Skegness Log: 30-11-13 (MW)

 738 1500 CHN Xinjiang RGD 738 Zonghe, Ürümqi/Hutubi-XJTS631 (XJ) YL. Pips and ID Weak  6042 km
 900 1500  ?  Unid,  Oriental YL vocals under Milano.  V weak
 972 1500 KOR HLCA KBS Hanminjok Bangsong 1, Dangjin (ccg) Time pips and jingle V weak  8740 km
 981 1500 TWN Han Sheng GD Kuanghua zhi Sheng, Hsinfeng (HC) Flute signal V weak  9626 km
4835 1818 AUS VL8A ABC Alice Springs, Alice Springs (NT) Rod Quinn. Talk about Tom Baker's scarf,
              as web Weak  14956 km
2325 1823 AUS VL8T ABC Darwin, Tennant Creek (NT) YL talking about Dr Who, as web
              V weak  14610 km
2485 1823 AUS VL8K ABC Darwin, Katherine (NT) YL talking about Dr Who, as web V weak  14001 km
 615 1826 XOE "OM", Gorm C Platform OM beacon in morse code Weak  364 km
1290 1859 RUS "TU", Bely (TV) TU beacon in morse code Weak  2109 km

A gentle return to Asiatic DX conditions after a few days of relatively little of it. The giants like 1098 RTI, 1557 RTI and 1566 HLAZ have still been received on a daily basis, with poor signals, but they returned to reasonable strength this afternoon.

One thing I have not really tried from here much is tropical band DXing. Given the decent Asiatic conditions on MW I thought I should look for Asia at the low end of shortwave. I was pleasantly surprised to receive the three domestic Australians, which even showed a little improvement an hour or so after I logged them.

I wonder if the old RRI stations are still active in the 120, 90 and 75 metre bands. I have never heard Indonesia so it would be great to catch these stations if I can. I understand that a lot of these stations have left the tropical bands now, sadly.

I noticed a lot of beacons across MW when I first moved my flag to 15 degrees. I thought I would start to note them in my log. There are others but conditions must have changed as they weren't audible today. From memory, 650 and 680 were two of them but they were not present today. I forget the other frequencies.

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; HDSDR v2.63; Mestor

Skegness Log: 28-11-13 (MW)

1470 0300 CAN CJVB Vancouver BC. Time signal poking out of the noise again. V weak.  7453 km

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; HDSDR v2.63; Mestor

Skegness Log: 28-11-13 (FM)

Band 2 Tropospheric:
107.8 2017 SUI RSI Rete Uno, Säntis (ar) Song, as web stream  917km
105.6 2020 SUI Radio SRF 3, Säntis (ar) Latin rhythms, as web  917km
105.9 2113  D  Hit Radio FFH, Großer Feldberg (Taunus)/hr (hes) YL and pops, as web  648km
103.8 2118 SUI Radio SRF 3, Rigi/Kulm (sz) YL song, as web stream  892km
106.9 2306  D  B5 aktuell, Grünten (Allgäu) (bay) YL presenter with OM on phone, as web  942km
107.1 2309  D  SWR4 Rheinland-Pfalz, Haardtkopf (rlp) Appearing briefly and fluttery on scatter  593km
105.7 2320  D  B5 aktuell, Wendelstein (bay) OM and YL as web  1024km
106.2 2331 SUI RSI Rete Uno, Rigi/Kulm (sz) Chirpy Italian YL and jingle, as web  892km

A surprise tropo, thanks to Andy in Wigan for the alert.

Signals were not great here. Well done to Andy on getting the DX on the other side of the Pennines!

Here's an observation. I have a suspicion that the tropo might have been caused by a humidity inversion. Yesterday evening was quite warm (for the time of year anyway) and we did not have the heating on during the evening. At 1am I had to check to see if the heating had come on as Jane and I were suddenly overheating. The heating was still switched off. Checking the local weather station revealed that the humidity levels had soared to 100% so I wonder if this was the mechanism which kicked off the tropo. Speculation of course but it does happen this way.

It's still mild for the time of year. We had 11 degrees in Skegness two or three days ago and fresh flowers have appeared on our garden - something we have noticed elsewhere in town.

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

Another Antenna Goes In The Wash!

