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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor and political cartoonist, Carlos Latuff, who shares two shortwave reception illustrations and recordings of The Voice of Korea:
VOK: January 15, 2022
Carlos notes:
Voice of Korea, 11910 kHz, broadcasting in English from Kujang, North Korea. Final part of the news bulletin, January 14, 2022 saw the launch of another North Korean ballistic missile, this time transported by rail.
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor and political cartoonist, Carlos Latuff, who shares the following guest post:
WINNING HEARTS, MINDS AND…SOULS!
Catechizing via shortwave.
by Carlos Latuff, special for The SWLing Post
During the Vietnam War (1955-1975), the expression “hearts and minds” became popular and referred to the US government’s strategy to gain allies among the South Vietnamese against the Vietcong guerrillas. Over the years this strategy has been used in different contexts. What I’m going to talk about in this short article is how the radio waves have served Christian evangelical churches, to win hearts and minds, specially in Africa and Middle East (MENA).
Different from what I did with the Ethiopian clandestine broadcasts, when I spent around 3 months monitoring, with evangelical radios it took only two days in January 2022; quite simple, since they’re stations with regular programming. Most of them have good signal reception, there’s no jamming from other countries and, despite transmitting in different languages, little translation was necessary since the content is always the same: religious preaching.
All listenings happened in Rio de Janeiro. The radio sets used in this monitoring were the XHDATA D-808 and an old analog radio Sanyo RP-8351, made in Brazil in the 70’s. A 7-meter long wire antenna was used in all listenings. Continue reading →
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor and noted political cartoonist, Carlos Latuff, who shares yet another example of his radio log art, this time for The Voice of Korea.
Carlos notes:
Voice of Korea, 9650 kHz, broadcasting in Japanese from Kujang, North Korea.
Newsletter: Kim Jong Un watches test of new hypersonic ballistic missile.
Transmission with jamming, probably from South Korea.
Signal captured in Rio de Janeiro, 01/12/2022, 05:07, local time.
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor and political cartoonist, Carlos Latuff, who shares the following guest post:
Carlos Latuff at Catacumba Park in Rio de Janeiro, monitoring Ethiopian broadcasts.
ETHIOPIA: A WAR THROUGH RADIO
by Carlos Latuff, special for The SWLing Post
We just entered 2022 and the civil war in Ethiopia has already completed 1 year. On the one hand we have the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) guerrillas from northern Ethiopia and its allies, and on the other hand we have the armed forces of Ethiopian government and its allies. The dead are piling up, accusations of war crimes from both sides, local and international political interests at stake, and no perspective for a peaceful solution. Without going into the reasons for this new war in Ethiopian territory, I’d like to focus on the use of radio waves by both parties of this conflict.
I monitored shortwave broadcasts from Ethiopia and to Ethiopia between October 21, 2021 and January 4, 2022. The receivers were Tecsun PL-606 and XHDATA D-808, using both the telescopic antenna and a long wire. In all cases, listening was carried out in Brazilian cities.
Carlos at Catacumba Park monitoring and recording clandestine Ethiopian broadcasts.
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor and political cartoonist, Carlos Latuff, who has been exploring the world of clandestine radio, documenting the on-going conflict in Ethiopia via shortwave radio. The following are two examples of his radio log art, this time for documenting jamming of Dimtse Wegahta Tigray and BBC News Tigrinya. Carlos shares the following art and recordings:
Ethiopian Jamming
Characteristic noise of “jamming” (intentional interference), probably coming from the Ethiopian government, preventing reception of the signal from the clandestine broadcaster Dimtse Wegahta Tigray (Voice of the Dawn Tigray).
Dimtse Wegahta Tigray broadcasts daily to warring Ethiopia on the frequency of 15340 kHz, using the powerful transmitters of the company TDF (Télédiffusion de France) in Issoudun, France.
Captured at Parque da Catacumba, Rio de Janeiro, 12/29/2021, 2:36 pm (local time):
BBC News Tigrinya broadcasting from UAE to Ethiopia/Eritrea
BBC News Tigrinya, 12065 kHz, broadcasting from Al Dhabbiya, United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Excerpt from the news.
– Ethiopian party member EZEMA talks about the intention to form a cabinet in the government of Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed despite the war.
– US Embassy in Eritrea asks that country’s government to release political dissidents.
The BBC is among the news channels that are accused by the Ethiopian government of “spreading fake news”.
Signal received in Rio de Janeiro, 01/04/2022, at 3:14 pm (local time).
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor and noted political cartoonist, Carlos Latuff, who has been exploring the world of clandestine radio, documenting the on-going conflict in Ethiopia via shortwave radio. The image above is yet another example of his radio log art, this time for Raadiyoonii Dirree Shaggar.
Carlos notes:
Raadiyoonii Dirree Shaggar, 15330 kHz, clandestine broadcast in the Oromo language from Issoudun, France, to warring Ethiopia.
Final excerpt of an interview, where the guest says: “…The government that used the name of the Oromo people now uses it in many ways to deceive them…” “…Now the Oromo only think about carrying on the armed struggle to overthrow this system and preserve its existence…”
Signal captured at Parque da Catacumba, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 12/29/2021, 13:28 (local time).
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor and noted political cartoonist, Carlos Latuff, who shares yet another example of his radio log art, this time for clandestine station, Radio Oromiya.
Carlos notes:
Thomas, as you know I’m monitoring broadcastings from and to war-torn Ethiopia, documenting the conflict via shortwave broadcastings.
This one is particularly curious.
The presenter is counting from zero to ten, in Oromo language. At first I thought it was a number station or codified message of some sort.
But thanks the patience and kindness of Ethiopian Twitter users, I realized that I listened to a physical fitness training via radio, part of Ethiopian govt’s effort to fight sedentarism and encourage its citizens to engage regular physical activity.
