Still no sunspots and it's been a month since the last "official" spot was recorded by NOAA!
In the meantime, continuing good daytime propagation into Melbourne on 11 MHz in our early to mid afternoon:
Americas shortpath
Middle East longpath
Europe longpath
Asia shortpath
Africa longpath
I was in the Warrandyte State Park, 25 km east of the Melbourne CBD, on Thursday April 9. Here are some selected entries from one of my favourite field sites, Norman's Reserve, opposite Pound Bend at the west of the Park, adjacent to the Yarra River,in the window 0500 to 0530.
11520 USA WEWN English
11530 USA WYFR Portuguese
11685 IRAN VOIRI Turkish
11775 ALBANIA CRI-Cerrick Arabic
11820 CYPRUS BBC Arabic
11875 GERMANY RL-Lampertheim
11890 SPAIN REE Spanish
11980 TURKEY VOT Turkish
12070 RUSSIA VOR Russian
Good shortpath propagation also in our pre-sunrise period on 49, 41 and 31 mbs from Europe, ME, Asia and Africa. These are some of the occupancies between 2000 and 2030 on April 9, with considerable clumping in the extended band area below 5955:
5820 GERMANY RFE-Biblis Belarusian
5830 KUWAIT R. Farda Farsi
5850 SWEDEN R. Sweden Romani (not Romanian!)
5860 THAILAND VOA-Udorn Farsi
5875 FRANCE R. Algeria Issoudin
5905 MADAGASCAR RN English
5910 IRAN VOIRI Italian to 2030*
5920 SLOVAKIA R. Sl. Inter French to 2000*
5930 VATICAN RN via Vatican Arabic *2100
5940 ZAMBIA CVC English
5955 ROMANIA RRI
5990 S. AFRICA VOA-Meyerton English
7465 ALBANIA R. Tirana English
7490 UZBEKISTAN R. Free Chosun Korean to 2100*
9690 SPAIN REE French
9695 SLOVAK REPUBLIC R. Slovakia Inter, Spanish
Regards from Melbourne!
Rotating Headlines from this Journal!
Showing posts with label melbourne. Show all posts
Showing posts with label melbourne. Show all posts
Friday, April 10, 2009
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Daytime propagatin excellent in Melbourne!
The present solar cycle, no. 23, remains in a state of limbo, with still no sunspots for the past several months.
Despite this, propagation continues to be excellent on frequencies below 12 MHz during the various "windows" which become available throughout the day and night.
Here in Melbourne, one of these "windows" is in the period 0400 to 0600, with very good propagation now observed on 6, 7, 9, and 11 MHz, dominated by longpath transmission from Europe, Africa and the Middle East, and shortpath from the Americas.
I was in the Dandenong Ranges National park today, in the Olinda Forest, 20 km from here, and I spent some time with the Eton E5 connected to a 10m antenna on the Olinda Creek Rd, at the junction with gated Road 19. Road 19 leads to an abandoned farmhouse, now owned by Parks Victoria. This is a location where there is no power line interference.
Of particular interest in the period 0400 to 0530 were some Brazilians on 9 and 11 MHz - propagation from Brazil is rather rare during our daytime, and signal strength was good.
I believe that the "sunspot propagation myth" has now been exploded - good long-distance propagation below 12 MHz during the appropriate periods of the day does not require any sunspot activity at all, and here in Melbourne, the 9 MHz band is now open for the full 24 hours as autumn proceeds.
When sunspot activity resumes, this will of course extend the upper frequency usage for distance propagation, with transmissions on darkness or semi-darkness paths on frequencies up to 30 MHz, and higher!
In the meantime, HF operations over long distances over darkness, or semi-darkness paths, will be more reliable on frequencies below about 12 MHz.
This is a sample of my entries of today between 0430 and 0500, unless stated otherwise - several new relay operations are included:
5810 USA WEWN
5850 USA WHRA 0510
5865 FRANCE R. Algeria - Issoudin Arabic
5890 USA WWCR 0505
5915 ENGLAND DW-Rampisham Russian
5925 GERMANY RL-Lampertheim
5935 USA WWCR
5955 PORTUGAL RN-Sines 0505 Dutch
5965 VATICAN VR
5965 RUSSIA VOR (co-channel Vatican)
6000 BULGARIA R. Bulgaria, Bulgarian
6050 ECUADOR HCJB Spanish
6130 GERMANY NHK-Wertachtal Russian
6155 AUSTRIA AWR-Moosbrunn French *0430-0500*
6185 VATICAN VR
7205 GERMANY RL-Biblis
7300 ROMANIA RRI Russian
7395 *** FRENCH GUYANA VOR-Montsinery, Spanish (interesting new relay
operation for A09!)
9565 *** BRAZIL R. Tupi 0430-0500
9770 GERMANY VOA-Nauen Kurdish 0510
11775 ALBANIA CRI-Cerrick Arabic 0505
11780 CHINA CNR8 Kazakh 0510
11790 ROMANIA RRI French 0500
11815 *** BRAZIL R. Brasil Central 0515
11970 FRANCE NHK-Issoudin English 0515
Despite this, propagation continues to be excellent on frequencies below 12 MHz during the various "windows" which become available throughout the day and night.
Here in Melbourne, one of these "windows" is in the period 0400 to 0600, with very good propagation now observed on 6, 7, 9, and 11 MHz, dominated by longpath transmission from Europe, Africa and the Middle East, and shortpath from the Americas.
I was in the Dandenong Ranges National park today, in the Olinda Forest, 20 km from here, and I spent some time with the Eton E5 connected to a 10m antenna on the Olinda Creek Rd, at the junction with gated Road 19. Road 19 leads to an abandoned farmhouse, now owned by Parks Victoria. This is a location where there is no power line interference.
Of particular interest in the period 0400 to 0530 were some Brazilians on 9 and 11 MHz - propagation from Brazil is rather rare during our daytime, and signal strength was good.
I believe that the "sunspot propagation myth" has now been exploded - good long-distance propagation below 12 MHz during the appropriate periods of the day does not require any sunspot activity at all, and here in Melbourne, the 9 MHz band is now open for the full 24 hours as autumn proceeds.
When sunspot activity resumes, this will of course extend the upper frequency usage for distance propagation, with transmissions on darkness or semi-darkness paths on frequencies up to 30 MHz, and higher!
In the meantime, HF operations over long distances over darkness, or semi-darkness paths, will be more reliable on frequencies below about 12 MHz.
This is a sample of my entries of today between 0430 and 0500, unless stated otherwise - several new relay operations are included:
5810 USA WEWN
5850 USA WHRA 0510
5865 FRANCE R. Algeria - Issoudin Arabic
5890 USA WWCR 0505
5915 ENGLAND DW-Rampisham Russian
5925 GERMANY RL-Lampertheim
5935 USA WWCR
5955 PORTUGAL RN-Sines 0505 Dutch
5965 VATICAN VR
5965 RUSSIA VOR (co-channel Vatican)
6000 BULGARIA R. Bulgaria, Bulgarian
6050 ECUADOR HCJB Spanish
6130 GERMANY NHK-Wertachtal Russian
6155 AUSTRIA AWR-Moosbrunn French *0430-0500*
6185 VATICAN VR
7205 GERMANY RL-Biblis
7300 ROMANIA RRI Russian
7395 *** FRENCH GUYANA VOR-Montsinery, Spanish (interesting new relay
operation for A09!)
