Mount Evelyn DX Report: DX QUICK TIPS

DX QUICK TIPS

August 17, 2020

Over the past week or so, the solar flux index has ventured into the low to mid-70s after having been stuck in the low to mid-60s for what seems like an eternity now. The A and K indices have also seen a few days of elevation. These changes have resulted in a small uptick in recent shortwave conditions, which is encouraging. There will still be periods of solar inactivity, but if the start of Cycle 25 has not occurred in earnest yet (and I suspect it might have) then it can't be far away now!

For shortwave enthusiasts in the southern hemisphere, frequencies above 11 MHz will still be pretty dead in the evenings but better reception can be expected as we get through the spring season. For northern hemisphere hams and SWLs, make the most of the higher frequencies during the remainder of your summer and early autumn because you will be heading down to the wintertime lower frequencies before you know it! And don't forget that as we near the next equinox (September 22), we often find really interesting shortwave reception opportunities....regardless of where you live on the planet!

⭐⭐ 3219.90 D.P.R.KOREA. PBS Pyongyang Pansong - Hamhung. Non-stop choral and military music at 1850. A weak signal and running parallel with 3320, which was a somewhat better signal. Aug 16.

⭐⭐ 3325 INDONESIA. RRI - Palangkaraya. Dutch service at 1905 with a mixed program of talk and light music. A big fat carrier but the audio level appeared to be well down, as confirmed by the KiwiSDR in Jakarta. The frequency was monitored until 1945 and there was no sign of NBC Bougainville. Aug 16.

4750 BANGLADESH. Bangladesh Betar - Shavar. A good signal at 1816 but with the usual distorted modulation problems (memories of Radio Cairo!) making it impossible to understand the English programming content. Some male solo vocal music interspersed throughout the program. Aug 16.

⭐ 4930 BOTSWANA. VoA - Moepeng Hill. Interview show in English at 1822, fair signal. Interestingly, despite this broadcast being beamed to South Africa, the three KiwiSDRs located in and around Johannesburg all offered no better reception from Moepeng Hill than here at Mount Evelyn, some 10,000 km away! Aug 16.

⭐ 4960 SÃO TOMÉ. VoA - Pinheira (presumed). The faintest of audio here at Mount Evelyn on a fair strength carrier at 2040. Strange! Also checked eight KiwiSDRs around the globe likely to give the best possible reception but all gave the same weak audio on a fairly strong carrier. Assumed to be in Hausa but it was too weak to ID the language at all these locations! Aug 13.

4965 ZAMBIA. Voice of Hope Africa - Lusaka. English at 2035 with music selections including Elvis’ “Love for Evermore”. Fair signal, Aug 13.

⭐ 5009.90 MADAGASCAR. R. Madagasikara - Ambohidrano. Religious programming in the Malagasy language at 1839 with “Softly and Tenderly” by Tennessee Ernie Ford. Fair signal, Aug 16.

5020 SOLOMON ISLANDS. SIBC - Honiara. S/on in English just after 1900 with a weak signal, Aug 16.

⭐⭐ 5055 AUSTRALIA. 4KZ - Innisfail QLD. Fired up at exactly 1948 (and NOT at 2130 as is reported in the EiBi list). The first song up after switch-on was “Rescue Me” by Fontella Bass. Fair to poor signal this morning, Aug 16.

5860 KUWAIT. R. Farda - Umm al-Rimam. Farsi to Iran at 2130, fair signal, Aug 13.

5900 BULGARIA. Overcomer Ministry - Kostinbrod. American preaching at 2125, fair signal, Aug 13.

5940 FRANCE. R. Algerienne - Issoudun. Qur’an at 2120, strong signal and // 5930 but only a fair level there, Aug 13.

5970 BOTSWANA. VoA - Moepeng Hill. French to Af with an English language lesson at 2115, fair signal, Aug 13.

⭐⭐ 5995 ZAMBIA & MALI. The stronger of the two is Zambia NBC. Radio 1 service at 2105 with what appeared to be news reports in a Zambian regional language. Underneath is RTV du Mali - Bamako with regional music programming. Fair to poor signals overall, Aug 13.

6015 ENGLAND. World’s Last Chance - Woofferton. American preaching in Arabic aimed at NAf at 2125, fair to good signal, Aug 13.

⭐ 6090 ETHIOPIA. Amhara State R. - Geja Dera. Telephone talkback show in Amharic at 1756, IDs and canned anncts at 1758, lovely signal, Aug 16.

6100 BULGARIA. BBC - Kostinbrod. Farsi to Iran, fair signal, Aug 16.

6105 FRANCE. R. Japan - Issoudun. Japanese to CAm at 0310, fair to poor signal, Aug 11.

⭐ 6110 ETHIOPIA. R. Fana - Addis Ababa. Groovy East African pops and Amharic anncts at 1745, good signal until the horrendous RNZI DRM hash on 6115 kHz started up at 1751, Aug 16.

6180 ROMANIA. RRI - Galbeni. S/on 0400 in Romanian to SEu, fair signal, Aug 11.

⭐ 6180 BRAZIL. R. Nac Amazônia - Brasilia DF. Brazilian pops at 2125, late winter short path reception via Antarctica, weak signal, faded by 2150, Aug 13.

6180 UAE. R. Ibrahim - Dhabayya. IBRA Radio programming in Somali at 1725, fair to poor signal, Aug 16.

⭐ 6195 USA. R. Japan - Cypress Creek SC. 30-min Spanish service to SAm at s/on 0400 with a fair to poor signal, Aug 11. And again, Spanish to SAm at 0945 to s/off 1000, fair signal, Aug 9.

6195 BOTSWANA. VoA - Moepeng Hill. English to CAf at 2152 with Afro pops, good signal until s/off at 2200 when BBC-Kranji signs on with English to SEAs, Aug 13.

7275 TURKEY. VoT - Emirler. English to NAm at 0335, fair signal, Aug 11.

7315 USA. WHRI - Cypress Creek SC. American preaching at 0340, weak signal and co-channel QRM from another station, possibly R. Tamazuj via Issoudun but too weak to ID, Aug 11.

7375 ROMANIA. RRI - Tiganesti. English to WNAm at 0345, fair signal until s/off 0156, Aug 11.

⭐⭐ 7500 ARMENIA. R. Menschen & Geschichten - Gavar. Music box IS at 1759, s/on at 1800 in German with clear IDs, mentions of the old R. Andorra and Liechtenstein. Programming consisted of reminiscences and old rock songs. Does anybody care? Fair signal, Aug 16.

9730 VIETNAM. VoV - Son Tay. German to Eu at 2011 with Vietnamese music selections, weak signal, Aug 16.

73 and good DX to you all.

Rob Wagner VK3BVW