[HCDX] My log from Valizas DX Camp 2003
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[HCDX] My log from Valizas DX Camp 2003
My last DX Camp took place from Feb 17 to Mar 5, 2003
The selected place was "Valizas" or also known as "Barra de Valizas", a nice
Atlantic beach located in the department of Rocha, about 300 kilometers east
from Montevideo, Uruguay. Here the Valizas River empties the sweet water of
the Laguna de Castillos into the Atlantic Ocean. Great sand dunes,
magnificent landscapes, fishermen in his daily work, swimming both river and
ocean, natural forest, great Via Lactea display during clear nights. A place
to feel Nature in its entirety! I have photos of the landscape to share if
somebody is interested!
My family owns a small but nice cottage there and I've enjoyed this place
since I was a youngster for many times. Speaking of radio, there, I was
fortunate to experience superb conditions for FM (Es) and TE. In the 80's
and 90's I coul log several Caribbean stations via transecuatorial. I knew
waht salsa music was via FM DX with Puerto Rico!!! The most interesting Es
catch was an Argentinian FM, Radio Nacional Rio Mayo, located in province of
Chubut, in the Patagonia. The recording I still have shows a particular fast
fading, (but I was lucky to get the ID on the top of the wave"). It is
justice to say that the station was also picked contemporarily by the late
Manuel Barcia, a great Uruguayan DXer an my master in the field of DXing who
practiced FM DXing from Montevideo with the same luck that us, with the
difference in that we had to travel moderate distances to hunt for
significative TE FMDX. During low sunspot cycle years I also got Chilean FM
stations most of them regionals, which were a real pleasure to log. Rx's
used where simple radiorecorders and a simple commercial folded dipole made
with that TV flat -ribbon- cable.
Valizas, was also the place when in 1985 I got a Kenwood R-600 from former
DXer Daniel Muñoz Faccioli, in times DX Club del Uruguay was alive, and
could mount a Beverage for the first time in my DX-life . For a couple of
subsequent years I used 100m and 300m Beverages, always directed to Europe.
I was amazed for the results: Europe, (Spain, Germany, Bulgaria, GB,
Albania, Chipre, Norway, etc.) Africa (Kenya), and also powerful stations in
the Middle East and Volcano radio in the Ascension Island, Atlantic Ocean.
Also Germany on LW! Ahh... those good old times!!!
In 1997, the electricity came to that place and power lines produced QRN via
the cables. The last time I went there was to much interference from the
power line. Fluorescent tubes were used for lighting the hundred of little
houses of that seaside resort. Modern civilization was entering the place.
This time I had no R600 and the vast space for a Bev was limited by new streets.
But I took my portable Grundig YB 400 and 100 meters of wire. Comparison
doesn't benefit this rx. The YB400 is a good rx to enter the hobby of swl
and DXing. And a good companion for a traveler listener seeking for news and
music from overseas. The following says it all: The only radio related topic
I took with me to this vacation (besides the WRTH2003 and the latest
Cumbrelite available I had received via E-mail) was a print on the web
published comments on the Palstar R30! The blank side of the last page of
the Cumbrelite, and that of those couple of articles was filled with three
artistic pencil drawings I took on the landscapes surounding me.
I found line QRN but could reduce it using batteries, and later placing the
power supply distant from the flourescent lamp.
Here is the log and the news produced:
-FM DX-
PUERTO RICO 98.5 Salsoul, 0025 adstring with promo: "El fin de semana de
liberacion femenina...te invitan...Puerto Rico y Salsoul. El 22 de febrero
competencia de kayak... auspicia Salsoul", short piece of mx. QRK 2/3
(Nigro-Uruguay, Feb 17)
This was the only FM DX catch... Nothing was heard later from the Caribbean.
Maybe the sun or a problem at the antenna or rx. Mmm... I don't know. Ant:
radio set telescopic and its wire rolling antenna. Later I installed the
folded dipole, beaming to the north (Brazil/Caribbean Basin), but nothing
was heard. Expected some Es but it resulted nil.
