Radio Rwanda: 2007

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Dan Robinson, who shares the following recording and notes on Radio Rwanda

For decades, shortwave listeners were able to hear Rwanda, located in central/southern Africa via the Deutsche Welle relay site at Kigali, the capital. This article by Deutsche Welle itself told the long history of the station which went on the air in 1965 and off the air some 50 years later. SWLing Post also had this article on the closure. Here’s an excellent Wavescan piece. For those decades on the air, listeners the world over were able to hear DW, which provided a special QSL showing the Kigali site — it’s a card that is cherished in many a collection to this day. But in addition to the powerful DW voice from Kigali, Radio Rwanda was always a separate but equally sought after DX catch. The station broadcast on 6,055 khz and started at 10 kw, going up to 50 kw. Rwanda was also heard on the 90 meter frequency of 3,330 khz which was extremely difficult to hear given the interference from CHU, the Canadian time signal station, and other Latin American and African stations in that same frequency range. The QSL pictured above was for my reception of Radio Rwanda on 3,330 khz heard in Pennsylvania. At one point, I was vacationing in Boca Raton, Florida — using a Panasonic RF-B65 portable receiver on the beach just before 2000 UTC I was amazed to hear the following beautiful clear signal from Radio Rwanda on 6,055 khz.