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Re: [HCDX] Dxers Unlimited´s weekend edition for 9-10 February 2008
RADIO HAVANA CUBA
DXERS UNLIMITED
DXERS UNLIMITED´S WEEKEND EDITION FOR 9 - 10 FEBRUARY 2008
BY ARNIE CORO
RADIO AMATEUR CO2KK
Hi amigos radioaficionados all around the world, and moving in orbit
around Planet Earth,and
according to recent headlines, never before so many radio amateur
operators have
gathered in space... although one of them is scheduled to return back to
Earth in a few days.
Let´s hope that many newcomers to amateur radio may be able to make
their first contact
with other hams orbiting the Earth during the next few days... Space ham
radio operation is
one of the more than 83 ways that you can I can enjoy amateur radio,
although not many
of us have the opportunity of flying into Earth orbit !!!. By the way,
two way contacts on the
two meters amateur band with spacecraft flying in low space orbit is
quite easy using very
simple equipment... a two meters band hand held FM transceiver, a
handie-talkie, and
a three or four element portable Yagi antenna is all you will need to
contact fellow radio
amateurs orbiting the Earth.... Item two: Just back from a surprise
trip to Venezuela and
a one week very short vacation here in Havana amigos... and still
catching up with the
backlog... I had the nice opportunity of visiting Radio Nacional of
Venezuela, and also
climbing to one of the mountains sorrounding Caracas, to see the unique
AM broadcast
band site of YVKE Mundial 550 kiloHertz and Radio Nacional of
Venezuela´s Canal
Informativo 630 kiloHertz stations, that are now sharing the same
antenna system.
YKKE Mundial 550 kiloHertz is a frequent DX catch in North America
during this solar
minimum and its 130 meters high tower stands high above the Avila
mountain, overlooking
Caracas. More about my visit to Venezuela , where I was invited to
attend the Radio
Club Venezolano amateur radio organization´s ceremony of installation of
its newly
elected executive committee, later in today´s weekend edition of Dxers
Unlimited.
I am Arnie Coro, radio amateur CO2KK, your host here at this twice
weekly radio hobby
program.... I will be back with you in a few seconds, after a short
break for station ID...
.......
Si amigos, this is Radio Havana Cuba, the name of the program is Dxers
Unlimited, and yes
we do QSL, we do verify reception reports with a beautiful QSL card that
you will keep
in your collection and show to your friends for years to come. This is
our weekend edition
and now here is item three : Dxing from South America... an eyewitness
report... Sure
I had done it before... I remember very well my first stay in Rio de
Janeiro way back in
1981, during the ITU Region II Medium Wave Conference, where I used for
the first time
the Sony ICF 2001 digital receiver that was just coming out to the world
market. I bought
the receiver on my way to BRAZIL, during a four day stopover in Panama
City, and
was able to enjoy for the first time ever the use of a portable digital
receiver. Our own
50 kiloWatt transmitter operating on 15340 kiloHertz was easily heard at
Rio de Janeiro´s
beautiful Hotel Nacional, designed by worldwide known Brazilian
architect Oscar Niemeyer...
The Sony ICF2001, the grand-daddy of today´s portable digital receivers,
behaved very
well from the 19th floor room of the Hotel, overlooking the San Conrado
beach, near
the famous Copacabana and Ipanema white sands strips... But in Caracas,
many years later
reception was quite different from the seaside location in Brazil... I
was using another Sony
portable, the ICF 7600G, and a short length of wire hanging down from
the window...
As expected, the location, a valley totally sorrounded by high
mountains, made reception
of AM broadcast band DX practically impossible, although the magic of
short wave brought
a lot of signals despite the extremely low solar activity that prevailed
during my stay
in Venezuela...
Item four: Some of the self proclaimed gurus of international broadcasting
sometimes fumble the ball and just loose it... for example, a friend
e-mailed me this week
a comment about my shows, in which the self proclaimed expert affirmed
that my programs
where sent to the station via a phone link.... Well, once again the guru
missed... what really
happens is that when I arrive at Studio 6, my sound engineer of many
years now, Jose
Costa Pupo, knows that the audio frequency equalizer must be set
according to my
own optimized frequency response curve... The shape of the curve is
optimized for voice,
so you won´t hear audio below 250 cycles per second, or above 3000
cycles per second...
