We are just settling in here in north central Oklahoma and I only have the NW-SE leg of the Wellbrook Array up and running. Snuggie the DX Kitty got me up at 1200 (LSR=1310) and almost on a lark, I tried 774 for Japan with my hotrodded NRD-535... nothing.  But there was a definite het on 747 (about a 2 or 3 on the NW Scale).  I decided to try 828... just a 2, but clearly a het, so I decided to do a quick sweep of the band, starting at 531, as usual.  NHK1  Morioka is almost always there on decent JJ mornings from my NW site... but almost always at "mumble" level. No way did I expect a het on 531 from here in OKlahoma...BUT, there it was, at a 2!  There were better hets on 567(!), 594 and 693, but nothing was close to audio.

I had other things to do and hoped that LSR here would bring more bounty. It did.... not great amounts, but still really amazing from OKlahoma:

531: Persistent weak het (NHK1 Morioka)
558: Persistent weak het (JOCR Kobe)
567: NHK1 Sapporo peaked right after 1300 with JJ audio... time pips, weakly, at the TOH. Heard on Slider E100+Wellbrook
585: Persistent weak het (NHK1 Kushiro, Hokkaido)
594: Strong het at dawn with hints of audio (NHK1 Tokyo)
666: Strong het at dawn (NHK1 Osaka)
675: Persistent weak het (this is "always" Vietnam in the NW, but there are a couple of 5 kW NHK1 stations here)
684: Weak het here at LSR (I have no idea who this was!)
693: Peak caught at 1252 in "imaginary level" Asian audio (NHK2 Tokyo)
702: Peaked at LSR with weak audio in Asian lang. (Almost certainly North Korea) Heard on Slider e100, too
747: Persistent weak to moderate het (NHK2 Sapporo)
792: Weak het at dawn (South Korea???)
828: Persistent weak to moderate het (NHK2 Osaka)
954: Weak het at dawn (JOKR, Tokyo)

1566: Weak het at dawn (HLAZ, South Korea)

The fact that I've just completed listening to East Asia on MW every morning for three months in the Northwest was, of course, a huge help in knowing where and what to look for... What I found, of course, was a classic low band opening to Japan with virtually all of the usual suspects present.  After the surprise of the whole thing, the remaining surprises were the hets on 675 (Vietnam???), the total absence of 774, NHK2 Akita (it is almost always the strongest of the 747//774//828 group) AND the fact that the audio came not from one of those three but rather from 567 kHz., NHK1 Sapporo.

I might add that the only Far East stations (even as hets) that I've ever heard from here previously have been 747//774//828//873, though this is so difficult that I've rarely even tried in recent years.

We are leaving here in a couple of hours to spend five days with extended family in Ft. Worth, TX and I'm struggling with attitude and priorities :>) With luck, maybe Richard and Kirk Allen can use the list above as a starting place for an Asian Thanksgiving.
 

John B.
Stillwater, OK, USA
Rcvrs: modified NRD-535, Slider e100's
Antennas: Wellbrook Phased Array

John:

I awoke early and was surprised to hear JOUB 774 at good signal
strength on a barefoot SRF-T615 at 1101-1108. I heard hets on 693,
747, 828 and 972 kHz between 1114 and 1127 UTC. Afterward I was
chasing domestics, except just before 1200 I had a strong het on 774
that faded into the WBBM/XEMF QRM. A few minutes later when I checked
it was all KSPI (why don't you walk over there sometime and pull the
meter for me - only joking).

I've spent a lot of time listening to the 972 het and have yet to hear
any audio. Sometimes it's very strong around sunrise.

I guess I should have been listening with the G313e instead.

The conditions were somewhat erratic overnight. Except for a couple
of stations in Saskatchewan, most of what I was hearing was to the
south. I pulled in XENK 620 for the first time this morning by
nulling a strong CKRM signal at 1218. Only a trace of KMKI and KTAR.

Have a good Thanksgiving. Myself, I'm off to Wellington for a family
get together.

Richard Allen
36°22'51"N / 97°26'35"W
(near of Perry OK)