STATION NEWS AND THE LOGBOOK

July 06, 2014

Winter Sunset

STATION NEWS AND THE LOGBOOK

My wife and I have been away on holiday along the southeastern coast of Victoria over the past week. It was rainy and windy for much of the time, so we got a lot of reading done! However, on the last two days, things brightened up and we were able to get out-and-about. So, out came the camera as well. In this post, you'll also see several photos.

STATION NEWS

VOA CHANGES
For at least one VOA language, there's a bit of inaccuracy going around about the current cuts. Several DX sources appear to be saying that the Khmer service at 2200-2230 on 5905 kHz has been cancelled as part of the July 1 cuts to Asia. This is not the case, as noted today at s/on 2159 with a poor signal. Also runs // 9320 kHz, which was a better signal (July 5). What IS interesting is why they chose to delete some languages such as Lao and yet keep Khmer in operation (at least for the moment!). I wonder what the rationale was behind this decision-making…...

BBC ADDITIONAL SERVICES
BBC - Meyerton (South Africa) was heard on 6170 kHz at 2245 in English with WS and World Business Report then news at 2300, fair signal on Friday July 4. Still going strong at 2330 (9:30am local time), but then a sudden s/off at 2334 in the middle of a sports program! This NF was first introduced by Babcock on June 28. HFCC is listing it as 1930 to s/off 2300 on Mondays only, but this seems not to be the case. Also carries the World Cup matches as noted on July 5 with the quarter final between Netherlands and Costa Rica. The other frequency also noted this morning was BBC - Dhabayya (UAE) on 9410 kHz at 2040. This was a poor signal and and appears to be a poor choice of freq with co-channel R. Cairo's distorted audio spoiling the broadcast. On the Twente remote receiver in the Netherlands, Cairo dominated the frequency with its hashy sound!

HIGH SOLAR FLUX BOOSTS THE HIGHER FREQUENCIES
This morning (July 6), the 10.7 cm solar flux continued on from yesterday's high numbers, and as a result, the higher frequencies appear to have come alive. As I write this (0700 UTC on July 6), the sf number has risen to 193, and the corresponding A and K indices are 4 and 1 respectively. It looks like this might continue for a day or so yet…..so make the most of it while it's there!! As an example, this morning I noted WHRI - Cypress Creek SC in the 13 mb on 21600 kHz. This is rare wintertime reception of this station at Mount Evelyn. Featured the usual American religious programming at 2050, Station ID and s/off at 2059. Not strong and lots of fading but nice to hear it. PLUS it's the only station scheduled to operate on 21 mHz at this time of day!

THE BOGGY SOUND OF 9690 KHZ
AWR - Moosbrunn (Austria) was noted with the Punjabi service to SEAs at 0235, fair signal but with co-channel QRM from CRI's Mandarin service to CAm via Noblejas, Spain. KBS-Kimjae can also be heard mumbling in English to SEAs underneath the other two stations, so it's a quagmire here. Then at 0300, it all magically clears up when the only station left standing is CRI in English (July 5). With so many empty channels to choose from these days, better choices of frequency do exist at this time!

Sunset at the Pier

FROM THE LOGBOOK

3200 SWAZILAND. TWR - Manzini. American religious programming at 2000 with a good wintertime signal on July 5.

3255 SOUTH AFRICA. BBC - Meyerton. English World Cup live broadcast at 2030, good signal on July 5.

4949.75 ANGOLA. R. Nacional - Mulenvos. This station that has always broadcast with a low audio level, but today it was such a strong signal that I could easily and clearly hear everything in the transmission at 2215. Portuguese discussion program with occasional musical interludes, and canned adverts for other programs. Excellent wintertime reception and still audible past 2300 (9am local time!) on July 4.

5995 MALI. RTV Mali - Bamako. Discussion program in French at 2145, strong carrier but low audio on July 5.

6060 IRAN. VOIRI - Sirjan. Additional five-hour service in Azerbaijani for Ramadan noted at 2010 with a fair to poor signal and QRM R. Rwanda's extended World Cup service on 6055, July 5.

7520 USA. WWCR - Nashville TN. English preaching at 0010 (10:10am local time) on July 5, fair reception and rarely heard at this time from my listening post except in midwinter.

7585 UNIDENTIFIED. Believed to be R. Farda - Iranawila at 0015 in Farsi, but very weak at 10:15am local time, July 5.

9500 OMAN. R. Sultanate of Oman - Thumrayt. Weak signal in Arabic to Eu, first noted at 0020 with a discussion program, and later at 0155 with an Arabic song. Suddenly off in the middle of the song at 0057 on July 5.

9500 RWANDA. BBC - Kigali. Farsi news service to ME and SAs at 0305, weak signal on July 5.

9605 USA. KBS World Radio - Cypress Creek SC. Spanish to SAm, noted at 0108, fair on July 5.

9700 ROMANIA. RRI - Tiganesti. French to ENAm at 0105, fair to poor signal at the start but became stronger by 0130, July 5.

9770 TURKEY. VoTurkey - Emirler. Spanish to CAm at 0100 s/on with a good signal on July 5.

9845 IRAN. VOIRI - Sirjan. Weak signal in Turkish to ME on July 5 at 0035, special service for Ramadan till July 28.

11880 CUBA. R. Havana. English to Af at 2345 to s/off 0000 with a commentary on the World Bank, fair to poor signal on July 4.

73 and have a great weekend everyone,

Rob Wagner VK3BVW