Skegness Log: 05-04-14 (FM)

Band 2 Meteor Scatter: 05-04-14:
 95.5 0012  D  SR 3 Saarlandwelle, Göttelborner Höhe (saa) Bee Gees song, as web  629km **
 95.5 0629  D  BR Klassik, Büttelberg (bay) Piano concerto, as web  812km **
 95.5 0706  F  France Musique, Clermont-Ferrand/Puy-de-Dôme (63) YL news, as web.   842km **
 95.5 0721  D  hr2, Hoher Meißner (hes) Talking about Baroque music, as web  684km **

Band 2 Scatter: 05-04-14:
102.5 1613 BEL Q-Music, Genk/VRT Zendmast (vlg-lim) Suddenly over Radio 538  431km
102.5 1613 HOL Radio 538, Tjerkgaast/Alticom Toren (fri) Dutch OM, as web  360km
102.9 1614 BEL Nostalgie Vlaanderen, Schoten (vlg-ant) Commodores Brick House, as web  354km
100.8 1629  D  WDR 2, Aachen/Stolberg (nrw) ID and verkehrsservice  483km
101.0 1630  D  WDR 2, Bärbelkreuz (Eifel) (nrw) Verkehrsservice, as 100.8  519km
105.5 1631  D  WDR Eins Live, Bärbelkreuz (Eifel) (nrw) Pops, as 106.7  519km
103.1 1635 BEL Q-Music, Sint-Pieters-Leeuw/Norkring Toren (vlg-vbr) Pops, as web  376km
103.5 1649 HOL Radio Veronica, Roosendaal/Alticom Toren (nbr) Briefly over Essex with
               pops, as web  334km
103.5 1655 HOL Radio Gelderland, Ugchelen/Alticom Toren (gel) End of song and OM ID  391km
 99.8 1656  D  NDR 2, Steinkimmen (nds) Fade in. Soft rock song, as web  543km
 93.5 1657  D  WDR 2, Nordhelle (nrw) Marillion song, as web  553km
 90.6 1659  D  WDR 5, Teutoburger Wald/Bielstein (nrw) German OM, as web  591km
 93.2 1659  D  WDR 2, Teutoburger Wald/Bielstein (nrw) Marillion song, as 93.5  591km

** Personal Skegness 'First' via MS

95.5 was interesting overnight in that the overwhelming majority of pings and bursts were from SR3, Gottelborner Hohe. Of the few which were not SR3 (four or five pings) they were from a mystery classical music station and one I did not record. Other transmitters started to come in after 0600, France Musique being the most consistent, very likely the Clermont Ferrand transmitter.

All general scatter was received with the FM5 horizontal. I re-positioned this vertically during the afternoon but it killed off all the scatter, with the exception of Langenberg. Back in horizontal again and the Dutch scatter returned. When my one metre high FM3 and FM5 were vertical at the last QTH I noticed the same lack of scatter. Vertical really does not work well on band 2 when low down.

Good DX!

John Faulkner, Skegness, Lincolnshire (JO03dd) <3m ASL.
Blog: http://skegnessdx.blogspot.co.uk

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

Aerial:
Triax FM5, one meter AGL, fixed south-east.

Skegness Log: 04-04-14 (FM)

Band 2 Meteor Scatter: 04-04-14:
 94.0 0037  F  France Musique, Vittel/Thuillières (88) Jazzy classical piece, as web 
               684km **
 94.0 0238  D  Bayern 3, Lindau/Hoyerberg (bay) Michael Sembellos Maniac, as web  907km **
 94.0 0256  F  France Culture, perhaps Bergerac. Strange twangy music, as web **
 94.0 0800  G  BBC Radio 4, Limavady most likely off the back. Corrie Corfield reading
               the News **

