DX QUICK TIPS (Jan 29, 2026)
AND
JAPAN SHORTWAVE CLUB PROGRAM

Once again, over the past few weeks, reception conditions have been variable due to ongoing solar storm activity. Whilst these have been producing some fabulous auroras in both the northern and southern hemispheres, signal strength has at times been degraded considerably for shortwave broadcasters and their listeners. Here are some recent monitoring observations:

5875 ENGLAND. R. Farda - Woofferton. 2025 Farsi to Iran, song and chat, ID and news at 2030. S/off at 20:59:32. Strong signal for this one-hour broadcast on this frequency, courtesy of Encompass. Jan 17.

6050 ECUADOR. HCJB - Pico Pichincha. 1010 Quechua programming with talks (preaching) and mournful Andean songs. Time given as “Cinco y veintitrés minutos” (5:23 am in Quito, 9:23 pm AEDT). Although Quechua has its own number system, telling the time is mostly given in Spanish. Because the 12-hour clock and "minutes" arrived with the Spanish, the terminology followed suit. Fair to poor signal under summer-storm noise, but good for its 1 kW output. Best heard in LSB to minimise R. Nikkei 1 QRM on 6055. Jan 25.

7205 INDONESIA. R. Republik Indonesia - Jakarta. 2205 Pro 3 programming with news, reports, interviews and frequent IDs. Faded into the summer morning heat by 2230 (9:30 am AEDT), Jan 26

7235 TAIWAN. National Unity R. - Tamsui. 1200 Korean to EAs. Talk and pops. Fair signal, Jan 25

9690 SPAIN. REE -Noblejas. 2205 Spanish to NAm, good signal but heavy adjacent-channel QRM from CRI-Kashi on 9685. Supposed to be // 12030 (to ME and Indian Oc) but no audio heard there - just a big fat carrier. Jan 26

9765 ENGLAND. Global Talk America - Woofferton. 2029 ENC interval signal. 2030 GTA ID in Hausa, giving schedule and website details. Then the news. Good signal until s/off at 20:59:30. Jan 29.

9765 MADAGASCAR. MWV Palavra Alegre - Mahajanga. S/on 2100 with strident singing and ID for the Portuguese service to SAm. Excellent signal at the start of the two-hour service, but later weakened as the band closed for the morning. Jan 29.

13640 ALGERIA. Ifrikya FM - Béchar. 0045 Happy Afro pops selections. No station ID before the sudden switch-off at 0100:25. Weak but identifiable, and confirmed via the fabulous FR4RX remote SDR on Réunion Island. The // 13855 (via Ouargla) was also heard, but even weaker there. Jan 26.

15280 INDIA. Akashvani - Bengaluru. 0400 Akashvani interval signal, then the usual live broadcast of celebrations for India’s 77th Republic Day. Excellent signal and even stronger by 0500. Also noted on 11804.80 from 0500 with a fair signal, but the audio there was well down. Jan 26.

15430 UAE. R. Farda - Dhabayya. 0620 Farsi to Iran with dramatic songs. Fair to poor signal here, but confirmed via the Baghdad Kiwi SDR. Recently returned to SW courtesy of Encompass, Jan 11.

15460 AUSTRALIA. HCJB/Reach Beyond – Kununurra. *1100-1130* Special Japanese program by Japanese SW Club. Special eQSLs issued by both JSWC and HCJB/Reach Beyond. Excellent signal on Jan 18. SEE BELOW

17755 SPAIN. REE - Noblejas. 2155 Mandarin (on Mondays) to WAf. Into Spanish at 2200, fair signal. // 17715 also heard but much weaker there. Jan 26.

18040 TAIWAN. Xing-Xing - Guanyin. 0010 Mandarin numbers, ended at 0013:34 UTC. The carrier remained on and recommenced at exactly 0030. Fair to poor signal. Also noted on 19052 at the same level. A carrier noted on 15890, assumed to be Xing-Xing as well, but the signal there was too weak at that lower frequency due to high absorption at that time (11:13 am AEDT). Jan 26. My blog post on Xing-Xing goes deeper into the existence and operations of this numbers station. https://medxr.blogspot.com/2025/05/xing-xing-taiwans-numbers-station.html

JAPAN SHORT WAVE CLUB OVER HCJB

Although I speak no Japanese, it was terrific to see the Japan Short Wave Club putting together a special broadcast over HCJB via Reach Beyond Australia's Kununurra, WA transmitters. Congratulations to the club for this initiative, which I am sure was enjoyed by many Japanese DXers.

The transmission began with the usual Reach Beyond Australia station ID in English. Then an HCJB station ID in Japanese, followed by a BCL talk by JSWC president Toshimichi Ohtake-san and club member Takahito Akabayashi-san. At the end of the half-hour, they returned to the HCJB Japanese studio announcer for closing announcements.

Both HCJB and Reach Beyond have long been strong supporters of DXers and shortwave listeners. Here are the opening and closing announcements as heard here at Mount Evelyn.