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Thursday, 26 February 2015

Skegness Log: 26-02-15 (FM)

Band 2 Meteor Scatter:
 89.1 0340  E  COPE, Nerva (AND-H) E2CA __PE____  1800km **

** Personal 'First'

I was going to comment that meteor scatter is getting really sparse now, especially since yesterday didn't produce a single catch, but I think the reason is more likely to do with the direction I am beaming since other DXers are still reporting activity. I have been looking for Ireland, Iceland and the Faroes. I'll give the west another bash again tomorrow morning, but I think it will be back the the east after this.

Good DX!

John Faulkner
Skegness, Lincolnshire (JO03dd) <3m ASL.
Blog: http://skegnessdx.blogspot.co.uk
YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/g1vvp
Vimeo Channel: https://vimeo.com/skegnessdx

Receiver:
Elad FDM-S2

Aerials:
Körner 9.2 @ 5.5 metres agl. QTH is 3 metres asl.
Triax FM3, one metre above the ground as a phasing antenna.
Fringe Electronics 20dB & Labgear 30dB band 2 pre-amps.
HS Publications Antenna Phaser.

Software:
Elad FDM-SW2, SDR Console & RDS Spy via VAC.

Rotator:
Yaesu G-5500 azimuth & elevation rotator, allowing antenna to be vertical, horizontal, etc.

Tuesday, 24 February 2015

Skegness Log: 24-02-15 (FM)

Band 2 Meteor Scatter:
 87.8 0314  E  Rock FM, León (CAL-LE) E2CF ______F_  1250km **
 88.2 0344  E  RNE Radio 3, Boal/Pico Penouta (AST-O) E213 RN______  1199km **
 87.6 0407  E  esRadio, Santiago de Compostela (GAL-C) E287   1315km
 90.6 0407  E  Los 40 Principales, Santiago de Compostela (GAL-C) E235  1321km

** Personal 'First'

A vertically polarised westerly 9.2 this morning!

An observation which may be of interest: The first meteor burst I noted this morning, at 0314, lasted four seconds and more than 20 stations, all of them Spanish I believe, came in solidly across the lower quarter of the band. Judging by their strength, each one of these stations *should* have produced RDS, but none did - all except for one station which looked far too weak for RDS, yet DID! The next burst at 0344 lasted roughly twice that length, with lots of good level signals, yet only one of them, which happened to be the weakest signal, delivered the goods. That's how it often is with meteor scatter.

Unfortunately, I forgot to delete yesterday's meteor scatter recordings from my hard drive (that's the sixth time I have forgotten this in two weeks. You think I'd learn!) and so I only grabbed one recording. It seems conditions were much better too so I wonder what other goodies might have been forthcoming.

A late evening 90 minute session with the 9,2 horizontally beaming north-north-west produced no meteor scatter at all.

Good DX!

John Faulkner
Skegness, Lincolnshire (JO03dd) <3m ASL.
Blog: http://skegnessdx.blogspot.co.uk
YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/g1vvp
Vimeo Channel: https://vimeo.com/skegnessdx

Receiver:
Elad FDM-S2

Aerials:
Körner 9.2 @ 5.5 metres agl. QTH is 3 metres asl.
Triax FM3, one metre above the ground as a phasing antenna.
Fringe Electronics 20dB & Labgear 30dB band 2 pre-amps.
HS Publications Antenna Phaser.

Software:
Elad FDM-SW2, SDR Console & RDS Spy via VAC.

Rotator:
Yaesu G-5500 azimuth & elevation rotator, allowing antenna to be vertical, horizontal, etc.

Monday, 23 February 2015

Skegness Log: 23-02-15 (FM)

Band 2 Meteor Scatter:
103.2 0746 CZE CRo Dvojka, Votice/Mezivrata (ST) 232E R-DVOJ__  1069km
105.5 0746 CZE Evropa 2, Votice/Mezivrata (ST) 2204  1069km

These two were the only stations identified with the antenna beamed north-north-west, horizontally! French and German language stations were also widely heard. I think this demonstrates the angle of refraction caused by the meteor trails.

There was one other interesting station which didn't come up strong enough for RDS, on 89.9. I didn't note the time but it was sometime after 0200. All that was heard was a blank carrier. I wondered if this could have been Kringvarp Foroya from the Faroe Islands, a 'wanted' country. Not many stations broadcast dead air overnight these days, unless I heard a lengthy gap between songs.

I'll be beaming west and vertically overnight tomorrow.

Good DX!

