Radio Havana Cuba
Dxers Unlimited weekend edition - Sunday 16 September
2018
Arnie Coro CO2KK
Hi amigos radioaficionados now enjoying slightly better
shortwave propagation conditions as we approach the autumn equinox.
I am Arnaldo, Arnie, Coro your host here at the weekend
edition of Dxers Unlimited your favorite radio hobby program coming to you from
sunny La Habana Cuba, and here is now our first news item.
For a change, another broadcast station is going back to
use shortwave transmissions, to provide better service to its listeners.
Radio Nepal is now back on short-wave.
Victor Goonetilleke just wrote on the Union of Asian
DXers Facebook page on 13 September 2018:
Radio Nepal is back on short-wave after six years off the
air on the 60 meters tropical band, by adding 5005 kHz to augment its national
transmission grid broadcasting on MW and FM. According to a station official,
Radio Nepal resumed short wave broadcasts from 02.00–5.00 p m Nepali time using
a 10 kw transmitter at Khumaltar, Lalitpur in Kathmandu.
The same source said the station is using very low power.
By all accounts, 5005 kHz is a difficult Dx catch for listeners outside of
Nepal. Nepal is 5 hours and 45 minutes ahead of UTC.
Even though
the station is running its old 10kW power at present it can`t be more than a 1
kw or so. However, the greater news is that Nepal is now available on shortwave
for Dxers.
Radio amateurs in the states of North and South Carolina
continue to provide much needed emergency communications after hurricane
Florence impacted the east coast of the United States. This one was a large
diameter event, that affected a large area with very heavy rains and storm
surges.
The American Radio Relay League sent several portable
multi band stations to the area ahead of the arrival of the hurricane, while
local radio clubs implemented the emergency plans to provide much needed
alternate communications after damages to the cell phone and wired systems
required the use of amateur radio stations.
Fixing broken down present day high technology radio
equipment is extremely difficult, even when full information is available and
the required test instruments can be used. Attempts to repair receivers,
transmitters and transceivers using sophisticated solid-state high-density
components is next to impossible nowadays, except when very simple problems are
causing the failures... One good example is the typical battery contacts
corrosion problems that often are the cause of intermittent operation... But
once again, attempting to change springs that contact the negative side of
batteries and small metal plates used for the positive terminals can prove to
be very difficult if you don't have the proper tools and the vitally important
instructions on how to disassemble the equipment so that you can access the
affected areas.
One vitally important reminder is to never leave
batteries inside radios and accessories in storage, and check frequently the
batteries for any signs of leaks that can cause permanent corrosion damages to
equipment.
Make a check list of all your equipment that uses
batteries and once a month open the batteries compartment and be sure that
everything is okay. If you have any doubts about possible leaks, discard the
batteries immediately and do it in the most ecologically friendly way as
possible.
QSL on the air, to the many Radio Havana Cuba listeners
that are reporting our 15140 kilohertz frequency that is now starting at eleven
AM Cuban time, that is fifteen hours UTC with the full two hours of the Cuba
Online magazine show that ends at 18 hours UTC. Then 15140 kilohertz stays on
the air with the same central North America 340 degrees azimuth beam with
several languages feeds.
The English slot is on from three to four PM local time,
that is from 19 to 20 hours UTC.
Send your reports of the 15140 kilohertz 19 meters band
frequency to inforhc @enet.cu and do include your postal mailing address so
that we can send you a nice Radio Havana Cuba QSL card.
The best time of the year for AM medium wave Dxing is
just around the corner. Starting around
the third week of September and lasting until the end of November the autumn
and very early winter AM band Dx season this year should be at least as good as
last year's one that started when the number of sunspots went below 20.
Listeners who asked why the autumn DX season for the AM
broadcast band is typically better than the spring season, the answer is that
during the months of March and early April atmospheric noise levels are higher
than during September, and October.
By the way, I am using a recently repaired very old
Grundig Yacht Boy 220 Long Wave , Medium Wave, shortwave and FM radio for late
evening AM band Dxing with very good results.
Using the built in ferrite rod antenna on the AM
Broadcast band during the daytime, I am able to pick up ground wave signals
from stations located up to 250 miles away, thanks to the low local noise level
prevailing in the neighborhood where I live.
A recent trip for a short vacation at the end of August
to beautiful Varadero beach at a seaside location, brought daytime signals from
more than 350 miles away coming from Cuban stations located to the east of our
main island and operating on the 1200 to 1620 frequency range.
Yes amigos, even an old analog receiver can prove to be
an excellent tool for AM medium wave band Dxing, among other highlights because
the old radios do not use noisy frequency synthetizers.
This is Radio Havana Cuba, the name of the show is Dxers
Unlimited, I am your host Arnie Coro radio amateur CO2KK and now here is ASK
ARNIE, the most popular section of this program... just slightly ahead of the
HF plus low band VHF propagation updates and forecasts featured whenever
possible at the end of the show.
Today I will be answering a question by listener Alberto
who listens from Buenos Aires Argentina to our Internet streaming audio. He
wants to know why it is not possible for him to pick up our English language
programs using his nice shortwave radio and external antenna.
Well amigo Alberto the reason why it is quite difficult
to pick our English transmissions via shortwave at your location, is that we
use directional antennas to beam the programs to North America, Central
America, the Caribbean, and to the Mediterranean area of Europe. The highly
directional antenna systems have what is known as a high front to back ratio,
so, for example when we use the 6165 kilohertz beam to Central North America,
an azimuth of 340 degrees, the reverse of the beam is on 160 degrees, but the
passive reflector used on that curtain array cancels the backward lobe so that
very little signal is sent in that azimuth.
By the way we do broadcast in Spanish and Portuguese to
South America using identical antenna arrays that beam the signals to azimuths
of 130, 160 and 172 degrees from Havana to provide full coverage of all of
South America.
No need to use high power to enjoy amateur radio, even
with simple equipment that do not need the assistance of sophisticate computer
software digital communications programs like JT 65 and the most recent widely
used FT8.
The unique joy of achieving a successful two way amateur
radio contact with a DX station while running very low power, and simple radios
is second to none amigos, and by the way here is a partial list of the most popular
CW operating frequencies for QRP or very low power amateur stations are 7030
and 7040 on the 40 meters band, 10 dot 106 on the 30 meters band 14060 on 20
meters, 21060 on 15 meters and 28060 on the 10 meters band....Calling CQ using
CW on those frequencies will in many instances bring back stations that
regularly monitor them for QRP signals.