Mount Evelyn DX Report

OPENING THE LOGBOOK - JULY 1972

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Wagner) — Sun, 12 Jul 2026 12:25:04 +0000

OPENING THE LOGBOOK - JULY 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 July 1972—54 years ago!

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

Winter DX at its Best! - The Latin American Survey

The August 1972 issue of the Australian DX News was a big one, with every section chock-full of great DX news from throughout July! A special inclusion was the Latin American Survey, which was conducted in June and July and subsequently published in the August ADXN. It is fascinating to note the range of broadcasters, many now long-forgotten, that were heard by Australian DXers located in Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, Tasmania, South Australia and Western Australia!

The survey covered the 90, 60, and 49-metre bands and included nearly 140 separate entries, plus about a dozen unidentified stations. Not bad for just two months of listening!! Here is the list of stations noted by the survey participants. I've excluded all the sign-on, sign-off, fade-in, and fade-out data.

How many of these do you remember?

3240 Peru. R. America (Lima).

3245 Venezuela. R. Libertador (Caracas).

3255 Venezuela. La Voz del Tigre (El Tigre).

3275 Venezuela. R. Mara (Maracaibo).

3290 Guyana. Guyana Broadcasting Service (Georgetown).

3325 Ecuador. Ondas Quevedenas (Quevedo).

3325 Venezuela. R. Monagas (Maturín).

3360 Guatemala. La Voz de Nahuala (Nahuala).

3365 Venezuela. R. Tovar (Tovar).

3380 Guatemala. R. Chortis (Chiquimula).

3381 Ecuador. R. Iris (Esmeraldas).

3385 Venezuela. R. Barcelona (Barcelona).

3390 Ecuador. R. Zaracay (Santo Domingo de los Colorados)

4679 Ecuador. R. Nacional Espejo (Quito).

4755 Colombia. Emisora Nuevo Mundo (Bogotá).

4760 Venezuela. R. Frontera (San Antonio).

4765 Ecuador. Radiodifusora del Ecuador (Quito).

4770 Venezuela. R. Bolívar (Ciudad Bolívar)

4775 Ecuador. R. El Progreso (Loja)

4780 Venezuela. La Voz de Carabobo (Valencia).

4780 Honduras. R. Juticalpa (Juticalpa).

4785 Peru. R. Atlántida (Iquitos).

4790 Venezuela. Ondas Portenas (Puerto La Cruz).

4791 Ecuador. Sistema de Emisoras Atalaya (Guayaquil).

4796 Bolivia. R. Nueva América (La Paz).

4800 Venezuela. R. Lara (Barquisimeto).

4807 Ecuador. R. Popular Independiente (Cuenca).

4810 Venezuela. R. Popular (Maracaibo).

4815 Ecuador. R. Canal Manabita (Portoviejo)

4820 Ecuador. R. Paz y Bien (Ambato).

4820 Honduras. La Voz Evangélica (Tegucigalpa).

4825 Ecuador. R. Luz y Vida (Loja).

4832 Costa Rica. R. Capital (San Jose).

4845 Colombia. R. Bucaramanga (Bucaramanga)

4860 Venezuela. R. Maracaibo (Maracaibo).

4870 Venezuela. R. Tropical (Caracas).

4875 Bolivia. La Cruz del Sur (La Paz).

4880 Venezuela. R. Universo (Barquisimeto).

4881 Dominican Republic. Radio Comercial (Santo Domingo).

4885 Colombia. Ondas del Meta (Villavicencio).

4885 Brazil. R. Acreana (Río Branco).

4890 Venezuela. Radiodifusora Venezuela (Caracas).

4895 Brazil. R. Bare Manaus.

4900 Venezuela. R. Juventud (Barquisimeto).

4905 Colombia. Emisora Atlántico (Barranquilla).

4910 Dominican Republic. R. HIN (Santo Domingo).

4910 Venezuela. R. Carora (Carora)

4911 Ecuador. Emisora Gran Colombia (Quito).

4915 Colombia. R. Guatapuri (Valledupar).

4916 Ecuador. R. El Trebol (Zaruma).

4920 Honduras. R. Progreso (El Progreso).

4923 Ecuador. R. Quito (Quito).

4930 Dominican Republic. R. Mil (Santo Domingo)

4930 Venezuela. R. Junín (San Cristóbal).

4930 Ecuador. R. Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana (Quito).

4935 Peru. R. Tropical (Tarapoto).

4939 Ecuador. Radiodifusora Nacional del Ecuador (Quito).

4940 Venezuela. R. Yaracuy (San Felipe).

4945 Colombia. R. Colosal (Neiva)

4950 Venezuela. R. Coro (Coro).

4955 Colombia. R. Nacional (Bogotá)

4960 Venezuela. R. Sucre (Cumana).

4965 Colombia. R. Santa Fe (Bogotá)

4970 Venezuela. R. Rumbos (Caracas)

4980 Venezuela. Ecos del Torbes (San Cristóbal).

4990 Venezuela. R. Barquisimeto (Barquisimeto).

4995 Brazil. R. Brasil Central (Goiânia).

4996 Peru. R. Andina (Huancayo).

5010 Dominican Republic. R. Cristal (Santo Domingo).

5010 Peru. R. Eco (Iquitos).

5015 Grenada. R. Grenada (St. George's)

5020 Colombia. Transmisora Caldas (Manizales).

5030 Venezuela. R. Reloj Continente (Caracas).

5035 Colombia. La Voz de Caquetá (Florencia).

5035 Ecuador. R. Centinela del Sur (Loja).

5040 Venezuela. R. Maturin (Maturin).

5050 Venezuela. R. Mundial (Caracas).

5062 Ecuador. R. Católica del Ecuador (Quito).

5075 Colombia. R. Sutatenza (Bogotá)

5095 R. Sutatenza (Bogotá).

5873 Honduras. La Voz de Honduras (Tegucigalpa).

5955 Guatemala. R. Cultural (Guatemala)

5955 Brazil. R. Gazeta de São Paulo (São Paulo)

5962 Colombia. La Voz de Bogotá (Bogotá)

5965 Brazil. R. Guaíba (Porto Alegre)

5970 Peru. R. El Sol (Lima)

5975 Brazil. R. Guaruja (Florianópolis)

5980 Peru. R. Panamericana (Lima).

5980 El Salvador. R. Nacional de El Salvador (San Salvador)

5985 Argentina. R. Splendid (Buenos Aires.

5998 Brazil. R. Inconfidência (Belo Horizonte).

6005 Bolivia. R. Progreso (La Paz).

6006 Costa Rica. R. Reloj (San José).

6010 Ecuador, HCJB La Voz de los Andes (Quito).

6010 Venezuela. R. Los Andes (Mérida).

6015 Ecuador. HCJB La Voz de los Andes (Quito).

6015 Colombia. R. Mira (Tumaco)

6020 Peru. R. Victoria (Lima)

6020 Netherlands Antilles. R. Nederland (Bonaire-Noord).

6025 Brazil. Emissora Piratininga (São Paulo).

6030 Colombia. R. Nacional (Bogotá).

6035 Brazil. R. Globo (Rio de Janeiro).

6037 Costa Rica. Faro del Caribe (San José)

6040 Colombia. La Voz del Tolima (Ibagué).

6045 Brazil. R. Clube Paranaense (Curitiba).

6045 Peru. R. Santa Rosa (Lima).

6050 Honduras. R. America (Tegucigalpa).

6050 Ecuador. HCJB La Voz de los Andes (Quito).

6060 Cuba. R. Havana (Havana)

6060 Argentina. R. Nacional (Buenos Aires).

6065 Colombia. R. Super (Bogotá).

6075 Uruguay. R. Ariel (Montevideo).

6075 Colombia. R. Sutatenza (Bogotá).

6082 Peru. R. Nacional (Lima).

6095 Brazil. Radiodifusão de São Paulo (São Paulo).

6095 Colombia. La Voz del Centro (El Espinal).

6095 Peru. R. Nacional Mil Ochenta (Lima).

6100 Venezuela. Señales Horarios (Caracas).

6100 Chile. R. Calama (Calama).

6105 Colombia. R. Vision (Medellín).

6110 Netherlands Antilles. Trans World Radio (Bonaire).

6115 Colombia. La Voz del Llano (Villavicencio),

6115 Peru. R. Union (Lima).

6119 Venezuela. R. Angostura (Ciudad Bolívar)

6120 Haiti. R. 4VEH (Cap Haitien).

6120 Argentina. R. El Mundo (Buenos Aires).

6125 Colombia. R. Continental (Bogotá).

6125 Honduras. R. Suyapa (San Pedro Sula). 1

6125 Brazil. R. Nacional (São Paulo).

6135 Brazil. R. TV Gaúcha (Porto Alegre).

6135 Chile. R. Universidad de Concepción (Concepción).

6140 Colombia. R. El Sol (Cali).

6160 Colombia. Emisora Nueva Granada (Bogotá).

6175 Brazil. R. Guarani (Belo Horizonte).

6180 Venezuela, R. Turismo (Valera)

6185 Brazil. R. Bandeirantes (São Paulo).

My July QSLs

I was delighted to receive QSLs and letters from Emisora Nuevo Mundo (Bogota) 4755 kHz, 4VEJ Haiti 11835, Yaounde, Cameroon 4972.5, R. Liberation, North Vietnam 10010 and a couple of internationals. Some of these QSLs are below:

Radio Liberation, Hanoi, North Vietnam
Read more about R. Liberation in Opening the Logbook (Feb 1972)

This schedule and the QSL took five months to arrive from Paris.

Emisora Nuevo Mundo card arrived in only one month!

Two for the Price of One!

It was hard enough to get one QSL from an African station... let alone two - for the same broadcast on the same day at the same time. The same person at the national station in Yaounde, Cameroon, sent me two cards for the same reception report, but three weeks apart (check the postmarks). I didn't complain, especially as they were two different designs. Sometimes we struck it lucky!

Spotlight on 4VEH, Haiti

While the Haitian station 4VEH could be heard throughout much of the Americas, its low-powered signals, located smack bang in the middle of the highly populated 31- and 25-metre bands, made it much more challenging for Australian DXers. From my home in 1972, I was looking at nearly 16,000 km (9940 mi). So, for me, this is a highly prized QSL.

For more than 40 years, Radio 4VEH was a well-known Caribbean broadcaster. Operated by the East and West Indies Bible Mission, the station signed on from Cap-Haïtien, Haiti, on 2 June 1950, using a home-built transmitter of around 400 watts on approximately 9885 kHz. Despite its modest power, reception reports soon arrived from around the world, demonstrating how effective shortwave propagation could be under favourable conditions. As the station expanded, its transmitting facilities were relocated to Petite Anse, while the studios remained at Vaudreuil. You can still see the 4VEH transmitter site in the salty marshland outside Cap-Haïtien. Copy and paste the following decimalised geo-coordinates into the Google Maps search bar for an aerial view (unfortunately, there is no Street View):

19.733016166872826, -72.17821635619372

During the 1960s and 1970s, 4VEH became a familiar presence on the international bands, broadcasting Christian programming in English, French, Spanish and Haitian Creole. Its best-known frequencies were 9770 (4VEH) and 11835 kHz (4VEJ), with the World Radio TV Handbook listing transmitter powers of 2 to 2.5 kW. The station also operated on 15280 kHz (4VWI) with a transmitter rated at just 350 watts, probably intended to provide local daytime coverage across Haiti and the surrounding Caribbean. Other frequencies used included 2450 and 6120 kHz (4VE). In Melbourne, we could sometimes get 6120 on the all-dark path in our winter evenings between 1000 and 1100 UTC. By the late 1960s, 4VEH reported receiving around 15,000 listener letters each year, reflecting its popularity with audiences at home and overseas.

4VEH Transmitters in 1968 (courtesy of "Let the Rocks Cry Out")

Like many broadcasters operating in politically unstable regions, 4VEH faced its share of difficulties. In May 1968, after a rebel landing near Cap-Haïtien, the station was accused of aiding the invasion and was forced off the air for 40 days. According to radio historian Jerome S. Berg, broadcasting resumed only after representatives of the station’s American owners, the Oriental Missionary Society, met with Haitian President François Duvalier. The interruption proved temporary, and 4VEH soon returned to the air, continuing its ministry to listeners throughout the Caribbean and beyond.

The station’s international shortwave service ended in 1982, although its domestic tropical-band outlet on 4930 kHz operated intermittently at around 1.5 kW, alongside the medium-wave service. Berg notes that the 4930 kHz transmitter fell silent in 1991 while awaiting replacement parts, but it never returned to the air. Although the frequency was still listed in the 1992 edition of the World Radio TV Handbook, it disappeared from the following edition, marking the end of shortwave broadcasting from 4VEH. Today, the ministry continues to serve Haiti through its medium-wave and FM services, complemented by internet streaming, a mobile app, television and social media.

Click on the letter for a larger view.

And in other news......

AFGHANISTAN - Adrian Peterson, reporting from Kabul, noted that the Radio Afghanistan outlet of 3390 kHz was reactivated for use in a new regional language service: 10 kW, s/on 1300 with news in Pashto 1315, then programming in Uzbek and Turkmen. This was parallel to 660 kHz MW, with target areas in tribal Afghanistan and the northern border provinces.

BYELORUSSIAN SSR - On 7420, Radio Minsk, rarely heard in Australia, was noted by David Foster at 2130 with the interval signal, an ID and news in Byelorussian. Great catch!

FIJI - Arthur Cushen reported that Radio Fiji was planning to discontinue shortwave on July 1, preferring MW and FM. As it turned out, this was not the case. The station eventually switched off the shortwave transmitters in late September. I acquired two QSLs from Fiji, but one was destroyed by water damage.

MALAWI - Gerry Wood of the South African DX Club reported a new commercial station, "Lakeland Radio," between 1900 and 2100 on 5995 kHz. However, the station only lasted about one year after this report, on 6000 and 9510, using the facilities of the Malawi Broadcasting Corporation.

PAPUA - Milne Bay was noted by Robert Hanner on the new frequency 3360 (ex 3235), testing a new 10 kW transmitter (ex 250 watts!).

TURKEY - Ankara Metrological Radio was planning to operate only on 6900 (currently using both 6900 and 6890), with a power of 2.5 kW. Current sked: 0455-0700, 0800-0940, 1200-1615, 1800-1930, with Turkish folk-music and weather information (Arthur Cushen)

Well, that's about it for July, 1972. I hope you enjoyed this walk down memory lane. Let's meet again next month to reminisce about August 1972.

Rob Wagner VK3BVW

Current local time in
Mount Evelyn, Australia

CLICK HERE for VK3BVW Live Stream (Clublog)

QRZ callsign lookup:

NEW VIDEO: "They Shut Down BBC Longwave. Australia Rebuilt This."

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Wagner) — Wed, 08 Jul 2026 04:53:55 +0000

NEW VIDEO:
"They Shut Down BBC Longwave.
Australia Rebuilt This."

This is just a quick alert to an excellent new YouTube video by Andrew VK4KWM that makes some great points about the recent closure of the BBC longwave transmitter. In the notes section of the video, Andrew points out:

The closure of BBC Radio 4 Long Wave was presented as another 'so called' inevitable step away from ageing broadcast technology.

But one Australian transmitter site tells a very different story.

This video looks at what happens when engineering, geography and resilience matter more than trends and why some enormous broadcast systems may still have an important role to play.

It also raises a much bigger question about what countries lose when powerful radio infrastructure is allowed to disappear.

Check out Andrew's video! Here's the link:

https://youtu.be/rz7gTLumcm8

Having visited the Brandon site in 2016, I was particularly interested to see what Andrew had to say. He tells me that the HF antennas and the surrounding grounds appear to be well-maintained, which is a relief! It would be good to hear from BAI Communications on what they intend to do with the HF part of the installation.

My old video is at:

https://youtu.be/G1buQ09ivHE

Thanks, Andrew, for the update. Much appreciated.

73 and good DX,

Rob Wagner VK3BVW

Current local time in
Mount Evelyn, Australia

CLICK HERE for VK3BVW Live Stream (Clublog)

QRZ callsign lookup:

ACROSS THE DARKNESS - Understanding the propagation, antennas and reception of the BBC Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Wagner) — Sat, 04 Jul 2026 12:05:08 +0000

ACROSS THE DARKNESS
Understanding the propagation, antennas, and reception
of the BBC Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast

Update (6 July 2026): This article has been revised to improve the technical description of the transmitting antennas following additional research.

Another BBC Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast has come and gone. There is always great interest in the 30-minute show among members of the British Antarctic Survey at Rothera, Halley, King Edward Point, and Bird Island Research Stations. There is also a substantial audience beyond these bases, as shortwave enthusiasts worldwide tune in to the frequencies traditionally announced each year just a few days before the event.

Indeed, the signals are clearly heard by many listeners. But this doesn’t stop others from grumbling because a good signal didn’t reach their listening post. So, what should one do in a situation like this? Why, take to social media, of course, and complain bitterly! 😉

When I read these negative comments about how disappointed some people were by the poor strength and quality of the signal at their own listening locations, it says two things:
1) They have not taken into account that the transmissions are not targeted to their location, and
2) They haven’t considered some very important seasonal propagation characteristics!

Woofferton and Ascension Island

The distance from Woofferton to the largest BAS base (Rothera) is 14358 km (8922 mi). Notably, there is a continuous nighttime path between the transmitting and receiving sites at 2130 UTC, so 31- and 25-metre band frequencies should easily cover that distance.

Woofferton’s EHR(S)4/4/1.0 curtain array (HFCC antenna code 618), used for this operation on June 21, is a large, slewable broadband curtain antenna comprising four columns and four rows of horizontally polarised dipoles mounted in front of a reflector screen. Designed to handle the station’s 300 kW transmitter, it produces a high-gain, narrow beam that is well suited to the long propagation path between the UK and Antarctica.

In the station's control room, engineers use an automatic control panel linked to the 618 arrays to electronically delay or "phase" the signal. This allows engineers to shift the beam by up to 12 degrees using phase control, enabling better targeting of Rothera and the other BAS stations. For this particular broadcast, the antenna’s azimuth was set at 182 degrees. Here’s the Great Circle path that Woofferton used for this transmission.

The Woofferton - Rothera short path route.

The Ascension relay, located in the Atlantic Ocean between Africa and South America, is half as far away, at 7721 km (4798 mi). The antenna used from Ascension Island was an EHR(S)4/2/0.8 slewable curtain array (HFCC antenna code 607). Like the larger Woofferton antenna, it employs horizontally polarised dipoles mounted in front of a reflector screen, but with four columns and only two rows of dipoles. This smaller configuration provides lower gain and a somewhat broader radiation pattern, making it well suited to the considerably shorter propagation path between Ascension Island and Antarctica.

The smaller EHR(S)4/2/0.8 curtain array is likewise rated for 250 kW operation. Combined with the shorter propagation path from Ascension Island, this resulted in radiation characteristics well matched to the chosen 31-metre band frequency. The signal also travelled entirely in darkness, where nighttime ionospheric conditions favoured reliable propagation on this band.

The Ascension - Rothera short path route.

On some previous occasions, the 49- and 41-metre bands were used by Ascension and Woofferton, and sometimes by the Al Dhabbaya Transmitting Station (UAE), which are especially useful bands during low-sunspot phases of the solar cycle. However, even though we are coming off the highs of Cycle 25, which peaked around 2024–2025, solar activity remains elevated into 2026, so the 25-metre band outlet continues to perform well.

The All-Important Solstice Tilt

The June 21 solstice of 2026 (which can occur on June 20, 21, or 22, depending on the year) occurs because the Earth’s rotational axis is tilted by about 23.4° relative to the plane of its orbit around the Sun. During the June solstice, the North Pole is tilted towards the Sun, while the South Pole is tilted away. As a result, we get our longest day and shortest night of the year in the northern hemisphere, and the shortest day and longest night of the year in the southern hemisphere. The map below shows the day/night regions of the globe on June 21 at 2145 UTC.

The day/night map at 2145 UTC on June 21.

The changing Ionosphere

Woofferton is a massive multi-hop journey of roughly 14,000 kilometres, spanning almost the entire length of the globe. At 2130 UTC in late June, the sun has already set over the UK; Ascension Island is in darkness, and Antarctica is deep in its polar night. This means both radio signals travel along a 100% night-time path through the ionosphere. When this occurs, there are two major changes to the ionosphere:

1) The daytime D-layer of the ionosphere decays rapidly after sunset. During daylight hours, this layer absorbs much of the energy on the lower HF frequencies, so its absence at night allows shortwave bands to travel long distances with little signal loss.

2) After sunset, the F1 and F2 regions merge into a single F layer. Electron density gradually decreases, reducing the Maximum Usable Frequency (MUF), although the layer itself often remains at high altitude. If a station transmits at a frequency that is too high, the signal will pierce the lower electron density and pass through the ionosphere into space.

Woofferton (UK) to Rothera Research Station

At 2130 UTC, the Woofferton signal bypasses daytime absorption. However, because the entire path is in darkness, the maximum usable frequency is lower than in daylight, making frequencies around 9–12 MHz more reliable than significantly higher bands. On this occasion, the BBC split its Woofferton transmission across two separate frequencies:

👉 9460 kHz: This serves as the primary night-time frequency. At 9.4 MHz, the signal is more likely to be refracted back towards Earth by the lower-density nighttime F layer, allowing it to bounce cleanly around the Earth’s curvature.

