Possibly The Best Christmas Present Ever! ( ... from a radio perspective)

Had I thought it would be possible to ask for "nothing" from Santa this Christmas, I would have done! "Nothing" refers to my noise levels. I'll have no noise please!

During the early part of this afternoon, I noticed my noise levels across band 2 had suddenly dropped. Since installing the Konrad i2c modification to my Sony XDR-F1HD radio, I could see just how much noise I was getting. This registered at 16 to 20 dB at the top of the band and between 18 and 22 dB at the bottom. Even these figures would have been a big improvement on the state of play a few months ago as I know my noise levels had reduced the day after I received my HS Publications noise cancelling device. Today, my noise levels register 7 to 8dB across the whole band. Why? I wonder what has happened.

Almost immediately after I noticed today's marked reduction in noise, I received almost a PI and PS from RAC1 in Barcelona on 87.7, thanks to meteor scatter.

The really interesting thing I noticed with this quiet band was that it only took 25 dB of signal to get that RDS. I needed at least 35 dB for the RDS to push through before the noise dropped down. So I guess I know why meteor scatter has never been much good here. Having a good amount gain is useful, but it comes second to having a good signal-to-noise ratio.

While typing this entry, I see that the noise levels have increased again slightly. My assumption is that something in the neighbouring property has been switched off and moved to a different location. I have about 12 to 14 dB of noise now at the bottom of the band. It's still 7 or 8 dB of noise up at the top, so there is still a good level of improvement, possibly confirmed by the fact that I am now seeing more meteor scatter results.

Doubtless it will all change again at some point, but it's a joy to have no noise and be able to hear really weak signals which are usually buried out of sight.

Here's wishing us all a Noiseless New Year!

Skegness Log: 25-12-13 (FM)

Band 2 Scatter:
 96.1 0723 BEL RTBF La Première, Wavre (wal-bra) French OM alternating with BBC Solent  397km
 99.1 0725 BEL RTBF Classic 21, Anderlues/Mont-Sainte-Geneviève (wal-hnt) Gerry Rafferty. Noise free peak. 33dB  409km
103.0 0742  D  BFBS Radio, Bielefeld/Hünenburg (nrw) OM Christmas sermon, as web  565km
100.4 0743  D  WDR 2, Bonn/Venusberg (nrw) Enya track, as web. Briefly noise free  538km
 98.1 0750  D  WDR 3, Nordhelle (nrw) Stable peak. Almost noise free  554km
100.0 0751  D  WDR 4, Münster/Baumberg (nrw) Vocal ID, Rod Stewart Christmas song  494km
103.8 0751  D  WDR 4, Nordhelle (nrw) Stable peak. Almost noise free. As Langenberg 101.3  554km
101.7 0752  D  WDR 4, Kleve/Bresserberg (nrw) Nice peak. Stable-ish, as 100.0. 30dB  421km
101.0 0754  D  WDR 2, Bärbelkreuz (Eifel) (nrw) Christmas song, as web. 28dB  520km
 87.7 0815 HOL Radio 10, Lelystad/Alticom Toren (fle) Still getting through on the horizontal this morning  351km
 87.9 0816 HOL Omroep Zeeland, Goes/Alticom Toren (zee) Still getting through on the horizontal this morning  303km
 97.8 0817 HOL Radio 2, Westdorpe/Verkavelingsweg (zee) Still getting through on the horizontal this morning  323km
 98.7 0821  D  AFN Wiesbaden-The Eagle, Großer Feldberg (Taunus)/hr (hes) Down in the noise  648km
 98.8 0830  F  France Culture, Reims/TDF Hautvillers (51) Suddenly up to 30dB then squashed by Wrotham  516km
 91.8 1616  F  France Musique, Bourges/Neuvy (18) Classical music, as 88.7  672km

Some early morning scatter.

Good DX!

John Faulkner, Skegness, Lincolnshire (JO03dd) <2m ASL.

Receivers:
Sony XDR-F1HD with Konrad i2c modification & XDR-GTK software.

Aerial:
Rooftop Körner 9.2, 8m AGL & Yaesu G-5500 azimuthal/elevation rotator

Merry Christmas!

Yes, it's that time of year again (groan) and it won't be over quickly enough for me.

I think we all know that the true meaning of Christmas has been lost under the weight of evil commercialism. In fact I am sure the name Jesus used to take centre stage not so many years ago. But hopefully it's a time of year for us to spend with our families, our friends, those who are important to us, etc., or just to relax a little.

Whatever you are doing, here's wishing you all a very happy, peaceful and pleasant time over the festive season.

Have a great Christmas!

John

Skegness Log: 21-12-13 (FM)

Band 2 Meteor Scatter:
 87.7 0020  E  RAC 1, Barcelona/Collserola (CAT-B) E251 _R______  1311km
 94.6 1121  D  MDR 1 Radio Sachsen-Anhalt, Brocken (san) YL talk, briefly while listening to
               scatter and comparing with web stream  713km **
 99.0 1127  F  France Culture, Marseille/Grande Etoile (13) Nice sustained burst. 40dB.
               OM, as Lille 98.0  1149km
103.6 1136  F  France Bleu Provence, Marseille/Grande Etoile (13) YL talk, as web
               stream  1149km **
 94.2 1142  I  RAI Radio1, Menconico/Monte Penice (RAI) (pv) YL heard, as web stream
               while looking for Marseille  1136km **
 94.2 1210  F  France Musique, Marseille/Grande Etoile (13) Piano concerto, as 88.7  1149km **

** Personal Skegness 'First' via this mode

Apart from 87.7 RAC 1, all other MS loggings were made listening live.

