Trans World Radio transmitter site outside of Manzini, Eswatini.

DX QUICK TIPS
February 21, 2026

Reception conditions over the past week have been fair to excellent, depending on when you happened to switch on the radio. These days, we don't know whether propagation will be good or poor. It's the luck of the draw and part of the attraction and mystery of shortwave radio.

RIGS: SDRPlay RSPDuo, Yaesu FTDX 3000, Kenwood TS2000, Kenwood R5000, Yaesu FRG100, Tecsun PL-680

ANTENNAS: Horizontal Sky Loop 80m long, 10 MHz Delta Loop, 5/8λ Centre-fed vertical for 21 MHz and above.

NOTE: All DX tips below were heard on the above equipment here at Mount Evelyn, NOT on a remote receiver somewhere else in the world! For research purposes, occasional double-checking and reception comparisons in target zones are employed using Kiwi receivers located globally. When sending reception reports to broadcasters, I always use my own receivers and never engage in the unethical practice of using remote receivers to compile my reports.

5040 VANUATU. R. Vanuatu - Emten Lagoon. 2010 Bislama anncts, 2012 - Song: "Rivers of Babylon". No signal on any other regular RV freqs at this time. Fair signal and still there at 2035, but then rapidly faded into late summer's morning sun. Feb 19.

5939.44 BRAZIL. Voz Missionária - Camboriú, SC. 0830 Lively music and a constant announcer waffle over the songs. Pretty excited stuff to get the day going, and not sounding very preachy! A weak signal at first, but improved rapidly to a fair level in the summer noise, Feb 11.

7289.92 INDONESIA. RRI - Nabire, Central Papua. Pro 1 programming 0850, easy-listening Western-style ballads. No annct at 0900, but a very brief ID at 0912. Then more music. 0915 Brief annct then Islamic call to prayer. 0927 Brief ID then into a song. Flattened by the s/on of the much stronger CNR 1-Beijing at 0930, but I could still hear Nabire underneath with music, but it was difficult to listen to. All hope was lost with the 1000 co-channel s/on of CRI in Russian. But the Nabire carrier remained on and was easily identifiable past 1000. Feb 13. Read more about the unique RRI Nabire station in INDONESIA ON SHORTWAVE - Then and Now - Part 2

7345 MYANMAR. Thazin R. - Pyin Oo Lwin (Mandalay). 1235 Minorities Service. Possibly in the Shan language, as it had that lilting sound of Thai, to which it is somewhat related. Talks and pleasant music selections. Heavy QRM at about equal strength with the co-channel CNR 7 Voice of the Greater Bay. Feb 14.

9370 PHILIPPINES. R. Pilipinas - Tinang. 1940 Filipino to ME with rapid-fire news reports. Many station IDs. Excellent signal and // 9925 (very good) and 12120 (excellent but with FSK QRM - easier copy in LSB). Feb 19.

9590 USA. KNLS - Anchor Point, AK. S/on 1300 Korean to EAs. NF (ex 9760), good signal, Feb 14.

9720 CHINA. Voice of South China Sea - Nanning. 1200 -1230 Filipino to SEAs. News and then a cultural program. Good signal, but with what sounded like some type of jamming, although I'm not sure who would jam this programming. Feb 14.

9720 USA. KNLS - Anchor Point, AK. S/on 1300 Mandarin to EAs. NF (ex 9530). Fair signal on Feb 14.

9800 USA. KNLS - Anchor Point, AK. S/on 1200 English to EAs with pop songs and U.S. history talks. NF (ex 9625). Good signal, Feb 14.

9820 CHINA. Voice of Beibu Bay R. - Nanning. 1220 Vietnamese to SEA with commentaries and occasional light pop music. Heavy QRM at equal strength with the co-channel CNR2 - Xian. // 5050 also heard at good strength. Feb 14. Read more about Beibu Bay Radio and its role in the Zhuang Autonomous Region of Guangxi, China, in our Spotlight article from several years ago.

