Skegness Scatter

This is an ongoing project. Page last updated 04-07-13

The following has been put together over a period of time. It is not possible to enjoy this kind of reception on a daily bases due to the amount of noise I often experience.

The following are examples of scatter propagation at home in Skegness, using a Sony XDR-F1HD and rooftop Körner 9.2 antenna. "Scatter" modes includes Aircraft Scatter, Meteor Scatter, Troposcatter, among others. First, a brief explanation of what they are.

Aircraft Scatter
As the name suggests, aircraft scatter is caused by the reflection of radio signals by passing aircraft, usually at the midpoint of the path and so are out of sight. It can be quite localised too with visible planes causing a fluttery effect on semi-local signals. Multiple reflections are often heard and signals can propagate over many hundreds of kilometers with an upper limit said to be around 800 km. There tends to be a more regular pattern of fading with aircraft scatter.

Meteor Scatter
Meteors burn up when they enter the earth's atmosphere and leave a train of ionisation where they do. That ionisation is capable of reflecting signals at VHF frequencies, causing them to travel around 1000 km. Optimum distances range from a few hundred km to around 2000 km, although signal strengths taper off substantially above 1800 km. The meteors need to be near to the visible horizon to be effective for propagation at VHF frequencies. If they are overhead you will hear nothing.

Troposcatter
An often misunderstood form of scatter which is present constantly and varies. I am not entirely sure I fully understand this one as I have read that signals fade in once, peak and then fade out again over 20 - 30 seconds, but other articles say it is fluttery in nature and sounds very much like aircraft scatter. Distances achievable are similar to those of aircraft scatter but perhaps slightly further too. 1000 km seems to be around the upper limit.

Recordings
87.9 Meteor Scatter Burst 1549 29-04-13
In this recording, two stations battle it out to take control of the frequency.

90.2 100%NL, Roosendaal 1310 26-05-13 (aircraft scatter)
Regular daily scatter on the vertical 9.2 at 334 km.

90.6 France Inter, Nantes 1251 03-06-13 (Aircraft Scatter)
This one never gets above weak and the reception tends to be much shorter in duration, only lasting a few seconds. Still not bad going at 675 km.

90.7 Sublime FM, Ijsselstein 1420 26-05-13 (aircraft scatter)
One of the most consistent stations from Holland. 344 km.

91.4 France Musique, Troyes 1559 20-05-13 (aircraft scatter)
At 643 km, Troyes represents one of my most distant and consistent daily scatter signals.

91.8 France Musique, Bourges 1121 27-05-13 (aircraft scatter)
Considering this is 672 km away, the Bourges transmitter can be heard most days. At best it can reach noise free stereo levels. There is also a brief meteor burst six seconds into the recording, presumably from Chaine 2 from Afkadou in Morocco, a distance of 1867 km.

92.8 RTBF Musiq 3, Profondeville 0650 28-05-13 (aircraft scatter)
This classical music station can be quite variable. 441 km.

95.2 BBC Radio Oxford, Oxford 1156 03-06-13 (aircraft scatter?)
I couldn't guess the propagation mode on this. It always sounds so stable, yet I never felt that this station got out well to the north-west, i.e. in the direction of Skegness. This is from experience from frequent trips down the M40 or M5. It can disappear under very poor winter type conditions. Occasionally it even gets swamped by scatter peaks from BBC Radio Cornwall. You will hear a bit of burbling from that on this recording but I will try to catch a better example of this in the coming days. BBC Radio Oxford is 182 km. BBC Radio Cornwall is 439 km.

95.4 France Inter, Brest 1000 17-5-13 (aircraft scatter)
This can easily be separated from co-channel Amiens by beaming south-west. Some good signal levels can be achieved from this high power transmitter in Brittany. 604 km.

96.1 BBC Radio Solent, Rowridge 1027 27-05-13 (aircraft scatter)
Rowridge serves Hampshire and the Isle Of Wight. It doesn't do too badly to Skegness either. 298 km

96.6 Pure FM, Anderlues 1520 22-05-13 (aircraft scatter)
Anderlues was always one of the more difficult to receive Belgian transmitters. It tends to do better here during spells of warmer weather. 409 km.

97.1 Radio Carmarthenshire, Carmel 1306 03-06-13 (aircraft scatter)
Covering south-west Wales and Skegness! Well, just. It never gets above very weak. This is 3kW at 332 km.

97.8 NOS2, Westdorpe 1625 26-05-13 (troposcatter)
Formerly the Philippine trasmitter, Westdorpe provides another consistent signal on the east coast. 323 km.

99.0 France Culture, Marseille 0653 12-08-12 (meteor scatter)
The Marseille transmitter is a 400kW powerhouse and can be heard frequently via meteor scatter. It is sometimes capable of producing a full RDS signal. In this recording you will hear me briefly connecting to their web stream to confirm this was indeed Marseille. 1149 km.

99.1 RTBF CLassic 21, Anderlues 1053 26-06-13 (aircraft scatter)
This is a long recording of a single multiple peak of aircraft scatter, though some minor tropo could be at play. The signal tries to peak, then drops, then suddenly lifts from nowhere for a peak which lasts almost five minutes. You can hear the flutter from time to time so the signal had peaked above the noise floor, making it sound like stable tropo. More than one aircraft is probably at play here. Anderlues is 409 km from Skegness and this recording represents an above average peak.