And sure, it does sound much better under difficult propagation
conditions... So amigos,
just for your information... no, they are not phone-in as many times
proclaimed by a constant
critic of Radio Havana Cuba... it is just your´s truly optimization of
the frequency response
to achieve the best possible reception of voice signals via short wave...
Item five: More about my visit to Venezuela... Radio Nacional of
Venezuela is now involved
in a nation wide expansion and modernization of its broadcast
facilities, that includes
the installation of a large number of FM broadcast band transmitters to
increase the
coverage even to the most remote locations. The installation of several
new AM broadcast
transmitting stations is also now in the works, using solid state
transmitters and highly
efficient folded monopole vertical antennas. Most of the new AM
broadcast band sites will
be serving two of Radio Nacional of Venezuela´s national programs, by
means of a diplexer
arrangement that allows using the same antenna system for transmitting
two different
AM band frequencies . This is a very sound and economical approach that
has been used
for a long time by AM stations around the world, and now it is even a
more efficient approach
thanks to the use of the vertical folded and grounded monopole antennas,
that also provide
additional protection for the solid state output modules of the modern
transmitters...
So, in the not too distant future, I am sure that Dxers in South
America, the Caribbean
Central America and North America will be able to pick up the new
Venezuelan AM transmitters
broadcasting Radio Nacional of Venezuela different programs, as several
of these sites
will be using power outputs in the 10 to 50 kiloWatt range... the kind
of power that makes
possible frequent DX pick up from distances of more than one or two
thousand miles away...
..................
You are listening to Radio Havana Cuba, the name of the show is Dxers
Unlimited, and you
can send your signal reports, comments about the program and radio hobby
related questions
to arnie@xxxxxx, again, very easy to remember and to type too...
arnie@xxxxxxxxx, VIA AIR MAIL
you can get in touch by sending a postcard or letter to Arnie Coro,
Radio Havana Cuba,
Havana , Cuba... and now the weekend edition of Dxers Unlimited
continues via short wave
and from 05 to 07 UTC we are also on the world wide web via streaming
audio from
http://rhc.cu.... Amigos, amateur radio once again demonstrated its
unique ability to
provide much needed emergency communications during natural disasters...
The recent
tornadoes that produced terrible loss of life and destruction in the
United States of America
were, once again, an occassion to show how ham radio operators could
provide inmediate
help and assistance to those in charge of handling the emergencies, when
all traditional
communications systems failed due to the devasting effects of the
twisters... Every
amateur radio operator should always keep an emergency kit ready , so as
to be able
to help his community when the need comes to provide effective links
that don´t require
the backup and support of sophisticated systems that despite all
efforts, always seem
to go out of order when the natural or man made emergency situations
occur...
And now amigos, just before going QRT, now back in Havana, at RHC Studio 6
and with the audio frequency equalizer set for optimum response to my
voice...
here is Arnie Coro´s HF plus low band VHF propagation update and forecast.
According to solar scientists the almost never ending long, long end
tail of solar
cycle 23 seems to be going to last for at least several more weeks...
predictions
call for extremely low solar activity , rock bottom solar flux near 70
units and
lower, and zero sunspots for at least six more weeks... so , short wave
propagation
conditions will be limited to the lower frequency bands, with daytime
propagation
reaching only up to 18 or 20 megaHertz. Night time maximum useable frequency
on some paths will dip even below 7 megaHertz , something typical of
extremely
long periods of very low solar activity. For Low frequency bands Dxers,
in the range
between 100 kiloHertz and 2 megaHertz, propagation conditions will be
ideal during
periods of quiet geomagnetic activity... and when the eventual solar
coronal hole
sends a stream of charge particles to hit the Earth´s magnetosphere...
then the
AM broadcast band will bring in some rare and nice DX especially to the
South of
your location. Amateur radio operators that enjoy the use of the 160
meters band
will be able to work some nice DX during the rest of February and early
March...
possibly the best conditions for 160 meters for many years to come...
Hope to
have you all listening to the mid week edition of Dxers Unlimited ,
Tuesday and
Wednesday UTC days, and don´t forget to send me your signal reports ,
comments
about the program and radio hobby related questions to arnie@xxxxxx, or
VIA AIR
MAIL to Arnie Coro, Radio Havana Cuba, Havana, Cuba... and to all of you
that
missed my show during my surprise trip to Venezuela and one week vacation
in HAVANA and wrote e-mails asking about me... thank you very much to
all amigos..
fortunately I am in good health and enjoying our wonderful radio hobby
as always !!!
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