From the isle of Music & Uncle Bill's Melting Pot schedules

From the Isle of Music, July 1-7:

This week, our special guests are Chuchito Valdés and Juan Poch. We will discuss (and listen to) their newest album along with some excellent music by Orquesta Ritmicos de Palma, Orquesta Típica Juventud & Orquesta Hermanos Avilés.

1. For Eastern Europe but audible well beyond the target area in most of the Eastern Hemisphere (including parts of East Asia and Oceania) with 100Kw, Sunday 1500-1600 UTC on SpaceLine, 9400 KHz, from Kostinbrod, Bulgaria (1800-1900 MSK)

2. For the Americas and parts of Europe, Tuesday 0000-0100 UTC on WBCQ, 7490 KHz from Monticello, ME, USA (Monday 8-9PM EST in the US). This has been audible in parts of NW, Central and Southern Europe with an excellent skip to Italy recently.

3 & 4. For Europe and sometimes beyond, Tuesday 1900-2000 UTC and Saturday 1200-1300 UTC on Channel 292, 6070 KHz from Rohrbach, Germany.

Uncle Bill’s Melting Pot, Sun, July 1 & Tues, July 3, 2018

Episode 69 presents exotic vocal music from around the planet – throat singing, whispering songs, Roma scatting, eephing and other delights.

1. Sundays 2200-2230 UTC (6:00PM -6:30PM Eastern US) on

WBCQ The Planet 7490 KHz from the US to the Americas and parts of Europe

2. Tuesdays 2000-2030 UTC on Channel 292, 6070 KHz from Rohrbach, Germany for Europe. If current propagation conditions hold, the broadcast should reach from Iceland to Western Russia, Scandinavia down to North Africa and the Middle East, AND a long bounce to parts of New Zealand. 

William "Bill" Tilford, Owner/Producer

Tilford Productions, LLC

“Alexanderson Day” annual broadcast set for July 1

Grimeton

The annual transmission on “Alexanderson Day” with the Alexanderson alternator on VLF 17.2 kHz with the call SAQ will take place Sunday, July 1st, 2018.

This year, three transmissions are scheduled as follows:

1. Startup of tuning at 10:15 (08:15 UTC) with a transmission of a message at 10:45 (08:45 UTC).
2. Startup of tuning at 12:15 (10:15 UTC) with a transmission of a message at 12:45 (10:45 UTC) 3. Startup of tuning at 14:15 (12:15 UTC) with a transmission of a message at 14:45 (12:45 UTC)

All three transmission events will be broadcasted live on our YouTube Channel.

Amateur Radio Station with the call “SK6SAQ” will be QRV on the following frequencies:
– 7.035 kHz CW or
– 14.035 kHz CW or
– 3.755 kHz SSB

Two stations will be on the air most of the time.

QSL-reports to SAQ and SK6SAQ are kindly received via:
– E-mail to: info@alexander.n.se
– or via: SM bureau
– or direct by mail to: Alexander – Grimeton Veteranradios Vaenner,

Radiostationen
Grimeton 72
SE-432 98 GRIMETON
S W E D E N

The station will be open to visitors between 10.00 am to 4.00 pm.

WELCOME!

Alexander/SAQ

For further details, also read our website: www.alexander.n.se

DXers Unlimited - weekend edition, June 24, 2018

Radio Havana Cuba
Dxer’s Unlimited -weekend edition, Sunday 24 June 2018
By Arnie Coro CO2KK


Hola amigos radioaficionados … you are now listening to the weekend edition of DXers Unlimited, when the sun has awoken, and for the first time in months  we saw more than two active sunspots regions looking towards planet Earth.

The news of the day, was that on the twenty first of June an amazing six meters band opening made possible for two Cuban radio amateurs to establish two way contacts on six meters with Japan... CO8LY in Santiago de Cuba and CM2XN in Havana enjoyed the nice band opening that happened from about twenty one hours forty to twenty hours fifteen UTC. The same band opening was enjoyed by amateurs in the Caribbean and North America too. It is solar minimum for sure, but this upsurge in solar activity is under close scrutiny by heliophysicists  the astronomers that specialize in studying the Sun.

This is Radio Havana Cuba and we are broadcasting in English to North America and Western Europe on 15140 kilohertz from fifteen to sixteen hours UTC,  using one of our 100 kilowatt transmitters.

Si amigos, yes my friends, we always find out new ways of making our own station and antennas accessories at low cost, like in the case of the non inductive terminating resistors using the TO dash 220 case configurations described in our last weekend Dxers Unlimited show. Good feedback from several listeners that have already assembled the easy to make dummy load using the new
ceramic high dissipation resistors in the TO 220 format package

Item two: Solar activity moved to moderate for the first time in a loooong time. Participating in HF amateur radio contests is one of the more than 90 ways that you can enjoy this wonderful hobby. But one thing is to participate and quite a different thing is finding yourself at the list of the TOP TEN winners of one of the world's most important contests.

It does take a high degree of skills to work as many stations as possible and acquire the multipliers used by a particular contest, plus also a lot of luck too. True you can run a very modest station and simple antennas and still make it a very enjoyable weekend by taking part in a contest...but again finding yourself among the winners is quite a different story.

I suggest that you can  join a group of radio amateurs that regularly take part in contests and benefit from their know how and expertise .Believe me amigos, learning how to operate during a contest is

A good ear for picking up CW is essential if you want to be a winner .... and that takes a long time
For example, you will find out that ... keyboard skills are essential if you want to achieve a good performance on any of the digital non automatic modes contests that are now so popular.

For the JT and FT8 modes you can still depend on a finger by finger action on the keyboard ! And I may add that learning how to properly use your voice will be a great help when participating in a voice mode contest. It is now much in use to put on the air a recording calling CQ Contest, in order to save the operators from a sore throat caused by excessive use of CQ calls in real time.The computer audio files won't get tired !

Si amigos, yes my friends, oui mes amis,  I do insist  ....radio amateur contests are a great opportunity
to polish your operating skills and also for adding many new prefixes of rare DX entities that will be on the air during the contest periods...And you will sharpen your skills to communicate under difficult circumstances, a valuable asset during emergencies

Now another radio hobby related item here at the  weekend edition of Dxers Unlimited. Si amigos, sure you have just heard our classic interval signal ... this is Radio Havana Cuba and here is radio hobby related information for your enjoyment. the summer Sporadic E layer season is now in full swing as we move just past the summer solstice on the twenty first day of June.