Well they get dirty every now and again. OK, I'm kidding. I don't actually wash my antennas but I do put them in "The Wash" (sorry, it's a tired joke now). That means I run out a Beverage antenna in The Wash, a large bay and estuary on the north-west corner of East Anglia, where Lincolnshire meets Norfolk!

Miles and miles of nothing!

I was going to title this ramble "It Shouldn't Happen To A DXer - Skegness Edition" as some of today's experiences reminded me of the disasters which occurred when Beveraging it out in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire. You can read about those by clicking here.

For those who don't know what a Beverage antenna is, it's a very long 'longwire' or 'wave' antenna, principally used for receiving on the medium and short wave bands. It was created by Dr. Harold Henry "Bev" Beverage from North Haven, Maine in 1921. It is also used in amateur radio and military applications. More about it here.

This little radio trip should have happened two months ago but the 'one thing after another' law has prevented me from doing this. It's a law most of us live our lives by and can be very frustrating. Part of the problem was that everything was done 'last minute', as is often the case. I am late for everything. I wonder if I will be late for my own funeral, as the saying goes. I was 20 minutes late for my own wedding, so there's every possibility.

Altocumulus above The Wash

"It's 10am and I think I will make that Beverage trip this afternoon! Now then, I need to be set up for 1300 to catch any early fade-in of exotic Asiatic DX." Ha! The clock has rolled on to 11:30 am after getting a bite to eat. My wife asks me to go to the shop, not for a pint of milk and a loaf of bread. No! For a whole week's shopping (almost). I rush to the shop and back as quickly as I can, forgetting half the things I went for, but I got the most important things so she is reasonably happy. It's now 12.00 midday and I haven't even started to sort out the gear. I think I'd better forget the 1300 slot.

A quick sort through the gear I will be taking and packing it in the car has me wondering what I might have forgotten. There's bound to be something. Earth rods! "Where are the earth rods?" I never found them and so had to bodge some short lengths of copper plumber's tubing, one only eight inches in length, and some crocodile clips to clamp the wire to the tubing. Oh dear! This is turning into another of my "Bodgitt & Scarper" routines.

12:30 and I am setting off. That's after getting out of the car and going back into the house THREE TIMES to fetch things I had forgotten. I arrive at The Wash at 12:50 to find a few dog walkers at the spot but they disappear in minutes. I don't like to roll out hundreds of metres of wire and bash copper tubing into the ground with a hammer with people watching. Occasionally I am approached by members of the public who ask me what I am doing. The answers don't come easily. I just inform them that I am a radio ham and I am doing some listening or antenna experiments. That usually has them running.

The beverage antenna and coax feed is already to be rolled out from a plastic garden hose winding device. It weighed a ton because it already had about a km of thinner wire underneath which I used last season. That proved to be useless as there it was far too thin and produced too much resistance along its 380 metre length. There was also 100m of RG58 on this reel so you can imagine the weight. I deliberately kept all this on the reel as it would create a larger diameter base on which to wind the new beverage wire, and so wind it on more quickly after use. The 'new' wire, much thicker military specification field telephone wire, was obtained from Anchor Army Surplus in Nottingham a few weeks earlier. It is two core and I decided to connect the ends together to further lower any resistance.

For some reason I had thought there was a fence at his location on which I could suspend the wire and make a proper beverage, rather than just running it along the ground. There wasn't!

Freshwater Marshes

From the car, 50 metres of RG58 goes out to the balun box, which contains a binocular core and a 3:1 turns ratio of enameled copper wire. This gives inductive coupling to the antenna and cuts off the electrical noise from the car. Believe me, my car emits a huge amount of noise, even when you think everything is switched off! A copper earth rod (the eight inch excuse for one) grounds one side of the primary coil while the other side of that goes to the Beverage wire itself. I didn't trim the Beverage wire (and had no idea of how much was on the reel) and discovered it was approximately 370 metres in length. Perfect! The far end of the Beverage wire was terminated straight to earth as I ran out of time to wire in a terminating resistor. Once again I adopt the Bodgitt & Scarper technique of binding the wire to the copper tubing (this one's about two feet in length!) with a strong crocodile clip.

A Beverage on the ground has a low terminating resistance, something around 200 ohms I believe, and so running the far end of the wire straight to ground should not be a big problem. I had asked my wife, a ham herself, to come along with me today so I could make a better job of the termination resistance, using 2m walkie talkies to make the adjustments, one of us at the receiver, the other making adjustments to the resistor. She declined since there was some awful film on the telly she wanted to watch.

