Mount Evelyn DX Report

  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 r...

  OPENING THE LOGBOOK OCTOBER 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 October 1972—54 years ago!  All frequencies in kHz; all times are UTC (or GMT, as we used to say in those days!). Could Christmas Island have become a new shortwave country? There was a news report in the October '72 ADXN that piqued my interest....and that, until now, I had completely forgotten about. So, I did a little follow-up research for this month's  Opening the Logbook. FACT: Christmas Island is an Australian territory in the Indian Ocean, lying south of Java, Indonesia. A national park covers most of the 135-sq-km island. *  *  * For a brief moment in 1972, Christmas Island looked as though it might become Australia’s newest shortwave outpost, and perh...

  SPOTLIGHT: REACH BEYOND AUSTRALIA HCJB's Voice to the Asia-Pacific This article first appeared in the August 2026 issue of my World of Shortwave Listening column for The Spectrum Monitor magazine. Further details on this excellent publication are available at  www.thespectrummonitor.com From its transmitter site near Kununurra in Western Australia, Reach Beyond Australia remains one of the few major religious shortwave broadcasters in the Southern Hemisphere. Although the organisation adopted the Reach Beyond name in 2014, its roots lie firmly in HCJB (“Heralding Christ Jesus’ Blessings”), the pioneering missionary broadcaster founded in Quito, Ecuador, in 1931. HCJB began broadcasting on Christmas Day 1931 from Quito and became known worldwide as “The Voice of the Andes.” Over subsequent decades, it grew into one of the largest international Christian broadcasting organisations, transmitting in numerous languages via high-power shortwave facilities.   Support for HCJB ...

  SPOTLIGHT: WANTOK - A MELANESIAN VOICE ON THE AIR This article first appeared in the August 2026 issue of my World of Shortwave Listening column for The Spectrum Monitor magazine. Further details on this excellent publication are available at  www.thespectrummonitor.com Radio Australia ceased its shortwave transmissions on 31 January 2017. However, one Radio Australia program can still be heard on shortwave via Radio New Zealand Pacific. The Wantok program is a unique service for listeners throughout Melanesia.   Among the specialised language services heard across the South Pacific, Radio Australia’s Wantok Program stands out for its use of three closely related Melanesian creole languages. Produced by ABC Pacific, the program delivers regional and international news, features, and information in Tok Pisin (Papua New Guinea), Pijin (the Solomon Islands), and Bislama (Vanuatu). By broadcasting in languages widely spoken and understood across Melanesia, the program hel...