Tag Archives: DX

Guest Post: Brazil’s newly-formed “15.61 Crew”

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Martin Butera, who shares the following announcement for a new radio enthusiast group in Brazil:

The new 15 point 61 Crew

São Paulo is the largest city in Brazil, the Americas, and the seventh largest in the world, with a population of 11,300,000.

This was the stage for the meeting between Ivan Dias da Silva Junior (a recognized Brazilian radio listener with more than 27 years of experience and founder of the Regional DX) and his colleague, Martin Butera (a renowned amateur radio operator (LU9EFO – PT2ZDX), with 29 years of experience and currently a correspondent journalist for the British Dx Club, covering information from South America for the radio newsletter “Communication”).

The place of the meeting was not an accidental: we met in a noted coffee bar in the Republic Square–an iconic meeting point in São Paulo. Republic Square is located in the city center and is one of the most visited places in Brazil.

We founded the 15 point 61 Crew in São Paulo, on September 3, 2019.

The 15 point 61 Crew is not a DX club, nor a formal registered organization. We are just an informal group who like DXing.

What is the meaning behind our name? The number 15 is the dialing code of Sorocaba and 61 is the Brasília code, joining the two cities where the Crew founders are based–a distance of more than 900 km (Brazil is a huge country!).

The 15.61 Crew doesn’t have political or religious objectives. Our main objective is DXing, with an emphasis on organizing related activities: mainly DXcamps to be held in distant and exotic places, and bringing a new panorama of what is shared about DXing in our country.

We don’t have any kind of administration positions. The 15.61 Crew members are and always will be in equals.

To be a member of 15.61 Crew you just need to be active in our hobby, share information, write items, go with us to DXcamps, develop technical projects, etc.

As we aren’t a DXing club or organization, we will not have a website nor social media. We will share micro-books, especially about our activities through existing media, like the SWLing Post by our friend, Thomas Witherspoon, and by ourselves, because at the moment we are members of other radio related bulletin boards.

Our communication will be through an email address and a Paypal account for those who want to help us to continue developing our activities and also provide feedback on other projects (such as sharing content with other websites, thus creating a virtual collaboration for all).

For this purpose, we are currently developing several projects, such as a 15.61 Crew certificate program and different materials, such as caps, shirts, mugs, etc.

The 15.61 Crew members believe that there are so much things to be heard in the ether and we are prepared for it.

Ivan Dias da Silva Junior & Martin Butera

(15.61 Crew founders)

São Paulo, September 3, 2019

Thank you for sharing this Martin! I hope the 15.61 Crew enjoys some great success and champions a dynamic DX community! If you’re interested in joining this South American crew, contact Martin Butera.

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AirSpy HF+ Discovery: First Impressions on Medium Wave vs. Elad FDM-DUOr

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The highly anticipated AirSpy HF+ Discovery SDR has been in the hands of early adopters for about two weeks–and I’ve seen nothing but positive comments!

After a long run (2007-2013) with a Microtelecom Perseus, my SDR of choice became the Elad FDM-S2, and more recently an Elad FDM-DUOr “hybrid” SDR receiver. The two Elads have the same core processing components and identical performance when the DUOr is connected via SDR software.

This week I’ve compared the HF+ Discovery ($169) against the FDM-DUOr ($899) using Studio 1 software and identical modes & settings. The following video features the radios’ performance on a crowded daytime medium wave band from suburban Seattle-Tacoma USA.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkQQeF2edCU

Click here to view on YouTube.

Notes:

Software used is two “instances” of Studio 1, version 1.06e
Antenna is an east-west oriented Wellbrook ALA1530LNP Imperium loop
Mode, filter bandwidth, AGC, etc. are the same for each radio
768 kHz sampling bandwidth used for both receivers

Stations tuned are:

1320 KXRO Aberdeen WA, 74 miles @ 5 kW (in-line with antenna)
1110 Oak Harbor WA, 78 miles @ 500 watts (in antenna’s null)
1040 CKST Vancouver BC, 147 miles @ 50 kW (in antenna’s null)
1430 KBRC Mt. Vernon WA, 85 miles @ 5 kW (in antenna’s null)
750 KXTG Portland OR, 118 miles @ 50 kW (in antenna’s null)

I purposely sought out signals difficult to hear in the presence of powerhouse stations. Only 1320 kXRO (in-line with my antenna) and 750 KXTG are what you might consider average or fair quality signals. Headphones are recommended for most of these, particularly 1040 kHz.