-SW DX-
ANTARCTICA
15476 R Nac Arcangel San Gabriel, Base Esperanza 1922. Argentinian pop mx.
Canned ID by man, giving E-mail, more mx. QRK 4, some QSB, excellent signal
for just a kilowatt. (Nigro-Uruguay, Feb 19)
BRAZIL
2380 R Educadora, Limeira 0019, easy listening w/ rlg px by man, 0030
recheck with more difficult copy and a het. At 0044 "pgm: "A Voz da
Profecia". (Nigro-Uruguay, Feb 22)
-NOTHING HEARD ON 2420 R Sao Carlos 0020 on Feb 22-
2460 R Alvorada, Rio Branco 0022 tks by man. Deep QSB peaking S3/0 of SIO.
(Nigro-Uruguay, Feb 22)
-NOTHING HEARD ON 2470 R Cacique, Sorocaba on Feb 22-
2480 UNID 0030 with mx and brief man. Most likely harmonic, too much QRN to
tell more (Nigro-Uruguay, Feb 22)
-NOTHING HEARD ON 2490 R. Oito de Setembro when checked 2227 on Feb 25-
CHINA
4330 Xinjiang PBS 0113 not in parallel with 4500 (see below), QRK 3.
(Nigro-Uruguay, Feb 20)
4500 Xinjiang PBS 0110 tks by woman. QRK 4 (Nigro-Uruguay, Feb 20)
4620 Nei Menggu PBS 0107 tks by man, QRK 2, QRN. (Nigro-Uruguay, Feb 20)
4785 Nei Menggu PBS 2312 m/w tks, het QRK 4/3 (Nigro-Uruguay, Feb 27)
4820 Xizang PBS, Lhasa 0038 tks by w, QRK 4, some QSB, QRN and splatter from
4825. (Nigro-Uruguay, Feb 18)
4980 Xinjiang, Urumqui 0124 with talks by woman. QRK4. (Nigro-Uruguay, Feb 18)
5240 Xizang PBS, lhasa 2356 with male singing a melodic theme with
orchestra. (Nigro-Uruguay, Feb 18)
GERMANY 7410 R Santec via Juelich 0250 rlg pgm in SP, woman with
simultaneous translation of rlg speech in German, QRK 4/5. //9965 powerhouse
signal and 9945 modest only
INDIA
4760 AIR, Port Blair, 0048 man singing. QRK 2/3 QRN. (Nigro-Uruguay, Feb 18)
4775 AIR, Gauhati 0045 weak w/ man chants beneath Brazilian. The latest
noted with fast QSB. (Nigro-Uruguay, Feb 18)
4790 AIR, Chennai, 0041, nice subcont mx w/chanting, enough distinctive and
representative to pass my earphones to my 14 year old son. "¡Que increible!"
he said (that would be said "That's incredible!" or "Cool" in EG) (HI!).
Carrier has hum and QRN from neraby storm spoiled rcpcn somewhat.
(Nigro-Uruguay, Feb 18)
4970 AIR, Shilong 0024, IS, short song, woman, then man SIO 242- QRN
((Nigro-Uruguay, Feb 18)
4990 AIR, Itanagar 0034 nice duet chant, pleasant listening, some hum on
carrier. QRK 4/5 (Nigro-Uruguay, Feb 23)
KYRGYZSTAN
4010 Kirghiz R. 0116 vern mx, tks by man, moderate het (Nigro-Uruguay, Feb 20)
MALI 5995 R Mali, 2319 vern mx, ID by YL, more mx with xylophone and male
singer, some splatter from R. Guaiba, Porto Alegre, Brazil. QRK 2/3.
(Nigro-Uruguay, Feb 23)
PERU
4856 R. La Hora, Cuzco 0033, rlg px, "pastor" preaching and presenting mx.
QRK 3.(Nigro-Uruguay, Feb 18)
9505a R Tacna 2341 ad string by male with promo of "Jornada Deportiva de
Radio Tacna". QRK 2/3 (Nigro-Uruguay, Feb 23)
