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Sunday, 6 October 2013

Skegness Log: 06-10-13 (MW)

06-10-13
 981 1700 CHN CNR1, Many sites. At least three lots of Chinese time pips and Chinese YL
1098 1700 KOR HLCJ KBS 1, Jinju (gsb) Presumed with familiar time signal  8978 km
1467 1700 KGZ TWR Asia, Krasnaya Rechka (cuy) Interval signal and ID  5409 km
1521 1700 CHN China Radio Int., Ürümqi/Hutubi-SARFT654 (XJ) ID on the hour  6041 km
Heard on my 1700 SDR file on 06-10-13:

 720 Chinese pips
 738 Chinese pips - x2?
 891 Chinese Pips
 918 Chinese pips
 936 Chinese pips
 981 At least three Chinese pips here, Chinese music, Chinese OM
1044 Chinese pips
1134 Oriental?
1170 Oriental?
1287 Oriental music?
1359 Chinese pips
1377 Chinese pips
1413 Chinese pips x2?
1467 TWR Kyrgyzstan xd South Korea?
1494 Chinese pips x2 or maybe 3, plus Chinese music
1539 Chinese pips
1593 Chinese pips

Good DX!

John, Skegness, Lincolnshire (JO03dd) 1m ASL
Blog: http://skegnessdx.blogspot.com

Receiver: Perseus SDR
Antenna:  3m x 7m flag at 350 degrees
Software: Perseus v4.1a; HDSDR v2.63; Mestor  

Friday, 4 October 2013

HS Publications Band 2/UHF Antenna Phaser

My HS Publications antenna phasing device arrived a few days ago and I eagerly gave it a try to see what I could remove from the FM broadcast band. I will document the results, step by step below, in order to show the trial and error aspects when using such a device as the success of the ability to null an unwanted signal is based entirely on getting your antennas in just the right place, as opposed to the ability of the phasing it itself, which is a resonant 'parallel tuned rejector' circuit. In other words, using the wrong antennas, or having the antennas in the wrong place, will not allow you to create the nulls where you want them. It may be necessary to play with a few antenna types and try them in various locations in order to achieve the desired results.

In my case I have a rooftop antenna for the DX, a Korner 9.2, which picks unfortunately also receives varying degrees of electrical noise from neighbouring properties. To bring about a successful removal of this noise, I need a suitably placed second antenna, a 'noise' antenna which, ideally, only receives that noise and not the signal I want to hear. You then mix together the signals from both antennas in order to cancel the noise, leaving the wanted signal. 

The phaser consists of two controls, one to control the signal amplitude and the other to effect a 180 degree phase shift of the unwanted signal. The 'noise' antenna is fed into this and then out to a Triax signal splitter where the signal is mixed with the signal from the DX antenna. 

So, in my case, the 9.2 on the roof receives the DX signal but also receives some noise. The 'noise' antenna in the loft receives the noise and, ideally, no DX. Mix the two together and the noise, common to both antenas, is cancelled out, leaving the DX, which is only present on the 9.2. That's the theory. The practice may be different, but I must stress this will be entirely down to the correct placement of the 'noise' antenna. Be prepared for a fair bit of experimentation with the antennas, but the results will hopefully be worth it. 

So, beginning the trials: I had just hooked up the phaser and fed in a 10m length of coax which ran into the loft and had no antenna connected at this point. This is a useful test as it will only receive the strongest of local signals, in my case, Belmont. I fed this into the splitter with the 9.2 and then into my Sony XDR-F1HD. I found I was immediately able to completely remove ALL local Belmont frequencies with the greatest of ease. This did not remove weaker signals because the coax is barely capable of receiving anything and only 'saw' a very weak Belmont and nothing else. Since Belmont was common to both antennas it was possible to remove it completely. I was pointing south-east in this instance:

https://app.box.com/s/tfew0t7k5lcsqbk95igg

Next I installed a horizontal Triax FM5, placing it it in the middle of the loft one metre above the floor. Unfortunately this didn't receive much of the offending electrical noise so I didn't expect any real nulling of that noise, which was exactly as it turned out. The null was certainly there but it was minimal and there was a general nulling of everything as the FM5 was picking everything up reasonably well. It just wasn't receiving enough noise. 