My personal observations on Wednesday late afternoon and early evening brought several signals on the FM broadcast band that were clearly identified as reaching my receivers via Sporadic E clouds
located above the middle of the Gulf of Mexico. FM broadcast band Dxing requires a sharp tuning
receiver with high selectivity so that you can pick up stations on frequencies that are very close to the
local stations. 

By the way for listeners in the USA, Canada, Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean, here are several of the city of Havana FM stations and their frequencies...
Radio Progreso is on 90.3 megahertz ,
Radio COCO on 91.7 megahertz, Radio Rebelde is running high effective radiated power on 96.7 megahertz.
From Mayabeque province comes a powerful signal on 104. 7 meghertz from a transmitter located at the City of Havana's main TV and FM tower, built way back in 1956 with a height of very near two hundred meters, making it the nation's second highest structure used for broadcasting TV channels from 2 to 13 and from 14 to 51, plus FM stations within the 88 to 108 megahertz band.

By the way Cuban FM stations operate using vertical or circular polarization for reaching its audience using portable radios , cellphones capable of pickings up the FM band, and car radios

Here is now ASK ARNIE, la número uno , the most popular section of Dxers Unlimited , closely followed by the HF plus low band VHF propagation updates presented whenever possible at the end of the show....

Here is now, today's question sent by listener Mario from Mérida, Yucatan, Mexico. He says that is now learning about AM Broadcast band Dxing , after having spent more than 15 years scanning
the short wave bands and logging many of the international broadcast stations that are no longer on the airwaves.

Mario wants to know why signals on the AM medium wave broadcast band stations cover only a very limited area around the station during the daytime, but reach far away places as soon as the Sun sets...
Well amigo Mario, during the daytime hours at a given location the solar radiation keeps the D layer of the ionosphere at high levels of ionization that stop the lower frequencies from reaching the upper layers of the ionosphere...

The D layer is detected by the ionosphere sounders at altitudes between 50 and 70 kilometers above the surface of the Earth. The same ionosphere radar sets, known as ionosounders see how the D layer vanishes as soon as the sun sets, making it possible for the AM stations signals to reach the E layer of the ionosphere that act as a reflector of sorts, that makes possible single hop E layer signals to travel up to around two thousand kilometers.... So amigo Mario this is what actually happens and why your AM dial fills up with DX stations after sunset and until about one hour after local sunrise

Si amigos, this is the weekend edition of DXers Unlimited our e mail address is inforhc@enet,cu, and yes, we do reply immediately to your signal reports, comments and radio hobby related questions...

I do hope to see you all at the middle of the week edition of DXers Unlimited on the air Tuesday and Monday UTC days.

Send your signal reports and comments  via airmail to: Arnie Coro, Radio Havana Cuba, Havana, Cuba
(Arnie Coro)

The Last Days of Radio Veritas Asia

Radio Veritas Asia QSL (Gayle Van Horn Collection)

As reported in the radio hobby press, Radio Veritas' last broadcast day will be Saturday, 30 June 2018. The Catholic station has been on the air since 11 August 1969, and is owned by the Philippine Radio Education and Information Center, composed of professionals, and Filipino bishops. 

Broadcast daily, except Teddmichin and Zomichin services as indicated

All times UTC

11880 1400-1427 Bengali
15450 1130-1157 Burmese
11870 1330-1357 Chin
11945 1000-1130 Chinese
6115 2100-2228 Chinese
11675 1500-1553 Filipino
15355 2300-2327 Filipino
11870 1400-1427 Hindi
11935 1200-1227 Hmong
9645 0000-0027 Kachin
15225 1230-1257 Kachin
11760 1200-1230 Karen
11850 1000-1030 Khmer

15255 0130-0157 Mon,Tues,Wed  Teddmichin

11870 1430-1500 Telugu
15280 0100-0127 Urdu
9610 1430-1457 Urdu
15530 0130-0227 Vietnamese
11850 1300-1357 Vietnamese
9670 2330-2357 Vietnamese

15255 0130-0157 Sun, Thurs, Fri, Sat Zomichin


for QSL query write to:

Radio Veritas Asia
Buick Street
Fairview Park
Quezon City
Metro Mania 1106
Philippines

Website: http://www.veritas-asia.org

The History of Radio Veritas Asia

According to the best available information, shortwave Radio Veritas Asia in the Philippines is closing at the end of this month, Saturday June 30.  Just in case this information proves to be correct, we would recommend that you tune in to shortwave Radio Veritas Asia some time during this new week, and that you send to them a final reception report.  Their QSL card would then become a permanent reminder to you of another important and well known shortwave station that now lies silent.

In this our DX program Wavescan, we plan to tell the story of Radio Veritas in two episodes.  This week we plan to focus on the interesting story of their mediumwave facilities, and next week we plan to focus on the equally interesting story of their shortwave facilities.

Let’s go back now to the very beginning, the era immediately after the end of the tragic Pacific War.  The Battle of Manila, between the Japanese occupation forces and the incoming American forces, began on February 3, 1945 and it lasted for exactly one month, to the very day. 

During that time, the fighting was so intense that almost every major building in Manila was either destroyed or seriously damaged, and the death toll for American service personnel, Japanese service personnel, and Filipino citizens was counted by the thousands.  The city was finally successfully claimed by the American army on March 3 (1945). 
 

Soon afterwards, Manila experienced a rapid redevelopment and rebuilding program for a city that had been massively damaged and destroyed in both 1942 and again in 1945.  In the middle of the following year, the Philippines were granted independence from the United States, on July 4, 1946. 

In the midst of all of these rapidly changing events, movements were under way for the restoration of the radio scene in the Philippine Islands.  Old radio broadcasting stations were re-established and new stations were installed; old callsigns were revived and new callsigns began to make a sudden appearance. 

One of the very first new stations in Manila to suddenly make an appearance on the mediumwave dial of the radio receiver was inaugurated on May 15, 1947 under a new callsign KZOK.  This new KZOK was owned and operated by the Philippine Broadcasting Corporation as it was then, and it was a sister station to the better known KZPI.
Radio station KZOK was on the air with a homemade 1 kW transmitter operating on the mediumwave frequency 860 kHz.  Studios were located on the 4th Floor of the Ramon Roces Building in Soler Street in downtown Manila, and the transmitter was located in Quezon City.  Soon afterwards, the studios were re-installed on the 5th and 6th floors of the Pilipinas Building at Plaza Moraga.

More changes came on January 1, 1949, including a new callsign under the new callsign sequence for the Philippines, and KZOK became DZAB.  A new studio location found the station at Town House on Dewey Boulevard, though the ownership under all of those recent changes was still retained by the Philippine Broadcasting Corporation.

