NASWA Notes, October 1997
It is with regret that I pass along word that a legend in the medium wave and shortwave listening hobbies passed away. On September 20, 1997, New Zealand’s Arthur T. Cushen died in Invercargill Hospital after a long battle with cancer. He was 77 years old. Arthur was probably one of the best known medium wave and shortwave DX’ers in the world. He will be missed. Shortly before his passing, on, Arthur wrote an article for the New Zealand Radio DX League detailing his memories of 60 years of listening. The article was included in this month’s printed bulletin, and we link to the NZRDXL site for the online version.
I’m not sure how I missed this but “DXers Calling Inc.,” initially known as “DX Australia” when first founded in 1982, celebrated fifteen years of continuous operation in July. Congratulations to the staff, management, and membership of this fine Australian band of DX’ers. A sample and membership information can be obtained by writing the club at Secretary, DX’ers Calling Inc., P. O. Box 285, Mt. Waverley, Australia 3149. Be sure to enclose a couple of dollars or 3-4 International Reply coupons.
Also from Australia comes the following disappointing news from member Bob Padula about the Australian DX Federation mentioned in last month’s NASWA Notes: “In a most extraordinary reversal, the South Pacific Union of DXers and the International Correspondence DX Group have now disassociated themselves entirely from the Federation, despite having given formal endorsement to the proposal, and having made a specific commitment to participate. The situation with the other clubs is: Southern Cross DX Club – unwilling to support the Federation; DXers’ Calling – no response at all to many formal letters and E-mail messages; Newcastle Scanner and SWL Group – no response. Under such circumstances, the Federation appears to have been abandoned, which is greatly disturbing.” So it appears that this latest attempt at resolving “differences” among Australian DX’ers has failed.
Closer to home, the Association of North American Radio Clubs is in the midst of its annual elections for three seats on the association’s Executive Board. This year the terms of Harold Cones, Skip Arey, and Mark Meece (the current Chairman) – all three our club members – expire. After the election, ANARC’s Executive Board will select a Chairman from among its ranks. We’ll keep you posted on the outcome.
Thanks to ANARC, we learn that the Canadian International DX Club is celebrating its 35th anniversary this year. Congratulations to CIDX!
That’s it for this month. Enjoy this month’s edition of the JOURNAL; it’s another good one.
ANARC SWL Net
Tune in Sunday mornings at 10 A. M. Eastern Time on 7240 LSB for the latest in shortwave, medium wave and longwave listening, DX tips, and up to the minute hobby news. Contributors share their DX tips via their own amateur radio stations or by telephoning a “gateway” station who then broadcasts the relayed tips. Contributions are also accepted via the Internet Relay Chat (IRC) channel #swl while the net is in progress. Net Controls Dave Kirby N1DK, Hausie WB4JSP, and Bob Curtis W1EXZ host an always lively gang of DX monitors. (Best heard in the eastern half of NAm) Net info is also available at <http://www.trsc.com/swl_net.htm>.
Our Motto is — “Unity and Friendship”
Contribute!
Send your loggings and QSL information off to our Distributing Editor, Fred Kohlbrenner (2641 South Shields Street, Philadelphia, PA 19142). He will forward them to the appropriate editor. Remember, Fred has now expanded his business to include QSL report information and totals for the Scoreboard column. He can also be reached through the Internet at: fkohl@ix.netcom.com.
FRENDX: Twenty Five Years Ago….
Charlie Loudenboomer recounts his recent trip to Russia and his discussion with Miss Evgenia Stepinover at Radio Moscow. Gerry Dexter, of all people, was cleaning out his shack. Among the offerings were WRTH tapes of identifications from around the world and Latin America. In the Shortwave Center, Ralph Perry interviews Jens Frost from the WRTH, Cesar Objio provides a comprehensive review of shortwave broadcasting in the Dominican Republic which included 21 station listings, and Gregg Calkin writes about his trip to Belize. In the QSL Report, Ernie Behr reports a verification from World Music Radio operating on 6,225 kHz with 60 watts. Larry Magne handled the lower half (below 9,500 kHz) and Dan Henderson handled the upper half of the Log Report.
Calendar Of Events
- Oct 17
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Meeting. Philadelphia Area NASWA Chapter. Kulpsville Holiday Inn, Kulpsville, PA at 7:30 PM. For more information contact Dan Cashin at 215-446-7831.
- Oct 17
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Meeting. Boston Area NASWA Chapter. The Lexington Club, Rts. 4 & 225, Lexington, MA at 7:30 PM. The location is 1/4 mile west of Rt. 128, Exit 31. For more information contact Paul Graveline at 508-470-1971 or Internet: 74007.3434@compuserve.com. Check the BADX Web Page: <http://www.grove.net/~badx/>.
- Oct 18
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Meeting. The Miami Valley DX Club (all band orientation) meets at 1:00 PM. For more information plus this months meeting location contact Dave Hammer at 614-471-9973 or write to MVDXC, Box 292132, Columbus, OH 43229-8132.
- Oct’97
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Contest. 1997 Adventist World Radio Contest. Further information will be published in the Journal or you can send a self-addressed stamped envelope to 1997 AWR Contest, c/o Dr. Adrian Peterson, Box 29235, Indianapolis, IN 46229.
