Nelson Falls - After the winter and spring rains, this was spectacular!

B24 NEW FREQUENCY OBSERVATIONS

I missed the seasonal changeover of international broadcasting schedules for the first time in many years. The reason? My wife and I went on a one-week holiday to Tasmania around October 27, at the start of the changeover. After the past year and a half of my medical adventures, we really needed the holiday more than lists of new frequencies! 😆

A ferry travels across the strait between the states of Victoria and Tasmania. It is quite a large vessel known as the Spirit of Tasmania. We drive onto the ferry, leave the car in the bowels of the ship, and have a small private cabin for the duration of the 11.5-hour journey. The ship is well-equipped with bars, lounges, dining, and two cinemas. The trip over to "Tassie" left at 7:00 p.m. and arrived in Devonport around 6:30 a.m.

We spent most of the time on the island's rugged west coast at Strahan. The week was spent resting and recuperating, along with some sightseeing in that most beautiful part of the world. The national and regional parks are picturesque and striking, with lovely walks or hikes. We also ate a lot! The fresh food there is fantastic! After we returned home, it took me a few days to feel like I wanted to turn on the radios!

So, this blog post includes some monitoring observations made during the past few days. I am also including a few photos from our trip. If you haven't visited Tasmania before, you're missing out on a special treat!

The river downstream from Nelson Falls.

NOTES ON THE LIST BELOW:

I have tried to identify the former frequency used in the A24 season for each item where possible.
The list is in frequency order. The countries listed are where the transmitter sites are located.
In many cases, I have listed the sign-on and sign-off times for each broadcast. These are represented by asterisks * before the sign-on time and after the sign-off time.
All observations are based on actual monitoring from my receivers here at Mount Evelyn. Occasionally, remote SDRs are called upon to 1) confirm the Mount Evelyn reception or 2) monitor propagation conditions in or near the target zone for specific broadcasts. These remote tools are handy for checking the impact of interference, if any, of co-channel or adjacent channel broadcasters.
The cessation of the majority of Adventist World Radio broadcasts (with the exception of the AWR-owned station at Guam) has left a noticeable hole in the amount of activity on the shortwave bands.

Equipment: Yaesu FTDX3000 transceiver, Kenwood R5000 receiver, Kenwood TS2000 transceiver.

Antennas: 100m long horizontal sky loop antenna, a delta loop antenna for 10 MHz, a double bazooka antenna for 14 MHz and a 5/8λ centre fed vertical for 21 MHz and above.

Abbreviations:

NF = New Frequency for the A24 transmission season
NS = New Site (i.e. a change in relay station for a specific broadcast)
QRM = Interference from another station
// = The same broadcast simultaneously on another frequency, i.e. in parallel.
WS = BBC World Service
AF = Africa. Eu = Europe, As = Asia, ME = Middle East, NAm = North America, CAm = Central America, SAm = South America, Oc = Oceania, AFG = Afghanistan,
N = North, S = South, E = East, W = West
ENAm = Eastern North America, NEAs = North East Asia, etc.

Old-growth forest with yellow-green moss that seemingly shimmers
when the sun hits the sides of the trees.

6075 U.S.A. KNLS - Anchor Point AK. *0800-0900* English to EAs. NF (ex 9695), fair to poor signal (too early for good propagation here), Nov 13.

6190 JAPAN. R. Japan - Yamata. *1100 Korean, 1130 Mandarin, 1200 Korean, 1230 Mandarin, 1300 Korean, 1330 Mandarin to 1400* to EAs. NF (ex 9690 between 1100 and 1300), fair signal with summer static, Nov 15.

7285 ASCENSION IS. BBC - Ascension. 0555 to 0600, English to CAf. NF for B24 at this time (ex 9915). Changes at 0600 in French to NAF via Woofferton. Very weak signals from both transmitter sites as reception here is not fully open to that part of the world. Nov 15.

7350 CHINA. CRI - Urumqi. *2030-2230* French to SEu. NF (ex 9570). Summer prop sees this fading in the morning sun here by 2130, Nov 15.

7370 U.S.A. KNLS - Anchor Point AK. 0905 Mandarin to EAs with commentary. NF (ex 11875) and fair signal in thunderstorm noise, Nov 12.

7390 FRANCE. R. France Int’l - Issoudun. 0545 French to CAf. NF, adding to the other freqs being used at this time to CAf, and probably replacing 17850 from A24. Very weak signal as propagation is too early for respectable reception here in early summer, Nov 15.

9335 PHILIPPINES. VoA - Tinang. *2200-2230* Khmer to SEAs. NF (ex 9320), weak signal as the band closes around this time in summer. Faded by 2215. Runs // 7455, also an NF (ex 7375), and 5880 (ex 5965), but no prop for those outlets here at this time. However, all channels were noted at excellent levels on the Hanoi KiwiSDR, so they are hitting the target zone very well. Nov 15.

9415 CHINA. CRI - Xian. *0800-1000* English to EAs, NF (ex 11710) and fair signal, Nov 13.

9580 PHILIPPINES. BBC - Tinang. *1000-1200* English WS to SEAs. NF (ex 9410), excellent signal. These days, this is the only decent WS reception we have left here in SE Australia. Nov 15.