Band 2 Scatter: 04-04-14:
 91.7 0846 BEL VRT Radio 1, Sint-Pieters-Leeuw/Norkring Toren (vlg-vbr) Nice noise free
               peak. OM talking about chocolate!  376km
 97.5 0857 BEL VRT Radio 2, Schoten (vlg-ant) Dutch OM, as web  354km
 97.8 0857 HOL NPO Radio 2, Westdorpe/Verkavelingsweg (zee) Ad break  322km
 99.5 0858 BEL RTBF Musiq'3, Liège/Bol d'Air (wal-lge) Classical music, as web  459km
100.0 0858  D  WDR 4, Münster/Baumberg (nrw) German OM ID in ads  493km
100.3 0858 HOL L1 Radio, Roermond/Alticom Toren (lim) Punt NL web address in ad  443km
102.0 0859 BEL VRT MNM, Genk/VRT Zendmast (vlg-lim) Dutch ads  431km
 90.2 0900 HOL 100% NL, Roosendaal/Alticom Toren (nbr) ID and news  334km
 90.7 0900 HOL SubLime FM, IJsselstein/Gerbrandytoren-Alticom (utr) Fiat ad, punt NL
               address, ads running over the hour  344km
 90.8 0901 BEL RTBF Classic 21, Profondeville-Rivière/Sart à Soile (wal-nam) ID - RTBF
               Classic 21 Ecoutez Original. Noise free  440km
 91.0 0902 HOL Slam!FM, Tjerkgaast/Alticom Toren (fri) OM ID. Not the usual Omroep Brabant 
               360km
 91.1 0903 HOL Slam!FM, Hilversum/Media Park-Alticom (nho) Fast talking OM news, as 
               91.0  341km
 91.4 0903 HOL NPO Radio 4, Markelo/Alticom Toren (ove) Classical music  424km

** Personal Skegness 'First' via the respective mode

Another "one metre high DX session"! Maybe I should class this as an ultralight log? It was quite a rapid-fire session though with lots of Dutch stations coming up very suddenly on aircraft scatter, some leaping out well above the noise. I have noticed a scatter good peak around this time before.

Good DX!

John Faulkner, Skegness, Lincolnshire (JO03dd) <3m ASL.
Blog: http://skegnessdx.blogspot.co.uk

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

Aerial:
Triax FM5, one meter AGL, fixed south-east.

Skegness Log: 03-04-14 (FM)

Band 2 Meteor Scatter: 03-04-14:
107.5 0025  D  BB Radio, Berlin/Schäferberg (brb) Pops, as web  864km
107.5 0035  D  SWR4 Baden-Württemberg, Buchen/Walldürner Str. (bwü) OM traffic in six
               second burst, as web  743km

Band 2 Aircraft Scatter: 03-04-14:
 88.6 0850 HOL NPO 3FM, Smilde/Alticom Toren (dre) U2 song, as web  407km
 91.1 0855  D  NDR 1 Niedersachsen, Steinkimmen (nds) Diana Ross song, as web  543km
 95.4 0900  F  France Inter, Amiens/Saint-Just-en-Chaussée [60] (80) YL, as 103.7  431km
 96.1 0901 BEL RTBF La Première, Wavre (wal-bra) OM, as web  396km
 96.6 0907 BEL RTBF Pure FM, Anderlues/Mont-Sainte-Geneviève (wal-hnt) Pops, as web.
               Noise free peak  409km
101.2 0914 HOL Sky Radio, Hilversum/Media Park-Alticom (nho) Pops, as web  341km
101.8 0915  D  Deutschlandfunk (DLF), Aurich (nds) German OM, as web  478km
106.7 1050  D  WDR Eins Live, Langenberg/Hordtberg (nrw) ID jingle between songs  504km
104.8 1051 HOL NPO Radio 1, Roermond/Alticom Toren (lim) Dutch OM, as web  443km
 91.1 1055 HOL Slam!FM, Hilversum/Media Park-Alticom (nho) Pops, as web  341km
 95.2 1055 HOL Slam!FM, Alphen aan den Rijn/Alticom Toren (zho) Pops, as 91.1  312km
 91.0 1057  F  Le Mouv', Lille/Mons-en-Baroeul 1 (59) Brief peak. Discussion, as web  338km
 92.8 1731 BEL RTBF Musiq'3, Profondeville-Rivière/Sart à Soile (wal-nam) Noise free peak 
               440km
 93.2 1732 BEL RTBF Classic 21, Brussel/Financietoren=Bruxelles/Tour des Finances (bru)
               Lee Dorsey song, as web  376km
103.1 1734 BEL Q-Music, Sint-Pieters-Leeuw/Norkring Toren (vlg-vbr) Retro sounding disco
               track, as web  376km
104.0 1736  D  big fm (Rheinland-Pfalz), Koblenz/Kühkopf (rlp) Club track, as web  590km
100.4 1738 HOL Q-music, Smilde/Alticom Toren (dre) Pops,as 100.7  407km
100.8 1739  D  WDR 2, Aachen/Stolberg (nrw) Almost noise free  483km
100.9 1740 BEL VRT Studio Brussel, Schoten (vlg-ant) Rock track, as 102.1  354km
101.0 1740  D  WDR 2, Bärbelkreuz (Eifel) (nrw) Same YL, as 100.8  519km
107.9 1741  D  WDR Eins Live, Münster/Baumberg (nrw) Acoustic track, as 106.7  493km