However two years later in 1951, the station was taken over by the Catholic operated Santo Tomas University, where it spoke for the university, and also for the Catholic church.  The new callsign at this new location in the Main Building at the university, was DZST, with the D indicating the Philippines, the Z indicating the Luzon area, and the ST indicating Santo Tomas, the name of the university.   

In 1958, a high level committee meeting at the university decided in favor of establishing a network of Catholic radio broadcasting stations in the Philippines, and 8 years later (1966) a new organization was born under the title Radio Veritas.  (Veritas is a Latin word meaning truth.)

Two years later again, Radio Veritas was inaugurated at the university with new equipment, still at 1 kW and still on 860 kHz, though with a new callsign DZRV, with the RV now indicating Radio Veritas.  The auspicious date for the inauguration of this new station was April 11, 1969.

In the meantime, plans were underway for the construction of a 50 kW mediumwave transmitter station in what was a rice field on MacArthur Highway near Malolos, some 20 miles northwest of Manila.  At this new location away from Manila itself, another new callsign was granted, not beginning with DZ but rather with DW.  The new callsign, DWRV, indicated quite clearly Radio Veritas.  However, the program studios still remained in Quezon City, Manila. 

During the violent political crisis in the Philippines in the early part of the year 1986, Radio Veritas at Malolos was raided twice.  On Sunday and Monday February 23 and 24, insurgents drove into the station and damaged and destroyed the electronic equipment and antenna systems, though none of the station personnel were harmed. 

It is reported that all five transmitters were destroyed during that double attack.  It is known that there were three shortwave transmitters in the building, and we would suggest that the other two transmitters were the main 50 kW mediumwave unit and also a standby mediumwave unit. 

The program stream from the studios in Quezon City was then fed to the Radio Veritas auxiliary transmitter, also in Quezon City, but after just 15 hours on air, this unit malfunctioned.  News and information from Radio Veritas was then fed from an undisclosed location to another mediumwave station in Manila, DZRJ with 5 kW on 810 kHz.  The damaged 50 kW mediumwave transmitter at Radio Veritas Malolos was soon restored, though the shortwave facility was subsequently rebuilt at another location.

However, due to financial problems, mediumwave Radio Veritas was taken over on May 17, 1991 by the Catholic subsidiary organization, the Global Broadcasting System, as a commercial operation with a new callsign DZNN.  In 2008, a new 50 kW mediumwave facility was constructed at a new location, Barangay Taliptip, Malolos, a shared site with another mediumwave station DZXL.

The old transmitter building on MacArthur Highway Malolos then served as an educational facility for a few years, and also as the home for an FM station.  However since 2011, this solid old building, still with its bullet holes and faded Radio Veritas sign, has lain abandoned, though current information would suggest that there is a serious attempt to have this historic old building restored and declared as a National Heritage Site.
(AWR/Wavescan-NWS 487)

All India Radio transmitter news update

AIR QSL - Devidol, Gaurisagar (Gayle Van Horn Collection)

Pleased to inform that the two new 100 kW SW transmitters from Delhi, have been observed on the air for the last few days.

The full schedule of the two new 100 kW transmitters from Delhi as follows;

All times UTC

4870 0230-0330, 1430-1530
4870 1330-1430 Nepali (Nepal)
7250 0830-1130 Urdu (Pakistan), 1130-1140 HS
7380 0100-0200 Sindhi (Pakistan)
7505 0130-0230 Nepali (Nepal) 0230-0245 Hindi HS, 0245-0300 English HS
7555 1215-1330 Tibetan (China), 1330-1430 Nepali (Nepal), 1515-1530 HS Hindi, 1530-1600 HS English
9835 0000-0045 Tamil (Sri Lanka)
9950 0700-0800 Nepali (Nepal)
9950 0830-1130 Urdu (Pakistan) 1130-1140 HS, 1215-1315 Burmese (Myanmar)
11620 0700-0800 Nepali (Nepal)
(HS/Home Service)
(Jose Jacob, VU2JOS)
National Institute of Amateur Radio
Hyderabad, India
 www.qsl.net/vu2jos      

From the Isle of Music & Uncle Bill's Melting Pot schedules June 24-30

From the Isle of Music, June 24-30:

This week, our special guest is Joaquín Betancourt, whose many roles in music in Cuba include the direction of Joaquín Betancourt y su Joven Jazz Band, a big band that is an important ensemble for young Jazzistas in Cuba. We interviewed him in the Conservatorio Amadeo Roldan in La Habana about the new recording Mambazo, and we will listen to some of that.


1. For Eastern Europe but audible well beyond the target area in most of the Eastern Hemisphere (including parts of East Asia and Oceania) with 100Kw, Sunday 1500-1600 UTC on SpaceLine, 9400 KHz, from Kostinbrod, Bulgaria (1800-1900 MSK)


2. For the Americas and parts of Europe, Tuesday 0000-0100 UTC on WBCQ, 7490 KHz from Monticello, ME, USA (Monday 8-9PM EST in the US). This has been audible in parts of NW, Central and Southern Europe with an excellent skip to Italy recently.


3 & 4. For Europe and sometimes beyond, Tuesday 1900-2000 UTC and Saturday 1200-1300 UTC on Channel 292, 6070 KHz from Rohrbach, Germany.

Uncle Bill's Melting Pot, Sun, June 24 & Tues, June 26, 2018
Episode 68 presents "Mexico in Chicago" with new releases by Mariachi Herencia de Mexico and Sones de Mexico, two award-winning groups in Chicago
1. Sundays 2200-2230 UTC (6:00PM -6:30PM Eastern US) on
WBCQ The Planet 7490 KHz from the US to the Americas and parts of Europe


2. Tuesdays 2000-2030 UTC on Channel 292, 6070 KHz from Rohrbach, Germany for Europe. If current propagation conditions hold, the broadcast should reach from Iceland to Western Russia, Scandinavia down to North Africa and the Middle East, AND a long bounce to parts of New Zealand. 

William "Bill" Tilford, Owner/Producer
Tilford Productions, LLC

RTI announces Creative Greeting Competition for RTI's 90th Anniversary

Hello listeners!

To mark Radio Taiwan International's 90th anniversary this year, we are inviting listeners around the world to send us "creative" greetings. Entries in any format are welcome, including paintings, photos, audio recordings and videos, as long as the event logo "RTI 90" is included. There will be a cash prize for the most creative entries, and  participants can also enter our Facebook popularity award contest. Send in your entries today!

