Radio doings (Dec 1930-Jun1932)

Page Twenty-four RADIO DOINGS March, 1931 •ROUND THE DIAL Through the kindness of a friend I have been privileged to read some copies of your magazine, and I must say I have enjoyed its DX columns, together with the short wave notes. I am very interested in short wave reception, and I thought you may like to know of some of my experiences. My receiver is home constructed, being a detector unit coupled to a two-stage transformer-coupled amplifier. The aerial is L type, triple wire about 30 feet high, and badly screened by trees. Stations I have logged are W6XN, W2XAF, W8XK, W3XAL, W2XE, W9XF, CJRX, LSX, VQ7LO, PCJ, 3LO, 2RO, Zeesen, besides many ship and land phone stations. I have received verifications from all these stations. My biggest thrill was when I heard W6XN, Oakland. This was on the 9th of March, 1930, when I enjoyed a very fine two-hour program. I am sorry to hear the station has closed down. Hoping these few words will interest your readers, I remain, Yours faithfully, A. E. BEAR, 10 St. Mary's Place, Rotherhithe, London, England. Last Sunday at 1 a. m. I picked up WTIC. He was broadcasting a test program on WEAF's channel, 660 Kc. I listened to him until 1:30 a. m. at which time he signed off. Twenty minutes later I picked him up again, this time on his regular frequency of 1060 Kc. He was coming in like a public address system. KWJJ was on 1060 Kc. so I tried the 660 channel and instead of WTIC I got WEAF, although I did not know it at the time. He played three or four phonograph records without making an announcement and I took it for granted it was WTIC, but later, thanks to our good friend George Schmidt, I identified the station as WEAF. By the way, this is my first contribution to 'Round the Dial, although I have been a constant reader of RADIO DOINGS for the past six years. — L. G. Chavez, 1263 W. 51st Place, Los Angeles, Calif. I picked up XEGY Saturday night, February 14th, and they gave their address as P.O. Box 464 or 1087, Mexico City. This station was formerly XEG and broadcasts on 829 Kc. XEN has been broadcasting during the last few weeks on about 705 KC. CKLC broadcasts a Canadian National Railway program, using the call letters CNRD, on Tuesday from 6 to 7 p. m. and on Thursday and Saturday from 7 to 8 p. m. WSMB may be had beginning at 5:30 a. m. on Sunday mornings KORE until 1 : 30 or 2 a. m., and KGAR broadcasts an early morning DX program on the second and fourth Sunday of each month. I just received information from the East to the effect that every Saturday and Sunday morning on 1310 Kc. various stations follow each other at half hour intervals broadcasting DX programs for the Newark News Radio Club. Who can tell me when to get CMW? They seem to be quite an elusive station. Where are some of our old friends like C. E. Holloway, J. Stanley Lynch, D. M. Boozer and others that wrote into this column last year? We would like to hear from them, wouldn't we, Gang? — Stuart Walmsley, Los Angeles. * * * I was interested in Mr. Love's letter in the December issue of RADIO DOINGS. I read where he has been playing 3AR, Mel' bourne, on 620 Kc. and he states he heard two more stations on 665 and 760 Kc. with a broad English accent. These stations are 2FC, Sydney, 5000 watts and 4QG, Brisbane, respectively, operated by the Australian Broadcasting Company and owned by the Government. Good scalp-hunting, Mr. Love, and hope to see you hear more of our Southern hemisphere stations. — S. Ellis, Okato, Taranaki, New Zealand. JFAK, Taihoku, Taiwan, radio station, regularly having been on the air with 1 kilowatt, increased the power to 10 kilowatts January 15th. JOAK, well known Japanese radio station to the Coast DX-ers, has commenced the "niju-hoso," what is called "Dual" or double broadcasting service since December 10th last. The second JOAK is being on the air on 490 meters with the power of 10 kilowatts, while the first JOAK is on the air on 345 meters, as usual. This is experimental, and if good results are experienced, other wave-lengths will be used. JOKK, Okayama, is off the air now. He was on the air last Autumn. JOLK is operating regularly now. — Minoru Nakamura, Yamate, Oisomachi, Kanagawa-Ken, Japan. After waiting some three or four weeks I finally received a verification from radio station KGBU in Ketchikan, Alaska. It