You’ll note that the pass band has been “pulled” over the edge of the carrier frequency by a few hundred Hertz. This is an excellent trick that can often reduce noise and/or improve intelligibility. It’s a feature unique to Perseus, Studio 1, and SDRuno software; it works in sideband modes and in selectable sideband Sync AM (SAM) mode.

After listening to the signal comparisons, what are your thoughts on the HF+ Discovery? Please leave your comments below.

Guy Atkins is a Sr. Graphic Designer for T-Mobile and lives near Seattle, Washington. He’s a regular contributor to the SWLing Post.

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Free Advice: Stop worrying about solar minimums and just play radio!

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Lately we’ve been getting some pretty dismal news about the upcoming solar cycles and the potential for a pretty dismal trend according to some researchers.

We report this news on the SWLing Post because the sun and space weather play an important role in radio signal propagation and one’s ability to snag elusive DX.

After publishing news items like this, though, I always receive a number of emails and comments stating that these trends surely marks the end of all radio fun. After all, if there are no sun spots whatsoever, why bother!?!

Truth is, it’s sort of like saying, “the weather looks lousy, I don’t think I’ll be able to have fun.”

I lived in the UK for several years. If I let the potential for lousy weather stop me from having fun, I’d have never gotten anything done!

The same goes for space weather in our radio world.

A couple weeks ago, I made a Parks On The Air (POTA) activation running 15 watts with the Elecraft KX3 into a simple 20 meter vertical in SSB mode. Even though propagation was poor, I logged a new contact, on average, once per minute over the course of 30 minutes! It was non-stop!

The GE 7-2990A (left) and Panasonic RF-B65 (right)

I also listened to the Midwinter Broadcast to Antarctica with two portable radios. Propagation was poor and I didn’t even use an external antenna…but I caught the broadcast and had a load of fun hanging out on the Blue Ridge Parkway!

My advice?

As I said in a post last year, use the sunspot low as an excuse to explore frequencies and modes you’ve never used before. Use this as an opportunity to improve your listening skills and the most important part of your listening post or ham station–your antenna system!

I often receive email from people who’ve found the SWLing Post and take the time to write a message to me complaining about the death of shortwave radio: the lack of broadcasters, the prevalence of radio interference and the crummy propagation. They wonder, “is it all worth it?”

My reply?

“Hey…sounds like radio’s not your thing!”

While this same person is moaning and complaining, I’ll be on the radio logging South American, Asian and African broadcast stations.

I’ll be working DX with QRP power, even though everyone tells me that’s not possible right now.

I’ll be improving my skill set and trying new aspects of our vast radio world.

You see: I’ve learned that the complainers aren’t actually on the air. They gave up many moons ago because someone told them it wasn’t worth it, or they simply lost interest. That’s okay…seriously…but why waste time complaining? Go find something else that lights your fire!

While these folks are complaining, I’ll be on the air doing all of the things they tell me I can’t do.

In the words of Admiral David Farragut: “Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!”

Go out there and play radio!

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Top 10 DX Of The Year Contest Results!

“Radio on the Edges”: Robert’s lifelong pursuit

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(Photo source: All Things Radio by Robert Gulley)

SWLing Post contributor, Robert Gulley (AK3Q), recently published a post on his blog discussing the edges of radio reception and his pursuit of DX in all forms. I think this article speaks to many of us.

(Source: All Things Radio by Robert Gulley)

Radio on the Edges can mean a number of different things, depending on one’s perspective. For me, at the moment, it means distance. It means reaching the edges of where a signal can go.

One of the more intriguing aspects of radio is just how far a signal will travel. I have been a DX chaser for years, starting with AM Broadcast signals when I was a kid. The further the station, the cooler the signal in those days.

Then of course there was Shortwave radio. Now that was cool! That was real DX! Hearing countries from around the world was just the best! Well, that it, the best until I became an amateur radio operator and could send signals around the world! Whoo-Hoo! Hot Dog! Oh yeah, baby!!

