Mount Evelyn DX Report

DX QUICK TIPS DINGO BEACH EDITION! July 27, 2016 After having made to the top of Australia on our road trip, we have begun to slowly head back down the state coastline of Queensland....although we still have a very long way to go before arriving back home at Mount Evelyn. Yesterday, a stop for morning tea at Dingo Beach and Hideaway Bay (south of Townsville) allowed me the opportunity to pull out the Tecsun PL-680 receiver. A random wire antenna approximately 25 metres long was slung low in some nearby trees and proved to be more than enough to hear some good DX in the 31 mb. Local time at Dingo Beach was 11:15am. Weather was bright sunshine, hardly a cloud in the sky, temperature about 27C - not bad for winter in the tropics! The tide was out. Lots of little crabs running around in the wet sand. There was only one station heard on 7mHz - Radio Vanuatu - (just a handy 2100km due east across the Coral Sea) and not one I would normally hear in the middle of the day bac...

DX QUICK TIPS July 22, 2016 Having driven to nearly the top of Australia (got as far at Cape Tribulation on the far north east coast), we are now slowly making our way down the east coast....but we are still very much in the tropics. This brief report comes from Cardwell, Queensland, located between Cairns and Townsville. There has been much unseasonal rain over the past few days, but it looks like that has passed and the sun is now shining again....but it's also a bit humid here for a southerner such as me!! The receiver is the Tecsun PL-680 attached to a random wire about 6 metres long. Monitoring was done on the evening of July 21, inside the hotel room with its usual man-made noise problems. As can be expected, because we are closer to the Asian continent at this location, the loggings below are predominantly from that part of the world: 5875   THAILAND. R. Thailand - Ban Dung.Vietnamese service to SEAs at 1103, fair signal. 9635.9   VIETNAM. VoV - So...

TRACKING DOWN RADIO INTERFERENCE It's clear that the shortwave and mediumwave radio spectrums are becoming increasingly noisy, making it exceedingly difficult for SWLs and DXers to enjoy our hobby. This was not always the case! 40 years ago, I remember the bands being much quieter.....indeed, I have recordings of shortwave broadcasts where the only noise around was atmospheric, with no evidence of manmade electrical interference at my suburban home. But....those days have long gone, and the only way to reduce your noise level today is to go out into the middle of the forest to tune your radio. Not always a convenient solution!! But it is possible to reduce the noise levels in your home and surrounding areas by "sniffing out" or hunting down local noise sources. Once the trouble-making noise sources have been identified, then you may be able to turn them off, call local authorities, or negotiate a solution with your neighbours. But, of course, there will be ...

SPECIAL MARITIME RADIO EVENT JULY 13 FROM 0001 UTC Today I received a lovely email from Brian, W9IND (Indianapolis, USA) with information of an upcoming event on July 13, organised by the Maritime Radio Historical Society of America. Brian writes: Hi, Rob, Found your Mount Evelyn DX Report page for the first time today and thought you might be interested in an upcoming shortwave event, the annual “Night of Nights,” in which historic maritime CW stations such as WLO and KPH return from the dead for a few hours. It’ll begin at 0001 UTC July 13, which of course is the evening of July 12 for Statesiders. And for hams such as yourself, there’ll be a pair of amateur stations – K6KPH and W4WLO – making Morse code contacts. Lots of great nostalgia, plus the possibility of collectible QSLs. The event is sponsored by the Maritime Radio Historical Society. You can check the full list of participating stations and frequencies by clicking on the following link: Maritime Radio Spe...

DX QUICK TIPS July 3, 2016 25mb MINI SURVEY As monitored on July 1 between 0630 and 0730 UTC in Coonabarabran, New South Wales. Receiver: Tecsun PL-680 Antenna: indoor 8m random wire. 11520   USA. WEWN - Vandiver AL. American religious discussion at 0716, fair signal. 11530   USA. Overcomer Min - Okeechobee FL. American preaching 0719, fair signal with co-channel QRM CNR 1 jamming. // 11580 which was a better signal. 11625   VATICAN. Vatican R. - SM Galeria. English to WAf at 0640 with an African focused religious news program, very good signal. 11630   CHINA. CNR 17 - Lingshi. Kazakh service at 0725, good signal 0725. 11665   MALAYSIA. RTM Sarawak - Kajang. Usual FM music relay at 0727, fair signal. 11685   CHINA. CNR 11 - Baoji-Sifangshan. Tibetan service at 0733, weak signal. 11680   D.P.R.KOREA. KCBS - Kanggye. Martial music at 0728, time pips and ID 0730, fair to poor signal. 11740   VATICAN. V...