Episode 328 of the Australian DX Report

Hi there!

Episode 328 of the Australian DX Report is now available.

Lots of topical news and information about shortwave broadcasting, supported by monitoring notes!

Your comments, feedback and sponsorship donations are welcome at the site, which now has a completely new layout!

It’s at

http://adxr.podbean.com

You are also invited to join the growing number of Fans who have linked to the service – details at the site!

Regards from Melbourne!

Bob Padula

Host/Producer

Very good propagation into Melbourne

Propagation into Melbourne continues to be very good over the full 24 hrs, despite very low level of solar activity.

On June 4, the 10.7 cm solar flux had dropped to 75 and the equivalent sunspot number had fallen to 13, with a predicted drop to 74/11 on June 7!

It's early winter here in Melbourne, and the sun only rises to 28 degrees above the northern horizon during the noon transit, yielding barely nine hours of daylight.

The 49 and 41 mbs are now very active all day, with various combinational/specialized propagation modes appearing and disappearing as the day progresses!

Fascinating opportunities to observe and research long-haul propagation during a period of negligible solar activity.

This summary will be of interest, of June 4, 2010:

4964 ZAMBIA CVC mega-signal 2150

5865 KUWAIT RFA, Mandarin *2200
5905 OMAN BBC Al Seela, English 2200
5960 PMG R. Fly, audible from as early as 0500, 3pm here, E-mode propagation into Melbourne
 "   ROMANIA RRI English 2230
6080 SAO TOME VOA, English to 0600*
6100 CHINA CRI via Xian, Arabic *2000
6105 GERMANY RFE via Lampertheim, Belarusian to 0530*
6110 ETHIOPIA R. Farna, Oromo 2005
6125 VATICAN RN via SMG, Dutch 0530
6155 AUSTRIA ORF Moosbrunn, German 0500
6180 PORTUGAL DW via Sines, English 0445 to 0530*
6185 MEXICO R. Educacion, peaking 0530
 "   ALBANIA CRI via Cerrick, Arabic 2000

7335 VATICAN VR via SMG, Bulgarian 0445
7435 ROMANIA RTI English 2230
7570 USA RTI via Okeechobee, Spanish 0515

9850 GERMANY NHK via Wertachtal, French *0530
9690 ROMANIA RRI English *2030
9790 ROMANIA RRI English 2230

Propagation into Melbourne

Spectrum research here in Melbourne has revealed that long distance
propagation has now appeared in the noon window, in the period 0100 to 0300,
on 6 MHz.

This heralds the arrival of the winter daytime propagation mode, an annual
occurrence, which offers marvellous opportunities for studying propagation
on these band during the present period of very low solar activity.

A preliminary examination of spectrum occupancy on 6 MHz on May 27
revealed shortpath propagation from Europe, Middle East, and Africa, and
longpath from the Americas in the period 0100 to 0145 (11 am to 11.45 am).

At about 0200 (noon), longpath from Europe, Middle East and Africa, and
shortpath from the Americas had become the dominant mode, which continued
throughout our afternoon.

This pattern will be sustained during our winter months, up to the end of
July.

At noon in Melbourne, on May 26, the sun's azimuth at noon was down to 30.2
degrees. The lowest noon azimuth will be 28.8 degrees on 17 to 26 June.

Solar transit on May 26 in Melbourne was 0217 (2.17pm)

Our latest sunrise occurs on June 28 to June 30, at 2137 (7.37 am) and pit
earliest sunset will be on June 9 to June 17 at 0707 (5.07 pm).

These factors significantly influence HF propagation during our daytime
period in our winter months on 5 MHz to 12 MHz.

The Appendices summarize trans-noon spectrum occupancies on May 26, 2010.

5920 SWEDEN RCI via Horby, Arabic 0245 (***NEW RELAY FOR A10***)
5925 GERMANY RL-Lampertheim Russian
5930 SLOVAK REP. R. Slovakia International, French 0225
5960 CANADA NHK-Sackville English 0300
6020 ALBANIA CRI via Cerrick, Mandarin 0200
6030 USA R. Marti Greenville 0300
6055 SPAIN REE Spanish 0225
6100 FRENCH GUYANA WYFR via Montsinery, English 0200
6105 GERMANY RL-Wertachtal Belarusian 0105
6125 SPAIN REE Spanish 0225
6175 CANADA V. of Vietnam via Sackville, English 0100
6200 BULGARIA R. Sofia Russian 0305

