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DX QUICK TIPS
Ron Howard and Rob Wagner
September 17, 2020

MONITORING NOTES FROM USA

Thanks to Ron Howard (Asilomar State Beach, Calif., USA) for his always reliable and detailed observations of broadcasters in the Asia and the Pacific. Ron's equipment includes a CommRadio CR-1, and the antenna is a 30m long wire.

⭐ 3325 INDONESIA. Voice of Indonesia, via Palangkaraya, 1102+, Sept 13. An unusual day here, as NBC Bougainville was off the air and VOI actually had audio at a very respectable level; tuned in to hear Chinese; Japanese was after 1200+; English segment was 1300-1400; news (ex-PMs Tony Blair and John Major item about Brexit; Russian elections being held now; etc.); ended the news with the distinctive patriotic song "Garuda Pancasila" (aka: "Mars Pancasila"), which was composed by Sudharnoto (who for a time worked at RRI Jakarta), with lyrics about the loyalty of all Indonesian people to Pancasila as the only ideology or philosophy of the Indonesian nation (studio quality recording at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBNIsIo8OLQ ). It was last Sept. that I last heard VOI play this song, so was a special treat today; "Spotlight," with item about Jakarta enforcing steps to prevent COVID-19; "Today in History" (Sept 13, 2007 - UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples; Sept 13, 2008 - series of bombings in New Delhi; etc.); "Indonesia Today," about "National Sports Day"; segments "Indonesian Wonders" & "Music Corner"; multi-language PSA ("Together we can beat the coronavirus"); 1400 - my audio of the intro into Bahasa Indonesia is at http://bit.ly/3imYoxg. By 1400, the reception was mostly fair.

An unusual day also on // 4749.95, via Cimanggis/Jakarta, as I was able to hear this frequency the whole time due to there only being light CNR1 (China) QRM and today Bangladesh was clearly off the air (1229+), making for a very rare day with both frequencies doing well. A most enjoyable reception, but why can they not broadcast like this every day on 3325?

KOREA REP. Frequencies for this week; observed Monday (Sept 14):

Voice of the People: 3480 // 3910 // 3930 // 4450 // 6520 // 6600, at 1341.

Echo of Hope (VOH): 3985 // 4890 // 5995 // 6250 (whereas 6255 continues to be strongly jammed by CNR1, against an assumed UNID station) // 6350 // 9100, at 1345, with "Touch! Global Headlines," in English and Korean. Voice of Freedom, 5920, at 1354, continues to have strong QRM from Shiokaze (13-14); while the N. Korea white noise super jamming is still up on ex 6045.

⭐⭐ 5985 MYANMAR. Myanmar Radio, 1309-1319, Sept 11 (Friday). Time for another two 5 minute editions of "Learning English with BBC, Burmese"; today with repeat shows that I heard a long time ago; about hypnotism helping to quit smoking and overcome fear of flying.

⭐⭐ 6020 VIETNAM. Voice of Vietnam, program 4 (ethnic minority languages service), 1455-1510, Sept 14. Via Buon Ma Thuot, the capital city of Dac Lac Province; indigenous music/singing. Dac Lac province is located in the Central Highlands and has many indigenous people there who are not ethnically Vietnamese. VOV4 website (Google translation) http://goo.gl/j9p6e4 , where under "National Music" they have audio of some of their indigenous songs.

⭐⭐ 6035 BHUTAN. BBS, 1110-1129* UT, Sept 9. Clearly in English; after the news, played one pop song and at 1121, more announcers; one of their better days. Their daily cut-off times are not always the same; Sept 8, at 1130*; Sept 7, at 1138*; the longer BBS stays on the air, the better my reception becomes; Thimphu sunset at 1211 UT. On Sept 7, noted PBS Yunnan's relay of FM99 (6035) suddenly on at *1145 UT, with the program already in progress. Am glad the two stations are not overlapping!

