'The Booze Brothers'
June 2005

by Craig Edwards & Dave Onley

Jake (played by Dave Onley) has just been released from prison, that is, he got away from his wife and child for the weekend. So Elwood (played by Craig Edwards) picks him up in the Boozemobile. Craig reminded Dave that upon his release from prison he promised he would go to Saint Hilton of the Blessed Pub and visit our favourite old barmaid 'the penguin' the day he got out. (If you haven't seen the movie 'The Blues Brothers', this won't make any sense!)

The Booze Brothers, Dave Onley & Craig Edwards

The penguin told us "You're such a disappointing pair, I prayed so hard for you, it saddens and hurts me, that the two young men whom I served have returned to me as 2 DXers with filthy mouths and bad attitudes. Get out and don't come back until you've redeemed yourselves!! Suddenly Dave saw the light…….

Dave: "the AM band Craig, the AM band!!! We get the DXpedition band back together, do a few gigs, and bam - hundreds of loggings"

Craig: "yeah well getting the DXpedition band back together might not be that easy Dave"

Dave: "What are you talking about?"

Craig: "They split, they all took straight jobs"

We went to an old abandoned warehouse where the Southern Cross DX Club used to meet. We came across an old vagrant woman called Miss Newlyn and asked her where we might find some of the old South Australian Coorong DXpeditioner's. She asked "Are you the police?", "No ma'am we're DXers" Craig replied.

On a red hot tip, we pulled into the Soul Food Café, Dave ordered 4 fried chickens & a coke and Craig asked for some dry white toast. That's where we located a couple of the old crew like Steve Perkins and Lew Chapman. Craig told them "We're putting the band back together, we're on a DXpedition from God".

Our ill fated quest turned bizarre as we dined at the exclusive Mawson Lakes Hotel. Dave pulled his chair over to a high-brow family who were dining and asked the father "How much for the little girl, the women, how much for the women, your women, I want to buy your women, the little girl, your daughters sell them to me, sell me your children."

After posting bail we continued on to Meningie where we had a drink at Bob's Country Bunker, a strange ale house where they played both kinds of music, country and western. Bob thought we were the Good Ole Boys - the entertainment for the evening. So it wasn't long before Dave and Craig were in full merry song, however we knew our welcome was worn out after the 5th version of us singing Rawhide saw beer bottles being regularly flung in our general direction. So we continued on our journey dodging the police, Bob and the local National Park authorities until we made it to the grand stage for our next big gig - Parnka Point on the Coorong. We gave ourselves the big thumbs up and decided this was to be the place for the July DXpedition a month later.

The caravan park cabin will be the Taj Mahal compared to our tents in July

Craig writes - Well maybe this isn't how it really happened, but why let the truth get in the way of a good story. OK, now to reality………

Following on from the travelling DXpedition that saw my wife and I leave Queensland, the relocation from Townsville to Adelaide was now complete as my wife and I finally obtained the keys to our house so we could get the two moving trucks full of our belongings unloaded. For those of you who have done an interstate relocation know of the logistical nightmare and endless boxes and boxes or stuff to deal with.

Dave on the compass, Craig on the great circle map - could this be THE spot?

With the new move also comes a new job. I'm working at Murray Bridge in their health service. On the down side, I have to drive 90 km each way between there and our home in Mawson Lakes (Adelaide) - that's starting to lose it's novelty. The up side is that Murray Bridge is only 70 km away from the start of the Coorong - the Mecca of Mediumwave for South Australian DXers. So on two Friday afternoons (April 16 and 30) after work I stayed overnight at a caravan park cabin in Meningie, the small town located at the start of the Coorong. With a simple EWE antenna at an electrically noisy caravan park cabin I did a little listening there but the purpose was to see if the Coorong had some potential new sites for a DXpedition.

Dave Onley seriously thinking about the prospective site

This caravan park wasn't considered as a potential DX site but was rather a nice comfortable cabin with an ensuite to use as a home base. On both Saturday mornings I went exploring around the Coorong for possible overnight and more isolated DXpedition sites. So after finding a potential site my old partner in crime Dave Onley thought it would be good to fly over from Geelong in Victoria for the weekend to check out the site and plan our camping DXpedition. This would mean using tents and roughing it with no power, no facilities, no running water or sewerage which meant not many campers to entangle themselves in our beverages and no power lines.

