list of African stations

[ka3jjz]

One of the more popular DX targets, especially for East Coasters, is Africa. They have a rich tradition of broadcasting, not just internationally, but some regionals too, which can make for interesting listening. A shame that so many are gone, but there's still some good ones to catch.

Enter AfricaList, put together by Thorston Hallman. This is a PDF document, last updated at the end of March.

http://www.muenster.org/uwz/ms-alt/africalist/africalist.pdf

Enjoy...Mike

 

[pjxii]

Awesome! Thanks for the link.

 

[KT4HX]

Thanks Mike. Africa used to be a prime target of mine from Indiana back in the 70s and 80s. There were indeed a large number of stations on the air with 60 meters being filled with them in the early evening around sunset and then again starting around 0300Z. There is a good Wikipedia page about countries broadcasting on shortwave. Reading through that table one really sees the fall-off in African (and other continents) shortwave broadcasting over the subsequent decades.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_shortwave_radio_broadcasters

 

[KT4HX]

I like to check the British DX Club's summary of African stations on MW and SW. The below link was updated for August 2018 and their article page (second link) also has links to similar articles for other parts of the world as well as other useful info.

http://bdxc.org.uk/africa.pdf

British DX Club - Articles Index

 

[GB46]

There is a good Wikipedia page about countries broadcasting on shortwave. Reading through that table one really sees the fall-off in African (and other continents) shortwave broadcasting over the subsequent decades.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_shortwave_radio_broadcasters

Thanks for that (rather depressing) link!

 

[KT4HX]

Thanks for that (rather depressing) link!

Yeah I know. Certainly a sad state of affairs for that continent as far as SW goes. The decline in South America is also shocking. The stations that used to fill the airwaves in the evening from Colombia, Venezuela, et al, scattered among the myriad Brazilians.

There are still ways to log several African countries, but certainly not the number there were before.

 

[GB46]

Actually, I can only remember hearing two African stations: One was the Voice of Nigeria on the 41 meter band (rather weak), and the other was Radio RSA from Johannesburg on 9585 kHz. R. RSA was the best DX I ever received, and with a strong signal, too. It was in 1980 while I lived in the Vancouver area, 10226 miles away as the crow flies. Yet this was from a concrete and steel apartment building, and with a very minimal indoor antenna, too. I still have their QSL card.

 

[KT4HX]

RSA certainly put in excellent signals. Of course, you being in the northwest, and my being in Indiana during that time frame, the African reception was more in my favor. I vividly recall evenings in the 70s/80s trolling the 90, 60 and 49 meter bands typically around sunset before 0000 UTC, then again around 0300 to 0600 UTC. I was regularly pulling in stations such as:

Lesotho, Botswana, Zambia, Mozambique, Madagascar, Angola, Gabon, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Niger, Zaire, Congo, Nigeria, Upper Volta (Burkina Faso), Mali, Mauritania, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Benin,Senegal and Sierra Leone. There were others, particularly across northern Africa, but those are the ones that I recall being regulars on the lower bands.

It certainly was a different time with regard to SW activity, plus less non-broadcast garbage within the bands interfering with them. Sometimes there was QRM from the South Americans in the early evening. But at least later at night many of them were signed off for the day, thus leaving the frequencies clear for the Africans when they signed on. Unless conditions were exceptionally bad, there were certain African stations you could count on being there every night. I do miss that!

But, we have what we have now, and must deal with the changes that came about.

 

[GB46]

RSA certainly put in excellent signals. Of course, you being in the northwest, and my being in Indiana during that time frame, the African reception was more in my favor.

My northwest location has always been a problem for me, especially when trying to hear European stations, compared to the six years I spent in Saskatchewan.

I've been trying to remember which receiver I had when I used to listen to R. RSA. It must have been either a Radio Shack Astronaut 8 (pretty crappy) or their DX-300, which was even crappier, because of the drifting, the complicated tuning and a failing LED display. And to think that I had sold my Hammarlund SP-600 only a year before that!

 

[KT4HX]

Your location should have been good for Asia and the Pacific I should think. That SP-600 should have been a good one!

Back in those days I had various receivers. I started with an old portable then a Knight Star Roamer (kit), and a Realistic DX-150A. None of those were terrific. Certainly usable, but not great. I then went to a Yaesu FRG-7700 and then FRG-100 at different times. In the 90s I got a Drake R8A, which I really enjoyed. I had an HQ-145 as well at one point. I even had a DX-398 briefly, but promptly sold it.

 

[GB46]

That SP-600 was my first professional receiver.

