Mount Evelyn DX Report

A view of Gangtok from nearby Ganesh Tok point By Kailas98 (Own work) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons AIR - GANGTOK 4835 kHz SOMETHING RARELY HEARD HERE AT MOUNT EVELYN! Firstly, the ABC shortwave regionals were noted off-air at 1015 UTC last night, August 30. 4835 kHz ABC VL8A Alice Springs NT, 2325 kHz VL8T Tennant Creek NT, and 2485 kHz VL8K Katherine NT were all missing from the shortwave bands. Perhaps a planned maintenance outage for all three stations? Who knows! BUT........the absence of Alice Springs on 4835 did reveal a rare visitor to Mount Evelyn, albeit not a very strong signal! Here's my log book notes on last night's reception: 4835 kHz  INDIA. AIR - Gangtok.  Believed to be this station and noted while ABC VL8A Alice Springs NT was off the air. A very gradual fade-in from around 1130 UTC, but never got much above a scratchy weak signal...

DX QUICK TIPS RADIO FUN ON 12 VOLTS August 25, 2016 We have just arrived home from our two month trip up to the top of eastern Australia. And wouldn't you know it, the next day there's a major planned power outage for maintenance on the lines in our street. The power was off for seven hours between 9am and 4pm. So, although I hadn't fully unpacked from the trip, it was time to stop everything and get down to the radio shack for some noise-free listening! The Yaesu FTDX3000 transceiver was fired up using my spare 12v sealed lead acid battery, along with the double bazooka antennas for 3.5, 7 and 14 mHz. Here's a few observations: AUGUST 25 - Between 0230 and 0300 UTC 9420   GREECE. VoG - Avlis, good signal. 9465   TURKEY. VoT - Emirler. Uyghur service to EAs, Turkish songs. Weak signal. 9490   FRANCE. R. Republica - Issoudun. Spanish. Fair to good signal. 9535   CUBA. R. Habana - Bejucal. Spanish to CAm. Poor signal. 9540   OMAN. R. ...

DX QUICK TIPS THE KANGAROO CORNER EDITION August 21, 2016 We've been continuing on our long journey back down the east coast of Australia. By August 20, we had arrived at South West Rocks, on the mid north coast of New South Wales, an especially beautiful area with lovely bays and rugged coastlines. In the mid afternoon of Sunday August 21, I took myself off to the nearby beach of Arakoon for a spot of DXing. Once again, I used the Tecsun PL-680 portable receiver and rolled out the antenna to about 25 metres in length. And once again, careful selection of the location meant that power lines and houses were a considerable distance away from my antenna, allowing me the joy of a noise-free environment for listening. We are now well into late-winter here in Australia. Spring is just around the corner. And the lower frequencies during daylight hours are starting to become much less reliable compared to reception in mid-winter. But with a low noise floor, I was still able...

CLANDESTINE STATIONS ALIVE AND WELL PART 2 (Part 1 of this post can be found HERE ! This is an updated version of article I wrote for "The World of Shortwave Listening" column of The Spectrum Monitor magazine - April 2016 issue. Further details on this excellent publication is available at www.thespectrummonitor.com ) *************************** In Part 1 of this series, we discussed some of the origins of the clandestine radio scene on shortwave. Let's continue now focusing on some more broadcasting orgranisations that can be heard on the bands.   Radio Xoriyo The history of some conflicts in Africa date back decades and in several cases, centuries. Much of this arises between warring tribes and neighboring states. But some conflicts date back to colonial times involving the French, the British and other interests. The scars of colonial rule have complicated already difficult situations between the multitude of nationalities that make up the diverse richn...

DX QUICK TIPS MAPLETON FOREST EDITION! August 10, 2016 We have entered our sixth week on the road and are still travelling down the coast of Queensland, towards New South Wales. But in the past few days, we have driven inland about 30 km to a most beautiful region known as the Sunshine Coast Hinterland. The three lovely villages of Maleny, Montville and Mapleton sit on the ridge of the Backall Ranges, overlooking the southern Queensland coast. High rolling hills, deep valleys and some rugged terrain are features of the area. This is my second trip to this part of the world in two years - and I love it! An early morning visit to the picnic grounds of the Mapleton Forest, not far from our accommodation, saw just myself and one (illegal) camper in a tiny tent. It was 6:30am, the sun was rising and the temperature was a comfortable 15˚C while I rolled out the long wire off the antenna spool to about 15 metres in length. A quick tune around the PL-680 radio dials indicated th...

CLANDESTINE STATIONS ALIVE AND WELL PART 1 (I wrote this article for "The World of Shortwave Listening" column of The Spectrum Monitor magazine - April 2016 issue. Further details on this excellent publication is available at www.thespectrummonitor.com ) *************************************** Clandestine broadcasting is a fascinating part of the DXing hobby for many shortwave enthusiasts. And clandestine stations best illustrate the still-relevant nature of shortwave broadcasting today. By using this medium to bring their political or religious voices to people in troubled parts of the world, clandestine broadcasters transmit their opposition messages from points well beyond central government control. Shortwave radio knows no borders. Historically many political organizations were quick to realise the potential of infiltrating the minds and hearts of citizens with messages of hope, rebellion, revolution and the promotion of change from within the targeted c...