My Realistic DX-440. In 2002-2003 I had this connected to a 100 foot wire, and heard the world -- especially on the "Asia Pipeline", when signals from all over Asia would pound in here into the PNW (Pacific Northwest of the US). During that time, I posted almost 2-3 time a week to the SW Daily Logbook.
A few months ago, I posted an article here on the demise of Yahoo's eGroups, many of which were useful for MW DXers and SWL radio aficionados. About the same time, I also posted an article about the sad passing of electronics box store Fry's.
Now, it appears another valuable tool for MW and SW DXers is gone -- DXWorld's BCB DX Logger and Shortwave Daily Logbook (DXWorld.com, not the ham oriented site DXWorld.net).
Apparently there was some issue in keeping the DX sites alive, because the two resources (along with several other sister pages dedicated to ham bands, VHF, FM-TV DXing and Longwave) have been 404 for one month now.
The BCB DX Logger was an old-school looking web page where maybe 15-20 MW DXers posted their new loggings -- whether unusual stations heard, or new stations heard. It was relatively anonymous but most of the guys had nicknames. There was also a Shortwave Daily Logbook I used periodically when I heard something cool on the Shortwave broadcast bands. That page allowed for a lot more description of what you heard. I usually left fairly extensive descriptions of my loggings.
Starting around January 22nd, the BCB DX Logger and SW Daily Logbook, along with their sister DX sites, went all 404. For a while DXers thought it was just going to be down for a week or so. But that, sadly, is not the case.
Although it's just one cluster of sites, it's still very sad when they leave the internet. One less place to go to post what you've heard, and what radio you were using. One less platform for the DX 'community' to gather and trade loggings.
It seems to match the ongoing trend of once popular DX websites disappearing into the ether. One similar, popular AM-DX site (which may have had that particular name -- I can't remember, unfortunately) was taken down in 2013-2014 or so -- it had a useful listing of every AM Band radio station in the US and Canada. Several months before closing the site down, its owner said he was losing interest in the MW DX hobby, and he said he was thinking about taking the site down. Then he did. I've also noticed that some of the radio and DX hobby forums I used to go to are gone, including a Canadian one, and some others have little to no new postings.
Before the AM-DX site I mentioned went down in 2013-2014, I was able to copy their entire MW frequency listing, and I still use that list -- in text file form -- to this day. I always update it when and where needed -- mainly updating new calls, slogans, formats, etc. for the West Coast stations I hear when DXing.
This deletion of a DX site isn't totally unexpected, as some other DX forums are seeing less and less activity, and one wonders if and when their days are numbered. Whether this is due to lessening interest in the hobby, or DXers increasing lack of interest in internet forums -- or people leaving the DX hobby, perhaps -- is a good question. Even some still-active forums are seeing less activity than they did 10 years ago. Blogging and forums in general are seeing less activity online. I've seen numerous blogs online that have not been updated in months, or even in years in some cases.
Tastes obviously change in internet use as well as other pastimes.
My Panasonic RF-B45, one of my main MW DX radios. When I used the BCB Logger after 2011, this was one of my main DX radios.
As for the BCB DX Logger, I first discovered it in 2011 or 2012, when I got back into the radio hobby after about a 6-7 year lapse. At the time -- thanks to the high sunspots -- I was hearing a lot of activity on the MW band, and was logging new stations almost every week. During the time period 2011-2015 I probably logged 150 new stations. Obviously, I posted a lot of them on the BCB DX Logger.
During the same time period (2011-2015 or so) I was hearing a lot of cool stuff on the SW bands. I posted some of my loggings to the SW Daily Logbook.
The Shortwave Daily Logbook I discovered about ten years earlier. In the Fall of 2002 I got re-enthused in my SWLing. I started doing a lot of it early in the morning, when the Asia "pipeline" would be pounding away, full blast. I had a 100 foot wire antenna (30 meters) strung out back from the house, and I was hearing all sorts of interesting signals. Sometimes I'd heard a Chinese provincial broadcaster (the CNR station in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, for example) with AIR India behind it! The fact that both stations had such divergent programming really helped in IDing. For ID help, I used Monitoring Times, PopComm, Passport and WRTH, as well as some online webpages.
There is nothing like hearing China's programming in Mongolian to Inner Mongolia (Nei Menggu) and AIR India phasing in together through your headphones, on the pleasing fidelity of a Realistic DX-440, to enjoy the best of the radio hobby!
I also found the 40 meter ham band and nearby 41 meter SWBC band to be gold mines for all sorts of cool DX.
This was when I discovered the Daily Logbook. I began to log my catches on the Logbook at least once or twice a week. There was another DXer from Guernsey in the UK Channel Islands, a gent named Robin Banneville, who also posted a lot of logs from his location. He used an Icom R-75. I was using my DX-440, DX-390, DX-398, DX-370 and Panasonic RF-B45.
