Mount Evelyn DX Report

11890   EGYPT. R. Cairo - Abu Zaabal. English service at 2118 with instrumental music, extended topical news at 2130. Audio was somewhat muffled and lacked clarity. Fair signal to start with but became progressively weaker as we headed towards 2200. Not often heard here at Mount Evelyn. Rob

9960  PALAU.   Khmer People Power Movement. S/on with ID at 1200 with Khmer language program aimed at Cambodia. A moment of western saxophone music before a transition into talks with occasional traditional musical interludes. Strong and clear signal throughout the broadcast. The latest WRTH incorrectly lists this as 9930 kHz. The KPPM team packs donated radios for shipment to the local villagers Local people receiving free radios to enable them to tune to 9960 kHz for the KPPM broadcasts

3325   INDONESIA.  Radio Republik Indonesia - Palangkaraya. Long talks and occasional music at 1225 after PNG signs off. Both stations were weak this evening. 4750  INDONESIA.  Radio Republik Indonesia - Makassar. Lovely strong signal tonight - "armchair copy" - easily beating the Chinese broadcaster on the same frequency. ID for RRI at 1123, echo announcements and then into Indonesian pop songs. 4870   INDONESIA. Radio Republik Indonesia - Wamena. Solid signal tonight at 1105; haven't heard them this strong in ages. Indonesian pop songs, jingles and many announcements. Unfortunately, I didn't copy any of the other listed Indonesian stations. I suspect that some of these are no longer operating on SW. What a pity! Rob VK3BVW Mount Evelyn

7200.09 LSB   MYANMAR. Myanmar Radio, Yangoon. Gentle instrumental music interspersed with softly spoken local language announcements and talks. First noted at 1040 with a weak but generally clear signal. Best heard here in lower sideband to minimise the impact of Russia's English service on 7205. Checked in at 1125 but found it gone! Some sources have this as s/off 1230 while others list 1300. Needs further monitoring for current sign off times. Rob VK3BVW

Some Asian Observations below: 11570   TAIWAN. Suab Xaa Moo Zoo - Taipei. S/on 1130 with ID in the Hmong language. Largely a vocal music program for this 30 minute service. Big signal and very pleasant "easy listening" music - Hmong-style! Finished the evening's transmission with The First Noel carol also in Hmong!! Off air at 1201. December 27. 11570   PAKISTAN.  R. Pakistan - Islamabad. Interval signal at 1158 over the last part of the "Moo Zoo" broadcast, but in the clear and quite strong by 1201 after ID in Mandarin. Long unaccompanied song by a male singer at 1204. The transmission was tainted by the usual modicum of distorted audio. After all, it wouldn't be Radio Pakistan if it didn't have some muddy sound now would it? 12085   MONGOLIA. Voice of Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar. Chinese service at 1020, concluding at 1025, then transmitter off. 1028 - Txer back on with instrumental music for a minute, then 1029 the station's interval...

Here is a short but interesting article on the Shiokaze (Sea-Breeze) Radio operation: http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T121225001253.htm They can be noted on 5955 kHz between 2000 and 2100, and also on 5985 kHz between 1330 and 1430 in various languages. Rob

21480 IRAN. VOIRI - Sirjan. The 30 min Hausa service noted here at 1135,  closing at 1200. 21595 UNITED ARAB EMIRATES. BBC - Dhabbaya. Just caught the end of the 30 min  Somali service at 1128, closing at 1130. These are the only stations currently using these frequencies and they do it for  30 min each per day. Also, I still don't get why VOIRI and REE have to fight it out for the last 30  min on 21610 every day at 1100-1130. There are acres of space for everyone to spread out up on that band at that time (...at ANY time!). Surely a better frequency selection can be easily achieved. I suspect that Iran is the culprit here! It would be interesting to see how reception  is in each of their target zones. Rob

