TADX - DXing in SW Scotland - Latest Logs APRIL 2009

KEN'S DX DIARY AND LOGS - SUNDAY 26th APRIL 2009:

SOME GOOD SIGNALS FROM PUERTO RICO: Yesterday morning I had a cracking signal on 580 from PR at 0500. I have heard this station before, many times, but the signals from WKAQ were simply exceptional at 0500. And this morning. Virtually nothing!!!

CLICK HERE for a recording of WKAQ 580. Superb signal

CLICK HERE for a recording of WPAB 550

If anyone with their 1st language as SS wants to give the 550 station a listen, I would appreciate a second opinion, and is there anything like an ID in there?? WPAB would be a personal first if confirmed.

UPDATE: Thanks to Alfie and Davie for listening to the 550 clip. Alfie came up with the 550 Ponce part, but thanks to Torgeir Nyen in Norway for also listening to the clip, I can now hear a full WPAB ID just before the 550 Ponce part.

"Aqui WPAB, 550 Ponce"

Wish I had recorded a bit longer than 3m at the top of the hour. There were some other SS mx stations around that played through the hour on other frequencies, more so at the lf end of the band.

WOOPS - TYPO: One of the many stations which has been heard this season on 920kHz was for a long time listed here as WKGA, but the real call sign was WGKA!! I had it all over this web site on all the listings and logs. Thanks to AB for pointing this out!!!

DX TEST SITE: Anyone else noticed the American DX TEST web site is reading like a root folder?

AMP TESTS: Just been looking at the stats for my amp test files. Looks like I have had about 60 downloads for AMPTEST2.ZIP. Cool. Thanks for the interest guys.

KEN'S DX DIARY AND LOGS - MONDAY 20th APRIL 2009:

ALL TIME FIRSTS (UK): I have updated the table from last week below, with the All Time Firsts (UK) that I managed to pick up here this season. Thanks to AB for his continued work on this. A job well done, and one some of us thought about trying to take on recently, before Andy took up the challenge. There were a few stations had to be removed from the listings I had on over the weekend because they were heard in the UK in the past under their old calls. Some were however quite rare anyway, and my personal first for 2008/ 9 can be seen on a separate page, click on the logs index page.

SPRING LOGS: As a taster of Spring conditions here at 55 and a half degrees north, I have listed the signals heard and for that matter identified at 0500UTC today. There is nothing very exciting here, and I would class all stations as the expected ones on the channel. Most days I fear will be very similar, and as a result, the intensity of my MW dxing is not what it was in mid winter. A welcome break in fact.

530 CUBA/ Encyclopedia
540 CBGA
550 Unid SS poss Columbia
560 WGAN
570 CUBA
580 SS
590 VOCM
600 Heavy het
610 FF pres canada no id
620 VOCM
640 CBC
650 VOCM
660 WFAN
670 CUBA
680 CFTR
700 WLW
710 WOR
730 CKAC
740 VOCM
750 CBC
770 WABC
780 CFDR
790 MESS
800 VOWR
820 TRINITY
830 WCRN Roy Masters
840 WHAS
860 CJBC
870 WWL
880 WCBS
890 WLS
920 CKNX
940 MONTREAL
950 Pres CKNB no id, just usual low audio and pops
960 WEAV
990 CBC VY WK
1000 Sports. Pres Chicago
1010 CFRB
1050 WEPN
1070 CHOK
1100 WTAM
1110 WBT
1130 WBBR
1140 CBC
1150 WHBY
1160 WYLL
1250 MESS
1290 MESS
1330 WRCA
1360 WDRC
1390 WEGP
1400 CBC
1500 WFED
1510 WWZN
1520 WWKB
1540 CHIN
1560 DISNEY
1580 CKDO
1600 PROB WUNR. NO ID
1630 KCJJ
1640 WTNI
1650 DISNEY PORTSMOUTH
1660 WWRU +nasty het
1680 WOKB
1700 KVNS

UPDATE 24/4/09: It seems that someone has changed the name of the MW1 Skype chat yet again to simply MW CHAT. Hopefully it will stay with that name for at least a couple of weeks!!