👉 12070 kHz: Because Woofferton is in the Northern Hemisphere, where the ionosphere had been strongly ionised by daylight only a few hours earlier, the ionosphere retains residual ionisation. 12 MHz provides a higher-frequency alternative when the MUF remains sufficient.

Using two frequencies also provides frequency diversity, increasing the likelihood that at least one will propagate effectively under the prevailing ionospheric conditions.

The EHR(S)4/4/1.0 curtain array is particularly well suited to this demanding circuit. Its four-by-four dipole configuration and reflector screen produce a high-gain, highly directional beam that focuses the station’s 300 kW output toward Antarctica. This maximises the field strength arriving at the receiving area after the signal has traversed its long night-time, multi-hop path.

Ascension Island to Rothera Research Station

At just under 7800 km, this route is closer to the equator, but at 2130 UTC it is still shrouded in darkness. Because the path is entirely devoid of solar radiation, the ionospheric electron density is lower over the South Atlantic at this point in the 24-hour cycle. This year, the BBC chose 9510 kHz from Ascension Island. In complete darkness, around 9.5 MHz represented a sensible compromise between maintaining reliable F-layer refraction and avoiding the higher atmospheric and man-made noise typically encountered at lower frequencies.

The smaller EHR(S)4/2/0.8 curtain array produces a somewhat broader radiation pattern than Woofferton’s larger EHR(S)4/4/1.0 array, helping to provide reliable coverage over the intended target area.

The BBC Antarctic Broadcast Isn’t Meant for You—and That’s OK! 😊

So, where in the world won’t the signals reach?

To answer this question, we can turn to one of VOACAP’s best features: the Signal Strength Map, located at the bottom right (green button) of the VOACAP SWL web page (https://www.voacap.com/swl/). For guidance on creating a map like the ones below, see my YouTube video: HOW TO CREATE PROFESSIONAL-GRADE SHORTWAVE COVERAGE MAPS WITH VOACAP ONLINE.

Woofferton on 9460 kHz: (Click on the image for an enlarged view)

Woofferton on 12070 kHz: (Click on the image for an enlarged view)

Ascension Island on 9510 kHz: (Click on the image for an enlarged view)

These three graphics show where signals are predicted to be strongest (warm colours) and weaker (cooler colours). The white areas indicate that reception would not be expected, or at least would be marginal. Refer to the signal strength legend on the right-hand side of the maps. On the western side of North America, listeners would find it challenging to hear the broadcast from either transmitter site, certainly not at local broadcast quality.

In fact, the maps for both transmitter sites indicate that many listeners have an excellent chance of hearing at least one, possibly two or perhaps even all three frequencies. This is especially so for Europe, the Middle East, Africa, South America, and most of Asia.

IMPORTANT NOTE: When preparing the maps, I have entered the following settings in the VOACAP Settings panel:
Receiver Antenna set to "Shortwave whip antenna" (the most basic antenna used on a portable radio)
Noise set to “Residential” (typical urban environment)
BC Quality set to “Standard Broadcast” (equivalent to very good)
Any changes to the above settings will result in some changes in the resultant maps e.g. say, an external dipole in a rural or remote environment.

The extent to which the maps' results may differ from your listening experience on June 21 will largely depend on:

👉 The antenna you used,
👉 The noise level at your QTH, and
👉 Your concept of the received signal quality – a predominantly subjective assessment! One person’s excellent signal rating may be another’s fair rating, depending on their idea of what a good shortwave signal sounds like! Of course, signal strength meters can also help here!

Final Words

If you are still reading at this point, congratulations! Thanks for sticking with me.

Finally, for listeners outside the BAS Research Stations’ target zone (the rest of the world!!), if these signals reached your location this year, that’s fantastic. If you couldn't hear the signals, or they were noisy, weak, and fluttery, just remember that you are not the target audience.

Importantly, the programme includes personal messages for BAS staff serving in Antarctica. We hope the BBC, in its generosity, will continue to provide these wonderful annual broadcasts. The BBC Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast is a shining example of the value of shortwave communication – an old technology, to be sure, but still relevant today.

Rob Wagner VK3BVW

P.S. On Google Maps, input either of the geo coordinates below to find the Rothera Research Station, and switch to the satellite view!

67°34'00.0"S 68°08'00.0"W
-67.566667, -68.133333

Current local time in
Mount Evelyn, Australia

CLICK HERE for VK3BVW Live Stream (Clublog)

QRZ callsign lookup:

THE TOP TEN KIWI SDRs FROM AROUND THE GLOBE

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Wagner) — Sun, 28 Jun 2026 10:37:22 +0000

The Top Ten Kiwi SDRs

from Around the Globe

This is my personal “top ten” list of Kiwi remote SDRs. These receivers let you listen to shortwave stations across most of the world. My favourites are in Asia, Europe, North America and Oceania. The video below has all the details!

Or, if you prefer, here is the YouTube link!

https://youtu.be/-6UddeFBohU

Here's the list mentioned in the video for when you are searching for receivers on the Kiwi SDR website or the Kiwi Receiver Map:

SDR, Oita, Southern Japan
Waterfall Bay, Hong Kong
LA6LU Cha-am, Thailand
Finnish DX Association, Parainen, Finland
Flores Island, Azores
TWR Cyprus 1
W3HFU, Westminster, MDF, USA
VE6JY, Lamont, Alberta, Canada
VK5ARG, Tarlee, South Australia
ZL2KS, Marlborough, Amateur Radio Club, New Zealand

I hope you find this list of receivers useful for your listening and DXing hobby. Let me know your thoughts and YOUR top ten receivers in the comments section.

73 and wishing you good DX,

Rob Wagner VK3BVW

Current local time in
Mount Evelyn, Australia

CLICK HERE for VK3BVW Live Stream (Clublog)

QRZ callsign lookup:

DX Quick Tips - June 17, 2026

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Wagner) — Wed, 17 Jun 2026 00:15:03 +0000

DX QUICK TIPS
June 17, 2026

Once again, propagation conditions have been good over the past two weeks. Here are a few stations monitored across the shortwave spectrum. All logs below were noted on my own receivers and antennas - NOT via Internet streaming (for God's sake!!). Where signals were very weak, several broadcasts were checked and confirmed against a Kiwi remote SDR at a more favourable location; those logs have been noted accordingly.

Equipment: SDRPlay RSPduo, Yaesu FTDX3000 transceiver, Kenwood R5000 receiver, Yaesu FRG 100 receiver, Kenwood TS2000 transceiver.

Antennas: 80m long horizontal sky loop antenna, a delta loop antenna for 10 MHz, a double bazooka antenna for 14 MHz and a 5/8λ centre-fed vertical for 21 MHz and above.

Yankee Doodle Makes a Return!

Over the past few days, the Voice of America has returned with test transmissions from Kuwait, Thailand and the Philippines. These tests were registered with the HFCC recently. Some broadcasts were tones, some repeated musical items, and one seemed to carry actual programming. At the time of this writing, it looks like further tests are planned for Friday this week (June 19) and beyond. So, eyes and ears peeled, folks! Here's what I have monitored so far this week:

9350 PHILIPPINES. VOA - Tinang. Scheduled for Mandarin to EAs at 1130. No audio programming heard. Just a big carrier. They eventually pulled the plug about 15 minutes later, Jun 15.

11575 KUWAIT. VOA - Umm Al-Rimam. 1130 Farsi to WAs. Test txion beginning with the Yankee Doodle theme. Then, news on the US/Iran peace deal. Excellent signal marred only by OTHR QRM, Jun 15.

11575 THAILAND. VOA - Ban Dung. 0610 English to SEAs. Test txion. Good signal with test music of several instrumental pop selections repeated over and over. Jun 16.

11590 PHILIPPINES. VOA - Tinang. 1130 Scheduled for Mandarin to EAs. Test txion. Very strong, S9 +10 dB, no audio content. Just a carrier with a nasty txer hum. Suddenly off at 1149. Perhaps lying idle for months isn’t so good for high-powered txers. Who’d have thought it! :-) Jun 15.

15370 KUWAIT. VOA - Umm Al-Rimam. 1130 Scheduled for Dari to WAs. Test txion. Very weak in the noise. 35 seconds of introductory fanfare music repeated over and over. Txer suddenly off at 1212 UTC. Jun 15.

17880 THAILAND. VOA - Ban Dung. 0425 Scheduled for English to NEAs. Test txion. Very good signal with test music of several instrumental pop selections repeated over and over. Jun 16.

21550 THAILAND. VOA - Ban Dung. 0501 Test txion, good signal with test music of several instrumental pop selections repeated over and over. Heavy co-channel QRM CNR jamming of Sound of Hope. Maybe not a good frequency choice! Jun 16.

🌟 3310 BOLIVIA. R. Mosoj Chaski - Cochabamba. 1054 Very weak signal, commentary (presumed preaching), couldn’t tell if it was Spanish or Quechua. Faded around 1105 on June 5th. A somewhat better signal was monitored on the next night at 1025 with music, Quechua anncts and occasional anncts. This station used to be a regular visitor, but it has been heard here with decent strength only a few times over the past two years. Jun 6.

🌟 4775 PERU. R. Tarma - Tarma. 0955 A selection of musical items on Andean pipes in a contemporary setting. S/on 1001 with full station ID and freqs. Many “Buenos dias” and roosters crowing. Then into music programming with echo anncts. A fair level, and I haven’t heard it this strong for ages; usually barely audible. Jun 6.

🌟 4810 PERU. R. Logos - Chazuta, San Martin. F/in 0805 with Spanish gospel songs and occasional IDs. This is the earliest I have heard Logos this season. Still noted weakly when rechecked at 1100. Jun 5.

The Radio Logos studios in the little town of Chazuta, Peru.

🌟 4820 PERU. R. Senda Cristiana - Cotahuasi, Arequipa. 0930 Andean pipes music, ID (Spanish, not Quechua), then religious talk. Later, a mix of pre-recorded religious programming in Quechua with background music (dramatic storytelling?). Still audible but weakly at 1130. Slightly stronger signal than its 4810 neighbour, R. Logos. Also monitored via the OA4DFF KiwiSDR. Jun 5. See video below, recorded on June 12 at 1050 UTC.

5935 USA. WWCR - Nashville, TN. Early winter afternoon f/in 0505 with American preaching. Jun 3.

5939.45 BRAZIL. R. Voz Missionária - Camboriú, SC. Weak f/in 0550 with preaching and songs. Slow to improve strength on Jun 3.

🌟 5995 MALI. RTV du Mali - Kati. 0610 French anncts and vibrant Malian music. Later, heavily accented French, not Bambara, but could easily be mistaken for Bambara. But then Bambara seems to pop up at any time. As do sound effect roosters crowing for this morning service! Weak at first but rose to a fair level by 0630. Long path propagation over southern Canada and across the vast Pacific Ocean. Jun 3.

🌟 6010 COLOMBIA. La Voz de tu Conciencia - Puerto Lleras. Very early and gradual f/in from 0525 with light music programming. Rechecked at 0720 - a talk on missionaries working in China in the 1800s. Fair-to-poor signal throughout the two hours of monitoring. Jun 3.

6030 USA. R. Martí - Greenville. Very early f/in 0340, Spanish to Cuba. Midwinter afternoon reception with a weak signal past 0400, Jun 3.

🌟 6070 CANADA. CFRX - Toronto, ON. 0645 Talk radio on policing. Shock jock tones of outrage! Jun 3.

6165 GERMANY. R. Japan - Nauen. 0435 to s/off 0450 Russian to EEu. Very weak signal, and with some strange buzzing noise in the modulation. Only midwinter propagation gets this one in our afternoons. Jun 3.

🌟 6185 MEXICO. XEPPM R. Educacion - Mexico City. 0700 Strange! Nothing was heard at Mt Evelyn, apart from what appeared to be an unmodulated carrier. Double-checking on the Grupo Diexista Mexico SDR also showed just a strong carrier at S9+. A few minutes later, wisps of choral music would occasionally fade up and down on the carrier. 0709 - Music annct and into Mexican marimba music at a good level. Ahhh! Someone found the volume control! A weak signal into Mt Evelyn, Jun 3.

🌟 9795 PHILIPPINES and ALASKA. FEBC - Iba transmitter site. 1150 Preaching in the Vietnamese service. S/off 1159, leaving the Vietnamese siren jammers exposed. Apparently, the Vietnamese regard FEBC as subversive! The 1200 KNLS - Anchor Point signed on with a strong signal for the English service to EAs. Jun 11. See video below:

11885 MALAYSIA. RTM - Kajang. 0915 Sabah V programming in the Bajau language. Pop music, anncts and telephone call-in chats. The Bajau language, or Sinama, is spoken by the traditionally seafaring Sama-Bajau people across the geographically dispersed coastal regions of the Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia. Good signal on Jun 6.

15210 TAIWAN. R. Free Asia - Paochung. 15 min service in Lao to SEAs, signing off 0015, good signal, Jun 11.

15295 MALAYSIA. RTM Nasional FM - Kajang. 0925 Malay with pops and anncts. 0936 - Birthday and wedding anniversary wishes to listeners. Fair signal only on Jun 6.

21500 JAPAN. R. JAPAN - Yamata. 0330 to s/off 0400 Japanese to SAm, fair signal. Jun 3.

73 and good DX,

Rob Wagner VK3BVW

Current local time in
Mount Evelyn, Australia

CLICK HERE for VK3BVW Live Stream (Clublog)

QRZ callsign lookup:

OPENING THE LOGBOOK - JUNE 1972

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Wagner) — Sun, 14 Jun 2026 01:32:33 +0000

OPENING THE LOGBOOK - JUNE 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 June 1972—54 years ago!
All frequencies in kHz; all times are UTC (or GMT, as we used to say in those days!).

BBC MONITORING SERVICE
BBC Monitoring Service: A Layman Looks at Caversham Park is a publication written and published in May 1972 by DXer and author Alan Thompson. Long-time DXers will remember that the BBC-MS came into the limelight in the early 1970s, with their Frequency Schedules and Reception Notes being available to DXers worldwide on a subscription basis. Thompson, who was Editor of "Bandspread", the bulletin of the British Association of DXers, visited the facilities and operations of the Caversham Park monitoring service. Written from a DXer's point of view, the 12-page article discussed the role of the BBC-MS, how it monitors broadcasts around the globe, and the receivers used for that task.
This extended article provides a detailed, behind-the-scenes look into the daily operations of the BBC's Monitoring Service. At the time, much of the intelligence gathering and foreign broadcast transcription conducted at the Caversham Park estate was kept highly secret. Thompson’s work is notable for lifting the veil on how this open-source intelligence and media-tracking agency operated, offering an accessible perspective for radio hobbyists, DXers, and the general public. While Thompson's booklet is now a historical relic, the BBC Monitoring division itself remains active. It continues to track, translate, and analyse global media to provide intelligence and help make sense of world events. I have tracked down a copy of the article from the now archived On The Shortwaves website. If you are interested, press the Download button below:
SHORTWAVE BAND DURING JUNE 1972
Some spectacular openings to Latin America were observed here in Melbourne. It included interesting long-path reception from Venezuela at 2245-2315 (8:45 am local here) on 60 metres, several Brazilians on 49 metres at 0000-0030 (10:00 am local here), long-route signals from Central and South America on 31 metres at 2200-0100.

These were highly unusual! In fact, the signals from Latin America during May and June brought memories back to what was heard during the previous sunspot minimum in 1964-66. And on 60 metres, fade-in was observed as early as 0415 GMT (2:10 pm in Melbourne's winter!) for Radio Continente, 5030 kHz signing off at 0500!

There was a series of magnetic disturbances that affected long-haul propagation, and, on occasion, complete blackouts of signals from Europe were noted on 49. 41, and 31 metres at around 0700 GMT. The French had H-bomb tests in the Pacific, at Mururoa Atoll and surrounding areas. Some sources said this affected ionospheric conditions, and some discussions speculated about it.
From my own logbook in June, I noted the following:
4760 R. Frontera, San Antonio, Venezuela. Frequent ID's and Venezuelan music 1020, mixed with an unid. station, June 21.
4790 Sistema de Emisora Atalaya, Guayaquil, Ecuador. News at 1130, ID 1141 as "Radio Sistema de Emisora Atalaya....buenos dias...", then music. Very strong to past 1200 on June 12.
4995 R. Andina, Huancayo, Peru. Popular Spanish song at 0650, June 11.
5045 R. Altiplano, La Paz, Bolivia. Presumed the one here with continuous SS songs 0655 to past 0830, no ID heard though on June 11.
And ARDXC's overseas members (VG) Victor Goonetilleke (Sri Lanka) and (BB) Bob Bundy (Truk, Caroline Islands) reported hearing:
3941 Falkland Islands Broadcasting Service, Stanley, Falkland Islands. Thrilled to hear this one! Pops and EE on 27/5 to f/out 0117; May 28 relay BBC 0048-0118 f/out; May 29 s/off 0102 after ID as "Falkland Islands Broadcasting Station" and GSTQ (God Save the Queen!); best logging ever, now waiting for QSL! (VG) (Did you ever get the QSL, Victor? - Rob)
6199 Voice of Pathet Lao. Vietnamese ID 1145, then Viet program, into Laotian 1200, // 4660, 7310, 7479, good level 8/6 (BB) - Vietnamese 1145-1200, French 1500-1600, // 4660, 7305, June 16 (VG)
7499 "Fighters", Soviet based clandestine, Chinese talks 1049 before the jammer came on June 16 (VG) 7520, s/on 1045-1058 s/off, "Internationale" made out through jammers, but then virtually blocked out 1045, few bars of "Internationale" 1058, then s/off, and jammers off soon after, June 8 (BB)
SOME QSLS RECEIVED DURING JUNE 1972

This letter, dated 11 June 1972, is from the Government of Abu Dhabi’s Ministry of Information & Tourism, signed by Farouk Jarrar, Director of Radio & TV. It confirms reception of the station on 9695 kHz and advises that transmissions had moved to 9620 kHz, requesting a further reception report to compare performance on the new frequency.

Although the United Arab Emirates had been formed six months earlier on 2 December 1971, broadcasting was still administered under the Government of Abu Dhabi, and the station was generally known to DXers as Radio Abu Dhabi. The correspondence above provides a snapshot of the transitional period immediately following the UAE federation, when emirate-level identities, such as the coat of arms (the early Abu Dhabi emblem, not a later UAE federal identity), remained prominent.

In addition, my reception report, and presumably other overseas listener reports, were being used directly by engineering staff to assess shortwave coverage. The c.c. Radio TX Engineer – Mugtah at the bottom of the letter indicates that a copy was sent to the Mugtah (a.k.a. Al Maqta) transmitter site, where, in 1971, one 120 kW Philips 8FZ515 shortwave transmitter was pressed into service.

The above QSL: Many DXers and shortwave listeners from the 70s and early 80s will remember this chain of radio stations operating on 60 metres. Other stations included R. Juventud, R. Yaracuy, R. Universo, and R. Lara. The network was known as Emisoras de la Cadena Venezolana de Radiodifusión. The stations were heard well throughout the world and were generally very good verifiers. The network was a large operation based in Barquisimeto and collectively known as the "Circuito sin Fronteras". The stations all closed in the mid-80s due to the network's financial difficulties. This QSL from Radio Barquisimeto was one of many I received from the network.

Although I was not a big DXer of mediumwave stations, I enjoyed listening to
JOUB Akita on 770 kHz (this card: above and below)

EQUATORIAL GUINEA
Another of my logs in June 1972 was this one:
6250 Emisora de Radiodifusión Santa Isabel, Fernando Poo, Equatorial Guinea. Non-stop songs in Spanish from 2215 until 2254 s/off with the station ID and national anthem.
Equatorial Guinea was known as Spanish Guinea while it was a Spanish colonial territory. In 1963, Spain granted the territory limited autonomy under the name “Equatorial Region of the Spanish Guinea,” reflecting growing African decolonisation movements and international pressure through the United Nations.
When the country achieved full independence on 12 October 1968, it officially adopted the name “Equatorial Guinea,” chosen to reflect both its location near the equator and its territory on the Gulf of Guinea. During the 1970s, the colonial-era identity associated with “Spanish Guinea” disappeared completely from official use as the government of the day promoted a strongly nationalist post-colonial identity.
Fernando Póo was the name of the island and now known as Bioko. The capital city on the island was called Santa Isabel until 1973, when it was renamed Malabo by the government of President Francisco Macías Nguema as part of a broader effort to replace colonial Spanish place names with African ones.
No QSL was obtained from that reception in June. It was not until 1984 that I finally confirmed Equatorial Guinea with this letter below. The long letter has a typo: 2650, not 6250 kHz, and appears to have some grammatical quirks and spelling idiosyncrasies that may be a regional adaptation of Spanish....perhaps? Anyway, below is a rough machine translation of the text:

Dear Friend,
Upon receiving your thoughtful letter dated July 11, I was pleased to learn that you were able to tune in to the radio station in Malabo, capital of the country. I can confirm to you that it was indeed this station that you were able to tune in to and hear.
Dear friend, although this is the first time I have received a letter from Australia, as you requested information and details about Radio Nacional on the 48-meter band with a frequency of 2650 per second, it is not possible for me to send you what you requested, such as a verification card, because we do not have them. However, I will try to send you a recorded tape with African guitar music from Equatorial Guinea, which is a country rich in music.
As for your reception report, I assure you that I have never before received a letter or anything from your country. I think this is the first one, and I thank God for having received your written message.
When I receive your reply to this letter that I am sending you now, then I will be certain that everything I send can reach your hands. With the next letter I may be able to send you the recorded tape that I mentioned, and perhaps some postcards from my country.
I received with satisfaction the dollar that you sent. Distinguished friend, from here in my country of Malabo to Australia the distance is very great. I hope that if you send me ten dollars, I would be grateful, and I would also like you to send me a blank tape because I will be sending you the programs I mentioned.
Please forgive me for not having answered your letter sooner; it is because I was away on vacation, travelling from north to south. So once my letter arrives in your hands, send me your reply so that I may have assurance.
I will be very grateful to the one writing to you, and nothing more. May God protect you for many years.
A postcard was included by the station's letter writer showing Cocoa plants.

