AN EVENING DX TRIP TO SILVAN, VICTORIA

June 2005

By Rob Wagner, VJK3BVW, Ringwood, Victoria

I haven't done a DX field trip for a very long time now. So, this afternoon I packed the radio, wire, ATU and the laptop and left home about 4pm on June 29, 2005.

Arrived at the Silvan Reservoir area about 3.45 and began setting up for the evening. The Vic. Parks & Gardens ranger came along in his ute just before 5pm and stopped to observe me with my bright blue wire. I gave him a wave. He probably decided that it was fast approaching "knock-off" time and that I wasn't worth worrying about, because he was soon gone.

Generally, reception was fair. Signal strengths were down on both 90 and 60mb -certainly not like it was in previous years at Silvan. I struggled to ID many stations, and some were missing on this particular evening.

Below is a summary of what was heard:

3210 WWCR Nashville, 0745 English. S/off 0900

3220 HCJB, s/on 0829 Quechua intro then time pips. Still going strong past

1015.

3279.53 La Voz del Napo, Tena, Ecuador. 0830 f/in with quiet talk in Quechua and laid back music. Later noted in Spanish with a strong signal

past 1000.

3300 CHU Canada, f/in 0820 to past 1000

3310 R Mosoj Chaski, Cochabamba, Bolivia. On early at 0845, weak but improving to fair level by 0900. Weakening again around 0950.

4746.78 R. Huanta 2000, Huanta, Ayacucho, Peru. Good level at 0945 with Andean folk music and ID.

4765 R. Rural, Santarem, Para, Brazil. Presumed this one at 0940 but very weak.

4785 R. Caiari, Porto Velho ???? Too weak to identify at 0950.

4815 R. El Bien Pastor, Saraguro, Ecuador. Songs at 0855 then ID 0900. Poor level.

4825 R. Cancao Nova, Sao Paulo, Brazil. Echo anncts at 0955 in Portuguese. No sign of La Voz de la Selva, Peru.

4826.2 R. Sicuani, Cusco, Peru. Weak in the noise at 0902. Occasional Spanish

anncts and music heard.

4885 R. Clube do Para, Belem, Brazil. At a disappointing level with light Brazilian pops.

4985 R. Brasil Central, Goainia. F/in 0825, Portuguese pxing with light pops and occasional anncts and adverts. Not strong and starting to improve by 0915. Faded by 1000

5025 R. Rebelde, Havana. 0630 f/in and strong all night long.

5035 R. Aparecida, Sao Paulo. Weak with news at 1002.

6010 R. Parinacota, Putre, Chile. Songs and occasional anncts, 0715. Required a lot of careful tuning to separate this and Colombia, using usb/lsb

6010.16 La Voz tu Conciencia, Pto Lleras, Colombia. 0715.

6020.2 R. Victoria, Lima, Peru 0700 Gospel talks

6070 Voz Cristiana, 0700

By 1030 (8.30pm local), I had begun to freeze over. It was a clear night and turning out to become very cold. My back was hurting from sitting cramped in the car, so it was time to get out of there. It was pitch black, and with my small torch it took quite a while to find the antenna I had strung out into the bush!!

Overall, not a bad night's work, but I have had a lot better luck with the Latins on past occasions.

Equipment Used: FRG100 receiver, MFJ-941B antenna tuning unit, about 45 metres of wire on a spool.

Also tried out my new Acer laptop computer. This was much better than the old hash-riddled laptop that used to cause lots of interference to the radio. The Acer is much quieter and allowed interference-free reception throughout most of the HF spectrum. Now my references and notes are on the computer....much better than taking bunches of books.

Regards

Rob Wagner VK3BVW

Ringwood, Victoria