WEAK SIGNAL DX - DAYTIME MINI BAND-SCAN

The view from the outdoor radio shack. The radio is tuned to 9405 kHz, listening to FEBC's Mandarin service.

WEAK SIGNAL DX

DAYTIME MINI BAND-SCAN

February 20, 2017

A short holiday on the Mornington Peninsula (about 1:30 hrs drive from Mount Evelyn)....and, of course, the Tecsun PL680 came along for the ride! The receiver was connected to a 55 metre (180 feet) long wire antenna strung out at mostly head height across the coastal vegetation. 

The aim was to see how many signals could be copied in the 49, 41 and 31 meter bands between 2330 and 0115 UTC (10:30am and 12:15pm AEDT). As we are still very much into the summer season here in south eastern Australia, usually at home these bands are almost dead at this time of day during this time of year. So, it was pleasing to catch some (mostly) weak signals right on the coast at the Flinders Ocean Park.

Today's radio shack...very pleasant conditions!

The manmade noise levels proved to be very low here on this occasion, although a few very loud static bursts caused by thunderstorm activity in other parts of the country left the ears ringing in the headphones! I don't normally use headphones, but for weak signal DX, they sure help cut down the local ambient environmental noises (screeching seagulls, rolling waves, wind, etc).

I began my monitoring session in the 41mb, thinking that there would be no signals at that time of day on 49mb. However, after a while I checked the 6mHz range - just in case - and found two stations audible there. You just never know what to expect on a DXpedition. Later, quite a number of signals were noted on 9 mHz.

So, here's today's list:


5905   UAE. RFA - Dhabayya. Tibetan to EAs at 2355 just before s/off at 2400. Fair to poor signal and // 7470 Dushanbe and 7540 Umm al-Rimam.

6195   SINGAPORE. BBC - Kranji. English to SEAs and PNG 2357 till sudden s/off 2359, fair signal.

7220   ROMANIA. RRI - Galbeni. English to WEu 2335

7260   CHINA. CRI - Kashi. Sinhala to SAs 2340. Het with Vanuatu's carrier but no audio observed from Port Vila on this occasion.

7325   ROMANIA. RRI - Galbeni. Fair signal in Spanish to Venezuela at 0005.

7435   USA. R. MARTI - Greenville NC. Spanish with light jamming, 2345, fair signal.

7470   TAJIKISTAN. RFA - Dushanbe. Tibetan to EAs at 2350, good signal with only slight jamming QRM from CNR1.

7540   KUWAIT. RFA - Umm al-Rimam. Tibetan to EAs at 2352, very good signal and barely any CNR 1 jamming QRM. Runs // 7470.

7580   KUWAIT. VoA - Umm al-Rimam. Tibetan to EAs at 0010, mixed with CNR 1 jammer at equally weak strength.

9265   USA. WINB - Red Lion PA. American preaching at 0015, weak signal.

9395   USA. WRMI - Okeechobee FL. American preaching, probably the TruNews service 0019, weak signal.

9405   PHILIPPINES. FEBC - Bocaue. Mandarin to EAs at 0025. S/off 0030 after ID and IS, fair to poor signal.

9435   CHINA. CRI - Kunming. Mandarin to SEAs 0033, very good signal.

9460   CHINA. CRI - Kunming. The Hakka service to SEAs at 0035, very good signal.

9475   USA. WTWW - Lebanon TN. American preaching 0038. Fair signal.

9500   CHINA. CNR 1 - Shijiazhuang. Mandarin 0040, fair to poor signal.

9550   CHINA. CRI - Kunming. Hakka service 0042, good signal and // 9460.

9560   SINGAPORE. BBC - Kranji. Burmese service to SEAs 0045. very good signal.

9610   CHINA vs ROMANIA. At 0047, CRI - Kunming with Hakka to SEAs and R. Romania Int'l - Believed to be the Galbeni txer site at this time, Spanish service to Venezuela. Both stations at equal strength.

9625   TAIWAN. RTI - Paochung. Thai service to SEAs at 0050 till s/off 0100, fair signal with a mix of Taiwanese pops and chat.

9635   VIETNAM. VoV - Son Tay. VoV Network 1 with news at 0052, fair signal.

9660   TAIWAN. RTI - Kouhu. Mandarin at 0055, heavily jammed under a monster CNR 1 jammer outlet.

9670   THAILAND. VoA - Ban Dung. Tibetan service to EAs at 0057 till s/off 0100, mixed with CNR 1 jammer, both were weak signals. 

9685   CHINA. CNR 5 - Beijing. Mandarin 0058, weak signal.

9835   MALAYSIA. RTM - Kajang. At 0103 with news in Malay, fair to good signal.

9860   CHINA. CRI - Jinhua. Amoy service beamed to the Philippines 0107. Very good signal.

9865   INDIA. AIR - Bengaluru. The Vividh Bharati service in Hindi at 0110, good signal with music selections.


All in all, a good morning's work. However, I did suffer from sunburn. Next time, I'll remember a hat!

73 and good DX to you all,

Rob Wagner VK3BVW

Looking across to the cliffs from the listening location.

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