John Faulkner
Skegness, Lincolnshire (JO03dd) <3m ASL.
Blog: http://skegnessdx.blogspot.co.uk
YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/g1vvp
Vimeo Channel: https://vimeo.com/skegnessdx

Receiver:
Elad FDM-S2

Aerials:
Körner 9.2 @ 5.5 metres agl. QTH is 3 metres asl.
Triax FM3, one metre above the ground as a phasing antenna.
Fringe Electronics 20dB & Labgear 30dB band 2 pre-amps.
HS Publications Antenna Phaser.

Software:
Elad FDM-SW2, SDR Console & RDS Spy via VAC.

Rotator:
Yaesu G-5500 azimuth & elevation rotator, allowing antenna to be vertical, horizontal, etc.

Sunday, 22 February 2015

Skegness Log: 22-02-15 (FM)

Band 2 Meteor Scatter:
 97.6 0428  E  Cadena Dial, Santiago de Compostela (GAL-C) Pops, as 98.5  1315km **
 98.5 0428  E  Cadena Dial, Ferrol/Monte As Penas (GAL-C) E274 CA______  1247km **
 94.2 0450  E  Onda Cero, Pamplona=Iruña/El Perdón (NAV-NA) E2EE ON______  1168km **
105.0 0542  E  RNE Radio 5 Todo Noticias, Liérganes/Peña Cabarga (CNT-S) E515  1128km
100.8 0605  E  Onda Cero, Toledo (CAM-TO) E888 ONDA____  1510km
103.0 0605  E  Unika FM, Villaviciosa de Odón/Pinares Llanos (MAD-M) E42C  1458km
 92.4 2332  D  RBB Kulturradio, Berlin/Scholzplatz (brb) D323  868km

** Personal 'First'

All overnight loggings were made with the antenna pointing west-south-west and vertically. The late evening log saw the antenna horizontal and north-north-west. A few Swedish and Norwegian regulars also came in on this heading.

Good DX!

John Faulkner
Skegness, Lincolnshire (JO03dd) <3m ASL.
Blog: http://skegnessdx.blogspot.co.uk
YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/g1vvp
Vimeo Channel: https://vimeo.com/skegnessdx

Receiver:
Elad FDM-S2

Aerials:
Körner 9.2 @ 5.5 metres agl. QTH is 3 metres asl.
Triax FM3, one metre above the ground as a phasing antenna.
Fringe Electronics 20dB & Labgear 30dB band 2 pre-amps.
HS Publications Antenna Phaser.

Software:
Elad FDM-SW2, SDR Console & RDS Spy via VAC.

Rotator:
Yaesu G-5500 azimuth & elevation rotator, allowing antenna to be vertical, horizontal, etc.

Saturday, 21 February 2015

Skegness Log: 21-02-15 (FM)

Band 2 Meteor Scatter:
 94.4 0346 IRL RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta, Mullaghanish (CO) Gaelic YL, as 94.0  653km **
102.5 0536  E  RNE Radio Nacional, Gamoniteiro (AST-O) E211  1199km
104.8 0536  E  Onda Cero, Badajoz (EXT-BA) E777. Unlisted regional PI code.
               Thanks Janpeter Van Dijk for info on this  1682km **

** Personal 'First'

I took a gamble and beamed west overnight with the antenna vertical. These three were the only stations I managed to identify, but there was also frequent reception of an Italian talk station on 102.5. I never found out what that was. 

Good DX!

John Faulkner
Skegness, Lincolnshire (JO03dd) <3m ASL.
Blog: http://skegnessdx.blogspot.co.uk
YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/g1vvp
Vimeo Channel: https://vimeo.com/skegnessdx

Receiver:
Elad FDM-S2

Aerials:
Körner 9.2 @ 5.5 metres agl. QTH is 3 metres asl. 
Triax FM3, one metre above the ground as a phasing antenna.
Fringe Electronics 20dB & Labgear 30dB band 2 pre-amps.
HS Publications Antenna Phaser.

Software:
Elad FDM-SW2, SDR Console & RDS Spy via VAC.

Rotator:
Yaesu G-5500 azimuth & elevation rotator, allowing antenna to be vertical, horizontal, etc.

