Mount Evelyn DX Report

RADIO VANUATU IN THE AFTERNOON Although there's no signal strength registering on the S-meter, Radio Vanuatu 7259.94 kHz can easily be heard in this low noise environment of Mount Beenak on my winter DXpedition in June 2017. Great reception for the middle of the day on 7 mHz! The receiver is the Yaesu FRG100 and the antenna is 25m (82 feet) of a random wire in the bush. 73 and good DX to you all. Rob Wagner VK3BVW   Subscribe!! Follow @robvk3bvw

TWO AFRICANS FIRE UP Jordan Heyburn In the past 48 hours, two African stations have made their presence felt on 6 mHz. The observations below were noted here at Mount Evelyn. But I'm pleased to give credit to my DXing friend and fellow amateur radio operator, Jordan Heyburn MI6JVC, who alerted me and other members of the WRTH Facebook group to the current operations of both these broadcasters. Jordan lives in Armagh, Northern Ireland and is very active on both the shortwave broadcast and ham bands. 5995   MALI. Radiodiffusion Télévision du Mali - Bamako. Noted at Mount Evelyn via the long path at 0655 UTC with unusual African instrumental sounds, then news in French at 0700. Occasional phoned-in news reports. At 0720, Malian stringed music behind studio announcements, then more commentaries. A Malian song at 0725. This station appears to have taken some corrective measures at the transmitter as it seems to be producing much better modulation and aud...

STATION NEWS AND THE LOG BOOK July 25, 2017 STATION NEWS RUSSIA Ron Howard (Ocean Beach CA, USA) reports that over the past week, Radio Sakha via Yakutsk has been reactivated on both 7295 and 7345 kHz in the period between 1000 and past 1100 UTC. However, operations appear sporadic and without any regularity to the broadcasting schedule.  Ron also reports moderate to heavy interference from co-channel and adjacent frequency broadcasters. It will be interesting to see if this station resumes regular services soon. It is an exceedingly difficult one to catch here in Australia due to heavy QRM. KUWAIT While it's great to see the welcome return of Radio Kuwait to shortwave after several years absence, why put the only English language service currently available in DRM? Surely that is not catering to the vast majority of listeners who own non-DRM capable receivers! If you are one of the lucky ones who can access DRM mode, then you can tune in between 1800 and 2100 U...

RADIO EDUCACIÓN, MEXICO TRANSMITTERS AND ANTENNAS Click on each photo for an enlarged view! My recent post on the winter reception of Radio Educación, XEPPM, Mexico City (6185 kHz) has created some interest from readers of this MEDXR blog. It certainly was pleasing to catch the signal back on June 14. However, there appears to be some confusion about the transmitter power output on the shortwave outlet. WRTH lists XEPPM as 10 kW. Another list shows it as 1 kW. Last week I asked my Mexican DXing friend, Magdiel Cruz Rodríguez if he knew what the correct output was for 6185 kHz. He was able to confirm the following from the actual information plates on each transmitter: Shortwave 6185 kHz: 5 kW max, 1 kW reduced power Mediumwave 1060 kHz: 50 kW max, 10 kW reduced power And here is the shortwave antenna: And the mediumwave antenna: Magdiel Cruz Rodríguez Magdiel and friends visited the Radio Educación transmitter site back...

WINTER AFTERNOON BAND SCAN - 7 MHZ YouTube Video Here's another video of reception at Mount Beenak, about 45 min drive from Mount Evelyn. It's a VERY quiet location, and perfect for weak signal DXing. This video is a short band scan of part of the 7 mHz spectrum at 0318 UTC (1:18 pm local time). The receiver is a Yaesu FRG100 operating of a 13.8v SLA battery, and the antenna is a random wire running into the bush, about 25m long (82 feet). The radio operator was powered by hot soup, a muesli bar and an apple! 😏 73 and good DX to you all, Rob Wagner VK3BVW   Subscribe!! Follow @robvk3bvw

RADIO EDUCACIÓN - MEXICO - 6185 kHz YouTube Video Regular readers of the MEDXR blog will know that in recent months I have set myself a project. I have been carrying out some research on winter afternoon propagation here at Mount Evelyn and surrounding localities. There have been some surprising results that I will be publishing very soon. But there is one observation that I did want to share with you today. Radio Educación in Mexico City is a rare visitor to Australia these days on the shortwave bands. The station's operating schedule doesn't line up with times when the signal would propagate into Australia - except for a short time in mid-winter. This YouTube recording was made in the mid-afternoon (3 pm local time) on June 14, 2017, in the forest at Mount Beenak, south eastern Victoria. It also shows the direction that the short path signal takes to get to my part of the world at this time of year. 73 and have a great weekend everyone! Rob Wagner VK3BVW ...

Hi Folks, This blog has been a little quiet over the past few weeks. My wife and I took a few days holiday during the second half of June. It was GREAT ......until I became ill on the last night before coming home. Since then, I've been battling a severe infection that has caused me to lie low for the past two weeks. I've even been too sick to turn on the radios! But, I'm now starting to feel somewhat human again (....although I probably don't look human!!), so hopefully I can get back into some shortwave listening and the MEDXR blog in the coming days. SHORTWAVE IN THE NEWS Here's some interesting reading that has popped up over the past couple of weeks from online sources. Sit back, relax and check these out over a warming coffee, tea, or whatever your favourite poison!  😎 China's Bid to Squeeze Radio Taiwan International Out of AIB Fails The Focus Taiwan New Channel reports that an attempt by China to squeeze Radio Taiwan International (RTI,...

A TOUR OF THE MOOSBRUNN TRANSMITTER SITE My thanks to Kai Ludwig for alerting me to this new video that was recently mentioned in DX Listening Digest. It features a 23-minute video tour of the Österreichische Rundfunksender (ORS) at Moosbrunn, Austria. ORS is the national transmitter network operator in that country. Although Radio Austria International (ORF) uses for these transmitters for only 80 minutes daily, other international broadcasters make much greater use of the facilities for their services into Africa, Middle East and Europe. Radio Japan, BBC, Adventist World Radio, IBRA Radio and Bible Voice are some of the stations currently leasing time at Moosbrunn for the A17 transmission season. So, this site is an important link for ensuring reliable shortwave broadcasting from that part of the world. The video is entirely in German. However, even non-German speakers will gain some insights into the 500kW and 100kW transmitters and the excellent antenna arrays on disp...