Good DX!

John Faulkner, Skegness, Lincolnshire (JO03dd) <2m ASL.

Receivers:
Sony XDR-F1HD with Konrad i2c modification & XDR-GTK software.
Kenwood KT6040, Conrad RDS Manager & RDS Spy.

Aerial:
Rooftop Körner 9.2, 8m AGL & Yaesu G-5500 azimuthal/elevation rotator

Skegness Log: 21-12-13 (MW)

1413 1500  J  JOIF KBC-Kyushu Asahi Hoso, Fukuoka (kyu-fuk) Presumed. Time signal.
              Too weak for vocal clarity V weak  9225 km
1557 1500 TWN RTI iLoveMusic 1557/Radio Taiwan Int., Kouhu (YL) Time signal and ID Weak  9715 km
 972 1600 KOR HLCA KBS Hanminjok Bangsong 1, Dangjin (ccg) Time signal and ID, just below
              Germany Weak  8740 km
1575 1600 THA Voice of America/Radio Saranrom, Ban Phachi/Rasom (pay) Asiatic language (Thai?)
              and Voice Of America ID Weak  9410 km

Again, a slight improvement in Asiatic conditions.

North American DX continues to go downhill. There were barely any North American carriers visible this morning at 0200, let alone audio. I know DXers in southern Scotland have been hearing more, but this is probably the worst morning for North American MW I have experienced since moving here. Once again, it seems that when the Asiatic DX lifts up, I lose North America, and vice versa.

Good DX!

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

Receiver: Perseus SDR
Antenna:  10ft x 25ft flag at 15 degrees
Software: Perseus v4.1a; Mestor

Winter Es!

While listening to BBC Oxford on 95.2 just after midday today I heard an Italian male appear out of nowhere and drowned out BBC Oxford. Assuming it was meter scatter I didn't act on it immediately, but decided to check the bottom of the band a few seconds later to see if there was anything down there. I found a mixture of pop music and Italian language stations from 87.5 to 88.0. They sounded too stable for meteor scatter. Checking the 6m page on DX Maps showed some Es activity between the UK and Italy and I noticed there was a report of band 2 Italian Es in Shropshire. Unfortunately, the Es had already started to drop out and were gone in seconds. A minute later, Es returned to 88.3 for a few seconds. So no log here but I will be watching more closely around midday tomorrow with a bit of luck.

Skegness Log: 18-12-13 (FM)

Band 2 Tropospheric:
 94.4 0716  D  hr1, Großer Feldberg (Taunus)/hr (hes) Cher song, as web  648km
 94.6 0718  D  MDR 1 Radio Sachsen-Anhalt, Brocken (san) Pops, as web  713km
 94.8 0718  D  SWR3, Linz (Rhein)/Ginsterhahner Kopf (rlp) Light ops, as web  560km
 98.1 0721  D  WDR 3, Nordhelle (nrw) German YL, as web  554km
 98.7 0722  D  AFN Wiesbaden-The Eagle, Großer Feldberg (Taunus)/hr (hes) ID, phone
               number and Gloria Branigan track, Just about noise free  648km
104.8 0730 HOL Radio 1, Roermond/Alticom Toren (lim) Ads and clunky jingles  443km
100.0 0732  D  WDR 4, Münster/Baumberg (nrw) German pop, as web  494km
100.8 0733  D  WDR 2, Aachen/Stolberg (nrw) Noise free. Weather and ID  484km
103.0 0735  D  BFBS Radio, Bielefeld/Hünenburg (nrw) V weak but clearly as web stream  565km
107.1 0737  D  Deutschlandfunk (DLF), Bremen-Walle (bre) German OM, as web. Almost noise free  565km
107.0 0743  D  WDR Eins Live, Olsberg (nrw) Black Eyed Peas, as 106.7  592km
107.2 0743  D  WDR Eins Live, Ederkopf (nrw) Black Eyed Peas, as 106.7  593km
 88.0 0750  D  WDR 5, Bonn/Venusberg (nrw) Documentary? As web  538km
103.8 0809  D  WDR 4, Nordhelle (nrw) Light pops, as 101.3  554km
 97.0 0813  D  WDR 3, Teutoburger Wald/Bielstein (nrw) German YL, as web  591km
 99.0 0814  D  hr1, Hoher Meißner (hes) Rolling Stones Start Me Up, as web  684km
107.7 0816 LUX Den Neie Radio (DNR), Blaschette/Kandel (gld) Pops, as web  557km

** Personal Skegness 'First';

A spot of early morning DXing today!

I have been playing around with the source code of the i2c mod/Seeeduino board, now I have an idea how to do this. I reset all the antenna alignment figures to values which corresponded to the peaks i found with live adjustments across the band. So the XDR is now fully aligned across the band. Improvements are mostly very subtle but the default values were quite a way out in places. 61 to 63 is fairly typical and some of the values were set down as 53. The drop in signal is very noticeable when lowering these values from 61 to 53 but much more stable above, so 61 to 70 makes little difference.

