OPENING THE LOGBOOK
SEPTEMBER 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 September 1972—54 years ago!

All frequencies in kHz; all times are UTC (or GMT, as we used to say in those days!).

My First Mediumwave DXpedition

We begin this month's Opening the Logbook by focusing on mediumwave DX. 54 years ago this month, I went on my first mediumwave DXpedition. Boy, what an education it was!

Australia's foremost DXer, Bob Padula, and I made the trip to Phillip Island, a popular holiday destination about two hours from Melbourne. We rented a little old shack near the town of Cowes and spent several days exploring the region. But at night, the radios were in full swing.

This weekend proved to be a real education in the art of mediumwave DXing. As I mentioned earlier in this blog, it was the era when most Australian and New Zealand mediumwave broadcasters switched off their transmitters around midnight and fired them back up around 5:30 am, leaving much of the MW band vacant for DX signals to appear.

I cannot remember which receivers we took with us. However, I do remember a simple random longwire antenna strung out amongst the tee-trees for shortwave.

On mediumwave, we rotated by hand the traditional homemade passive indoor box loop on a pole in a base. This was decades before signal-boosting active loops appeared on the market. With Aussie broadcasters silent in the wee small hours and very low noise levels on the bands, mediumwave DX was a delight to experience.

Below are my logbook entries on September 15 and 16, along with several recordings made on a reel-to-reel tape machine. As inevitably happens with most magnetic tape, the recordings have deteriorated somewhat over the decades, so I have been trying to rescue them by digitising the recordings before they become unusable.

620 Batra, Egypt. Arabic announcements and Arabic music at 1840.

638 BBC Cyprus. Arabic talks 1845, // 701.

701 BBC Masirah Island. Arabic relay at 1625.

719 BBC Cyprus. Arabic relay at 1835.

773 Cairo, Egypt. Arabic commentary at 1825.

818 Batra, Egypt. Arabic songs at 1824.

830 Karachi, Pakistan. Urdu news 1700. Strong level.

840 DYSR Dumaguete City, Philippines. Telephone talk-back program 1440.. S/off 1500 with call sign, licence information and National Anthem.

841 R. Iran, Tehran. One of the strongest of the Middle East outlets heard, with Farsi talks from around 1630 fade in.

⭐⭐ 844 Tarawa, Gilbert Islands (Now known as the Republic of Kiribati since 1979). On late Saturday with Western pops at 0940. Music. Modulation was strong, but voice intelligibility was poor, making accurate reporting difficult.

872 Cairo, Egypt. Arabic music and announcements at 1900.

887 Dammam, Saudi Arabia. Arabic talks and music at 1820.

⭐⭐ 918 Phnom Penh, Khmer Republic (Now known as Cambodia). Khmer talks at 1505; strong. Power: 120 kW.

⭐⭐ 1040 KHVH Honolulu, Hawaii. Continuous news 1535, through to 1600. Splash from Melbourne's 3DB 1030 and co-channel QRN from a Chinese speaker. At the time, it was believed to be the first reception from Victoria, although it had been reported from NSW and Queensland earlier this year. A highlight! See the video below:

1060 Diyarbakır, Turkey. Turkish music, good level at 1815.

1106 Batra, Egypt. Arabic songs and announcements at 1812.

1115 DYRM, Philippines. Tagalog ads at 1202, quite strong.

1124 El Beida, Libyan Arab Republic. Arabic announcements at 1811. Power: 1000 kW. Distance: 14,957 km (9,294 mi). El Beida is also known as al Baydā. The town is about 800 km from Tripoli (as the crow flies) but much longer by car.

The all-night path between the Libyan coastal town of El Beida and Phillip Island,
as it would have been on September 16, 1972.

1155 Tanta, Egypt. Koran program at 1807.

1160 R. Moscow Arabic service noted here 1808.

⭐⭐ 1232 R. Monte Carlo relay via Cape Greco, Cyprus. Arabic announcements at 1755, with French and Arabic pop songs. French ID at 1800 as "Monte Carlo", then continued in French with French pop songs. Quite strong at times from its 600 kW.

