WHO SAYS YOU CAN'T HEAR DX IN SUMMER?

WHO SAYS YOU CAN'T HEAR DX IN SUMMER….?

ENHANCED RECEPTION ON 21 mHz

On New Year's Day, there were some signals coming through on the 13 mb between 0930 and 1130 UTC. Note the Vatican's New Year's Day masses on multiple frequencies and Kuwait suffering from a NYE hangover!

21510   IRAN. VOIRI - Kamalabad. English to SAs at 1033 with a news program, noted the s/off as 1130 with good reception.

21520   IRAN. VOIRI - Sirjan. S/on 1120 for the Hausa service to WAf, ID at 1123 and anthem, fair to poor signal.

21550   VATICAN. Vatican R. - SM Galeria. New Year's Day service at 1025, Latin translated into English for EAf, weak signal.

21560   VATICAN. Vatican R. - SM Galeria. New Year's Day service at 1020, Latin translated into Portuguese for EAf, an even weaker signal than 21570. Then noted later at 1103 with Italian programming and a much stronger signal (possibly a different beam heading?).

21570   VATICAN. Vatican R. - SM Galeria. New Year's Day service at 0950, Latin translated into French for WAf, weak signal.

21580   KUWAIT. R. Kuwait. Filipino service at 1010 PLUS another transmission on the same frequency with a broadcast in Arabic. Suddenly at 1040, the Filipino broadcast disappeared leaving the Arabic program. Then at 1046, both Filipino and Arabic again. Was Kuwait putting out two different feeds at the same time here? Whoops - wrong switch! It must have been a VERY good New Year's Eve for them!! These occasional errors have been noted from Kuwait in the past. NOTE:  On Jan 2, back to just the Filipino language service at s/on 1000 with a good signal.

21600   IRAN. VOIRI - Sirjan. Running // with 21520 for the Hausa service, Qur'an at 1127, fair signal.

 21670   SAUDI ARABIA. BSKSA - Riyadh. Indonesian at 0940, fair signal.

LIVELY 11 mHz DURING EARLY AFTERNOON

January 3 brought interesting reception of stations in the 25 mb between 0200 and 0500 UTC. It appeared to be one of those occasions that can happen in summer where the band can appear dead and then a few minutes later suddenly open up. At 0200, there was nothing on the 25 mb. But then at 0215, a weak signal from Madagascar came through and strengthened before s/off. It was an indication that reception from more stations could be possible. Later, other transmissions began to appear before 0300. Signal strengths were variable at times and signals often disappeared as quickly as they arrived. 0200 is 1pm local time here in summer. Atmospheric noise was quite high, too, with thunderstorm activity in some parts of Australia contributing quite a racket to the overall band conditions.

 11520   USA. WEWN - Vandiver AL. First noted at 0250 with a fair signal. I looked earlier around 0215 and heard nothing, so this must have faded in sometime around 0230. Good early reception at 1:50pm Mount Evelyn time.

11620   INDIA. AIR - Bengaluru. Udru service  for Pakistan at 0245, music programming with a fair to poor signal.

11650   UNIDENTIFIED. F/in 0310 and maintained a weak signal till around 0330 when it picked up for a minute or so. During that time there was a a male Arabic speaker, a snippet of western instrumental music, then the carrier was suddenly gone in the middle of talk. I have a sneaking suspicion this might be R. Sultanate of Oman on later than the scheduled 0200 s/off.

11665   MALAYSIA. RTMalaysia - Kajang. Wai FM relay at 0307 with music programming, weak.

11710.9   ARGENTINA. R. Argentina al Exterior - General Pacheco. Mandarin service at 0437 with a program of Argentinian folk music. Not very strong but always great to hear it!

11740   INDIA. AIR - Panaji. Scheduled Dari to Afghanistan and noted fading in around 0303, weak at first but strengthened a little later.

11780.15   BRAZIL. R. Nacional Brasília - Brasilia. Heard under VOIRI at 0440 with gentle pop ballads until 0451 when Iran switched off its carrier, fair to poor signal.

11790   MADAGASCAR. Bible Voice - Talata Volonondry. Suddenly appeared around 0215 (1:15pm local Daylight Time) with an American "fire and brimstone" preacher. ID, address and website at 0229 then s/off. Variable signal strength ranging from inaudible to weak or even fair at times. Needed all the resources of the FTDX3000's digital noise reduction, IF shift and Contour controls to dig it out of the usual daytime hash.

11840   CUBA. R. Havana. Funny old modulation and a clicking sound like a loose lead somewhere in the system at 0415, which sort of spoilt the fabulous lively Cuban music program, fair signal.

11870   USA. WEWN - Vandiver AL. Spanish discussion program at 0410, poor at first but gradually strengthened.

11905   IRAN. VOIRI - Ahwaz. Dari service noted at 0407, a weak signal.

11940   MADAGASCAR. R. Tamazuj - Talata Volonondry. 30 min program in an Arabic variant language, fair signal just after s/on 0403.

11995   MADAGASCAR. BBC - Talata Volonondry. S/on 0400 in Somali to EAf with an ID and a news program. Fair signal.

12005   SRI LANKA. Deewa Radio - Iranawila. Interesting reception of this station at 0240 (1:40 pm local Daylight Time) with Pashto talks and occasional songs, weak signal.

12080   AUSTRALIA. RA - Brandon QLD. English service to Oceania, very scratchy signal at 0200 but strengthened by news time at 0300.

12095   UNITED ARAB EMIRATES. BBC - Dhabayya. World Service at 0455 to EAf, fair signal.

12105   USA. WTWW - Lebanon TN. Weak signal fading in around 0340 with a female preacher, fair signal later in the broadcast.

……..AND ON 9 mHz AT THAT TIME….?

Just a handful of signals on this occasion:

 9460   SOUTH AFRICA. BBC - Meyerton. English sports show at 0420 to EAf, fair signal.

9550   IRAN. VOIRI - Kamalabad. S/on 0420 with Turkish service to ME, fair signal.

9610   IRAN. VOIRI - Sirjan. S/on 0422 in Kurdish to ME, poor signal.

9755   IRAN. VOIRI - Kamalabad. Noted just after s/on at 0426 in Hebrew to ME, fair to poor.

OTHER NOTES FROM THE LOG BOOK

9625   PALAU. R. Japan - Medorn. Indonesian service to SEAs with ID at 1130, fair signal on Jan 2.

9635.79   VIETNAM. VoVietnam - Son Tay. National Network 1 programming with a Vietnamese current affairs news show, plenty of live crosses and interviews. Fabulous signal at 1115 but some slight transmitter hum was also present, Jan 2.

11580   USA. R. Ukraine International - Okeechobee. English to ENAm at 2340 with a mailbag program, very good signal on Jan 3.

12085   MONGOLIA. VoMongolia - Ulaanbaatar. Big signal for the Japanese service 1050 to s/off 1056 after ID and address, Jan 1.

21480   NORTH MARIANA IS. RFA - Tinian. Tibetan service at 0648, easily making it through the CNR 1 jammer on this occasion with a good signal on Jan 2.

21600   ROMANIA. RRI - Tiganesti. English to Au/NZ at 0643 featuring folk music with a rock influence, good signal, Jan 2.

73 and have a great weekend everyone,

Rob Wagner VK3BVW

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