Sunset, looking south-west

It's approaching 1400. The Beverage is in place. I am sat in the car, Perseus recording, and I see that the computer clock is several minutes fast. Damn! I update it while listening to the time signal on BBC Radio 4 198 kHz. At least the time will be correct for 1500 hours after another adjustment.

Conditions were rubbish at 1400 so I took a walk along the length of the Beverage to make a better job of the connections, though everything seemed to be working perfectly well. While I was out I came across some dog walkers and was mauled by two little Fox Terrier doggy type things, resulting in lots of mud all over my jeans. They had a third dog. A much larger one which thankfully left me alone. Instead, it took a keen interest in the Beverage wire. No fear, it's tough stuff so I can't see the dog causing any damage to it.

1500 came and it was back to the car and the next Perseus recording. This all passed uneventfully. I could barely hear Urumqi on 1521 so I just had to put it down to very poor conditions, but I was expecting this anyway. At least I could now do some more experiments with the Beverage.

Perfect location for a Beverage!

Time to relax now since conditions were rather rubbish. The next exercise was to remove the balun to see if it made any difference. Wow did it! Noise returned across the whole band, largely produced by the laptop power supply. The noise was strong enough to render even good signals unintelligible. Noise levels were evenly down to -135 dB with the balun in place, according to Perseus. That's VERY quiet indeed. Too quiet perhaps? I have more signal at home on my flag antenna! Can that be right for a 370 metre Beverage?

Off to the end of the Beverage next to experiment with the terminating resistor. I had one with me, ready to put in place. Perseus was still recording so I could hear the difference on playback. On reaching the end of the wire I discovered it was open ended as it had been pulled away from the crocodile clip, possibly by the aforementioned large dog. Still, I intended to make some 'before and after' comparisons with the wire being earthed and then not earthed, and then with the variable resistor, everything synchronized to the clock so I could check things when I returned home. Unfortunately, on checking the recording of the terminating resistor tests I found that there was no audio on that file. The previous file had audio and you could hear and see the differences with the wire earthed and then not (very little actually) but the following file with the variable resistor test was just five minutes of silence!

More nothingness!

So what did I learn today? Hmm. 1. The most striking thing was the beautifully quiet band when the balun was in place. 2. The termination resistance of a Beverage on the ground might not be necessary. Just put the far end of the wire straight to ground. 3. Conditions to Asia were awful! and 4. Set out earlier next time.

Here's a short file from the 1500 slot to demonstrate how quiet the antenna is. Just don't expect any DX!

File: http://www.mediafire.com/?umvrydt3na8qr

PS: I would like to add a quick 'shout' for a couple of Yahoo Groups which have been a huge help to me over the last few years. They are the Beverage Antennas Group and the Real DX Group.

The former, as the name suggests, is a dedicated group of people who have a wealth of experience with Beverage antennas. They recently helped me with a couple of questions I had regarding these antennas.

The Real DX Group helps people who have recordings of unidentified DX. Their membership is truly global and the extensive language skills and general knowledge of broadcasting the world over means they can often identify your unidentified DX. Both groups are very helpful when it comes to newcomers too, but as with all groups of this kind, your input could be very useful too. Please support these excellent groups.

Good DX!

John

Skegness Log: 27-11-13 (MW)

1470 0300 CAN CJVB Vancouver BC. CJVB's time signal penetrating the noise. V weak.  7453 km

This one was hardly above the noise. Had it not been for that familiar time signal I would never have known it was CJVB.

There are three pips of a certain frequency (slightly above 1 kHz). I compared these with a recording of my last reception of CJVB and they were clearly the same. What makes these even more distinctive is the fact that there is a slightly larger gap between pip numbers one and two. But perhaps more noticeably pip number two is longer then the others. Such is the peculiarity of CJVB's time signal! Occasionally I hear CJVB when the signal is strong enough to give an audible Fairchild Radio identification.

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; HDSDR v2.63; Mestor

Amateur Radio Vs Broadcast DXing

Here's something I didn't think I'd ever say: "I prefer broadcast DXing to amateur radio ... and by a mile!" It's a personal thing of course and I am not suggesting one is better then the other, but I find certain aspects of amateur radio irritating and unnecessarily challenging.

