[HCDX] Latin American MW-SW logs from Friday night

[aurel chiochiu <acq@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Warm greetings and season's greetings (though it's a bit late, as most of you already came back to work) !

This holiday (I'm still mostly free, pedagocially-wise, until the 19th of January, with the slight exception of a private German class) was a productive one for me: a brand new PK's Shielded Magnetic LW loop, my relative patience which was required in order to learn how to use an oldschool MP3 encoder, and most important of all, the delight of initiating someone new to the DX hobby with huge sounds from this homeland ! The excitement of both of us, along with the attention payed to the program content carried on by this HJ powerhouse (see below) more than payed off for the still SLIGTHLY below average conditions toward South America on MW.

What was remarkable, is that this guy helped me pay a closer attention to the program content of RCN Barranquilla translating to me from Spanish to French some obscure regionalism only used in Colombia and he did this with quite some enthousiasm !

After the DX session, as WJR Detroit-Michigan became more difficult to null out, we spent the rest of the evening trying to burn a CD with a wild mixture of MP3 DX recordings and World Beat such as coupé-décalé or raï and we did other things as well. He showed me some both known international rock as well as "rock en español" hits on our guitar ! He is having ALMOST perfect pitch and a voice (he sings as well) quite similar to mine !

After he leaved, I listened to some SW on the Sangean CST-818 / random wire Combo, but the only noteworthy receptions were on 6010 kHz ! I fell asleep around 3 o'clock in the wee hours of the morning known in both Spanish and Portuguese as "madrugada"...

Well, into the logs:


Pan-American DX on mediuwave (the only foreign DX heard on the AM Broadcast Band, anyway, Croatia-1134 was covered, if there, by an awful hash - unsure if IBOC - and Spain-585 wasn't propagating)
ALL TIMES IN UTC (United Time Coordinated)

570 CUBA   CMDC, Radio Reloj, Pilón JAN 10 0640 UTC - RR code IDs clearly heard through a very strong domestic (WMCA or WSYR, though the latter one is much more likely, it's so strong that the medium-haul WMCA in New York City is seldom audible in the Montreal area), woman talk in Spanish surfaced once around this time. SINPO 31521 (Chiochiu-QC)

710 CUBA   CMW, Radio Rebelde, La Julia JAN 10 0022 UTC - briefly tuned away from HJAJ-760 to find this one at a fair level but way under the WOR megapest with romantic Cuban Spanish vocal. Very difficult to enjoy as was way under WOR. Better on the high side of 710 rather than on the low side, because the next-to-adjacent sideband splatter from local CINF-690 was more annoying toward the south than the next-do-adjacent local splatter out of CKAC-730. SINPO 31322. Not sure if // 5025, as I didn't had the Sangean CST-818 connected to the random wire then. Usually, when the Rebelde-FM feed "La Sensacional Noventa Y Seis Punto Siete (96.7)" is carried instead of thr basic Rebelde network, it isn't // with SW 5025 and CMW-710 is known for carrying at times the "La Sensacional..." FM feed. Tuned quickly back to 760 AM. (Chiochiu-QC)

750 VENEZUELA   YVKS, Radio Caracas Radio, Caracas, Distrito Federal JAN 10 0032 UTC - possibly a sociology-related program, man and woman, mentioning of "la sociedad". Fair and mixing with WSB in Atlanta; noted at other times in passing as well, the second strongest South American the past evening after HJAJ-760, not unusual in it's self, but what was is that it was the only time when this got almost listenable; SINPO 32433. (Chiochiu-QC)

