cobalt pet shortwave / mediumwave weblog

14 October 2005

shortwave summary: 14 oct 2005

* 14 Oct 2005: Around 0530 UTC, Radio Havana Cuba was received with an SIO of 555. I was impressed by the clarity of the musical interludes, which I heard for the first time without distortion!

* 12 Oct 2005: I tuned to 6185 khz (SIO 353) while scanning because I couldn't receive a signal from Radio Havana Cuba. I heard slow droning music with bass and strings. I was unsure if it was synthesized or an orchestra due to the medium signal quality. But I liked it! After the song, the announcer (speaking in spanish, which I barely understand) mentioned the players of various instruments, including a violin. According to hfradio.org, this might have been Radio Educacion from Mexico City, Mexico (my first reception of a Mexican broadcast).

* 10 Oct 2005: Via Radio Havana Cuba (6060khz, 0600-0640 UTC, SIO 533), I learned about X Alfonso, a Cuban music group. Several songs from their 2004 album, Civilization, were played. This album won the 2005 Cubadisco grand prize. The announcer noted that Cuban musicians frequently receive Grammy nominations but cannot attend because they are denied U.S. visas.

* 03 Oct 2005: Vietnamese love market. This was one of my favorite recent stories on shortwave. The love market was a town square in northern Vietnam where single persons would meet each other and form relationships. A male would sing an improvised song to advertise himself as a potential mate. A woman who liked the song could then respond with a song of her own. Unfortunately, increased tourism destroyed this tradition. I heard this on Radio Taiwan International around 0340 UTC on 5950 khz (SIO 555).

* 29 Sep 2005: On Radio Havana Cuba (9550 khz, SIO 544) at 0530 UTC: "Luis Posada Carriles is the Osama Bin Laden of Latin America."

* 29 Sep 2005: China is willing to discuss mainland relations with either political party in Taiwan, as long as they accept the One-China policy. This was discussed on China Radio International (9755 khz, SIO 544) around 0400-0410 UTC.

* 28 Sep 2005: Radio Havana Cuba (this time on 6000 khz, SIO 343) is a valuable source of major news that's not always available from mainstream North American media. RHC provided news and updates on Cindy Sheehan's involvement in anti-war protests in Washington D.C. over the past weekend. At 0600 UTC, they described a "systemic filtration process" in the U.S. media that resulted in little to no protest coverage. This was despite over 250,000 estimated protesters.

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