DX QUICK TIPS

January 12, 2021

Reception conditions on the HF bands have been fair to average at Mount Evelyn over the past week. Here are some of my monitoring observations:

4930 BOTSWANA. VoA - Moepeng Hill. English to SAf with Afro-pop/rock music programming at 2035. Fair signal, s/off 2100, Jan 5.

👍 4965 ZAMBIA. Voice of Hope Africa - Lusaka. English to SAf with a weak signal, 2040 pop-rock music, 2045 Guidelines for Living. Frequency and s/off annct at 2100. Then concluded with a test tone until 2103. Jan 5.

9405 PHILIPPINES. FEBC - Bocaue. Mandarin to EAs at 2247, very weak signal on the 9MHz delta loop, Jan 10.

👍 9430 TAIWAN. R. Taiwan Int’l - Paochung. S/on 2300 in Korean to EAs, settled on this freq after a few days of tests in early December, weak signal, Jan 10.

9450 PHILIPPINES. FEBC - Bocaue. 2300-2330 in the Iu Mien language to EAs. The Lu Mien people are a recognised ethnic minority in China. Lu Mien speakers can be found in the Jinxiu Yao Autonomous County in Guangxi as well as in Guangdong, Yunnan and several other provinces. Lu Mien ethnic groups also migrated to Vietnam, Laos and Thailand. Displaced by the Vietnam War, some Lu Mien settled in the United States. Fair signal, Jan 10.

9510 SRI LANKA. AWR - Trincomalee. Thai to SEAs at 0020, weak signal, Jan 10.

9635 VIETNAM. VoV - Son Tay. Network 1 programming with commentaries at 0310. Fair signal, Jan 9.

11560 INDIA. AIR - Bengaluru. Dari service to AFG at 0320, Indian pops with a decidedly jazzy tone. Fair on Jan 9.

👍 11745 SAUDI ARABIA. Al-Azm R. - Jeddah. Qur’an beamed to Yemen at 0330, fair signal, Jan 9.

👍 11860 SAUDI ARABIA. Rep of Yemen R. Sana’a - Riyadh. Arabic to Yemen with commentaries and occasional snippets of music, good signal, Jan 9.

11880 CUBA. R. Habana - Bauta. Portuguese to Af at 2145, ID 2148, poor signal, Jan 5.

11945 NTH MARIANA IS. R. Free Asia - Agingan Pt or Tinian (not sure which site!). News at 2135, good signal and no jamming, Jan 5.

11975 MALI. CRI - Bamako. S/on 2130 in French to NAf, news bulletin. Fair signal, Jan 5.

12050 USA. WEWN - Vandiver AL. Spanish preaching to SAm at 2125, anncts at 2127, ID 2130, fair to poor signal, Jan 5.

12070 PHILIPPINES. FEBC - Iba. Mandarin to EAs at 0015, fair signal, Jan 10.

12095 ASCENSION IS. BBC - Ascension. English to WAf at 2100-2200 (weekdays only for this hour), fair signal, Jan 5.

13630 MALI. CRI - Bamako. English to EAf at 2114, discussion program, fair to poor level and the only signal on the band at this time, Jan 5.

13750 THAILAND. R. Thailand - Ban Dung. Ending the English service at 0230, then into Thai to ENAm, fair to poor signal, Jan 11.

13850 THAILAND. R. Azadi - Ban Dung. Pashto news reports beamed to AFG at 0235, fair signal, Jan 11.

👍 15105 D.P.R.KOREA. VoKorea - Kujang. On-air well before the scheduled 0300 s/on. First noted at 0240 with an open carrier and a somewhat hummy audio. Test tone at 0250, then back to open carrier at 0255. Finally, s/on at 0300 with the interval signal, ID, anthem and programming in Mandarin allegedly beamed to SEAs. Started out as a fair signal but it was pretty wobbly by the official s/on! Jan 11.

"Yunnan Radio International" - New ID and schedule on 6035 kHz

Yesterday, I received this note from Ron Howard (Asilomar State Beach, Calif., USA), which is sure to be of interest to the China-watchers amongst us:

6035 kHz - "Yunnan Radio International" (PBS Yunnan), on Jan 10, tuned in at 0950 UTC, to check as I often do for any reception of BBS/Bhutan (not heard for a long time), but instead heard this interesting new schedule. Some highlights:

0950-1000: IS of easy listening instrumental music; different from the musical IS played by PBS Yunnan on 7210 kHz. (please see log below).

1000, 1030, 1043 and 1100: New multi-language IDs (English: "Yunnan Radio International"). It may be recalled that last July there was an announcement of the station's name being changed from "Shangri-La" to "International." Today's IDs had no reference to "Shangri-La" and it is the first time I have heard the new ID.

1000-1030: DJ with music program; in Vietnamese.

1030-1100: Announcers in Chinese.

1100-1200: Children's program in Chinese. Normally at *1145, there would be the start of the FM99 ("Shangri-La") relay via PBS Yunnan, but that is no longer on the air. There was no break at 1130 for an ID.

1200: Unable to make out any ID; didn't hear what would normally be heard in the past of the FM99 "Radio Shangri-La" singing jingle, nor did I hear the new "Yunnan Radio International" ID.

As much as I will enjoy hearing Yunnan from 1000+, it will certainly kill any chance of hearing the co-channel BBS/Bhutan, as Yunnan will be much stronger than Bhutan.

7210 kHz - PBS Yunnan, *1040, Jan 10. Strong QRM from CNR1 (// 6125) to jam Sound of Hope (Taiwan); played the usual long loop IS of easy listening music till 1100; this IS is different from the musical IS played on 6035.

(Thanks, Ron)

Korean Central Radio testing digital broadcasting

I stumbled across this online article today concerning KCBS:

The Korean Central Broadcasting Station (KCBS), North Korea’s main national radio station, has been testing digital radio again.

In early December, broadcasts from the station using the DRM (Digital Radio Mondiale) format were received on shortwave. Compared to analog AM broadcasts, DRM signals are better quality but like all digital broadcasts there is little tolerance for interference. The signal is either good enough to receive or bad enough that you get nothing...............

(Continue reading at the North Korea Tech website)

73 and good DX to you all,

Rob Wagner VK3BVW