dxer ham radio dx news: 2018 at 03:57PM

Showing posts with label 2018 at 03:57PM. Show all posts

Saturday, April 28, 2018

Gary DeBock shares most distant catch from Cook Island DXpedition

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Gary DeBock, who shares the following note about his recent Cook Island DXpedition:

The farthest DX received during the Cook Island DXpedition (on Aitutaki island) was 657-All India Radio in Kolkata, India, at 8,072 miles (12,991 km). Recorded by accident during a sunrise check of the Korean big guns at 1641 on April 12, reception of this longest-distance station went unnoticed until file review after return to the States.

The female speaker (in the Bengali language) is the third station in the recording, after the female vocal music from Pyongyang BS and the Irish-accented male preacher from NZ’s Star network. Her speech peaks around 40 to 50 seconds into the recording.

The isolation of the Star network at the 55 second point was done by the Ultralight’s loopstick, not by the propagation. Thanks to Alokesh Gupta for the language and station identification!

https://archive.org/download/657PyongyangStarUnID1641z041218CCSWANR/657-Pyongyang-Star-UnID-%201641z041218CCSWANR.MP3

Click here to download MP3.

Wow! A mediumwave DX catch of 8,072 miles using a compact (heavily souped-up!) CC Skywave SSB? Simply amazing, Gary!

Your enthusiasm and passion for Ultralight DX is simply infectious!

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SV9/SP7VC – Crete

Mek SP7VC and Kate SQ7OYL are going to Creta Island EU-015 (KM25MI locator) from April 29 to May 6. In addition to exploring the island there will be some time for radio work with the callsign SV9/SP7VC. Mek says he’s taking an IC-7300, PA-500W, Ant.vert 40-15m, Inv-L 80 & 160m + yagi 4el. 4m. Activity […]

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Hand Made Vacuum Tubes by Claude Paillard

This is an amazing video – hand-made vacuum tubes! About 17 minutes long – well worth the watching if you have any interest at all in old equipment!

You can find the video here

Enjoy!

Robert Gulley, AK3Q, is the author of this post and a regular contributor to the SWLing Post. Robert also blogs at All Things Radio.

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DARC’s initiative to track the state of radio interference

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Alexender (DL4NO), who shares the following comment in response to our recent post about LED bulb QRM:

The DARC does even more: It is planning a long-term project with some 50 automatic monitoring stations with standardized, calibrated antennas and according to standardized methods to document the changes.

Every monitoring station will scan the bands for free frequencies and measure the background noise there. Every 15 min it will send its findings to a central database where the data will be collected and evaluated.

This way the DARC wants to document the ever increasing interferences in a way that is valid according to the relevant standards. Most monitoring stations are planned to be placed at fixed locations all over Germany. But a few are planned to be placed for a limited time in especially interesting locations.

Presently relevant findings are collected. If you live in Germany see https://www.darc.de/der-club/referate/emv/emv-abhilfemassnahmen/. Also see the DARC magazine cqDL 12-2017, p. 15.

To emphasize it again: Informal reports to your radio club are good. But if you wish to communicate with the legislative bodies you must do your measurements according to the standardized rules using calibrated equipment. Otherwise the authorities will not accept your findings.

See:
https://www.itu.int/dms_pubrec/itu-r/rec/p/R-REC-P.372-13-201609-I!!PDF-E.pdf
https://www.itu.int/dms_pubrec/itu-r/rec/bs/R-REC-BS.560-4-199710-I!!PDF-E.pdf

Most impressive, Alexander! I love the fact that DARC is using objective observations to support their initiative. The concept is a fascinating one that I should hope other national radio clubs could copy. I will certainly send this to the ARRL.

Thanks again, Alexander!

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Wednesday, March 21, 2018

HAM RADIO in Friedrichshafen Puts Scouts in the Spotlight

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Friday, March 9, 2018

Management Change Under Way at Puerto Rico’s Arecibo Observatory

ARRL –

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has announced that a management change is under way at Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. The University of Central Florida (UCF) has begun formal transition activities to assume the operations and management of Arecibo Observatory, which sustained significant damage during Hurricane Maria last September.

“The university will take over formal management an…

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Skycast Services experimental HF license renewed

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, @experimradio, who notes:

Experimental Radio Service license renewed 1 March 2018 for this HF station.

