Mount Kilimanjaro (Photo: Chris Johnson)
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Chris Johnson, for sharing the following guest post:
Shortwave Recordings from Kilimanjaro
by Chris Johnson
Last month, I took a trip of a lifetime to Tanzania Africa to Climb Mount Kilimanjaro: Africa’s highest point and the world’s highest free standing mountain. It is also known as the “Rooftop of Africa” its summit stands at 19,341 feet or 5895 meters.
With this high elevation I figured that I could pick up a multitude of shortwave signals that I would normally not receive at lower altitudes. So I packed my Sony ICF- SW7600G to capture recordings of various signals, some common, others not so common.
Each night I unpacked my radio and extended the reel-wire antenna and scanned the bands. I came across an assortment of stations that I normally do not hear back home in the USA, but some were quite familiar such as the BBC, Radio Romania, and DW which had Africa as their target. In some cases their broadcast was targeted for Asia.
Below is a map of our trek along the Lemosho route and the camps where we stayed are listed with the recordings and the elevation (in meters) of each camp. The higher we climbed, the signals received were sometimes stronger but the surrounding mountains also limited the reception of others. I did find that the bands were congested with signals from stations that spoke Arabic, Swahili and Chinese, not surprising considering my location. For the purpose of this blog I only included the English speaking stations except for a few.
Unfortunately, the critical weight in our day packs was closely monitored and we could carry only the essentials on our climb from Barafu to the summit so I could not record at the summit of Uhuru Peak. Additionally, our time up there was limited to 15 minutes due to the lack of oxygen at that altitude. Below are selected recordings at each of the camps on the Lemosho route. Enjoy.
Click to enlarge
Mkubwa Camp Elevation 2650 meters 8 January 2017
Mkubwa Camp Elevation 2650 Meters BBC 7445 khz 1840Z 8 January 2017:
Shira Camp II Elevation 3850 meters 9 January 2017
Shira Camp II Elevation 3850 Meters SW Africa Radio League 4895 Khz 9 January 2017 1645z:
Shira Camp II Elevation 3850 Meters DW 9820 KHZ 1600z 9 January 2017:
Shira Camp II Elevation 3850 Meters 1 9 2017 1538z Channel Africa 9625 kHz:
Shira Camp II Elevation 3850 Meters All India Radio 13695 khz 1835z 9 January 2017:
Baranco Camp Elevation 3900 meters 10 January 2017
Baranco Camp NBC Zambia Radio 11 January 2017 5915 KHZ 0317z:
Baranco Camp 3900 Meters Voice Of Nigeria 7255 Khz 1 10 2017 1915z:
Karanga Camp Elevation 3995 meters 11 January 2017
Karanga Camp Elevation 3995 Meters All India Radio 13695 Khz 11 January 2017 1753 Z:
Karanga Camp 3995 Meters Voice Of Nigeria 7255 Khz 1812 GMT 11 January 2017:
Karanga Camp 3995 Meters Channel Africa 9625 Khz 11 January 2017 1735z:
Barafu Camp Elevation 4673 meters 12 January 2017
Barafu Camp 4673 Meters BBC Asia Target 7465 Khz 1429z:
Barafu Camp 4673 Meters All India Radio 13695 Khz 1 12 2017 1044 Z:
Barafu Camp 4673 Meters Radio Romania 15150 Khz 1210 Z:
Chris: thank you so much for taking the time to write up this guest post and share your excellent recordings and photos. Amazing!
Post readers: I don’t know about you, but I’m inspired and ready to pack my bags and do some shortwave travel!
One word: “wow”. Now thaaat is a Dx’Pedition! My back yard never seemed so lame until now 🙂
Thanks for taking the time to record & post your experience.
you have one of the best receiver made by sony the version G never fail and have a very good sensibility in all bands I have one like yours and I’m very happy with it,you pic a very strong signals from Kilimanjaro mountain
Now that’s what I call a shortwave Expedition!! Well done!! And many thanks for sharing these recordings!
What I’d want to know is what you’d be able to RX on the upper HF CB band and on various VHF / UHF bands on amateur radio, FM, and TV.
On shortwave pure height is not important – the signals come down from the sky. Two factors are most important: Low noise and and low elevation angles.
We could read here at Swling repeatedly about low-noise surroundings. We even read about directions blocked by hills or buildings. But SWLs seldom consider the elevation angle of their antennas. There is something called “grournd effect”: Electromagnetic fields are reflected at the ground with a 180° phase reversal.
Therefore waves coming from a very low elevation angle get extinguished at the antenna. This effect is less at vertical antennas. Horizontal antennas need more height than can be reached in portable environments. The gournd effect can easily attenuate signals from a 10° evaluation by 20 dB.
But if you erect your antenna at a long slope (several wavelengths long) you get some elevation relative to the slope and very little elevation against the horizon. Therefore the top of Kilimanjaro should have been a most interesting location 🙁