AUSTRALIA. 3210, test of Unique Radio on Feb 18, at 1300,
seemed that I was hearing a JBA open carrier that was not there
minutes earlier; well below threshold level; totally unusable;
subsequent checking through 1450 had extreme challenge to
even tell for sure if the open carrier was still there or not. My
conclusion is that this will probably be mostly unusable for us
in the States.
Seemed today was not an issue with propagation, as most days
Korea, on 3219.9 (5 kW), is just an open carrier, but today had
definite singing at 1451, so generally good propagation and
Korea on 3320 (100 kW) had the usual good reception.
CHINA. 4900, VOS (Minnan language service), still remains
here on Feb 18, at 1456, with fair reception. Hard to tell if this will
turn out to be just a temporary move from ex: 6115?
4940, Voice of Strait, 1500-1530, Feb 18. Saturday only English
program "Focus on China"; a filler (anomaly) program; not their
standard news format at all; audio from the CCTV documentary
"A Bite of China," segment "Inspiration for Change," about making
tofu, rice wine and soy sauce; one continuous announcer (native
speaker of English); no breaks for IDs; 1530 SA/ID in English - "This
is the Voice of Taiwan Strait News Radio"; mostly readable.
Believe some of the VOS staff must still be out on holiday, or would
assume they would have had their normal Saturday news format.
4990, PBS Hunan, 1402, Feb 17. Better than normal reception; "ni
hao," the standard Chinese phone greeting; many on air calls.
9575, CNR1 echo jamming of AIR, via Bengaluru, in Tibetan; Feb 17,
at 1247; scheduled 1215-1330.
MYANMAR. 5985, Myanmar Radio, 1538, Feb 18. Segment in
English; "the weather" (outlook for the next two days); "End of the
news from Myanmar Radio"; 1540-1555 with the Saturday program
怩oice of ASEAN, Beyond Boundaries"; seemed to be produced by
PBS (Philippines), as the announcer was Edward Santos, who I have
heard many times over Radio Pilipinas, talking about relationships
between Malaysia and the Philippines; 1556 "Welcome to our program,
ASEAN News"; item about Cambodia, etc.; covered at 1600 by China
(CRI); mostly readable.
It will be recalled that Myanmar and the Philippines signed a Memo of
Understanding (http://210.5.104.56/treaty/scanneddocs/616.pdf).
BTW - 2017 marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of
ASEAN.
SIKKIM. 4835, AIR Gangtok, 1457-1515, Feb 17. Nicely above
threshold level audio; at most times able to make out the language
used; 1457-1512 alternating announcers in Hindi; 1512 the usual
tone to start the New Delhi audio feed, with commercial announcements
in Hindi, till news in Hindi at 1515. Certainly one of their better days.
SOLOMON ISLANDS. 5020, SIBC. In Dec, noted many days with
extended broadcasting post-1200*, but in Jan, did not hear any and
now in Feb am again hearing some, but certainly not on a daily basis.
Feb 18, tuned in at 1303 to hear SIBC with extended airing of non-stop
pop songs ("My Boyfriend's Back," etc.); no SA/IDs heard, so clearly not a
Wantok FM relay; 1314 audio ended and went to dead air (open carrier),
which was still on at 1608. Very unfortunate that they ended the audio
early, while still keeping the transmitter on for many hours after that. Why
not just keep the audio going?
ZAMBIA. 5915, R. One/ZNBC, 1603, Feb 18. Via long path; mixing with
Myanmar(?); China (CRI) had already signed off; in vernacular; at times
almost fair.
