A very nice Asian morning

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A very nice Asian morning

Postby Toomas Losin » Mon Sep 09, 2013 6:15 pm

This morning was one of those rare ones that we all wish would happen every night.

Before the onslaught of Asian stations began something unusual was happening overnight on 1570. A station branding itself as "News/Talk 1570" was heard with English language top of the hour news at 09:00 UTC but conditions didn't remain good long enough to hear an ID. XERF was audible beneath it but when the unknown station faded out XERF remained weak. Clearly, this is something to listen for in the future.

In the hour before sunrise lots of Asian stations showed up. Many of the 9 kHz frequencies had carriers where normally there was nothing.


The Korean jammer on 1053 was easy to hear.

Korea on 972 was at an easy to understand level if one understands the language. The same for Japan on 747 and 774 with the eikaiwa programs that always bring a smile to my face!

At 13:30 UTC there was strong, intelligible, audio on 891 in an Asian language. Very unusual in the Lower Mainland. At this time of day there was no longer any interference from CJDC Dawson Creek. No hint of the Australian station on 891.

Good audio was heard on 1017 in an Asian language. This doesn't happen often.

Korea on 1566 provided strong audio but 1575 had only the faintest of audio, possibly imaginary.


There was unintelligible audio on 558 and 594 that was not strong enough for a hint at language.

There was a faint carrier on 738. That's rare here.

Unintelligible audio was heard on 846 but it was strong enough to suggest an Asian language.

An Asian-sounding language was faintly heard on 1098. Not intelligible at all.

There was a very strong carrier on 1116 but only the faintest level of audio was heard at times. A spot check showed two equally strong carriers about 7 Hz appart.

There was only a weak carrier on 1548 beneath interference from KRPI. No audio heard.


This was a great morning compared with the last few months. So what caused it? There were no exceptional events recorded overnight as far as I can see. I'm hoping it happens again, so I'm looking forward to another possibly good evening tonight!
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Re: A very nice Asian morning

Postby jon » Mon Sep 09, 2013 6:39 pm

A quick Google shows WNDA IDs itself as News/Talk 1570. 1500 watts day and 230 watts at night. Aren't stations still allowed to test on day pattern between midnight and 6am Monday mornings?
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Re: A very nice Asian morning

Postby jon » Tue Sep 10, 2013 2:00 pm

Seattle DX'er Bruce Portzer reports his best Trans-Pacific audio on Monday morning was Korea on 1575 and 972. Weaker audio from Korea 1566 and China 981, plus a couple of NHK (Japan) stations.
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Re: A very nice Asian morning

Postby Eldon-Mr.CFAY » Tue Sep 10, 2013 4:38 pm

Greetings,
Interesting DX conditions out west. Thanks for reporting all the early Sept. 2013 Monday Morning DX Toomas and Jon. That WNDA 1570 catch is interesting. I might try for them here in Southern Ontario. I have heard quite a bit on 1570 here including WYTI 1570 Rocky Mount, Virginia with wide range of country and all local programming, great local independent station. I think I have heard XERF here at times but certainly no regular in the Cobourg area.

I will let you know that WXME 780 Monticello , Maine which is 5000 watts day and 60 watts night owned by WBCQ Shortwave owner Allan Weiner is now Classic Country Format. They have had a lot of formats over the years on 710 and more recently on 780 including talk. Allan switched it to local classic country fulltime about a month ago. I have been trying to get them at sunrise or sunset but no luck so far. I do get WBBM 780 Chicago blasting in at night regularly with local All News Format. On 780 before sunset I have heard 780 from Forest City, North Carolina and a station in Virginia too. However my most wanted AM DX is WXME 780 Monticello so hope I can hear it. Although WBCQ Shortwave streams they have not had 780 WXME or when on 710 streaming yet. So you cannot listen to them on the internet to date. WXME 780 does not simulcast any of WBCQ Shortwave programming except once in awhile Allan Weiner Worldwide live radio talk show at 8 PM Eastern Time Fridays. So for any one dxing on 780 you might try for this one at sunrise or sunset dx times.

73s and great DX Toomas, keep it up. Glad to hear that Bruce is getting some great TP DX in Seattle too!!!


Eldon
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Re: A very nice Asian morning

Postby Toomas Losin » Tue Sep 10, 2013 7:01 pm

I would love to count what I heard on 1570 as WNDA - it would be my first station from Indiana (and I've heard from each state that borders it!) - but I need more evidence. I've been fooled before. Sometimes the mind can retool faint sounds into words that make perfect sense; sounds puzzled over one night can actually be quite different words when finally heard clearly the next evening! In this case the words are clear but it's possible that another station on 1570 describes itself as News/Talk. It's been busy so I haven't listened to this morning's recording of 1570 yet.