Monte Carlo's QSL for their relay via Cape Greco, Cyprus, 1232 kHz

1250 R. Moscow Japanese service well heard at 1050.

1259 VOA Rhodes, Dodecanese Islands. Strong with Special English at 1620.

1345 National Broadcasting Station, Thailand. Thai talks, orchestral music at 1525.

1345 Kuwait. Arabic songs, announcements at 1750.

1440 JOWF. Fade-in as early as 0920, mixing with 1ZK New Zealand.

1457 Constanta, Romania. Strauss waltzes at fade-in 1720. Distance: 14,805 km (9,199 mi)

1466 R. Moscow home service (Ukraine location listed) at 1630 fade-in.

⭐⭐ 1466 Monte Carlo, Monaco. French announcements with pop music 1735, mixed with USSR. Distance: 16,467 km (10,232 mi).

1475 Vienna, Austria. German news 1732. Distance: 15,818 km (9,829 mi).

1480 R. Thailand, Chiang Mai. Thai anns 1310, mixed with R. Hauraki.

1520 Radio 2-0, Bangkok, Thailand. English news 1510.

⭐⭐ 1529 Vatican R. Romanian service 1740, IDS 1744 (Carillon melody). ID in Bulgarian 1745, then into Bulgarian program. Mixed with USSR Chinese service, frequency separation less than 1 kHz. Rare!! Distance: 16,034 km (9,963 mi)

Vatican Radio 1529 kHz mediumwave outlet that arrived in one month by airmail.
Distance: 16,034 km off the box loop antenna.

⭐⭐ 1538 Djibouti, Afars and Issas. Another rare one! North African music on stringed instruments, very quaint, at 1635. Short announcements in Arabic-like language, into what appeared to be IDs at 1700, continued with N. African vocals, then into French play at 1701. Quite strong at times. About half an hour later, Deutschlandfunk-Mainflingen appeared faintly underneath. See the video below:

1550 FEN (Far East Network-AFRTS) Itazuke, Japan. Pop songs 1520 and heard well throughout the rest of the morning.

1555 DYLA, Cebu, Philippines. Nominally 1550, entertainment level 1030 with Tagalog anncts and pops.

⭐⭐ 1554 Nice, France. French announcements and pops 1710, fair level only. Distance: 16,480 km (10,240 mi).

The signal path as it would have been between Nice and Phillip Island
on September 16, 1972. It was sunset in Nice, nearly 16,500 km away!
Heard on a passive box loop antenna.

Four months later, in the summer of January 1973, we went on another MW DXpedition and heard more exciting signals. But you will have to wait for those memories!

Disintegrating QSLs!

Here's something to horrify the QSL worshippers!

A long time ago, a small but important group of QSLs in my collection suffered water and mould damage. Unfortunately, I didn't spot this problem until years later. I lost about five rare cards. One of them is "featured" below.

Sudwestfunk- Rohrdorf, West Germany. This card for 7265 kHz arrived in
pristine condition in September 1972, taking three weeks to arrive by airmail.
Oh well....! It's just a bit of paper! 😀

Shortwave and Mediumwave News

ALGERIA - Radiodiffusion Télévision Algérienne tested a new longwave transmitter on 254 kHz. Announcements in French, Spanish, English, and other languages. Reception reports were requested and sent to 21 Boulevard des Martyrs, Algiers. RTA was also installing a 2nd longwave transmitter of 1200 kW to operate on 155 kHz.

BRUNEI - According to the Chief Engineer at the station, Radio Brunei will verify reports only for reception outside of a 2000-mile radius. Reports from localities closer than this are not considered to be "DX" reports. (from Gus Saw, Malaysia)

CANADA - Alok Das Gupta, writing in the bulletin of the Radio DX Club of India, reports that best reception at his location in Calcutta was on 21595 kHz, and that he, along with many other Indian listeners, hopes that Radio Canada International will soon introduce a regular service to his part of the world.

CONGO (REP) - From ARDXC member David Foster, according to a BBC news item on September 23, the Congolese government had nationalised the ORTF station in Brazzaville due to economic disagreements between France and the Congo. After checking, neither 15190 nor 21500 were audible.

ISRAEL - Six 300 kW SW transmitters were being installed for the Israel Broadcasting Authority, and a new service to Asia is proposed. (via D. Rajasekhar, in the RDXCI bulletin)

MALAYSIA - Identifying Radio Malaysia services: In 1972, within the Home Service, there were four main networks – 1) National, Malay, 2) Blue, English, 3) Green, Chinese, 4) Red, Indian.

