FROM THE LOG BOOK - February 14, 2015

The Waratah flower is the state emblem of New South Wales. I took this photo last year
while driving through the bush in the famous Blue Mountains, west of Sydney.

FROM THE LOG BOOK

February 14, 2015

Hi Fellow DXers!

There's been lots of great feedback to Michael Stevenson's guest post on the Wellbrook antenna. And the last post to the MEDXR is about the World Christian Broadcasting's new transmitters at Mahajanga, Madagascar. If you haven't done so already, check out these two posts.

I have been active on the bands over the last few days and there are plenty of interesting stations to hear. I've taken the best of my log book notes and posted them here for you. I hope there's something of interest that you could try for this weekend! Good luck!

TALKING POINTS

5020   SOLOMON ISLANDS. SIBC - Honiara. After days of weak or no signal on the old 5019.9 kHz outlet using what sounded like the old transmitter, SIBC was back on air here with a strong signal at 1040. Pleasing to hear it so strongly on Feb 12.

5975   VIETNAM. VoVietnam - Hanoi. This is always a very messy frequency in my evenings, and Feb 12 was no exception at 1145. The VoV network 1 service had QRM from CNR 8 - Beijing in Korean, both stations at equal strength. VoV runs // 7210 also heard. I cannot hear KBS -Hwasung also listed here in Korean as appears in the EiBi list and HFCC.

5985   MYANMAR. Myanma Radio - Yangon. It's interesting to hear a much more relaxed programming style coming out of Myanmar than, say ten years ago. Relaxed announcers and western style pop music (but sung in Burmese, of course). e.g. at 1235 there was a singer sounding very much like Mariah Carey, but with a middle section that had a male rap-style vocal as well. Pleasant listening from 1230 to 1300 with a signal that was not overly strong but clearly heard. Occasional mentions of Mynamar, Feb 12.

13775.12  TAIWAN. Sound of Hope (Xiwang zhi Sheng). I don't normally bother checking this station - haven't done so for a long time now. But interesting to hear a bunch of un-jammed freqs on Feb 11 from 1100 onwards. 13775.12 kHz was quite strong and about 5 seconds behind 13890.04 kHz which was also strong. Then suddenly off at 1117. 13890.04 continued on its merry way, along with 13980.20 (which was in the clear until CNR jamming started up at 1122). 13869.92 and 13820.19 also remained un-jammed on Feb 11. This station is never very strong here (reportedly low power but the wattage is unknown to me), but it was interesting to hear all these frequencies together this evening. Has there been a power increase, or was I just lucky? Evening Asian signals  are often much better for us in the summer, despite the high atmospheric noise.

15105   BANGLADESH. Bangladesh Betar - Dhaka. Waited on frequency for this station to start up. Noted the tuning signal come on at 1224, interval signal started at 1227. Time check and ID at 1229, seems to be out with their time annct by about 30 seconds. News at 1231. Monitored right through till s/off after the Weekly Sports Review ay 1259. Impressive signal on Feb 11. 


Here is an audio clip of the start of the broadcast:



17844.96   UNITED ARAB EMIRATES. R. Ergo - Dhabayya. Service to EAf in Somali at 1251 with long talk and many mentions of Somalia and surrounding countries. R. Ergo ID at 1258, a few lines of a song then off air. The signal was fair but off-frequency and with a pulsating het, which disappeared as soon as the transmitter was switched off. Something not quite right with the modulation on Feb 12.

OTHER LOG BOOK HIGHLIGHTS

4869.91   INDONESIA. RRI - Wamena. A collection of Indonesian pop songs and chat at 1025, a fair signal through summer atmospherics and thunderstorm noise, Feb 12.

4955   PERU. R. Cultural Amauta - Huanta. Noted at 1031 with Latin American ballads and anncts.. Not very strong and difficult listening through the summer atmospherics on Feb 12.

5830   USA. WTWW - Lebanon TN. American preaching at 1045, good signal on Feb 12.

5857.5   KOREA REP. HLL Seoul Meteo Radio - Seoul. Noted at 1052 with female reading long lists in Korean. Stopped at 1059. The carrier remained on but no other information was announced and monitoring concluded at 1115, Feb 12.

5875   THAILAND. R. Thailand - Ban Dung. A short English ID at 1115 then into the Khmer service to SEAs, beautiful signal, easily overriding the local summer atmospherics on Feb 12.

