Mount Evelyn DX Report

  THE NEW WRTH HAS LANDED World Radio TV Handbook 2023 A Pre-Review Late this afternoon (Tuesday, Feb 14), my copy of the 2023 WRTH arrived in just five days from placing the online order. This copy appears to have been shipped from England via DHL and couriered locally by Australia Post. Not bad delivery time from England to Australia! NOTE #1: This pre-review does not attempt to check the veracity (accuracy) of the information compiled in the book. That will come with further time to study its contents. For now, I am purely looking at the book's physical characteristics and comparing it with the 2022 copy. And there are some differences to comment on here.  NOTE #2:  For some years now, as my old eyes have aged along with the rest of me, I have found it a struggle to read the small font size of the handbook easily (....yes, even with my reading glasses). If the new owners of the Handbook ever get around to releasing an online version or an app version, I will probably ...

  CLANDESTINE STATIONS UNDER THE MICROSCOPE Part 2 (This post is an edited version of an article I wrote for "The World of Shortwave Listening" column of The Spectrum Monitor magazine - December 2022 issue. Further details on this excellent publication are available at  www.thespectrummonitor.com ) Missed Part 1 of this article?   CLICK HERE! Radio ERISAT Another recent addition to the shortwave dial is Radio ERISAT. Founded in 2018, this broadcaster is a publicly funded non-profit satellite television service, hence the name ERISAT. It claims to offer citizens of Eritrea “an alternative to the government-owned propaganda media outlets.”  Radio ERISAT began its shortwave service in early 2022 with programming in the Tigrinya language consisting of news and commentaries via a satellite TV audio feed. It can be heard every day except Tuesdays and Thursdays, beaming to East Africa at 1800 to 1900 UTC on 11690 kHz via the Talata Volonondry transmitter on the island of Ma...

  DX QUICK TIPS February 2, 2023 Propagation conditions have been variable over the past two weeks. Sometimes the reception of shortwave broadcast stations above 12 MHz was great while at other times it was rubbish! But, things will pick again. They always do! I am in the process of writing another Retro Receiver Review, which hopefully will be finished in the next few weeks. This time it will focus on the Kenwood R-5000 receiver.  I don't often use this rig. So, as it was sitting on the desk there, I thought I'd better turn it on, see if it still worked, and get familiar with it again. Yay! It fired up without a problem. This DX Quick Tips post with the monitoring notes below was all heard on the R-5000, using the 100m horizontal loop, the 10 MHz delta loop, and the 14 MHz double bazooka. 5020   SOLOMON IS. SIBC - Honiara. 1050 English with pop music programming and community anncts. Time check an ID at 1100. Fair signal, Feb 1. 7254.94   NIGERIA. VoNigeria - Abuja...

  CLANDESTINE STATIONS UNDER THE MICROSCOPE Part 1 (This post is an edited version of an article I wrote for "The World of Shortwave Listening" column of The Spectrum Monitor magazine - December 2022 issue. Further details on this excellent publication are available at www.thespectrummonitor.com ) In August 2016, I wrote in this blog about clandestine broadcasting with a two-part series called Clandestine Stations Alive and Well - Part 1 and Part 2 . We discussed how shortwave is an ideal medium for stations wanting to have their voices heard in countries where there may be severe opposition to their political or religious views. At one time, covert operations were restricted to very small transmitter setups, often in the jungles or remote mountainous regions of Asia, Central and South America, and parts of Africa. These days, opposition broadcasting organizations now have access to modern high-powered transmitting facilities and vast antenna arrays provided by sympathetic ...