Mount Evelyn DX Report: STATION NEWS AND THE LOG BOOK

STATION NEWS AND THE LOG BOOK

Week Ending March 18, 2017

STATION NEWS

VATICAN
A number of online news reports have surfaced over the past week concerning the closure of Vatican Radio's shortwave service, as mentioned in our Station News post last week. Apparently some African bishops expressed dismay because services will be no longer available to poorer and disadvantaged regions of the world, i.e. no Internet, poor mobile phone reception, no access to satellites, etc. They have asked the Vatican generals to reconsider their decision until appropriate alternatives can be found. Sounds familiar, doesn't it? Hey! ABC! Are you listening?
Here's a link to one such news report:
Bishops in Africa Request for Restoration of Vatican Radio Shortwave Services.

SPAIN
Some international broadcasters will be making frequency changes from March 26 as the A17 transmission season gets underway. Radio Exterior de España (REE) has released its schedule for the new season:
Weekdays
1800-2200 on 15390 (WAf & Sth Atlantic), 17715 (SAm & Pacific Ocean), 17855 (NAm & Greenland), 15520 (Indian Ocean & ME)
Weekends
1400-1800 on 21620 (WAf & Sth Atlantic)
1800-2200 on 15390
1400-2200 on 17715 (SAm & Pacific Ocean), 17855 (NAm & Greenland), 15520 (Indian Ocean & ME)

Part of REE's antenna system at Noblejas, Spain

Incidentally, this past week (on March 13 to be exact), REE celebrated it's 75th anniversary of broadcasts on shortwave. We are lucky this station is still operating, especially when it looked doomed to permanent closure several years ago. Once again, we see that shortwave serves a specific need for Spanish citizens abroad, which cannot be easily met via other technologies.

ROMANIA
The English service of Radio Romania International has released its new schedule for A17, beginning on March 26. It reads as follows:

Western Europe
0530-0600 on 7330 (DRM) and 9620

1100-1200 on 13770 and 15130
1700-1800 on 11810 and 13660
2030-2100 on 6170 and 9535 (DRM)
2200-2300 on 7430 and 9760

South East Africa: 1100-1200 on 17670 and 21570

North America (East Coast)
2030-2100 on 9610 and 11850
0000-0100 on 7375 and 9730

North America (West Coast): 0300-0400 on 7375 and 9730

Japan: 2200-2300 on 7325 and 9790

India and Australia: 0530-0600 on 17760 and 21500

India: 0300-0400 on 11825 and 15220 (DRM)

NEW ZEALAND

Radio New Zealand International has also published its planned schedule for A17, as follows:

0459-0658 on11725 to Pacific (daily)
0659-1058 on 7425 to Pacific (daily)
1059-1258 on 7425 to NW Pacific, PNG (daily)
1259-1758 on 5995 to Pacific (Sat)
1259-1650 on 5995 to Pacific (Sun - Fri)
1651-1745 on 5975 (DRM) to Cook Islands, Samoa, Tonga (Sun - Fri)
1746-1835 on 7285 (DRM) to Cook Islands, Samoa, Tonga (Sun - Fri)
1836-1950 on 9760 (DRM) to Cook Islands, Samoa, Tonga (Sun - Fri)
1859-1958 on 9700 to Pacific (Sat)
1951-2050 on 11690 (DRM) to Cook Islands, Samoa, Tonga (Sun - Fri)
1959-2058 on 11725 to Pacific (Sat)
2051-2258 on 13840 to Pacific (daily)
2259-0458 on 15720 to Pacific (daily)

FROM THE LOG BOOK

With reception conditions having been generally good over the past week, here are some monitoring observations on a range of frequencies across the shortwave bands.

4800 INDIA. AIR - Hyderabad. Hindi talks at 1410, a weak signal and heavy QRM from co-channel CNR 1, Mar 11.

4895 INDIA. AIR - Kurseong. Slow ballad-style Indian songs at 1334 with Hindi chat between items. Pleasant listening. Not a strong signal but in the clear with occasional splash from the strong Voice of Strait on 4900, Mar 11.