7220 IRAN VOIRI Armenian *0300
7245 IRAN VOIRI English *0130
7270 ARMENIA VOR via Yerevan, Russian 0000 to 0400
7280 GERMANY IBB Wertachtal 0130
7285 MOLDOVA VOR via Grigoripol, Russian 0000 to 0400
7305 VATICAN VR SMG Spanish 0200
7310 GERMANY VOA Wertachtal Amharic *0300
7315 ISA WHRI English 0200
7335 VATICAN SMG var langs 0100-0200
7355 USA WRNO Spanish 0100
7365 USA R. Marti Greenville 0100
7385 ROMANIA RRI French 0100-0200
7390 GERMANY RL Lampertheim Tatar-Bashkir 0300
7400 BULGARIA R. Sofia 0200-0300
7425 ALBANIA R. Tirana English 0230
7475 GREECE VOG Greek 0130-0400

The window 0430 to 0500

Spectrum occupancy sampled on May 27, 2010:

5810 USA WEWN Spanish
5925 GERMANY RL-Lampertheim Russian
5970 CUBA RHC English
6115 ENGLAND BBC Skelton Arabic
6130 LITHUANIA NHK via Sitkumanai *0430 Russian (***NEW RELAY FOR A10***)
6140 ROMANIA RRI Romanian
6145 S. AFRICA BBC Meyerton Portuguese
6180 PORTUGAL DW Sines English
6185 VATICAN VR SMG various
6200 BULGARIA R. Sofia Bulgarian

7210 ETHIOPIA V. of Broad Masses Tigrinya
7240 RWANDA DW Kigali English
7280 GERMANY R. Farda Wertachtal Farsi
7325 ENGLAND BBC Rampisham Arabic
7350 IRAN VOIRI Arabic
7435 GERMANY RL-Biblis Russian

Excellent propagation in 49, 41, 31 and 25 mbs

As winter approaches, there is excellent propagation into Melbourne during various "spectrum windows", particularly during our daytime hours, from all continents.

Morning signals in the 49 mb are now audible well beyond 2300, over two hours past sunrise, shortpath from Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia.

Brazilian signals are also observed in the 49, 31 and 25 mbs in the window 2000 to 2200.

Ths is a summary of important spectrum ccupancies noted on April 29, which include newly introduced frequencies for A09.

5945 IRAN VOIRI, *2230-2330* Malay
5980 RUSSIA V. of Russia, Moscow, *2300 Russian
5990 BRAZIL R. Senada 2000-2100
5990 SLOVAKIA IRRS, Rimavksa-Sobota, *0430-0530* English religious programming
6100 ROMANIA RRI, *2300 Spanish
7250 CHINA CRI, Urumqi, *2300 Spanish
7260 CHINA CRI, Kashi, *2330 Sinhala
7370 CHINA CRI, Urumqi, 2345 Mandarin
7390 CHINA CRI, 1005, Russian
7410 CHINA CNR8, 1015, Minority Language Network, Korean
7555 USA WEWN, 1030 Spanish
9620 TURKEY RCI via NEW RELAY (Emirler) to Asia, *0100 English
9635 BRAZIL R. Aparecida, 2000-2130
9710 CHINA CNR1, *2100
9745 CHINA V. of Han, 2115
9815 GERMANY VOA, Nauen, *2030 French
9820 CHINA Guangxi Foreign BS, Nanning, 2345, Vietnamese
9900 CHINA CNR1, 2105
11520 UISA WEWN, 0510 English
11530 USA WYFR, 0515, French
11580 USA WYFR, 0515
11780 BRAZIL R. Nacional, 2105-2200
11815 COSTA RICA REE, 2110

Australian DX Report, episode 147 available

The latest episode, no. 147, of the Australian DX Report, a weekly audionews magazine with news and information about shortwave broadcasting, propagation, monitoring notes and schedule updates, is now available.

It's 13 mins 10 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 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 at0200-0215 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. 147!

Bob Padula, Melbourne

Good propagation continues on 11 MHz

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!

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!

Asian Daytime Mode - new occurrences noted

On two successive days, January 12 and 13, there were remarkable appearances of the Asian Daytime Mode between 0400 and 0500 on 7 and 9 MHz.

