A22 SEASON - EARLY NEW FREQUENCY OBSERVATIONS

A22 TRANSMISSION SEASON

NEW FREQUENCIES MONITORED

The new A22 transmission season began last weekend. I have been scanning the international shortwave bands, checking out what has changed since the start of this new season. Below is a record of some very early observations made during the first four days since the changeover.

Where possible, for each item, I have tried to identify the former frequency used in the B21 season. But this is sometimes quite hard because schedules can be complex or drastically changed by the broadcaster, making it difficult to arrive at direct comparisons. There are 50+ frequency changes listed below. So if you are missing your favourite station, then it could be listed here!

Some additional points to note:

The list is in frequency order. The countries listed are where the transmitter sites are located. Many broadcasters make use of transmitters in other countries in order to achieve better reception to the target zones. e.g. the world-famous BBC is currently making use of this long list of relays for the A22 transmission season: Oman, Singapore, Bulgaria, Armenia, Ascension Is, São Tomé, Uzbekistan, Sri Lanka, Philippines, Pridnestrovie, Tajikistan, the United Arab Emirates, the Vatican, and Madagascar as well as its own transmitters in Woofferton, England!
LAYOUT CHANGE: In most cases, I have listed the sign-on and sign-off times for each broadcast. These are represented by asterisks * before the sign-on time and after the sign-off time. I hope readers will find this information more useful.
Australia is not part of the target zones for just about all of these broadcasts. The era of services beamed specifically to Australia stopped years ago. Well....except for China Radio International (aka CGTN), of course! So, comments on signal strength as noted at Mount Evelyn have, in most cases, not been included in this list. In the designated target zones, listeners should find good to excellent reception from many of their favourite broadcasters.
All observations are based on actual monitoring from my receivers here at Mount Evelyn. Occasionally, remote SDRs are called upon to confirm the Mount Evelyn reception and monitor propagation conditions in or near the target zone. These remote tools are particularly useful for checking the impact of interference, if any, of co-channel or adjacent channel broadcasters.
Some DX lists compare new frequencies with "ex" frequencies used for the same transmission season in the previous year (i.e. A21). Personally, I don't find this system useful and can be confusing. Yes, I know that a few stations will often try to use the same frequencies for the previous corresponding 12-month period. However, from a regular shortwave listener's perspective, at the start of a new season, they want to know if the frequency has changed since they last listened on the previous day or previous week - They won't remember a frequency from a season ago!
You may see an occasional change to some of the frequencies listed below in the upcoming weeks. This is not unusual as broadcasters may discover they have clashed with other stations or receive reports of poor reception in the target zones. Sometimes, it can take a few weeks for everything to settle in a new transmission season.

NOTE: In my travels across the radio spectrum recently, I noted a number of DX observations that are NOT related to the A22 frequency changeover. These have been included in this list as well.

Equipment: Yaesu FTDX3000 transceiver, Kenwood TS2000 transceiver.

Antennas: 100m long horizontal sky loop antenna, a delta loop antenna for 10 MHz and a double bazooka antenna for 14 MHz.

Abbreviations:
NF = New Frequency for the A21 transmission season

NS = New Site (i.e. a change in relay station for a specific broadcast)
QRM = Interference from another station
// = The same broadcast simultaneously on another frequency, i.e. in parallel.

WS = BBC World Service

5960   TURKEY. VoT - Emirler. *1600-2100* Turkish to ME/NAf, NF (probably ex 6120), Mar 28.

5970   OMAN. BBC - Al Seela. *1800-1900* Pashto to SAs, NF (possibly ex 6090), Mar 28.

5990   IRAN. VoIRI - Sirjan. *1820-1920* Albanian to SEu, NF, plenty of carrier but not much modulation, Mar 28.

5995.04   KOREA REP. Echo of Hope - Hwaseong. 0920 Korean with the usual commentaries. The frequency up a little higher than it usually is, fair signal, Mar 15.

6015   KOREA REP. KBS Hanminjok Bangsong 1 - Hwaseong. 0935 Korean in the 1st Global Korean Network for ethnic Korean listeners overseas. Talks interspersed with occasional bursts of music. A light mix of various background jamming noises, fair signal. Mar 15.

6040   SAÕ TOMÉ. VoA - Pinheira. *1800-1900* Shona and English?!! to SAf, NF, Mar 28.

6080.33   BOTSWANA. VoA - Moepeng Hill. *1800-2000* English to Af, NF, Fair signal but seriously off-freq, Mar 28.

6165.11   UAE. TWR Africa - Dhabayya. 1855 to 1900* Tigrinya to EAf, off-freq and with a low level transmitter hum, Mar 28.

