Propagation and Monitoring Report

Sunspot activity continues to be zero, with no spots visible in the ten day sequence from November 18 to 28. It is still not known whether Cycle 24 has actually commenced.

In Melbourne, good propagation is noted in the lower area of the 11 MHz band, 11550-11700, in the period 2100-2200, represented by very strong longpath signals from North America, and short path propagation from Africa and Asia.

These are occupancies observed on Nov 29:

11520 USA WEWN English

11550 USA WEWN Spanish

11565 USA WYFR German

11620 INDIA English

11650 AUSTRALIA RA Shepparton English

11655 MADAGASCAR RN Dutch

11660 AUSTRALIA RA Shepparton

11690 RWANDA DW Kigali English

11695 AUSTRALIA RA Shepparton English

11700 USA WYFR Spanish

SOUTH KOREA - KBS World Radio

From Oct 26, 2008, KBS World Radio is listed for these new, or rearranged channels:

5935 (Skelton relay) 1900-2000 Arabic (ME/Af)
6045 (Sackville relay) 0600-0630 Spanish, 0700-0800 Korean (Eu)
6065 1100-1200 Mandarin
6155 0900-0930 Japanese
15160 0900-1000 Korean (Eu/ME/Af)
15175 1600-1700 Korean (Eu/ME/Af)

Propagation and Monitoring Report

No sunspots have been observed in the period November 18 to 26.

According to the ARRL, we had our last glimpse of sunspot group 1008 as it was about to slip over our sun's western horizon on November 18. No sunspots have emerged since then, but it seems a reasonable assumption that we will see more cycle 24 spots, but we do not know when. There is a prediction from USAF/NOAA that shows solar flux rising to 70 on December 8-9, and perhaps this is just tracking a possible reappearance of the region that birthed sunspot group 1007, which we saw in the sun's southern hemisphere from October 30 through November 6.

Propagation into Melbourne continues to be very good during our mid afternoon period, 0300-0500, with many shortpath signals from the Middle East, Europe, and Africa on 19 metres, and long path from the same regions on 49, 41, 31, 22 and 25 metres.

Here is a summary of spectrum occupancies, with comments, as observed on November 27.

Summary 1 – 0400-0600

9650 BBC, Meyerton, 0435 English
12060 Voice of Islamic Republic of Iran, 0440 Turkish

15160 Radio Romania International, opening at 0500 with the daytime service to China, in Mandarin. Poor frequency coordination, due to Radio Australia, Shepparton, also using this channel for the same target area

13720 Sudan Radio Service, Dhabbaya, 0500-0530* Arabic
13800 Radio Dabanga, Madagascar, 0505 Arabic
15185 All India Radio, 0510-0530* Hindi
15205 DW, Dhabbaya, 0510 Russian
15285 BSKSA, Riyadh, 0515 Swahili
15335 R. Free Afghanistan, Kuwait, 0515 Farsi
15415 CNR, Minorities Network, 0520 Kazakh
15600 DW, Dhabbaya, 0500-0530 English
15610 CVC, Tashkent, 0515 English
15690 R. Farda, Iranawela, 0500 Farsi
21540 RFA, Tinian, 0445 Mandarin

Summary 2 – 1900-2200

6010 R. Tirana, *1900 Serbo-Croatian
7225 NHK, Issoudin, *2200 Japanese
11790 RFA, Saipan, 1945 Mandarin
11955 AWR, Nauen, 1940 Arabic

Voice of Greece - reductions in Australian services

For B08, the Voice of Greece services for Australia, in Greek, are available
only from 1200-1600, on 15650.

This timing is unsuitable for convenient reception in most of Eastern
Australia, corresponding to 11pm-3pm.

Radio Pilipinas - Overseas Service

This is the current (B08) schedule for Radio Pilipinas - Overseas Service:

English 0200-0330 11880 15285 17710
Filipino 1730-1930 15190 11890 11730

Monitoring Report - good signals on 15 and 17 MHz

Despite zero sunspot activity, there has been some interesting long-haul propagation into Melbourne on frequencies above 15 MHz in the period from 1700 to past 2300.

These conditions have been associated with shortpath propagation from the Americas, via the daylit Pacific route, as well as strong longpath signals from southern Africa over the south Atlantic and Antarctic regions.

These notes summarize observed spectrum occupancy on November 22:

15115 USA WYFR Okeechobee 2100-2200
15130 USA WYFR Okeechobee 2100-2200
15195 ASCENSION VOA 1730-2030*
15240 S. AFRICA AWR-Meyerton *1900-1930*
15290 CUBA R. Nacional de Venezuela 1900-2000*
15305 CANADA RCI-Sackville *2000-2300
15330 USA R. Marti, Greenville 1800-2000
15345 ARGENTINA RAE, 2000-2300
15365 CANADA RCI-Sackville 1800-2000
15385 USA KJES, New Mexico, 1900-2000 (intended for Australia!)
15400 ASCENSION BBC 1900-2000
15420 S. AFRICA BBC-Meyerton 1700-1900
15440 USA Family Radio, Okeechobee, 2200-2300
15580 BOTSWANA VOA 1900-1930
15580 USA VOA-Greenville 2100-2200
15775 SAO TOME VOA 1730-1830
17555 USA WYFR Okeechobee 1730-1800

Australian DX Report episode 126 available

Propagation into Melbourne recently has exhibited some unusual behaviours,with good shortpath signals from Europe observed on 11 MHz in the period 1700 through until past 2200.

Despite continuing zero or very low sunspot activity, the 15 MHz and 17 MHz bands have also opened up for shortpath signals from the Americas, notedfrom 1700 to past 2100.

The seasonal summer daytime specialized Asian Mode has appeared in the earlyafternoon, with good propagation from Japan, Vietnam, and Myanmar on 9 MHz in the period 0400-0500.

For the week Nov 11-16 I was on holidays in the Northern Territory – from alocation in the Kakadu National park, 350 km east of Darwin, at the AuroraKakadu Resort, early evening propagation on 6 and 7 MHz from Asia was excellent, as expected. That was the only location where I was able to makeany propagation studies.
Sunspot numbers from Nov 14-19 have been 12, 11, 11, 11, 0, 0

Detailed monitoring observations from the Northern Territory and Melbourne,schedule changes, and news about international broadcasters are included inthe latest episode, no. 126, of the AUSTRALIAN DX REPORT audio shortwavenews magazine, which is now available.

It's 13 mins 4 secs, and is at
http://airm.edxp.org

The "AUSTRALIAN DX REPORT", is a free service and contains professionally compiled information about world shortwave broadcasting, with monitoringresearch.

The site allows you to listen to the ADXR and other audio features directly (streaming audio) via your MP3 player, or via the site's embeddedmini-player. Podcasts, iTunes capability, full RSS/XML/Atom feeds, and free subscriptions are supported - full details are at the site, us use the sign-up link on this Journal (see right hand panel!)

Good listening to the Australian DX Report Episode No. 126!