Monitoring Notes A09

There have been masssive rearrangements for frequencies and schedules for the A09 season, with many new relay agreements having been put in place.

This summary of key occupancies as noted here in Melbourne on April 1 and 2 will be of interest, which include some of Radio Romania International's new 7 MHz out-of-band (OOB) channels:

5910 ROMANIA RRI *1900 new 7 MHz OOB channel Ukrainian
5930 VATIACAN RN via Vatican 2100-2200 Arabic
5940 ZAMBIA CVC Lusaka 1900-2200 English
5970 FRANCE RN via issoudin 2100-2200 Dutch
5990 S. AFRICA VOA via Meyerton 1900-2000 English
6025 IRAN VOIRI 1900-2200 Arabic
6045 ENGLAND RTI via Rampisham 1900-2000 French
6100 BULGARIA R. Bulgaria 1900-2000 Bulgarian
6185 ENGLAND RTI via Skelton 1900-2000 German
6255 EGYPT R. Cairo 1800-2000 Arabic
6290 EGYPT R. Cairo 1800-2000 Arabic
7320 RUSSIA WYFR via Samara *1900 German
7350 ROMANIA RRI 0400-0500 new 7 MHz OOB channel Romanian
7385 S. AFRICA BBC via Meyerton 1800-1900* English
7430 ALBANIA R. Tirana 1845-1930 English and Italian
7520 MOLDOVA VOR via Kishinev *1800
9375 FRANCE Libyan Radio via Issoudin 1905 Arabic
9430 ENGLAND VOV via Skelton *1930-2030* Vietnamese
9535 FRANCE CRI via Issoudin 1800-1900 Russian
9785 TURKEY VOT 1900-1930 English
9940 IRAN VOIRI 1900-1930* French
7335 TUNISIA RTVT 0600-0900 replacing 7190 for morning transmissions Arabic
7345 TUNISIA RTVT 1900-2200 replacing 7190 for evening transmissions Arabic
11840 ENGLAND VOV via Skelton *2030-2130* Vietnamese

Latest shortwave QSLs received - lots of them!

Here are details of my latest shortwave QSLs, received recently.

They include QSLs from 14 stations for transmitter sites not previously verified, bringing my “Station Tally” to 1033.

ALBANIA: CRI 11710 9435 Cerrick, col cds of National Indoor Stadium

ALBANIA: R. Tirana 7460, 6005, 6010, 9345 col cds of dancer in national costume

BELARUS: R. Minsk 7390 col cd shows National Academy of Sciences, 7135 cold cd shows views in Minsk

BULGARIA: R. Sofia 5900, 9800 col cds show Bulgarian Monasteries

CHINA: CRI, 15110 Kashi col cd Olympic Sports Centre Stadium; 5985 Beijing 7295 Urumqi col cds of National Stadium, 6135 Beijing 9600 Urumqi col cd shows Worker’s Indoor Arena

CZECH REP: R. Prague 9700 9730 col cds show former Czech gymnast, 9445 col cd shows Czech soccer player

ENGLAND: DW 11865, 9715 Rampisham col cds show Brandenburger Tor and stylized map of Europe

ENGLAND: RTI 6045 Rampisham col cd shows Taiwan Aborigines

FRANCE: Polish Radio via Issoudin 7345 col cd shops scene in Warsaw

FRANCE: RN 9690 Issoudin col cd of Windmill on River Gaasp

GERMANY: Bible Voice Broadcasting 6130, 6015, 9470, 6110 Wertachtal col cds show world map

GERMANY: NHK 9825 Nauen col cd shows Fisherman

GERMANY: Pan American Broadcasting 9515 Wertachtal col PDF document shows transmitter towers Emailed from Media Broadcast transmission provider

GERMANY: Voice of Russia 6145 Wertachtal col PDF document Emailed shows transmitter towers from Media Broadcast transmission provider

GERMANY: Polish Radio Wertachtal 6175 col cd shows Town Hall at Night, 5975, 6135, col cd shows Cathedral at Night, 7135 old cd shows views of Warsaw, 6050 col cd shows city buildings, 5850 col cd shows Krakow

