A new verification and one I am very pleased about

I recently logged CJRJ 1200 in Burnaby (Vancouver) Canada. It features subcontinental (South Asian) programming. I reported the station and had heard nothing, but now have a verification from Shushma Datt, the station chief. Many thanks are due to Theo Donnelly for the point of contact.

When looking at the antenna pattern for nights, it basically points due north east so as to avoid the USA and WOAI, which for many years was on a clear channel. There is a very small lobe out to the south west and that is how I heard it.

A new logging and verification

Yesterday afternoon (13/12/17) I logged Gold FM in Suva broadcasting on 990 kHz. The signal is exceptional and dominates 990. I sent an email this morning and within 3 hours I had a verie. The verie signer was Dion Cavu who is a presenter and producer for the station. His email address is dcavu@fbc.com.fj

He sent a very nice message and made one or two interesting points:

We recently launched our AM frequency after a lapse of a number of years to cater to our far flung audiences in the outer islands as well as those in the interior of the main islands and also act as a backup service in times of natural disaster.

The strength of our frequency has surpassed all expectations and since the launch, we have received messages from a number of DX enthusiasts in the region and  around the world including Dx'ers from as near as Rotuma and as far as Finland and above the Arctic circle, which has truly blown away all expectations of how powerful our AM signal is.

More verifications

Radio Kiribati (pronounced Kiri-bus) 846 kHz and 1440 kHz were heard a couple of nights ago. They were mixed with New Zealand stations and at times dominated them.

846 kHz is on Kirimati (Christmas) Island and 1440 kHz comes from Tarawa. They are approximately 2 time zones and 3250 km apart!

I received an email verification from Babera Marewenimakin (bmarewenimakin@gmail.com)

A new verification

KBBI 890 kHz in Homer, Alaska has replied. I tried emailing but with no success, so I sent a message on Facebook and received a lengthy reply from Kathleen Gustaffson, Director of Content. It said:

Thank you for letting us know you found us!
The music you heard was from a program called Sunday Baroque. We play a lot of different styles of music. On Sundays we play classical in the morning, a bit of chat and folk in the afternoon, and jazz in the evening. It's always a treat to hear from distant listeners. In the digital age, we can communicate instantly. I still remember getting postcards from all over the world in "the old days".
I'm so happy to hear that you found the This American Life episode useful. It has been a difficult year here with regard to Homer's attitudes and practices toward immigrants. We are still having that conversation in the city council and ion the community.
KBBI is a public radio station. We have a staff of eight and 25 volunteer DJs. I'll pass on your message to everyone.
So pleased to meet you,

Kathleen Gustafson
Director of Content, KBBI

I am very happy about this one.

A new and welcome verification

I have received a verie via Facebook Messenger from KFNQ 1090 kHz in Seattle Washington.

The message read

That is 100% the correct station. Congrats on the new station connection!

New loggings

Yesterday was an excellent day for reception via the DX League's SDR in Russell, Northland. I managed to log the following:

• KFNQ 1090 in Seattle, Washington
• CJRJ 1200 in Vancouver, British Columbia
• KNDI 1270 in Honolulu, Hawaii

KFNQ was a very strong signal S4, I4, N4, P4, O4 with CBS Sports Radio

CJRJ was not an easy one to hear. S3, I4, N3, P2 O 2/3. It featured ethnic music (sounded Hindi). No announcements but plenty of songs, so we will see what comes of that. A friend of mine in Canada reliably informs me that this is the first time he has heard mention of CJRJ outside of North America. His house is about 6km from the transmission masts.

KNDI had music that sounded Samoan or Pacific, but not Hawaiian. It came in at S3, I4, N4, P3, O3

A new verie has arrived

KJNP 1170 AM in Alaska has verified with a nice e-card and a letter. It is a VERY welcome addition to my collection.

The address for reports is: kjnp@mosquitonet.com
I wonder is the domain name is indicative of what awaits visitors there?

A new logging

Via the League's SDR I have logged KJNP 1170, in North Pole, Alaska. It was playing Christmas music with a decidedly country flavour - 'We Wish You A Merry Christmas' played on a banjo, for example. There were a couple of good ids as well.

It was heard at fair strength, with some fading and mixed with (probably) KFAQ in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

This northern winter I have now heard the following Alaskan stations:

KICY, KENI, KQFD, KJNP, KNOM and KBBI.