** Personal Skegness 'First' via the respective mode

Good DX!

John Faulkner, Skegness, Lincolnshire (JO03dd) <3m ASL.
Blog: http://skegnessdx.blogspot.co.uk

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

Aerial:
Triax FM5, five meters AGL.

Skegness Log: 02-04-14 (FM)

Band 2 Meteor Scatter: 02-04-14:
107.8 0013 SUI RSI Rete Uno, Säntis (ar) Laid back pop song, as web  917km **
107.8 0137 POL Radio Zet, Tarnów/Lichwin (MP) Polish song, as web  1465km **
107.8 0703  D  BB Radio, Frankfurt (Oder) Booßen (brb) Eight second burst. YL phone
               caller with music behind, as web  951km **
 93.3 1625 POL RMF FM, Bydgoszcz/Trzeciewiec (KP) Polish ads, as web. Three second
               burst  1186km **
 93.3 1742 HRV HRT-HR 1, Beli Manastir (os) YL interview, as web  1552km ** 
107.5 2314  D  BB Radio, Berlin/Schäferberg (brb) Adele song, as web. Listening live  864km **
107.5 2326  D  SWR4 Baden-Württemberg, Buchen/Walldürner Str. (bwü) OM talk and traffic,
               as web  743km **

** Personal Skegness 'First' via MS.

Good DX!

John Faulkner, Skegness, Lincolnshire (JO03dd) <3m ASL.
Blog: http://skegnessdx.blogspot.co.uk

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

Aerial:
Triax FM5, one meter AGL.

Common Sense Prevails

Following a visit from the planning officer from the new housing association, permission has, thankfully, been granted from the 9.2. Phew! However, after the gentleman had left I discovered that the G-5500 rotator had not been included in his notes. I doubt this will be a problem but will get in touch with the planning department tomorrow to add this.

It seems the neighbour complaint was simply because they were worried that the FM5 I had been using temporarily would collapse into her property and cause damage or injury. As I explained in my previous blog entry this is just not likely to happen due to the trees. The planning officer saw this and took photos of the conifers, so I presume the neighbour is going to be asked to cut down or remove the conifers. Conifers are not allowed in these properties it seems.

I have been instructed not to go ahead with the installation until I have received official written permission. I have also been told that I need to provide proof of insurance cover and have the 9.2 fitted by a professional aerial installer, providing a receipt. Everything is covered this way. Luckily I know a good company whose price is very reasonable.

It's things like this which make me feel slightly disillusioned about the whole hobby. While DXing is straight-forward enough, the hobby is considered slightly off the beaten track by most people and downright weird to some. I dread to think what the neighbours will think to a rotating aerial once it is erected. Will it attract unwanted attention? This was highlighted very nicely at the previous address. Even children would stop me in the street to ask what the aerial was and what I was listening to with it. That makes a change from people thinking I am a spy or working for the police - yes, that happens too. The problem I have is that it all leaves me feeling quite isolated and 'different'. An unwanted centre of attention.

