DX QUICK TIPS
August 14, 2021

Reception conditions over the past week or so have been somewhat average. Here in Australia, it feels like we are coming out of the winter DX season rather quickly! There are a lot fewer afternoon signals on the 31mb. And the 41 and 49 mb have been pretty much devoid of stations until much later in the afternoon. But with persistence, a good antenna (...or two, or three!), and a bit of kindness cast down from the Ionosphere Gods, we can stumble upon the odd opening when the signals are stronger and the noise drops away.

EQUIPMENT: Yaesu FTDX3000, Kenwood R5000, Kenwood TS2000

ANTENNAS: 100m long horizontal loop, 30m delta loop, 14 MHz double bazooka dipole

3320 D.P.R.KOREA. PBS Pyongyang Pansong - Pyongyang. Korean orchestral music, but sounding distinctly Western in melodic content at 1845. ID and time pips at 1900. Brief news report then s/off 1902 with the carrier off for the two-hour hiatus, unlike the 3220 Pyongyang BS-Hamhung outlet, which leaves the carrier on for its two-hour break in programming between 1800 and 2000. Good signal, Aug 13.

4750 BANGLADESH. Bangladesh Betar - Shavar. Great to hear much-improved audio in recent times, but still not 100% pure yet (still needs a bit more work!). Noted at 1947 in Bangla with commentary and many mentions of Bangladesh and Pakistan. Eventual s/off at 2000. Good signal but with co-channel QRM from Voice of Indonesia in Dutch, Aug 13.

4765 TAJIKISTAN. R. Tajikistan - Yangi Yul (Dushanbe). News items in Tajik at 1955. Suddenly off mid-sentence at its scheduled time of exactly 2000. Fair signal, Aug 13.

4965 ZAMBIA. Voice of Hope Africa - Makeni Ranch. American preaching and gospel songs with an African flavour at 1923. VOH programming annct at 1928. Fair signal and // 6065 where the signal was very good, Aug 13.

Antennas at Voice of Hope Africa, Zambia

5009.92 MADAGASCAR. R. Madagasikara - Ambohidrano. Selections of Malagasy pops at 1850. Anncts and ID at 1900, followed by local news in Malagasy. News in French at 1930. Back into Malagasy at 1940 with Friday night Afro party music and chat; pleasant listening. Still going past 2010. Fair signal, Aug 13.

5020 SOLOMON ISLANDS. Solomon Islands BC - Honiara. At 1908 with pop song programming including Elton John's "Yellow Brick Road". English anncts and TC as "19 minutes past six o'clock". Good signal, Aug 13.

6015 ROMANIA. RRI - Galbeni. Romanian to SEu at s/on 0400 (2:00pm here). Now the only signal on the band at this time! A far cry from two months ago when the 49mb was quite busy with signals from Eu and NAm during my midwinter DX season, Aug 12.

6070 GERMANY. Channel 292 - Rohrbach. Usual rock fare at 2012, canned "292 Rock" ID at 2014. Fair signal and great to hear it still maintaining a presence into SE Australia. Aug 13.

6090 ETHIOPIA. Amhara State R. - Geja Dera. Amharic anncts, telephone talkback and Horn of Africa songs at 2017. Fair signal but with co-channel QRM KBS World Radio's Arabic service to NAf via Woofferton, Aug 13.

6155 GERMANY. AWR - Nauen. At 0440 f/in in French to NAf until s/off 0500, fair to poor signal, Aug 12.

6180 AUSTRIA. R. Andorra - Moosbrunn. Tribute broadcast with French to WEu at 1825. Talk and music programming, including Honesty by Billy Joel. Good signal except for co-channel QRM from VOA-Pinheira also in French to Africa at s/on 1830. Aug 7.

7254.94 NIGERIA. VoNigeria - Abuja. Hausa to WAf at 0637 fair signal, Aug 5.

7295 FRANCE. R. Algerienne - Issoudun. S/on 0500 to WAf with Qur’an, fair signal and // 9535 where it was a good signal, Aug 12.

7315 VATICAN. R. Tamazuj - SM Galeria. At 0410 with discussion in Sudanese Arabic to Sudan, poor signal. Followed by R. Dabanga at 0430 with an improved signal. Aug 12.

9655 FRANCE. R. France Int’l - Issoudun. S/on 0430 in Swahili with news to EAf, fair signal, Aug 12.

9790 FRANCE. R. France Int’l - Issoudun. Pop music selections at 0420 to EAf, fair signal and at equal strength to co-channel CRI via Quivican, Cuba until 0500 when RFI is then in the clear. Aug 12.

9900 IRAN. VoIRI - Zahedan. Relay of the Al-Quds TV service in Arabic at 0340, fair to poor signal, Aug 12.

9915 MADAGASCAR. BBC - Talata Volonondry. S/on 0359 for the English service to EAf and SAf. Severe adjacent channel QRM from the French Navy STANAG in Noumea, New Caledonia on 9911. This can be avoided by tuning un USB, Aug 12.

11570 FRANCE. Dimtse Woyane Tigray (a.k.a. DW International) - Issoudun. Beamed to EAf at 0440 with groovy Afro songs and dance numbers and Tigrinya anncts. Closing anncts and ID at 0459 then off air. A variable heterodyne whistle and “mile-wide” jamming hash covering 11560 to 11580 kHz (!!) accompanied the fair to poor signal. The jamming finally stopped at 0510. Aug 7.

11665 MALAYSIA. RTV Malaysia - Kajang. Wai FM service with Malay pops between discussions at 0225, fair signal, Aug 4.

11860 SAUDI ARABIA. Rep. of Yemen R. Sana’a - Jeddah. Long Arabic interview at 0230, beamed to Yemen, fair signal, Aug 4.

11905 SRI LANKA. SLBC - Trincomalee. S/on 0158 for the 0200 Hindi service to SAs. ID at 0200 and into music programming. Big signal that flattened co-channel CNR 6 (GOOD!), Aug 4.

11925 SRI LANKA. AWR - Trincomalee. Cantonese to EAs at 0130 to s/off 0157. Fair signal, Aug 4.

12035 THAILAND. Deewa R. - Ban Dung. Pashto to Afghanistan. Interview program at 0215, good signal, Aug 4.

12050 ENGLAND. R. Ndarason Int’l - Woofferton. At 0645 with current affairs program in Kanuri to WAf (Chad), fair signal, Aug 4.

13710 FRANCE. Manara R. Int’l - Issoudun. Hausa to WAf at s/on 0700, fair signal and mainly talk programming, Aug 4.

15629.84v UZBEKISTAN. R. Iran Int’l - Tashkent. At 0710 in Farsi with talk and occasional Iranian music excerpts. Poor signal, Aug 4.

FINALLY: Thank you to all those folk who downloaded and commented so favourably on my 2021 Winter DX Survey. The positive feedback was much appreciated and the final product appears to have been very well received! I encourage all serious DXers to undertake similarly concentrated observations of sections of the shortwave spectrum in your part of the world. Much can be learned about propagation and spectrum usage while undertaking these studies.

That's it for now. 73 and have a great weekend everyone!

Rob Wagner VK3BVW