PAPUA NEW GUINEA 7120, 0825-1030, Wantok Radio Light, Port Moresby May 25
First noted fading up above the noise prior to 0830, with contemporary
Christian music alternating with talks or devotionals. The signal was still
extremely low until past 0930, when it strengthened enough to make out an ID
by a male announcer exactly at 0959:38: 'This is Wantok Radio Light,
broadcasting to Papua New Guinea on... meterband(?)...'. It took a number of
replays of my recording to be certain of the ID, but it is definitely there.
At 1000 I heard introductory music and mention of 'Welcome to Focus on the
Family...with author and... Dr. James Dobson' at the start of this popular
Christian program. It also fits the broadcast schedule at
http://www.wantokradio.net which shows Focus on the Family at 7-7:30pm local
Port Moresby time. Very pleased with this definite log of this new PNG
outlet! I also received an e-mail from Dave Olson, engineer at the station,
who said that the 'Bird of Paradise' call I heard at 1101 on 5/23 is
actually a warbling siren at the beginning of their Monday evening program
'Community Policing'. (Atkins-WA)

Guy Atkins
Puyallup, WA USA
mod. ICOM IC-756Pro & mod. ICOM R-75
Kiwa MAP / ERGO
450 & 700 ft. Beverage Antennas

Great ID there Guy - thanks for that info.
I am puzzled though about the power from this TX.
One source says it is a 1 Kw station, the other 100 Kw.
Do you have reliable info as to exactly what the power output is??
--
John Plimmer, Montagu, Western Cape Province, South Africa
South 33 d 47 m 32 s, East 20 d 07 m 32 s
Icom IC-756 PRO III with MW mods
RX Drake R8B, SW8 & ERGO software
Sony 7600D GE SRIII
BW XCR 30, Braun T1000, Sangean 818 & 803A.
Hallicrafters SX-100, Eddystone 940
GE circa 50's radiogram
Antenna's RF Systems DX 1 Pro, Datong AD-270
Kiwa MW Loop
http://www.dxing.info/about/dxers/plimmer.dx

"Guy Atkins" wrote in message
...
PAPUA NEW GUINEA 7120, 0825-1030, Wantok Radio Light, Port Moresby May 25
First noted fading up above the noise prior to 0830, with contemporary
Christian music alternating with talks or devotionals. The signal was
still
extremely low until past 0930, when it strengthened enough to make out an
ID
by a male announcer exactly at 0959:38: 'This is Wantok Radio Light,
broadcasting to Papua New Guinea on... meterband(?)...'. It took a number
of
replays of my recording to be certain of the ID, but it is definitely
there.
At 1000 I heard introductory music and mention of 'Welcome to Focus on the
Family...with author and... Dr. James Dobson' at the start of this popular
Christian program. It also fits the broadcast schedule at
http://www.wantokradio.net which shows Focus on the Family at 7-7:30pm
local
Port Moresby time. Very pleased with this definite log of this new PNG
outlet! I also received an e-mail from Dave Olson, engineer at the
station,
who said that the 'Bird of Paradise' call I heard at 1101 on 5/23 is
actually a warbling siren at the beginning of their Monday evening program
'Community Policing'. (Atkins-WA)

Guy Atkins
Puyallup, WA USA
mod. ICOM IC-756Pro & mod. ICOM R-75
Kiwa MAP / ERGO
450 & 700 ft. Beverage Antennas

Hi John,

The 100 kw claim is absolutely bogus. I've received a half dozen or so
emails from two people connected with the Wantok Radio Light project since
last December; one of them is the head engineer working on the installation,
and the other is the USA head of fund raising and development for the 7120
khz station and it's FM sister-station.

Both of these people have said more than once that it is a 1 (ONE) Kw
transmitter! I even have a coverage map document that lists "1 Kw" as the
power, and the photographs I've seen of the transmitter show a very compact
unit... definitely not a 100 Kw package!

So... there's no question that Wantok Radio Light is 1 Kw. The weak signal
I've been receiving here is appropriate for this power level. They are also
using a "NVIS" antenna design that attempts to restrict as much RF energy as
possible to a few hundred miles radius. Of course, we know that the similar
NVIS "Shower Service" of the 120 meterband Aussies propagates around the
world despite their attempts to keep it local. Still, a lot less energy than
1 Kw is propagated across the globe from Wantok Radio Light from their
transmitter/antenna combo.