Still to do on my DX list is to bounce a signal off the moon. Technically my signals have already gone into space, to the ISS and to orbiting satellites. But the moon so far has eluded me. Well at least, confirmation of bouncing off the moon back to myself or to another amateur has so far eluded me.

But Radio on the Edges also means a different kind of DX.[…]

Click here to continue reading on Robert’s excellent site, All Things Radio.

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Ultra-Rare DX: Logging Radio Kahuzi in the DRC

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dan Robinson, who shares the following guest post:

In these days of declining activity on the shortwave bands, we don’t often enjoy the experience of hearing what we might still call “rare” stations. The new year brought an exception.

On January 1st, 2019 I was tuning around the 48 meter band, which is largely populated by European pirate stations, utilities, and weather stations, when I heard a station on 6,210.20 khz. It was very distinct in that it sounded like an African station — music, with a male DJ/MC and religious songs.

What immediately came to mind was the religious station calling itself Radio Kahuzi, which is in Bukavu, Democratic Republic of Congo.

The station has been heard by DX’ers in a number of countries since the mid-2000’s and because it’s management is based in the U.S. it is possible to obtain a QSL verification.

Radio Kahuzi also has Twitter and Facebook channels, making it easier to communicate with station managers and staff, and has this blog site: http://radiokahuzi.blogspot.com/

As a You Tube video shows the station has been on the air since the early 1990s:

Click here to view on YouTube.

On January 1st, RK was heard from about 1730 to 1747 UTC when it shut down, playing what Richard McDonald, one of the station’s founders, says were musical pieces that are specific to RK.

On January 2nd, 2019 the station was heard again via Europe-based SDRs, signing off at approximately 1811 UTC.

Here is McDonald’s response to my report (which included an mp3) from January 1st, in which he notes that he even went so far as to give the main station announcer, Gregoire, my name and asked him to mention me in the station’s broadcast:

“I just shared with Gregoire that you had sent a recording of the last minutes of his closing musical sign-off if Radio Kahuzi and he agreed to greet you by name this evening and several days in several languages including English.

You got him saying his name at 5:54 into your recording yesterday,and the ID sign off Mountain Blue-Grass Music was unique to Best Radio Kahuzi in Bukavu!

Barbara Smith will be happy to send the QSL Card and info about us and our National Director and his family situation in case you have any suggestions

Powering off here! Our power cuts off with SNEL often — I just lost a longer reply to you !
But Keep Looking UP ! And Keep On Keeping ON !

Richard & Kathy McDonald”

By the way, according to Wikipedia, SNEL stands for Société nationale d’électricité “the national electricity company of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Its head office building is located in the district of La Gombe in the capital city, Kinshasa. SNEL operates the Inga Dam facility on the Congo River, and also operates thermal power plants.”

A very interesting page containing the history of Radio Kahuzi, with information about the McDonalds, is at: http://www.besi.org/

As of the time of this writing, it’s unclear to me whether the extended broadcast times of Radio Kahuzi will be continued or if this was a one shot deal linked to the new year — we may have some clarification on this in coming days.

Here’s a video of my January 1st, 2019 reception of Radio Kahuzi:

Click here to view on YouTube.

For now, I am quite pleased to join the group of about 63 DX’ers around the world (that number comes from a link on the RK website called “Shortwave Listeners” that lists SWLs who have heard and contacted the station).

Though it is highly unlikely that Radio Kahuzi will be heard anytime soon in the United States (the station’s schedules shows it being active from 8 AM to 8 PM Bukavu time) at least using U.S.-based radios, whether SDR or traditional receivers, it’s nice to know that there is still a station out there (with 800 watts!) that is a real DX target!

Wow! What a fantastic catch, Dan! Thank you for sharing your catch and, especially, shedding light on this rare DX.

Post Readers: Please comment if you’ve logged and/or confirmed Radio Kahuzi.

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Top DX Radio Club’s SWDX December contest

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, John C, who writes:

I wanted to inform your readers and you of a really cool SWDX contest that’s free of charge and lasts throughout the month of December.

The attached website has all the contest rules. I participated last year and enjoyed it very much. They sent a really nice certificate suitable for framing for participating. Hopefully you will post this info on SWLing and maybe some SWDXers will participate. Thanks so much in advance, and 73!

http://www.topdx-radioclub.com/top10dx.html