RFA Korean begins MW broadcasts on 3/1/08

Just received an email from Mr. A J Janitschek, the Director of the Production Support for Radio Free Asia, saying that they would launch a new medium wave broadcast for their Korean service. 1350kHz will be the frequency used, but he does not mention anything about the transmission site in his note.

The following is a copy of his original email.

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Hi all: Radio Free Asia announces the start of medium wave broadcasts for it Korean program. The broadcasts will begin this Sunday, March 2,on 1350 kHz. As of Sunday, our Korean listeners can tune in daily from 1500-1900 UTC and 2100-2200 UTC to the following frequencies:

1500-1600 UTC: 1350, 5860, 7210, 9385

1600-1700 UTC: 1350, 5860, 7210, 9385

1700-1800 UTC: 1350, 5860, 9385

1800-1900 UTC: 1350, 5860, 9385
2100-2200 UTC: 1350, 5835, 7460, 9385

You have received this email as you have expressed interest in our programming and QSL cards in the past; please let us know if you would like to be dropped from our distribution list.

Best wishes from all of us at RFA. Thx AJ

T.G.I.F.!

The weekend is just around the corner! :-) It has been a long week AGAIN with a lot of tough works :-(

Today is February 29, 2008. Considering the time difference for 9 hours between JST and UTC, we still have chances to get QSLs with a date of the leap day until 08:59 a.m. of tomorrow, March 1, 2008, in our time. It is so lucky that today is Friday as I will be able to spend all through the night for DXing! :-)

The Awashima lighthouse radio station

More Japanese lighthouse radio stations go on. This is a QSL card from one of Awashima located in Niigata facing with the Sea of Japan (other side of the Pacific Ocean). This station is one of the strongest one here in Saitama all through the night. The frequency is 1670.5kHz, and the power is only 50 watts. They are on the air every day at 47 minutes of every hour for approx. one minute.

The Japan Coast Guard celebrate their 60th anniversary this year, and the recent QSL card has the special logo like the above.

RRI on 9525kHz tonight

RRI is now being suffered from heavy interference with both 5kHz upper and lower. Very poor condition (SINPO22432) here in Saitama, Japan. The current program is in Japanese.

The Japanese program of RRI appears on 9525kHz!

I am just tuning in 9525kHz now for the Japanese program of RRI. The reception condition is unfortunately not as good as one of last night due to some interferences with the stations on both 9520kHz and 9530kHz. I missed the opening announcement and was not able to know exactly what time they started their Japanese program tonight (probably some time between 12:00~12:20 UTC, though). It is so funny that nobody knows, maybe including themselves :-), how their transmission goes on. In fact, they announce that their Japanese program is from 11:30 through 12:30 UTC but it is still being broadcasted now at 12:55 UTC.

The Nojima lighthouse radio station

Here is a recent QSL card of the Nojima lighthouse radio station in Chiba, a suburb of Tokyo. This station also can be heard well here in Saitama all through the night. The frequency is 1670.5kHz, which is same as others, and the power is only 50 watts. They are on the air every day at 21 minutes of every hour for approx. one minute.

Radio Tirana is active on 7430kHz!

7430 R.Tirana (Albania, English / Albanian) 2/26, 21:13~21:27* & *21:28~21:37, s/32432 * Suffered from a heavy QRM but the signal itself had got stronger as the time went by. Observed the English program till 21:27. Signed off after the closing announcement & music at 21:27, and re-signed in with IS shortly at 21:28. The Albanian program followed. The paralleled 6005kHz could not be observed today as far as I monitored, although this frequency was heard with relatively good condition last weekend.

All times in this blog are described in UTC.

F.Y.I., there is a time difference for 9 hours between UTC and JST (Japan Standard Time). We are 9-hour advance of UTC, and 15:00 UTC and / or after would be the ‘next day’ in our local time. Just keep this in your mind to find out the local time of Japan as per the time described here in UTC.

Radio Republik Indonesia is back!

RRI on 9525kHz is finally back on the air today. I am now listening to their program in Korean, and the reception condition here in Saitama, Japan is just excellent (SINPO54444). I do not remember well when I heard them on this frequency last time. Maybe it was back in December, 2007. There is no guarantee that they will stay on the air from now on but let's hope they will do so.

I just realized them a few minutes ago and I missed the chance to check if their Japanese service was also on the air today. In December, 2007, it was scheduled at 12:00 UTC for one hour. Will see what will happen tomorrow.

Jack

The Erimo lighthouse radio station

Here is one more QSL card of the Erimo lighthouse radio station in Hokkaido, the northern island of Japan. This station can be heard well even here in Saitama, a suburb of Tokyo, all through the night. The frequency is 1670.5kHz, and the power is only 50 watts. They are on the air every day at 33 minutes of every hour for approx. one minute.

The Shionomisaki lighthouse radio station

I am also an enthusiastic collector of verification cards and letters from radio station around the world. I am not familiar with how the shortwave listening had expanded in Japan as one of the great hobbies and became a huge boom back in the 70’s. However, I am quite sure that a lot of young people at that time were fascinated with colorful and exotic QSL cards from various countries. I started my QSL collecting activities back in 1982 and my collection has reached so far to over 2,000 from nearly 200 countries. It is no longer easy for me to develop a completely new (means newly verified) country but my interest and motivation to this wonderful hobby has never die. You know how many radio stations, including MW, FM, SW, and even LW bands, are existing in today’s world, and even I have ever heard only a small percentage of the whole number. This hobby is unlimited. I even have no particular goal in my QSL collecting activities. I just do what I feel like to do, and this could be a part of reason why I have been enjoying this hobby for nearly thirty years without any major interval. Just feel free to do anything I want - this is my attitude and policy.

This year, I am once again trying to collect QSL card or letters from ALL the Japan’s ‘lighthouse radios’. The first one to introduce here is the Shionomisaki station in Wakayama. They are on the air every day at 15 minutes of every hour for approx. one minute. The frequency is 1670.5kHz, and the power is only 50 watts just like other lighthouse radio stations of Japan.

Welcome to the ATLANTA DX ONLINE JAPAN

Welcome to the blog version of the ATLANTA DX ONLINE JAPAN.

This blog is developed, owned, and operated by Jack, the active Japanese DXer in Saitama, Japan. I have been an enthusiastic shortwave listener for nearly thirty years. The shortwave listening is unfortunately no longer popular here in spite of the historical boom back in the 70's. However, I am still in love with this fascinated hobby even though today's technology enables us to easily access with back of the earth instantly through the Internet. The shortwave listening has kept on bringing so much fun and interests to me still now. The ATLANTA DX ONLINE JAPAN is the blog introducing a part of my shortwave listening activities from Japan to the world with a lot of articles, photos, and audio clips.
It would be nice if you would join in this blog as a regular visitor.

Enjoy, and welcome aboard! :-)