Mount Evelyn DX Report

EXPERIMENTS IN AUDIO ADJUSTMENT OF  A SHORTWAVE SIGNAL A week ago, I wanted to record for my YouTube channel the sign on of the clandestine broadcaster, North Korea Reform Radio. I just happened to be there on 7500 kHz at its regular 2030 UTC sign on time. So I fired up the iPhone that was sitting handily on the desk and pressed record. While the three-minute recording was being made, I started playing around with the controls on the Yaesu FTDX3000 transceiver and the little Behringer mixer. When I uploaded the video to the computer for processing, I discovered that I'd been fiddling much more with the controls than I had realised. I wondered if perhaps others may be interested in "what the heck" I was doing during the recording process. Well.....it's still a recording of the reception of North Korea Reform Radio, but with the addition of a subtext commentary. 😁 So, somewhat by accident, this video shows some attempts made to improve the audio quality of...

RETRO RECEIVER REVIEW #11 Click on each photo for an enlarged view NATIONAL RF-5000 by Craig Seager VK2HBT In today’s times, when we talk about portable receivers, images of very compact units are evoked in the mind’s eye; models from Degen, Tecsun, Sony and Grundig will often now fit into one’s hip (or even shirt) pocket. Contrast that with the products of earlier decades. For example, a few years ago I took delivery of a 1948 Mullard MBS1050 “tin” radio, complete with batteries, which by themselves weigh something like 2.8kg! Of course, that one is a tube set, but it was well into the solid-state era before anything approaching what we would now regard as “small” was produced. In fact, there was an extended period where big was considered to be beautiful, even though it was technologically possible to produce a set that one could take to the beach without needing a trolley and hoist. This was the time of the “suitcase” radios, sold as portables but their only conc...

STORMS, STATION NEWS AND THE LOG BOOK September 17, 2017 STORMS Wow! What a couple of weeks it has been with constant solar storming for much of the time. On some occasions, his has made listening and communications on the shortwave bands quite difficult. Yet, at other times there has been the odd surprising reception of some unexpected station popping up out of the noise. You just never know what you'll hear when you turn on the radio these days.....And who said solar minimums were boring!!! Dr. Tamitha Skov has just released her latest solar activity and propagation report, going into some detail on what has been happening in the past week, and what to expect in the coming days. Check it out: STATION NEWS HURRICANES After the devastating hurricanes that struck the Caribbean nations and the southeastern US coast last week, affected broadcasters are gradually returning to the air. WRMI reports that many frequencies are up and running again after...

TWO NEW VIDEOS PREPARING FOR YOUR NEXT DXPEDITION Regular readers of MEDXR will be aware that I am passionate about going portable/mobile with my radio listening hobby. There's just nothing like communing with both nature and a bunch of electrons whizzing along the wire! As a follow up to an article I wrote several years ago, I have now prepared two new YouTube videos entitled Preparing for Your Next DXpedition - Parts 1 and 2.   Part 1 covers: - why we should even think about bothering to go portable with the radio - the goals to consider when undertaking a DXpedition - planning your listening depending on the time of day and time of year - the all important decisions regarding location Part 2 discusses: - choosing the right radio for portable operations - your options for powering the radio - the antennas you could consider including on the trip - handy auxiliary equipment - references and notes to take along with you - the importance of operator comfort...

ALAZM RADIO NEW SAUDI SERVICE There was quite a bit of detective work going on during September 11 as a number of us endeavoured to identify a new Arabic speaking outlet on the 25mb. A long thread exists on the WRTH Facebook page outlining this work. So, what we now know is: 11745 kHz  Alazm Radio began operating from, we suspect, Jeddah although this is not confirmed yet. Current operating hours appear to be 0700-1700 UTC and is aimed at the Saudi troops located in the southern part of Saudi Arabia. The service is operated by the Saudi Radio Broadcasting Network. The ID announcement is clearly "Huna Al' Azm". The word Al'Azm means Determination. In addition to the shortwave outlet, the station can be found on 549 and 747 kHz mediumwave, and 94.9, 99.0, and 107.0 MHz FM. According to the Saudi Ministry of Culture and Information website, Alzam Radio is "to provide programs to uphold national values and reflect the spirit of sacrifice and redemption ...

THE SPECTRUM MONITOR September Issue Looks at Icom IC-R8600 I really believe that the best value communications magazine on the market today is The Spectrum Monitor! This monthly publication offers an annual subscription for only US$24 - that's only US$2 per issue! And the September issue has just been published. So for readers of this blog, let's take a look at just some of the great articles included this time around: Icom IC-R8600 All-Band All-Mode Software Defined Receiver  By Bob Grove W8JHD The latest and greatest receiver from Icom was released several months ago. Bob Grove takes a close look at the specifications of this unique receiver and is pretty excited by what he finds! I think this receiver could be of interest to MEDXR readers....but you'll need a few $$$ in your pocket if you want to buy one!  Electrical Pioneers: The Life and Times of Guglielmo Marconi and Ernst Alexanderson  By Georg Wiessala This article reflects on the work...