The last two nights have been improved for Asian MW.
In particular, 909 KHz China, and 1386 KHz NHK Japan. This is a welcome improvement over the poor summer months that was plagued by electrical storm static.
The Gary DeBock design 40 inch square PVC loop excels at bringing up 1386 Japan out of the noise. There is a notable contrast between the Indian Bollywood songs aired on 1386 KHz Auckland, NZ, and no-nonsense NHK Japanese female announcers.
The locally generated QRM on 909 KHz has fortunately gone.
The best compromise here for MW DX on 9 KHz channels is the indoor 40″ PVC loop inductively coupled to a Sangean PR-D3. The PR-D3 is identical to the Crane CC 2E, except the switchable narrow bandwidth feature.
The usual nightly routine is to watch TV (usually in my case, 1950s and 1960s U.S. TV series and films), then try MW DX starting no earlier than 2330 local time. It is a challenge staying awake till 0030. Anything later, e.g. 0130 LT, usually guarantees a hangover the next day. But that is one of the challenges with Asian MW, because the optimal reception window is between circa 2330 to 0200 local Sydney time.
One recent discovery is that my 26 inch (nominal) diameter hula-hoop loop dimensions is actually 21″ height, 23″ width. Karl at PK loops tried to make the tank coil diameter dimension larger, but it would not tune up to 1710 KHz. Hence the version I have is the largest available that tunes 520 to 1710.
Regards, Todd, Sydney, AU to ICDX-AM groups.io (2021-03-01)