Lots of VOA, BBC, CRI outlets from SE Asia this week.
Seems less volatility in day-to-day conditions recently.

7300 RUSSIA. VOA via Khbarovsk, 1250, 8/31/08. Chinese service
featured classical mx and occasional announcements. Fair to good
signal in some t-storm static (Strawman-IA).

7320 RUSSIA. R. Rossii (p) via listed Magadan, 1240, 8/30/08.
Poor to fair nx or interviews. Splatter from both sides (Strawman-IA).

9605 SINGAPORE. BBC, 1507, 8/30/08. Mandarin service was Fair
w/ apparent nx (Strawman-IA).

11570 SRI LANKA. R. Free Afghanistan (p), 1310, 8/30/08. Listed
Pashto service. Threshold level with extended tlk by OM (Strawman-IA).

15510 RUSSIA. VOR via Samara, 1332, 8/31/08. Pashto/ Dari service
with both western style and ethnic vocals. Ethnic mx feature plucked
instruments. Fair signal with rapid fading (Strawman-IA).

11625 THAILAND. R.Thailand, 1309, 8/30/08. Japanese service w/ OM
& YL in extended back and forth tlk. Fair signal (Strawman-IA).

11710 NORTH KOREA. VOK, 1305, 8/30/08. Unusually good signal and
clear audio w/ a slight transmitter whine. English service had OM & YL
presenting the “news”. Featured numerous mentions of DPRK, Kim Jung Il,
and the worker’s party activities. Good ssignal (Strawman-IA).

Jerry Strawman, Des Moines, IA
Drake R8, Drake R8B, Microtelecom Perseus SDR
Alpha Delta SWL Sloper, Wellbrook 330S One Meter Loop

Storm static on the decrease and a few days with improving propagation
provide a bit of hope this week.

3912 NORTH KOREA. Voice of the People, 1150, 8/21/08. Patriotic vocals and
impassioned chatter extoling the virtues of North Korea. Fair on peaks but faded into the noise by 1208 (Strawman-IA).

3925 JAPAN. R. Nikkei, 1154, 8/21/08. S6 on peaks w/ extended tlk by OM into semi-classical mx @ 1156 (Strawman-IA).

4412.6 LAOS. Lao National Radio (p), 1209, 8/21/08. Moderate het today under better than usual conditions, so only a matter of time until audio pops through(Strawman-IA).

4830 CHINA. Chian Huayi BC Corp (p), 1202, 8/21/08. Commercial sound here also. Fast-paced news-like delivery by OM. S6 signal faded down by 1226 (Strawman-IA).

4900 CHINA. Voice of Strait, 1204, 8/21/08. Very commercial sound, with
alternating OM & YL in singing jingles/ announcements. S6 on peaks (Strawman-IA).

4920 INDIA. AIR, 1211, 8/21/08. Threshold Hindi vocals battled t-storm static (Strawman-IA).

5910 COLOMBIA. Marfil Estereo, 0350, 8/24/08. Up-tempo ballads were a near armchair level (Strawman-IA).

6055 JAPAN. R. Nikkei, 1240, 8/22/08. Semii classical organ mx was fair-good (Strawman-IA).

7110 ETHIOPIA. V. of Ethiopia, 0306, 8/23/08. Smooth jazz feel blended w/ local instruments in jazz-inflected mx that reached near armchair level on peaks. ARO calling CQ in CW right on frequency. Same conditions 0355, 8/24/08 with more excellent mx (Strawman-IA).

7160 CHINA. CRI via listed Nanning, 1200, 8/23/08. IS and Mandarin ID @ TOH. News followed ID. Signal fair on peaks. Listed 100KW tx (Strawman-IA).

7260 RUSSIA. VOR via listed Krasnodar, 0237, 8/21/08. S7-8 signal. YL doing announcements. Violin mx behind studio audio followed by folk mx selections (Strawman-IA).