I tried boosting the noise antenna with a Fringe Electronics 22dB pre-amp. This actually induced more noise, but I was still able to phase out a good deal of 'everything' I was hearing! Back to that board with the drawing on it. 

There was no an ever-increasing quantity of coax patch leads on my desk. These link the splitter to the phaser, then to the pre-amp, the psu for the pre-amp and ultimately the antenna. There is lots of coaxial spaghetti across my table and I can barely see my computer screen. Did I also mention the large number of Belling Lee / F Plug apapters and connectors? It's not good to have all these extra cables inline as, despite them being short, could still receive stray signal and potentially ruin the effects of the phasing so I have tried to keep the patch leads as short as possible, the longest being about 40cm although, typically, they are half that. I will shorten them more in due course.

The above trials were done with the 9.2 antenna pointing south-east and with the Triax FM5 noise antenna in the loft pointing anywhere between north-east and south-east, right where the noise is. Even so, the fact exists that the FM5 is not receiving enough noise and probably too much 'wanted' signal, hence the above results.

The final trial using the FM5 in the loft as the noise antenna involved me rotating it 180 degrees to so it pointed directly at Belmont. Once again, the phaser still did a fair job at nulling Belmont but this time did not affect any of my wanted continental signals to the south-east, so neighbouring Lille 88.7 and Dudelange 88.9 remained untouched. This was done without the pre-amp inline, so I repeated the nulling with the pre-amp and found the null was still present, perhaps slightly deeper, but was more 'precise' and fiddly to locate with the phaser controls.

It was also possible to rotate the FM5 and the 9.2 in order to deepen the nulls even more. With this test I was able to reduce local Belmont from three bars to a very noisy zero, leaving it open for potential DX. Lille 88.7 and Dudelange 88.9 remained unaffected. I tied the same with Belmont 93.1 and obtained the same results. 93.1 seems to be a little stronger that the other Belmont outlets, or at least it has always been the most difficult frequency to null or for the DX to breach. It is so refreshing to lift out this transmitter and leave 93.0 and 93.2 splatter free.

So far, the most successful nulling of Belmont was brought about when I only used the 10m coax feed as my noise antenna. The results with the Triax FM5 were different so I wondered if I might get better results if I used a simpler noise system. Here is a recording of Belmont being lifted out by a good 95% to leave a weak Langenberg mixing in. First you will hear the null being induced, then you will hear Langenberg struggling to compete, then I play a bit of WDR5's web stream to confirm to myself that it was genuinely Langenberg that I was receiving. Towards the end of the recording you will hear quick snippets of me tuning down to Lille on 88.7 and Dudelange on 88.9 to ensure I hadn't lifted them out too. This is another big step forward.

https://app.box.com/s/voezgqs7yk8btqloe582

Moving ahead another day ... it's now Sunday the 6th and I have been using only the driven element of the FM5 on a rotator in the loft. The phasing with this is pants. I decided to just DX with the 9.2 barefoot and immediately noticed an increase in noise. Hmm. Now then, does the simple fact of having the noise antenna connected in with the 9.2 reduce the noise? It seems it does! More experiments show that there is no 'obvious' loss of signal when the loft antenna and phaser are inline. But this actually cleans up some of the general noise and not to the detriment of the wanted signal. Very interesting indeed! Conditions are quite flat today, if not slightly less than flat, and I am hearing more continentals with these inline than without, so there is definitely a null on the general noise which is helping. The only concern is that the extra bits and pieces that are connected don't spoil the beam of the 9.2. It doesn't seem to be doing. Also, I no longer hear the rise in noise levels when I swing the 9.2 round from south to east. This is a big improvement.

As I understand it, there is supposed to be a 3dB loss when inserting the Triax signal splitter. In reality, I don't notice anything drastic, if at all, but I could always insert the Fringe pre-amp between the splitter and the XDR in order to boost any losses. It doesn't seem necessary though. This is a 'before and after' comparison with the phaser tuned in and tuned out again. I do this quite rapidly so hopefully you will hear the results easily. You can hear the noise levels lift up and out while I am tuned to a very weak BBC Radio 2 from Manningtree on 88.1.

https://app.box.com/s/dsc3zl8hyrwzck784pi1

It's not a great example as the noise antenna wasn't picking up much noise, but it was one of the first tests I did a couple of days ago and you might just appreciate how a very weak tropo signal could be buried in that little bit of noise but would otherwise get through. You can hear how the speech gets buried under that noise.

https://app.box.com/s/dsc3zl8hyrwzck784pi1

Ideally, I need that noise antenna in a better position, but with the noise now much quieter I think I would need another external 9.2 in order to hear it.