Categories: 1. Audio-visual 2. Creative cards

Entries must include the following elements:
(1) Good wishes for RTI's 90 th anniversary
(2) The event logo "RTI 90"
(3) A message for RTI

If you have any questions, please contact: rti90th@gmail.com

Website: http://90.rti.org.tw/en/greetings-en/

How to take part: (Please choose one of the following ways to register)

1. Visit bit.ly/2wYHPEJ to fill out an online registration form and upload your entry.
2. Email your entry and personal information (name, nationality, address and phone number) to rti90th@gmail.com
3. Mail your entry and personal information (name, nationality, address and phone number) to RTI PR, No. 55, Bei-an Road, Zhongshan District, Taipei, 10462, Taiwan. Entries must be postmarked by July 15th .

Good luck and best wishes
RTI Public Relations Office

Weekly Propagation Forecast Bulletins

Product: Weekly Highlights and Forecasts
:Issued: 2018 Jun 25 0343 UTC
# Prepared by the US Dept. of Commerce, NOAA, Space Weather Prediction Center
# Product description and SWPC web contact http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/weekly.html
#
#                Weekly Highlights and Forecasts
#
Highlights of Solar and Geomagnetic Activity 18 - 24 June 2018

Solar activity was at predominately very low levels with an isolated C2/Sf flare observed at 21/0115 UTC from Region 2715 (N08, L=231, class/area Dac/120 on 23 Jun). This region, as well as Region 2713 (N05, L=289, class/area Dao/070 on 23 Jun), also produced numerous B-class flares during the period. No Earth-directed CMEs were observed during the period.

No proton events were observed at geosynchronous orbit.

The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit was at normal levels on 18 and 23 Jun and moderate levels on 19-22 Jun. High levels were reached on 24 Jun in response to an enhanced solar wind environment.

Geomagnetic field activity generally ranged from quiet to active levels with an isolated G1 (Minor) storm period observed early on 18 Jun. The period began under the influence of a waning, positive
polarity CH HSS. Wind speeds peaked at 525-540 km/s early to midday on 18 Jun with the Bz component variable between +16 nT to -9 nT. On 18 Jun through midday on 19 Jun, field conditions ranged from quiet to isolated G1 geomagnetic storm conditions. From midday 19 Jun through early on 23 Jun, solar wind parameters were at mostly nominal levels with a quiet geomagnetic field.

Early on 23 Jun, solar wind parameters indicated a weak CIR signature in advance of another positve polarity CH HSS. Wind speeds gradually increased from about 325 km/s to a peak of near 515 km/s
by the end of 23 Jun. Total field strength peaked at 15 nT midday on 23 Jun while the Bz component varied between +12 nT to -15 nT through midday on the 23rd before relaxing to a variable +/-9 nT
through the summary end. Field conditions responded with quiet to active conditions on 23 Jun and quiet to isolated unsettled conditions on 24 Jun.

Forecast of Solar and Geomagnetic Activity 25 June - 21 July 2018

Solar activity is expected to be at predominately very low levels with a chance for C-class flare activity on 25-28 Jun until Region 2715 rotates off the visible disk. Very low levels are expected from
29 Jun - 10 Jul. With the return of old Region 2715 on 11 Jul, very low levels, with a chance for C-class flare activity, is expected through the remainder of the outlook period.

No proton events are expected at geosynchronous orbit.

The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit is expected to be be at high levels on 25-26 Jun and 28 Jun - 10 Jul due to CH HSS influence. Normal to moderate levels are expected for
the remainder of the outlook period.

Geomagnetic field activity is expected to be at unsettled to active levels on 25-30 Jun, 15 Jul and 20-21 Jul with G1 (Minor) storm levels expected on 27-28 Jun, all due to recurrent CH HSS activity.

o proton events are expected at geosynchronous orbit.

The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit is expected to be be at high levels on 25-26 Jun and 28 Jun - 10 Jul due to CH HSS influence. Normal to moderate levels are expected for
the remainder of the outlook period.

Geomagnetic field activity is expected to be at unsettled to active levels on 25-30 Jun, 15 Jul and 20-21 Jul with G1 (Minor) storm levels expected on 27-28 Jun, all due to recurrent CH HSS activity.

Product: 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table 27DO.txt
:Issued: 2018 Jun 25 0343 UTC
# Prepared by the US Dept. of Commerce, NOAA, Space Weather Prediction Center
# Product description and SWPC web contact: http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/wwire.html
#
#      27-day Space Weather Outlook Table
#                Issued 2018-06-25
#
#   UTC      Radio Flux   Planetary   Largest
#  Date       10.7 cm      A Index    Kp Index
2018 Jun 25      75           8          3
2018 Jun 26      72          10          4
2018 Jun 27      72          25          5
2018 Jun 28      70          18          5
2018 Jun 29      68          12          4
2018 Jun 30      68           8          3
2018 Jul 01      68           5          2
2018 Jul 02      68           5          2
2018 Jul 03      68           5          2
2018 Jul 04      68           5          2
2018 Jul 05      68           5          2
2018 Jul 06      68           5          2
2018 Jul 07      72           5          2
2018 Jul 08      72           5          2
2018 Jul 09      72           5          2
2018 Jul 10      72           5          2
2018 Jul 11      72           5          2
2018 Jul 12      72           5          2
2018 Jul 13      72           5          2
2018 Jul 14      75           5          2
2018 Jul 15      75          15          4
2018 Jul 16      77           5          2
2018 Jul 17      80           5          2
2018 Jul 18      80           5          2
2018 Jul 19      80           5          2
2018 Jul 20      77          15          4
2018 Jul 21      77           8          3
(NOAA)

WRMI program schedule updates

Effective: 23 June 2018

WRMI changes - new program times: RAE and VORW Radio International

All times UTC

USA
2100-2200 on 11580 YFR 100 kW / 044 deg to WeEu English Sat tx#9 various WRMI programs

2200-2300 on 11580 YFR 100 kW / 044 deg to WeEu English Sat tx#9 VORW Radio International
2200-2300 on  7780 YFR 100 kW / 044 deg to WeEu English Sat tx#1 VORW Radio International

2100-2200 on  7780 YFR 100 kW / 044 deg to WeEu German  Mon-Fri tx#1 RAE Argentina
2200-2300 on  7780 YFR 100 kW / 044 deg to WeEu Italian Mon-Fri tx#1 RAE Argentina
1900-2000 on  9395 YFR 100 kW / 355 deg to ENAm German  Mon-Fri tx#6 RAE Argentina cancelled
2000-2100 on  9395 YFR 100 kW / 355 deg to ENAm Italian Mon-Fri tx#6 RAE Argentina cancelled
tx/transmitter
(DX Bulgaria)

