OFF THE GRID....AGAIN!

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 listening. YIPPEE!!!!

On this occasion, I used the Yaesu FTDX3000 transceiver, into an ATU, with three Double Bazooka antennas for 3.5, 7 and 14 mHz, and the Par SWL End-Fed antenna. Power for the radio was from an old 12v SLA car battery. The radio draws 2 amps max on receive, so the old battery was able to cope with seven hours of use without a recharge. Also requiring charging in preparation for a day "off-the-grid" was the laptop computer for taking notes and checking references, my iPhone for a connection to the Internet, and my iPad for accessing the Internet through a "hotspot" from my iPhone.

I find I get more hours out of the radio battery if I reduce the brightness of both the TFT screen and the frequency display. I also get longer life from the old laptop battery if I set its screen to the lowest brightness setting, and switch off the brightness altogether when I'm not using it for a while. So, after seven hours, I still had around 11.8 volts out of the car battery (still enough to drive the radio for a little while longer), and around 20% left in the laptop battery. Solar power would probably not have been of much use yesterday....it was quite overcast with the occasional rain shower. However, thinking ahead, I really should get some solar panels hooked up for the shack when the mains power goes out unexpectedly....a project for the future!

As in November, once the mains power was switched off, the noise level dropped to between S0 and S1 on the signal strength meter. When the power was restored later in the day, the noise immediately shot up to around S5 on the meter.

Some very interesting notes were complied from the listening session. Highlights included two stations on 3.9 mHz and some weak Brazilian signals on 9 and 11 mHz. Also, lots of European based transmitters coming though on 7, 9 and 11 mHz during the middle of the day, which is typical of winter DX conditions here at Mount Evelyn, but so common during March (it's early autumn here right now). In addition, some Middle Eastern, North African and South Asian signals were observed.

Here's the list of my monitoring observations, from 2130 UTC (March 23) through to 0435 UTC (March 24). Note - I haven't bothered listing some of the regular CNR and CRI outlets:

3955 ENGLAND. KBS World R. - Woofferton. French to WEu, fair signal at 2145.

3975 VATICAN. Vatican R. - SM Galeria. Arabic to CEu, fair signal at 2147.

5885 VATICAN. VOA - SM Galeria. Service to WAf in the Bambara language at 2150 to s/off 2200, good signal.

5915 ZAMBIA. Zambia NBC - Lusaka. Radio 1 service in local languages at 2152, fair signal with interview program.

7335 ROMANIA. RRI - Tiganesti. Spanish to SAm 0319, weak signal.

7340 ROMANIA. RRI - Galbeni. English to WNAm at 0427, poor signal.

7345 ROMANIA. RRI - Galbeni. Spanish to CAm 0332, poor signal.

7365 USA. R. Marti - Greenville NC. Quite a respectable signal at 0005 (11:05 am AEDT).

7390 FRANCE. RFI - Issoudun. French to EAf at 0330 with a current affairs program on the Belgium bombings, fair to poor signal.

7405 USA. R. Marti - Greenville NC. Weak signal at 0433.

7504.9 UNIDENTIFIED. Barely audible signal at 0015. Hard to ID anything but definite talking and occasional bursts of music. The freq reads like it is WRNO, but is it on this early (nom. 0200?). Later confirmed to be WRNO by Facebook colleagues at the time. Thanks guys!

9420 GREECE. ERT - Avlis. Music programming at 0322.

9445 IRAN. VOIRI - Kamalabad. Spanish to Caribbean 0040, Weak

9470 CHINA. CRI - Xian. Mongolian service at 0042.

9470 ROMANIA. RRI - Tiganesti. Spanish to SAm 0324, fair signal.

9475 USA. WTWW - Lebanon TN. Good signal at 0045 (11:45am AEDT) with American religious programming.

9480 IRAN. VOIRI - Ahwaz. Dari to CAs 0325.

9490 FRANCE. R. Republica - Issoudun. Spanish to Cuba 0325, weak signal.

9510 VATICAN. Afia Darfur R. - SM Galeria. Arabic to EAf at 0327. Barely moving the S-meter but sounded clear and at good strength!

9525 ROMANIA. RRI - Galbeni. Spanish to SAm 0053, IS at 0055 then s/off 0057, fair.

9535 CUBA. R. Habana - Bejucal. Spanish to CAm at 0058, weak.

9545 SOLOMON ISLANDS. SIBS - Honiara. ID 0100 and news, fair signal and still going strong past 0330.

9570 ALBANIA. CRI - Cerrik. English to NAm 0115, fair signal.

9575 MOROCCO. R. Medi 1 - Nador. Arabic programming 0118, poor signal.

9590 CHINA. CRI - Kashi. Spanish to SAm, 0123.

9620 GERMANY. R. Japan - Nauen. Japanese to ME and NAf 0337, fair signal.

9629.91 BRAZIL. R. Aparecida - Aparecida SP. A weak signal appeared at 2320 but disappeared by 0000.

9645.38 UNIDENTIFIED. Could this be R. Bandeirantes - Sao Paulo SP back on air? Recent reports from South American DXers suggest that it is. Very weak signal with talks and occasional music at 2350. Has the high-side characteristics of this Brazilian's 9645 allocation. A little stronger when I revisited the freq at 0345, but still difficult listening.

