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Friday, 12 February 2016

Skegness Log: 2016-02-12 (MW)

1380 0444 CAN CKPC Brantford ON Country, as web. Followed for 20 mins. Mixing another
                   country station and a US talker.  Fair  5767 km

1270 0700 USA WXYT Detroit MI Call letters heard in local burbly QRN Weak  6028 km
1440 0700 USA WMAX Bay City MI Area weather forecast then WMAX ID spoken quickly.
                   Fair  5953 km **

1440 0700 USA WHKZ Warren OH ID - Bringing The Word to northern Ohio, a service of
                   Salem Media Group. 1220 WHKW ID.  Fair     5940 km

1540 0700 USA KXEL Waterloo IA 15-40 KXEL Waterloo, Cedar Falls and Fox News Radio
                   IDs Fair  6547 km

1600 0700 USA WAAM Ann Arbor MI WAAM heard twice under WUNR. Also Fox News Radio ID.
                   Fair  6036 km **


** Personal First (Skegness)

An interesting morning with conditions favouring the Michigan area. Thanks to everybody who listened to my recording of 1440. The general consensus was that this was WMAX. Thank you Matthias, Max, Torgeir, Paul C, Thomas Cobley, etc. for your help with this.

There were a lot of stations which 'got away' this morning. Very good conditions for February too, usually a less interesting month. Saying this somewhat cautiously, but I think we are now, very gradually, starting to wave goodbye to the solar maximum. There have been more days of DX in 2016 than there were at the end of 2015.

Good DX!

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

Receiver: Elad FDM-S2 SDR Receiver
Antenna:  Movable 10ft x 25ft flag (home) Various Beverage antennas 'on location' in rural Lincolnshire.

Friday, 5 February 2016

Skegness Log: 2016-02-05 (MW)

1470 0659 USA WWNN, Pompano Beach (FL) Health talk, as per David Hamilton's clip.
              V v weak  7095 km


Good DX!

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

Receiver: Elad FDM-S2 SDR Receiver
Antenna:  Movable 10ft x 25ft flag (home) Various Beverage antennas 'on location' in rural Lincolnshire.

Tuesday, 2 February 2016

Skegness Log: 2016-02-02 (MW)

1380 0541 VEN YVNG Ondas del Mar, Puerto Cabello (cbb) Ondas Del Mar ID between lively
              LA rhythms Weak  7637 km **


** Personal First (Skegness)

Nice to be able to access 1380 better now France has vacated 1377. A personal first here!

Good DX!

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

Receiver: Elad FDM-S2 SDR Receiver
Antenna:  Movable 10ft x 25ft flag (home) Various Beverage antennas 'on location' in rural Lincolnshire.

Monday, 1 February 2016

Skegness Log: 2016-02-01 (MW)

1320 0331 VEN YVWP Radio Apolo, Turmero (arg) Short Radio Apolo sung jingle ID
              Fair  7627 km

1430 0332 PTR WNEL Radio Tiempo, Caguas (PR) Jingle ID with Radio Tiempo sung three times
              in 
succession Fair  6825 km **
1500 0335 VEN YVRZ Radio 2000 AM, Cumaná (suc) En Dos Mil, la ponche(?) y ocho minutos
              Fair  7396 km

1280 0400 PTR WCMN NotiUno, Arecibo (PR) Noti Uno ID heard in splatter Fair  6849 km
1440 0400 NCG YNRM Radio Maranatha, Managua (mng) A mention of Ríos de Agua Viva. This
              church and 
Radio Maranatha apparently have strong links - thank you to Mauricio
              Molano Sánchez for 
help with this.  Weak  8705 km **
1400 0404 CLM HJAS RCN Antena 2, Barranquilla (atl) Antena Dos IDs in promos. Thank you
              Mauricio Molano Sánchez for help with site. V weak  8049 km **


** Personal First (Skegness)

A good Latin American morning with stations only on the top half of the band.

Many stations heard - very few identified.

