Mount Evelyn DX Report: DX QUICK TIPS

DX QUICK TIPS

February 22, 2020

Not a week goes by when I don't see people complaining about shortwave reception because of the solar minimum! They tell us that nothing can be heard on the bands. Well, I'm not sure about that! With a good receiver and a decent antenna, there is plenty to listen and explore.

During periods when we are at the bottom of the sunspot cycle, the lower frequencies (below 10 MHz) are often enhanced. This is especially so below 6 MHz. For instance, our mediumwave DXing colleagues have been enjoying some great DX below 1600 kHz over the past two years. With less solar activity comes less solar noise, and for readers in the northern hemisphere, you are currently in the peak of the winter DX season. But don't expect to hear some of these signals with a little handheld portable radio and its whip antenna! Remember that whips are, by their very nature, very compromised antennas. They are not going to work effectively on frequencies below 5 MHz.

Mount Evelyn is at the bottom of southeastern Australia. Here, nearly everything can be judged as real DX because we are a long distance from....well, everywhere! 😁 Many of the signals I hear are NOT going to be strong, especially when coping with local manmade noise. That is why I enjoy "weak signal DXing". At times, it can be a real challenge!

But for our readers in the northern hemisphere, you are much closer to "the action" for many broadcasters, some of whom will beam their signals directly to your part of the world. Here is a list of stations found over the past week, using my Yaesu FTDX3000 transceiver and four dipole antennas cut for 3.5, 7, 10 and 14 MHz.

💥💥 4765 TAJIKISTAN. R. Tajikistan - Yangiyul. Tajik language programming at 1900 with a male speaker in a sombre tone and background music. Then local music at 1905. Fair to poor signal, Feb 21.

4800 INDIA. AIR - Hyderabad. A weak signal under the dominant co-channel CNR 1 - Golmud at 1410 with a Hindi commentary program. Feb 19.

4810 INDIA. AIR - Mumbai - Bhopal. Unaccompanied Hindi chanting at 1401. Perhaps some type of folk music program? Fair signal, Feb 19.

💥💥 4835 INDIA. AIR - Gangtok (tentative). Suspected to be this weak signal at 1350 with mellow Indian pops and possibly Nepali anncts. This one has not been heard here in quite a while, so it was pleasing to have its signal arriving from high in the Himalayan mountains! Feb 19.

4905 TIBET. PBS Xizang - Lhasa. Tibetan news at 1335, fair signal, Feb 19.

4930 BOTSWANA. VoA - Moepeng Hill. English to SAf with African-focused discussion and call-back program, fair signal, Feb 21.

4950 INDIA. AIR - Srinagar (Tentative). Presumed this at 1325, a carrier there but barely any audio. The weakest signal I have heard from Srinagar in a long time. Feb 19.

💥💥 5009.91 MADAGASCAR. R. Madagasikara - Ambohidrano. First noted at 1822 with non-stop groovy African and local dance music. Then amongst all this at 1848 was “Hit the Road Jack” by Ray Charles and “You’re the One that I Want” by Olivia Newton-John (!!) S/off at 1859. It has been a while since I’ve heard this one, and especially unusual for summer reception here. Fair to poor signal but enjoyable listening (until they started playing the Western pops), Feb 21.

5025 CUBA. R. Rebelde - Bauta. Apparent enhanced conditions with unusually late summer reception here at 1315 UTC. Normally faded here by 1230 at this time of year. Finally faded by 1345 (8:45am Habana time!), Feb 19.

💥💥 5040 VANUATU. R. Vanuatu - Emten Lagoon. S/on 0630 with a weak signal and co-channel QRM from distorted R. Habana audio. Automatic switching of the new transmitter from 7260 kHz appears to be working well! The signal improves considerably after RHC signs off at 0700. Feb 15.

💥💥 5915 ZAMBIA. ZNBC - Lusaka. Zambian and African news stories in English by a female newsreader at 1802. ID at 1807 as “You are listening to the news from ZNBC….”. Ended the news with “….and remember Zambia is bigger than all of us!” Weather report at 1815, Advert for some food thing at 1816, then into a local language program at 1817. Fair to poor signal at times, Feb 21.

💥💥 7140 ERITREA. Voice of Broad Masses - Asmara. To EAf with a Tigrinya discussion program between many speakers at 1720, fair to poor signal, Feb 21.

7254.97 NIGERIA. VoNigeria - Abuja. Hausa service to WAf at 0633 with what appeared to be a commentary, fair signal, Feb 21.

💥💥 7260 VANUATU. R. Vanuatu - Emten Lagoon. Current fade-in here is 0545 with programming in the Bislama language (littered with plenty of English words), a mix of music, community anncts and news. Mostly fair reception until close and the frequency swap to 5040 kHz at 0630, Feb 15.

7345 ROMANIA. RRI - Tiganesti. English to WEu at 0645. Nice long path reception during our summer with the path crossing the Atlantic, over the top of Sth America and into the southern Pacific, about an 80% darkness path. Fair signal, Feb 21.

9330 USA. WBCQ - Monticello ME. American preaching (not sure if it was “World’s Last Gasp” or some other show!) at 0620, fair signal from the new txer, Feb 21.