One really useful side-effect of the phaser is the ability to null the general background FM white noise. A small loss of treble can occur on the wanted signal sometimes, but this can be really useful for very weak, down-in-the-noise tropospheric DX.

So far, I am finding the phaser to be a VERY useful device for removing unwanted broadcasts as opposed to the ability to reduce the noise. It would therefore be very useful for me to leave a rotatable, directional aerial, such as a  loft-mounted FM5 so I can remove unwanted stations. A third aerial, designed to receive the noise, would still be very useful. I am seeing great potential in this device for DXers who live in areas where the FM bands are congested.

I will add more recordings below as I continue to experiment with this device. I can see there will be some very good results once the noise antenna is more suitably positioned. 

Thursday, 3 October 2013

Skegness Log: 03-10-13 (FM)

Band 2 Tropospheric:
 99.0 0813  D  hr1, Hoher Meißner (hes) Scatter. OM talk, ID and 70s song  684km
 94.6 0814  D  MDR 1 Radio Sachsen-Anhalt, Brocken (san) Scatter. YL talking, as web  713km
 93.8 0815  D  bremen eins, Bremen-Walle (bre) Scatter. Pop song, as web  565km
 93.2 0816  D  WDR 2, Teutoburger Wald/Bielstein (nrw) Scatter. Pops, as web. Mixing Bruxelles  591km
 92.0 0818  D  WDR 5, Münster/Baumberg (nrw) Scatter. OM  YL, as 90.6  494km
 97.4 0821  D  Deutschlandradio Kultur, Brocken (san) Scatter. OM talk, as web. Mixing Linz  713km
 97.4 0824  D  SWR4 Rheinland-Pfalz, Linz/Ginsterhahn (rlp) Scatter. 70s song then OM, as web  560km
100.0 0827  D  WDR 4, Münster/Baumberg (nrw) Scatter. Abba song, as web  494km
100.8 0828  D  WDR 2, Aachen/Stolberg (nrw) Scatter. Adeles Deep song  484km
101.0 0829  D  WDR 2, Bärbelkreuz (Eifel) (nrw) Scatter. Adele, as 100.8  520km
103.1 0831  D  Radio ffn, Aurich (nds) Scatter. German OM promo, as web  479km
102.8 0832  D  Deutschlandfunk (DLF), Wesel-Büderich (nrw) Scatter. String concerto, as web  456km
103.3 0834  D  Funkhaus Europa, Langenberg/Hordtberg (nrw) Scatter. Alex Barck track, as web  505km
103.8 0834  D  WDR 4, Nordhelle (nrw) Scatter. Dire Straits song, as web  554km
104.0 0835  D  big fm (Rheinland-Pfalz), Koblenz/Kühkopf (rlp) Scatter. Weather report and ID  590km
105.6 0837  D  SWR4 Rheinland-Pfalz, Donnersberg (rlp) Scatter. YL song, as web  657km
105.7 0837  D  Antenne Niedersachsen, Steinkimmen (nds) Scatter. Chumbawamba song, as web  543km
105.9 0840  D  Hit Radio FFH, Großer Feldberg (Taunus)/hr (hes) Scatter. No Angels, as web  648km
106.3 0841  D  SWR4 Rheinland-Pfalz, Bad Marienberg (rlp) Scatter. German OM talk, as web  592km
107.2 0842  D  WDR Eins Live, Ederkopf (nrw) Scatter. Pink song, as 106.7  593km
107.0 0843  D  WDR Eins Live, Olsberg (nrw) Scatter. Pink, then Blur song, as 106.7  592km


Quieter noise levels today but scatter conditions weren't actually that great. Signals were mostly very weak but were able to puncture any remaining mushiness.

The irony is that my quieter band has coincided nicely with the arrival of my antenna/noise phasing device. It's early days but initial experiments with this unit have been promising and I will report back with any results soon.

