Good News

Hi again,

We received news from TAC that their DRM-capable transmitter has been repaired and tested. It should be able to air the last 15170kHz DRM broadcast for the A25 season. Even though it is the end of the season, we still want to know how well you received it.

For B25, the DRM schedule is as below:

Time              Day        Frequency       Power     Language     Coverage area

1200-1230      Sat         12105kHz      50kW      Mandarin         China

1230-1300      Sat         12105kHz      50kW      Japanese         Japan

1445-1505      Sat          9975kHz       50kW      English            India/Southeast Asia

We thank you for your patience while the transmitter was down. We hope you enjoy the broadcasts throughout the B25 broadcast season. Please let us know how they perform.

73 de TWR Asia

DRM Paused

Hello everyone,

As many of you have noticed, TWR's DRM broadcasts to China and Japan have been replaced by analog transmissions. This is due to the DRM-capable transmitter at another broadcast site being disabled by a failed part. The lead-time for that part is likely going to be quite long. With this being the case, you can expect a long pause for those broadcasts.

KTWR's last DRM broadcast will be on 25 Oct. at 1600-1630UTC in South Indian languages. This will be the final program aired by KTWR. From that time until the broadcast provider's DRM transmitter is repaired, there will be no DRM broadcasts from TWR. We are quite sorry for this situation.

73 and blessings from KTWR

UPDATE:

We just got word that a capacitor has been found that might work for the transmitter. The team is testing it now. We may have DRM back on the air sooner than at first thought.

Updated Plans for Frequency Change

Hi again everyone. Now that TAC is back on DRM, interference has been quite strong in Eastern China and parts of Japan. This makes reception very difficult. We will change the frequency from 15230kHz to 15170kHz for the 1100-1230UTC China/Japan blocks, effective 30 August.

There was a problem in one of the content server settings noted last weekend. SDC was set to 16 instead of 4. That has been corrected. 

We hope these changes will improve your reception experience. Please let us know how it goes.

73 from TWR

TAC is back on DRM

Hi everyone. I have some good news for you. The broadcast site at Tashkent, TAC, now has the old spare content server from KTWR. We installed it a few days ago. We also tuned the TSW-2100D for max SNR on 15230kHz. We achieved ~35dB. That should sound better than it did the last time the station was broadcasting in DRM. 

Please tune in on Saturdays at 1100-1230UTC on 15230kHz to let us know how it is doing. The beam heading is toward China and Japan, but South Korea should hear it very well.

73 de NH2MS and TWR

DRM Frequency change for China and Japan

We are grateful for those of you who sent reception reports for the Wednesday DRM test broadcast on 15230kHz. It performed much better than the 12120/12105kHz blocks could have from TAC. We are going to stay with 15230kHz for the normal Saturday broadcasts to China and Japan at 1100-1230UTC.

For those of you in China and Japan who use directional antennas, you will want to point your antennas westward for the 15230kHz broadcast. Listeners in South Asia should aim antennas northward. The 15390kHz broadcasts are still coming from KTWR. Most listeners should continue to aim their antennas eastward our southeastward for those broadcasts.

73 de TWR 

Another DRM Test

Hi again everyone. We are going to try another test broadcast for China and Japan this Wednesday at 1130-1200UTC on 15230kHz. Reports from Northeast Asia would be especially helpful, but reception reports from other regions are also helpful. If this works out well, we intend to use this frequency to replace what had been on 12120/12105kHz at 1100-1230UTC on Saturdays.

Thanks so much for your help. 

Test Results

Thank you to all of those who sent WhatsApp and email reports for the 12120/12105kHz DRM tests that were run on 9 May. The results proved that we need to change to a higher frequency band. We are still working out what that frequency will be. It could be in the 22 or 19-meter band. We hope to get that settled soon. Even though the test yielded poor coverage, we have not given up on reaching China and Japan with DRM broadcasts.

73 de TWR

Test from a Different Site

Hi everyone. One of our broadcast partners is planning to do a couple of DRM test broadcasts tomorrow, Friday, 9 May. Reports would be greatly appreciated, especially from NE Asia. The details are shown below:

12120kHz    1100-1115UTC

12105kHz    1115-1130UTC

Thanks for your help getting the word out to other DXers and for tuning in to hear how it goes.