SKYPE CHAT:

Just a note to any of the users of MW1 Skype chat. Some strange suggestions have been made recently that only MW should be discussed. Where this idea came from I haven't a clue. Although the title MW1 may suggest that ONLY MW is discussed, the group of regulars often chat about other subjects. Anything from other dx related topics such as antennas, feeders, nulls, SW, FM, TV, SAT, hillwalking, pubs, football, movies, big chics, in fact anything. The reason the topic is so diverse is because we are known to each other, and are not so formal as some other groups. So long as common decency is maintained, there is nothing wrong in asking in the passing, "Where are you off to tonight, are you going down the pub?", or similar.

Anyone who has a problem with the Skype chat, doesn't have to join in. Simply log out and don't come back. It is that simple.

We also can not and have no desire to try and control anyone who wishes to be members of any other group or chat. What has that to do with me, or any of the rest of the group? If dxers wish to be in any or every other newsgroup or chat that's cool by me?? It is a free country. (Well maybe I should rephrase that part of the statement and say it is a free choice!!!) DXers are free to come and go between other chat rooms. Of course they are. Why not. No one holds any monopoly over dxers. Likewise with paper DX clubs. I suspect that there are no "noses out of joint" when for example the editor of the World DX Club finds out that one of his members put logs in the Danish Short Wave Clubs International!!! That is the dxers choice. And thankfully always will be.

NB: We are in no way trying to "compete" or "replace" Skywaves as a VHF dx group. If I do have any logs this season, I may leave them on Skywaves, as well as here on these pages. This is provided I get around to typing them in the first place.

This Skype DX chat history goes back to a C-BOX chat I had on these pages some time ago. The freebie C-BOX was very unsatisfactory, and didn't even refresh on it's own. This was also an open public chat, although rogue IP's could be easily banned etc, it was visible to anyone. The skype chat, although a pain at having to install extra software, was started up from this site, after C-BOX became too laborious. The regular guys who used the C-BOX, all installed Skype and so began the Skype chatroom. The MW1 chat is not public, so we tended to chat about other things in between the dx tips!!. The current chat window is called MW1, simply because there were teething problems with new members not bookmarking the same window, and we ended up having about 5 different chat windows open at the same time!!!

I know the main focus of this web site is MW DXing. That is because that is my main (winter) focus. But I have also reported many other aspects of dxing here on these pages, including FM, TV, SW, ham radio, offshore nostalgia, and just plain notes and odds and ends etc etc.

I will be active with TV and FM dx this season too, and since this web site has included FM and TVDX clips and images since day one, I shall continue to report what has been received, given time. And if anyone doesn't like reading about FM or TV DX here, don't read it!!! Don't e-mail me complaining that it is not all MW. I know it is not all MW.

So I shall be hopefully featuring photos of TVDX here this year, but I have to say that if the sun is shining in the summer months, I will more often be found out on the pushbike, or sitting in a beer garden somewhere, or even sitting outside the shack enjoying the all too short summers we have here. So often logs remain scribbles in a notebook. It was many months afterwards when all the TVDX photos appeared on here last year.

KEN'S DX DIARY AND LOGS - SATURDAY 18th APRIL 2009:

EASTER HOLIDAYS: I have been away for Easter and what nice weather we had here in Scotland for the holiday weekend. It makes a pleasant change!! I was over in the Mull of Kintyre, at Machrihanish, see the bottom of this page. I did hope to go to the base of the former mast site of the early TA tests. Sadly this was not achieved, due to one of my friends having to rush back suddenly and unexpectedly. But I did manage a pint or two with a fellow radio ham, Brian MM0GTX who was operating from the mast site the time I worked him on 80m.