I made a video of a quick band-sweep around 8am this morning and uploaded this to my YouTube channel. Scatter conditions were about average but there was a minor enhancement to south-east England. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8pCcG4JMmo

Good DX!

John Faulkner, Skegness, Lincolnshire (JO03dd) 1.7m (5'9") ASL.
Website: http://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 with i2C mod. (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

Konrad i2C Modification of the Sony XDR-F1HD

Konrad, in Poland, has produced a modification to the Sony XDR-F1HD whereby it can be linked to your home computer, via a Seeeduino "open source hardware facilitator" board, and then controlled from your computer. The modification doesn't just provide a way for your computer to tune the radio, but it also adds a host of really useful features via a clever interface, which can actually improve the performance of the XDR-F1HD.

There is also another good reason for having this modification. I have heard from several DXers that their XDR-F1HD's displays have failed. While the tuner itself continues to work, they are suddenly left in the dark, not knowing what frequency they are tuned to, etc. This modification extends an enhanced user interface to your computer screen which allows full visibility and control over the XDR, so should your XDR fail in this way, you can continue to use it, thanks to this modification.

The details of the modification are explained, step by step, on the Konrad website. Unlike this article, there is no waffle there. In this article, I will talk you through some of the fears I had before performing this modification.

What I found rather worrying on the page was their disclaimer, which reads: "Warning: This modification is provided ‘as is’. Do everything on your own responsibility! There’s always a risk of a permanent damage to your tuner!! Always unplug the power cord before doing anything inside it and use a properly grounded soldering iron.". Hmm. That put me off straight away!

My soldering abilities are good, but the soldering irons I own are not really suitable for working with small components, however, there are no micro-components involved in this modification.

Going back to the early 80s, I used to work for an electronics company in which in I assembled PCBs. One of my jobs was to assemble PCBs for multi-standard television receivers. These were for the MOD and were to be used on ships in the Falklands Task Force. So I had good training and clear instructions, though I had no understanding of how the circuits worked. I remember being amazed when those circuits were eventually tested and I learnt that all eleven of them worked first time! So with that knowledge, and the confidence it gave me, I thought I would risk tackling the soldering in this little project.

Breaking it down, step by step: To perform this modification you will need to: 1. Solder four wires between the XDR-F1HD's internal circuit board and the Seeeduino circuit board; 2. A transistor needs to be soldered in too; 3. Software needs running and code needs compiling for upload to the chips inside the Seeeduino board. All this is possibly simple(ish) enough for somebody with a basic knowledge of soldering and maybe a little help from friends who are technically more competent than I am.

Knowing that a fair number of DXers were wanting this modification for their own XDRs, but were reluctant to tackle the job themselves, I thought I would include a detailed account of everything I did. I hope this will be useful and I even wondered if I might offer my services to carry out this modification for others, should I be successful and find the job reasonably simple. Unfortunately for me, I found the job extremely stressful and far more time consuming than I had expected. Those who know me are aware that I do not deal with stress well at all. Just be prepared for a bit of waffle!

Thursday, 13-12-2013
The Seeeduino board dropped on my doormat this morning. Not much time to attempt this job today so I will wait until tomorrow. Actually, I am still trying to decide if it is a good idea for me to tackle this job. Could I find somebody to do this for me? I knew this was unlikely.

Saturday, 14-12-2013
Bravely, I unscrewed the lid of the XDR-F1HD and looked in fear at the components within. How much dust? !!! A thick layer of dust had accumulated in several areas. A Dyson cleaner, with a small, soft brush attachment, was brought in to suck out most of the dust. So far, so good.

Ah - I had not taken the XDR's cooling fan into account. I added this when I first bought the radio. Did I superglue it? Hmm. It felt solid and wouldn't shift at all, so the available internal space was going to be very tight for the soldering iron. I could get the soldering iron where I needed it - only just, but I was probably going to melt some of the internal plastic casing or cause some other damage. I persevered nonetheless. Personally, I don't mind too much if there are a few scratches and dents here and there. I'm the same with cars. I look after these things, but they are there to do a job, not to look pretty.

After an hour of messing around I had to give up and accept that there just wasn't sufficient room to poke and prod around in there with the fat soldering tip - the smallest one I had. The tip wasn't in good shape either. Would it last long enough for me to get the job done?

From the start, my intention was to take photographs of each stage of the modification. In view of the enormous blobs of solder which were accumulating across the PCB I thought it best to abandoned that idea or risk serious embarrassment. My workmanship was becoming embarrassingly shoddy, especially as I had re-soldered all the wires several times to ensure there weren't any dry joints.

That cooling fan was not going to let me in, so I got a large flat blade screwdriver and prized it away from the tuner casing and plastic rear panel. It came away thanks to some brute force and ignorance (two good friends of mine) and I had room to manoeuvre at last. Go away Blogger! (Blogger is telling me I have spelled manoeuvre incorrectly. NO I HAVEN'T!) I re-soldered the wires and transistor one more time, feeling satisfied that each one was making a good contact, despite loosening all the jumpers on the PCB my soldering iron came into contact with.

Finished! Well, the XDR PCB side at least. The rest should be relatively simple. Next to feed the wires through a hole I made in the rear of the XDR casing, re-attach the cooling fan and perform a last-minute idiot check on my connections for possible shorting. DAMN! While I was prodding around the BS170 decided to wave goodbye to one of its legs. It had snapped off right at the casing.