To aid identification, here is a summary of station announcements in Bahasa Malaysia (Malay):

1) Ini-lah Radio Malaysia, Rangkaian Nasional (Nah-sio-narl)

(This is the National Network of Radio Malaysia)

2) Ini-lah Radio Malaysia, Rangkaian Biru (Bee-ru)

(This is the Blue Network of Radio Malaysia)

3) Ini-lah Radio Malaysia, Rangkaian Hijau (hee-jau)

(This is the Green Network of Radio Malaysia)

4) Ini-lah Radio Malaysia, Rangkaian Merah (May-rah)

(This is the Red Network of Radio Malaysia)

All four Networks were nationalised in late 1971, and therefore all announcements are in Bahasa Malaysia, except commercially sponsored programming, or adverts, news, or talks in the respective Network languages. (From Gus Saw, Malaysia)

MALAYSIA - Kuala Lumpur operates on 6100 for a daily "Voice of Malaysia" service in Thai, not shown in WRTVH-72, from 1315-1345. This freq. was also used for the Mandarin broadcasts, and the Thai transmission was introduced in late January 1972.

PAPUA - R. Milne Bay made the move to 3360 (ex 3235) on August 28. A one-day test transmission was made on March 5 (the broadcast was heard by Robert Hanner and verified by him as a "first"). Power is now 10 kW, and the new transmitter is situated on the Papuan mainland at Alotau, along with the District Headquarters of the administration, and studio and offices. The old facilities were located at Samarai, a small (57-acre) island in the China Strait. The old 250-watt transmitter has also been brought to Samarai, where it is used as a standby unit. The Australian PMG's Dept. built the new transmitter, and the PNG Dept. of Posts and Telegraphs will handle maintenance. (from the Assistant General Manager of the station).

PHILIPPINES - The VOA has reintroduced (after 3 years) the two low-powered 15 kW transmitters at Poro, to accommodate extended VOA Vietnamese programming and expanded AFRTS services. The Vietnamese services were on 11730 (1330-1700) for further relay by the Bangkok facilities (1580 kHz mediumwave) - virtually a "tandem" relay. AFRTS programming was now 24-hrs, relayed from Poro to SEAsia: - 5995 kHz (15kw) 2130-0100, 15110 kHz (50kw) 0100-1130, 1330-1630, 15110 kHz (15kw) 1130-1330, 6005 kHz (35kw) 1630-2130.

SIERRA LEONE - According to a news item from the ABC, a committee has been set up to choose a new name for the country. It is reported that some local people there have had difficulty pronouncing the new name! If a new name is in fact introduced, this would not mean a new country for ARDXC Ladders!

INTERNATIONAL WATERS - R. Northsea International had been testing since June 14 on 1367 kHz with an output of 90 kW, instead of the former 40 kW. The station was interested in reception reports on this frequency. Work was continuing on the second MW transmitter, which was planned to operate on 770 kHz with 10 kW.

This Radiodiffusion-Télévision Gabonaise QSL for 4777 kHz
arrived at the end of September, six weeks after posting my French reception report.
I'm glad I saved the envelopes for some of my QSLs. The stamps are fabulous!

What I was hearing during September on shortwave

3277 - RRI-Djakarta, Indonesia. s/on annots 1200 in Indon then nx, fair level.

3905 - RRI-Djajapura, Indonesia. Indon vocals 1040, 30/9, // 6070 also heard.

4110 - Urumchi. Sinkiang Province, China, Chinese news 1210. The spelling has now changed to Ürümqi, and the province is known as Xinjiang.

4855 - RRI-Palembang, Indonesia. Indonesian songs in variety show 1221.

4950 - Kuching, Sarawak. R. Malaysia, 1053 Chinese service, w/talks and music.

5869 - Pyongyang, North Korea. Korean talks at 1025.

7175 - VTVN, Saigon, South Vietnam. Vietnamese news at 1100, good level.

7180 - Baghdad, Iraq. Home service in Arabic, songs 1952.

7312 - Voice of Pathet Lao (Clandestine). Talk by a lady in Laotian 1205, the parallel 4660 kHz was also heard.

11620 - Dacca, Bangladesh. Bengali news 1237 under co-channel AIR, poor.

11900 - Tunis, Tunisia. Arabic commentary 2012.