Radio New Zealand frequency update

Effective: 22 June, 2018

All times UTC

AM mode

2051-0358 on 13840 RAN 050 kW / 035 deg to All Pacific English, ex 2051-0458
0359-0558 on 11725 RAN 050 kW / 035 deg to All Pacific English, ex 0459-0658
0559-1058 on  7425 RAN 050 kW / 035 deg to All Pacific English, ex 0659-1058

Amateur Radio Field Day 2018

Field Day is ham radio's open house. Every June, more than 40,000 hams throughout North America set up temporary transmitting stations in public places to demonstrate ham radio's science, skill and service to our communities and our nation. It combines public service, emergency preparedness, community outreach, and technical skills all in a single event. Field Day has been an annual event since 1933, and remains the most popular event in ham radio.

Follow Field Day on Facebook! ARRL has created a Field Day event on Facebook, and you can also join the conversation by using the hash tag #ARRLFD. Share your plans, tips and tricks to a successful Field Day!

Field Day Special Event stations

All times listed as UTC

QSLing the following stations is opened to amateur radio and shortwave hobbyists. Check for QSL policy in each post or contact information.

June 22, 2018
ARRL Field Day 2018
2200-2200, K5S, Sachse, TX. Sachse Amateur Radio Association. 14.150. Certificate & QSL. Kerry Krueger, 7021 Park Hill Trail, Sachse, TX 75048. www.sachseradio.org 

June 22, 2018
Field Day 2018 Commemorating the Lives of President Ronald & Mrs. Nancy Reagan
1900-2359, N6R, Simi Valley, CA. Ventura County Amateur Radio Society (VCARS). 21.320 14.255 7.260 3.810. QSL. Peter S. Heins, 1559 Norwich Ave, Thousand Oaks, CA 91360. Ronald Reagan Presidential Library & Museum, Simi Valley, CA; Ventura County Amateur Radio Society (VCARS), Simi Settlers Amateur Radio Club (SSARC), and other interested
Amateur Radio Operators. www.qrz.com/db/n6r 

June 23-24, 2018
Field Day 2018
1800-1800, W2GSB, Lindenhurst, NY. Great South Bay Amateur Radio Club. 14.258 7.245 3.925. Certificate. W2GSB, PO Box 1356, West Babylon, NY 11704. ALL MODES 6F STATION WITH A
GOTA STATION W2TOB W2GSB WILL HAVE 3 SSB STATIONS 3 CW STATIONS ALSO DIGITAL MODES VHF 6 METER STATION SATELLITE STATION GIVE THEM A CALL W2GSB 6F IF LIVE ON LONG ISLAND STOP BY OUR FIELD DAY SITE EVERYONE IS WELCOME BABYLON TOWN HALL PARK 200 EAST SUNRISE HIGHWAY LINDENHURST NY ANY QUESTIONS INFO@GSBARC.ORG CHECK US OUT AT WWW.GSBARC.ORG ALSO ON TWITTER FACEBOOK www.gsbarc.org 

June 23-24, 2018
Field Day 2018
1800-2059, K6A, Palmdale, CA. Antelope Valley Amateur Radio Club. 20 meters. QSL. AVARC, P.O. Box 1011, Lancaster, CA 93584-1011. No QSL or Certificate given. www.k6ox.club
(ARRL/GVH/W4GVH)

BBC Midwinter Antarctic broadcast, June 21

The BBC midwinter broadcast to the 38 British Antarctic Survey staff in Antarctica and South Georgia will be broadcast on Thursday 21 June from 2130-2200 UTC. 

Confirmed frequencies this year: 

5985 Woofferton 184°

7360 Ascension 207°

9890 Woofferton 182°

The program and additional details at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p06blwrc

BBCWS Audience Relations) 

Arnie Coro’s DXers Unlimited program – June 19 edition

Radio Havana Cuba

Dxers Unlimited middle of the week program for Tuesday 19 June 2018

By Arnie Coro, radio amateur CO2KK

Hola amigos radioaficionados.... Yes, this is the middle of the week program of Dxers Unlimited, your favorite radio hobby program, reaching you when we went through a geomagnetic disturbance that sent the planetary disturbance indice are known as the A index above the 30 units mark.

Way back during the year 2015 we were keeping a close watch at an increase in solar activity , as we fallowed the development of solar cycle number 24, the one with the most unusual behavior in more than a century.

Let me warn you all...Be aware that some of those ways of playing with your radios may involve a lot of work on your part, studying complex technical problems and perhaps also requiring a significant investment ... like for example, if you ever decide to try amateur radio Earth Moon Earth communications ....even when using the new and really amazing digital communications programs like JT 65, JT9 and FT8., you will still need a nice and the bigger the better antenna system !

Fortunately, there are other ways of enjoying our radio hobbies that can provide low cost and easy to put in practice modes, like FM broadcast band DXing using just a radio receiver for the frequency range where those stations transmit connected to an external antenna.

I am a long-time fan of FM broadcast band DXing because it is quite different from the classic AM broadcast band hunt for long distance stations, this is due to the fact that the propagation of the FM band signals is dominated by both weather related events and not very frequently by highly ionized part of the ionosphere at the height of the E layer. By the way we are right now at the yearly peak of the Sporadic E season, that makes possible nice loggings on the FM broadcast band.

Let me add that another low cost way of enjoying the radio hobby has a connection with the preservation of our Planet Earth, because it is based on building radios and accessories using recycled electronic components that are desoldered from equipment that is no longer possible to repair.

Here at DXers Unlimited our regular listeners have already sent me several examples of radio sets built using recycled components that I then have attempted to duplicate with a high degree of success Si amigos, yes my friends, oui my Canadian francophone listeners, this past weekend I took some time to try to organize my big garage workshop, a quite challenging job, that led me to find the long time lost notebook where the hand written notes and diagrams of several of DXers Unlimited listeners circuit ideas where kept. Of course, that I tried to finish at least the organizing effort required by workbench number one, but the finding of the notebook cut short the rest of the planned job as an immediate start up to locate the parts to build one of the radios began.

To make a long story short, after spending a few hours on a breadboard version of the CFL radio, the audio module was finished and it was quite amazing to see how the NPN switched mode medium power transistors used by the Compact Florescent Lightbulbs amplified the low level audio tone fed to it from my workbench test.

