ADXR Volume-38-No-552 October 2020
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Volume 38 – No. 552 OCTOBER 2020 When ADXR last rolled out of the press in 1990, DXing was different. There was no internet. We had to eagerly wait for the DX program like DX Jukebox (later renamed Media Network) from Radio Nederland and other DX program to copy down the tips for DX hunting. Once in a week we would get the sunspot numbers. DX magazine like our ADXR reached people by post. Digital Frequency Readout receivers were already there but they were beyond the reach of the average listener. One couldn't buy radio receivers from the internet and imports were was prohibitively priced. We would ogle at the reviews of YASEU FRG 7. The bands were very much full of broadcast signals and international shortwave broadcaster like BBC, VOA, Radio Moscow and DW were the power houses besides other national and the missionary broadcasts. There were a few clandestine stations too like Mujahedeen e Khalq or station from South Sudan. Manmade radio noise was much less because incandescent lamps were the mainstay and CFL had not yet arrived. There were no mobile phones, no mobile phone towers. During sunspot lows the medium waves were full of Japanese regionals on lucky days. The tropical bands were all full of Indonesians in the evening, Africans appeared late evening and night and then the Latins in the early Indian morning. The discerning DXer then logged exotic stations like Cook Island with his two band BUSH which Pradip Kundu did. Antenna was a piece of copper wire. The reception reports were still sent by mail and often with IRCs to facilitate a qsl card. QSL card arrived by post, often with pennant and other goodies like exciting stamps. DXers met in persons over small group gathering, through the land line and through the bulletins. Then there was a hiatus of thirty years during which period DXers did go on listening, QSLing, face to face meeting, DXpeds and communicating through land phones .The couple of exciting DXpeditions along Bay of Bengal did keep us enthused about DXing. Then came the internet. It developed slowly but steadily and changed the very face of DXing. DXing was gently turned upside down. ADXR 1 OCTOBER 2020 Where are we today? As internet grew, it took a toll on radio broadcasting especially in the shortwave. As you could get instant news online and listen to a distant station through live streaming. SW stations began to close down. DW is an example. It ran it's Trincomalee relay station through the thick of the Tamil Elaam movement and beamed in excellent signals to the Africa, Far East, South Asia, but closed down it's own services in 2015 handed it back to SLBC who now rent out air time from there. The power guzzling shortwave transmitters were poor second to FM and internet and began to close down. Today the national broadcasters have SW broadcasting mainly focused to the African continent. The void was taken up somewhat by the missionaries and it isn't uncommon to find TWR and AWR broadcasting from relay stations of National broadcasters around the world. MW however, still remains relevant to cover thinly spread communities over great distances and long wave in Algeria. Mongolia and Romania survives for the same reason. As there was an explosion of household electronic devices, the menace of manmade RFI took on an ugly proportion. To receive the simple BBC blaring to India from relay stations in Singapore and Thailand one would need good receiver and an antenna and the shortwave signal would have to rise above the RFI. With rise of internet and global trade, DXers in India, just like rest of the world could get the state of the art radio receivers, sometimes delivered right to their doorsteps. As the number of DXers dwindled, the manufacturers like ICOM and ALINCO stopped making lower end receivers like R75 and DX R8T.In the meantime the entry of Software Defined Radios (SDR) was a revolution. From the lower priced RTL dongle to the Perseus, suddenly PC or Laptop matched the performance of the best communication receiver. You did not need to stay up late to scan the band for that Vietnamese regional because your SDR would switch on, scan the entire band ready for you to listen at your pleasure!! QSLing took a different dimension altogether with eQSL, now the rule. Babul Gupta’s eQSL of LRA36 in Antarctica was big sensation in the Indian media and for the hobby brought in a good number of new hobbyists. The sunspot played a spoiler too. The prolonged sunspot low of solar cycle 24 pushed the shortwave bands out of function for some time but MW DXers could relish distant catches. The shortwave broadcasts in the tropical bands were almost