Correa corrals the vote

Ecuador goes into a referendum this weekend. Voters are being asked to vote on a list of no less than 10 questions ranging widely from restraints on media ownership and reforming the judiciary to limits on bullfighting and cockfighting and bans on casinos and gambling. Gimme a break! The exercise is more just a popularity test for President Rafael Correa because most people don't really understand what the referendum is all about. Correa has made a successful recovery following last year's police uprising and continues with a programme of spending on schools, hospitals and roads. The strong oil price has provided cash flow for this poor and divided country which defaulted on its sovereign debt in 2008. Only nine years earlier it became the first country to default on Brady bonds (the debt structure created after the Latin American debt crises in the 1980s). The QSL is from Teleradio in Guayaquil, heard on 1350 AM one morning in central London using a Wellbrook 1530 antenna in the garden. It came through crystal clear for a few minutes, enough to get an ID and some programme details. I heard Ondas de la Montana in Medellin, Colombia on the same morning but try as I might never received a QSL.

Branding the Royals

As the confetti settles after the Royal Wedding, the paparazzi wonder where the happy couple will be heading to enjoy their honeymoon. It seems that William will actually first be returning to base to resume his helicopter pilot duties before taking his bride off to some secret resort. We are told that William 'loves Africa' and has enjoyed his trips 'to Africa' over the years. We Africans always wonder what this actually means. After all this is like saying, William 'loves the World'; or 'loves Asia' etc. There are stacks of countries in Africa and they are by no means the same. The continent stretches as far north of the equator as south and has multiple nationalities, tribes, languages, geographies, stages of economic development, political systems, cultures and.... I could go on. Anyway, the Wedding was a brilliant coup for the British royal brand. Up to 2 billion people watched world wide. You don't get better marketing than this and the payback for the UK economy will way exceed the cost. However, one thing that struck me was how poor William's responses were when taking his vows. He has this rather clipped accent. This was evident especially when he was required to say 'I will.' You could barely hear him - his volume was low and he elided the two words. This was a big moment - it's the time you say 'I WILL' clearly and with the best King's English diction. The QSL is from LBC, London, heard on 1152 kHz AM from Johannesburg in 2006.

Makassar, Sulawesi to Macassar, Cape

It's autumn and the sea-swells are building as the north-westers start to come in. Yesterday had the biggest waves at Muizenberg I've seen this year. The wind brought the rain too and the sea was a glassy silver-grey. I got right out to the back and waited for the big sets. Being early it wasn't too crowded. When I arrived at the beach I signalled my wife in our house in Simonstown across the bay (6 miles). She checked though our new telescope to see if I was visible and there I was! So cool. The previous evening I heard Radio Republik Indonesia, Makassar, on the island of Sulawesi on 4750 kHz. The signal was coming in beautifully just before my local sunset, playing gentle pop songs. The station signed off at 1600z, or midnight in Makassar. Meanwhile from our house I could see the beach of Macassar across False Bay, not far from where I surf. It is so named because of the nearby Kramat or holy grave of Sheik Yusuf, an exiled nobleman of Makassar in the former Dutch East Indies who died at the Cape in 1699. The QSL is from another station on Sulawesi, RRI Manado, heard on a DXpedition to Morgan Bay, South Africa in 1990. You'll need to get your Bahasa Indonesia dictionary out to understand it. This is one of a number of RRI stations I've been so pleased to QSL over the years. Also, here is a link to an article I wrote recently about Indonesia's economy: http://www.businessday.co.za/Articles/Content.aspx?id=136432

Poland still smouldering about Smolensk

Last week Poland marked the anniversary of the Smolensk air disaster when 96 people including President Lech Kaczynski perished. The disaster produced a brief period of political unity in Poland but this has disintegrated into acrimony, with Kaczynski's brother accusing the opposition-led government of Donald Tusk of capitulation to the Russians concerning the cause of the crash. The Russians say the the Polish aircrew must take all the blame, accepting no responsibility on its side for air traffic control problems at the airport. Poland's model economy has also had a bit of a shock when it was revealed the imports of mainly second-hand cars from Germany have been hugely under-recorded meaning that its current account deficit is far larger than reported. The QSL is from Warsaw 1 on long-wave, heard in London in 2004. ;- ptgt@ ' '

Governor Moonbeam can't do The Terminator

Like a number of American states California has a big budget deficit, a record $26bn at last count. Riding to the rescue from over the hill or so voters thought came Governor Moonbeam, Jerry Brown, who last governed the Sunshine State 28 years ago. It turns out it could be a mission too far and he may in fact be over the hill but not able to ride to the rescue. In the meantime, predecessor Arnold Schwarzenegger is on a jolly European tour. Jerry Brown was a product of the 1970s. He dated rocker Linda Rondstadt and once suggested that California launch its own satellite. It was a time when Mike Royko called the state the world's largest outdoor mental asylum. The credit crunch has dealt harshly with California and Brown's attempts to move the state forward on a new budget plan have failed in the face of Republican opposition, unlike New York and Illinois. Brown seems more intent on saving the state's bloated bureaucracy than its education system. Worst case if no agreement is forthcoming will be a reversion to the 2009 situation where California humiliatingly had to issue IOUs in the place of cash in order to pay its bills. The picture is from a QSL from KNX Newsradio Los Angeles, CA on 1070 kHz, heard in 1987.

Morales no longer mas populares

Bolivia's Evo Morales was re-elected in 2009 with a majority of over 60%. His policy of directing increased oil and gas industry taxes to the poor has gained him great popularity. But populism can only work for a while and some of the screws are now coming loose. A few months back he removed subsidies on local fuel products causing prices to rise by over 70%. This didn't go down very well and he backed off. But price rises in food and bus fares have also caused discontent. The country is now running into a budget deficit and inflation is picking up. Price controls and curbs on farm imports have backfired and state control of the energy industry has deterred investment by local and foreign companies. Morales is a man of the people and to this day remains general secretary of a union of coca farmers. His stance on coca farming has brought him into conflict with the US which has tried to eliminate the crop in Bolivia. He has a point - you can't blame Bolivian farmers for the US's drug problems. But as president, Morales, having emerged as a populist, is also at the mercy of the people and has a tricky path to walk, with his popularity ratings in the cities down to just 32%. The QSL is my first from Bolivia - Radio Nueva America in La Paz. At the time (1987) my mother was visiting La Paz on holiday and I asked her to deliver my reception report by hand. It worked!

Blog takes a break, earth gets broken

You go away for a few weeks and look what happens. Libya explodes and Japan is devastated. All I did was travel around a few quiet places in Europe, seeing clients while in the meantime hell breaks loose. Try coming up with an investment strategy when the oil price goes ballistic and a tidal wave sets off a potential nuclear meltdown. It was good to get back to sunny Cape Town: late summer, with a return of the north-westerly wind. I went out early yesterday morning into perfect conditions. The full 'perigee' moon had tracked across the southern sky closer and bigger than for 18 years and not to be so close again for another 18. The tide was huge. Out back a number of paddle boarders had grouped in my favourite spot. On one wave one of these guys was up before me and tracked left instead of right (which was the way the wave was set to break). I stayed up and let him roll under my nose, checking slightly. Then with a quick pull on the paddle I picked up momentum again and turned out to the right, keeping the swell alive. I was so chuffed! The picture is of Ono-no Komachi, a famous Japanese poet of the 9th century. She is a symbol of feminine beauty in Japan. It came with a QSL from JOUB Akita heard on 774 kHz when I was on a trip to Seoul. Akita is situated on the north-west side of Honshu Island, 200km from Sendai. It experienced aftershocks of more than 6 on the Richter scale.