For Trans-Pacific stations this morning was the second-best day in months but not as rewarding as the previous morning. There were still a huge number of carriers where normally there would be nothing, but the number of signals with audio was less. It was still all Asian.

The Japanese stations on 747 and 774 had a surprising downturn sometime before the pre-sunrise hour. Having woken up a few hours before sunrise, I spot checked what was happening with them and found they were in at a strength comparable to the previous morning; a good sign for things to come, I thought. Nope, both were present later but not at a "good audio" level.

Korea on 1566 was mostly its reliable self. The jammer on 1053 was also audible but not quite like yesterday. The 972 frequency did not do well for Korea, only having faint audio.

I heard an English ID for VOA on 1575 at 13:00 UTC. So Thailand was having better luck reaching the Lower Mainland then yesterday, at least while I was listening.

There were 15 minutes of Russian on 963 at 13:15 UTC. I heard the magic word "govorit" but what followed was not intelligible. May be Russia or China. I can't claim my first mediumwave station from Russia yet.

Disappointments were 891 and 1017 which had no audio and only a fair carrier, unlike the previous morning. I spot-checked 891 by tuning to 890 using upper-sideband mode and found that KBBI Homer was having a good morning reaching here while CJDC was gone again thanks to sunrise. I counted five carriers on 891, all in a 23 Hz spread. The 1611 frequency was similar -- no audio but a spot-check showed six carriers in a 37 Hz spread. It wouldn't be much fun if they all came to an audible strength at the same time. I wonder what frequency comes closest to being a Trans-Pacific graveyard?

By the time I got to 1548 at 13:41 UTC I believe it was suffering from KRPI 1550 being back at day power. There was a fair carrier but no audio. The squawks from KRPI (using lower-sideband mode) were bad so I moved on.

What will tonight bring? No one knows but I'm hoping for some South Pacific propagation.
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Re: A very nice Asian morning

Postby jon » Tue Sep 10, 2013 9:10 pm

Oops, just did a little more googling and found WLKD is also "News/Talk 1570". Minocqua, Wisconsin, with 5000 watts day and 500 watts at night. Non-directional all the time.
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Re: A very nice Asian morning

Postby Toomas Losin » Wed Sep 11, 2013 8:13 pm

There was more good Asian propagation this morning. Third day in a row. Again lots and lots of carriers where normally there would be nothing.

Japan on 774, 747, 828, and 594 were all strong, although at different times. At one point there were two Asian voices stepping on each other on 774 and a carrier check showed two strong carriers 6 Hz apart (and four weak ones!).

Korea on 1566 was strong and was heard after most others had fallen off due to sunrise. At 13:27 UTC 972 had excellent audio when CKNW 980 was quiet.

The Russian broadcast on 963 heard after 13:00 is from China Radio International, proven by the parallel shortwave transmission on 9675.

At 13:42 there was faint Asian audio on 1053 and the Korean jammer was not heard, although it did fade up two minutes later. Might this audio have come from the North Korean station being jammed? It was too faint to ID anything.

Interestingly, the 1053 jammer and Japan on 774 outlasted the other stations (even 1566) as sunrise progressed.
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Re: A very nice Asian morning

Postby Tape Splicer » Wed Sep 11, 2013 10:27 pm

T L; You have some very interesting catches. With International short wave down the tubes, AM and FM DX is all that's left to challenge our ears and tuners.
What type of a receiver and antenna are you using?
I would guess that you are away from electrical interference (from high tension lines etc).
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Re: A very nice Asian morning

Postby Toomas Losin » Thu Sep 12, 2013 6:31 pm

Tape Splicer wrote:T L; You have some very interesting catches. With International short wave down the tubes, AM and FM DX is all that's left to challenge our ears and tuners.
What type of a receiver and antenna are you using?
I would guess that you are away from electrical interference (from high tension lines etc).


I'm very disappointed about international shortwave broadcasters shutting down, although I understand why. I wish I had recorded the interval signals from the 80's.

I have to listen around various noises. There used to be something that wiped out one sideband of 1610. For months now there's been some low-level broadband noise just above 1700 that extends into the 160m band. That noise makes it a challenge to hear the beacon in Papua New Guinea (which I haven't yet). Sometimes this noise comes down in frequency to give 1700 problems. There's some carrier-type emission near 776 which makes it irritating to use upper sideband mode to listen to Japan on 774 (so I use the notch filter). Fortunately, there's nothing that wipes out the band.

