DX QUICK TIPS - RON HOWARD (Guest Contributor)

DX QUICK TIPS

March 23, 2019

Guest Contributor: Ron Howard

Top U.S. DXer, Ron Howard, has been very active monitoring the shortwave bands over the past week. He has kindly sent me his observations and so I am delighted to be able to pass them onto our enthusiastic readers. There's some wonderful stuff here!

AUSTRALIA. 5055, Radio 4KZ, from 0912+, on March 19, with pop songs (Bobby Goldboro with "Honey," Willie Nelson singing "On The Road Again," Carole King with "Sweet Seasons," etc).

⭐⭐ BANGLADESH. 4750, Bangladesh Betar (now not carrying their Home Service as usual, but temporarily with only the External Service), at 1230, on March 22, noted in English till 1300 test tone; at 1309, test tone off and start of assumed Nepali programming; as usual, mixing with CNR1. Thanks very much to info from Hans Johnson on Facebook WRTH. So are all the former External Service frequencies down?

BHUTAN. 6035, BBS, on March 22, at 1136, with pop (western) songs; cut off in mid-song at 1138*; then at *1140, the usual sudden start-up of PBS Yunnan, with FM99 relay, already in progress.

BOUGAINVILLE. 3325, NBC Bougainville (Maus Blong Sankamap), 1012, on March 16. Series of speeches about the importance of the October referendum for independence (2019 the most important year since 1949 [the year the Territory of New Guinea, including Bougainville, merged with the Australian Territory of Papua, forming the Territory of Papua and New Guinea, a United Nations Trust Territory under Australian administration]); pop Pacific Islands singing; clear NBC Bougainville, Maus Blong Sankamap ID. My audio at http://bit.ly/2Oa4ySY

And Ron again:

NBC, at 1056, on March 15. Sheryl Crow with "The First Cut Is The Deepest"; 1100, indigenous drums intro to "Regional News" (not sure of language?); 1111, DJ playing pop songs; some weak VOI QRM; as Steve McGreevy (via WOR) also noted today at 1201*, suddenly cut off just after the start of the news in English.

CHINA. 4900, Voice of Strait, on March 20, at s/on 0953, the start of their audio; program already in progress.

4940, Voice of Strait, on March 20, at s/on 0953, the start of their IS; 0954, ID and into classical western music.

5050, Beibu Bay Radio, 1000, March 16. No time pips; gave Beijing time in Chinese and English ("6 PM"); singing station jingle; followed by ID in English ("This is Beibu Bay Radio, the Voice of Guangxi, China"); 1002-1006, brief segment in English.

INDONESIA. 3325, Voice of Indonesia, via RRI Palangkaraya, on March 22, from 1329+. Better than normal reception; fairly readable, in English; frequent IDs.

KOREA SOUTH. 4885, Echo of Hope - VOH, March 14 & 16, at 0955. Briefly checked and heard "Easy English" program, in English and Korean; very good reception; noted // 3985, 5995, 6250, 6350 and 9100. March 17, noted the start of "Easy English" at 0938; today with "happy Isaac" announcer; very strong signal.

⭐⭐ LAOS. 6130, Lao National Radio, at 1200, checking on March 19 & 22, heard unique gong/bell that they ring slowly 7 times (7:00 PM their local time), followed by choral anthem. Was able to hear them faintly, but can confirm they still have the usual format; otherwise unusable. For many people, 1200 is the best time to confirm it is LNR.

On Facebook (UNION OF ASIAN DXERS), a comment by Victor Goonetilleke about my LNR posting:

"Yes, they were off when we checked Dec, Jan and heard they were repairing. Great to have them back and for that matter any station back"

And Ron again:

6130, Lao National Radio, 1445-1501, March 18. Had not checked on this for a while and haven't seen any recent reports of this one being heard, so rather pleased today to catch several clear IDs in English ("Lao National Radio") and one giving frequencies, during their English segment; 1501, into French; always very much bothered by strong adjacent QRM. My audio (poor quality) of ID and some indigenous music/singing at http://bit.ly/2Y4YW17

MONGOLIA. 7260, Mongolian Radio 3 (presumed), 1033-1058, on March 17. As usual during this time period, non-stop pop western music (no announcements); no PBS Xinjiang QRM noted, but blocked by CRI (Japanese) strong sign on at s/on1058.

MYANMAR. 5985, Myanmar Radio, 1155+, on March 22, with live coverage (TV audio feed), in vernacular, of the football/soccer match between Myanmar (under 23) and East Timor (aka: "Timor-Leste") U23; played at the Thuwunna Youth Training Center Stadium (Yangon); musical interlude at half time and back to live coverage at 1230.

6165, Thazin Radio [non-log], 1420-1440, on March 18. Supposedly in scheduled English 1430-1500, but only China heard here; no trace of any other station. Has anyone heard their English segment recently?

NIGERIA. 7254.95, VON, at 0820, on March 16. Weak signal, but clearly in English.

⭐⭐ SURINAME. 4989.98, R. Apintie (presumed), 0540, on March 22. Pop songs (Irene Cara with "Flashdance What A Feeling," etc.); above threshold level audio, but rather weak. Thanks very much to Arthur Delibert and Dave Valko for the alert that this is doing so well.

⭐⭐ ZAMBIA. 5915, R. One/ZNBC1. Thanks to the original alert from Manuel Méndez and follow up report from Jay Novello, in WOR log, that this is reactivated, after being silent, I believe, all of 2019. Of course, I wanted to check this out, as it is one of my favorite stations, so tuned in expecting the previous schedule/format to still be the same. Not so!

In past years 0240-0250 was always the IS of the call of the African fish eagle, but March 22, tuned in at 0232, to hear repetitive, non-stop pop African music already here; 0253, cut off audio and only heard a loud hum, till 0257 hum off; African singing; 0300, here is the IS of the African fish eagle, but played not for ten minutes, but only for about one minute; in vernacular; 0401, brief IS and music before the news; later checked at 0420, only to find they were off the air (earlier than their former sign off time). Clearly needs more monitoring to tell what the regular schedule/format will be. Great to have them back again!

Seeing as 5915 is reactivated, wanted to see if there was any chance that Radio Two/ZNBC2, which has been silent for a long time now, had also come back to life; checking 6165, from 0240+, but didn't hear anything underneath Cuba.

⭐⭐ ZANZIBAR. 6015, ZBC Radio. It was back on Feb 17, that I reported "tuned in at 0250, waiting for their sign on. A long wait! Suddenly at s/on 0330"; on March 22, again checking for their starting time and yes, it was also at s/on 0330, with a program already in progress; at times almost fair reception. Is this really the new starting time? Formerly started about 0300.

Well done, Ron, and thanks so much for these great tips! Ron's listening location is at Asilomar State Beach, California.

73 and have a great weekend everyone!

Rob Wagner VK3BVW