WHEN THE POWER GOES OFF

Recently, my local area experienced a sudden power outage. It happened early in the afternoon, interrupting my usual activities around the home. This isn't unusual in our area, where trees often come down, or large branches suddenly fall onto the power lines.

Some time passed before I thought:

"I wish I had my 12v battery charged and ready to go. I could connect any of my desktop radios, fire them up and check out the bands. It's a pity I don't have anything sorted for when the power goes out".

Then I suddenly realised my laptop was charged, and my SDRplay RSPduo receiver was sitting idle in the radio shack. I could use that! Why didn't I think of that earlier?

I suspect it's because, while I often use the RSPduo, it is not the first radio that comes to mind. With a shack full of traditional, classic gear, I tend to gravitate toward the fun of "knobs and buttons".

Anyway, as the power outage dragged on with no sign of returning, I shuffled out to the shack, flung back the curtains to let in some daylight, plugged in the 80m long horizontal skyloop antenna, and started tuning the bands.

When I find myself in a low-noise environment, I tune to the lower frequencies first. I've had this habit for decades. Usually, 13 MHz and above cut through most noise pretty reliably and are better bands for daytime listening. But the lower frequencies will be masked by all sorts of manmade electrical interference. In addition, it's much harder to hear stations between 6 MHz and 12 MHz because daytime D-layer absorption is very high - especially this time of year, in the middle of the Southern Hemisphere's Spring.

Basically, I'm curious which lower frequency broadcasters might be heard if there were no interference. I do this too when I'm on a mini DX trip out in the bush. It's the intrigue of having a low-noise environment. And if I'm lucky, some freakish propagation phenomenon can occur, causing the Absorption Limiting Frequency (ALF) to drop suddenly. It does happen on occasion! However, these days, with so few shortwave broadcasters occupying the lower bands, that occurrence is less noticeable.

* * * *

Here is a list of stations observed between 0500 and 0700 (3:00 to 5:00 pm AEDT) on this day, October 12, 2026:

5935 WWCR - Nashville, TN. 0550 very weak signal, difficult to hear any audible program content (possibly Overcomer Ministry). Improved to a good, readable strength by 0645.

⭐ 5995 MALI. RTV du Mali - Kati. 0650 groovy Malian songs. Frequent Bambara anncts. 0656 - a quick "Radio Mali" ID mid-song with the occasional rooster crowing to wake up the locals. 0659 - into French programming. Confirmed via the Canary Islands Kiwi SDR, where the audio quality was excellent with none of the transmitter noise that is sometimes experienced.

6055 JAPAN. R. Nikkei 1 - Nagara. Early f/on 0635, at a good strength by 0705 with Japanese programming.

6070 CANADA. CFRX - Toronto, ON. F/in 0646, barely audible.

6115 JAPAN. R. Nikkei 2 - Nagara. 0707 Japanese programming. Fair signal.

⭐ ⭐ 6180 GERMANY. Deutscher Wetterdienst - Pinneberg. (Tentative logging, although I'm pretty certain!) 0617 - barely audible, but the carrier was definitely there with just discernible talk. The weather report appeared to be completed around 0622, but the carrier remained on until 0630 precisely! I've never heard this at this time, and it was only possible because of the local power outage. This is long-path propagation made possible by the station's 10 kW. A pleasing catch.

6185 MEXICO. XEPPM R. Educación - Mexico City. Early f/in 0550 due to the power outage, resulting in almost no manmade noise. Weak signal at first, but improved by 0745.

7260 VANUATU. R. Vanuatu - Emten Lagoon. 0505 Early f/in due to power outage. Fair signal and improving. Bislama community programming.

7335 USA. R. Martí -Greenville, NC. 0510 Spanish commentaries easily heard. The other 41m Martí freq were also well heard: 7365, 7435. But 6030 was weak and normally wouldn't be heard here this time of year in Spring.

7570 USA. WRMI - Okeechobee, FL. 0540 weak signal with WRMI programming,

⭐ 7780 USA. R. Slovakia Int’l - Okeechobee, FL. 0528 English to USA, news from Slovakia. 0530 Many station IDs and reflections on the history of R. Slovakia Int’l - interesting listening!! Good signal for this mid-spring afternoon, helped by the power outage that removed most local noise! It was just like listening in the bush!

Interestingly, although nearly all local noise was absent during this period, I still noted the occasional random (and sometimes regularly spaced) carriers (harmonics) in various parts of the shortwave spectrum. I have a theory about why we observe these.....but I'll leave that topic for another day!

All in all, firing up the RSPduo was a great way to spend what would have been a slow and boring afternoon.

MORAL OF THE STORY: Always be ready for radio action whenever the opportunity arises!

73 and good DX to you!

Rob Wagner VK3BVW