DX QUICK TIPS

August 19, 2023

Reception conditions have been a little mixed over the past few weeks. There has been plenty of solar activity during that time, not all of it good for shortwave listening. But with time and patience, there are still some opportunities for good DX catches.

RIGS: Yaesu FTDX3000, Kenwood TS2000, Kenwood R5000

ANTENNAS: Horizontal Sky Loop 100m long, 10 MHz Delta Loop, 14 MHz Double Bazooka, 5/8 wave centre-fed vertical for 21-30 MHz.

3310   BOLIVIA. R. Mosoj Chaski - Cochabamba. 1000 Canned and live announced IDs with many mentions of Mosoj Chaski. Seemed to be in Quechua but with sprinklings of Spanish words. Then Bolivian songs with that distinctive Andean sound. An extended talk at 1009. Weak signal, Aug 13.

4885.03   BRAZIL. R. Clube do Pará - Belem PA. 0945 Brazilian pops with a weak signal. Then flattened by Nth Korean jamming at 0953, so there was no hope of continued monitoring from that time on. Aug 13.

5035   AUSTRALIA. Unique R. Australia - Tamworth NSW. 1030 After having reappeared in July, modulating on LSB, the month of August now sees this station using USB! What's the reason for the change? Still the same awful, tinny, lo-fi sound - not the way to attract dedicated music fans!! And still playing the usual prehistoric pops from the Jurassic period. Fair signal. At 1100, it moves to 3210 kHz USB for the remainder of the broadcast. Aug 13.

5829.94   UZBEKISTAN. Iran International TV - Tashkent. 2135 Farsi to Iran. ID and news reports. Very good signal, Aug 18.

5909.95   COLOMBIA. Alcaravan R. - Puerto Lleras. F/in 0645 with a weak signal and never became especially strong. Sentimental songs and occasional anncts. Aug 13.

6180   BRAZIL. R.Nacional Amazônia - Brasilia DF. 2142 Portuguese, football news reports. Weak signal but may improve over the next month as often happens when we approach the equinox. Aug 18.

6184.97   MEXICO. XEPPM R. Educación - Mexico City. F/in 0645 Selections from the "Danças Brasileiras" album by the Carioca Trio. A weak signal at that time, but improved to a fair level by 0720. Pleasant listening, nonetheless. Aug 18.

7720   KOREA REP. Echo of Hope - Suwon-Osan. 2152 Korean commentaries. Fair signal and no jamming. // 6350 and 6250 but heavy jamming on both those freqs. Aug 18.

9470   ALGERIA. Ifrikya FM - Bechar. F/in 0355 with jiving Afro music. Time pips at 0400 with French ID. Then into Arabic commentary-style programming. When music is featured, this station is fast becoming my choice for groovy background music while I potter around in the radio shack! Weak signal at first but improved later. Aug 18.

9490   FRANCE. R. Japan - Issoudun. 0345 Japanese to NAf. As Spring approaches, these afternoon long path European signals will be gone in the next month or so. A fair signal on the full-wave 31m vertical delta loop. Aug 18.

9665.28   BRAZIL.  Voz Missionaria - Camboriú SC. 0705 Continuous Brazilian pop-styled gospel music and anncts. Canned ID at 0713. Weak signal and // 5940.20 kHz, where it was at a similar level. Also noted on 11750.02 kHz but heavy co-channel QRM from CNR - Shijiazhuang made that outlet impossible. Aug 13.

9670   GERMANY. Channel 292 - Rohrbach. 0645 Endless rock hits with frequent anncts in English. Occasional IDs for "Radio Nordsee International" or "RNI". Now, RNI's website says they closed down in May 2022. So perhaps this is just a replay of earlier programming. The clue turns out to be the announced time checks are all wrong! Aha! Later, they announce that "tomorrow is the last day of broadcasting..." for RNI. So, yes, 292 is reheating old material. Fair signal via the long path (23,865 km!) to Mount Evelyn. It always surprises me how well this 10 kW station does in our winter afternoons. By October, we won't hear it at this time. Aug 17.

9860   AUSTRIA. AWR - Moosbrunn. 0410 to 0430* Turkish to ME, preaching. Fair signal, Aug 18.

11650   MADAGASCAR. R. Tamazuj - Talata Volonondry. 0420 Sudanese to South Sudan with local dance music and anncts. Then into R. Dabanga programming at 0430. Fair signal and no co-channel QRM. As we approach summer here, CRI's Vietnamese service with become the dominant station at this time (assuming they use this frequency again in the B23 season!). Aug 18.

11745   SAUDI ARABIA. Al Azm Radio - Jeddah (presumed txer site). 0010 Arabic for military personnel serving in Yemen and southern Saudi Arabia. Rapid fire anncts and on-location news reports. Fair signal, Aug 18.

11790   FRANCE. R. France Int'l - Issoudun. *0430-0500* Swahili to EAf. Current affairs program. Good signal, Aug 18.

11860   SAUDI ARABIA (Presumed!) At 0449, strange humming noises were noted on this frequency at Mt Evelyn. A quick look at the Qatar Kiwi SDR revealed the same noise but much stronger. Easy to see the multi-harmonics in the waterfall. Sick transmitter? Still loudly humming away when checked again at 2225, but at least some Arabic audio content was getting through on that occasion! Aug 18. 

UPDATE: Paul Walker writes that some listeners believe it may be some type of jamming going on here, potentially from Iran. If that is the case, then there are plenty of jamming kilowatts being aimed at this frequency. Also, this is a type of jamming that I have not heard before. If it is Iran, is one of the IRIB 500 kW transmitters being diverted to take up this role? Strange! Needs more research!

11895   PHILIPPINES. Vatican R. - Tinang. 2215 Mandarin to EAs. Horrible, hummy transmitter sound, particularly noticeable between pauses in audio content. Yet another txer requiring servicing! Aug 18.

11905   SRI LANKA. SLBC - Trincomalee. 0200-0230 Hindi to SAs. Music programming was at a good level, audio but the level of studio anncts was well down. Fair signal overall, Aug 15.

13710   U.A.E. Mizzima R. - Dhabayya. 0100-0130 Burmese to Myanmar. Very good signal with topical news programming, Aug 15.

15050   INDIA. Akashvani - Bengaluru. 0253 Live from the historic Red Fort, Hindi speeches for the Indian Independence Day celebrations. Good signal, Aug 15.

17815   SPAIN. REE - Noblejas. 2156 Spanish to NAm, history feature program. Time pips 2200, then into the 30-min English service. // 17715 beamed to SAm, 15520 to ME and 11670 to Africa. All freqs heard at a fair to good strength with 11670 probably the best signal. Aug 18.

73 and have a great weekend!

Rob Wagner VK3BVW

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