OTHER SHORTWAVE NEWS IN JUNE '72
BRAZIL. Radio Nacional, Brasília, indicated that the new International Service began on May 31 with 24-hr broadcasts in English on 11720 (75 kW) and 25445 (100 kW). Rhombic antennas beamed to Western Europe were in use. The experimental broadcasts in English were due to be followed, after June 30, by services in German, French, and Italian for Europe, plus Japanese and English for the USA. Spanish was also being considered. (From the World Radio Bulletin).
GHANA. From May 24, Radio Ghana was reported to be announcing as "The Voice of the Revolution", according to South African monitors. This is said to be in line with the revolutionary coup of last January, which ousted the civilian government (South African DX Club).
Well, that's about it for June, 1972. Lots of interesting wintertime tropical-band DX and fascinating propagation conditions. I hope you enjoyed this lot. Let's meet again next month for memories from July 1972.
Rob Wagner VK3BVW

Current local time in
Mount Evelyn, Australia

CLICK HERE for VK3BVW Live Stream (Clublog)

QRZ callsign lookup:

VOACAP: Understanding and Using the Voice of America Coverage Analysis Program

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Wagner) — Sat, 06 Jun 2026 12:50:12 +0000

VOACAP:
Understanding and Using the
Voice of America Coverage Analysis Program

by Rob Wagner VK3BVW

My thanks to Jari Perkiömäki, OH6BG, for his assistance in preparing this article. It first appeared in the April 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

When you have spent time on the HF bands chasing DX or tuning across the shortwave spectrum, you will know that propagation can feel unpredictable. Signals that are strong one day may vanish the next, and paths that seem impossible can suddenly open without warning.

VOACAP, the Voice of America Coverage Analysis Program, helps make sense of this constantly shifting landscape. Originally developed by engineers at the Voice of America, VOACAP began as a professional planning tool for international broadcasting and has since become one of the most widely used propagation prediction systems among radio amateurs and shortwave listeners alike.

VOACAP evolved from an earlier model, IONCAP, developed in the 1970s to estimate HF circuit performance using ionospheric theory and statistical data. VOACAP built on this foundation by incorporating improved ionospheric models and refinements based on real-world measurements. Although its roots lie in government and broadcast engineering, the program has long been available to the public and is now accessible via a convenient web interface. This has made sophisticated propagation modelling available to anyone with an internet connection and an interest in long-distance radio communication.

At its core, VOACAP seeks to answer a simple yet fundamental question: Will a radio signal on a given frequency travel successfully from one place to another? To do this, it models how radio waves interact with the ionosphere - the electrically charged layers of the upper atmosphere that reflect HF signals back towards Earth. By accounting for time of day, season, solar activity, and frequency, VOACAP estimates signal strength, signal-to-noise ratio, and the likelihood that a path will support communication. These predictions can be generated for specific point-to-point circuits or for broader geographic coverage areas.

Although designed for broadcast engineers, VOACAP is now widely used by amateur radio operators, shortwave listeners, emergency planners, and educators. The modern web-based interface lets users select locations, frequencies, antennas, and power levels, and then visualise expected performance on charts and maps. For many users, VOACAP provides something akin to a weather forecast for radio: not a guarantee of conditions, but a scientifically grounded guide to what is most likely to work.

What distinguishes VOACAP from simpler band-condition indicators is its grounding in physics and statistics. It incorporates models of the ionosphere, solar radiation, atmospheric noise, and path geometry to estimate how signals will behave over long distances. Rather than merely stating that conditions are “good” or “bad,” it quantifies performance in terms meaningful to operators: signal strength, likely noise levels in the receiving environment, and the circuit’s expected reliability over time. This combination of scientific rigor and practical application has helped VOACAP remain relevant long after its original broadcast role diminished.

The map view of VOACAP. The green line shows the short path between the Voice of Türkiye’s transmitter site at Emirler and a listener’s location in New York City.

From Broadcast Tool to Online Service

VOACAP has a longer history than many users realise. For much of its life, it was a standalone Windows program maintained by the U.S. National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s Institute for Telecommunication Sciences (NTIA/ITS). During this period, it was used mainly as a professional engineering tool for planning international shortwave broadcasts rather than for amateur radio or general listening.

A major step forward came when the original Fortran source code was ported to Linux, enabling VOACAP to transition from a desktop application to an online service. Although the interface changed, the underlying prediction engine remained the same, preserving continuity with the original Windows version. Documentation from earlier versions was later incorporated into the web-based system, helping users understand what the various output parameters mean in practical terms.

As access improved, VOACAP’s audience expanded. The tool gradually gained wider use among radio amateurs and shortwave listeners, and from the outset, the online version was designed with these users in mind. Interactive maps replaced manual coordinate entry, default settings were chosen to reflect typical operating conditions, and new visual tools were added to make predictions easier to explore. While the science behind VOACAP has changed little, the way users interact with it has evolved significantly, emphasising accessibility and ease of use across a broad range of platforms.

The man behind the current iterations of VOACAP is Finnish amateur radio operator Jari Perkiömäki, OH6BG. First licensed in 1982, Jari has 333 DXCC entities confirmed and is an active contester. He is a self-taught programmer who has learned a wide range of technologies over the years, largely as a hobby. Jari’s experience includes Linux, SGML, XML, HTML, Perl, PHP, Python, JavaScript, and CSS. He first encountered the early internet during his university days and has since accumulated decades of hands-on experience.

In recent years, I have worked with Jari informally, providing user feedback and promoting VOACAP through my YouTube channel and Mount Evelyn DX Report blog. I use the online service regularly to deepen my understanding of propagation and the mysteries of the ionosphere in my ham radio and shortwave listening pursuits.

How to Use VOACAP Online

There are two versions of VOACAP available to users, depending on whether you are using it for amateur radio or shortwave listening. The interface is tailored differently for each version. You can find the amateur radio model at https://www.voacap.com/hf/ and the shortwave listener forecasting version at https://www.voacap.com/swl/.

Using VOACAP online is easier than it may first appear. The web interface centres on a world map and a set of menus that control the prediction model. Although the number of options can seem daunting, only a few are essential for generating useful results. The basic task is to define where the signal originates, where it is going, and how it will be transmitted.

The first step is to set the transmitter and receiver locations. These can be entered as latitude and longitude coordinates, selected from lists of known sites, or chosen by clicking on the map. For amateur radio use, the transmitter is typically your own station, and the receiver is the location of the station you wish to work. Shortwave listeners can reverse this arrangement by placing the transmitter at the broadcast station and the receiver at their home location. Once these points are defined, VOACAP calculates the great-circle path between them and uses that route for propagation calculations.

In both the ham and SWL versions, additional inputs include transmitter power and antenna type. Hams can choose operating modes such as SSB, CW, and FT8. The SWL interface is set to AM mode to calculate propagation for international broadcasters. Listeners can also select an antenna that best matches their listening setup. There is a setting for the broadcast reception quality you want (or are prepared to tolerate!), ranging from excellent to “bad”. There is even a setting for DRM broadcasts. These parameters need not be exact to be useful; even approximate values can reveal which bands and times are likely to be most productive.

Next, the user selects the prediction type. A point-to-point analysis is the most common choice, showing predicted performance between two specific locations over a given month. Coverage maps can also be generated to show how a signal might be received across an entire region.

Once the inputs are entered, VOACAP produces a set of tables, graphs and charts. These may show predicted signal strength, signal-to-noise ratio, and circuit reliability across frequencies and times of day. Colour-coding is typically used to highlight favourable and unfavourable conditions. In practice, this allows users to see at a glance when a particular band is likely to open or close along a given path.

With only a few minutes of setup, VOACAP can provide insights that might otherwise take years of operating experience to acquire. Whether preparing for a contest, planning a DX contact, or deciding when to listen for a distant broadcaster, the program translates the ionosphere's complex behaviour into a form that can be explored visually and interactively.

The popular propagation wheel clearly shows the best frequencies in the international shortwave bands over 24 hours in early February for the short path between Türkiye and the east coast of the USA.

Understanding VOACAP Charts and Graphs

VOACAP’s charts can look technical at first, but they address some practical questions: How strong will the signal be? And how often will communication succeed? Once these concepts are understood, the plots become much easier to interpret.

The most common display, and perhaps the most popular, is the Propagation Wheel. This is a circular, hour-by-hour chart showing predicted propagation over a 24-hour period. Time appears along the wheel's perimeter, while frequency or band is shown inside the wheel. Colours or shading indicate readability quality, with warmer colours representing stronger success rates. These plots make it easy to see when a particular band is likely to be usable. Yellow to red on 14 MHz during daylight hours suggests a reliable daytime path, while colours on 7 MHz after sunset indicate nighttime propagation.

Another important output is the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) plot, which compares predicted signal strength with estimated background noise. A higher SNR indicates a signal should be easier to copy, while a low SNR suggests it may be lost in noise. VOACAP models both atmospheric and man-made noise, depending on the selected environment. In the SWL model, you can select the type of noise environment at your location. The drop-down menu lets you choose from Noisy, Industrial, Residential, Rural, Quiet or Remote. This provides important input to the model, making SNR a more realistic measure of readability than signal strength alone.

This chart shows the Predicted Signal Power over 15 days in a month across the 4554 miles (8433 km) between Emirler and New York.

Charts Offering Different Perspectives

VOACAP also produces reliability or circuit probability charts that express results as the percentage chance of successful communication. These values combine signal strength and noise into a single figure. A predicted reliability of 80 per cent means the circuit should work on most days under similar conditions. For many operators, this is one of the most useful outputs because it condenses complex behaviour into an easily comparable number.

The revised coverage maps in the SWL version provide a different perspective, showing how a signal from one transmitter can be received across a wide area. Colours indicate predicted signal strength or quality across locations. These maps can highlight regions of strong coverage, helping broadcasters plan services and amateurs visualise likely reception areas. Check out my video “How to Create Professional-Grade Coverage Maps with VOACAP Online” at https://youtu.be/foA2JEN0cKc.

All VOACAP outputs are statistical predictions over a given month, not real-time measurements. They represent typical conditions based on long-term data rather than current conditions. Their value lies in identifying patterns and trends rather than making precise forecasts.

Practical Tips for Hams and SWLs

VOACAP is most effective when used as a planning tool. Before turning on the radio, it is worth checking which bands and times of day are predicted to work best for the path of interest. This can save time and frustration by narrowing down the most promising options.

For amateur operators, VOACAP is particularly helpful for choosing bands for long-distance contacts. If 20 meters looks strong from a certain part of the world in the afternoon, while 40 meters appears more favourable after dark, this provides a rough operating schedule. Contest operators can use this information to anticipate when certain regions are likely to open and close. Casual operators can simply use it to decide which band to try first, rather than tuning aimlessly.

Shortwave listeners can reverse the usual logic by placing the transmitter at the broadcast site and the receiver at home. This helps predict when a station is most likely to be audible and on which frequencies. Over time, this approach builds an intuitive understanding of how frequency, distance, and time interact.

An example of a circuit reliability chart. Each international shortwave band is represented by a colour that can be toggled on or off using the legend below the chart.

The Ability to Test Different Scenarios

Experimenting with different antennas and power levels in VOACAP can also be instructive. While the model cannot account for every detail of a real antenna installation, it can show general trends. Comparing a dipole to a directional antenna, or low power to high power, illustrates how much these factors affect long paths.

Seasonal and solar-cycle patterns are also worth exploring. Some paths favour winter conditions, while others favour summer. Higher HF bands become more reliable during periods of increased solar activity. By running predictions for different months, users can build a personalised propagation calendar for their favourite routes.

Perhaps most importantly, VOACAP should be used alongside real-world listening and operating. Comparing predictions with actual results builds understanding and reveals how local noise and antenna effects influence outcomes.

Limitations and Common Misconceptions

A common misconception is that VOACAP provides a precise, real-time forecast. In fact, it assumes average, undisturbed solar and geomagnetic conditions for a given month and hour. Sudden solar flares or geomagnetic storms can dramatically alter propagation without warning. VOACAP should therefore be regarded as a guide to likely conditions rather than a guarantee of reception.

Another limitation concerns antenna and environmental modelling. Real installations are affected by terrain, buildings, and local noise sources that VOACAP cannot fully represent. Two stations with similar antennas may experience very different results depending on their surroundings.

There is also a tendency to focus on a single output, such as signal strength, while ignoring noise or the development of MUF (median maximum usable frequency). A strong signal does not guarantee readability if the noise level is high. VOACAP’s combined measures, such as SNR and reliability, are more meaningful but remain simplified representations of complex processes.

VOACAP is often assumed to be useful only for very long-distance paths. While it excels in that role, it can also provide insight into near-vertical incidence skywave (NVIS) and medium-range propagation and seasonal changes. However, very short, line-of-sight paths are harder to model.

The key limitation is not the software itself but how it is interpreted. Used thoughtfully and in conjunction with other information sources, VOACAP becomes a powerful learning tool.

Here is a VOACAP full-colour coverage map. It shows the expected signal strength worldwide, averaged over 15 days of the month, for the Voice of Türkiye on 5960 kHz at 2300 UTC in February.

VOACAP vs Other Propagation Tools

Propagation tools fall into two broad categories: prediction models and real-time solar weather indicators. As noted earlier, VOACAP falls into the first category. It estimates what should happen under typical conditions rather than reporting what is happening now.

Real-time tools based on solar and geomagnetic indices are excellent for reporting current conditions and detecting disturbances, but they do not translate directly into usable point-to-point predictions. VOACAP converts assumed solar conditions into specific forecasts for particular paths and frequencies.

Spotting networks, PSKReporter, WSPRNet and reverse beacon systems provide immediate evidence of what is working, but only where someone is transmitting, and someone else is listening. VOACAP predicts potential openings regardless of current activity, making it useful for advanced planning.

In practice, VOACAP works best as part of a toolkit. Real-time tools show what is happening in the solar weather now; spotting networks show what is working for others; and VOACAP suggests what should work based on long-term behaviour. Together, they provide a fuller picture than any single method.

Why It’s Important to Get to Know VOACAP

HF radio has always involved a mix of science, experience, and chance. The ionosphere is dynamic and unpredictable, and no model can capture its moment-to-moment behaviour. Yet VOACAP brings structure to this uncertainty by translating decades of research into practical predictions.

Its strength lies in combining technical depth with everyday usefulness. Newcomers can use it to determine which band might be open, while experienced operators can explore antenna options and seasonal trends. Whether used for DXing, contesting, or listening, it encourages thinking in terms of propagation paths rather than just frequencies.

In an era when much communication is invisible and automated, VOACAP preserves an element of craftsmanship in HF operation. It invites users to explore how geography, time, and solar activity shape what can be heard and worked. As long as HF radio depends on the ionosphere, there will be a need for tools that help interpret it. VOACAP does not remove the mystery and magic of propagation, but it makes that mystery more intelligible, and in doing so, it remains a valuable part of the modern radio operator’s toolkit.

References:

Lane, G., et al. VOACAP User’s Manual. Voice of America Coverage Analysis Program, 2023. https://www.voacap.com/2023/documents/VOACAP_Manual.pdf

VOACAP website: https://www.voacap.com

Signal-to-Noise Predictions Using VOACAP. A User's Guide - https://www.greg-hand.com/manuals/VOACAP%20Users%20Guide.pdf

Resources:

VOACAP For Hams : https://www.voacap.com/hf/

VOACAP For SWL: https://www.voacap.com/swl/

YouTube Videos:

VOACAP Shortwave Prediction Tools: Basic introduction (2018)

VOACAP Propagation Prediction - A Major 2026 Update

How to Create Professional-Grade Shortwave Coverage Maps with VOACAP Online

Rob Wagner VK3BVW (with thanks to Jari Perkiömäki, OH6BG)

Current local time in
Mount Evelyn, Australia

CLICK HERE for VK3BVW Live Stream (Clublog)

QRZ callsign lookup:

CHU CLOSURE AND DX QUICK TIPS - May 24, 2026

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Wagner) — Sun, 24 May 2026 05:03:46 +0000

CHU CLOSURE
AND DX QUICK TIPS
May 24, 2026

CHU

Canada's National Research Council has announced that the time station CHU will cease its standard time and frequency transmissions on June 22. The notice simply states: "As of June 22, 2026, the shortwave radio broadcast of the NRC's official time signal will no longer be available."

The NRC announcement does not provide a detailed technical justification on that page. However, it directs users to alternative official time-distribution methods, including the NRC web clock, the telephone talking clock, and Network Time Protocol (NTP). This strongly suggests the same modernisation pressures that ended other HF time stations worldwide: internet-based synchronisation, GNSS/GPS timing, and declining dependence on shortwave dissemination.

This is probably no surprise, as other Canadian services, such as its Weather Radio, have also been in the firing line. However, it is still sad to see a famous time station depart the airways. There is a long history associated with the CHU callsign, dating back to 1938. Even before that, there was an experimental time station with the callsign 9CC that commenced in 1923!

Long-time DXers will remember Australia's VNG station at Lyndhurst, VIC, and later transferred to Llandilo, NSW. That service ended on December 31, 2002. I was surprised to hear that Canada's telephone talking clock was still in operation in 2026! Australia's telephone clock ("George") closed in 2019.

CHU operates on 3330, 7850 and 14670 kHz. So, if you want to get a QSL before CHU is retired, you can send your reception reports very soon! The email address is:

radio.chu@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca

DX QUICK TIPS

There have been some good propagation conditions over the past few weeks. Some very good DX has been heard here. All logs below were noted on my own receivers and antennas - NOT via Internet streaming (for God's sake!!). Where signals were very weak, several broadcasts were checked and confirmed using a Kiwi remote SDR at a more favourable location; those logs have been noted accordingly.

Equipment: SDRPlay RSPduo, Yaesu FTDX3000 transceiver, Kenwood R5000 receiver, Yaesu FRG 100 receiver, Kenwood TS2000 transceiver.

Antennas: 80m long horizontal sky loop antenna, a delta loop antenna for 10 MHz, a double bazooka antenna for 14 MHz and a 5/8λ centre-fed vertical for 21 MHz and above.

⭐ 4755 INDONESIA. VoIndonesia - Jakarta. 2110 English with songs, 2114 - A talk on bullying in schools. An astonishingly good signal for this time of morning. May 12.

⭐ 4810 PERU. R. Logos - Chazuta. 1035 Local news report, perhaps? 1040 Peruvian folk song. Weak signal and confirmed via the HK4RAU SDR. Hopefully, this signal will improve as we approach winter. Barely a trace of audio from R. Tarma 4775 on May 8.

⭐⭐ 5035 BRAZIL. R. Educação Rural - Coari, Amazonas. 1010: Portuguese talk on maintaining good health; 1017: Brazilian pops. Fair signal but difficult listening due to splash from the booming 5040 R. Vanuatu. Best monitored in LSB. Noted past 1100 UTC, which is common here because this station is located in the western side of Brazil in the huge State of Amazonas, where the sunrise is much later than on the eastern coast. May 8.

⭐ 5909.98 COLOMBIA. Alcaraván R. - Puerto Lleras. 0752 "It's All Right" Huey Lewis and The News. 0754 Orchestral music, "The King of the Golden Hall". 0758 A prayer in English. 0759 Country music "Somebody Like You" Keith Urban. A talk about eclectic music choices!! Fair signal in the noise, and confirmed via the HK4RAU Kiwi SDR. May 8.

⭐ 5985 MYANMAR. Myanma R. National Service - Yangon. 1120 Pleasant Burmese pops and anncts. 1129 - ID and studio anncts. A weak signal (it's just 6 pm in Yangon, and today's sunset is at 6:29 pm there). Flattened at 1130 by the all-powerful CRI-Beijing in Tagalog to the Philippines. Myanmar emerges again with a somewhat stronger signal after the CRI s/off at 1200. May 17.

⭐ 6010 COLOMBIA. La Voz de tu Conciencia - Puerto Lleras. 0950 Lively song followed by preaching. My basic Spanish was inadequate to understand the abstract nature of the subject matter. 1000 Colombian national anthem, 1003 Station ID, followed by vigorous preaching. A fair signal and in the clear throughout the evening. Amazingly, it was still audible at 1150, although very weak by then. That is 6:50 am in Bogota, with their sunrise at 5:42 am on this day! May 22.

The e-QSL was sent to Manuel Méndez in Lugo, Spain, for a report on the reception of La Voz de Tu Conciencia, which broadcasts from Colombia on 6010 kHz. (Courtesy of DX Fanzine No. 104 - April 2022).

⭐ 6080 CHINA. Hulunbuir RTV - Hailar, Inner Mongolia. 1055 Pleasant instrumental music. 1100 - time pips, CNR music themes, then news in Mongolian. Weak signal. This is one of the remaining low-power Chinese outlets, rated at 10 kW. Amazing that it remains on a clear channel for much of its daily service. May 17.