9565 *** BRAZIL R. Tupi 0430-0500
9770 GERMANY VOA-Nauen Kurdish 0510
11775 ALBANIA CRI-Cerrick Arabic 0505
11780 CHINA CNR8 Kazakh 0510
11790 ROMANIA RRI French 0500
11815 *** BRAZIL R. Brasil Central 0515
11970 FRANCE NHK-Issoudin English 0515
Friday, April 3, 2009
Thd latest shortwave news over the Internet!
The latest episode, no. 145, of the Australian DX Report, a weekly audionews magazine with news and information about shortwave broadcasting, from an Australian perspective, is now available.
It's 15 mins 30 secs, and may be downloaded from
http://airm.edxp.org
You will certainly appreciate the closing song!
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.
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 at 020-0215 on 5070 and on Mondays 1145-1200 on 15825. The WWCR release is also available as streaming-audio, live, from http://wwcr.com
Good listening to the Australian DX Report Episode No. 145!
It's 15 mins 30 secs, and may be downloaded from
http://airm.edxp.org
You will certainly appreciate the closing song!
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.
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 at 020-0215 on 5070 and on Mondays 1145-1200 on 15825. The WWCR release is also available as streaming-audio, live, from http://wwcr.com
Good listening to the Australian DX Report Episode No. 145!
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
45 YEARS OF PRODUCING "DX" BROADCASTS!
March 2009 represents my completion of 45 years of continuous involvement with writing, hosting, and broadcasting "DX" programs over domestic and international stations. So it now seems that I am in my 46th year of doing this sort of work!
So, here is my little story which may be of interest to all readers...!
My first involvement was in March 1964, when I started writing and taping the weekly 15 minute DX program, known as "The World at Your Fingertips", heard over two Victorian medium-wave stations - 3UL in Warragul, and 3SR in Shepparton. This was under the sponsorship of the Victorian Branch of the New Zealand DX Radio Association, of which I was a member. Sadly, the NZDXRA closed down in 2007.
In those days, there was no Australian national radio monitoring organisation - there had been such a club in the late 1930s, but it ceased in 1946. WAYF had in fact been on the air for a year or so previously, broadcast only over 3SR Shepparton, by Bruce Eastwood. On Bruce's retirement from the field, he invited me to take over, which I did, and I expanded its coverage by syndicating it over 3UL Warragul. In 1965, 3SR discontinued this, and other programming, due to a major change of focus, leaving us only with 3UL, which ran the show on Saturday mornings with a rather limited listenership. In 1966, I moved the show to 3NE Wangaratta, for a Sunday night release, which hosted our program continuously until 1976, when it was decided jointly that the program was no longer serving any useful purpose, either for the station or the hobby, and it was terminated.
From 1967 until 1976, the programs were written and remotely taped on alternate weeks by my South Australian colleague, the late Robert Chester, and myself.
My work in international radio DX programs began in 1965, when I commenced script writing for the weekly "Australian DXers Calling" over Radio Australia. The program first went on the air on July 9, 1946, and was written and presented by Graham Hutchins, Melbourne, who had been involved with the management of a local DX Club. I had been a keen and avid listener to the program since around 1953 as schoolboy, and I used to copy the details of the programs into a log-book.
That log-book is sitting in front of me as I write this, some 53 years later, and the program of February 13, 1955 reported that Radio France Asie, in Saigon, was on the air on 15430 0800-0815 and on 9775 at 1400 to Europe. The program also reported that RRI had installed a new 20 kW transmitter on 9550 (still there at Makassar!), and that Radio Australia would be carrying live commentary of the 5th Cricket Test between visiting England and Australia. Target areas were announced as including the West Indies, Africa, Korea, Japan, and the British Isles. As it turned out, I actually went to one day of that famous Test, at the Melbourne Cricket Ground!
The untimely passing of Graham in 1965 now required RA personnel to personally prepare and read the weekly scripts. I had been a regular contributor to the program since 1963, and I was surprised when RA invited me to assume script writing responsibility in 1965. I continued to write the scripts each week until 1982, which were read by senior RA announcers. I was not permitted to include any information about stations in Communist-bloc countries, such as Radio Peking, Radio Moscow, Radio Tirana, etc! I was also instructed to give as much information as possible about the Voice of Free China broadcasts. Those directions emanated from sources extremely high up in the Australian Government. I complied!!!
In 1972, I was appointed the script manager, where I introduced and trained other Australian DX hobbyists to these duties, with all of us sharing the roster coordination and writing tasks. The shared arrangements continued until 1976, when the program was discontinued as part of a major and extraordinary change in RA policy.
However, RA's Japanese department had also been using the scripts for many years, translating them into its weekly "DX Time" programs, and we continued to prepare the scripts for the Japanese service until it itself was closed down in 1989.
Estimates as to the number of regular listeners to "DX Time" were put at many millions. That was in the days of the 1970s following the CB "boom", when enormous numbers of Japanese schoolchildren were attracted to shortwave listening, coining the term "BCL" (ie, "broadcast listener"), fuelled by the burgeoning Japanese electronics' manufacturing industry. This massive exposure of millions of Japanese children to the hobby was reflected in the vast numbers of QSL reports received by Radio Australia's Japanese section, the majority of which were for reception of "DX Time"! It was an enormous flood, which was beyond the capability of RA to manage. I helped RA to process those reports, most of which were "gimme QSL" requests - there were mountains of mail in big boxes!
Several of the "DX Time" writing team of the 1970's and 1980's are currently members of the Electronic DX Press Radio Monitoring Association, including Craig Tyson and Mick Ogrizek.
RA's Indonesian service also took the scripts for its own DX program until 1989, but there is no longer any Indonesian DX program.
Following representations from listeners, in 1982 RA decided to reintroduce a "communications" program in the English service, calling it "Spectrum", which ran until September 1983. This was hosted by the late Dick Speekman, formerly of Radio Netherland's "DX Juke Box" (which had also been closed down!) I assisted Dick with weekly SW and DX notes, as well as being an interviewee, until that program was subsequently terminated in September 1983!
One month later, it reappeared under the new name of "Talkback", prepared by RA staffers and Dick was no longer involved. Each week, until June 1985, I wrote the shortwave news, and visited RA's studios in the new East Burwood (Melbourne) complex to tape the shows. This was a new experience for me - everything had to be precisely scripted - no colloquial expressions - no departure from the written scripts - and no jokes. I was given full access to the complex, and had to book a studio and operator in advance. There were also strict rules for annunciation, pronunciation, and "speaking style" to ensure that the Australian accent didn't seem too prominent!
