Voice Of Korea Jammed

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ridgescan

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interesting. china? maybe this is a sanction for threatening to test a nuke. lol
You are probably right. This is something china would most likely do. I'd laugh if it was us though. I'm still wondering when Voice Of Russia might return to the air with their English broadcasts out of their east coast.
 

majoco

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There was a very strong ROK signal in the 39m band last night, but I'm so sick of the marching music I didn't bother logging it!
 

GB46

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There was a very strong ROK signal in the 39m band last night, but I'm so sick of the marching music I didn't bother logging it!
Yeah, every song they play sounds like a national anthem. Most of them are in minor keys, and some of them have a distinctly Russian flavor.
 

GB46

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For the past week, Voice of Korea has had a jammer over it on 9435 and 11710kHz. I wonder what country is doing it?
They come in quite strong here on 9435 during our early morning hours (13:00-14:00 UTC). Does the jamming signal sound like the whirring of an electric motor that's somehow off balance? That's what I hear, especially in the pauses, but it fails to block their transmissions, at least in my part of the world.
 
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ridgescan

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They come in quite strong here on 9435 during our early morning hours (13:00-14:00 UTC). Does the jamming signal sound like the whirring of an electric motor that's somehow off balance? That's what I hear, especially in the pauses, but it fails to block their transmissions, at least in my part of the world.
Very sorry I missed your post till now (getting old) but the jammer actually sounds like a Mars space ship (think UFO) like you'd hear in the old movies.
 

GB46

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Very sorry I missed your post till now (getting old) but the jammer actually sounds like a Mars space ship (think UFO) like you'd hear in the old movies.
Hmmm... Yes, that's probably a better description. And the station's political commentaries sound almost as outdated, too. I'm reminded of the programming on Radio Moscow and Radio Peking back when I was in my teens See, you're not the only one who's getting old; "Peking" has morphed into "Beijing"! :lol:
 

GB46

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Sorry about this late post, but after closer examination, I doubt if the Voice of Korea is being jammed. The sound in the background fades at the same rate as their signal, never blocks the audio, and can be heard on both 9435 and 11710 kHz. To me it sounds like some kind of generator noise, and seems to be coming from their own transmitters. I can also hear it between their hourly transmissions, because their carrier is still on the air during the intervals.

I'm no expert, but maybe they use a dedicated generator at their tranmitter site to provide enough power, and the generator's noise gets into the carrier somehow.
 

ridgescan

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Sorry about this late post, but after closer examination, I doubt if the Voice of Korea is being jammed. The sound in the background fades at the same rate as their signal, never blocks the audio, and can be heard on both 9435 and 11710 kHz. To me it sounds like some kind of generator noise, and seems to be coming from their own transmitters. I can also hear it between their hourly transmissions, because their carrier is still on the air during the intervals.

I'm no expert, but maybe they use a dedicated generator at their tranmitter site to provide enough power, and the generator's noise gets into the carrier somehow.
Interesting. Could be true especially regarding the simultaneous fading.
 

ka3jjz

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If their power plant is indeed getting into their transmitters and the noise isn't coming from a foreign source, then this isn't considered jamming. Given the state of the North's economy it wouldn't surprise me in the least. One report on WoR suggests that some coupling issues might be happening between VoK and the antennas used for the jamming transmissions. Could be a lot of things, frankly...

Mike
 
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GB46

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If their power plant is indeed getting into their transmitters and the noise isn't coming from a foreign source, then this isn't considered jamming. Given the state of the North's economy it wouldn't surprise me in the least.
I used to hear something like it in the background of Radio Moscow's broadcasts, but it was closer to a constant hum, and sounded lower in frequency than 60 hz. I thought at the time that Russia's AC power might have been 25 hz. and that RM's equipment didn't have sufficient filtering. At any rate, it was on all their frequencies, so I could always tell by that hum that I was tuned to R. Moscow -- no station ID required.

Similarly I can always identify R. Havana Cuba by their crappy audio. Even Arnie Coro's broadcasts sound bad; sometimes he sounds like he's yelling into a tin can from across the room.
 

palmerjrusa

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"Similarly I can always identify R. Havana Cuba by their crappy audio. Even Arnie Coro's broadcasts sound bad; sometimes he sounds like he's yelling into a tin can from across the room."


Yeah, was is it with their audio, there always seems to be an annoying background low frequency hum in their broadcasts.
 

GB46

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"Similarly I can always identify R. Havana Cuba by their crappy audio. Even Arnie Coro's broadcasts sound bad; sometimes he sounds like he's yelling into a tin can from across the room."