Good luck extracting useful intelligence from this:

https://apps.fcc.gov/els/GetAtt.html?id=170747&x=.

Copy of license:

https://apps.fcc.gov/els/GetAtt.html?id=205708&x=.

Thank you for the tip! You’re right–vast portions of this documentation have been marked out.

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Reminder: Daylight Saving Time Begins in Most of the US on March 11

ARRL –

In most of the US, Daylight Saving Time (DST) begins on Sunday, March 11, at 2 AM local time. Set clocks ahead by 1 hour. The start of DST does not affect Universal Coordinated Time (UTC), also known as Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) or simply Zulu (Z), although some transceiver clocks generate UTC based on a specified difference from the local time setting. UTC is the generally recognized “standard…

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AMSAT “GOLF” CubeSats among NASA Ninth-Round CubeSat Launch Initiative Picks

ARRL –

AMSAT reports that two of its “GOLF” (Greater Orbit, Larger Footprint) series CubeSats are among 21 missions recommended for NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative (CSLI). GOLF-TEE (Technology Evaluation Environment) and GOLF-1, were among the 21 missions recommended for selection. AMSAT now must negotiate and execute a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement with NASA for each project, in ord…

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Kuwait updates shortwave transmitters

(Source: Kuwait News Agency via Mike Hansgen)

KUWAIT, March 8 (KUNA) — Minister of Information Mohammad Al-Jabri on Thursday opened a project updating shortwave transmitters from analogue to digital radio mondiale (DRM) broadcasting systems, at Kabd radio station.

This is a new achievement for the ministry to be added to a series of vital projects that aim to keep pace with the rapid technical progress around the globe, Al-Jabri told KUNA and the Kuwait TV.

Kabd station, through the new DRM system, will allow “Kuwait’s voice” to reach the entire Middle East region, Europe and Asia, he noted.

Kuwaitis have planned and supervised the project, the minister said, noting that updating the infrastructure of radio stations aims to cope with latest digital broadcasting development, the minister said.

Al-Jabri praised officials, and all the personnel at the ministry’s Engineering Affairs Sector, for their hard sincere efforts.

Click here to read the full article at the KUNA website.

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Blueprints, maps, and test equipment: RCI Sackville items for sale

I snapped this photo inside the RCI Sackville transmitter site in 2012, a few months prior to its closure.

Earlier this year, we posted a note by Marc Goldstein who is in the process of dismantling the Radio Canada International Sackville, New Brunswick, transmitter building.

Marc is tasked with selling some of the equipment that used to make this site hum. The First Nations group who now own the site are using the revenue from sales to help fund site cleanup and renovation. Mark recently passed along the following note:

We are trying to determine the value of the large quantity of 1940 era engineering blue prints of the station. I hoping your readers will be able to establish their worth.

While rummaging through an old file cabinet in maintenance building (RCI Sackville, New Brunswick), we located about a 100 or so more engineering blue prints (1938-1945), about a dozen black and white photos (RCI reporters interviewing what appears to be world celebrities), and annual engineering reports (1938-1980). Would any of these items be of interest to your readers?

Post readers: If you are interested in any of these items, Marc can be contacted via the following email address: pevna@hotmail.com. He is open to offers and happy to ship these items internationally.

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6W/IV3FSG Senegal. From DXNews.com

Elvira, IV3FSG will be active as 6W/IV3FSG, from Dakar, Senegal, starting 9 March 2018.

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The Lazy Susan: Mario’s mediumwave companion

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Mario Filippi (N2HUN), who writes:

Here is a handy tip for those using small magnetic loops, like the Grundig AN-200. Using a simple Lazy Susan makes rotating the loop a lot easier as in the picture attached. It gives you a very smooth 360 degree rotation using a simple flip of a finger. Lazy Susans come in all sizes and luckily I had one already which fits the AN-200 perfectly.

This is a handy tip, indeed! In fact, I once spoke with a mediumwave DXer who told me that when he prepares for a DXpedition, he packs the Lazy Susan before he packs his portable’s batteries!

Lazy Susans are quite easy to find. Most “big box” retailers have them, Amazon.com has a massive inventory (affiliate link), IKEA and I’ve had incredible luck finding them at thrift stores for next to nothing! In fact, if you have a local thrift store with a large selection of kitchen accessories, you’ll likely find a Lazy Susan or two on the shelves.

Thank you for the tip, Mario!

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