A new verie dropped into my inbox this morning

Alex Loewen, Broadcast Technologist (?) for Golden West Radio, and CFRY 920 AM in particular, has verified yesterday's report. His email address is alex.loewen@goldenwestradio.com

New loggings 

The League's SDR just keeps coming up with things to report. Following a tip off form Dene Lynneberg in Wellington, NZ, I tuned into 920 kHz at 0715 UTC and managed to log CFRY in Portage La Prairie, Manitoba.

I then went to 890 kHz an hour later and logged KBBI in Homer, Alaska, which featured  a programme of polyphonic religious music - quite delightful.

Reports have been sent and now I await a reply.

More loggings via the NZRDXL SDR

I had lots of time this afternoon due to my wife working very late and so I logged on to the League's SDR and had a listen. 

This is some of what I heard. By 9 pm in NZ signals were not as good as darkness had fallen and the locals were swamping the weaker signals on the 10 kHz splits.

650  0715  HAWAII, KPRP good with ids given as Pinoy Power - sounded like gospel songs and local commericals. 

680  0720  USA, KNBR Fair with sports news. 

690  0722  HAWAII, KHNR Good with the best of the Mark Levin Show, local ads and local id - This is AM690, The Answer. 24/11 

720  0745  USA, KDWN Commercials and a good id at 0745 ‘KDWN’. 

770  0750  USA, KKOB (presumed) Fair with talkshow type prog. Some fading. 

850  0754  ALASKA, KICY (presumed) Fair/poor - mixed and fading with religious music - 'All Creatures That On Earth Do Dwell’ - must be the slowest version of the hymn I have ever heard. 

1010  0643  CANADA, CBR fair with magazine type prog. Good ids for CBC Calgary. 

1210  0356 HAWAII, KZOO (presumed) with old time vocals featuring a female vocalist. Fair. 

1690  0801  USA, KDMT (presumed) fair at best with local id and commercials. Quality of signal not great. 

A good night of DX via the DX League's SDR in Russell, Northland, New Zealand


I had a bit of spare time after work today so I had a listen to the League's SDR.
This is a bit of what I heard:
570  0750  USA, KLAC fair at best with Fox Sports talk. Deep fades. Mixed with a music station. 
590  0745  HAWAII, KSSK Very good with music and good ids. 
1020  0808 USA, KTNQ (presumed) fair with SS talk. Couldn’t avoid the splash, which marred an otherwise good signal. 
1040 0810  HAWAII, KLHT (presumed) good with religious prgm, but mixed with a Coast to Coast stn and I can’t work out who! 
1050 0816  USA, KTCT with local psa’s and adverts for Californian Fire services. Mixed with mx stn. No idea who though, only up briefly. 
1140  0823  USA, KHTK fair/ good with ESPN sports news, but mixed with another sports station. 

There were American stations on every 10 kHz spacing. I heard many more than the list above, they were just the ones I bothered to note down. 

Bill Marsh, in Blenheim, NZ, has been chasing a station on 1010 recently. On Wednesday I heard it very clearly - it is a Canadian station, or so the accent tells me. There were also mentions of British Columbia. It is either CFRB in Vancouver or CBR in Calgary. Tonight - there was no sign of it anywhere.

More verifications!

I was delighted to receive from Radio Free Asia verifications for broadcasts in Burmese on 7530 and 11805 kHz both from Tinian and in Khmer on 9700 and 12140 kHz - the former from Tinian and the latter from Saipan. What I was really after was the special set of 4 QSL cards to make the whole. See below. Thank you RFA.

A new verification

I had a little time yesterday afternoon and so I logged KFQD 750 kHz, Anchorage, Alaksa via the NZRDXL's SDR in Russell (Northland). The signal was coming through really well and I was able to get an excellent id - 'Meet The Press on KFQD'.

This station has been difficult, if not impossible, to verify over recent years. My good friend Sutton Burtenshaw in Hamilton tried three times last year and failed and I failed as well. However, I thought I would try again. I went to their website and and the contacts page. I chose the Program Director and sent him a brief email with a recording and back came an email verie this morning. The email address was joe@kfqd.com

A new verification has arrived

I recently logged KJR 950 in Seattle, Washington via the NZ Radio DX League's SDR based in Russell, New Zealand. There is a non-members' one available via the Kiwi SDR page http://kiwisdr.northlandradio.nz:8073/

As I type this at 1525 UTC there are already 4 listeners on it - from Italy (2), Sweden and Bangkok!