I decided to rekindle my interest in amateur radio a few days ago by erecting a dipole for 10m. It only took me a minute or two before I worked St Vincent and the US state of Georgia, both personal firsts. Then I heard a station in Sudan calling CQ, operating on a split basis - that's calling on one frequency but listening on another. Or, on this case, several others! All my attempts to work him failed due to an insane pile-up. The calling frequencies occupied 28.500 to 28.525! - a sizeable part of the most commonly used SSB DXing frequencies. Why so many? It was a joke! There was very little chance of getting through, despite me calling for about half an hour. How did I know which frequency he would be listening on? Frankly, I was getting fed up with the number of irate stations asking me to move frequency. Yes, I did the decent thing and checked the frequency TWICE to see if it was in use before I called. You'd think there would be plenty of room available for all those calling with that amount of frequencies. I ignored them in the end. They were asking lots of other people to move too. I won't allow bullying to dictate what I do on the air.

But looking back at my amateur radio activities over the last few years I have to say it's all been good fun, though it has never come close to the excitement I have had from broadcast band DXing. BCB DXing is where I began and it still wins me over today. But why?

Familiarity may be the main reason. I know where I am with medium wave and the FM broadcast band. I know what to expect regarding propagation. I have been lucky enough to keep up with the technology surrounding this side of the hobby, progressing from drifty old valve radios and analogue tuners (I still have a great fondness for them) to modern broadband IF devices with computer control. So many years of happy association with these things makes you feel like you've been in the driving seat, steering the hobby to your own advantage, helping to shape it with active involvement on internet forums.

These days BCB DXing, like amateur radio, has its own communities: DX clubs and societies; Global online logbooks; Online discussion and chat; DX maps and clusters. So there are a lot of similarities and they all add to the fun. The main difference is of course the fact that you can talk to people on amateur radio, you can only 'listen' with BCB DX, but they are basically the same DX radio hobby.

When I first actively became involved with amateur radio, I would take to the hills of Derbyshire and DX! I miss that. It's something I briefly dabbled in when I moved to Lincolnshire, but the BCB side of DXing takes precedence once again. If I were to conduct any mobile radio exercises these days it would be BCB, in nearby open countryside and with beverage antennas. That would certainly be the case in winter. Perhaps I will try 2m again in the summer although I suspect band 2 will take over once the Es start flying in.

If I was blessed with a large garden and didn't have so many ridiculous planning regulations regarding antennas, I would have several antennas up for the amateur bands too, but the emphasis would be on DXing and probably digital modes like WSPR and JT65, etc. Call it laziness, but my aim would have to be to automate as much of my amateur radio exercises as possible as I really don't see the point in spending an hour or two trying to break through a pile-up and ultimately failing. Each to their own though. Not knocking any of it, but I know which bands I would rather be listening to.

Good DX!

John

Skegness Log: 26-11-13 (MW)

 760 0500 USA WJR  Detroit MI. ID - The Great Voice Of The Great Lakes, W..J..R. Good.  6009 km
1190 0500 USA WOWO Fort Wayne (IN) Scratchy ID but alone. Newstalk Wowo. Call letters spoken
              as one word. V weak  6227 km
1300 0500 USA WOOD Grand Rapids MI. ID - This is Newsradio Wood 13 hundred and 1069. Call letters
              spoken as one word. Fair  6111 km
1540 0500 USA KXEL Waterloo IA. Good signal. ID and ABC News. Good  6546 km
 780 0600 USA WBBM Chicago IL. WBBM Newstime. CBS News coming in late at 10 seconds past the hour.
              Fair  6311 km

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; HDSDR v2.63; Mestor

Skegness Log: 21-11-13 (MW)

1413 1400  J  JOIF KBC-Kyushu Asahi Hoso, Fukuoka (kyu-fuk) JOIF time signal punching through a
              noisy band. Audible at 1500 & 1600 too. V weak  9225 km
 972 1500 KOR HLCA KBS Hanminjok Bangsong 1, Dangjin (ccg) Time signal, mixing Germany.
              V weak  8740 km
 981 1600 TWN Han Sheng GD Kuanghua zhi Sheng, Hsinfeng (HC). Kwang Hua ID by OM at 12 seconds
              past the hour. Weak  9626 km

Nice to hear JOIF again, even if it was only strong enough to deliver the time signal. Conditions seemed poor overall with very little other DX from the far east. Chinese signals were well down too.