Friday, 20 February 2015

Skegness Log: 20-02-15 (FM)

Band 2 Meteor Scatter:
 96.5 0345  D  SWR3, Waldenburg (bwü) D3A3  786km
 98.5 0416 HRV HRT-HR 2, Zagreb/Sljeme (zg) C202 HRT-HR__  1381km **
 99.9 0538  D  SWR3, Heidelberg/Königstuhl, SWR (bwü) D3A3  717km **
102.8 0538  D  Radio Regenbogen, Heidelberg/Königstuhl, DTAG (bwü) D308 __GNBOGN  717km
105.6 0703  D  SWR4 Rheinland-Pfalz, Donnersberg (rlp) D7A4  656km
103.0 0718  D  SWR3, Grünten (Allgäu) [bay] (bwü) D3A3 __SWR3__  942km
106.9 0718  D  B5 aktuell, Grünten (Allgäu) (bay) D315 B5_akt__  942km

** Personal 'First'

Not a lot of meteor activity overnight, but the brief burst from the Grünten transmitter at 0718 was impressive. Videos here:

103.0 SWR3, Grünten: http://youtu.be/19iqraTwLJw
106.9 B5 Aktuell, Grünten: http://youtu.be/R_7zafK7vwc

Good DX!

John Faulkner
Skegness, Lincolnshire (JO03dd) <3m ASL.
Blog: http://skegnessdx.blogspot.co.uk
YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/g1vvp
Vimeo Channel: https://vimeo.com/skegnessdx

Receiver:
Elad FDM-S2

Aerials:
Körner 9.2 @ 5.5 metres agl. QTH is 3 metres asl.
Triax FM3, one metre above the ground as a phasing antenna.
Fringe Electronics 20dB & Labgear 30dB band 2 pre-amps.
HS Publications Antenna Phaser.

Software:
Elad FDM-SW2, SDR Console & RDS Spy via VAC.

Rotator:
Yaesu G-5500 azimuth & elevation rotator, allowing antenna to be vertical, horizontal, etc.

Thursday, 19 February 2015

Skegness Log: 19-02-15 (FM)

Band 2 Meteor Scatter:
 99.0 0609  I  RTR 99 - Radio Ti Ricordi, Rocca di Papa (rm) 5024  1568km **
101.3 0618  I  Radio Castel Bolognese-RCB, Brisighella/Angugnano-Via Rontana 50 (ra) 6FF3  1295km
101.7 0643 BEL AFN PowerNet, Everberg (vlg-vbr) 6037 ______ET  386km
100.4 0729  I  Radio Maria, Giano dell’Umbria/Monte Martano (pg) "Salvatore Jesu
               Christu", etc.  1464km **

102.8 0729  I  RDS - Radio Dimensione Suono, Multi-tx 5264 **
103.7 0729  I  Radio Subasio, Calvi dell’Umbria/Monte San Pancrazio (tr) 53FD SUBASI__  1499km
101.7 0753  I  Radio Subasio, San Venanzo/Ospedaletto-Monte Peglia (tr) 53FD SUBA____  1446km

** Personal 'First'

Good DX!

John Faulkner
Skegness, Lincolnshire (JO03dd) <3m ASL.
Blog: http://skegnessdx.blogspot.co.uk
YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/g1vvp
Vimeo Channel: https://vimeo.com/skegnessdx

Receiver:
Elad FDM-S2

Aerials:
Körner 9.2 @ 5.5 metres agl. QTH is 3 metres asl.
Triax FM3, one metre above the ground as a phasing antenna.
Fringe Electronics 20dB & Labgear 30dB band 2 pre-amps.
HS Publications Antenna Phaser.

Software:
Elad FDM-SW2, SDR Console & RDS Spy via VAC.

Rotator:
Yaesu G-5500 azimuth & elevation rotator, allowing antenna to be vertical, horizontal, etc.

Wednesday, 18 February 2015

Skegness Log: 18-02-15 (FM)

Band 2 Meteor Scatter:
 97.1 0439 POL RMF FM, Wloszczowa/Dobromierz (SK) 3F44  1356km
 95.8 1401  I  RAI Radio3, Trieste/Monte Belvedere (RAI) (ts) 5403 _RAD____  1278km
 97.0 1401 NOR NRK Petre, Greipstad/Eidsåvegen (va) Norwegian YL, as 96.1  734km **
 96.3 1458 POL PR Radio Opole, Kluczbork/Komin ECO (OP) 3401  1242km **
 96.3 1505 POL PR 3, Solina/G.Jawor II (PK) 3233  1591km **
 97.4 1505 POL PR Radio Kraków, Gorlice/Komin EC Gorlice (MP) 37FC _1__05__ _K______
               1491km **

 96.6 1514 NOR NRK P2, Grong/Geitfjellet (nt) F202  1422km
 97.7 1514  D  Deutschlandfunk (DLF), Berlin/Alexanderplatz (brb) D210 __DL____  880km
 98.4 1514 NOR NRK P2, Mosvik/Skavlen (nt) Presumed with Norwegian YL, as 96.6  1329km
 95.1 1634  S  SR P2, Skövde/Åsbotorp 2/Billingen TM (vg) E402  1023km **

** Personal 'First'

The 9.2 was vertical overnight, beamed east. The rest of the day I let the S2 record the middle of the band in the hope that some MS would topple Belmont 98.3. Nothing did though. I'll try again tomorrow. If I can just identify some MS on 98.3 I think the remaining Tacolneston frequencies should be relatively straight-forward.

