Mount Evelyn DX Report

Out in the back garden with the Tecsun PL-680 THE TOP 10 OF 2017 My very best wishes for the New Year. May you and your family have a safe, healthy and peaceful year ahead. May you continue to enjoy this fabulous radio hobby. Thank you for your support of the Mount Evelyn DX Report throughout 2017. Without your "views", "likes", "shares" and "retweets", I doubt that I would have continued to write this blog. I appreciate your generous words of encouragement and friendship. It is much appreciated. THE TOP 10 MEDXR BLOG POSTS I find it very interesting to see which of the posts from this blog capture the interest of our readers. In order of popularity, here are the "most-clicked-on" posts from the past twelve months. TECSUN S-8800 - THE BIRDIE PROBLEM Everyone was waiting for the release of the S-8800 at the beginning of the year. Early reports were so disappointing that the model was withdrawn for further developm...

Dave Valko's screenshot of Lupo Radio from Argentina on 6,973 kiloHertz during a snowy and foggy micro-DXpedition. DAVE'S LATEST DXPEDITIONS Dave Valko (PA, USA) has been VERY busy over the Christmas holiday season with four micro-DXpeditions between December 20 and 24. He has kindly allowed me to reproduce some of his finds here in today's MEDXR blog post.  For northern hemisphere listeners, right now is the peak DX season. Use Dave's loggings as inspiration to get out the radio and see what YOU can hear! Here is a summary of highlights from Dave's observations: 2850    NORTH KOREA   KCBS Pyongyang  Soft W vocal song, not really like the usual opera-like fare at 2207.  Getting some weird rapid pulsing wideband QRM here for a time.  Can’t be anything local as I wasn’t anywhere near anything electrical.  Clear at 2222 but weaker fading signal.  (20 Dec.) 3325    INDONESIA   RRI Palangkaraya  Signal ...

LITHIUM-ION BATTERIES DESERVE RESPECT Last week, on a Yahoo radio hobby forum, I read some misinformed comments about lithium-ion batteries. Things such as  1) they don't explode anymore,  2) if they do explode, then it's only during charging,  3) people's concerns over Lithium-ion batteries are exaggerated or unnecessary,  4) commercial versions of lithium batteries ( whatever THEY are!! ) are a problem, whereas personal household-style batteries are fine,  5) the cheap batteries are just as good as the expensive ones. .....etc, etc..... All of these claims (and more) show that some people are not aware of the need for care when handling lithium-ion batteries. The chemical elements that make up a battery are compartmentalised for both their correct functioning in creating the charge and for safety reasons. Should those different chemicals come in contact with each other, adverse reactions can result. Even a leakage of a few molecules from one che...

4KZ FIRES UP! Shortwave's Newest Station! Much talked about but slow to get on the air, 4KZ has finally got underway with transmissions this afternoon (December 20), just in time for the Christmas holiday season. Here's my log so far: 5055   AUSTRALIA. 4KZ - Innisfail QLD. Relay of the mediumwave 4KZ first noted at 0840 on Dec 20. Weak signal (much weaker than the 5045 Ozy R.) and mixed with heavy summertime QRN. Pops and occasional adverts, ID at 0852. At 0900, another ID and then news. Also heard on most of the NZ web SDR remotes with the best being at the Bay of Islands site. At 0904, mention made of the 5055kHz shortwave outlet! By 0920, the signal strength had improved considerably to a reasonably strong and steady level. This station should be audible into Asia, the Pacific and the west coast USA. Get your ears on!! More to come. Rob Wagner VK3BVW

DX QUICK TIPS December 19, 2017 Thanks to Three Guest Contributors! Yes, there has been some solar geomagnetic activity that caused degraded reception conditions - temporarily! - in the past day or so. However, there have still been plenty of opportunities to hear some great DX. My thanks goes to three very experienced DXers - Rob Shepherd (Toowoomba, QLD, Aus), Ron Howard (Asilomar State Beach, CA), and Dave Valko (PA, USA) for offering some great observations and monitoring from the past few days. ROB SHEPHERD 7182v    1800    Asmara, Eritrea.  Top of the hour with talk (Tigrinya ?) and some place names mentioned, so possibly news? Fair to good level actually with some fading but no QRM or jamming from Ethiopia.  Quite a nice signal, probably S3. Back into delightful Horn of Africa instrumental music at 1815.  Left it to follow other leads but the station still there at 1850 at a fair level. Gone by 1900 (presumed too quick for ...

Click on the map for an enlarged view DXPEDITION TO  FRENCH CREEK STATE PARK By our guest contributor, Rich D'Angelo My thanks to long-time expert DXer, Rich D'Angelo, for allowing me to post the results of his fabulous DXpedition to the French Creek State Park, Pennsylvania. There are lots of wonderful DX loggings here that will be of great interest to our US and northern hemisphere readers of the MEDXR blog. Rich writes:   Tuesday-Thursday we did a DXpedition to French Creek State Park. I was joined by Kris Field, John Figliozzi, Rich Cuff and Ed Mauger. It was quite warm when we arrived but cold and wet weather soon arrived.  Overall, listening conditions were pretty good. VOA Botswana on 4930 seems to be running extended schedule these days. It was nice to hear Rádio Nacional Amazônia (11780) once again. I don’t think that I have ever logged the Chinese station on 4990 before (tuned in looking for Apintie). The Voice of Amara on 15360 had a decent ...