Some unusual frequencies were occupied and there were often two or three stations on some frequencies. Nice to hear clear DX on frequencies like 1340 and 1490. But luck did not go my way with the tops of each hour. Everything faded either at the wrong moment or during the gaps between songs. But luck was definitely going my way with Radio Maranatha on 1440 - my first reception of Nicaragua on medium wave and it's thanks to Mauricio Molano Sánchez in Salamanca for his help IDing the station.

Good DX!

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

Receiver: Elad FDM-S2 SDR Receiver
Antenna:  Movable 10ft x 25ft flag (home) Various Beverage antennas 'on location' in rural Lincolnshire.

Skegness Log: 2016-02-16 (FM)

Band 2 Tropospheric:
 87.9 0752  F  France Inter, Pic du Midi (65) OM and YL, as 87.9  1136km
 88.2 0744  F  France Culture, Ussel-Meymac/Mont Bessou (19) Sombre music, as 98.0  853km
 90.4 0742  F  France Inter, Clermont-Ferrand/Puy-de-Dôme (63) OMs, as 103.7  842km
 90.6 0816  F  France Inter, Nantes/Haute-Goulaine (44) YL, as 103.7  675km
 91.1 0736  F  France Musique, Niort/Maisonnay (79) Vocal ID  774km
 92.2 0741  F  France Musique, Tours/Chissay [41] (37) OM and YL, as 91.1  646km
 95.5 0756  F  France Musique, Clermont-Ferrand/Puy-de-Dôme (63) Jovial studio chat, as 88.7
               842km

103.4 0842  F  France Info, Lyon/Mont Pilat (42) As 105.2  917km

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.

Friday, 29 January 2016

Skegness Log: 2016-01-29 (MW)

1440 0700 MEX XEEST-AM Quiéreme 14-40, México D.F/Granjas México (dif) Telephone number
              aired. Thank you to Henrik Klemetz for listening to my recording and gleaning
              this information. I believe this might be a UK FIRST! Weak  8899 km **

1470 0700 MEX XEAI-AM Radio Fórmula 3, México D.F/Granjas Esmeralda (dif)
              Forumla de la Noche ID just after the hour.  Fair  8904 km

1590 0700 MEX XEVOZ-AM La Mexicana, Los Reyes Acaquilpan (mex) La Mexicana ID, etc. Long
              toh ID. Some good signal strengths! Good  8895 km

1650 0700 MEX XEAZR-AM ZER Radio 1650, México D.F. (dif) Zer Radio ID. Another long
              toh ID Fair  8898 km

1410 0701 MEX XEBS-AM La Más Perrona, México D.F/Iztacalco (dif) XEBS ID, mentioning La
              Más Perron Fair  8901 km **

1380 0713 MEX XECO-AM Romántica 1380, México D.F/Barrio Zapotla (dif) Programme promo for
              Sobre Ruedas - in their schedule. Thank you to Mauricio Molano Sánchez for
              help. Fair  8900 km **


** Personal First (Skegness)

Possibly the best Mexican night I have ever heard. XEEST 1410 may be a UK First. It's not in the current UK All Time Log.

Good DX!

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

Receiver: Elad FDM-S2 SDR Receiver
Antenna:  Movable 10ft x 25ft flag (home) Various Beverage antennas 'on location' in rural Lincolnshire.

Thursday, 28 January 2016

Skegness Log: 2016-01-28 (MW)

 680 0117 ALS KBRW, Barrow AK. Clear, YL chat, as web stream. Thanks to Jurgen for the
              tip. "All Things Considered" and "NPR" heard. Weak 6061 km

 570 0122 GRL KNR, Nuuk=Godthåb/Telegrafoen (sms-nuk) Greenlandic OM, as web V weak  3155 km
 850 0122 ALS KICY Nome AK. Tenative. YL talk, as web stream. Too weak to be certain but
              conditions fit. No ECNA in at the time.  V weak  6876 km

