Topics

376

Shortwave Broadcast / 120 mb AUSSIE DX

« on: December 30, 2014, 0615 UTC »

Not really DX for me but certainly you Stateside boys may be interested in these stations!

2325   AUSTRALIA. ABC - Tennant Creek NT. Local breakfast program 1927, 5 min news 1930, then back to breakfast programming. Runs // 2485 kHz ABC - Katherine NT which is the stronger signal. As the morning light took hold, both signals faded by 2000 (7am daylight time), Dec 29.

2368.5   AUSTRALIA. R. Symban - Peats Ridge NSW. Continuous Greek music at 0930 with a fair signal on Dec 27. Some days during summer, it can be heard fading in around 0815, while other days its more like around 0930. Then noted again on Dec 29 with a fair signal at 1926 with long Greek music items, but faded into the morning by 2000.

73 de Rob VK3BVW

377

Shortwave Broadcast / Voice Of Korea - Xmas Gift From Santa Kim!

« on: December 24, 2014, 0529 UTC »

Following on from Chris Smolinski's recent observation of Pyongyang on 6400kHz, I have just put up on the MEDXR blog a survey of many of the Voice of Korea’s transmissions as heard here at Mount Evelyn over the last few days.

http://medxr.blogspot.com.au/2014/12/voice-of-korea-xmas-gift-from-santa-kim.html

We are already half way through Christmas Eve here. A busy day is looming tomorrow!! Wishing everyone on the HFU board a wonderful Christmas and a safe, fun-filled holiday season! All the best from south of the Equator.

Rob Wagner VK3BVW

378

Shortwave Broadcast / Impressive Reception on the Higher Frequencies

« on: December 21, 2014, 0048 UTC »

Reception conditions on the higher frequencies have been especially good here at Mount Evelyn over the past 24 hours. The solar flux has dropped a little to 203, A index is 8 and K index is 1. However, conditions have been quite unsettled with sudden radio blackouts possible. The NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center released a forecast at 1810 UTC on December 20, which briefly says:

Space weather for the next 24 hours is predicted to be moderate.
Geomagnetic storms reaching the G2 level are likely.
Radio blackouts reaching the R1 level are expected.

On December 19, from 2200 to 2230 UTC the following signals were on the 19 mb with fabulously strong signals!

15190   USA. WYFR - Okeechobee, non-stop Disco music.
15215   GUAM. KSDA - AWR Agat, Mandarin
15240   AUSTRALIA. RA - Shepparton. English
15370   CUBA. R. Havana, French, s/on 2230
15415   AUSTRALIA. RA - Shepparton. English
15435   GUAM. KSDA-AWR - Agat. Sundanese.
15470   NORTH MARIANA IS. Vatican R. - Tinian. Mandarin (with rather poor audio quality), s/off 2230.
15515   AUSTRALIA. RA - Shepparton. English.
15610   USA. WEWN - Vandiver AL. English
15685   GUAM. KSDA-AWR - Agat. Mandarin.
15720   NEW ZEALAND. RNZI - Rangitaiki. English
15770   USA. Overcomer Ministry - Okeechobee.

Then yesterday, 15, 17 and 21 mHz have been fantastic. For example:

0415-0430 UTC - Monster signals on 19 and 21 mHz:
19010  R. Azadi via Kuwait, s/on 0430 and a fine signal into Mt Evelyn.
21560  Nth Mariana Is - Vatican R. in Mandarin
21620  Philippines. VOA - Tinang in Tibetan with CNR 1 jammer
21700  Nth Mariana Is - RFA - Tinian in Mandarin with CNR 1 jammer

0435-0445 UTC - 17 mHz was in great shape as well:
17640  CRI - Xian. Russian to CAs, 0445, solid signal.
17730  CRI - Xian, English to CAs 0442, great signal.
17800  R.Australia via Medorn, Palau. English to SEAs 0440
17855  CRI - Beijing, English to CAs with multi path echo 0435. Magnificent signal this afternoon.

There's also a long list (too long to put here) of 15, 17 and 21 mHz signals noted in my blog, if you're interested. Keep checking the bands this weekend!

http://medxr.blogspot.com.au/2014/12/impressive-reception-on-higher.html

73 all

Rob VK3BVW

379

Shortwave Broadcast / Radio Candip Makes a Welcome Appearance!

« on: December 06, 2014, 0011 UTC »

A rare visitor to Australian airwaves is Radio Candip in Bunia (D.R. Congo) on 5066.33 kHz. Yesterday morning (December 4), I first noted this station at 1840 UTC with an African music program, then at 1900 with French ID and news/discussions at past 1915. There was the usual utility QRM and noise that accompanied this weak signal. It's low lowered 1kW non-directional signal hasn't been heard here for many months and it's always a pleasure to catch the signal.

Also, I've just published another MEDXR blog post with some station news and lots of log book monitoring. Also delighted that a new radio sits on the bench of the shack! Yay!!!  If interested, click through to: 

http://medxr.blogspot.com.au/2014/12/station-news-and-log-book-december-5.html

Have a great weekend everyone!

Rob VK3BVW

380

Shortwave Broadcast / Spain to Return to Shortwave?

