Mount Evelyn DX Report

DX QUICK TIPS February 22, 2020 Not a week goes by when I don't see people complaining about shortwave reception because of the solar minimum! They tell us that nothing can be heard on the bands. Well, I'm not sure about that! With a good receiver and a decent antenna, there is plenty to listen and explore. During periods when we are at the bottom of the sunspot cycle, the lower frequencies (below 10 MHz) are often enhanced. This is especially so below 6 MHz. For instance, our mediumwave DXing colleagues have been enjoying some great DX below 1600 kHz over the past two years. With less solar activity comes less solar noise, and for readers in the northern hemisphere, you are currently in the peak of the winter DX season. But don't expect to hear some of these signals with a little handheld portable radio and its whip antenna! Remember that whips are, by their very nature, very compromised antennas. They are not going to work effectively on frequencies below 5 MHz...

RADIO AUSTRALIA  SPECIAL EVENT STATION MARCH 14-15, 2020 With the kind permission of Broadcast Australia and many thanks to Rex VK3OF, there will be a S pecial Event Amateur Radio HF station set up at Radio Australia . The call sign will be VI3RA . This special event will be held on Saturday 14th – Sunday 15th, of March 2020 . The event will be commemorated with a special QSL card . Amateur radio operators are invited to register to be on-site to participate in this special event. Site restrictions limit us to no more than six on-site at any one time, so there will be a roster, and reservations for specific time slots are required. (via Shepparton and District Amateur Radio Club - SADARC) Frequencies will be made available as soon as final testing is complete. We hope to cover most of the HF Ham Bands running three bands at once for the entire weekend. (via Rex James, SADARC) Further details as they come to hand. The relevant website is: https://ra.sadarc.org/#!/...

SOME SUNDAY ONLY BROADCASTS Of the remaining broadcasters on the shortwave bands, a number of these are not on daily schedules. Some are weekdays only, some are Monday/Wednesday/Friday, some are weekends only, a few have broadcasts on Saturdays only, and so on. In my search through the schedules, I found an Arabic broadcast that is scheduled for just the 5th Sunday of the month (see the Vatican on 15595 kHz below)! That's just four Arabic broadcasts in 2020 at that particular time slot!  Below is a list of observations made this past weekend - on February 9 - of just a few of the services that are heard on Sundays only. Here in the southern hemisphere, some signals are well down in strength. But for northern hemisphere listeners, you can expect to hear many of these signals at a much stronger level. 5850   USA. WRMI - Okeechobee. Shortwave Radiogram between 0800 and 0830, good signal and // 7730 kHz with a very good signal 6100   CUBA. R....