Signal / noise cancellation has been pretty good so far, but my 'noise antenna', a Triax FM5 in the loft, is not ideally situated since it isn't receiving enough of the noise itself, but its ability to take out Belmont has astounded me with a 100% removal of all Belmont's frequencies. Much more playing around is necessary but I am confident that, with careful positioning of the noise antenna and sufficient noise signal, this will have been a worthwhile investment and I would recommend that every FM DXer should have one.

Good DX!

John, Skegness, Lincolnshire (JO03dd) 1.7m (5'9") ASL.
Website: skegnessdx.blogspot.co.uk

Personal All Time VHF Logbooks: https://sites.google.com/site/skegnessdx/vhf-band-2-logs
VHF Band 2 DX Recordings: https://sites.google.com/site/skegnessdx/skegness-vhf-band-2-fm-dx-recordings

Receivers:
Sony XDR-F1HD (tropospheric)
Kenwood KT6040 (sporadic E & meteor scatter)
Icom IC7000 (OIRT)
Conrad RDS Manager

Aerials:
Rooftop Körner 9.2, 8m AGL www.box.com/s/h1a5z3bu94vppln3zsfn
Yaesu G-5500 azimuthal/elevation rotator

Software:
RDS Spy v1.00r2 www.rdsspy.com

Skegness Log: 03-10-13 (MW)

1320 0544 USA WLQY Hollywood FL. Presumed with Creole-sounding language. Reaching good levels at this time but
              faded well before the hour.   7110 km
1570 0545 PRU OCU4J Radio Bethel, Lima (lim) Clear "Bethel" ID at 05:45:49. Slow songs. Regular YL vocal drop-ins.
              Weak but clear and mixing with a weaker second Spanish station.      10255 km


A very frustrating morning where conditions seemed very good to areas like Peru, Florida and the Caribbean, but it was a morning where so many stations got away.

Good DX!

John, Skegness, Lincolnshire (JO03dd) 1m ASL
Blog: http://skegnessdx.blogspot.com

Receiver: Perseus SDR
Antenna:  3m x 7m flag at 350 degrees
Software: Perseus v4.1a; HDSDR v2.63; Mestor    

Wednesday, 2 October 2013

Skegness Log: 02-10-13 (MW)

1670 0200 CAN CJEU Gatineau QC. No ID, but presumed with children's nursery rhymes  5309 km
 920 0300 USA WHJJ Providence RI. ID - The stories Rhode Island are talking about -
              Newstalk Nine Twenty, WHJJ Providence  5296 km **
1470 0300 USA WLAM Lewiston ME. Mentioning Lewiston Auburn. WCSH ... a ?? station (relay of
              TV channel) 5069 km **
1500 0400 PRU OBX4I Radio Santa Rosa, Lima/San Miguel (lim) Clear ID, Radio Santa Rosa,
              la primera emissora, .... etc.   10258 km


** Personal Skegness 'First'

The geomagnetic forecast gave unsettled conditions overnight. Instead, we had a much bigger disturbance which resulted in a near total wipe-out of North American activity from around 0400. There were many Spanish stations on the band at this time but still plenty of North Americans at 0300. Conditions were interesting with one or two less common stations, as can often be the case at the point when conditions blow-out.

Listening tonight, however, the band seems to be almost devoid of any kind of transatlantic activity with only a few very weak carriers visible.

Wishing the band a speedy recovery. Get well soon! :O)A

Recordings:
920 WHJJ Providence RI
1500 OBX41 Radio Santa Rosa, Lima, Peru

Good DX!

John, Skegness, Lincolnshire (JO03dd) 1m ASL
Blog: http://skegnessdx.blogspot.com

Receiver: Perseus SDR
Antenna:  3m x 7m flag at 350 degrees
Software: Perseus v4.1a; HDSDR v2.63; Mestor

Tuesday, 1 October 2013

Skegness Log: 01-10-13 (MW)

1440 0200 USA WHKZ, Warren OH. Mentioning SRN and "The Word" ID. Mixing sports station and Saudi Arabia  5939 km

Just the one today.

Good DX!

