Mount Evelyn DX Report: SWL and HAM News - Week ending March 7, 2020

SWL AND HAM NEWS

For the week ending March 7, 2020

Thank you to Ron Howard (CA, USA) for his latest DX notes:

AUSTRALIA. 5055, Radio 4KZ, 1106, March 2. Pop songs (Kim Carnes - "Bette Davis Eyes," etc.); noted 1232:47 s/off, so during the last month, seems to cut off approximately five seconds earlier each day.

INDONESIA. 3325 [non-log] off the air March 2, from 1204+. Was able to hear Voice of Indonesia on 4749.95 (via Cimanggis/Jakarta, via the transmitter that was moved from Makassar), at 1206, in Japanese and mixing with CNR1, as well as CODAR QRM.

KOREA SOUTH. 3475 // 3905 // 3930 // 4450 // 6520 // 6600, Voice of the People, 1210, March 2 (Monday). All were jammed except for 3475, which was in the clear with a very strong signal.

VANUATU. 2485 R. Vanuatu (ex: 5040), March 5 - Radio Vanuatu on 2485 kHz., from 1008 to 1059:46* UT. News, weather ("weather conditions," giving many maximum and minimum temperatures in "Celsius," "outlook tomorrow," etc.) in vernacular; after that mostly religious songs; at 1054, ID and NA; 1055-1059:46*, just an open carrier till off. Poor reception, but one of their better days! My audio, of at times semi-readable weather conditions, at http://bit.ly/3cDExHV. Radio Vanuatu again on 2485, from tune-in at 1006 till the usual 1059:46* UT, on March 6. News (no weather heard today) in vernacular; 1028, some type of promo; non-stop religious songs; at 1059, ID and NA till off the air. This frequency has been observed all this month for this one hour broadcast.
(Thanks for the Vanuatu observations, Ron. It appears that their schedule is still quite variable on 3945 and 5040 kHz. I have not heard 7260 in the last few days so maybe that is off for now. - Rob)

Notes from here at Mount Evelyn these past ten days:

3320 D.P.R.KOREA. PBS Pyongyang Pansong - Pyongyang. Choral selections at 1830, fair signal.

3325 INDONESIA. Voice of Indonesia - Palangkaraya. German service with an Indonesian language lesson at 1840. Music at 1846 until closing ID and anncts at 1858. Into the Dutch service at 1900 with ID and news. These are well-produced, informative and entertaining programs! It is a pity that they languish on a frequency that is best monitored in Indonesia alone! Fair signal, Mar 4.

3945 VANUATU. R. Vanuatu - Emten Lagoon. Bislama news at 1905, sunny forecast weather report at 1910. Not heard at 1800 so perhaps the sign-on is after 1830? Fair signal, Mar 4.

4750 BANGLADESH. Bangladesh Betar - Shavar. The distorted audio problem continues to manifest itself in a service that is probably in English to SAs at 1820, but really it is just too hard to clearly identify the language. But the transmitter carrier is strong. Commentaries and occasional music selections. Mar 4.

6030 ETHIOPIA. R. Oromiya - Addis Ababa. Long discussion program at 1915 in the Oromo language. Horn of Africa songs from 1930. A solid carrier but the audio was quite low. Mar 4.

7590 UZBEKISTAN. North Korea Reform Radio - Tashkent. S/on 2030 in Korean for EAs with the station ID and the usual background theme music of the Haydn Trumpet Concerto, 3rd Movement. Very good signal, Feb 26.

9765 MADAGASCAR. Madagascar World Voice - Mahajanga. Portuguese to SAm at 2105 five-part unaccompanied gospel song. Impressive harmonies!! Fair to poor signal here but blasts into the Brazilian SDRs very well! Feb 26.

11610 MADAGASCAR. Madagascar World Voice - Mahajanga. Mandarin service to WEu at 2116, fair signal, Feb 26.

11745 SAUDI ARABIA. Al-Azm R. - Jeddah. Arabic programming for Saudi military personnel at 2120, good signal, Feb 26.

11860 SAUDI ARABIA. Republic of Yemen R. (R. Sana’a) - Jeddah. Arabic programming at 2127, co-channel QRM from R. Martí-Greenville NC at about equal strength. Feb 26.

Gotcha! - VP8PJ - South Orkney Islands

On March 4, I posted in several Facebook forums my delight at having captured the elusive VP8PJ DXpedition on the FT8 digital, which has been a challenge for many amateurs in Australia. Here's what I wrote:

Spent the past 2 hours following spots and chasing between 40, 30 and 20m, without even a murmur from VP8PJ. Then all of a sudden it broke through on 30m with a -14 signal. Enough to make a contact and then it disappeared again. Pleased with my piddling 50w and a "low profile" inverted vee. Even us plebs with no towers and beams can get lucky once in a while! 😂 The signal path to me is directly over much of Antarctica and this DXpedition has been really hard for us VKs to hear. I feared I was going to miss out before they tear down the site on March 5 and leave the island on March 6.

(The South Orkney Islands are a group of islands in the Southern Ocean, about 604 kilometres north-east of the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula and 844 kilometres south-west of South Georgia Island.- Wikipedia)

The track from the South Orkney Islands crosses much of Antarctica to my Mount Evelyn QTH.

Reading updates from the VP8PJ team as the DXpedition was underway, it appeared that there were times when the weather conditions in the South Antarctic were less than favourable. High winds and pelting rain saw the demise of some of the antennas, so running repairs were the order of the day. Here are further notes posted at the conclusion of the operation:

MARCH 5 @ 11:15 UTC — We are pleased to report that we are nearing 70,000 QSOs in the log. Our plan is to remain active on the bands throughout the day. We anticipate ending radio operations and going QRT at or near 23:59 UTC. Our attention overnight and tomorrow will be devoted to the large chore of packing the gear and then dismantling the camp. As stated previously, we will attempt an upload of the log once aboard the Braveheart as we prepare for departure from Signy Island.

MARCH 6 @ 17:30 UTC – Most of the equipment has now been transferred from the island to the Braveheart, with only a few items left to ferry over. Many team members are already on the Braveheart, the remaining team will be aboard within the next two hours. It has been raining most of the day with cold gusty winds. We are all very tired! Everyone will sleep well aboard the Braveheart tonight.

You can get more information on this DXpedition at https://sorkney.com

Around the World with 0.2 watts!

My little WSPR mode transmitter has been on the air continuously for three days now (except when I am operating the big rig!). Running on 10.1401 MHz in the allocated digital portion of the amateur radio spectrum, it never ceases to amaze me how far this Weak Signal Propagation mode can be monitored on just 200mW. Here is a map of the reported reception of my transmitter by other stations worldwide in one 24 hour period.

Importantly, it also shows when propagation might be possible using other modes at specific times of the 24 hours. It is also a test of the effectiveness of my humble 10m inverted vee antenna. If you happen to receive and decode this beacon, I will QSL your reception!

That's it for now. Have a great weekend and good DX to you all!

Rob Wagner VK3BVW