RECENT RECEPTION CONDITIONS
&
DX QUICK TIPS
September 20, 2024

After several weeks of variable propagation conditions, including significant geomagnetic storms and corresponding radio blackouts, it looks like we might see some quieter conditions in the short term. While monitoring the shortwave bands has, on several occasions, been frustrating, it pays to keep trying. Let me give you an example.

One of these radio blackouts on September 18, I worked multiple JA and US hams on 10 and 12 metres during my late afternoon radio session. Although these two bands were a little quieter than usual, there were still plenty of stations on the waterfall, and my signal was certainly getting out. 20 metres was somewhat busy, but again, not up to its usual jam-packed state that I see in the late afternoons. Yet, the 17-metre band was virtually dead, and 15 metres wasn't much better. Strange! So, what's going on here? Why were signals non-existent between the 18 to 22 MHz frequency range but still getting through on frequencies on both sides of that range?

Other amateur operators around Australia also reported erratic and sporadic reception conditions, depending on which band they were using. Real-time "chat" comments from several operators in different parts of Australia reported very poor conditions across the entire shortwave spectrum. Others, like myself, found some bands "open" and some closed. We don't really know why there are variations.

Where you are located on the globe (your latitude) will have some bearing, along with whether your location is in daylight or nighttime (i.e. facing the Sun or hidden away in darkness) when geomagnetic storms hit the Earth's atmosphere. Consider also the angle at which a storm hits the Earth, the type and intensity of the storm, plus the seasonal variations of the Earth on its axis. Remember that the ionosphere is not one continuous, even ionised layer of the upper atmosphere. As high-frequency signals travel across the globe, there will be ionospheric variations at different reflection points. It is constantly in a state of flux with all sorts of atmospheric influences and effects that we are still learning about.

So, as I mentioned earlier, DON'T GIVE UP! Many radio blackouts are over within 15 minutes to a few hours. Some bands will see signals getting through, while others won't. Occasionally, intense ionospheric disturbances can last several days.

What can we do about it? Nothing! What else can we do in the meantime? During these downtimes, I often do logbook maintenance, clean up the radio shack, surf the web for new antenna design ideas, etc. Sometimes, I even go inside and offer a helping hand to my wife! (She always knows when propagation is terrible!).

😉😉😜😜

DX TIPS

Here are some monitoring observations I found particularly interesting over the past few weeks. There could be a few for you to try in your part of the world (All times in UTC, Frequencies in kHz)

RADIOS: Yaesu FTDX3000, Kenwood TS2000 and R5000.

ANTENNAS: 80m long horizontal loop, 30m vertical delta loop, 20m dipole, 5/8th centre-fed vertical for 24-28 MHz.

⭐ 4755.03 INDONESIA. VoIndonesia - Cimanggis. 2115 English to INS. Military song by a choir (shades of Pyongyang), then an Indonesian pop song!! Talk about contrasts! Heavily accented English announcements. Fair signal, Sep 15.

⭐ 4775 PERU. R. Tarma - Tarma. 1007 ID and time check for 6:07 AM. News with two readers. 1009 - A cheeky ID as “Radio Tarma Internationale”! Then, general chatter with frequent IDs and occasional music. Fair signal, Sep 16.

4965 ZAMBIA. Voice of Hope Africa - Lusaka. 2040 English. American preaching with African accents. Good signal, Sep 15.

⭐ 4990 CHINA. PBS Hunan - Xiangtan. 2050 Mandarin. Commentaries shared between two announcers. From 2100, a lengthy dialogue by one man that sounded like story-telling. Weak signal and faded into the morning noise by 2115. This station is one of the few remaining low-powered Chinese regionals at 10 kW. Located in southern China, Xiangtan is famous as the hometown of the once-favoured Chairman Mao Zedong! Sep 15.

⭐ 5995 MALI. RTV du Mali - Kati, Bamako. 2220 Vigorous discussion in the Bambara language. 2222 - Local singing (call-and-response style). Heard at equal signal level to the co-channel CNR 2-Nanning. By 2230, the CNR signal had become stronger and Mali was fading fast. Sep 19.

⭐⭐ 6009.97 BRAZIL. R. Inconfidência - Contegam, MG. 0945 Brazilian folk music, ID at 0952, Time check at 0955 for 6:55 am. Anncts and at 0959, a rundown of AM, SW and FM frequencies. 1000 - adverts. Very weak signal and was initially heard when there was no Korean jamming present on 6015 until 1001. Once the splashy jamming started, even switching to LSB didn’t help the Brazilian. Faded by 1004. Monitoring confirmed via the Pardinho Kiwi SDR. This is, indeed, a very rare visitor to Mount Evelyn these days. I cannot remember the last time I heard it. You can get an aerial view of the AM antenna by inputting this decimalised lat/long into Google Maps: -19.89904288211011, -44.05450876587875. It is located about 13 km west of Bel Horizonte in the metropolitan city of Contagem. Sep 16.

