Skegness Log: 22-11-15 (FM)

Band 2 Meteor Scatter:
 99.1 0400 POL PR 3, Olsztyn/Pieczewo (WM) 3233 ??05???? 1334km
101.7 0400 POL Radio Plus, Gdansk/Chwaszczyno (PM) 321C 1195km
100.3 0448  S  SR P4, Skövde/Åsbotorp 2/Billingen TM (vg) E224 1023km
104.7 0501  I  RTL 102.5, Fiorano Modenese & Marano sul Panaro (mo) listed. 5218 RT??????
104.2 0503 POL PR 3, Lublin/Piaski (LB) 3233 __06:0?? _T??????  1548km
 99.1 0602  S  SR P3, Bäckefors (Mellerud)/Grönehög TM (vg) E203 969km
101.3 0605 LVA LR 2, Kuldiga (Kul) 9222 __LR-2__ 1434km
101.5 0605 LVA LR 2, Valmiera/LVRTC Valmieras RTS, Rigas iela 95 (Val) 9222 __?????? 1647km **
104.0 0605 LVA LR 1, Valmiera/LVRTC Valmieras RTS, Rigas iela 95 (Val) 9211 1647km **
101.3 0731  S  SR P4, Borlänge/Teracoms mast Idkerberget (da) E624 SR????a? 1204km

** Personal First via this mode

A long meteor train started at exactly 07:39:43 and was still trailing away beyond 07:42. Nothing could be identified as all empty frequencies became noise with a only a few few snippets of audio poking through. 104.2 was the only exception to this with a weak talk station (Polish?) which was below RDS levels. This was how the peak sounded: https://app.box.com/s/im0ux354y17cabrakakvoxxued9xp7lq

Other than this, it was a fairly uneventful morning for meteor scatter. There was one other exception though - the conquering of 101.5 (at last!) where there was a surprise visit from LR2 from Valmeira, Latvia. It was only a brief peak of audio riding above a reduced Tacolneston (the null didn't hold overnight this time) but Tacolneston was totally toppled! as can be seen in this video: https://youtu.be/F7wREoZu2nE There were lengthier bursts from other Latvians at this time, lasting several seconds. Latvia on meteor scatter is rare here.

So only one more frequency to go for my meteor scatter target. So I tried to reduce Belmont 98.3 during the evening but couldn't get it below S9+20dB. I will connect the FM3 tomorrow and try again, but this time using the HS Antenna Phaser.

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

Receivers:
Elad FDM-S2 (Meteor Scatter and sporadic E)
Sony XDR-F1HD with Konrad i2c mod. (Tropo/Scatter)

Aerials:
Körner 9.2 @ 5.5 metres agl. QTH is approximately 3 metres asl, 1km from the sea.
Fringe Electronics 20dB pre-amp.

Software:
Elad FDM-SW2, SDR Console File Analyser & RDS Spy via VAC.
XDR-GTK v0.3.1 for the Sony XDR-F1HD

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