SW Loggings

 I didn't realise it had been so long since last I posted to this blog. Life has been busy, I have had problems with my EWEs and I haven't made the time to listen.

However, in a fit of energetic activity this morning, I decided to have a scan of the SW bands. I began at 1800. It is dark here until 1900. The list below is the result of that.

Some people bemoan the fate of SW now that so many international broadcasters have closed. When I began DXing in 1973, you had international broadcasts from the USSR, Sweden, Norway, Finland, West Germany, Italy, Portugal, Switzerland (used to love listening to Swiss country music), Canada, Australia, the Netherlands and Belgium among many others. Now they are all gone and the bands are flooded with CRI in multiple languages spewing out their world hegemony propaganda. The VOA, as you will see below, seems now destined only for Africa or parts of Asia.  

I was surprised - in an hour of listening I logged nearly 20 different countries. There are one or two stations which I didn't add to the list below.

Who says shortwave is dead!

3320    1805    NTH KOREA Pyongyang BS Fair with martial music and mass choirs. Not a clear signal. SMF 9/8

3480    1807    STH KOREA Voice of the People Fair/ good with talk in KK. //3910 & 3930 audible but under Nth Korean jamming, 3480 Fair, SMF 9/8

3985    1815    GERMANY, R Slovakia Int fair/ poor in GG. Hard to decipher what was being said. Mx was fine. SMF 9/8

4750    1817    BANGLADESH, Bangladesh Betar good in EE with translations of traditional Muslim stories. SMF 9/8

4890    1818    STH KOREA, V of Hope vg in KK. SMF 9/8

5860    1820    KUWAIT, US Agency for Global Media. Good with pops, but horrible interference spreading from 5740 to 5870. SMF 9/8

5875    1824    ARMENIA, BBC WS Vg in Pashto with lots of talk. SMF 9/8

5890    1826    THAILAND, US AGM Fair in Pashto. SMF 9/8

5960    1827    TURKEY, VoT Excellent with a great mx prog. TT b/cast. SMF 9/8

5970    1828    OMAN, BBCWS, Vg in Pushto. SMF 9/8

6015    1835    UNKNOWN - woodpecker type jamming centred around Nth Korean jamming of KBS Hanminjok. Also on 6048. Suddenly stopped at 1842. SMF 9/8

6040    1831    SAO TOME, VOA poor. Advertised in Shona, but there was EE spoken with an African accent. Horrible woodpecker QRM at 1837. SMF 9/8

6080    1836    BOTSWANA, VOA fair in EE. SMF 9/8

6130    1844    SWAZILAND, TWR audible but poor in Umbundu. SMF 9/8

6165    1845    UAE, TWR Fair in Tigray SMF 9/8

6180    1845    SAO TOME, VOA Fair/ poor in FF. SMF 9/8

7235    1850    IRAN, IRIB fair/ poor in Hausa to Nigeria presumably. SMF 9/8

7485    1853    SINGAPORE, BBC WS fair in EE. Became noisy as day broke. SMF 9/8

7485    1859    NTH MARIANAS (Tinang) VOA signing on suddenly over the top of the BBC with usual axmnts and Yankee Doodle and then into KK. Fair/ good. Haven't heard this for a long time. SMF 9/8

All of these were heard using a WinRadio G33DDC connected to a 5m EWE antenna pointing NE.