5955   CHINA. CRI - Beijing. English service to EAs at 1127, fair signal on Feb 12.

5965   MALAYSIA. RTM Kajang. Klasik Nasional FM service at 1132 with Malay ID and local news, very good signal on Feb 12. 

6003   KOREA REP. Echo of Hope - Hwaseong. Great signal with no jamming at 1220. Soft talk in Korean with background pop ballads and other music. Have the jammers given up? Feb 12.

9745   TAIWAN. Kuanghua Chih Sheng (Voice of Kuanghua) - Kuanyin. ID at 1930 as "Kuanghua chih Sheng", then into a pop music show in Mandarin. CRI - Urumqi signs on at 1930 with their Esperanto service to Eu and is the dominant signal of the two stations but Kuanghua can still be heard clearly under CRI, fair to poor signal on Feb 10.

9755   VATICAN. VR - SM Galeria. Latin with the Rosary at 1950 aimed at the Islamic infidels in the Middle East, booming signal on Feb 10.

9830   SOUTH AFRICA. RFI _ Meyerton. French current affairs program at 1953 till s/off 2000, good signal but some QRM from Malaysia 9835 on Feb 10.

9835   MALAYSIA. RTM Sarawak - Kajang. Relaying the FM service with the rock music show at 1940. Very solid signal on Feb 10.

9940   SWAZILAND. TWR - Manzini. French religious program at 1945 to CAf, excellent signal on Feb 10.

11615   SAO TOME. Afia Darfur - Pinheira. S/on without any ID or opening annct at 1900 mid-program in Arabic. Huge carrier but hardly any grunt in the audio, Feb 10.

11735   TANZANIA. Zanzibar BC - Dole. Swahili music programming with a lovely signal at 1845, pleasant listening on Feb 10.

12084.85  MONGOLIA. VoMongolia - Ulaanbattar. Mongolian songs at 0950, then at 1000 there was one cycle through the interval signal and into the start of the Mandarin service. Severe QRM RA-Shepparton on 12085 but separable by listening in LSB and altering filter shapes. Monitored right through to 1030 when programming changed to Japanese, Feb 11.

12095   PHILIPPINES. FEBC - Bocaue. Talks in the Tai-lü language (a local language of northern Thailand, Myanmar and southwestern China) at 1040, good clear signal on Feb 11.


12140   KUWAIT. R. Azadi - Kuwait. Dari service at 1045, weak signal and summer atmospherics made difficult listening on Feb 11.

15040   INDIA. AIR - Delhi. Burmese service to SEAs with a pleasant selection of songs at 1303. ID at 1314 then s/off. A beautiful signal on Feb 11.

15215   GUAM. KSDA - Agat. AWR programming with a mournful song in the Bangla service at 1308, good signal on Feb 11.

15230   CUBA. R. Habana. Spanish to SAm with an on-location news report at 1312, fair signal on Feb 11.

15275   RWANDA. DW - Kigali. Hausa to WAf at 1318, a fair signal with some deep fades on Feb 11.

15285   GERMANY. Athmeeya Yatra Radio - Nauen. Noted in the scheduled Marathi (one of the 23 official languages of India) to As at 1320, strong signal on Feb 11. 

15540   KUWAIT. R. Kuwait. English service at 1924 with an Islamic religious story. Impressive signal on Feb 10.

15550   USA. WJHR - Milton FL. American preaching featuring a somewhat demented style of delivery at 2118. About S2 on the meter but quite copyable in USB on Feb 6.

15580   BOTSWANA. VOA - Moepeng Hill. English news to Af at 1835, fair to poor signal on Feb 10.

15710   EGYPT. R. Cairo - Abis. Quite a strong carrier at 1850 but the usual distorted audio was well down in strength for the Hausa service. The station suddenly disappeared at 1855. It returned again at 1905 with the same poor audio on Feb 10.

17670   INDIA. AIR - Delhi. GOS in English at 1929 to EAf, poor signal on Feb 10.

17775   USA. KVOH - Rancho Simi CA. Spanish at 1917 but barely audible on Feb 10. However, other days it can be quite strong.

17790   USA. R. Africa - Okeechobee FL. American preaching at 1910, fair to poor signal on Feb 10.

17850   OMAN. BBC - A'Seela. Uzbek to CAs at 1302. The CNR 1 jammer arrived late to the party at 1309 and dwarfed BBC on Feb 12.

73 and have a great weekend everyone!

Rob Wagner VK3BVW

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