Looking Back - 1939 to 2011 - the Autobiography of Robert V. J. Padula, OAM

1950 - Shortwave Radio Propagation Research

Home
1941 - Bikes and Cars
1943 - Hiking - Hills and Coasts
1944 - Growing up in the War Years - Part 1
1944 - Growing up in the War Years - Part 2
1944 - Growing up in the War Years - Part 3
1945 - Auburn schooldays - Part One
1945 - Auburn Schooldays - Part Two
1945 - Auburn Schooldays - Part Three
1945 - Upwey and the Puffing Billy
1945 - Gramaphones and Record Players
1946 - Flinders St Station
1946 - Astronomy
1946 - Beach and Swimming Adventures
1946 - Going to the Pictures
1947 - Adventures at the Altona Bungalow
1947 -The Listener-In Magazine
1947 - Balwyn WIldlife Sanctuary
1948 - Fishermen's Bend Aerodrome
1948 - Radio Australia QSL cards
1948 - Excursions
1949 - Australian Rules Football
1949 - Radio Monitoring at Auburn
1950 -Trains and Ships
1950 - Radios for Communications
1950 - Radio Listening Clubs in Australia
1950 - World Radio TV Handbook
1950 - Shortwave Radio Propagation Research
1950 - Medium Wave Radio Propagation Research
1950 - Radio and Hobbies Magazines
1950 - Discovering shortwave radio at Auburn
1951 - Photography
1951 - Competitions on local radio stations
1952 - Camp Buxton - YMCA Shoreham
1952 Tennis and Ten Pin Bowling
1953 - Stamp Collectiong
1953 Camberwell High School
1954 - Royal Visit to Melbourne
1954 - Shortwave Radio reception at Auburn
1956 - Melbourne's Olympic Games
1956 - Trainee Telecommunications' Technician
1957 - Trainee Technician - field work
1957 - National Service Registration
1958 - Laverton Air Show
1958 - MOOMBA Parade
1958 - Trainee Technician - field work
1959 - The move to Mont Albert
1960 - Working at Deepdene Telephone Exchange
1963 - Trade Unions, Staff Associations, Industrial Relations
1964 - Senior Technician work in the Melbourne CBD
1964 - Project support for Radio Australia
1964 - Amateur Radio
1964 - Media Writing
1964 -Travels
1964 - Engineering Support for International Broadcasters
1965 - Professional Employment with PMG/Telstra
1967 - Professional Qualifications - Institution of Engineers Australia
1967 - Australian Radio DX Club Photo Gallery (to 1979)
1972 - Wireless Institute of Australia
1972 - Natural disasters in Melbourne
1980 - Australian Radio DX Club Gallery (to 1995)
1981 - Award of the Medal of the Order of Australia
1995 - Padula Books
EPILOGUE
LINKS TO AUTHOR'S PERSONAL WEBSITES
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
INDEPENDENT BIOGRAPHIES
SPECIAL CHAPTER - Oldtime Australian Radio Drama from the 1930s
SPECIAL CHAPTER - Radio Monitoring Clubs in Australia - 1920 to 1949
SPECIAL CHAPTER - Melbourne Picture Theatres - History - 1906 to 1970

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`934 - Shortwave Radio Manual

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Fidler Gully, Warrandyte State Park, August 2011

The systematioc study and research into shortwave propagation has been a principal field of interest to me, both at the hobby and professional levels.
 
My SW hobby interest began in earnest in 1950, after some preliminary work in 1949!.
 
See 1950 - Discovering SW Radio Reception at Auburn elsewhere in this Journey!
 
My first documented SW reception was on February 20, 1954, for the Voice of America, Dixon, California, using 9515 kHz.
 
Since then, I have continued to investigate SW propagation into south eastern Australia, and my area of specialization is the study of daytime transmission modes over long distances on the lower frequency bands.
 
These include:
 
  • The African Daytime Mode
  • The Asian Daytime Mode
I first became aware of the African Daytime Mode on January 10, 1959, with propagation observed of the South African Broadcasting Corporation national network on 7295 kHz, at 0515 UTC, which was 3.15 pm here in Melbourne.
 
The Asian Daytime Mode was first "discovered" in the early 1970s, with strong signals present duyring the summer months at local noon in Melbourne, on 4 MHz.
 
These specialized (also known as "complex" modes) were studied during every year, which formed the basis of many technical papers.
 
These were published worldwide in the radio hobby clubs, and in the World Radio TV Handbook, and in later years on the Internet.
 
Coincident with my monitoring research, I commenced the submission of reception reports tp SW broadcasters in 1954, for acknowledgement as "Verifications" (also known as "QSLs").
 
From 1954, until the present, I have obtained nearly 8,500 SW QSLs from 230 "Radio countries", oiginating from nearly 1,100 ifferent "stations".
 
This is an unchallenged world record, using classification standards produced by the Australian Radio DX Club in 1967.
 
In recent years, my rseerach has been supported by daytime field monitoring excursions to locations in the nearer hills and coastal regions surroounding Melbourne.
 
Dayime Propagation studied from suburban Melbiurne has become frustrating in recent years, due to the effects of powerline RF radiation, electronic interference from domestic appliances, RF radiation from cable TV and data services, tramlines, railways, and traffic control signals, and atmospheric  and ionospheric degeneration.
 
I found that the secret to improved reception was to go to field monitoring locations, where powerline radiation was relatively small, or non-existent, using battery-operated sensitive communications receivers, coupled to a small non-directional  antenna, The resukts have been remarkable!
 
The locations I found to be best included the Warrandyte State Park, the Dandenong Ranges National Park, the Mornington Peninsula National Park, the Mt Worth State Park, the You Yangs Regional Park,  and the Yarra Ranges National Park,
 
Coastal areas were also found to be excellent, including many locations around Westernport Bay.
 
To the west, a good relatively noise-free location was the Point Cook Marine Park.
 
In fact, most State, and National Parks offered good opportuntiies for specialized research..
 
 

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Marconi's Poldhu transmitting site 1901

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Marconi's spark-gap transmitter, 1901

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