9875 D.P.R.KOREA. VoKorea - Kujang. 1930 English to ME and NAf. Korean opera selections and martial music. Very good signal and // 11635 (good). Also // to SAf on 11910 (fair to poor) and 7210 (fair but heavy co-channel and adjacent channel China QRM). Feb 19.

9965 PALAU. T8WH Hope R. - Angel 5, Medorn. 0910 Japanese at this time on Tuesdays (English on other days). 0921 English station ID, then back into Japanese programming. 0956 Full English ID and a Gospel song to end transmission at 1002. Good signal, but there is a slight transmitter hum at 120Hz. Palau's power is 120V at 60Hz, so there may be issues with rectifier ripple or power-supply filtering. Feb 10. The eQSL below arrived in eight days:

11610 MADAGASCAR. MWV "Light of Life" - Mahajanga. 2140 Mandarin to WEu with preaching. It changed at 2200 into Arabic with "Radio Feda" programming for NAf. Good signal. Interestingly, the transmission to NAf at 2200 was somewhat stronger than the service to Eu a few minutes earlier. This is despite using the same azimuth (325 degrees) as per HFCC registrations. Feb 15.

11779.96 IRAN. IRIB - Sirjan. 0440 Turkish to ME, commentaries and spasms of music. Fair signal with heavy fading. Not to be confused with co-inhabitant Brazil, which is off air by then. Feb 16.

11900 INDIA. Akashvani - Bengaluru. 1946 French to Eu, music then commentary. The studio announcer's audio was clear and intelligible. But at 1956, a one-minute pre-recorded annct was terribly muffled! Then back to studio audio, and everything was clear again. 2001 - English program "Spotlight". Again, some muffled audio was monitored, sounding almost overmodulated, but not as bad as earlier. Akashvani's lack of attention to audio quality makes this one of the most frustrating stations to listen to! Excellent signal, Feb 19.

12015 D.P.R.KOREA. VoKorea - Kujang. 1300 English to Eu. Heavy QRM from the off-channel CRI on 12014.41 kHz, creating hets and hum (there is something wrong with the Chinese transmitter!). Best heard in USB to avoid this mess. A quick check of several European Kiwis indicated that Korea was quite well heard, but still with some light QRM. Feb 14.

12015 D.P.R.KOREA. - Kujang. 2150 English to Eu. Into Spanish at 2200. Stunningly good signal, only marred by slight RTTY QRM on 12017 kHz. Then some adjacent channel QRM from the regular-as-clockwork 2155 s/on of CNR 6-Nanning in Amoy. Feb 15.

15105 ESWATINI. TWR - Mpangela Ranch (Manzini). 1917 Lingala service with preaching and Afro Gospel songs. Weak signal, Feb 19.

15280 INDIA. Akashvani - Bengaluru. 0420 Farsi to ME. Many mentions of Iran in two commentaries. Frequent breaks in audio for about three to four seconds each time, but no break in the carrier. Fair signal, Feb 15.

Lisu hill tribe of Northern Thailand

17755 GUAM. KSDA - Agat. S/on 1330 Lisu language to SEAs. Opening ID in English with frequency and language annct. Then IDs again in Lisu with many mentions of AWR in its programming. Songs and preaching. Lisu is spoken by over a million people across southwestern China (Yunnan, Sichuan), northern Myanmar, Thailand, and parts of India. It is a tonal language, typically featuring six to eight tones and a complex phonology. Good signal, Feb 14.

AND FINALLY.....

In the early CB days, before the legalisation of the CB bands in Australia, I ran a Kraco SSB exactly like this one pictured here. Then, in August 1978, I received my Novice Amateur Radio licence - VK3NQJ. On September 7, 1978, I made my first QSO under that callsign, using this little Kraco rig.

I purchased new crystals from Jan Crystals in the USA, popped them into the Kraco, and, after a bit of retuning of the rig, was ready to go on the 10-metre ham band. 10 watts out into a low-hanging dipole.

But there's another story that goes with this little rig! QSO number 12 was into Hawaii - what excitement! Read about it at One of my Most Valued QSL Cards!

Great times. great memories!

73 and wishing you the best of DX!

Rob Wagner VK3BVW