I wish I could just enjoy the hobby without having to worry what people think. I know I shouldn't let this bother me, but it does bother me as what I am doing is publicly visible and some people seem slightly scared by it. Or they see me as some kind of freak. I have known so many other hobbyists suffer this problem. Hopefully it will just make people leave me alone ;O)

Körner 9.2 Installation Halted

After all the problems we had with aerials and neighbours at our last address, I had hoped for better things here. It seems this may not be the case. Neighbours! Damn neighbours! 

After already being granted verbal permission to erect the 9.2 antenna, our new local housing association planning department telephoned me yesterday to halt today's installation of my 9.2, on the grounds that my temporary FM5 antenna had fallen into a neighbour's garden. Let me assure you it most certainly had not. The neighbour in question has a small row of very tall conifer trees which would not allow such a thing to happen. These are actually higher than my FM5. Maybe I should complain that the same conifers have spread several feet into our garden. So much so, in fact, that there is no room for me to rotate my FM5 aerial easily where it is. Even the planning officer wondered if this was a slight exaggeration on the part of the neighbour if she was only concerned that the FM5 might fall into her garden. That's not how the complaint was received, however. Either way, it couldn't possibly have fallen anywhere as it was pressed firmly against the bungalow wall by the trees.

This neighbour has always seemed friendly, and even spoke to us this morning, but she obviously did not wish to confront us face to face about this matter.

So, our new planning officer said I would now have to go via East Lindsey District Council's Planning Department and obtain written permission to have my 9.2 erected, which he doubted they would approve. This would cost me £72. It actually costs around £400 should it need to go to the Public Notice stage, after which they could still refuse permission and not have to refund the fee, but such planning applications would usually be necessary only for larger structures, such as tall lattice towers, etc. I am really surprised to be referred to the local council.

The new planning officer also decided that he needed to check whether there might be a local covenant which restricts aerials at the new property. Personally, I would very much doubt this to be the case as many of the bungalows around here have unusually large masts for their television aerials, some as high as 20 feet above the rooftops. I would consider it very unfair if I were refused, so I hope common sense wins in the end.

After his visit, I telephoned ELDC and described the nature of my request, giving the physical size of the 9.2 antenna, including details about the rotator, etc., and the officer there said this was not an 'unusual' request and was classed as a "De Minimis" issue and so would not need written permission. I had not heard of this expression before, but it basically means that this is a simple domestic matter which does not require full planning permission. Phew! The officer referred me back to the local housing officer, who is now due to visit us later today as a result and will either grant or refuse permission for my 9.2 and the rotator, based on how he sees it.

If permission is refused then I am not even allowed to have a free-standing FM aerial. If this happens then I will need to take the matter further as I cannot see that it is reasonable for the planning department to disallow something as simple as an FM radio antenna, though I wonder if I may have to scale things down and use something like an FM3.

Somewhat dismayed.

A Flag Antenna For Medium Wave

As DXers, we are constantly trying to improve our DXing setup: Increasing antenna height; Adding gadgets; Buying new receivers; Trying to cut down on noise, etc. Each improvement, no matter how small, is a step in the right direction. As a certain supermarket says, "Every little helps". If you are lucky, you might change something which makes a BIG difference. For me, changing from the cardioid loop to a flag antenna was one of those BIG improvements.

With the exception of changing from an analogue receiver, my AOR AR7030 in this case, to an SDR, the switch from a loop to a flag antenna easily made the second biggest improvement I have ever made to my medium wave DXing, its performance being far better than I had expected. Other articles I have read concerning the flag antenna only back this up. Compare the flag with other antennas and you'll immediately see why it is the preferred choice of many DXers, especially on the medium wave band.

Longwire Antenna:
Take the longwire antenna for starters, it's a random length of wire, strung out between two points. It's a general receiving antenna in every sense of the word. It works well enough, but it's omnidirectional and so picks up everything from all directions. The longwire is a great starter antenna.

Loop Antenna:
The loop antenna has three useful features. 1. It is inductively linked to your receiver, which means there is isolation between the antenna and the sources of QRM in the shack. 2. The loop antenna is bi-directional, having a 'figure of eight' pattern. 3. Some loop antennas are tuned with a variable capacitor which can offer a high amount of 'Q' and so can potentially reduce receiver overloading if you have multiple strong local signals.

