AROUND AND BEHIND THE DIALS

Radio Record, Volume VII, Issue 6, 18 August 1933, Page 23

AROUND AND BEHIND

THE DIALS

Sea A Section: for a ~~ the DXer, Short-wave Listener and. Home Constructor’ Conducted by...... The Technical Editor

Dx CLUB News and. Views |

Eastern Stations Good: American Reception Patchy: Freak Shortwave Reception: 103 Stations in Under Three Months: Experimenting with Earths: Spanish Pronunciation: Extracts from Verifications. |

Addresses & Addresses Wanted H.G. (Lower Hutt): W6XL, Ray-6-Vision Corp. of America, Ltd., 940N. Orange Boulevard, Los Angeles, California. Address of WHAX. is not contained in the latest call-hook. Identification Wanted Station heard at 5.13 p.m. on August 6 on 980 k.c. He was held until he disappeared at 5,52 p.m. Speech heard was foreign, the announcer speaking for approximately three-minute intervals. The only item played which I recognised was "Jnderneath the Arches."-W.S. (Seacliffs). American station on 1500 kc. heard between 7.15 and 7.80 p.m. on August 8. Speech was decidedly American. "In the heart of Hollywood" was part of an announcement.-157W (Wellington). Mexican station on 1040 k.c., which comes on the air at 10.30 pm. He has been heard during the past fortnight at R6 and 7.-"Trutime’ (Hastings). Stations Identified "Clerk" (Stratford): XEPN, 588 k.c. 3.0.3. (Christchurch): XGOA, 680 k.c. G.S.P. (Takaka), 1YX, Auckland, 600 k.e-"Blgin" (Wanganui). G.S.P. (Takaka): On two or three occasions in the past week I have heard 2 station on 600 k.c. between 7 and 8 p.my giving the call 1YX. He is usually R6, QSA5. Your American is KFSD, San Diego. "Clerk" (Stratford): XHPN, on

585 kc, Address, care Yolanda ‘Hotel, Eagle Pass, Texas, or XEPN, Piedras Negras, State of Coahuila, Mexico. Hither address will do.-115W (Palmerston N.). G.S.P. (Takaka): Your American on 600 k.c, closing at 7.34, N.Z. time, is KESD, San Diego, Calif. The "forcigner’ on 1000 kuc. heard every evening is KFVD, Los Angeles, I heard them announce that this programme is presented every evening from 5.30 till 6.00 p.m., N.Z. time -N. Jenkins (Masterton). DX Topics ‘DX Jottings. FRECEPTION, particularly from Japanese stations, has improved during the past week. One Japanese, on 985 k.e,. has been very good, but I cannot decipher the call. Has any other dxer heard him? On August 7.a station was heard on KSL’s frequency (1180 k.c.) at 5.380 p.m. giving special announcements concerning some world records which had been broken, At 5.40 p.m. this station signed off, At 5.45, "This is KSL taking the air," was announced, Organ music "followed. The first station mentioned that they were ou a special programme. WLWL, KF, Woo, KNX, KSL, KGO and KPO have been the only worth-while Americans lately. atest ‘verifications include WHEI, WMAQ ("Lucky Strike" programme), WFBR, KHQ, WHAT, KOMA, and VK4NR. Dxers are reminded to listen for VK8BZ and VK3JH on Thursday niglits at 1 am., New Zealand time. 3BZ operates

