The past few weeks I been hanging out in southern japan area, a place called Sasebo. My ship is anchored in the harbor. Every morning I get up around 05:45 and head out on the ships deck usually armed with my morning brew of coffee and one of my 3 radios. At the moment I have on board the Yaesu FT817nd, Sangean 909(the original) and the Sony 7600gr. I been listening to mostly shortwave. I don't yet have a permit for the Japanese ham license yet but plan to get one soon.
The propagation for my area has been mostly from Africa area.
Hearing on airwaves:
DW Radio: 11800, 11810 and 11865 khz at 21:00 utc
RNZI: 11725 khz also at 21:00 utc
CRI English: 7205 and 7405 khz at 21:00 utc
VOA English:7555 khz at 21:00 utc
AFN Guam: 13365 and 5765 khz these usually switch between at times, when it goes silent its probably switching to the other within a few minutes.
I also heard VofKorea but didn't log the frequency.
I enjoy the radio very much and usually spend my spare time in front of the rig. The one thing that is fun is to let others hear it and get involved with the catches. One thing that surprises me is when I usually hear comments from those around me saying were too far away or its probably going through a satellite. When many stations shut down like the Dutch services or others they usuaally have the same comments, no body hears us any more and usually listen via the internet. In my case the internet is considered expensive. And this is also the case for many others, no one I know of carry's a satellite receiver in there back pocket or can access the internet from sea, as its pretty expensive. The last time I price the inmarsat it was ranging around $6 per minute. I think the shortwave services just dont listen well enough to thosee who really want that over the horizon service, free from political problems. Countries like North Korea probably block or threaten there people about even hearing such services.
Ham and shortwave is alot of fun and is worth doing. If you get a chance check out Itunes and look up the Ham Nation program from Bob Heil and Gordon west. Do a google search and look up the 3rd program of that.
When you hear a station log it and send a post card to the station you heard.
73 and keep on listening the airwaves are full of surprises and alot of fun.
Larry Fields,
n6hpx1@gmail.com
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About Me
- n6hpx/du1
- Been into the Radio Hobby for over 40 yrs since I was a teenager,and was introduced to the Hobby through my older Brother Bob KC6AOH,and my Dad,who showed me the many old RTTY machines and receivers he used at the office, I was about 10 yrs old.I always wondered about the way signals traveled from point A to point B. He use to tear apart and rebuild things in electronics and was a member of OES,Office of emergency services in Sacramento,California and at times in SF. Enjoy DX chasing(and been on the receiving end as VQ9LF,DU1 and DU3/n6hpx). Digital PSK31,JT65HF,and visiting Radio Sites, like those in Guam,Japan,Hawaii and the Main portions of the USA. I have owned alot of Radio's,Yaesu's,Drake's,Grundigs,Sangean,Sony,and the old Panasonic RF2900. And played with many over the years,and also operated from places like Diego Garcia,Midway,Guam and in my Homes in the Philippines as a DU3/n6hpx, and DU1/n6hpx.