INSTALLING FOR PERSEUS REMOTE RECEIVING

(Post Curtsy: Victor Goonetilleke & INDIA DXING COOPERATION FORUM in Facebook)

First download this software from their website:
http://microtelecom.it/perseus/Perseusv40a.zip

then unzip it in a folder

read the pdf file on client server setup...

configure as client (no special task just follow the below steps)

just run the main exe file and in bottom left screen choose input as "NET", then click on 'addr' button and a new dialoue asks your name, give a small nickname so everybody can understand its u, say 'yourname_in'

give your city name in place and click ok

then a window opens with google map showing available perseus online, click on 4s7vk or victors at sri lanka and u will see details will be automatically filled in below form and click OK

within few seconds (depending on connection) u can get it in control

the perseus software seems to be a pilots dashboard, u might take some time to get habituated. I always find it fun, when the Sri Lankan one is busy I enjoy one of four available in Japan, the only bad thing is the software is a trial one so it will expire within 30 days

(From an Indian friend)

Listening HAM Bands On Shortwave Radio

Few days back responding to my request in Facebook a great and worldwide respected Dxer from South Asia Mr. Victor Goonetilleke wrote this very useful article on listening HAM bands via SW radio. With prior permission from the writer I am publishing it here for the greater interest of DX community. (Curtsey: Indian DXing Corporation Forum in Facebook)

SW LISTENING TO THE RADIO (HAMS ) AMATEURS DE VICTORG 4S7VK

Was it Prithiviraj who wanted to know about listening to the radio hams? Just a few points. Much information is available if you just click, Amateur Radio, HF Amateur Bands etc. I am limiting myself to Short Wave or HF High freqs here. These days to listen to Radio Hams-I will use hams instead of Amateurs as its shorter to type!-you need a receiver with can tune LSB/USB. The most active bands for a beginner SWL, is to try between 7100-7200(40m.b.) 14000-14350 and 21100-21450 kHz. On 7 MHz band switch to LSB(Lower Side Band) position of your receiver and 14 MHz and above USB and slowly tune up and down. 

When you hear a signal, initially it sounds garbled-like ducks quacking!!, slowly tune moving very slightly up and down till the signal starts to get clear-we call it demodulating SSB(single side band).

Radio Hams will not announce their country often. It is in their Call Letters(Call signs). A call sign has a prefix and suffix. i.e VU2JOS Jose Jacob's call, the prefix is VU2 and in there is the country code VU-India and JOS is his personal part- the suffix. I am 4S7VK- 4S=Sri Lanka. Download a list of country prefixes and you are in business. Like the WRTH there is a Call Book or on the net a site QRZ.Com. When you go to it there is a small window to type in the call sign and then hit enter- then that hams details will pop up. Just try it.

Radio Hams use nothing more than a 1 kW or 2 maximum. Usually the average common power is about 100 watts which is equal to about 100kW in the Broadcasting field. So the telescopic whip might not get you more than a few signals. Adding a wire outside helps, but a dipole for the particular band even 15 feet off the ground makes a huge difference. For receiving you don't have to match it unlike for transmitting. The internet will give you dimensions, designs etc.

QSL cards-almost every ham has a QSL card and most will send you a QSL card if you send a reception report. Usually you might send an IRC or self addressed envelope with some return postage. Local hams will be happy to send his/her card, just enclose a SASE as a mark of respect.

Best time to listen is in the morning on 7 MHz and evenings on 7, 14 and 21 MHz. Sri Lankan hams use 7060 between 7.30 a.m. and 8.15 a.m. There is an Indian net on 7080 starting at 7.00 a.m. Anyway just tune around and you will get the hang of it.

When two or three hams talk they will use their call signs and of course address them by a short name, the first name usually. The one who is about to turn over (as he finishes talking,) to the other, will first give the call of the person who is going to pick up and the person just finishing will give his callsign last. i.e I will say VU2JOS to take it and my call sign 4S7VK. When Jose picks up the microphone from me, he will say Roger 4S7VK, VU2JOS returning.. or something like that. Just try it and sooner than later you will get the hang of it.

