Some Shortwave Observation of Last Few Days: Part -1

Here are some of my recent logs to International radio stations via shortwave and my observation and comments on them. For all these logs I used Grundig YB 80 digital receiver along with Kestral W31MS loop antenna.

1.Polish Radio, English

On 12th of March I tuned to Polish Radio at 1800 UTC on 9650 kHz in English. Heard the news and followed by reports from correspondents from other partner stations of Polish Radio. At the beginning of the transmission the signal strength was quite good with no interference and although there was lots of noise and propagation disturbances, but still the program was audible. But from 1830 UTC suddenly the transmission quality fall a lot and Polish Radio signal became very weak and almost inaudible. There was strong QRM noted from (may be) China.

2. Adventist World Radio, English.

On 13th March, 2011 I heard AWR DX program Wavescan on 15495 kHz from 1200 UTC. The reception in this frequency is always disappointing with lots of noise and propagation disturbances. On this observation day also the condition was same, although the program was audible and there was no QRM noted.

3. BBG- VOA Ashna Radio, Dari.

On 15th March 2011, on 5780 kHz I heard BBG- VOA Ashna Radio from 1740 UTC with strong signal, but some noise and propagation disturbance noted. Program was in Dari and frequent use of word "Afghanistan" and interviews in English on Afgan issues confirmed me that I have heard Ashna Radio.

4. Voice of Turkey, English.

Monitoring this English transmission of TRT- Voice of Turkey on regular basis for last few weeks. On 16th March I tuned to VOT on around 1335 UTC on 11735 kHz, and found strong interference from an unidentified station with lots of noise and propagation. Later at around 1410 UTC the reception condition improved a lot, lesser interference and noise. Heard the program "Letter Box" in which one of my letter to TRT also read and answered. Again on 19th March I tuned Voice of Turkey again on same frequency, at 1345 UTC and found the reception condition little bit improved today. The interference was there and noise and propagation disturbance too prevail, but the condition was better than that of 16th March reception. This Voice of Turkey's reception quality is always unpredictable in my location and some times I do remember to hear them with excellent reception quality too.

5. RTI Vs. CRI on 9435 kHz.

Recently Radio Taiwan International changed their broadcast frequency for South East Asia from 11550 kHz to 9435 kHz, after a successful test transmission for three days on this new frequency in mid February. But, I observed that while the test transmission was done the reception on 9435 was very good and after that the reception condition on 11550 kHz was also clear before its permanent shifting to 9435 kHz. Last few days I am monitoring RTI on this news frequency (9435 kHz) and found that the signal of CRI English is much much stronger than RTI. Although RTI becomes stronger at around 1640 UTC, but still strong QRM from CRI noted always. RTI has retained this frequency for A11 transmission schedule too, and it will be interesting to see how it performs in new summer.

6. Radio Austria International (Radio O1 Int.) in German.

I was running after to get this station for quite a long time now and on March 19th I got success. Heard the Radio Austria German service on 17855 kHz from 1300 to 1330 kHz. The reception was pretty good with strong signal, but still some propagation disturbance and noise noted. Heard news and reports on Libyan developments, Japan's recent condition after devastating tsunami and earthquake, etc. Now, just want to QSL this station.

7. DW is clear on 15275 kHz.

I use 5965 kHz to listen to DW English from 1600 UTC as after DW's recent shifting to 15275 kHz from old 9560 kHz, this was the only audible frequency to listen to English transmission. But on 19th March, I tried to listen on 15275 kHz, and found the reception in this frequency quite clear. I heard the Inbox program with very little noise and propagation. The voice quality of this frequency also noted as clear, which I found little bit unclear on 5965 kHz..

8. KBS World Radio, English.

This is one of my favourite station and I found the reception of KBS in my place between good and average always. Interestingly for last few weeks I was not able to hear their DX program Worldwide Friendship easily and clearly because of disturbing reception. But on 19th of March I started to listen KBS with Worldwide Friendship was on the air at 1630 UTC, and found the reception disturbing as usual. But surprisingly from 1635 UTC the reception condition improved very much and I heard the entire program without much disturbance. Strong signal strength, and very little propagation noted. But later at around 1655 UTC the reception condition again became poor with lots of noise and propagation. But thank to God, toady after a long time heard the Worldwide Friendship clearly.

9. Voice of Korea (North Korea)

For last few months I have been receiving VOK at my QTH with good reception condition on various frequency. The best one I found is on 15100 kHz from 0200 UTC. But, yesterday my new DXer friend from Kolkata Soumya asked me to monitor 11535 kHz at around 1900 UTC for some interesting findings. It was late night here in India, but I still managed to tuned in to VOK on this frequency at 1945 UTC, and heard some music followed by the station identification and transmission closure announcements. But I was not satisfied with the reception condition at this frequency with weaker signal strength and lots of noise. Although no I and P noted.

Your comments and suggestion on this write-up is very much anticipated.

Prithwiraj Purkayastha