 6200 very strong (and may be Radio Discovery), 6320 fair (and may be Radio Sovereign), 5780 good level with piano music (and may be Radio Harmony), and 5140 fair/good (and may be Charleston Radio International. Definitely, no shortage of Europirates, when, at least on the WCNA, there's not a whole lot to be heard anymore in the 42 m pirate band. (Salmaniw,Zuiderdam Norwegian Sea) FAROE ISLANDS 531, 1707-, Kringvarp Foroya Aug 13 I highly suspect they are running their full 10 kW, as they are extremely well heard right across the ocean north of the Faroes. Heard well for 2 days preceding and 2 days following, from leaving Iceland to leaving Norway. On the 15th, mid day in the North Sea ESE of the Faroes, not heard during the day, so I'm thinking they must have a northerly beam. (Salmaniw,Zuiderdam Norwegian Sea) FRANCE 11530, 1715-, Radyo Denge Aug 13 Clearly hearing this off the back end at fair to good level in listed Kurdish as well as middle Eastern sounding music. SW Skeds, however, also lists Grigiopol, Pridnestrovie as another possible site for the same program. I'm assuming it's Issoudun, but I could be wrong. (Salmaniw,Zuiderdam Norwegian Sea) FRANCE 11945, 1726-, NHK Radio Japan Aug 13 To South Africa in Japanese with music, but only poor to fair reception. (Salmaniw,Zuiderdam Norwegian Sea) GERMANY 17720, 1745-, AWR Aug 13 Another AWR broadcast, this time from Nauen and in Oromo to E Africa at very strong level. (Salmaniw,Zuiderdam Norwegian Sea) KUWAIT 11575, 1717-, VOA Radio Ashna Aug 13 Listed as such, in Pashto, at excellent level with talk. (Salmaniw,Zuiderdam Norwegian Sea) KUWAIT 15540, 1737-, Radio Kuwait Aug 13 Very strong reception in Urdu. If English comes on at 18:00, it should continue to give excellent reception into this part of Europe!. (Salmaniw,Zuiderdam Norwegian Sea) KUWAIT 15620, 1740-, VOA Aug 13 In Somali at good to very good level. To E Africa, of course, but very well heard here in the NE Atlantic Ocean, too! That wraps up the 19 m band scan. Not so many Chinese heard (or I didn't bother to record them). (Salmaniw,Zuiderdam Norwegian Sea) MADAGASCAR 11790, 1723-, AWR Aug 13 Swahili listed with talk at good level. I didn't mention 11760 and 11770 both also heard at poor to weak level, with the latter having a het on frequency. (Salmaniw,Zuiderdam Norwegian Sea) MADAGASCAR 13730, 1733-, NHK Radio Japan Aug 13 Good reception in Swahili to E Africa. Forgot that NHK still broadcasts in this African language!. (Salmaniw,Zuiderdam Norwegian Sea) NIGERIA 15120, 1736-, Voice of Nigeria Aug 13 Strong DRM signal, but of course with the ULR, I wasn't able to decode anything. (Salmaniw,Zuiderdam Norwegian Sea) NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS (T) 11985, 1729-, Radio Free Asia Aug 13 Now I'm not convinced that this RFA transmission is from Saipan, although that's what's listed in my resources. I hadn't heard that Tinian and Saipan are back on the air since being nearly destroyed last year by a typhoon. In any case, in Korean at good level with internet address given, and then an RFA ID in English, announcing the following program in Korean (again). (Salmaniw,Zuiderdam Norwegian Sea) PHILIPPINES 12120, 1731-, Radyo Pilipinas Aug 13 Good reception into my simple XHData and short wire setup, sitting on my balcony on the 6th deck of HAL Zuiderdam, ENE of the Faroe Islands. A pleasant way to spend the early evening! That completes my 25 m band