73 Good luck with SWLing the Radio Amateurs. de 4S7VK.

"Medium Wave DXING" By Victor Goonetilleke

Few days back responding to my request in Facebook a great and worldwide  respected Dxer from South Asia Mr. Victor Goonetilleke wrote this very useful article on Medium Wave Dxing. With prior permission from the writer I am publishing it here for the greater interest of DX community. (Curtsey: Indian DXing Corporation Forum in Facebook)

"Medium Wave DXING" 

 By Victor Goonetilleke 

PART-I


Medium Wave DX-ing: This is a huge subject too big to tackle in a post. But I am sure you can find a lot of supporting material on the Internet once you have some idea of the basic questions you want to know answers to. So let me try; I might fail badly!!


Long dx stations come in when there is darkness between the TX(transmitting station) and receiving point. So daytime you will hear local stations or within 500 kms or so depending on transmitter power used, as the D layer absorbs Low/MW frequencies. So as sun set approaches you start to hear stations coming on your receiver from the East of you as that area is now in darkness. Take a world map showing the darkness area and you can visualize possible/impossible areas to hear at any particular time. Look for sunrise-sunset maps.


Your local stations will usually block the weak DX signals you hear on MW as the stations are not beaming to foreign audiences, but some will broadcast to adjacent countries. Therefore you have to wait till your local stations close down if they are very strong, but depending on your country's use of the Medium Wave band you will have free spots without local stations.


To start dxing MW you do not have to bother about special antennas and receivers. I have heard even South America, Africa & Australia from Sri Lanka on my domestic set and just 25 feet of wire outside my window. Maybe this post is already too long. Part 2 to follow.



PART-II


The stations on Medium Wave you hear for the most part will not be as strong as on the shortwave international bands, other than those beaming to you eg: BBC 1413, DW 1548 and the very high power stations like Dhaka 693, Rajkot, VOA Thailand 1575 and maybe a dozen or more. Of course sometimes some signals will surprise you. The other stations will keep fading slowly up and down. If you are in Kolkata you might hear AIR North, South and East regional stations on the same freq as they share frequencies. If you stay on the frequency, to your amazement you will find suddenly the Northern station which has been the dominant signal, fading down and the Southerner coming up. That is typical of long range MW. So similarly you might hear an Iranian and Thai MW station on the same frequency. If you have a directional rotatable loop of course you can null out one and bring up the other.


The main problem for MW DXing today, for most of us, is the high electrical noise level in our urban homes. The weak signals will be below the noise level. So a visit to your village home, friend, or some rural location or when your power fails (I love power failures and power cuts, much to the disgust of the others!!) you will find a huge difference in what you can hear. Well a good ground/earth helps as is switching off some electrical appliances, TVs, tube lights even low energy bulbs will reduce the electrical noise. In addition resonant antennas, AC line filters, having your antenna away from the house and of course a good receiver will help. You can read tons of material on the Internet on various aspects of Medium Wave dxing.


So for starters, your existing radio even with just the telescopic whip will bring you a fairly good crop of stations after your local stations have closed down, if you patiently tune in and look around. This has been just an introductory piece & not a master-piece. Good luck with your MW DXing.!!



By- Victor Goonetilleke.



SOME ADDITIONAL COMMENTS FROM Mr. Bruce Jensen on MW DXING:



I would like to add that most ordinary domestic radios for MW will have a simple ferrite rod inside as the antenna. Many here will know that the rod is wound with many feet of wire, and the coil or wire has the radio current induced within it by the ferrite magnet. As small and simple as it is, it makes a super antenna as long as the case around it is not metal. When I lived in the country, I could easily hear MW AM stations from 3,000 miles distant with just the internal ferrite coil inside my transistor radio. Your radio may have this kind of antenna as well. If not, excellent simple coil antennas for MW, even antennas with simple tuners, can be made and attached to your radio antenna lugs.


In other respects, Victor is absolutely right - noise is your enemy, and reducing that noise by eliminating it or moving away from it will probably help a great deal.Something really interesting I found - if you have a domestic radio with a ferrite antenna inside, and you want stronger signals, just wrap a wire around the radio twice and connect the wire ends to a sky-wire and a ground. You'll be amazed at the extra strength signals you can get! Might overload your radio though, so must be careful.

I have a portable radio whose MW and 2-6 MHz band has the ferrite. It isn't good enough for the 2-6, but when I wrap that wire around it, the signals go crazy!!


(Edited and Compiled By: Prithwiraj Purkayastha)