From yesterday I logged CRI on 1521 at 1235 but I forgot to post the log. 1235 is the earliest I have ever heard 1521, or anything else from the far east for that matter.

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; HDSDR v2.63; Mestor

Skegness Log: 18-11-13 (MW)

612 1600 KGZ KTRK Kyrgyz Radiosu/TNK Beles, Krasnaya Rechka (cuy) "Radio Vypusk Kloop" ID and flute
             signal V weak  5410 km **

** Personal Skegness 'First'

The poor conditions continue, but another new one this afternoon.

Recording:
612 KTRK Kyrgyz Radiosu, Krasnaya Rechka 1600 18-11-13
https://app.box.com/s/gic1i6bcb51ft8am2xam

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; HDSDR v2.63; Mestor

Britain To Be Hit By Entirely Typical Weather

After all the ridiculous attention-grabbing headlines about devastating British weather I was pleased to read a refreshing article in the Daily Mash. It might be satirical but I chuckled to away myself and thought it deserved a share here as it brings things nicely into perspective.

http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/environment/britain-to-be-hit-by-entirely-typical-weather-201110174431

Even our very own Met Office have been putting a sensible perspective on the weather:

http://www.itv.com/news/granada/2013-10-13/the-met-office-responds-to-headlines-warning-of-worst-winter-in-decades/?post_id=565630567_10152006288670568#_=_

Snowball fight anyone?

John

Skegness Log: 17-11-13 (MW)

1098 1500 CHN CNR 11, Golmud (QH). Top of the hour jingle/music with YL ID. Thanks to Mauno for your help again. V weak 7136 km **

** Personal Skegness 'First'

Very poor conditions this afternoon with hardly anything coming through from the far east, so it was a surprise to hear CNR 11 on 1098. I heard this tentatively yesterday but the signal was slightly clearer today and I could hear the YL ID being spoken over the top of the hour piece.

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; HDSDR v2.63; Mestor  

Skegness Log: 17-11-13 (FM)

Band 2 Tropospheric:
101.2 0325  D  Bremen Vier, Bremen-Walle (bre) As web  565km
 94.6 0326  D  MDR 1 Radio Sachsen-Anhalt, Brocken (san) As web  713km
 93.5 0329  D  WDR 2, Nordhelle (nrw) As web  554km
103.8 0329  D  WDR 4, Nordhelle (nrw) ARD Hitnacht  554km
104.0 0330  D  big fm (Rheinland-Pfalz), Koblenz/Kühkopf (rlp) Phone caller, as web  590km
104.3 0332  D  hr4, Sackpfeife (Biedenkopf) (hes) As 103.8  612km
106.3 0334  D  SWR4 Rheinland-Pfalz, Bad Marienberg (rlp) German song, as web  592km
107.0 0335  D  WDR Eins Live, Olsberg (nrw) As 106.7  592km
107.2 0335  D  WDR Eins Live, Ederkopf (nrw) As 106.7  593km
 87.9 0336  D  MDR Figaro, Inselsberg (thü) Classical, as web  739km
 89.5 0337  D  hr3, Hoher Meißner (hes) Pops, as web  684km
 90.3 0338  D  WDR 5, Nordhelle (nrw) As web  554km
 99.0 0338  D  hr1, Hoher Meißner (hes) As HR3 at this time  684km
 90.6 0339  D  WDR 5, Teutoburger Wald/Bielstein (nrw) As 90.3  591km
 91.0 0339  D  hr1, Sackpfeife (Biedenkopf) (hes) As web  612km
 92.5 0341  D  MDR 1 Radio Thüringen, Inselsberg (thü) Pops, as web  739km
 93.2 0342  D  WDR 2, Teutoburger Wald/Bielstein (nrw) Pops, as web  591km
 95.4 0345  D  SWR2, Bad Marienberg (rlp) Piano concerto, as web  592km
 95.5 0346  D  hr2, Hoher Meißner (hes) Piano concerto, as 95.4  684km
 97.2 0347  D  Deutschlandradio Kultur, Inselsberg (thü) Light ops, as web  739km
 98.1 0348  D  WDR 3, Nordhelle (nrw) Concerto, as web  554km
 99.6 0349  D  hr-info, Sackpfeife (Biedenkopf) (hes) Info!  612km
100.4 0350  D  WDR 2, Bonn/Venusberg (nrw) Blacks Wonderful Life, as web  538km
100.8 0352  D  WDR 2, Aachen/Stolberg (nrw) As 101.0  484km
101.0 0352  D  WDR 2, Bärbelkreuz (Eifel) (nrw) Light pops, as 100.8  520km
101.7 0354  D  WDR 4, Kleve/Bresserberg (nrw) Leapy Lee song, as web  421km
102.1 0355  D  WDR 2, Olsberg (nrw) German song, as web  592km
102.5 0356  D  hr4, Großer Feldberg (Taunus)/hr (hes) German song, as web  648km
102.9 0357  D  RPR 1., Bad Marienberg (rlp) Foster The People, as web  592km
104.9 0359  D  big fm (Rheinland-Pfalz), Ahrweiler/Schöneberg (rlp) OM  YL lively chat, as web  554km
 88.9 1127 HOL Radio Noord-Holland, Amsterdam/Alticom Toren (nho) Phone caller, as web  321km
 91.1 1128 HOL Slam!FM, Hilversum/Media Park-Alticom (nho) Banging tune, as 88.4  342km
 91.6 1129 HOL Radio Veronica, Amsterdam/Alticom Toren (nho) Shaggy, as web  321km
 93.4 1130 HOL Radio Rijnmond, Rotterdam/Alticom Toren (Waalhaven) (zho) OM, as web  313km
 95.2 1132 HOL Slam!FM, Alphen aan den Rijn/Alticom Toren (zho) Ads and ID  313km
 98.2 1133 HOL Radio 4, Loon op Zand/Alticom Toren (nbr) OM talk, as 94.7  366km
103.0 1136 BEL Q-Music, Egem (vlg-wvl) ID and dance toon  309km
103.6 1137 HOL Radio 10, Amsterdam/Alticom Toren (nho) Oldies, as 103.8  321km
103.8 1137 HOL Radio 10, Rotterdam/Alticom Toren (Waalhaven) (zho) Oldies, as web  313km
106.2 1925  G  Radio Peterborough, Peterborough RSL ID. Mike Faulkner show (no relation) **

