STATION NEWS AND THE LOG BOOK AND A SPECIAL VISITOR - October 21, 2017

STATION NEWS AND THE LOG BOOK

...AND A SPECIAL VISITOR

October 21, 2017

A VISIT WITH VICTOR GOONETILLEKE

The legendary South Asian DXer, shortwave listener, amateur radio operator (4S7VK) and all-round-good-guy, Victor Goonetilleke has been here in Melbourne over the past two months visiting his daughter and her lovely young family. I have known Victor since the early 70s when we were both strapping young lads, and we corresponded occasionally either directly or through the pages of the Australian DX News. Many years later, I had several contacts with him on the 20m amateur band, which I was most excited about! And then about three years ago, I got to meet Victor face-to-face on his first visit to Melbourne. On that occasion, we spent the morning visiting the Reach Beyond Australia (formerly HCJB Aust.) studios, lunch and later back to my radio shack.

Well, Victor has been back in town and we caught up again at his daughter's home this week. We yacked away, like two old women....except we are now two old men!! 😉  Three hours later, the conversation had ranged across many topics including the past, present and future of the shortwave listening hobby, DXpeditions, coping with the RF interference menace, raising the standard of reception report writing, QSLs, amateur radio, and many other things. We also reflected on what has been happening in our respective families.

While he was here, I had hoped to take Victor on a mini DXpedition for a day out listening in the bush. But it could not be arranged on his visit this time around. But perhaps next year? Anyway, it was a wonderful morning spent with this delightful and genial famous DXer. I very much look forward to his next visit to Melbourne. Thanks, Victor.

STATION NEWS

B17 TRANSMISSION SEASON
Next weekend marks the start of the new B17 transmission period for international shortwave broadcasters, beginning on October 29 and running through until March 25, 2018. There are HFCC updates for this new season available now, at http://www.hfcc.org/data/index.phtml. But it must be remembered that all frequencies listed in these updates are still only tentative, so don't rely too heavily on them just yet. There may still be changes in the next week or so. Why do radio stations need to make any changes to their schedules? At the start of the B16 season, I wrote a post that might give some insight into all this frenzied movement around the radio dials, which you can read here - How to Identify Changes in Station Schedules

PAPUA NEW GUINEA

PNG has a new Minister for Communications, Information Technology and Energy. Member for Bulolo, Hon. Sam Basil was announced as the new minister this week by Prime Minister, Hon. Peter O’Neill. In addressing the press, Mr Basil indicated he would be looking at responsible, affordable and accessible communications in radio, television and internet. The online news source, PNG Today reports that "....the Minister intends to review the National Broadcasting Commission and provincial radio stations with a view to re-introduce shortwave and medium wave frequencies to improve radio access in remote rural areas as in the early 1980s." 

About time, I say! There are parts of the New Guinea highlands and lowlands that receive no national FM or internet services due to the rugged terrain and difficulty with maintaining repeaters. There are now only a handful of MW stations and several SW stations in regular operation. At one time, NBC had a developed and well-respected shortwave network throughout the country. But due to lack of funding, very little of that remains. Occasionally, NBC fires up Milne Bay 3365 kHz for important occasions such as the recent elections, but then it is quickly shut down when the event has concluded. In July 2015, NBC bought time from Broadcast Australia to use the R. Australia transmitters for broadcasting the Pacific Games to its own nation! Hopefully, the Hon. Sam Basil can rejuvenate the mediumwave and shortwave services of his country. http://news.pngfacts.com/2017/10/basil-thanks-pm-oneill-for-ministry.html

USA
Some readers may have seen the recent article in Radio World about WRMI's survival after the Hurricane Irma in September. In case you missed it, you can check it out at Shortwave Station Bends But Doesn’t Break. Well worth reading!

ZANZIBAR
It's great to hear the Zanzibar Broadcasting Corporation back on the air again after an absence of more than two months. When it suddenly disappeared towards the end of July, things were looking ominous there for a while. Some of us were thinking that was the end of this station with its truly local African-styled content and music programming. At the end of September, the station website was also down, and an email I sent enquiring about the service also bounced. 

Then a few weeks ago, ZBC suddenly reappeared on the usual 11735 kHz. I noted programming here on October 9 at 1910 but it was a very poor signal at the time. However, I found that the station could be heard strongly in Europe via the Twente remote, so our readers in that part of the world should be able to enjoy ZBC at good strength again. The website is now also back online. Something catastrophic must have happened to this broadcaster for an absence of this nature!

FROM THE LOG BOOK

A few notes from the past two weeks:

3255   SOUTH AFRICA. BBC - Meyerton. English service to SAf at 1945 with the Discovery program. Fair signal.

3320   SOUTH AFRICA. R. Sonder Grense - Meyerton. Afrikaans service at 1950 with classical music, then 1955 into an old Bee Gees hit! Talk about from the sublime to the ridiculous!! Fair-ish signal.

4765   TAJIKISTAN. R. Tajikistan - Yangi Yul. Fair to weak signal at 1940 with a Tajik commentary with quiet background music.

4885   KOREA REP. Echo of Hope - Goyang. Very good signal with no evidence of jamming at 1925, this station is becoming a strong and reliable signal on the 60mb these days!

4930   BOTSWANA. VoA - Moepeng Hill. News in slow English at 1930, fair to good signal.

6070   GERMANY. R. Channel 292 - Rohrbach. "From the Isle of Music" program at 1915 (always a good listen!!) but barely audible on this occasion and only really confirmed as this by double checking with one of the German KiwiSDR remotes.

6155   ARMENIA. Denge Kurdistane - Yerevan. Kurdish commentaries at 2015 and news at 2030, then Kurdish music at 2044. Good signal and believed to be NF for this service. Runs // 7320 also heard but not as strong there.

7325   SAO TOMÉ. VoA - Pinheira. Hausa news at 2050 to WAf to s/off 2100, scheduled daily except Suns. Weak signal.

7325   MADAGASCAR. Voice of People of Somaliland - Talata-Volonondry. S/on 1900 in Somali for EAf with ID and some type of news or commentary program. Fair to weak signal until s/off at 1930.

7480   PRIDNESTROVIE. R. Payam e-Doost - Grigoriopol. Farsi at Iran at 1836 with ID and commentary. Excellent signal until s/off at 1844.

11590   BULGARIA. End Times Coming R. - Kostinbrod. S/on 1900 in English to ME, weak signal.

73 and have a great weekend everyone,

Rob Wagner VK3BVW

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