I sent a report to them via their Facebook page along with a recording and today back came a verification.

The last station I heard in Washington State was KIRO on 710 in 1981. Before that it was KOMO on 1000 in 1978. I remember they had a splendid QSL card (see below).

A new verification

A QSL has arrived from Radio Romania International. This was logged on 24 July 2017 on a frequency of 17760 kHz at 0542 UTC.

The card is a picture of the Ulpia Traiana Sarmizegetusa Stronghold.

Interesting recent loggings

I recently have taken to listening to Medium Wave on the New Zealand Radio DX League's Kiwi SDR (software defined radio), based in the north of New Zealand. As solar conditions continue to improve so does reception and it has been interesting to see what can be heard on this little SDR. It is not as sophisticated as some, but with Peter Mott in charge of it, it is performing to the maximum. It is connected to a 12m delta antenna.

This will give you some idea as to what has been heard over the past three or four days.

Every 10 kHz there is an American/ Hawaiian/ Alaskan carrier visible on the waterfall. Earlier in the evening conditions are better before the Aussies come in on the 9kHz splits. Later in the evening, towards 1100 UTC conditions are not so good.

All times are UTC.

560 0740 USA Unknown - talk suffering bad splash 558 24/10

590 0741 HAWAII (tent.) KSSK - probably with adult contemporary songs and ads - went under at the wrong moment. Couldn’t get id 24/10780 0811 USA WBBM, Chicago, Il Up briefly and then down. Call given and a Central time check. Under sports station. 23/10

780 0815 USA KKOH, Reno, Nv the dominant station. Fair/ good 23/10

940 0758 HAWAII KKNE Fair/ good and quite steady with Hawaiian mx and a good announcement at 0802 mentioning Waipahu, Hawaii. 24/10

950 0756 USA, KJR Seattle (tent.) fair/ good with ads for goodwill.org and ….donate …. Then at 0800 signal ruined by QRM (suspect it may be Peter on his local sched). When it all settled down it was into Fox Sports talk. 23/10 

1000 0834 USA, KOMO, Seattle, Wa. God and clear on USB with talk and many mentions of Seattle - traffic and weather forecasts. KOMO News id given at 0835. Years since I have heard it - used to have a nice QSL card. 25/10

1040  0836  HAWAII, KLHT,  Good with religious talk. 25/10

1120  0842  USA, Unknown. Good - fair with religious talk. I have no idea who it was, it was the same programme as 1190. There is nothing in Ca, Or or Wa. Possibly Canada? You would normally expect either KMOX or KPNW. 25/10 

1190  0845  USA, KDYA (tentative) Fair // to 1120. It is the only station I could find with religious programming 25/10 

1210  0847  USA, Unknown station at fair strength hammered by NZ on 1215. 25/10

1270  0850  USA, Unknown fair with music. 25/10 

To use this SDR you have to be a member of the NZ Radio DX League. Information can be found on www.radiodx.com

New loggings

Via the New Zealand radio DX League's SDR, based in Russell in the north of New Zealand, I have been having fun listening to various US AM stations in our (local) afternoon (around 0730 UTC). I have logged and sent a report to KJR 950 kHz in Seattle, Washington and KKNE 940 kHz in Waipahu, Hawaii. Hopefully something will come back.

It is interesting looking at the League's SDR - the waterfall shows carriers on virtually every frequency. Next year should be the low point of the solar cycle - methinks some interesting stuff is to be had in the future.

A new verie

CRI replied with an e-QSL to my report of their broadcast on 11710 kHz. No sign of the other frequency though. Finger crossed something will arrive.

New Loggings

In recent days I have logged CRI in English on 11710 kHz (fair signal) and 13800 kHz (good signal) and KBS World Service in English on 9770 kHz (good signal) and in Korean on 9570 kHz (fair signal at best) and 15160 kHz (good signal).

A new verie

I have finally managed to get a verie back from KTIQ 1660 kHz in Merced, California. The station has now closed, or rather changed callsign to KBRE. Following a tipoff from Sutton Burtenshaw, I email Jason LaChance, the operations manager, and he verified the report. The station was logged on 1st April, 2016 in Mangawhai at Bryan Clark's place.