These Modes were monitored on:

Jan 12: The Mt Cannibal Reserve, Garfield, 60 km east of Melbourne
Jan 13: Witton's Reserve (the canoe launching area!), Warrandyte State Park,
20 km east of the Melbourne CBD

I was in those places primarily for bushwalking training!

Of particular importance was the appearance of three transmitters from China:

7280 Voice of the Strait
7275 PBS-Xinjiang, Uighur
7165 PBS-Nei Menggu, Mandarin

This is the first occasion that I have noted China on 7 MHz during the Asian Daytime Mode openings!

As for previous Asian Mode events, these signals became audible abruptly, with no actual "fade-in" gradient. In the space of a few milliseconds, these signals suddenly appeared - some were audible for only two or three minutes - others were audible for up to 30 minutes and longer.

This is a summary of reception, showing the overall time spans at which these signals were audible, until the close of research at 0515, with composite observations integrated for the two days:

7165 CHINA PBS-Nei Menggu, Mandarin 0430-0500
7210 VIETNAM VOV 0445-0515
7260 VANUATU Vila 0445-0515
7275 CHINA PBS-Xinjiang, Uighur 0440-0500
7280 CHINA V. of Strait, Mandarin 0430-0500
7295 MALAYSIA RTM-Kajang, English 0445-0515
9460 CHINA CRI English 0445-0500
9500 CHINA CNR1 0400-0515
9505 CHINA V. of Strait, mandarin 0400-0500
9530 VIETNAM VOV, national network 0445-0515
9540 SOLOMON ISLANDS 0455-0515
9595 JAPAN R. Nikkei, Tokyo 0505-0515
9665 N. KOREA KCBS Pyongyang 0450-0515
9680 INDONESIA RRI Jakarta national network 0400-0515
9685 CHINA CNR5 0400-0515
9720 CHINA CNR2 0435-0515
9730 MYANMAR Yangon 0440-0515
9750 MALAYSIA V. of Islam, Kajang English 0400-0515
9760 JAPAN R. Nikkei, Tokyo, 0440-0515
9850 VIETNAM VOV domestic sign-on 0400 to 0515
9875 VIETNAM VOV domestic sign-on 0400 to 0515
9810 CHINA CNR2 0400-0515

As I have mentioned earlier, these Asian mode signals often originate randomly from various countries - on these two days, no signals were audible from the Indian sub-continent or from Sarawak! Signals from the same transmitter location on different frequencies tend not to propagate at the same times!

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!

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

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

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:

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

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

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!

Good propagation on 9MHz around sunrise

Sunspot activity remains very low – from Nov 18 to Dec 9 it was zero. From Dec 10 to 12 it ranged from 12 to 14 spots, but dropped back to zero from Dec 14 to 16.

However, good propagation here in Melbourne continues in our morning period, in the pre and post sunrise window, with the highlight being the strong shortpath signals from Europe, Africa, Middle East and Africa noted on 31 metres, between 1900 and 2100.

We are now passing through the December solstice period – earliest sunrise in Melbourne was at 1851 on December 2 through December 14. Due to the Earth’s axis being tilted, our latest sunset doesn’t occur until 0945 on January 31.

This means that we have maximum sunlight hours during most of January, resulting in many opportunities for researching the enigmatic and mysterious daytime propagation Modes from Asia and Africa, which are very unpredictable, and influenced by solar activity!

This is a summary of selected spectrum occupancies observed in the 9MHz band in the window from 1900 to 2000 on December 17, with several newly introduced frequencies noted.

9250 EGYPT R. Cairo Arabic
9310 EGYPT R. Cairo English
9335 SRI LANKA R. Farda Iranawela Farsi
9365 FRANCE RTI Issoudin French
9390 FRANCE R. Algeria Issoudin Arabic
9470 INDIA AIR National network
9480 GERMANY WYFR Nauen English
9490 GERMANY VOA Biblis *1930-2000* Turkish
9500 GERMANY WYFR Wertachtal Arabic
9525 ROMANIA RRI German
9535 CHINA CREI Beijing Portuguese
9550 RWANDA FEBA Kigali Arabic
9610 CANADA RCI Sackville French
9620 AUSTRIA AWR Moosbrunn *1900-1930* French
9695 GERMANY DW Wertachtal French
9735 RWANDA DW Kigali Portuguese
9830 JORDAN Amman Arabic
9885 UAE WYFR Dhabbaya English
9970 BELGIUM BRT Wavre French
9980 USA WWCR English
9990 EGYPT R. Cairo Hausa

Regards from Melbourne!