 650 0123 GRL KNR, Qeqertarsuaq=Godhavn (qaa-qeq) Greenlandic OM, as 570 Fair  3237 km
 850 0700 USA WEEI Boston MA. ID - AM 8-50 WEEI and mention of ESPN Radio Fair  5257 km
1450 0700 USA WPGG Atlantic City NJ. ID - 14-50 WPGG and mention of FM station on 104.9
              Weak  5670 km

1640 0700 USA WTNI Biloxi (Gulfport) MS. ESPN Radio spoken, WTNI Biloxi and WXPD Biloxi
              heard in mess Weak  7294 km

1400 0800 USA WOND Pleasantville NJ. ID - Newstalk 14 Hundred WOND. Dominant over
              CBG V weak  5673 km

 972 1700 KOR HLCA KBS Hanminjok Bangsong 1, Dangjin (ccg) Time pips, jingle and ID Weak
              8740 km

1557 1700 TWN RTI Radio Taiwan Int., Kouhu (YL) Time pips Fair  9715 km
1575 1700 THA Voice of America, Ban Phachi/Rasom (pay) Yankee Doodle. Clear and above
              Euros Fair  9410 km


This is the first time I have heard KBRW in the early hours of the morning. Signal levels were weak and clarity was less than good, probably only 20/30% of speech was understood, but I heard references to "NPR" and "All Things Considered", the name of the programme aired.

KICY is not definite but it fits with the conditions. I have heard KICY before when KBRW has been received during the late afternoons in 2010. ECNA signals were not taking a hold at this time and the YL speech heard did seem match their web stream. It was very weak.

Noise has become an issue again over the last few days. Lots of spurious carriers and whining noises are present again, mostly across the top half of the band. At 1600 this afternoon I was given a brief reminder of the strong hash which has obliterated medium wave for several weeks this season. It returned for a few seconds right across the top of the hour as if to remind me "I'm still here sucker! Mwahahahahaha".

Good DX!

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

Receiver: Elad FDM-S2 SDR Receiver
Antenna:  Movable 10ft x 25ft flag (home) Various Beverage antennas 'on location' in rural Lincolnshire.

Monday, 25 January 2016

Skegness Log: 2016-01-25 (FM)

Band 2 Tropospheric:
 87.6 0930 BEL RTBF Classic 21, Léglise/Vlessart (wal-lux) Jon Anderson Jethro Tull
               promo for Classic 21 6354 524km

 88.3 0932 BEL VRT MNM, Brussel/Financietoren=Bruxelles/Tour des Finances (bru)
               6305 __MNM___ 376km

 90.8 0939 BEL RTBF Classic 21, Profondeville-Rivière/Sart à Soile (wal-nam)
               6354 CLASS.21 440km

 91.2 0940 BEL RTBF Musiq'3, Brussel/Financietoren=Bruxelles/Tour des Finances (bru)
               6353 MUSIQ3__ 376km

 92.1 0941  F  France Inter, Verdun/Septsarges (55) OM, as 103.7  547km
 92.3 0941 BEL RTBF Vivacité, Anderlues/Mont-Sainte-Geneviève (wal-hnt)
               6457 VIVACITE 409km

 92.5 0942 BEL RTBF La Première, Bruxelles/Bureau TAE Evere (bru) 600W filler tx
               6351 377km

 94.4 0946  F  France Inter, Hirson/Landouzy-la-Ville (02) OMs, as 103.7  446km
 96.1 0949 BEL RTBF La Première, Wavre (wal-bra)  6351 PREMIERE 396km
 99.5 0951 BEL RTBF Musiq'3, Liège/Bol d'Air (wal-lge)  6353 MUSIQ3__ 459km
101.1 0952 BEL RTBF Pure FM, Wavre (wal-bra)  6355 PURE_FM_ AVENER_ _CASTLE_
               _IN_THE_ _SNOW_ 396km

101.3 0953  F  France Bleu Picardie, Hirson/Landouzy-la-Ville (02) Jingle ID after
               French pop song  446km

