DX QUICK TIPS
June 23, 2023

It has been a busy few weeks here, so I am just starting to catch up on another MEDXR blog post. The radio has been on and below are a few monitoring observations from the shortwave broadcast bands. In addition, I have been cruising the ham bands and have had successful QSOs with the Ducie Island expedition, Eswatini, Gibraltar, Lakshadweep Islands, Mauritius and Kiribati.

5915 MYANMAR. Myanmar R. - Naypyidaw. 1055 Burmese commentary. ID at 1059, anncts, then into easy listening Burmese pop song. A weak signal at first tune-in, but improved to a fair level by 1125. Monitored until 1210 when the signal was good at sunset, 6:39 pm local time in Naypyidaw. June 16.

6185 CHINA. China Huayi BC - Fuzhou, Fujian Province. 1113 Mandarin beamed across the Taiwan Strait. Only about 240 km between Fuzhou and Taipei. Enjoyable programming with continuous laid-back Chinese pop songs. Fair signal.

7255 U.A.E. BBC - Dhabayya. BBC Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast. 2130-2200 Annual service to the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) team. Usual good wishes, BAS news and spasms of music. Good signal but with some light co-channel QRM from PBS Xizang (CNR 11) in Tibetan. At 2136 on 7260 kHz, there were several minutes of booming Firedrake music that caused some adjacent channel splash. Then it was gone as quickly as it had started....until CRI-Urumqi cranked up at 2159 on 7260 with the supposedly Portuguese service running continuous music. Overall, I suspect that this frequency would have been well-heard by the BAS team this year. June 21.

7260 VANUATU. R. Vanuatu - Emten Lagoon. 0650 Bislama language. Music programming, 0658 canned anncts and adverts, several in English. 0701 - time check as 0700!! Then news. A gigantic signal. Continued past 0800 with no change to 3945 kHz on June 6.

7315 VATICAN. R. Tamazuj - SM Galeria. 0415 Sudanese Arabic with a mix of music and interviews. Winter afternoon reception via the long path, fair to poor signal. R. Dabanga followed at 0430 and the signal improved during the course of that broadcast until s/off 0457. June 18.

7360 VATICAN. Vatican R. - SM Galeria. S/on 0440 in Ukrainian to EEu, then into Russian at 0500. Good signal, via LP, June 18.

7375 ENGLAND. VoA - Woofferton. 0420 English to EAf, political discussion. Via the long path, fair signal, June 18.

7390 GERMANY. AWR - Nauen. *0430-0500* French to NAf. Discussion/preaching. Fair signal via the long path, June 7.

9470 ALGERIA. Ifrikya FM - Béchar. 0510 Arabic and French content with talks and pleasant African music. Fair signal, June 18.

9480 GERMANY. R. Azadi - Biblis. 0420 to s/off 0430 Pashto to Iran. Fair signal.

9670 GERMANY. Channel 292 - Rohrbach. 0335 Continuous antique pops such as "Alone Again Naturally" by Gilbert O'Sullivan and "Sundown" by Gordon Lightfoot. This is long-path winter daytime reception at this time, with the signal crossing WEu, over the Atlantic, the top of SAm and on into the Sth Pacific via the South Island of NZ. A weak signal at first but came up somewhat by 0415. Impressive reception for its listed 10kW. June 7.

9860 AUSTRIA. AWR - Moosbrunn. 0330 Farsi to Iran, 0400 Turkish to ME until s/off 0430. Good signal via the wintertime long-path route, June 7.

British Antarctic Survey. (2023, February 14). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Antarctic_Survey

12005 ENGLAND. BBC - Woofferton. BBC Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast. 2130-2200 Annual service to the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) team. Usual good wishes, BAS news and spasms of music. An excellent signal on this clear channel. June 21.

13790 ALGERIA. Ifrikya FM - Ouargla. 0615 French with lively Afro music and chat. Noted with a fair signal under the stronger co-channel RFA via Agingan Point and CNR 1 jamming. June 18.

British Antarctic Survey. (2023, February 14). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Antarctic_Survey

13810 ENGLAND. BBC - Woofferton. BBC Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast. 2130-2200 Annual service to the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) team. Usual good wishes, BAS news and spasms of music. An excellent signal on this clear channel. June 21.

15110 ALGERIA. Ifrikya FM - Béchar. S/on 0601 in French with songs and chat. Fair signal, June 18.

17600 ALGERIA. Ifrikya FM - Bechar. 1015 French to CAf. Interview program with occasional short bursts of African music. Fair signal, June 4.

17730 TAIWAN. Burma News International - Paochung. 1132 Burmese. News, commentaries and interviews, interspersed with spasms of music, in this 30 min service beamed to Myanmar. The Aoki database incorrectly lists this as Mizzima Radio at this time. Weak signal to s/off 1200, June 16.

17790 VATICAN. Vatican R. - SM Galeria. *1130-1159* English to ME, Fridays only liturgy service. Fair signal, June 16.

17790 OMAN. BBC - Al Seela. *1200 English WS news to SAs, fair signal, June 16.

21470 OMAN. BBC - Al Seela. 1000-1030 Pashto to SAs, into Dari at 1030. Good signal.

21505 NTH MARIANA IS. R. Free Asia - Tinian. S/on 1000 Tibetan, Sunday-only service to EAs, good signal and no CNR jamming.

LATE ITEM:

TEST TRANSMISSIONS FOR R. TAIWAN INTERNATIONAL

11995 TAIWAN. R. Taiwan International - Tamsui. 1726 German test to Eu. ID at 1730, mainly news talks. 1740 Test txion ID. Suddenly of mid talk at 1741. Good sig. June 24.

9545 TAIWAN. R. Taiwan International - Tamsui. 1800 German test to Eu. Full test txion ID at 1800, mainly news talks. Good sig. June 24.

7245 TAIWAN. R. Taiwan International - Tamsui. 1820 German test to Eu. Full test txion ID at 1820, songs. Fair signal but severe QRM from RRI 7250 with German DRM service to Europe! Terrible choice of frequency! June 24.

The above tests were conducted in preparation for the annual summer German broadcasts from RTI during the month of July. (Information via Paul Gager)

The RTI German service will broadcast direct from Tamsui at 1700-1800 and 1800-1900 on the following dates:

Friday 07 July, Saturday 08 July, Sunday 09 July, Friday 14 July, Saturday 15 July, Sunday16 July, Friday 21 July, Saturday 22 July, Sunday 23 July, Friday 28 July, Saturday 29 July, Sunday 30 July

The final choice of frequencies for the above days will be announced shortly.

Reports will be confirmed with a special QSL card by post. You can send reports using the webform on their home page.

By email: deutsch@rti.org.tw or

By post: Radio Taiwan International, German Service, PO Box 123-199, Taipei 11199, Taiwan

73 and have a great DXing weekend!

Rob Wagner VK3BVW