DX QUICK TIPS
January 1, 2022

AND WE ARE AWAY!......... My first blog post for 2022.

I wish you all a very Happy New Year. The past couple of years have been tough, but we can always look to brighter days ahead.

Here are some DX tips noted in the last few days and hours of 2021. It has been great to see the solar flux index (SFI) on the rose over the past week. So, here at Mount Evelyn (SE Australia) we have witnessed improved reception of the few broadcasters using the 13mb (see 21470, 21580 and 21670 kHz). We could see greater use of this band in the next year or so.

MAIN RECEIVER: Yaesu FTDX3000

ANTENNAS: 100m long horizontal loop, 30m full-wave vertical delta loop, 14 MHz dipole

👍👍 2349.4 D.P.R.KOREA. KCBS - Sariwon. Being regularly heard now, so its return to the frequency appears permanent. F/in around 1230 with a weak signal. Female choir in an orchestral setting. Runs // 3250 (via Pyongyang) where it is considerably stronger. Dec 29.

👍 4750 BANGLADESH. Bangladesh Betar - Shavar. 1238 with English to SAs, news commentary. Good signal and audio quality except for a slight background hum. Co-channel QRM from CNR 1 - Hailar on 4749.99, Dec 29.

👍👍 5915 MYANMAR. Myanma R. - Naypyidaw. 1320 Burmese pop ballads and anncts in one of the lilting northern minority languages. Interview at 1335. Eibi lists English at 1300-1400 but not so! Good signal with only slight co-channel QRM from CRI's Russian to NEAs, Dec 29.

👍👍 5985 MYANMAR. Myanma R. - Yaegu, Yangon. 1350 in Burmese with discussion and many mentions of Yangon and Myanmar. After 1400, a quiz program! Good signal on a nice clear channel at this time. Dec 29.

👍 6035 CHINA. Yunnan Radio Int'l - Kunming. 1115 Mandarin talks and music. 1129 IDs in Mandarin and English as simply "Yunnan Radio International". Until recently, the station's slogan was "the Voice of Shangri-La", but that has been dropped now. Good signal but best listened to in USB mode to avoid the CNR DRM racket on 6030. Dec 30.

👍 6185 CHINA. China Huayi BC - Fuzhou. Time pips at 1300, Mandarin ID and news programming. Good signal but co-channel QRM from the 1300 s/on of VoKorea also in Mandarin and almost at equal strength. Dec 29.

9410 SAÕ TOMÉ. BBC - Pinheira. 0715 English WS to WAf, good signal and better than what we usually get in SE Australia from Pinheira, Dec 29.

9710 FRANCE. R. France Int'l - Issoudun. 0710 in Mandingo to WAf, news reports, fair signal, Dec 29.

11680 ZAMBIA. VoHope Africa - Lusaka. 0410 in English to WAf with preaching, fair signal, Dec 28.

11745 SAUDI ARABIA. Al-Azm R. - Jeddah. 0415 in Arabic to Yemen, discussion program. Fair to poor signal but I expect it to improve in the next few hours. Dec 28.

11825 MADAGASCAR. MWV African Pathways R. - Mahajanga. 0425 English to CAf, impressively complex vocal work by an a capella Gospel choir, fair signal, Dec 28.

11860 SAUDI ARABIA. Republic of Yemen R. Sana'a - Riyadh. 0435 in Arabic to Yemen with music programming. Fair signal, Dec 28.

11875 IRAN. VoIRI - Sirjan. 0440 Turkish to ME with COVID news, fair signal, Dec 28.

👍👍 11905 SRI LANKA. SLBC - Trincomalee. S/on 0030 in Bangla to SAs. 30 min of lovely wistful music programming and occasional anncts. But it was a weak signal and took much digging and cross-checking with some Asian remote SDRs to establish confirmation. S/off 0059 mid-song, Dec 31.