6135 MADAGASCAR. Radio Madagasikara, 1352 UT, Sept 13 (Sunday). Religious songs; sounded like a live church service. My audio (one minute of music and two of church service) is at http://bit.ly/3bV2bzr. For over a month, the strong N. Korea white noise super jamming had been silent on 6135. Which afforded me the wonderful opportunity to enjoy very decent Radio Madagasikara reception. BUT on Sept 15 and 16 heard strong jamming again on 6135, blocking any hope I had of RR. Madagasikara reception. There is no known station on this frequency to be jammed, so it continues to be a mystery to me as to why N. Korea likes this frequency so much, even without any apparent target to jam. Voice of Freedom, which might have been a target for 6135 jamming, is down on 5920, currently free of any jamming and the former VOF frequency of 6045 is still being strongly jammed, even without VOF being there. So it's difficult for me to figure out what their rationale is for the 6135 jamming? So my Sept 13 reception of RM might be my last one for a while!

⭐ 11835 VANUATU. R. Vanuatu (third harmonic), Sept 14 (Monday), with random checking from 0334 to last check at 0534, found RV off the air; only CNR2 heard. Sept 11, on 11835, RV, 0311-0330, heard a portion of their French Hour (0230-0330); 0330-0438, in English; pop songs and "Inside the Studio" interview; 0404-0412, news (Vanuatu deputy speakers of Parliament ask for pay raise; heavy rains cause landslides on a Vanuatu island; etc.); Vanuatu weather; 0414-0438, "Pacific Beat," an ABC RA program (yesterday the Australian government approved a supplemental budget for a loan to PNG, as the result of COVID-19 weakening the PNG economy, etc.) Sept 11, on 3945, RV, 1034-1104*; Elton John - "Sacrifice"; religious sermon in English and religious music; went off with no ID nor NA. Since Aug 25, they no longer have any extended broadcasts past 1104+, with non-stop songs, as they did in the past.

MONITORING NOTES FROM AUSTRALIA

And now a list of stations monitored here at Mount Evelyn over the past week. Equipment is the Yaesu FTDX3000 and the new 95m long horizontal loop antenna.

3250 D.P.R.KOREA. KCBS - Pyongyang. Better than usual reception at 1010 with long military band and choir music, rousing toe-tapping stuff, Sep 5.

⭐⭐ 3310 BOLIVIA. R. Mosoj Chaski - Cochabamba. A weak signal at 1030 with long rapid-fire talks that could have been in either Quechua or Spanish, too hard to identify. The high atmospheric noise made listening challenging. A local music selection at 1050 then back to talk. Faded by 1057. It’s been a long time since I have heard this one, it used to be a regular here especially during the winters back in 2013 and 2015. Sep 5.

⭐⭐ 4055 GUATEMALA. R. Verdad - Chiquimula. 6-note tune repeated many times (interval signal?) from tune-in at 1110 to 1117, then national anthem (long version). ID and long anncts in Spanish from 1023, IDs as R. Verdad and many mentions of Guatemala (music in the background). Gospel songs with occasional voice-overs in English from 1127, perhaps an American program relay? The modulation seemed a little distorted during studio anncts. “Give Me That Old Time Religion” played at 1135. Fair to poor signal and buried in atmospheric noise at times, but still going until fade out at 1150. I don’t often hear this station much these days, so nice to catch it on Sep 5.

3910 KOREA REP. V. of the People - Kyonggi-do Koyang. Korean commentaries at 1815, very good signal and clear of jammers who were instead congregated on 3905 kHz. Oops! // 3930 also heard but partly covered by jammers. Sep 14.

4930 BOTSWANA. VoA - Moepeng Hill. Scheduled as English to SAf at 1830 with discussion in a mix of heavily accented English and a local language (possibly Shona?). Fair signal, Sep 14.

4965 ZAMBIA. Voice of Hope Africa - Lusaka (Makeni Ranch). American preaching at 1834, gospel song at 1840, fair signal, Sep 14.

⭐ 5009.91 MADAGASCAR. R. Madagasikara - Ambohidrano. Continuous pops including “Un Jour Viendra” by Johnny Hallyday at 1848. Fair signal, Sep 14.

5010 USA. AWR - Okeechobee FL. S/on 1100 in Spanish to Cuba, American preaching, fair signal, Sep 15.

5875 ARMENIA. BBC - Gavar. Pashto to Afghanistan at 1852, fair signal until s/off 1900.

5900 THAILAND. Deewa Radio - Ban Dung. Pashto to Afghanistan at 1855, fair signal until s/off 1900, Sep 14.

5900 BULGARIA. R. Taiwan Int’l - Kostinbrod. S/on 1900 in German to Eu, weak signal, Sep 14.

5945 TURKEY. VoT - Emirler. English to WEu at 1905, fair signal Sep 14.

⭐ 5950 ETHIOPIA. Voice of Tigray Revolution - Addis Ababa. Tigrinya chat and groovy East Afro pops, great programming! At 1910 with a fair signal, Sep 14.