9660 MADAGASCAR. Vatican R. - Talata-Volonondry. Swahili to EAf at 0350, fair signal.

9664.95 BRAZIL. Voz Missionaria - Camboriú SC. Religious preaching in Portuguese 0353. A weak but clear signal.

9675 CHINA. CRI - Kashi. English to Eu, 0126, good signal.

9695 OMAN. BBC - Al Seela. Farsi service to Iran at 0355, fair signal.

9710 IRAN - Sirjan. English service to NAm 0357, fair signal.

9710 CHINA. CRI - Kashi. Spanish to SAm 0129.

9724.89 BRAZIL. R. RB2 - Curitiba PR. Weak signal with talk and music at 2355. Also noted later at 0400 with a slightly stronger signal.

9765 SRI LANKA. VOA Deewa Radio - Iranawila. Pashto service to Afghanistan at 0134, fair signal.

9790 FRANCE. RFI - Issoudun. French to EAf at 0403, fair signal.

9819.31 BRAZIL. R. Nove de Juhlo - Sao Paulo SP. Weakish signal with music, anncts and ID at 0000, then into talk (possibly news?). QRM from a slightly stronger CNR 2 on 9820, but I was able to dig this out in LSB mode.

9835 MALAYSIA. RTM Sarawak FM - Kajang. Easy listening music at 0136, weak but readable.

9870 INDIA. AIR - Bengaluru. Vividh Bharati service in Hindi at 0140, weak signal.

9895 IRAN. VOIRI - Zahedan. Arabic 0417, good signal.

9935 GREECE. ERT VoGreece - Avlis. The usual whining noise on the signal at 0412, strong signal.

9955 USA. R. Prague - Okeechobee FL. English to SAm 0145, weak signal.

9965.28 EGYPT. R. Cairo - Abis. Arabic to ENAm at 0415, fair signal.

11520 USA. WEWN - Vandiver AL. American religious programming to WAf at 0152, good signal.

11620 INDIA. AIR - Bengaluru. Bollywood music at 0158 in the Hindi service to Pakistan, big signal.

11630 CHINA. CNR 17 - Lingshi. Kazakh service at 0200 with music intro to new program. I don't hear this one at this time very often at this home QTH. Weakish signal.

11665 MALAYSIA. RTM Wai FM - Kajang. Malay news at 0204, weak signal.

11670 CUBA. R. Havana - Bauta. Spanish news at 0206, fair signal.

11695 KUWAIT. R. Free Asia - Kuwait. No CNR 1 jamming for the Tibetan service at 0210, good signal with a recorded speech.

11710.73 ARGENTINA. R.A.E. - General Pacheco. French service with Argentinian ballads and anncts at 0215, fair signal.

11715 INDIA. AIR - Delhi. Nepali service at 0217, weak signal till s/off 0230.

11764.66 BRAZIL. Super R. Deus é Amor - Curitiba PR. Weak signal at 2157 with talks prior to TC and ID at 2200. Still a weak signal at 2345.

11780.1 BRAZIL. R. Nacional Brasília - Brasilia DF. News program at 2205, weak signal at first but improved to a fair level by 2330. However, it suffered QRM from RFA/CNR rubbish on 11775, so Brazil was better listening in USB at that time. Later at 0220 it was in the clear and at a fair level. Virtually all-day reception!

11790 MADAGASCAR. Bible Voice - Talata-Volonondry. WOW! What a powerful signal at 0222 in English for SAs till s/off 0230.

11800 CHINA. CNR 2 - Beijing. Weak in Mandarin at 0225.

11820 SRI LANKA. VOA - Iranawila. Burmese to SEAs 0227 till s/off 0230.

11840 CUBA. R. Havana - Quivican. Spanish to SAm 0245, fair signal.

11854.91 BRAZIL. R. Aparecida - Aparecida SP. Weak signal at 2210 with talks, never really improved later in the morning but still audible past 0250. If this station wasn't on a clear channel at this time, I wouldn't have heard it.

11860 SAUDI ARABIA (presumed). Republic of Yemen Radio Sana'a - Location Unconfirmed! Earnest Arabic talks at 0255, fair to poor signal.

11870 USA. WEWN - Vandiver AL. Spanish programming to SAm 0300 with ID, annncts and music. Fair signal.

11925 IRAN. VOIRI - Kamalabad. Dari to CAs 0305, fair signal.

11934.86 BRAZIL. R. RB2 - Curitiba PR. Fair to poor signal at 2215 with Portuguese discussions. Still there past 2330.

11950 TIBET. PBS Xizang - Lhasa. Mandarin service 0310. Fair signal.

11970 OMAN. BBC - Al Seela. 30-min Pashto service 0312, fair.

11980 TAJIKISTAN. RFA - Dushanbe. Mandarin 0314, heavy QRM CNR 1, both about equal strength.

12055 CHINA. CNR 17 - Lingshi. Kazakh service 0315, poor signal.

12140 KUWAIT. R. Azadi - Umm al-Rimam. Dari service to Afghanistan 0317, fair signal.

And finally.....

25000 USA. WWV - Fort Collins CO. Noted at 21:25. A nice signal at times with no noise. Most of the time it didn't budge the meter, but occasionally rose to S3 on peaks with some deep fades. Currently listed at 2.5 kW, this station is running as an experimental service on 25 mHz. Here's a YouTube clip......

Word has it that the power company didn't get all the maintenance done yesterday, and will probably have to come back again. Gee...I hope so! Can't wait! Hehehehe...

73 and have a great weekend everyone,

Rob Wagner VK3BVW