Yeah, was is it with their audio, there always seems to be an annoying background low frequency hum in their broadcasts.
It often seems like some SW stations never monitor their own broadcasts, esp. RHC, which seems to be the sloppiest. A few days ago, in fact, one of their French language news feeds suddenly popped up for a few seconds on a frequency regularly used by a spy numbers station, after which the usual number transmissions started in Spanish. So RHC blew their own cover, positively identifying the transmitters used for the numbers broadcasts. Those transmitters sure get a lot of use, considering that China Radio International also uses them for relaying their broadcasts to North America.

At any rate most of RHC's transmissions in Spanish are loud and clear here until they switch to English. Then they're so weak that I almost lose them altogether, and the bad audio makes things even worse. The last time I was still able to hear Arnie Coro he sounded like he had a case of laryngitis. I thought either it was caused by the bad audio or Arnie was suffering from a head cold. Then again, maybe his throat was sore from yelling into that tin can from across the room.
 

Boombox

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I have read that RHC's transmitters are aging and they don't have a lot of spare parts, nor the funds to purchase new transmitters and other equipment.

RE: North Korea's music: I find it very interesting. It's an anachronism of days gone by, the old Soviet style military band stuff. But you also hear their version of pop music, too, you know. They have an actual band that is designated to play on the pop records over there, sort of a large jazz and brass ensemble.

Their bass player is pretty good -- I call him the North Korean James Jamerson.

Listen to it while you can. Within 10 years it will undoubtedly be gone completely. Even if the NK stations are still on the air (which they probably won't be if NK turns to capitalism, and SW dies), they won't be playing the stuff you hear on their stations now.
 

GB46

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RE: North Korea's music: I find it very interesting. It's an anachronism of days gone by, the old Soviet style military band stuff.
Yes, I've always detected a Russian influence in that music, especially in the prevalence of minor keys. The songs sound like marches or national anthems, but with the color of Russian folk songs.

Listen to it while you can. Within 10 years it will undoubtedly be gone completely. Even if the NK stations are still on the air (which they probably won't be if NK turns to capitalism, and SW dies), they won't be playing the stuff you hear on their stations now.
Are you sure North Korea will turn to capitalism? I've often wondered what the result of reunification would be, i.e. which system of government would prevail, but a lot would depend on the relationship between South Korea and the U.S. That's in the realm of politics; let's not go there. :roll:

As for the death of shortwave, it's in its death throes already. I suppose shortwave will continue to be used by hams. Various utilities, such as the MWARA communications, will use it too, but not as widely, due to satellte and internet technology, which is already killing international broadcasting.

When I want to listen to the traditional music of foreign countries (for which I have a big appetite), I direct my media player to one of the online audio streams. This gives me excellent audio, usually in stereo, with no fading or noise whatsoever. Most of the content is from domestic FM stations in those countries. My player can also record those streams as MP3 files, so I don't have to be online all the time. Recording is tricky, however, because sometimes I have to wait 'til the commercials are finished before I start recording -- a hit or miss proposition when I don't understand the language.
 

db_gain

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The self interference is more plausible to me than chicom jamming since I don't think Kim farts without approval from Peking first.
 

Boombox

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When I want to listen to the traditional music of foreign countries (for which I have a big appetite), I direct my media player to one of the online audio streams. This gives me excellent audio, usually in stereo, with no fading or noise whatsoever. Most of the content is from domestic FM stations in those countries. My player can also record those streams as MP3 files, so I don't have to be online all the time. Recording is tricky, however, because sometimes I have to wait 'til the commercials are finished before I start recording -- a hit or miss proposition when I don't understand the language.

I somehow overlooked this thread for a while. Some foreign stations come in well via the internet. Others, not so good. I had poor luck with Iran and Turkey.... A bit better luck with a station in Greece, although Voice Of Greece didn't seem to have a stream. Some stations overseas are starting to geo-block, which is a little disturbing.

As for your question about North Korea embracing capitalism once (whenever) the current regime fails, look at China, and look at Russia. Their economic systems are for all practical purposes capitalist. In the case of China, the government is still communist, but the economy appears anything but that. I think Vietnam still has a communist government, but their economic system is capitalist as well. I can't see how North Korea -- sitting right next to a powerhouse like South Korea -- would be any different.

Either way, once the current NK government goes, undoubtedly their SW services would disappear.
 

AlphaDX

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Seattle - 06.16 PST/14.16 UTC

Frequency: 2850,0 [kHz]
Station: Korean Central B. Station
Tx-Site: Pyongyang
Country: KRE
Language: Kr
Target area: dom
Time: 20.00-17.57
Remarks:
 
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