These studio facilities at the time were an eye-opener, state-of-the-art, with everything on large tape spools, running at 1 7/8 inches/sec. Everything broadcast had to be backed-up and archived for several weeks. It helps the soul to know that what you are taping will be going out to the entire world in a few hours time!
The East Burwood complex was closed down some years ago when ABC's operations were centralised in the Melbourne central business district "Southbank" building. The East Burwood buildings remain, and have been converted into residential units. The surrounding land has been re-developed and is now closely packed with houses.
"Talkback" came to an abrupt end in June 1985 and the popular DX news was never replaced.
I had, and continue, to be involved with DX-type program production over other international broadcasters. This has included "Pacific DX Report" over the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (1979-1981), "South Pacific DX Report" over HCJB (1979-1986), "DX Newsline" over Trans World Radio Guam (1982-1992), and "DX News" over Adventist World Radio Guam (1994 onwards). Since 1995, I have been doing the monthly "Australian DX Report" scripts over HCJB and WHRI, and since 1999 over Adventist World Radio Asia. Since May 2006, I’ve been producing the weekly “Australian DX Report” over WWCR, Nashville, Tennessee, with 142 episodes having been produced.
In 1997 I launched the EDXP Internet Radio Service, where my weekly "Australian DX Reports" (with music!) may be downloaded free of charge by anyone, anywhere!
So, to answer your question as to "how long have I been working with DX programs? "... continuously since March 1964, which seems to be about 45 years!
All of the work is done on a voluntary, spare-time basis, and I have lost count of the number of hours dedicated to the tasks over all those years. Unlike some people I neither seek payment, nor insist on recognition for all of this - I do it because I enjoy it, with a desire to help others. As a matter of fact, the Australian Government must have seen something in what I was doing, as it awarded me the Medal of the Order of Australia in 1981, "for services to the community in shortwave radio", with the approval of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. The Award is unique, and no similar distinction has ever been made within the Australian Honours List.
So, there you are...
Regards!
Bob Padula, Melbourne, Australia March 2009
So, here is my little story which may be of interest to all readers...!
My first involvement was in March 1964, when I started writing and taping the weekly 15 minute DX program, known as "The World at Your Fingertips", heard over two Victorian medium-wave stations - 3UL in Warragul, and 3SR in Shepparton. This was under the sponsorship of the Victorian Branch of the New Zealand DX Radio Association, of which I was a member. Sadly, the NZDXRA closed down in 2007.
In those days, there was no Australian national radio monitoring organisation - there had been such a club in the late 1930s, but it ceased in 1946. WAYF had in fact been on the air for a year or so previously, broadcast only over 3SR Shepparton, by Bruce Eastwood. On Bruce's retirement from the field, he invited me to take over, which I did, and I expanded its coverage by syndicating it over 3UL Warragul. In 1965, 3SR discontinued this, and other programming, due to a major change of focus, leaving us only with 3UL, which ran the show on Saturday mornings with a rather limited listenership. In 1966, I moved the show to 3NE Wangaratta, for a Sunday night release, which hosted our program continuously until 1976, when it was decided jointly that the program was no longer serving any useful purpose, either for the station or the hobby, and it was terminated.
From 1967 until 1976, the programs were written and remotely taped on alternate weeks by my South Australian colleague, the late Robert Chester, and myself.
My work in international radio DX programs began in 1965, when I commenced script writing for the weekly "Australian DXers Calling" over Radio Australia. The program first went on the air on July 9, 1946, and was written and presented by Graham Hutchins, Melbourne, who had been involved with the management of a local DX Club. I had been a keen and avid listener to the program since around 1953 as schoolboy, and I used to copy the details of the programs into a log-book.
That log-book is sitting in front of me as I write this, some 53 years later, and the program of February 13, 1955 reported that Radio France Asie, in Saigon, was on the air on 15430 0800-0815 and on 9775 at 1400 to Europe. The program also reported that RRI had installed a new 20 kW transmitter on 9550 (still there at Makassar!), and that Radio Australia would be carrying live commentary of the 5th Cricket Test between visiting England and Australia. Target areas were announced as including the West Indies, Africa, Korea, Japan, and the British Isles. As it turned out, I actually went to one day of that famous Test, at the Melbourne Cricket Ground!
The untimely passing of Graham in 1965 now required RA personnel to personally prepare and read the weekly scripts. I had been a regular contributor to the program since 1963, and I was surprised when RA invited me to assume script writing responsibility in 1965. I continued to write the scripts each week until 1982, which were read by senior RA announcers. I was not permitted to include any information about stations in Communist-bloc countries, such as Radio Peking, Radio Moscow, Radio Tirana, etc! I was also instructed to give as much information as possible about the Voice of Free China broadcasts. Those directions emanated from sources extremely high up in the Australian Government. I complied!!!
In 1972, I was appointed the script manager, where I introduced and trained other Australian DX hobbyists to these duties, with all of us sharing the roster coordination and writing tasks. The shared arrangements continued until 1976, when the program was discontinued as part of a major and extraordinary change in RA policy.
However, RA's Japanese department had also been using the scripts for many years, translating them into its weekly "DX Time" programs, and we continued to prepare the scripts for the Japanese service until it itself was closed down in 1989.
Estimates as to the number of regular listeners to "DX Time" were put at many millions. That was in the days of the 1970s following the CB "boom", when enormous numbers of Japanese schoolchildren were attracted to shortwave listening, coining the term "BCL" (ie, "broadcast listener"), fuelled by the burgeoning Japanese electronics' manufacturing industry. This massive exposure of millions of Japanese children to the hobby was reflected in the vast numbers of QSL reports received by Radio Australia's Japanese section, the majority of which were for reception of "DX Time"! It was an enormous flood, which was beyond the capability of RA to manage. I helped RA to process those reports, most of which were "gimme QSL" requests - there were mountains of mail in big boxes!
Several of the "DX Time" writing team of the 1970's and 1980's are currently members of the Electronic DX Press Radio Monitoring Association, including Craig Tyson and Mick Ogrizek.
RA's Indonesian service also took the scripts for its own DX program until 1989, but there is no longer any Indonesian DX program.
Following representations from listeners, in 1982 RA decided to reintroduce a "communications" program in the English service, calling it "Spectrum", which ran until September 1983. This was hosted by the late Dick Speekman, formerly of Radio Netherland's "DX Juke Box" (which had also been closed down!) I assisted Dick with weekly SW and DX notes, as well as being an interviewee, until that program was subsequently terminated in September 1983!
One month later, it reappeared under the new name of "Talkback", prepared by RA staffers and Dick was no longer involved. Each week, until June 1985, I wrote the shortwave news, and visited RA's studios in the new East Burwood (Melbourne) complex to tape the shows. This was a new experience for me - everything had to be precisely scripted - no colloquial expressions - no departure from the written scripts - and no jokes. I was given full access to the complex, and had to book a studio and operator in advance. There were also strict rules for annunciation, pronunciation, and "speaking style" to ensure that the Australian accent didn't seem too prominent!