John, Skegness, Lincolnshire (JO03dd) 1m ASL
Blog: http://skegnessdx.blogspot.com

Receiver: Perseus SDR
Antenna:  3m x 7m flag at 350 degrees
Software: Perseus v4.1a; HDSDR v2.63; Mestor

Monday, 30 September 2013

Skegness Log: 30-09-13 (MW)

 570 0500 CUB Radio Reloj, Santa Clara/CTOM1 (vc) Tick, tick, tick, etc.   7387 km
1570 0600 MEX XERF-AM La Poderosa, Ciudad Acuña (coa) Full ID - XERF ... la potencia, ... , etc.   8138 km **
1670 0600 USA WPLA Dry Branch GA. WPLA Dry Branch, Macon ID  6768 km **


** Personal Skegness 'First'

Poor conditions overnight.

Surprised XERF and WPLA don't feature in my Skegness log. For the record, I made the decision to start my log again from scratch when I moved to Skegness as it seems to be very different to my old Nottinghamshire QTH - better for the high latitude path but much worse when signals have to go across land since I am beaming across most of the UK.

Good DX!

John, Skegness, Lincolnshire (JO03dd) 1m ASL
Blog: http://skegnessdx.blogspot.com

Receiver: Perseus SDR
Antenna:  3m x 7m flag at 350 degrees
Software: Perseus v4.1a; HDSDR v2.63; Mestor    

Sunday, 29 September 2013

Skegness Log: 29-09-13 (MW)

1000 0300 USA KOMO Seattle WA.  ABC News on the hour on WMVP fade. Has to be KOMO.
                   Rolling news format.  7591 km

1470 0300 CAN CJVB Vancouver BC.  You're listening to Fairchild Radio, Vancouver's
                   multicultural station. Three pips and YL ID in Chinese   7453 km


After checking conditions at 0500 and 0600 I had almost decided to scrub any earlier top-of-the-hour recordings. 0400 wasn't much better but there were promising signs. I assumed 0300 would be too early for anything out of the ordinary, but how wrong I was, for CJVB's ID was audible with reasonable clarity on 1470 at this time!

Here's a recording of CJVB:
https://app.box.com/s/62cudvxwbuz5tkrjp1r0

KOMO comes in like this. Note the ABC News jingle:
https://app.box.com/s/c38t4fzz0n0a16voez6n

ABC News on 1000 is undoubtedly KOMO, but there were several other interesting stations which did not peak on the hour. A second talk station on 1130 appeared after 0230 but faded out by 0300. I understand KTCN was reported elsewhere in the UK this morning so maybe it was that.

I was also quite interested in the ID on 930, also at 0300: "One Word, One Station" was all I could make out, but I was wondering if this ID pointed to CJCA. It probably wouldn't be CJYQ as their top of the hour is our half past the hour. CFBC were dominant with their country format.

The northerly path is opening up!

Good DX!

John Faulkner, Skegness, Lincolnshire (JO03dd) 1m ASL
Blog: http://skegnessdx.blogspot.com

Receiver: Perseus SDR
Antenna:  3m x 7m flag at 350 degrees
Software: Perseus v4.1a; HDSDR v2.63; Mestor

Saturday, 28 September 2013

Skegness Log: 28-09-13 (MW)

1360 0400 USA WDRC Hartford CT. This is the talk of Hartford, WDRC AM and WDRC FM  5381 km
1580 0600 CAN CKDO Oshawa ON. On 107.7 and 1580, CKDA ID  5612 km   
         

I didn't concentrate much on my overnight recordings as I decided to spend time elsewhere - on the FM broadcast band where there is currently good tropospheric DX activity.

Good DX!

John Faulkner, Skegness, Lincolnshire (JO03dd) 1m ASL
Blog: http://skegnessdx.blogspot.com

Receiver: Perseus SDR
Antenna:  3m x 7m flag at 350 degrees
Software: Perseus v4.1a; HDSDR v2.63; Mestor  

Skegness Log: 28-09-13 (FM)