GERMANY: WYFR 5970, 9635, 6115 Nauen col cds of 30th anniversary

GERMANY: WYFR 9620 9610 Wertachtal col cd 30th anniversary

MARIANAS IS: RFA Tinian 9865, 9850 col cds for RFA 12 anniversary, shows children’s’ painting

MOLDOVA: 6040 RN Kishinev col cd of Canal in Dremen

PHILIPPINES: R. Pilipinas 9395 Tinang plain card shows colored logo

ROMANIA: RRI 9655, 7215, 7130, 9525 col cds show Flowers in Botanical Gardens

RUSSIA: DW 5945 Krasnodar col cd shows DW 1953-2003 50th anniversary

RUSSIA: RFA 15535, Vladivostok 15635 Irkutsk col cds for RFA 12th anniversary, shows childrens’ painting

RUSSIA: WYFR 7440 Moscow, 6320 Samara col cds 30th anniversary

RUSSIA: Vatican Radio 12035 Irkutsk col cd shows rotating antenna

RWANDA: DW 6150 Kigali col cd shows Schweriner Dom

SOUTH AFRICA: 9735 Channel Africa Meyerton letter from Santech Broadcast Planning

SOUTH AFRICA: DW Meyerton 9825, letter from Sentech Broadcast Planning

SOUTH KOREA: KBS World 9805 Kimjae col cd show weightlifter

TAJIKISTAN: RFA 17510 Dushanbe col cd for RFA 12th anniversary, shows childrens’ painting

TAJISTAN: R. Prague Dushanbe 5870 col cd of Czech soccer player

THAILAND: VOA 9670 Udorn col cd shows Delano facilities

UAE: WYFR 9485 Dhabbaya col cd 30th anniversary

UKRAINE: R. Kiev International 7420 col cd shows country scene

USA: VOA 9575 Greenville col cd shows transmission towers

VATICAN: VR Santa Maria di Galeria 5910 col cd shows rotating antennas

ZAMBIA: Christian Voice 9430 Lusaka col cd shows station emblem

STATISTICS

Total SW QSLs received: 8296 (no duplicate frequencies, no utility stations, no time signal stations, no pirate stations)
Total SW Stations QSLd: 1033
Total Current Radio Countries QSLd: 229
Total Deleted Radio Countries QSLd: 24
Total SW reception reports sent out (since 1954): 10,842
Total response rate: 77%

Note: Achievements and statistics based on Standards developed by the former Australian DXing Federation.

Did someone say that SW broadcasters no longer issue QSLs?!!!

Regards from Melbourne!

Bob Padula

Monitoring from the Sherbooke Forest

On March 14 2009 I was in the Sherbrooke Forest, Dandenong Ranges National Park, about 35 km east of the Melbourne CBD.

This Park has now been reopened after the terrible bushfires - all fires across Victoria have now been contained, due to heavy rain in the past two days.

Propagation on 9 MHz in the period 0430 to 0500 at Sherbrooke was excellent, and this is a summary of longpath signals from Africa and the Middle East, using the Eton E5 and a 3 m antenna in a fern tree.

9410 CYPRUS BBC
9675 S. ARABIA BSKSA Arabic
9700 TURKEY VOT *0458 Turkish
9704 ETHIOPIA Amharic
9745 S. AFRICa Channel Af French
9755 RWANDA DW Kigali Arabic
9780 YEMEN R. Sanaa Arabic
9820 IRAN VOIRI Hebrew
9865 IRAN VOIRI Azeri
9875 IRAN VOIRI Dari
9885 MADAGASCAR VOA Talata
9895 IRAN VOIRI Arabic

The 6 and 7 MHz bands were not propagating very well in this time period!

Some photos from where I went!

Australian DX Report, episode 138 available

All of Australia is in mourning after the catastrophic bushfires which have ravaged our State of Victoria - nearly 200 people perished as well as over 1million animals - over 7000 people are homeless, and nearly 2000 houses were destroyed.