5995.02 KOREA REP. Echo of Hope - Suwon-Osan. Korean talks at 1917, no jamming and good signal, Sep 14.

⭐⭐ 6030 ETHIOPIA. R. Oromiya - Geja Dera. Earnest commentaries at 1925 in the Oromo language. A weak signal, Sep 14.

⭐ 6065 ZAMBIA. Voice of Hope Africa - Lusaka. English to WAf at 1930, VoHA ID after pop song, a weak signal and // 4965 kHz where it was a little stronger, Sep 14.

⭐⭐ 6079.95 INNER MONGOLIA. I believe this is PBS Hulunbuir - Hailar and I haven’t seen it reported for quite a while. This one of the few listed low-powered (10 kW) Chinese outlets. At 1024 with slow traditional (possibly regional) instrumental music and occasional anncts in Mongolian. Rather haunting and atmospheric music, making for interesting listening! Alternating male/female announcers with reports from 1035. A new talk program at 1100 but the same two announcers, certainly sounding like Mongolian and definitely not Mandarin of the listed CNR’s Voice of China via Golmud. BUT, also at 1100 another open carrier fired up (so CNR??), which caused some light QRM to PBS. At 1120, some type of folk singing backed by a regional string instrument and interspersed with what seemed to be highly animated story-telling by an old man (lots of yelling and shouting!). By 1210 there was still no sign of CNR and the old guy was still going at it with his energetic and entertaining singing. So after nearly two hours, it was time for me to bail out!! Fair to poor signal here but also monitored at good strength on the Khabarovsk, Russia KiwiSDR. Sep 11.

6080 BOTSWANA. VoA - Moepeng Hill. English to Af at 1937 with commentary, fair signal, Sep 14.

6145 ENGLAND. KBS World R. - Woofferton. French to SEu at 1940, good signal, Sep 14.

6155 SÃO TOMÉ. BBC - Pinheira. English to SAf at 1945, fair signal, Sep 14.

7254.94 NIGERIA. VoNigeria - Abuja. This station remains irregular for its services on this frequency. But it did manage to arc up at 0602 in the middle of programming in the Hausa Language. Occasional mentions of Nigeria in a discussion program. Fair signal, Sep 12.

7265 MADAGASCAR. BBC - Talata-Volonondry. English WS to SAf at 1952, fair signal until s/off 2000. Runs // 7445 also via Talata also heard but a weak signal there, Sep 14.

11510 UZBEKISTAN. Free North Korea R. - Tashkent. Korean commentaries and discussions at 1325, fair signal, Sep 15.

11530 PRIDNESTROVIE. Dengê Welat - Kishinev. Kurdish to the ME at 1203, fair signal, Sep 15.

11750 AUSTRALIA. Reach Beyond Aust. - Kununurra WA. Hindi to SAs 1215, very good signal, Sep 15.

11860 SAUDI ARABIA. Rep. of Yemen R. Sana’a - Jeddah. Solo male (unaccompanied) singing (not Qur’an), occasional anncts by a woman at 1230, very good signal, Sep 15.

11875 PHILIPPINES. Vatican R. - Tinang. Russian to Siberia at 1235, very good signal, Sep 15.

11875 UZBEKISTAN. Nippon no Kaze - Tashkent. Initially, nothing heard at scheduled s/on but reception improved by 1307 to a barely readable level. Earnest Korean commentaries, Sep 15.

11915 TAIWAN. R. Taiwan Int’l - Paochung. Indonesian to SEAs at 1240. Chatty announcers with jazzy music in the background, good signal, Sep 15.

12055 UZBEKISTAN. AWR - Tashkent. The Kachin language service at 1316 to SEAs, fair signal, Sep 15.

Well, there is plenty on the shortwave bands to keep us interested! I hope you find something of interest to you. My thanks to Ron Howard from the sunny shores of California for his contribution this time around.

73 and good DX to you all!

Rob Wagner VK3BVW