STATION NEWS AND THE LOGBOOK - August 2, 2014

"After The Falls" - Rob Wagner (Erskine Falls, Lorne VIC)

STATION NEWS AND THE LOGBOOK

AUGUST 2, 2014

Hi everyone and welcome to another MEDXR blog post. 

Just on a personal note, I was invited by Ken Reitz KS4ZR, editor and publisher of The Spectrum Monitor, to contribute a column in the August issue just published. The magazine was released yesterday (August 1) and you can find my contribution in The World of Shortwave Listening column and it's entitled The Australian SWL Perspective. If you don't subscribe to this magazine, you might want to think about taking a look at the website for more information. It's delivered by pdf and is a classy production. As its name implies, the magazine really does cover the whole radio spectrum from many different angles! You can also buy back issues at only US $3.00. Their website is:
http://www.thespectrummonitor.com
(I want to thank Thomas Witherspoon K4SWL for the introduction to Ken and TSM)   :-)

STATION NEWS

CUBA

Radio Havana can often be erratic in its transmissions. The following idiosyncrasies are

regularly noted: noisy audio, breaks in transmission, late starts or no transmission at all, good carrier strength but low audio level, a different language broadcast from the one scheduled, etc. This puts an element of the unexpected into listening to RHC….and makes it all the more entertaining! Anyway, last week on the DXers Unlimited show, Arnie CO2KK announced that there were frequency changes afoot.

1500-1800 on 11760 kHz in Spanish

1800-1830          "             in Arabic

1830-1900          "             in Creole

All the above are using a non-directional antenna to Central America. However, several DXing colleagues told me (via Twitter) that there were also some missteps with their English and Spanish services at other times of the day - an occasional occurrence! Basically, the only way to know what RHC is doing is by monitoring its frequencies daily. And, of course, their website is rarely updated, so don't think of going there!

PROPAGATION CONDITIONS

The 10.7cm solar flux has been all over the place in recent weeks. Up as high as 201, then plunging into the 60s, and now as I write this (Aug 2 at 0600 UTC) back up to 168 with some minor space weather activity. As such, reception conditions can be quite variable, so signals coming through on one day may be gone the next. Makes life interesting really.....!!

FROM THE LOGBOOK

Some encouraging reception over the past week from South American stations, especially on July 30. 

3310   BOLIVIA. R. Mosoj Chaski - Cochabamba. Weak in the noise at 0935 with some type of commentary. Strengthened after 1015 on July 30.

4765   BRAZIL. R. Rural - Santarem. Has only been heard occasionally this year, noted on July 30 at 0945 with a weak signal.

4785   BRAZIL. R. Caiari - Porto Velho. Excited talk and anncts at 1005, poor signal compared with last year, July 27.

4864.97   BRAZIL. R. Verdes Florestas - Cruzeiro do Sul. Noted weakly at 0950 but stronger by 1015 with lively chat and occasional songs, July 27

4869.93   INDONESIA. RRI - Wamena. Lovely signal with laid-back ballads and anncts at 1000, best I've heard it in a long time, July 30.

4875.07   BRAZIL. R. Difusora Roraima - Boa Vista. Music programming at 1017, fair signal on July 27.

4885   BRAZIL. R. Difusora Acreana - Rio Branco. Solid signal on a night when the other Brazilians were not coming in very well, at 1005 with talk and canned anncts, July 30.

4925.5   BRAZIL. R. Educação Rural - Tefé. Discussion or commentary programme at 1025, fair to poor on July 27.

5035.06   UNIDENTIFIED. Believed to be R. Educação Rural - Coari. Weak signal at 1031 on a day when Aparecida was not on air (or not propagating here). No IDs heard, talk and canned anncts on July 27.

5964.71   MALAYSIA. RTM Klasik Nasional - Kajang. Relay of Klasik FM at 1040 with music programming and ID in Malay at 1045, good signal July 27.

6105.4   BOLIVIA. R. Panamericana - La Paz. Tough listening under RTI and jammer at 1050 until their s/off 1100, then in the clear with mainly news and reports, occasional IDs. Fair signal and monitored till 1150 f/out on July 30.

6160.05   UNIDENTIFIED. Brazilian, possibly R. Boa Vontade or R. Rio Mar…..or both! At 1030 with a het caused by 6160 and 6160.05 clash. July 30.

6173.85   PERU. R. Tawantinsuyo - Cusco. Always difficult here with QRM China 6175, not heard much this year. 1015 with mainly talk/news programming, rapid Spanish, best heard on LSB with filters, July 30.

15425   R. Free Sarawak. Some say the txer site is Philippines, others say Taiwan. I really can't tell from here! Variable reception at 1115, started strongly and dropped away quite significantly by 1125, July 25.

A SUMMARY OF 16mb SIGNALS BETWEEN 1015 AND 1115 UTC

17490   CHINA. CRI - Kashi. English to Eu 1030 UTC. QRM CNR1 jamming 17485, weak on July 25.

17510   INDIA. AIR - Delhi. English to Au/NZ 1020, fair signal July 25.

17530   CHINA. CRI - Xian. Mandarin to SEAs 1035, booming signal and // 17540 also strong, July 25.

17550   GUAM. KSDA-AWR - Agat. Philippine minority language service at 1040, under CNR 1 on July 25.

17570   SAUDI ARABIA. BSKSA - Riyadh. Arabic to SAs 1113, weak on July 25.

17605   CHINA. CRI - Kunming. Indonesian service with Mandarin language lesson at 1045, strong on July 25.

17615   SAUDI ARABIA. BSKSA - Riyadh. Arabic service to SAs 1048, weak on July 25.

17640   IRAN. VOIRI - Kamalabad. English to SAs 1050, good signal July 25.

17650   CHINA. CRI - Kashi. Mandarin to Eu 1052, weak signal July 25.

17670   CHINA. CRI - Kunming. Cantonese service to Oceania 1055, strong on July 25.

17680   ROMANIA. RRI - Tiganesti. French at 1056 to s/off one min later, weak signal beaming 247˚ to NAf. Then English s/on 1100 beaming 307˚ to WEu with an even weaker signal, July 25.

17690   KUWAIT. R. Azadi - Kuwait. Dari service, fair signal at 1103 on July 25.

17805   SAUDI ARABIA. BSKSA - Riyadh. Arabic to NAf 1105, fair on July 25.

17820   IRAN. VOIRI - Kamalabad. English to SAs 1108, good signal July 25. 

17840   GERMANY. R. Farda - Biblis. Farsi at 1110, weak on July 25.

73 and have a great weekend everyone,

Rob Wagner VK3BVW