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Tuesday, November 8, 2011

DXing at Karimganj

Few days back I visited our ancestral house at the Sadarashi village in Karimganj District of Assam. Karimganj District is located in the Southern tip of Assam - a state in the North-eastern corner of India. Together with two other neighbouring districts - Cachar and Hailakandi - it constitutes the Barak Valley zone in Southern Assam. The geographical location of Karimganj district is between longitudes 92°15' and 92°35' east and latitudes 24°15' and 25°55' North. Located strategically, the district shares 92 Kms. of International Border with the neighbouring country of Bangladesh. 41 Kms of this is demarcated by the river Kushiara while 51 Kms is land border.




DXing is my love and life to and how could I miss the opportunity to hear radio with out much electricity noise disturbance in that slow village set-up, which is extreme in our city areas. So I took that great opportunity and did some experiments with with my Degen 1103 digital receiver accompanied with the Kestral W31MS loop antenna. Some station logs are mentioned in the later part of this article. But the great experience I had during that visit to our native village was that my cousin brothers got attracted to this hobby of DXing and they were curious about that digital type of receiver which they never seen before. One of my cousin even requested me to help him get a such receiver soon. I also tried to tell them about Shortwave radio listening and how we DXers all over the world doing things these days.







But the most memorable moment came to me during that trip on 30th October when I was listening to my first DX report on AWR Wavescan sitting along with my in-laws at their home at Karimganj town. My father-in-law was so much impressed and happy with my success that he immediately offered his old Philips receiver to me which I at last denied to bring with me as I believe that he loves that receives from his heart. But I said that one day I shall definitely bring it to my radio museum (!). By the way my father-in-law, who is also a good radio lover, later arranged a vintage Philips receiver from his neighbour which I did brought back to Jorhat.

My Father-in-law's receivers...


The vintage receivers collected and gifted to me by my fater-in-law..




Here are some station I logged during my stay at Karimganj.

On 26th October (Location: Karimganj Town)

Radio Romania International in English from 0345 UTC on 15340 kHz with SINPO 34333
Video Link : http://youtu.be/uC2ff312gBQ


Radio Deutsche Welle in English from 0350 UTC on 12005 kHz with SINPO 45344

On 28th October (Location: Karimganj Town)

Voice of Korea in English from 0220 UTC on 15100 kHz with SINPO 45333
Video Link: http://youtu.be/N6YyO2Z8ofM

Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation broadcasting in Hindi from 0225 UTC on 11905 kHz

Video Link: http://youtu.be/88szFFxy11Y

Radio Thailand in English signing off at 0229 UTC on 15275 kHz with SINPO 32333
Video: http://youtu.be/zlNneNaW_Io

Radio Phillipinas in English from 0231 UTC on 17700 kHz with SINPO 45444

IRIB in Hindi from 0237 UTC on 13750 kHz with SINPO 45444
Video: http://youtu.be/tqwYmY7Xbq8

On 28th October (Location: Sadarashi Village, Karimganj)

Vatican Radio in English from 0305 UTC on 15460 kHz with excillent SINPO 55444
Video Link: http://youtu.be/6LP7U82d9NA

Radio Taiwan International in English from 0310 UTC on 15320 kHz with SINPO 33333
Video Link: http://youtu.be/owiOVYhgoJ0

Adventist World Radio in Bengali from 1240 UTC on 17535 kHz with SINPO 34333
Radio Cairo in English from 1255 UTC on 17870 kHz with SINPO 22222
Bangladesh Betar in Bengali from 1300 UTC on 4750 kHz with SINPO 55455
NHK Radio Japan in Bengali from 1314 UTC on 11685 kHz with SINPO 45344
IRIB Bengali from 1525 UTC on 12085 kHz with SINPO 45334
Sudan Radio Service in unid language on 17745 kHz from 1527 kHz with SINPO 25222
Radio Canada International from 1530 UTC on 11675 kHz with SINPO 55444

On 29th October (Location: Sadarashi Village, Karimganj)

CVC India from 0120 UTC on 9975 kHz with SINPO 45444
VOA in Urdu from 0125 UTC on 11975 kHz with SINPO 55545
NHK Radio Japan in Hindi from 0150 UTC on 11740 kHz with SINPO 45444
BBC Oman relay from 0200 UTC on 15310 kHz with SINPO 55555

You can listen to some of the recorded files of some stations during this DXing by clicking on the link below:

http://www.box.net/shared/mjioyib3md5yhd5fg2d0


During my stay in that district which is attached with the Bangladesh border I tried the MW frequencies of Bangladesh Betar and found that on 963 kHz Syleth, 693 kHz (Dhaka A) and 630 kHz (Dhaka B) kHz the Bangladesh Betar was crystal clear. And on FM bands I heard two Bangladeshi private stations very claerly audible in Karimganj and they are FM 89.6 Radio Today and FM 88.0 Radio Foorti. The Bengali majority town of Karimganj is really blessed with these two Bangladeshi FM stations and they already made them a part of their daily life.

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