Re: [HCDX] Script of midweek edition of radio hobby show Dxers Unlimited

["Prof. Arnaldo Coro Antich" <inforhc@xxxxxxx>]

Radio Havana Cuba

Dxers Unlimited's midweek edition for 16-17 January 2007

by Arnie Coro

radio amateur CO2KK

Hi amigos radioaficionados... here is the weekend edition of your 
favorite radio hobby program, coming to you from Havana. I am Arnie 
Coro, radio amateur CO2KK, and here is item one for today. It's a news 
item... Cuba has a new satellite TV channel, it was named Canal ACN, and 
the ACN stands for Cuban News Agency in Spanish. The new satellite 
channel is on Hispasat Id Transponder 79 vertical polarization, and the 
footprint of the bird provides practically total coverage of the 
Americas with just a small area in the Amazonian region of Brazil that 
is not covered by the satellite signals.

Senal of Canal ACN at this moment is a television text only type of 
signal, that is created here in Havana using digital technology and then 
uplinked to the satellite for broadcasting.

In the near future the now text mode signal with accompanying audio 
background will include graphics too. The main objetive of Canal ACN is 
to provide Cuba medical doctors and other Cubans providing aid to Latin 
American and Caribbean nations with up to date , actually up to the 
minute information and news about Cuba. The same Hispasat ID transponder 
also is at this moment broadcasting other Cuban live television channels 
as well as several radio stations, including Radio Havana Cuba spanish 
language programs , and soon we will also include English and other 
languages too.

Item two: A now a news update about our Radio Havana Cuba Spanish 
language morning broadcast... starting next Monday 22 January, we will 
start using 15190 kiloHertz to South America replacing 15230 kiloHertz. 
Again, from 1100 to 1500 UTC we will be operating on 15190 kiloHertz 
instead of 15230 kiloHertz .

Now, here is a short break for station ID. I am Arnie Coro, radio 
amateur CO2KK and my e-mail is arnie@xxxxxxxxx

......

Si amigos, you are listening to Radio Havana Cuba, the name of the show 
is Dxers Unlimited, and here is item three of today's program... It's 
our antenna topics section, answering a question sent in by a listener 
that seems to be very enthusiastic with the expected good propagation 
conditions on the 160 and 80 meters amateur bands during the bottom of 
the solar cycle. Amigo Glenn from the state of Washington wants to know 
what could be gained by installing a half wave or even a 5/8 wavelength 
vertical for 160 meters, even though he did his numbers and knows that 
these are both very tall antennas, that will require a lot of space and 
also of top notch mechanical engineering. And Glenn adds that he wants 
to know if the very high antennas can be also used on 80 meters.

Well amigo Glenn, first of all here is your amigo Arnie Coro's advice 
regarding the installation of tall towers... If you do have the 
resources, both financial and of real state to install such an antenna 
system, by all means put the project in the hands of professional 
antenna designers and installers... There are no room for mistakes when 
you are installing a 300 feet or almost 100 meters high tower, and the 
tuning up of such a system requires using professional instruments and a 
lot of know how.

Also such a tall steel structure will require placing aircraft

beacons and obstruction lights to comply with worldwide aviation safety 
regulations... By no means I want to discourage you, but it is my duty 
to provide this initial and very important advise for anyone wanting to 
design and install really high radio antennas... As a bonus, if you 
finally are able to complete the project, the same tower, if fed as a 
vertical grounded folded monopole, will provide an excellent support 
structure for HF, VHF, UHF and microwave antennas...

Years ago, I exchanged correspondence with an amateur radio operator in 
Brazil that is a 160 meter band enthusiast, and he was able to install a 
very tall vertical antenna placed in the center of a small lake, with 
outstanding results .

Yes, again, any attempts to install very high metal structures should be 
handled with great care and with the aid of professionals, without 
forgetting the proper handling of the legal framework with the local 
authorities and even the requirement to provide insurance against 
damages that may result from the collapse of the tower...

Last but not least, if you are not properly trained, never work atop a 
tower , and even if you have training, never do it alone, because you 
don't need to be added to the very sorry statistics of amateur radio 
operators that have been killed while working on their antenna systems...

.....

Si amigos, from time to time , we say no to a QSL request, and for good 
reasons of course, Friday I received a QSL request from Germany stating 
that he had received Dxers Unlimited on a frequency that our station 
doesn't use... Together with the request came some quotes from the 
show's content for the mid week edition of the program, and then you 
know, after reading the e-mail QSL request twice, I decided to reply to 
the German short wave listener with a , SORRY , no QSL from Radio Havana 
Cuba, as the frequency in your e-mail is wrong, and also there was no 
time included in the report.  I expect him to try to listen again to the 
station and be careful to include the frequency and time in his next 
report...And why didn't I sent him a QSL if the program content was 
mentioned.... well for a very good reason, the scripts of Dxers 
Unlimited are made available by several short wave listeners mailing 
lists, and the contents could had been taken from any of them....

