I've had almost no time for playing radio lately but I still carry a portable when I walk the dog. I've been walking to get a coffee & a newspaper in the mornings & listen to:
** South Korea 15575 Khz 13:00-14:00 UTC English service to North America. KBS uses the same 19 meter frequency year round so for at least part of the year They are well received in the USA. They have apparently fixed the funky azimuth that was beaming their "North American" service to South America & now they are an easy catch. Saturday's feature a DX report towards the end of the hour long English program.
** North Korea 11710//9435 I can't hear them much on the 31 meter frequency but they are inbooming on 25 meters from 13-14 UTC
** Australia 9580 Khz comes in really well as usual. Saturday mornings do sort of suck as they have country music programming...not good country like Bob Wills & Hank Williams but modern, recent country which I don't like. They do have great programming on weekdays around this time (13:00- 15:00 UTC) lots of in depth news & analysis type stuff. It seems like a lot of the programming is actually TV audio as they reference stuff that you obviously can't see but it's still outstanding programming. When I am on my way home with the dog & a bag with the newspaper, donuts & Marlboros & a cup of coffee in my hands I like to tune a station that I can just listen to & place the radio in the bag with the other stuff & have the antenna poking out as I have a 15-20 minute walk back home. Radio Australia is a good listen for my return walk. The other normally good listen is...
** China (via Cuba) 13740 Khz CRI English service. Usually very good reception on any portable I happen to be using. This morning when the wretched country music began at 14:00 UTC on Radio Australia I switched to CRI to hear "China Drive" I think its called. Today,however it was all "Cubanized" with a real strong carrier but modulation only 1 second of every 2 or 3 minutes. As Glenn Hauser says "wiggle that patch cord!" I had my hands full & actually listened to the Cubanized CRI for about 15 minutes & only heard about 30 seconds of audio in that time.....standard Cuban broadcasting as far as I can tell.
** Japan (via Kranji Singapore) 11740 Khz 12:00-12:30 UTC NHK Radio Japan English service. Not real well heard on a barefoot portable but if I am at home with my R75 or even satellit 750 & a good antenna this comes in well. NHK seems to go out of their way to NOT broadcast to North America but this one is a fairly easy catch. I haven't tried the Wooferton relay at 5:00-5:30 on 5975.....that one might be audible in North America too