YHWH

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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.

Contents

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



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