Mount Evelyn DX Report

RARE RADIO: RADYO PILIPINAS FROM 1973 One of the things I now regret is that I didn't make more recordings of radio stations from my listening days in the 1970s and '80s. I have very few audio examples of stations operating at that time. So disappointing! However....several days ago, I stumbled across a recording I made in December 1973 of Radyo Pilipinas, The Voice of the Philippines (DZRP). I also found an image of the QSL card from that exact transmission on 9580 kHz. After a bit of audio engineering on the deteriorating old cassette tape, I've managed to somewhat improve the tone quality. I've posted the recording on YouTube - click the embedded video below. This is for those of you who can remember and for those who enjoy some radio history! 73 and have a great weekend, everyone! Rob Wagner VK3BVW Current local time in Mount Evelyn, Australia CLICK HERE for VK3BVW Live Stream (Clublog) QRZ callsign lookup:...

TECSUN PL-680 SENSITIVITY TESTS PL-680 Beats Expectations - Part 2 Well, it's been a busy two months since I first posted the Tecsun PL-680 Review - Part 1 . And I've finally got around to doing the sensitivity tests I mentioned at the end of that post. The test results are in and the YouTube video is now available for you to check out at your leisure. The portable Tecsun PL-680 receiver is a hot little radio! As these tests show, it appears to be very sensitive to weak signals. Here, we put the little 680 up against one the best HF transceivers on the market today - the Yaesu FTDX3000 transceiver. The receiver in the 3000 is quite brilliant! And it has all the "bells-and-whistles" to make it even better at digging out weak signals and reducing adjacent channel interference.  But in these tests, we turn off all the fancy facilities on the FTDX3000 and just run the two receivers side by side to see how the 680 compares. We use the same antenna and w...

HOW TO IDENTIFY CHANGES IN STATION SCHEDULES Another Aspect of the Radio Hobby The shortwave bands are in a constant state of flux. And radio reception varies with the seasons. As a result, radio stations often need to alter their frequencies and times for best  all-year-round  reception at the listener’s location. There are two seasonal changeovers: the “A” transmission period coincides with the northern hemisphere summer (March to October), and the “B” transmission schedule for the winter period (October to March). Leading up to these changeovers, broadcasters plan their schedules for the coming season. The B16 transmission season began last weekend. Want to improve your understanding of shortwave propagation characteristics? Study a few of the strategies employed by broadcast engineers at international radio stations during the twice yearly schedule changeovers. You'll quickly learn much about how it all works! Frequency changes by international broadcasters al...