Band 2 Tropospheric:
105.7 0025 BEL Club FM, Oostkamp (vlg-wvl) Jingle ID and club beats  297km
106.6 0029  F  Radio Campus Lille, Lille/Cité Scientifique (59) CAMPUS__  342km
 87.7 0759  F  France Culture, Strasbourg/TDF Nordheim (67) Vocal ID  709km
 88.0 0759  D  SR 1 Europawelle, Göttelborner Höhe (saa) Full toh ID  629km
 88.9 0804 LUX RTL Radio Lëtzebuerg, Dudelange/Ginsterberg (gld) PS: _RTL.lu_  574km
 90.6 0805  D  SWR3, Saarburg/Geisberg (rlp) Pops, as web  586km
 90.7 0806  D  Bayern 1, Grünten (Allgäu) (bay) Vocal ID  942km
 95.8 0807  D  Bayern 3, Grünten (Allgäu) (bay) Vocal ID and pops  942km
 91.6 0808  D  SWR3, Koblenz/Naßheck (Waldesch) (rlp) Rock song, as web  591km
 92.0 0809  D  SWR2, Donnersberg (rlp) Phone in  657km
 92.1 0811  F  France Inter, Verdun/Septsarges (55) OMs, as web  548km
 93.0 0812  D  SWR2, Haardtkopf (rlp) YL and OM talking, as web  593km
 93.3 0813 LUX RTL Radio, Dudelange/Ginsterberg (gld) ID and OM over music  574km
 93.4 0814  D  Bayern 3, Pfaffenberg (bay) Phone in  713km
 93.8 0815  D  SWR2, Saarburg/Geisberg (rlp) Interview, as web  586km
 94.0 0816  D  SWR2, Koblenz/Naßheck (Waldesch) (rlp) OMs, as web  591km
 94.8 0817  D  SWR3, Linz/Ginsterhahn (rlp) Pops, as web  560km
 95.0 0819  F  France Musique, Strasbourg/TDF Nordheim (67) Opera, as web  709km
 95.5 0821  D  SR 3 Saarlandwelle, Göttelborner Höhe (saa) German song, as web  629km
 97.2 0823  F  France Musique, Hirson/Landouzy-la-Ville (02) Opera, as 95.0  446km
 97.3 0824  F  France Inter, Strasbourg/TDF Nordheim (67) Discussion, as 103.7  709km
 97.4 0824  F  France Musique, Verdun/Septsarges (55) Opera, as others  548km
 98.4 0826  D  SWR3, Hornisgrinde/SWR (bwü) News of gas explosion, ID  748km
 98.3 0827 BEL RTBF Vivacité, Profondeville-Rivière/Sart à Soile (wal-nam) ID. Three bars, squashing 

