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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Peter Wilson, who shares the following guest post and recordings from his listening post in Botswana:
Peter’s receiver is a Airspy HF+ Discovery SDR using SDR Console V3
MWDX from Australia and the USA received in Botswana
by Peter Wilson
Hello Thomas.
I moved my 16.2 metre random wire slightly farther away from the house, and installed a binocular balun and connected 20m of RG58 at the far end, not the “house end”.
Peter’s random wire antenna with binocular balun
Reception examples:
1500 USA WFED Washington DC 12790km
1152 AUS 6PB
ABC NewsRadio Busselton 8469km with ABC News ID
1600 B Radio Nove de Julho ID 7234km
Sao Paulo. Brazil. ID,
Web Address and jingle. Rinsed and repeated.
Portuguese: Radio Nove de Julho [English: Radio 9th July]
1026 kHz MOZ Emissor Provincial de Manica Chimoio 1057km.
A bit parochial but features the radio Mozambique song.
850 USA WTAR Norfolk, Virginia Fox Sports Radio ID 12700km
1296 6RN ABC Radio National. Wagin, Australia 10kW 8644km
558 AUS 6WA ABC Great Southern WA Wagin 8644km
Impressive reception from your home in Botswana! Thank you so much for sharing these recordings, Peter. You’ve certainly made the most of your random wire antenna!
I have spent the last two months in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria adjacent to the Atlantic Ocean.
I travelled light and didn’t bring my radio/SDR collection with me.
A portable I saw in a local department store caught ny eye, and I ended up buying one from a local electronics retailer which had it on special at €55. It is a Sony ICF-M780SL which as turned out, is something rather special. It is a four band (LW, MW, SW,FM) DSP receiver, with an AM IF (LW, MW,SW) of 45 kHz and an FM IF of 128 kHz.
There’s too much hash in my apartment block to use it at home, but as I am a couple of streets away from the Ocean I intended to use it there.
Problem is there almost as much RF hash at the oceanside as at home. Also the Atlantic breakers crash loudly on the shore, and the wind can howl quite loudly. I did have some limited success and have included a couple of clips.
I discovered a better DX location at a small Plaza a short distance inland from the Ocean. There is an early morning peak for MW TA leading up to about 07:30 UTC (= local time)
The radio is used barefoot in each clip. There is some camera hash.
The Sony ICF-M780SL is a great MW/LW/FM performer. SW propagation has been mediocre and suffers from the RF hash QRN, so difficult to test.
Amazing, Peter! It’s hard for me to believe the reception you had of WFED (Federal News Radio). I listen to that station every time I go through the DC/Baltimore area and I think your reception is just as good. A TA crossing of almost 5,000 km with armchair copy! Quite an accomplishment!
Thank you for sharing your Gran Canaria DX with us. I’m pretty impressed with the Sony ICF-M780SL as well.