** Personal Skegness 'First'

By chance I happened to be awake around 0330 so I checked the FM band. I am glad I did too as all the German activity had subsided by 1000.

Nice to catch Radio Peterborough at last. This was often swamped by Heart and occasionaly overtaken by France Bleu Nord from Calais. Maybe this evening's fog helped it all.

Still nothing from Radio Cheltenham.

Good DX!

John Faulkner, Skegness, Lincolnshire (JO03dd) 1.7m (5'9") ASL.
Website: 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: 14-11-13 (MW)

1140 0200 USA WQBA La Voz de Miami, Miami (FL) WQBA Miami ID in Spanish V weak  7146 km
 738 1600 CHN Xinjiang RGD 738 Zonghe, Ürümqi (XJ) OM ID after time pips Weak  6042 km
 900 1600 CHN CNR 1?, Site? YL Beijing ID after six pips. V weak
 981 1600 CHN CNR 1, Multiple sites YL Beijing ID after pips V weak
1044 1600 CHN Xinjiang RGD Uighur/CNR 13, Multi-tx Tentative. Chinese ID after time pips but
              not in // Xinjiang RGD 738 Zonghe V weak
1359 1600 CHN CNR 1, Three sites together Echoey YL Beijing ID after pips. Third pip shortly
              after. Clear and dominant. Probably Golmud in there. Weak
1494 1600 CHN Xinjiang RGD 738 Zonghe, Multiple txs Pips, OM ID, as 738. Echo, indicating
              more than one tx received Weak **
1539 1600 CHN CNR 1, Golmud/SARFT916 (QH) YL Beijing ID after pips V weak  7135 km
 603 1700 CHN China Radio Int./Voice of Russia, Dongfang/SARFT871 (HA) CRI Interval signal
              V weak  9494 km

** Personal Skegness 'First'

Does anybody know if that standard YL "Beijing... " ID heard on CNR 1 is used on other CNR national networks? She is very distinctive and it might just narrow down a station I heard earlier today.


