Makassar, Sulawesi to Macassar, Cape

It's autumn and the sea-swells are building as the north-westers start to come in. Yesterday had the biggest waves at Muizenberg I've seen this year. The wind brought the rain too and the sea was a glassy silver-grey. I got right out to the back and waited for the big sets. Being early it wasn't too crowded. When I arrived at the beach I signalled my wife in our house in Simonstown across the bay (6 miles). She checked though our new telescope to see if I was visible and there I was! So cool. The previous evening I heard Radio Republik Indonesia, Makassar, on the island of Sulawesi on 4750 kHz. The signal was coming in beautifully just before my local sunset, playing gentle pop songs. The station signed off at 1600z, or midnight in Makassar. Meanwhile from our house I could see the beach of Macassar across False Bay, not far from where I surf. It is so named because of the nearby Kramat or holy grave of Sheik Yusuf, an exiled nobleman of Makassar in the former Dutch East Indies who died at the Cape in 1699. The QSL is from another station on Sulawesi, RRI Manado, heard on a DXpedition to Morgan Bay, South Africa in 1990. You'll need to get your Bahasa Indonesia dictionary out to understand it. This is one of a number of RRI stations I've been so pleased to QSL over the years. Also, here is a link to an article I wrote recently about Indonesia's economy: http://www.businessday.co.za/Articles/Content.aspx?id=136432

Poland still smouldering about Smolensk

Last week Poland marked the anniversary of the Smolensk air disaster when 96 people including President Lech Kaczynski perished. The disaster produced a brief period of political unity in Poland but this has disintegrated into acrimony, with Kaczynski's brother accusing the opposition-led government of Donald Tusk of capitulation to the Russians concerning the cause of the crash. The Russians say the the Polish aircrew must take all the blame, accepting no responsibility on its side for air traffic control problems at the airport. Poland's model economy has also had a bit of a shock when it was revealed the imports of mainly second-hand cars from Germany have been hugely under-recorded meaning that its current account deficit is far larger than reported. The QSL is from Warsaw 1 on long-wave, heard in London in 2004. ;- ptgt@ ' '

Governor Moonbeam can't do The Terminator

Like a number of American states California has a big budget deficit, a record $26bn at last count. Riding to the rescue from over the hill or so voters thought came Governor Moonbeam, Jerry Brown, who last governed the Sunshine State 28 years ago. It turns out it could be a mission too far and he may in fact be over the hill but not able to ride to the rescue. In the meantime, predecessor Arnold Schwarzenegger is on a jolly European tour. Jerry Brown was a product of the 1970s. He dated rocker Linda Rondstadt and once suggested that California launch its own satellite. It was a time when Mike Royko called the state the world's largest outdoor mental asylum. The credit crunch has dealt harshly with California and Brown's attempts to move the state forward on a new budget plan have failed in the face of Republican opposition, unlike New York and Illinois. Brown seems more intent on saving the state's bloated bureaucracy than its education system. Worst case if no agreement is forthcoming will be a reversion to the 2009 situation where California humiliatingly had to issue IOUs in the place of cash in order to pay its bills. The picture is from a QSL from KNX Newsradio Los Angeles, CA on 1070 kHz, heard in 1987.

Morales no longer mas populares

Bolivia's Evo Morales was re-elected in 2009 with a majority of over 60%. His policy of directing increased oil and gas industry taxes to the poor has gained him great popularity. But populism can only work for a while and some of the screws are now coming loose. A few months back he removed subsidies on local fuel products causing prices to rise by over 70%. This didn't go down very well and he backed off. But price rises in food and bus fares have also caused discontent. The country is now running into a budget deficit and inflation is picking up. Price controls and curbs on farm imports have backfired and state control of the energy industry has deterred investment by local and foreign companies. Morales is a man of the people and to this day remains general secretary of a union of coca farmers. His stance on coca farming has brought him into conflict with the US which has tried to eliminate the crop in Bolivia. He has a point - you can't blame Bolivian farmers for the US's drug problems. But as president, Morales, having emerged as a populist, is also at the mercy of the people and has a tricky path to walk, with his popularity ratings in the cities down to just 32%. The QSL is my first from Bolivia - Radio Nueva America in La Paz. At the time (1987) my mother was visiting La Paz on holiday and I asked her to deliver my reception report by hand. It worked!