This is Radio Havana Cuba, the name of the show is Dxers Unlimited, our middle of the week program is now on the air, and now the story about the CFL radio receiver circuit diagram continues. 

The original design came from radio amateur AA1TJ Michael Rainey, who built the receiver using mostly parts from broken compact florescent lightbulbs.

In the original circuit Michael used an audio amplifier following the direct conversion product detector. It was made using two stages of the BUL128A transistors that provided enough gain for producing enough audio output into a pair of headphones coupled by means of an impedance matching transformer. I decided to add a third NPN high gain transistor that was connected between the product detector and the two-stage original audio amplifier to increase the audio output.

This proved to be a very worthwhile modification because the audio output increased significantly. The prototype receiver used a very simply one transistor VFO, but again this was improved by building a replica of Wes Hayward W7ZOI three transistors Colpitts oscillator that was set to tune from three thousand five hundred to three thousand six hundred kilohertz so that it will cover the 40 meters band from seven thousand zero zero zero to seven thousand two hundred, where most of the amateur radio activity in our part of the world takes place. The Polyakov harmonic-mixer type of product detector requires a local oscillator injection frequency at half of the frequency to be received. 

By mid-afternoon Sunday the receiver was working quite well, picking up several Cuban single side band stations on the national calling frequency of seven thousand one hundred and ten kilohertz, and later during the early evening I was able to pick up South and Central American stations also, plus a station from Echo Alpha eight land, the Canary Islands.

The amazingly simple receiver uses a very small number of parts, that were mostly recycled from different sources, mainly from several defunct Compact Fluorescent Lightbulbs. The radio does not provide loudspeaker output, but the audio level on the headphones is quite adequate.

A similar project following the same design criteria was designed for making use of recycled parts to build a three-stage crystal controlled CW radiotelegraphy low power transmitter, but I sound found out that with CFL lightbulbs transistors type BUL128A the rig could only work up to the 80 meters band... All attempts to make the BUL128A transistors oscillate on the 40 meters band failed...

Now item three here at the middle of the week edition of DXers Unlimited, that is on the air just after the half hour newscast of our English language program.

Ask Arnie - is our second most popular section of the program, second only to our HF propagation updates and forecasts presented whenever possible at the end of the show. 

Ask Arnie today will be answering a question sent by several listeners that want to know about the Ionospheric Forward Scatter propagation mode, a very interesting source of DX signals from some of the world’s high power short wave stations transmitter sites.

Although during the past several years the number of high power transmitter sites has gone down because of the closing of many relay stations, and even primary sites like was the case of Radio Canada’s Sackville, New Brunswick site... avid short wave listeners equipped with very good receivers and antennas very often are able to pick up the Ionospheric Forward Scatter signals when the high power short wave stations operate on the higher bands...with high gain antennas, something seen mainly when very high power transmitters are operated on the frequency bands between 15. 1 and 21.8 megahertz.... that translated into short wave bands means from 19 meters to 13 meters.

At this phase of the solar cycle very few stations are using the 21 megahertz or 13 meters band, and I have not heard a single international short wave broadcaster using the 11 meters or 26 megahertz band where Ionospheric Forward Scatter would be most noticeable when running high power and large antenna arrays.

If you are able to pick such signals they will be coming from transmitter sites located between 500 and 1500 miles from you.

And now at the end of the show.... our HF propagation update and forecast...

Solar flux hovering around 75 units and solar activity continues to be low. Expect many Sporadic E skip propagation events during the last 10 days of the month of June and first two weeks of July.

Send your signal reports and comments about the show plus your radio hobby related questions to inforhc@enet.cu and via air mail to Arnie Coro, Radio Havana Cuba, Havana, Cuba

Listen for the weekend edition of DXers Unlimited coming up Sunday and also early Monday UTC days.

(Arnie Coro/R Havana Cuba)

Weekly Propagation Forecast Bulletins

Product: Weekly Highlights and Forecasts
:Issued: 2018 Jun 18 0349 UTC
# Prepared by the US Dept. of Commerce, NOAA, Space Weather Prediction Center
# Product description and SWPC web contact http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/weekly.html
#
#                Weekly Highlights and Forecasts
#
Highlights of Solar and Geomagnetic Activity 11 - 17 June 2018

Solar activity was very low with only low level B-class flare activity observed from Region 2713 (N06, L=285, class/area Bxo/060 on 13 Jun). No Earth-directed CMEs were observed in satellite
imagery.

No proton events were observed at geosynchronous orbit.

The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit reached high levels on 11-13 Jun and decreased to moderate levels on 14-17 Jun. The largest flux of the period was 1,840 pfu observed at
11/1945 UTC.

Geomagnetic field activity was at quiet levels under a nominal solar wind regime. Solar wind speed ranged from approximately 280 km/s to 340 km/s through the majority of the period with total field at or below 6 nT. At approximately 17/1250 UTC, a solar sector boundary crossing was observed from a negative to a positive orientation. A corresponding increase in total field to around 14 nT was observed at 17/2355 UTC along with an increase in solar wind speed to near  415 km/s. This indicated the arrival of a CIR preceding a positive polarity coronal hole high speed stream (CH HSS).

Forecast of Solar and Geomagnetic Activity 18 June - 14 July 2018

Solar activity is expected to be at very low levels with a slight chance for C-class flares from 18 Jun-01 Jul with the return of old Region 2712 (N15, L=176). Very low levels are expected for the rest
of the forecast period.

No proton events are expected at geosynchronous orbit.

The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit is expected to be at high levels on 28 Jun-10 Jul due to CH HSS influence.

Geomagnetic field activity is expected to be at unsettled to active levels on 18-19, 24-25, and 27-30 Jun with G1 (Minor) storm levels expected on 18 Jun and 28-29 Jun due to recurrent CH HSS activity.

