Topics

331

Shortwave Broadcast / 4955 R. Cultural Amauta

« on: September 27, 2015, 1121 UTC »

4955   PERU. R. Cultural Amauta - Huanta. Earnest talks (perhaps a Sunday religious discussion?) at 1110, a ballad at 1115, fair to poor signal in the noise.

332

Shortwave Broadcast / RRI 4750

« on: September 27, 2015, 1046 UTC »

4750   INDONESIA. RRI - Makassar. This station has recently been reactivated after an absence from the airwaves. Noted on several occasions including Sept 27 at 1025 with Indonesian easy listening music and occasional anncts. Good signal and great to hear they have returned again.

333

Shortwave Broadcast / VOA - New French Service to Africa

« on: September 21, 2015, 2225 UTC »

9765   SAO TOMÉ. VOA - Pinheira. New 30 minute French service to Af from 2200. Much talk of the coup in Burkina Faso. A weak signal that eventually faded by 2215. Another weak signal was also noted on // 11850, also Pinheira. However, there was no here propagation from the additional parallel freqs of 13670 and 15120 (both via Botswana). However, all four freqs were monitored via the Twente remote receiver, Sept 21. Thanks to Mauno Ritola for advice on this additional service.

334

Shortwave Broadcast / Botswana Extended Service

« on: September 21, 2015, 0732 UTC »

9885   BOTSWANA. VOA - Moepeng Hill. A new extended service to Af noted from 0630 to past 0730 in French with a very good signal. Thanks to advice from Mauno Ritola who says scheduled s/off is now 0830. Apparently, also broadcasting on 6180 and 13830 but nothing heard here on Sept 21. This may be in response to the coup d'etat in Burkina Faso several days ago.

335

Shortwave Broadcast / Papal Mass from Cuba.

« on: September 20, 2015, 2229 UTC »

In south eastern Australia now:

11760   CUBA. R. Havana - Bauta. Papal mass for visit by Pope Francis to Cuba at 2215. Good signal and also heard on 11840 (fair level), 13740 (weak), and 9710 (barely audible)

Rob VK3BVW

336

Shortwave Broadcast / ON NOW: RTE Dublin 17540 kHz

« on: September 20, 2015, 1336 UTC »

ON NOW: 1330 UTC - RTE Dublin via Woofferton on 17540 kHz with the All-Ireland football final. Very weak here in southern Australia, but quite good on the Twente remote receiver. Anyone else hearing this???

337

Shortwave Broadcast / PNG Still Going on 9860!

« on: July 22, 2015, 0804 UTC »

Well, despite the 15th Pacific Games having concluded four days ago, Papua New Guinea's NBC National Radio is still being heard on 9860 kHz. It's rumoured that PNG is considering (planning? hoping?….) to restart shortwave broadcast back on PNG soil with its own transmitters in 2016. Now THAT would be great!!

Here's my log from last night:

9860 kHz  NBC - Brandon, QLD. Noted at 0740 UTC with a quick ID as "NBC National Radio", then non-stop local pop songs and no other anncts. A good signal but also co-channel QRM from KBS World Radio via Woofferton. However, nothing heard from 12025 kHz which was beamed to the Pacific Islands specifically for the Games. July 21. And again on July 22 at 0550 with non-stop local pops, then news at 0600. Back into music at 0605, good signal and no QRM.

73 everyone, Rob VK3BVW

338

Shortwave Broadcast / *** 15th Pacific Games - PNG On-Air with New Freqs ***

« on: July 03, 2015, 0835 UTC »

It's quite difficult to hear Papua New Guinea these days now that nearly all their shortwave transmitters have closed and moved to FM.

BUT....In the last day or so, PNG's National Broadcasting Corporation has been transmitting on shortwave with two new outlets. NBC is the host broadcaster of the 15th Pacific Games, being held in the capital Port Moresby. The games begins tomorrow July 4 and runs through till July 18. This afternoon, I noted the following schedule from on-air announcements as follows:

6075 kHz - 1900 to 2159 UTC
9860 kHz - 2200 to 0959 UTC
6075 kHz - 1000 to 1400 UTC
12025 kHz - 2200 to 1000 UTC (to Pacific Island communities)

Here at Mount Evelyn, 9860 is heard quite well during the afternoon, and 6075 was noted last night. As yet, I have not found a signal on 12025 kHz, but this frequency may come into use once the Games begin. The station is announcing itself as both NBC and "The Voice of Papua New Guinea".

I have put up a recording of the frequency announcement on the Mount Evelyn blog. The link is:

http://medxr.blogspot.com.au/2015/07/station-news-and-log-book-friday-july-3.html

I haven't been able to work out the transmitter site. It's possibly unlikely to be from PNG itself as they really don't have the infrastructure (unless something has changed recently!!). Perhaps Broadcast Australia (the company that looks after RA's transmitters) is making their facilities available? Pure speculation at the moment.

If you haven't got PNG verified, then here's a chance. It would be interesting to see how well the signal reaches to the US. Please let me know - I'd be most interested!