Blog takes a break, earth gets broken

You go away for a few weeks and look what happens. Libya explodes and Japan is devastated. All I did was travel around a few quiet places in Europe, seeing clients while in the meantime hell breaks loose. Try coming up with an investment strategy when the oil price goes ballistic and a tidal wave sets off a potential nuclear meltdown. It was good to get back to sunny Cape Town: late summer, with a return of the north-westerly wind. I went out early yesterday morning into perfect conditions. The full 'perigee' moon had tracked across the southern sky closer and bigger than for 18 years and not to be so close again for another 18. The tide was huge. Out back a number of paddle boarders had grouped in my favourite spot. On one wave one of these guys was up before me and tracked left instead of right (which was the way the wave was set to break). I stayed up and let him roll under my nose, checking slightly. Then with a quick pull on the paddle I picked up momentum again and turned out to the right, keeping the swell alive. I was so chuffed! The picture is of Ono-no Komachi, a famous Japanese poet of the 9th century. She is a symbol of feminine beauty in Japan. It came with a QSL from JOUB Akita heard on 774 kHz when I was on a trip to Seoul. Akita is situated on the north-west side of Honshu Island, 200km from Sendai. It experienced aftershocks of more than 6 on the Richter scale.

Gaddafi no gadfly and other African sit-tights

President Muammar Al-Gaddafi of Libya led a coup by young army officers in 1969. He deposed King Idris I, abolished the monarchy and established the Libyan Arab Republic. He was only 27 at the time. That's one of the reasons he's been able to build up such a long track record of dictatorship, coming up for 42 years. He's right up near the top of the list of longest ruling non-royal leaders. If he hangs on for a few more days he will overtake Omar Bongo of Gabon for fourth place on the list. Ahead of him are Fidel Castro of Cuba and and Kim Il-Sung of North Korea. The way things are going, he's not going to overtake those two as both have several years on him still. There are quite a few sit-tights left in Africa. Down here in the southern cone of Africa we have Robert Mugabe, holding on after 30 years of disastrous rule. Also next door is King Mswati III of Swaziland who became Crown Prince of Swaziland in September 1983 and was crowned as King on April 25, 1986 when 18 years old. He remains Africa’s last absolute monarch with the power to choose a prime minister and other governmental and traditional positions. The QSL is from Radio Jamahiriya in Libya, heard in London in 1999. This was one of those QSLs where many reports were ignored, then out of the blue this smart card arrived.

Oil on top of corn in Mexico

Taco? Enchilada? Just the thing for that al fresco summer lunch by the pool. Easy to prepare: just wrap some tasty goodies up in a tortilla, add chilli and you’re done. Mexicans have done this for hundreds of years and exported the delicious cuisine to the world. This year it may not be so easy. The corn price, in Mexican pesos, has doubled over the past six months and is back to the peaks of the boom before Lehman Brothers collapsed in 2008. Although population growth has slowed sharply, at over 110m (second only to Brazil in Latin America) there are still lots of Mexican mouths to feed. White corn is the base for tortillas and corn imports have doubled over the past decade to around 8mt per annum, leaving Mexico vulnerable to the vagaries of the world price. Mexico is also a big producer of oil but supply has declined from 3.4mbpd to 2.8mbpd over the past six years. It is also consuming increasing amounts of its own oil, now at 70% of output, and at the current rate will cease to be an exporter in this decade. Mexico has hamstrung itself by prohibiting foreign participation in oil exploration with the state-owned oil company, Pemex. Legislation has recently changed here but it will be many years before new production comes on stream from what is hoped are significant potential finds offshore. The BP disaster in the Gulf of Mexico is also likely to raise the cost of development. (See link to this on http://www.businessday.co.za/Articles/Content.aspx?id=133567). The QSL is from XERMX Radio Mexico International heard on shortwave (9705kHz in the 31 mb) in London in 1999. I also have a few Mexican AM station QSLs which I'll post in due course.