My listening now is done with an Icom R71a with an unamplified 8x4m Pennant antenna with peak-sensitivity pointed at Japan.

For years I used a tuned loop (half square metre area) indoors with the R71a. Getting back into the hobby after 15 years I felt that the loop wasn't hearing all that it should. When I read about Flag and Pennant antennas I built an 8x4 metre Pennant outdoors. It blew away the tuned loop. The loop had a higher signal level but also higher noise. Moving it outdoors resulted in an improved signal but the signal from the Pennant is still better, it's weaker but with a better S/N. I'm not sure what a much larger tuned loop would be like but I've thought about it.

So the wisdom that good reception begins with a good antenna is true. A good communications receiver isn't worth the expense if the antenna isn't providing a good signal.

I've been testing two ultralights: A Grundig G8 and a Tecsun PL-390. The G8 suffers from the "soft mute" issue, hurting the very signals a DXer wants to hear, but the PL-390 has a much less aggressive mute and has adjustable IF bandwidth. The G8 has heard Japan 774 indoors but weakly. This morning the PL-390 heard 774 and 1566 indoors and outdoors but outdoors was best; however, the R71a + Pennant blew both away at the same time. That should be an obvious result considering the size of the antennas.

Single sideband is sooooo useful for checking carrier level. The G8 and PL-390 do not do single sideband, so one can't get advance notice of something that may be worth listening for, something that isn't quite at audio level yet. Maybe the RSSI indicator could be used for this. With the R71a I'm normally using upper or lower sideband mode so a carrier check is simply done by detuning 1 kHz. This morning I noted more than fifty frequencies with carriers but the vast majority were not producing audio.
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Re: A very nice Asian morning

Postby Toomas Losin » Thu Sep 12, 2013 6:38 pm

This morning was the fourth in a row with good Asian propagation into the Lower Mainland.

But first, conditions to Hawaii were very good at midnight PDT. A very clear top-of-the-hour legal ID for KUAU 1570 was heard. I actually heard this live while sitting by the radio!

Japan was well-represented on 774, 747, 828, and 594 at various times. The station heard on 1242 may also have been Japan.

Korea on 972 was weak but was splendid on 1566 until late in the morning; it was gone at 13:54 UTC but as I listened it faded up again from nothing. The 1053 jammer was doing its thing and, once again, competed with 1566 to be the last Korean signals heard this morning.

At 12:17 VOA Thailand on 1575 was heard as strong as a local station for just over a minute. A song followed by a female voice. The signal then faded to imaginary level before coming back to being listenable.

At 13:26 a presumed KBBI was dominating 890. There was only a fair carrier on 891.

I'm still hoping for some South Pacific propagation. Maybe tonight?
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Re: A very nice Asian morning

Postby Toomas Losin » Fri Sep 13, 2013 6:13 pm

This morning was the least interesting of the week.

The usual Japanese frequencies all had audio: 594, 747, 774, 828, and 1242. In particular, 594 lasted a long time before finally fading out.

Korea had excellent audio at 13:26 UTC on 1566, again like a local. The jammer on 1053 was heard again.

Faint audio was heard on 945, likely China.

Faint audio on 1143. Unknown.

Domestically KKXA 1520 was heard with a great signal at 13:07 but that means its IBOC spewage was also great, stomping on 1503. This was particularly annoying as there was faint audio on 1503.
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Re: A very nice Asian morning

Postby Toomas Losin » Sat Sep 14, 2013 5:00 pm

What a nice week it's been! Good Asian reception continued this morning with an improvement over the day before. The usual Japanese and Korean frequencies produced audio.

Music was heard on 891 at 13:40 with some QRM from 890. Upper sideband mode is very useful on this frequency.

Faint audio was heard on 1116 but it was unintelligible. Modulation peaks from CKWX 1130 presented some QRM.
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Re: A very nice Asian morning

Postby Toomas Losin » Wed Sep 18, 2013 7:53 pm

This Asian opening is still active but the last few days haven't presented anything new that I've caught. Japan and Korea are still both easily heard, with Japan still audible after 14:00 UTC this morning. VOA Thailand has been dependable with audio.

Alaska has been active too. The aviation weather on 529 has been audible each evening -- certainly the carrier is there. There's been a sports station beneath KGNW 820 a few times but this morning identifiable copy was heard faintly beneath KGNW near the top of the hour in a commercial block with a few mentions of Fairbanks and then the clincher, mention of the "KCBF web site at 820sports.com".

A Trans-Atlantic opening may be in the works. Last night I heard a very faint carrier on 1566 (but didn't log it so I don't know the time). Per other listeners this is likely Benin.
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