9505  SUDAN.  Voice of Sudan, Omdurman (Al Aitahab). First noted at 0440 with a fair signal in Arabic. Programming of mainly local music including drums, strings, native instruments, and vocals, providing entertaining listening on a lazy Sunday afternoon while I pottered around in the radio shack! Often there were long pauses between the announcements and the next song. Occasional ID's including one in French! At 0531, the audio disappeared but the carrier was still present. Then at 0539, we were back with regular programming. Monitored to past 0630. Rob

Deutsche Welle - Kigali antennas Some stations noted in the 0400-0445 period on 9mHz include: 9470  RWANDA. DW - Kigali. English  9505  SUDAN. Voice of Sudan. Arabic with music  9520  KUWAIT. RFE/RL, Russian.  9535  SPAIN. REE - Noblejas, Spanish  9610  CHINA. CNR1 - Beijing. Korean  9620  CHINA. CNR 2 - Beijing. Mandarin. 9665  SOUTH AFRICA. RFI - Meyerton. Swahili 9740  IRAN. VOIRI - Kamalabad, Arabic. 9755  IRAN. VOIRI - Kamalabad. Hebrew 9790  CUBA. CRI - Habana. Cantonese. 9800  RWANDA. DW- Kigali. English. Rob

Another short 22mb band scan in the 0500 period. I've left out the numerous Chinese outlets - we know they're there! 13650  NORTH KOREA. VOK - Kujang. English service at 0537, and // 15100, but neither frequency was especially flash in the signal strength department! 13660  CYPRUS. BBC - Limassol. Arabic service at 0535. Poor level. 13720  UNITED ARAB EMIRATES. Sudan Radio Service Dafur - Dhabbaya. A fair signal noted at 0510 with Arabic talks and frequent groovy North African pop songs. Station address given at 0527. More grooviness at 0528 (with drums and traditional instruments) and then suddenly off at 05:29:30. 13765  MADAGASCAR. Vatican Radio - Talata. Portuguese service s/on 0530. Fair level. 13800  UNITED ARAB EMIRATES. R. Dabanga - Dhabbaya. Arabic talks at 0520. Weak signal 13840  MADAGASCAR. NHK - Talata. S/on 0530 for the French service. Fair level. Rob VK3BVW Mount Evelyn

5050  CHINA. Voice of Beibu Bay Radio, Nanning. Pop music and talk at 1020 in the Cantonese service, fair level and in the clear. This outlet is in parallel with 9820 kHz where the 15kW signal holds its own very nicely against the much more powerful 150kW CNR 2 via Xianyang - indeed Beibu Bay was stronger much of the time than CNR 2 on 9820!! Rob VK3BVW

5039.2  PERU. R. Libertad, Junin. News program at 1032, fair to poor, but quite readable. The station's website features a lovely YouTube video of the city of Junin. Check it out! Rob

11880   CUBA.  As I type this, Havana is now here at 2100 s/on in French at very good  strength. Unfortunately, today I can't hang around till 2130 to hear the  expected QRM from NHK Montsinery in their Portuguese service to Sth America.   :-) Rob

5940 GERMANY. R. Dardasha 7 (Bible Voice) via Nauen. with the 15 min  Arabic service 2000-2015. Packing a lot into the program with both  western and Arabic music, talks, anncts, snail and email addresses, and  ID's. Good healthy signal throughout the transmission. Rob VK3BVW

4750 CHINA. Voice of China, Hailar, Nei Menggu. Mandarin service at  1110 and // 4800 (which was a much stronger signal) and 11710 (which was  excellent copy). Other known outlets of 7215 and 9890 proved  unsuccessful. Interesting to note that there was no copy of RRI Makassar  which is regularly heard here mixed with China at this time. 4820 CHINA. Xizang PBS, Lhasa, Tibet. Good level with topical program,  many announcers and Chinese opera music at 1120. // 7240 (fair level)  and 5935 (heard but pretty well smothered under WWCR). Rob VK3BVW Mount Evelyn VIC

