Zambia NBC | The SWLing Post

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Richard Langley, who shares the following message he recently received from Ray Robinson, VP of Global Operations with The Voice of Hope. This message is being relayed with Robinson’s permission:

I have seen a few messages lately, regarding the non-appearance of ZNBC-1 on 5915 kHz in their early mornings. You may be aware of the rolling power outages called ‘load shedding’ the electricity utility in Zambia, ZESCO, continues to impose daily throughout the country. The outages are at different times in different areas, but at the Voice of Hope transmitter site, the outages have been effect from 6-10am local (0400-0800 UTC) since September. The ZNBC shortwave site is only a few miles from ours, and it would be logical they are on the same outage schedule. I know from when our staff visited their site a few months ago to buy some distilled water for our transmitter cooling systems before our own still was up and running, that ZNBC’s genset is not currently operational, and I don’t believe they have the budget either to repair it, or to buy diesel for it, if it was repaired and functional.

My guess is they have decided it is not really worth the effort to broadcast for the hour or so from 0245 UTC until whenever the power goes out. (This is just my speculation.) They do use 5915 later in the day after the much cheaper hydro power returns, but of course by then, the propagation conditions do not favor inter-continental reception.

As for Voice of Hope – Africa, we had expected the load shedding to end by December (two months into the Zambian rainy season), but alas the outages are continuing, with no sign of any change soon. Our own weekday morning broadcasts on 9680 and 11680 kHz have been entirely powered from our genset since September. This is expensive, and unsustainable. We have therefore decided to make a schedule change from next Monday. Instead of broadcasting weekday mornings from 0500-0800 UTC, we will switch to weekday evenings from 1700-2200 UTC, extending the duration of the broadcast from three hours to five. The last two hours will be ‘Night Light’ presented by Stephen Mdoma, reprising a program he used to present late nights years ago when the station was known as Christian Voice We will be using the frequencies 4965 kHz (omni) and 6065 kHz (to West Africa), which may also afford better opportunities for reception in ECNA after local dusk. The program schedule on our website will be updated this weekend. We plan to re-launch the morning broadcasts once the load shedding ends. I thought you might like to know.

Ray Robinson
Vice President, Global Operations
Strategic Communications Group – Voice of Hope
Los Angeles and Lusaka
http://www.voiceofhope.com

Richard adds that Ray Robinson has also confirmed the weekend schedule is unaffected.

Many thanks for sharing this news, Richard!

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Hi there, I’ve owned my Sony ICF-SW100S for about a year now and in that time it has demonstrated a level of performance way beyond my expectations. Notwithstanding it’s incredibly small size (about the same as a packet of cigarettes, give-or-take), the DX results I have obtained with it are simply incredible. A fully featured ultra-portable receiver, complete with synchronous detection, selectable side bands, SSB, CW and coupled with sensitivity that has my (wonderful) Sony ICF-SW55 beat – and knocks on the door of the legendary ICF2001D. I simply can’t recommend it highly enough. Plug in some headphones or connect an external speaker such as the Bose SoundLink Mini 2 and you effectively have table-top receiver performance and audio in a very compact package.

Originally introduced into the market in 1993 and discontinued in 2005, this little radio covers the broadcast FM band from 76 to 108 MHz and AM from 150 to 29999 kHz, continuously. There are numerous other features that I won’t list here as they’re available on the web, but suffice to say, this (now vintage) ultra-portable DXer’s box of tricks is likely never to be repeated. They are available on eBay and prices remain robust for a radio that will be one to two decades old. Of course there’s also the issue on the first generation models with the ribbon cable connecting the lid of the set with the LCD display etc. to the base, which would fracture after some time, but this was rectified in later models with a notch cut out of the hinge to reduce the stress on the cable – see photo. They are also repairable and in fact I believe Thomas has a posting on here detailing how the ribbon cable on his example was replaced. In my opinion, this receiver is worth the hassle of a repair, because it’s quite simply unique.

Below are selected reception videos from my youtube channel Oxford Shortwave Log using the Sony ICF-SW100, which I believe epitomise the performance of this great little portable. Thanks for watching/ listening.

Direct link to reception video on Oxford Shortwave Log YouTube channel

Direct link to reception video on Oxford Shortwave Log youTube channel

Direct link to reception video on Oxford Shortwave Log Youtube channel

Direct link to reception video on Oxford Shortwave Log YouTube channel

Direct Link to reception video on Oxford Shortwave Log reception video

Direct link to reception video on Oxford Shortwave Log YouTube channel

Clint Gouveia is the author of this post and a regular contributor to the SWLing Post. Clint actively publishes videos of his shortwave radio excursions on his YouTube channel: Oxford Shortwave Log. Clint is based in Oxfordshire, England.

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