4910 INDIA. AIR - Jaipur. Softly spoken Hindi discussion at 1359, then a softly sung Hindi song at 1400! The carrier and modulation were both somewhat soft, too! Mar 11.

4920 INDIA. AIR - Chennai. Hindi current affairs program at 1348, a fair signal and somewhat stronger than the co-channel PBS Xizang's Tibetan service. Mar 11.

6020 VIETNAM. VoV - Buôn Mê Thuôt. A weak signal at 1154 with a talk in a local language, pop ballad duet at 1157. Music continued past 1200, till anncts at 1205. This is the Network 4 Minorities Service. Mar 16.

6130 LAOS. Lao National R. - Vientiane. Lao talk by a female announcer at 1112, two lovely lilting traditional songs at 1118, male announcer with a talk at 1123. Not a strong signal and quite noisy atmospherics. Nothing heard from PBS Xizang, Mar 16.

6155 AUSTRIA. R. Oesterreich Int'l - Moosbrunn. German to Eu at 0617, fair signal, Mar 17.

7400 GUAM. KTWR - Agana. Interval signal at 1215, ID at 1217 and preaching in English to EAs till 1245 s/off. Scheduled for English on Tues, Wed and Thurs only. Mandarin or Japanese on other days. Good signal Mar 16.

7615 UZBEKISTAN. Voice of Wilderness - Tashkent. S/on 1330 with the trumpet call, intro music, ID, and a mix of Korean talk and music. Plenty of carrier this night but modulation was well down. Mar 11.

9440 GERMANY. Bible Voice - Nauen. The 15-minute Arabic service to NAf at 0600 to s/off 0615, fair signal, Mar 17.

9460 GUAM. KTWR - Agat. AWR preaching in Russian to EAs at 1105, fair signal, Mar 16.

9465 TAIWAN. Nippon no Kaze - Tanshui. Strong signal in Korean at 1310 with the usual talks and occasional songs. // 9950 but a much weaker signal there. Mar 11.

9630 AUSTRIA. AWR - Moosbrunn. Hausa service to CAf at 0510 with some wonderful choral African chanting, very good signal, Mar 17.

9660 VATICAN. Vatican R. - SM Galeria. S/on 0630 in English to WAf, very good signal, Mar 17.

9900 TAJIKISTAN. Radio, Menschen & Geschichten - Dushanbe. German radio/technology themed program s/on 1200 to close at 1300. I believe that another broadcast, "Golden 80s Rewind" was supposed to be on at this time, but according to the producer of that program, Jordan Heyburn, there was a screw-up at the transmitter site, with the technicians taking the wrong file from the FTP server, so the wrong program got aired. Excellent signal and beamed to Australia. Probably a one-off event! Mar 11.

9950 TAIWAN. Nippon no Kaze - Tanshui. Korean service at 1315. A weak signal and terrible het from AIR-Bengaluru's Burmese service supposedly the same channel, but AIR was way off frequency on 9950.60 kHz. AIR s/off at 1315 but left the carrier on for a further two minutes. When they finally turned the transmitter off, Nippon no Kaze could be heard clearly but weakly, and running // 9465 where the signal was much stronger. Mar 11.

11508 TAJIKISTAN. VoTibet - Dushanbe. Mandarin at 1210, good signal, Mar 16.

11965 GUAM. KTWR - Agana. English to SEAs at 1030 with American preaching. Poor signal, Mar 16.

15770 INDIA. AIR - Bengaluru. Found this in unscheduled English at 1040 with music programming, then a commentary on China at 1050. News at 1055 before ID and s/off at 1100. Fair to poor signal and running // to the somewhat stronger 13695 kHz, Mar 16.

73 and have a great weekend everyone!

Rob Wagner VK3BVW