Cardioid Loop Antenna:
This is an amalgamation of the loop antenna and longwire. It is possible to adjust the amplitude and phase of the antennas via a simple control box which chops off one of the lobes, resulting in the loop becoming a unidirectional antenna. I used to use such an array in my early days of medium wave DXing. It was possible to point one side of the loop in the direction of North America, a favourite target of mine, while reducing co-channel and adjacent channel interference from European stations coming in off the 'back' of the loop. This was reasonably easy since North America and most of Europe are received on opposite sides of the loop here in the UK. The deep nulls produced with the phasing controls would remove most problem European stations.

There was just one small drawback with the loop and longwire phasing system: The loop antenna is a high-angle receiving antenna, which meant that I could usually hear only east coast North American signals and nothing from the west coast - a target area of many medium wave DXers in the UK. This always seemed to be the case, even when conditions were good.

Beverage Antenna. 
Named after its inventor, Doctor Harold Beverage from Maine, USA, the beverage is simply an untuned longwire. It is often used by medium wave DXers and is probably one of the simplest antennas to make. You need a lot of room though as they need to be at least half a wavelength long, so for medium wave, that would translate to 100 - 200 metres, though it is quite a forgiving, broadband antenna and they usually work well outside the designated frequencies. A full wavelength Beverage for medium wave would be 300 metres in length so it matches the centre of the band. The Beverage has a unidirectional pattern, but medium wave DXers will know that its strength comes from being a low-angle receiving antenna, so it is better at receiving signals from greater distances.

Flag Antenna:
Enter the genius of the flag antenna! Somehow, this simple construction manages to capture the more desirable qualities of all the other antennas put together ... qualities the medium wave DXer needs.

Call this a ewe antenna if you like. The main difference is the bottom of the vertical legs are joined together, as opposed to be being grounded as with the ewe. This antenna is fed at the bottom of one of the legs, though some designs are fed in the centre. There are various designs with slightly different characteristics, so there may be minor discrepancies here and there as to exactly what a flag (or ewe) antenna is. The design above still makes a superb DX antenna for the medium and long wave bands combined.

Benefits of the flag antenna:

      * A decent amount of pick-up for such a compact antenna.

      * A broad beamwidth, useful for receiving all the Americas from my QTH, for instance.
      * A broad and deep null width.
      * A low angle receiver, similar to the Beverage antenna.
      * Physical isolation via the transformer, thus potentially reducing noise pickup.
      * Broadband reception from long wave through to the tropical bands.
      * Adjustable nulls, but without urgent need to retune for different parts of the band.

While the latter point is generally true, fine adjustments can be made which may offer some improvement, though for the most part you will find that once you tune in a null on the flag to the centre of medium wave, it will be experienced across the rest of the band, to a greater or lesser, but still highly usable degree. This is the case for me at least and I do not see any obvious improvement when I re-tune the null to a specific part of the band.

Note:
If you double the size of the flag, you will receive more signal level, but the null may be less effective and certainly not as deep. This effect has been noticed by several DXers. It may just be a case of individual quirks, but my own experience has found significantly poorer performance when the flag has been increased in size beyond the dimensions specified in the image above.

The flag antenna is basically the same as the ewe antenna regarding construction, apart from the lower wire which connects the bottom of both verticals, as opposed to grounding them. The letters "ewe" do not mean "east west east", but you can understand how this common misconception came to be when you consider the needs of the UK medium wave DXers. It actually refers to the shape of the antenna - i.e. an inverted "U" antenna.

Those who have tried both the ewe and the flag, as have I, will probably find the flag antenna offers deeper nulls. It is my personal favourite of the two, but both antennas are more than capable of providing good DX.

