I just put up a nice new inverted L and am hearing all sorts of new things,
but I wonder if one of you can help me with this.

Listening with an Icom R75, Los Angeles area, picked up a fluttery signal
on 17660 at about 1445Z, woman announcer in slow French (didn't sound like
a native speaker) with music that slowly faded by 1455Z, couldn't get an
ID.

EiBi IDs this frequency at this time as "GAB African Music", which isn't
much help. Anyone have any ideas?

----


Icom R75
Yaesu FRG 7700
Drake SW4A

On Feb 21, 9:37 am, saki wrote:
I just put up a nice new inverted L and am hearing all sorts of new things,
but I wonder if one of you can help me with this.

Listening with an Icom R75, Los Angeles area, picked up a fluttery signal
on 17660 at about 1445Z, woman announcer in slow French (didn't sound like
a native speaker) with music that slowly faded by 1455Z, couldn't get an
ID.

EiBi IDs this frequency at this time as "GAB African Music", which isn't
much help. Anyone have any ideas?

----


Icom R75
Yaesu FRG 7700
Drake SW4A

This would be the African nation of Gabon, quite possibly in French.
However, Gabon also shows up (as Afrique No. 1) at the same time, in
French, on 17630 kHz. It ruotionely puts in a moderate to strong
signal here in California. Could one of these be what you were
hearing? Does AN1 broadcast on two nearly adjacent freqs at the same
time?

Bruce Jensen

bpnjensen wrote:

On Feb 21, 9:37 am, saki wrote:
I just put up a nice new inverted L and am hearing all sorts of new things,
but I wonder if one of you can help me with this.

Listening with an Icom R75, Los Angeles area, picked up a fluttery signal
on 17660 at about 1445Z, woman announcer in slow French (didn't sound like
a native speaker) with music that slowly faded by 1455Z, couldn't get an
ID.

EiBi IDs this frequency at this time as "GAB African Music", which isn't
much help. Anyone have any ideas?

----


Icom R75
Yaesu FRG 7700
Drake SW4A

This would be the African nation of Gabon, quite possibly in French.
However, Gabon also shows up (as Afrique No. 1) at the same time, in
French, on 17630 kHz. It ruotionely puts in a moderate to strong
signal here in California. Could one of these be what you were
hearing? Does AN1 broadcast on two nearly adjacent freqs at the same
time?

I think 17760 is some kind of jammer, out of Gabon of course.

dxAce
Michigan
USA

"bpnjensen" wrote in
ups.com:

On Feb 21, 9:37 am, saki wrote:
I just put up a nice new inverted L and am hearing all sorts of new
things, but I wonder if one of you can help me with this.

Listening with an Icom R75, Los Angeles area, picked up a fluttery
signal on 17660 at about 1445Z, woman announcer in slow French
(didn't sound like a native speaker) with music that slowly faded by
1455Z, couldn't get an ID.

EiBi IDs this frequency at this time as "GAB African Music", which
isn't much help. Anyone have any ideas?

----


Icom R75
Yaesu FRG 7700
Drake SW4A

This would be the African nation of Gabon, quite possibly in French.
However, Gabon also shows up (as Afrique No. 1) at the same time, in
French, on 17630 kHz. It ruotionely puts in a moderate to strong
signal here in California. Could one of these be what you were
hearing? Does AN1 broadcast on two nearly adjacent freqs at the same
time?

It was definitely on 17660; propagation was very poor but the French
announcing was intelligible until the signal faded. I don't recall
hearing a strong parallel signal on 17630 but I'll check again tomorrow
and see whether I can hear an ID.

Thanks for the response.

----

dxAce wrote in
:

I think 17760 is some kind of jammer, out of Gabon of course.

Thanks! I'll follow up and see whether I can pin this one down.

----

On Feb 21, 12:35 pm, dxAce wrote:
bpnjensen wrote:
On Feb 21, 9:37 am, saki wrote:
I just put up a nice new inverted L and am hearing all sorts of new things,
but I wonder if one of you can help me with this.

Listening with an Icom R75, Los Angeles area, picked up a fluttery signal
on 17660 at about 1445Z, woman announcer in slow French (didn't sound like
a native speaker) with music that slowly faded by 1455Z, couldn't get an
ID.

EiBi IDs this frequency at this time as "GAB African Music", which isn't
much help. Anyone have any ideas?

----


Icom R75
Yaesu FRG 7700
Drake SW4A

This would be the African nation of Gabon, quite possibly in French.
However, Gabon also shows up (as Afrique No. 1) at the same time, in
French, on 17630 kHz. It ruotionely puts in a moderate to strong
signal here in California. Could one of these be what you were
hearing? Does AN1 broadcast on two nearly adjacent freqs at the same
time?

I think 17760 is some kind of jammer, out of Gabon of course.

dxAce
Michigan
USA- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I think you may be right. Here is something from Tony Snow at BDXC:

THE MOYABI STORY
Compiled by Tony Rogers - for British DX Club journal Communication
(Excerpt

February 2006: The Libyan opposition Sawt al-Amal (Voice of Hope) can
now be heard at 1200-1400 in the range 17660 to 17780 kHz (Observer
reports it is from Moldova with 250 kW). Sawt al-Amal is now
accompanied by three or more other signals in the same frequency
range, presumably being used as jammers: One, which identifies as
Libyan Radio (ID "idhaat al jamaheriya til ozma") carries a lot of
Arabic music; this signs on just before 1200 with transmitter tones
similar to those used by transmitters in the CIS.

