23 January 2015: A Friday morning 31 meter band scan

31-Meter-Waterfall-SpectrumThis morning, I tuned around the 31 meter band and was surprised with favorable propagation out of Asia (see spectrum waterfall above–click to enlarge).

I started logging a few stations, but the effort quickly turned into a full band scan/survey.  I logged everything I could easily hear between the 9,390-10,000 kHz portion of the 31 meter band.

I logged 52 stations and omitted eight that I considered too weak for good copy.

I used my WinRadio Excalibur SDR connected to a large horizontal delta loop wire antenna.

The number of broadcasts originating in or targeting China is pretty phenomenal: the 31 band is your oyster, if you speak Chinese.

31 Meter Band 1200 – 1300 UTC, all frequencies in kHz

  • 9390 Radio Thailand Malaysian (1200Z) then English (1230Z)
  • 9410 China National Radio 5 Chinese
  • 9430 FEBC Radio Chinese
  • 9440 China Radio International Cambodian
  • 9460 China Radio International English
  • 9475 Radio Australia English
  • 9490 Voice Of America Korean
  • 9500 China National Radio 1 Chinese
  • 9515 China National Radio 2 Chinese
  • 9530 Voice Of America Chinese
  • 9540 China Radio International Chinese
  • 9550 China Radio International Vietnamese (covered by CRI Cantonese distortion)

    Note the CRI signal on 9,570 kHz which is blanketing the surrounding spectrum with noise.

    Note the blowtorch CRI signal on 9,570 kHz which was blanketing the surrounding spectrum with noise.

  • 9570 China Radio International Cantonese (transmitter spewing distortion 50 kHz wide)
  • 9580 Radio Australia English (covered by CRI Cantonese distortion)
  • 9590 China Radio International Russian (covered by CRI Cantonese distortion)
  • 9600 China Radio International English
  • 9620 China National Radio 6 Chinese
  • 9635 Voice of Vietnam 1 Vietnamese (slightly below freq)
  • 9640 Radio Havana Cuba Spanish
  • 9645 China Radio International English
  • 9655 China Radio International Chinese
  • 9660 Radio Taiwan International Chinese
  • 9680 Radio Taiwan International Chinese
  • 9700 Lower Sideband communication (UNID)
  • 9710 China National Radio 1 Chinese
  • 9720 China Radio International Filipino
  • 9730 China Radio International English
  • 9735 Radio Taiwan International Indonesian
  • 9740 BBC English
  • 9745 Guanghua zhi Sheng Chinese
  • 9750 Radio Kuwait Arabic
  • 9730 China Radio International English
  • 9770 KBS World Radio Chinese
  • 9775 China National Radio 2 Chinese (vy weak)
  • 9785 China Radio International Laotian
  • 9790 Voice Of Islamic Republic of Iran Pashto
  • 9810 China National Radio 2 Chinese and All India Radio Telugu
  • 9820 Radio Havana Cuba Spanish
  • 9825 Voice Of America Chinese
  • 9830 China National Radio 1 Chinese
  • 9840 Voice of Vietnam English
  • 9850 Radio Habana Cuba Spanish
  • 9855 China Radio International Chinese
  • 9860 China National Radio 1 Chinese (vy weak)
  • 9880 KSDA-AWR Guam Korean (vy weak)
  • 9900 Radio France International Chinese
  • 9920 FEBC Radio Bahnar (w/Jamming)
  • 9940 Reach Beyond Australia (HCJB) Indonesian
  • 9955 Radio Slovakia International English (via WRMI/WRN)
  • 9975 KTWR Guam Chinese
  • 9990 Radio Farda Persian
  • 10000 WWV Fort Collins English

I recorded two broadcasts during the scan–both at 12:30 UTC: Radio Thailand (9,390 kHz) and Radio Slovakia (9,955 kHz). I will post them soon.

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3 thoughts on “23 January 2015: A Friday morning 31 meter band scan

  1. Mike Ramm

    Hello – I saw that you used a large horizontal delta loop in this listening session. I was wondering if you could provide some more information on it (height above ground, how many feet of wire, etc) and the question that I am most interested in getting an answer to – do you use an antenna tuner with it for your listening sessions? or does the feedline from the antenna go straight into your receiver? A lot of what I see on the internet are antennas for transmitting that make use of an antenna tuner to give a single antenna multiband capability and I am not sure if that is important in receive antennas as well. Thanks for your time.

    Reply
  2. Dave Richards AA7EE

    I was on 31M this morning too Thomas. I was making a calibration graph for a coil I had just wound for the Sproutie specifically for the 31M band. I get coverage from 9280 to 10050, which is perfect. I must have heard most of the stations you heard, as I counted 49 calibration points. I wasn’t identifying them though, as I was simply using them as markers for calibration purposes. In some of the lower and middle parts of the band, there were stations every 5KHz! I also heard a very weak carrier at 9930KHz, though I’m not sure what it was.

    Great listening, though it would have been perhaps a little more interesting if we spoke Chinese 🙂

    Dave
    AA7EE

    Reply
    1. Thomas Post author

      It is amazing when a band really comes to life like 31M did this morning. The irony is, I could see that propagation was good via my SDR’s waterfall display. With with your home brew Sproutie regen receiver, it was pure discovery!
      Thomas

      Reply

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