Skegness Log: 13-01-14 (FM)

Band 2 Meteor Scatter:
 89.4 0408 AUT Hitradio Ö3, Sankt Pölten/Jauerling (nie) Traffic news. Thanks to W4WDX
               for help.  1182km **
 89.4 0453 POL Radio Zet, Luban/Nowa Karczma (DS) Polish language. Only one
               possibility. Tnx W4WDX  1036km **
 89.4 0453 CZE Kiss Hády, Boskovice/Habrí (JM) 500W! Czech language. Only one
               possibility. Thanks W4WDX.  1201km **
 89.4 0726  S  SR P1, Borlänge or Arvidsjaur Swedish language. Two possibilities.
               Tnx W4WDX **
 89.4 0729 POL PR 1, Kraków/Choragwica (MP) Mixing Radio Zet. Tnx W4WDX  1407km **

** Personal Skegness 'First' via this mode

After uploading a video to YouTube showing yesterday's s meteor scatter, I have received a lot of correspondence and analysis from Philip, W4WDX, an Austrian DXer who now resides in the USA, for which I am very grateful. It's probably reasonable to make assumptions to certain signals which arrive via meteor scatter, though certainly not all. I would have missed these were it not for Philip. I have never logged anything where I haven't heard the ID or seen the RDS, but it can occasionally be quite obvious which station or transmitter you are receiving, judging by the language alone. This was a particularly good haul. If only my own language recognition was better. 

But beware: Care is definitely needed. After the recent spate of excellent meteor scatter it is clear that even low power FM broadcast signals can propagate quite successfully under the right meteor conditions.

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
Triax FM3, 1m AGL

Psychopathic Neighbour

The situation with our neighbours has reached a new low. We have reached a stage where we daren't go outside. The neighbour is now putting his head over the fence and waiting for us to go on to our garden. After the malicious lies he has posted on Facebook (yes, the dreaded Facebook - I hate it with a passion), we see he becoming more determined to cause us as much grief as possible.

Some of the facts so far. He has:

* Damaged aerial cabling.
* Cut the mains earth to the property.
* Vandalised our security system.
* Knocked a friend unconscious.
* Broken into our shed twice.
* Burnt the garden fence which separates us for firewood after it blew down in a storm.
* Taken photos of our property, pets and personal effects and posted on Facebook.
* Publically asked on Facebook how to damage our aerials - The local council have print-outs of all of
   these.
* Smashed our car windows.

I touched on these points in a recent post but there are other things, some more serious, which I cannot state for legal reasons.

This is very strict private housing association territory. You can be lucky or unlucky with neighbours, irrespective of your housing type. It will be a sad day when we move as we will leave behind a large bungalow which overlooks fields. It would be so peaceful here, living right on the edge of town, were it not for the damn neighbours.

The housing have asked if we will push things further and take the neighbours to court. It seems they are keen to remove them too but need some extra help. We don't want to go down that route as it could only make things more unpleasant.

So far, I have managed to keep my temper under control. I am not a malicious person, nor do I want to engage in physical violence, but I am finding it hugely difficult to stop myself lately. I refuse to lower myself to his level. We suspect he will get his just desserts one day anyway as we know how unpopular he is in this small town. I secretly hope that his next neighbours will be vicious bastards. :O)

You Can't Choose Your Neighbours - We're On The Move Again

You can't choose your neighbours, but with a bit of luck you might at least be able to meet before you move in to a property, as we were able to with ours.

Our neighbours seemed very accommodating at first, even helping me with some of the concreting of the mast bases which are still on the garden. Then one day they changed, reporting us for petty things on a weekly basis. We are sure we hadn't upset them. They broke into our shed twice - we have the video evidence. They took advice from their Facebook friends on how to cause damage to our aerials, the print-outs of which were handed to the landlords. They cut the mains earth cable to our property, resulting in electric shocks, especially when taking a shower. I could go on. There is much worse than this, but I cannot say for legal reasons. We have it all on video. They report us, week in, week out, for anything they can find.

We typically get several complaints a week from neighbours. Our landlords (private housing association) are very understanding and usually laugh it off, as they did yesterday when they visited regarding a complaint about my Triax FM3 which sits very quietly by itself, behind a tree, below fence height, free-standing on a small tripod base, well out of sight from everybody but our immediate neighbours. Even they would not be able to see it unless they purposely stick their head over the fence and look for it.  It's ridiculous to think that it could possibly be a problem.

The landlords are aware of the written permission we have for the 9.2 on the roof, but were keen to see this new alleged 'fixture' on our garden. We showed them. They looked for it. They studied it. They laughed. They told us not to worry and left.