7465 SINGAPORE. BBC - Kranji. *2200-0000* WS English to SEAs, NF (ex 5890), only possible here in USB due to severe QRM from the Australian Humpty Doo STANAG on 7462, Apr 1.

7600 ARMENIA. Afghanistan Int'l - Gavar. 1910 Pashto to AFG, excellent signal, Mar 28.

7730   USA. R. Taiwan Int'l - Okeechobee FL. *2200-2230* Spanish to WEu, NF (ex 7780), Apr 1.

9410   ENGLAND. BBC - Woofferton. *0500-0600* English WS to WAf, NF (ex 6005), Mar 31.

9460   TURKEY. VoT - Emirler. *1600-2100* Turkish to Eu, NF (ex 5980), Mar 28.

9480   CHINA. CRI - Xian. *1800-2000* French to Eu, NF (ex 7360), Mar 28.

9490   CHINA. CRI - Kunming. *2330-0030* Sinhala to SAs, NF (ex 6100) and // 7260 also heard, Apr 1.

9525   PRIDNESTROVIE. Dengê Welat - Grigoriopol. 1930 Kurdish to ME, good signal but heavy jamming from Emirler, Turkey, Mar 28.

9620   FRANCE. R. Algerienne - Issoudun. *0600-0700* Arabic to WAf and CAf, NF (ex 6105), Mar 31.

👍👍 9666.83v BRAZIL. Voz Missionária - Camboriú SC. 0810 Portuguese with continuous songs by a small group. ID and web address at 0823, then more music. Many IDs and anncts at 0831. The carrier constantly flipped up and down a few Hertz over the 25 min listening period, which was most noticeable when detuned in SSB mode. Not a strong signal but the best I've heard it for quite a while! Mar 27.

9695   USA. KNLS - Anchor Point AK. *0800-0900* English, NF (ex 6075), Mar 27.

9700   NEW ZEALAND. RNZ Pacific - Rangitaiki. 0845 English to Pacific, NF, March 27.

9700   ROMANIA. RRI - Tiganesti. *2300-2257* Spanish to SAm, NF (possibly ex 9490), Apr 1.

9955   PALAU. T8WH Hope Radio - Medorn. 0850 English with heavy American proselytizing. Good signal, Mar 27.

11610   ENGLAND. VoA - Woofferton. *1800-1900* Amharic to EAf, NF, Mar 29.

11640   KUWAIT. R. Free Asia - Umm al-Rimam. *0100-0200* Uighur to EAs, NF (possibly ex 12065) with jamming, of course. Mar 31.

11660   CHINA. CRI - Shijiazhuang. *1730-1830* Mandarin to Eu, NF (ex 6150), Mar 29.

11735   SINGAPORE. BBC - Kranji. *1800-1900* Pashto to SAs, NF (ex 7465), Mar 29.

11760   KUWAIT. VoA - Umm al-Rimam. *1800-1900* Mandarin to EAs, NF, heavy Firedrake jamming, Mar 29.

11775   CHINA. CRI - Kashi. *1800-2000* Music in the German service, NF (ex 7395), Mar 29.

11785   ENGLAND. KBS World R. - Woofferton. *1800-1900* Russian to EEu, NF, Mar 29.

11790   FRANCE. R. France Int'l - Issoudun. *0430-0500* Swahili to EAf, NF (ex 11700 via Talata), Mar 31.

11800   JAPAN. R. Japan - Yamata. *1700-1900* Japanese to SAs, NF (ex 9680?), Mar 29.

👍👍 11815.03   BRAZIL. R. Brasil Central - Goiânia. First noted at 0500 Portuguese with Brazilian pops and occasional anncts and mentions of Brazil. ID at 0510. A weak signal but got stronger as the afternoon progressed and monitored to past 0630. Confirmed against the much stronger signal on the Pardinho Kiwi remote SDR. This is certainly rare reception here these days! Prop is the night-time path SSW out from Goiânia, past the Falklands, grazing the Antarctic coastline, then into daylight for the last part of the trip south of the South Island of NZ, through the middle of Tasmania and into Mount Evelyn in our late afternoon. Heard best on the SE-facing 10 MHz full wave delta loop. Very pleased to catch it after such a long time! Mar 31.

