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SW loggings (mainly around 49 meters) 8/26/2009, about 0300 UTC

C

crainbebo

Here's the SW loggings I made tonight, including a full 49 meter bandscan. All are in English except when noted.

5446.5: AFRTS, Key West, FL, C America, 8 kw, USB, 2724 miles
5745: WWRB, Manchester, TN, N America, 100 kw, 2028 miles
5810: WEWN, Vandiver, AL, C America, 500 kw, Spanish, 2093 miles
5875: WHRI, Cypress Creek, SC, N America, 250 kw, about 2245 miles
5890: WWCR, Nashville, TN, E North America, 100 kw, 1969 miles
5905: very weak
5910: Radio Republica, Wertachtal, Germany, C America, 100 kw, Spanish, about 5230 miles
5915: BBC, Rampisham, UK, Africa, ??? kw, Swahili, about 4700 miles
5920: WBOH, Newport, NC, C America, 50 kw, 2478 miles
5935: WWCR, Nashville, TN, E North America, 100 kw, 1969 miles
5950: Radio Taiwan International, Okeechobee, FL, N America, 100 kw, 2627 miles
5960: Radio Japan, Sackvile, New Brunswick, E North America and C America, 250 kw, Japanese, 2675 miles
5965: Radio Habana Cuba, Havana, Cuba, C America, 100 kw, Spanish, 2771 miles
5980: very, VERY weak
5985: Family Radio, Okeechobee, FL, C America, 50 kw, Spanish, 2627 miles
6000: Radio Habana Cuba, Havana, Cuba, E North America, 100 kw, 2771 miles
6005: BBC, Meyerton, South Africa, W Africa, 500 kw, about 10300 miles!!!! Smiley
6020: China Radio International, Cerrik, Albania, N America, 300 kw, Chinese, about 6000 miles
6030: Radio Marti, Greenville, NC, C America, 250 kw, Spanish, 2425 miles/CFVP, Calgary, AB, W North America, 100 w, 430 miles
6040: Vatican Radio, Sackville, NB, E North America and C America, 100 kw, 2675 miles
6050: HCJB Global Voice, Quito, Ecuador, S America, 50 kw, Spanish, 4228 miles
6055: Radio Exterior De Espana, Noblejas, Spain, N America, 250 kw, Spanish, about 5300 miles
6060: Radio Habana Cuba, Havana, Cuba, E North America, 100 kw, Spanish, 2771 miles
6075: Deutsche Welle, unknown location, Europe, 250/300/500 kw, German, unknown distance
6090: Caribbean Beacon, Anguilla, N America, 100 kw
6110: unID
6120: Radio Habana Cuba, Havana, Cuba, C America, 100 kw, Spanish, 2771 miles
6125: Radio Exterior De Espana, Costa Rica, C and S America, 100 kw, Spanish, about 3500 miles
6135: Channel Africa, Meyerton, South Africa, E Africa, 500 kw, about 10300 miles!!!! Smiley
6140: Radio Habana Cuba, Havana, Cuba, N America, 100 kw, 2771 miles
6145: BBC, Ascension, S Africa, 250 kw, about 6000-6500 miles
6165: Radio Netherlands, Sines, Portugal, S America, 250 kw, Spanish, 5241 miles
6175: Voice of Vietnam, Sackville, NB, E North America and C America, 100 kw, Vietnamese, 2675 miles
6185: Radio Educacion, Mexico City, Mexico, Domestic, 5/10 kw, Spanish, 2351 miles
6190: Radio Netherlands in Dutch but don't know anything else about it
6290: Egyptian Radio, Kafr Silim-Abis, Egypt, Europe and E North America, 250 kw, Arabic, about 6000 miles
6925 USB: unID pirate station! Heard oldies music around 0310 UTC. No IDs, then fighting with another station two minutes later.

-crainbebo
 
Good stuff, Bothel! That is a lot of trans-Continental stuff!

