Mount Evelyn DX Report

My very best wishes for the New Year. May you and you family have a safe, healthy and peaceful year ahead. May you continue to enjoy this fabulous radio hobby. Thank you for your support of the Mount Evelyn DX Report throughout 2015. Without your "views", "likes", "shares" and "retweets", I doubt that I would have continued to write this blog. I appreciate your generous words of encouragement and friendship. It is much appreciated. 2015 - THE YEAR IN REVIEW Here are some of the most popular posts and articles that appeared in the MEDXR blog over the past 12 months: EQUIPMENT REVIEWS: An old DXing friend from New South Wales, Michael Stevenson, wrote a review on his Wellbrook ALA1530S+ loop antenna . This wins the prize for being the MOST POPULAR post on the site this year! Thank you again to Michael for taking the time to give readers an in-depth report on this antenna. I reviewed the Alpha Delta ASC Antenna Coax Switch ...

RADIO COMMUNICATIONS FOR THE  2015 SYDNEY TO HOBART YACHT RACE 6516 kHz  Annual Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race. Many competitors checking in with the official Race Relay Station JBW (Juliet Bravo Whiskey) for the first official radio sked of 2015. Noted at s/on 1903 AEDT (0803 UTC) beginning with an initial communication between the Sydney and Hobart radio controls. Then at 0805 UTC, the call for all participating yachts in alphabetical order to report in with their current latitude and longitude positions. One yacht reported a broken rudder and was heading back to port. Excellent signal from the relay station while most competitor vessels were noted with varying signal strength levels. Then followed a weather report for the New South Wales coast and eastern Victoria for Saturday night (26th) and Sunday (27th). Station JBW then waited for any further traffic, advised that it would be monitoring 6516 kHz till 2000 local time (0900 UTC) before switching to 4483 kHz for the...

Things are quite hectic around here right now, so no DX over the past few days, and no time to write a proper blog post. So....... TO ALL READERS OF THE  MOUNT EVELYN DX REPORT For those who observe Christmas, its meaning and its celebrations, my very best wishes to you and your families. And those who have other religious observances or holidays to enjoy, I also send my very warmest wishes.  Thank you for your support of MEDXR during 2015. It's very much appreciated. 73 and best of DX to all. Rob Wagner VK3BVW

Photo courtesy of Yarra Ranges Leader Newspapers STATION NEWS AND THE LOG BOOK December 20, 2015 Hi Folks, I've been meaning to get this report out to you for several days now. However, we have been somewhat preoccupied with bushfires in our locality over the past 36 hours.  Photo courtesy of Leader Newspapers The next town to Mount Evelyn is Wandin North, about four kilometres (2.5 miles) to the east of where I live. Over the past week, we have had temperatures each day between 35˚ and 38˚C (95-100˚F).  Yesterday the local temperature reached 42˚C (nearly 108˚F). A grass fire broke out around 9am and then got into some bushland. Hot northerly winds quickly fanned the blaze and surged towards the town of Wandin North, forcing the main Warburton Highway to be closed for most of the day. There was much smoke to be seen from our property. Around 35 Country Fire Authority (CFA) units (all volunteer fire fighters) were called to try and manage the situation....

THAZIN RADIO, MYANMAR Here in Australia during our summer months, signals from the Asian continent can often be at their best, especially in our evenings. So it was pleasing to hear Thazin Radio, the military-controlled station from its transmitter site at Pyin U Lwin. First noted at 1015 UTC on 9590 kHz with pleasant easy listening music (which had a bit of a gospel feel about it) and some announcements. The Lahu language (one of the many minority languages of Myanmar) was scheduled and presumed at this time. There are a huge number of languages spoken in Myanmar; one list claims there are nearly one hundred minority languages in current usage. Not bad for such a small country! Some of these languages are also spoken in neighbouring countries, while a few others are used by perhaps only 150,000 people in a local region of Myanmar. At 1030, there was supposed to be a scheduled change into the Kokang language, but I couldn't really tell the difference (if, indeed, there was...

Hallicrafters SX-111 - Backup on ham bands and often used in 31 meters covered by the WWV band switch position  Very good optimum bandwidths for AM and SSB. RECEIVERS I HAVE KNOWN Part 2 Guest Contributor: Roland Richter WA5IEX /  WPE5DIE There were many Facebook "likes" and comments for Part 1 of Roland's article. If you missed it, here's the link:  Receivers I Have Known - Part 1 . Now settle back and enjoy Part 2! PART 2: 13.National NC-190. While at Ft Polk, my qualification for proficiency pay finally caught up with me and I got seven months back additional pay at one time. With that money burning a serious hole in my pocket, I made a weekend trip to Houston to visit friends and make a foray through two radio stores that in the seventies still carried used equipment. I was looking for a good general coverage receiver to replace the SX-99 I had let get away in Asmara. In Long's Electronics I found a real treasure: a near mint co...