I didn't have another transistor so I needed to locate some quickly. Would Maplin have any? Don't be silly John! It's an electronic component's shop! "The Electronic's Specialists" they call themselves. Not a BS170 in sight! Time to locate an alternative. A spot of Googling told me that the 2N7000 was a common enough alternative transistor and appeared to be suitable. Now then, would my nearest Maplin store have any in stock? I would have to wait until the morning to find out. Don't you just hate it when you are keen to get a job done and have all these unnecessary hold-ups?

Concluding today, I spent three hours on the soldering and I was thankful that everything appeared to work properly after I returned the radio to its original state. Well, "bodged" the radio back to it's original state. It now looks like an elephant has been inside.

Sunday, 15-12-2013
Maplin in Boston had TWO 2N7000 transistors in stock. Their Lincoln store had five. The Boston store is only 25 miles from here against Lincoln's 45 miles so I reserved my order online and drove to Boston.

On entering the store I was greeted (pounced on in fact ... I kid you not!) by the most irritating man who thought he was God's gift to the retail trade. I don't like to be rude and always make an effort to be polite but, in this case, my lack of response to his OTT sales tactics left him slightly bewildered. I simply pulled a piece of paper out of my pocket and showed it to him. It contained my order number. Undeterred, he shot into the store room with it, still bursting with enthusiasm, and I still hadn't uttered a word to him! I did try to be more polite when he returned with the goods, but I was tempted to express my disgust at the price of these transistors - 1.09 each! While that's hardly a large sum of money, this was ELEVEN times more expensive then the same transistors at RS Components. There was no way I was going to chance the Christmas post. Oh, I purchased a nice new soldering iron while I was at Maplin Ripofftronics.

The next issue I faced was to wonder which wires on the 2N7000 transistor were the base, the collector and the emitter. These were now labelled as the gate, the drain and the source. Hmmm. Which was which? I have forgotten about these things and it's 27 years since I studied this for the RAE (Radio Amateur's Examination). Thankfully, Andy Webster in Wigan came to the rescue via Skype chat and pointed out that my understanding of transistors was a little prehistoric. I wondered why there was no longer a little red dot on the body of the transistor - apparently that went out with the dinosaurs! :O) Andy explained which pins were which but I eventually noticed that all the relevant information was explained on the Konrad website! Silly me for missing it.

Right - waffle over and down to business! Bah! It's getting a bit late and I feel like collapsing to bed. Maybe I'll finish this tomorrow ... or the day after ... or next week ..... perhaps.

Monday, 16-12-2013
I made a start on the re-soldering the wires inside the XDR, mid-afternoon. It was an unlucky start as that nice new tip on my nice new soldering iron had burnt away already, rendering it useless. I had no choice but to use an old and totally unsuitable large-tipped soldering iron. I was as careful as I could be, but I continued to deposit even larger blobs of solder on to the PCB. I made sure there were no shorts and I could see that the mountainous blobs were holding the wires in place rigidly. Personally, I just got to the point where I didn't care how unprofessional my soldering looked, as long as I got the job done and everything worked. I finished the XDR wiring after about an hour.

The next job was to solder the wires to the Seeeduino board. I actually completed this task very quickly and also very neatly. It looked quite professional too! No problems here at all! Moving on ...

The final stage - installing the software. Firstly, I must say enormous thank yous to two fellow 'Skywavers', without whom I would probably not have completed this job: Julian Hardstone, who gave me some solid advice at the onset of this project; Stuart Heathcock, who donated a substantial amount of his time on the Skywaves Skype Chat, going through the software procedures and ensuring the source code and software ended up in the correct directories on the computer. This actually proved to be a major headache and took two to three hours to sort out. The problem was eventually solved though and it was time to install the drivers, run the "sketch" software, upload the data to the Seeeduino chips and fire up the XDR-GTK software. These last stages I worked out for myself. But, without the help of Julian and Stuart, .... etc. Who knows what might have happened?

I ran the XDR-GTK software and watched the XDR display go dim. Hmm. Had I broken it? NO! A second or two later and the XDR sprung to life! The XDR-GTK screen displayed all those nice features I had seen on various YouTube videos over the last few months. The display showed 87.5 so I entered 88.8 for my local BBC Radio 2 Belmont transmitter and there it was! It worked FIRST TIME! What a relief!

If you're still with me, you will understand why I found the whole procedure quite daunting. It actually made me feel ill while I was doing it. Not only had I no idea if this was going to work, but that fear of permanently destroying the XDR-F1HD was eating away at me throughout. This was the most complex operation of its kind I have performed on any of my radio equipment and I really do not want to do it again. Famous last words, as you will discover below. 

As I stated above, I deliberately wanted to construct a blow-by-blow account of everything which happened throughout this procedure as I thought it might be useful to other DXers. If you have learnt something from my mistakes, then that's a good thing. We ALL make them! I really couldn't face having to go through this all again, especially on somebody else's equipment. It would drive me mad!

