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BRAZIL VIA ANTARCTICA - Chasing Rádio Saturno

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BRAZIL VIA ANTARCTICA Chasing Rádio Saturno Rádio Saturno is an unlicensed independent broadcaster based in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. We do not know the exact location, and station details are sparse! Operating on both FM and shortwave, it provides a continuous music service and has developed an extensive online presence, including internet streaming and social media. I have been chasing this station for some time now. Finally, the “propagation gods” looked favourably upon me last night. Here are the notes from my logbook: 6149.96   BRAZIL. R. Saturno - Belo Horizonte, MG. 1005 Pop music and occasional anncts. Easily checked and confirmed via the KiwiSDR in Goiania, Brazil. Pleased to finally hear this after much trying. I first noted a fair-to-weak signal 35 min after sunrise in Belo Horizonte. It faded by 1020. I was expecting the reception to occur earlier in the evening, not this late. Jul 22. I knew our New Zealand colleagues could regularly hear this station, but I hadn't had a...
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OPENING THE LOGBOOK - JULY 1972

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  OPENING THE LOGBOOK - JULY 1972 Each month, I open the old records to see what I (and others) heard decades ago. It has been fun looking back at old issues of the Australian DX News (ADXN - the newsletter of the Australian Radio DX Club), bringing back lots of memories. Here are some memories from July 1972—54 years ago!  All frequencies in kHz; all times are UTC (or GMT, as we used to say in those days!). Winter DX at its Best! - The Latin American Survey The August 1972 issue of the Australian DX News was a big one, with every section chock-full of great DX news from throughout July! A special inclusion was the Latin American Survey, which was conducted in June and July and subsequently published in the August ADXN. It is fascinating to note the range of broadcasters, many now long-forgotten, that were heard by Australian DXers located in Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, Tasmania, South Australia and Western Australia!  The survey covered the 90, 60, and 49...
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NEW VIDEO: "They Shut Down BBC Longwave. Australia Rebuilt This."

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  NEW VIDEO:  "They Shut Down BBC Longwave.  Australia Rebuilt This." This is just a quick alert to an excellent new YouTube video by Andrew VK4KWM that makes some great points about the recent closure of the BBC longwave transmitter. In the notes section of the video, Andrew points out: The closure of BBC Radio 4 Long Wave was presented as another 'so called' inevitable step away from ageing broadcast technology. But one Australian transmitter site tells a very different story. This video looks at what happens when engineering, geography and resilience matter more than trends  and why some enormous broadcast systems may still have an important role to play. It also raises a much bigger question about what countries lose when powerful radio infrastructure is allowed to disappear. Check out Andrew's video! Here's the link: https://youtu.be/rz7gTLumcm8 Having visited the Brandon site in 2016, I was particularly interested to see what Andrew had to say. He tells ...
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ACROSS THE DARKNESS - Understanding the propagation, antennas and reception of the BBC Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast

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  ACROSS THE DARKNESS Understanding the propagation, antennas, and reception of the BBC Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast Update (6 July 2026): This article has been revised to improve the technical description of the transmitting antennas following additional research. Another BBC Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast has come and gone. There is always great interest in the 30-minute show among members of the British Antarctic Survey at Rothera, Halley, King Edward Point, and Bird Island Research Stations. There is also a substantial audience beyond these bases, as shortwave enthusiasts worldwide tune in to the frequencies traditionally announced each year just a few days before the event. Indeed, the signals are clearly heard by many listeners. But this doesn’t stop others from grumbling because a good signal didn’t reach their listening post. So, what should one do in a situation like this? Why, take to social media, of course, and complain bitterly! 😉 When I read these negative comments a...
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