11850   FRANCE. Deutsche Welle - Issoudun. *1800-1900* Hausa to WAf, NF, Mar 29.

11870   UAE. VoA - Dhabayya. *1830-1900* Kinyarwanda to Af, NF, Mar 29.

11895   CHINA. CRI - Xian. *1800-1900* Amoy to SEu, NF (ex 7285), Mar 29.

11930   USA. R. Martí - Greenville NC. 2300-0000* Spanish to Cuba, running for an extra hour on this freq during A22, Apr 1.

11960   GUAM. KSDA - Agat. *2230-2300* AWR Indonesian programming, NF (ex 11955), Apr 1.

11965   VATICAN. BBC - SM Galeria. *1830-1850 Amharic to EAf, then 1850-1910* into Oromo, NF (ex 9705), Mar 29.

11975   ROMANIA. RRI - Galbeni. *1800-1900* Romanian to SEu, NF, Mar 29.

11985   NTH MARIANA ISLAND. VoA - Saipan. *1500-1900* Korean to EAs, NF (ex 11550), light jamming, Mar 29.

12025   SINGAPORE. BBC - Kranji. *1700-1900* English to CAs and ME, NF (ex 7485), Mar 29.

12025   SINGAPORE. BBC - Kranji. *0000 is English WS to SAs, not Burmese as listed in HFCC for A22, Apr 1.

12035   GERMANY. VoA - Lampertheim. *1700-1900* Pashto to SAs, NF, Mar 29.

12070   KUWAIT. VoA - Umm al-Rimam. *1800-1900* Amharic to EAf, NF (ex 13765), Mar 29.

12095   AUSTRIA. BBC - Moosbrunn. *0530-0600* Hausa to WAf, NF, Mar 31.

12110   PHILIPPINES. VoA - Tinang. *0000-0030* Burmese to SEAs, NF (ex 9380), Apr 1.

12130   KUWAIT. R. Mashaal - Umm al-Rimam. 0545 Urdu to SAs, NF (ex 12110), Mar 31.

15100   CHINA. CRI - Beijing. *0000-0100* Hakka to SEAs, NF (ex 9860), Mar 31.

15165   ENGLAND. VoA - Woofferton. *1700-1800* English to Af, NF, Mar 29.

15265   ENGLAND. IBRA R. - Woofferton. *1700-1800* Arabic to ME, NF, Mar 29.

15320   GUAM. KSDA - Agat. *0030-0100* AWR programming in Asho Chin to SEAs, NF (ex 15325), Mar 31.

15370   GUAM. KSDA - Agat. *2300-2330 Khmer to SEAs, 2330-0000* Thai (Su-We, Fr) and Lao (Th, Sa), NF (ex 15365), Apr 1.

15435   PHILIPPINES. BBC - Tinang. *1530-1830* Korean to EAs, NF (ex 5845), Mar 29.

15485   FRANCE. R. France Int'l - Issoudun. *1730-1800* Fulah to WAf, NF (ex 11780), good signal but some distortion on the audio, Mar 29.

15510   ENGLAND. IBRA R. - Woofferton. *1730-1900* Arabic to CAf and EAf, NF, Mar 29.

15565   VATICAN. Vatican R. - SM Galeria. *1730-1800* Tigrinya to EAf, NF (ex 11935), Mar 29.

15590   THAILAND. R. Thailand - Ban Dung. *0000-0059* Thai to WNAm, NF (ex 13750), Mar 31.

15620   SINGAPORE. BBC - Kranji. *0100-0200* English WS to SAs, NF (ex 12095), Mar 31.

15630   SRI LANKA. AWR - Trincomalee. *0100-0130* Amoy to EAs, NF (ex 15625), Mar 31.

15700   NTH MARIANA IS. RFA - Tinian. Believed to be this at *0100-0130* in Burmese to SEAs, NF (ex 15250?), Mar 31.

17720   GUAM. KSDA - Agat. *0030-0100* AWR programming in the Karen language to SEAs, NF (ex 17525), Mar 31.

17850   FRANCE. R. France Int'l - Issoudin. *1800-1900* French to CAf, NF (ex 13740), Mar 29.

17855   SPAIN. REE - Noblejas. *1800-0200* Spanish to NAm and CAm, NF, Mar 29.

RAMADAN

The ninth month of the Islamic calendar is observed as a time of fasting from dawn until sunset. It is considered a spiritually important time by our Muslim brothers and sisters. This year, Ramadan takes place between April 1 and May 1. During this time, shortwave broadcasters in the Islamic world are worth watching for additional services or extended schedules. In the past, I have noted Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, and Iran all operating at different times to their normal schedules.

73 and wishing you good DX!

Rob Wagner VK3BVW