I am over the moon. I found a DX-398 at a garage sale today, working, battery compartment looks brand new. The guy said they had not used it in maybe 15 years, it was stored in the 4 drawer filing cabinet. He wanted $50 all I had was $30 and they sold it to me. It has the book, the faux leather carry case, and looks 8 of 10 with a few small scratches on the back. I will connect it to my shortwave antenna (longwire in the attic) tonight and see how it shakes out. This model was sold at Radio Shack and I believe it is made by Sangean and is a clone of the ATS-909 maybe.

Still, fun little experiment.

Copied in central Indiana on DX440 and longwire. CW signal is 589.

A detailed 2019 report by Martin Butera; followup to the post by u/Historical-View4058.

There are 10 slides in this post.

I think u/ImladMorgul reported they were having problems at RN Amazonia some time back. Here's more info.

I'm not an FM DXer, so I'm hoping someone here can help explain what I experienced.

On Friday, July 17, 2026, between Banff and Lake Louise, Alberta, I was driving my completely stock 2015 Toyota Sienna when the FM band suddenly came alive.

For roughly 30 to 40 minutes, I was absolutely floored. It seemed like almost every turn of the dial revealed another station, many of them coming in crystal clear for a minute or two before fading away and being replaced by another. I had no idea this was even possible and honestly thought my radio had glitched. Then I started seeing Nebraska Public Media on the display while driving through the Canadian Rockies. That's when I started taking photos because I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

My radio displayed:

• Nebraska Public Media (91.1 FM)
• Iowa Public Radio programming ("IPR News and Studio One")
• MyBridge Radio Español (91.3 FM)
• "Mix 97.1"

Along the way I also tuned across 90.5, 90.9, 91.1, 91.3, 93.9, 95.3, 97.1, 101.1, and 102.7, with many of them strong enough for the radio to decode RDS.

After getting home, I learned about tropospheric ducting, which seems like the most likely explanation. The best way I can describe it is like a mirage for radio waves, where layers of warm and cool air in the atmosphere guide FM signals for extraordinary distances.

My questions are:

1. Was there a significant FM propagation event over western North America on Friday?
2. Can anyone identify which transmitters these likely were?
3. How unusual is it to decode RDS from stations this far away using nothing more than a factory Toyota radio?

CW Beacon from Istanbul Turkye, 4209.5 Khz at 01:30 UTC 07/20/26 - Heard in central Indiana on DX-440 and longwire antenna up about 25 feet. Google says this is a maritime freq assigned to Turkye. About a 559 RST

Listen Info plugin shows it as NHK from Japan, but they are no longer on that frequency in this A26 Schedule. The databases are up to date; I think I'll delete everything and download them again.

- Lang: Japanese
- TX: Paochung/Baujong (Yunlin province)
- RX: Asunción, Paraguay
- Radio: AirSpy HF+ Discovery
- Software: SDR# v.1922 (beta, last version)
- Antenna: K-480WLA
- D/T: 19 JUL 2026 - 1108 UTC

SHN: Naval Hydrographic Service.

Various notices about buoys, rivers, and other things. The FLDIGI section is sped up 2x.

- TX: Prefectura Naval Argentina, Buenos Aires
- RX: Asunción, Paraguay
- Radio: AirSpy HF+ Discovery
- Software: SDR# v.1922 (beta, last version) and FLDIGI
- Antenna: K-480WLA
- D/T: 19 JUL 2026 - 1220 UTC

Station

• Name/Call: JMH Japan Meteo Fax
• Location: Kagoshima, Japan
• Language: Data
• Target: Far East

Time

• 1137 UTC | 19 JUL 2026

Receiver and Receiving Location

• Radio: AirSpy HF+ R.4.0.8-CD
• Antenna: K-480WLA | 35' AGL
• Software: SDR# Studio R4.0.8-CD Beta 64-Bit | FLDIGI v4.2.06
• Location: Portland, Oregon | CN85qn

Signal

• RS(T) = 559

There are 3 slides in this post.

Station

• Name/Call: XSV Tianjin Radio
• Location: Tianjin, PRC
• Language: Mandarin
• Target: Far East

Time

• 1058 UTC | 19 JUL 2026

Receiver and Receiving Location

• Radio: AirSpy HF+ R.4.0.8-CD
• Antenna: K-480WLA | 35' AGL
• Software: SDR# Studio R4.0.8-CD Beta 64-Bit
• Location: Portland, Oregon | CN85qn

Signal

• RS(T) = 569

This is the first time I've picked up the CW signal from this historic station, the Maritime Radio Historical Society (MRHS).

The frequency 17016.8 kHz is a well-known High Frequency (HF) maritime communications channel used primarily by the historic coastal radio station KPH in California. Operated by the Maritime Radio Historical Society (MRHS), it broadcasts continuous wave (CW) Morse code messages, weather, and traffic.

The MRHS broadcasts via the historic coastal station KPH serve educational, historical, and cultural preservation purposes. They aim to keep traditional maritime communications (such as Morse code and radioteletype) alive, paying tribute to the golden age of radiotelegraphy in the Pacific.

The transmit site for all MRHS stations is the original 1914 Marconi site in Bolinas, CA. The receive site is the RCA point to point site built in 1930 at Point Reyes, CA. KPH commenced receive operations at the Point Reyes site in 1946 when the station reopened after the war.

- TX: Point Reyes Station. Bolinas, CA
- RX: Asunción, Paraguay
- Radio: AirSpy HF+ Discovery
- Software: SDR# v.1922 (beta, last version)
- Antenna: K-480WLA
- D/T: 18 JUL 2026 - 2035 UTC

04:42 UTC. Xmtr: Talata Volonondry,Madagascar (250 KW)

So i found this the other day on an australian based kiwi web sdr and cant find any info on what it is. Anyone here have any ideas or know what this is or might be?
It seems like some bursts of digital data and it was transmitting consistently for a good while but was inactive the next day when i checked back in.