MICRO SURVEY: 17 MHz in One Hour


MICRO SURVEY: 17 MHz in One Hour

One afternoon, several days ago, I set myself a little challenge. Pick an international  shortwave band and try to note down everything that can be heard in one hour. Why?

  1. It's interesting to look at band occupancy in order to better understand how broadcasters are using the shortwave spectrum
  2. Investigate which regions of the world are being represented in any single hour on a specific wavelength
  3. Observe just how well the signals are reaching my receiver
  4. Analyse where these stations are targeting their broadcasts on that band at that chosen time, and
  5. To just challenge myself in seeing how many transmissions can be noted down in a limited time period.
As current reception conditions on the high frequencies are continuing to provide excellent signals into Mount Evelyn during our summer season, I aimed for the 16 metre band as my afternoon challenge for that day. It turned out to be a good choice! There were lots of stations present on the band.

China maintains high usage of this part of the shortwave spectrum, and has done so for many years. China Radio International (CRI) beams to Africa and Europe, and China National Radio (CNR) is ever present. It was interesting to observe a little "clump" of Iranian outlets above 17800, mainly to the Middle East and Africa. Also noted were the soon-to-be-discontinued BBC relay station at Seychelles and BBC via Oman. Radio Free Asia (RFA) seemed to be managing to get a signal out on several frequencies despite some jamming. And, what was most noticeable about this band was the nice spread of frequencies being used across the band - there was little interference (QRM) between the broadcasters, making listening generally easy and trouble-free.

Noted below are the stations, transmitter sites, languages, target of the broadcasts, and a simple one or two words on signal strength.


 0600-0700 (in stations signing on at 0700):

17485   CHINA. CRI - Urumqi, Arabic to NAf - good

17505   CHINA. CRI - Kashi, English to NAf - excellent

17515   TAJIKISTAN. RFA - Dushanbe, Tibetan to EAs - good but with some jamming

17540   IRAN. VOIRI - Sirjan, Bosnian to Eu - very good

17550   CHINA. CNR 1 - Beijing. Mandarin - weak.

17565   CHINA.  CNR 1 - Beijing. Mandarin - very good

17580   CHINA. CNR 1 - Lingshi, Mandarin - fair

17595   CHINA. CNR 1 - Shijiazhuang, Mandarin - weak

17605   CHINA. CNR 1 - Beijing, Mandarin - fair

17615   CHINA.  CRI - Urumqi, German to Eu - strong

17625   CHINA. CNR 2 - Beijing, Mandarin, strong

17640   SEYCHELLES. BBC - Mahe, English to EAf - fair.

17650   CHINA. CRI - Kashi. Mandarin to Eu - strong

17660   IRAN. VOIRI - Sirjan, Italian to Eu s/on 0620 - very good

17670   CHINA. CRI - Kashi, English to NAf s/on 0655 - strong

17675   KUWAIT. RFA - Kuwait, Tibetan - fair with CNR jamming

17690   NTH MARIANA IS. RFA - Agingan Pt, Mandarin to EAs - fair with CNR jamming

17700   KUWAIT. VOA - Kuwait, Hausa to WAf  s/on 0700 - fair

17710   CHINA. CRI - Beijing (or Jinhua?) English to SEAs - strong

17720   CHINA. CRI - Kashi, German to WEu - strong

17730   SAUDI ARABIA. BSKSA - Riyadh, Arabic to NAf - good

17740   SAUDI ARABIA. BSKSA - Riyadh, Arabic to Eu - fair but CRI QRM co-channel

17740   CHINA. CRI - Xian, Mandarin to SEAs - fair but BSKSA QRM co-channel

17770   KUWAIT. RFE/RL - Kuwait, Russian to EEu - fair

17780   ROMANIA. RRI - Galbeni, English to Au/NZ s/on 0630 - good

17790   OMAN. BBC - A'Seela, Arabic to EAf - fair to poor

17800   RWANDA. DW - Kigali, English to WAf - good

17810   IRAN. VOIRI - Sirjan, Hausa to WAf - fair

17820   IRAN. VOIRI - Sirjan, Arabic to NAf - good, // 17840

17830   STH AFRICA. BBC - Meyerton, English to CAf s/on 0700 - good

17840   IRAN. VOIRI - Zahedan, Arabic to ME - very good, // 17820

17850   FRANCE. RFI - Issoudun, French to CAf s/on 0700 - weak

17865   IRAN. VOIRI - Kamalabad, French to Eu s/on 0620 - strong

17880   STH AFRICA. BBC - Meyerton, French to CAf s/on 0700 - fair

17890   CHINA. CNR 1 - Beijing, Mandarin - fair

17895   SAUDI ARABIA. BSKSA - Riyadh, Arabic to CAs - weak

 I found this exercise quite interesting. Why not have a go at a Micro Survey yourself? You might be surprised at what you find!!

 73's everyone,

 Rob Wagner VK3BVW


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