STATION NEWS AND THE LOG BOOK - September 4, 2016

STATION NEWS AND THE LOG BOOK
September 4, 2016

STATION NEWS

AUSTRALIA
As I posted earlier in a number of Facebook groups and on Twitter, the ABC's Northern Territory Shortwave Service outlets have continued to be off the air for much of the past week. The nighttime frequencies of 2325 (Tennant Creek), 2385 (Katherine) and 4835 (Alice Springs), plus the daytime outlets of 4910 (Tennant Creek) and 5025 kHz (Katherine) have all been missing. This follows a recent absence from the shortwave bands of Radio Australia Shepparton for well over a week. On that occasion, the explanation by Radio Australia was confusing and not entirely convincing! We are hoping that the missing regionals is just a matter of a routine maintenance procedure and not something more permanent! However, on one frequency, the ABC's absence has uncovered the rarely heard All India Radio regional transmitter at Gangtok on 4835 kHz.

 GUINEA
The reactivation of Radio Guinée on 9650 kHz some weeks ago began rather tentatively at first with just a few appearances. However, it now seems to be on a more permanent schedule, which is great to see! We are guessing that the station is using its old transmitter at Conakry, BUT that's not entirely clear. Nor is the reason why this government-run station suddenly decided to start up on shortwave again after many years of inactivity! Still, right now it's being heard quite regularly with good signals around the world. Radio Guinée was noted at Mount Evelyn yesterday (September 3) around 0650 suffering heavy QRM from Vatican 9645 until that signed off at 0703. Then R. Guinée was in the clear. Talks (possibly local news), occasional short bursts of African music and anncts were heard, followed by a telephone talkback program at 0715. Fair to poor signal here and found to be no better signal on the Twente remote either. Still heard at 0730 with a pop song until VoKorea signed on late at 0733 in Japanese and flattened Guinée.
RUSSIA
Radio Rossii returns to shortwave after several years! That was a bit unexpected!! Thanks to a tip-off from Hiroyuki Okamura (Japan), I heard Radio Rossii last night (Sept 3) on 5900 kHz at 1255 UTC. There were many station IDs in Russian, plus news at 1300. The signal was at a fair strength and in the clear, but suffered from some local atmospheric noise. The HFCC lists a transmitter registration at Khabarovsk, but that's all we know at this stage.
USA
My mate in North Carolina, Thomas Witherspoon, in his wonderful SWLing Post blog recently published a most interesting article on the transmitter site of WRNO in New Orleans. Written by Dan Brown W1DAN who visited the site recently, you'll find some good detail and nice photos of the transmitters and antennas. Thanks to Dan for providing this information! Well worth checking out at http://swling.com/blog/2016/08/guest-post-a-wrno-worldwide-transmitter-site-visit/

FROM THE LOG BOOK

There has been considerable solar geomagnetic activity over the past 72 hours, with the A and K indices reaching quite high levels. Despite that, reception conditions have been quite good here at Mount Evelyn. Yes, solar disturbances CAN result in poor reception conditions. BUT this activity is constantly in a state of flux and changes can happen rather rapidly. So....don't put the radio away too quickly, because poor shortwave conditions may not stay that way for too long! Here's some notes from my log book:

 2500   HAWAII. WWVH - Kokelo Point. At 1250 with a weak but readable (just!) signal. No sign of Fort Collins. Nice to hear it coming through on a day when there was a fair geomagnetic disturbance during that time, Sept 3.

 3944.2   VANUATU. R. Vanuatu - Port Vila. Local community affairs program at fade-in 0804. // 7259.96 where it had a beautiful signal on Sept 2.

 4055   GUATEMALA. R. Verdad - Chiquimula. Sacred songs in Spanish with marimba accompaniments, fair signal in the noise at 1138. I went back to the freq at 1235 to hear it had almost faded out completely. This is 6:35am Chiquimula time with the late summer sun well into the sky, absorbing the signal before it gets on its path to Australia. Sept 3.

 4774.9   PERU. R. Tarma - Tarma, Junín. Peruvian songs and anncts. Disappointingly weak signal at 1047, Aug 30.

 4869.9   INDONESIA. RRI - Wamena, Propinsi Papua. At 1030 with some kind of local affairs anncts, then light Indonesian pops featuring female vocals. Fair signal and much better than last night when all I could hear were Asian fishing vessels illegally transmitting SSB chat here. Occasional SSB QRM here again tonight at 1040. Aug 31.

 5024.92   PERU. R. Quillabamba - Quillabamba, Cusco. Quite a strong signal but still under the dominant R. Rebelde with news at 1108, into canned anncts 1115. Tuned in using LSB with IF shift and width. Aug 31.