6100 D.P.R.KOREA. KCBS - Kanggye. 1045 Korean opera favourites! Weak signal, May 17.

⭐ 6110 ETHIOPIA. R. Fana - Geja Jewe. 2102 Just caught the last 30 seconds of the Ethiopian national anthem. Fair signal with just weak co-channel QRM, probably from Xizang's Tibetan service. May 12.

6180 BRAZIL. Rádio Nacional Amazônia - Brasília, DF. 0740 Laid-back Brazilian pops and anncts. Fair signal. Later, after 1000, it's submerged under CNR and RTI. May 17.

9540 ENGLAND. R. Ndarason Int’l - Woofferton. 0510 Kanuri to WAf with a discussion program. Fair signal, May 24.

9710 VATICAN. Vatican R. - SM Galeria. 0650 Ukrainian (Sun only service). Off at 0700. Weak signal and no sign of Habana. Later, returns with Romanian as noted at 0735 with a slightly stronger signal. May 17.

11640 MADAGASCAR. R. Dabanga - Talata Volonondry. 0447 Sudanese to EAf with a live speech accompanied by PA echo. 0455 Return to the studio announcers. Dabanga ID and theme song. Off at 0459. Fair signal and will improve in strength as the afternoon winter bands open up. May 24.

⭐⭐ 11815 ENGLAND. "Radio Payam" - Woofferton. 2004 Farsi to Iran. Many IDs as Radio Payam, but I am unsure which broadcaster this is. In Iran, there is a Radio Payam, but it is not that. This appears to be anti-Iran content. Short messages, separated by spasms of instrumental music. 2025 - Several songs, Iranian-sounding. 2050 - Political commentary. 2056 - Songs, then suddenly off with no closing annct at 20:59:35. Strong signal. May 12.

⭐ 11885 TAIWAN. R. Free Asia - Paochung. 1230 English ID, then quickly into a Khmer ID, followed by a topical interview about educational needs in Cambodia. S/off at 1245. Reactivated service for this language and an excellent signal, easily overwhelming the co-channel Malaysia and Xinjiang stations, May 23.

15140 ALGERIA. Ifrikya FM - Ouargla. 0720 French to WAf, political discussions. Good signal but spoilt by splash from CRI's Amoy service to SEA on 15145. Runs // 17600 via Bechar, where the signal was very good. May 8.

15410 INDIA. Akashvani - Bengaluru. 0935 Nepali to Nepal with music programming. Good signal, but under the stronger co-channel CNR 1. Terrible muffled audio, too, especially from announcers. I couldn't hear the // 11865 here or via the Kathmandu Kiwi SDR. Is that freq in operation for this service? May 8.

15750.28 BULGARIA. Iran International TV - Kostinbrod. 0740 Farsi talks, good signal but with heavy bubble jamming. May 8.

17600 ALGERIA. Ifrikya FM - Béchar. 0920 Arabic to Africa with an interview that had heavy religious overtones. A weak signal, May 22.

⭐ 17820 CHINA. CNR - Dongfang. 2250 Mandarin programming, changing to Tibetan at 2300. NF and a powerful signal, May 18. BUT….on May 22 at 0900, programming was definitely in Mandarin, not Tibetan, Uyghur or anything else! Big signal. A heavy propaganda commentary about the CCP and local party committees! It appears that not all is well in paradise! 😏 May 22.

17865 U.A.E. IBRA R. - Dhabayya. 0925 Dari to AFG/WAs. Preaching. A weak signal into Mt Evelyn, but confirmed on several SDRs in Eu/ME. May 22.

73 and wishing you good DX.

Rob Wagner VK3BVW

Current local time in
Mount Evelyn, Australia

CLICK HERE for VK3BVW Live Stream (Clublog)

QRZ callsign lookup:

OPENING THE LOGBOOK - MAY, 1972

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Wagner) — Sat, 16 May 2026 10:25:35 +0000

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

Current local time in
Mount Evelyn, Australia

CLICK HERE for VK3BVW Live Stream (Clublog)

QRZ callsign lookup:

RETRO RECEIVER REVIEW #24 - The RACAL RA-1771

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Wagner) — Fri, 08 May 2026 01:47:00 +0000

RETRO RECEIVER REVIEW #24

Racal RA-1771

by Craig Seager VK2HBT

This review first appeared in the Australian DX News in May 2009. Once again, I extend my thanks to Craig Seager for contributing this retro review to MEDXR and helping to keep the memories of radio alive!

All images in this article can be clicked on for an enlarged view and closer inspection.

For this outing, we seek to correct an imbalance by revisiting an iconic British brand name in radio terms that deserves more emphasis within this series. Hmmm… what do we have on the shelf that might help us out in this regard? Ah, yes, here’s something!

UK-based Racal Limited is synonymous with quality electronic equipment, and the company (founded in 1950 by RAymond Brown and George CALder Cunningham) was responsible for some legendary communications receivers, mostly supplied under government contracts.

The RA-17 was one such: based on the Wadley Loop principle and built like a tank. Thousands of these made their way into military and maritime applications, and subsequently into the hands of hobbyists via the surplus market. Accurate to 1 kHz utilising an analogue sliding tape display, and very sensitive, the RA17 and other variants were arguably a match for the Collins equipment from the other side of the Atlantic that impressed so many commentators.

There are several resources on the internet that give good overviews of the RA-17, such as here:

https://www.radiomuseum.co.uk/racal.html

and here:

https://www.tdxc.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/pr19-THE-RACAL-RA-17-COMMUNICATIONS-RECEIVER.pdf

Despite the success of these post-war valve receivers, the move to solid-state technology in the 1960s brought just as much pain for Racal’s customers as it did to those of other manufacturers. The early semiconductors certainly had their limitations, and even high-end receivers such as the RA1218 and RA6217 (1968) were misfires, with all sorts of birdies, whistles and images in evidence. By the late 1970s, however, componentry had improved to the extent that some nice, solid-state units were making their way onto the amateur market, and even better sets could be bought by government and commercial-sector bodies with the requisite deep pockets.

The RA-1771 was one of these, released in 1978, and boasting modular construction with up to 9 separate PCBs, depending on options fitted.

There are radios that shout their pedigree from across the shack, big and bold and festooned with knobs. The Racal RA-1771 is not one of these! In line with much British radio engineering, it is understated and quietly competent. It is also a significantly weighty piece of technology and, once placed in situ, is best left undisturbed.

Somewhat uniquely for the marque, the RA-1771 is tuned by a 30-position MHz knob, plus five rotary decadic switches for kHz and Hz (the receiver can be tuned down to 10 Hz increments). Decade tuning was a briefly employed methodology for receivers primarily intended to sit for long periods on fixed frequencies, and is not handy for scanning across the bands. Other examples from the era that spring readily to mind are the Rockwell/Collins HF-8050, which had thumbwheels, and the Harris RF-550 with digital display and six vertical slide switches. Both are rarities in this country (though many years back I could have owned an example of the latter, which had been on an oil rig, if a lazy AUD $600 had been available for such purposes at the time)!

Decade tuning was a “thing” for a certain period of radio history.

The RA-1771 is a fully synthesized PLL design, tuning from 15 kHz to 30 MHz in 30 bands, a departure from the Wadley Loop technology that had informed the RA-17, RA-117 and RA-1217 before it.

Modes available are AM, LSB, USB, CW, ISB and FSK. The frequency display is analogue, but precise. The circuitry is very similar to its sibling, the RA-1772, which was released around the same time but has a digital readout.

Up to five I.F. bandwidth filters can be selected, and these are well-chosen at 0.3, 1, 3, 8 and 13 kHz (when fully optioned). The standard receiver has a wideband input, but an optional tuned RF board can be added, with front panel control. This is a very stable device, by virtue of a temperature-controlled crystal oscillator (TXCO), and rated to 1.5ppm, though there are other, more stringent options available.

The top of the front panel is dominated by the tuning mechanism previously referred to, but there is also a small speaker that can be switched in or out, and a meter that has no less than ten measurement functions. Not only can it indicate RF, FSK and AF to line levels, but it also monitors the 20, 12, 5 and -7V supply rails. There are three AGC options (off/short/long), and rotary controls for IF gain, AF gain and BFO. Recessed screws adjust line output levels for AM/USB and LSB.

The rear of the set is rather busy, too. There is a BNC socket for antenna input, which is fused, plus various outputs for local oscillator, 1 MHz frequency standard, AGC, FSK, 1.4 MHz IF, external speaker and line.

Here too one will find voltage selection and a trio of power transistors and other I/O via tag connectors.

Performance across all bands is superior, with Racal getting it right on their first attempt at a fully synthesized set. Strong signals are handled well, and stability is excellent (high-quality FETs are employed through the signal path). There is also more than adequate protection for use in high RF environments (up to 30V continuous emf), according to the manual. This is achieved through a series of relays in the RF module, plus the antenna fuse.

A bank of electrolytics at the rear of the set. As with all vintage equipment, “when in doubt, whip them out!

By using a bank of switched bandpass filters in the front-end, the radio exhibits relatively quiet characteristics.

It is likely that this set found its home in coastal stations, HF monitoring sites or even defence applications.

Usually, good money is needed to acquire a collectible such as this, so imagine my disappointment when the sensitivity of the example I acquired (many years ago now) appeared to be significantly sub-optimal. After a bit of obligatory “blue” language, some analysis was eventually done; a previous owner had bypassed the RF section completely, diverting the antenna directly into the mixer section. Reason: the active and earth sides of the RF output had been reversed by an unskilled tinkerer! Additionally, an additional protection relay had also been added, which is superfluous for operation in my part of the world. I suspect this was not working properly. Speculation suggests that this radio had previously been used in a more tropical location, where storms would have rendered it more susceptible to damage. So all was well in the end.

Modular construction helps with servicing, but don’t be fooled into thinking it will be a walk in the park. The components tend to be tightly packed.

Module layout

Fully optioned, the RA-1771 is certainly one of the best receivers produced in the late 70s/early 80s, but stocks on the second-hand market are low. Serviceability is rather good due to the modular construction and easily removable top plate. Sometimes the little tuning knobs can become de-glued from their display dials; a bit of a nightmare to get the numbers back in alignment with actual frequency should this occur to more than one at a time.

This receiver has been overshadowed by the classic RA-17 and impressive RA-1792. However, if “dull but worthy” meets your criteria, then it certainly hits that mark.

Accordingly, if you see one of these at a swap meet or flea radio market, set some notes free from your wallet without hesitation!

TCXO board, which provides a high-stability frequency reference

Key Specifications:

Specification	Details
Coverage	15–30000 kHz
Sensitivity	<0.35 µV (0.5–30 MHz)
Selectivity	8 / 3 / 0.6 kHz @ -3 dB
Tuning	Fully synthesised in 10 Hz steps, five rotary decadic switches for kHz and Hz selection
IF Rejection	>80 dB
Antenna Input	50–75 ohm nominal, coaxial BNC connector

RA-1771 signal path

Resources:

The Operator’s Manual for the 1771/1772 can be found here:

https://blackradios.terryo.org/documents/manufacturers/Racal/manuals/Racal-RA1771-2-3-4-manual.pdf

The Maintenance Manual (Part 1) is here:

https://www.blunham.com/Radar/SignalsMuseum/PDFs/Recievers/RA1771_1.pdf

Part 2 here:

https://www.blunham.com/Radar/SignalsMuseum/PDFs/Recievers/RA1771_2.pdf

- - - - - / / - - - - -

Missed the other Retro Reviews? Check them all out by clicking below:

Retro Receiver Review # 1 - The DANSK RX4000

Retro Receiver Review # 2 - The HITACHI KH-3800W

Retro Receiver Review # 3 - The SCHAUB LORENZ ITT TOURING T104A RECEIVER

Retro Receiver Review # 4 - The RACAL RA6790/GM

Retro Receiver Review # 5 - The REALISTIC (RADIO SHACK) DX160

Retro Receiver Review # 6 - The KENWOOD QR 666

Retro Receiver Review # 7 - The RODHE & SCHWARZ EK890

Retro Receiver Review # 8 - The YAESU FR101S

Retro Receiver Review # 9 - The SELENA VEGA B206

Retro Receiver Review # 10 - The DRAKE SPR-4

Retro Receiver Review # 11 - The NATIONAL RF-5000

Retro Receiver Review # 12 - The YAESU FRG-100

Retro Receiver Review # 13 - The MARC NR-82 F1

Retro Receiver Review # 14 - The MURPHY B40

Retro Receiver Review # 15 - The STROMBERG CARLSON AWP-8

Retro Receiver Review # 16 - The YAESU FRG-7

Retro Receiver Review # 17 - The ALLIED/REALISTIC SX-190

Retro Receiver Review # 18 - The PANASONIC RF4800/4900 (DR-48/49)

Retro Receiver Review # 19 - The ZENITH TRANSOCEANIC B600

Retro Receiver Review # 20 - The SONY ICF-5900W

Retro Receiver Review # 21 - The KENWOOD R-5000

Retro Receiver Review # 22 - The E.I.L. HCR-62

Retro Receiver Review # 23 - The SONY ICF-6800

Retro Receiver Review # 24 - The RACAL RA-1771

Buying Used Shortwave Receivers: Practical Advice for DXers

Current local time in
Mount Evelyn, Australia

CLICK HERE for VK3BVW Live Stream (Clublog)

QRZ callsign lookup:

SHORTWAVE UNDER STRAIN: Energy Crisis and its Broadcast Impact

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Wagner) — Tue, 28 Apr 2026 21:51:00 +0000

SHORTWAVE UNDER STRAIN:

Energy Crisis and its Broadcast Impact

The longer this global energy crisis persists, the more havoc it is likely to wreak across many developing countries in Africa, Asia. and Latin America. In energy-constrained economies, power shortages can disproportionately affect lower-income populations. We are likely to see intermittent broadcasting schedules from countries operating small shortwave services.

For example, Radio Mali’s shortwave signals on 5995 kHz and 9635 kHz have lately been anything but consistent. For DXers, this behaviour naturally raises questions, but the answer appears to lie well beyond the transmitter site, in the broader energy problems and civil unrest in Bamako.

Long-time Californian DXer Ron Howard highlighted an April 20 travel advisory from the Government of Canada noting ongoing fuel shortages and strained infrastructure across Mali. In a system where electricity generation relies heavily on diesel, that detail is particularly telling. For Radio Télévision du Mali, it suggests that maintaining continuous shortwave output may not be feasible under current conditions.

Reports from the region describe disrupted fuel-supply routes into the capital, leading to shortages that affect transport and day-to-day activities. Inevitably, this flows through to the power sector, where outages and load-shedding have become more common. In practical terms, this means less predictable availability of the steady power needed to keep high-electricity-consuming shortwave transmitters on the air.

There are also broader social knock-on effects. With movement restricted and services under pressure, resources are often directed to immediate priorities. In that context, it’s not surprising that broadcasting - especially on energy-intensive shortwave - operates on a reduced or irregular basis, depending on the power and staffing available at any given time.

From a monitoring perspective, the intermittent nature of Radio Mali’s signals aligns with what we know about the situation on the ground. Sudden sign-offs, reduced operating hours, or even temporary absences from one or both frequencies may reflect an energy-constrained system trying to cope.

A Global Dilemma

Looking a little further afield, it’s worth noting that Mali is alone in this regard. As previously mentioned, prolonged energy shortages could affect broadcasting infrastructure in other developing regions across Africa, Asia and parts of Latin America. In many of these countries, radio remains a primary source of information, so even partial service interruptions are significant, not just for listeners at home, but also for those of us abroad who follow these stations as part of the wider shortwave landscape.

A comparable situation can be seen in Myanmar, where fuel shortages and rolling power outages have become increasingly common. As in Mali, electricity generation depends in part on diesel, while supply constraints and rationing limit availability. For services such as Myanmar Radio, this may create similar operational pressures, including reduced transmission hours or irregular schedules. Even Thazin Radio, which may receive priority access to resources because it falls under the purview of the Myanmar military, is not entirely insulated from broader infrastructure strain.

More broadly, there is growing recognition that energy instability can directly affect the media sector itself. Reports from across Africa highlight power shortages that interrupt transmission and create gaps in information flow, particularly where stations rely on unreliable grids or costly diesel generation. In such environments, broadcasting is not only technically challenging but also structurally so, as stations struggle to balance operating costs against shrinking and uncertain power availability.

For older broadcast facilities in particular, ageing infrastructure, fuel dependence, and rising costs can lead to reduced transmission hours or lower power levels. What is being heard today, with intermittent signals from small domestic shortwave broadcasters, may therefore be an early sign of a broader trend in which energy constraints increasingly shape what remains audible on the shortwave bands.

Shortwave Countries to Watch During the Global Energy Crisis

Africa:

Eswatini, Ethiopia (Amhara Radio, Radio Fana), Madagascar, Mali,

Asia:

Indonesia, Myanmar (Myanmar Radio, Thazin Radio), Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam

Latin America:

Cuba (a country already in crisis for some time now), and potentially smaller South American domestic broadcasters in Bolivia, Brazil, Mexico, and Peru.

Pacific:

Solomon Islands, Vanuatu.

References:

Government of Canada. (2026, April 20). Travel advice and advisories: Mali. Retrieved April 25, 2026, from Government of Canada – Mali Travel Advisory

Reuters. (2025, October 28). U.S. warns citizens in Mali to leave country immediately. Retrieved April 25, 2026, from Reuters article on Mali evacuation warning

Reuters. (2025, November 6). CMA CGM scraps plan to halt Mali shipments amid safety, fuel risks. Retrieved April 25, 2026, from Reuters article on Mali fuel risks

Associated Press. (2025). Fuel shortages in Mali trigger power outages and disrupt daily life. Retrieved April 25, 2026, from AP News Mali fuel shortage article

Africanews. (2025, November 1). Mali’s fuel shortage sparks urgent advisories from Western countries. Retrieved April 25, 2026, from Africanews Mali fuel crisis article

Myanmar Now. (2025). Myanmar faces deepening crisis as global oil shock bites. Retrieved April 25, 2026, from Myanmar Now fuel crisis article

SBS News. (2025). Fuel rationing measures introduced across parts of Asia. Retrieved April 25, 2026, from SBS News fuel rationing article

Fulcrum. (2024). The energy crisis is hitting Myanmar hard. Retrieved April 25, 2026, from Fulcrum Myanmar energy crisis article

Ecofin Agency. (2024, August 27). Electricity deficit threatens Africa’s digital transformation. Retrieved April 25, 2026, from Ecofin Agency electricity article

Community Podium News. (2025, February 12). Media sustainability in Africa: Energy crises and the threat to the information ecosystem. Retrieved April 25, 2026, from Community Podium News article

Wikipedia contributors. (2026, April). Rolling blackout. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved April 25, 2026, from Rolling blackout article

Clean Air Task Force. (2024). Unearthing reality: Zombie energy systems and Africa’s energy transition. Retrieved April 25, 2026, from Clean Air Task Force report

73 and good DX,

Rob Wagner VK3BVW

Current local time in
Mount Evelyn, Australia

CLICK HERE for VK3BVW Live Stream (Clublog)

QRZ callsign lookup:

NEW FREQUENCIES AND DX TIPS - April 24, 2026

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Wagner) — Fri, 24 Apr 2026 09:38:00 +0000

NEW FREQUENCIES AND DX TIPS
April 24, 2026

NOTE: The MEDXR blog has a new look. There are still a few formatting problems (rendering issues) on some of the 860 + posts, so bear with me. I'll get there eventually! 😊

Since the start of the A26 transmission season, I have been assisting my wife, who has been in the hospital for two weeks and is in ongoing recovery here at home. Along with my other regular responsibilities, it has been a busy time! So, it is only in the past ten days that I have got around to turning on the radios to check out the shortwave bands. Below are mainly new frequencies (NFs) for A26, plus a few other passing observations.

For each new frequency, I have tried to identify the frequency used in the B25 season. But this can be hard because schedules can be complex or drastically changed by the broadcaster, making direct comparisons difficult.

The list is in frequency order. The countries listed are where the transmitter sites are located. Many broadcasters use transmitters in other countries to improve reception in their target zones. For example, the world-famous BBC is currently using this long list of relays for the A26 transmission season: Oman, Ascension Island, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, United Arab Emirates, Vatican City, and Madagascar, as well as its own transmitters in Woofferton, England!

In most cases, I have listed the sign-on and sign-off times for each broadcast. These are represented by asterisks * before the sign-on time and after the sign-off time. I hope readers will find this information more useful. Comments on signal strength, as noted here at Mount Evelyn, are largely irrelevant and have not been included, except for a few remarks on interference (QRM) from other stations.

Equipment: SDRPlay RSPduo, Yaesu FTDX3000 transceiver, Kenwood R5000 receiver, Yaesu FRG 100 receiver, Kenwood TS2000 transceiver.

Antennas: 80m long horizontal sky loop antenna, a delta loop antenna for 10 MHz, a double bazooka antenna for 14 MHz and a 5/8λ centre-fed vertical for 21 MHz and above.

Abbreviations:

NF = New Frequency for the A26 transmission season

NS = New Site (i.e. a change in relay station for a specific broadcast)

QRM = Interference from another station

// = The same broadcast simultaneously on another frequency, i.e. in parallel.

WS = BBC World Service

AF = Africa. Eu = Europe, As = Asia, ME = Middle East, NAm = North America, CAm = Central America, SAm = South America, Oc = Oceania, AFG = Afghanistan,

N = North, S = South, E = East, W = West

ENAm = Eastern North America, NEAs = North East Asia, etc.

