DX QUICK TIPS

December 1, 2023

Propagation conditions have been quite variable over the past week. Some days, conditions above 14 MHz have been wonderful, while other days saw much of the shortwave spectrum degraded by significant solar activity. It looks like this could continue for the next few days. Regular and consistent checking of the shortwave bands will yield the best success.

MWV entrance and antennas at Mahajanga

It is interesting to see how well the two Madagascan relay stations are being heard here at Mount Evelyn these days. The Mahajanga transmitter site is servicing the World Christian Broadcasting (WCB) organisation's Madagascar World Voice (MWV) particularly well. And the old Radio Nederland Talata site is well-used by Adventist World Radio, BBC, Trans World Radio, Radio France International, Vatican Radio, Radio Tamazuj, Radio Dabanga, and the small operation known as Radio ERISAT. I wonder if other listeners globally also hear strong signals from both Madagascar's transmitter sites?

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Posting in "X" (formerly Twitter, but now Elon's very expensive plaything!), Space Weather Physicist Dr Tamitha Skov, writes:

Sadly, many people conflate solar flares with #solarstorms (aka CMEs), but they are not the same thing. Solar flare effects, like the flashes of light we see on the Sun and radio blackouts at Earth, take 8 minutes to arrive. Solar storms, which can cause #aurora, take days to arrive. They often occur at the same time at the Sun, but they are not the same phenomena.

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Here are a few observations from my Mount Evelyn listening post:

⭐⭐ 4765   TAJIKISTAN. R. Tajikistan - Dushanbe. 1915 Tajik to CAs, interviews. 1922 Central Asian folk song on indigenous instruments. Weak signal into Mount Evelyn and some deep fades at times, faded by 1940. Confirmed via the Vadodra, India Kiwi SDR. Nov 26.

4930   BOTSWANA. VoA - Moepeng Hill. 1910 English to SAf with American pops and anncts. Good signal, Nov 26.

4970   AUSTRALIA. Station X - Wee Waa, NSW. 1852 Ancient pops and IDs, fair signal, but nothing heard on the usual //2325 kHz, Nov 26.

6090   ENGLAND. KBS World R. - Woofferton. 2020 Arabic to NAf, K-Pop music. Poor signal, Nov 27.

⭐ 6110   ETHIOPIA. R. Fana - Addis Ababa. 2025 Amharic to EAf with a long interview program. Fair signal, Nov 27.

⭐ 6185   CHINA. China Huayi BC - Fuzhou. 1110 Mandarin to Taiwan. Pleasant, continuous, mellow Chinese pop selections. Good signal and no sign of VoKorea also scheduled on the freq at this time. But best heard in USB because of splatter from 6180 R. Taiwan Int'l and CNR 1 jamming. 15 kW into an ND antenna.  Nov 29.

⭐⭐ 7289.93   INDONESIA. RRI - Nabire, Central Papua. 0845 Indonesian with mellow songs. 0855 Islamic prayers for just two minutes, then a sudden carrier cutoff mid-prayer at 0857. Thank you and good night! Sign off times vary widely for this station. A weak signal in amongst the thunderstorm static. Nov 27.

9275   USA. WMLK - Bethel PA. 2010 English to whomever is listening, American preaching, good signal, Nov 26.

9535   ENGLAND. R. Ndarason Int'l - Woofferton. 0640 in Kanuri to WAf, happy Afro music, weak signal in the thunderstorm static. Nov 27.

9535   AUSTRIA. AWR - Moosbrunn. 2030-2100 French to WAf, fair signal, Nov 27.

9620   INDIA. Akashvani - Bengaluru. 1857 Arabic to ME, commentary, good signal with slight audio distortion, Nov 26.

9765   MADAGASCAR. MWV Palavra Alegre (WCB) - Mahajanga. *2100-2200* Portuguese to SAm. Nice a cappella choral work, IDing as "Radio Palavra Alegra" Good signal, Nov 27.

9845   MADAGASCAR. MWV New Life (WCB) - Mahajanga. 1903 Russian to EEu with English pop song, 1905 ID and station jingle, then preaching. Fair signal, Nov 26.

9885   MADAGASCAR. MWV New Life (WCB) - Mahajanga. 1838 Russian to EEu with preaching. Good signal, Nov 26.

11550   NTH MARIANAS. R. Free Asia - Agingan Pt. 1842 Korean to EAs, interview and commentaries, good signal, Nov 26.

11610   MADAGASCAR. MWV "The Light of Life" (WCB) - Mahajanga. *2100-2200* Mandarin to WEu. Preaching. Good signal, Nov 27.

