2014: Memorable Shortwave Logs

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1. Russia

One memorable listen would be the Voice of Russia (VoR or, in its dying days, Radio VR). Last time I listened to the station on shortwave was on March 27, from about 06:30 to 08:00 UTC on 21800 kHz (probably Irkutsk transmitting site). Shortwave transmissions from what had been Radio Moscow until the early 1990s, and Voice of Russia since then, were terminated this year, apparently by the end of March.

2. Northwestern Germany

I came across a low-powered shortwave station (one to ten kW) in northwestern Germany in April, Radio HCJB Weenermoor. HCJB used to be the callsign of a shortwave station in Ecuador, has a history of more than eight decades there, and much of their operations has been shifted to Australia after the construction of an airport near Ecuador’s capital Quito which led to the closure of the big HCJB’s transmission site there.  HCJB’s German department, now named “Vozandes Media”, launched the Weenermoor transmission site in June 2012. Even earlier, apparently in 2009, the German department had installed a shortwave transmitter and an antenna on Pichincha Mountain near Quito. It’s for the local and regional population (programs in Quechuan and Spanish), but can frequently be heard in North America and Europe as well, on 6050 kHz.
Most of the programs aired from Weenermoor aren’t my cup of tea, but they do broadcast a half-hour media magazine several times every Saturday – interesting stuff for German-speaking shortwave listeners.
Many of the first-generation German broadcasters at HCJB were apparently Mennonites. At least three of them, Sally Schroeder, Maria Hübert, and Peter Hübert, were emigrants – or refugees – from the former USSR. Mennonites with a USSR history are frequently referred to as “Russian Mennonites”.

3. Sweden

Then there was the Radio Nord revival. The legendary offshore radio station “Radio Nord” came into life years before yours truly did, but a number of fans in Sweden have established the tradition of making annual broadcasts to commemorate the station. They are also blogging. Their broadcasts in August this year caught my attention, and that was the first time in years that I heard a shortwave signal from Sweden at all (except for ham radio signals, obviously).

4. Northern Germany

Hamburger Lokalradio QSL card: a one-kW transmitter in Göhren (near Schwerin), and studios in Hamburg. 6045 kHz (Wertachtal) is outdated – the Wertachtal transmitter site was » blown up in November.

Almost next door: Hamburger Lokalradio. They are broadcasting mostly on FM in Hamburg (96.0 MHz) and on the internet (see bottom of this page). The station also appears on shortwave (at least) three times a week. Own observation: on Wednesdays at 12:30 UTC or earlier, until 15:00 UTC (or later), on 7265 kHz, and on Sundays, from 14:00 UTC (or earlier) to 14:30 UTC (or later), on 9485 kHz. They broadcast in English, too: Glenn Hauser‘s World of Radio audiomagazine is aired on Saturdays at 07:30 and 15:30 UTC on 7265 kHz, and on Wednesdays, also at 07:30 and 15:30 UTC, on the same frequency, according to this BCL News notice. If you understand German, their culture programs are definitely worth listening to.

5. Ukraine / USA

First time in many years that Radio Ukraine International (RUI) appeared on shortwave again – not from Ukraine, but from Okeechobee, Florida, aired by WRMI. Not an ideal time of day here in central Europe, at 23:30 to 24:00 UTC (and I’m not sure if RUI will stay on the air from Florida with the beginning of this new year), but it’s fun while it lasts. The signal varied during the ten times I listened this year, from good to nil – it was probably much better in North America, the main target area.
I did catch a signal right from Ukraine in May and July, Radio Dniprovska Hvylya, but all in Russian or Ukrainian language.

6. Taiwan

Voice of Guanghua, transmitting from Guanyin or Kuanyin District, Taoyuan City, northwestern Taiwan. Their programs are in Standard Chinese (guoyu), apparently without being jammed. At any rate, it came in pretty well on 9745 kHz at daytime UTC, on December 19 and 26. Japanese tourists seem to have done the usual thorough research and took a photo of the station’s transmitter site, some time during the past ten years.

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Related tag: »shortwave

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Tags: America, Europe, Germany, international, media, propaganda, Russia, shortwave radio, Taiwan, Ukraine