These studio facilities at the time were an eye-opener, state-of-the-art, with everything on large tape spools, running at 1 7/8 inches/sec. Everything broadcast had to be backed-up and archived for several weeks. It helps the soul to know that what you are taping will be going out to the entire world in a few hours time!
The East Burwood complex was closed down some years ago when ABC's operations were centralised in the Melbourne central business district "Southbank" building. The East Burwood buildings remain, and have been converted into residential units. The surrounding land has been re-developed and is now closely packed with houses.
"Talkback" came to an abrupt end in June 1985 and the popular DX news was never replaced.
I had, and continue, to be involved with DX-type program production over other international broadcasters. This has included "Pacific DX Report" over the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (1979-1981), "South Pacific DX Report" over HCJB (1979-1986), "DX Newsline" over Trans World Radio Guam (1982-1992), and "DX News" over Adventist World Radio Guam (1994 onwards). Since 1995, I have been doing the monthly "Australian DX Report" scripts over HCJB and WHRI, and since 1999 over Adventist World Radio Asia. Since May 2006, I’ve been producing the weekly “Australian DX Report” over WWCR, Nashville, Tennessee, with 142 episodes having been produced.
In 1997 I launched the EDXP Internet Radio Service, where my weekly "Australian DX Reports" (with music!) may be downloaded free of charge by anyone, anywhere!
So, to answer your question as to "how long have I been working with DX programs? "... continuously since March 1964, which seems to be about 45 years!
All of the work is done on a voluntary, spare-time basis, and I have lost count of the number of hours dedicated to the tasks over all those years. Unlike some people I neither seek payment, nor insist on recognition for all of this - I do it because I enjoy it, with a desire to help others. As a matter of fact, the Australian Government must have seen something in what I was doing, as it awarded me the Medal of the Order of Australia in 1981, "for services to the community in shortwave radio", with the approval of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. The Award is unique, and no similar distinction has ever been made within the Australian Honours List.
So, there you are...
Regards!
Bob Padula, Melbourne, Australia March 2009
Sunday, March 15, 2009
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!
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!
Monitoring Notes 5750-5985 spectrum
There are still no sunspots visible, and it is being conjectured that we may be passing through a "double hump" at the bottom end of solar cycle no. 23.
Cycle 24 does not appear to have commenced as yet, and long distance propagation on frequencies above about 11 MHz across darkness paths is currently very unreliable.
Despite this, there has been continuing excellent shortpath propagation from Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East into Melbourne on 5, 6, 7, and 9 MHz between 1800 and 2000, with very few unoccupied channels.
This is a summary of selected items noted in the 5750-5985 spectrum, the lower portion of the 49 mb between 1930 and 2000 on March 11.
5750 KUWAIT VOA Dari
5810 PHILIPPINES RFA Tinang Mandarin
5850 GERMANY Polish Radio via Julich Ukrainian
5860 SRI LANKA VOA Iranawela Fars
i5875 ENGLAND BBC Rampisham English
5885 VATICAN VR various langs
5890 IRAN VOIRI Italian
5905 CHINA CRI Kashi Russian
5915 SLOVAK REP R. Slovakia Intern English
5920 RUSSIA VOR St Petersburg Russian
5925 CHINA CNR5
5935 GERMANY Polish Radio Wertachtal Ukrainian
5945 CYPRUS BBC English
5955 AUSTRAI VOV Moosbrunn French
5965 MALAYSIA RTM Kajang Malay
5970 ALBANIA CRI Cerrick French
5980 TURKEY VOT Turkish
5985 CHINA CRI Beijing Portuguese
Comments and feedback from readers of this Weblog would be appreciated!
Cycle 24 does not appear to have commenced as yet, and long distance propagation on frequencies above about 11 MHz across darkness paths is currently very unreliable.
Despite this, there has been continuing excellent shortpath propagation from Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East into Melbourne on 5, 6, 7, and 9 MHz between 1800 and 2000, with very few unoccupied channels.
This is a summary of selected items noted in the 5750-5985 spectrum, the lower portion of the 49 mb between 1930 and 2000 on March 11.
5750 KUWAIT VOA Dari
5810 PHILIPPINES RFA Tinang Mandarin
5850 GERMANY Polish Radio via Julich Ukrainian
5860 SRI LANKA VOA Iranawela Fars
i5875 ENGLAND BBC Rampisham English
5885 VATICAN VR various langs
5890 IRAN VOIRI Italian
5905 CHINA CRI Kashi Russian
5915 SLOVAK REP R. Slovakia Intern English
5920 RUSSIA VOR St Petersburg Russian
5925 CHINA CNR5
5935 GERMANY Polish Radio Wertachtal Ukrainian
5945 CYPRUS BBC English
5955 AUSTRAI VOV Moosbrunn French
5965 MALAYSIA RTM Kajang Malay
5970 ALBANIA CRI Cerrick French
5980 TURKEY VOT Turkish
5985 CHINA CRI Beijing Portuguese
Comments and feedback from readers of this Weblog would be appreciated!
Saturday, February 7, 2009
AUSTRALIAN DX REPORT audio shortwave news magazine, no. 137
The latest episode, no. 137, of the weekly AUSTRALIAN DX REPORT audio shortwave news magazine contains detailedprofessional monitoring research from Melbourne, schedule changes, and news about international broadcasters.
It's 14 mins 28 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.
The ADXR is compiled from the resources of the Electronic DX Press Radio Monitoring Association.
Your comments and feedback are particularly important!
You can also hear the episodes on-air, via WWCR Nashville, every Sunday at 0300-0315 on 5070 and on Mondays 1245-1300 on 15825. The WWCR release is also available as streaming-audio, live, from http://wwcr.com
Good listening to the Australian DX Report Episode No. 137!
Bob Padula,Melbourne
It's 14 mins 28 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.
The ADXR is compiled from the resources of the Electronic DX Press Radio Monitoring Association.
Your comments and feedback are particularly important!
You can also hear the episodes on-air, via WWCR Nashville, every Sunday at 0300-0315 on 5070 and on Mondays 1245-1300 on 15825. The WWCR release is also available as streaming-audio, live, from http://wwcr.com
Good listening to the Australian DX Report Episode No. 137!
Bob Padula,Melbourne
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Spectacular Asian midday propagation events!
On Tuesday February 3, 2009, rather remarkable propagation events were observed here in Melbourne, between 0130 and 0230, and 0330 and 0400.
This is during local mid-summer noon and early afternoon periods.
This was represented by extremely strong all-daylight-path signals from Asia, on frequencies as low as 5925, extending up to 10 MHz.
Of particular note were the unprecedented appearances of signals from stations in Laos (6130), Myanmar (7185), India (7125, 7290), Vietnam (5925, 6020), China (6115, 6185, 7170), and Malaysia (Sarawak)(6050).
