Tag Archives: Reach Beyond Australia

Reach Beyond Australia: Tom notes excellent reception and Jeff White interview

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, TomL, who writes:

Propagation is very good. Reach Beyond Australia is now picked up with regularity from my noisy Northern Illinois Condominium. I find it fascinating to hear the different 15-minute language programs, including indigenous music, in Hindi, Tamil, different Burmese dialects, etc. Of course, since it is a Christian broadcaster, the music and teachings are about Jesus as Lord. However, all of the programs are authentically created inside the target country and uploaded to the Western Australian computer server in order to be broadcast. Here is a link on archive.org where I spliced 2 mornings of (mostly) music:

Also, it just so happens this week that Jeff White, hosting the popular WaveScan radio program, interviewed the CEO of Reach Beyond Australia, Dale Stagg, who explains the origins and continued mission of Reach Beyond Global as a continuation of HCJB’s shortwave radio vision established in 1931.

Enjoy!
TomL

Thank you for sharing this, Tom!

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Radio World: “Australia Still Has Shortwave Voices”

(Source: Radio World via Michael Bird)

HANS JOHNSON ? APR 23, 2019

SYDNEY — Radio Australia shortwave services may be dead, but the medium is alive and well on the continent.

Reach Beyond Australia is on shortwave, but with its Christian programming largely in foreign languages, it really isn’t seen as representing Australia on the shortwaves. But there are other private Australian stations that are broadcasting and more are planned.

And while these stations are not a replacement for Radio Australia’s international transmissions or the defunct (for the moment) Australian Broadcasting Corp. domestic service, they do have various goals and share certain characteristics.[…]

4KZ is a shortwave relay of an Innisfail, Queensland, medium-wave station with the same call sign. It is part of the NQ Radio network. 4KZ plays a variety of music and is heavily involved in the community. The shortwave serves remote areas of north Queensland. “We are planning a 90-or 120-meter service for evenings local time, from station 4AM in Mareeba,” explained Al Kirton, NQ Radio’s general manager.

Unique Radio has been on three years and currently broadcasts from Gunnedah in New South Wales. Its owner, Tim Gaylor, has a background in community radio. “We like a station to inform people about alternative subject matters not currently on mainstream media,” he said. Unique Radio also plans to add a night frequency in the 90-meter band.

There are also future stations in the works from New South Wales.[…]

Click here to read the full article at Radio World.

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The Bonito Boni whip: proving to be excellent portable antenna for DXing

Hi there, if you’re a subscriber to the Oxford Shortwave Log YouTube channel, you will be aware that I have been using a Wellbrook ALA1530 H field antenna, for 15 months or so, with (at times) excellent results. A while back I was on the lookout for a second antenna, however at more than £250, I couldn’t justify purchasing a second Wellbrook. Ultimately I splashed out on the Bonito Boni whip E-field wideband active antenna (20 kHz to 300 MHz) and with a very compact form-factor suitable for DXpeditions/portable operation in general, the Boni whip definitely ticked all the boxes. Furthermore, with reasonable second and third order intercept points of +55 and +32.5 dBm respectively, the Boni whip, on paper at least, looked like a pretty good buy at around £100.

 

Initial testing at home confirmed, perhaps not surprisingly that the Boni whip could not match the SNR provided by the Wellbrook ALA1530 in a noisy, urban environment. However, less predictably, the Boni whip has proven to be a truly excellent antenna away from the ubiquitous blanket of ‘electrosmog’ at my QTH. Furthermore, it really is so compact, I simply leave it in the car in a small flight case, with a portable and connectors etc. for ad-hoc listening sessions. Since returning from my most recent trip to Brazil, I have had a chance to review my most recent catches with the Boni whip, some of which are realy pleasing and most definitely underline the excellent performance of this diminutive antenna. In particular, signals from Radio RB2  on 11935 kHz and Radio Aparecida on 11855 kHz, both low power Brazilian stations, are testament to how sensitive the Boni whip is in an electrically quiet environment. Check out also the quality of longwave signals from Poland and the  Czech Republic – simply amazing for such a physically short antenna. Finally, there’s a personal first from Lusaka, Zambia, Voice of Hope Africa on 13680 kHz. All the more rewarding that this was actually copied in my work office!

I hope you found this article interesting. There are embedded reception videos below and text links for all, which will take you directly to the relevant video on the Oxford Shortwave Log YouTube channel. Thank you for reading/watching/listening and I wish you all excellent DX!


 

Click here to watch on YouTube

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Click here to watch on YouTube

Click here to watch on YouTube

Click here to watch on YouTube

Click here to watch on YouTube

Click here to watch on YouTube

 

Clint Gouveia is the author of this post and a regular contributor to the SWLing Post. Clint actively publishes videos of his shortwave radio excursions on his YouTube channel: Oxford Shortwave Log. Clint is based in Oxfordshire, England.

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