Asian Propagation Mode intensifies, 7, 9 MHz

As anticipated, the annual summer occurrence of the daytime specialized Asian Mode has materialized.

This was apparent on December 9, here in Melbourne, with very strong signals from Malaysia, Vietnam, Myanmar, Japan and India audible in the period 0400-0500 in the 7 and 9 MHz bands.

This is 2pm-3pm local time, with this shortpath propagation following all-daylight transmission paths.

This phenomenon occurs each summer, and is more pronounced during years oflow or declining sunspot activity.

The propagation mechanism is not yet clearly understood, and has been studied by myself, with a few others, since it was "discovered" in the late1960s.

It is believed to be caused by multi-mode activity, caused by reflection off the top surface of Sporadic E clouds passing over the Australian continent.Under such circumstances, signals enter the ionosphere, enter the E and F layers, and are refracted back towards the earth's surface, striking the top surface of Sporadic-E clouds. Signals then continue upwards, and are refracted by the normal E and F layers back to earth.

This means that there is no intermediate ground reflection, resulting in greatly reduced absorption/attenuation on the total transmission path.

Propagation up to distances of 10,000 km, and greater, have been observed for this specialized daytime mode, on frequencies which would not normally propagate via conventional ionospheric refraction.

In past years, signals on frequencies as low as 4 MHz have been observed,from transmitters in the Indochina and Indonesia regions, at local noon Melbourne time.

Careful study of this mode will reveal that signals do not "fade-in" or"fade-out", but appear and vanish very abruptly, similar to long-distance Tropo propagation of VHF or UHF.

Signals will appear quickly, remain audible for variable periods, rangingf rom a few seconds to an hour (or more), with no fading. Signal strengths can be extremely high, hitting S9+20 regularly! Peculiarly, transmissions from the same geographical area, on different frequencies, generally are not audible simultaneously. Unfortunately, the abandonment of many HF services from Asia in recent years has significantly reduced the "pool" of frequencies which may be observed.

The mode, due to its unpredictability and variability, offers excellent opportunities for study and research of HF propagation into South Eastern Australia, and for extending the growing body of comparative data about the phenomenon in the present period of very low sunspot activity, global warming and climate change.

Documentation of this propagation event at a professional engineering level is expanding, and the phenomenon is now included in the formal training curriculum offered by the Australian Government's Ionospheric Prediction Service, Department of Radio and Space Services.

These are the entries of December 9, 2008, relevant to the HF Broadcasting Service, from a field site near Melbourne,in the Dandenong Ranges National Park, using the Eton E5 and a couple of metres of random wire for an antenna!

It would be interesting to explore this propagation mechanism in greater depth with a narrow band spectrum computer controlled specrum analyser, witha recordable digital screen display, measuring frequency versus amplitude over defined time spans, linked to a suitable professional receiver, rather than toys such as the Eton!

7130 MALAYSIA RTM Sarawak, dialects 0405-0430

7160 INDIA AIR Chennai, domestic 0425 to sign-off 0430

7210 VIETNAM VOV nat net 0415-0430 peaking 04207

270 MALAYSIA RTM Sarawak, dialects, 0405-0500

7285 MALAYSIA RTM Kajang, English 0400-0500

7290 INDIA AIR Thirunanathapuran, domestic, 0426-0450

7295 MALAYSIA RTM Kajang, English domestic, 0400-0500

9595 JAPAN R. Nikkei, Japanese 0405-0430

9730 MYANMAR Yangon, 0420-0445 domestic

9750 MALAYSIA V. of Islam, Kajang, super strength, English, 0400-0500

9760 JAPAN R. Nikkei, Japanese 0410-0500

9850 VIETNAM VOV dialects *0400-0500

9875 VIETNAM VOV dialects *0400-0500

Regards!

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

Good daytime propagation from Asia, Africa, Europe and the Middle East

Sunspot activity remains at ZER0, with no spots observed since November 18!

But we all know that sunspots represent only one factor influencing radio propagation - there are many others caused by combinations of geophysical/solar activity! We do know that, don't we? !!

Sunspot Cycle 23 has decayed, and it appears that the new Cycle, no. 24, is approaching. Watch out for it!

In North America, there have been interesting reports of daytime trans-Atlantic propagation from the East Coast in the 30 metre amateur band, associated with quiet geomagnetic conditions.

