It started for me when I was living in New Caledonia, having washed up there on a yacht and got a job with a local radio repair shop and a guy called Stan Clinch, who ran an outfit called Key View Radio. He’d been a wartime radar technician and had gone back to New Caledonia where he had been stationed during the war, to set up a radio repair shop.
Posted in AGMs, Broadcasters, History, Medium Wave, Pirate, Stations, Technical
Here are the conventioneers who attended the DX League’s 70th anniversary gathering at Mangawhai on 6-9 April. Standing: Peter Mott, Sutton Burtenshaw (Patron), Kaye Burtenshaw, Yuri Muzyka, Stuart Forsyth (Chief Editor), Dorothy de Maine, Joyce Marsh, Adrian Sainsbury (RNZ Pacific), Jeannette Greenyer, Steven Greenyer, Sandra Clark, Brian Withers, Ray Babbage, Angela Mott, Phil van de Paverd, Ray Crawford, Arthur de Maine (President). Kneeling: Paul Ormandy, Bill Marsh, Bryan Clark. Missing: David Norrie, Barry Hartley.
Convention 2018 in Mangawhai went brilliantly. A full report will appear in due course.
Below is a photo of the life members in attendance.
Posted in Uncategorized
PROFILE of Keith Robinson.
Written by Keith after some prompting by Bill Marsh (Jnr).
I was brought up on a farm at Kapuka, 25 km east of Invercargill. We didn’t get electricity until the Monowai Power Station was built in 1936. After much consideration my parents decided to buy a six tube Philips Radioplayer superhet which gave great service. Highlights of the weeks listening was Dad and Dave over 4ZP Invercargill on 680 kcs.
Posted in DXers
This article relates to a Mr Frank W. A. Barnett owner of 4ZO Dunedin and builder of its transmitter. It has been scribed by Bill Marsh (Jnr) with all historical background information supplied by Frank’s son Bruce formerly of Wanaka and now of Taieri Beach near Dunedin. It is a small world as it is understood that Frank introduced my dad Bill (Snr) to the hobby of DX around 1935 and when I was restoring my dad’s first ever DX receiver chassis (1934 Patterson 185AW) it was son Bruce who was able to supply a missing cabinet and knobs along with a spare chassis. This first meeting between Frank and Bill (Snr) most likely had some connection with the Dunedin Branch of the NZDXRA.
Posted in History
A GRATUITOUS SERVICE
From the “Otago Daily Times”, 3 August 1935, page 22.
FILLING THE SILENT HOURS
WORK OF THE B STATIONS
Posted in History
Thanks to Bryan Clark and his able bunch of volunteers, below are 2 lists that will be very useful to FM DXers.
January 2018 NZ FM List By Region
Jan 2018 NZ FM List By Frequency
Posted in Broadcasters, FM DX, Stations, Uncategorized
FIRST MEETING SOUTHLAND BRANCH NZRDXL
From the Branch Minute Books – Transcribed by Bill Marsh – Christian names added ( )
The first meeting of the Southland Branch of the New Zealand Radio DX league was held at the residence of Mr R. DUFF (Roland), 22 Jackson Street (Invercargill) on Tuesday 31st August, 1948.
Members present: Messrs. Warburton (Lloyd), Branks (Merv), Cushen (Arthur), Goodsir (George), Allan (Alex), Perkins (Harvey), Tombs (Evan), Frampton (Des), Duff (Roland), Mercer (Graham) and Carter (Dudley).
Moved Mr. Tombs 2nd Mr. Frampton that a branch of NZRDXL be formed.
Election of Officers;
Posted in History
2017 Ashburton AGM attendees: Left to Right: Bryan Clark, Andrew Gardner, Paul Ormandy, Douglas Johns, Steven Greenyer, Paul Rawdon, Philip Garden, Arthur de Maine, Brian Carr, Lance Johnston, Jim Smyth and Chris Wright.
Posted in Uncategorized
Thanks to editor Bryan Clark, here are PDF lists of New Zealand’s FM stations, the first in frequency order and by second by region.
NZ FM List In Frequency Order
NZ FM List By Region
Posted in Uncategorized
From; THE AUSTRALIAN RADIO WORD, Page 46, September 1, 1937.
DX News and Views *** A page for letters from DX readers.