A new verie

Bingo - KNOM 780 kHz in Nome, Alaska replied overnight. A very nice and friendly email from Program Director Laura Collins was received. Her email address is laura.collins@knom.org

A new logging

Following a posting on the NZ Radio DX League's dxdialog I brought up the League's SDR and tuned into 780 kHz. There was KNOM in Nome, Alaska booming in. A programme of smooth jazz at 0750 UTC was followed by a detailed weather report and then an id at 0804. More music followed, but of the pop variety. I preferred the jazz! KKOH in Reno, Nevada came over the top of occasion, but KNOM was the dominant signal. This is what normally dominates the frequency.

An email report has been sent via the website and now I have to sit patiently and see if it bears fruit..

Two new veries

Two new verifications arrived today - both from India. The first was for AIR Thiruchirapalli 936 kHz and the other was for AIR 9950 kHz via Delhi.

The veries are shown below.

New loggings

I have logged Radio Free Asia firstly on 9700 and 12140 broadcasting in Khmer and then on 7530 and 11805 broadcasting in Burmese - the signal was excellent all round.

A new verie

A new verie has arrived from Voice of Report of the Week. Logged on 9400 kHz VORW comes out of Bulgaria. 

VORW Radio International is the official External Service of TheReportOfTheWeek, whose mission is to provide an enjoyable light entertainment program over the airwaves. Programs consist of a short lecture at the beginning, followed by a selection of music, exclusively comprised of listener requested tunes. 

Programs have been continuously on the air since December 22nd, 2016 though they have been on shortwave sporadically since January of 2015. 

Here is the current transmission schedule:

Thursday 2000 UTC - 11580 kHz - To North America

Thursday 2200 UTC - 9955 kHz - To South America

Friday 0000 UTC - 7490 kHz, 7730 kHz, 9395 kHz - To North America 

Sunday 1600 UTC - 9400 kHz - To Europe / Middle East 

Sunday 2000 UTC - 9395 kHz - To Eastern North America

A flood of veries

After many weeks of patiently waiting, or not, a number of veries arrived today.

The came from All India Radio Jallandhar 873 (very pleased with this as it was very hard to hear), AIR 11560 (Aligarh) and 15120 (Bengaluru); NHK World Radio 11805 and 15280, Radio Taiwan International on 7445, 11600 and 1359.

QSL for AIR Jalandhar 873

A new logging

Sunday night is the time when Voice of the Report of the Week Radio International broadcasts on 9400 kHz from 1600-1700 UTC. I logged it yesterday evening. The signal was fair, but it was difficult to tell what was being said as there was local background noise and the announcer's voice was quiet. There was enough information available through the songs they played to send a report, so I will wait to see what happens.

A new logging and verie - OZY Music Radio

OZY Music Radio is doing a test transmission on 5045 kHz 500 watts from Razor back near Camden NSW 25 nautical miles SW of Sydney. It is a tremendous signal when heard via the NZ Radio DX League's SDR in Russell. It must have a very good antenna set up. It is playing lost of music with the occasional id and advertisement. 

I sat at my work desk (not a lot of work being done) and emailed a report to John Wright of the ARDXC, who is the QSL manager, and he responded virtually immediately with an eQSL. John's email address is dxer1234@gmail.com

It will be interesting to see if it can be heard from here in Malaysia, but I suspect not.

A new logging and a new verie

A couple of nights ago MW conditions were good, with relatively little noise. I have been searching for All India Radio domestic stations. So, I set the recorder on to 936 kHz at 1700 UTC.

When I listened to the recording all I heard was a couple of stations mixed at very poor volume levels, the odd bit of music and muffled talk. However, at 1730 (2300 IST) there was a time pip and then a man said, 'All India Radio, the news read by .....'

This was good enough. I managed to cobble together a few other details and the report has been sent.

On the same day I also managed to log AIR on 9950 kHz broadcasting to Pakistan in Urdu. There were many mentions of Pakistan and India. The signal was fair at best, but quite clear. It is obviously coming off the back end of the aerial.

The verie comes from Trans World Radio via Moldova, heard on the 19th August at 1800 UTC on 9940 kHz. The verie signer was Lorraine Stavropoulos (lstavrop@twr.org)

A new verie via email

A new verie has arrived via email. KTWR in Guam was heard on 1st August on 11965 kHz at 1057 UTC.

The verie came from Becky Philyaw in the KTWR Frequency Coordination Department.