Cheers....and have a great July 4!

Rob VK3BVW

339

Equipment / DXing with the Yaesu FTDX3000 - Part 1

« on: June 21, 2015, 0056 UTC »

Having had my new Yaesu FTDX3000 for around 7 months now, I'm really enjoying its flexibility and performance. Quite a few people have asked me to review the rig, as there's not much out there on the web about it. I thought the best way of doing this may be by actually showing it in action, using some of it's facilities. So, the intention is to develop a short YouTube series on the operation of the FTDX3000. Note the specific use of the word "intention"!! How many videos and over what time frame is debatable and will depend on my time constraints....believe it or not, "retired" people are very busy, too!! 

The first video has now been uploaded:

Using SSB to improve marginal reception of AM SWBC stations (either because of poor atmospheric conditions or heavy interference from other stations) is a handy tool for all DXers to adopt. Yet some inexperienced SWLs tend to think that SSB is only useful for monitoring the ham bands! This video shows an example of where SSB helped considerably in a listening situation I had several weeks ago on 9920kHz involving two broadcasters and a jammer. While the technique is certainly not new (a.k.a. ECSS - exalted carrier selectable sideband), I have demonstrated its use here on the FTDX3000.

http://medxr.blogspot.com.au/2015/06/dxing-with-ftdx3000-part-1.html

Comments welcomed. 73 and have a great weekend everyone! Rob VK3BVW

340

Shortwave Broadcast / Latin Noted In OZ

« on: June 21, 2015, 0037 UTC »

5952.43   BOLIVIA. R. Pio Doce - Siglo Veinte, Llallagua. News reports and anncts at 1017, quite a good signal on June 14.

6105.31   UNIDENTIFIED. Weak signal and impossibly hard to read, but I suspect this might be R. Panamericana - La Paz. This station has always been difficult in recent years due to RTI and CNR 1 jammer on 6105 now running 1000-1400, June 20.

6024.96   BOLIVIA. Red R. Patria Nueva - La Paz. Pleasing to hear this station here again for our winter DX season. The signal can be quite unreliable into Mount Evelyn, but it was noted on June 18 at 1010 with a fair to poor signal. Music programming and rapid anncts. Slight QRM R. Martí on 6030 kHz.

6173.9 PERU. R. Tawantinsuyo - Cusco. Noted on June 18 with a talk program and short bursts of music (possibly canned anncts). A Peruvian song at 1028. A weak signal on this occasion made listening difficult while monitoring between 1020 and 1040. Listening in LSB is best as a way of avoiding CNR 1 6175 kHz (although China was also weaker on this day!)

73 and have a good weekend everyone! Rob VK3BVW

341

Shortwave Broadcast / KNLS again!

« on: June 10, 2015, 1123 UTC »

9610   ALASKA. KNLS - Anchor Point. S/on 1100 in Mandarin to EAs, ID and address then into pop music, good signal on June 10. This renovated antenna appears to be doing an excellent job! In the past, KNLS has always been "hit-and-miss" down under.

Rob VK3BVW

342

Shortwave Broadcast / New China Freqs.

« on: June 10, 2015, 1120 UTC »

9455   CHINA. CRI - Location unknown. S/on 1100 in Esperanto with a fair signal. NF, appears to be an additional frequency to 11635 and 15110 both of which were also heard on June 10.

9865   CHINA. CRI - Location unknown. English now here on this NF at 1000 to 1100, very good signal on June 10.

Rob VK3BVW

343

Shortwave Broadcast / 5915 - UNID

« on: June 10, 2015, 1115 UTC »

5915   UNIDENTIFIED. Believed to be Myanmar Radio - Naypyidaw at 1045 with softly spoken talks and occasional local light pops. Weak signal and noted to past 1110 on June 10.

Rob VK3BVW

344

Shortwave Broadcast / KNLS - great signal!

« on: June 10, 2015, 0811 UTC »

9655  ALASKA. KNLS - Anchor Point. S/on 0800 in Russian. Very good signal and nice to hear it back on again after a long absence! June 10.

Rob VK3BVW

345

Shortwave Broadcast / Stations just logged this afternoon.

« on: June 10, 2015, 0710 UTC »

6080   SAO TOMÉ. VOA - Pinheira. English to WAf at 0600 with African news commentaries, fair signal via the long path on June 10.

7330 RNZI - Rangitaki. At s/on 0650 with DRM noise to Tonga, weekdays. NF x 9890, strong on June 10.

9645.37   BRAZIL. R. Bandeirantes - São Paulo. A weak signal with a music program at 0635. Squashed by Vatican R. s/on 0644 with their Arabic service till 0705, then the Brazilian was in the clear again, June 10.

9830   SAO TOMÉ. DW - Pinheira. Hausa to WAf, 0630 to 0700, fair signal on June 10.

11865   D.P.R.K. VoKorea - Kujang. S/on 0700 for the 5 hours of daily Japanese programming. A scratchy signal at first but improves somewhat during later hours, June 10.

Cheers, Rob VK3BVW