Radio Australia "Saturday Night Country" 9580 AM 1020z 4/16/16

[Ct Yankee]

1020z  Great in-studio country music and discussion about same.  Just booming in.

One of the great broadcast programs.  Alas, pre-empted for Australian Rules Football and/or Rugby during the North American winter.

[skeezix]

1215Z 45544 S9 Coming in with a great signal as usual (as they have been since 1988 when I first started listening to them).  Rarely have problems with reception, only when the sun is up to no good.




_{Sony ICF-2010 with built-in whip antenna}

[flexoman61]

Listening this morning at 1230z. Usually a huge sig until about 1400z or so.
One of my favorite BC stations.

[MDK2]

Skeezix, do you find the reception on this frequency rougher before dawn? I've been trying to listen around 1230 UTC lately which is currently predawn where I am, and the signal seems a lot more subject to deep fading then, compared to when the sun is above the horizon by 1300.

CT Yankee, I agree that this station is great. Australian country music is so much more interesting than the stuff Nashville's been making for the past 30 years or so.

[Ct Yankee]

The only time I have problems with this frequency is when CRI comes in on 9570 from Cuba at 1300z and spreads out across the band.

[skeezix]

Usually, I find them strong when they sign on (around 0800-0900 UTC) until sun here has been up for a few hours here. Around 1400 UTC, they start to slowly fade until they're completely in the noise. Usually gone by 1500 UTC.

They're also booming in here on 12085 and just slightly weaker on 12065.

According to short-wave.info, they're on 12085 0930-2058 UTC (same hours for 9580 & 12065).

MDK2- I agree. I'm not a country music fan, but I do listen to their music on Sat mornings. Its much like how I don't like the classical music that NPR plays. Back around 2002, I was listening to Deutsche Welle and they had a weekend classical music program and it was fantastic. Made a point to be around on Sunday afternoons(I think) to listen. Asked a friend about this (he's into music) and said that NPR plays boring classical.

Today, I still don't listen to NPR's classical music, but if R Prague plays classical on their Sunday night music program (which airs US Monday mornings on WRMI 9955, 1200-1230 UTC), I'm glued to the station. Every Monday morning on my way into the office, I try to make it into my car by 1200 UTC, so I can catch the full music program on R Prague. Its mostly music, with just a bit of commentary about the music.

[MDK2]

It might be a matter of my equipment. 12085 is consistently weaker for me and 12065 is buried in noise. But in the afternoon and evening, even well after sundown I can get 17840 very well.

[skeezix]

9580 is coming nearly straight at us. We're off about 90 deg from 12065, and about 50 deg off of 12085. (assuming the directions on short-wave.info are accurate). I don't know what their beamwidths are, but that explains why 12065 is not as good.

[MDK2]

Yeah, I saw those azimuth angles. It's like Voice of Korea right now on 9435, 28 degrees which is a great bearing on North America.

[VK3BVW]

To misquote the Blues Brothers….I hate both types of music - Country AND Western!!

[MDK2]

@skeezix, somehow I overlooked your comment about R Prague til now. And naturally it's right after that broadcast ended. Thanks for that, I intend to seek that out.

[skeezix]

If you miss it, you can go to their website and listen:
http://www.radio.cz/en

Search for Sunday Music Show.

Not that I recommend listening via the Internet as it has a certain je ne sais quoi when listening via shortwave. Would be better if they were transmitting from Prague (or elsewhere in the Czech Republic) directly on SW, but from Florida works well.

I would recommend restructuring your Mon morn at 1200-1230 UTC to catch it on WRMI.

Dangerously going off topic, but RRI in Romanian often has great Romanian music.

To quote the Blues Brothers - "The new Oldsmobiles are in early this year."  (nothing to do with radio, but one of my favorite movies & quotes of all time).

[Mike Ham]

14.50z Radio Australia S7 with QSB on 12065 AM here in the UK. Good audio & headphones made it readable.