9410 SÃO TOMÉ. BBC - Pinheira. English to SAf at 0612, weak signal, Feb 21.

💥 9510 VATICAN. VoA - SM Galeria. S/on 0330 in Somali to EAf with ID and news, weak signal. Interesting to hear this European txer site propagating in February (still summer here!). This something we don’t regularly see until about April. Feb 20.

9525 FRANCE. R. Dengê Welat - Issoudun. A strong signal in Kurdish to ME and WAs at 1705, slight QRM from co-channel music jammer, Feb 21.

9535 CUBA. R. Habana - Bejucal. Spanish news to CAm at 0345, a weak signal but will become stronger as autumn approaches. Feb 20.

9545 SOLOMON ISLANDS. SIBC - Honiara. Local island pops and English at 0348. Adverts for a telecom company and vitamins. A weak signal but improves somewhat by 0430, Feb 20.

9550 IRAN. VoIRI - Sirjan. Russian to CAs at 0405, weak signal, Feb 20.

9560 MADAGASCAR. R. Japan - Talata Volonondry. Swahili to EAf at 0355 to s/off 0400. Fair signal and no sign of the much weaker co-channel CNR Urumqi station until the Madagascar txer was switched off. Feb 20.

💥💥 9720 BULGARIA. Radio Erena - Kostinbrod. Prayers (?) with a heavy studio echo in Arabic at 1750. The regular announcer back on at 1755 with ID and closing anncts, s/off 1800, fair signal. Some days the Tigrinya language is scheduled at this time, so careful listening is required here. Feb 21.

9805 FRANCE. RFI - Issoudun. Just after s/on at 0603, Hausa service to CAf with news, fair to poor signal, Feb 21.

9885 VATICAN. VoA - SM Galeria. Groovy African music at 0550 then into news at 0600, weak signal, the service is weekdays only, Feb 21.

💥 9915 MADAGASCAR. BBC - Talata Volonondry. English to EAf at 0410, fair signal but best to listen in USB to avoid the strong French Navy’s FUJ Noumea Stanag hash on 9910.6 kHz USB. Noted to s/off 0500. Feb 20.

11660 TURKEY. VoT - Emirler. Music selections beamed to ME at 0543, fair signal, Feb 19.

💥💥 11890 UZBEKISTAN. R. Nyawa Sarawak - Tashkent. At 1145 in the Iban language service (Friday) with long commentary with background indigenous music, very good signal until suddenly off at 1158 mid-sentence. Scheduled for Mon/Wed/Fri. Feb 21. (See below)

13580 KUWAIT. R. Mashaal - Umm al_Rimam. Pashto service beamed to Pakistan. ID as “Mashaal Radio” at 0523. Fair signal, Feb 19.

13860 UAE. BBC - Dhabayya (Dubai). English WS to EAf at 0536, fair to poor signal, Feb 19.

15210 INDIA (Goa). AIR - Panaji. Arabic service to ME at 0503 with continuous music selections. The characteristic Panaji squealing transmitter detracted from good reception, Feb 19.

17650 GUAM. KSDA - Agat. AWR Programming in Cantonese to EAs at 0140, fair to poor signal, Feb 21.

17810 JAPAN. R. Japan - Yamata. The early s/on at 0155 with pre-announcements and other bits, inc. website address. Time pips at 0200, ID and news. Lovely signal and one of the few audible signals on the band at this time. // 15195 and 15325 also heard but weaker signal there. Feb 21.

💥💥 17820 PHILIPPINES. R. Pilipinas - Tinang. Noted just after s/on at 0200 with the Dateline news program in English to ME. Occasional anncts in Filipino (formerly known as Tagalog), too! A weak signal and the usual telephone quality audio. // 15640 also heard but even weaker signal there, Feb 21. While listening to this broadcast, I checked the KiwiSDRs in Kuwait, Qatar and even southern Europe, but didn't hear any signal. Clearly, this station is having trouble being heard into its target zone at this time. However, I managed to pick up a weak signal from Victor G.'s (4S7VK) Sri Lanka online SDR and also some slightly stronger audio from one Indian KiwiSDR, but that was all!

From the R. Nyawa Sarawak Website:

Radio Nyawa Sarawak is a radio station which brings the issues that matter to the rural and marginalised communities of Sarawak. Based in this Borneo state of Malaysia, it is led by community voice, giving the people a chance to speak out on the problems that they face in their changing lives. Alongside this, the show features activists and experts, all working together to highlight issues and create solutions for these communities who are often invisible in the media landscape of Malaysia.

Radio Nyawa Sarawak provides a platform to the people and offers them their chance to answer back, to raise their own agendas, to criticise the plans being made on their behalf and to provide advice to anyone else in their situation. Touching on a broad range of topics - land grabs, dam building, resource extraction, community relocation, food security, rural to urban migration, access to modern infrastructure, preservation of culture and heritage, creation of markets and economic potential - these are all issues that affect ordinary Sarawakians, and Radio Nyawa Sarawak gives them a chance to talk about them.

Our two-hour show broadcasts in Iban and Bahasa Malaysia three times a week (Monday, Wednesday and Friday) via Shortwave 11890kHz and can be downloaded from our website: https://www.radionyawasarawak.org

73 and have a great weekend everyone!

Rob Wagner VK3BVW