on 214 metres. In a verification receiy- , ed from WGAR, it is stated that this station operates from 6 a.m, to 1 a.m. continuously; on a frequency ‘of 1450 kc. ‘They also mention that’ they do not issue Ekko stamps, and if:any information is required, to‘ write direct-to-John F. Patt, General: ‘Manager. -"Elgin" CW angdnui). Eastern Stations. Coming in Well. ECENTLY I ‘increased the height of my aerial to 30 feet and there appears to be a decided improvement ‘in reception, -Hastern stations particulatlybeing véty good. HSPI, Bangkok, on 850 k.e., with an interval signal of 6 notes: on. a piano or some such instrument, has been heard so well here that he drowns out JOPK, a 10 k.w. station; Nven smaller stations have been heard equally well. one coming in on 5CK’s frequency, and another on XGOA’s frequency. Since my last letter two or three Eastern stations. have been heard, but. they. seem. to defy identification. Verifications are very slow in coming. to hand, only two being received in the last three weeks or so.. Latest loggings are VK’'s TCW, 4W1I. (which came in at. wonderful volume), XEFO, and XEB. XEPN, on 585 k.c., comes in very well also.. Verifications ‘to. -han«d are JOHK and XRAW.-157W (Wellington). American Reception Patchy, TURING the past week KII has been at really good strength, and is quite often. R7. On August 6, WLW, KPO and XBR all came in at good yolume, J have not heard’ WOO for more than.a month, and KSL is very poor. KNX also seems to have Sisappeared. On August 7, between 12.5 a.m, and 2.15, 1 tried for VK’s and logged two new . ones283W and 51V. I also heard what I think. was VK80Y, but he was so very weak that I could not be certain, I was also able to hear all sides of a four-way QSO between VK’s 8PY, 3LH, 5LR and SLY. 3PY being the best at R5. SLR was R3 and the other two barely’ andible. 214A:

I believe 83ZE went off the air several months ago and 2ZE is apparently also off, as he has not. been heard for many Can any Wairarapa dxer sup- : ply definite information about this? Congratulations to Mr. J. E. Downes on his suecess in winnirig the DX Cup. A great performance.-115W (P.N.). Report to XEP Returned, OME time ago I sent a report to XEP. but it was returned through the. D.L.O. Is there such a station? It is listed in several call books as’ being on 780 kc. XI is also listed. in. several call books on 820 k.c., but in last year’s "N.Z. Radio Call Book" this station is stated to be off the air for good. Dxing ~ has been out of the.question here for nearly a week, owing to bad power interference, which commences when the street lights. come on at approximately 4.27 pm-lHB (Waipukurau). Extracts from Verifications. ERIFICATIONS have been received from the following stations: WGES, Chieago; WRC, Washington, D.C.; WIBR, Baltimore; VK5LR, Renmark, S8.A.; and HJN, Bogota, Columbia. The last station (which is my first. South American verified) sent a card printed in Spanish, but it is undoubtedly a verificatiqn. I heard HIN (690 k.c., 2 k.w.) on the evening of February 26, when they were on late with a special dx programme. A letter, was received from XEB, Mexico City, which was also written in Spanish, but I cannot tell yet whether it is a verification or not. _WGES state that "The interest of New Zealand dxers is equally interesting to us, when: we consider the time changes, the tremendous distance, ete., involved in transmission and reception." ° On the nights when T have listened in lately the Americans have been good. This was particularly so on August 6, when WLW was nearly.,as loud as KFI. However, there are not many new stations about, although I heard WOR for about a-min- . ute before he went off the air one Sunday afternoon. I have also heard the station on about 600 k.c. reported by G.S.P, (Takaka). and was wondering if it was 2ZK, Wanganui back on the air. Congratulations te the new ds champion.-N. Jenkins (Masterton). Spanish Pronunciation. GTATIC has been troublesome lately, not many new stations having been heard. CECN, on 1030 k.c., has been heard at excellent strength, closing at 5.30 p.m., and sometimes 6 p.m. A. Greening: The Mexican on 980 k.c. is XEAI, not XEAO. In Spanish the "L’’ is pronounced as "BH," and the "O" as in "border," A Chinese on 1500 k.c. has been heard at very weak strength. Identity unknown. My only recent verification is from JOUK, 645 kc, 300 watts."Omsk" (Whakatane). Eastern Reception Good. DANG has been very poor of late, and new loggings are very few and far between. Americans and VK’s have jn the main been very weak. One night was an exception, the following 100watters being logged: KGIFJ, KERN, KDB. The last came in splendidly, being R6 at his best. VK4WI was heard testing one weekend, and was easily the best VK heard that morning. The Japanese stations have been coming in well lately, and during the past month I have logged 14 new ones. Eastern stations have all been