Just one more problem: Just as I thought I had got everything set up correctly, it all stopped working. Every time I pressed "Connect" on the XDR-GTK software, I got a message saying "Could not start radio". To say I was worried would be an understatement. I spent the next two hours trying all kinds of things, even going as far as to start the software installation again from scratch, uninstalling the drivers and re-setting the Seeeduino board along the way. Even after installation there was a Windows message which kept appearing on the bottom right corner of the computer screen, informing me that the USB device was damaged or not connected. Naturally I was beginning to fear the worst, but I hadn't made any changes to cause this problem, as far as I was aware. It took an hour or two before I realised that the issue was down to the fact that the XDR-F1HD had to be powered up before the XDR-GTK software was started. It was that simple! It seems the XDR-GTK software will not start the radio by itself. Phew!

Don't forget to allow time for the radio to 'warm up' before running the software. Turn on the XDR and wait between 15 seconds or so and a minute. Valve radios are quicker! The colder the ambient room temperature, the longer it takes for the XDR to initialise. While out in the car one cold winter's evening, it took 20 minutes! 10 seconds seems to be adequate for a hot summer's day.

Folks - this was a tough one for me. If you are more technically skilled than this then please go ahead and try the modification yourself, but if you are like me or don't know one end of a screwdriver from the other, steer well clear.

Good luck if you do decide to give it a go. Please ask me any questions - I am happy to help if I can, but this project is NOT for the faint-hearted and I survived only by the skin of my teeth - and also because of the help I received from Julian, And and Stuart - oh, and I must mention my lovely wife, Jane, who bought me the Seeduino board as a Christmas present!

Hopefully I will publish some demonstrations of the XDR-GTK software in the coming days on my YouTube page at https://www.youtube.com/user/g1vvp

Skegness Log: 12-12-13 (FM)

Band 2 Tropospheric:
106.1 0052 NOR P4 R Hele Norge, Halden 1/Høyåsmasten (of) Ads and OM, as web  958km
 87.8 0935 NOR NRK P1, Hovdefjell (aa) Pops, phone in, as web  806km
 88.2 0938 NOR NRK P1, Skien 1/Vealøs (te) Pops, as web  890km
 91.4 0946 DNK DR P1/DR P2, Thisted/Hanstholmvej 46 (njy) OM, as web  681km
 91.8 0947 NOR NRK Petre, Bjerkreim/Urdalsnippa (ro) Pops, as web  703km
 92.5 0948 NOR NRK P2, Greipstad/Eidsåvegen (va) Play or discussion, as web  734km
 94.0 0952  D  Radio Ostfriesland, Aurich-Haxtum (nds) Jingle ID  476km
 94.2 0954 NOR NRK P1, Bjerkreim/Urdalsnippa (ro) OM and YLs, as web  703km
 94.8 0956 NOR NRK P1, Halden 1/Høyåsmasten (of) OM and YLs, as web  958km
 95.0 0957 NOR NRK Petre, Lyngdal/KalåsknIben (va) Lively OM, as web  697km
 95.6 0957  D  N-JOY, Morsum (Sylt) (shs) Pops, as web  566km
 97.0 1010 NOR NRK Petre, Greipstad/Eidsåvegen (va) Football discussion, as web  734km
 97.6 1011 NOR NRK P1, Lyngdal/KalåsknIben (va) OM talk, as web  697km
 99.0 1014 DNK DR P4, Varde/Nordenskov/Kærgårdsvej 41B (sdk-sjy) Pops and ID  608km
 88.5 1030 BEL BRF 1, Liège/Bol d'Air (wal-lge) Jingle ID after ads  459km **
 93.3 1048 LUX RTL Radio, Dudelange/Ginsterberg (gld) Jingle ID  574km
 98.3 1053 BEL RTBF Vivacité, Profondeville-Rivière/Sart à Soile (wal-nam) RDS: VIVAVITE Belmont? On this frequency? Surely not?  441km
 98.4 1104  D  SWR3, Hornisgrinde/SWR (bwü) ID and traffic  748km
101.7 1111  D  Radio Salü, Saarbrücken/Schoksberg (saa) Jingle ID  628km
103.0 1113  D  BFBS Radio, Bielefeld/Hünenburg (nrw) Pops and ID  565km
 97.3 1133  S  SR P4, Halmstad/Oskarström-Slättåkra TM (ha) ID, anns and pops, as web  900km
 87.6 1144 HOL Radio 10, Smilde/Alticom Toren (dre) Oldies, as 87.7  408km

** Personal Skegness 'First';


I did not start listening to the band properly until 0930 this morning so I probably missed some DX from earlier. I was able to make a quick check of conditions at 0400 and the band sounded very lively indeed. The final stages of the tropo had vacated the band by 1700. Belgium and Holland were the last to wave goodbye.

I logged everything which wasn't a regular continental yesterday and Tuesday. Today I just 'topped up' the log with any different DX stations.

As yesterday, conditions were strange. It was only the larger horizontal transmitters which were propagating, and there some big signals from Profondeville, Liege, Steinkimmen, Holstebro, Lyngdal and other transmitters. Going vertical you would never have guessed there was much of a tropo at all.

At the time of compiling this log I hear a small enhancement in conditions to continental regulars, but there are no traces of Scandinavia or northern Germany.