100.7 100 Comma 7, Dudelange 0907 21-01-13 (troposcatter)
100 Comma 7 is another regular visitor, often audible all day long and regularly produces RDS. 573 km.

100.7 France Bleu Cotentin, Cherbourg (aircraft scatter)
This 4kW transmitter came as a surprise and is testament to the superbly designed Körner 9.2 antenna. It looks like this is going to be one of my regular scatter stations. You will hear a brief snippet of their web stream which I used to double check that I was receiving Cherbourg. I can also hear their 800 Watt France Culture transmitter on 89.2 via scatter, though much weaker. 413 km.

100.7 Q Music, Ijsselstein 1258 26-05-13 (aircraft scatter)
A Dutch regular. It can be heard on a car radio while driving around town. 344 km.

101.2 Sky Radio, Hilversum 1351 26-05-13 (aircraft scatter)
Another Dutch regular which can be heard a car radio while driving around town. 342 km.

102.1 Studio Brussel, Egem 1030 03-06-13 (aircraft scatter)
This one used to to be very difficult to hear due to my local station Lincs FM on 102.2 from nearby Belmont, 39 km to the north-west, but the 9.2 effortlessly lifts Belmont out of the equation. 309 km.

102.6 RTBF Musiq' 3, Tournai xf France Bleu Basse Normandie, Caen 1105 24-06-13 (aircraft scatter)
Not the best example, but here's how RTBF Musiq' 3 and France Culture Basse Normandie constantly battle it out together. Often Heart from Oxford tries to break up the fight but usually fails. I am rotating the 9.2 from around 160 degrees to 190 degrees here. Tournai is 351 km and Caen is 469 km.

102.7 Radio 538, Rotterdam 1302 26-05-13 (aircraft scatter)
Heart from Peterborough, a semi-local station 111 km to the south-east, usually takes charge of 102.7. If I beam away to the east I receive this. Rotterdam is 313 km.

103.1 France Bleu Armoriques, Rennes 1015 24-06-13 (aircraft scatter)
This transmitter is something of a pest, which is hard to believe when you consider that Rennes is 564 km away. This is a powerful transmitter though at 100kW so the aircraft scatter carries it effortlessly. It is constantly wrestling with Heart Kent from Bluebell Hill, which you can just hear at the beginning of this recording.

103.2 France Bleu Berry Sud, Bourges 1020 16-06-13 (aircraft scatter)
This is not a daily station, but it can put in some half decent signals. It is lower power than the national outlets from Bourges so that is probably why it is less frequent here. On this recording you will hear a couple of typical fade-ins, the second one with a web stream accompaniment. 15 kW at 672 km is quite amazing.

103.3 Funkhaus Europa, Langenberg 1020 14-06-13 (aircraft scatter)
The noise was kind today. Langenberg was permitted to poke through very readily today. Not great signals but above the general noise level. 505 km.

103.9 BBC Radio Wales, Wenvoe & BBC Radio Cornwall, Redruth 1235 03-06-13 (Aircraft Scatter)
These two can often be heard scrapping for control of the frequency. Wenvoe usually wins hands down! Wenvoe is 309 km and Redruth is 503 km.

104.1 BBC Radio Berkshire, Hannington 1030 27-05-13 (aircraft scatter)
Another BBC local station which propagates well into the Skegness area. 231 km.

104.1 Joe FM, Egem 1435 26-05-13 (aircraft scatter)
One of my favourite stations from the continent and a regular visitor here at 309 km.

105.2 France Info, Lille 1440 03-06-13 (aircraft scatter)
What used to be the most regular of regular continentals is not always so lately. Lille can sometimes be down in the noise, but it is usually something of a pest and peaks with full RDS. Lille outlets at the higher end of the band tend to be easier to hear because there tends to be less QRN above 105 MHz. At 343 km though Lille can be a pain and a channel blocker at times.

105.5 Topradio Staden, Staden 0945 04-07-13 (aircraft scatter)
Regular Belgian locals have only been possible since installing the 9.2. This is a 100 watt transmitter at 299 km, which categorises this as a "Local" according to FM List. It is one of my closest continental stations. At 100 watts you won't expect a strong signal, but this one peaks noise free quite easily during tropospheric conditions.

105.6 SWR4, Donnersberg 1115 14-06-13 (aircraft scatter)
I would like to say this one is a regular. It used to be but conditions maybe aren't quite so good lately. I can hear this one every day but it's not usually much better than on this recording. At 657 km it's one of the more distant regulars, but you wouldn't say reception was anything but very poor.

105.7 Hit Radio Antenna, Steinkimmen 1510 03-06-13 (aircraft scatter)
I was debating whether to include this, but it demonstrates how bad my noise problem is. Even the top of the band will suffer if I beam close to the east, as I have to in order to hear Steinkimmen. This would have been completely noise free had the noise not been present. 543 km.

107.0 Reading 107, Tilehurst Water Tower 1115 03-06-13 (aircraft scatter)
A big surprise for me is this low powered local station. I have been told that this doesn't get out too well in the local area, yet it seems to be almost on demand here. It uses just 200 watts. 210 km.

107.2 Radio Bingo, Roeselare 0939 04-07-13 (aircraft scatter)
I have only been able to receive top-of-the-band Belgian locals on a daily basis since having the 9.2 installed.  Reception is not great of course with the transmitter only putting out 100 watts, but it's pretty good going considering this station is 313 km away. Radio Bingo is consistently the most regular and stronger of any Dutch local from Belgium or Holland.

Good DX!

John