An International Log
A few words about dxing in New Zealand. VK’s on 20 metres have been coming in well for the last three months, and very seldom were signals less than Q5, R8-9. A few of the best were VK’s 4JU, 2XU, 2ADE, 2HF 2MH, 3AL, 2IQ, 3ZL, 5GM, 5AW and a few others, the best tone for music being VK5GM and 3AL. VK2XU and 4JU have the best all-round transmitters. My set does not go down to 10 metres, but I can receive VK2GU, 3WB and a few others on harmonics. There are a few ZL’s on 10 and 5 metres, but have not beard any yet.
Posted in History
QTH for Convention 2018 at Mangawhai
CONVENTION 2018 Next year the NZ Radio DX League will celebrate its 70th anniversary with a gathering at Mangawhai between Friday 6 April and Monday 9 April 2018. Accommodation will be allocated on a first come-first served basis, so if you think you will or might attend and want to secure a place in the superior accommodation, please let Bryan Clark know: bryannzrdxl@gmail.com
Posted in Conventions, DXpeditions
HOW TO CONNECT YOUR “WORLD BAND RADIO” TO A “EWE” ANTENNA etc THROUGH INDUCTIVE COUPLING FOR MEDIUM WAVE DX:
Written by Bill Marsh (Jnr)
This article is the result of my helping Tony King interface his Tecsun PL-380 to a EWE antenna. Tony had been using an external ferrite rod antenna to inductively couple to his 380 for some time and latterly with single layer former wound coils.
As I was intending to replace my aging Sangean ATS-909 with a Tecsun PL-880 I thought his idea would be a great avenue to explore. I did not want to break the seal on my new Tecsun to carry out internal modifications.
I am currently in Invercargill visiting family. Whilst going through some of my sister’s old photographs the other day I came across a verification card addressed to my mother. 4XG Gore was operating on a temporary warrant at this time. The year 1979 is way past my dad (Bill Marsh Snr) interest in sending out reports. I can only suspect the transmission by this station has some important significance as I am not aware of a call 4XG. I am assuming that my dad realised the significance of this transmission and my mother wrote the report and she received the verification. Can anybody provide some history on this station as it has me completely puzzled.
Posted in History
S-8800-English-Manual Here is a new portable receiver to be released shortly by Tecsun Australia. It receives SSB, has a multitude of filter options and has external antenna connections. Full coverage.
PL-365-MANUAL There has been recent interest in portable receivers. This is quite a nifty little portable with external MW connection. It is the SSB equivalent of the Tecsun PL-360 with a new DSP chip. Available ex Australia. It is understood to be the same design as the U.S.A. County Comm GP-5/SSB Handheld AM FM SW Radio Receiver which was designed as a low cost unit for military and similar uses.
Posted in Receivers
Another benefit of belonging to the NZRDXL is use of a 4-channel KiwiSDR receiver located in an excellent receive location at Russell in the Bay of Islands. To obtain the password, just must be an NZ Radio DX League members, request it by sending an e-mail to nzrdxlsdr@gmail.com.
Map credit: www.takepa.com
I decided to try a bit of FM DX after a break of more than 20 years and
needed a new antenna.
First I tried a 7 element log periodic yagi, similar to this example but found the local FMers about 3km away swamped the whole band pretty much. So then I re-built the antenna into one of these combo yagis which is a hybrid log periodic yagi and standard yagi, sometimes called a “logyag”.
It handles the signals from the locals much better than the straight LPY
and seems to be more directional. Mine is made from old low-band TV
antennas so only cost me some hardware and time.
Bill Marsh Jnr has completed an article on building a portable EWE antenna, view the article here.
Posted in Antennas
ABC Exits Shortwave Radio Transmission
*06 December 2016*
The ABC will end its shortwave transmission service in the Northern Territory and to international audiences from 31 January 2017.
The move is in line with the national broadcaster’s commitment to dispense with outdated technology and to expand its digital content offerings including DAB+ digital radio, online and mobile services, together with FM services for international audiences.
The majority of ABC audiences in the Northern Territory currently access ABC services via AM and FM and all ABC radio and digital radio services are available on the VAST satellite service.
Posted in Broadcasters
You must be a member of the New Zealand Radio DX League to access this SDR.