I went through all kinds of receivers during my early teens, even a homebrew foxhole radio that couldn't even pick up our local AM station. There were a couple of regenerative receivers that were lots of fun and quite sensitive, but with no way of even approximating the frequencies I tuned to. At least one of them had no variable capacitor. Tuning was done by moving the ferrite rod in and out of the coil. The Knight Span Master I had later boasted an actual tuning dial and a bandspread. It also had a loudspeaker, but the receiver's output was so weak that I had to put my ear to the speaker to hear anything. It too was regenerative, and I could hear lots of DX if I used headphones.

I still have my little Sony ICF-2002. It's in perfect shape, but I stopped using it recently when I acquired a Sangean ATS-909X for portable use, I also still have the Icom R75, which I considered my dream radio when I bought it back in 1998. It's currently my "go to" radio, and is in like new condition after 20 years. So that leaves me with three good radios, and ironically, not a whole lot to hear on any of them.

 

[KT4HX]

Yeah, all good stuff. I recall having an ICF-2001D and the 2010 as well at various times. Like I said my first true SW radio was a cheap portable my mother gave me for Christmas or Birthday in the mid-60s. It was a Ross AM/FM/SW, and think it was the same model as the one in this Ebay auction: https://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-RO...307589?hash=item1ed9df4785:g:KYUAAOSw-P***4g-

I recall I picked up the inaugural broadcast of the Radio Nederland Bonaire (Netherlands Antilles) relay in 1969 and have the special QSL for that somewhere. I really do need to track down my QSLs in the basement!

Anyway, my mom ordered an AM/FM portable originally but Sears, Spiegel or Montgomery Ward, whomever she ordered it from didn't have it. They sent the AM/FM/SW model in its place. And the rest, as they say, is history!

Prior to that I fumbled around with an old AM radio like a kid would. In those days our TV didn't have the UHF channels, so we bought a UHF converter. Feeding the antenna through it, and on to the TV, you then parked the TV on a specified empty channel and used the converter to tune the UHF channels.

So, playing around one day with it hooked to the radio, I found somehow I could pick up some shortwave at the upper end of the AM range. Of course I didn't know the frequencies or what it was, but that piqued my curiosity, and when I got the portable with SW on it, then that just fed into my curiosity about all those stations and noises had heard using the converter on the radio.

At other times I had a Grundig YB-400 portable, DX-440 (still have) and Tecsun PL-660 (still have). After I got an R8A, which I dearly love, I added an old Drake SW-4A, which is a neat little receiver. I does pretty good actually, and I like the audio fidelity of tubes. The R8A has a lot more bells and whistles of course and really can dig stuff out comparatively, but there is something nice and comforting about it.

Also, I misspoke earlier when I said I had a DX-398 and found it miserable. It was actually a DX-394 that was miserable and quickly sold.

 

[GB46]

Yeah, all good stuff. I recall having an ICF-2001D and the 2010 as well at various times. Like I said my first true SW radio was a cheap portable my mother gave me for Christmas or Birthday in the mid-60s. It was a Ross AM/FM/SW, and think it was the same model as the one in this Ebay auction: https://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-RO...307589?hash=item1ed9df4785:g:KYUAAOSw-P***4g-

Nice looking radio!

I recall I picked up the inaugural broadcast of the Radio Nederland Bonaire (Netherlands Antilles) relay in 1969 and have the special QSL for that somewhere.

I miss Radio Nederland and their "Happy Station" broadcasts on Sundays.

In those days our TV didn't have the UHF channels, so we bought a UHF converter. Feeding the antenna through it, and on to the TV, you then parked the TV on a specified empty channel and used the converter to tune the UHF channels.

To make my general coverage receiver cover the 2-meter ham band, I had a little converter that output the signals to the 80-meter band, with 144 mHz coming out on 3.5 mHz. The converter had no tuner, so I would have to tune the receiver around 80 meters, and because I was too lazy to do the math, I could never be sure what frequency I was at.

So, playing around one day with it hooked to the radio, I found somehow I could pick up some shortwave at the upper end of the AM range. Of course I didn't know the frequencies or what it was, but that piqued my curiosity, and when I got the portable with SW on it, then that just fed into my curiosity about all those stations and noises had heard using the converter on the radio.

I used to hear marine stations just above the AM band, but only when I was at the seashore.

After I got an R8A, which I dearly love, I added an old Drake SW-4A, which is a neat little receiver. It does pretty good actually, and I like the audio fidelity of tubes. The R8A has a lot more bells and whistles of course and really can dig stuff out comparatively, but there is something nice and comforting about it.

Warmer sound, no doubt. That's something I've noticed about these digital receivers: They can indeed dig out more stuff, but the audio doesn't have the nice, warm quality you used to get from analog receivers, particularly the tube-based ones. My R75 is a good example, because the audio is rather harsh even with the headphones I use instead of the tiny built-in speaker. The Sangean by comparison has more pleasant audio, but still not as good as a tube set, and, of course, not as selective, accurate or stable as the R75.

