my trip to Ban Dung

[saint]

DJ Ronnie....Live and Direct every evening from 7pm..Comin in your ear....on 105.5.

I don't like the sound of that, BM.

and we all believe you westie . but surely sadie was a little aroused at the prospect

[dxc_chappie]

Well VOA was and has always been nothing but a crackle and a fart. Radio Australia out of Darwin was a very much stronger signal till they closed in 2003. I'm less than 20 km from that facility and as such should be blown out of my living room with the signal strength. The jury is still out!

Yes, I concur with that. I used to bring a shortwave radio out with me a few years ago and was always surprised at how weak the VOA signal was. In fact, the BBC was stronger depending on frequency and time of day. Moving on, you'd have thought the US personnel at the VOA station would have sited their accommodation at Ban Dung not Udon, it's a bit of a drive at the end of a shift.

If the antennas were pointing into your living room you would be blasted with 7 x 750kw, but the anttenas - which are directional - point into China, Middle East and Russia. You should not expect to receive anything other than spurious radiation if you live that close as you're outside of the radiation beam. The BBC would be stronger as you're within its radiation beam, which is probably being transmitted from Cyprus or Singapore.

There's only two US staff there, they rest are Thai. The drive back to Udon isn't too bad - I did it daily when I commissioned the transmitters in 1993.