YHWH
From HFUnderground
YHWH is a Californian pirate radio station that airs religious programming, active since October 2013. It has attracted considerable interest as a result of its unusual programming and strange choices of frequency, which at first were often inside ham and broadcast bands. YHWH was busted in 2014 but returned soon after. After this he often found frequencies he likes and uses them almost daily for long periods of time. When active he broadcasts almost daily. As of March 2023 he currently uses 7475 and 11560 kHz in AM mode near daily. Since the bust he has continued to use the name Josiah Elias on air but has a Facebook page with his real name that has pictures of his station on it. He sometimes disappears from radio for months at a time only to suddenly return. He does not QSL.
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Frequencies
YHWH is widely known for his strange choice of frequencies. When he first appeared in October 2013 he often used frequencies in ham bands and broadcast bands. Since the bust in 2014 he has entirely avoided the ham bands buts still uses the broadcast bands. He usually used SSB when in or near ham bands and AM when in or near broadcast bands. He has only been heard on traditional pirate frequencies a few times. His choice to not use pirate frequencies is likely in the hope that regular broadcast listeners or hams may tune in (instead of pirate enthusiasts). After the bust he has been choosing certain frequencies and sticking to them for months at a time instead of jumping around. From May 2021 to present he has been using 7475 kHz AM almost nightly, and 11560 kHz is now also being used again. As an example of his previous frequency usage, below is an old chart of YHWH frequency observations from 2014.
FREQ TIME (UTC) DATE DAY 6925 0145 5/18/13 SAT 6950 0115 7/27/13 SAT 3845 0415 8/18/13 SUN 5990 *0220 9/7/13 SAT 6010 <0440-0502* 9/11/13 WED 6010 <0120-0204* 9/15/13 SUN 9775 0133* 9/28/13 SAT 9775 2330 10/7/13 MON 9775 *0105-0145+ 10/8/13 TUE 3235 0139 10/14/13 MON 3235 0255 10/18/13 FRI 3235 0247* 10/21/13 MON 3235 <-0240-0336+ 10/24/13 THU 6075 0100 11/23/13 FRI 6150 0100 11/25/13 SUN 5820 <0256 2/10/14 MON 5785 <0235 2/24/14 MON 14350 <2345-0005* 2/25/14 TUE 5730 <0302-0349* 2/25/14 TUE 5730 <0239-0335* 2/26/14 WED 5770 NOT KNOWN 3/1/14 SAT 6995 <0033-0048* 3/2/14 SUN 7125 <0316-0332* 3/3/14 MON 5770 <0121-0140* 3/5/14 WED 5770 *0210-0316* 3/5/14 WED 11130 <2315-0020* 3/9-10/14 SUN-MON 5785 *0222-0325* 3/10/14 MON started on 5758 0220-0222* 7125 0142-0245* 3/14/14 FRI 7180 ?-0108* 3/17/14 MON 7180 *0202-0308* 3/17/14 MON 5865 <0224-0319* 3/18/14 TUE 7175L <0200-0205* 3/20/14 THU 5870 <0223-0310* 3/20/14 THU 5800 0345 3/22/14 SAT 21440 1738 3/23/14 SUN 21450U 1923-2016* 3/23/14 SUN 5870 *0245-0341* 3/24/14 MON 5870 *0341-0441* 3/24/14 MON 21450L <1830-1923* 3/29/14 SAT 21450L <2016-2119* 3/29/14 SAT 21453U <2155-2235* 3/30/14 SUN 5800 <0350-0406z 4/3/13 THU 7205L <0250-0300* 4/4/14 FRI 14350U <0148-0206* 4/17/14 THU 17490 *1516-1621* 4/18/14 FRI 17490 <1811-1829* 4/18/14 FRI 29130U *2357 4/19/14 SAT 9730 <0218-0308* 4/21/14 MON 5865 *0231-0334* 4/22/14 TUE 11800 <0113 4/23/14 WED 14350 <0207-0241> 4/25/14 FRI 9775 <0104-0105* 4/26/14 SAT 9800 <0127-0141> 4/27/14 SUN 7182L 0415 4/27/14 SUN 7330 <0250-0315* 4/30/14 WED 7194L 0315 5/1/14 THU 14275 0345 5/4/14 SUN 7185L 0217-0234* 5/5/14 MON 11725 0113 5/7/14 WED 7300 *0302-0408* 5/7/14 WED 14350U -1805* 5/10/14 SAT 14350U <0040-0106* 5/19/14 MON 5830 <0115-0218* 5/22/14 THU 7330 <0230 5/22/14 THU 7330 <0354-0434* 5/22/14 THU 6890 *0253-0359* 6/1/14 SUN 9720 <0432-0434* 6/2/14 MON 7515v <0325-0404* 6/4/14 WED 12035 <1314-1329> 6/10/14 TUE 12040 <1351> 6/12/14 THU 7555 <0407-0431* 6/14/14 SAT 9600 <0413-0422* 6/17/14 TUE 9600 -0507* 6/19/14 THU 9610 <0545> 6/26/14 THU 9600 <0435-0511* 6/29/14 SUN 11640 <0445-0525* 7/4/14 FRI 15825 <0522-0537> 7/6/14 SUN 9600 <0542> 7/9/14 WED 11650 <0348> 7/10/14 THU 9600 <0410-0422* 7/12/14 SAT 9610 <1452> 7/14/14 MON 9600 <0330-0431*> 7/16/14 WED 9600 <0355-0435* 7/18/14 FRI 11590 1715-1828 7/19/14 SAT 15655 2303-2337 7/19/14 SAT 9600 0331-0419 7/20/14 SUN 15655 1603-1719* 7/20/14 SUN
Programming