The most I was ever into SW DX was the late Eighties, also on 49 meters and sometimes 41 meters -- from a basement apartment in Philadelphia with a 25-foot wire strung along the ceiling. I used an old Lafayette (18 years old at the time) which had worse and worse frequency determination as you crept up the dial, so I made a new dial for it. The listening was mostly pre-SRS by an hour or so. CFCF 6005 was regular, as was CHNX (freq ?). Then there was the delightful Radio Rumbos morning newscast from Venezuela, Radio Australia, and Radio South Africa. Prague was one with a terrific time-to-the-hour sounder. BBC and Radio Moscow, of course. Radio Pyanguang (sp?) used to give English lessons (or at least the American equivelant of English) pretty darn accent free. For some reason I could always tell the difference between French from RFI and French from Canada ; Dad's long-ago ancestry is half-French from Europe and Mom's is half-French Canadian -- but there is a difference even to someone who doesn't speak much of the language at all. I didn't hear much VOA ; perhaps they had their signals going to other countries. For a while the listening was so regular that I could tell what was going to be on the next channel much the same way an AM DXer can flip up the dial and identify 'regulars' in a flash.

I'll look for thelogbook from back then .... 1988 or so .... and perhaps compare DX loggings later in the thread.

Got to get back into this delightfully offbeat spectrum of the hobby again. It's rewarding to know -- as well as curious -- that there are so many 100kw and 150kw transmitters crackling away on this dial of which no one under age 25 sensibly can be aware.
 
Holy Smoke, just located the logbook and *nothing* matches on 49m from 1990!
6005 CFCX .... 6010 R. Reloj Costa Rica .... 6065 R.Super and WYFR ....
CHNX was 6130. Nothing I've got logged matches the other frequencies.

And you managed to get that pest from South Africa on 6005 at a mere 10,300 miles, huh? Big deal.
LOL, only kidding.

Apparently, Crain, most of my listening was on 31 meters. On my new homebrew dial I'd set WWV 10000 at the right side and interpolated it via bandspread down to as low as I could take it, around 9500. The 5 kHz hets were always a big help in situating the wee pieces of tape to the dial at every 10 kHz. I count 52 loggings here in 31 meters, with a huge unID gap between 9885 and 9970.

Fun memories!

If I'd had acne at age 32 it would be breaking out again.
 
Steve Green NEPA said:
CFCF 6005 was regular, as was CHNX (freq ?).
Click to expand...

CFCX 6005 from Montreal has been off the air for at least 10 years. So far as I know, CHNX 6130 is still on the air - haven't heard them in years, but I have heard the CBC on 6160 St. John's, NF, CKZN, relaying their Radio 1 in the past six months.

By the way, CFRX 6070 Toronto, I've read, has been having transmitter problems lately. They supposedly got a new 1kW transmitter recently and redesigned their antenna system and a few months ago I got an OK signal from them. I also read that their antenna is horizontal, and favors the NW/SE direction, which helps to explain why CFRX is not received as well in No. Illinois as years ago when at least in the mornings and early afternoons before the African and European started 'rolling in' they were nearly 'armchair copy'. If you hear them you might want to send a reception report or ask if they are on the air to Steve Canney: [email protected] As of 1600 UTC/GMT, 8/27/09, CFRX is apparently not on the air.

Doesn't anyone wish that these stations would petition the Canadian government to move to a clearer/out of band frequency if they're 1kW or less?
 
I used to love SW and listened often in the 60s. However, I've always had a greater interest in MW DXing.
Maybe it's time to start listening to SW again. This discussion is getting me interested.
 
stormy01 said:
radioman148 said:
I used to love SW and listened often in the 60s. However, I've always had a greater interest in MW DXing.
Maybe it's time to start listening to SW again. This discussion is getting me interested.
Click to expand...

There's a great website for SW DXers (though they have info. on MW, FM and Pirate Stations as well) - www.worldofradio.com Click on the link "LATEST DX LISTENING DIGEST" http://www.w4uvh.net/dxlatest.txt
Click to expand...