               Belmont!  441km **
 99.7 0835  F  France Culture, Hirson/Landouzy-la-Ville (02) Old 78, as web  446km
100.4 0838  D  Radio Regenbogen, Hornisgrinde/SWR (bwü) Pops, as web  748km
101.3 0840  F  France Bleu Picardie, Hirson/Landouzy-la-Ville (02) PS: BLEU.PIC  446km
101.7 0841  D  Radio Salü, Saarbrücken/Schoksberg (saa) ID and pops  628km
105.7 0848  D  B5 aktuell, Wendelstein (bay) News, as web  1024km
102.3 0849  D  BR Klassik, Wendelstein (bay) OM and Classical music, as web  1024km
102.8 0850  F  France Bleu Picardie, Sailly-Saillisel (80) French pops, as 101.3  391km **
103.2 0853 BEL NRJ, Léglise/Vlessart (wal-lux) Jingle ID between pops  524km
103.5 0856  D  RPR 1., Ahrweiler/Schöneberg (rlp) ID and ads  554km
104.0 0857  D  big fm (Rheinland-Pfalz), Koblenz/Kühkopf (rlp) Yo rap mutha farmers!  590km
104.9 0858  D  big fm (Rheinland-Pfalz), Ahrweiler/Schöneberg (rlp) POps, as web  554km
105.3 0900  D  B5 aktuell, Kreuzberg (Rhön) (bay) Pips and ID on the hour  733km
105.6 0901 SUI Radio SRF 3, Säntis (ar) YL news, as web (Not Donnersberg)  917km
105.9 0902  F  France Info, Charleville-Mézières/Sury (08) OM news, as 105.2  479km
106.3 0903  F  France Info, Verdun/Septsarges (55) OM news, as 105.9  548km
106.8 0904  F  France Info, Metz/Luttange (57) OM, as others  600km
107.1 0905  D  SWR4 Rheinland-Pfalz, Haardtkopf (rlp) Vocal ID  593km
107.3 0905  D  hr4, Heidelstein (Rhön) [bay] (hes) Jolly schlager!  729km
107.4 0906  D  SWR4 Rheinland-Pfalz, Koblenz/Naßheck (Waldesch) (rlp) More jolly Schlager  591km
107.8 0906 SUI RSI Rete Uno, Säntis (ar) Paul Youngs Common People, as web  917km
107.9 0907  D  BR Klassik, Kreuzberg (Rhön) (bay) Classicao, as web  733km
 99.9 0918 SUI RTS La Première, Säntis (ar) Clarinet version of Girl From Ipanema, as web  917km
 95.4 0921 SUI Radio SRF 2 Kultur, Säntis (ar) YL, as web  917km
 98.7 0927  D  SWR1 Baden-Württemberg, Grünten (Allgäu) [bay] (bwü) OM ID, then Pink Floyds
               "Money", as web  942km
103.0 0928  D  SWR3, Grünten (Allgäu) [bay] (bwü) Adele, as web  942km
107.3 0934  D  SWR4 Baden-Württemberg, Raichberg (bwü) ID and Cher cover  813km
107.9 0936 BEL AFN Benelux-The Eagle, Chièvres/Air Base (wal-hnt) PSAs in US accents. ID  374km
 87.9 0941  F  Virgin Radio, Montreuil/le Bois-de-Sel (62) Jingle ID in pile-up  302km
 90.6 0946  F  Fun Radio, Maubeuge/château d'eau (59) Rap-a-de-doo-dah, as web  406km
 92.1 0955  F  RTL, Cambrai/Mont Blanc (59) ID after ads  384km
 92.2 0958  F  NRJ, Laon/rue Saint-Jean (02) Jingle ID between pops  460km **
105.3 1000  F  France Info, Laon/Château d'eau (02) Presumed site as Laon also in on 92.2  459km **
106.7 1026  F  Fun Radio, Hesdin/le Quesnoy-en-Artois (62) I Have A Dream sample in dance song,
               as web  334km
107.9 1028  F  N'Radio, Soissons/Mont de Belleu (02) N Radio jingle ID between pops. As web  471km **
 91.2 1052  F  Contact, Abbeville/Behen Blockhaus (80) I Have A Dream track, as web  358km
 92.8 1059  F  NRJ, Béthune/Fresnicourt-le-Dolmen (62) French Latino beats and jingle ID  341km
 93.6 1104  F  Rire et Chansons, Laon/rue Saint-Jean (02) Hysterical YL humour, as 93.3  460km **
 98.4 1117  F  RTL, Dieppe/la Côte Enragée (76) Ads and phone in, as web  364km
 98.5 1118  F  Transat FM, Boulogne-sur-Mer/Outreau (62) French song, as web  286km
 99.2 1122  F  Chérie FM, Abbeville/Huchenneville (80) Ads, as web  359km
100.2 1123  F  France Bleu Picardie, Amiens/Dury Towercast (80) V weak. 50s song, as 100.6  390km
100.8 1124  F  Contact, Lens or Valenciennes Dance pop track, as web 
101.6 1128  F  RFM, Cambrai/Mont Blanc (59) Jingle ID and Phil Collins track  384km **
101.7 1129  G  Flight FM, London pirate Yo DJ. D and B **
 97.5 1657  D  SWR3, Bornberg (rlp) POps, as web  640km
 98.5 1659  D  SWR3, Scharteberg (Eifel) (rlp) Pops, as 98.4  550km
 99.8 1700  F  France Inter, Metz/Luttange (57) OM ID  600km
101.4 1705  F  France Bleu Alsace, Strasbourg/TDF Nordheim (67) Westher forecast, as web  709km
100.1 1715  D  RPR 1., Haardtkopf (rlp) German song, as web  593km
107.6 1716  D  big fm (Rheinland-Pfalz), Bornberg (rlp) Pops, as web  640km
107.7 1719 LUX Den Neie Radio (DNR), Blaschette/Kandel (gld) IDs and pops. Scrolling RDS  557km
 90.0 1728  D  SWR3, Haardtkopf (rlp) Pops, mixing BBC R2, as web  593km
105.0 1734  D  Radio 7, Iberger Kugel  (bwü) German pop song, as web  923km
105.7 1803  D  SWR2, Stuttgart/Hoher Bopser (bwü) ID and classical music  790km
104.2 1940  G  BBC Radio Nan Gaidheal, Meldrum (SC-ABS) BBC_Gael  501km
 95.3 1941  G  BBC Radio 4 FM, Meldrum (SC-ABS) As 93.1  501km
 94.3 1942  G  BBC Radio Scotland, Black Hill (SC-NLA) Live concert, as web  405km
 93.8 1943  G  BBC Radio Scotland, Durris (SC-ABS) Live Gaelic band, as 94.3, etc.  461km
 99.0 1944  G  BBC Radio 1, Durris (SC-ABS) As 98.3, etc.  461km
106.8 1944  G  Original 106, Durris (SC-ABS) Jingle ID   461km
 91.6 1945  G  BBC Radio 3, Durris (SC-ABS) Piano piece, as 90.9  461km **
 89.4 1946  G  BBC Radio 2, Durris (SC-ABS) Paul Gambacini  461km **
 88.7 1947  G  BBC Radio 2, Meldrum (SC-ABS) As 88.8  501km **
102.8 1952  G  Star Durham, Burnhope (EN-DUR) Star Radio ID and pops, as 103.2  228km
103.2 1952  G  Star Radio, Darlington (EN-NYK) Star Radio ID and pops  200km
103.7 1953  G  BBC Radio Nan Gaidheal, Forfar (SC-ANG) BBC Radio Scotland ID by OM  429km
 92.7 1954  G  BBC Radio Scotland, Forfar (SC-ANG) Presume Forfar as 103.7 in. Two bars  429km
 90.6 2103  F  Radio 6, Hesdin/le Quesnoy-en-Artois (62) 70s disco and jingle ID  334km
 91.5 2108  F  Virgin Radio, Boulogne-sur-Mer/Mont Lambert (62) Noise free. Stable. Various
               pops and IDs  285km

