OPENING THE LOGBOOK - NOVEMBER 1971
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| Radio Nepal |
OPENING THE LOGBOOK - NOVEMBER 1971
In October, we launched a new series on our MEDXR blog, which received strong positive reactions from our regular readers. Each month, I open up the old records to see what I (and others) heard during that month. It has been fun looking back at old issues of the Australian DX News (the newsletter of the Australian Radio DX Club), bringing back lots of memories. Here are some memories from November 1971—54 years ago!
All frequencies in kHz; all times are UTC (or GMT, as we used to say in those days!).
The Logbook
As we all know, seasonal changes are required for the transmission schedules of international broadcasters. So, a new transmission period began on November 7, 1971, and ended on March 4, 1972. Many of us were logging and reporting new frequencies during November.
Although we were on the back end of Sunspot Cycle 20, reception conditions continued to hold out on 13 mb, where 29 frequencies were reported during November. There were even some openings on the 11 mb during our evenings with loggings of three strong 25 MHz freqs in use by VOA's transmitter sites at Greenville, Tangier and Monrovia! We were, of course, coming into the start of the southern hemisphere's summer season.
There was also widespread reception of the new outlet for WINB, Red Lion, PA, on 15340. And we waited expectantly for the new Radio Nederland relay station on Madagascar to begin test transmissions during December. The station was offering a special QSL card for all correct reports.
The following are from my logbook at that time:
9545 Deutsche Welle - Sines, Portugal. S/on 2115 in Czech, NF (ex 9650), but with QRM from Accra, Ghana on the same frequency, Nov 12.
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| DXers with long memories will recall the impressive, informative multi-folded QSL from Papua New Guinea, featuring a map and chart of PNG stations scattered across the country. Most stations sent out the same folded verification, wrote in their own personal details, and gave it the station's official rubber stamp. This one is from Radio Daru (Western Districts). |
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| Hashemite Broadcasting Service in Jordan |
Reception Reports
As November was the month of new frequencies, most of my reports were going to the standard international broadcasters, including:
Hanoi, NHK, Radio Free Europe, Radio Moscow, Deutsche Welle - Koln and Sines, VOA - Monrovia, Havana, HCJB, All India Radio, FEBC, Paris, BBC-Ascension, R. Australia - Darwin and Shepparton, Lisbon, Vienna, Red Cross, ORTF Brazzaville, Prague, R. Mexico (XERMX) (17835), WINB, R. Canada, WNYW and Rome. All in all, I sent 37 reports in that month.
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| My QSL from the Rhodesia Broadcasting Corporation, Salisbury. Between the 1950s and the 1970s, political and boundary changes occurred frequently in this part of the world. Sometimes, new QSLs with name changes weren't sent off to the printer! The country is now known as Zimbabwe (since 1980), and Salisbury is now called Harare (since 1982). |
QSLs in the Mailbox
The family's letterbox received around 34 QSLs that month. Some of the highlights were
Voice of Free China 9685,
R. Western Districts, Daru, PNG 3305 (see above)
R. Republik Indonesia - Jogjakarta 5047,
R. Malaysia - Kuching 7160 (see below),
Rhodesia Broadcasting Corp, Salisbury 3306 (see above)
Jeddah 9670,
Tenerife 11800
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| From 1971 is this verification from Rádio Clube do Pará, Brazil. I wrote my reception report in Portuguese. |
"From the Verifications" section of ADXN, I reported receiving the following cards and letters in the previous few months:
- Ecuador: Canal Manabita 4815 (actually logged on 4823 kHz!), along with a large pennant and postcard. It arrived in 2.5 months for my report in Spanish.
- Honduras: La Voz Evangelica 4820 - a card and attractive stamps on the envelope. Arrived in 3 weeks for an English report.
- Brazil: Radio Clube do Para 4865 - Letter in Portuguese confirming the report and also sent a selection of Brazilian stamps. Arrived in 6 weeks for a report in Portuguese. (see above)
- Argentina: Radio Nacional 6060 - Received the usual green-and-white card, but they mistakenly quoted the frequency for the international service! Arrived in 4 months for an English report.
- Thailand: Thai TV 6012 - Letter received via registered mail, indicating that transmitter power was 15 kW. Arrived in 3 weeks.
- Nepal: Radio Nepal 4600 - Full detailed white card, signed by K. B. Khatry, Chief Engineer, received in 5 weeks. (see above)
- Jordan: Hashemite Broadcasting Service (later known as Radio Jordan) 7155 - Colour postcard of a church, received in 4 weeks airmail. (see above)
- Comoro Islands: ORTF - Moroni 3331 - Letter in French, reply in 3 weeks for an English report.
- Botswana: Radio Botswana 4845, colour card showing desert patrol camels, received in 1.5 months.
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| Radio Malaysia, Sarawak, with its transmitter site in Kuching, the capital of Sarawak. |
Other News from the November 1971 ADXN
- Some Aussie DXers were enjoying reception of Radio Nacional de Venezuela in Caracas on 11725 and 15400 kHz between 2000 and 2300 UTC. There was speculation on how long this new "International Service" would last! Propagation was via the long path, across Africa and the Indian Ocean.
- A new station, Radio Ayacucho, Peru, was heard on 9601 kHz at 1040 with Andean music, as reported by "BADX".
- The clandestine, Radio Euzkadi, "the Voice of the Basque Underground," was noted here in Australia on 12075 at 2130 in Spanish, and 13280 at 2055 with an English commentary. This well-known clandestine organisation represented the Basque people's struggle for autonomy. It was a good QSLer, too!
- The newsletter mentioned the Pakistan-India border crisis, which was drawing to a close. There was speculation that the three countries involved - India, West Pakistan (known as Pakistan today) and East Pakistan (now known as Bangladesh) - would all become "deleted countries" for the purposes of the ARDXC Countries List.
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© Rob Wagner, Mount Evelyn DX Report, and contributors 2012-2026
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