Fires are still burning in the mountains near to Melbourne.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families and friends of those who have lost loved ones.
A National Day of Mourning has been announced by the Australan Government.

The latest episode, no. 138, of the Australian DX Report, a weekly audio news magazine with news and information about shortwave broadcasting, from an Australian perspective, is now available.

It's 16 mins 22 secs, and may be downloaded from
http://airm.edxp.org

The site allows you to listen to the ADXR and other audio features directly(streaming audio) via your MP3 player, or via the site's embeddedmini-player. Podcasts, iTunes capability, full RSS/XML/Atom feeds, and freesubscriptions are supported - full details are at the site.

The ADXR is compiled from the resources of the Electronic DX Press RadioMonitoring Association.

Your comments and feedback are particularly important!

You can also hear the episodes on-air, via WWCR Nashville, every Sunday at0300-0315 on 5070 and on Mondays 1245-1300 on 15825. The WWCR release isalso available as streaming-audio, live, from http://wwcr.com

Good listening to the Australian DX Report Episode No. 138!

Bob Padula, Melbourne

60 metre band propagation notes

The 60mb has become somewhat sparse of activity in our sunrise period, as observed here in Melbourne.

This is what the band looked like between 1800 and 1900 on Jan 18, 2009:

4765 TAJISTAN Tajik Radio, domestic network
4770 NIGERIA R. Nigeria, Kaduna
4780 DJIBOUTI R. Djibouti
4845 MAURITANIA R. Mauritania
4860 INDIA to 1930*
4880 S. AFRICA SW Radio Africa, Meyerton to 1900*
4905 TCHAD RD Tchadienne
4925 INDONESIA RRI-Jambi, on extended schedule with Puppet Shadow Plays
4930 BOTSWANA VOA
4965 ZAMBIA The Voice, Lusaka
4976 UGANDA R. Uganda
5010 MADAGASCAR RTV Malagasy

AUSTRALIAN DX REPORT audio shortwave news magazine no. 133

The latest episode, no. 133, of the professionally compiled weekly AUSTRALIAN DX REPORT audio shortwave news magazine contains detailed professional monitoring research from Melbourne, schedule changes, and news about international broadcasters.

It's 16 mins 40 secs, and may be downloaded from

http://airm.edxp.org

The site allows you to listen to the ADXR and other audio features directly (streaming audio) via your MP3 player, or via the site's embedded mini-player. Podcasts, iTunes capability, full RSS/XML/Atom feeds, and free subscriptions are supported - full details are at the site.

Good listening to the Australian DX Report Episode No. 133!

Your comments and feedback are particularly important!

Monitoring Notes

No sunspots have been visible since December 18!

Sunspots are not needed for good HF propagation - there has been some good shortpath propagation from Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia into Melbourne on 5, 7, and 9 MHz in our sunrise period.

These are sample entries of December 29, 2008:

5985 CHINA CRI-Beijing, Swahili, 1840
7160 S. AFRICA FEBA-Meyerton, French, *1830-1900*
7180 GERMANY WYFR-Wertachtal, English, 1850 (new frequency)
7445 GERMANY WYFR-Wertachal, 1830 (new frequency)
9630 SPAIN REE, Spanish, 1905

World Radio TV Handbook 2009

I received my dealer copy of World Radio TV Handbook WRTH09 yesterday, and with 680 pages, it maintains the finetradition of comprehensiveness and coverage established over many years.

Major editorial themes from guest authors discuss and analyse the continuing decline in HF broadcasting, and the standstill for commercial development of DRM-HF.

One contributor says "... we will be very surprised if any flavour of DRMever becomes the mass-market digital mode..."

WRTH professional writers also suggest that HF radio, in any of its forms,may become a lost cause, due to the emergence of Internet, satellite, broadband, and mobile telephone for delivery of content, news, information and entertainment.

They also assert that local digital radio broadcasting has become a hotchpotch of various delivery platforms, standards, and technologies, with some countries now having abandoned this technology altogether.