So on June 3rd he flew over and we headed to Meningie for an overnight stay. After checking into the Lake Albert Caravan Park cabin we headed out to our potential DXpedition site at Parnka Point. This baron place had room for 100m wires over the sand to Africa (even more with the tide out) and when it comes to the Middle East and Asia/Europe the wires can stretch out to 500m or more.

Craig Edwards, looks out over to Europe

After we gave the site the big thumbs up we headed back to the cabin and figured we may as well set the Icom R75's up with a EWE to Asia just for interest. By now it was 6pm, the antenna worked OK and we took a 2-0 vote to hit the Meningie Hotel for Bundy Rum, Coopers Pale Ale, a roaring wood fire and the Coorong Fisherman's Basket for dinner. A dozen cordials later we managed to stagger our way back to the cabin in the dark without falling over the antenna to do a little Asian listening before a 4am wake up call to check out pre-dawn offerings. Despite our ale-induced hangovers, we managed to wake up and hear some interesting catches. Dave managed to master the art of listening for 15 minutes then crawling back into bed for 10 minutes to reflect on this logging. This practice was continued for an hour or two until his body decided to finally wake up!

The lads having a quiet drink at the dials before having a serious drink at the pub.

Later after an interesting morning's listening we pondered the Coorong over a couple of meat pies for breakfast from the Meningie bakery. We figured if we could get Kenya 1386 and Djibouti 1539 (along with the powerhouse Botswana 909 and Sao Tome 1530) this morning on a little EWE at a noisy caravan park cabin, then surely a beverage in a tent in the middle of nowhere should produce some exciting African action next month at our July DXpedition. We know that European DX is possible from the Coorong from previous trips in the early 1990's, so for July it's just going to be a mix of good luck and good propagation. Only time will tell. So the trail that follows reflects a mere entrée to the July DXpedition which will be the big meal.

TRAIL

Meningie Hotel - Our daytime DXpedition retreat

Icom R75 (off 12V DC), pre-amp and EWE

Craig Edwards DXing on April 16th and April 30th

Dave Onley and Craig Edwards DXing on June 3rd

549 1115 CNR Fujian, China. Good in CC with radio musical and FA talk. June 3

621 1136 DXDC Davao City, Philippines. Fair mixing with 3RN with RMN IDs. June 3

630 2116 RRI Makassar, Sulawesi. Poor under 4QN as the band was just about dead after sunrise, noted with male talks in Indo // 4750 April 16

666 2045 DZRH Metro Manila, Philippines. Fair over the mush with Tagalog news & weather then canned DZRH IDs April 16

765 2035 CNR Fujian, China. Fair for only a couple of minutes with typical CNR musical show, noted during a period of dead air after the news on 5CC April 16

774 2030 RRI Fak Fak, Irian Jaya. Nice signal here with ID and then into music program, easy catch despite big 50kW 3LO powerhouse also on 774 April 16

855 2033 DXZH Zamboanga City, Philippines. Fair signal mixed with Aussies with DZRH canned IDs and relaying overnight DZRH network. June 3

909 1233 CNR Fujian, China. Chinese commentary // to SW and in the mix with RRI Sorong and unid Philippines. June 3

Craig Edwards - Serious DXer - logging Djibouti 1539 kHz

909 2015 DYLA Cebu City, Philippines. Good signal in Tagalog with "DYLA Super" IDs mixing in and out with RRI Sorong. June 3

909 1141 RRI Sorong, Irian Jaya. Good here in the clear with fairly subdued Indo talks and easy listening music show April 16

909 2017 VOA, Sebele Pikwe, Botswana. Poor with VOA Africa pgm in EE with surprising no sign of RRI Sorong April 16

954 1132 DZEM Bulacan, Philippines. Fair at times but only noticed during talkback bits on 2UE, usual Tagalog religious program April 16

999 1230 DYSS Cebu City, Philipines. Good with lots of IDs and news items. June 3

1035 2003 CNR1, China. Fair and in the clear with Chinese musical // 6030 April 30

1053 1223 JOAR Nagoya, Japan. Fair strength mixing with 2CA, non-stop MA & FA Japanese talks. June 3

Dave Onley - still requiring sunglasses at 530am while trying to log VOA Botswana, RRI Sorong and DYLA Philippines on 909 kHz

1053 2006 RRI Jayapura, Indonesia. Poor in the mix with 2CA with male talks in Indonesian and then local ID. June 3