★★★★★★

⭐ 4755 INDONESIA. VoIndonesia - Cimanggis. 1210 Japanese service, talk and songs. Fair signal, Apr 23.

⭐ 3250 D.P.R.KOREA. KCBS - Pyongyang. 1145 Korean orchestral music, heavy tones of Western Romantic era symphonic music. Brahms and Dvorak would have been proud!! Fair to poor signal, Apr 23.

⭐ 5020 SOLOMON IS. SIBC - Honiara. 1030 Chit-chat in English, 1040 canned adverts, 1043 country music. Fair signal, Apr 23.

⭐ 5050 CHINA. Voice of Beibu Bay R. - Nanning. I was sitting on this freq when it suddenly popped up out of the mud at 1115 with Vietnamese programming. Soft music in the background. Pleasant, easy listening music from 1134. Fair signal on Apr 23. Learn more about Beibu Bay Radio here.

7355 USA. KNLS - Anchor Point, AK. *1200-1300* English to EAs. NF (ex 9580), Apr 11.

9440 CHINA. CRI - Kunming. *1100-1200* Amoy to SEAs. Additional freq for this service and one hour earlier than B25. Runs // 11875 also heard but not as strong, on a slightly different beam heading. Apr 11.

9490 CHINA. CRI - Nanning. *1030-1130* Khmer to SEAs, NF (ex 17680). Slight QRM from co-channel R. Taiwan Int’l from 1100. Apr 11.

⭐ 9490 FRANCE. R. Republica - Issoudun. 0245 Spanish to Cuba, s/off and carrier off at 0259. But then fired up again at 0300 with full ID and News. Very good signal and the only one on the band other than Vanuatu (9960). A sign that winter lunchtime propagation is coming! Apr 23.

9545 USA. KNLS - Anchor Point, AK. *0900-1000* Russian to EAs, NF (ex 9705), Apr 14.

9570 CHINA. CRI - Xian. *1100-1157* Cantonese to Oc, NF (ex 13580), Apr 11.

KNLS Curtain Antenna Array

9580 USA. KNLS - Anchor Point, AK. *1100-1200* Russian to EAs, NF (ex 9570), Apr 11.

9580 USA. KNLS - Anchor Point, AK. *1000-1100* English to EAs, NF (ex 9680), Apr 14.

9685 USA. KNLS - Anchor Point, AK. *1000-1100* Mandarin to EAs, NF (ex 9540), Apr 14.

9795 USA. KNLS - Anchor Point, AK. *1200-1300* English to EAs, NF (ex 9625), Apr 11.

9870 USA. KNLS - Anchor Point, AK. *1100-1200* Korean to EAs. NF (ex 9720), Apr 11.

⭐ 9875 TÜRKIYE. VoTürkiye - Emirler. *2030-2130 English to Oc. NF (ex 9610). At 2130 into Italian, not scheduled here at this time. And there appeared to be no apparent change of beam heading, signal strength did not vary, still beaming to Oc - a bit strange! Then 2200, English, theoretically to Eu and NAm to 2300. Again, no detectable change in azimuth or signal strength for this service. (ex 11785 or a mistake?). Then, 2300 into the unscheduled German. Mind you, this is 1:00 am in Germany…..very helpful!! A strong signal throughout the monitoring period, only marred by weak co-channel QRM from, I suspect, FEBC signing on at 2300. Apr 18.

9880 CHINA. CRI - Kashi. *2200-2257* Esperanto to SAm, NF (ex 9860), Apr 18.

9915 ASCENSION IS. BBC - Ascension. *0600-0700* English to CAf. WS news, NF (ex 11810), Apr 14.

⭐ 9960 VANUATU. R. Vanuatu - Emten Lagoon. 0240 Bislama chat, fair signal, Apr 23.

11620 CHINA. CRI - Xian. *1000-1100* Japanese to EAs. NF (ex 9440), Apr 11.

11650 AUSTRALIA. Reach Beyond - Kununurra. *1030-1100* Korean to EAs. NF (ex 11905), Apr 11.

11680 KOREA, NORTH. KCBS - Kanggye. Opera chorus in Korean 1030, fair signal, Apr 11.

11780 BRAZIL. R. Nacional Amazônia - Brasília. 0200 Portuguese sports chat (football). R. Nacional canned ID at 0207, then more sports commentary. Weak signal, Apr 23.

11790 ROMANIA. RRI - Galbeni. *0700-0800* Romanian to ME, Sun only, NF (possibly ex 17630?), Apr 12.

11795 KOREA, SOUTH. KBS-World R. - Kimjae. *1000-1100* English to SAm. NF (ex 9570). QRM splash from 11800 kHz CNR 2’s booming signal. Apr 11.

11820 ROMANIA. RRI - Galbeni. *0200-0300* Spanish to CAm, NF, Apr 23.

11830 CHINA. CRI - Kashi. *0100-0300* Spanish to SAm. NF (ex 9590), Apr 23.

11855 JAPAN. R. Japan - Yamata. 1040-1050 Mandarin to EAs. NF and an additional 10-minute service (ex 11825), Apr 11.

11875 USA. KNLS - Anchor Point. *0900-1000* Mandarin to EAs. NF (ex 7370), Apr 14.

11875 CHINA. CRI - Kunming. *1000-1057* Cantonese to Oc, NF (ex 11875), Apr 11.

⭐ 11885 MALAYSIA. Sabah V FM - Kajang. 0155 Mandarin, targeting the broader Chinese Malay community. Malay pops and Chinese anncts. Fair signal, until 0200 when QRM splash from CRI-Kashi’s big 500 kW s/on in Mandarin. Apr 17.

11905 CHINA. CRI - Jinhua. *0900-1100* English to Oc, NF (ex 17690), Apr 14.

12005 CHINA. CRI - Kunming. *1000-1057* Cantonese to Oc NF (ex 17670), Apr 11.

⭐ 12020 VIETNAM. VoV-5 - Son Tay. *1030-1057* Indonesian to SEAs with a strong signal, beaming 177 deg. At 1100, the opening orchestral theme music was played for a few seconds before the signal was suddenly cut off. Returned 90 sec later with a greatly reduced signal strength in Japanese, beaming 57 deg to EAs. Apr 11.

13580 CHINA. CRI - Kunming. *1000-1100* English to Oc, NF (ex 15210), Apr 14.

⭐ 13610 ENGLAND. KBS - Woofferton. *0700-0800* Korean to Eu. NF (ex 9870). Heavy QRM from co-channel CNR 1. A quick check of five European Kiwi SDRs also showed that this is a stinker of a frequency choice, with CNR at the same strength as KBS in most cases. Apr 12.

13635 TÜRKIYE. VoTürkiye - Emirler. *0600-1300* Turkish to Eu. NF (ex 15350), Apr 14.

13685 TÜRKIYE. VoTürkiye - Emirler. *0700-0800* Azeri to the Caucasus, NF (ex 11710 and one hr earlier), Apr 14.

13695 FRANCE. R. France Int - Issoudun. *0600-0700* French to WAf, NF (probably ex 9790), Apr 16.

13740 FRANCE. R. France Int - Issoudun. *0600-0630* Hausa to WAf, NF (ex 11995), Apr 16.

13740 CHINA. CRI - Kashi.* 0100-0300* Spanish to SAm, NF, Apr 23.

13800 CHINA. CRI - Kunming. *0900-1000* English to Oc, NF (ex 15210), Apr 14.

13810 ENGLAND. BBC - Woofferton. *0600-0630* French to NAf. NF (ex 7285), Apr 16.

15130 ROMANIA. RRI - Galbeni. *0630-0657* Arabic to NAf. NF (ex 15120) and one hour earlier, Apr 12.

15195 JAPAN. R. Japan - Yamata. *0630-0650* Korean to EAs. NF (ex 11830), Apr 12.

⭐ 15295 MALAYSIA. RTM Nasional FM - Kajang. 0150 Soft pops, 0152 rapid fire anncts and ID as simply Nasional FM. Heard here most of the day now, fair signal throughout, Apr 17.

15320 TÜRKIYE. VoTürkiye - Emirler. *0500-0600* Scheduled as Swahili to EAf, NF (ex 17780 and two hrs earlier than B25), Apr 16.

15320 TÜRKIYE. VoTürkiye - Emirler. Scheduled *0600-0700* as Hausa to Nigeria and WAf ….but, to my ears, it sounded more like Swahili on this day! Control room screw-up? NF (ex 15235), Apr 16.

15330 FRANCE. R. France Int - Issoudun. *0730-0800* Fulfulde to WAf. NF (ex 13710), Apr 14.

15505 ENGLAND. R. Ndarason - Woofferton. *0600-0700* Kanuri to WAf, NF (ex 9535), Apr 12.

15680 ROMANIA. RRI - Tiganesti. *0700-0800* Romanian to ME, Sun only, NF (ex 15200), Apr 12.

⭐ 15710 FRANCE. Hope of Israel - Issoudun. *1600-1628* English with a strong southern American Baptist twang. Big signal on Apr 18.

17620 FRANCE. R. France Int - Issoudun. *0830-0900* Fulfulde to WAf, NF (ex 17660). Serious adjacent channel QRM from a booming CNR 2 on 17625, which also signs off at 0900. Apr 14.

17620 CHINA. CRI - Kashi. *0900-1000* Romanian to Eu, NF (ex 15260, 1 hr earlier than B25), Apr 14.

17720 TÜRKIYE. VoTürkiye - Emirler. *0400-0500* Malay to SEAs. NF (ex 17530), Apr 17.

17790 JAPAN. R. Japan - Yamata. *0500-0650* Japanese, listed as beamed to CAm (!). NF. A bit odd, as the service begins anywhere between 11 pm and 1 am, depending on where you are in CAm! A special new service for insomniacs? 😁 Apr 12.

73 and wishing you good DX!

Rob Wagner VK3BVW

Current local time in
Mount Evelyn, Australia

CLICK HERE for VK3BVW Live Stream (Clublog)

QRZ callsign lookup:

THE NEW LOOK MEDXR! - Comments Welcomed

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Wagner) — Wed, 22 Apr 2026 10:11:00 +0000

THE NEW LOOK MEDXR!

Looking for comments, please

Don't worry! You haven't logged onto some scam site! 😁

They say that a change is as good as a holiday. So, I've given the blog a bit of a spring clean! Most of the recent posts seem to have transferred over to the new design without any problem. Some of the earlier posts may not look the same or may have formatting issues.

If you have any comments on the site, I'd love to hear your thoughts. Check not only the posts but also the tabs along the top for other sections of the blog (About Rob, Radio Shack, QSL Photo Gallery, More... etc.). These other sections will need an update, too. Coming soon!

Also, if you can check on desktops, tablets and phones, using your favourite browser, that would be good, too.

Hopefully, it all hangs together and is readable.

What do you think about the dark setting? It seems easier on the eyes, especially when looking at the monitor for a long time. Any thoughts? You can leave your feedback below.

Thanks, folks.

Rob Wagner VK3BVW

Current local time in
Mount Evelyn, Australia

CLICK HERE for VK3BVW Live Stream (Clublog)

QRZ callsign lookup:

OPENING THE LOGBOOK - APRIL 1972

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Wagner) — Tue, 14 Apr 2026 22:22:00 +0000

The Angostura Bridge featured in the Radio Bolívar station logo

OPENING THE LOGBOOK - APRIL 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 April 1972—54 years ago!

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

Shortwave News

There were some fine catches noted by ARDXC members during April 1972, including the following:

6160 CKZN - St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada. David Foster captured this extremely rare low-powered (300 watts) signal at 2205 UTC with news and a station ID as "CBC Radio Network", eventually fading out around 2230. What's remarkable about this reception, aside from its low power, is that the signal would have travelled via the long path, an almost all-darkness path (see the red dotted LP path below), a distance of approximately 21800 km (13548 mi). Additionally, this was at 8:05 am (well after sunrise, which was 6:45 am) at David's home in Melbourne, and just before sunset at St. John's. Remarkable reception!

This map has been calculated to illustrate the path travelled by CKZN, Newfoundland, Canada, as it would have been at 8:05 am, Melbourne time, on April 14, 1972. An impressive reception, indeed!

Exceptional reception of Latin stations in the 25 mb on April 24, 25 and 26 including 11720 R. Nacional (Brasilia), 11735 R. Oriental (Montevideo), 11765 Radiodifusão de São Paulo, 11805 R. Globo (Rio de Janerio), 11835 R. Eel Espectador (Montevideo), 4VEJ Cap Haitienne, 11855 R. America (São Paulo), 11880 R. Splendid (Buenos Aires), 11885 R. Mauá (Rio de Janerio), 11935 R. Clube Paranease (Curutiba), and 11950 R. Ministério da Educação (Rio de Janerio).

First reports by three Australian DXers of the recently launched (in 1971) International Service from Abu Dhabi on 9695 kHz between 1230 and 1845 UTC featuring a mix of Arabic chants, news and live broadcasts of political rallies.

Early test transmissions of the new Wertachtal transmitters of Deutsche Welle on many frequencies, including 6170, 7285, 9545, 9765, 11850, 11865 and 21705 kHz, with mostly excellent reception into Australia.

Excellent autumn reception of 60 and 90 mb stations from both Latin America and Africa, including 3240 R. America (Lima), 3300 La Voix del la Revolution, Bujumburra, Burundi, 3360 La Voz de Nahualá (Guatemala), 3380 R. Chortis, Chiquimala (Guatemala), 4832 R. Capital, San José (Costa Rica), and many others.

International ARDXC members Victor Goonetilleke (Sri Lanka) and Bob Bundy (Truk Island) also contributed some important observations from their locations. Victor monitored 3223 AIR-Simla, 3235 AIR-Gauhati, 3265 Lorenco Marques, 3330 Peshawar, 3407 Azad Kashmir, 4719 RRI-Makassar, 4764 RRI-Medan, 4780 Djibouti, 4815 Quetta, 4790 Kota Kinabalu and many others. Bob had his eye on North Korea with 3015, 6580 and 635 kHz Pyongyang in Japanese, 4401 4274, 6599, 2850 and MW outlets for Pyongyang's Home Service, and 4920 ABC-Port Moresby with an extended schedule for cyclone news.

(Click on images to enlarge.)
Radio Bolívar is one of my favourite QSLs. My Spanish reception report was for August 18, 1971, and the airmail reply arrived on April 18, 1972. So, where had my report been for seven of those eight months before it was answered on April 3? Surely my Spanish wasn't that bad! 🤣🤣

Spotlight on Radio Bolívar, Venezuela

My QSL letter above is from Radio Bolívar, a small station operating from the city of Bolívar. Situated about 450 km south-east of Caracas, Ciudad Bolívar is the historic capital of Venezuela’s Bolívar State, on the south bank of the Orinoco River. Founded in 1764 as Angostura, it is known for its well-preserved colonial centre, its role as a commercial hub for the surrounding region, and as a base for exploring Angel Falls. The city also boasts the Angostura Bridge, the first bridge to span the Orinoco River. That bridge features in Radio Bolívar's station logo (a nice local touch!) and is about five km west of the studios.

Initially a private commercial station, Radio Bolívar also operated under the names of Radio Mundial Bolívar (under the Radio Cadena Mundial Network), and Radio Venezuela (as Ciudad Bolívar under the Circuito Radio Venezuela Network).

The shortwave outlet was assigned the callsign YVNW. It was a tough station to hear at my old home in those days. It was certainly not strong enough to be a nightly visitor! Operating on 4770 kHz with only 1 kW, the signal travelled 15,640 km to Melbourne. Quite a distance! There was also the mediumwave outlet on 1010 kHz with 10 kW.

In the 60s and 70s, Venezuela was a very active country on shortwave, especially on the 60- and 90-metre bands. But, during the 1980s, most stations turned off their shortwave transmitters, concentrating on AM and FM outlets. By 1988, R. Bolívar's 4770 kHz shortwave signal had become irregular, and by 1990, had disappeared for good.

Radio TV Gaucha (Porto Alegre), Brazil on 6135 kHz.

This Radio Tanzania QSL is one of my two remaining mediumwave African QSLs (the other QSLs from four African countries have "flown the coop"!) This one arrived at the end of April, taking just four weeks. Distance travelled by this mediumwave signal: 10,950 km (6,804 ml)

A Crush of Radio Signals

It is important to understand that the ionosphere (the atmospheric layer responsible for the refraction of radio signals) is always in a constant state of flux. It changes diurnally (throughout the day), across seasons, with the solar cycle, with the location of ionospheric refraction points, and with daily variances in solar activity.

In the 70s and 80s, regular mini-surveys were conducted and reported in the ADXN. During April, 1972, a few of us (David Foster, Bob Padula, Russell James and I) gathered information for a 31mb daytime survey. Down here in southeastern Australia, whenever we head towards winter, 9 MHz is open 24 hours a day! In the 2.5-hour survey period of 0130 to 0400 UTC (local, thirty minutes past noon to 2pm), there was plenty to hear from a variety of countries around the world. Actual propagation paths on this band were difficult to determine and consisted of short, long, dual-path, as well as multi-hop modes.

Reading back over the results, it was surprising to see just how many "collisions" there were between the international broadcasters, operating at exactly the same time! Here are some glaring examples!

9520 Madrid, R. Liberty and occasionally ABC-Port Moresby.

9530 VoA-Greenville, R. Moscow, and HCJB.

9540 R. Prague and R. Moscow Home Service.

9545 Beirut and Deutsche Welle-Jülich.

9565 VOA-Greenville and Deutsche Welle-Kigali, Rwanda.

9570 Bucharest and Madrid, along with R. Porrtales, Santiago on 9573!

9590 R. Moscow, R. Nederland and R. Presidente Balmaceda, Santiago!

9600 BBC-Ascension and R. Berlin Int.

9610 ABC-Perth, plus R. Norway and R. Moscow, both beaming to the Americas!

....and on and on it goes!

The rest of the band was exactly the same. Collisions all over the place. Now, some of these clashes would work OK into the target zones, as long as it's not the SAME target zone (as in the last example above!). But if a listener was not in one of the clashing target zones, it was very common to hear all stations on a particular frequency at the same time. Remember: this was well before the advent of the High Frequency Coordination Committee (HFCC).

Interesting times, indeed!

QSLs in the Mailbox

The Wagner family mailbox saw some nice QSLs from: R. Bandeirantes (São Paulo) 6185, R. Bolívar 4774, R. TV Gaucha (Porto Alegre) 6135, R. Guarani (Belo Horizonte) 6175, R. Sutatenza 6075, Dacca 15520, Rangoon 5040 and some international broadcasters.

Radio Bandeirantes (São Paulo), Brazil on 6185 kHz

I hope you enjoyed this walk down memory lane. Next month, we will open the logbook in May 1972.

73 and good DX,

Rob Wagner VK3BVW

Current local time in
Mount Evelyn, Australia

CLICK HERE for VK3BVW Live Stream (Clublog)

QRZ callsign lookup:

BUYING USED SHORTWAVE RECEIVERS: Practical advice for DXers.

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Wagner) — Fri, 03 Apr 2026 22:13:00 +0000

Realistic DX-160

BUYING USED SHORTWAVE RECEIVERS:
Practical Advice for DXers

A Mount Evelyn DX Report

Retro Receiver Reviews Companion Guide

Over the past decade, the Mount Evelyn DX Report has published numerous Retro Receiver Reviews, examining classic shortwave and communications receivers from earlier decades. Most of these have been written by long-time friend Craig Seager VK2HBT, with a few extra from myself (Rob VK3BVW).

Radios such as the Sony ICF-2010, Yaesu FRG-7, Drake R8 series, and other well-known designs still appear regularly on the second-hand market and continue to attract interest from DXers and radio enthusiasts. These receivers are no longer manufactured, yet they remain capable performers. Buying one second-hand can be an excellent way to experience classic radio engineering while expanding a listening station at relatively modest cost.

However, vintage electronics require careful evaluation. Age, wear, storage conditions, and previous modifications can all affect performance. This article summarises practical advice for non-technical shortwave listeners and DXers considering the purchase of a used shortwave receiver and highlights some pitfalls to avoid. At the end of this post is a DOWNLOAD link to a PDF that summarises it all into a handy one-page checklist.

Choosing the Right Type of Receiver

The first step is deciding what type of receiver suits your listening interests. For casual listening to international broadcasters, a portable shortwave receiver may be sufficient. However, DXers who want to chase rarer (harder-to-hear) broadcasters, or explore amateur bands, utility stations, or digital signals, should strongly consider receivers with single-sideband (SSB) capability.

Communications receivers designed for more serious monitoring typically offer:

Narrower filters for crowded bands
Greater frequency stability
External antenna connections
Improved dynamic range

Examples of classic receivers often encountered on the used market include models from Sony, Drake, Yaesu, Icom, Kenwood, and Lowe Electronics.

Drake SPR-4 - a legendary receiver in its day.

Research the Model First

Before committing to a purchase, spend some time researching the receiver model. Vintage radios vary widely in performance and reliability. Some models earned strong reputations and remain sought after by collectors, while others were known for design limitations or reliability issues.

Useful sources of information include:

Radio hobbyist websites and blogs
Vintage receiver databases
Online discussion groups
Archived magazine reviews

Knowing the strengths and weaknesses of a particular model can prevent costly surprises later.

Inspect the Physical Condition

The external condition of a receiver often reflects how it has been treated over the years. Look for signs such as:

Cracked cabinets or bent metal panels
Missing knobs or switches
Damage around antenna connectors
Evidence of moisture exposure

Portable receivers deserve special attention in the battery compartment. Leakage from old batteries can cause serious corrosion damage.