11665   MALAYSIA. RTV Malaysia - Kajang. 2348 in Malay with Wai FM pop music programming, weak signal, Nov 26.

⭐⭐ 11680   MADAGASCAR. R. ERISAT - Talata Volonondry. 1822 Tigrinya to EAf with groovy Horn of Africa songs. 1830 ID and news reports. Good signal, Nov 26.

11795   GERMANY. AWR - Nauen. 2005 Mossi (aka Mooré) to WAf, preaching and happy music, good but fluttery signal. Mossi is spoken by approximately 6.46 million people in Burkina Faso, Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Benin, Niger, Mali, Togo and Senegal. Nov 27.

11830   SÃO TOMÉ. BBC - Pinheira. 0700 English to WAf with news. Very good signal. However, no reception here from the Ascension relay in the hour prior. At Mount Evelyn, Ascension is usually the more difficult txer site to monitor at any time of the day! Nov 27.

11885   VIETNAM. VoVietnam 5 - Son Tay. 2015 German to Eu, contemporary music programming, impressive signal off the back of their 320-degree beam! Into French at 2030. Nov 26.

11965   MADAGASCAR. MWV African Pathways R (WCB) - Mahajanga. 2009 English with the Xmas story of the poinsettia plant, followed by American preaching. Excellent signal. Nov 27.

11985   MADAGASCAR. AWR - Talata Volonondry. *2100-2130* in Nigerian Pidgin (sprinkled with plenty of easily recognised English words) beamed to Nigeria. Preaching. Good signal, Nov 27.

12070   PHILIPPINES. FEBC R. Liangyou - Iba. 2340 in Mandarin to EAs with preaching, weak signal, Nov 26.

⭐⭐ 12084.88   MONGOLIA. Voice of Mongolia - Ulaanbaatar. 0905 English to EAs, a very good signal (the best I've heard it in a long time!), but with the usual transmitter hum and somewhat muffled audio over thunderstorm static,  27/11.  And again on 29/11 from 0900 to 0933, where the signal was not quite as strong. Into Mongolian at 0930. YouTube video below:

Apology: On the video, I mistakenly wrote Mandarin instead of Mongolian at 0930 UTC.

13790   ALGERIA. Ifrikya FM - Ouargla. 2330 Arabic to WAf with talks and wonderful African pop music. Great programming, although not strong here at this time. Nothing was heard on the other registered channel of 13590, Nov 26.

15105   ESWATINI. TWR - Manzini. 1940 French (Sat/Sun only) to CAf/SAf. Lingala on weekdays. Weak signal, Nov 26.

15160   ALGERIA. Ifrikya FM - Ouargla. 1955 Arabic to Af with Afro-rock - love it!! Time pips at 2000, ID and a current affairs program. Fair signal but with flutter fading. Nov 27.

⭐ 15280   INDIA. Akashvani - Bengaluru. 0605 Arabic to ME. Into English at 0610 for the "Spotlight" program. At 0618, the program was suddenly cut short and returned to Arabic programming. Strange! Spotlight is usually 15 min long....so, if they are going to run it, why cut it short abruptly and return to the Arabic service? Fair to poor signal, Nov 27.

15285   SAUDI ARABIA. Saudi Radio Int'l - Riyadh. 0600 Swahili to EAf with ID and news reports. Suddenly off at the unscheduled 0605. Fair to poor signal, Nov 27.

15420   MADAGASCAR. AWR - Talata Volonondry. 2030-2100 in Yoruba to Nigeria with preaching. Fair signal with deep fades, Nov 27.

15580   BOTSWANA. VoA - Moepeng Hill. 1945 English to Af, English lessons. Recently reported on 15585, but seems to now be back on its correct HFCC-registered frequency, fair signal, Nov 27.

15610   USA. WEWN - Vandiver AL. 2310 English to WAf, good signal, Nov 26.

17530   TURKEY. VoT - Emirler. 0547 Malay service to SEAs. Music then multi-lingual IDs and s/off 0553, fair to poor signal, Nov 27.

17620   GUAM. AWR - Agat. S/on 2300 Mandarin to EAs, fair signal and // 17530 but weaker there, Nov 26.

17730   MADAGASCAR. AWR - Talata Volonondry. S/on 2000 French to CAf. Full ID, then preaching. Weak signal, Nov 26.

17790   MADAGASCAR. AWR - Talata Volonondry. 0540 Arabic to ME. fair signal, Nov 27.

73, and good DX to you all!

Rob Wagner VK3BVW