Mount Evelyn DX Report

SPOTLIGHT: RADIO VANUATU (Excerpts of this post were featured in the April 2020 column of  World of Shortwave Listening  in The Spectrum Monitor magazine.  https://www.thespectrummonitor.com ) The island nation of Vanuatu (formerly known as New Hebrides until 1980) is one of the poorest countries in the Pacific. It is an archipelago of 82 islands stretching out across 810 miles with a total area of 4,739 square miles. 65 of the islands are inhabited, and they boast some of the most beautiful scenery in the Pacific with towering mountains, rich tropical forests and coral coastlines. But Vanuatu is also one of the most disaster-prone countries, having been regularly subjected to numerous cyclones, earthquakes and volcanic activity. These natural disasters have inflicted a heavy toll on the economic fortunes of this tiny nation. In March 2015, Cyclone Pam carved out a trail of death and destruction across the entire archipelago with winds gusting up to more t...

DXING WITH THE LIGHTS OUT! Midwinter daytime DX at home with the power grid shut down and the shortwave broadcast bands are full of signals! It doesn't get any better than this! Another day with our local area grid switched off for power line maintenance - it seems to happen 2-3 times a year. We receive around two weeks notice of the planned outage, which gives me PLENTY of time to charge up the 13.8v SLA auto battery and hook up the Yaesu FTDX3000. All my main antennas are still down for maintenance or redesign, so a temporary inverted vee cut for 10MHz does the trick really well for now! It was great to hear some Africans, Brazil and Mexico. All observations made on June 15 and June 16 (UTC time). f/in = fade in,  f/out = fade out ⭐⭐ 5009.92   MADAGASCAR. R. Madagasikara - Ambohidrano. Local pops and Malagasy annct at 2245. A fair signal at first but weakened as the morning progressed to f/out very late around 0010 (10:10am here!). The only signal on the band excep...

DX QUICK TIPS JUNE 13, 2020 Winter hits Mount Evelyn! Daytime low-frequency signals are appearing. Bring it on!! 3215   USA. WWCR - Nashville TN. Bro’ Stair programming at 1035 to s/off 1100. Fair to poor signal. 5890   USA. WWCR - Nashville TN. American preaching at 0515, weak signal, June 6. ⭐⭐ 5915   MYANMAR. Myanmar Radio - Naypyidaw. Contemporary-sounding Burmese pops and anncts at 1050, a weak signal but in the clear, June 11.  ⭐ 6000   CUBA. R. Habana Cube - Quivican. Winter’s here! Afternoon signals are opening up here. RHC’s English service to ENAm fading in at 0435 (2:35pm local), somewhat distorted audio and a weak signal at first but it improved later. June 6. ⭐⭐ 6080   SAÕ TOMÉ. VoA - Pinheira. Very early f/in 0545, English to Af, discussing problems with the Trump administration. Via the long path, a mostly darkness route over the Atlantic, NAm and the northern Pacific. Started as a weak signal but peaked to a...

JOE TAYLOR HINTS  AT POSSIBLE NEW MODE! In a post to the WSJT-X email group today, Joe Taylor K1JT hinted at some ongoing experimentation of a new digital mode with sub-modes. His post was a response to a question about a very early version of the weak signal WSPR mode (version 7) back in 2008. Back then, there was a facility for QSOs to be made between radio amateurs but it was later dropped. Joe included a link to an early Quick Start guide and background information that makes very interesting reading and is worth checking out! (link below) Importantly, however, was the news that the brilliant development team behind WSJT-X is continuing with further experimentations in digital communications. There is no timeline or, indeed any indication that a new mode will see the light of day....but we certainly appreciate their energy and commitment to this fascinating aspect of the radio hobby. Here's Joe's response in the WSJT-X group today: Yes, there once was a WSPR QSO mode.  It ...