Some of these signals have never been noted precviously during this time period in Melbourne!
These specialized propagation modes makes their appearances during the Australian summer, with signals appearing and vanishing almost randomly - some are present for a minute or so, others for periods up to an hour or more.
This propagation mode is not confined to Melbourne, and was also observed in central NSW, by my colleague Craig Seager in Bathurst, on Sunday February 1 in the same time period.
There is a reference to the Mode in the Australian Government's Department of Space Services Training Handbook (Ionospheric Prediction Service), as a "Specialized Complex Mode".
The actual propagation mechanism is not clearly understood, and is believed to be supported by reflection off the top layers of Sporadic E clouds, with no intermediate ground reflection, for part of the transmission path. This results in minimal absorption, generating very strong signals, often with no fading, and overriding locally generated power-line interference and noise.
Path lengths are enormous, of over 10,000 km, all-daylight!
The signal patterns resemble those of long-haul VHF reception, mobile telephone reception, or digital broadcasting.
Here is a summary of the events as noted on February 3 - there were two separate events, 0130 to 0230 and 0330 to 0400 - further research continues!
EVENT 1 - window 0130-0230
5925 VIETNAM VOV regional
5975 VIETNAM VOV regional
6020 VIETNAM VOV regional
6050 MALAYSIA RTM Sibu regional
6115 CHINA V. of Strait
6130 LAOS Vientienne, national network
6185 CHINA Chengdu regional network
7125 INDIA Delhi, Sindhi
7170 CHINA Lhasa, Mandarin
7185 MYANMAR Yangon, national network
7197 *CHINA PBS Xinjiang, Urumqui, Uighur (*Note: frequency is actually on
7197, not nominal 7195!)
7210 VIETNAM VOV national network
7225 CHINA PBS Xinjiang, Urumqi, Uighur, parallel 7197, new channel
7230 CHINA CNR1
7250 CHINA CNR8 Urumqi
7270 MALAYSIA RTM regional
7280 CHINA V. of Strait
7285 SRI LANKA DW-Trincomalee German
7295 MALAYSIA RTM Kajang English relaying FM domestic service
EVENT 2 - window 0330-0400:
7160 INDIA Chennai regional
7275 CHINA PBS Xinjiang, Urumqi, Uighur
7290 INDIA regional, huge signal!
9440 THAILAND BBC Nakon, Bengali
9450 CHINA CRI Kashi Mandarin
9570 CHINA CNR1
9630 CHINA CNR1
This is during local mid-summer noon and early afternoon periods.
This was represented by extremely strong all-daylight-path signals from Asia, on frequencies as low as 5925, extending up to 10 MHz.
Of particular note were the unprecedented appearances of signals from stations in Laos (6130), Myanmar (7185), India (7125, 7290), Vietnam (5925, 6020), China (6115, 6185, 7170), and Malaysia (Sarawak)(6050).
Some of these signals have never been noted precviously during this time period in Melbourne!
These specialized propagation modes makes their appearances during the Australian summer, with signals appearing and vanishing almost randomly - some are present for a minute or so, others for periods up to an hour or more.
This propagation mode is not confined to Melbourne, and was also observed in central NSW, by my colleague Craig Seager in Bathurst, on Sunday February 1 in the same time period.
There is a reference to the Mode in the Australian Government's Department of Space Services Training Handbook (Ionospheric Prediction Service), as a "Specialized Complex Mode".
The actual propagation mechanism is not clearly understood, and is believed to be supported by reflection off the top layers of Sporadic E clouds, with no intermediate ground reflection, for part of the transmission path. This results in minimal absorption, generating very strong signals, often with no fading, and overriding locally generated power-line interference and noise.
Path lengths are enormous, of over 10,000 km, all-daylight!
The signal patterns resemble those of long-haul VHF reception, mobile telephone reception, or digital broadcasting.
Here is a summary of the events as noted on February 3 - there were two separate events, 0130 to 0230 and 0330 to 0400 - further research continues!
EVENT 1 - window 0130-0230
5925 VIETNAM VOV regional
5975 VIETNAM VOV regional
6020 VIETNAM VOV regional
6050 MALAYSIA RTM Sibu regional
6115 CHINA V. of Strait
6130 LAOS Vientienne, national network
6185 CHINA Chengdu regional network
7125 INDIA Delhi, Sindhi
7170 CHINA Lhasa, Mandarin
7185 MYANMAR Yangon, national network
7197 *CHINA PBS Xinjiang, Urumqui, Uighur (*Note: frequency is actually on
7197, not nominal 7195!)
7210 VIETNAM VOV national network
7225 CHINA PBS Xinjiang, Urumqi, Uighur, parallel 7197, new channel
7230 CHINA CNR1
7250 CHINA CNR8 Urumqi
7270 MALAYSIA RTM regional
7280 CHINA V. of Strait
7285 SRI LANKA DW-Trincomalee German
7295 MALAYSIA RTM Kajang English relaying FM domestic service
EVENT 2 - window 0330-0400:
7160 INDIA Chennai regional
7275 CHINA PBS Xinjiang, Urumqi, Uighur
7290 INDIA regional, huge signal!
9440 THAILAND BBC Nakon, Bengali
9450 CHINA CRI Kashi Mandarin
9570 CHINA CNR1
9630 CHINA CNR1
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Daytime Propagation Research, 7MHz and 9 MHz
Today in 37 degree heat I went out to the Olinda Forest, Dandenong Ranges National Park, 40 mins drive from here. This was primarily a bushwalking trip along the Olinda Creek Track.
Very good signals at one of my favourite field sites, at the junction of Olinda Creek Rd and gated Road 13. I leave an antenna in a gum tree there - saves reinstalling it each visit!
These are the important key Asian/African/ME signals which were present during the 0300 to 0400 window:
7210 VIETNAM VOV nat net
7295 MALAYSIA RTVM English
9500 CHINA CNR1
9505 CHINA V. of Strait
9520 SRI LANKA R. Farda,Iranawela, Farsi
9530 VIETNAM VOV nat net
9595 JAPAN R. Nikkei
9685 CHINA CNR5
9720 CHINA CNR2
9730 MYANMAR Nat Net
9745 S. AFRICA Channel Af, Meyerton, French *0400
9760 JAPAN R. Nikkei
9835 INDIA
9850 VIETNAM VOV Dialects network 0300-0310* new schedule, reopens 0400
9865 IRAN VOIRI
9870 INDIA huge level 0400
9875 VIETNAM VOV Dialects network 0300-0310* new schedule; reopens 0400
9910 INDIA
Very good signals at one of my favourite field sites, at the junction of Olinda Creek Rd and gated Road 13. I leave an antenna in a gum tree there - saves reinstalling it each visit!