It is a well known fact that we have problem neighbours. They seem well-known in the area and we haven't heard anybody say a kind word about them. However, me in my very understanding nature sometimes sympathise as I don't think any aerial is a pretty sight and I know that large DX antennas are considered a blot on the landscape by many people, but we have always done our best to be polite and reasonable with the neighbours. The problem is, being nice doesn't get you anywhere with people like this, so we are now closing all ties with our neighbours.

To be fair, the neighbours are only a small part of our problem. Our real problems are the ever-increasing rental costs and additional charges (spare room tax) forced upon us by our evil government. These two things have forced us to start looking for a new and more affordable home. We don't know where we will go and we don't really have any money to move, but we have no choice. We are a high priority due to the fact that we live in the largest disabled property of its kind in the area, which is in high demand, so we have been told that this puts us virtually at the front of the queue. My wife is registered disabled (two forms of epilepsy), so we are limited by various factors surrounding that, but we are going to be as selective as reasonably possible, but we are not in any real position to choose.

Hopefully we will be able to find a nice quiet location for the radio and closer to the sea, with a bit of luck.

Skegness Log: 10-01-14 (FM)

Band 2 Meteor Scatter:
 89.9 0208 AUT Ö2 - Radio Wien, Wien 1/Kahlenberg (wie) AC0C ____DIO*  1247km **
 89.9 0401  G  BBC Radio 2, Wenvoe or Black Hill BBC News **
 92.1 0729  D  Bayern 1, Brotjacklriegel (bay) Jingle ID. Thanks Konrad DX for help.  1021km **

Band 2 Sporadic E:
 97.5 1736 HRV HRT-HR 2, Otocac/Stipanov Gric (gs) C202 ____HR_2  1439km
 87.7 1738 HRV HRT-HR 1, Licka Pljesivica (gs) C201 __HR____  1456km

Band 2 Scatter:
102.8 1354  D  Deutschlandfunk (DLF), Wesel-Büderich (nrw) German OM, as 102.7  456km
103.3 1354  D  Funkhaus Europa, Langenberg/Hordtberg (nrw) Noise free stereo  505km
 97.8 1358 HOL Radio 2, Westdorpe/Verkavelingsweg (zee) ID and ads  323km
 98.2 1358 HOL Radio 4, Loon op Zand/Alticom Toren (nbr) Fair peaks  366km
 96.3 1359 HOL Radio Veronica, Loon op Zand/Alticom Toren (nbr) Ads  366km
 97.6 1359 HOL Radio Decibel, Rotterdam/Alticom Toren (Waalhaven) (zho) Fair, with ads  313km
 94.5 1401 HOL Radio 4, Roermond/Alticom Toren (lim) Peaking over Peterborough  443km
 92.0 1403  D  WDR 5, Münster/Baumberg (nrw) OM news, as web  494km
 89.6 1405 BEL VBRO, Brugge/Walakker (vlg-wvl) Nice peaks, almost noise free  295km
 89.6 1405  F  RDL-Radio Dallas Loisirs, Saint-Omer/Racquinghem (62) Blues song, fighting
               with VBRO  306km
 89.0 1406 BEL VRT MNM, Schoten (vlg-ant) Almost noise free  354km
100.0 1409  D  WDR 4, Münster/Baumberg (nrw) Fair on peak  494km
103.1 1429 BEL Q-Music, Sint-Pieters-Leeuw/Norkring Toren (vlg-vbr) Fair peaks. Noise free stereo  376km
 91.6 1710  D  SWR3, Koblenz/Dieblich-Naßheck (rlp) Robbie Williams, as web  591km

** Personal Skegness 'First' via this mode

Three modes of propagation today!

The Es opening was tricky since signals were mostly too low for RDS. There weren't a lot of stations, however the MUF reached at least 97.5. It might have been much higher, but I was chasing what seemed to be enhanced meteor scatter for several minutes before I reallised these were in fact Es.

Only the FM3 was able to get RDS and noise free signals. The 9.2 was subject to 20dB of noise until the late evening and I could barely hear the Es.

