Mount Evelyn DX Report

OFF THE GRID.....AGAIN! Back in November, I wrote a post called Weak Signal DX - When The Noise Goes Away   about a successful morning's listening. This occurred when the local power company cut the mains power in our street in order to perform maintenance on the lines. They gave us plenty of warning (about three weeks notice), so I was ready and raring to go! Well...it has happened again. Yesterday, we had the power off for around seven hours (between 8:15am and 3:25pm). Again, the power company gave us plenty of notice, which was very much appreciated! One of the benefits of being a retired "gentleman" is I can DO STUFF (!) in the middle of a weekday. So, I didn't have to pack up all my gear and head out into some isolated location in the bush to string up a long wire antenna and do some weak signal DXing. Instead, I was able to sit back in the comfort of my own home, with the ability to switch through four different HF antennas to some wonderful NOISE-FREE li...

HEARD ISLAND ON THE AIR The Fifth Most Wanted DXCC Entity A team of 14 amateur radio operators, all of them scientists or engineers, have arrived on Heard Island and have been very busy setting up what is basically a small city's work of accommodation, radio gear and antennas. They have also been working on specific scientific tasks of a marine and geographic nature along the way to this far-flung part of Antarctica. And they are now ON THE AIR. This much anticipated trip will see the group operating on all bands and modes for nearly three weeks, using the callsign VK0EK .  Heard Island is an Australian protectorate, part of a subantarctic island group (Heard Island and McDonald Islands) in the southwest Indian Ocean, some 4000 kilometers (approximately 2480 miles) southwest of Western Australia and 1000 kilometers (approximately 620 miles) north of Antarctica. If you draw a line from the tip of India right down to Antarctica, you'd be pretty close to Heard Island!...

STATION NEWS AND THE LOG BOOK MARCH 23, 2016 STATION NEWS CHAD In recent days, R.N'Djamena (ONRTV) has been reactivated on its longtime 6165 kHz outlet. Noted by Mauno Ritola, Alan Pennington, Michael Stevenson and a few others, the station has been heard between 1800 and 2100 s/off. Some readers may also be able to hear the station in the 0500 time period (although not here in Australia!) so watch out for it then, too! Actually, it seems to be a little lower in frequency, with DXers monitoring it on 6164.96 kHz. Chad has upcoming presidential elections scheduled for April 10. I suspect that this reappearance of R.N'Djamena may have something to do with that. Hopefully, it will continue operations past election day. SOUTH AFRICA An item from Californian DXer, Ron Howard , reporting on a relatively new station calling itself Radio Lead Africa: 5910, clandestine Radio Lead Africa, 0330-0358*,  March 21 (Monday). Carried their own program;...

A16 SCHEDULE UPDATE -  RADIO EXTERIOR DE ESPAÑA A few readers will be aware that one thing to get under my skin is the lack of communication that often occurs between major shortwave radio stations and their listeners. (see: ROB'S RANT!! - WHERE'S THE INFO, GUYS??? ) . So, it's nice to see a shortwave radio station getting their schedule for the next transmission period out a little earlier than usual! This schedule from Radio Exterior de España has just been posted on their website: Effective March 27 to October 30, 2016 2000 to 0000 UTC on Weekdays 15390 kHz to Africa and the South Atlantic 17715 kHz to South America 17855 kHz to North America 15500 kHz to Middle East 1600 to 0000 UTC on Saturdays and Sundays 21620 kHz (1600-2000) then changing to 15390 (2000-0000)  to Africa and South Atlantic 17715 kHz to South America 17855 kHz to North America 15500 kHz to the Middle East 73 and Good DX to you all. Rob VK3BVW   Subscribe!! Foll...

RETRO RECEIVER REVIEW #5 Click on each image to enlarge REALISTIC DX 160 (a.k.a. Radio Shack DX160) by Craig Seager VK2HBT ROB'S NOTE:  Many people, especially in the USA are still using the Realistic DX160 receiver on a daily basis for their shortwave listening. Some people hate this receiver....some people love it! This month's Retro Receiver Review could possibly be the most controversial review we've published so far! Read on..... Question :   How can one of the worst ever pieces of communications receiver engineering sell in the zillions and become forever a part of DXing folklore? Answer :   It beats me, but Realistic’s DX-160 and other sets of the same marque have achieved just that, underlining the unfortunate maxim of our society that mediocrity coupled with a successful marketing strategy will always triumph. This entry level set copped a universal hammering from   1970s reviewers, to the point where there was almost a sti...