good,. but I haven’t the faintest idea as to the identity of half of them. XOPP, on 952 k.e., is very easy to log. I have tried for the Europeans on several morn- _ ings, but on only one occasions were they, worth listening to. On that morning I secured enough data to write to Juans Les Pins, on 1205 k.c.-IHQ (Invercargill). mote, aS SKW’s Special Programme. p™® anyone hear VK8KW on their special broadcast on August 6? I listened- but could not pick him up.. Has anyone a verification from NIR, Brussels? I sent a report, but had it. returned through the D.L.O. XGOA sent me a photo of their station and aerial, but remarked that they could not verify as the items I sent were not those they had broadcast. They were on a foreign programme when I heard them and Ii described the programme. 2KY. has verified after six months, and TUV when I sent them a daylight reception report.-111A (Tauranga). ‘ . ‘ 103 Stations in Under Three Months. AM keenly interested in the DX pages each week, and would like to send in a few notes of my own. I: started dxing on May 26 last, and have now logge 103 stations, comprising 31 New Zealand, 43 Australians, 16 American, 9 Japanese, 1 Chinese, and 1 Mexican. The American stations are now coming

in well, and the Japanese exceptionally well, while most of the Australians are like locals-186W (Wellington),’ "Freak" Short-wave Reception. ‘ey your. issue of August 4, 115W inquired for information concerning W6FK, which was reputed to be heard on. the broadcast band; » W6FK is owned and operated by W. H..Harrington, 7625 Geary Street, San Francisco, California. -This station is usually heard on the 7000-7300 k.c. band on: code. Referring to reception’ from this station: on the broadcast band brings to mind a similar occurrence in 1929, reported to me by My. Brice Trebilcock, Moonta, South Australia, who writes. thus:"Now I have to tell you the most wonderful thing of all in connection with reception of your signals, and it is this: I expect your wavelength is about 41 metres, but your signals were logged here on about 124 metres, approximately three times greater than your true wave. This is not an unusual occurrence, for on the band between 120 and 130 metres I often pick up signals from 40 to 42metre band stations, and also from the 20-metre band, | Stations on the 20metre band also come in on rare occa- sions. I first received a’‘ham’ station in this way just 12 months ago,-when I picked up VK5XG, located 10 miles from here, Other stations received similarly were VKSWR, over 100 miles away; VK2RB, 700 miles away; and. ZL2AC, about 2300 miles away. Signals from ZL4AH were received on the 120-metre band for many nights running some six months ago. Your station is my thirtyfourth ZL and my 272nd ‘ham,’ to be logged on overtone. My receiver is a twovalve, 2 coil job.-E.W.T." This would appear quite possible for W6FK to be heard on‘the broadcast band, particularly when we . remember that there are many things in.radio yet undiscovered:-ZLIFT (Auckland). Australia an Island! wane speaking from KFI on three occasions last week the announcer sent greetings to the Islands‘in the Pacific-he included Australia in this category !-and he hoped listeriers there were still enjoying the station’s programme, He also stated that many listeners would no doubt.be disappointed at not receiving verification cards, but that when International Reply Coupons were not enclosed no reply could be guar-anteed.-J.S. (Wellington). . Experimenting With Earths. HAVE been experimenting with different types of earths for some time now. The results with a Pierce earth, in comparison with the ordinary water pipe, were good, but for best results the wires which run from the buried radiator should run underground to the pipes, They should then be soldered at the bottom, run up inside the pipes, and soldered again at the top. All the wires are then taken to a copper plate, and a lead taken to the set. I used this earth for the first time on July 22, and for the first time heard XHPN, XGOA, and OFCN (broadcasting the arrival of Wiley Post). Taken on an average, reception has improved 20 per cent. I intend to try a new style of aerial shortly.-W.J.W. (Nelson).