LRH203 AM990 has been logged in Finland before, but it is definitely not the easiest catch on the EU-channel 990. LR4 R Splendid (common in the early days on shortwaves) was the Argentinian that was heard by several Finnish DXers between 2000-2010. According to my knowledge Splendid has been absent in Finnish logs since then for what ever reason it can be. Since there are no stations listed on 990 in Uruguay or Paraguay (nor in Chile), Splendid and AM990 Formosa are the only possibilities to search for during cx towards the southern part of South America. During the mediocre LEM357 pedition AM990 was fading up around 05 UTC on October 23 in the middle of a proton storm. Luckily, the cx at this date favored stations from the Northwestern and Northern parts of Argentina but not the greater Buenos Aires area. A clear ID “AM990 la radio de Formosa” followed by a commercial for “Banco Formosa” was heard before the SS stations in Spain and other EU-stations took over the frequency. AM990 was logged also by JPR last spring on March 8. A nice e verification via FB signed by Hector Sanchez, Locutor, was promptly received. Gracias Hector!
The Bolivian radio station Radio Camargo, Camargo (Chuquisaca), Bolivia celebrates it’s 40th anniversary on November 9, 2015. Let us wish all the staff of Radio Camargo Happy 40th Anniversary!
Radio Camargo’s first transmission took place on November 9, 1975 at 6.45 pm. on 3390 kHz from the city of Camargo, Capital of the Province Nor Cinti, Departament of Chuquisaca, Bolivia some 350 km south of the city of Sucre. Camargo is a city of some 6000 inhabitants between two mountain chains on the banks of Rio Chico. The station was built on the initiative of Don Pablo Garcia B.
Many Nordic DXers interested in Latin American radio stations remember when Camargo appeared with transmissions in the 90 m.b. on 3390 kHz in 1977. The first Nordic loggings were made by Tomas Johansson in Borlänge, Sweden and Pertti Äyräs in Turku, Finland in June that year, i.e., two years after the station was born. My first logging of Camargo was on August 2, 1977 just before Heidi and I left for post-graduate studies to USA where we stayed for four years and as a result I did not return to DXing until 1989, a break in DXing for 12 years! Radio Camargo remained a faithful station in the 90 m.b. for decades to the joy of many LA-DXers. The station was always glad to receive reception reports from foreign listeners and promptly answered us with QSLs for which we are thankful.
Even though Radio Camargo is still listed as active in the 90 m.b. in WRTH2015. I was informed today by José Luís Garcia Pastrana on Radio Camargo that the station officially left shortwaves in the beginning of 2008 because of cost reasons. It is now transmitting only on FM on 100.3 Mhz.
A personal special memory of listening to Radio Camargo is from July 28, 1990 when Henrik Klemetz was visiting me in our summer place outside the city of Jakobstad by the Gulf of Bothnia. A look in my log book reveals that in addition to R Camargo on 3390, we also noted R Nacional de Bolivia on 1390 and R 9 de Abril on 3200.4 R Camargo closed down at 0135 UTC just after sunrise in Jakobstad at 0127 UTC!
Henrik has sent a 40th anniversary package including text, fotos and an mp3 audio greeting to Radio Camargo.
FELIZ 40 ANIVERSARIO RADIO CAMARGO!
Below a video professionally produced by José Luís García Pastrana on Radio Camargo based on the material Henrik Klemetz submitted to him as mentioned above.
During the LEM357-pedition some weeks ago the conditions were mediocre overall. Coronal holes one after another and at the end of expedition an increased proton level made trans-Atlantic propagation lousy. On Friday, October 23 around 05 UTC, in the “middle” of a minor proton storm, we found the band more or less empty with the exception of weak La Plata signals, especially on the lower part of the band. Because the band was so clean even many of these signals were readable. We found that the cx favored stations from the Northern and Northwestern corner of Argentina. One of the stations identified was LW8 Radio San Salvador de Jujuy on 630, a frequency almost always giving only the Buenos Aires station R Rivadavia during La Plata cx. Now, at 0501 UTC a clear ID was noted “LW8 Radio San Salvador de Jujuy 630 kcs, oficinas en Horacio Guzmán 496 en Radio Visión Jujuy…”. This was indeed a big surprise. Pertti Äyräs heard LW8 probably for the first time in Finland on October 16, 2014, almost exactly on year earlier.
My report was rapidly verified by Rodrigo Martearena, Jefe Comercial y Marketing, Radio Visión Jujuy. Mil gracias Rodrigo. This becasme my QSL # 160 from Argentina!
Late evening February 24 and all night February 25, 2015 have proved to be may be the best opening towards Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay I have ever experienced in Lemmenjoki. On 1560 I noted a bunch of stations emerging around 23 UTC on February 24. Argentinian LT11 R General Francisco Ramírez and Uruguayian CW51 R Maldonado, two stations typically dominating this frequency during La Plata openings, were equally strong. Some fade in and outs was provided by Brazilian R Povo Pombal. The interesing thing was that simultaneously a strong interfering howl was noted, indicating a strong carrier nearby. It took me some time to realize, after extending the frequency range of the Perseus, that there actually was a very strong peak but no audio on the split 1560.792, i.e., severely off! I followed this frequency between 23 and 2330 UTC and was lucky to observe the emergence of an SS audio that culminated in a real surprise. The station’s locutor kindly announced at 2327 UTC: “En la frequencia 1560 kilohertz, desde Vichadero, Rivera, Uruguay, transmíte CV156 R Vichadero”!
