New Solar Research Yukon's CKRW Is 50 Uganda
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December 2019 Volume 65 No. 7 . New solar research . Yukon’s CKRW is 50 . Uganda: African monitor . Cape Greco goes silent . Radio art sells for $52m . Overseas Russian radio . Oban, Sheigra DXpeditions Hon. President* Bernard Brown, 130 Ashland Road West, Sutton-in-Ashfield, Notts. NG17 2HS Secretary* Herman Boel, Papeveld 3, B-9320 Erembodegem (Aalst), Vlaanderen (Belgium) +32-476-524258 [email protected] Treasurer* Martin Hall, Glackin, 199 Clashmore, Lochinver, Lairg, Sutherland IV27 4JQ 01571-855360 [email protected] MWN General Steve Whitt, Landsvale, High Catton, Yorkshire YO41 1EH Editor* 01759-373704 [email protected] (editorial & stop press news) Membership Paul Crankshaw, 3 North Neuk, Troon, Ayrshire KA10 6TT Secretary 01292-316008 [email protected] (all changes of name or address) MWN Despatch Peter Wells, 9 Hadlow Way, Lancing, Sussex BN15 9DE 01903 851517 [email protected] (printing/ despatch enquiries) Publisher VACANCY [email protected] (all orders for club publications & CDs) MWN Contributing Editors (* = MWC Officer; all addresses are UK unless indicated) DX Loggings Martin Hall, Glackin, 199 Clashmore, Lochinver, Lairg, Sutherland IV27 4JQ 01571-855360 [email protected] Mailbag Herman Boel, Papeveld 3, B-9320 Erembodegem (Aalst), Vlaanderen (Belgium) +32-476-524258 [email protected] Home Front John Williams, 100 Gravel Lane, Hemel Hempstead, Herts HP1 1SB 01442-408567 [email protected] Eurolog John Williams, 100 Gravel Lane, Hemel Hempstead, Herts HP1 1SB World News Ton Timmerman, H. Heijermanspln 10, 2024 JJ Haarlem, The Netherlands [email protected] Beacons/Utility Desk VACANCY [email protected] Central American Tore Larsson, Frejagatan 14A, SE-521 43 Falköping, Sweden Desk +-46-515-13702 fax: 00-46-515-723519 [email protected] S. American Desk Tore B Vik, Post Box 88, NO-1851 Mysen, Norway +-47-69891192 [email protected] N. American Desk Andrew Brade, Sand Gap, Bursea, Holme-on-Spalding Moor York YO43 4DF [email protected] Verifications Friedhelm Wittlieb, Kreuzstraße 4, 44532 Lünen, Germany [email protected] KEEP IN TOUCH Facebook http://www.facebook.com/groups/mediumwavecircle/ Internet: MWC Web site http://www.mwcircle.org e-mail news service: http://www.mwcircle.org/member_e-news.htm Webmaster [email protected] STOP PRESS: This month we have a special bumper edition for Christmas! But we had more than we could include due to extra postage costs for a heavier magazine. So the print edition is (only!) 68 pages and the e-MWN pdf version is 76 pages because it includes a supplement feature on the 40th year of Sheigra DX-peditions. LATE NEWS Venezuela: two long silent stations have return to the air – see South American News UK; BBC local/regional stations will be carrying special overnight programmes starting 2200utc 12th December. The earliest results will start to appear around 0200utc on 13th and local programming will be available through the night instead of nationally networked programmes. Stop Press Deadlines: 1st January for January 2020 30th January for February 2020 Cover illustration: This month we feature a piece of musical theatre/literature for Christmas Medium Wave News is published 10 times a year by the Medium Wave Circle © 2019 EDITORIAL Landsvale, High Catton, Yorkshire YO41 1EH with Steve Whitt e-mail: [email protected] +44-1759-373704 I am writing this with several weeks to go before the Christmas holidays, and even before the latest consumer fest to invade the UK shores (I’m speaking of Black Friday). It may seem that 2019 is another year in the decline of medium wave broadcasting but it is interesting to note that new stations are still appearing; for example the new Silk Road project from TWR, and right now a new transmitter is opening up in Algeria. Over the last solar cycle the complexion of the MW band has changed significantly in Europe, with the loss of many of the highest power stations all across central Europe and Scandinavia. This is obviously not great news for DXers outside Europe looking for European catches. But it has opened up many frequencies for European DXers to explore in detail. This combined with the latest technology and a quiet Sun continues to provide some excellent DX reception in the UK and Europe. Long may it continue – the latest solar research suggests that it might (see page 11). Trip down memory lane Amongst the hordes of videos of cats, epic fails and videos by influencers one can find some interesting gems on Youtube. One such tells the story of the BBC transmitter development at Droitwich in the Midlands. https://youtu.be/7hr4xwpZYJ0 No high visibility jackets or hard hats in those days! Another is an interesting tour of KFI 640 in California hosted by two generations of engineers. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qnvmf8mPUW8 The US government still sees the long term value of MW as an emergency communications medium – though what happens if nobody knows how to tune a MW radio dial? Interesting reading Mark Durenberger advises that the 2019 Seattle DX "Papers" and slides are now uploaded to: http://durenberger.com/convention-papers/ (scroll down to lower half of page and you will see audio and Powerpoint presentations from the IRCA Convention. You’ll find features such as DXing in Japan, Rockworks Greatest Hits, Innovative Ferrite Antennas and much more. Have you ever wondered how to build a transmitter than can produce FM, AM, SSB, SSTV and FSQ at any frequency from 130kHz to 750MHz. And all for 50 quid? Then check out this interesting article; https://www.rtl-sdr.com/transmitting-fm-am-ssb-sstv-and-fsq-with-just-a- raspberry-pi/ US/Canadian radiation patterns Anyone interested in listening to obscure signals from North America will be aware that many (most?) use sophisticated antennas to radiate their signals as effectively as possible in selected directions whilst minimising unwanted signal in directions where interference might be caused. For some years now William Scott has been producing his online resource US-CA Pattern Reference. This synthesises radiation patterns for daytime/night-time and critical hours using transmitter/antenna parameters published by the FCC and Industry Canada. There is a fully scalable map for each MW channel showing “all” stations overlaid on Google maps. The 2019 version is downloaded from https://radio-timetraveller.blogspot.com/ but it is a big 52MByte file. Medium Wave News 65/07 3 December 2019 Example of a plot: 700kHz daytime coverage showing two coverage contours around each transmitter; 1mV/m and 0.1mV/m I noticed that the 2019 version omits station in Newfoundland. Bill advises me that is working hard on the 2020 update, writing, “The Newfoundland and Nova Scotia stations have been missing from day one due to a bug in my extraction software which extracts technical info off the Industry Canada .dbf database. That has been fixed just a month or so ago. I've also now incorporated all of Canada's low power stations, mostly 40 watters.” “My plan is to make another pattern map run after the Christmas holidays, sometime in January, with all the latest data of course. It's a time consuming process which takes quite a bit of pre- process preparation. The actual run time is approximately 10-12 hours of computer time.” “Last summer and fall were dedicated to enhancing both the groundwave and skywave calculations, trying for a little better accuracy.” New updated software for DXers DXtreme Software™ has released a new version of its popular logging program for radio monitoring enthusiasts - DXtreme Monitor Log 12 - which lets listeners and DXers log the stations they’ve heard using features that enhance their monitoring experiences. You can find full details of this powerful and comprehensive piece software here: https://www.dxtreme.com/prods_ml.htm where it can be purchased online. Some of its main features are: Finding Broadcast Stations to Monitor using schedules & databases Finding Amateur Radio Stations to Monitor; Monitor Log 12 integrates with optional Afreet Band Master to let users see, on its graphical interface, where hams are operating. Logging Stations: Monitor Log 12 lets users log all kinds of stations - radio, television, broadcast,Amateur Radio, utility, military, and more! And it lets users log stations across the radio spectrum - from long wave, to medium wave, to short wave, and beyond. Medium Wave News 65/07 4 December 2019 Reporting Reception: Users can create customized paper and e-mail reception reports for sending to stations plus club report entries for reporting catches to clubs and magazines and social media. Users can also print SWL and Address labels on industry-standard label stock, and send eQSL requests to hams automatically via the popular https://www.eqsl.cc site. Imaging: Improv Imaging lets users associate ad hoc images with log entries using Capture, Scan, and Clipboard functions. Captures of stations received on digital applications, waterfall displays, facsimile and Amateur TV pictures are popular. QSL Imaging facility functions the same as Improv Imaging for associating QSLs. Rig Control; Retrieves the frequency and mode from supported radios and permits tuning from the Schedule Checker and Direct Tune interface. Rig control is provided through integration with Afreet Omni-Rig and SDR applications like HDSDR, SDR Console, and SDRuno. Audio Archiving - Lets users maintain an audio archive of stations heard. Phew! That’s a lot in one box. Help needed Roger Bunney writes seeking assistance, “I have obtained an Icom R71e and wonder if there are any reprints about this receiver as it was once favoured as a DXing weapon. If reprints are still around I'd be pleased to pay for a copy of them to gain a little background of this receiver. The receiver was from an e-bay source which from experience one takes a chance.