Equipment reviews are confined mainly to some high-cost software-defined radios, the Racal RA1778 general coverage receiver, a small section ona ntennas, and stories about Internet computer "radios". The writers explain that Internet "radio" is of course not "radio" at all, but the technology is considered to be an emerging field as a subset of "global broadcasting".

A non-technical article on FM DXing is included, from a European perspective.

George Jacobs continues his long association with WRTH through his excellent professionally orientated summary of HF conditions expected during 2009, and suggests that HF broadcasting may not be the "dinasaur" as some people may think, even though the medium is competing with other technologies.

The number of organizations in the listing of "DX Clubs" is reducing steadily year by year. Those located in Asia include many "Listener Clubs", which traditionalists may feel are not "DX Clubs" at all, but groups of people interested in meeting to discuss particular international broadcasters.

The scaled-down page on "Selected Internet Resources" contains details about various on-line services, many managed by private individuals as Email lists ,message boards, or websites, proclaiming to be about some form of "radio" or"broadcasting".

The difficulty in publishing such links in an annual hard-copy reference is that these services frequently tend to disappear when their proponents lose interest.

Comparisons are always made between WRTH and other commercially-produced annual references, which I regard to be misleading. The editorial objectives and coverage of these references differ, and such comparisons are meaningless.

WRTH publishes free updates and new HF schedules on its Website throughout the year, and these support the hard-copy product.

WRTH09 is becoming available through local booksellers, or from the WRTH itself in the UK. Amazon Books is also offering the title, with an estimated release date of Fehruary 3, 2009.

Here in Australia, no shop-front bookseller stocks the product due to negligible demand. I offer the title to Australian readers from my on-line bookshop "Padula Books", for A$45, which includes postage and packing. To order, visit http://edxp.org

Further details and on-line ordering are available from the WRTH Website, http://www.wrth.com

Regards from Melbourne!

Excellent solstice propagation, 11 and 13 MHz, sunrise period

Notwithstanding zero sunspot activity, propagation into Melbourne on 11 and 13 MHz continues to be very good in the post-sunrise period from 1900 to 2000.

This is represented by strong shortpath signals from Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia, and longpath from the Americas.

This is a sumamry of selected observations made on December 22, 2008, during our summer solstice!

11760 GERMANY AWR-Wertachtal African langs
11940 SPAIN REE Spanish
12045 GERMANY RN-Wertachtal English
13605 INDIA Arabic
13620 INDIA English
13650 CANADA RCI-Sackville French
13685 MALI CRI-Bamako Arabic to 1930 sign-off
13710 SAO TOME VOA English
13720 PORTUGAL RDP Portuguese
13780 SRI LANKA DW-Trincomalee Arabic
13820 GERMANY DW-Wertachtal Arabic
13845 USA WWCR English

Regards from Melbourne!

Monitoring Report - good signals on 15 and 17 MHz

Despite zero sunspot activity, there has been some interesting long-haul propagation into Melbourne on frequencies above 15 MHz in the period from 1700 to past 2300.

These conditions have been associated with shortpath propagation from the Americas, via the daylit Pacific route, as well as strong longpath signals from southern Africa over the south Atlantic and Antarctic regions.

These notes summarize observed spectrum occupancy on November 22:

15115 USA WYFR Okeechobee 2100-2200
15130 USA WYFR Okeechobee 2100-2200
15195 ASCENSION VOA 1730-2030*
15240 S. AFRICA AWR-Meyerton *1900-1930*
15290 CUBA R. Nacional de Venezuela 1900-2000*
15305 CANADA RCI-Sackville *2000-2300
15330 USA R. Marti, Greenville 1800-2000
15345 ARGENTINA RAE, 2000-2300
15365 CANADA RCI-Sackville 1800-2000
15385 USA KJES, New Mexico, 1900-2000 (intended for Australia!)
15400 ASCENSION BBC 1900-2000
15420 S. AFRICA BBC-Meyerton 1700-1900
15440 USA Family Radio, Okeechobee, 2200-2300
15580 BOTSWANA VOA 1900-1930
15580 USA VOA-Greenville 2100-2200
15775 SAO TOME VOA 1730-1830
17555 USA WYFR Okeechobee 1730-1800