« on: December 04, 2014, 2002 UTC »

You may want to keep an ear out for REE over the Christmas season. News reports are appearing in online Spanish news outlets this morning indicating there has been a reversal of the RTVE decision to close the shortwave service. More details in my blog.

http://medxr.blogspot.com.au/2014/12/spain-to-return-to-shortwave.html

73 everyone,

Rob VK3BVW

381

General Radio Discussion / Shortwave In The News

« on: November 20, 2014, 0351 UTC »

Here is a collection of new and very recent online articles relating the shortwave radio hobby.

http://medxr.blogspot.com.au/2014/11/shortwave-in-news.html

Happy Reading,

Rob VK3BVW

382

Clandestine Stations / Radio Free Sarawak - The Plot Thickens!

« on: November 16, 2014, 1031 UTC »

RFS suspends shortwave broadcasts and makes serious allegations of jamming by a broker of broadcasting services.

http://medxr.blogspot.com.au/2014/11/radio-free-sarawak-plot-thickens.html

Rob VK3BVW

383

Shortwave Broadcast / RADIO AUSTRALIA - DARWIN TRANSMITTER

« on: November 15, 2014, 0654 UTC »

A few of you may be interested in an excellent publication on the history of Radio Australia’s old Darwin Transmitting Station. Check it out.

http://medxr.blogspot.com.au/2014/11/radio-australia-darwin-transmitter-many.html

Cheers,

Rob VK3BVW

384

Shortwave Broadcast / High Solar Activity - Check the Bands!

« on: October 25, 2014, 0028 UTC »

Turn your attention to frequencies above 12 mHz this weekend. You may find significantly improved reception on 19, 16 and 13 mb, as observed here last night.

http://medxr.blogspot.com.au/2014/10/high-solar-activity-check-bands.html

UPDATE:
…………However!…..Since writing this blog post early this morning, because of all the solar activity, a major solar flare affecting D layer absorption is currently in progress (since about 2100 UTC). Reception conditions will be poor over the next few hours. Should return to normal later in the day…..perhaps!!     Further details at:

http://www.solarham.net/globald.htm

73, Rob VK3BVW

385

Shortwave Broadcast / Latin American Survey 2014 - Available for Download

« on: October 05, 2014, 0241 UTC »

I'm not sure if this would be of any interest to you guys, but perhaps it might be as you are entering your winter DX season (ours has just finished!). I have complied a little list of Latin stations as heard here at Mount Evelyn, AUS during the months March through to September. I know you are much closer to the Latin action than I am and all the propagation paths/times are different. But it may be useful as a simple reference. The download link is at:

http://medxr.blogspot.com.au/2014/10/latin-american-survey-2014-available.html

73 and have a great weekend everyone.

Rob VK3BVW

386

Shortwave Broadcast / IBB's Kuwaiti Transmitting Site - 20 Year Visual History

« on: September 26, 2014, 1148 UTC »

For those interested in shortwave transmitters and antennas, check this out!

The IBB's Kuwaiti transmitting site - Informative YouTube video. Just seems to have been uploaded in the last few days.

http://medxr.blogspot.com.au/2014/09/ibb-kuwait-20-year-visual-history.html

73 and have a great weekend,

Rob VK3BVW

387

Shortwave Broadcast / Presentation on RFE / RL at Latest BGG

« on: August 15, 2014, 0639 UTC »

Although I'm far away from the USA, I have been taking an interest in the goings-on of the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) in recent times. Their website makes "fascinating" reading on occasions! At the last BBG meeting held a few days ago, there was a great presentation on the current work of R. Free Europe / R. Liberty. If you haven't seen it yet, you may be interested....or not!   

The link is on my blog at:

http://medxr.blogspot.com.au/2014/08/rfe-rl-fascinating-youtube-video-just.html

73,

Rob VK3BVW

388

Equipment / The Tilted Terminated Folded Dipole - A Practical Construction Guide

« on: August 13, 2014, 1407 UTC »

This is a little article I wrote some years ago on the T2FD. It's not intended to describe the theory of the antenna, but rather my approach at the time to its practical construction. It may be of interest to readers of this forum.

The original web link no longer works, so I've moved the pdf to my Box/com cloud. You can access it via the Radio Resources page on my blog site.

http://medxr.blogspot.com.au/p/radio-resources.html

73

Rob Wagner VK3BVW

389

Shortwave Broadcast / Solomon Islands - More regular operations now?

« on: August 11, 2014, 1408 UTC »

9545   SOLOMON ISLANDS. SIBC - Honiara. Fair signal with deep fades at 0355 with some enjoyable island-style pop songs. ID at 0400 then news. Operations appeared to have been a bit hit and miss over the past few weeks on both this freq and 5020 kHz. However, just in the last few days, things have settled down and both channels are on a regular schedule. Should be making it to the US mainland OK I would suspect. Anyone else noting it??

5020 is using the new transmitter donated by the Japanese and seems to be operating well.

http://medxr.blogspot.com.au/2014/08/farewell-julian-station-news-and.html[/b]]http://medxr.blogspot.com.au/2014/08/farewell-julian-station-news-and.html

Rob VK3BVW

390

Shortwave Broadcast / Nigeria 15120

« on: August 11, 2014, 1403 UTC »

15120   NIGERIA. VoNigeria - Ikorodu. Very strong carrier and hummy carrier but no audio at 0530. Suddenly at 0536 the English service sprung into life in the middle of a political report. Lilting music at 0540. Light QRM from CRI's Mandarin to Siberia.


http://medxr.blogspot.com.au/2014/08/farewell-julian-station-news-and.html

Rob VK3BVW