Historical Notes ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 3 Nov 1997 23:30:10 +0500 From: "Chuck Rippel" <crippel@...> Subject: [R-390] BA Receiver Fun - Targets Thanks for the many notes I received about posting some targets for our BA receivers. I was astounded at the number of affirmative replies received. As many know, I find listening a great deal of fun and very challenging. There are basically two styles of listening. Short Wave Listening is where the operator tunes in to a particular program. Short Wave Broadcast DX'ing is listening for very weak or seasonally challenging radio broadcasts or stations. In most cases, the language used by the broadcaster is not english as they are serving the local population. It is DX'ing v/s Listening where I intend to focus. Being a good SWBC DX'er is a bit like being a good detective. Various clues are pieced together to arrive at a conclusion. In our case, identifying an unknown station. Some of those clues are: Time Frequency Language Programming Music Style Time: Audibility of a station depends on the time it is broadcasting and the frequency it is on. Typically, the frequencies over 10 mhz are best during local day light and below, local dark. Signals below 7 mhz generally require darkness between the transmitter and receiver locations. However, not always and we will explore the opportunities when that rule can be expanded a bit. Frequency: Armed with the time and knowledge of propagation, frequency is the next big clue. There is general frequency consideration or band consideration. An example might be if a station on 4915 were being heard at 2200UTC on the East Coast. We know that there is daylight to the west but darkness to the east. Because signals on that frequency require darkness to propagate, it is reasonable to assume that the transmitter is located east of the listening location where darkness has already fallen. Likewise, if it is 1100 UTC and you were listening to 4890, darkness is west of your location so it is reasonable to assume the transmitter is also west of you. Specific frequency is a very important tool, perhaps the most valuable. When the station is not transmitting in a known language, frequency is a very important component of identification. Going back to the 4915 example above, a quick check in Passport To World Band Radio reveals several stations on 4915. However, only one, Ghana Broadcasting Service has propagation. Consider hearing a station on4753.6 in local morning. There is only ONE station broadcasting on that rather unique frequency which would have propagation, Radio Republik Indonesia Ujung Pandang. I tend to lump programm7ing, music style and language clues together. Use of these comes with experience and knowledge of the other clues above. TARGETS: I am going to concentrate on reliable stations in the 60MB (with one exception) for just a bit. This is perhaps the single most versatile SWBC DX band and offers many challenging catches. It is useable during darkness, local early mornings and evenings/night time. You can easily hear every continent save for Antarctica on 60 meters. - --------- Remember, if you hear any of these stations, please send the loggings to: wian@... CumbreEditor@... These are editors of INTERNET based, SWBC DX bulletins. Your contribution will entitle you to receive several FREE weekly mailings of the bulletin. I will post the FAQ for Cumbre DX which will give a format example useable for both newsletters. ----------------------------------- Listings are Frequency, Country, Station, discussion Mornings- 1100-1200 UTC The Pacific, Indonesia and some Asian stations are morning targets. 4890 Papua New Guinea NBC. Here, you will find the home service of the National Broadcasting Commission of Papua New Guinea. The language on this outlet is usually English with a smattering of Pigin. At 10KW, it is quite powerful and is easily heard on both the West and East Coasts. They sign off at 1200 UTC. 5005 Nepal, R. Nepal. A tough catch, Radio Nepal can be identified by its top of the hour ID and time pips which occur at 1/4 past the hour. In deep winter, I generally hear Nepal around 1215 UTC Afternoons- 1900 - 2230 UTC During this timer period, stations from the African Continent fill the 60 meter band. Eventually, the Africans sign off and give way to the South Americans through our local evenings. 4915 Ghana, Ghana Broadcasting Company. Again, a home service run by the Ghana Government. Excellent station to hear an example of local programming and African "Hi-Life" music. A powerful station located very far in West Africa and one of the earliest stations to appear here on the East Coast. There is english programming which I believe is at 2200. 