Recordings:

98.3 RTBF Vivacite, Profondeville 1057 12-12-13
https://app.box.com/s/61i7xiap10az5o7on1jy

88.5 BRF1, Liege 1030 12-12-13
https://app.box.com/s/yauki9iaumimezeogc9f

103.0 BFBS 1, Bielefeld 1113 12-12-13
https://app.box.com/s/wgoc7sbmke98pbw80o81

103.1 Radio FFN, Aurich 1119 12-12-13
https://app.box.com/s/vbf9d9laa8v3ny32hvri

103.4 Radio FFN, Osnabruck 1125 12-12-13
https://app.box.com/s/b9h9zjwzw515i08sdo0q

98.5 DR P4 Midt & West, Holstebro 1130 12-12-13
https://app.box.com/s/4d2ui1hzoizqwh10xl4k

97.3 SR P4, Halmstad 1133 12-12-13
https://app.box.com/s/itp80ab55vna4iqpv1no

92.4 NDR1, Osnabruck 1140 12-12-13
https://app.box.com/s/8si8l98dbj12n9j5069p


Good DX!

John Faulkner, Skegness, Lincolnshire (JO03dd) 1.7m (5'9") ASL.
Website: http://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: 11-12-13 (FM)

Band 2 Tropospheric:
 89.0 0827  D  89.0 RTL, Brocken (san) ID   713km
 89.2 0827  D  NDR 2, Osnabrück/Schleptruper Egge (nds) OM, as web  526km
 90.6 0828  D  WDR 5, Teutoburger Wald/Bielstein (nrw) YL and OM, as web  591km
 91.1 0829  D  NDR 1 Niedersachsen, Steinkimmen (nds) ID after Village People track  543km
 93.2 0831  D  WDR 2, Teutoburger Wald/Bielstein (nrw) YL, as web  591km
 93.8 0832  D  bremen eins, Bremen-Walle (bre) Traffic, ID and pops  565km
 94.6 0833  D  MDR 1 Radio Sachsen-Anhalt, Brocken (san) OM and YL talk, as web  713km
 95.4 0834  D  Nordwestradio, Schiffdorf [nds] (Bremerhaven) (bre) African sounding song, as web  554km
 95.8 0834  D  NDR 1 Niedersachsen, Aurich (nds) That awful Soley Soley song, as web  479km
 97.0 0835  D  WDR 3, Teutoburger Wald/Bielstein (nrw) OMs chuckling to themselves, as web  591km
 97.4 0836  D  Deutschlandradio Kultur, Brocken (san) OM talk, as web  713km
 98.1 0838  D  NDR 2, Aurich (nds) German pops, as web  479km
 99.8 0839  D  NDR 2, Steinkimmen (nds) German pops, as web  543km
100.8 0839  D  Bremen Vier, Schiffdorf [nds] (Bremerhaven) (bre) OM and YL, pops, as web  554km
101.2 0840  D  Bremen Vier, Bremen-Walle (bre) OM and YL, as 100.8  565km
101.4 0840  D  Radio SAW, Brocken (san) Pops, as web  713km
101.8 0841  D  Deutschlandfunk (DLF), Aurich (nds) German YL  479km
102.3 0841  D  Radio ffn, Steinkimmen (nds) Pops, as web  543km
103.1 0842  D  Radio ffn, Aurich (nds) Pops, as 103.1  479km
103.6 0843  D  Radio Hamburg, Hamburg-Moorfleet (ham) Pops, as web  650km
105.7 0846  D  Antenne Niedersachsen, Steinkimmen (nds) Adverts  543km
107.1 0847  D  Deutschlandfunk (DLF), Bremen-Walle (bre) German YL  565km
 87.6 0853  D  NDR 2, Hamburg-Moorfleet (ham) Pops, as web  650km
 89.6 0859  D  NDR 1 Welle Nord, Flensburg-Engelsby (shs) Foster The People song, as web  627km
 90.0 0902  D  NDR Kultur, Aurich (nds) News  479km
 90.2 0903  D  NDR Kultur, Lingen-Damaschke (nds) News, as 90.0  477km
 90.3 0903  D  NDR 90,3, Hamburg-Moorfleet (ham) German news  650km
 91.2 0904  D  NDR 1 Niedersachsen, Dannenberg Zernien (nds) German news, as 91.1  706km
 94.4 0907  D  NDR Kultur, Steinkimmen (nds) Classical, as web  543km
 94.8 0922 DNK DR P1, Næstved - Øverup/Køgevej 291 (sjl) OMs and YLs talking, as web  782km
 97.5 0923 DNK DR P4, Næstved - Øverup/Køgevej 291 (sjl) OM and YL talk, as web  782km
 99.6 0924 DNK DR P3, Næstved - Øverup/Køgevej 291 (sjl) Phone caller, as web  782km
101.6 0925 DNK R.24/7, Næstved - Øverup/Køgevej 291 (sjl) YLs, as web  782km
103.9 0925 DNK Nova FM, Næstved - Øverup/Køgevej 291 (sjl) ID and SMS info  782km
104.1 0926  D  delta radio, Bungsberg/DTAG-Turm (shs) Rock song, as web  695km
104.3 0927  D  Energy Bremen, Schiffdorf [nds] (Bremerhaven) (bre) OM talk, as web  554km
104.6 0928  D  Antenne Niedersachsen, Cuxhaven Otterndorf (nds) Pops, as web  571km
104.9 0929  D  Antenne Niedersachsen, Aurich (nds) Pops, as 104.6  479km
105.1 0943  D  Antenne Niedersachsen, Rosengarten-Langenrehm (nds) Pops and ID  635km
105.7 0945  D  Antenne Niedersachsen, Steinkimmen (nds) OM, as 105.1  543km
 89.0 0948 DNK DR P1/DR P2, Sønder Højrup/Sdr. Højrupvejen 21 (sdk-fyn) OM and YL, as web  701km
 92.6 0949 DNK DR P3, Sønder Højrup/Sdr. Højrupvejen 21 (sdk-fyn) OM an dYL talk, as web  701km
 96.8 0950 DNK DR P4, Sønder Højrup/Sdr. Højrupvejen 21 (sdk-fyn) Danish OM and YL, as web  701km
 96.5 0955 DNK DR P4, København-Gladsaxe/Isbanevej 4 (hvs) Pops, as web  837km
 97.0 1000  S  SR P3, Hörby/Sallerup TM (sn) YLs and ID  913km
 97.2 1001 DNK DR P3, Rangstrup/Gammel Tøndervej 28 (sdk-sjy) OM News  617km
 97.8 1004  D  NDR 2, Lingen-Damaschke (nds) OM news  477km
 98.7 1006  D  NDR 2, Morsum (Sylt) (shs) Olly Murzzzzz, as web  566km
 99.2 1010  D  NDR Kultur, Hamburg-Moorfleet (ham) Classical, as web  650km
 99.9 1013 DNK DR P4, Rangstrup/Gammel Tøndervej 28 (sdk-sjy) Phone caller, as web  617km
 92.4 1015  S  SR P2, Hörby/Sallerup TM (sn) Operatics, as web  913km
101.4 1016  S  SR P4, Hörby/Sallerup TM (sn) YL, as web  913km
