Mount Evelyn DX Report

  DX QUICK TIPS November 21, 2020 After my last week's  Higher Frequencies Fire Up!  blog post, activity in the 15, 17 and 13m shortwave broadcast bands has tapered off somewhat this week. The amateur bands weren't quite as busy either, although long-distance digital mode QSOs continue to get through on 18 and 21 MHz quite successfully, depending on the time of day. BUT....things may heat up again in the next week or so, and it could prove fruitful to keep an eye out on the higher frequencies.  Although I spent much of my time on the amateur bands this week, here are a few SWBC DX tips and accompanying videos. Ohh! And by the way, I decided to dust off the Kenwood TS2000 transceiver for checking out these shortwave broadcasters, as you will see from the videos below. This first-generation version of the TS2000 is nearly 20 years old now, but still works fine! Especially when we connect it to the 100m long horizontal loop antenna! Nice! 5009.92   MADAGASCAR. R. ...

HIGHER FREQUENCIES FIRE UP! Over the past week, reception conditions on the higher frequencies have vastly improved. There have been some spectacular openings on frequencies above 14 MHz. Why? Well, the Solar Flux Index (SFI) has been registering levels in the low to mid-90s - numbers that we haven't seen for a few years now. During the past two years, the SFI has been bouncing around the low-70s to mid-60s. So, the turnaround over the last week has been striking.  SHORTWAVE BROADCAST BANDS : Here at Mount Evelyn, the biggest telltale sign of changed reception conditions was the 13mb presence of R. France International on 21580 and R. Saudi International on 21670 kHz. Both open their broadcasts at 0900 UTC and reception at that time on November 10 could be best described as "armchair copy"! Reception on other days was not quite as good but still serviceable. The current problem with the 13mb is that there are not many stations using the band, but we could see an increase ...