DX QUICK TIPS - RADIO FUN ON 12 VOLTS - August 25, 2016

DX QUICK TIPS

RADIO FUN ON 12 VOLTS

August 25, 2016

We have just arrived home from our two month trip up to the top of eastern Australia. And wouldn't you know it, the next day there's a major planned power outage for maintenance on the lines in our street. The power was off for seven hours between 9am and 4pm. So, although I hadn't fully unpacked from the trip, it was time to stop everything and get down to the radio shack for some noise-free listening! The Yaesu FTDX3000 transceiver was fired up using my spare 12v sealed lead acid battery, along with the double bazooka antennas for 3.5, 7 and 14 mHz. Here's a few observations:

AUGUST 25 - Between 0230 and 0300 UTC

9420   GREECE. VoG - Avlis, good signal.

9465   TURKEY. VoT - Emirler. Uyghur service to EAs, Turkish songs. Weak signal.

9490   FRANCE. R. Republica - Issoudun. Spanish. Fair to good signal.

9535   CUBA. R. Habana - Bejucal. Spanish to CAm. Poor signal.

9540   OMAN. R. Sultanate of Oman - Thumrayt. Arabic with music programming, poor signal.

9545   SOLOMON ISLANDS. SIBC - Honiara. English, good signal.

9550   IRAN. VOIRI - Kamalabad. Spanish to SAm, fair to poor signal.

9570   ALBANIA. CRI - Cerrik. Mandarin to ENAm, good signal.

9575   MOROCCO. R. Medi 1 - Nador. Arabic, poor signal.

9590   CHINA. CRI - Kashi. Spanish to SAm, fair signal.

9605   USA. WHRI - Cypress Creek SC. English, poor signal, s/off 0300.

9690   AUSTRIA. AWR - Moosbrunn. Punjabi to AFG, good signal.

9700   IRAN. VOIRI - Sirjan. Pashto to SAs, poor signal.

9710   CHINA. CRI - Kashi. Spanish, good level.

9730   ROMANIA. RRI - Tiganesti. Spanish, then English at 0300, fair signal.

9755   IRAN. VOIRI - Sirjan. Arabic, poor signal.

9815   KUWAIT. Afir Darfur R. - Umm al-Rimam. S/on 0300 in Arabic to EAf. Poor signal.

9860   PRIDNESTROVIE. BBC - Kichinev. Farsi to ME and SAs, fair signal.

Not a picture of the power lines in my street! I shot this while travelling in Tirana, Albania a few years ago. I hope the local technicians know where all these lines go!!

AUGUST 25 - Between 0330 and 0400 UTC

11520   USA. WEWN - Vandiver AL. English, fair signal.

11530   USA. Overcomer Ministry - Okeechobee. Poors signal.

11560   INDIA. AIR - Panaji. Dari service till 0345 s/off. Big signal.

11580   USA. Overcomer Min - Okeechobee FL. Poor signal.

11600   FRANCE. R. Denge Kurdistane - Issoudun. Beautiful signal in Kurdish, to ME.

11620   INDIA. AIR - Bengaluru. Urdu service, very good signal but slight QRM from co-channel CNR 5.

11640   CHINA. CRI - Kashi. Hindi to SAs, weak signal.

11650   MADAGASCAR. R. Tamazuj - Talata - Volonondry. Sudanese Arabic interview program, fair signal.

11655   PRIDNESTROVIE. TWR Africa - Kishinev. Scheduled for the Sidamo language at 0330-0345 on Thursdays, good signal.

11660   IRAN. VOIRI - Zahedan. Arabic to ME, strong.

11665   MALAYSIA. RTM - Kajang. FM relay music programming, poor signal.

11680   GERMANY. R. Japan - Nauen. Japanese to ME and NAf, fair signal.

11700   KUWAIT. Deewa R - Umm al-Rimam. Pashto, fair level.

11750   VATICAN. VOA - SM Galeria. Somali to EAf. Weak signal.

11760   CHINA. CNR 1 - Shijiazhuang. Mandarin, no sign of VOIRI's Azeri service at this time.

11800   ROMANIA. RRI - Tiganesti. English to WNAm, fair signal. Also heard the // 11825 Galbeni beamed to SAs and much stronger there.

11840   CUBA. R. Habana - Quivican. Spanish to SAm, good signal.

11860   SAUDI ARABIA. Republic of Yemen Radio - Txer location unknown. Arabic with music programming, good signal.

11870   USA. WEWN - Vandiver AL. Spanish, fair signal.

11895   OMAN. BBC - Al Seela. Farsi to Iran, good signal.

11905   CHINA. CNR 6 - Beijing. Amoy service, fair level.

11970   IRAN. VOIRI - Sirjan. Arabic discussion, strong.

12085   EGYPT. R. Cairo - Abis. Distorted Qur'an or similar.

12095   OMAN. BBC - Al Seela. English WS to ME, good signal.

AUGUST 25 - Between 0500 and 0530 UTC

13600   OMAN. R. Sultanate of Oman - Thumrayt. Arabic news at 0500 after ID, fair signal.

13650   D.P.R.KOREA. VoK - Kujang. French to SEAs, weak level.

13695   FRANCE. RFI - Issoudun. French to CAf, poor signal.

13700   CHINA. CNR 13 - Lingshi. Uyghur service, weak signal.

13710   IRAN. VOIRI - Sirjan. Turkish to ME, very good signal.

13750   IRAN. VOIRI - Sirjan. Swahili to EAf, fair signal.

13760   D.P.R.KOREA. VoK - Kujang. English to SAm, fair to poor signal.

13790   NORTH MARIANA IS. RFA - Agingan Point. Mandarin to EAs, under CNR 1 jammer.

13800   MADAGASCAR. R. Dabanga - Talata Volonondry. Sudanese Arabic, good signal.

13860   GERMANY. R. Farda - Lampertheim. Farsi service to Iran, weak signal.


But by 4pm, the power to the house was back on....and so was the noise. It's always handy to have spare charged batteries at hand, just in case the mains electricity is interrupted. It's often on those occasions that the noise floor drops right away, revealing some surprising weak signal DX.

73 and have a great weekend everyone!

Rob Wagner VK3BVW


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