73 de TWR

A Different Frequency for Japan

Hello SWls,

We realize that we have had to change the Japanese DRM broadcasts. Well, now we must do it again. Interference has continued to be a problem. We will stay in the 25-meter band for the rest of the season. Effective 26 April 2025, KTWR will broadcast the English and Japanese programs on Saturdays at 1130-1230UTC on 12105kHz instead of 11965kHz.

73 from TWR 

KTWR DRM Changes for A25

 Saturday

10:59:30 to 11:29:15    12120 kHz    China   Mandarin

11:30:00 to 11:59:30    11965 kHz    Japan    Japanese

12:00:10 to 12:30:00    11965 kHz    Japan    English

16:01:00 to 16:29:30    15390 kHz    India    South India languages

 

Sunday 

16:01:00 to16:46:00    15390 kHz    India    English

Special Christmas Broadcast

TWR has some news that will make Christmas a bit more interesting. For the first time ever, KTWR will broadcast a program in the Portuguese language. This will be in DRM format. It will be on 15400kHz at 1000-1030UTC on 25 December. We do encourage those who can understand Portuguese to listen to the entire program since we believe it will add to your Christmas celebration.

This Christmas broadcast had actually been requested by listeners in Brazil quite a while back, but it has taken some time to make it happen. The timing appears to have worked out well with the current solar cycle situation.

Some of you may be wondering why a station with antennas beaming toward Asia would air a broadcast intended for Brazil. It turns out that shortwave propagation between Guam and South America this time of year benefits from the "gray line". This allows the radio signal to follow a path that is always in a dusk/dawn situation. That works well for the 19-meter band.

Since South America is at the opposite point on the planet from Guam, listeners in that area may get signals from the west and the east. This could be problematic for those who do not have directional antennas. If possible, consider trying to null out one path or the other. One thing that would be very helpful to us at TWR is to let us know from which direction you hear the broadcast best.

Thank you for listening to KTWR and helping us make the broadcasts better over the years. We wish that all of you have a blessed and joyful Christmas celebration. Remember whose (earthly) birthday is being celebrated.

73 from KTWR

KTWR B24 DRM Schedule

Hi everyone. We hope your shortwave listening experiences have gone well with the current elevated solar activity. We have seen signals do some interesting things over the past year or so.

Now that the B24 HFCC conference is over, we can let you know what our DRM broadcast schedule will be. We had to delete one broadcast to China and split the South Asia broadcast blocks. 

The broadcast to Japan will continue its experiment with the 25-meter band. We may change this back to 31 meters at mid-season if the data indicates the need to do so. Finding a frequency free of digital interference has been a challenge.

Another experiment will be using two different antennas for the 15390kHz broadcasts. The Sunday broadcast will be beamed mostly toward central India while the Saturday broadcast will continue the southern India heading. Please let us know the differences in performance that you notice.

DRM broadcasts (Effective 27 October 2024):

 

                                                                           Designated

Day              Time (UTC)        Frequency        Coverage Area         Language

Saturday     1059-1130          12040 kHz          China                       English

 

Saturday     1130-1230          11965 kHz          Japan                      Japanese, English

                         

Sunday        1600-1645        15390 kHz           India                        English

Saturday      1600-1630        15390 kHz           India                        South Indian languages

73 from KTWR

New Frequency for Japanese DRM

Hello again everyone. While KTWR's TX6 has been transmitting the Japanese/English DRM programs on 9320kHz with SNRs typically reaching ~39dB, reception has been disappointing. There has been too much interference on the 31-meter band frequencies that we have tried. We are going to try the 25-meter band next. Effective 17 August 2024, KTWR will use 11590kHz instead of 9320kHz for the 1130-1230UTC broadcast. There may some skip zone issues with this frequency. Reception reports would be very much appreciated. Thank you for your help.

73 de KTWR

Special Broadcast - 22 June 2024

Global Radio Ministries will broadcast both English and Japanese versions during their regular Saturday DRM broadcast from 1200 to 1230 on 22 June 2024.

Broadcasting two audio channels requires us to use 64-QAM modulation for the Main Service Channel.  The receiver needs about 3dB more signal than is required for the 16-QAM usually used.  We expect to have our Antenna 1, which was destroyed in the typhoon last summer, restored by Saturday.  That will improve our signal to Japan.

Global Radio Ministries hopes to switch that program from English to Japanese in the near future, but this Saturday is a demonstration of their ability to produce the program in the Japanese language.

