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Pictures of Clandestine Radio Stations for
AZE can be found at the CRW Clandestine Radio QSL Card
Gallery pic-cla.html#Azerbaijan
Up-to-date Clandestine Radio Information for AZE can be found at the pages of ClandestineRadio.com under www.clandestineradio.com/intel/azerbaijan.htm |
BC-DX QSL-Information for Clandestine Radio Stations broadcasting
to Azerbaijan
Azerbaidjan Previous Page : To Asia Next Page : To Belarus
Vo Justice Index Azerbaidjan Index Clandestine
| - | 9677 The Voice of Justice from the Republic of Mountainous Karabagh (country name as written on the envelope) replied to my reception report by a personal, partly detailed letter in 4 months. The original reply was written in what seems to be Armenian and has been translated on a separate sheet of paper into German on its way to my P.O. Box. My report of last September was sent to a self-fabricated address and obviously reached the station, now giving its correct address as : Independent Radiostation Voice of Justice, Tigran Meds-Str. 23 A, Stepanakert, Republic of Mountainous Karabagh. When I sent my report, I added ----via Armenia--, which might be better than just writing their self-declared country name on the envelope. v/s Mr. Lewon Hajrapetjan (spelling as given in the translated letter; BBCM once gave his name as Mr. Levon Ayrapetyan), station director, in his friendly letter told me some details about his station : The Voice of Justice is an independent radio station, which started broadcasting on August 12, 1997, in the capital of the Republic of Mountainous Karabagh. According to the letter, it is financed by some local businessmen, trying to calm down the conflict with Azerbaijan and working towards a peace agreement. Their possibilities of running the station are limited at the time, but they hope to increase their activities in the future. They are transmitting on 9677 kHz / kcs on Tuesdays and Fridays at 1900-1930h local time (=-1500-1530- UTC), Wednesdays and Fridays at 1000-1030h local time (=-0600-0630- UTC). When I heard them here in Germany several times during September 1997, they always had heavy modulation problems. | H.Kuhl-D | Cumbre DX 174 | Jan 98 |
| - | He said the broadcast is shortwave 31 or 9677 megahertz. The wavelength lingo is a little foreign to me, but maybe you can sort it out. This is the first and only short wave radio from NK. It was started August 12, 1997 and is a non-profit org. After that introduction, Michael began to tell with passion his real reason for doing this broadcast. The name of the program, "Voice of Justice" was chosen to emphasize that the conflict will be solved when justice for all people is found. His goal is to improve Azeri/Armenian relations, bypassing the government level and going right to the people. "He doesn't focus on political topics but on trust, love and respect. He wants desperately to repair the relations by talking about the opinions of the people. I believe his broadcast would be very interesting to listen to. Well, I hope you have as much thrill of reading this as I did in finding Michael and talking with him. I will not go to NK regularly, but when I do, I will go back to see him. If there is anything more that you would like to say to him or more questions to ask, just jot them on e-mail and I will keep them in my NK pile." It turns out that the main impediment to the verification I was seeking was simply a language barrier: the station manager spoke only German, Azerbaijan, Armenian, and Russian--he did not speak or read English. When the chief of mission found this out, he advised me that I should try and convert the letter/card that I had sent into Russian, and he thought that I would have "a much better chance in getting what I wanted." Again the Internet came to my rescue. Using some of the translation services that I found on the Internet, I indeed did have the reception report translated by a professional Russian translator, along with my prepared verification card ([..]). Over the Christmas holidays, I used my time off to resend the package, with a new tape, to the chief of mission, now including a Russian language reception report and prepared card. The nice cut-and-paste features of Microsoft Word came into play, for I was able to take the information provided by the translator in Russian and put it into my letter. | D.Henderson-MD-USA | Numero Uno 1589 | Jul 00 |
| - | In 1997, well known German DXer Harald Kuhl reported the reception of a station known as Radio Voice of Justice located deep in Central Asia in the remote area known as Nagorno-Karabakh, an autonomous section of the Caucasus between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The station, located in Stepanakert, operates sporadically on 9677 kHz, and broadcasts for one hour on Wednesdays, addressing the key areas of news important to both the Armenian and Azeri population of Nagorno-Karabakh. Shortly after hearing the station, Harald reported the receipt of a German-language QSL letter from the station’s manager, the first known QSL from this exotic station. The station’s transmission is marked by severe overmodulation, which is an easy marker for the station even before the listener can hear the station’s identification in either Azeri or Armenian. I became interested in this station in preparation for a week of DXing during a trip to southern Turkey in May 1998. I have reported on this trip previously in NU, and indicated then that one of the highlights of the trip was to clearly hear and record Radio Voice of Justice. Its signal strength was excellent (S9+30dB), and although it was heard with strong signals, the characteristic overmodulation of the carrier was present and did hinder the copying of details. I taped its Wednesday broadcast at 0500 UTC and then decided to send in a reception report to the manager, using the address provided by Harald Kuhl. One of the key hints to successfully obtaining a verification from a station in this area of the world is to make the report interesting to the reader, and to convince the reader that he will be aiding his own cause by providing that hard-to-get verification card or letter. As the history of DXers receiving verifications from other shortwave stations in this area has proven (R. Abkhazia, for example), sometimes getting the letter into the correct hands can tax even the most innovative DXer. | D.Henderson-MD-USA | Numero Uno 1589 | Jul 00 |