A new logging

KNLS from Alaska came in beautifully last evening at 1040 UTC on 9690 kHz. The program was in English and one of the elements of the program was a discussion with the author of  a book called The Swamp - praising Donald Trump's efforts to remove corruption and basically bludgers from Washington. Noble sentiments, I am sure. However, I think the moral high ground does not belong to that man. His paranoid, self-centred approach to his position does not bode well for the peace and harmony of our world. Oh, and it was interesting to note that the author in question appears on Fox News. Hardly a neutral view!

A welcome verification has arrived

I heard Vanuatu 7260 kHz via the NZ Radio DX League's remote receiver in Paihia, Northland. A report was sent by post and no response. I contacted them by Facebook Messenger, and finally after a recent prompt a verification arrived. It is country no. 115

A new verification has arrived

A new verie was received this morning from All India Radio. It was for a broadcast on 15185 kHz (Bengaluru) heard on 27th July in the Gujarat language. The signal was a good one and at 0430 the language changed.

It is part of the East African Service, so I suspect I was getting it off the back end of the antenna.

The QSL card is below - it is a picture of the Dakhinpat Temple in Majuli, Assam.

New veries

I sent a copy of an old reception report to China Radio International (CRI) and I am delighted that they now issue e-QSLs. It was a report from last October for the frequencies 1080 kHz (Xuanwei, Yunan Province) and 6060 kHz (Kunming, Yunan Province).

An unexpected verie

In April 2015 I went to stay with Bryan and Sandra Clark in DX Paradise aka Mangawhai - soon to be our place of residence! While there I logged CFTE on 1410 kHz in Vancouver BC, Canada. I think it used to be CFUN and I verified that one a very long time ago.

I posted a report, which was ignored by the station. I then sent it by email on three or four occasions. Finally another NZ Radio DX League member, Ian Wells in Dunedin, got it back and had a specific email address.

I tried that and two and a quarter years after logging it, a chatty email verie arrived this morning. Case closed!

Verifications received

I heard Bangladesh Betar a couple of evenings ago on 4750 kHz. I had an earlier log in 558 kHz. So, I sent both, along with a recording, to the external service of Bangladesh Betar. They had a look at the reports and a listen to the recording and sent me an email (brief indeed) verifying my reports. This country is number 114 on shortwave and 73 on mediumwave.

New logging and the holidays nearing an end

This evening I managed to log Radio Taiwan International on 1359, 7445 and 11600 kHz, Bangladesh Betar 4750.

Last night I set the scheduler on my Excalibur to record a 300 kHz section of the tropical bands. Signal quality wasn't great, but I did manage to get AIR Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala State on 5010 kHz. It is probably the best I have heard it. Elton John songs were played and there was some English spoken. Modulation wasn't great so it was difficult to follow what was being said. However, with the music played I should have enough to get a verification.

During my summer holidays and before school starts again for me next week, I have managed to log 18 frequencies. Hopefully something will come of it all. I have had 3 veries in and only one of those was for a holiday logging.

The best things about these holidays has been the Excalibur arriving. It is certainly a very good receiver and will set me up for the rest of my DXing days.

Once I get back to Mangawhai in New Zealand with a decent aerial set-up, I should hear some very interesting things.

A verification out of the ordinary!

The post below talks about hearing Deutsche Welle on 15290 kHz. I had an email this morning confirming that somebody at the Issoudun transmitting site had made an error and that it was indeed the DW interval signal that was being broadcast. Fans of NHK World Radio must have been seriously disappointed. Anyway, I am counting it as a verie!

This is what it sounded like (about 5 seconds in).

A new logging

After 1700 UTC (1am local) on 873 kHz, once Sri Lanka closed down Vietnam dominated the frequency. However, in the fades AIR Jalandhar (Punjab) was present underneath in English. An email has gone to AIR, along with a brief recording and so I must sit back and wait.

15290 is a frequency used by Deutsche Welle at 1600 in English, coming out of Issoudun in France. However, at 0825 I heard the DW interval signal sounding. At this time this frequency was supposed to be broadcasting NHK World Radio. What was going on, I don't know. I emailed DW and got a response. They are sending the email to the people responsible and they will let me know what transpired. Hopefully they will say it is a mistake and they were broadcasting, in which case I will count it as a verification!

New South Wales or Oman Heard in Malaysia

I recorded a chunk of the band last night. 1413 had an interesting signal. At 1700 the RRI station in Sungai Liat closed down. Time pips were heard and then the BBC WS programme Outlook started up.