These are the important key Asian/African/ME signals which were present during the 0300 to 0400 window:
7210 VIETNAM VOV nat net
7295 MALAYSIA RTVM English
9500 CHINA CNR1
9505 CHINA V. of Strait
9520 SRI LANKA R. Farda,Iranawela, Farsi
9530 VIETNAM VOV nat net
9595 JAPAN R. Nikkei
9685 CHINA CNR5
9720 CHINA CNR2
9730 MYANMAR Nat Net
9745 S. AFRICA Channel Af, Meyerton, French *0400
9760 JAPAN R. Nikkei
9835 INDIA
9850 VIETNAM VOV Dialects network 0300-0310* new schedule, reopens 0400
9865 IRAN VOIRI
9870 INDIA huge level 0400
9875 VIETNAM VOV Dialects network 0300-0310* new schedule; reopens 0400
9910 INDIA
Monday, January 19, 2009
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
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
Saturday, January 10, 2009
7 MHz Propagation Research
There continues to be strong propagation on 7 MHz in our post-sunrise period.
Congestion and multiple-occupancies on many frequencies is commonplace, with little effective coordination evident.
Note that ALL broadcasting services will be required to vacate the 7100-7200 spectrum by March 29, as that band area will be exlusively allocated to the amateur service worldwide from that date.
This is a sample of spectrum occupancy, showing the dominant transmissions, in the 7100-7200 range as observed here in Melbourne on Jan 9, 2009, between 1900 and 2000:
7100 N. KOREA R. Pyongyang, operating illegally s its lower sideband falls within the existing ARO exclusive allocation.
7105 ENGLAND BBC Rampisham
7110 CHINA CRI
7115 RUSSIA VOA-Moscow
7120 MADAGASCAR RN-Talata
7125 ROMANIA RRI
7130 CHINA CRI
7135 THAILAND IBB-Udorn
7140 ROMANIA RRI
7145 ENGLAND DW-Wofferton
7150 CHINA CRI
7155 RUSSIA VOR-Samara
7160 ----
7165 IRAN VOIRI
7170 CHINA CRI
7175 ----
7180 ALBANIA CRI-Cerrick
7185 ----
7190 TURKEY VOT
7195 RUSSIA VOA-Moscow
7200 RUSSIA CRI-Moscow
That's a lot of broadcasting services which will have to be cleared out of 7100-7200 by March 29!
The next meeting of the HF Coordination Conference (HFCC) will be in Tunisia, Feb 2-6 2009, at which time the master schedule for the A09 season will be developed. This will be a joint meeting with the Arab States Broadcasting Union (ASBU) and the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU-HFC).
The HFCC is a body endorsed by the ITU.
No doubt, that meeting is aware of the need NOT to allocate ANY broadcasting operations in the 7100-7200 spectrum beginning March 2009 A09, and it will be interesting to see how this meeting of over 150 people will respond to these new ITU regulations!
Good listening!
Congestion and multiple-occupancies on many frequencies is commonplace, with little effective coordination evident.
Note that ALL broadcasting services will be required to vacate the 7100-7200 spectrum by March 29, as that band area will be exlusively allocated to the amateur service worldwide from that date.
This is a sample of spectrum occupancy, showing the dominant transmissions, in the 7100-7200 range as observed here in Melbourne on Jan 9, 2009, between 1900 and 2000:
7100 N. KOREA R. Pyongyang, operating illegally s its lower sideband falls within the existing ARO exclusive allocation.
7105 ENGLAND BBC Rampisham
7110 CHINA CRI
7115 RUSSIA VOA-Moscow
7120 MADAGASCAR RN-Talata
7125 ROMANIA RRI
7130 CHINA CRI
7135 THAILAND IBB-Udorn
7140 ROMANIA RRI
7145 ENGLAND DW-Wofferton
7150 CHINA CRI
7155 RUSSIA VOR-Samara
7160 ----
7165 IRAN VOIRI
7170 CHINA CRI
7175 ----
7180 ALBANIA CRI-Cerrick
7185 ----
7190 TURKEY VOT
7195 RUSSIA VOA-Moscow
7200 RUSSIA CRI-Moscow
That's a lot of broadcasting services which will have to be cleared out of 7100-7200 by March 29!
The next meeting of the HF Coordination Conference (HFCC) will be in Tunisia, Feb 2-6 2009, at which time the master schedule for the A09 season will be developed. This will be a joint meeting with the Arab States Broadcasting Union (ASBU) and the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU-HFC).
The HFCC is a body endorsed by the ITU.
No doubt, that meeting is aware of the need NOT to allocate ANY broadcasting operations in the 7100-7200 spectrum beginning March 2009 A09, and it will be interesting to see how this meeting of over 150 people will respond to these new ITU regulations!
Good listening!
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Propagation, Monitoring and Information
This is an edited extract from the latest ARRL Propagation Bulletin, January 8, 2009:
2008 was a year of very low solar activity. More than 40 percent of this year's ARRL propagation bulletins reported zero sunspots for their respective weeks. The average daily sunspot number for the year was 4.7; in 2007, it was 12.8. The yearly averages of daily sunspot numbers for 1999-2008 were 136.3, 173, 170.3, 176.6, 109.2, 68.6, 48.9, 26.1, 12.8 and 4.7.
Sunspot numbers for December 25-31 were 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0 and 0 with a mean of 0. The 10.7 cm flux was 69.3, 69.2, 9.4, 69.8, 69.8, 68.5 and 69.3 with a mean of 69.3. The estimated planetary A indices were 3, 1, 1, 2, 0, 1and 10 with a mean of 2.6. The estimated mid-latitude A indices were 2, 2,1, 1, 1, 1 and 8 with a mean of 2.3.
Two years ago we wrote, "This is the first bulletin of 2007, the year we'll likely see the end of sunspot Cycle 23, the beginning of Cycle 24, and the minima between cycles." One year ago in the first bulletin of 2008 we noted the same quote from the previous year, and wrote, "Now a year later we might say the same about 2008." This is probably still true for past year, because since early 2008, we saw Solar Cycle 24 spots, and what looks like a slow increase in activity toward the end of the year, although a week of sunspots at the end of December would have helped to sustain the upturn. (end)
There have been no sunspots visible since December 13, 2008.
This has resulted in continuing depression of Maximum Usable Frequencies and Optimum Working Frequencies for long-distance transmission over darkness or semi-darkness paths.
Despite the zero sunspot count, the ionosphere continues to supportl ong-distance propagation over darkness or semi-darkness paths on frequencies below about 12 MHz.
Here in Melbourne, there is excellent reliable shortpath (darkness zone) propagation on 6, 7, 9, and 11 MHz from Europe, Africa, Middle East and Asiain the period 1600 to past 2200.
Occupancy in the 7 MHz band is very high in this period. Very few channels are vacant in the 1800-2000 period - these are 7185, and a cluster in the extended-band spectrum including 7370 7405 7430 7440 7460 7470 7485 75007505 7515 7535 7545 7550 7555 7560 7575 7585 and 7600.
Now, some information...!
