Daleks Invade Egypt!!

Why is it that shortwave broadcasters seem to put out such poor quality audio for their broadcasts, and do nothing to improve the situation? Here are just two examples reproduced from my logbook over the past few days:

13850   EGYPT. R. Cairo - Abis. The Daleks have invaded Egypt! They're commanding "EXTERMINATE, EXTERMINATE!". What a God-awful sound! Raspy rough audio bringing to memory all those wonderful Dr Who sagas. When I first noted this station moving to this frequency on April 2 (ex 9905), the audio quality was certainly not this bad!! Noted at 0607 till about 0610 ……. that was all I could take on Aug 22!!

And again last night........

7200.1   MYANMAR.  Myanmar Radio - Nay Pyi Daw. Seriously distorted audio at 1150 to past 1215. Someone described this as "over-modulation", but I don't think so. If you inject an SSB carrier on the freq, it reveals a very broken carrier from the transmitter, indicating a serious txer fault, not a studio-induced audio modulation issue. And of course we know that the txer has had issues for some time now with spurious signals approx 14.3 kHz either side of the registered freq (i.e. at 7185.8 and 7214.4 kHz). Both these spurs were also badly distorted. I hope this fault is remedied soon as their music is always enjoyable and relaxing listening. Aug 24.

Egypt has had notorious audio quality for many years now, and it just NEVER gets fixed. Anyone trying to seriously get current news updates about the political state of play in their home country would have given up long ago, probably preferring to access information via the Internet.

Admittedly, there is a lot going on with societal upheaval in Egypt at the moment that MAY prohibit the supply of replacement parts or stop the right technicians getting access to urgent equipment repair. But I'm talking about right now! There's no excuse for an ongoing problem that spans years!

Myanmar is a poor country. It was hidden from the world for many years under military rule. The country is only starting to emerge from it's years of isolation. Infrastructure is shaky, and quality broadcasting equipment is not easily obtained. So we should show some sensitivity to their particular predicament.

Yet, the Myanmar transmission on 7200 kHz has had spurious signals for a long time, and the latest degradation of signal indicates that equipment is in even worse shape now.

And here's another of my logbook entries from earlier in the year......

15490   PAKISTAN. R. Pakistan - Islamabad. S/on 0046 in the middle of an announcement. Hosted by Darth Vader - deep, gravelly vocal quality - thanks to an appalling modulation. Then we were treated to the Qur'an which was prayed inside a cardboard box (or so it sounded!). While it may be reasonable for our Muslim friends to demonstrate consternation towards those who disrespect their beliefs, surely their national broadcaster could show a little more respect themselves by broadcasting the sacred texts with a clean audio quality! Anyway….. no sign of them operating on 15590, 17710, nor 17895 despite listings for these in HFCC and Aoki. May 16.

Pakistan has had a long record of poor quality audio and noisy carriers spanning decades! Nothing is ever done to remedy these problems.

Am I missing something here? Can anyone explain why transmission quality is such an ongoing challenge for so many broadcasters these days? Back in the 70s and 80s, it was rare to hear such appalling modulation on the shortwave bands......or am I just imagining that?

And while on the subject of Daleks (that's what this post was about....wasn't it??), here's a little video to relax you - Dalek-style!! Hope it brings a smile!

73 and have a great weekend everyone

Rob VK3BVW