A clean, well-preserved receiver is generally a safer purchase than one showing heavy wear.

Incidentally, beware of equipment that has lived in a smoker's radio shack. Like dust, smoke isn't good for electronics! It can create a tacky film over components and leads, causing electrical conductivity issues and faulty behaviour in switches, contacts, potentiometers, and variable capacitors. While not a "deal-breaker", purchase of equipment from a smoker's radio shack will possibly require a "deep-clean" with high-concentration Isopropyl Alcohol and lots of patience!

The Kenwood R-5000 was a wonderful rig, but these days,
many suffer from the well-known "key bounce" faults.

Test Controls and Switches

Mechanical controls are frequent points of failure in older equipment.

When examining a radio:

Rotate the tuning knob slowly across the band
Operate all switches and mode selectors
Adjust volume and tone controls

Scratchy audio or intermittent operation could simply indicate dirty contacts, but severe problems could mean worn components.

Band switches, which carry RF signals across multiple circuits, are especially prone to contact oxidation.

Check Frequency Stability

Frequency stability becomes particularly important when listening to SSB or narrowband signals. Tune to a stable reference station such as a time signal or a strong broadcast station. Allow the receiver to warm up for ten minutes and observe whether the frequency remains steady. Some drift is normal in older analog receivers, but excessive instability can make listening difficult.

Evaluate Sensitivity

Sensitivity describes the receiver's ability to detect weak signals. A healthy receiver should easily pick up multiple stations across the shortwave bands when connected to a modest antenna. If reception is limited to only the strongest signals, the receiver may require alignment or may have deteriorating components.

Assess Selectivity

Selectivity determines how well the receiver separates stations that are close together in frequency. Many communications receivers include several filter bandwidths, for example:

Wide filters for broadcast listening
Narrow filters for amateur band signals
Very narrow filters for Morse code reception

Switching between these filters should noticeably reduce interference from nearby stations.

A lot is going on inside the Yaesu FRG-7!
But clean working units can still be found.

Watch for Modifications

Some vintage receivers have been modified by previous owners. Occasionally, these modifications improve performance, but poorly executed changes can introduce reliability issues. Common modifications may include:

Added audio filters
Expanded frequency coverage
Changes to the power supply

Unless the modification is well documented and professionally executed, the original factory configuration is usually preferable.

Check Antenna Connections

Good antenna connections are essential for effective DXing.

Inspect:

External antenna connectors
Telescopic antennas on portable sets
Antenna selector switches

A damaged antenna jack or broken telescopic whip can significantly reduce performance.

Listen to the Audio Carefully

Audio quality can reveal a lot about the internal condition of a receiver. While listening to a station, note whether the audio is:

Clear and stable
Free from excessive hum
Free from distortion

Power supply hum often indicates ageing electrolytic capacitors, which are common maintenance items in vintage equipment.

Common Vintage Receiver Problems

Older receivers frequently develop similar faults after decades of use. Typical issues include:

Electrolytic capacitor ageing - These components gradually dry out or bulge, causing hum, distortion, or unstable operation.
Dirty switches and controls - Oxidised contacts may cause noisy audio or intermittent operation.
Frequency synthesiser issues - Early PLL circuits occasionally develop stability problems due to ageing components.
Dial mechanism wear - String-driven tuning systems in some receivers can slip or break.
Battery leakage damage - Portable receivers stored with batteries installed often suffer corrosion in the battery compartment.
Previous repair attempts - Poor soldering or improvised repairs can sometimes create additional faults.

While most of these problems can be repaired, they should be considered when evaluating price and restoration effort.

Buy from Knowledgeable Sellers

Where possible, buy from sources familiar with radio equipment.

Options include:

Amateur radio swap meets
Vintage radio dealers
Experienced collectors
Online marketplaces with detailed listings

When buying remotely, ask for clear photographs and a detailed description of the receiver’s condition. If an unknown online seller says, "It turns on, but I don't know if it works", it's probably best to walk away!

Safety Note: High Voltages in Valve Receivers

When dealing with vintage valve (tube) receivers, it is essential to understand that these sets operate with potentially lethal internal voltages. High-voltage power supply rails in valve equipment can exceed several hundred volts, and these voltages may remain present even after the receiver has been switched off due to charged capacitors.

Unlike solid-state equipment, valve receivers require much greater caution during inspection or service. Unless you are experienced in working with high-voltage electronics, it is strongly recommended that any internal repairs or restoration work be carried out by a qualified technician familiar with vintage radio equipment. Attempting repairs without the necessary knowledge and precautions can result in serious injury or worse.

Mains Power and Earthing in Vintage Receivers

In addition to high internal voltages, many vintage receivers present potential hazards related to mains power design and earthing. Older equipment—particularly imported models—may use two-wire power connections, non-polarised plugs, or chassis designs where parts of the circuit are directly connected to the mains supply. In some cases, the chassis itself may become “live” under fault conditions.

Before operating a newly acquired receiver, it is advisable to check the condition of the power cord, plug, and internal mains components. As with valve equipment, if you are uncertain about mains safety, inspection and any necessary upgrades should be carried out by a technician experienced in vintage radio equipment.

Note: Some countries have different regulations and requirements regarding the earthing of equipment and the connection of equipment earths to ground. Much of what we read comes from the USA, but those procedures may not apply in your country. If importing a used receiver from overseas, some research may be needed before connecting it to the power socket.

Manage Expectations

Vintage receivers represent the technology of their era.

Even highly regarded radios from the 1970s and 1980s may not match the performance of modern DSP receivers in every respect. Nevertheless, many classic radios remain excellent performers and offer a distinctive listening experience.

For many DXers, the appeal of these radios lies not only in performance but also in their craftsmanship and historical significance.

👉👉 Quick Inspection Checklist for Used Receivers 👈👈

When examining a receiver at a hamfest or personal inspection, a quick checklist can be useful to have on hand. I have prepared the following downloadable PDF, which summarises everything you have read above. (No need to sign up or log in to Box.com - Just hit the Download icon)

Using a checklist like this helps identify receivers worth pursuing and those best avoided.

Final Thoughts

Buying a used shortwave receiver can be a rewarding way to experience classic radio design and extend a DXing station without the cost of new equipment. By researching models, carefully inspecting condition, and understanding common vintage issues, radio enthusiasts can find receivers that still provide many years of enjoyable listening.

The Retro Receiver Reviews on the Mount Evelyn DX Report demonstrate that many classic radios remain capable performers today, provided they are chosen carefully.

73 and wishing you good DX,

Rob Wagner VK3BVW

- - - - - / / - - - - -

Retro Receiver Review # 16 - The YAESU FRG-7

Retro Receiver Review # 17 - The ALLIED/REALISTIC SX-190

Retro Receiver Review # 18 - The PANASONIC RF4800/4900 (DR-48/49)

Retro Receiver Review # 19 - The ZENITH TRANSOCEANIC B600

Retro Receiver Review # 20 - The SONY ICF-5900W

Retro Receiver Review # 21 - The KENWOOD R-5000

Retro Receiver Review # 22 - The E.I.L. HCR-62

Retro Receiver Review # 23 - The SONY ICF-6800

Retro Receiver Review # 24 - The RACAL RA-1771

Buying Used Shortwave Receivers: Practical Advice for DXers

Current local time in
Mount Evelyn, Australia

CLICK HERE for VK3BVW Live Stream (Clublog)

QRZ callsign lookup:

STRONG SIGNAL, NO DECODES: Auroral Flutter and the Bouvet-Australia FT8 Puzzle

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Wagner) — Fri, 20 Mar 2026 23:54:00 +0000

Strong Signals, No Decodes:

Auroral Flutter and the Bouvet–Australia FT8 Puzzle

When the 3Y0K DXpedition to Bouvet Island went on the air, many amateur radio operators across eastern Australia eagerly sought a contact. Bouvet is one of the rarest DX entities on Earth, and any activation naturally sparks strong interest on the HF bands.

Yet something unusual happened. Some Australian operators reported seeing Bouvet signals clearly on their FT8 waterfalls. In some cases, the signals appeared reasonably strong. However, despite this, decodes were rare or nonexistent.

That was the case at my QTH. This isn't a beams-and-high-power setup. My modest operation involves 50 W into an 80m long horizontal skyloop or a 30m vertical delta loop. I saw the 3Y0K signal numerous times, but there was only one decode. Talk about frustrating!

This was quite baffling. After all, FT8 is known for its ability to decode signals well below the noise floor. If the signal was visible, why wasn't it decoding? So, I took some time (and a lot of reading) to investigate what might be going on.

One possible explanation lies in a phenomenon well known to radio scientists but less familiar to some HF operators: auroral flutter.

Bouvet and the Southern High-Latitude Path

Bouvet Island is situated in the remote South Atlantic at approximately 54° south latitude (−54.4333, 3.400, to be exact), placing it firmly within the sub-Antarctic region. From eastern Australia, the great-circle radio path to Bouvet curves deep into the southern high latitudes before turning northward toward the Australian continent.

This geometry matters.

Unlike many DX paths that stay within the relatively stable mid-latitude ionosphere, the Bouvet–Australia route travels near the southern auroral zone. In this region, Earth's upper atmosphere is often disturbed by energetic particles from the solar wind.

During geomagnetic activity, these particles enter the atmosphere along Earth's magnetic field lines, producing the aurora. At the same time, they create complex structures of enhanced ionisation in the ionosphere. For radio signals travelling through this region, the ionosphere can be anything but smooth.

The Auroral Oval

Auroral activity takes place within a ring-shaped area around the geomagnetic poles called the auroral oval. Under quiet conditions, the oval generally sits near 65–70° geomagnetic latitude, but during geomagnetic disturbances, it expands towards lower latitudes.

Signals travelling near this region can encounter a highly irregular ionosphere filled with drifting filaments and patches of ionised plasma. These structures are aligned with Earth's magnetic field and can move through the ionosphere at hundreds of metres per second.

From a radio propagation perspective, this environment behaves quite differently from the stable F-layer reflections that support most long-distance HF communication.

Illustrations of where the Auroral Oval zones occur in the
northern and southern hemispheres.
(Image courtesy of William Copeland)

When the Ionosphere Becomes Turbulent

In mid-latitude propagation, the ionosphere often acts like a relatively smooth mirror, reflecting HF signals back toward Earth.

In the auroral zone, that mirror breaks down.

Instead of reflecting cleanly from a stable layer, radio waves are scattered by many small ionised structures. Each of these acts like a tiny moving reflector, sending part of the signal along slightly different paths.

When those dispersed components arrive at the receiver, they merge in intricate ways. The outcome can include:

• rapid fading

• multiple propagation paths

• unstable phase relationships

• small but significant frequency shifts

These effects collectively are known as auroral flutter.

Operators listening to CW signals during auroral conditions often describe the sound as rough, raspy, or "buzzing." The signal strength may stay surprisingly good, but the tone becomes unstable.

The Role of Doppler Spread

One of the key effects of auroral scattering is Doppler spreading. Since the plasma structures causing scattering are moving through the ionosphere, each scattered signal component undergoes a slightly different Doppler shift. Rather than arriving at a single frequency, the signal energy is spread across a small frequency range.

In high-latitude propagation studies, Doppler spreads under auroral conditions have been observed to range from a few hertz to several tens of Hertz, and occasionally much higher during strong disturbances.

For many modes of communication, this distortion is inconvenient but manageable. However, for FT8, it can be deadly.

Why FT8 Is Especially Sensitive

FT8 transmits a series of eight audio tones spaced just 6.25 Hz apart. The receiving software integrates the signal over a 12.6-second transmission window and works out which tones appeared at each symbol interval. For this process to function properly, the received tones must stay very stable in both frequency and phase.

Auroral flutter disrupts exactly those properties.

If Doppler spreading widens the signal spectrum by tens of Hertz, the narrow FT8 tones blend together. The decoder can no longer identify which tone matches which symbol. The signal might still be clearly visible on the waterfall display, but the information it carries becomes impossible to decode.

In other words, the issue isn't signal strength. It is a loss of spectral coherence.

This great circle map is centred on Bouvet Island. The distance between Bouvet and southeastern Australia isn't that great. To my QTH, it's only 9162 km (5693 mi). But, for me, it proved to be tough going trying to get a decode from the DXpedition team!
The further west we go across Australia, the less influence the auroral zone has - the VK6 guys in Perth were probably in a better location for Bouvet.

The Geometry of the Bouvet–Australia Path

Examining the great-circle path between Bouvet Island and eastern Australia clarifies why auroral effects might have been particularly noticeable on this route.

HF signals generally follow the great-circle route, the shortest way between two points on the Earth's surface. When this route is plotted on a globe instead of a flat map, it becomes clear that the Bouvet–Australia path dips deep into the southern high latitudes.

As mentioned previously, Bouvet itself lies near 54° south latitude, already well into the sub-Antarctic. From there, the great-circle route toward eastern Australia initially runs southeast across the Southern Ocean before turning northward toward the Australian continent.

For many stations along Australia's east coast, the route reaches around 60–65° south latitude before heading north again. This is particularly true for amateurs in southern Victoria and Tasmania. Those latitudes lie close to the edge of the southern auroral zone.

Another key detail is that auroral activity is organised by geomagnetic latitude rather than geographic latitude. Because the geomagnetic poles are offset from the geographic poles, a radio path passing through geographic latitudes near 60°S might actually traverse geomagnetic latitudes associated with the auroral oval.

During periods of moderate geomagnetic activity, the auroral zone can expand towards lower latitudes. When this occurs, parts of the Bouvet–Australia route may be within or just beside the disturbed auroral ionosphere.

In other words, the signal might spend a significant part of its journey passing through a region of highly turbulent ionosphere, a situation that can easily cause auroral flutter and Doppler spreading.

A Long Encounter with the Auroral Zone

The severity of auroral flutter partly depends on how long the signal interacts with the disturbed region.

If a propagation path briefly crosses the auroral oval, the resulting distortion may be limited. However, if the path runs along the edge of the oval for thousands of kilometres, the signal can accumulate significant phase and frequency distortion.

The Bouvet–Australia geometry seems to do exactly that. Instead of crossing the auroral zone quickly, the route might follow the southern high-latitude belt for quite a distance. In propagation terms, this makes it more similar to a sub-polar path than a typical mid-latitude DX route.

Another look at the great circle path, this time on a "flat map". This version was calculated for my QTH at Mount Evelyn, Victoria, for March 1, 2026, at 0900 UTC

Strong Signals but No Decodes

This situation offers a plausible explanation for reports from eastern Australian operators. Signals from Bouvet might have travelled through a region of turbulent ionosphere where scattering and Doppler spreading disrupted the narrow spectral stability required for FT8 decoding.

Because auroral scattering redistributes signal energy rather than removing it, the signal can still look visible, sometimes even strong, on a waterfall display. But the spectral precision needed for the digital decoder has been lost.

Not the Only Possible Factor

It is important to note that auroral flutter is not the only phenomenon that can disrupt high-latitude HF propagation. Other effects, such as polar absorption, travelling ionospheric disturbances, or spread-F conditions, can also impair signals.

Without detailed measurements, such as Doppler spectra, ionosonde data, or geomagnetic records, it is hard to pinpoint which mechanism was dominant during the Bouvet operation.

Nevertheless, the combination of high-latitude path geometry, auroral ionospheric turbulence, and FT8's extremely narrow tone spacing makes auroral flutter a compelling explanation.

A Reminder from the Ionosphere

The Bouvet activation served as a useful reminder that modern digital modes, impressive as they are, still rely on the behaviour of Earth's ionosphere.

FT8 can decode signals buried deep in the noise, but it assumes those signals stay spectrally stable. When the ionosphere becomes turbulent, as it often does near the auroral zones, that assumption can break down.

The result is the curious scenario some Australian operators faced: a signal clearly visible on the waterfall, yet stubbornly refusing to decode.

Sometimes the difficulty in radio communication isn't hearing the signal at all. Sometimes the challenge is hearing it over the turbulence.

References

Davies, K. Ionospheric Radio.

Copeland, W. What are the Northern Lights?

Hunsucker, R. D., & Hargreaves, J. K. The High-Latitude Ionosphere and its Effects on Radio Propagation.

Ratcliffe, J. A. An Introduction to the Ionosphere and Magnetosphere.

ARRL. The ARRL Handbook for Radio Communications.

Space Weather Services (Bureau of Meteorology), auroral and geomagnetic resources.

73 and wishing you the best of DX!

Rob Wagner VK3BVW

Current local time in
Mount Evelyn, Australia

CLICK HERE for VK3BVW Live Stream (Clublog)

QRZ callsign lookup:

OPENING THE LOGBOOK - MARCH 1972

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Wagner) — Fri, 13 Mar 2026 11:37:00 +0000

An early QSL from Radio Bangladesh, one month after the newly-formed country changed its name from East Pakistan. See the Logbook entry and QSLs in the Mailbox sections below.

OPENING THE LOGBOOK - MARCH 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 (ADXN - the newsletter of the Australian Radio DX Club), bringing back lots of memories. Here are some memories from March 1972—54 years ago!

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

Shortwave News

According to announcements heard on a March 25 broadcast from the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation, a new 500kW shortwave transmitter with a rotatable curtain antenna was to be introduced at Sottens. The shortwave transmitter began broadcasting in 1972 on the 9, 11, 15, 17, and 21 MHz bands. It was switched off on October 23rd, 2004. The transmitter and the antenna were dismantled in February 2005. This was the last Swiss shortwave transmitter.

Also announced in March was the scheduled commencement of tests for the new Deutsche Welle transmitter at Wertachtal, starting April 10. It was intended that five transmitters would be in operation in time for the 1972 Munich Olympic Games. Reception reports for the test transmissions would be confirmed with a special QSL. During test broadcasts, variations would be made to antenna directivity, output power and swapping of transmitter sites (Jülich or Wertachtal) for comparison purposes. In the Australian DX News, it was speculated that the Wertach Valley station could be considered as a separate entity because of its location in Bavaria, provided that the transmitter location was indicated on any QSLs received.

Still in West Germany, ARDXC member Robert Jones (from memory a VOA monitor) observed, "It now appears likely that Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty will cease operations on June 30th (1972), unless special funds are approved by the US Congress. Although perhaps approving of the purpose of the above station, most DXers would welcome the absence of the jammers on the dozens of frequencies used by them. If these stations are discontinued, it is interesting to speculate on the future of the transmitters. No doubt, the VOA and other broadcasters will be interested in the powerful facilities of the Radio Liberty relay station at Playa de Pals, in Spain, comprising two 500 kW transmitters, three 250 kW Txers and one 100 kW unit." History repeats itself, perhaps!

Planned for April 1, the "Voice of Hope" (Adventist World Radio), using the facilities of Radio Trans-Europe (Sines, Portugal), would operate on a completely different schedule. The new times would be introduced "following a comprehensive analysis from the hundreds of letters and reception reports received in response to the Adventist broadcasts since October 1st, 1971" - Allen R. Steele, Coordinator, AWR, RTE.

Also, noted in the March ADXN was that VOH programming carried over RTE emanated from studios in Lisbon via a VHF link to a relay station near the picturesque fishing town of Sesimbra (about 45 km south of Lisbon), then onto the 250 kW transmitter at Sines (about 160 km south of Lisbon). Three antenna systems were feeding Southern Europe and North Africa, Central Europe and Northern Europe.

Remembering ETLF - Radio Voice of the Gospel

My logging and reception report of ETLF in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (see below) reminded me of that beautiful sign-on music of the Elizabethan Serenade. Click the Play button below for the interval signal of African drums, station identification and a partial playing of the serenade. (Not my recording...my apologies to the owner, but I forgot where I found this some years ago).

But I discovered an interesting story behind this music.

"Elizabethan Serenade" is a quintessential piece of light orchestral music composed by Ronald Binge in 1951. It is most famously associated with the Mantovani Orchestra, which first broadcast the piece on the radio in 1951.
When first performed by Mantovani, the piece was titled "Andante Cantabile".
Binge renamed it "Elizabethan Serenade" in 1952 to capture the optimism surrounding the accession of Queen Elizabeth II.
The "Mantovani Sound": The British light music composer, Ronald Binge, was Mantovani's primary arranger and is credited with creating the orchestra's signature "cascading strings" effect.
The composition won Binge an Ivor Novello Award and became an international hit, charting in Germany and South Africa.
A version with lyrics by Christopher Hassall, titled "Where the Gentle Avon Flows", was also released.
It served as the signature tune for the BBC Light Programme series Music in Miniature and was the play-out for the British Forces Network.
The track was featured in the 2009 film Confessions of a Shopaholic.
In 1968, a reggae version titled "Elizabeth Reggay" was released by Boris Gardiner & the Love People.

But wait!

When I went looking for the recording, Shazam identified it as "Our Last Affair"! What's more, some other sites and YouTube were also calling the serenade "Our Last Affair"!

HUH?? WHAT'S GOING ON?

"Our Last Affair" is a separate composition by Mantovani himself (often written under one of his pseudonyms, such as Paul Remy). It is not a version of "Elizabethan Serenade. Still, the two tracks are frequently confused or linked because they appear back-to-back on several of Mantovani’s most popular compilation albums. On many releases, such as the Musical Moments With Mantovani LP and various CD box sets, "Elizabethan Serenade" is immediately followed by "Our Last Affair". This often leads digital streaming services or casual listeners to mislabel the tracks or assume they are the same piece.

So, when searching online for this melody, don't be surprised to find music streaming services and YouTube mislabeling Elizabethan Serenade.