*A second station, usually heard from 1215-1530 UTC on or around
17670-80 kHz, carries continuous West African and French music.
Observations indicate that this may be coming from one of Africa No
1's high-power transmitters at Moyabi, Gabon. There are also bubble-
jammers and other forms of interference, such as continuous carriers
or non-stop Arabic music. Check 17660 to 17680 kHz from 1200-1500
UTC.*

Sawt al-Amal previously broadcast via satellite with a UK licence. It
is probably linked to the former CIA-backed station Voice of the
Libyan People which broadcast during the 1980s.

The behaviour of one shortwave transmitter at Moyabi in February 2006:
0700-1030 Africa No 1 on 17630
1030-1100 Radio Japan in Italian/Swedish on 21820
1100-1130 Africa No 1 on 17630
1130-1530 Franco-African type music on 17670/75/80
1530-1600 Africa No 1 on 17630
1600-1900 Africa No 1 on 15475

*Africa No 1's absence from 17630 at any time between 1130 and 1530
seems to be accounted for by the appearance of the non-stop Franco-
African type music shadowing the Libyan opposition station Sawt al-
Amal on 17670/75/80 until it signs off at 1400, with the music then
remaining on air until 1530 when the transmitter switches back to
17630 with Africa No 1 programming. (TR, BDXC e-mail news 19
February); a second transmitter originating from Moyabi was seemingly
added for the music service, leaving Africa No 1's service on 17630
kHz uninterrupted.*

For the latest schedule from Moyabi, please refer to the Africa on
Shortwave document on the BDXC web site - www.bdxc.org.uk - Articles
Index.

The Moyabi Story - compiled by Tony Rogers - August 2006. (comments/
corrections to ) © British DX Club 2006. This article
may only reproduced with full credit to the author and British DX Club
- www.bdxc.org.uk

"bpnjensen" wrote in
ups.com:

I think you may be right. Here is something from Tony Snow at BDXC:

THE MOYABI STORY
Compiled by Tony Rogers - for British DX Club journal Communication
(Excerpt....

Thanks for the article, very informative.

----

On Feb 21, 12:40 pm, saki wrote:
"bpnjensen" wrote roups.com:

On Feb 21, 9:37 am, saki wrote:
I just put up a nice new inverted L and am hearing all sorts of new
things, but I wonder if one of you can help me with this.

Listening with an Icom R75, Los Angeles area, picked up a fluttery
signal on 17660 at about 1445Z, woman announcer in slow French
(didn't sound like a native speaker) with music that slowly faded by
1455Z, couldn't get an ID.

EiBi IDs this frequency at this time as "GAB African Music", which
isn't much help. Anyone have any ideas?

----


Icom R75
Yaesu FRG 7700
Drake SW4A

This would be the African nation of Gabon, quite possibly in French.
However, Gabon also shows up (as Afrique No. 1) at the same time, in
French, on 17630 kHz. It ruotionely puts in a moderate to strong
signal here in California. Could one of these be what you were
hearing? Does AN1 broadcast on two nearly adjacent freqs at the same
time?

It was definitely on 17660; propagation was very poor but the French
announcing was intelligible until the signal faded. I don't recall
hearing a strong parallel signal on 17630 but I'll check again tomorrow
and see whether I can hear an ID.

Thanks for the response.

----
- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Here is some additional Feb 2007 detail from BDXC website, further
supporting DxAce's assertion. It strikes me as odd that the frequency
used would be so close to that used simultaneously by the major
broadcaster in Gabon, possibly even the same wavelength. I assume
that, in the event the opposition station were to be operating on a
very close channel to AN1, this 17660 jammer would probably desist -
or maybe this close juxtaposition never happens.

AFRICA NO. 1
Africa No 1 is a commercial service for French-speaking Africa
operating from studios in Libreville. Web: www.africa1.com Email:

Transmitter Site: Moyabi-Moanda - 500 kW (HFCC registrations state 250
kW).
Times/UTC Days Language Target Frequencies/kHz
0500-0700 Daily French Africa 9580
0700-1030 Daily French Africa 9580 17630
1030-1100 Daily French Africa 9580
1100-1600 Daily French Africa 9580 17630
1600-1900 Daily French Africa 9580 15475
1900-2300 Daily French Africa 9580
Note: the transmitter on 17630 kHz switches to 21820 kHz between
1030-1100 for the Radio Japan relay in Italian and Swedish. Between
1130-1530, the transmitter on 17630 kHz may be switched for use by the
"African Music Station" (see below). Africa No 1 also reported on
19160 kHz, the second harmonic of 9580 kHz.

AFRICAN MUSIC STATION
Transmitter Site: believed to be Moyabi, Gabon.
Times/UTC Days Format Target Frequencies/kHz
1130-1530 Daily Franco-African music North Africa (presumed)
17620-17695
Note: Frequency can be anywhere in the range 17620-17695. The purpose
of this non-stop African music service is as source of interference or
distraction against the Libyan opposition station Sawt al-Amal.