EARLY MORNING DX AND HAM NEWS

EARLY MORNING DX AND HAM NEWS

A 4am rise this morning (January 6) allowed me to hear some stations right across the entire shortwave spectrum. Reception was noisy as the Australian continent is currently experiencing a mixture of heat waves, tropical storms and some rather unpredictable weather conditions. Still, I managed to find a few interesting transmissions in amongst the static crashes:

 3250   DPRK. Pyongyang BS - Pyongyang. Revolutionary songs at 1805, poor signal in the atmospheric noise.

 3255   SOUTH AFRICA. BBC - Meyerton. World service SAf with current affairs show at 1810, fair.

 3912   KOREA REP. Voice of the People - Gyeonggi-do. Easily making it through heavy jamming at 1815 with lots of political preaching.

 3965   FRANCE. R. Taiwan Int'l - Issoudun. English to WEu at 1820 with a chat show, fair.

 4765   TAJIKISTAN. R. Tajikistan - Yangi Yul. Tajik music program with anncts 1825, fair signal.

 4780   DJIBOUTI. RTV Djibouti. Discussion program at 1830 with short bursts of East African songs, good signal.

 4930   BOTSWANA. VOA - Moepeng Hill. Sports roundup with including a report on the Hopman Cup win by Serena Williams after she drank some coffee during the match, 1840, good signal.

 4996   RUSSIA. RWM - Taldom. Russian time signal station beeping away at 1845, seems to be best heard around this time on my early mornings with its 10 kW transmitter.

 7585   THAILAND. R. Farda - Ban Dung. Farsi service to Iran, light and  breezy programming at 1750, a great signal. Previously this transmission was via Sri Lanka at this time.

 9690   ROMANIA.RRI - Tiganesti. French to SEu 1745 with Romanian pop songs, fair.

 11900    VOA. Oromo service to EAf at 1735 with news, ID and numerous mentions of Oromo at 1740, good signal. I'm not clear on which site is being used for this transmission - HFCC/IBB has Nauen but Aoki is suggesting Issoudun.

 17730   CUBA. R. Havana. French to Eu 1940, weak signal.

 17775   USA. KVOH - Rancho Simi CA. Preaching in Spanish at 1935, weak signal.

 17800   RWANDA. AWR - Kigali. Peeping through with a weak and variable signal at 1930 s/on in Fulfulde to WAf.

 21600   USA. WHRI - Cypress Creek SC. American preaching to WAf at 1725, not a strong signal but heard quite clearly.


 HAM NEWS:
Several regular MEDXR readers have requested some amateur radio news, which I'm happy to oblige. Others may be interested in the following current and upcoming DXpeditions!

 NORFOLK ISLAND: Hans, VK9N/SM3TLG is currently working from beautiful and historic Norfolk Island and I have heard him here on 20m in the afternoons. I think he's taking the approach of a holiday-styled DXpedition, so you may not see him continuously on-air. He'll be operating till January 11, QSL to his home call.

 CHRISTMAS ISLAND: Watch out for Peter VK3HEX/9, operating from Christmas Island on the 10mb  SSB only until January 10. This is another holiday-style activation, and QSL to his home call address.

 AMERICAN SAMOA: Japanese DXer Nobu JA0JHQ is expecting to be active from American Samoa between January 7 to 12, using the call sign AH0CO/KH8. He was planning to be active on the 15, 17 and 30mb, mainly SSB but also some CW. QSLs to his home call address.

 CHAGOS ISLANDS: The archipelago of the Chagos is a group of atolls consisting of over 60 tropical islands, situated 500 km south of the Maldives Islands. It is a disputed territory, claimed by both Britain and Mauritius. Watch out for Bob N7XR who is expecting to be active from one of the main islands, Diego Garcia. He will be using the call sign VQ9XR between January 15 to 28, and is planning to be operational on all HF bands from 160 to 10m with 500w. QSL via N7XR home address (no bureau).

 73 and good DX everyone!

 Rob Wagner VK3BVW
The very attractive QSL card of VQ9XR

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