Pages

Wednesday 9 January 2013

Medium Wave DX: 09-01-13: WEST COAST!

1060 0308 CAN CKMX Calgary AB.  Classic Country ID squeezed out of the splatter at
                   03:08:48  6919 km

1140 0336 CAN CHRB High River AB.  Religion over the half hour. Faded down on all toh's.
                   Has to be CHRB. No CBC News jingle on the hour from this on so definitely
                   not CBI. Good peaks!  6915 km

 770 0338 CAN CHQR Calgary AB.  Very difficult in splatter. Finally heard the call letters
                   at exactly 03:48:51. At 03:30 I heard another partial ID ... Calgary's
                   ... good evening I'm (muffled name) on ..QR. Really struggled with this
                   but conditions fit  6934 km

1470 0400 CAN CJVB Vancouver BC. Time pips, ID and Chinese music. Weak to fair signal but
                   muffled and splattered  7453 km

1070 0406 USA KNX  Los Angeles CA. Presumed. Rolling news. Mentions of Southern
                   California and CBS news on the hour but without the familiar CBS
                   News jingle, which came around 15 seconds past the hour, as per web stream.
                   "Ten Seventy Newsradio" heard a couple of times - very weak, KNX muffled.
                   Has to be KNX.  8680 km

1000 0700 USA KOMO Seattle WA. Presumed. Frequent mentions of Newsradio, first noticed at
                   0400. Possible Komo Newsradio One Thousand ID at 04:00. Likely KOMO
                   (WMVP is ESPN)  7592 km


It was a gamble which paid off. I have had my suspicions that my east coast location ought to be good for high latitude DX to North America. The eastern seaboard of North America, on the other hand, is more of a challenge due to being on the 'wrong coast' here for transatlantic reception. Reception here two years ago suggested that my sea path to the north, up over the north pole and Greenland, ought to provide me with reasonable reception of west coast North America should conditions allow. Reception today confirmed that once again, though I still have trouble shifting that extra European splatter which proliferates here.

At last! After hearing precious little from the east coast on my northerly flag, the band opened up to the west coast and Canadian Prairies between 03:30 and 07:00 this morning. Due to the severe splatter I have to accept some of the loggings as "presumed", but conditions were strongly favouring the west coast with nothing at all getting through from the regular east coasters.

I have a few recordings of the action though I recommend the use of headphones as some of the signals were weak and there is the usual onslaught of Eurosplatter to contend with.

Firstly this is 1140 CHRB. No IDs here but listen to the strength on peak:
1140 CHRB High River AL 0336 09-01-13

1070 KNX is a little more difficult. Listen for mentions of Southern California and references to CBS News in the following:
1070 KNX Los Angeles CA 0400 09-01-13
1070 KNX Los Angeles CA 0406 09-01-13
1070 KNX Los Angeles CA 0408 09-01-13

1060 CKMX was easy. Of course the signal usually fades down to coincide with an ID, but this one wasn't too bad:
1060 CKMX Calgary AB 0308 09-01-13

1470 CJVB was a half-decent signal but was splattered to pieces on the hour. The time pips are clear, but the ID is buried. Note the Chinese music afterwards.
1470 CJVB Vancouver BC 0400 09-01-13

All times as per loggings above.

Good DX!

John, Skegness, Lincolnshire (JO03dd) 1m ASL

Receiver: Perseus SDR,
Antenna: Flag at approx. 330 degrees
Software: Perseus v4.0c, MESTOR  

No comments:

Post a Comment