DXers Diary Drawing

Hi everyone,

Many of you have used or heard of the World Radio and Television Handbook (WRTH). The following is an announcement of a drawing for the WRTH web app.

Dear Friends and fellow DXers.
I have happy news from WRTH. WRTH has come forward to gift 2 free licenses for WRTH web app to DXers Diary listeners. The programme is broadcast every Sunday in DXers Diary in 15390 KHz DRM at 15.00 hrs UTC and 11965 kHz analog every Wednesday at 11.00 hrs UTC. 

This is what you need to do to take part in the drawing:

Listen to DXers Diary on a regular basis for the next three months and send me your reception reports.
The listeners who send me reception reports on a regular basis for 3 months will be eligible for the lucky draw. I will soon announce the date of commencement of the contest. This contest is open to both DRM and SW listeners.

Reception Reports need to be sent to:

dxersdiary@gmail.com

Happy DXing 
Arun Kumar
VU2BBF
Producer and Presenter 
DXERS DIARY

Language Change on Saturday DRM to China, English to Mandarin

 Beginning on 27 April 2024 the program will be entirely in Mandarin.  20 April will be first program of a new series in the New Testament book of First Thessalonians in English.  That program will be repeated the following Saturday in Mandarin.  The rest of the series will be broadcast in Mandarin.

South India Reception Issue

Hi DXers. We hope that the A24 broadcast season has provided good listening conditions for you. However, we know this has not turned out to be the case in all KTWR coverage areas. 

We are currently investigating the poor performance in parts of southern India for our 15390kHz broadcasts. We saw similar behavior with the 13690kHz broadcasts last season. It seems as if there is a multipath issue. The areas where the problem is most apparent are in near Coimbatore, near Bangalore, and near Chennai. If we could get data such as impulse response plots from Dream listeners in those areas, it would help us see what is happening. 

Thanks for your help and 73.

KTWR A24 DRM Schedule

Hi everyone.

We have good news for you. KTWR is maintaining the current amount of time for DRM broadcasts for the A24 broadcast season. The only timing change is that the two Sunday blocks will have no gap between them. The South Indian language broadcasts will start 15 minutes earlier than they do in the B23 season. The end time will also be earlier.

We are grateful for your reception reports. The posts on WhatsApp have been quite helpful. It will be interesting to see how 19 meters performs in India. We have seen some intermittent multipath issues with 22 meters in parts of India.

KTWR Digital Broadcasts

 

DRM broadcasts (Effective 31 March 2024):

 

                                                                           Designated

Day              Time (UTC)        Frequency        Coverage Area         Language

Saturday     1059-1130          12120 kHz          China                       English

 

Saturday     1130-1230          9320 kHz            Japan                      Japanese, English

                         

Monday       1215-1245         9910 kHz            China                       Mandarin

Sunday        1500-1545        15390 kHz           India                        English

Sunday        1545-1615        15390 kHz           India                        South Indian languages

73 from KTWR

Minor change to DRM schedule

Hi everyone. We are thankful for the reception reports that have been coming in for KTWR's DRM broadcasts. They have been quite helpful.

One case in point is with our Japanese DRM block on Saturdays. Some parts of Japan are experiencing interference to the broadcast on 9910kHz. We are going to try out a new frequency for that block. Effective 31 December, the DRM schedule for Japan will be:

Day              Time(UTC)         Frequency         Coverage Area         Language

Saturday     1130-1230          9320 kHz            Japan                      Japanese, English

Please let us know how that performs in the new year.

73 and have a blessed Christmas from KTWR.

KTWR B23 DRM Broadcast Schedule - Updated

Hello everyone.

KTWR is going to continue to broadcast the same DRM program blocks that we are currently airing, except for one block. However, there will be several frequency changes. Please check the list below for the B23 schedule. 

Please note that the Tuesday - Friday 1600-1630 English broadcast will not continue into the B23 season. We are sorry for this last-minute change.

KTWR Digital Broadcasts

 

DRM broadcasts (Effective 29 October 2023):

 

                                                                           Designated

Day              Time (UTC)        Frequency        Coverage Area         Language

Saturday     1059-1129          12040 kHz          China                       English

 

Saturday     1130-1230          9910 kHz            Japan                      Japanese, English

                         

Monday       1215-1245         9910 kHz            China                       Mandarin

Sunday        1500-1545        13690 kHz           India                        English

Sunday        1600-1630        13690 kHz           India                        South Indian languages

73 from KTWR