** Personal Skegness 'First'


Another good day of tropo with plenty of signals and plenty of movement. There were some good signals again though they were choppy at times, more so during the evening. I ignored the more regular tropo transmitters.

The best catch today was one which got away - B5 Aktuell on 106.9, I think from the Brotjacklriegel transmitter, which would have been a tropo first for me. The Grunten transmitter of B5 Aktuell also uses 106.9 and was heard earlier, along with other stations from the Grunten transmitter. Tonight, I am assuming this was Brotjacklriegel because none of the other Grunten stations were audible this time. I thought the antenna beam was slightly further towards the east too, though the difference in bearing would be negligible. The other Brotjacklriegel stations were on blocked frequencies, ironically, blocked by other German stations, though I think I heard Bayern 1 on 92.1. Alas, it was just too weak for any certainty. So Brotjacklriegel got away on this occasion.

Recordings:

92.8 NRJ, Bethune 1059 28-09-13
88.0 Frequence Horizon, Bethune 1036 28-09-13
107.9 N Radio, Soissons 1028 28-09-13
107.9 AFN, Chievres 0936 28-09-13
102.8 France Bleu Picardie, Sailly-Saillisel 0848 28-09-13
98.3 RTBF Vivacite, Profondeville 0827 28-09-13


Good DX!

John, Skegness, Lincolnshire (JO03dd) 1.7m (5'9") ASL.
Website: skegnessdx.blogspot.co.uk

Personal All Time VHF Logbooks: https://sites.google.com/site/skegnessdx/vhf-band-2-logs
VHF Band 2 DX Recordings: https://sites.google.com/site/skegnessdx/skegness-vhf-band-2-fm-dx-recordings

Receivers:
Sony XDR-F1HD (tropospheric)
Kenwood KT6040 (sporadic E & meteor scatter)
Icom IC7000 (OIRT)
Conrad RDS Manager

Aerials:
Rooftop Körner 9.2, 8m AGL www.box.com/s/h1a5z3bu94vppln3zsfn
Yaesu G-5500 azimuthal/elevation rotator

Software:
RDS Spy v1.00r2 www.rdsspy.com