HF BANDS Open

[pjxii]

It is amazing when you think about it. Anytime I received signals from Asia or the Pacific here on the East Coast was amazing, whether it was the Voice of Vietnam, North Korea, Tahiti, etc. I never did get a positive ID on Radio Tahiti, unfortunately. Never will now.

I would just like to have the memory of having heard it!

 

[pjxii]

Agreed, fewer stations and less powerful stations has almost eliminated the distinction between a SWL broadcast listener vs a DX'er. You were not a DX'er back in the day if your primary interest was tuning in news and other programming from 500kw powerhouses like the BBC and Radio Moscow. The days of 500kw stations seem to be a thing of the past. DX'ing in those days meant chasing fainter voices from more exotic lands.

My new location is 8 miles (as the radio wave flies) from WEWN's transmitters. According to AI

"WEWN broadcasts from the city of Vandiver, Alabama, in the vicinity of the Birmingham metro area. There are four transmitters capable of 500 kilowatts each, but are run no higher than 250 kW."

So far I haven't noticed but the planned 125' wire hasn't gone up yet.

 

[pjxii]

0130z 9957 Radio Vanuatu 23222 English programming, first time catch.

Great catch! Never heard Vanuatu, glad they're still on the air. I heard Solomon Islands years ago but now Cuba is killing it.

 

[EAFrizzle]

I'm kind of amazed that Vanuatu still runs their own transmitter. The Vanuatu Evening News broadcasts a few times a day from RNZ Pacific, so they're reaching the entire region with that. National pride, I guess. More power to 'em!

 

[pjxii]

Well, finally moved with the station 95% up and running! More room here, so the LoG wire is about to expand to 400', with another loop elevated in the trees. Upgrade for the vertical antenna also coming soon.

Where are you located? I hear great things about the LoG antenna but I'm afraid my dog would destroy it if I tried one.

 

[EAFrizzle]

I'm in NE Texas about 35 miles SE of Dallas.

Im a big fan of the LoG, got my main one up to 1200', and a 100' one going to the kitchen. They work very well as part of a multi-antenna setup. Many times when the verticals can't catch a signal, the LoG will pull it in nicely. The closed circuit helps S/N a lot in most conditions.

 

[EAFrizzle]

0740z RNZ Pacific 13755 kHz 55544 on vertical antennas. 24232 on LoG.
Fantastic signal tonight, audio quality of local broadcast; very slight fade that only cut out some of the high-end with occasional hisses.

 

[EAFrizzle]

Weird conditions here at local first light(0700 CST; 1200z) in between the two geomagnetic storms. Nothing above 11 MHz coming in from eastward; a few weak SA signals. Same for 7 and below. 9 MHz was  loaded with signals, but only two were readable copy. Radio Martí was strong, and one CRI English channels was readable with fade, but the the rest were just faint voices. Quite a few were definitely ES, but not readable.

I wonder if there's more LATAM pirates and clandestines popping up in that part of the band lately? Definitely more stations than I usually catch on 9.

 

[EAFrizzle]

RNZ Pacific 13755 has been surprisingly good the past couple of hours in a G2 level storm. Good signal on all antennas. 45544.

 

[RufusDawes]

WWV 25 and 20 Mhz S9 around 30 minutes before sunset on the Hammarlund HQ-180A and 100 ft random wire antenna.

 

[pjxii]

0740z RNZ Pacific 13755 kHz 55544 on vertical antennas. 24232 on LoG.
Fantastic signal tonight, audio quality of local broadcast; very slight fade that only cut out some of the high-end with occasional hisses.

Radio New Zealand is my favorite SW broadcaster now that Radio Australia is no more.

The first time I heard RNZ was over four decades ago when I decided to search the 16 meter band one summer night on a cheap old multi band portable with 15' of wire. I never tuned higher than 10 MHz at night but for some reason I just wanted to see if there was anything coming in on the "daytime" frequencies. It sounded like a local, as you say, for a couple of hours then just vanished in seconds. Conditions were perfect, peak of a sunspot cycle, right amount of wire strung across my bedroom of the family's three story wood frame house for antenna height and absolutely no RFI back then. They were using the original 7.5 kW transmitters at that time. Never heard it again until they went to 100 kW and I had a better receiver and antenna.

That's why I love to manually band scan with older equipment and no waterfalls to show me what signals are coming in. The magic of just coming across it by chance and hearing that it was New Zealand is unforgettable. More recently I came across Auckland Volmet the same way.

 

[bearcatrp]

Going fairly well tonight. am listening to some guy on 9.455. Some kind of reporter. Stating US government just move around 400 tons of gold from NY last night. States tomorrow they will be serious bank issues tomorrow. Anyone know who this guy is? Have listened to him before. Seems to have news I have never heard on tv. Interesting guy. Not sure if he knows anything real or not.

 

[EAFrizzle]

Probably Hal Turner.

 

[bearcatrp]

Just heard he is out of new york. Couldn’t hear his web site info. This guy is taking some serious doom and gloom getting ready to start. He just stated the USA just declared insolvency, but it won’t be put on the news. One of the reasons why I listen to HF is you hear stuff that doesn‘t get on local news until weeks later.

 

[bearcatrp]

Probably Hal Turner.

That’s him. Just searched him and found his web site. Hope this guy if full of it.

Hal Turner Radio Show - Home

Hal Turner Radio Show

halturnerradioshow.com

 

[pjxii]

One of the reasons why I listen to HF is you hear stuff that doesn‘t get on local news until weeks later.

It was like that 25 years ago for the 9/11 attack. I didn't have a tv (still don't) and listened to coverage on NPR during the day while I was at work, then listened to the BBC World Service in the evening and Radio Australia in the morning. BBCWS was limited to midnight-dawn on US public radio back then where I was. NPR gave (understandably) a purely American reaction and point of view while SW radio gave me the international perspective, which I am thankful for.

 

[bearcatrp]

Not to bad of conditions this morning around 5am. Allot of east coast stuff. Listened to a station out of west virgina for a bit.