9580 PHILIPPINES. BBC - Tinang. *2200-2300* English WS to SEAs. NF (ex 9440), weak signal, Nov 15.

9610 GUAM. KSDA-AWR - Facpi Point. *1200 Mandarin (Fri/Sat), Amoy (other days). Then, 1230-1300* in Mandarin (daily). NF (probably replacing 15600 via Tashkent in A24), good signal, Nov 15.

9680 U.S.A. KNLS - Anchor Point AK. *1000 English to EAs. NF (ex 9580) and fair signal, Nov 12.

9705 U.S.A. KNLS - Anchor Point AK. *0900-1000* Russian to EAs. NF (ex 9545) with a fair to poor signal. It was missing several days ago, but it seems back to normal, Nov 15.

9859.81 INDIA. Akashvani - Delhi-Kingsway. *1045-1215* Tibetan to EAs. NF (ex 9735). Poor signal and creating a het with the CNR jammer on exactly 9860 kHz. Nov 15.

9860 AUSTRALIA. Reach Beyond - Kununurra WA. *0930-1000* Korean to EAs. NF (ex 9580), excellent signal, Nov 15.

9885 GUAM. AWR - Facpi Point. *2000-2100 Korean to EAs, NF (ex 9900), fair signal, Nov 15.

Sarah Island - A convict settlement on the Gordon River

11570 PHILIPPINES. VoA - Tinang. *1200-1500* Koresan to EAs. NF and // 11510 and 9490, which are also NFs and running *1200-1300*. Good signals on all freqs, but with some noise jamming on each outlet. Nov 16.

11630 JAPAN. R. Japan - Yamata. *2100-2300* Japanese to SEAs. NF (ex 11965), weak signal, Nov 15.

11825 JAPAN. R. Japan - Yamata. *0700-1000* Japanese to EAs, NF and excellent signal, Nov 15.

11830 UZBEKISTAN. Mizzima R. - Tashkent. *1200-1300* Burmese to SEAs. NF (ex 13825), excellent signal, Nov 16.

11864.77 INDIA. Akashvani - Delhi Kingsway. 0930 Nepali to Nepal, talks and occasional music interludes. Poor signal for this NF (ex 11865). I also checked the Kathmandu Kiwi SDR and found the signal barely audible in the target zone. However, the // 15410 was at excellent strength in Nepal. Nov 12.

11955 JAPAN. R. Japan - Yamata. *2200-0100* Japanese to EAs. NF (ex 11910), weak signal, Nov 15.

11975 MALI. CRI - Bamako. *2130-2230* French to NAf. Good signal, and // 13630 beamed to EAf, also heard at a similar strength. Nov 15.

12030 OMAN. BBC - Al'Seela. *1200-1400* English WS to SAs. NF (probably ex 17790), fair signal Nov 16.

12125 PHILIPPINES. VoA - Tinang. *1130-1200* English to SEAs (Sa/Su only), NF (ex 11700), good signal, Nov 16.

15160 ALGERIA. Ifrikya FM - Ouargla. 0650 Laid-back Afro music. 0700 Time pips then news in French. Fair signal, Nov 12.

15215 MADAGASCAR. R. France Int’l - Talata Volonondry. *0530-0600* Swahili to EAf, NS (ex Issoudun) and good signal, Nov 15.

15295 GUAM. KSDA-AWR - Facpi Point. *1000-1200* Mandarin to EAs. NF (ex 17710 @1000 and ex 11855 @1100), excellent signal, Nov 15.

15410 INDIA. Akashvani - Bengaluru. Nepali to Nepal, 0922 Indian songs with anncts. NF (ex 15400), fair signal, Nov 12.

15410 INDIA. Akashvani - Bengaluru. *1030-1200* Mandarin to EAs. NF (ex 15400), strong signal with heavy jamming, Nov 15.

15430 GUAM. KSDA-AWR - Facpi Point. *1000-1100* Mandarin to EAs. NF (ex 15450), excellent signal and // 15295, Nov 15.

15550 GUAM. AWR - Facpi Point. *1230-1300* Cantonese to EAs daily except for Mandarin on Fri. NF (ex 15710). Nov 16.

15610 GUAM. KTWR - Merizo. 1043 Early s/on (scheduled 1045) to 1115* in Mongolian to EAs. NF (ex 15310), very good signal, Nov 15.

The pretty Hogarth waterfalls near Strahan Village, west-coast Tasmania.

17525 U.S.A. WMLK - Bethel PA. 2215 English to NAm. American preaching "Sacred Name Broadcast". 2227 ID and schedule details, saying they sign off at 2200 UTC. Whoops! Finally off at 2230. Huge signal, Nov 12.

17660 FRANCE. R. France Int’l - Issoudun. *1200-1300* French to WAf. NS (ex Talata Volonondry to CAf). Fair signal, Nov 16.

21615 FRANCE. R. France Int’l - Issoudun. *1200-1230* Mandingo to WAf. NF (ex 17620), fair signal, Nov 16.

21660 MADAGASCAR. BBC - Talata Volonondry. *1200-1230* Heavily-accented English to CAf. NF (ex 25900). Fair to poor signal, Nov 16.

73, and good DXing to you all.

Rob Wagner VK3BVW