survery. (Salmaniw,Zuiderdam Norwegian Sea) ROMANIA 11850, 1725-, RRI Aug 13 Very good signal with nice Romanian music. Romania is one of the few countries, that are not totalitarian, that bother to produce worthwhile SW programming. Thank you RRI!. (Salmaniw,Zuiderdam Norwegian Sea) ROMANIA 11975, 1728-, RRI Aug 13 Strong reception in a language I did not immediately recognize. Sure enough, it's RRI in Romanian to southern Europe. (Salmaniw,Zuiderdam Norwegian Sea) SAO TOME 15460, 1736-, VOA Aug 13 In listed Shona to Zimbabwe, but making it to the Norwegian Sea, at fair level. (Salmaniw,Zuiderdam Norwegian Sea) SAUDI ARABIA 11745, 1718-, BSKSA Al-Azm Radio Aug 13 Strong signal in presumed Arabic. Heard 'Iraniya' mentioned. (Salmaniw,Zuiderdam Norwegian Sea) SAUDI ARABIA 11860, 1727-, Republic of Yemen Radio Sana'a Aug 13 Fair level Arabic talk. (Salmaniw,Zuiderdam Norwegian Sea) SAUDI ARABIA 13710, 1733-, BSKSA Holy Quran Aug 13 Excellent reception with Quranic recitations. Beamed to North Africa. (Salmaniw,Zuiderdam Norwegian Sea) SAUDI ARABIA 15435, 1738-, BSKSA Aug 13 Excellent strength with Quranic recitations. (Salmaniw,Zuiderdam Norwegian Sea) SAUDI ARABIA 17560, 1742-, BSKSA Holy Quran Aug 13 The Saudi's seem to be very common during this bandscan. Now starting in the 17 MHz band, this is the first station heard, and at very good levle with Quranic recitation. (Salmaniw,Zuiderdam Norwegian Sea) SAUDI ARABIA (T) 15205, 1736-, BSKSA Holy Quran Aug 13 I'm thinking this is likely the Saudi with a very strong signal, but just an open carrier. Likely a fault at their end, which doesn't seem to be all that uncommon. (Salmaniw,Zuiderdam Norwegian Sea) SRI LANKA 11750, 1720-, SLBC Aug 13 Good level in listed Sinhalese. Nice to see a few broadcasters who are not Chinese!. (Salmaniw,Zuiderdam Norwegian Sea) SRI LANKA 11835, 1725-, SLBC Aug 13 All I could find listed was SLBC and Thunder FM in Tamil listed on at this time. Sounds like a call-in show, at fair to good strength. (Salmaniw,Zuiderdam Norwegian Sea) THAILAND 12055, 1731-, VOA Aug 13 Somali programming at good to very good level. (Salmaniw,Zuiderdam Norwegian Sea) UAE DUBAI 12095, 1730-, BBC Aug 13 Amharic is listed at good to very good level. Note, I didn't bother listing numerous 25 m Chinese transmitters, as they're too mumerous for me to type up! Believe me, there are lots!. (Salmaniw,Zuiderdam Norwegian Sea) UK 15260, 1736-, IBRA Radio (Radio Sama) Aug 13 Arabic listed here with fair signal, and music, beamed to the ME. Remember when IBRA broadcast from numerous transmitters around the world? Nice to see that they're still around in a small(er) way. (Salmaniw,Zuiderdam Norwegian Sea) UNKNOWN 11630, 1717-, unid Aug 13 Not sure who this is, although at absolutely superb level, in presumed Arabic. If this is the case, then should be Radio Kuwait, although not listed on at this time. (Salmaniw,Zuiderdam Norwegian Sea) USA 13845, 1735-, WWCR Aug 13 The Overcomer Ministry at good level, but with some deep fades. Unlike o the WCNA, Brother Stair is not everywhere on the dial. Still a pretty decent signal for 100 kW. Once again, I didn't bother to list a few Chinese transmitters on this bandscan. As evening progresses, it's clear that the MUF is dropping. (Salmaniw,Zuiderdam Norwegian Sea) VATICAN CITY 13830, 1735-, Vatican Radio Aug 13 Fair to good reception in listed Tigrinya to East Africa. 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