760 COLOMBIA   HJAJ, RCN Cadena Basíca, Barranquilla, departamiento del Atlantico JAN 10 0011 UTC - in WJR null; after a segment about the fight against the "torros" which disrupbded a tiny bit the psychism of my friend who is sensitive to cruelty against the ever-innocent animals, heard with the man host doing chatter to his guest which was a chick with a cute voice (Tania) that did bring her "parcera" (which I've learned from my Colombian firend means either "a kind of attached friend" or a "f*ckfriend" - it's a Colombia-only regionalism) with her and were about to party allthogether at the Fería de Manizales. So, "parcera" = "kinf of attached friend"; "f*ckfriend". End of the current Spanish lesson ! Huge between 1900 and 1930 EST (0000 to 0030 UTC) for the best non-USA and non-Canadian signal on mediumwave ! SINPO 43433 +JAN 10 0022 UTC - the news announcer (the same who was doing chatter with the sweet Tania) talking seriously about some fire-aficionados who didn't intellectualize their pulsion constructively, for painting for exemple, but instead let the fire harm a Fería de Manizales-related festivity, more precisely a Paso-Doble concert. Another new Spanish word, "paso-doble" is a Castilian music style, very similar to flamenco and using the Andaloucian minor chords. End of the last Spanish culture-related language lesson ! Still huge, though it very slowly begun to fade away and was almost completly lost by 0030 UTC ! SINPO 33423 at this time ! +JAN 10 0129 UTC - Again at this time, playing the Colombian anthem inside the Fería de Manizales special px. Fair mixing with nulled residual WJR. SIO 323 (Chiochiu-QC)

770 COLOMBIA   HJJX, RCN Cadena Basíca, Santafé de Bogotá, Districto Capital JAN 10 0031 UTC - as RCN Barranquilla faded down to a threshold audible level, I was lost and in WJR's null could not get anything else on this channel, so, using the analog dialed Sanyo MCD-S830, while briefly dialing up and down, I thought I was on 760, instead of 750 (thinking both long-haul WSB Atlanta and YVKS Caracas faded way down into the mud), tried to come back to RCN on 760, but, then, was on 770 kHz and briefly heard the Fería de Manizales chatter at a weak level under a fair-good WABC which I did mistake for WJR (slightly better than, at the time, Barranquilla-760, then it very quickly faded-out with Cuba-770 fading up under WABC). I even wondered for a while why nulling WABC also nulled out the Spanish signals and, after a minute of confusion, I understood ! (Chiochiu-QC)

770 CUBA   Radio Rebelde, unID QTH JAN 10 0031 UTC - Cuban sporting event fading up with slight crowd noise, almost certainly baseball. Poor but distinctively audible under megapest WABC in New York City. SINPO 22422 (Chiochiu-QC)

780 VENEZUELA   YVNM Radio Coro, Coro, estado Falcón 0021 UTC - Spanish romantic vocal noted for a few seconds at a threshold level (SIO 142) in WBBM null, while tuning away from HJAJ-760 w/ minor sideband splatter from next-to-adjacent local CJAD-800. It was part of either "La Discoteca del Pueblo" or "Romantica Siete-Ochenta" programs as was noted at least twice before over the airwaves of this station. Romantica 7-80 is carried between the La Discoteca del Pueblo" and the "Ruta Músical 7-80" time slots and the only ID is a programming ID, not a station ID, like "Romantica 7-80" without the name of the station. For those interested, Radio Coro has begun streaming live a few months ago and now the quality of the streaming is outstanding and pleasant to listen to, especially for a DXer ! Check it out at http://www.radiocoro.com/ if your computer isn't making any ugly noises while close to the radio or if you are using an external aerial. With the new model I have, if I'm more than 1 meter from it, it's very quiet ! Conditions toward South America were SLIGHTLY below average ! Under average conditions, Radio Coro is putting up a fair and listenable signal in the Montreal area and under good conditions it can be very good, indeed. (Chiochiu-QC)


Domestic North American DX on mediumwave (this time in EST - Eastern Standard Time)

1140 WRVA Richmond, VA around 1810 EST - "Eleven-Forty WRVA" ID out of a poor-fair signal with slight splash from WBBR-11-3-0 in New York City ("eleven-three-o" as they call it) which was local-like (like almost always). Not rare in it's self, but moderately difficult for me and my Colombian friend was quite thrilled when I told they were the medium-haul USA station out of Virginia mixing in with the unID Spanish signal that was either from Isla Margarita or Miami, but the best was yet to come (see above). SIO 333 (BC-QC)



