ASIAN DX FOCUS - LATEST TIPS

With Ron Howard (guest contributor)

MONITORING NOTES FROM USA

My thanks to Ron Howard (Asilomar Beach State Beach, California, USA) for a great range of logs noted in just the past couple of days. Some good tips here!

CHINA. 4900 // 4940, Voice of Strait, recently in July, heard 1030-1100 UT, with relay of CNR1 (// 6125); airing the National Newspapers/National News Network program in Chinese (name thanks to Amano & Kanto).

INDONESIA. 3325, VOI, broadcasting from Palangkaraya, on July 11; at 1112, start of the usual patriotic song “Bagimu Negeri,” following the news in Chinese; 1212, start of the usual patriotic song “Bagimu Negeri,” following the news in Japanese; 1306, start of the usual patriotic song “Bagimu Negeri,” following the news in English (not readable).

JAPAN[non-log]. 5006, HFD Radio Station JG2XA. July 11, from 1217+ UT. Have not checked on this frequency or // 8006 recently, but today both clearly off the air. These low powered stations (the last I knew they were 60W) are carrying out a HF-Doppler (HFD) project.

Ron: "In about one hour, a quick reply to my email to the professor regarding the absence of 5006 & 8006 kHz."

"Hi Ron,

Thanks for your message. As you wrote, we have been silent since 17:24 JST [0824 UT - Ron] on July 11. This is because we need to replace the air-conditioning system in the operation room. Hopefully the system will be back in a few days. Thanks!

Keisuke HOSOKAWA, Ph.D.

Department of Communication Engineering and Informatics,

University of Electro-Communications

1-5-1, Chofugaoka, Chofu, Tokyo 182-8585, JAPAN

TEL: +81-42-443-5299 FAX: +81-42-443-5293

E-mail: keisuke.hosokawa@uec.ac.jp

WWW: http://gwave.cei.uec.ac.jp/~hosokawa/index.html "

KOREA - NORTH/SOUTH.

July 11 (Monday) observations:

Echo of Hope - VOH (Suwon-Osan, Sth Korea): 3985 // 4890 // 5995 // 6255 // 6350 // 9105, from 1122 to 1150 UT; the EBS TV audio feed for the English language lesson "Wang cho bo yeong-eo," which is always aired only on weekdays; intro and exit theme song is the "Party Will Come Alive" by Wizardz Of Oz (with Ruben Martinez); the usual intro with announcer saying "English trainer" and gives his name ("Mayu"), then the woman announcer says her name ("Mini"); "Is there a Wi-Fi here? Can you please provide me with the password?", "You can use it for free. There is no password"; later at 1241, with the EBS news headlines and news stories in English and Korean. These frequencies should be good through July 17 (Sun.)

Voice of the People (Goyang,Gyeonggi-do): 3480 // 3910 // 3930 // 4450 // 6520 // 6600, at 1125 UT. As usual, it has been a long time now with no changes!

Shiokaze/Sea Breeze: 5920 // 6040, at *1300 UT, from Yamata (Japan). Continues to be free from N. Korea jamming! Strong 6040 causing QRM for Yunnan Radio International (China) on 6035, in Vietnamese.

Voice of Freedom (Chuncheon, Sth Korea): 6045, at 1130 UT; poor due to N. Korea super jamming, along with pulsating noise jamming. Super jamming was also noted on 6135, against no known station.

KCBS Pyongyang DRM (presumed) - on 3205 // 6140, at 1135 UT.

KCBS Pyongyang - on 3250 // 3959 (always off frequency), at 1130 UT.

Pyongyang BS (PBS Pyongyang Pansong), on 6160 (good) continues broadcasting here (formerly on 6400) and // 3320 (poor-fair), at 1220 UT.

Echo of Unification (Pyongyang) - 3945 // 5905, both fair at 1220 UT.

MALAYSIA[non-Sarawak]. 9835, Sarawak FM, from Kajang (on the west coast of the Malaysia peninsula), 1053-1056 UT on July 11. Usual three-minute Islamic call-to-prayer for the sunset prayer (Maghrib) Call-to-prayer times for Kuching (July 11):

Fajr 05:26 AM (2126 UT) - the dawn prayer
Dhuhr 12:48 PM (0448 UT) - early afternoon prayer
Asr 16:13 PM (0813 UT) - late afternoon prayer
Maghrib 18:53 PM (1053 UT) - the sunset prayer
Isha'a 20:08 PM (1208 UT) - the night prayer

https://www.muslimpro.com/en/Prayer-times-Kuching-Malaysia-1735634 .

Later at 1320, the station's slogan in English: "This station is now the ultimate power in the universe."

And a closing note from Ron:

"Receiver: Etón E1 - Have been retired now for 14 years and for all these years I have almost daily been using my E1 at the beach (bought 15 years ago!). It is still daily bringing in great reception! The most enjoyable radio I have ever owned."

MONITORING NOTES FROM AUSTRALIA

And now a list of stations monitored here at Mount Evelyn over the last two weeks. Equipment is the Yaesu FTDX3000 and the 100m long horizontal loop antenna.

ALL INDIA RADIO - Frequency Changes:
AIR Broadcasting Centre in Kolkata (John Meckley)

7380 AIR, Bengaluru. 0100-0139 in Sindhi to Pakistan, new service at this time.

9909.82 AIR, Delhi. Down from the registered 9910 kHz, 0100-0230 Tibetan to Tibet NF (ex 9875), fair signal.

9909.82 AIR, Delhi. Nepali to Nepal, additional freq for this service, // 11560, 15030, good sigs on all three freqs.

15030 AIR, Bengaluru. 0400-0530 in Farsi to Iran, new service at this time, strong signal but over modulated.

15050 AIR, Bengaluru. 2345-0115 Mandarin to China, NF (ex 13795), strong.

15285 AIR, Bengaluru. 0430-0600 Pashto to Afghanistan, NF (ex 15185/11560). Good signal but mixed with co-channel Saudi Arabia, probably a poor choice for Afghan listeners.

SRI LANKA

11905 SLBC, Trincomalee. Given the serious economic and political troubles, plus fuel shortages, I’ve been monitoring this over a number of days to see if services would be affected. Not yet! Always pleasant listening with lovely music programming at 0030 and 0200 UTC.

LATIN AMERICA:

3310 BOLIVIA. R. Mosoj Chaski, Cochabamba. Andean flavoured songs and anncts at 1015, weak signal in the noise.

6185 MEXICO. XEPPM R. Educación, Mexico City. Reactivated after some weeks off-air, noted at 0504 with talk and occasional music, weak signal.

9675 PERU. R. del Pacificó, Lima. Long Spanish preaching at 0715, station ID clearly heard at 0727 then Gospel songs. Fair reception.

73 and good DX to you all,

Rob Wagner VK3BVW