For several months I been traveling between Japan and Korea, mostly by ship and during that time spend my free time for a few hours a week listening to shortwave and Ham radio. Being a Ham for 30 yrs now. I was able to not only view some great receptions but also a few good sunsets at sea.

  My mornings are usually receiving around 2000 to 2100 utc and evenings around 0800-1000 utc and this is mainly shortwave. I found catches coming from the African world and some from Europe in the 2000-2200 utc time zones.

 The mornings I found coming on the airwaves and some leaving.

2000 utc 11800 khz DW Radio out of Africa with signals coming in strong in to the Korea/Japan areas at around 44455 and later hearing 11830 and 11865 khz the 11865 is somewhat covered in my area by NHK Japan and thats in Japanese. Confirmed QSL with the 11800 and 11830 khz. Both out of Africa.

2100 utc 11955 khz AWR Africa Ghana coming on in english and the words This adventists world radio Ghana and its followed by 30 minutes of music and info on Africa and gospal music. signals are strong 44455

2100 utc 11620 khz AIR in english with comments and news on India and world events

2100 utc 7205 khz China Radio english service with programs like People in the Know and this broadcasts does repeat at times in the evenings hours or later at 0800-1100 utc

I also found others as listed here.

2000 utc 15345 khz Argentina coming on at 2100 utc in German

2000 utc 10000 khz Brazilian Time station in Portugese mixing at times with the time signals of WWVH in Hawaii, at the half hour is BPM Taiwan with code.

2100 utc Voice of Korea on 15245 khz in english with comments on the great leaders.

Been here in the Philippines dodging some typhoons here and its been rainning everyday due to storms like TS Helen  this made it hard to do the antenna work I wanted to do but gave me a chance to work on my home station and be able to listen and clean the shack up. I have 2 radios dedicated here ham and shortwave and many times hunt for either ATC,Shortwave or Ham and been checking into regular to the PARA Ham Radio groups. There are thousands of members here that do good ham radio work and also some on the Shortwave bands as well.

Ob 40m I found a ham that was calling CQ CQ CQ DX and had trouble catching the callsigns of this station turned out what threw me was the call was YB67RI and the station was the 67th anniversary of the Indonesian Independence. The station alot of dx that night.

I need to point out here that if you work a station and also if you hear a shortwave broadcasts try to send a QSL Card to them on this so they will know that they are being heard around the world. No matter whether your into AM broadcasts or Shortwave or a beginner into the Ham Radio world. Its still a great hobby and they appreciate you very much. This is a great hobby and despite what others might think its not dying. The bad part is the loss of stations like Radio Netherlands which had some of the best programs around and the dx comments from others as well. I like others will miss these stations as they provided great services to the world where internet is either blocked or banned from the world, and also those who gain great knowledge of the outside world via free broadcasts receptions I always listened to Radio Romania in the mornings off japan and korea and they always provided some neat services. I heard they soon would be leaving as well. Maybe the stations dont think there being heard and thats why we as radio buffs and others should send in those cards and letters to show appreciation for the great programs they provide.

Happy Hunting to all my fellow dx chasers and 73
am on Facebook and Twitter and can be emailed at n6hpx1@gmail.com

   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

Portable rig

  Am carrying a Yaesu FT817nd now as part of my gear and it seems like a great piece of equipment, I traveled from Japan to San Diego to go through some special trainning here and the class is in firefightning and water survival on the ship. The radio was always checked in the airport but unlike one other person who mentioned his was stolen, Mine went only 2 security checks. The first and last was in Fukuoka and Osaka Japan. They pulled it from the suitcase travel bag and reinstalled after the x-ray exams. I also carry a Icom 730 and a Yaesu FT5200r dual bander. This is an older unit but still has the codes for the different bands or repeaters.

While I was overseas I listened to alot of shortwave bands as well as Ham, and you could normally find me on the weather decks with the Sony7600gr or the Yaesu FT817nd doing this and I usually carry a sony cassette recorder for the programs I heard. I will post some of those in my blogs and also on my Facebook page soon. 73 to all and remember the airwaves are and always will be there for the world to hear and play with.

My listening fun and view of shortwave on Guam 2012

   Had a chance for first time in 7 months to visit the island and drove by the 2 shortwave stations that are here. KTWR and AWR which are usually within a few miles of where my ship docks and also where I do my radio ops or listening. KTWR hasnt changed neither has AWR at least on the outside. Haven't met anyone from either station but plan to do so some time soon. I took my radio gear out for a short try to work some dx but being a QRP radio I could hear but the pile ups on those heard left me in the dark. Alot of Maritime mobiles being heard on 14300 but again my transmit of 5 watts was small.

    About 4 months ago I got a Yaesu FT817nd and 15m end fed antenna but the more I think I should have broken down and gotten a monopole or something with more kick. Might try a different radio in the future and one with more power.

   73 and remember Ham and shortwave is a fun and non tiring hobby there is always something to hear and even if it dont work the first time keep on trying

http://hamspots.net/30mdg/

One of the best sites to check is this one http://hamspots.net/30mdg/, I often times visit it during my time in Manila while operating as DU1, I operate PSK31 and JT65HF which are 2 very good digital modes the difference between the 2 are simple. PSK31 allows you to do a full conversaation with a 2nd party such as me working a station from Japan or Poland where we can basically chat like what you do on Facebook, yahoo messenger or a few others. One problem is I am not sure if you can post a pic of your wife and that trip you had during the summer. JT65HF is a very short program, where you give off the basics like RSQ readiablity and short comments QSL is enroute or via hme call or where the stations Grid square is located. PK02ca or some others. If you check this site check to see who is on and who is working whom. If you do work PSK or JT comment on this site that you are seeing someone on the airwaves like DU1/N6HPX ON 14070 PSK31 this gives a person the chance to work my station or some one else who might be operating. Its a great system to view and see how the bandss are working. And remember its good also to qsl the station which gives them great pleasure that they worked a party on some remote island or country.

san diego airwaves

   The past few mornings I been listening with my sony7600gr and been picking up the Asian side of the world. I usually am working dx from that side when I am at home. I usually sit outside the office in the mornings listening to Broadcasts from other parts of the world and the past few daysbeen picking up.

Radio Veritas Philippines at 14:30 utc on 9515 khz in Bengali signals were at 44445

BBC  at 15:00 on 9740 khz

This morning catches in San Diego on March 13 2011

   This morning in San Diego I decided to carry my Sony 7600gr with me to the office and wanted to see if I could get some shortwave on the Damages from Japan. Instead of gathering alot of Shortwave I did manage to gather some ATC out of Manila and Singapore, the frequency is a popular one.

   8942 khz heard Manila trying to pass info to Cathay Pacific flight and gave alternate frequency on 6556 khz. This often done when they need to connect on a busy freq. Later I heard the same flight in transmissions with Singapore. Possibly the flight was passing in there air space.

  I found a neat web site that shows the location of flights going from point A to point B and the site I stumbled across just by Google. The site is listed  as Flight ware and it shows alot of locations of various flights, for me I check out both the Asia area and here in the States like San Diego or SFO.

  Check out the airwaves and see what you can hear. Log it and go from there.