4747 PERU. R. Huanta 2000, Huanta. Weak signal at 1055 with bright chatter and  occasional jingles. Time pips and ID at 1100. Difficult copy due to thunderstorm  noise but improved somewhat as time went on. Rob VK3BVW

3912 SOUTH KOREA. Voice of the People, Goyang. Making it through the  ever-present jammers quite well here at 1030. // 4450 and 4557 also noted at a  similar level. Talks and occasional music interludes. 3915 PAPUA NEW GUINEA. R. Fly, Kiunga. Tok Pisin service with talks at 1040 but  struggled against the Korean jammers on 3912. 3925 JAPAN. R. Nikkei 1, Nemuro. Lovely signal at 1045 with interesting, folksy  sort of Japanese songs featuring a female singer and Koto accompaniment. 3945 VANUATU. R. Vanuatu, Emten Lagoon. English talk about Australia and  Vanuatu relationship at 1050. No sign of R. Nikkei 2 which was interesting  considering that Nikkei 1 was coming in so strongly just 20 kHz below! Rob VK3BVW Mount Evelyn

7230 CHINA. CNR 1 - Xian. Mandarin 0906. 7245 CHINA. CNR 2 - Beijing, Mandarin 0910 7275 SOUTH KOREA. KBS - Kimjae. Korean to Asia 0912 7305 CHINA. CNR 1 - Shijiazhuang. 0915 Mandarin, weak. 7315 CHINA. CNR 2 - Xian. 7325 PNG. Wantok Radio Light. High powered preaching at 0925, fair  level. 7325 TAIWAN. RFI - Tainan, s/on Mandarin 0930 and over the top of  Wantok. 7345 CHINA. CNR 1 - Beijing. Mandarin // 7305, 7230 7555 USA. ETWN, Spanish 0940, good level. Also: 12140 KUWAIT. R. AZADI in Pashto at 0620. Weak level. 6195 SINGAPORE. BBC Kranji, weak with the English service, 1005. 5830 USA. WTWN, 1015, fair. Rob

7205  RUSSIA. VOR - Chita. English service s/on 0900, good level. This is parallel 21820 which started out at a fair level but by 0945 has now faded away to nothing. I can't seem to hear 21800 tonight. Is that channel no longer in use?? 13mb not in great shape at the moment. Rob

Quite a few signals noted in the 22 meter band today. This short list below ignores most of the CRI pollution and concentrates on the more interesting stuff: 13590  ZAMBIA. CVC - Lusaka. Strong in strongly accented English at 0635 with religious rap song! 13650  NORTH KOREA. VOK - Kujang. Chinese service was soft soothing songs and instrumentals, along with occasional anncts at 0640. Fair to poor level today. 13660  CYPRUS. BBC - Limassol. Arabic service at 0645, strong. 13700  CHINA. CNR - Lingshi. Uyghur service at 0648, fair level only. 13765  MADAGASCAR. Vatican R - Talata. English service , good level at 0650, ID 0657 and s/off. 13780  RWANDA. DW - Kigali, English at 0655 with s/off 0700, big signal 13810  IRAN. VOIRI - Kamalabad. Albanian 0655, big signal. Rob VK3BVW Mount Evelyn

Over the past week, Radio Exterior de Espana has been missing from the airwaves. Reports have been floating around that their services were being cut as part of the austerity measures being undertaken by the national government. Mark Coady in Canada received this direct from REE a short time ago: From Alison Hughes of REE: Dear Mark, Thank you so much!!! I wanted to answer earlier but it's been quite confusing  here. Not only were we, here at the broadcast not informed, but apparently  neither was the director of Radio Exterior. Obviously a long story and I don't  know a quarter of it. It's been an awful week, angry, unhappy.... but the great  news is that we are recovering our short wave service (yes, at least for the  time being and next time they cut it, we expect to be able to warn everybody,  give thanks, and name the new sites for listening), on the same frequencies, at  the same times. Broadcasts may be restored this weekend, but certai...