Following on from the post about the curious case of the jamming of Uncle Scrim, here is a story that appeared in the October 1990 DX Times penned by Barry Williams.
THE JAMMING OF 1ZB
When we talk of jamming we tend to think of the Cold war during the 50s and 6os on shortwave when there was a real battle of the airwaves between the East and the West. However New Zealand had a case of jamming much earlier than than that.
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Posted in History, Medium Wave
Tagged Barry Williams, Colin Scrimgeour, New Zealand, Radio jamming, Uncle Scrim
From the io9.com website comes this amazing photo of the almost dahlia-like photo of a sunspot.
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Posted in Propagation
Thanks to Glenn Hauser’s “World of Radio” website, there is an updated list of DX programs.
Sadly, the likes of Media Network, Swiss Shortwave Merry-Go-Round and HCJB DX Partyline are but memories.
Martin Hadlow has forwarded an interesting article describing the Honolulu radio dial in 1976. DXers will fondly remember Alan Roycroft and recall the comments he used to write on the back of the “Broadcasting Services” QSL cards.
Entitled “Honolulu Radio: A Wasteland”
“The Honolulu Star-Bulletin on February 12th issued it’s second annual survey of radio stations on Oahu. There are 21 stations. The news-paper noted a number of changes which have taken place over the past year. These include: 12 instead of 9 stations broadcasting 24 hours; a reduction in the number of employees the replacement of eight general managers and four major ownership changes. There is apparently a greater number of stations broadcasting the sane format — “Beautiful music, that is. ‘the same pop music, ranging (if that phrase can be used meaningfully) from Golden Oldies to popified mellow rock.‘ Janos Gereben. the reviewer, noted that ‘an astonishing tom of 12 stations‘ are involved in broadcasting a “musical vast wasteland”
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Posted in History, Medium Wave, Stations
Remember the good old ferrite loopstick antenna? Well, the FSL (ferrite sleeve loop) is a loopstick on steroids. Gary DeBock is one of many hobbyists who have been experimenting with these imposing antennas, sort of the boat anchor of aerials! His interesting article appears on Colin Newall’s dxer.ca site.
In these days when we’re faced with shortwave stations closing down, it is refreshing to know that some international broadcasters continue to defy the pundits. And so it is that the Chinese international broadcaster (Radio Peking, Radio Beijing, China Radio International) is now celebrating its 50th year of broadcasting in Tamil.
Here is the whole story from the IBN Live website.
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Posted in History, Shortwave, Stations
Tagged China, China Radio International, International broadcasting, radio, Tamil, Tamil language
On the occasion of the League’s 60th Anniversary in 2008, the League patron Frank Glen contributed an article “A Great Mob” to the DX Times 60th Anniversary Supplement . The article is now reprinted here on radiodx.com
Frank is a very accomplished author and DXer and it was very fitting that he take over the role of League patron after the passing of previous Patron Jack Fox.
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Posted in History
In New Zealand, the majority of used shortwave radios are bought and sold via the on-line auction site TradeMe.
But which of them are cherries and which are lemons? There is a useful guide on the dxing.com website. The list of receivers rated appear on this list. The receivers ratings using ‘H’s instead of stars, seem to reflect general opinion as far as the tried and true experience of NZ DXers goes, with one exception. The Yaesu FRG7 receives a top-rank, however they pale in comparison to the actual performance of even some HHH rated sets.
Posted in Receivers, Technical
Tagged auction, DXing, radio, Shortwave radio, TradeMe, used receiver
There have been a number of significant dates affecting MW stations and therefore DXers, in New Zealand.
1919: the first experimental radio station started broadcasting in Dunedin, New Zealand when founder “Toots” Mitchell was presented with a triode amplifying tube by his engineer friend Edward Meining. The opening song was “Robin Adair,” sung by Mitchell’s girlfriend at the microphone while Meining pedalled his bike the three kilometres from the sending station to his house where he had built a receiver. The station later became 4XD. They broadcast intermittently until 1921, then started regular scheduled programming two days a week. Those broadcasts led to the start of the Otago Radio Association. 4XD is still broadcasting, now on 1305 kHz and 99.2MHz often using the slogan “We were here first.”
Posted in History, Medium Wave
Tagged 2ZE, 4GM, Adrian Peterson, Australia, Blenheim, Gympie, New Zealand, Radio broadcasting, Radio Hauraki
Remember the days when the top of the hour would be met with interval signals gracing the bands? The hauntingly beautiful “Love Ambon” from Indonesia, the jarring trumpets of KOL Israel and the chiming “What A Friend We Have in Jesus” from FEBA Seychelles?. The “Interval Signals Online” website has literally recorded them for posterity.
You’ll also find other audio clips of IDs and theme music.
That’s not a mis-print… WLW had a 500kW transmitter on the MW band in 1934.
For many of us, WLW was the first Ohio station we ever heard. Here, thanks to K7AGE, is a Youtube presentation on the history of this iconic US broadcaster.
The following comment comes Barry W9UCW from the Topband reflector:
Whether you’re a ham, MW or SW DXer, there are times when a receive antenna will be very handy. I’ve experimented with EWEs, K9AYs and coax loops. Just recently, Shared Apex Loop Arrays have received a lot of publicity and this excellent Youtube presentation certainly caught my interest.
Here is a good PDF article from the designer, Mark Baumann.
And now Array Solutions are selling them.
Very compact and as for performance, we’ll let the Youtube video provide the answer.
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Posted in Antennas, Medium Wave, Technical
John Bryant at Grayland DXpedition (credit: dxing.info)
John Bryant (sadly no longer with us) penned many useful and practical technical articles for DXers looking to eke the extra out of their radios and antennas.
Here is an article showing how to add an external MW antenna to your Tecsun/Degen radio.
Luckily for us, John’s articles live on thanks to the internet.
John’s obituary on dxer.ca web site.
Here’s a great up-to-date site; “Welcome to Africa” details transmissions from Africa available for download as PDF to have beside you when you’re DXing. The Dark Continent has always been the hardest to hear in NZ so has become a favoured target for Kiwi DXers.
And for more detail, the British DX Club’s “Africa On Shortwave” website provides all the specific and other info you’ll need.
Just read an interesting article on Radio World discussing pirate radio although the theme equally applies to clandestine broadcasts.
With countless establishment broadcasters ceasing or cutting back on shortwave broadcasts, pirate and clandestine stations offer good opportunities for the die-hard DXer.
Remember those numbers and phonetics stations with their coded broadcasts, like the famous Lincolnshire Poacher from Akrotiri RAF base in Cyprus, etc? This You Tube clip will bring back some memories.
And there is more info on Wikipedia.
“HAARP” the Alaskan-based High Frequency Active Auroral Research Project in Alaska has closed. The program was quite controversial, pumping huge amounts of RF energy into the ether and there was wild speculation that it was a form of weapon masquerading as scientific research.
When the project first commenced back in 1997, they offered QSL cards for the first transmissions.
English: HAARP antenna array (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
There is a new clandestine targeting Ethiopia on the bands, DimTsachin Yisema. Their political motivation is to support Ethiopian Muslims. An item on the ECADF Forum explains something of political situation regarding Muslims in Ethiopia.
You can hear and announcement in Amharic with identification and frequencies on this audio page.
Here is their sked via SW DX Bulgaria.
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Posted in Clandestine, Shortwave
Alike international broadcasters, support services for the once-bouyant international broadcasting scene are also suffering in the death throes of shortwave.
This from Bob Groves, founder of Monitoring Times and Grove Enterprises:
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Posted in Publications
You must be a member of the New Zealand Radio DX League to access this SDR.
