vk5pas

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An evening of short wave listening

Posted: 21 Jan 2019 01:11 AM PST
https://vk5pas.org/2019/01/21/an-eve...ave-listening/


A few weeks ago, my wife Marija bought me a Tecsun S-2000 short wave
receiver and antenna/s for my birthday.Â* So on Saturday night, for the
first time in a long long time, I gave broadcast short wave listening a go.

In a couple of hours of listening, I logged the following stations:-

Radio New Zealand, NEW ZEALAND
China Radio International, CHINA
Voice of Vietnam, VIETNAM
National Broadcasting CorporationÂ*(NBC) Madang, PAPUA NEW GUINEA
Reach Beyond Australia, AUSTRALIA
Radio Romania International, ROMANIA


My receiver is a Tecsun S-2000.Â* It covers AM, FM, shortwave, longwave and
VHF Air Band broadcasts.





Here is a review of the Tecsun S-2000 by PCJ Radio Network Plus.



My antenna is a Tecsun Shortwave and AM Outdoor Antenna covering 0.5-30
MHz.Â* It is based on aÂ*longwire antennaÂ*design but provides significantly
improved reception over a longwire because the the Tecsun Shortwave and AM
Outdoor Antenna utilises a matching transformer that acts as a balun with a
ratio of 10:1.Â* At the moment the antenna is in a temporary position, just
1.5 metres off the ground (and that is being kindprobably less).Â* But it
does the job.

I have attached below some info and video on the stations I logged.

Radio New Zealand.

I tuned in to Radio New Zealand on 9765 khz.Â* This was a broadcast to the
Pacific, and not surprising, the signal was strong.Â* Radio New Zealand was
launched in 1948.Â* Radio New Zealand broadcasts to its neighbouring
countries in the Pacific from transmitters located at Rangitaiki, near
Taupo, in the North Island.



China Radio International.

I also tuned in to China Radio International on 15210 khz.Â* China Radio
International (CRI) is the broadcaster for the Peoples Republic of China.Â*
It was founded in 1941 as Radio Peking.



Voice of Vietnam.

Next was the Voice of Vietnam 0n 9840 khz.Â* It is the national radio
broadcaster of Socialist Republic of Vietnam.Â* The
firstÂ*Vietnamese-languageÂ*radio transmission was made on 2 September 1945,
when the PresidentÂ*Ho Chi MinhÂ*read out the Declaration of Independence.Â*
Prior to 1945, the Vietnamese were banned from owning radio receivers, and
broadcasting was under control of theÂ*French colonial government, which
established the first radio station in Vietnam, Radio Saigon, in the late
1920s.



National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) Madang, PAPUA NEW GUINEA.

I then tuned in to the National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) in Madang in
PAPUA NEW GUINEA.Â* Madang is the capital of Madang Province and is a town
with a population of 27,420 on the north coast of Papua New Guinea.Â* The
NBC isÂ*Papua New Guineas state owned broadcaster.Â* Its head office is in
Boroko,Â*Port Moresby, and has approximately 20 locations around the country.



Reach Beyond Australia.

I then tuned in to Reach Beyond Australia on 11865 khz.Â* This station was
previously known as HCJB Australia.Â* Since 2003, it has been broadcasting
fromÂ*Kununurra in far North West Australia using short wave radio.Â* The
station now broadcasts programs in 29 languages, including 17 South Asia
languages.



Radio Romania International.

My final broadcast station for the evening was Radio Romania International
onÂ* 15460 khz.Â* Radio Romania International is owned by the Romanian public
radio broadcasterÂ*Societatea Română de RadiodifuziuneÂ*(SRR, the national
public radio in Romania) that broadcasts abroad. Prior to 1989, the station
was known as Radio Bucharest.



I also had a look to see what the receivers SSB capabilities were like.Â* I
recorded a little snippet of a QSO between Mike VK2BXE and David HC5DX in
Ecuador, and Otap YB7TUU in Indonesia.



Overall I had a lot of fun.Â* I really had not done any broadcast listening
on short wave since the 1980s.Â* I was also quite pleased with the receivers
performance and that of the antenna, which currently is very low to the
ground.