Further reading:

W7IUV Rotatable Flag for 160m
K6SE Flag Antenna
The EWE In The Garden - by Michael Schnitzer
Various articles about the Flag Antenna on the Hardcore DX website
W0BTU Beverage Receiving Antennas

John Faulkner

Skegness Log: 26-03-14 (FM)

Band 2 Scatter: 26-03-14:
 89.2 1104 D NDR 2, Osnabrück/Schleptruper Egge (nds) News, as web  525km
 89.9 1105 D NDR Kultur, Torfhaus (Harz-West) (nds) Almost noise free!  707km
 94.6 1105 D MDR 1 Radio Sachsen-Anhalt, Brocken (san) End of news and ID  712km
 92.1 1106 D NDR 2, Torfhaus (Harz-West) (nds) End of news and ID. Almost noise free!  707km
 92.4 1109 D NDR 1 Niedersachsen, Osnabrück/Schleptruper Egge (nds) As web. Mixing with
             Linz  525km
 92.4 1110 D SWR1 Rheinland-Pfalz, Linz (Rhein)/Ginsterhahner Kopf (rlp) As web.
             Mixing with Osnabruck  560km
 99.0 1114 D HR1, Hoher Meißner (hes) German YL, as web. Very weak  684km
107.8 1119 D MDR Figaro, Brocken (san) Latin styled song, as web  712km
 90.2 1121 D MDR JUMP, Inselsberg (thü) German OM talking, as web. Briefly on Lingen
             fade  739km
 95.3 1131 D YOU FM (hr), Hardberg (hes) Pops, as web. V weak  712km

The FM5 is about 2m above the rooftop and is showing what is possible with average winter conditions. Nearer German scatter was much weaker today. I was amazed to hear Torfhaus on 92.1 virtually noise free when I tuned on the frequency. Koblenz and Linz were also virtually noise free. This means the FM5 is working at least as well as it used to when it was on the garden mast at the last QTH. Still no word from the planning department regarding getting the 9.2 on the roof. I have been told this could take quite some time.

Good DX!

John Faulkner, Skegness, Lincolnshire (JO03dd) <3m ASL.
Blog: http://skegnessdx.blogspot.co.uk

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

Aerial:
Triax FM5, five meters AGL.

FM Video Bandscan

This is a sample of the pick of the continental DX received here today on band 2. My receiver is a Sony XDR-F1HD with the Konrad i2c modification, controlled by the GTK software. I used this with a Triax FM5, at five metres above the ground, beamed in a south-easterly direction.

Reception is via aircraft scatter, but you will hear a few meteor pings here and there.

I typed the name of each station and the transmitter site at the bottom of the window in dark red. Being familiar with the band here I can say with certainty what each station was, but I was lucky with IDs today so there are plenty to hear.

Conditions were variable, as they usually are here, but about average for the time of year.

Good DX!

John

Skegness Log: 23-03-14 (FM)

Band 2 Meteor Scatter: 23-03-14:
107.9 0058  D  Radio TON Neckar Alb, Sickingen/Wasserturm (bwü) Slow pop song, as web 
               806km **
107.9 0114  D  R SA, Döbeln (1kW) or Auerbach (100W)  Blues rock track, as web **
107.9 0152  D  delta radio, Lübeck Berkenthin (shs) Billy Idol styled song, as web.
               Two second burst  690km **
107.9 0154  D  Rockland Radio, Hohe Wurzel [hes] 6.2kW or Bitburg (100W) Heart song, as web **

** Personal Skegness 'First'

I recorded 107.9 once again in the hope that I might catch some low power German stations and tonight I got lucky!

I was able to record all German language web streams, including those from Austria, with the exception of Einslive which already comes in well on scatter. This way I would be able to determine which stations were carrying shared overnight programming, thus reducing the risk of logging the wrong station. And another surprise - I never expected to hear such regularity of two low power stations.

Radio TON Neckar Alb and R SA became the most common bursters on this frequency tonight, whereas they were not heard at all on previous nights - I only heard the higher powered regulars. Rockland Radio was also a nice catch, but both Rockland and SA have two transmitters on the frequency so I cannot be sure which one I received.

Another interesting thing is that all loggings and observations were made within the first hour of monitoring. Meteor scatter suddenly dropped down after this.

Despite a very disturbed day with thunder storms, scatter has been superb.

Good DX!

John Faulkner, Skegness, Lincolnshire (JO03dd) <3m ASL.
Blog: http://skegnessdx.blogspot.co.uk

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

Aerial:
Triax FM5, five meters AGL.