Good DX!

John Faulkner
Skegness, Lincolnshire (JO03dd) <3m ASL.
Blog: http://skegnessdx.blogspot.co.uk
YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/g1vvp
Vimeo Channel: https://vimeo.com/skegnessdx

Receiver:
Elad FDM-S2

Aerials:
Körner 9.2 @ 5.5 metres agl. QTH is 3 metres asl.
Triax FM3, one metre above the ground as a phasing antenna.
Fringe Electronics 20dB & Labgear 30dB band 2 pre-amps.
HS Publications Antenna Phaser.

Software:
Elad FDM-SW2, SDR Console & RDS Spy via VAC.

Rotator:
Yaesu G-5500 azimuth & elevation rotator, allowing antenna to be vertical, horizontal, etc.

Tuesday, 17 February 2015

Skegness Log: 17-02-15 (FM)

Band 2 Meteor Scatter:
 98.0 0421  I  Radio Onda d'Urto, Milano (mi) 53BA  1072km
 94.1 1659 NOR NRK P1, Frederikstad/Sprinklerfjell (of) F201  937km **
 94.8 1659 NOR NRK P1, Halden 1/Høyåsmasten (of) OM talking, as 94.1  958km **
 99.2 1659  S  SR P3, Sundsvall/Södra Stadsberget TM (vn) E203  1429km
 96.3 1702 NOR NRK P2, Gamlemsveten (mr) F202. Norwegian YL  1105km **
 98.0 2050  S  SR P3, Malmö/Jägersro TM (sn) E203  866km **
 95.3 2147 NOR NRK P2, Bagn 1/Kjeldeknatten (op) F202 __RK____  1019km
 96.4 2147 NOR NRK P2, Gausta/Gaustatoppen (te) F202  902km
 97.1 2147 NOR NRK P2, Nordhue (he) F202 _N___P2_  1094km

** Personal 'First'

Good DX!

John Faulkner
Skegness, Lincolnshire (JO03dd) <3m ASL.
Blog: http://skegnessdx.blogspot.co.uk
YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/g1vvp
Vimeo Channel: https://vimeo.com/skegnessdx

Receiver:
Elad FDM-S2

Aerials:
Körner 9.2 @ 5.5 metres agl. QTH is 3 metres asl.
Triax FM3, one metre above the ground as a phasing antenna.
Fringe Electronics 20dB & Labgear 30dB band 2 pre-amps.
HS Publications Antenna Phaser.

Software:
Elad FDM-SW2, SDR Console & RDS Spy via VAC.

Rotator:
Yaesu G-5500 azimuth & elevation rotator, allowing antenna to be vertical, horizontal, etc.

Monday, 16 February 2015

Skegness Log: 16-02-15 (FM)

Band 2 Meteor Scatter:
 88.6 0303  I  Radio Radicale, Rocca di Papa/Monte Cavo vetta (rm) 5210 __DI____  1568km
105.3 0702  I  Dimensione Suono Due, Rocca di Papa/Monte Cavo (rm) 5E43  1568km
103.0 0708 POL PR Radio Zachód, Zielona Góra/Jemiolów (LU) 3267  1008km
105.3 0747  I  Radio Italia Solo Musica Italiana, Meldola (fc) 5220  1328km

A difficult night in which I was lucky to hear anything due to severe noise across most of the band.

Good DX!

John Faulkner
Skegness, Lincolnshire (JO03dd) <3m ASL.
Blog: http://skegnessdx.blogspot.co.uk
YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/g1vvp
Vimeo Channel: https://vimeo.com/skegnessdx

Receiver:
Elad FDM-S2

Aerials:
Körner 9.2 @ 5.5 metres agl. QTH is 3 metres asl.
Triax FM3, one metre above the ground as a phasing antenna.
Fringe Electronics 20dB & Labgear 30dB band 2 pre-amps.
HS Publications Antenna Phaser.

Software:
Elad FDM-SW2, SDR Console & RDS Spy via VAC.

Rotator:
Yaesu G-5500 azimuth & elevation rotator, allowing antenna to be vertical, horizontal, etc.