 

[GB46]

Anyone out there understand Portuguese? Rádio Nacional Amazônia in Brazil has been coming in very strong here in the evening on 11780 kHz starting around 0000 UTC; I'm still hearing them now at 0240. I don't usually spend much time listening to them, mainly because I can't understand Portuguese, but I'm staying on frequency right now to see how long I can hear them. They always have a very hyper male announcer who sounds like a sportscaster following a football game or a horse race.

According to the current EiBi shortwave schedule, I shouldn't be hearing them at all at this hour. From 0000 to 0100 the frequency is supposed to be in use by China Radio International broadcasting in Mandarin Chinese, but I'd never be able to hear them, anyway, as they broadcast directly from China, and even if I could, I wouldn't be able to understand Chinese, either.

CRI's English broadcasts to North America are relayed by transmitters in Cuba.

 

[pjxii]

Actually, I can only remember hearing two African stations: One was the Voice of Nigeria on the 41 meter band (rather weak), and the other was Radio RSA from Johannesburg on 9585 kHz. R. RSA was the best DX I ever received, and with a strong signal, too. It was in 1980 while I lived in the Vancouver area, 10226 miles away as the crow flies. Yet this was from a concrete and steel apartment building, and with a very minimal indoor antenna, too. I still have their QSL card.

Awesome catch from Vancouver, incredible considering the antenna etc!

This is why I always have and always will love shortwave radio. Even though there have been so many countries dropping off SW, there are still plenty to keep me happy to bandscan and being pleasantly surprised. Have you tried for Channel Africa also from South Africa? Radio Sonder Grense was coming in okay this past winter on 3320 kHz, but of course I'm on the east coast.

I've also taken an interest in utilities which I never did growing up, a couple of years ago I was surprised to hear Auckland Volmet on 6679 kHz which I later found out is at 5kW here in southwest Florida on my ICF-6800W's whip antenna in a condo.

Damn, we need a few sunspots!

 

[GB46]

Awesome catch from Vancouver, incredible considering the antenna etc!

I was able to hear them on a regular basis, too. I no longer live in Vancouver, however, and due to the current propagation conditions, not to mention the increased RFI at this location, I can't even come close to the reception I had back then. Ironically, the population of the city I now live in is only about 5% of Vancouver's, but there's much more RFI than I remember from Vancouver. Of course, there are far more digital devices in use now than there were back in the 1980s.

Have you tried for Channel Africa also from South Africa? Radio Sonder Grense was coming in okay this past winter on 3320 kHz, but of course I'm on the east coast.

Can't hear either of them, but then they don't beam to North America, anyway.

I've also taken an interest in utilities which I never did growing up, a couple of years ago I was surprised to hear Auckland Volmet on 6679 kHz which I later found out is at 5kW here in southwest Florida on my ICF-6800W's whip antenna in a condo.

When I was a kid and living on the east coast I didn't discover the utilities until I ran across some USAF transmissions. Unfortunately I knew nothing about SSB at the time, and thought I was hearing scrambled messages. Once I learned to use the BFO to clarify them I was surprised to hear Andrews Air Force Base in contact with one of their flights. They weren't sending a series of codes, either; everything was in plain English.

Things were different back then. One of my receivers was an el cheapo handheld portable radio with some SW bands, and I can remember walking around the house with the radio's whip extended and listening to Radio Peking (Beijing) directly from China. Now the station is CRI, with English broadcasts relayed via Cuba. Not the same thing at all.

Yes, we certainly need some sunspots!

 

[majoco]

A few years ago when I lived in Christchurch on a very quiet site QRM-wise I used to hear Santa Maria very well on the gray line - I think that was on the 8MHz MWARA frquencies.

 

[GB46]

A few years ago when I lived in Christchurch on a very quiet site QRM-wise I used to hear Santa Maria very well on the gray line - I think that was on the 8MHz MWARA frquencies.

Hopefully my receivers will still be in working order when the next solar cycle approaches its peak. Come to think of it, I'm approaching the age of 72, so I hope I'll still be in working order at that time. :lol:

 

[w2xq]

Hopefully my receivers will still be in working order when the next solar cycle approaches its peak. Come to think of it, I'm approaching the age of 72, so I hope I'll still be in working order at that time. :lol:

Heh. Well, the first reversed polarity sunspot -- indicative of the start of a new solar cycle -- was reported within the last week. Typically ~5/6 years will get you moving on up the elevator ride. Pay attention to the seasonality of Es and F2 and watch the reports. And have fun.9u9