OPENING THE LOGBOOK - MAY, 1972

Each month, I open the old records to see what I (and others) heard decades ago. It has been fun looking back at old issues of the Australian DX News (ADXN - the newsletter of the Australian Radio DX Club), bringing back lots of memories. Here are some memories from May 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 May, a new group, known as the Union of Asian DXers, began operations. Our long-time friend, Victor Goonetilleke, established this group and published an initial newsletter. It was formed to support the more experienced DXers and intended to cover the Asian DX scene. Incidentally, the UADX is still in operation today as a Facebook group - check it out at: https://www.facebook.com/groups/332654660822467.

Mexican station, XEYU, the shortwave outlet of XEUN Radio Universidad, reappeared on 9600 kHz after two years of inactivity. It was noted by Richard Wood, Louisiana, USA, with an ID at 1400 UTC for its FM, AM and SW outlets. The station was operating throughout the local daylight hours of 1300-0000 UTC.

Some "juicy" shortwave logs were monitored by DXers here in Melbourne during May. Do you remember some of these stations? 3275 R. Mara, Maracaibo, (Venezuela) 3290 Georgetown, Guyana, 3345 R. Clube do Huambo, Angola, 4780 R. Juticalpa, Honduras, 4790 Ondas Portenas (Venezuela), 4930 R. Mil, Santo Domingo, Dominican Rep. Plus 4939 R. Nacional del Ecuador on May 23, heard with a very early fade-in (on late in Quito) around 0600 UTC until after 0900 s/off - heard by four DXers!

This Radio Noumea, New Caledonia QSL was for a sudden, unannounced frequency change to 4912 kHz, first observed by four Australian DXers on April 29, 1972. Hence, the card doesn't refer to that frequency but confirms the report.

Also of interest was R. Carora, Carora (Lara), Venezuela, which had moved to 4910 kHz (ex 5020), noted at 1000. For listeners in Melbourne, the frequency change caused a strong heterodyne with 4907 Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and was later blocked by the sign-on of 4911 Emisora Gran Colombia, Quito, Ecuador, after 1100 UTC. Three exotic DX stations, all on air at the same time, located within 5 kHz on the 60m tropical band, QRMing with each other. Ahhh....those were the days! 😋

Here's another example! 5045 R. Cook Islands (ZK5), Rarotonga, was not always easily heard in my part of the world because it was located at Avarua, on the far side of the island. I always suspected that the mountainous centre of Rarotonga Island somehow blocked the short-path signal, even though the great-circle signal travels only about 5550 km. My suspicions were confirmed when my wife and I visited Raro in 2006. That all-pervasive mountainous hulk with the rocky outcrop known as "The Needle" takes up most of the island. Anyway.....ARDXC member Arnold Gates noted RCI at 0700 with island singing and a clear ID. Of course, listeners needed to be careful not to confuse RCI with 5047 Lomé, Togo (via the long path), and 5045 (≈ 5046) R. Altiplano, La Paz, Bolivia, both on the air at the same time.

Radio Milne Bay, Territory of Papua, announced that there would soon be an increase in power to 10 kW and a change in frequency to 3360 kHz. At the time, the station was running just 250 watts on 3235 kHz, according to the station manager, R. J. Hosking. The changeover was expected around mid-June. Papua New Guinea (PNG) officially gained full independence from Australia on 16 September 1975.

Polish Radio's QSL Series

Long-time DXers will remember the graphical series of QSLs representing different regions of Poland. My cards were collected over the period between 1971 and 1973. Does anyone know how many more designs were distributed by Polish Radio?

Where do I Sign up??

From the NHK Foreign Relations Department, Radio Japan announced an essay contest, the third in a series, to be sponsored by Japan Airlines. Three essays would be selected from all entries, and the authors would be invited to travel to Japan for a week in October 1972. The essay theme was "Upon listening to a Radio Japan program". The essay needed to express opinions on any program broadcast over Radio Japan in May or June. If in English, the submission was required to be around 500 words. The title and language of the particular program selected for the essay were to be stated in the submission. Radio Japan would cover all expenses for the winners' stay in Japan, as well as air travel to and from Japan.

Another Reminder of Crowded Band, pre-HFCC!

Last month, I mentioned the constant battle broadcasters faced in finding available, clear frequencies for their targeted broadcasts to different parts of the world. As if on cue, the ADXN Trail had this comment by Bob Padula:

9700 DW-Kigali. s/on 0545 EE to Africa 16/5 NF ex 9690 mixed with Sofia (BP)

(There has been a great series of changes in the 9690-9700 area! Paris used to run on 9700 0500-0600 to Africa: it moved to 9680. DW-Kigali ran the African service on 9690, now moved to 9700. This leaves BBC-FES clear of QRM 0500-0600, but poor old Sofia on 9700 has now copped the lot! Sofia has “owned” that freq for many years (25 years, according to Richard Wood), and it seems as if there still needs to be some sorting out of the positions. In fact, 9700 is a big mess all round, particularly at 0200 and onwards, with Paris, CBC-Sackville, and Sofia all there. Earlier, at around 0100, we have with Paris, DW-W with its LA service, CBC's Northern Service, Paris' LA service, and Sofia hidden underneath the lot!

Richard Wood also notes this confusion, and says, "I don't generally support the communist stations, but Sofia has showed itself quite conservative in its frequency occupancy and must be granted primacy on 9700" (BP)

For years, Mary Berry was the "QSL Secretary" at FEBA Seychelles.
A rather plain card, but included the all-important confirmation details.

Radio Bolívar Recording - Follow-Up from Last Month

After I published the April 1972 Opening the Logbook post, I discovered a very nice recording of Radio Bolívar's station identification. This comes from the now-archived On The Shortwaves.com website. To have a listen, click the "Play" button below:

Reception Reports Out in May, 1972

The old manual typewriter was kept busy with a few Spanish reception reports to R. Santa Fe (Colombia) 4965, R. Barquisimeto (Venezuela 4990, and La Voz del Centro (Colombia) 6095. English reports went to Rangoon 4725, Emissora Oficial, Luanda, Angola 7245, Abu Dhabi 9695, Madrid 15145, Oslo 11735 and Budapest 15165, amongst other internationals.

May QSLs

FEBA Seychelles 15270, Warsaw 6135, R. Liberty 11935, Prague 11900 and 11910, ETLF Ethiopia 11800, Ankara 11880 and a few others.

Trans World Radio's Monte Carlo site was an ideal location for broadcasting throughout all of Europe. But there were also several services to the Middle East in Arabic, Hebrew, Turkish and Yiddish. The 1466 kHz mediumwave was initially 400 kW. However, in 1974, it was widely heard in many parts of the globe after a boost to 1200 kW!

I hope you enjoyed tripping down memory lane to May 1972 with me. Watch out for next month's instalment!

73 and good DX

Rob Wagner VK3BVW

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