101.7 0954  D  Radio Salü, Saarbrücken/Schoksberg (saa) Salue Blitze promo  628km
101.8 0955 BEL RTBF Vivacité, Tournai/Froidmont (wal-hnt) Promo for Charleroi Expo
               6352 VIVACITE 351km

102.8 0955 BEL Zen FM, Gent/Opgeëistenlaan (vlg-ovl) Chillin vibes, as web  328km
103.6 0957 BEL Bel RTL, Liège/Bol d'Air (wal-lge) Phone in, as web  459km
104.0 0957 BEL Bel RTL, Bruxelles/The Hotel (bru) Phone in, as 103.6  377km
105.2 1000 BEL Radio Victoria, Halle (vlg-vbr) Jingle ID after ads  381km
105.9 1005 BEL Maximum FM, Huy/Plaine de la Sarte (Mont-Mosan) (wal-lge) Jingle ID
               and pops  448km **

107.5 1010 BEL Family Radio, Nazareth or Duffel Dutch song, as web in pile-up **
107.9 1017 BEL VBRO, Torhout (vlg-wvl) OM ID and station promo  297km
 94.6 1041 BEL Radio Maria, Brussel/Albertplein Toren=Bruxelles/Place
               Albert (Tour) (bru) Dutch OM, preaching the Word!  378km

105.3 1046 BEL Urgent.fm, Gent/UG Complex Ledeganck (vlg-ovl) Pops, as web. Briefly
               over Hulsberg  330km

102.3 1052 HOL Amor FM, Rotterdam/Alticom Toren (Waalhaven) (zho) Jingle ID  313km
103.4 1053 BEL Joe FM, Genk/VRT Zendmast (vlg-lim) I'm fairly sure this is Genk and
               not Antwerpen  431km **

103.9 1055 HOL NPO 3FM, Hulsberg/Emmaberg (lim) Ads, as 96.8  455km
105.9 1059 BEL BRF 2, Raeren/Petergensfeld (wal-lge) ID and promos  487km **
101.7 1107 HOL Sky Radio, Breda/Alticom Mast (nbr) Probably Breda.
               As 101.2, etc.  349km

 99.4 1110 HOL SLAM!, Breda/UWV (nbr) Club music, as 99.6  351km **
 97.3 1147 HOL Puur NL, Roosendaal/Alticom Toren (nbr) Dutch music and ads, as web  334km **
 89.3 1157 HOL 89,3 Radio West, Rotterdam/Alticom Toren (Waalhaven) (zho)
               Pops, etc. as web  313km

 91.8 1205 HOL FunX, Rotterdam/Alticom Toren (Waalhaven) (zho) Pop stuff, as web  313km

** Personal 'First'

It was purely by accident that I came across this opening. I had switched on the XDR to look for scatter. I didn't expect this - a decent tropo, mostly focusing on the French speaking part of Belgium.

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.

Saturday, 23 January 2016

Skegness Log: 2016-01-23 (FM)

Band 2 Tropospheric:
 98.5 1858  F  France Musique, Parthenay/les Chateliers (79) YL, as 88.7  712km
 87.9 1859  F  France Culture, Parthenay/les Chateliers (79) YL, as Alencon 88.0  712km
 91.8 2027  F  France Musique, Bourges/Neuvy (18) Classical, as 88.7  672km

A small and fairly selective opening to France. Villers-Cotterets and Amiens were also enhanced.

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.