is an exceptionally nice verification and I shall try to tell the readers all that it contains. KGBU maintains a regular schedule of the following hours: Daily from 10:00 a. m. to 2:00 p. m. and nightly from 5:00 p. m. to 10:00 p. m. (P.S.T..) They are having regular DX programs every Thursday morning from 1:00 a. m. to 3:00 a. m. (P.S.T.) This program has been broadcast during the months of January and February and will continue on through March. After the last Thursday in March they will no longer have this very interesting program. Their slogan is "The Voice of Alaska." They operate on a frequency of 900 Kc. and have a power of 500 watts. This station is undoubtedly very much willing to answer all letters received. From KSOO in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, I have received another nice verification and in it they state they are on the air daily from 6:30 a. m. to their local sunset and on Sundays from 9:00 a. m. to 6:00—8:00 p. m. to 1:00 a. m. (C.S.T.) They have 2,000 watts and operate on 1110 Kc. This is another very good morning catch. Station CHYC in Montreal, Canada, is on the air on Sundays from 4:30 to 8:00 p. m. (P.S.T.) They are on 730 Kc. and have 5,000 watts. It is really the same transmitter as CKAC of the same city, power and frequency. However, most DX fans class it as a separate station. It may be interesting to know that WWJ, the station that comes in so well in the early morning from 3 :00 a. m. on 'til KPRC or KFEL comes on, is an associated station with the well known Canadian National Railway Network. —George Schmidt, 1642 West 82nd St., Los Angeles, Calif. * * * Here's a little first-hand information that should help some one. At least, I hope it does, as it always pleases me to know that I have helped a brother DXer to enlarge his log. CHWK, Chilliwack, British Columbia, is now on 665 Kc, or 451 meters, with 50 watts power, soon to be increased to 100 watts or more. He is on the air every evening except Wednesday from 5 to 7 p. m. CJRW, Fleming, Saskatchewan, is another Canadian who is on 665 Kc, with 1000 watts. He may be heard Mondays 7 to 7:30 and 8 to 9 p. m., also on Wednesdays and Fridays and Saturdays till 9 p. m. I do not know whether its sister station, CJRM, Moose Jaw, Sask., is on 665 Kc. now or not, but if he is, he should be heard, easily. KUJ up here in Washington, has moved from Longview to Walla Walla, in southeastern Washington. He has been on the air till the very early hours of the morning — later than 3 a. m. — playing records, announcing plainly as "KUJ, in Walla Walla, Washington," and calling for letters from all over the country, Canada, Mexico, Cuba, Japan, Siam and the Philippines, etc. He is broadcasting on a frequency of 1370 Kc. now. Don't forget, all you DXers, and readers of this column, that I am more than glad to answer your letters and swap information with you. — Herbert J. McAllister, 913 North Grant Ave., Tacoma, Wash. * * * Here is a good tip on KUOA, Fayetteville, Arkansas, 1390 Kc. Last night, (Thursday) I picked this station up just before they signed off at 11:30. In signing off they announced that they put on an early morning DX broadcast every Friday, signing off at 1:30. What time they start I don't know, but I should think at midnight. This means that KUOA can be picked up here on the Coast every Thursday night from 10 to 11:30. Here is a tip on a station that is a remarkably good catch. I refer to WCAP, Asbury Park, New Jersey, on 1280 Kc. I picked this station up Saturday night, February 7, just before 1 1 and played it off and on until 22 minutes past 12. Whether or not it is a regular thing for this station to broadcast at this time I do not know, but it is certainly worth trying for as it is only 500 watts in power. I was very much surprised to find KRGV in Harlingen, Texas, on this same channel, 1280 Kc, about half past 12 the same night. Previously, the same evening, I had played this station on the regular frequency of 1260 Kc. WTIC had another test program on 660 Kc. and came in even louder than the week before. I was interested in listening for a minute or two to 2YA in Wellington. They were broadcasting names of people who were safe and wanted their friends to know they had not been injured by the earthquake. ■ — A. E. Armstrong, 2021 Bonita Drive, Glendale, Calif.