The coverage map indicates a signal dropping to " 20 dBu" field strength
just past the Solomon Islands.

73,

Guy Atkins
Puyallup, WA USA

"John Plimmer" wrote in message
...
Great ID there Guy - thanks for that info.
I am puzzled though about the power from this TX.
One source says it is a 1 Kw station, the other 100 Kw.
Do you have reliable info as to exactly what the power output is??

Well, getting the Aussie Northern Territory stations which have a 50 Kw
output is already great DX, so getting a clear ID on a 1000 watt station
from far off PNG is really superb DX.
Congratulations and well done.
Everything has to come together for that = great DX skills, an outstanding
antenna system and a really good RX.
--
John Plimmer, Montagu, Western Cape Province, South Africa
South 33 d 47 m 32 s, East 20 d 07 m 32 s
Icom IC-756 PRO III with MW mods
RX Drake R8B, SW8 & ERGO software
Sony 7600D GE SRIII
BW XCR 30, Braun T1000, Sangean 818 & 803A.
Hallicrafters SX-100, Eddystone 940
GE circa 50's radiogram
Antenna's RF Systems DX 1 Pro, Datong AD-270
Kiwa MW Loop
http://www.dxing.info/about/dxers/plimmer.dx

"Guy Atkins" wrote in message
...
Hi John,

The 100 kw claim is absolutely bogus. I've received a half dozen or so
emails from two people connected with the Wantok Radio Light project since
last December; one of them is the head engineer working on the
installation,
and the other is the USA head of fund raising and development for the 7120
khz station and it's FM sister-station.

Both of these people have said more than once that it is a 1 (ONE) Kw
transmitter! I even have a coverage map document that lists "1 Kw" as the
power, and the photographs I've seen of the transmitter show a very
compact
unit... definitely not a 100 Kw package!

So... there's no question that Wantok Radio Light is 1 Kw. The weak signal
I've been receiving here is appropriate for this power level. They are
also
using a "NVIS" antenna design that attempts to restrict as much RF energy
as
possible to a few hundred miles radius. Of course, we know that the
similar
NVIS "Shower Service" of the 120 meterband Aussies propagates around the
world despite their attempts to keep it local. Still, a lot less energy
than
1 Kw is propagated across the globe from Wantok Radio Light from their
transmitter/antenna combo.

The coverage map indicates a signal dropping to " 20 dBu" field strength
just past the Solomon Islands.

73,

Guy Atkins
Puyallup, WA USA

"John Plimmer" wrote in message
...
Great ID there Guy - thanks for that info.
I am puzzled though about the power from this TX.
One source says it is a 1 Kw station, the other 100 Kw.
Do you have reliable info as to exactly what the power output is??

Guy Atkins wrote:

PAPUA NEW GUINEA 7120, 0825-1030, Wantok Radio Light, Port Moresby May 25
First noted fading up above the noise prior to 0830, with contemporary
Christian music alternating with talks or devotionals. The signal was still
extremely low until past 0930, when it strengthened enough to make out an ID
by a male announcer exactly at 0959:38: 'This is Wantok Radio Light,
broadcasting to Papua New Guinea on... meterband(?)...'. It took a number of
replays of my recording to be certain of the ID, but it is definitely there.
At 1000 I heard introductory music and mention of 'Welcome to Focus on the
Family...with author and... Dr. James Dobson' at the start of this popular
Christian program. It also fits the broadcast schedule at
http://www.wantokradio.net which shows Focus on the Family at 7-7:30pm local
Port Moresby time. Very pleased with this definite log of this new PNG
outlet! I also received an e-mail from Dave Olson, engineer at the station,
who said that the 'Bird of Paradise' call I heard at 1101 on 5/23 is
actually a warbling siren at the beginning of their Monday evening program
'Community Policing'. (Atkins-WA)

Seems to be audible here with Christian music and did catch a mention of Papua
New Guinea during the half hour prior to 1100. I'll have to catch them earlier
rather than my regular routine of listening to the guys on 3849-50.

dxAce
Michigan
USA

http://www.iserv.net/~n8kdv/dxpage.htm