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Showing posts from February, 2026

DX QUICK TIPS - February 21, 2026.

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  Trans World Radio transmitter site outside of Manzini, Eswatini. DX QUICK TIPS February 21, 2026 Reception conditions over the past week have been fair to excellent, depending on when you happened to switch on the radio. These days, we don't know whether propagation will be good or poor. It's the luck of the draw and part of the attraction and mystery of shortwave radio. RIGS: SDRPlay RSPDuo, Yaesu FTDX 3000, Kenwood TS2000, Kenwood R5000, Yaesu FRG100, Tecsun PL-680 ANTENNAS: Horizontal Sky Loop 80m long, 10 MHz Delta Loop, 5/8λ Centre-fed vertical for 21 MHz and above.  NOTE: All DX tips below were heard on the above equipment here at Mount Evelyn, NOT on a remote receiver somewhere else in the world! For research purposes, occasional double-checking and reception comparisons in target zones are employed using Kiwi receivers located globally. When sending reception reports to broadcasters, I always use my own receivers and never engage in the unethical practice of using r...

OPENING THE LOGBOOK - FEBRUARY 1972

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We begin this month's "Opening the Logbook" with a touch of Rio! Radio Globo, heard on 11805 kHz during February 1972. OPENING THE LOGBOOK - FEBRUARY 1972 Each month, I open up the old records to see what I (and others) heard from decades past.  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  February 1972—54 years ago!  All frequencies in kHz; all times are UTC (or GMT, as we used to say in those days!). Shortwave News In February, much excitement was generated by early reports of the new commercial station, Swazi Commercial Radio , from Mbabane, Swaziland, operating on the 90 mb frequency of 3223 kHz. First noted in Australia in late February by Bob Padula, the station was heard playing pop songs, with short English announcements and poor-quality modulation! According to "Sweden Calling DXers" and the South African DX Club bulleti...

NEW VOACAP VIDEO - HOW TO MAKE COVERAGE MAPS FOR SHORTWAVE

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NEW VOACAP VIDEO: HOW TO MAKE COVERAGE MAPS FOR SHORTWAVE The third video in this series on VOACAP Online for SWL takes a hands-on, close-up look at how to produce high-quality, colourful coverage maps, just like those used by shortwave broadcasters. My thanks to the webapp's developer, Jari Perkiömäki OH6BG for his wonderful app and assistance in scripting this video. NOTE : This video below will be best viewed in full-screen mode on a larger monitor. If your browser doesn't support full-screen view, you may need to view it on YouTube at  https://youtu.be/foA2JEN0cKc . Links: The VOACAP SWL Online Webapp:   https://voacap.com/swl/ The HFCC  Website :   http://www.hfcc.org 73 and have fun working with VOACAP Online for SWL. Rob Wagner VK3BVW Current local time in Mount Evelyn, Australia CLICK HERE for VK3BVW Live Stream (Clublog) QRZ callsign lookup: Search Callsign lookups provided by qrz.com © Rob Wagner, M...