 92.8 1152  D  NDR 1 Niedersachsen, Lingen-Damaschke (nds) OMs  YL, as web  477km
 93.4 1153 DNK Nova FM, Sønder Højrup/Sdr. Højrupvejen 21 (sdk-fyn) McDonalds as, as web  701km
 94.2 1156  D  N-JOY, Hamburg-Moorfleet (ham) Pops, as web  650km
 96.3 1157  D  NDR 2, Heide Welmbüttel (shs) Pops, as web  599km
 96.4 1158  D  NDR Info, Aurich (nds) German OM, as web  479km
 96.7 1159  D  Funkhaus Europa, Bremen-Walle (bre) Announcements, as web  565km
 98.7 1201  D  AFN Wiesbaden-The Eagle, Großer Feldberg (Taunus)/hr (hes) US accented South African news  648km
105.9 1203  D  Hit Radio FFH, Großer Feldberg (Taunus)/hr (hes) Pops, as web  648km
 99.0 1204  D  N-JOY, Bungsberg/NDR-Mast (shs) Wetter and ID  694km
100.6 1207  D  Radio ffn, Rosengarten-Langenrehm (nds) ID and pops  635km
102.0 1208  D  Deutschlandfunk (DLF), Lingen-Damaschke (nds) OM, as 101.8  477km
102.1 1208 DNK R.24/7, Rangstrup/Gammel Tøndervej 28 (sdk-sjy) YL, as web  617km
102.3 1208 DNK R.24/7, København-Gladsaxe/Isbanevej 4 (hvs) YL, as 102.1  837km
102.9 1210  D  RPR 1., Bad Marienberg (rlp) Pops, as web  592km
103.2 1211  D  NDR 1 Niedersachsen, Rosengarten-Langenrehm (nds) OM, as web  635km
103.5 1212  D  Deutschlandfunk (DLF), Torfhaus/DTAG (nds) OM on phone, as web  707km
105.6 1215  D  delta radio, Flensburg Freienwill (shs) Ads, as web  626km
 98.7 1529 NOR NRK P2, Bjerkreim/Urdalsnippa (ro) Jingle, YL and OM  703km
 87.9 1534  D  NDR Info, Heide Welmbüttel (shs) ID and info!  599km
 91.8 1536 NOR NRK Petre, Bjerkreim/Urdalsnippa (ro) Pops, as web  703km
 95.1 1537 DNK DR P1/DR P2, Rangstrup/Gammel Tøndervej 28 (sdk-sjy) YL, as web  617km
 96.1 1538  D  NDR Kultur, Flensburg-Engelsby (shs) Classical  627km
107.3 1544  D  Ostseewelle, Schwerin (mev) ID after speech, pops  740km
105.3 1617  D  NDR Info, Schwerin (mev) YL, as web  740km
106.3 1619  D  Antenne Niedersachsen, Torfhaus/DTAG (nds) Ads, ID and pops  707km
 88.7 1622 DNK DR P1, Ølgod/Baunshøjvej 7/Baunshøj (sdk-sjy) Danish OMs, as web  609km
 90.2 1623 DNK DR P1, Holstebro - Mejrup/Kalsgårdvej 11 (mjy) Danish OMs  645km
 98.5 1714  D  NDR 2, Schwerin (mev) OM, as 98.1  740km
 99.4 1714  D  NDR Kultur, Heide Welmbüttel (shs) Classical, as web  599km
100.2 1715  D  R.SH, Bungsberg/DTAG-Turm (shs) German pops, as web  695km
101.4 1715  D  R.SH, Flensburg Freienwill (shs) German pops, as 100.2  626km
102.6 1716  D  Radio ffn, Cuxhaven Otterndorf (nds) Boyzone, as 102.3  571km
106.4 1719  D  NDR 1 Welle Nord, Neumünster Armstedt (shs) Christmas song, as web  636km
107.4 1719  D  delta radio, Kaltenkirchen (shs) ID and promo  647km
 87.7 1732  D  NDR Info, Flensburg-Engelsby (shs) OM, as 87.9  627km
 89.2 1733  D  NDR Kultur, Schwerin (mev) YL, as web  740km
 89.9 1734  D  NDR Kultur, Bungsberg/NDR-Mast (shs) Classical, as 90.0  694km
 92.8 1738  D  NDR 1 Radio MV, Schwerin (mev) Pops, as web. Differrent programme to NDR1 Niedersachsen  740km
 93.2 1739  D  NDR 2, Flensburg-Engelsby (shs) Phone caller and pops  627km
 93.3 1739 DNK DR P1, Aalborg-Frejlev/Svenstrupvej 25 (njy) OM, as web  740km
 94.2 1741 NOR NRK P1, Bjerkreim/Urdalsnippa (ro) Childrens song, as web  703km
 94.3 1741  D  NDR Kultur, Morsum (Sylt) (shs) Piano, as 94.4  566km
 95.0 1744 NOR NRK Petre, Lyngdal/KalåsknIben (va) Outside broadcast, as web  697km
102.9 1800  D  R.SH, Kaltenkirchen (shs) Jingle ID and slow rock song  647km
103.3 1801  D  Deutschlandfunk (DLF), Flensburg Freienwill (shs) News  626km
103.8 1801  D  R.SH, Heide Welmbüttel (shs) Pops, as web  599km
104.8 1803  D  delta radio, Westerland (Sylt) (shs) Rock song, as web  557km
105.9 1805  D  delta radio, Kiel/Fernsehturm (shs) German rap rock song, as 105.6  657km
 92.9 1817 DNK DR P3, Holstebro - Mejrup/Kalsgårdvej 11 (mjy) Rap, as web  645km
 92.5 1832 NOR NRK P2, Greipstad/Eidsåvegen (va) YL, as web  734km
 97.0 1833 NOR NRK Petre, Greipstad/Eidsåvegen (va) YL and OM, as web  734km
 97.6 1835 NOR NRK P1, Lyngdal/KalåsknIben (va) _NRK_P1_ Jingle ID and traffic info  697km
102.0 1842 NOR Radio Norge, Lyngdal/KalåsknIben (va) -NORGE-_ Pops and phone caller  697km
101.0 1855 NOR Radio Norge, Bjerkreim/Urdalsnippa (ro) Abbas Mama Mia, as 102.0  703km
 97.7 1945 DNK DR P4, Ølgod/Baunshøjvej 7/Baunshøj (sdk-sjy) Pops, as web  609km
 88.3 1958 NOR NRK P2, Lyngdal/KalåsknIben (va) End of symphony and YL, as web  697km
 98.8 2114  D  NDR Kultur, Osnabrück/Schleptruper Egge (nds) OM, as web  526km
100.3 2115 DNK R.24/7, Holstebro - Mejrup/Kalsgårdvej 11 (mjy) OM, as web  645km
103.0 2240 DNK R.24/7, Århus/Søsterhøj/Ny Moesgårdsvej 61 (mjy) YL, as web  716km
103.4 2241 DNK Nova FM, Holstebro - Mejrup/Kalsgårdvej 11 (mjy) Pops, as 103.9  645km
107.9 2242  D  delta radio, Lübeck Berkenthin (shs) ID after pop  690km
 88.1 2243 DNK DR P2, Århus/Søsterhøj/Ny Moesgårdsvej 61 (mjy) Classical, as web  716km
 91.7 2245 DNK DR P3, Århus/Søsterhøj/Ny Moesgårdsvej 61 (mjy) Pops, as web  716km


