Mount Evelyn DX Report

AURORAS, SOLAR ACTIVITY AND THE LOG BOOK June 26 - 2015 It's been a busy few days for Mr Sun! Lots of solar activity with much radiation hitting the Earth's atmosphere….and really messing with global shortwave radio communications. We knew this was coming! Dr Tamitha Skov predicted the multiple events days before it was about to happen. Here's what she said on June 21: Here in Melbourne, reception conditions were good leading up to June 22, but signals fell away rapidly over the next few days. And its not surprising when, for example, you have a look at this auroral activity certered around the whole Antarctic region as depicted below on June 23 at 1405 UTC. As a result, many people in the state of Victoria and down in Tasmania were treated to some spectacular Aurora Australis displays. Take a look at some of these wonderful photographs….most unusual for our part of the world!! https://youtu.be/Bs26CjZeKNo http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-06-23/photogra...

STATION NEWS AND THE LOG BOOK June 20, 2015 STATION NEWS PHILIPPINES Those readers who have not been following the discussion on my recent post,  DXing with the FTDX3000 - Part 1  , may be interested to know of some great feedback offered by Graham Baker VK8GB. Graham is the frequency manager for the Far East Broadcasting Company (FEBC) in the Philippines . I'm reproducing the discussion here in case you missed it: Graham:   "Thanks for your observations about the frequency collisions and jamming interference on 9920. I am currently the Frequency Manager for FEBC International and have been aware of the jamming of our Vietnamese transmissions for many years - not only is 9920 currently affected between 1200 and 1330 Z, but also 9795 from 1100 to 1200 Z.  "There are multiple jamming transmitters in Vietnam located, we believe in both the North and South of the country running about 10 kW. They are typically set a few hundred Hz off our carrier frequency ...

REMINDER BBC WINTER SOLSTICE SPECIAL BROADCAST Once again, the BBC is transmitting a special one-off broadcast to their scientists and researchers at British Bases across the Antarctic region to celebrate the Winter Solstice. This broadcast always makes wonderful listening, giving that old-time feel to radio programming with stories and good wishes from home. Frequencies accounted for this year's service are as follows: JUNE 21 from 2130 to 2200 UTC 5905 kHz via Dhabayya 5985 kHz via Woofferton 9590 kHz via Woofferton Over at SWLing Post, Thomas Witherspoon has a special project underway and is requesting short recordings of the broadcast from listeners around the world. You can check out details at his excellent website: http://swling.com/blog/2015/06/help-record-the-2015-bbc-antarctic-midwinter-broadcast-on-june-21/ 73 and good luck! Rob Wagner VK3BVW   Subscribe!! Follow @robvk3bvw

DXING WITH THE FTDX3000 - PART 1 In my last post , I noted reception of the Alaskan station KNLS, broadcasting on a number of different frequencies with their recently repaired transmitter and antenna system. One frequency that appears to give the station some trouble is 9920 kHz at sign on 1300 UTC for their Mandarin service. Unfortunately, FEBC in Manila is also in operation at the same time on that frequency (from 1230 UTC). Both stations are being heard at Mount Evelyn at equal strength! In addition, a jamming station intended to disrupt the KNLS transmission starts up at the same time with a continuous siren sound! It all sounds quite messy! Some shortwave listeners may not be familiar with using single sideband for receiving stations transmitting in the Amplitude Modulation (AM) mode. I have prepared a little video designed to demonstrate reception of SWBC signals in single sideband (SSB) mode. Under certain circumstances, this can be beneficial in providing better rece...

NASA images used in a photo composite.  Credit: Christine Daniloff/MIT STATION NEWS AND THE LOG BOOK JUNE 12, 2015 STATION NEWS ALASKA It's great to see KNLS - Anchor Point back on air after a few months absence. Broadcasts began again around June 3. There's an announcement on their English language website with the following statement from Rob Scobey, Senior Producer for International English: "As I write this—our engineers in Anchor Point, Alaska are in the final stages of completing repairs to the mesh antenna that sends the signal of KNLS to the Eastern Hemisphere. Weather conditions finally improved enough to allow repair crews to have access to the site. For the time being—KNLS will operate off of one transmitter and antenna. So the English hour will be broadcast three times a day rather than the normal four broadcasts plus one simulcast. Our next step is to get the new transmitter—that is, the second of two transmitters—hooked up to the second antenna...

DXING IN THE BUCKLAND VALLEY YouTube Video Hi Folks, Those of you who read last week's blog post will be aware that I've been travelling around north east Victoria in the Victorian Alpine region, a very beautiful part of the world. It was a wonderful trip for both DXing and photography. If you missed it, click here: DXPEDITION: BUSH BASHING WITH RADIOS. I have just completed and uploaded a YouTube record of very weak signal reception on the 31mb at 0245UTC (12:45pm local time) during the DX trip to the Buckland Valley on May 27, 2015. Very low levels of man-made noise made it possible to hear many weak signals on this early winter’s day, something that would not have been possible at my home QTH. These are transmissions that are probably very easily heard in the evening time slots in the USA, but it's rare for us in south eastern Australia!  Maybe you will find this little video of some interest. Comments are welcomed and can be left ether here at the ...