ENGLAND
2008 was a year of very low solar activity. More than 40 percent of this year's ARRL propagation bulletins reported zero sunspots for their respective weeks. The average daily sunspot number for the year was 4.7; in 2007, it was 12.8. The yearly averages of daily sunspot numbers for 1999-2008 were 136.3, 173, 170.3, 176.6, 109.2, 68.6, 48.9, 26.1, 12.8 and 4.7.
Sunspot numbers for December 25-31 were 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0 and 0 with a mean of 0. The 10.7 cm flux was 69.3, 69.2, 9.4, 69.8, 69.8, 68.5 and 69.3 with a mean of 69.3. The estimated planetary A indices were 3, 1, 1, 2, 0, 1and 10 with a mean of 2.6. The estimated mid-latitude A indices were 2, 2,1, 1, 1, 1 and 8 with a mean of 2.3.
Two years ago we wrote, "This is the first bulletin of 2007, the year we'll likely see the end of sunspot Cycle 23, the beginning of Cycle 24, and the minima between cycles." One year ago in the first bulletin of 2008 we noted the same quote from the previous year, and wrote, "Now a year later we might say the same about 2008." This is probably still true for past year, because since early 2008, we saw Solar Cycle 24 spots, and what looks like a slow increase in activity toward the end of the year, although a week of sunspots at the end of December would have helped to sustain the upturn. (end)
There have been no sunspots visible since December 13, 2008.
This has resulted in continuing depression of Maximum Usable Frequencies and Optimum Working Frequencies for long-distance transmission over darkness or semi-darkness paths.
Despite the zero sunspot count, the ionosphere continues to supportl ong-distance propagation over darkness or semi-darkness paths on frequencies below about 12 MHz.
Here in Melbourne, there is excellent reliable shortpath (darkness zone) propagation on 6, 7, 9, and 11 MHz from Europe, Africa, Middle East and Asiain the period 1600 to past 2200.
Occupancy in the 7 MHz band is very high in this period. Very few channels are vacant in the 1800-2000 period - these are 7185, and a cluster in the extended-band spectrum including 7370 7405 7430 7440 7460 7470 7485 75007505 7515 7535 7545 7550 7555 7560 7575 7585 and 7600.
Now, some information...!
ENGLAND
On 49 metres, a new extended band usage for the BBC is 5790, from Rampisham, carrying Russian 1700-2100, and audible here with super strength signals since early January.
CROATIA
The Voice of Croatia is now using 15360 from Kranji (Singapore) for its services to Australia/NZ, 0600-1000, from Jan 1. This is in parallel with Wertachtal on 11690 and 9470. Here in Melbourne, excellent propagation on 15360 for the full timespan, but not so reliable on 11690 and satisfactory on 9470.
GERMANY
CROATIA
The Voice of Croatia is now using 15360 from Kranji (Singapore) for its services to Australia/NZ, 0600-1000, from Jan 1. This is in parallel with Wertachtal on 11690 and 9470. Here in Melbourne, excellent propagation on 15360 for the full timespan, but not so reliable on 11690 and satisfactory on 9470.
GERMANY
DW new frequencies since Jan 1:
6040 Sines 0400-0430 Arabic
7145 Wooferton 1600-1700 Russian
7145 Dhabaya 2000-2100 Russian
9475 Dhabaya 1300-1600 German
9690 WOF 2000-2100 English
9775 Ascension 0000-0200 German
15275 Sines 1900-2100 various incl English
VATICAN
Vatican Radio introduced/deleted these frequencies on Jan 1:
6140 Chita 1315-1400 to ITU 49 (new)
12070 Novisibirsk 0200-0330 to ITU 41 (new)
13785 CANCELLED Khabarovsk 2355-0045 to ITU 43/44
VOICE OF MESOPOTAMIA (via Simferopol, Ukraine) Kurdish, new schedule from Jan 1:
VOICE OF MESOPOTAMIA (via Simferopol, Ukraine) Kurdish, new schedule from Jan 1:
5890 1900-2100
7540 1500-2100
11530 0500-1515
For the latest monitoring notes from Melbourne, listen to the weekly Australian DX Report audio shortwave news magazines, either on-line http://airm.edxp.org or on-air (WWCR Nashville Sundays 0300-0315 on 5070 and Mondays 1245-1300 on 15825) The WWCR release is also simulcast live as streaming audio from http://www.wwcr.com
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Propagation notes: 0300-0500
Yes, sunspot activity remains at ZERO, with no spots having been observed since November 18!
What a disgrace, and users of HF services are getting exasperated at the narrowing frequency window for securing reliable long distance transmission over darkness, or semi-darkness paths.
But let not that worry us unduly, as our monitoring moves to frequency bands which are available!
Here, in Melbourne, the Garden City, there continues to be a very good daytime propagation window open on 6, 7, and 9 MHz from around early to mid-afternoon, from 0300 to about 0500, for
EUROPE/MIDDLE EAST/AFRICA longpath and AMERICAS shortpath
ASIA shortpath propagation remains well and good, between 0300 and 0500 on 7 and 9 MHz.
Higher up, there is intense activity on 11, 13, 15, and 17 MHz in the same time period, which I will not describe in this report.
On Wednesday December 10 I went out to the Doongalla Forest, in the Dandenong Ranges National Park, about 30 mins drive time from here. The Stables Picnic Ground is always excellent for studying propagation, and this day was no exception.
There is very little power line noise, as the nearest overhead transmission lines are about 2 km away, at the Park entrance.
This is a beautiful spot, next to the site of the former Homestead, with many shady trees and flower gardens.
Good walking tracks radiate from the picnic ground, most following old pony trails.
This is a summary of spectrum occupancy, using the Eton E5 with a random wire about 2 m high, 0330-0500!
TIME WINDOW 0300-0400:
6020 ALBANIA CRI Cerrick Mandarin
6055 SPAIN REE Spanish
7125 MOLDOVA VOR Kishinov Russian
7150 RUSSIA VOR Krasnoyarsk Russian
9475 TAJIKSTAN VOR Dushanbe Russian
9500 CHINA CNR1
9505 IRAN VOIRI *0330 Arabic
9540 SAO TOME VOA *0330 African langs
9595 JAPAN R, Nikkei Japanese
9635 ROMANIA RRI Spanish
9665 N. KOREA KCBS
9685 CHINA CNR5
9730 MYANMAR Yangon
9760 JAPAN R. Nikkei Japanese
9760 SRI LANKA RL Iranawela *0300 Tajik
9790 CUBA CRI Havana English
9810 CHINA CNR1
9825 FRANCE NKH Issoudin Arabic
9835 INDIA AIR
9865 IRAN VOIRI Turkish
9870 INDIA AIR national
9875 IRAN VOIRI Dari
9895 IRAN VOIRI Arabic
TIME WINDOW 0400-0500:
5960 CANADA NHK Sackville Japanese
5975 N. ANTILLES RN Bonaire Dutch
9515 ROMANIA RRI English
9755 RWANDA DW Kigali Arabic
9780 YEMEN R. Sanaa
9820 IRAN VOIRI *0430 Hebrew
9840 RUSSIA VOR Petropavlovsk English
9850 VIETNAM VOV domestic
The data show that despite low sunspot activity, propagation over great distances is excellent, provided that the appropriate frequency band is chosen for research for any given time period.