Machrihanish was a bit of a disappointment. When I was there 20 years ago, there were pubs and a village shop. I was surprised to find out that now there are neither. We tried to get a drink in a snotty nosed golf club, but it seemed our faces didn't fit in as an unfriendly little man refused us entry. Maybe our biker shirts were the wrong colour ..lol. Campbeltown on the other hand was a very different matter.

I would like to eventually get back around to the mast site, but I doubt if I will ever wish to spend any time in a dead village again!! My own village has sadly gone down the same road as Machrihanish, and I now have to travel for a pint!!

TADX ALL TIME LISTS: I have been in touch with Andy Brade who has spent some considerable time updating the UK all time logs listings. This is the list that was formerly kept quite close to the chest of a few dxers, but I am led to believe it is finally going to be made public after all these years. Well done to all concerned.

The list contains logs of stations reported in the UK dx press, and by known dxers.

The term UK FIRST was used in the past for a first reported station in the UK. Personally I find the term a little too definitive. What it really means is a first reported in the UK DX press. I can't really think of a quick fire short phrase to describe the same thing.

"All time first"??

My concern is the boldness of the statement UK first. Trivial perhaps, but what if some other DXer somewhere has indeed logged stations not on the list, but are not members of any DX club. I for one fit into that category. I also personally know of one dxer here in Scotland who had heard the station that Paul C has only just managed to ID on 1600 with the chants. This dxer never ided the chant station, but had a rather good signal from it during the 2007 season.

Below are the stations Andy has returned to me mainly from this years logs, as possible "all time" firsts. There are a number of them have been reported with older call signs, 790 WTNY for example. This is by no means final, but just listed as a rough guide for now. There will be more to come from January and February.

UPDATE 20/4/09: I have removed the stations with the old calls and left only the confirmed All Time Firsts (UK-ATF).

Most of these will be in the audio clips files. I need to get to work on these clips as well though. I intend to have the clips listed in frequency order, in separate folders for each freq.

630	CFCO	0500	30.8.08
630	WBMQ	0530	7.9.08
820	WWFD	0530	18.9.08 (Paul C had this at the same time, Paul's tip)
870	WHCU	0600	18.9.08
920	WBAA	0600	20.9.08 (+0600 21.09.08)
920	WIRD	0300	19.11.08
920	WGKA	2300	28.10.08
920	WMNI	0600	18.9.08
950	WNTD	0600	20.9.08
970	WNYM	2130	16.12.08
1230	WMSH	0600	22.9.08
1230	WTKG	0600	23.9.08
1260	WPNW	0538	27.9.08
1260	WRIE	0800	19.11.08
1310	WCCW	0840	9.12.07
1320	WVGM	0300	17.4.08
1350	KCOX	0700	4.11.08
1350	WNLK	0700	15.11.08
1360	KSCJ	0800	27.9.08
1370	WLJW	0600	23.9.08
1380	KLIZ	0600	23.9.08
1380	WYNF	0900	15.11.08
1390	WCAT	2200	2.2.09
1400	WSLB	0900	23.11.08
1430	KZQZ	0930	24.11.08
1510	WRRD	2300	28.11.08
1650	CINA	0300	23.12.08 - testing

My own personal first list can be seen elsewhere on this site, and comes to around 160 for this past winter!!!
For me, this seems not bad for a reportedly duff aerial, see below !!!!!!!!

KEN'S DX DIARY AND LOGS - THURSDAY 9th APRIL 2009:

RPA-1 AMP RECORDINGS: As predicted here, my recordings with the RPA-1 preamp have caused some reaction in the Perseus Yahoo group. I am amazed that some people believe my beverage antenna to have something seriously wrong with it!!! It has been an amazing winter for transatlantic DX, thanks to the excellent winter conditions, the Perseus, and the beverages. I am not convinced by this so called serious fault, but I am certainly willing to listen to others with constructive suggestions (not just criticism for the sake of it). What do they see wrong from the recordings I have put up. OK by day I have the odd bit of local QRN from the many televisions operating close by. But even with them running, the improvement using the beverage and preamp is quite awesome.