gone. Bulletins of the past were replaced by Facebook and Whatsapp groups which could communicate instantly. Then there are personal and group blogs and the flagship DX clubs kept up their presence online like the Australian Radio DX Club. Glen Hauser with regular monitoring posts and the standing tall WRTH have also kept DXing alive. S. Aoki's exhaustive frequency list would give you the latest radio frequency reference you wanted just as MW list would. On the broadcasting side DRM is the new kid on the block and many broadcasters now have DRM simulcast. The standalone DRM receivers have had their own hardware issues but the SDR fills the gap. However, this mode is yet to catch up. So where is the newcomer DXer of 2020? He would start off with a TECSUN PL660 or XHDATA D-808 digital portable or a AIRSPY SDR and have direct access to the frequencies across the band. A simple wire antenna is a must making sure it doesn't overload the front end. He would start off by looking up attractive frequencies from social media or blogs. Philippines, KNLS via Madagascar, Romania could be good starters. Then probing around with foreign language broadcasts. Next comes the e QSL and probably a try at a hard copy reception report. Finally accessing the propagation programs and trying out the band opening and closing. Then actively joining the social media groups. There we have another active member to our hobby. Where does ADXR digital fit in? It now comes with our own flavor of DX reporting, our small contribution to keep ADXR 2 OCTOBER 2020 the spirit of DXing alive and to give you a feel of the man between the radios and the signals. We are here to give a life to those frequency lists and schedules and encourage others to speak. Our aim is to keep DX alive and speaking. Dr. Supratik Sanatani – VU2IFB __________________________________________________________________________________ Indian DX Club International (IDXCI) is an informal association of DXers mainly from India. Head Quartered in Kolkata, India, the Club brings out the “Asian DX Review” DX bulletin which is presently an online publication and is distributed free. It has also been active in organizing DXpeditions and promoting the hobby of radio DXing in general. Facebook: facebook.com/groups/idxcintl Email: [email protected] ADXR 3 OCTOBER 2020 Glad to hear that IDXCI is coming back with an accessible publication, after having migrated to a restricted Facebook group. Some of us prefer not to participate in disgraced FB at all. 73, Glenn Hauser, World of Radio It is great to hear that the Indian DX Club International is resuming the publication of its excellent Asian DX Review after 30 years! This shows that even after all this time, DXing and shortwave listening are still very much alive in your part of the world. We know this also from the number of reception reports we receive from South Asia for WRMI, even though this area is not in our primary target zones. And of course we receive a tremendous amount of response from South Asia to our DX program Wavescan, which is a joint production of Adventist World Radio together with WRMI, KVOH and WWCR. Our best wishes go to the IDXCI for a successful resumption of the Asian DX Review, and we wish you another 30 years or more of good DXing! Jeff White, General Manager WRMI Radio Miami International 10400 NW 240th Street Okeechobee, Florida 34972 USA Congratulations on the reviving of the Asian DX Review publications by Indian DX Club International, Kolkata after 30 years. We believe the publication will enhance the DX activities in whole Asia and promote the friendship in World Radio communities. We hope this on line DX information will provide excitement and joy of listening to radio stations in the world. Toshimichi Ohtake, Secretary – Japan Short Wave Club, Kamakura, Japan. I had a wonderful association with IDXCI 40 years ago as a BC DXer. I still cherish memories of that time. I support the initiative to restart the IDXCI and its bulletin. Abie Alexander, Shillong, VU2ABF/VU2ABE/AB1F ADXR 4 OCTOBER 2020 The hobby of Short Wave Listening (SWLing) is as famous and educative as the hobbies of Stamp Collecting and Numismatics. Here the investment is not there, if you have a family domestic radio set. Whatever may be your radio set, a low priced one or a very expensive set,both get the same radio station from far off lands. The expensive set receives it very clearly, whereas the low priced cheap radio set, gets the far away station mixed with the other stations on the higher and lower sides of the far off station, as shown on the dial of the radio. In your spare time you can start listening to radio stations like BBC, VOA, Radio Australia, etc., on the short wave.