DX QUICK TIPS AND STATION NEWS - MARCH 2, 2019

DX QUICK TIPS 
AND STATION NEWS
March 2, 2019


A SUMMER AFTERNOON BAND OPENING:

There was a little mini-opening on 9 mHz from Europe to Mount Evelyn on February 27 between 0300 and 0430 UTC (1-2:30 pm AEST). These signals come via the long path across Central America and the South Pacific. They are rarely heard in summer but are a daily occurrence in late autumn through winter and into early spring. So, it was interesting to monitor these signals so early this time of year in summer!

9420   VoGreece - Avlis. Greek programming
9490   R. Republica via Issoudun, France in Spanish
9510   VoA via SM Galeria, Vatican at s/on 0330 in Somali
9570   CRI via Cerrik, Albania in Mandarin
9620   NHK via Nauen, Germany in Japanese
9740   RRI via Tiganesti, Romania in Spanish
9790   RFI via Issoudun, France in French at s/on 0400

Also noted were the weak all-daylight short path signals from Asia (CNR, CRI, AIR, SOH and Vietnam), plus a lone signal from Cuba. After 0400, some additional stations made themselves heard including Iran (9550), Turkey (9700), BBC Madagascar (9915) and WRMI (9955). Overall, some encouraging propagation conditions into southeastern Australia today.

The screenshot here shows the long path signal from Issoudun to Mount Evelyn at 0400 on Feb 27.
The first three-quarters of the trip is in darkness.

Other observations this past week:

👉👉 11650   R. Dabanga – Talata-Volonondry. S/on 0430 in Arabic to Sudan with talks and frequent IDs. NF (ex 9600 via Meyerton). S/off at 0457, weak signal and slight co-channel QRM from CRI’s Vietnamese service. Getting out early before Meyerton closes (see below!)? March 1.

 13590   FRANCE. R. Dandal Kura - Issoudun. S/on 0700 in Kanuri, fair signal, Feb 28.

👍👍 13840   FRANCE. Manara R. - Issoudun. Nothing heard at the scheduled 0700 s/on, but a weak signal began to appear around 0735 with interviews and talks. IDing at 0743 as “Manara Radio International”, then into West African pop songs on native instruments. Closing ID annct at 0758, mad Afro solo music on a native wind instrument, then off at 0800. The station has a Facebook presence at https://www.facebook.com/ManaraRadio/. Some lists are reporting this as R. Nigeria Kaduna, but this has now changed! Feb 25, 26 and 28.

👍 17780   ASCENSION IS. BBC - Ascension. S/on 0700 in Hausa with breezy chat, phone-ins and music selections. An extra frequency for the Nigerian election on this day, Feb 23. A fair to weak signal here, including an 8-second transmission interruption at 0712 and another 5-sec interruption at 0713. F/out around 0745. And again on Feb 25 at 0715, so perhaps a permanent time slot now? However, this service is now reportedly via Dhabayya, UAE as of Feb 26. I checked on Feb 28 and no reception from this changed transmitter site into my location.


Saipan Back Online - Slowly!

Listeners may remember that back on October 25, the category-5 equivalent super Typhoon Yutu struck the Northern Marianas Islands, causing a massive amount of devastation to local communities. In the process, the USAGM (US Agency for Global Media) antennas incurred very heavy damage, taking them off the air. Services from Radio Free Asia were immediately affected, causing some significant changes to its broadcasting services to the East Asian region. Indeed, you can read about the destruction caused to both transmitter sites in this Radio World article..

Well, four months later, I can now tell you that, after reconstruction and repairs, the Saipan transmitter site is slowly returning to the airwaves. As of this week, around five frequencies are back up and running. However, I am not yet permitted to reveal the RFA frequencies currently in use. The Tinian site looks like it will take somewhat longer for repairs to be completed.

Meyerton To Close

As many of you will have already read this week, Jeff White (WRMI) advises that South Africa's SENTECH, the operator of the Meyerton transmitter site, will be closed from March 31. This affects that nation's Channel Africa and the Radio Sonder Grense shortwave service. But other users of the relay station are also significantly affected. For the current B18 transmission season, they include the BBC, Radio Dabanga, NHK, Deutsche Welle, VOA, and AWR using a series of 100 and 250 kW transmitters. So, even with all these broadcasters leasing the facility on a daily basis, it would appear that SENTECH felt that the service was not financially viable in the long term, or (and this is well within the realms of possibility) SENTECH is directing its attention and resources into other business ventures and opportunities.

Whatever the story behind the closure, some people are declaring that this is the end of broadcasting to Africa from the above-mentioned stations. Well, no! These broadcasters still have responsibilities to provide services to Africa (although the BBC has been reducing its African output in the recent past). There is, after all, still the Talata-Volonondry relay site in Madagascar, owned and operated by MGLOB, a Malagasy global business founded by former employees of Radio Nederland, the previous owner. I suspect that MGLOB may be happy to take on some more clients! There are also other relay site options with spare transmitting and scheduling capacity. As they say, "watch this space"!

A Side Note: There is an interesting pdf document that presents information on MGLOB, including technical details of the transmitters and antennas. It makes interesting reading! Download it here!

A Visit to Radio Tarma

Here's a bit of "cross-promotion" for you! Over at The SWLing Post, my good friend, Thomas Witherspoon this week published an substantial article by long-time DXer and knowledgeable Latin broadcasting specialist, Don Moore. Many of us will have monitored Radio Tarma's 4775 kHz shortwave and 1510 kHz mediumwave outlets over the years. It is one of a handful of Latin stations still in operation on the 60m tropical band. Don has recently returned from an extensive tour of Peru, compiling information for his new book "Following Ghosts in Northern Peru". He visited the Radio Tarma studios, met with the station owner/manager Mario Monteverde, and toured the station's mountaintop transmitter site. This is really interesting stuff and is accompanied by some fabulous photos. Check out A Visit to Radio Tarma!


73 and have a great weekend everyone!

Rob Wagner VK3BVW




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© Rob Wagner, Mount Evelyn DX Report, and contributors 2012-2019

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