Mount Evelyn DX Report

STATION NEWS AND THE LOG BOOK MAY 1, 2015 STATION NEWS ENGLAND Here is a press release from the BBC regarding extended transmissions beamed to the earthquake devastated country of Nepal (as at April 28): In response to the aftermath of the earthquake in Nepal, the BBC World Service is now broadcasting additional programming on shortwave in both Nepalese and in English.  BBC Media Action - the BBC's international development charity - is working with the Nepali Service on BBC World Service (radio and online) and local partner radio stations to broadcast ‘Lifeline’ programming. Liliane Landor, Controller of World Service Languages, says: “Information is vital and we are doing all we can to make sure that our audiences in the affected areas receive their local and regional news as well as ‘Lifeline’ programming designed to give practical information to help deal with the aftermath of the earthquake.” The Nepali language programme is available on shortwave as follows...

IT'S ON AGAIN ! INTERNATIONAL MARCONI DAY EVENT STATIONS AROUND THE WORLD AWARDS AND SPECIAL QSL's News from the Cornish Amateur Radio Club in England indicates that preparations are well underway for the 2015 International Marconi Day to be held on Saturday April 25 between 0000 and 2359 hours UTC. Last year's event appeared to be highly successful and there were some fantastic looking QSL cards released by the participating stations in various parts of the world. In addition, the very attractive awards for both transmitting stations AND shortwave listeners are keenly sought by the participants. To give you an idea on what this activity is all about, here are a few details from the event organisers: WHAT IS INTERNATIONAL MARCONI DAY? International Marconi Day (IMD) is a 24-hour amateur radio event held annually to celebrate the birth of Guglielmo Marconi on the 25th April 1874. The IMD event is not a contest: it is an opportunity for amateurs around the wor...

"06issoudun alliss Gange" by David Gestalder - Own work. Licensed under CC BY 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons THE ISSOUDUN TRANSMITTER SITE 1993 VIDEO While Radio France International has closed down many of its transmitter sites around the world, one powerful facility remains. Radiating a signal strength that most other major shortwave broadcasters can only admire, the RFI site at Issoudun is very much active with its own transmissions, as well as providing relay services for other broadcasters like Radio Japan, KBS World Radio, Radio Algerienne, WRMI, VOA Deera Radio, Adventist World Radio, Deutsche Welle, Bible Voice, and a host of other smaller organisations. Its transmitters operate with power outputs from anywhere between 100 to 500 kW. The massive rotatable towers were state-of-the-art design and technology when construction began on the site in 1993. Recently, I discovered an eight-minute video (below) that appears to have been hidden away on the Internet ...

STATION NEWS AND THE LOG BOOK APRIL 17, 2015 STATION NEWS AUSTRALIA Reach Beyond Australia (formerly HCJB Australia) has just updated their original A15 schedule with a few small frequency changes. Thanks to Shelley Martin who is always quick to keep shortwave listeners informed of these things! As the whole document is too large for including here, I have put a PDF of the new schedule up at my Box.com account and you can download from there (small sized file): A15 Program Schedule - LISTENER v.3.0.pdf USA Thanks to Dino Bloise (Miami, FL) for alerting me to the new Radio Martí schedule for the A15 season. When reading this, note that the UTC times are listed along the bottom of the schedule and Cuban time is along the top!  Again, I have made this available from my Box account at: Radio Martí Schedule NEW ZEALAND The New Zealand Radio DX League is one of the oldest DX clubs around (established in 1948), and it's still going strong! In...

APOLLO 11 AND APOLLO 13 NEWSPAPER REFLECTIONS Several weeks ago, I came across some newspapers that I had collected and tucked away. Rarely have these papers seen the light of day! They are 45 years old. They have held up pretty well over time, considering I had no idea how to preserve them. Occasionally, I pull them out, read and reflect on the significance of the wonderful achievements associated with space exploration. The excitement and wonder of these milestones from the 1960s has not diminished over time. For all the technological advancements that have come and gone since then, nothing compares with the fascination of the "space race" of the '60s. I was 15 years old when Apollo 11 made its historic mission to the moon. On the day that the first man walked upon the moon, I suddenly got sick with a mysterious illness. Nothing too serious, mind you! Just enough to keep me at home so I could watch the moon walk on our old black and white TV. I suspec...

SHORTWAVE IN THE NEWS - No. 2 Here is a collection of new and very recent online articles relating the shortwave radio hobby. If you missed some of these, now is your opportunity to catch up!! Sit back and enjoy! Note: If you missed the first edition of "Shortwave In The News" , you can still read it at: Shortwave In The News  (dated November 20, 2014) Nigeria's war against Boko Haram takes to the airwaves While helicopter gunships and armoured vehicles have led the campaign against Boko Haram in northern Nigeria this year, the military hardware is now being reinforced by an unexpected new psychological weapon: radio broadcasts of soccer news and farm reports. In a bare-bones radio studio in this northern city, a small staff of broadcasters has entered the battle for hearts and minds in Boko Haram territory. Much of their work is basic reporting on mundane subjects such as farm irrigation and sports news, but it could still play a role in neutra...

JUST PUBLISHED! DOMESTIC BROADCASTING SURVEY DBS-17 NOW AVAILABLE   Once again, Anker Petersen and his colleagues at the Danish Showtave Club International (DSWCI) have released their annual survey of stations broadcasting in the Tropical Bands and domestic stations operating in the international shortwave bands. There is NOTHING like the Domestic Broadcasting Survey on the market today. For many years now, this important document has been highly regarded by serious DXers and shortwave listeners as being well researched, detailed and comprehensive in its information on the many smaller shortwave broadcasters that can still be heard around the globe. The facts and advice on small South American and Asian broadcasters is just one reason for making sure that this survey is close by your radio! Here is a press release from DSWCI on the new edition of DBS: The DOMESTIC BROADCASTING SURVEY 17  (DBS-17), April 2015  edited by DSWCI Chairman, A...

FROM THE LOG BOOK APRIL 3, 2015 A few listening notes and new frequencies from the past week: 6090   ANGUILLA. Caribbean Beacon - Anguilla . Female American preacher noted at 1001 to suddenly off at 1004. Believed to be Car. Beacon, which has been intermittent in operations over recent weeks. Mar 26. 6134.83   BOLIVIA. R. Santa Cruz - Santa Cruz de la Sierra. Nice to hear this one so early in the LA DX season at 1012 with extended talks by a female announcer, occasionally interrupted by a few seconds of Andean flute music. Easily separated from VoFreedom 6135 and no jamming made its weak signal easier to copy, Mar 26. 6185   CHINA. China Huayi BC - Fuzhou. Bright and breezy chat in Mandarin and pops at 1030, good signal on Mar 26. 7490   USA. WBCQ - Monticello ME. At 2120 with a long discourse of the medical problems between two men on a talkback program (the announcer was Allan Weiner….I think!) - grossly over-detailed and totally unnecessary...