I was posting new loggings, and DXing every morning, for about six months. And every cool new logging I would post on the Daily Logbook. There was a lull in my DXing life starting in 2004-2005 that went until 2011, and during that time I didn't SWL much, and didn't post anything on the Logbook. Starting in 2011, I started posting again, whenever I heard something new. At that time, I was using an indoor wire, because my outdoor one blew down in a windstorm, although I was using mostly the same radios.
But Mr. Banneville, who was a frequent poster on the Logbook, had mostly disappeared by 2011, and the Logbook was looking sparer and sparer, especially over the past 6-7 years, when the sunspots dived and MW and SW conditions dived along with them. I posted less, naturally, because of the numerous evenings and mornings where I heard nothing aside from Cuba and a couple US domestic SW stations, along with static.
There were also times when the BCB DX Logger saw less activity, although it was still fairly active during the Northern Hemisphere Winters.
Now it all appears to be gone.
It is a sad time. It appears that yet one more internet DX 'haunt' goes away.
Being that the Daily Logbook is gone, I decided that periodically I will post my DX loggings here on my blog. I will either add them to the bottom of my other posts, or have separate blog posts with some of the loggings listed. I know that someone else's SW and MW DX logs are of marginal interest, but it also helps keep the DX flame alive if DXers appear enthused about the hobby.
When I post my loggings here, I will do it in the style and general format used by the SW Daily Logbook, i.e., Frequency, UTC, name of Station, Country, Language, SIO (Signal, Interference, Overall reception), Description, Receiver and Antenna, and -- finally -- Date of Reception.
In all of my loggings, "tt" means Tentative logging, UNID means Unidentified station, UNR means "unreadable signal" (which I will rarely, if ever use here, because it's sort of pointless to put in loggings), LL means language. F after the SIO means "Fading", FF means fast fading or polar flutter fading. "Tx." means transmitter, as often an International broadcaster (like the VOA and BBC) use transmitters in Africa, the Philippines, Ascension Island, etc.
My trusty Grundig G2 FM-AM-SW mini boombox radio, which is terrific on SW, even off the whip antenna. I have been using it for most of my SW listening since I got it in 2014, including some of the loggings I have posted below.
I guess I should start my first installment of loggings (SW and some MW) here:
Some Shortwave & MW DX/SWL LOGS, January-February 2022:
7040 khz - 1830 UTC - Russian Navy 'K' marker beacon - RUSSIA (Astrakhan) - SIO242 - Was tuning the 40 meter ham band with my Panasonic (BFO on) and heard "K K .... K K K" in weak but fairly clear CW, with some of the characters fading into the ether. There was momentary interference by some ham radio op using LSB. (Panasonic RF-B45, 25 ft. indoor wire). 2 January 2022.
7050 khz - 1848 UTC - K7MM/KJ7DWXZ ham QSO - USA (Western part) - SIO353 - Heard my first ham QSO in slow CW in a long time. I wasn't able to read all the Morse Code (CW) characters because of fading, but one guy said it was "COLD". (Panasonic RF-B45, 25 ft. indoor wire). 2 January 2022.
7215 khz - 1906 UTC - tt China Radio Int'l - CHINA - (Cantonese) - SIO2-353 - Was tuning through the 41 Meter SWBC band and heard what sounded like Chinese Vaudeville show. Some idiot ham, who apparently was angry that China was using the 41 Meter band, said "I know it's Korea because of the language I'm hearing". It clearly wasn't Korean language. One would think hams would know more about Shortwave Broadcasts. Oh well. According to EiBi this broadcast probably was CRI in Cantonese to the Far East. (Grundig G2, whip antenna) 2 January 2022.
9620 khz - 1927 UTC - tt AIR India - INDIA (Bangalore) - (UNID LL, prob. Arabic) - SIO-252FF - Heard Middle Eastern music scales sung by a woman, and unison strings also playing in a Middle Eastern scale. Unison strings are where a lot of different stringed instruments are playing the same exact notes. It's not common in Western music. EiBi lists this as AIR India to the Middle East in Arabic. (Grundig G2, whip antenna) 2 January 2022.
9800 khz - 1941 UTC - tt Voice of America - USA (Philippines tx.) - (Korean) - SIO-353-4 - I heard symphonic music pieces here. Later on, I heard a woman speaking Korean. I could definitely ID the language by the "-mnida" endings to some words (a Korean polite language custom). EiBi lists this as VOA in Korean to the Far East from the Philippines. I heard this VOA station in Korean again a couple days later on January 5th, at SIO-252-3, 2033 UTC, with a news program including soundbites in English. (Grundig G2, whip antenna) 2 January 2022.
1700 khz - 0832 UTC - XEPE - Baja California MEXICO - (Spanish) - SIO-353-4 - XEPE is a station just over the border in Tecate, BCN, Mexico. For a while they were ESPN, but now they are owned by Mexican broadcasters "Heraldo Radio", and XEPE plays music overnights -- mostly 2010's pop, Disco, and some other 'classic hits'. This particular evening I heard Joan Jett's "I Love Rock and Roll," Usher's 2010 dance music pop hit "DJ Got Us Falling In Love Again" with Pitbull's rap bit in the middle, and then George Michael's 1990 hit "Freedom". Overnights XEPE plays music with frequent "Heraldo Radio" ID's by a woman in Spanish. They play a lot of interesting pop hits from the past. (Grundig G2, Crate Loop antenna). 5 January 2022.
