[HCDX] Grayland DXpedition Logs - Dec. 29-30

["Guy Atkins" <dx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

This trip to Grayland Beach State Park was a real challenge with the
weather. I encountered high winds and rain, and occasional, nearly-
sideways hail that pounded the yurt wall so hard I had to crank up
the volume to the headphones considerably. I also had the din of the
nearby roaring Pacific Ocean to contend with. At least last week's
snow had melted, and I had brief periods of calm and almost no rain
while erecting and dismantling the antennas--thankfully! It was also
the first time I've been c-c-cold in the Grayland yurts; the wind and
chilly temps found their way easily around the door edges, and the
yurt's built-in heater couldn't keep up.

I'm still going through the many Perseus SDR files for medium wave
DX, and I'll have them posted and on my blog in 2-3 days. Here's the
shortwave loggings, though...not bad for a few hours of SW DX "on the
side". It's been a while since I've encountered this many interesting
signals on 60 meters. A and K indices were low, and I'm sure it
helped the India DX audible from over the polar route.

--------------------------------------------------------------

BOTSWANA 4930, 1625-1633, VOA Dec 30 Woman announcer with African
news highlights and mentions of VOA and Washington DC. 'This is
African News Tonight, on the VOA' ID at 1630. Into 'The Sunny Side of
Sports' program about Togo soccer team's success. Good to very good
signal, via longpath on PA0RDT Mini-whip antenna. (Atkins-WA)

CHAD 4905, 1550-1645, Rdiff. Natl. Tchadienne Dec 30 Surprised and
pleased to find this 3rd longpath African signal of the morning of
the 30th, thanks to a tip from Walt Salmaniw on a faint signal in the
background of Tibet's English service on 4905. I replayed the Perseus
WAV file a number of times and heard drums and Arabic-sounding talk
up to a distinctive balofon interval signal at 1630:25. Based on the
terminator position, drums music, and Arabic language I suspected it
was northern Africa. I checked www.intervalsignals.net found that the
IS matched one of the sound files for Rdiff. Natl. Tchadienne! The
final nail in the coffin was finding that 4905 is a current domestic
frequency for Chad, via the British DX Club's 'Africa on Shortwave'
January 2009 guide. The schedule for Chad indicates French, Arabic,
and vernaculars 1030-2230 UTC. This makes three longpath Africans
heard past sunrise on Dec. 30. Thanks to Walt Salmaniw for the
initial tip. What fun to have both Chad and Tibet dueling it out on
the same tropical band frequency! (Atkins-WA)

CHINA 4950, 1259-1302, Voice of Pujiang - Shanghai Dec 30 5+1 time
pips followed by ID in Chinese by woman, and two mentions of
Shanghai. Strong signal. (Atkins-WA)

GUATEMALA 4780, 1259-1303, Radio Cultural Coatan Dec 30 Flute music
to 1300 with male announcer in Spanish and mentions of Coatan. Prayer
or devotional message voice-over folk music at 1302. Fair signal at
half hour past Coatan SR. (Atkins-WA)

GUATEMALA 4799.8, 1258-1302, R. Buenas Nuevas Dec 30 Presumed.
Romantic song in Spanish beneath strong CNR1 signal, and into a talk
or announcement in Spanish. Poor to fair. (Atkins-WA)

INDIA 4775, 1645-1700, AIR Imphal Dec 30 Slow Hindi singing by woman
with percussion accompaniment; brief announcement by man, and into
another slow subcontinental music selection with tabla and flute.
Various subcont. music styles to 1659:35 ID as 'Akashvani Imphal'
with sign-off announcements including mentions of 'kilohertz'. Plug
pulled at 1700:30. Good signal. (Atkins-WA)

INDIA 4820, 1730-1735, AIR Kolkata Dec 29 Woman announcer in English,
with commentary or talk on Asian politics. Good level but buried
beneath a strong Xizang PBS music program. Parallel to 4920 Chennai
(also good), but also beneath a different Xizang PBS music program.
(Atkins-WA)

INDIA 4860, 1659-1701, AIR Delhi Dec 30 Messy, noisy signal with
possible Delhi at low level. Language sounded Hindi. (Atkins-WA)

INDIA 4880, 1250-1302, AIR Lucknow Dec 30 Continuous subcontinental
flute music to female announcer at 1300 with at least two mentions of
All India Radio. Weak level. (Atkins-WA)