6188 R Oriente, Yurimaguas 1054 phone-in pgrm hosted by man.
(Nigro-Uruguay, Mar 5)
PHILIPINNES
15270 R Pilipinas 0234 EG pgm, ID by male, then tks by man about certain
city in the country ( I couldn't retain its name). QRK 3 Nice to have them
logged, not so often heard here. (Nigro-Uruguay, Mar 3)
PUERTO RICO
6350U AFRTS 0941 CBS nx and man tks on "Football League", QRK 4
(Nigro-Uruguay, Feb 19)
TAJIKISTAN
4635 Yangiyul 0052 man with talk. Static crashes, QRK 3/4. (Nigro-Uruguay,
Feb 18)
5035 RFE 0230 male/female talk with lots of "Frantsia", QRK2/3, bad
modulation.(Nigro-Uruguay, Feb 26)
URUGUAY 6140 R Montecarlo, hrd as late as 0045 on Feb 23, irregular s/off
time other days, but never as late as this day. ((Nigro-Uruguay, Feb 23)
As said, I had mounted my 100 meter long Beverage, and terminated it with a
560 ohm resistor. The wire was elevated 2 meters high. Used three bamboo
poles and at the end, about 5 or 6 meters went over the floor, since a road
was interrupting the way. Didn't want to cross it by high, so the Bev ended
a little curved in shape.
As expected Andean Latin Americans (except Brazil) didn't appear at all,
except that logging for Radio La Hora in Peru and other few. Finally on Feb
27 I took off the termination resistor, to see if something different could
happen, but the only recognizable thing was that I lost most of my
transatlantic reception on MW.
Static noise was a problem in the whole of the listening period. Nice to try
a EWE ant next time! (eh?...Michael Schnitzer?! :)
-MW DX-
FALKLAND IS 530 FIBS 0258+ carrying BBCWS, Woman in EG interviewing a young
boy about Israel. Easy catch at this time most of the days. Bad they don't
have local ID at midnight! (Nigro-Uruguay, Feb 18)
SAUDI ARABIA
1512 BSKSA, Jeddah (tent.) 0057 . WRTH lists 1000KW for them here.
(Nigro-Uruguay, Feb 20)
1521 BSKSA, Duba (tent.) 0315 2000 KW listed here, AA chants, tks by man
then woman. Best tuned on 1523. (Nigro-Uruguay, Feb 23)
UNID
1503 something on peak 0109 getting out of the mud, maybe IRAN with 100KW?,
some sort of chant by man. QRK2/1. (Nigro-Uruguay, Feb 20)
1575 2244 man tks in lang, deep QSB leaving just 6 or 7 seconds of
detectable audio. (Nigro-Uruguay, Feb 25)
MW DX NEWS
URUGUAY 1590 Radio Regional, Lascano Dpto. de Rocha, ID's as "la Nueva
Radio". (Nigro-Uruguay, Feb 20)
--
VISIT TO RADIO UNIVERSO, CASTILLOS. FUTURE 6155 SW!
---------------------------------------------------
I could pay a brief visit to this station, located in the "mainland" from
Valizas. Castillos, is the second city of the Departamento de Rocha.
I found the station, which transmits on MW1480, located in the suburb of the
relatively small city confined to a small building with no signs or painted
letters catching attention from the street. Two rooms with two computers
each radiocassette recorders, one with phone and two men working, one
speaking on the telephone. The other young man working with an audio editing
software clipping parts of an interview. After a short time, Juan Brañas,
the stn owner arrived. I COULD CONFIRM WITH HIM THAT THEY STILL HAVE PLANS
TO USE THE SHORTWAVE FQ OF 6155 (nominal). He told me that they already have
made a couple of tests with two ham modified xters, but were unfortunate to
blow out both modulation transformers. They plan to move the transmitting
plant with their MW to Pueblo 19 de Abril, a small village formerly named
Chafalote, between Rocha City the capital city of the departamento and
Castillos, in order to improve the coverage toward the departmental capital.
He couldn't give me a date for possible starting of SW transmission. But I
invited him to put it into knowledge of area SW fans via email as soon they
could get it into action. Brañas demonstated a scarce knowledge about the
effective coverage of their future sw signal, but considering that the
effective power will be in the order of the quarter kilowatt, I will no
expect too much of long distance DX. He has no knowledge of the best
schedule to operate. The reason for him to use SW: is to give more monetary
and marketing value to the station.
Plans are to simulcast MW. I could see the little transmitter in his hand
and remember he said the crystal was not in the same fqcy that the assigned
one, maybe 500Hz below fundamental. (Nigro, Uruguay, Feb 19)
---
END OF THE STORY! I DREAM WITH A PALSTAR R30 SOUNDING IN VALIZAS!
73
Horacio A. Nigro
Montevideo,
Uruguay
----------------
hanigro@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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