Item six: DRM noise continues to create lots of problems to adjacent 
channels operating with standard AM double side band plus carrier 
signals... In my opinion there is no doubt that the wide DRM 
transmissions have to do with poorly adjusted final amplifier stages of 
the transmitters, because DRM requires extremely linear amplification in 
and a very difficult to meet peak to average power ratio handling 
capacity of the transmitter driver and final amplifier stages... Let's 
hope that soon the DRM consortium will take corrective action regarding 
these problems as they are shedding a very dark image to DRM broadcasts, 
that again in my opinion , when properly done with adequate equipment 
should be more compatible with other users of the radio spectrum.

Item seven: More about homebrewing radios, and the joy of operating 
them... especially after you are able to clean up all the initial bugs 
that any homebrew project usually has... A unique regenerative radio 
design that I tested here is capable of operating while using extremely 
low voltages applied to the vacuum tubes... The regenerative detector 
stage is able to provide excellent reception while running just two, 
yes, two volts on the plate or anode electrode, and the audio amplifier 
stages run from a 9 volts battery. As a friend that has seen this radio 
said, it's a vacuum tube radio with a transistor set power supply... A 
further experiment with more common and easier to find vacuum tubes has 
proven that an excellent radio performance can be achieved while just 
running 12 volts DC, a voltage that is easily available from a standard 
accumulator or power supply.

Si amigos, electronics continues to surprise me every day, like in this 
other example, when I was testing Saturday morning an amateur radio two 
meters band handie talkie with a dummy load resistor .... and suddenly I 
heard someone coming back to my hello test... via the local repeater on 
145.190 ... So, it was evident that the dummy load was radiating enough 
signal to

trigger the very sensitive receiver of the repeater that is located 
about three miles from my home QTH, atop the Habana Libre Hotel, a 35 
stories high building in the Vedado district.

When discussing this unsual two way QSO using my 50 ohms

terminating resistor dummy load as an antenna, with a friend, he 
recalled a similar contact on 10 meters with the dummy load as an 
antenna, but not with a local station... He said he has the QSL card to 
prove that he worked a station in North Carolina on 10 meters single 
side band, while his 100 Watts PEP transceiver was connected to a dummy 
load, that it was evidently not very well shielded at all...

The use of rather unusual antenna systems by radio amateurs comes out of 
circumstances like having to operate from apartment buildings and 
neighborhoods where antennas are banned by the building regulations or 
zoning laws... But , once again, ham radio ingenuity comes out with 
flying colors by building beautiful elevated bird feeders that are 
excellent 2 meters or 70 centimeters band antennas, the classic 
flagpoles, made of reinforced polyester glass fiber plastics that serve 
to provide the ideal support for a short wave bands vertical antennas, 
and last but not least, the unusual fence antenna that I saw not too 
long ago... This "fence antenna" provided excellent near vertical 
incidence skywave performance on the 40 meters band for its owner, who 
also has another stealth antenna system for the 2 meters band disguised 
as a sewer system vent....

Si amigos, yes my friends, a ham radio operator or short wave listener 
will always find a way to install a better antenna, especially when 
having to face the challenge of those very stringent zoning and the use 
of rooftops regulations...

If you are not allowed to install an external radio antenna , don't 
think it twice,and send me a description, a detailed description of your 
particular situation, and maybe I can give you some ideas on how to 
design, make and install a better antenna than the indoor one you are 
using right now to listen to Dxers Unlimited...

And now amigos, as always at the end of the program, here is Arnie 
Coro's Dxers Unlimited's exclusive and not copyrighted HF propagation 
update and forecast ....Monday was a day when

G2 class geomagnetic storms were happening, producing poor

propagation at high latitudes. Solar flux is now stable around 80 units, 
and the A sub P index, the planetary geomagnetic disturbance indicator 
will continue to be above 15 units until tomorrow, when it will start to 
move down, as the effects of a recurrent coronal hole subside... Expect 
below average HF propagation for the next three days, with the best 
bands for daytime operation between 15 and 18 megaHertz, while during 
your local evening hours the segment between 5 and 10 megaHertz will be 
the best option ... Hope to have you again listening to my program's 
weekend edition next Saturday and Sunday UTC days amigos...




Gayle Van Horn (MT) wrote:
> Mr. Coro;
>   Just wanted to let you know I have posted your recent information 
> about the Spanish frequency adjustment to my shortwave blog.
> Could you please add my email address to receive any future 
> information either about your program, frequencies, schedules or 
> adjustments
> or station programming information. 
> I also invite you to look at my blog, and should the ocassion arise, 
> would appreciate a plug. I enjoy your program very much.
> Thanks you for your time, and sincere good wishes.
> Kind Regards,
> Gayle Van Horn W4GVH
> Frequency Manager
> SWBC Logs/QSL Report Editor
> Monitoring Times magazine
> MT Shortwave Central blog:
> http://mt-shortwave.blogspot.com/

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