Friday, 22 January 2016

Skegness Log: 2016-01-22 (MW)

1270 0259 CAN CJCB Sydney NS. 12-70 CJCB Sydney ID. C&W Weak  4290 km **
1470 0300 USA WLAM Lewiston ME. Multiple calls on the  hour, including 14-70 WLAM
              Weak  5069 km

1660 0359 USA WWRU Jersey City NJ. WWRU Jersey City just heard in noise, another call
              given. Long time pip.  Weak  5540 km

1440 0400 USA WRED Westbrook ME. WRED call heard in noise Weak  5103 km
1330 0500 USA WRCA Waltham MA. YL, then OM ID 30 secs after the hour Weak  5251 km
1590 0500 USA WARV Warwick RI. WARV Warick ID by YL Weak  5308 km
1600 0500 USA WUNR Brookline MA. Radio Mexico ID Fair  5251 km
1690 0500 CAN CJLO Montréal QC. Partial YL ID obscured by QSB, You are listening
              to .... AM in Montreal Weak  5188 km

1700 0500 USA WRCR Spring Valley NY. AM 17 Hundred WRCR ID Weak  5516 km
1570 0505 CAN CJLV Laval QC. OM ID after news, "Radio Mieux-Être, CJLV AM Quinze
              Soixante-Dix" Fair  5194 km

1580 0556 CAN CKDO Oshawa ON. Original .... Oshawa Ontario Canada, 107.7 FM ...
              Classic Hits CKDO Fair  5613 km

1180 0600 USA WHAM Rochester NY. Mention of WHAM in 1179 splatter Weak  5605 km
1210 0600 CAN VOAR Saint John s NL. Inspirational music, briefly heard in three second
              Absolute Radio silence. No question this is VOAR.  Good  3734 km
 **
1240 0600 USA WGBB Freeport NY. Presumed with Chinese time pips in brief Absolute Radio
              silence. Matches web stream.  V weak  5521 km
 **
1430 0600 USA WENE Endicott NY. The Team ID heard in pile-up Fair  5572 km
1560 0600 USA WFME New York NY. Your friends at Family Radio. Now Give us your money!
              Good  5538 km

1650 0600 CAN CJRS Montréal QC. Radio Shalom ID in mush Fair  5186 km
1680 0600 USA WTTM Lindenwold NJ. ID - 16-80 WTTM Lindenwold Philadephia Fair  5668 km
1575 1600 THA Voice of America, Ban Phachi (pay) Yankee Doodle and Voice Of America
              Washington DC ID Fair 


** Personal First in Skegness

Local noise gone! Most of the time. For how long, who knows?

This is bizarre. Only yesterday I was going to move the flag back to the far east position as medium wave conditions blew out, which usually renders the North American continent a no-go area. Not this morning, however. Signals were unstable, but quite a bit stronger than they have been during quiet conditions. Everything was east coast, however.

What also amazed me was the amount of activity in the X band! I hardly ever hear anything in the X band lately.

Some usually splattered frequencies had more than one North American station. 1310 1380 1420 1430 & 1500 come to mind.

At 0600, I was very pleased to see decent signals on 1210, 1220, 1230 and 1240 and 1250, all of which produced audio. I just happened to find a quiet spot on Absolute Radio, who had broadcast almost three seconds of dead air! I got two very pleasant surprises in this silence:

1210 had two stations fighting it out. Clearly the dominant one was VOAR with a snippet of inspirational music. Praise the Lord! I can only guess the other was talk station WPHT Philadephia. These two would be regular stations again were it not for the immense splatter produced by Absolute.

1240 was the real gem and, yes, it's an ID based on a time signal. I could hear rather odd Chinese time pips on the hour. They were badly produced and sounded like somebody had been pressing a button to produce the time signal, such was the character and uniqueness of the tones. It had to be a North American station with Chinese ethnic programming. Topaz to the rescue! Four ethnic stations are listed on 1240, only one of which was Chinese. WGBB Freeport NY. I located their web stream and recorded their top of the hour ID. Bingo! The very same time signal in all its disjointed glory!

Come the afternoon I moved the flag antenna over to the far east position. Hardly anything from that area was audible, but VOA Thailand still managed to put in a decent signal. Nothing stops that transmitter getting out!

So, a very pleasant return to medium wave DXing!

Good DX!

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

Receiver: Elad FDM-S2 SDR Receiver
Antenna:  Movable 10ft x 25ft flag (home) Various Beverage antennas 'on location' in rural Lincolnshire.