Regards from Melbourne!
What a disgrace, and users of HF services are getting exasperated at the narrowing frequency window for securing reliable long distance transmission over darkness, or semi-darkness paths.
But let not that worry us unduly, as our monitoring moves to frequency bands which are available!
Here, in Melbourne, the Garden City, there continues to be a very good daytime propagation window open on 6, 7, and 9 MHz from around early to mid-afternoon, from 0300 to about 0500, for
EUROPE/MIDDLE EAST/AFRICA longpath and AMERICAS shortpath
ASIA shortpath propagation remains well and good, between 0300 and 0500 on 7 and 9 MHz.
Higher up, there is intense activity on 11, 13, 15, and 17 MHz in the same time period, which I will not describe in this report.
On Wednesday December 10 I went out to the Doongalla Forest, in the Dandenong Ranges National Park, about 30 mins drive time from here. The Stables Picnic Ground is always excellent for studying propagation, and this day was no exception.
There is very little power line noise, as the nearest overhead transmission lines are about 2 km away, at the Park entrance.
This is a beautiful spot, next to the site of the former Homestead, with many shady trees and flower gardens.
Good walking tracks radiate from the picnic ground, most following old pony trails.
This is a summary of spectrum occupancy, using the Eton E5 with a random wire about 2 m high, 0330-0500!
TIME WINDOW 0300-0400:
6020 ALBANIA CRI Cerrick Mandarin
6055 SPAIN REE Spanish
7125 MOLDOVA VOR Kishinov Russian
7150 RUSSIA VOR Krasnoyarsk Russian
9475 TAJIKSTAN VOR Dushanbe Russian
9500 CHINA CNR1
9505 IRAN VOIRI *0330 Arabic
9540 SAO TOME VOA *0330 African langs
9595 JAPAN R, Nikkei Japanese
9635 ROMANIA RRI Spanish
9665 N. KOREA KCBS
9685 CHINA CNR5
9730 MYANMAR Yangon
9760 JAPAN R. Nikkei Japanese
9760 SRI LANKA RL Iranawela *0300 Tajik
9790 CUBA CRI Havana English
9810 CHINA CNR1
9825 FRANCE NKH Issoudin Arabic
9835 INDIA AIR
9865 IRAN VOIRI Turkish
9870 INDIA AIR national
9875 IRAN VOIRI Dari
9895 IRAN VOIRI Arabic
TIME WINDOW 0400-0500:
5960 CANADA NHK Sackville Japanese
5975 N. ANTILLES RN Bonaire Dutch
9515 ROMANIA RRI English
9755 RWANDA DW Kigali Arabic
9780 YEMEN R. Sanaa
9820 IRAN VOIRI *0430 Hebrew
9840 RUSSIA VOR Petropavlovsk English
9850 VIETNAM VOV domestic
The data show that despite low sunspot activity, propagation over great distances is excellent, provided that the appropriate frequency band is chosen for research for any given time period.
Regards from Melbourne!
Monday, December 8, 2008
Early Summer Propagation Notes and Monitoring
As we move into summer, propagation here in Melboourne continues to be very good during our various "transmission windows".
Here are some entries from my professional log of December 7, which represent a cross section of current propagation, mainly in the period 1700 to 2200. Several recently introduced frequencies are included.
5960 ROMANIA RRI *2000 Ukrainian
6155 ALBANIA R. Tirana *2000 Italian
7220 MARIANA ISLANDS. RL-Tinian, *0900 Russian. Interesting use of this band for reaching into Siberia during early evening
7285 VATICAN RN via Santa Maria di Galeria, *2000 Arabic
9565 ROMANIA RRI *2000 Romanian
11610 SLOVAK REP R. Slovakia Intern *2100 Spanish
11630 KUWAIT R. Kuwait 1730-1745* HOly Koran service Arabic
11645 ALBANIA R. Tirana *1945-2000* English
11725 RWANDA DW Kigali *1800-2000* German, co-channel RNZI after 1900
11745 ENGLAND SWR Africa *1700 English
11775 GERMANY CBC Julich *1800 English
11795 COSTA RICA REE 1900 Spanish, LP
11805 S. AFRICA RN Meyerton, *1900 English
11845 CANADA RCI Sackville *2100 French LP
11860 SEYCHELLES BBC 1700-1800* Swahili/English
11865 S. AFRICA BBC Meyerton *1800-1830* French
11955 GERMANY AWR-Nauen *1900-1930* Arabic
11960 PORTUGAL RDP *2000 Portugueae non-daily service
11965 LIBYA Libyan Radio 1930-2000* Arabic
12035 GERMANY SW Radio Africa, Wertachtal, *1800 English
12040 PORTUGAL RDP *1900 Portugese non-daily
If the correct Transmission Window is chosen, there will be good rewards of many signals for propagation study and research.
Regards from Melbourne!
Bob Padula
Here are some entries from my professional log of December 7, which represent a cross section of current propagation, mainly in the period 1700 to 2200. Several recently introduced frequencies are included.
5960 ROMANIA RRI *2000 Ukrainian
6155 ALBANIA R. Tirana *2000 Italian
7220 MARIANA ISLANDS. RL-Tinian, *0900 Russian. Interesting use of this band for reaching into Siberia during early evening
7285 VATICAN RN via Santa Maria di Galeria, *2000 Arabic
9565 ROMANIA RRI *2000 Romanian
11610 SLOVAK REP R. Slovakia Intern *2100 Spanish
11630 KUWAIT R. Kuwait 1730-1745* HOly Koran service Arabic
11645 ALBANIA R. Tirana *1945-2000* English
11725 RWANDA DW Kigali *1800-2000* German, co-channel RNZI after 1900
11745 ENGLAND SWR Africa *1700 English
11775 GERMANY CBC Julich *1800 English
11795 COSTA RICA REE 1900 Spanish, LP
11805 S. AFRICA RN Meyerton, *1900 English
11845 CANADA RCI Sackville *2100 French LP
11860 SEYCHELLES BBC 1700-1800* Swahili/English
11865 S. AFRICA BBC Meyerton *1800-1830* French
11955 GERMANY AWR-Nauen *1900-1930* Arabic
11960 PORTUGAL RDP *2000 Portugueae non-daily service
11965 LIBYA Libyan Radio 1930-2000* Arabic
12035 GERMANY SW Radio Africa, Wertachtal, *1800 English
12040 PORTUGAL RDP *1900 Portugese non-daily
If the correct Transmission Window is chosen, there will be good rewards of many signals for propagation study and research.
Regards from Melbourne!
Bob Padula
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)