INDIA 4895, 1635-1644, AIR Kurseong Dec 30 Subcontinental music of
singing and tabla, and later Hindi film music. Fair level, but
deteriorating towards 1700 sign-off, which was nearly inaudible. Plug
pulled at 1700:45. (Atkins-WA)

INDIA 4920, 1736-1738, AIR Chennai Dec 29 Good level with an Asian
politics commentary by woman in English, but co-channel with Xizang
PBS music program. Parallel to 4920 AIR Kolkata. (Atkins-WA)

INDIA 4940, 1653-1701, AIR Guwahati Dec 30 Male vocalist with Hindi
singing, sitar, and tabla. Sign-off announcements and ID by female
announcer at 1700, and then carrier off at 1701:20. Good signal. Also
heard earlier at 1300, with Guwahati dominating Voice of the Strait
(China). (Atkins-WA)

INDIA 4970, 1629-1632, AIR Shillong Dec 30 Percussive music selection
with gongs and tabla to female announcer in English. ID at 1630 'This
is the end of our program tonight. This is All India Radio,
broadcasting from Shillong'. The same announcer repeated the sign-off
in Hindi, and then Shillong's carrier was gone at 1632. Fair signal.
(Atkins-WA)

INDIA 4990, 1629-1631, AIR Itanagar Dec 30 Hindi film music, then
female announcer in Hindi with sign-off announcements. Poor to fair
level. (Atkins-WA)

INDIA 5010, 1659-1702, AIR Thiruvanathapuram Dec 30 Presumed.
Threshold signal of subcontinental music to male announcer at 1700,
and into tabla and flute music at 1701. Very weak signal. (Atkins-WA)

INDONESIA 4750, 1258-1302, RRI Makassar Dec 30 A real mess on this
frequency with two Chinese stations (CNR1 and PBS) dominant, and RRI
Makassar in the background. Female and male announcers in Indonesian
up to 1300 and into presumed news. None of the stations were exactly
on 4750, and it was driving the synchronous AM detector crazy! Best
in LSB to avoid CODAR swisher. Fair level. Rechecked WAV file from
1400 UTC and Makassar was much clearer. The WAV for 1500 revealed
them in the clear, with Song of the Coconut Islands up to RRI network
ID and into Warta Berita. (Atkins-WA)

SOUTH AFRICA 4880, 1645-1705, SW Radio Africa Dec 30 Talk in unid.
African language by various speakers to 1700, then change to male
announcer in English language with mentions of Africa, time pips, and
into headline news including Israel military action. Fair signal,
with some weak co-channel interference from presumed AIR Lucknow
prior to 1700. Another African via morning longpath. (Atkins-WA)

TIBET 4905, 1630-1635, Holy Tibet Dec 30 Thanks to Walt Salmaniw
(whose Dec. 30 logging reminded me that what's listed in some sources
as 'PBS Xizang' on 4905/4920 is more accurately Tibet, not China), I
was able to log this one 'retroactively'. Having just returned from
Grayland I had Perseus recorded files of the 60 meterband that
happened to be from the same date and timeframe when Walt was DXing.
I had skipped over 4905 //4920 initially, not realizing the
frequencies were from Tibet and that English was scheduled for 1630-
1700. After I read Walt's logging I checked the portion of my Perseus
WAV file for 4905 kHz at 1630, and there it was. At 1630:40 I heard a
female announcer say 'Holy Tibet is the means by which you may visit
the roof of the world', and she and a male announcer talked briefly
about listening to the station to learn more about 'the terrain, the
people, and the culture of Tibet'. Good signal, but modulation could
be better. (Atkins-WA)

VIETNAM 4739.61, 1258-1303, Son La RTV Dec 30 Presumed. Distorted and
poorly modulated signal with male announcer in Vietnamese or tribal
language (may have been a phone patch); primative-sounding vocals by
woman with screechy stringed instrument at 1259. Announcements by
woman at 1301, but couldn't make out an ID. Poor signal. (Atkins-WA)

VIETNAM 6165, 0320-0340, Voice of Vietnam, Xuan Mai Dec 29 Poor to
fair signal in English; woman announcer with commentary on terrorism
in Mumbai and Iraq. (Atkins-WA)

--------------------------------

Guy Atkins
Puyallup, WA
DXing at Grayland Beach State Park
Perseus SDR X2 / Wellbrook Phased Array antenna (proto) / PA0RDT Mini-
Whip @ 30 ft. high
www.perseus-sdr.blogspot.com
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