Thanks Stormy.
 
6080 used to be CKWX 1130 Vancouver's SW relay. Stopped years ago.

-crainbebo
 
crainbebo said:
6080 used to be CKWX 1130 Vancouver's SW relay. Stopped years ago.

-crainbebo
Click to expand...

So there is (was) -
CFCX Montreal, QC (6005)
CJCX Sydney, NS (6010)
CFVP Calgary, AB 6030
CFRX Toronto, ON 6070
CKFX Vancouver, BC (6080)
CHNX Halifax, NS (6130)
CKZU Vancouver, BC 6160
CKZN St. John’s, NF 6160

A total of 8 at one time(?), only 4 remain(?)
I believe that I heard them all except 6080 - 10 watts.
Some people have heard nearly every one of their MW counterparts, me only CFRB.

CFVP: http://www.odxa.on.ca/broadcasting.html
CFRX: http://www.odxa.on.ca/cfrb/
CKZN/CKZU: http://www.cbc.ca/frequency/shortwave.html
CKZU: http://www.odxa.on.ca/Aug08LI.pdf
 
Channel Africa? Holy Crap! ;o)

Jeez, that takes me back quite a ways. Let's see if I make myself feel old:
Last time I heard that was back in '99 or '00, when a friend and I broke in to the Ham Radio Lab at Evergreen High School, way after hours. (He had a key, so it was all cool. ;o) They had a big antenna on top of the gym at that time, about three stories up in the air. That's just the building it was constructed on; the antenna mast itself was about another twenty feet up. (Yes, Evergreen School District *did* have to get a permit from the FAA to install and use it!)

(A remodel in 2004-2007 brought that big aerial down, and seemingly never-ending budget problems on the district level called an end to the radio programme altogether......)

That was the first (and subsequently last) last time I heard ChAf. Haven't heard it since. Currently my setup is a Yacht Boy 400PE connected to the same long-wire I have the Pioneer connected to, so I suspect that may be part of the reason why. On the other hand, lately I have found myself eyeballing that sexy G5 down at RatShack.

What kind of receiver/aerial combination are you using, crainbebo?
 
World of Radio is reporting tonight that CFRX Toronto 6070 is back on the air at full power of 1kW, so see how it's coming in at your location.
 
Ah, memories!

The first time I was really into shortwave was 1997-1998. After struggling with analog tuning on my Radio Shack SW-2 Multiband Radio (a gift from my dad around Easter '97), I bought a Radio Shack DX-390 with my birthday money. I really wanted a DX-398/ATS-909, but I couldn't get that extra $100 so I settled on the '390, which was on sale. I instantly fell in love. I remember waking up (with the radio's alarm) to the bizarre programming (FEMA conspiracy theories and the like) each morning, somewhere around 5.7 MHz (I don't remember the exact station). I listened to the BBC (back when they broadcasted to the U.S.; one of the strongest signals on the dial, 5975 kHz), Voice of Free China (from Taiwan / Sackville, also very strong, 5950 kHz), Radio Netherlands (6020 kHz), among other things. I also monitored ham traffic (20m was very active), aircraft, and other things. Even tried hooking up my DX-390's headphone output to my sound card's line input to decode RTTY or CW (the program had "Polar" in it), to no avail.

The next time I was really into shortwave was during the summer of 2003. My house, even though very rural, was essentially a bastion of noise, so I'd sit in our detached garage, string my ICF-2010's random wire to some post, and tune around. The best times were the early mornings, when the higher bands would be lit up with signals from Asia: Chinese regional stations, Japan, North Korea, etc. But there was activity around the clock. All India Radio's domestic transmitter right in India would provide a decent signal on 10320 kHz. Even though the BBC no longer broadcast to the U.S., they still did to Central America. Even then there was a lot of ship activity around 13.1 MHz, and some tropical band activity at 4.8 MHz. It was fun.
 
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