Today was more or less a repeat of yesterday, with the same areas coming in. Add Denmark, Norway and Sweden, however, but nothing from Poland unfortunately. Conditions seemed to be constantly up and down, just like yesterday, but with slightly stronger signals. Norway and Denmark even produced some RDS.

There was a fair amount of DX from within England and south Wales too. Some semi-local BBC national transmitters were un-nullable, but I wonder if the conditions had something to do with this. I remember having two-bar XDR signals from LBC 97.3 and Skyrock, St Omer 106.9 while beaming NNE towards Norway. Swinging the 9.2 around to point directly at these two did not alter their reading at all. It was as if the tropo was coming in from above.

At the time of posting this I am still getting RDS from Denmark and Norway, but also one or two Germans too - all three bar signals on the XDR.

The band is also quite noisy with the weight of the DX as more than one station try to dominate some frequencies.


A couple of recordings to demonstrate the strength of the Lyngdal transmitter - easily the strongest DX of today.


97.6 NRK P1, Lyngdal 1835 11-12-13
https://app.box.com/s/ybd52nbleu33d7v5xitr

102.0 Radio Norge, Lyngdal 1842 11-12-13
https://app.box.com/s/ztw6jxl7p7eddfg2uurd


Good DX!

John Faulkner, Skegness, Lincolnshire (JO03dd) 1.7m (5'9") ASL.
Website: http://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