Tag Archives: art

Shortwave’s Giant: Carlos explores evangelical broadcasting to MENA

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 →

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Carlos’ Shortwave Art and Recording of the Voice of Korea (12 Jan 2022)

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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.

Click here to view on YouTube.

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Carlos Shares Shortwave Art and Recordings of Ethiopian Jamming and BBC News Tigrinya

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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):

Click here to view on YouTube.

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).

Thanks to yaredinho_r9 for the translation.

Click here to view on YouTube.

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Carlos’ Shortwave Art and Recording of Raadiyoonii Dirree Shaggar (29 Dec 2021)

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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).

Thanks again to Hamza Oromo for the translation.

Click here to view on YouTube.

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Exercising Over the Air: Carlos’ Shortwave Art and Recording of Radio Oromiya

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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.

Clcik here to listen via YouTube.

This is brilliant, Carlos! I don’t think I’ve ever heard an exercise program on shortwave before. As always, I love your artwork.

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Carlos’ Shortwave Art and Recording of Raadiyoonii Dirree Shaggar

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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, Raadiyoonii Dirree Shaggar.

Carlos notes:

Raadiyoonii Dirree Shaggar, 15330 kHz, clandestine station broadcasting in the Oromo language from Issoudun, France, to Ethiopia.

Weak signal, too much noise and possibly jamming.

Excerpt from the audio quotes “Shoa towns”, probably referring to news that Tigray troops are leaving some regions of Ethiopia. The country has been facing a civil war since November 2020.

Thanks to Hamza Oromo for his kindness in unraveling this audio.

Signal captured at Parque da Catacumba, Rio de Janeiro, on December 21, 2021, at 1:13 pm, local time.

Click here to view on YouTube.

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Carlos’ Shortwave Art and Recording of Dimtse Wegahta

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor and noted political cartoonist, Carlos Latuff, who shares another example of his radio log art, this time for clandestine station, Dimtse Wegahta (Voice of the Dawn Tigray).

Carlos notes:

Dimtse Wegahta Tigray (Voice of the Dawn Tigray), 15340 kHz, clandestine broadcaster broadcasting from Issoudun, France, in Tigrinya, to Ethiopia.

In this excerpt, the presenter informs that, due to the war in Ethiopia, patients at Ayder’s hospital are dying for lack of medicines and services. Doctors suffer psychiatric problems because they are unable to help their patients.

The transmission had several interruptions.

Signal captured at Parque da Catacumba, Rio de Janeiro, on December 15, 2021, at 2:34 pm, Brasília time.

Thanks to Mes~Tigray for the translation.