After a lot of Googling I got in touch with Mario Raúl Coitiño who confirmed my submitted mp3 audio and who has been working at the station since 1978 and is presently in charge of the program “Actualidades” aired several days a week 2130 to 2300 local time. Raúl is 58 and kindly sent me a lot of chats and a nice photo of his family. He also noted, that the station is obligated to carry their legal ID every 15 minutes because of air traffic regulations for traffic in and out of the local airport nearby! Radio Vichaderos owner and director is José Enrique Mariño. This is one of the more surprising logings I have made during the last years! If the station remains this far off 1560 it should be a fairly easy catch for the Nordic DXers during the next season.
Thanks HK and JPR for listening to my mp3!
This surprise was noted in Lemmenjoki during LEM354 in late evenings on February 24 and 26, 2015. The station appeared as the first one on 960 on February 24 with an ID “CW96 La Radio de la Família, para todo la regíón centro del país”. Some ten minutes later the dominant La Plata station Argentinian R Nacional, Mendoza occupied the frequency for several hours together with R Sao Paulo and R Difusora de Alagoas, Maceió, the Brazilians being relatively weak with heavy fadings. R Yí was probably noted for the first time in Finland this date but also logged by Jari Ruohomäki in the same QTH on March 4, 2015 (which happened to be on my 65th birthday!!). A short FB message confirmed by reception of Radio Yí yesterday.
The Uruguay station R Oriental in Montevideo is normally blocking 770 during cx towards the La Plata regi0n. During LEM354 , however, Argentinian Cooperativa together with an unidentified Brazilian (most probably R Atalaia de Sergipe) was occupying the frequency. Cooperativa was logged previously in Finland by Jari Ruohomäki in December 2012 also in Lemmenjoki. My report was confirmed via FB.
Las 40 on 1450, has been heard a handful times in the Nordic countries. Probably the first logging in Finland was made during the LEM243 expedition (JEÖ&PÄ) in February 2007. I noticed the station again during LEM354 on February 24. No sign of the channels ARG dominant R El Sol, Quilmes, BA at that time. Las 40 carried Argentinian folklore programming and the identity was nailed by the YL ID “Música Argentina, AM Las 40, Folclórica de Argentina”.
Thanks to Henrik Klemetz, I rapidly got a confirmation from Andy Peredes, owner of the FM station Radio Activa San Juan on 88.7 FM and at the same time working at Las 40. Andy tells that the station´s effective power presently is 7 kW which is one explanation that the station has been heard recently (WRTH2015 lists the power to 1/0,25 kW!). Andy also mentions, that the station started it’s transmissions on April 2, 2001 on both 140 and FM 105.1. Andy is married and has two daughters aged 10 and 4. He included some 40 pictures of the station, of the city and of his family. Muchisimas gracias por su amabilidad Andy!
Estación 15-50 was logged in Lemmenjoki last february during my LEM354 expedition. The station was heard with a pretty weak signal. After quite some listening to the recordings from February 25 I found an ID at 0301 UTC “”Desde Buenos Aires, transmíte AM 1550 Estación 15-50”. The station was carrying football programming for the local Club Atlético Huracán. Sergio Correa confirmed my submitted audio. He tells that R Urkupiña changed it’s name to Estacíón 15-50 a year ago. R Urkupiña has been reported heard once in Finland on it’s old frequency 1510 by LEM230 in late September 2006.Gracias Sergio!
R Maria Peru was heard simultaneously on 1550 and 1560 on April 27, 2015 in Sarvsalö/Borgå. Even though Bolivian Bendita Trinidad on 1540 was heard with moderate signals, the conditions this morning favored the southern parts of Perú but did not reach Bolivia (with the exception of Bendita). I anticipated, during my first check of the file, that the station on 1550 was R Independencia, Lima. After checking also 1560 I realized, that I had the same station on two neighboring frequencies. Checking the recordings carefully I found the ID “R Maria Perú” and “En Huancayo 1240 AM, en Talara 104.5 FM” What a coincidence! I received a FB message confirming my receptions of R Maria Peru on 1550 and 1560 with a notice that a letter had been sent to me my ordinary mail. On May 18 Pertti Äyräs noticed OAM7D R San Sebastian in Livitaca/Cusco on this frequency, a station that has been reported heard also in Sweden. On 1560 the new bolivian R Luz del Mundo(started officially on May 16), with it’s new transmitter and 5 kW, will make hearing R Maria here again much more difficult.
Radio Libre was founded in 1997 and is transmitting from the city of Fernando de la Mora, a city located in the Central Department and part of the metropolitan area of Asunción. With some 160,000 inhabitants, the city is one of the most populated of the country. R Libre is mostly carrying talk programs addressing both national and international issues. R Libre 1200 AM – radio la palabra was heard on February 25, 2015 in Lemmenjoki during excellent conditions towards especially Paraguay and the neighboring northern provinces of Argentina. The station phaded up over the Brazilians R Cultura, São Paulo and R Clube, Fortaleza Heard by at least Jari Ruohomäki earlier in Finland the station confirmed my reception by FB.
americadx 