- Nov 9
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Meeting. The Tidewater SWL’s meet at 6:30 PM. For more information plus meeting location contact Joe Buch at Internet: joseph.buch@dol.net
- Feb’98
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Convention. New Zealand Radio DX League will hold its 50th anniversary convention sometime in February 1998. Exact dates and venue have not been established. Information from NRZDXL, P.O. Box 2956, Wellington, New Zealand. Further details and information will appear when received.
- Mar’98
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Contest. 1998 North American DX Championships. Further information will be published in the Journal or you can send a self-addressed stamped envelope to 1998 NADXC, c/o Dr. Harold Cones, 2 Whits Court, Newport News, VA 23606.
- Mar’98
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Convention. The 11th Annual Winter SWL Festival will be held at the Kulpsville Holiday Inn (Exit 31 on the Northeast Extension of the Pennsylvania Turnpike) on 13-15 March 1997. Organized by the infamous “gang of three” (Messrs. Brown, Cones, and Field) this all wave gathering attracts about 200 hobbyists each year.
- Apr’98
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Convention. The 35th Annual International World Wide Continental DX Association (IWWCDXA) will be held in Tahiti at the Charlie Loudenboomer Estate on April 1, 1998 from noon until midnight. Charlie will lecture continuously during this 12-hour period on a variety of boring subjects some of which may actually pertain to shortwave radio. Registration fee is a modest $150.00 with an extra $50.00 charge for the traditional hamburger helper banquet. More information is available from Charlie at <cl@sucker.com>.
- Aug’98
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Convention. The 36th annual European DX Council conference will be held in Gothenburg, Sweden on 28-31 August 1998. It will be organized by the Swedish DX Federation. More details to follow.
Musings
This column provides a forum wheras members can express comments, ideas, and thoughts about NASWA or the SW radio hobby. Please feel free to comment on anything presented this month (or previous months). Opinions expressed here are are soley those of the submitters. Please submit all Musings to Richard A. D’Angelo, 2216 Burkey Dr., Wyomissing, PA 19610 or via email – r.dangelo3@genie.com
Gerald F. Kercher, Box 168, Quaker Hill, CT 06375
I attended the 31st Conference of the European DX Council 6-9 June 1997 in the Czech Republic. The site was a comfortable resort hotel near the city of Zlin in Moravia. The rolling countryside is beautiful, not unlike parts of Vermont and New Hampshire except the farmland is better in Moravia. The host club was the Czechoslovak DX Club. When Czechoslovakia split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia back in 1993, the CSDXC chose to remain one club with members from both countries. I think this was commendable and in the true spirit of our hobby. About 75 people participated from 15 countries. The only other North Americans were Lewis Coulborn and Thais and Jeff White. Everything was very well organized. In addition to the usual seminars and broadcasters forum, there was a tour of film and TV studios and a transmitter site. The Saturday night dinner was followed by a night of wine and song at a traditional wine cellar. Next year the Conference is scheduled for 28-31 August in Gothenburg, Sweden. The Swedish DX Federation would do well to follow the example of excellence demonstrated by the CDXC this year.
John Figliozzi <johnfig@earthlink.net>
Thanks to Gary Otteson for his thoughtful comments on my suggestion (in July’s Easy Listening column) that ANARC and NASWA begin to more actively represent the interests of listeners to our and other governments and broadcasters. Would like to see more discussion on this and this is just the place to do it. What’ YOUR opinion???
And to Bob Fraser: Yes, there are plans for a revised Worldwide Shortwave Listening Guide book with Radio Shack. I think it’s overdue, but Radio Shack doesn’t appear ready yet, though it is committed to it. Let’s just say that I’m learning a lot about dealing with a large company with its own way of doing things. Bottom line: It will happen, hopefully soon. I’ll keep you posted. In the meantime, if you have Internet access, try the NASWA club site for continuously updated program listings: <http://www.naswa.net/swlguide>.
Randy Stewart, 4225 W. La Casa, Springfield, MO 65802-5615 <jrs555t@wpgate.smsu.edu>
Confession is supposed to be good for the soul, so here goes! I did something incredibly stupid back in June, but compounding matters was the radio station’s response. In late June, after monitoring the Turkish broadcast by BSKSA at 0400 UT on 15060 with good signals, I proceeded to prepare & send a taped report…only I sent it to RADIO JORDAN!! (Don’t even BOTHER asking why, because I don’t know… total brain-synapse shutdown, I guess!). Only AFTER I mailed it did I realize what had happened (sanity returned, hi), and I was horrified. My only consolation was to hope that Jawad Zada or whoever actually reads reports at R. Jordan would just File-13 it (“…damn stupid American!”). Well, two days ago (8/27) I found an envelope in the mail from… Radio Jordan! Inside was an R.J. QSL card with Jawad Zada’s name typed at the bottom, an illegible scribble signature, and station seal… CONFIRMING my reception on 6/26/97 on 15060 at 0358. The printed verie statiment “the program details mentioned in your report have been checked and found correct” has a pretty hollow ring, doesn’t it? How ironic that a station that at one time was so reluctant to QSL now turns out to be an ‘automatic verifier.’ A silly and frustrating episode in the life of a DXer. Oh, well… at least the next day I got a big package from VOIRI Iran with a QSL for a LEGITIMATE reception… which puts me at 99 countries verified and counting.