Here in Melbourne, good propagation right around the clock is currentlyobserved, and I have been impressed at the daytime signals from Africa and Asia, which have become audible in the period 0200-0500 on 6, 7, and 9 MHz.
I expect these Daytime Modes to intensify as our summer progresses.

A new outlet for the TAJIK RADIO, at Dushanbe, has been audible since the B08 season started. This is 4765, with good night-time propagation into Melbourne in the period 1700 to sign-off at 2000.

Another new channel is from CHRISTIAN VISION, 7160, Zambia, noted from sign-on at 0300.

Here's a summary of DAYTIME MODES from Africa/Middle East/Asia, as noted on December 6 from my favourite field monitoring site in the Olinda Forest, Dandenong Ranges National Park, about 40 mins drive from here. Asterisks refer to sign-on or sign-off times. LP = longpath.

AFRICA, ASIA, MIDDLE EAST, and SOUTH ATLANTIC

6005 ASCENSION BBC *0300 huge signal! English

6080 SAO TOME VOA *0300 English
7160 ZAMBIA CVC Lusaka *0400 English
7215 S. AFRICA TWR Meyerton, *0330-0345* African langs
7205 ASCENSION BBC *0400
7230 S.AFRICA Channel Africa Meyerton *0400 English
7255 ASCENSION BBC *0300
7390 S. AFRICA Channel Afria Meyerton *0300 English
9425 INDIA AIR 0500-0530* domestic
9595 JAPAN R. Nikkei Tokyo 0350 Japanese
9650 S. AFRICA BBC Meyerton *0400 English
9745 S. AFRICA Channel Africa Meyerton, super signal 0400 French
9755 RWANDA DW Kigali *0430 Arabic
9760 JAPAN R. Nikkei Tokyo 0350 Japanese
9820 RWANDA DW Kigali 0400 Arabic
9835 INDIA AIR 0330 Dari to 0345*
9850 VIETNAM VOV Hanoi *0400 domestic
9865 IRAN VOIRI 0410 Azeri
9870 INDIA AIR to 0435* domestic
9875 VIETNAM VOV Hanoi *0400 domestic

OTHERS
6120 GERMANY RL Wertachtal 0405 Belarussian LP
6190 CANADA CRI Sackville *0400 English
7350 VATICAN V. of Russia 0410 English big signal LP
7375 GERMANY Croatian Radio Wertachtal 0345 English LP
7440 UKRAINE R. Uk International 0400 English LP
9635 ROMANIA RRI 0335 Spanish LP

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Regards from Melbourne!

Excellent HF propagation continues

The sunspot count continues to be zero, and has been at that level since November.

It is well known across the engineering profession that sunspot activity is only one of many geo-physical conditions which affect long-distance HF propagation. I am continually amazed at the self-styled rubbish which is being written in hobby newsgroups by people with little understanding of HF transmission, falsely believing, without qualification, that low sunspot activity is "causing" long-distance propagation to be non-existent.

These people fail to understand that low sunspot activity will cause a depression of Optimum Working Frequencies to as low as 10 MHz for long-distance transmission paths crossing darkness, or semi-darkness regions. Transmission on daytime paths continues to be excellent worlwide on frequencies between 15 MHz and 22 MHz

During periods of low sunspot activity, HF commmunication services shift operating frequencies downwards for maintaining effective simplex or duplex transmission over darkness zones or long distance circuits.

Here in Melbourne, propagation continues to be very good on all bands at appropriate times of the day and night, for long-distance transmission paths. Some strong daytime signals are already appearing from Asia and Africa on 7 and 9 MHz, following all-daylight paths, some of this supported by multi-mode propagation via reflection off the top of Sporadic-E clouds over north and central Australia, with no intermediate ground reflection.

These phenomena occur regularly here in Victoria during our summer months, with Absorption Limiting Frequencies dropping to very low levels between our local noon and mid-afternoon.

