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Re: [IRCA] DXing and cruising -\ part two
Thanks Theo. Fascinating descriptions.
As for the fishing, well, I guess that could be a
secondary use of a long whip antenna....if you
can't hook a big one in one mode, hook something else in another....
best wishes,
Nick
At 17:05 2018-04-29, Theo wrote:
And from February, with the funny part at the
end of the second para as long as the formatting holds:
"As some already know, I took off back to Africa
in early February when the chance to take a
cruise calling at St Helena couldn't be
resisted, even if credit card and bank account
were s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d. Flying to South Africa
from the UK meant just a day in Cape Town for
the usual tourist trip up Table Mountain which
was clouded over until after I was back
down! The only radio note was an SABC office
location in a business/apartment complex south
of the CBD and strangely no obvious sign of any
towers for TV or FM in the heights above the
city. During 21 days on the ship, I did manage
a few evenings out on deck after late
dinner. Observations were really quick, just
noting educated probables rather than definite
loggings, but I was surprised at how much the
stock Tecsun PL-380 dragged in on the Saturday
evening 10 Feb just before the first call at
Lüderitz in Namibia: a pile of the Botswanans
(mostly poor or fair -- but no sign of VoA/909
just after 2100 UT) and I think all the
higher-powered South Africans plus Lesotho/639
and TWR Swaziland/1170. More startling was
stuff from further northeast: TWR/1233 Cyprus
good signal with ID as well as probably Sawa/990
also Cyprus and a definite Sawa ID on
1548/Kuwait, along with presumed Saudis on
882/1449/1467/1512, that last one at very good
strength. But the big puzzler was Chinese on
1098 at fair level -- and yes, as a Good
Vancouverite I know Mandarin when I hear
it! The obvious probable would be Golmud in
western China as one source lists it with CNR1
before 2155 UT. The next major evening check
around 2130 UT Wednesday 14 Feb was midway
between Walvis Bay and St Helena, so basically
due west of Angola, and a lot of the same stuff
was still around, though not 1098; two quirks
were futbol in Spanish on 738 and 855, probably
RNE but amazing to me being so far south. And
French showed up on 1566, likely TWR/Parakou
though it wasn't there previously during the
Saturday check. The final major MW sweep was
around 2230 UT Sun 18 Feb, the night before
Ascension Island, and reception was changing...
and causing noisy confusion on the 380 as 9- and
10-kHz channels were battling as Brazilians
appeared, some very good such as 580/1220/1260/1350/1440/1600.
Shortwave evening sweeps had, what else, Chinese
on any band! 4800 in Mandarin ~2245 UT
suggests Golmud again and a puzzler on 4885 in
an Asian language, sort of like Korean,but not
definite. The SABC's Sonder Grense on 3320 was
a staple all the way, even up into the Canary
Islands on the last night -- their daytime
frequency of 9650 was easy pickings till after
Ascension when Guinea ruled the roost with a
massive signal. RTG seemed to stop programming
at either 1100 or 1130 UT (I had other things to
do during the day) but left the carrier on, but
after a lunchtime broadcast seemed to turn the
tx off 1400/1430-ish, allowing Sonder Grense to
show up. Channel Africa/9625 also appeared
mid-mornings in the early going Presumed
ELWA/6050 had BBC World at 1515, and later in
the evening I caught it signing off with an
anthem at 2230 even though it was a weekday. One
puzzler was a Really Huge Carrier on 9635 the
same afternoon ~1440 UT between Ascension and
Dakar -- there was either suppressed audio or a
station underneath of African origin -- and
jumping to a conclusion I'd say Mali as their
claim to fame for me on 5995 at home has been
low mod. However, having said that, later at
1900 UT, RFI (Aoki lists Issoudun) was on the
frequency with the same massive carrier but
normal modulation, and the African was still
underneath. I doubt RFI would have a tx on with
OC for so long. And a little tale connected to
that: I was approached by a Senior Officer while
dangling my feet over the rail with the Tecsun
antenna into the sky. He struck up a
conversation and wondered what I was hearing --
I explained about Conakry/9650 and the Beeb's
towers we'd seen on Ascension, which satisfied
his curiosity but as he was about to walk away,
he remarked his wife had told him that someone
was fishing over the rail of the promenade
deck. You couldn't make that up if you tried!
Now to Jamestown on St Helena: I had
resurrected my rather scruffy Radio St Helena
Day T-shirt (from the 1992 broadcast) for
wearing on shore, intending to visit what is now
South Atlantic Media Services. First order of
business was to climb Jacob's Ladder, 699 steps
up the cliff above town. While recovering at
the top, I fell into conversation with some
local women who were collecting charity
donations from unsuspecting tourists from the
ship. They asked about the T-shirt and how I'd
obtained it, and then remarked that I'd just
missed Tony Leo, former station manager at RSH,
as he was using his car as an extra taxi for the
day. I thumped back down the 699 steps (worse
than going up -- thighs were ruined for days)
and after some wandering, decided on a Windhoek
Draught at a tavern. Unbeknownst to me, the
bartender had also noticed the T-shirt and just
as I was about to go exploring some more, in
tore this local guy, looking around expectantly.
I sort of jumped to a conclusion, and sure
enough it was Tony. As all the shore tours
arranged by the ship had been sold out, I hadn't
managed to get out of Jamestown but Tony drove
me up to Longwood House, built for Napoleon's
exile on the island, and afterwards decided he
wanted a short interview for possible use by
SAMS. And he then delivered me back to the quayside.
Three days later, the call at Ascension produced
a bonus. Landing is by tender but the swell was
too dangerous at the quayside steps. As a
consolation, the Captain decided on a clockwise
circuit of the island which allowed for a fair
viewing of BaBCock's antenna facilities out on
the northern tip away from Georgetown. Once
back at anchorage in the early afternoon, the
swell had calmed enough for passengers to land,
though I was on the last tender at 4.30 and got
the last back from shore around 6.30 pm. Landing
permits severely restrict access beyond the
settlement so even if we'd had the whole day on
shore, I wouldn't have even seen as much as the circuit provided.
A shore tour of Dakar was interesting -- one
stop turned out to be across the street from the
main RTS compound behind a high concrete wall
but with several billboards showing why. And
later, the tour bus got caught in traffic
outside a second building which appeared to be
the RTS-FM location. And talking of FM, sorry
Douglas, I didn't do much tuning around though
did notice at Praia on Cape Verde that RFI Afrique is indeed on 99.3 MHz."
73
Theo
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Nick Hall-Patch
Victoria, BC
Canada
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