 5050   CHINA. VoBeibu Bay Radio - Nanning. Cantonese service with pop music programming and male/female announcers. Fair signal at 1110 but local noise here a problem tonight. Aug 31.

 9634.97   MALI. RTV du Mali - Bamako. Waited for the s/on at 0802. About an S4 carrier and hardly any audio, the usual problem! Such a pity! Best heard in LSB to avoid Vietnam 9635.8 kHz. Seemed to start the broadcast in French but then shifted to some Bambara segments. Tough listening and I gave it away by 0825, Sept 3.

 17670   IRAN. VOIRI - Sirjan. S/on 1220 in Indonesian with ID and anthem, fair to wobbly signal, Sept 3.

 17690   THAILAND. R. Azadi - Ban Dung. Fair signal with Pashto chat and American pops at 0753. Several lists are showing this as via Kuwait, but I think that's incorrect, Sept 3.

 17730   SAUDI ARABIA. BSKSA - Riyadh. Arabic discussion program at 0745, fair signal, Sept 3.

 19000   KUWAIT. R. Free Asia - Umm al Rimam. Tibetan service at 1210 with music programming under CNR 1's Mandarin jamming in this rarely used 15 meter SWBC band, fair signal at first but weakened quickly by 1217, Sept 3.

TWITTERING AWAY

For those of you on Twitter, I often post real-time tips and log book notes while I'm listening. Over the past few days, all the tips above were posted to Twitter while I was right at the radio. If you're not following me on Twitter yet, click the "Follow @robvk3bvw" button below - and I'll do the same for you!

 That's it for now. 73 and have a great weekend everyone!

 Rob Wagner VK3BVW

 Subscribe!!

Comments

Post a Comment

Comments are moderated and may not appear immediately. If your comment isn’t visible right away, it has been received and will be published shortly.

Popular posts from this blog

RETRO RECEIVER REVIEW # 21 - The Kenwood R-5000

Image
RETRO RECEIVER REVIEW #21 (You can click on all photos in this article for a close-up view) KENWOOD R-5000 Performance and Innovation by ROB WAGNER VK3BVW This extended blog post first appeared as a feature article in the February 2024 issue of The Spectrum Monitor magazine. Further details on this excellent publication are available at www.thespectrummonitor.com I have always wanted to own a Kenwood R-5000 receiver. Perhaps I was dazzled by the mystique that appeared to surround this rig. Somehow, it had always been on top of my bucket list of pre-loved rigs that I wanted sitting on the desk of the radio shack.  Finally, one showed up at a local Sunday morning Hamfest, and I happened to have just enough dollars in my pocket to make a purchase. It appeared to have lived a hard life. The case looked knocked around and was pretty dirty inside and out. So, while I would have liked to have owned a unit in better condition, the price was right, and I decided to take it on as a l...
Read more

REVIEW: WELLBROOK ALA1530S+ LOOP ANTENNA

Image
PRODUCT REVIEW: WELLBROOK ALA1530S+ LOOP ANTENNA by Michael Stevenson (Guest Contributor) This is a review and my opinion of the Wellbrook ALA1530S+ P–1 Active receiving Antenna. For further information, details and specifications then please visit: www.wellbrook.uk.com Background I have been a keen shortwave listener since 1970 and have had many receivers and antenna types during this time. Currently I have two wire antennas, a PAR Electronics EF-SWL 15 meter with impedance matching transformer, made in the US; and a home made 17 meter wire with balun. I also have a dedicated multi-stake ground or earthing system to compliment my receiver and antennas. I live in suburbia Port Macquarie, New South Wales on the east coast of Australia. Even though all our electricity wiring is under ground in our housing estate, I live in an environment where there are all types of man-made noises coming from modern electronic and electrical equipment used by my neighbours The wire a...
Read more

RETRO RECEIVER REVIEW #20 - The SONY ICF-5900W

Image
RETRO RECEIVER REVIEW #20 SONY ICF-5900W by CRAIG SEAGER VK2HBT This time around, I thought we might direct our attention to one of the many portable receivers of yesteryear, and it is perhaps appropriate that we choose a manufacturer that continued to produce quality equipment featuring shortwave coverage until long after. I’m sure our Japanese friends will concur with the submission that Japan is a land of short-lived, but enthusiastically embraced fads.  Whether it be karaoke, yo-yos with brains, electronics pets or Pokémon, each craze sweeps the country in such a way that captures the attention of the rest of the world and is usually associated with some pretty smart home-grown technology.   In the mid to late 1970s, shortwave listening (or “BCL”) was the flavour of the month, with teenagers (and some older folk!) compiling large QSL collections and forming SWL and DX clubs all over the country.  Nowadays, you’d be fairly hard-pressed to find any external broadcas...
Read more