| - | In any event, I dutifully composed a reception report in English (everyone speaks English in this area, right?) and posted the letter. Of course, nothing was received. After six months, a follow-up report with prepared QSL card was sent, and again, nothing was received. One of the characteristics of a successful DXer is to "never give up" and to use "innovative" methods in addressing shortwave stations that show a reluctance to verify. I have had experiences with stations in Indonesia, Columbia and Angola that required "innovative" methods. I will never forget the use of the Burmese and Yemeni embassies in the early 70s to obtain those "hard-to-get" verifications. The DXer must find that "niche" which will get his point across and yield a verification. Now, with the ongoing, rapid expansion of the Internet, E-mail and websites, the DXer now has a very powerful tool. After doing a search on the Internet on Nagorno-Karabakh, I discovered a possible "insider" track to the area--a United Methodist mission based in Armenia with ties to Nagorno-Karabakh. After corresponding with the head of the mission, I discovered that personnel from the mission traveled regularly from Yerevan in Armenia to Stepakanert on business. Applying that age old philosophy of "if you never ask, you never receive," my first approach was to ask if it would be too forward to request their personnel to carry a letter for me to Nagorno-Karabakh and post it to the station from Stepakanert. The response was "sure, send it on to the mission in Yerevan and the letter would be mailed to the station from Nagorno-Karabakh on the staff's next visit." I packaged up the letter, a tape of the reception from southern Turkey, and sent the package off to Yerevan. In a week or so I received an E-mail indicating that the package had arrived and the staff would carry it with them to Stepanakhert in two weeks. In three weeks, I received a very long E-mail detailing the staff member's visit to Nagorno-Karabakh. | D.Henderson-MD-USA | Numero Uno 1589 | Jul 00 |
| - | The letter was posted in Stepanakhert, and we waited hopefully for the QSL. After four months, and hearing nothing from the station, I E-mailed the chief of mission again, informing him of the status (or lack thereof). It just so happened that he was planning a visit to Stepanakhert himself in six weeks, and he indicated that he would personally find the station and talk to the manager. I guess I could not believe my good fortune to find someone who would go out of his way to assist a DXer in his eternal quest! I thanked him, and he indicated that he had an ulterior motive: the mission wanted to inquire about the station and how it might have influence in the ongoing peace initiative that was ongoing between Armenia and Azerbaijan at the time. Indeed, he did follow up on his promise, and the following was received from him following his visit: "We did go to the state radio station and met the voice of the Voice of Justice, a Mr. Michael Hajiyan (ha-ja-e-an). He appears to be about 60 with a round face and balding head. He speaks Armenian, Russian and Azerbaijani (some call it Turkic). He was formerly a journalist who got interested during the war in the plight of the people (Armenians) and when I began to mention the name of Dan Henderson he said "Maryland" and I knew that he had your letter. In fact I think he said that he had gotten another letter from you. I verified the address (Voice of Justice, Tigranmetz Street 23a, Stepanakert, Nagorno Karabagh [zip unknown]). In any case, he received the tape and cash. He hasn't written because he would have to find someone to translate into English (which incidentally is not all that hard to find, so he didn't put any effort into it). Former Soviets are not very good communicators. Michael did say that he receives letters from many listeners and wants to eventually broadcast in French and English. There is absolutely no e-mail in that office. "The station now broadcasts four times a week: Tuesday from 18:00-18:30, Wednesday from 10:00-10:30, Friday/same as Tuesday and Saturday/same as Wednesday (all local time which is currently 9 hours ahead of East Coast time). | D.Henderson-MD-USA | Numero Uno 1589 | Jul 00 |
| - | This left in early January 2000, and was received in Armenia a short time later. I didn’t hear anything from the UMCOR mission chief for several months, until July 15, 2000 when I got the following E-mail message: "Hope all is well with you. I have some good news. One of our staff was recently in NK, and took your material to the station. I now have a signed and stamped card for you and a letter from the station manager. We will be coming to the States in another week and I will drop the material into a mailbox for you. You should have it soon. This is an interesting process for me to follow, although perhaps not as interesting as for you. Your contact with the station manager has apparently been a very positive event for him. He is trying to make a difference in the peace process but having little success. The two Presidents are now talking, so maybe there will be some progress." Well, I was floored--it was finally going to happen! And on July 26 I received the letter, a photograph, a stamped prepared card, and a handwritten letter from the station manager, who took my involvement with his station as a positive sign of people wanting peace in the region, and got him interested in supporting the peace process even further! I can honestly say that I did not set out to assist the peace process--just a selfish DXer wanting the elusive QSL from a station that simply doesn't answer reception reports! I want to give full credit to Mr. Terry Wollen, Chief of UMCOR Mission in Armenia, for his tenacity in seeing this project through. Without his assistance, it just would not have happened. I'm sure that many NUers have similar stories that can be told about some elusive QSLs. I have read some, but for me, getting the card from Radio Voice of Justice from the tiny protectorate of Nagorno-Karabakh ranks toward the top of my favorite QSLs, and it is by far the top story involving others assisting me in receiving a QSL. It comes close to the story of the QSL that I received from RKPDK Jember in Indonesia in 1973, but that is another story! | D.Henderson-MD-USA | Numero Uno 1589 | Jul 00 |
Vo Southern Azerbaijan
Index Azerbaidjan Index Clandestine
| - | Voice of Southern Azerbaijan : VOSA LTD, Postfach 108, A-1193 Vienna, Austria, v/s not mentioned, QSL-letter after complaint about causing interference to the amateur service in 5 weeks. -Dear Mr. Alleyne (5Z4NU), We confirm receiving your letter of 24 / 3/98. We apologize for transmitting in a frequency which caused interference to the amateur service in your region. For your information we have stopped our transmission on that frequency (7095 kHz). Thank you for reporting. (DARC Band Watch, via via BCDX 367) | U.Bihlmayer-D | CRW 006 | Jun 98 |
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