9430 PHILIPPINES. FEBC, 1219, 8/23/08. Fair signal w/ Chinese vocals and sparse announcements (Strawman-IA).

11785 THAILAND. VOA via Udon Thani, 1235, 8/18/08. On top of Firedrake and rumble/ het from VOI. Fair signal w/ OM & YL in nx format (Strawman-IA).

11815 BRAZIL. R. Brasil Central, 0135, 8/18/08. Poor to fair w/ long ad strings (Strawman-IA).

12085 RUSSIA. TWR via listed Novosibirsk, 0045, 8/23/08. Tuning tones prior to 0045 into listed Dzongkha. Searching under Dzongkha shows it to be the national language of Bhutan. Very distinctive spoken sound. English ID @ 0115. Several announcements and audio out @ 0130. Fair signal (Strawman-IA).

Jerry Strawman, Des Moines, IA, Drake R8, Drake R8B, Microtelecom Perseus SDR, Wellbrook 330S One Meter Loop, Alpha Delta SWL Sloper

5910 COLOMBIA. Marfil Estereo, 0232, 8/17/08. Fair signal with romantic
pop  ballads and a few announcements (Strawman-IA).

7240 AUSTRALIA. R. Australia, 1414, 8/11/08. Fair with Olympics sports
coverage. Some slop from adjacent ham radio activity (Strawman-IA).

9710 AUSTRALIA. R. Australia, 1620, 8/17/08. Poor to fair with typical
nx feature (Strawman-IA).

9860 VATICAN. V. of Russia via Santa Maria di Galeria, 0240, 8/13/08.
English service was a solid S9 and featured nx commentary re: conflict
in Georgia. (Strawman-IA).

11620 INDIA. AIR, 2140, 8/12/08. English service playing pop-style mx.
Reached S6 on peaks but suffered fading until 2230* (Strawman-IA).

Jerry Strawman, Des Moines, IA
Drake R8, Drake R8B, Microtelecom Perseus SDR
Wellbrook 330S One Meter loop, 70′ Inverted-L

5900 RUSSIA. VOR via Krasnodar, 0122, 8/8/08. Russian service featured ling-
winded tlk by OM. Good signal from 500KW (Strawman-IA).

6170 NEW ZEALAND. RNZI, 1319 8/9/08. English nx about art exhibition in
Melbourne, Australia. S5-6 was a good signal if at listed 50KW (Strawman-IA).

6190 JAPAN. R. Japan (p), 1322, 8/9/08. Chinese service had OM/ YL alternating in
presumed nx feature. Poor signal (Strawman-IA).

9735 TAIWAN. RTI, 1309, 8/9/08. Japanese service featured OM & YL in possible
nx. Fair signal (Strawman-IA).

9780 SRI LANKA. VOA via Irana Wila. English nx by OM suffered heavy slop from
CRI/ Sackville on 9790. Poor to fair signal (Strawman-IA).

9885 MADAGASCAR. VOA via Volata-Talandry, 1414, 8/10/08. English nx magazine
was poor w/ fading (Strawman-IA).

11605 N. MARIANAS. VOA via Tinian, 1303, 8/7/08. Listed Tibetan service. YL in
extended dialogue was only fair (Strawman-IA).

11785 THAILAND/ CHINA/ INDONESIA. VOA/ Firedrake/ VOI jumbled together,
1242 8/7/08. VOI was about 11784.94 causing low het on 11785. VOA and
Firedrake took turns dominating frequency. VOA clearly ahead by 1300 when VOA
went into nx (Strawman-IA).

15150 THAILAND. VOA via Udon Thani, 0115, 8/8/08. Chinese service was equal
with Firedrake. Jumble was S3 strength (Strawman-IA).

Jerry Strawman, Des Moines, IA
Drake R8, Drake R8B, Microtelecom Perseus SDR
Wellbrook 330S One Meter Loop, 70′ Inverted-L