Estacion
4940 Location
Estacion 4940 is in SW Venezuela near the Colombian
border: Apure State, Munoz Municipality,
Rincon Hondo
Parish G.C. 7.20 North, 69.00 West.
Estacion
4940: The Beginning
Russell
Stendal Christian Missionary Activity in Colombia/Venezuela
Russell has been involved with Missionary work in Colombia and
Venezuela for years, educating the rural population
with free Bible distribution, single frequency portable radios
distributed free to the rural population as well as setting
up and supporting radio station transmitters for Christian Gospel broadcasting.
From
Russell's 2020 newsletter:
2020 Highlight in Broadcasting: "We were able to help
rebuild a burned down village where we made a beautiful
radio station. This gives us a total of four transmitters
operating on the Venezuela border along with several Christian
stations within Venezuela that we support."
The Estacion 4940 transmitter was likely obtained from surplus
readily available due to the reduction of
Shortwave Broadcasters in the Colombia/Venezuela as well as the
political environment in Venezuela.
Its indeed odd that Estacion 4940 can continue to operate in light of
the fact that virtually all
non-government / non-approved radio stations in Venezuela have been
closed down. Its possible
christian stations in rural areas are given a pass.
WRTH
The
following is a copy of the E-mail I sent to WRTH in 2023:
Greetings,
I have been listening to a station on 4940 khz in spanish
recently. I believe they
are transmitting from Venezuela. Your website shows their
location to be
the Rincon Hondo parish in Venezuela with a power of 1 kw.
Do you have any further information on this station.
Any help would be appreciated. I am a shortwave DX'er
from Florida, USA.
Thank-you
Bill McDavitt
SWL QSL Museum
The following is a copy of the E-mail reply from WRTH:
Russel Stendal & Co. provided initial location of station for WRTH,
but eventually stopped replying
to WRTH. Russel is a Christian Evangelist providing Columbia/Venezuela
citizens in rural areas infested
with violent militants paramilitary types (FARC etc) with Christian
radio broadcasts and bibles.
He has apparently set up various transmitters and programming to
support his cause.
Mr. Mauno Ritola
International Editor
World Radio TV Handbook
https://www.wrth.info
From
Rafael Rodriguez R., Bogota D.C., Colombia, WOR Sept 7, 2022
"Greetings from Colombia, Thanks to the activation of a KiwiSDR in the
town of Facatativa,
very close to Bogota; I can perform a radiolocation of the signal in
4940 kHz through the TDoA
function that these receivers have. I do it through the kiwis located
in Bonaire, Boavista and
Facatativa. I attach the image with the result. Although this is not
conclusive, it reaffirms my
theory that the signal originates in Venezuela according to the image
from Estado Apure.
E-Mail From
Rafael Rodriguez R., Bogota D.C., Colombia, January 2025
The signal at 4940 khz has been strong in recent days; The station
does not have live programming,
only recorded programs, it has a segment in the Piaroa language
that they broadcast +- between 2300 to 0000 UTC
and sometimes from 0000 to 0100 UTC, from time to time they
mention "estacionn 4940"; Previously they gave
YV time and the Venezuelan Anthem. It was nameless for a long time and
some dxers identified it as
Radio La Montaña; I personally never heard such an identification on
the air. An eQSL like Radio La Montaña
is circulating on the web but I consider it to be false: through
the email they advertise (estacion4940@gmail.com)
I also received an image of the transmitter and still without data
The Fake QSL Referenced Above
As far as
I am aware there have been no authentic Estacion 4940 QSLs issued,
although they do reply to reception reports as follows:
Screenshot of their
Email reply to my reception report
----------------------------------------------------
Email Translation:
Station 4940
From: Short Wave
Station
Attached Image: Their
transmitter
Text: Thanks for your
messages
Station 4940 Team
From Manuel Méndez: E-mail from the station with a photo of the transmitter:
E-mail Text in Spanish:
"Señor Manuel Perdon por no contestarle antes, tenemos muchos cortes de luz, a
vece solo pocas horas de luz du-rante el dia, internet igual. No sabemos que son informes
de re-cepción. la estacion fuera del aire por varios dias. bendiciones equipo estacion 4940"
Translation to English:
"Mr. Manuel Sorry for not answering you sooner, we have many power outages,
sometimes only a few hours of light during the day, internet the same. We do not
know that they are reception reports. the station was out the air for several days.
Blessings Estacion 4940 team."
2025 Apparent Broadcast Changes
Estacion 4940 signal is being heard well mornings 0800-1130
UTC here in SW Florida.
They seem to have extended their sign-off time to 1130 UTC from 2024 but it remains
irregular for 2025. They don't don't seem play the Venezuelan National Anthem
at sign-off as they did in 2024.
Its not unusual to hear them playing Willie Nelson and George Strait tunes.
Recording
made in September 2024
Listen to the brief Daily Proverb (by Female
Announcer) followed by the station ID (By Male Announcer)
Click here to listen to recording
Female Announcer:
Spanish: "Ser
valiente significa nunca permitir que el temor influya sobre tus
acciones"
English Translation: "Being brave means never allowing fear to
influence your action."
Male Announcer:
Spanish: "Nuestra señal
en banda de 60 metros. Estación 4940 llegando a toda Venezuela"
English Translation: "Our signal on the 60 meter band, Station 4940
reaching all of Venezuela"