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
Triax FM3 (Meteor Scatter)

Skegness Log: 09-01-14 (FM)

Band 2 Meteor Scatter:
103.0 0015 HNG MR 1 Kossuth Rádió, Komádi (HaB) B203  1649km **
103.0 0514  I  RAI Radio1, Menconico/Monte Penice (RAI) (pv) 5201 RADIO1__  1136km **
 87.7 1456  S  SR P1, Halmstad/Oskarström-Slättåkra TM (ha) E201. Live listening.
               Signal up to 33 dB  900km **

** Personal Skegness 'First' via this mode

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
Triax FM3 (Meteor Scatter)

Skegness Log: 08-01-14 (FM)

Band 2 Meteor Scatter:
 93.9 0305  D  MDR 1 Radio Sachsen, Leipzig/Wiederau (sac) Vocal ID  844km
 91.6 0729  D  Bayern 2, Hoher Bogen (bay) Programm info. Tnx Arvid Husdal for confirmation  976km **

** Personal Skegness 'First' via this mode

Good DX!

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

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

Antennas:
Rooftop Körner 9.2, 8m AGL & Yaesu G-5500 azimuthal/elevation rotator
Triax FM3 (Meteor Scatter)

Sweet Spots & Dead Zones

Nothing is ever straight-forward when it comes to antennas. While the theoretical aspects hold up well, the practice often seems to suggest the contrary.

In my own example, how can it be that a simple three element band 2 beam, just one metre above the ground, out-performs a professionally crafted and carefully optimised 9 element beam on a rooftop mast? Well, it can't. But the location is probably more important than many of us realise.

This unexpected discovery only came to me when I erected a Triax FM3 on the garden for the purpose of having a 'quiet' antenna for meteor scatter DXing. The facts which follow do not suggest that a Triax FM3 can outperform a Körner 9.2.

When I bought the fabulous Körner 9.2 antenna I was very impressed with its performance across band 2. Not only was the gain noticeably superior to that of my Triax FM5, it also exhibited far better directivity than I had expected. I used my garden as a test site before getting it on the rooftop mast. I was hearing fully quieting signals from troposcatter signals in excess of 700 km. They were actually noise free at times too. The 9.2 was only on a makeshift mast at only two to three metres above the ground. This was surely going to provide a huge improvement to my band 2 DXing, and indeed it did!

The problems I faced related to locally generated electrical noise. I won't go into that again as I have probably thrashed that topic too much as it is, but once the 9.2 went on the roof, I was aware that it received considerably more noise than it did when it was under analysis on the garden. Regular viewers will be aware that I am not allowed to have an antenna on a mast on the garden due to overzealous housing regulations. All antennas have to be professionally erected on the property.

To cut a long story short, I erected a Triax FM3 on a small tripod base in the middle of the garden. It was only one metre above the ground. I checked the reception and immediately noticed a super-quiet FM band. I say "super-quiet" because the noise levels registered 4dB across the band. This is as low as the XDR-GTK software goes. This is not high-grade laboratory standard test equipment so these readings might be best considered to be approximate, though it gives me a very good reference - something I did not have on the Sony XDR-F1HD which the software controls. Knowing how this software behaves, I would expect a reading down to 1dB were it able to go that low. I have no idea why it stops at 4dB.

While I was conducting this initial reception test, I noticed that many continental transmitters were coming though, fading in to noise free levels and then dropping out again. Typical scatter conditions, but wait a minute ... this seems to be picking up more continental signals that the rooftop 9.2. How can it be from this most basic of antenna setups? It must be because the noise levels are much quieter. RDS is now forming with signals as low as 20dB! I can hear meteor bursts coming in to 26dB already! This bodes well. But can this really be dragging in more DX than the 9.2? It certainly seems to be. Time to make a comparison.

Switching between the 9.2 and the FM3 provided me with some BIG surprises which I never expected. Both antennas received roughly the same amount of signal, though continent signals were in greater abundance on the FM3, quite clearly due to the FM3 receiving less noise, but it was apparent that the FM3 was picking up the same amount of signal level as the 9.2. Again, how could this be?

I then spent the next half an hour or so moving the FM3 around the garden. There was a very well-defined 'sweet spot' close to the middle of the garden. Moving the FM3 two metres further away from the property quietened the noise levels down even more, but also reduced the signals. Even with the FM3 one metre away from its original position saw a reduction in general pick-up. I had found this sweet spot by accident. It occurred to me that the rooftop 9.2 was in a dead zone. It's the same as receiving weak signals in a moving car. You will find you can get better reception by driving the car a metre or so forwards or backwards, etc.

So I find myself in the less than fortunate position of having the 9.2 antenna in a poor location. No wonder it performed so much better on the garden - it was very close to that sweet spot when I first tried it. I am now considering moving the 9.2 elsewhere on the property. I'll have to think about this carefully and conduct more tests. Bearing the housing situation and our neighbours in mind, this could be problematical.