When looking through the Pacific Asia Log, there are two stations it could be: 2EA in Newcastle, NSW, Australia. Nothing else carries the BBC there. I checked with the SBS website and sure enough, it is listed as BBC World Service overnight. The other possibility is the BBC via Oman.

This is what it sounded like. Unfortunately I verified 2EA back in 2003 and Oman in 2005 from New Zealand. Nonetheless, it was exciting to hear it.

New loggings

NHK World in Japanese came in well today on 11825 and 15280. 15280 was the better signal and fortunately offered up a couple of Japanese pop songs that Shazam was able to identify. Hopefully it will be enough to enable them to verify my report, because I had not a clue what the announcers were saying.

WinRadio G33DDC

My new Excalibur SDR has finally arrived. Getting to know it has been a challenge and a tutorial from Bryan Clark has been just the ticket.

It is an extremely sophisticated machine and is clearly a step up from the G313e. It is interesting to see how so many of its features appear in the later model.

The major improvement is in the waterfall. The waterfall allows you to easily see where a signal's carrier is and even to be able to gauge its strength. In the event that multiple stations share a frequency (as in medium wave) you can see the differences between the carriers and home in on the one you are looking for.

All in all it looks a super set and I cannot wait for conditions to improve so that I can try it out properly!

New logging

Mediumave was noisy last night, but the one station to stand out was Athmik Yatra Radio, based in Kerala (India) but coming out of Trincomalee (Sri Lanka) on 1548 kHz. The signal was at fair-good strength but was subject to deep fades every couple of minutes. Conditions were generally noisy.

This is what it sounded like (at its best!).

States verified

I had an hour or so to spare this morning so I did a bit of work on my Mediumwave logs. I was interested to work out how many states of the USA I have verified. The answer is 35 plus Washington DC (logged in England coincidentally).

The states I am missing are: Connecticut, Delaware, Indiana, Kansas, Maine, Montana, New Hampshire, New York, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Vermont and West Virginia

I may well have verified stations in Kansas and Montana, but my log books are in storage. I have been able to update lists from my QSL cards, but there are letters and log books stored away. I have certainly heard New York - WHAM in Rochester, but getting a verie is a different matter. Unsurprisingly most states are on the east coast. I have also heard a South Dakota station and verified it, only to find that the transmitter is about a mile into Illinois!

This can become a project of mine - perhaps via a remote SDR?!

New Loggings

All India Radio is a good source of QSLs and I enjoy listening to Indian classical music, which is often what they carry.

This morning I managed to log 2 frequencies: 15120 in their Kannada service to West Asia. The advertised 13695 was excellent, while 15120 was fair to average. Kannada is the language of about 40 million people in south western India.

Later I logged 11560 in the Dari language service to Afghanistan. 9910 was inaudible and 11670 was under a Chinese station. 11560 itself was pretty good, but the signal deteriorated, I suspect as the sun rose in India.

Both the West Asian and Dari services beam at about 180 degrees form here, so we get the back end of the signal.

A new verification

Adrian Sainsbury has obliged with a follow up report to RNZI for reception on 5995 kHz back in March.

Thank you, Adrian,

A new logging

Radio Romania International was received today at 0545 on 17760 and 21500 kHz. Reception was not great. There is a lot of noise around at present and in LSB with a wide filter, I was just able to hear most of what was said. This broadcast is designed for Australia/ New Zealand and India. Therefore the signal comes from Europe over India and Malaysia and on to Australasia. It is daylight much of the way. You would expect a reasonably good signal if it is being beamed in this direction. The earlier broadcast to India at 0300 on 11825 was of a much better quality. The DRM broadcast is inaudible here.

In SINPO terms 17760 was S3 I5 N3 P4 O 2/3; 21500 was S2 I5 N2 P4 O 1/2.

I don't know why, at the present time, international broadcasters persist in broadcasting on the 16 and 13 metre bands. The signal quality is generally poor.

Broadcast Trail

Where I live conditions on MW are very noisy - it cannot be avoided and you just have to live with it, annoying though it is. On nights of good reception, the signals come in so well that they override the noise and lots of good DX can be heard.

Such a night was July 20th 2017. I turned on the radio and checked 531. Normally all I hear is noise, but I know that if I hear anything else I am in for a good evening.