11930 khz - 2047 UTC - Radio Marti - USA (Florida) - (Spanish) - SIO-454F - Heard a man talking in Spanish with a Cuban accent... "Europa... La America Latina... Cubano... Norte Americano..." Then a woman was talking. Later there were references to Radio Marti. Marti ID's a lot, by referring to their station's slogan "Marti". (Grundig G2, whip antenna) 5 January 2022.
11965 khz - 2054 UTC - tt MYE African Pathways Radio - USA (Madagascar) - (English) - SIO-1-252F - Heard a man speaking in what sounded at times like English, with mentions of "Creation" and "God". Into Canadian rock band The Guess Who's 70's hit "No Sugar Tonight" and then folk song with choral singing, with answer and call style singing. Then a guy was speaking, and there was a short piece of music on some strange sounding instrument, then the station was instantly OFF at 2059 UTC. EiBi lists this as MYE African Pathways Radio, broadcasting to West Africa in English from a transmitter in Madagascar. I've heard a fair bit of these sorts of broadcasts to Africa from Madagascar lately. (Grundig G2, whip antenna) 5 January 2022.
11900 khz - 2011 UTC - tt Voice of America - USA (Sao Tome y Principe) - (French) - SIO-554F - I tuned in to a 2000's era rock song that sounded like 3 Doors Down, a song called "Here Without You." Then there was a quick segue to a country-rock sounding track. Then there was a man talking in African-accented French. Then they played a sad pop song from the mid-early 2010's, Passenger's "Let Her Go". EiBi lists this as VOA in French to West Africa from Sao Tome y Principe, a small island country off the coast of Africa. (Grundig G2, whip antenna) 8 January 2022.
12075 khz - 2016 UTC - tt Voice of America- USA (Botswana) - (French) - SIO-354 - Tuned in to pop music sung by a woman, followed by a male announcer speaking accented French. Then another pop song (I hadn't heard before) was played. This signal was parallel to 11900 at the time. (Grundig G2, whip antenna) 8 January 2022.
11640 khz - 2021 UTC - China Radio International - CHINA (Mali, Bamako) - (English) - SIO-1-252F - Heard a man talking in English with an American accent. The signal was weak, with fast fading, but clear enough to decipher the English words, as well as the accent. EiBi lists this as CRI in English to East Africa from Bamako, Mali. I must have been hearing some of the signal off of the back side of their beam. The 25 Meter SW band was really active this morning. (Grundig G2, whip antenna) 8 January 2022.
Well, that's it for this installment. I'll post a few more at the bottom of my next blog article.
I love the fact I've heard stations from Africa and Madagascar, because the first Shortwave radio station that I ever heard was South Africa's Radio RSA, which used to broadcast to the Western US on the 25 Meter Band during our afternoons. They always had a pleasant "Interval Signal", which had a bokmakierie bird singing and a sad sounding, Afrikaner folk tune ('Wer In Die Wereld Kitty') played on a folk guitar. Radio RSA, and Channel Africa which followed it when the apartheid regime fell in 1992, used to broadcast to the world on SW from Johannesburg. Their transmitters were in Meyerton, a small city south of the Witwatersrand, near the Orange River in what is now Gauteng Province, South Africa.
This is a master tape of the Radio RSA "Interval Signal". For non-radio aficionados, "interval signals" were used by Shortwave broadcast stations to start a broadcast, usually running these sound clips in a loop, giving distant listeners a chance to tune their radios to the station clearly, before the actual broadcast began. Most SWBC stations used these interval signals. The Voice Of America played (and still plays) a version of the American folk tune "Yankee Doodle".
Here is a sound clip of the Radio RSA interval signal as it actually sounded on the air.:
Regardless of the distaste one felt about apartheid and the South African government policies during that era, the folk guitar tune and bokmakierie bird's sound was enchanting. It carried well over the airwaves.
The Meyerton transmitter, used by Radio RSA, Channel Africa, and other international broadcasters who used it to reach parts of Africa, is now long gone.
Southern Africa, Madagascar, Mauritius and Reunion are the closest continuously inhabited places to the exact opposite point on the globe from WA state in the US (that opposite point is closer to Kerguelen Island, but that island is only partially inhabited by some French scientists). So -- hearing any radio broadcast from that area of the world is like hearing the farthest radio signal possible.
IN CLOSING
Right now, it's still fairly cold out here in the Seattle area, although the constant rains we had since October have diminished. The average temperature is still 40F / 4C. Sometimes it "warms up" to 50F / 5C-6C. I won't complain, though. I just heard the weather report for Calgary, Alberta, Canada (on all news CFFR 660 Khz, which pounds into the Seattle area on all my radios) and their high for this weekend was to be -15C. That is COLD.
I hope this finds everyone doing well.
Peace out to all,
C.C. February 21, 2022.
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