⭐ 6070 GERMANY. Channel 292 - Rohrbach. 2110 The usual fare of continuous old rock hits until faded around 2130. Weak signal in the atmospherics. Sep 16.

⭐ 6090 ETHIOPIA. Amhara State R. - Geja Jewe. 2030 Amharic. Presumed to be this with African pop songs. Weak under a dominating co-channel KBS WR-Woofferton in Arabic. Sep 15.

6179.94 BRAZIL. R. Nacional Amazônia - Brasilia. 2130 Brazilian football match call. 2136, a brief “Radio Nacional” jingle smack in the middle of the football call. Weak signal and // 11780.02, where it was marginally stronger, Sep 15.

6250 KOREA, SOUTH. Echo of Hope - Hwaseong. 2135 Korean with talks and occasional pop songs. Fair signal along with // 7720. On 4885, it was heard weakly through jamming. 6350 was heavily jammed, and there was no propagation at this time on 3985. Sep 16.

⭐ 7205 CHINA. PBS Xinjiang - Urumqi. On-air tests before the scheduled 2300 s/on. First noted at 2235 - intermittent on/off audio testing with military music, 2245 - test tones, 2250 - back to the same marching song played repeatedly with more interruptions. 2300 - Time pips and multiple, clear Xinjiang PBS s/on IDs in the Uyghur language. A brief musical interlude, then news reports. Fair signal at first but faded by 2310. Sep 19.

⭐ 9715 TAIWAN. R. Taiwan Int’l - Paochung. S/on 1030 Korean to EAs. ID and talks with many mentions of Taiwan. A strange chugging jamming noise was noted at 1026 before the RTI s/on but was ineffective in degrading the strong RTI signal. RTI s/off 1058 and jamming switched off at 1103. NF (ex 9700) to avoid RNZPacific now on 9700. Sep 16.

Here, you can see Radio Taiwan International's "dead-air" carrier at 1027, just before its 1030 s/on. Along with the carrier are multiple harmonics spreading across more than 2 kHz on each side of the centre frequency. After RTI signed off at the end of the broadcast, these jamming harmonics continued for another five minutes before finally being switched off. This waterfall is from the VK5PH Kiwi SDR in the Ironstone Range near Mount Barker, South Australia.

11550 ARMENIA. Radyoya Dengê Gel - Gavar. 0655 Kurdish with lively music. 0701 - Time pips precisely one minute late and two clear Dengê Gel IDs with news reports. Fair to good signal with slight, unidentified co-channel QRM from the Turkish jammer and possibly China/Taiwan. Sep 16.

13760 KOREA, NORTH. VoKorea (KCBS) - Kujang. 2325 Korean to Eu with orchestral selections. Fair signal, // 11634.97 (weak) and 15245.25 (weak). No prop on 9445 at this time. Sep 16.

13790 ALGERIA. Ifrikya FM - Ouargla. 2320 French to WAf. Interview program. Very good signal except for a slight background hum. Sep 16.

⭐ 15225 PHILIPPINES. VoA - Tinang. *0100 in Rohingya to SEAs with a weekdays-only service. IDs included many mentions of the Rohingya service. News headlines included world news with an additional focus on Myanmar and Bangladesh. 0124 - Learning English program. S/off 0130. **A recent report from another DX source that VoA had changed to the Mandarin service for this time/frequency appears incorrect! Sep 20.

15320 UZBEKISTAN. AWR - Tashkent. 2210, the Ngaju Dayak language beamed to Indonesia, with preaching and songs. Ngaju is spoken on the island of Borneo in Central Kalimantan. Borneo is politically divided into three countries: Malaysia, Brunei, and Indonesia. The history of the Dayak people is fascinating and worth exploring. An excellent summary can be found at https://www.encyclopedia.com/humanities/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/ngaju-dayak. At 2230, the service changed to Javanese. The signal was strong, but with the characteristic transmitter hum we find with most broadcasts emanating from Tashkent these days. Sep 15.

15450 PHILIPPINES. FEBC—Bocaue. Rakhine service to SEAs *0045-0100*. Gospel songs. Scheduled as a Friday to Sunday-only service. Fair signal, Sep 20.

⭐ 17600 ALGERIA. Ifrikya FM - Bechar. 2150 Arabic with “Mustt Mustt” by Kiran Ahluwalia and other groovy Afro music programming. 2200 - Time pips and Ifrikya FM ID, followed by a short news bulletin. 2203 - French annct with background music. 2205 - English ID and frequency annct, but cut off with sudden closure at 22:05:30. I would love to hear some regular English transmissions featuring regional music shows. I’d tune into those!! Strong signal, Sep 15.

⭐ 17855 SPAIN. REE - Noblejas. 2245 Ladino language service for Sephardic Jews with an interview. 2255 music. 2300 Interval signal and full Spanish ID and station information, finally signing off at 2304. This Ladino service is on Sundays only at this time. Very good signal, Sep 15.

73, and have a great DXing weekend!

Rob Wagner VK3BVW