I decided to do a broadcast trail and this is what is posted below. Reception started at 1445 (10.45pm). Things become even more interesting after 1700 UTC (1 am local) when a lot of the Chinese, Thai and Indonesian stations go off, revealing things lurking beneath. I don't like staying up late, so set the recorder going in the hope that something appears. Nothing much appeared this night, alas, apart from an interesting Chinese station I still have yet to identify.

Freq	Time UTC	Details
531	1445	THAILAND – So. Wor. Thor. Tacheng mixed but fair
540	1446	THAILAND – Bangkok on top but mixed - fair
549	1447	VIETNAM – VoV2 My Van good with talk
558	1448	BANGLADESH – Bangladseh Betar Khluna good and clear
567	1450	LAOS – Lao National Radio vg with many mentions of Laos
576	1450	MYANMAR – strong sig, poor modulation Myanma R
585	1451	UNKNOWN – poor modulation v hard to follow.
594	1452	VIETNAM – VoV1 Da Nang fair but mixed
603	1453	CHINA – uncertain who. Definitely Mandarin and it was slow and deliberate speaking.
610	1454	VIETNAM – Ho Chi Minh City excellent strength
630	1456	VIETNAM – VoV1 Dong Hoi fair/ good but mixed
648	1456	VIETNAM – VoV1 Qui Nhon poor modulation – mixed.
675	1456	VIETNAM – VoV1 My Van fair and mixed
684	1457	UNKNOWN – big carrier silencing all noise v small and unidentifiable signal
693	1458	CHINA presumed. Fair but mixed and impossible to distinguish
711	1459	VIETNAM – VoV1 Can Tho – excellent signal and excellent at an hour after sunrise in Malaysia the next morning.
729	1503	VIETNAM – VoV2 Dong Hoi very good
738	1505	TAIWAN possibly – bad het from 740 even with narrow band filter
740	1505	VIETNAM – VOV2 An Nhon fair – suffered from het from 738
747	1506	INDONESIA – RRI Bengkulu good with news
756	1509	INDONESIA – mixed with prayer/ islamic chanting. Possibly RRI Prog 1 Purwokerto. Mixed with another – possibly Taiwan.
765	1510	CHINA – uncertain but possibly CNR5 Fuzhou (600 kw)
783	1511	VIETNAM – VoV2 Can Tho excellent with phone calls
801	1512	INDONESIA – RRI Pro 4 Medan – (close to here) excellent
819	1513	VIETNAM – VoV4 Buon Me Thuot fair with talk
864	1515	INDONESIA RRI Cirebon good with music on trad instruments and chanting
909	1516	THAILAND So. Wor. Thor.Surin Fair and mixed
918	1517	CAMBODIA – RNK Phnom Penh excellent as ever
954	1518	VIETNAM – Vinh Long Radio Can Tho. Fair but noisy. According to Pacific Asia Log it shouldn't be on, but it was. It definitely sounded VV
1017	1520	THAILAND (uncertian) – sounded Thai – fair sig
1026	1520	UNKNOWN – big carrier poor signal
1080	1524	CHINA – CRI Kunming – huge signal in Laotian. Gave web address as lao.cri.com
1215	1527	THAILAND – So. Wor. Thor. Surat Thani// 891. Fair. 891 (Nong Khae) poor.
1224	1530	UNKNOWN – huge carrier no signal
1242	1530	VIETNAM – VoV Ext. Sce Thoi Long – big signal
1269	1530	CHINA – CRI Xuanwei excellent
1287	1531	INDONESIA – RRI Palembang – always there, but not tonight!
1350	1532	PHILIPPINES – DWUN mixed with China or Taiwan - fair at best.
1359	1533	TAIWAN – Fangliao not there surprisingly
1368	1533	THAILAND – one of the So. Wor. Thors fair/ poor
1413	1535	INDONESIA – RRI Sungliat Reg. Prog 2 fair/ poor
1503	1538	TAIWAN – Fangliao good in Thai
1512	1539	INDONESIA - RRI Bukittingi terrible signal, unusually.
1530	1540	PHILIPPINES – DZME fair with relig prog.
1557	1540	UNKNOWN – poor/ fair and mixed – possibly Taiwan (usual suspect) and Thailand
1575	1541	THAILAND – Ban Phachi – excellent as usual
1593	1542	THAILAND possibly – So. Wor. Thor Ratchaburi fair.