1089 1215 CNR Fujian, China. Fair here in Chinese with typical musical. June 3

1107 1104 JOCF Kagoshima, Japan. Good mixing with 2EA, JJ female talks over another unid, possibly RRI. June 3

1143 1209 BEL3 Penghu, Taiwan. Fair mixing with the Aussies with Taiwan Area Fishery weather reports. June 3

1169 1933 IRIB Sarasary, Iran. This one still here off-channel with male talks in presumed Farsi April 16

1170 2013 DXMR Zamboanga, Philippines. Good here with news items and dramatic music between each piece April 30

1179 1156 JOOR Osaka, Japan. Fair mixing with 3RPH, animated JJ talks between MA & FA then mixing with unid CC station. June 3

1215 1110 DYRF Cebu City, Philippines. Poor here with religious programming in Tagalog under 4HI April 16

1233 1948 TWR Cape Greco, Cyprus. Nice signal here in Arabic well over 2NC. Noted at 2125 with possible Radio Canada International ID (but didn't have tape running) in Arabic then into male commentary April 30

1251 1205 Voice of Russia, Primorskiy, Russia. Good under 2DU with news items in Chinese. June 3

1260 1100 DZEL Lucena City, Philippines. Poor under 3SR with Eagle Broadcasting Corporation ID & DZEL canned IDs April 16

1260 2043 DXRF Davao City, Philippines. Fair here on a nice peak over mush of 3SR, 6KA and Sawa. News items and DZRH canned IDs so obviously relaying DZRH 666 overnight April 30

1260 2001 Radio Sawa, Dodecanese Islands. Good strength but big interference from 3SR, noted with news service in Arabic April 16

1287 1850 JOHR Sapporo, Japan. Fair in Japanese with pop music show. June 3

1287 2040 DXRC Zamboanga City, Philippines. Fair with series of Super Radyo IDs April 30

1296 1040 DXAB Davao City, Philippines. Good heard with program from the Vatican about Pope John Paul II in Tagalog April 16

1323 1858 BBC Zyyi, Cyprus. Poor here with interval signal & BBC World Service news, heard under SEN Adelaide. Fortunately SEN was a wobbly signal and wouldn't surprise me if they are operating well under 2kW. April 16

1359 1033 Family Radio, Taiwan. Good hear in Indo with sermon over 4WK April 16

1359 2050 CNR, China. Fair in Chinese // 1035 mixing with Family Radio Taiwan in English April 30

1386 1358 NHK2 Network, Japan. Fair here over another unid Asian, maybe HLAM. English language lessons then into NHK ID and English news April 16

1386 1150 HLAM Mokpo, South Korea. Fair signal in KK mixing with Radio Tarana but didn't last long due to 5AA splatter. June 3

1386 1830 KBC Maralal, Kenya. Fair signal in the clear except for occasional HLAM appearances. FA in English with "KBC" IDs and closing credit to education like program then into EE pop music. June 3

1404 1141 JOQL or JOVR Japan. No ID but one of these two outlets, fair with brief discussions in JJ followed by pop music mixing with 2PK. June 3

1413 2005 BBC Masirah Island, Oman. Poor here with BBC World Service news noted in a slight delay to 2EA also covering BBC WS. April 30

1449 1924 IRIB Bandar-e-Torkamen, Iran. Poor signal with presumed Farsi chants under 2MG April 16

1512 2055 DYAB Cebu City, Philippines. Good signal with IDs every few seconds, more IDs than program content - wish more stations did this!!! April 30

1530 1911 VOA, Pinheira, Sao Tome & Principe. Poor in French here mixing with 2VM April 16

1539 1845 Radiodiffusion Vision Djibouti, Djibouti. Great surprise to hear this in presumed Afar language with sensational exotic music. Took a wild guess and checked 4780 to find this in // but 1539 was stronger - amazing!!! Heard well throughout the morning, including commentaries at 1915, thank goodness 5TAB 1539 is not 24 hours yet April 16

1557 1123 Family Radio Kouhu, Taiwan. Strong here in presumed Taiwanese well over co-channel Aussies. June 3

1566 2112 AIR Nagpur, India. Good here with typical Indian music show // 9425 April 16

1575 1830 Radio Farda, Al-Dhabbaya, United Arab Emirates. Nice signal in presumed Farsi with IDs and then into funky music well over 2RF. April 30

1593 1957 CNR1 China. Big signal here with interval signal then into ID & male talks in Chinese April 30

Published on July 1, 2005