Mount Evelyn DX Report

  DX QUICK TIPS June 27, 2025 Reception conditions have been inconsistent over the past two months. It's probably not going to get any better any time soon! At these times, you simply need to keep monitoring the shortwave bands and be prepared for those occasions when the band openings become apparent. During a weekend in mid-June, I attended a statewide Photography Convention in the old gold mining town of Castlemaine, Central Victoria, which was a lot of fun. Of course, it also meant a chance to take a radio out into the bush.  I packed my new SDRPlay RSPduo receiver, the Wolf River coil, and a 5.6m whip antenna and drove to the local Walmer Forest Reserve. Hardly any manmade noise present, so listening was most pleasant. I made two trips there: one in the late afternoon, during which I heard CFRX Canada, Radio Educación, Mexico, and Radio Mali. The second trip, the next morning, started out not going quite as planned.....it helps to connect the antenna! Well, I did say...

  DON'T ALWAYS BELIEVE ChatGPT! I had an amusing little situation happen here a few days ago. My Facebook friend, Bill Harms, has been posting examples from his excellent library of old QSL cards from an earlier era. They have been bringing back wonderful memories as well. One of his recent posts was of a QSL from Radio Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast). Very nice! I have the same QSL card. So, I riffled through my old cards and pulled out my QSL. I wrote a reply to Bill's Facebook post: Despite being regularly heard via both short path (my mornings) and long path (my late afternoons), QSLing this station proved to be a real challenge for me. The first report was for 11920 kHz in December 1971. Then 7215 kHz in April 1972, and 4940 kHz in May 1976. Nothing back for any of those reports. Perhaps my French was just too awful! Finally got the card for reception of 7215 kHz (Home Service in French) on August 22, 1983, between 0647 and 0727 UTC. This was for the late aftern...

  WORLD RADIO TV HANDBOOK FULL INTERVIEW NOW ON YOUTUBE Two weeks ago, I mentioned here that the good folks at the World Radio TV Handbook had invited me onto their Radio Unplugged show for a chat. The title of this episode was DXing Through Time with Rob Wagner . Well, I survived the experience! In fact, it turned out to be an enjoyable and fun time. We discussed my earliest memories of shortwave radio from when I was 14, including my first reception report and QSL card, and how the shortwave scene has evolved over more than five decades in this fantastic hobby.  We also spent time discussing the serious issue of RF man-made interference, along with suggestions and strategies for mitigating that noise in our homes. Hopefully, some of the hints will be helpful for viewers. We also discussed some of the receivers I have here in the radio shack (and there are a few of them!!), along with the antennas I’m using these days. There was time for a few questions at the end. ...