4935 Kenya, Voice of Kenya. Government run, local outlet as above but just a bit tougher as Kenya lies on the East African coast. They sign off at 2106 with a prayer reading in English from about 2102 - 2105. If you are lucky, Voice of Kenya can be heard from about 2030 UTC until sign off. 15476 Antarctica, Radio Nacionale de Archangel comes from an Argentine base serving the scientific population. In Lower Sideband, this is a very difficult catch and one can go for days before propagation will allow enough audio for an ID. They are scheduled to sign on at 1857 and go off at 2120 and I have heard them in the 2030 - 2100 time frame. Evenings 2300 - 0330 UTC The Africans having signed off for the evening, the band is now dominated by our neighbors to the south. 4980 Venezuela, Ecos del Torbes. Hook up your hi-fi amplifier to the diode load on the R390A to hear this one! This southern powerhouse has some of the best audio on any band until sign off at 0400. 4990.91 Peru, Radio Ancash. This is one of my benchmark stations when evaluating a completed radio for audio recovery. Shortwave Broadcasting in Peru changes almost daily and there are dozens of stations on the air. Some DX'ers concentrate on Peruvians and Bolivians for an entire lifetime as they are so prolific. Radio Ancash offers excellent examples of music called "Huyanos," a tinkling delicate musical style which has its roots in Aztec culture. 5010 India, All India Radio, broadcasting from Thiruvananthapuram. Audible for about 45 minutes to 1 hour during a long path opening, this station is suprisingly strong and appears here from about 0030 till 0104 or so. Again, this station offers good examples of sub-continental (Indian/Pakistan/Bangladesh/Sri Lanka) music and can be a challenging DX catch. It is interesting that time in India is such that their top of the hour is at our :30 or bottom of the hour. Thus, any ID will be heard at the bottom of our hour. Unique time tones are good identifier clues in the case of Nepal and India. Thats about it. This Friday, I will post more afternoon African targets. The weekends are fun to spin down through 5-4 mhz logging them. Remember, share what you hear. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 8 Nov 1997 08:56:59 -0500 (EST) From: Radiomatt@... Subject: [R-390] R-390A & SSB It might be of interest to you guys that think the 390s were only designed for AM/ CW is that several of the later manuals show how to interconnect SSB adapters, but more interestingly, some very late radios might have had product detectors installed at the factory with a mode switch that included USB and LSB. A ham in Italy has one of these very very rare R-390As. I saw a picture of the front panel once, and sure enough, there were extra positions and markings! The last r-390s were built in l984 by Fowler Industries on special order for the Pentagon...as I recall only five were made in that production "run", so the cost per radio was rather high ...$ 34,000 or $38,000 EACH. if I recall correctly. Maybe these sets had the SSB upgrade installed? If anyone could get hold of a manual for this series, it might contain some interesting upgrade ideas. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 9 Nov 1997 08:18:29 -0500 From: Don Stepka <dts4@...> Subject: [R-390] Fowler R-390As >The Fowler R390A's did not have SSB installed. I know of a fellow who has one. >And yes, they did make 5. I think this is fascinating. How and why did this happen? Did someone plan a larger run that fizzled? It's hard to believe that they have ever been so scarce that someone couldn't find five, particularly for $30,000 each.. Heck, 1984 is about the time that you couldn't give them away at ham fests. (I'm sorry to say that '80-'85 is also the time that nobody took home the 10-12 390s and 390As that I saw piled by trash cans at the end of several hamfests, each of which was nicer than the one I now own. They didn't even get raided for their tubes, just scooped up by a payloader, dumped in a truck, and off to the landfill. Some 51Js and 75As as well, as I recall. I felt bad about it then, and worse now.) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 9 Nov 1997 17:15:19 -0500 From: "Thomas A. Adams" <103360.2133@...> Subject: [R-390] Electronic assistance "Electronic Assistance Corp." is another name for Hammarlund. I have one of these myself. They're reputed to be the best of the R-390As around, even better than the ones with Collins nomenclature plates. Based on the performance of mine, I have no problem with that claim.