Pan-American DX on shortwave (times obviously in UTC - United Time Coordinated)

6010 COLOMBIA   La Voz de tú Conciencia, Puerta Lleras JAN 10 0751 UTC - before getting to sleep was treated with back-to-back trad. LAm vocals (mainly música llanera, though did heard an ugly Mexican mariachi), then ID around 0756 surprisngly in EE "This Is The Voice Of The Conscience", followed by military march of some kind, then more pasajes, joropos, etc. Fair with some more or less annoying fadings and very slight QRM from a second Spanish signal, most likely Mexico (XEOI Radio Mil). Usually, Mexico-6010 is atop Colombia-6010 at this time, but since conditions toward Latin America weren't really good, it was the strongest station, the Colombian (10 kW, if my memory serves me well) that did dominate the channel at this time. No other ID other than the assumed ToH catched around 0756 UTC, so possibly the clock inside my Sangean CST-818 needs to be adjusted. SINPO 33433. It's so nice to hear once again local radio aimed toward the remote areas on shortwave, almost as challenging as to listen to it on long and mediumwave ! A very friendly Peruvian DXer urged me to try for Radio Tacma 4775 kHz, but it wasn't heard. Is it temporarily shutdown or are conditions too poor for serious South American DX on MW and SW ? (Chiochiu-QC)


Other comments:
I sent this logs to Cumbre DX as well for two reasons: conditions toward South America on mediumwave are good beacons for South American DX on shortwave too and because I don't post to cumbre DX too often and miss the gang of DXers down there !

As far as LW DX is concerned, audio way down in the noises (which are either comeback or the signals are too weak to surpass them), so I only very briefly tuned accross longwave the past evening.

Last, but definitively not least, if someone who has a good knowledge of Spanish or Spaniard music could point me out what is good among PASO-DOBLE music, I would be very grateful. I love flamenco such as Bernardo Vazquez, Radio Tarifa and especially Triana and I also objectively appreciate some of the work done by Paco de Lucia even if I find his songs to not be catchies at all ! Also, if anyone know of a place where I could find used Radio Tarifa CDs (maybe over EBay ?), please let me know. I love this perfect blend of traditionnal Maghrebin and Flamenco music. Is this blend called "PASO DOBLE" ?

Very soon, I will be sending a file of the unID Spanish station I and Marco (my Colombian friend) heard Monday evening, but not tonight, as I'm tired of staying behind the computer all the time and I have some small duties to take care of, right now.

But, nevertheless, it was a highly astonishing DX session we did the past night, especially for the newcomer that is receiving this loggings as well as a bonus for the CD I burned for him the past night. I'm able to transfer .WAV files to .MP3 and, afterwards burn those MP3s over an empty CD-ROM and it is totally awesome ! Finally, this holiday is ranked among my TOP5 of Best Ever DXperiences !

Also, the unID 1140 kHz file of the reception made early last Monday evening, just before 7PM EST, will be sent over the LatinMWDX shared files section as soon as possible (maybe tomorrow ?). Trained ears advised ! In the case you haven't joined LatinMWDX yet, please, feel obligated to do so and if you are even seriously chassing Caribbean and South Americans on mediumwave and haven't joined yet, feel free to ask me for forgiveness (hi!) !

This repport is brought to you by Bogdan Alexandru Chiochiu DXing from Pierrefonds (Montreal's West Island), PQ - QC, DXing mediumwave using the Sanyo MCD-S830 barefoot and DXing shortwave as well using the Sangean CST-818 rx with random wire

May the good DX be with you !
Bogdan Chiochiu
Btw.: If you would like to listen to an aircheck of one of a Colombian heard the past night, feel free to ask, as some of them are already encoded in .mp3 ! Also, more MP3s of station IDs are coming soon over LatinMWDX ! The last official week of my pedagocial holiday is beginning Monday !
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