The South Atlantic remains another interesting target area for the South African dxer. The tropical 90 metre and 120 metre band used to provide an opportunity to hear Tristan da Cunha and the Falkland Islands respectively. Tristan da Cunha's 40 watt signal on 3290 kHz proved to be illusive but the Falkland Islands got through on 2380 kHz during the winter of 1985.
The Falkland Islands Broadcasting Station from Port Stanley on 2380 khz made it through to Sandbaai on the 4th July 1985 via the FRG-7 and 30 metre longwire antenna. The station operated with a fairly conservative 3.5 kw at the time.
I was fortunate to receive a QSL card and form letter from the FIBS in response to my reception report. A unique feature was that the QSL cards were numbered (I received QSL number 350).
AUDIO CLIPS * Available on the right hand side of the web page
The first recording was made at 0455 hours UTC on the 4th July 1985. The station schedule included BFBS programming which was noted at the time of the reception. A BFBS id jingle proceeded the vintage promo for "Pop The Question" by British DJ Johnnie Walker.
The 250 watt co-channel Radio Educ. de Limeira, Brazil also made it through and can be heard under FIBS.
The second recording was made 20 minutes later at 0515 hours UTC during a fair peak of the signal. It was part of an interesting interview with Benedict Allen who gave a fascinating account of his more than 600 mile solo journey through tropical and previously unexplored jungle from the mouth of Orinoco River to the mouth of the Amazon back in 1983.
FIRS STANLEY 530 kHz QSL
The highlight of the August 2009 dxpedition to Jongensgat was the reception of FIRS on 530 kHz. I was fortunate to receive a QSL card, available here.
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