Here's a summary of propagation highlights of December 4 from Melbourne, with long-path denoted as "LP", Asian daytime paths as "AS", African daytime paths as "AF":

7125 MOLDOVA VOR Kishinev Russian 0445 LP
7150 RUSSIA VOR Krasndar English 0445 LP
7220 GERMANY RL Wertachtal Tatir-Bashkir 0455 LP
7295 MALAYSIA RTM Kajang English 0400 AS
7485 THAILAND R. Farda Udon Farsi *2000-2130*
9530 VIETNAM VOV Hanoi nat network Vietnamese 0430 AS
9700 TURKEY VOT Turkish *0500 LP
9730 MYANMAR R. Myanmar Yangon, Burmese 0400 AS
9745 S. AFRICA Channel Africa Meyerton English 0450 AF
9750 MALAYSIA V. of Islam Kajang English 0430 AS
9850 VIETNAM VOV Hanoi dialects network 0445 AS
9875 VIETNAM VOV Hanoi dialects network 0445 AS
11580 USA WYFR Okeechobee Portuguese 0415
11660 CHINA CNR2 0400 AS
11730 INDIA AIR Arabic *0430 AS
11805 CHILE CVC Santiago Spanish 0415
11895 ROMANIA RRI English 0430 LP
11925 IRAN VOIRI Hebrew *0430 LP
12045 CHINA CNR1 0400 AS
12060 IRAN VOIRI Turkish *0430 LP

Excellent signals on 60 mb after sunrise

There has been excellent propagation in the 60 mb into Melbourne in the period around sunrise and for about an hour later, from 1800 to past 2000, for shortpath transmissions originating in Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

The recently introduced channel of 4765 from the Tajik Radio, at Dushanbe, has been one the strongest signals.

This is what the band looked like on December 2, 2008:

4765 TAJIKISTAN Tajik Radio, Dushanbe, 1830-2000, Tajik
4770 NIGERIA R. Nigeria, Kaduna 1830-2000
4780 DJIBOUTI R. Djibouti, 1800-1900
4828 ZIMBABWEZBC, Gweru, 1830-1900
4845 MAURITANIA R. Mauritania, Nouachkott 1800-2000
4880 S. AFRICA SW R. Africa, Meyerton, 1800-1900*
4930 BOTSWANA VOA, 1830-1900
4965 ZAMBIA CVC, Lusaka, 1800-2000
4976 UGANDA R. Uganda, Kampala, 1830-2000
5010 MADAGASCAR RTV Malagasy, Tananarive, 1800-1900

Monitoring Notes and Audio Version

With no sunspots visible, the 13 MHz band, 22 metres, is offering good propagation in the period 1830-2000.

Long path signals from North America, and shortpath from Asia include observed on December 1, 2008, include:

13605 INDIA AIR GOS 1830-1900 English
13650 CANADA RCI Sackville 1800-1900 English

Other propagation observed on December 2008 between 1900 and 2000 included short path signals:

5820 RUSSIA WYFR Samara German
7270 SPAIN REE Arabic
7455 FRANCE R. Algeria via Issoudin Arabic

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Propagation and Monitoring Report

Sunspot activity continues to remain at zero, with no spots observed from November 18 to 29!

This is causing havoc with HF communications on frequencies above about 12 MHz, attempting to maintain communcations on long-distance paths following darkness or semi-darkness regions.

Here in Melbourne, the 9 MHz spectrum is very active in the period 1900-2100, with many short-path signals from Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Europe, following the darkness zones.

Here is a sample of observed occupancy in the 9 MHz extended-band spectrum, 9335-9500, as noted on November 30, 2008:

9250 EGYPT R. Cairo 1900-2130 Arabic
9310 EGYPT R. Cairo 1900-2030 English
9325 N. KOREA VOK 1930-2000 German
9335 SRI LANKA R. Farda Iranawila 1900-2000 Farsi
9355 MARIANAS RFA Saipan 1900-2000 Mandarin
9390 FRANCE R. Algeria via Issoudin 1900-2000 Arabic
9410 CHINA CNR5 1900-2100 Mandarin
9410 SEYCHELLES BBC 1930-2000
9420 GREECE VOG 1930-2000 Greek
9425 INDIA AIR National Channel 1900-2000
9445 INDIA AIR 1930-2000 English
9430 CZECH REP R. Prague 1930-2000 Spanish/French
9455 MARIANAS RFA Saipan 1900-2000 Mandarin
9455 PORTUGAL RDP 1900-2000 Portuguese sports
9470 GERMANY BVB Wertachtal 1930-2000 English
9480 GERMANY WYFR Wertachtal 1900-1930 English
9500 GERMANY WYFR Wertachtal 1900-2000 Arabic
9500 AUSTRALIA RA Shepparton 1900-2000 English