Radio Taiwan International in Russian on 9790 kHz: half an hour from Taipei at 17:00 UTC

What you hear

At 17:00 UTC the Russian service of Radio Taiwan International comes up with its identification and a short run of news from Taiwan: politics, the economy, the strait, technology. The rest of the half hour goes to features, which is where the service is at its best: Taiwanese food, festivals, the mountains and the coast, the history of the island, a Chinese phrase of the week, and a mailbag programme that reads listeners' letters on the air and promises QSL cards in return. The Russian is careful and slightly formal, from announcers in Taipei, and the programme closes at 17:30 UTC.

Who transmits and why

Radio Taiwan International is the external broadcaster of Taiwan. Its roots go back to 1928, and for a long period, until 1998, it was known abroad as the Voice of Free China. Today it broadcasts in more than a dozen languages, most of them to Asia, with a few European services, Russian among them, that have been on the air for decades and keep a small but loyal audience of listeners who write in.

The catalogue lists 100 kW and a target of Russia and eastern Europe, but not the transmitter site, and we will not guess: RTI has at different times used its own sites in Taiwan and leased time at relay stations closer to Europe, and the arrangement for a given broadcast can change between seasons. What matters for the listener is the hour and the frequency, and those have been steady.

When and where to listen

9790 kHz is in the 31 metre band, and 17:00 UTC is early evening in European Russia, a good hour for 31 metres in every season except the depths of winter, when the band can begin to close in the north by then. If the signal is coming all the way from Taiwan, the path crosses Asia in twilight and favours receivers in the Urals, Siberia and the Far East; if it is coming from a relay in Europe or the Middle East, receivers in Ukraine, Belarus, the Baltics and western Russia do better. Try a receiver in each region and see which gives the cleaner signal; that in itself tells you where the transmitter is this season. From western Europe expect a modest signal with fading, usually readable, rarely loud.

31 metres is busy at 17:00 UTC. If a neighbour on 9785 or 9795 kHz is louder, switch to the sideband facing away from it or narrow the filter.

In ShackDeck

Station catalogue → Shortwave broadcast → Radio Taiwan International in Russian 9790. The program picks a public receiver that covers 9790 kHz, tunes it and sets AM; you need no receiver, antenna or account of your own. The programme is only half an hour, so open the entry a few minutes before 17:00 UTC and let the program settle on a receiver.