Here is the full recording of the beautiful serenade.

The Logbook

In March 1972, many stations made it into my logbook. Here is a glimpse of what was heard at my QTH in that month:

4847 Forest Side, Mauritius. French talks at 1710, with a fair signal. Although registered to operate on 4850 kHz, the transmitter was well known to slip down to 4847 kHz. The Mauritius Broadcasting Corporation operated out of Forest Side from the 1960s to around 2011, when it relocated to its current location at Moka, outside of the capital, Port Louis. The new broadcasting complex was funded in part by interest-free loans from the Chinese government.

4980 Karachi, Pakistan. English and Urdu news at 1800, then s/off at 1810. This was a new frequency (ex 4975) and suffered from CW QRM.

6075 Deutsche Welle - Jülich. Unusual long path reception with an early fade in at 0530 UTC. English news at 0530 and running // 6145, both with fair signals. This reception is noteworthy because it was late March (early autumn), and such early LP reception on the 49 mb was not normal. On the same day (March 28), others noted also making the journey were 6095 VOA-Munich, 6100 DW-Jülich in German to WNAm, 6110 BBC-UK, 6120 Berne, Switzerland, and 6160 VOA via BBC UK. But the strongest on this day was 6135 Warsaw, Poland, which was heard as early as 0450 in Italian, then 0500 in Esperanto, and was the best of all these 49 mb signals.

6175 R. Guarani, Belo Horizonte, Brazil. At 0920 with lots of music and many IDs. Mixed with the co-channel Kuala Lumpur.

7215 Abidjan, Ivory Coast. Pop songs at 0650 with a fair signal via the long path. // 11920 also heard.

7300 R. Moscow in English at 0420 via the long path at good strength, and // 7205 also heard. Again, unusual LP reception for the end of March. I wonder what the transmitter power was?

9590 R. Presidente Balmaceda, Santiago, Chile. News at 1022. Blocked by R. Australia - Shepparton's sign-on at 1030 on the same frequency.

11800 ETLF Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. S/on 0445 in French. QRM from Tenerife, Canary Islands, on the same frequency until 0500.

15520 Dacca, Bangladesh. English at 1230, back here after a short period on 15560 kHz. The city is now officially spelled Dhaka. The country gained independence from Pakistan, emerging as a sovereign nation on 16 December 1971 and officially changing its name to Bangladesh on January 11, 1972. Before that, it was known as East Pakistan.

Rádio Clube do Cuanza Sul was one of numerous Angolan broadcasters that inhabited the 90, 75, 60 and 41-meter bands. They offered great listening in their evenings (my early mornings). This 1972 QSL arrived just three years before Angola finally gained independence from Portugal, although the country then descended into civil wars that lasted until 2002.

Reception Reports

The month of March saw plenty of reports sent off, including in Spanish and Portuguese:

Dacca 15520, R. Mineria, Santiago 9750, Tananarive, Madagascar 3288, 4VEH Haiti 11835, R. TV Gaucha, Porto Alegre 6135, ETLF 11800, Rangoon 5040, Voice of Free China 17780, R. Guarani, Belo Horizonte 6175, Abidjan, Ivory Coast 7215, Forest Side, Mauritius 4847, plus the usual internationals such as Sweden, R. Berlin International, Warsaw, Moscow, Havana, etc.

And a few mediumwave reports went out to:

R. Singapore 990, DZXL Manila 620, Mauritius 683, Tanzania 656 and Egypt 773.

QSLs in the Mailbox

The postman gave me 32 QSLs in the mailbox that month, probably pushing aside the other family bills. The highlights were R. Clube do Cuanza Sul, Novo Redondo, Angola, plus pennants and QSLs from Bucharest and XERMX R. Mexico. Plenty of international stations, too, including AIR, FEBC, TWR-Bonaire, RAI, Sweden, Belgrade, R. RSA, Cairo, Prague, Tashkent and Brussels.

The ADXN also congratulated me for receiving a QSL from Dacca 15560. This was the first QSL to be reported to the magazine from the newly formed Radio Bangladesh (see the logbook above).

The pennant from XERMX Radio Mexico.

I hope you enjoyed this walk down memory lane. Next month, we will open the logbook in April 1972.

73 and good DX,

Rob Wagner VK3BVW

Current local time in
Mount Evelyn, Australia

CLICK HERE for VK3BVW Live Stream (Clublog)

QRZ callsign lookup:

ARCHIVE RECORDING: Djibouti Radio on Mediumwave in 1972.

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Wagner) — Sun, 08 Mar 2026 01:05:00 +0000

ARCHIVE RECORDING:
DJIBOUTI RADIO
ON MEDIUMWAVE IN 1972

Another recording (below) from my mediumwave archives. I'm digitising these before the original tapes deteriorate any further and are lost forever!

This one was recorded on a DXpedition to Phillip Island, southeast Victoria, Australia, in September 1972. The folding QSL card shown in the video was received in four weeks by airmail.

1538 kHz at 1635 UTC, September 16, 1972

Language: Afar. Other languages used on 1538 kHz were Somali and Arabic.

Transmitter Power: 4 kW!

The country is now called Djibouti. Between 1967 and 1977 it was known as the French Territory of Afars & Issas. Prior to 1967, it was called French Somaliland.

In 1972, many Australian stations (ABC and commercial broadcasters) signed off around midnight, leaving plenty of vacant channels in the mediumwave band for exotic DX signals.

Subscribe to my little YouTube channel if you would like to see (....and hear!) more of these recordings.

73 and good DX!

Rob Wagner VK3BVW

Current local time in
Mount Evelyn, Australia

CLICK HERE for VK3BVW Live Stream (Clublog)

QRZ callsign lookup:

WHY ANTENNA SIZE MATTERS ON HF: Portable Radios, SDRs, and Overload

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Wagner) — Sun, 01 Mar 2026 00:22:00 +0000

WHY ANTENNA SIZE MATTERS ON SHORTWAVE
Portable Radios, SDRs, and Overload

Recently, I've been thinking about antennas and receivers. Specifically, portable radios with their little built-in telescopic whip antennas. And why many inexperienced shortwave listeners seem to rely on using just the whip for all their listening pursuits. I often read in the online forums about how they become dispirited with shortwave. They find it hard to hear many stations, and the signals they stumble across are often weak. They are quickly disappointed with their shiny new radio and leave the hobby without really getting started.

Of course, if you live in the northern hemisphere, there are still many international broadcasters targeting their transmissions to Europe, Asia and North America. So, compared with my location here in Australia, it can be somewhat easier to catch a broadcast with a stronger signal. Most broadcasters stopped beaming their signals to Australia years ago! There are both good and bad sides to that situation for me... but I'll leave that for another discussion.

Most portable shortwave radios come with a built-in telescopic whip antenna, and while it's convenient, it is very much a compromise. The whip has to be short, rugged, and broadband, which makes it practical for travel and portability but far from ideal for pulling in weak signals from across the world. One of the simplest ways to improve reception is to connect an external antenna, even something as basic as a length of wire. The difference can be dramatic.

The main reason is straightforward physics. At shortwave frequencies, wavelengths range from roughly 10 to 100 metres. A whip antenna that is less than a metre long is therefore electrically very short compared to the signals it is trying to receive. This limits how much energy it can intercept from the incoming radio wave. A longer external antenna, even just 5 or 15 metres of wire (16 to 50 feet approximately), captures a much larger portion of that wave and converts more of it into usable signal voltage at the receiver input.

In practical terms, this means higher signal strength. When a longer antenna intercepts more of the electromagnetic field, the radio sees a stronger signal at its antenna terminal. This increased signal level directly improves the signal-to-noise ratio when background noise (from the atmosphere or the receiver itself) is dominant. Weak DX stations that barely rise above the noise on the whip often become clearly intelligible once an external antenna is connected.

The poor designs of many portables

Many inexpensive radios are built with very simple front ends, using minimal filtering and basic RF amplifier stages. These designs work adequately with the weak signals from a short whip antenna, but they are not always prepared for the much stronger signals produced by an external antenna.

When such a receiver is connected to a long wire or outdoor antenna, the front end can be driven beyond its linear range. This causes overload and intermodulation, in which strong signals mix together within the radio and create spurious responses at frequencies where no real stations exist. Listeners may hear multiple stations appearing across the band, distorted audio, or powerful local broadcasters bleeding into unrelated frequencies. Ironically, the stronger antenna can make the receiver perform worse rather than better.

What about SDRs?

This same issue applies to software-defined radios (SDRs), despite their very different internal architecture. Although much of the signal processing in an SDR happens in software, the incoming RF signal still passes through an analog front end and an analog-to-digital converter (ADC). A longer antenna increases signal levels at this stage just as it does with an analog receiver. If strong signals push the front end or ADC into saturation, the result is a raised noise floor and spurious signals across the displayed spectrum. In other words, SDRs do not eliminate overload; they merely move the critical performance limit to the linearity and dynamic range of the front-end circuitry and ADC. This is especially evident with cheaper SDRs such as the RTL Dongles. That said, companies such as FlexRadio have made great strides in avoiding ADC overload in their sophisticated, high-priced rigs.

In this instance, although the signal on 17620 kHz is not particularly strong, both the IF gain and RF gain controls are set too high for the ADC, resulting in severely distorted audio from the SDRconnect software. Reducing both controls immediately returns to good audio.

Higher-quality portable receivers address this problem by including band-pass filtering, RF attenuators, and front ends with greater dynamic range. These features limit out-of-band energy and prevent strong signals from overwhelming the mixer stage. Such radios can take advantage of the extra signal delivered by an external antenna without collapsing into intermodulation and spurious responses.

Workarounds

Listeners using simpler or cheaper radios can still benefit from external antennas by taking a measured approach. Shorter wires, such as 5 to 10 metres, often provide a useful improvement without driving the receiver into overload. In some cases, inserting a simple passive attenuator or using the radio's built-in "DX/Local" or RF gain control can restore proper operation while preserving much of the external antenna's signal-strength advantage.

The PL-680 has three levels of gain control: DX, normal, and local.

It is also worth remembering that an antenna and receiver form a system. An antenna that is ideal for a communications-grade tabletop receiver may be excessive for a small travel radio. Matching antenna size to receiver capability is therefore part of achieving good overall performance, rather than simply assuming that "more wire is always better."

These antenna reels travel with my Tecsun PL-680. Rolling out any length of wire up to 45 meters (147 feet) means I can always have a portable radio and external antenna in the car, ready for any DXing opportunity.

Summary

External antennas outperform whip antennas on portable shortwave radios because they intercept more of the incoming radio wave and deliver higher signal voltage to the receiver. This leads directly to stronger signals and better signal-to-noise ratios, which are crucial for DX reception. At the same time, this increase in signal strength can expose design limitations in low-cost receivers, including some SDRs, resulting in overload and spurious responses. Understanding both sides of this equation allows the listener to choose an antenna that enhances reception without overwhelming the radio.

References:

ARRL Handbook for Radio Communications – chapters on receiving antennas and receiver dynamic range.

Ulrich Rohde & Jerry Whitaker, Communications Receivers – front-end overload and intermodulation theory.

Joseph Carr, Practical Antenna Handbook – electrically short antennas and random wire performance.

Texas Instruments, Understanding ADC Dynamic Range in SDR Systems.

PD0G Blog: Gain and AGC Settings in SDRuno overload !!

73 and good DX to you!

Rob Wagner VK3BVW

Current local time in
Mount Evelyn, Australia

CLICK HERE for VK3BVW Live Stream (Clublog)

QRZ callsign lookup:

DX QUICK TIPS - February 21, 2026.

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Wagner) — Sat, 21 Feb 2026 21:04:00 +0000

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 remote receivers to compile my reports.

5040 VANUATU. R. Vanuatu - Emten Lagoon. 2010 Bislama anncts, 2012 - Song: "Rivers of Babylon". No signal on any other regular RV freqs at this time. Fair signal and still there at 2035, but then rapidly faded into late summer's morning sun. Feb 19.

5939.44 BRAZIL. Voz Missionária - Camboriú, SC. 0830 Lively music and a constant announcer waffle over the songs. Pretty excited stuff to get the day going, and not sounding very preachy! A weak signal at first, but improved rapidly to a fair level in the summer noise, Feb 11.

7289.92 INDONESIA. RRI - Nabire, Central Papua. Pro 1 programming 0850, easy-listening Western-style ballads. No annct at 0900, but a very brief ID at 0912. Then more music. 0915 Brief annct then Islamic call to prayer. 0927 Brief ID then into a song. Flattened by the s/on of the much stronger CNR 1-Beijing at 0930, but I could still hear Nabire underneath with music, but it was difficult to listen to. All hope was lost with the 1000 co-channel s/on of CRI in Russian. But the Nabire carrier remained on and was easily identifiable past 1000. Feb 13. Read more about the unique RRI Nabire station in INDONESIA ON SHORTWAVE - Then and Now - Part 2

7345 MYANMAR. Thazin R. - Pyin Oo Lwin (Mandalay). 1235 Minorities Service. Possibly in the Shan language, as it had that lilting sound of Thai, to which it is somewhat related. Talks and pleasant music selections. Heavy QRM at about equal strength with the co-channel CNR 7 Voice of the Greater Bay. Feb 14.

9370 PHILIPPINES. R. Pilipinas - Tinang. 1940 Filipino to ME with rapid-fire news reports. Many station IDs. Excellent signal and // 9925 (very good) and 12120 (excellent but with FSK QRM - easier copy in LSB). Feb 19.

9590 USA. KNLS - Anchor Point, AK. S/on 1300 Korean to EAs. NF (ex 9760), good signal, Feb 14.

9720 CHINA. Voice of South China Sea - Nanning. 1200 -1230 Filipino to SEAs. News and then a cultural program. Good signal, but with what sounded like some type of jamming, although I'm not sure who would jam this programming. Feb 14.

9720 USA. KNLS - Anchor Point, AK. S/on 1300 Mandarin to EAs. NF (ex 9530). Fair signal on Feb 14.

9800 USA. KNLS - Anchor Point, AK. S/on 1200 English to EAs with pop songs and U.S. history talks. NF (ex 9625). Good signal, Feb 14.

9820 CHINA. Voice of Beibu Bay R. - Nanning. 1220 Vietnamese to SEA with commentaries and occasional light pop music. Heavy QRM at equal strength with the co-channel CNR2 - Xian. // 5050 also heard at good strength. Feb 14. Read more about Beibu Bay Radio and its role in the Zhuang Autonomous Region of Guangxi, China, in our Spotlight article from several years ago.

9875 D.P.R.KOREA. VoKorea - Kujang. 1930 English to ME and NAf. Korean opera selections and martial music. Very good signal and // 11635 (good). Also // to SAf on 11910 (fair to poor) and 7210 (fair but heavy co-channel and adjacent channel China QRM). Feb 19.

9965 PALAU. T8WH Hope R. - Angel 5, Medorn. 0910 Japanese at this time on Tuesdays (English on other days). 0921 English station ID, then back into Japanese programming. 0956 Full English ID and a Gospel song to end transmission at 1002. Good signal, but there is a slight transmitter hum at 120Hz. Palau's power is 120V at 60Hz, so there may be issues with rectifier ripple or power-supply filtering. Feb 10. The eQSL below arrived in eight days:

11610 MADAGASCAR. MWV "Light of Life" - Mahajanga. 2140 Mandarin to WEu with preaching. It changed at 2200 into Arabic with "Radio Feda" programming for NAf. Good signal. Interestingly, the transmission to NAf at 2200 was somewhat stronger than the service to Eu a few minutes earlier. This is despite using the same azimuth (325 degrees) as per HFCC registrations. Feb 15.

11779.96 IRAN. IRIB - Sirjan. 0440 Turkish to ME, commentaries and spasms of music. Fair signal with heavy fading. Not to be confused with co-inhabitant Brazil, which is off air by then. Feb 16.

11900 INDIA. Akashvani - Bengaluru. 1946 French to Eu, music then commentary. The studio announcer's audio was clear and intelligible. But at 1956, a one-minute pre-recorded annct was terribly muffled! Then back to studio audio, and everything was clear again. 2001 - English program "Spotlight". Again, some muffled audio was monitored, sounding almost overmodulated, but not as bad as earlier. Akashvani's lack of attention to audio quality makes this one of the most frustrating stations to listen to! Excellent signal, Feb 19.

12015 D.P.R.KOREA. VoKorea - Kujang. 1300 English to Eu. Heavy QRM from the off-channel CRI on 12014.41 kHz, creating hets and hum (there is something wrong with the Chinese transmitter!). Best heard in USB to avoid this mess. A quick check of several European Kiwis indicated that Korea was quite well heard, but still with some light QRM. Feb 14.

12015 D.P.R.KOREA. - Kujang. 2150 English to Eu. Into Spanish at 2200. Stunningly good signal, only marred by slight RTTY QRM on 12017 kHz. Then some adjacent channel QRM from the regular-as-clockwork 2155 s/on of CNR 6-Nanning in Amoy. Feb 15.

15105 ESWATINI. TWR - Mpangela Ranch (Manzini). 1917 Lingala service with preaching and Afro Gospel songs. Weak signal, Feb 19.

15280 INDIA. Akashvani - Bengaluru. 0420 Farsi to ME. Many mentions of Iran in two commentaries. Frequent breaks in audio for about three to four seconds each time, but no break in the carrier. Fair signal, Feb 15.

Lisu hill tribe of Northern Thailand

17755 GUAM. KSDA - Agat. S/on 1330 Lisu language to SEAs. Opening ID in English with frequency and language annct. Then IDs again in Lisu with many mentions of AWR in its programming. Songs and preaching. Lisu is spoken by over a million people across southwestern China (Yunnan, Sichuan), northern Myanmar, Thailand, and parts of India. It is a tonal language, typically featuring six to eight tones and a complex phonology. Good signal, Feb 14.

AND FINALLY.....

In the early CB days, before the legalisation of the CB bands in Australia, I ran a Kraco SSB exactly like this one pictured here. Then, in August 1978, I received my Novice Amateur Radio licence - VK3NQJ. On September 7, 1978, I made my first QSO under that callsign, using this little Kraco rig.

I purchased new crystals from Jan Crystals in the USA, popped them into the Kraco, and, after a bit of retuning of the rig, was ready to go on the 10-metre ham band. 10 watts out into a low-hanging dipole.

But there's another story that goes with this little rig! QSO number 12 was into Hawaii - what excitement! Read about it at One of my Most Valued QSL Cards!

Great times. great memories!

73 and wishing you the best of DX!

Rob Wagner VK3BVW

Current local time in
Mount Evelyn, Australia

CLICK HERE for VK3BVW Live Stream (Clublog)

QRZ callsign lookup:

OPENING THE LOGBOOK - FEBRUARY 1972

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Wagner) — Sat, 14 Feb 2026 23:26:00 +0000

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 bulletin, the schedule was 0400-0600 and 16-00-2000 (Sat/Sun to 2300) on 3223 kHz and 0600-1600 on 6155 kHz. Power was believed to be 10 kW. In fact, testing began on January 29 at reduced power. It was reported that operations were automated and controlled from Johannesburg, South Africa. Does anyone remember this station?

As we approached the March equinox, here in southeastern Australia, we saw the usual increase in Brazilian stations, including: 4995 R. Brasil Central, 5975 R. Guaruja, 6035 R. Globo, 6115 R. Tupi, 6135 R TV Gaucha, 6185 R. Bandierantes, 9645 R. Cultura de Pocos de Caldas, 9675 R. Diario da Manha, and others.

Radio Bandeirantes in São Paulo on 6185 kHz was also heard in February,
with this verification letter arriving in April.

The Finnish Broadcasting Company circulated a schedule that included tests planned for a 1 kW transmitter from March 5 on 21595 and 21605 kHz.

The University of Adelaide, South Australia, received a callsign as VL5UV. Transmissions were expected to start in late March or early April on 1630 kHz (MW) with 300 watts. Licence restrictions specified that broadcasts could only program lecture material related to university courses - no news or sports results, and no time calls. Individuals (private citizens enrolled in Adult Education Programs) could also enrol as students for a $4 to $6 fee. This would entitle them to a comprehensive kit to help with radio lectures. The station intended to verify reception reports by QSL card. Plans for this station were formulated in 1969, and a broadcast licence was granted following an anonymous gift of $100,000 to the University (....which was a lot of money 55 years ago!).

Radio Mexico planned to conduct a series of tests in Japanese during the first 18 days of March, between 1400-1600 UTC, on their usual frequencies of 21705, 17835, 11770, and 9705 kHz, Glenn Hauser reported. Also reported were other Mexican stations, including 6185 La Voz del Mexico, 11820 XEBR La Pantera (Hermosillo), 9600 R. Universidad, and 9555 XETT La Hora Exacta.

Interesting monitoring noted by Australian DXers included 3260 Niamey, Niger, 3300 Bujumbura, Burundi, 4765 C.R.E Rediodifusora del Ecuador, 4813 Ouagadougou, Upper Volta (now known as Burkina Faso), 4865 Ponta Delgada, Azores, and 4904.5 Fort Lamy (now known as N'Djamena), Chad, and 9555 R. Nacional, San Salvador on late with election results and running parallel on 5980. Also noted were the low-powered CFRX Toronto and CHNX Halifax.

Some Shortwave History!

