DX contact in NZ on a portable

Got a SWL DX contact in NZ tonight at 1856L (0056Z). Radio New Zealand (International) at 15719 kHz on AM. Was supposed to be 15720 kHz. Zero beat on USB and got the same at 15719.22 kHz.

Best part was, this was a portable radio using a roughly 6m long-wire antenna.

I was happy! Hello, NZ!

(not transmitting, just listening).

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

That's pretty cool to have gotten a signal from that far away with such a minimal setup! I remember one time about 40 years ago, (I lived in Southern Illinois then, too), that I was talking to somebody down in Florida on the CB radio in my car, thanks to a skip that night. Radio like that and shortwave has always fascinated me, but I've never really had to time to get into it fully. I can receive shortwave signals, but that's all. Now my neighbor has a shortwave radio and antennas to broadcast with.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

That's fairly amazing.

Wonder what the output power was?

originally posted by: chr0naut
a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

That's fairly amazing.

Wonder what the output power was?

Hang on a moment, and I'll tell ya.

ETA - Update - ERP of 100kW broadcasting at an azimuth of 35 degrees NNE.

Note - I just checked and reception is still good at 0255Z in North America. I'm listening to them now. (playing some vintage Olivia Newton John).

ETA 2 - I just noticed you too are in NZ. Radio New Zealand International is located in Rangataiki (did I spell that correctly?)

If you have a shortwave, I'm sure you could tune them in. They've probably got a big enough back lobe to cover all of NZ. It's 15720 kHz on your receiver. (no need for USB). I've got notches set at about 2.5 kHz on AM and down to about 0.5 kHz on USB. NR off.

Kia ora from Aotearoa/New Zealand. I love listening to national radio nz in the afternoons with Jessie, good recipes, nz music and other interviews etc NZ time that is, if you go online you can listen to past shows. There are other good pod casts too. Lots of interesting podcasts about farming or agriculture. Even a post cast about half owners of my dads organic farm and their vege business. If your interested . www.rnz.co.nz...

Now that I just re read your post I realise your not talking about what I thought you were talking about, oh well you still be interested anyway

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

E layer propagation always blows my mind. I have worked 10M USA to Europe on a 102" ss whip on my van with 500 watts.

Couple of my cb buddies say to broadband my radios. I tell them hell to the no. I would rather keep spurious transmissions low for the good of all radio users. Not to mention less bandwidth means less heat generated from the transistors.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

where do you live? like how far from NZ


ive been slowly looking at HAM and have been messing around listing in on the internet

its just a big financial and equipment investment

a reply to: penroc3

Roughly about 7,350 nautical miles between broadcast origination location and my receiver.

Not really a big investment at all if you just want to listen. A $100-150 buck investment will easily get you well underway. Plus, I think listening is every bit as fun anyway. I've got a really nice ICOM IC-R75 desktop unit, but I find myself getting as much if not more entertainment out of my much smaller (and cheaper) portable units because they're, well, portable and I can take one anywhere with me. The receiver I used for the contact in the OP was just a Tecsun PL-880; it's a little bit of a step up from an entry level model, but still pretty cost effective. You can pick them up on ebay previously owned for just over $100 bucks.

Or, you can just continue doing what you're already doing which is playing around with software defined radios (SDR's) on the Interwebz. Some of those SDR's are pretty nice setups, especially some of the ones in Europe. Personally though, I prefer to remove the internet from the equation and try to pick up the actual RF signals on my radios directly. There's all sorts of different angles to the SWL hobby.

a reply to: Cloudbuster

Yeah, I was talking about RNZ also. The part I had tuned in was their international sister.

a reply to: shaneslaughta

I didn't catch this earlier. You have a 500W mobile???? In your van???? WOW!!

Can you run that with just a single alternator, or do you need more?

P.S. - I've seen some of those 'keydown' rigs folks have down south. Some of those guys are running like 8-10 alternators, and they have to use a nitrous boost to spin them all up. Crazy stuff!

originally posted by: Flyingclaydisk

originally posted by: chr0naut
a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

That's fairly amazing.

Wonder what the output power was?

Hang on a moment, and I'll tell ya.

ETA - Update - ERP of 100kW broadcasting at an azimuth of 35 degrees NNE.

Note - I just checked and reception is still good at 0255Z in North America. I'm listening to them now. (playing some vintage Olivia Newton John).

ETA 2 - I just noticed you too are in NZ. Radio New Zealand International is located in Rangataiki (did I spell that correctly?)

Rangatiki is sort of central North Island. I couldn't find a Rangataiki, so I assume that was a spelling mistake.

If you have a shortwave, I'm sure you could tune them in. They've probably got a big enough back lobe to cover all of NZ. It's 15720 kHz on your receiver. (no need for USB). I've got notches set at about 2.5 kHz on AM and down to about 0.5 kHz on USB. NR off.

RNZ is our government media company.

New Zealand actually spreads out over a lot of the South Pacific (600 islands, at max distance NNE, Rangatiki to Tokelau, is about about 3,600 km), so they probably have a short wave transmitter set up to send out to the Pacific Islands to our North West.

I don't actually have a shortwave set, though.