11980 GERMANY. AWR - Nauen. 0705 Arabic to NAf, good signal, Dec 29.

12055 PHILIPPINES. FEBC - Bocaue. 0005 in the Tai-Lu language (beamed to ethnic minorities in Laos, Thailand, Burma and Vietnam). Changed to the Lahu language at 0018 through to 0045. Fair to poor signal, Dec 31.

12070 VATICAN. VoA - SM Galeria. 0700 Hausa to WAf, fair signal, Dec 29.

12095 SAÕ TOMÉ. BBC - Pinheira. 0655 English WS to SAf, poor signal and off at 0659. Then it switched to Ascension Is. for the continuation to WAf with an even weaker signal here, Dec 29.

12110 KUWAIT. R. Mashaal - Umm al-Rimam. 0220 Pashto to Pakistan, news reports, fair signal, Dec 28.

12125 THAILAND. VoA - Ban Dung. 1130-1200 Rohingya to Myanmar. Many mentions of the Rohingya people and their plight. Not Mandarin as in the Eibi list. Fair signal, Dec 30.

13600 GERMANY. R. Farda - Lampertheim. 0650 in Farsi to Iran, music programming, fair to poor signal, Dec 29.

13760 MADAGASCAR. World Christian BC - Mahajanga. 0345 in English to SAs, pop music and anncts. Weak signal until s/off 0358, Dec 28.

13790 MADAGASCAR. BBC - Talata Volonondry. S/on 0400 in Somali to EAf, fair signal with the news, Dec 28.

13795 INDIA. AIR - Bengaluru. 0000 in Mandarin to EAs. Weak signal and under heavy assault from CNR 1 jamming, Dec 31.

13865 VATICAN. BBC - SM Galeria. 0600-0700 English WS 13600 to CAf/SAf, fair signal, Dec 29.

13870 PHILIPPINES. FEBC - Bocaue. 1145 Khmer to SEAs, good signal, Dec 30.

15210 GUAM. AWR - Agat. 1100-1200 Mandarin to EAs, fair signal, Dec 30.

😱😱 15461.79v KUWAIT. R. Kuwait - Sulaibiyah. 0538 English to EU with COVID News. Supposed to be on 15440 but it's waaaaayyyyy off frequency AGAIN. Check out the video below from the online VK5ARG Kiwi remote receiver video below to see and hear the wobbly carrier in AM and USB, Dec 28. Then on Dec 29, I tuned in at 0630 to find Kuwait had wobbled its way down more than 30 kHz (!) to 15429.5v but within ten minutes, it had fallen further to 15426.5v with the added bonus of distorted audio. It's been like this for months now. I wonder when they will fix it?

👍 15629.84 UZBEKISTAN. Afghanistan Int'l TV - Tashkent. 0610 in Farsi to Iran, weak signal at first but strengthened somewhat an hour or so later, Dec 29.

17815 NTH MARIANA IS. R. Free Asia - Tinian. S/on 0700 in Burmese to SEAs, good signal, Dec 26.

17815.14 U.A.E. BBC - Dhabayya. S/on 0630 in Hausa to WAf, a poor signal and way off freq, Dec 26.

17820.07 GUAM. KSDA - Agat. AWR programming in Mandarin to EAs, fair signal and off-freq, Dec 31.

17830 VATICAN. BBC - SM Galeria. 0717 English to CAf/SAf. Barely audible under the co-channel CNR 1 with its DRM hash extending from 17825 to 17835. Dec 26.

👍👍 21470 MADAGASCAR. BBC - Talata Volonondry. S/on 1100 for the 30 min service to EAf in Somali. Good signal for most of the broadcast, Dec 30.

👍👍 21580 FRANCE. R/ France Int'l - Issoudun. 1040 French to CAf, fair signal until s/off 1100, Dec 30.

👍👍 21670.03 SAUDI ARABIA. R. Saudi Int'l - Riyadh. 1045 Indonesian to SEAs, fair to good signal with frequent flutter fading and sitting slightly high in frequency. Sudden s/off 1157 precisely, mid-sentence. Dec 30.

73 and good DX to you all,

Rob Wagner VK3BVW