Some recordings of today's DX:

1494 Xinjiang RGD 738 Zonghe, Multi-tx 1600 14-11-13
https://app.box.com/s/nqumqdtv1w848zjharwd

738 Xinjiang RGD 738 Zonghe, Urumqi 1600 14-11-13
https://app.box.com/s/576dye2ivo8yxamd6a4r

1044 1600 14-11-13
https://app.box.com/s/vysjbplvuk1ira1gk2d4

I think there is an ID on 1044 but it's quite well buried. I suspect it's the Uighur outlet of Xinjiang RGD, going by the conditions. I think there was a Kazakh outlet on another frequency, but I can only guess with some stations.


I moved my flag slightly yesterday. It now points towards 15 degrees (Google Maps is quite clear it is 14 degrees but I hate to be that pedantic). Hopefully this will improve DX from the far east. West coast North America, Alaska and Hawaii should still get through (now there's wishful thinking!) and perhaps with a little less interference from the east coasters.

Background noise levels have improved too, surprisingly, and are down to -120dB in the X band, gradually tapering off to below -130dB at the bottom of the band. About 3 to 5dB of noise at the top of the band is caused by my router or its psu. The noise drops to -125 when the router is switched off.


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; HDSDR v2.63; Mestor  

Skegness Log: 13-11-13 (MW)

1476 1600 THA Sor. Wor. Thor. Chiang Mai, Lamphun/Ban Pratu Khong (lpn) Thanks to Mauno for 
              the translation. YL ID on the hour which can be heard in my recording.  
              V weak  8928 km **

** Personal Skegness 'First'

Really pleased to bag this one. I have always dreamed of bagging a local station from Thailand.  I love those names "Wor Sor Thor" and "Ror Sor Por" etc. What do they mean? :O) 

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; HDSDR v2.63; Mestor

BBC Video - "The Very Particular World Of Amateur Radio"

Or did they mean "Peculiar"? I am not sure of what to make of this. Does the video paint us in the right light?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-24917880

Via the bureau OM!

John

Skegness Log 12-11-13 (MW)

 711 1500 TWN Han Sheng GD Kuanghua zhi Sheng, Hsinfeng (HC). Flute interval signal, as 981 Weak
              9626 km

 801 1500 TWN Han Sheng GD Kuanghua zhi Sheng, Kuanyin (TY). Flute interval signal V weak
              9620 km

 846 1500 TWN Han Sheng GD Kuanghua zhi Sheng, Kuanyin (TY). Flute interval signal, just
              detectable V weak  9620 km

 981 1500 TWN Han Sheng GD Kuanghua zhi Sheng, Hsinfeng (HC). Flute interval signal, mixing with
              China and others Weak  9626 km

1269 1500 CHN China Radio Int./Voice of Russia, Xuanwei (YN). Interval signal under Germany Vweak
              8562 km

The return of Asiatic DX after a lull for a few days.

JOIF 1413 was trying to poke through the Europeans with its familiar time signal at 1700. I am sure I could hear Japanese on the channel but the co-channel QRM, chiefly from Spain, squashed it flat. 1350 JOER seemed to be in parallel at this time (1600) but was well down in the noise.

Good DX!

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

Receiver: Perseus SDR
Antenna:  10ft x 25ft flag at 350 degrees
Software: Perseus v4.1a; HDSDR v2.63; Mestorx

Skegness Log: 06-11-13 (MW)

 711 1500 TWN Han Sheng GD Kuanghua zhi Sheng, Hsinfeng (HC) Barely audible. Could just make out the flute signal V weak  9626 km

 801 1500 TWN Han Sheng GD Kuanghua zhi Sheng, Kuanyin (TY) Top of the hour flute, as 981 V weak  9620 km

 981 1500 TWN Han Sheng GD Kuanghua zhi Sheng, Hsinfeng (HC) Top of the hour flute amid other stations V weak  9626 km

1359 1500 CHN CNR 1, Multi-tx At least three lots of Chinese time pips audible Weak

1593 1500 CHN CNR 1, Changzhou (JS) Beijing ID after pips Fair  8938 km

1386 1559 KOR HLAM MBC, Mokpo/Samho (jen) To think, I initially I thought this was Japanese! Thanks to Chuck, Mauno and Thomas
              at Real DX for listening and confirming this. Listed with just 10kW. Recording at:
              https://app.box.com/s/ih9m4r4xvp9o0lhvjt83 Weak  8946 km **

** Personal Skegness 'First'

Well, I am even more speechless. Had it not been for the kind help from the guys at Real DX I would not have discovered the identity of my 1386 station this afternoon. I thought I had heard an NHK ID in there but the station was confirmed as HLAM by the guys at Real DX. Apparently, this is quite a rare catch even in Scandinavian climes!

