shortwave summary, jun 2007 (part 2)

These receptions are smaller bites than I'm accustomed to providing here. I picked up Kol Israel for the first time and logged a couple Firedrake frequencies. My Eton E5 receiver and Degen DE31 active loop antenna did all the work here.

Received stations:

* Kol Israel
* Firedrake
* Radio Thailand

* 20 Jun 2007, 0330 UTC, 11590 khz (Kol Israel): English news about Israel. The local time and date in Israel was announced. Inaudible, then "the Egyptians are aware of this." Gaza, Iran, George W. Bush. Someone is returning to the Middle East after visiting the White House. Financial news from Tokyo and New York. The Dow and NASDAQ both had slight gains. Weather forecasts. Headlines were reviewed, and concluded with "shalom." It was a female announcer. Then a male announcer came on and speoke a language I didn't understand.

This signal was only moderately strong, and was plagued by noise. I wrote to the station engineer and requested better signal coverage for the west coast of the United States. What I got in return looked like an Excel document, but I couldn't open it with Google Docs.

* 24 Jun 2007, 1703-1715 UTC: Firedrake broadcasts were audible on 11540 khz and 11795 khz.

* 25 Jun 2007, 0200 UTC, 5890 khz (Radio Thailand): "From the public relations department of the royal Thai government..." During the news segment, background music was too loud and the words were a bit hard to understand. Demonstrations against the government are expected to disperse soon since the demonstrators have changed their objectives. More Thai government news was here, but I didn't log the details. Problems in the past can be used as lessons for the ongoing development of government. The public was encouraged to help make the upcoming general elections a success. Security checkpoints were set up in response to insurgent attacks. 130 suspects were detained and interrogated. Buddhist Organization of Thailand cancelled its planned demonstration. Some parties in Thailand are not cooperating, causing political scientists to doubt the chances for stability. Completing the elections could lessen the tensions.

The national housing authority is dealing with unstable buildings. USA will start importing irradiated fruits from Thailand in July 2007. National news concluded at 0214 UTC. A statement on behalf of "his majesty" about plans to improve rural life. There was a statement encouraging the backing of the constitution, and again, the backing music was too loud. This year is the king's 80th birthday. "The public is invited to put up the national flag... until the end of the year." Only 10 minutes left in this broadcast, and there has been no mention of the oil industry yet. A French cartoon artist will have an exhibit at an art gallery in Thailand. A video artist and painter from New York will have a separate gallery exhibit. Weather forecast. Fancy music and gentle phrases: nice packaging for emergency procedures for responding to protesters. Bangkok: cloudy, thundershowers, 26-35C (78-95F). Grandfather clock bells came on at 0229 UTC.

As is often the case, Thailand's broadcast was very high quality, as it comes to me from Delano, California. This broadcast didn't resemble previous broadcasts I have heard from Thailand, however; nobody mentioned the oil industry this time!