YHWH airs a highly unusual religious format. In the stations early days he had many different programs (he supposedly had 14-15 different CDs) but for years he had only been airing a program titled "Christianity: The Greatest Hoax Ever". Since he returned from a four month absence in March 2023 he has been airing new programming mixed with old ones. After Days of Hard Life by Lace is played he often talks live for a sign off. Josiah believes mostly in Judaism, but not quite the form that most followers of that religion believe. He claims to have been a Christian for 40 years and also claims 40 years of exhaustive research went into his program. His exact religion is not organized and may not be followed by anyone but himself.
Days of Hard Life by Lace
Days of Hard Life by Lace is the song played as a sign off during almost every YHWH broadcast. It has attracted a lot of interest due to its highly unusual style, often described as "creepy" or alike. It has been used since the earliest YHWH broadcasts. It is not available officially anywhere and little is known about Lace. It is often claimed the singer in the song is Josiah's ex wife. Lace is said to perform in local bars. A high quality copy is available in the "Links" section of this page.
Location
Josiah claims on air a "remote location in the desert". The NOUO from the FCC and his Facebook page both list his specific location. YHWH likely moves location as Josiah drives around California in his bus. He broadcasts from a converted old bus which is both a radio station and his house. In November 2014 Josiah confirmed in an on-air QSO with Dr. Benway of Undercover Radio that he is living off grid with no internet access. As of 2023 he has a phone number, Facebook page, email address, and postal address so he must have some sort of internet access now.
Bust
On December 17 and 18, 2014 YHWH was monitored by the FCC on the frequencies of 6280 kHz and 11595 kHz in response to a complaint. The complaint is believed to have been from the Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake in Ridgecrest, California. A Notice of Unlicensed Operation was sent to YHWH on December 31, 2014. This resulted in YHWH going silent for a while but later returning, although more careful with frequency choices and operating less often. While he still uses broadcast band frequencies since the bust he has completely avoided the ham bands.
WBCQ
After the bust, YHWH ran one or two broadcasts over WBCQ on 7490 kHz, given to him for free by Allan Weiner. He only did these one or two broadcasts on WBCQ before returning to broadcasting from his bus. One such broadcast was on October 13, 2016 at 0100 UTC. Some people made high quality recordings of Days of Hard Life by Lace from the WBCQ web stream, which now circulate on the internet.
Transmitting Equipment
The transmitter used is a regular ham transceiver modified for out-of-band operation. He has given different power levels at different times but some include 200, 275, and 375 watts. He has an Ameritron ALS-500 amplifier, which is capable of 500 watts pep but could not do continuous operation at that power. Power source is switchable between a generator and a battery. Josiah claims his homemade antenna is "a chain-link fence pipe which is suspended in the air from wire". In pictures it appears to be a simple vertical antenna. Given the wide range of frequencies used and the difficulty of making an antenna that would work well on all of them it is likely a fairly inefficient design. This is supported by the fact that his signal is poorly heard in the eastern part of North America (although it can be quite strong in the west). Josiah is also active on the Citizens Band (CB) and equipment can be seen in pictures of his bus and truck.
Contact Information
YHWH is known for being difficult to contact. His email address and phone number were only found in January 2023. Nobody is known to have successfully reached him by email but one listener has contacted him through text messaging. It is unknown if anyone has received a reply by postal mail (which he had been giving an address for on the air for years but no longer does).
Mail:
Josiah Elias c/o PO Box 134 Olancha, CA 93549
Email:
stationyhwh@gmail.com
Links
- Days of Hard Life by Lace
- YHWH - 1/25 update-HFU Forum
- Unlicensed Religious Broadcaster Who Used Amateur Frequencies Ordered Off the Air-ARRL
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