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No Success at First try at Voice of Korea

Friday, December 29, 2006

Well, after receiving my new receiver Eton E5, I finally decided that this morning would be my first attempt to pick up the Voice of Korea (a broadcast from North Korea). Unfortunately, that meant getting up at 5 AM (1300 UTC), but I didn’t mind too much, as I really want to hear some heavy duty, old school communist propaganda.

Anyways, the only signal I could pick up here in San Francisco was at 9335. I was able to pick it up (faint and muffled), but it was completely unlistenable due to some interfence from something (another frequency? eletrical?). Basically, it was a periodic tone of increasing static, that would repeat ever couple of seconds. Here is a clip of it:

Listen to clip of Voice of Korea broadcast with interference

When I tuned around on my receiver, it seems to be the strongest on 9339. I am not sure if this is some interference from my house (I am in a very electrically noisy area), or if this is something being broadcast.

Tonight / tomorrow morning I am going to head up to the top of the hill to a park, and see if I have any more luck.

Anyways, here is the report:

Voice of Korea North Korea. (English) 9335 1300 - 1349 UTC. SIO 211. Assorted Male and Female speakers. Some references to the Great Leader, and patriotic / communist music.

If any one has any idea what the source of the interference is, post it in the comments.

Update : Well, based on a tip from rec.radio.shortwave, I found the source of the interference. The street light on the corner is burned out, and everytime it tries to come on, it generates the interference. Now, instead of DXing, I get to figure out how to get a street light fixed in San Francisco.

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