This mediumwave QSL (below) from 9PA Port Moresby on 1250 kHz missed the mark with the details! I had to cross out and correct a bit here! There is some history in this card, too. Papua New Guinea was administered by Australia as a single territory from 1945. It comprised the former British protectorate of Papua, which had been an Australian territory since 1906, and the former German colony of New Guinea. The nation of Papua New Guinea achieved its independence from Australia on 16 September 1975. That is why this 1972 QSL card still lists broadcasts as provided by the Australian Broadcasting Commission, rather than the National Broadcasting Commission of Papua New Guinea, as it was known just a few years later.

The back of a Radio Japan QSL card received from the mediumwave station JOAK in Tokyo on 590 kHz. A distance of approx 8100 km. It was not uncommon for some of the NHK AM stations to "borrow" cards from the international broadcaster.

This ageing WINB QSL arrived from Red Lion, Penn., in February, in response to a report sent in November 1972. This was in the days when WINB could be heard on three or four different frequencies rather than the lone 9265 kHz today.

The Logbook

As I prepared to start my final year of high school, my logbook contained the usual international broadcasters plus the following:

2446 ORTF St Denis, Reunion Island. This 4 kW outlet produced only a poor signal at 1750 UTC (3:50 am local time here). But I did get a verification in under three weeks, which was impressive!

6185 R. Bandeirantes, Brazil. 0840 with a fair signal from their 10 kW transmitter.

9455 R. Pakistan - Karachi. An English broadcast at 2000 and a good signal. 54 years later, I'm still waiting for the QSL card! (sigh!) 😄

10010 R. Liberation - Hanoi. A fair signal at 1030 UTC. After five months, I received a QSL letter. It's here.......somewhere!

11805 R. Globo, Brazil. 0912 with Brazilian pops and excited anncts to wake up the locals.

15560 R. Bangladesh - Dacca. A fair signal at 1230 UTC

PLUS a couple of mediumwave reception reports:

610 KUAM Guam. At 1330 witha fair signal.

650 8DR Darwin. A fair signal at 1335 from this 2 kW outlet.

655 R. Pyongyang, North Korea. Korean at 1305. No reply to my reception report, sadly.

Radio Liberation

I mentioned this North Vietnam broadcaster above. Radio Liberation (Đài Phát thanh Giải phóng) was the broadcasting service of the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam, later identifying itself as the voice of the Provisional Revolutionary Government.

It began operations in 1962 and became more prominent after 1969, during the later years of the Vietnam War. The station broadcast news and political commentary to audiences in South Vietnam and abroad, with programs in Vietnamese and in foreign languages such as English and French. Its role was primarily political and psychological, presenting events from the NLF perspective and countering broadcasts from Saigon and Western stations.

Although the station claimed to transmit from "liberated zones" in the South, monitoring reports and frequency lists from the early 1970s show that its signals—including those on 10010 kHz—were almost certainly coming from transmitters near Hanoi, shared with the Voice of Vietnam network. Frequencies like 7470 kHz and 10010 kHz were regularly logged by shortwave listeners in this period. After the war and Vietnam's reunification, Radio Liberation was dissolved, and its functions were absorbed into the national broadcasting system by about 1976.

This very thin slip of paper from All India Radio was sent in February 1972. The confirmation arrived one year later on February 19, 1973! By that time, I had long forgotten I'd sent the reception report!

An oversized QSL from "Radio i" in Auckland, New Zealand. The 5 kW transmitter put out a good signal into Australia on 1590 kHz. Since then, the station has been rebranded several times.

Radio Moscow had a respectable signal on its mediumwave English-language broadcasts to Australia and New Zealand on 1250 kHz. We were not sure which site the transmission was beamed from, but we suspected it was in Asiatic Russia rather than on the European side.

This Radio Thailand QSL was used for many years.

I hope you enjoyed this walk down memory lane. Next month, we will open the logbook in March 1972.

73 and good DX,

Rob Wagner VK3BVW

Current local time in
Mount Evelyn, Australia

CLICK HERE for VK3BVW Live Stream (Clublog)

QRZ callsign lookup:

NEW VOACAP VIDEO - HOW TO MAKE COVERAGE MAPS FOR SHORTWAVE

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Wagner) — Wed, 04 Feb 2026 23:46:00 +0000

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:

DX QUICK TIPS (Jan 29, 2025) AND JAPAN SHORTWAVE CLUB PROGRAM

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Wagner) — Fri, 30 Jan 2026 00:27:00 +0000

DX QUICK TIPS (Jan 29, 2026)
AND
JAPAN SHORTWAVE CLUB PROGRAM

Once again, over the past few weeks, reception conditions have been variable due to ongoing solar storm activity. Whilst these have been producing some fabulous auroras in both the northern and southern hemispheres, signal strength has at times been degraded considerably for shortwave broadcasters and their listeners. Here are some recent monitoring observations:

5875 ENGLAND. R. Farda - Woofferton. 2025 Farsi to Iran, song and chat, ID and news at 2030. S/off at 20:59:32. Strong signal for this one-hour broadcast on this frequency, courtesy of Encompass. Jan 17.

6050 ECUADOR. HCJB - Pico Pichincha. 1010 Quechua programming with talks (preaching) and mournful Andean songs. Time given as “Cinco y veintitrés minutos” (5:23 am in Quito, 9:23 pm AEDT). Although Quechua has its own number system, telling the time is mostly given in Spanish. Because the 12-hour clock and "minutes" arrived with the Spanish, the terminology followed suit. Fair to poor signal under summer-storm noise, but good for its 1 kW output. Best heard in LSB to minimise R. Nikkei 1 QRM on 6055. Jan 25.

7205 INDONESIA. R. Republik Indonesia - Jakarta. 2205 Pro 3 programming with news, reports, interviews and frequent IDs. Faded into the summer morning heat by 2230 (9:30 am AEDT), Jan 26

7235 TAIWAN. National Unity R. - Tamsui. 1200 Korean to EAs. Talk and pops. Fair signal, Jan 25

9690 SPAIN. REE -Noblejas. 2205 Spanish to NAm, good signal but heavy adjacent-channel QRM from CRI-Kashi on 9685. Supposed to be // 12030 (to ME and Indian Oc) but no audio heard there - just a big fat carrier. Jan 26

9765 ENGLAND. Global Talk America - Woofferton. 2029 ENC interval signal. 2030 GTA ID in Hausa, giving schedule and website details. Then the news. Good signal until s/off at 20:59:30. Jan 29.

9765 MADAGASCAR. MWV Palavra Alegre - Mahajanga. S/on 2100 with strident singing and ID for the Portuguese service to SAm. Excellent signal at the start of the two-hour service, but later weakened as the band closed for the morning. Jan 29.

13640 ALGERIA. Ifrikya FM - Béchar. 0045 Happy Afro pops selections. No station ID before the sudden switch-off at 0100:25. Weak but identifiable, and confirmed via the fabulous FR4RX remote SDR on Réunion Island. The // 13855 (via Ouargla) was also heard, but even weaker there. Jan 26.

15280 INDIA. Akashvani - Bengaluru. 0400 Akashvani interval signal, then the usual live broadcast of celebrations for India’s 77th Republic Day. Excellent signal and even stronger by 0500. Also noted on 11804.80 from 0500 with a fair signal, but the audio there was well down. Jan 26.

15430 UAE. R. Farda - Dhabayya. 0620 Farsi to Iran with dramatic songs. Fair to poor signal here, but confirmed via the Baghdad Kiwi SDR. Recently returned to SW courtesy of Encompass, Jan 11.

15460 AUSTRALIA. HCJB/Reach Beyond – Kununurra. *1100-1130* Special Japanese program by Japanese SW Club. Special eQSLs issued by both JSWC and HCJB/Reach Beyond. Excellent signal on Jan 18. SEE BELOW

17755 SPAIN. REE - Noblejas. 2155 Mandarin (on Mondays) to WAf. Into Spanish at 2200, fair signal. // 17715 also heard but much weaker there. Jan 26.

18040 TAIWAN. Xing-Xing - Guanyin. 0010 Mandarin numbers, ended at 0013:34 UTC. The carrier remained on and recommenced at exactly 0030. Fair to poor signal. Also noted on 19052 at the same level. A carrier noted on 15890, assumed to be Xing-Xing as well, but the signal there was too weak at that lower frequency due to high absorption at that time (11:13 am AEDT). Jan 26. My blog post on Xing-Xing goes deeper into the existence and operations of this numbers station. https://medxr.blogspot.com/2025/05/xing-xing-taiwans-numbers-station.html

JAPAN SHORT WAVE CLUB OVER HCJB

Although I speak no Japanese, it was terrific to see the Japan Short Wave Club putting together a special broadcast over HCJB via Reach Beyond Australia's Kununurra, WA transmitters. Congratulations to the club for this initiative, which I am sure was enjoyed by many Japanese DXers.

The transmission began with the usual Reach Beyond Australia station ID in English. Then an HCJB station ID in Japanese, followed by a BCL talk by JSWC president Toshimichi Ohtake-san and club member Takahito Akabayashi-san. At the end of the half-hour, they returned to the HCJB Japanese studio announcer for closing announcements.

Both HCJB and Reach Beyond have long been strong supporters of DXers and shortwave listeners. Here are the opening and closing announcements as heard here at Mount Evelyn.

vk3bvw · HCJB and JSWC Program - 1100 UTC

I received eQSLs from both the station and JSWC, shown below.

73 and wishing you good DX!

Rob Wagner VK3BVW

Current local time in
Mount Evelyn, Australia

CLICK HERE for VK3BVW Live Stream (Clublog)

QRZ callsign lookup:

ARCHIVE RECORDING - HIJP - Radio Comercial, Dominican Rep.

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Wagner) — Sat, 24 Jan 2026 21:42:00 +0000

ARCHIVE RECORDING
HIJP - RADIO COMERCIAL,
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
FROM 1973

Another of my recordings from the 1970s with the 1 kW signal of Radio Comercial in the Dominican Republic. Over the years, the frequency varied between 4880 and 4882 kHz. It also ran a 10 kW transmitter on 1010 kHz mediumwave.

By 1981, Radio Comercial was being heard irregularly on its shortwave frequency. In 1983, it was no longer listed in the World Radio TV Handbook. Unfortunately, the station was not a good verifier, and few QSLs are known to still exist.

This recording was made on 4881 kHz at 0811 UTC on October 10, 1973. Distance to Melbourne is 15984 km (9932 mi). The receiver was the nine-valve Lafayette HA230 into dipole antennas.

The original recording tape has deteriorated over time and required some "rescue work" to save it! 😁

Thanks for watching!

👉 Not a subscriber to my YouTube channel? Click the YT link below to go to the channel and hit the "Subscribe" button.

👉 Not a follower of the Mount Evelyn DX Report Facebook page? Click the Facebook link below to go to the page and hit the "Follow" button.

73 and good DX

Rob Wagner VK3BVW

Current local time in
Mount Evelyn, Australia

CLICK HERE for VK3BVW Live Stream (Clublog)

QRZ callsign lookup:

OPENING THE LOGBOOK - JANUARY 1972

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Wagner) — Sun, 18 Jan 2026 02:46:00 +0000

This paper QSL from the Sudan Broadcasting Service (a.k.a. Radio Omdurman)
is not in great shape. Time is taking its toll. But I still have it!
This was for 11835 kHz, transmitting in Arabic and English.

OPENING THE LOGBOOK - JANUARY 1972

In October, we launched a new series on our MEDXR blog, which received strong positive reactions from our regular readers. Each month, I open up the old records to see what I (and others) heard during that month. 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 January 1972—54 years ago!

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

An early QSL card for 15315 kHz from the religious station
Radio Veritas in the Philippines.

The Logbook

Some very unusual midsummer propagation was unearthed by Bob Padula and reported in the Australian DX News (ADXN). Normally, between mid-December and February, very little would be heard on frequencies below 11 MHz in the summer daytime period (between 11 am and 3 pm - 2300 to 0500 UTC). But on January 22 and 23, a highly unusual Asian opening occurred with strong signals from Colombo 9720 and 11800, Singapore 9635 and 11940, Saigon 11950, Pakistan 11885, VOA-Colombo 11740 and All India R. 11850.

Then at 0300 UTC (1 pm in high summer!!), a track to Africa opened up, revealing VOA-Monrovia 7195, 7280 and 9740, and DW-Kigali 9565 signing on at 0315, completely obliterating VOA-Greenville on the same frequency. Also heard was an unknown station on 7215 between 0230 and 0300, which was thought to be the 24-hour Angolan "Radio Ecclesia". A follow-up two-page article appeared in the February ADXN speculating on what type of propagation activity could prompt such unusual reception conditions.

The following are a few of the observations from my logbook during January 1972:

3240 Baghdad, Iraq. At 1850 with local songs and Farsi anncts on Jan 18.

3264 Lourenço Marques, Moçambique. At 1915 with pop songs and English anncts. QRM from nearby utility stations on Jan 18.

4972 Yaoundé, Cameroon. West African vocals and French anncts at 1928 on Jan 8.

4975 R. Pakistan. English news at 2003, but with a het from Yaoundé three kHz below on Jan 13.

5026 Kampala, Uganda. English anncts and pop songs at 1944, a fair signal on Jan 8.

5047 Lomé, Togo. West African music at 2010, fair signal on Jan 6.

7180 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia. English news at 1105 on Jan 12. Appears to be a NF for this service, but severe QRM from R. Australia-Shepparton on 7185.

11735 Belgrade, Yugoslavia. At 1535 in English featuring a New Year's speech from President Tito, Jan 1.

21695 Rome, Italy. S/on 0830 in Italian to Aus/NZ. New Freq and new time (ex 0600 UTC), good signal on Jan 27.

A verification letter from Ondas del Meta, Villavicencio, Colombia,
for reception on 4885 kHz. The report was written in my faltering Spanish!

Front and back of this QSL from Radio Norway for 21655 kHz. In those days,
the 13mb always provided strong, quiet reception (little atmospheric noise).
QSLs from this station highlighted the beautiful Norwegian countryside.

United Nations Radio on 5955 kHz via the old
VOA Dixon, California, transmitter site.

Reception Reports

As January is a major summer holiday in Australia, I went "nuts" once again and sent out nearly 70 reception reports. Highlights included:

R. Ghana 21545 (Yes! Ghana did once operate on the 13mb! See the QSL below), R. Bougainville 3322, R. Veritas 15315, R. Nacional, Lima 9562, R. Libya 8630, R. Lebanon 11705, R. Yaoundé 4972, R. Damascus 15290, R. Senegal 11895, R. Sabah 7180, R. Timor, Dili 3268, FEBA Seychelles 15270 and many of the big international broadcasters (too many to list here).

Although not my main focus, there were some early dabblings in mediumwave during that month as well. They included R. Moscow 1250, VOA-Philippines 1140, JOAK Tokyo 590, R. Singapore 790, 9PA Port Moresby 1250, and HLKA Seoul 710. All of those were heard from my home in suburban Melbourne.

The classic Voice of Kenya "picture aerogram" verification for 4915 kHz.

The large, no-details card from Radio Rwanda for a report sent in September 1971
for 6055 kHz with the QSL received in January 1972.

QSLs in the Mailbox

It was a bonus month for QSLs, too! The letterbox received 62 QSLs in January! Some of the highlights were

RN-Talata 15330

Aden, Yemen 5060

RTVC, Brazzaville 9715

Algeria 9685

Ondas del Meta, Villavicencio 4885

R. Rwanda, Kigali 6055

Bougainville, PNG 3322

R. Sabah, Kota Kinabalu 7180

Nairobi, Kenya 4915

R. Omdurman, Sudan 11835

Radiodiffusion Télévision Algérienne could be heard on many frequencies in the 60s and 70s, mostly with relays of the domestic service in Arabic, French and Kabyle. In later years, there was a small service for "international listeners" in Arabic (Voice of Palestine Revolution) and English.

Radio Ghana on 21545 kHz in the 13 mb. To my memory, this was one of the few
African stations at the time (along with SABC) to utilise this part of the HF spectrum.
In the mid-70s, it would often ID as "This is External Service
of Radio Ghana, the Voice of the Revolution."

Other News in January 1972

The 1972 World Radio TV Handbook was on sale from ARDXC for $5.00, including postage!! Yes, you read that correctly! It certainly was another era entirely.
R. Nederland announced that a new shortwave propagation course would start on March 9. Listeners needed to enrol with applications going to DX Jukebox, R. Nederland, PO Box 222, Hilversum (that well-known postal address!). Printed text materials would be made available to active participants, including the first four lessons. I wonder if anyone still has that propagation course in their archives?
The second ARDXC National Convention was held in Sydney over the weekend of January 29-31 at the Astor Motor Hotel in Woolloomooloo. Yep! There is such a place. Woolloomooloo is a historic harbourside suburb in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, located just 1.5 kilometres east of the Central Business District (CBD). It is an indigenous name meaning "Place of Plenty". Convention activities included presentations, awards, tours of Sydney and the transmitters of mediumwave stations 2GB and 2KY in Homebush, competitions, lots of discussions, and much eating! The event was attended by 26 members, two wives and two non-members.
It was announced that the club would develop French and Spanish report guides, with the possibility of Portuguese coming at a future date.

I hope you enjoyed this walk down memory lane. Next month, we will open the logbook on February 1972.

73 and good DX,

Rob Wagner VK3BVW

Current local time in
Mount Evelyn, Australia

CLICK HERE for VK3BVW Live Stream (Clublog)

QRZ callsign lookup:

Mount Evelyn DX Report

OPENING THE LOGBOOK - JULY 1972

OPENING THE LOGBOOK - JULY 1972

NEW VIDEO: "They Shut Down BBC Longwave. Australia Rebuilt This."

NEW VIDEO: "They Shut Down BBC Longwave. Australia Rebuilt This."

ACROSS THE DARKNESS - Understanding the propagation, antennas and reception of the BBC Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast

THE TOP TEN KIWI SDRs FROM AROUND THE GLOBE

The Top Ten Kiwi SDRs

from Around the Globe

DX Quick Tips - June 17, 2026

DX QUICK TIPSJune 17, 2026

Yankee Doodle Makes a Return!

OPENING THE LOGBOOK - JUNE 1972

OPENING THE LOGBOOK - JUNE 1972

BBC MONITORING SERVICE

SHORTWAVE BAND DURING JUNE 1972

SOME QSLS RECEIVED DURING JUNE 1972

EQUATORIAL GUINEA

OTHER SHORTWAVE NEWS IN JUNE '72

VOACAP: Understanding and Using the Voice of America Coverage Analysis Program

VOACAP:Understanding and Using theVoice of America Coverage Analysis Program

by Rob Wagner VK3BVW

From Broadcast Tool to Online Service

How to Use VOACAP Online

Understanding VOACAP Charts and Graphs

Charts Offering Different Perspectives

Practical Tips for Hams and SWLs

The Ability to Test Different Scenarios

Limitations and Common Misconceptions

VOACAP vs Other Propagation Tools

Why It’s Important to Get to Know VOACAP

References:

Resources:

YouTube Videos:

CHU CLOSURE AND DX QUICK TIPS - May 24, 2026

CHU CLOSUREAND DX QUICK TIPSMay 24, 2026

CHU

DX QUICK TIPS

OPENING THE LOGBOOK - MAY, 1972

OPENING THE LOGBOOK - MAY, 1972

Shortwave News

Polish Radio's QSL Series

Where do I Sign up??

Another Reminder of Crowded Band, pre-HFCC!

Radio Bolívar Recording - Follow-Up from Last Month

Reception Reports Out in May, 1972

May QSLs

RETRO RECEIVER REVIEW #24 - The RACAL RA-1771

RETRO RECEIVER REVIEW #24

Racal RA-1771

by Craig Seager VK2HBT

Key Specifications:

Resources:

SHORTWAVE UNDER STRAIN: Energy Crisis and its Broadcast Impact

SHORTWAVE UNDER STRAIN:

Energy Crisis and its Broadcast Impact

A Global Dilemma

Shortwave Countries to Watch During the Global Energy Crisis

Africa:

Eswatini, Ethiopia (Amhara Radio, Radio Fana), Madagascar, Mali,

Asia:

Indonesia, Myanmar (Myanmar Radio, Thazin Radio), Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam

Latin America:

Cuba (a country already in crisis for some time now), and potentially smaller South American domestic broadcasters in Bolivia, Brazil, Mexico, and Peru.

Pacific:

Solomon Islands, Vanuatu.

References:

NEW FREQUENCIES AND DX TIPS - April 24, 2026

NEW FREQUENCIES AND DX TIPSApril 24, 2026

THE NEW LOOK MEDXR! - Comments Welcomed

OPENING THE LOGBOOK - APRIL 1972

OPENING THE LOGBOOK - APRIL 1972

Shortwave News

Spotlight on Radio Bolívar, Venezuela

A Crush of Radio Signals

QSLs in the Mailbox

BUYING USED SHORTWAVE RECEIVERS: Practical advice for DXers.

BUYING USED SHORTWAVE RECEIVERS:Practical Advice for DXers

STRONG SIGNAL, NO DECODES: Auroral Flutter and the Bouvet-Australia FT8 Puzzle

Strong Signals, No Decodes:

NEW VIDEO:
"They Shut Down BBC Longwave.
Australia Rebuilt This."

DX QUICK TIPS
June 17, 2026

VOACAP:
Understanding and Using the
Voice of America Coverage Analysis Program

CHU CLOSURE
AND DX QUICK TIPS
May 24, 2026

NEW FREQUENCIES AND DX TIPS
April 24, 2026

BUYING USED SHORTWAVE RECEIVERS:
Practical Advice for DXers

ARCHIVE RECORDING:
DJIBOUTI RADIO
ON MEDIUMWAVE IN 1972