John

No Noise Is Good Noise - Conclusion

I have been able to observe my noise levels in glorious detail since performing the Konrad i2c modification on my XDR-F1HD. It is becoming very clear why I have had so much difficulty with propagation modes such as meteor scatter and very weak scatter.

Although my location is coastal and I can receive many continental signals virtually all the time, there are periods when nothing seems to get through. It's as if my antenna has been unplugged. Without a signal meter, it has been impossible to know that I had any noise at all since 25dB of noise sounds almost identical to 5 dB of noise, thanks to the white noise heard with FM modulation.

Over the last few weeks I have been able to make three clear observations.

1. Noise levels are constantly variable and timings are random.
2. Noise varies between 14dB - 30dB (No amplification. 4dB = antenna unplugged)
3. There is more than one noise source.

Now I see the picture more clearly I realise that the amounts of noise vary from day to day and it doesn't just depend on the the time of day, thus I can probably rule out thermostatically controlled devices. The intensity of the noise also varies, as does the overall 'sound' of the noise, which can be a smooth 'white noise' or a slightly rough growl. The noise fades in and out too, sometimes slowly over several minutes and sometimes more abruptly in a matter of seconds. It never seems to be instant, as if indicating that somebody has switched on some apparatus, as I had expected it to be.

23dB is more than the amount necessary to get a fully quieting mono signal. Typically I find that a 15 to 18 dB signal can be noise free, unless the noise is present, then a 30dB signal can be noisy. The noise tends to disappear overnight now, returning anytime between 0700 and 0930, according to recent observations. It can be gone at 10:00 or, as is usual, continue throughout the day.

Since the noise levels have become more intermittent here recently, I have been able to hear very weak scatter again. I have also experienced a big improvement in meteor scatter DX.

Sometimes the noise is just as strong in the vertical plane as it is in the horizontal. Sometimes vertical is much quieter. The noise can be stronger at the top of band 2 now, whereas it was always worse at the bottom until recently. Moreover, the direction of the noise now varies between north-east and south-east, though typically it comes from the east. This confirms that there is definitely more than one noise source.

It has always been assumed that the neighbouring property was the source of the noise: 1. Because the directions is correct and 2. because our neighbours use PLT devices and a lot of additional gadgetry due to having a handicapped son, lighting effects, video players, mechanical hoists, etc., much of which is left on constantly. However, our neighbours very recently had to go away for two days. While this doesn't prove or disprove anything, the noise continued in its random fashion throughout the duration of them being away.

Noise is the scourge of modern DXing and there's very little we can do about it, unless we have good neighbours and have the courage to approach them with the purpose of checking their equipment and finding solutions. Having consulted OFCOM recently I was shocked to learn that even relatively simple things like fish tank heaters have been known to propagate high levels of noise high into VHF at a distance of 5 miles!

There was also their story of the radio ham who moved to a remote location, several miles from anybody so he could escape noise. He suddenly discovered one day that he had devastating noise levels and traced them to electricity pylons several miles away.

If you have a clean, quiet band, enjoy it while you can. It may not last.

Skegness Log: 06-01-14 (FM)

Band 2 Meteor Scatter:
 94.6 0335 POL RMF FM, Poznan/Srem (WP) 3F44 ______Hz. AF: 93.5, 94.6, 94.8   1128km **

** Personal Skegness 'First' via this mode

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

Skegness Log: 05-01-14 (FM) More Midwinter Es !!

Band 2 Sporadic E:
 88.6 1914  I  Radio Delta 1, Roccamorice-Maiella-Fonte Tettone (pe) 535E R.DELTA1 - then 545E  1594km
 88.1 1916  I  RAI Radio1, Abriola/Monte Pierfaone (RAI) (pz) 5201 _RADIO1_  1824km
 87.7 1917  I  Veronica MyRadio, Tolentino/Colle Redentore (mc) Vocal ID and ads  1458km
 89.5 1918  I  RTL 102.5, Cammarata/Monte Cammarata (ag) 5218 RTL102.5  2008km
 87.5 1922  I  Radio Radicale, Villa Castelli/Monte Fellone (ta) OSqueaky OM, as web  1901km
 88.6 1926  I  RAI Radio1, Motta Montecorvino/Monte Sambuco (RAI) (fg) OM, as 88.1  1698km **
 87.8 1929  I  Ritmo 80, Corato/Monte Ripanno (ba) 5A72   1796km

** Personal Skegness 'First'

A late midwinter Es opening! Thanks to Andy P at Skywaves for the alert.

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