Product: 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table 27DO.txt :Issued: 2018 Jun 18 0349 UTC # Prepared by the US Dept. of Commerce, NOAA, Space Weather Prediction Center # Product description and SWPC web contact http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/wwire.html # 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table # Issued 2018-06-18 # # UTC Radio Flux Planetary Largest # Date 10.7 cm A Index Kp Index 2018 Jun 18 72 15 5 2018 Jun 19 74 8 3 2018 Jun 20 74 5 2 2018 Jun 21 74 5 2 2018 Jun 22 74 5 2 2018 Jun 23 74 5 2 2018 Jun 24 70 8 3 2018 Jun 25 70 8 3 2018 Jun 26 70 5 2 2018 Jun 27 70 15 4 2018 Jun 28 70 28 5 2018 Jun 29 70 18 5 2018 Jun 30 70 10 3 2018 Jul 01 68 5 2 2018 Jul 02 68 5 2 2018 Jul 03 68 5 2 2018 Jul 04 68 5 2 2018 Jul 05 68 5 2 2018 Jul 06 68 5 2 2018 Jul 07 72 5 2 2018 Jul 08 72 5 2 2018 Jul 09 72 5 2 2018 Jul 10 72 5 2 2018 Jul 11 72 5 2 2018 Jul 12 72 5 2 2018 Jul 13 72 5 2 2018 Jul 14 74 5 2 (NOAA)

Shortwave Radiogram schedule update

Hello friends,

Last weekend was a success in that our transmission of Japanese text was received and decoded in Japan. Audio of that reception (from an SDR) is available here. You can decode from that audio. It begins with some mostly unsuccessful MFSK32, then on to the much more robust Olivia 64-2000.

There were also many good image decodes, which you can peruse at https://twitter.com/swradiogram. 

Videos of the Saturday 1600 UTC show are available from radio no koe in Japan (using an SDR in New Zealand), Marco in Italy, and Ralf in Germany; and of the Sunday 2330 transmission from Scott in Ontario. Also available is the audio archive maintained by Mark in the UK, and analysis of the weekend's digital-via-analog broadcasts by Roger in Germany.

This weekend will include some text in Arabic. Be sure to use the UTF-8 character set, which is default in TIVAR and newer versions of Fldigi. Also eight images (two MFSK32 and six MFSK64).

And as it is program 52, that means we have completed one year of Shortwave Radiogram. Shortwave Radiogram is the successor to VOA Radiogram, which began on 2013. Thank you for your support!

Here is the lineup for Shortwave Radiogram, program 52, 15-18 June 2018, in MFSK modes as noted:

 1:35  MFSK32: Program preview
 2:40  Excerpt of Arabic text
 3:52  Restoration of Prague's astronomical clock*
10:40  MFSK64: End of net neutrality in the USA*
16:49  Five images*
26:31  MFSK32: Closing announcements*

* with image(s)

Please send reception reports to radiogram@verizon.net

And visit http://swradiogram.net

Twitter: @SWRadiogram or https://twitter.com/swradiogram

Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/567099476753304

Shortwave Radiogram Program 52 (15-18 June 2018)
Friday	2030-2100 UTC	7780 kHz 5950 kHz	MFSK32 MFSK64	WRMI Florida
Saturday	1600-1630 UTC	9400 kHz		Space Line, Bulgaria
Sunday	2330-2400 UTC	7780 kHz		WRMI Florida
Monday	0800-0830 UTC	7730 kHz 5850 kHz		WRMI Florida

The Mighty KBC transmits to Europe Saturdays at 1500-1600 UTC on 9400 kHz (via Bulgaria), with the minute of MFSK at about 1530 UTC (if you are outside of Europe, listen via websdr.ewi.utwente.nl:8901/ ).  And to North America Sundays at 0000-0200 UTC (Saturday 8-10 pm EDT) on new 9925 kHz, via Germany. The minute of MFSK is at about 0130 UTC.  Reports to Eric: themightykbc@gmail.com . See also http://www.kbcradio.eu/ and https://www.facebook.com/TheMightyKbc/. 

Italian Broadcasting Corporation (IBC)  Five minutes of MFSK32 is at the end of the 30-minute English-language “Shortwave Panorama. For the complete IBC transmission schedule visit  http://ibcradio.webs.com/  

Broad Spectrum Radio is transmitted by WRMI Florida Mondays at 0700-0800 UTC on 5850 and 7730 kHz. MFSK32 is broadcast during the second half hour of the show. Reports to broadspectrumradio@gmail.com.

Thanks for your reception reports! 

Kim

Kim Andrew Elliott, KD9XB

Producer and Presenter

Shortwave Radiogram

Reporting on international broadcasting at https://twitter.com/kaedotcom

From the Isle Music & Uncle Bill's Melting Pot schedules

From the Isle of Music, June 17-23:
This week, we present some wonderful new Son Cubano from Septeto Santiaguero and Adalberto Álvarez y su Son, some recent TIMBA from JG and some Charanga from Manolito Simonet y su Trabuco.

1. For Eastern Europe but audible well beyond the target area in most of the Eastern Hemisphere (including parts of East Asia and Oceania) with 100kw, Sunday 1500-1600 UTC on SpaceLine, 9400 KHz, from Kostinbrod, Bulgaria (1800-1900 MSK)

2. For the Americas and parts of Europe, Tuesday 0000-0100 UTC on WBCQ, 7490 kHz from Monticello, ME, USA (Monday 8-9PM EST in the US). This has been audible in parts of NW, Central and Southern Europe with an excellent skip to Italy recently.

3 & 4. For Europe and sometimes beyond, Tuesday 1900-2000 UTC and Saturday 1200-1300 UTC on Channel 292, 6070 kHz from Rohrbach, Germany.

Uncle Bill's Melting Pot, Sun, June 17 & Tues, June 19, 2018
Episode 67 presents the music of Ghana, Guinea and Cameroon.

1. Sundays 2200-2230 UTC (6:00PM -6:30PM Eastern US) on
WBCQ The Planet 7490 kHz from the US to the Americas and parts of Europe

2. Tuesdays 2000-2030 UTC on Channel 292, 6070 kHz from Rohrbach, Germany for Europe. If current propagation conditions hold, the broadcast should reach from Iceland to Western Russia, Scandinavia down to North Africa and the Middle East, AND a long bounce to parts of New Zealand.
William "Bill" Tilford, Owner/Producer
Tilford Productions, LLC

Arnie's look at amateur radio's FT8

Radio Havana Cuba
Dxers Unlimited middle of the week edition for Tuesday 12 June 2018
By Arnie Coro radio amateur CO2KK


Yes amigos as always you are most welcome to another edition of Dxers Unlimited, our station's twice weekly radio hobby program... This is the middle of the week program that goes on the air just after the half hour news bulletin. I am Arnaldo, Arnie, Coro radio amateur CO2KK , and here is item one of the show.... the ever popular section of Dxers Unlimited.... ASK ARNIE

The question came from long time ... listener Edward from Vancouver, Canada sent an email telling me of the nice results he has achieved with his 14 meters long  version of the TTFD antenna... Edward says reception from 5 to 30 megaHertz is excellent, and he has already tested the antenna for transmitting on the 30 and 20 meters band, making comparative tests with half wave dipoles for both bands. Arnie, he writes, your version of the TTFD using the 800 ohms homebrew terminating resistor and a 9 to one balun feeding into 75 ohms coaxial cable works well on both 30 and 20 meters, and is usable for daytime short range contacts on 40 meters too... Edward added that he picks up our 6100 kilohertz transmission to the Pacific Coast of North America just like a local FM station, something that made our RHC's engineer, Argelio Rodriguez a very happy person indeed.

