Asian signal strength and variety was fairly routine here this morning, with the exception of an unusually strong signal from 657-Pyongyang BS from 1315-1345. Despite this, most of the wacky station's audio modulation was composed of some throbbing hum, which dominated over the station's "distinctive" programming (maybe that's not such a bad thing?).
In the predawn darkness at my 1300 start time the usual big guns on 594, 693, 747, 972, 1134 (JOQR), 1287 and 1566 were once again setting the pace, with good signals in and out from 972-HLCA and fair peaks from the others. There wasn't any second-tier TP audio until around 1315, when a huge carrier came out of the noise on 657. The carrier was strong enough to generate strong audio, but only some throbbing noise seemed to be on the frequency. After a few more minutes the noisy signal built up even more strength, and finally Pyongyang's tirade woman was heard way down in the transmitter-generated hum. The 3+1 pips at 1330 were at about S4 strength in the S7 transmitter noise, and the problem got progressively worse until the signal bailed around 1345. Other than this the usual second-tier Asians on 603 and 738 sounded pretty anemic this morning in comparison to yesterday, although 1134-JOQR managed an above average signal during daybreak enhancement around 1335. The other Japanese big guns didn't seem to match their audio levels of yesterday, although there were some very weak Chinese signals (threshold level) on 639, 756 and 936 that haven't been around recently. Overall the session was fairly routine except for 657's wacky signal, and even though Pyongyang BS has an infamous reputation for transmitting degraded audio (not to mention the programming itself), I can't imagine that they would continue to ignore this severe issue on one of their main transmitters.
657 Pyongyang BS Pyongyang, N. Korea Female tirade and martial music down in the self-generated transmitter hum at 1325 https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/txflgu1q70zvh3z313a0dzi9hgzxab64
3+1 time pips at 1330 way down in the transmitter hum https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/kg04wwtfltziwg6fk3k7av5maofg6msq
73 and Good DX,
Gary DeBock (in Puyallup, WA, USA)
7.5" loopstick CC Skywave Ultralight +
15" FSL antenna
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