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My long time friend Ken (VE3HLS) has been retired and living in northern Thailand for several years now. He continues to enjoy his radio hobby from that location, and recently sent me a recording he made of the Voice of Indonesia on 4755 kHz:
He states:
“It’s not a vintage recording from back in the 70s. It’s from last night! I was tuning around and found the Voice of Indonesia booming in on 4755 kHz in English, no less!”
It reminded me of the good old days so I thought I would pass it along to share with the group.
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, David Iurescia, who shares the following announcement from the Voice of Indonesia:
Voice of Indonesia, the Overseas Service of Radio Republik Indonesia (VOI RRI) will carry out an adjustment on our shortwave frequency starting Monday, 13 May 2024 at 00:00 UTC.
We are moving from 4750 KHz into 4755 KHz. Meanwhile our 3325 KHz will continue as usual.
We are asking for your understanding. Please send your feedback to our email address [email protected], websites voinews.id & rri.co.id, and our social media accounts.
Hi there, a few days ago I posted some reception videos comparing the performance of the Boni whip with a 30 metre longwire antenna at home, with a further check against the performance of the H field Wellbrook ALA1530 active loop. The conclusion of those tests was essentially confirmation that E field antennas don’t usually perform very well under a blanket of ‘electrosmog’ and that only on Longwave, did the Boni whip prevailed over the longwire; otherwise there was no usable difference in performance between the two.
Sony ICF-SW55 receiver ‘Quiet’ location for Boni whip test
This prompted a number of my subscribers to ask when I would be taking the Boni whip on a DXpedition for an outdoor test against the Wellbrook and either a substantial longwire, or the 200 metre Beverage. Time is limited right now for a full test, however, I managed to throw together a kit of parts necessary to run a quick set of comparison tests with the whip, against the barbed wire fence I use for ad hoc DXing when out walking the dog! Over a period of an hour or so, I managed to copy a few stations on 31 and 49 metres and thus recorded signals using the Sony ICF-SW55 receiver with the Boni whip and barbed wire fence. Now previously, I have used that fence as an antenna for the excellent little Tecsun PL-310ET, with some nice results. However, after this series of tests, my views on the fence have changed a little. Obviously it might be somewhat directional and earthed along it’s length, neither of which I’ve checked, however, notwithstanding these performance-related factors, the performance of the whip which at home had been terrible, surprised me greatly. Text links to a set-up video and the reception videos on my Oxford Shortwave Log YouTube channel follow directly below, with embedded videos at the end of the post.
Finally, if you’re looking for a well performing, compact and portable active antenna for outdoor use in quiet environments and of course, DXpeditions, I would definitely recommend the Boni whip. Just bear in mind that the SNR it delivers at home might not be usable for anything more than casual listening.
Thanks for watching/listening/reading and I wish you all great DX!
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.
For your listening pleasure: one hour of the Voice of Indonesia’s French language service. This broadcast was recorded in Europe on February 5, 2014 by Shortwave Radio Audio Archive contributor, Frank, around 20:00 UTC on 9,526 kHz.
Frank was using his Kenwood R-5000 and Wellbrook ALA 1530+ antenna.
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dan Greenall, who writes:
