[R-390] Tropical Band listening

[John KA1XC]

Well, let's see if this gets through without bouncing this time, have had a
heck
of a time trying to reply to this thread (What's in your RF Amps?).

Being that I just returned from an Aruba honeymoon I have very
fond memories of our trip. Warm aqua ocean, no hurricanes, palm trees,
bikinis, the westerly growing divi-divi trees, white sandy beaches, more
bikinis,
friendly folks, mostly friendly wife =:^), and the delightful aroma of fine
food, #30 sunscreen, and Cuban cigars. I tried a little DXing of the 120
meter band with a Sony portable I brought along but I didn't know quite
where to tune so I didn't hear anything, and really wasn't trying too hard
either.

So now that I've returned to cold and windy New England I've been doing some
listening of the tropical shortwave bands so I can hear some more of that
soft Latin American beat and reminisce. The long winter nights and reduced
static make for good listening conditions on the lower freqs so now's the
time to do some DXing there. (And the tubes in the radios also help keep the
room warm too)

The tropical bands are considered:
Mhz               Meters
2.30 - 2.55    120
3.15 - 3.45      90
4.70 - 5.15      60

So far I've heard no broadcast on the 120 meter band, and from what
I've read it seems a lot of station that were once there have moved to the
90 and 60 meter bands for increased coverage and better listening during
QRN.

Last night I heard stations on
5025 - Cuba, loud
4990
4915
4885 - Brazil? (nice music)

3291
3280
3250

There were a few other stations too such as the domestic bible beaters and
some chatter on 2552 USB as well but I wasn't interested in this stuff.
More stations should become listenable as conditions improve too.

Here's a few links to checkout, the freq list is very useful for station ID
help as most language is non-English.

http://donmoore.tripod.com/genbroad/tropical.htm
http://www.hard-core-dx.com/nordicdx/dxlab/latinam4.html
http://www.sover.net/%7Ehackmohr/sw.htm   (freq list)

73,
John