Good DX!

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

Receiver: Perseus SDR
Antenna:  10ft x 25ft flag at 350 degrees
Software: Perseus v4.1a; HDSDR v2.63; Mestorx

Skegness Log: 03-11-13 (MW)

 603 1500 CHN China Radio International, Dongfang (HA) CRI Interval signal. V weak  9494 km

 711 1500 TWN BCC Country Network, Tainan (TN) BCC Jingle on the hour. V weak  9754 km **

 801 1500 TWN Han Sheng GD Kuanghua zhi Sheng, Kuanyin (TY) Haunting flute interval signal 
              and ID. As 981. V weak  9620 km

 846 1500 TWN Han Sheng GD Kuanghua zhi Sheng, Kuanyin (TY) Haunting flute interval signal and 
              ID. As 801 and 981. V weak  9620 km **

 891 1500 TWN BCC Local Tainan, Tainan (TN) Clearest yet. Top of the hour jingle. YL audio.
              V weak  9754 km

 981 1500 TWN Han Sheng GD Kuanghua zhi Sheng, Hsinfeng (HC) Haunting flute interval signal
              and ID. As 801 V weak  9626 km

1287 1500 TWN Han Sheng Kuangpo Tientai, Taichung (TCS) Haunting flute music, as 801, etc.
              Very weak but clear. 9686 km **

1323 1500 CHN China Radio International, Ürümqi (XJ) Presume Urumqi. English ID. Weak  6041 km

1377 1500 CHN CNR 1, Xingyang (HE) Pips and Beijing ID, equal levels with Lille. Fair  8307 km

 738 1531 CHN Xinjiang RGD 738 Zonghe, Ürümqi (XJ) Shouting YL, as web stream. Weak  6042 km

 711 1644 TWN Han Sheng GD Kuanghua zhi Sheng, Hsinfeng (HC) Haunting flute music, as others, 
              mixing BCC jingle. Vweak  9626 km

** Personal Skegness 'First'

One which got away during the afternoon: Around 1545 on 738 kHz I heard Chinese YL speech mixing equal levels with an Arabic station. There was another station in the background playing what sounded like Chinese music. The Chinese music 'seemed' to be the same as that heard on the Taiwan Chü Yuyeh Kuangpo Tientai webstream which I followed for about 15 minutes, but it was too weak to be certain. The dominant Chinese YL was clearly the same as the Xinjiang RGD Uighur webstream which has been a regular visitor.

Good DX!

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

Receiver: Perseus SDR
Antenna:  10ft x 25ft flag at 350 degrees
Software: Perseus v4.1a; HDSDR v2.63; Mestor

Skegness Log: 02-11-13 (MW)

 710 0600 CUB Radio Rebelde, Several transmitters here. Echoes from more than one transmitter.
              ID and cuckoo. Fair

Good DX!

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

Receiver: Perseus SDR
Antenna:  10ft x 25ft flag at 350 degrees
Software: Perseus v4.1a; HDSDR v2.63; Mestor

Skegness Log: 01-11-13 (MW)

1540 0000 CAN CHIN Toronto ON. My ideas and opinions matter, apparently. Well, my opinion isn't
                   very high and as for my ideas, may I suggest a proper station identification
                   at the top of each hour?  Fair  5668 km

 570 0500 USA WMCA New York NY. 5-70 WMCA ID Weak  5547 km

 580 0500 CAN CFRA Ottawa ON. Fair to good levels. 5-70 CFRA is a division of Bell Media, etc. 
                   Fair  5332 km

 850 0500 USA WFTL West Palm Beach FL. References to Newstalk and WFTL letters heard twice.
                   Weak  7047 km **

1566 1600 IND AIR  National Channel, Nagpur MH. ID and broadcast information  Weak  7418 km **

** Personal Skegness 'First'

Good DX!

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

Receiver: Perseus SDR
Antenna:  10ft x 25ft flag at 350 degrees
Software: Perseus v4.1a; HDSDR v2.63; Mestor