And now a  Dxers Unlimited special report about amateur radio The great FT8 debate: A  new automatic linking digital communications mode that goes by the short name of FT8 has become extremely popular on the amateur bands since last year ... As a matter of fact FT8 contacts have made possible never before seen achievements on the short wave amateur bands...

Opinions about the use of the FT8 communications protocol are been published at many amateur radio world wide web sites....  You will soon here what your friend, Arnie Coro,  CO2KK  thinks about it...but before here is how  British radio amateur Mark, callsign M Zero B LF voiced his points of view that I am now quoting here: Mark says in his lengthy essay: I’ve been pondering for a while about whether or not I should add my own opinions to the polemic about FT8, the now year-old digital mode that has taken the ham radio world by storm. A few things recently have convinced me that I should, which I’ll go into a little later in this short essay.

First off, a step back: What is FT8? It’s the latest in a line of digital modes developed by Joe Taylor K1JT, that permit two-way radio contacts to be made with incredibly weak signals, that are often below the noise floor.

Until last year, most of the modes in this family were used for specialised purposes such as EME (bouncing radio signals off the moon) or meteor scatter. This meant that they were adopted by a small subset of radio amateurs for their specific purpose.

About a year ago, FT8 came onto the scene.AND HERE IS THE MAIN DIFFERENCE --- Mark explains that  Its main difference over the other modes in the lineage is the speed of an ‘over’: reduced from for example 50 seconds in JT65 to just 15 seconds. This made it much more suitable for generalized use, and very quickly FT8 was adopted for general contacts.

A post by Clublog author Michael G7VJR in January this year shows how exponential the popularity of this mode was in the second-half of 2017; a trend which seems to have continued. I was certainly part of this band-wagon of FT8 fans. I logged my first FT8 contact on 16th July 2017, and to date I’ve made 118 QSOs using the mode from home.

Some people have tried to argue that FT8 isn’t amateur radio. I disagree. For a hobby founded on experimentation, technical challenge and self-training in all forms of communication, FT8 is the very essence of what amateur radio advances should look like. It’s very clever technology with some seriously complex maths behind it, that represents (technically) a significant step forward from what we had before. Si amigos, I will like to read again that part of Mark's posting: listen carefully

Some people have tried to argue that FT8 isn’t amateur radio. I disagree. For a hobby founded on experimentation, technical challenge and self-training in all forms of communication, FT8 is the very essence of what amateur radio advances should look like. It’s very clever technology with some seriously complex maths behind it, that represents (technically) a significant step forward from what we had before.

Mark adds:
I also believe that FT8 has its place in our shacks. One of the biggest threats we have to the hobby is that, particularly in sub-urban environments, noise floors can be very high from consumer electronics. Furthermore, in a globalized world, national regulators appear generally impotent to enforce the regulations that are supposed to avoid pollution of the radio spectrum from poorly-designed equipment. This was one of the reasons for my speedy adoption of FT8. Frankly, from my location on the outskirts of Cambridge, I wouldn’t be able to work as far without the support of the weak-signal error correction that’s inherent in the mode.

This is all the more important during solar minimum, which I suspect plays a large part in the quick spread of FT8. For the next few years, the stage of the sunspot cycle means that radio wave propagation will be hard, especially on higher HF  bands. Having a mode available which allows low signal-to-noise ratio contacts is certainly a help to communication on those bands, which would otherwise be ‘dead’. And then, here is what I consider to be a very well thought analysis about one essential advantage of using the FT8 digital mode. Mark says: The other fantastic thing about FT8 is that it brings, for the first time, objective signal reports to the hobby. We all know that ’59’ is a nonsense, but in the more ‘manual’ modes, we don’t have anything better.

Using actual, genuine, signal-to-noise measurements for signal reports allows more meaningful comparisons of equipment, antenna performance and propagation research.

Si amigos, yes my friends , oui mes amis... Here is more to add fuel to the controversy about the now extensive and intensive use of the FT8 digital mode as expressed by Mark M0 Bravo Lima Fox....
Mark continues by writing: However, in recent months a few things have happened, which started to quell my enthusiasm for the mode.

First was one day when I was working from home, doing my day-job. Since the computer was on anyway, I left FT8 running, periodically clicking the ‘Log QSO’ button when I saw it on the screen. Operating like this, I managed to make about 25 QSOs during the day without even realising it. None of those contacts were memorable. The computer made them for me, while I worked on other things. Moreover, the nature of the FT8 exchange (the facts that you have only 13 characters per over, and that changing the text of an over from the defaults can confuse the other operator) means that I felt no connection with those people at all.

FINALLY, THERE IS NOW A VERY IMPORTANT POINT OF VIEW ABOUT THE EXTENSIVE WORLDWIDE USE OF THE FT8 MODE...Similarly, the focus in the community on monitoring the main FT8 spot frequency on each band, means that other contacts seem to be being missed. I know lots of people are pouring over the stats to see whether FT8 activity is ‘new’ activity, or to the detriment of other modes.

In an upcoming edition of Dxers Unlimited, I will continue dealing with the controversial FT8 digital communications mode... Now  please listen carefully  to my preliminary point of view.... As a soon to be 59 years on the air amateur radio operator.... I have learned to give a very high value to the human aspects of our wonderful hobby.... and sincerely , I believe that using FT8 does nothing to promote new friendships among the world's amateur radio operators...machines do not make friends with people !!!!

Amigos , I wrote the first part of the script of this show Sunday morning... while monitoring the 6 meters amateur band searching for possible sporadic E skip signals that could make possible skywave contacts during the ARRL June VHFcontest.... At just twelve noon local time ,  16 00 UTC , nothing heard in the form of CW or SSB stations, and , as expected, on 50313 the FT8 parking spot, several signals where picked up by Jose CO2XN who happens to have the best 6 meters station in Havana,
with his 7 elements YAGI antenna...

Your opinions about the use of the FT8 digital mode are most welcome.... send them to inforhc at enet dot cu and also to arnie@rhc.cu amigos
(Arnie Coro CO2KK)
(graphic-DX World)