BUT...BUT.... and a bit but. I have just returned from David Hamilton's QTH, where we tried the preamp with an indoor flag. The results were rather disappointing, and very average, like what the results may have been with average preamps which I have used in the past. Noise floor increased in conjunction with the signal strength. Not much difference to the ear, just stronger signals and noise.

So why the big difference on a 500m beverage???

I don't really assume any major problems with the beverage. The guys who see some kind of so called major problem, should listen to the 2 files I have uploaded today, and have a look for any problems. They are the top two on this table. The other three I have uploaded recently are also linked from this table. Files 2 - 5 are zipped about 210 meg. File 1, Sylvain's is around 96meg.

File 5 is from today's average Spring day, nothing startling, but plenty common strong Tadx Signals.

File 4 is taken from a day of good band conditions. Listen to CJOB Winnipeg on 680 for example.

NB: THE LARGE PERSEUS FILES BELOW HAVE BEEN REMOVED FROM THE SERVER IN 2010 TO SAVE SPACE.

(5) Perseus file of 0500 GMT on 9th April 2009. (Approx 210 meg NB: NO PREAMP)
( Listen for the TADX common stations on 10kHz channels. Some strong signals for April)

(4) Perseus File of 0800 GMT on 25th January 2009 (Approx 210 meg NB: NO PREAMP)
(Check 550, 680 and others for more unusual stations)

(3) Perseus File of 0756 GMT on 8th April 2009 (Approx 210 meg NB AMP OFF/ ON TEST)
(Long after usual fade out, the amp brings in weak common stations. Check 1120, 1130, 1540, 1010, 1250, and others)

(2) Perseus File of 1600 GMT on 7th April 2009. (Approx 210 meg NB AMP OFF/ ON TEST)
(Daytime signals. Check531 (amp gets rid of local QRN!!), 621, 648, 765, 774, 927, 1179, 1332, 1350 (LPAM Kingstown Radio), 1503, 1512)

(1) Perseus File of 1600 GMT March 2009. (approx 96 meg NB AMP OFF/ ON TEST)
(This test is from Sylvain in Quebec. Listen to the same results as I have on the MW stations from Canada)

I do appreciate all the comments, more so from those who have taken time and listened to the wideband files I have uploaded. (Yes there were comments from dxers who had not even listened to the files!!!!)

I have made one extra observation today, and that is that the leads of the power source are much better completely isolated from the power source when the preamp is being by passed. If the + lead is only disconnected, the -ve lead adds slightly to background noise. Not a lot, but worthwhile isolating both leads. A simple switch does that trick.

Someone asked me if the amp worked well on other receivers. The answer a resounding yes. Just the same.

I had it reported by MAH that with high signal levels it can overload. Yes that it true, it is easy to overload at night with a Euro antenna. Signal strengths on my Inverted L are very high anyway, so yes it will overload on that antenna. The 10dB att on Perseus cures, but at these strengths there is no need for the amp in the first place..

Let's not forget what the amp is for, at least for me. It is for bringing in low level dx stations in late mornings when the band is open hopefully to the West Coast and AK. When the stations normally are faded out, the amp may give another hour of dx. (Hopefully)

I was also asked about samples from the middle of the night. My signals would be far too strong I fear to benefit from any amp at that time of day. I will try it, but I suspect I would see overloading and nil benefit at night, or as in the case of the recording at 0500 this morning, that would have no benefit for a preamp.

KEN'S DX DIARY AND LOGS - WEDNESDAY 8th APRIL 2009:

RPA AMP UNDER TEST DURING DX: At the request of Guy in the States, I have made another recording this morning with amp off and amp on. I must apologise in advance for making a mess of the frequencies. I must have been tuning around just before I started recording and never noticed the frequency had shifted. The LF end is about 725kHz. This test may not be ideal, but I was using a 500m beverage pointing towards North America, just before 0800. At 0800 the signals were weaker to the likes of 1120 and 1130, therefore I used part of a recording from 0757. I think this would be about 3 hours after sunrise. I wouldn't even record 0700 now, as the signals are fading away. So at these lattitudes at this time of year, 0800 is completely faded. But as you can hear, with the aid of this amp, one or two powerhouses are still hanging in there.

Check 1120, 1130, 1540, 1010, 1250, and others. I haven't even checked the Euros much on this recording. At this time of year the stations that are being brought back from the fade out are common as muck, but think of the stations heard during a winter morning fade out.

Think back Chuck of the signal from 730 SK on my corrupted file you fixed!! It could have been like a local!!

I can't get over the difference this preamp makes to MW dxing. Despite reports to the contrary, I personally find this to be "AM"-AZING...

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD TODAY'S ZIP OF 220 MEG

KEN'S DX DIARY AND LOGS - TUESDAY 7th APRIL 2009:

UPDATE TUESDAY EVENING: RPA-1 AMP CRAWLS INTO TOWN:

The pony express could have delivered faster than Parcel Force, but it arrived. 5 days to come from Glasgow to here... But after the delivery, I hailed David H, to come and see the grand switch on. I never saw him move so fast.

So what have we found.

Well the test that Sylvain in Quebec made and sent over a couple of weeks ago was no joke. Poor Sylvain was accused on the Perseus group for having all sorts of things wrong with his set up. Well I must have the same "wrongs" with my set up!!! I have found that for wideband recordings using a beverage, the RPA-1 seems to be as brilliant a dx tool as the Perseus itself. This preamp is something else. I never knew amps like this existed or I would have bought one a while ago. But then I have never heard a practical demonstration until recently. Any kind of amps I have used in the past were always mediocre. So I never had much interest in preamps till I was pointed towards Sylvain's mp3 of France on LW in Quebec. (Tnx to Alfie in Norway for steering me in the right direction..hi)

I would advise any MW dxers who have not downloaded and listened to either Sylvain's file or mine to download at least one. New link at the bottom of this article. Just have a listen. Many of the stations are not much more than carriers before the amp was switched on. Go ahead and try it for yourself!!!! Like when I first recorded my early Perseus files and became a Perseus nerd, I am certainly now converted to an RPA1 nerd!!

Obviously, or maybe it isn't to some readers, the preamp is not much use amongst the high signal levels of night time Euros. I have plenty strong TADX signals anyway with 500m of beverage out there. It it will surely come into it's own though when there are late West Coast and AK openings on a late winter's morning. I would have loved to have known about this amp before the amazing MW dx season this winter!!! But I am certainly not wishing the summer away, desperate to try it!! I hope to have some outdoor activities this year, after all the months of rain we had last summer!!!!

I can say that the amp is what it says it is. My antenna is bringing in what I would expect by day in the power off/ through position. And this would be the same on any of my receivers, whether NRD545, LOWE HF225E, or AOR7030 (which I don't have now).

But in the power on/ amp mode, gees, what a difference. I do at times have some local QRN from flat panel TV's and the likes around me, but the amp seems to also help reduce that!!!! Today's recording shows carrier style QRN close to 531, but with the amp in, it vanishes almost. OK by many other dxer's standards, I have negligible QRN, but the amp seems really to have such a great s/n ratio. I am impressed.

The benefits are obvious. I have had stronger carriers all the way from AK as I have had from some of the stations on this recording today, and if the amp can bring them up like that!!!!

The benefits of this preamp, almost made me forget the very unhelpful supplier. Not quite though. I would advise buying through a friend in the States and have it send over by them, "properly labeled". ("Warranty Repair" came to mind). This will save "someone" hanging onto it for five days like I had, and hopefully save you money!!

If only there were a way of "piping" the perseus recordings through the amp. I still have my AK and West coast files at high noon and 1100 during the winter months.

NEW WIDEBAND RECORDING: Today I have made a recording at 1600utc and uploaded it. It is a zip file of 210 meg, recording made from Long Wave up to 1700kHz approx. The antenna is a 500m beverage pointing away from Europe, ie in a NW direction towards North America.

Freq's to check on this recording are 531 (amp gets rid of local QRN!!), 621, 648, 765, 774, 927, 1179, 1332, 1350 (LPAM Kingstown Radio), 1503, 1512 (TCR Irish Pirate, barely carrier level before amp on!!)

I will make another recording tomorrow at high noon local time, or 1300. This will be a good time to show the amp in action. Bear in mind this is the time in mid winter that AK carriers are seen.

CLICK HERE to download today's sample file.
NB This is a 204 meg zipped Perseus file, of 1600kHz bandwidth.

The first test of the RPA-1 thrown together for the test

The parasites that seized the box for 5 days in their Glasgow office!!!
This sticker from the side of the box the amp was delivered in.

DX CHEATS ON SKYPE DX CHAT - ETHICS AGAIN !! : The MW1 DX CHAT that runs with the help of Skype has been relatively quiet with regards to MW. But for the summer months for many of us who are also FM and TV dxers, we have decided to include sporadic E tips. (NOT Tropo stuff which has no bearing on a wider area. Some dxers become extatic when they hear Classic FM from the next set of transmitters up the road for example.)

I don't know if I will be able to keep up with the logs mind you. I never seem to. There are always too many distractions in the summer months.

We have a good number of PERSEUS users on the MW dx chat. This is well known, but it is certainly not an exclusive Perseus users chat. All MW dxers are welcomed, so long as they observe basic manners.

One character has joined recently and proceeded to "get ripped into Perseus users" for being cheats. Luckily this took place on another chat, Skywaves had that honour I believe.

But I have to ask why would anyone want to come into a MW chat which has a large percentage of Perseus users, if he doesn't like the way in which we do our DXing. (It's OK you won't be asked on any dx peditions to suffer watching our ways!!).

There must be anti perseus chats where these jumped up individuals would be welcomed...... I certainly don't take orders from anyone on the ethics of my MW dxing. I do happen to hear DX, so don't have the need to take cheap shots at others who have better locations, aerials etc than I have. In fact I enjoy reading the logs from "up north", to see what I don't hear!! What is so unfair anyway?? Unfair to whom?? I am not in competition with anyone when MW dxing.

As I mentioned in these pages before, I do go to radio days. I would be most interested in anyone who wants to come up to me in the bar and discuss the ethics of my MW dxing in person. I suspect however they would be somewhat less enthusiastic in real life!!

And while I remember, I better not play that old movie I recorded while I was down the pub on Saturday night. It may not be ethical to watch it on a DVD.

PARCEL FORCE SERVICE: No update yet on the RPA1 amp from the States. Parcel force have taken 5 days to deliver from Glasgow to here..... I could have walked it in a day. They may not have delivered in 5 days but they managed to send me a bill for £15 VAT/ CUSTOMS, and then charge me and extra £8 for the privilege of holding my package for 5 days. . This bill was paid, but even today I had another demand of payment from them. So I had to ring a silly premium rate number, as well as listen to automated

"If you want xxx press 1, if you want yyyy, press 2".

"O it's probably just a duplicate bill", I was eventually told.

What if I hadn't rang and been silly enough to pay again??

Anyway, seems it should be out on the road as I type this up.

The company in the states were less than helpful when it came to speedy delivery, more on that full story when and if the Amp arrives, and I get the chance to try it.

JVC CX-610GB: David Hamilton and I both have a superb little TV for band 1 DX during the summer months. The JVC CX-610GB is even a bit better than my old Pye VHF set which I have used since the 1980's. The main beauty for me is the video out/ in and switchable sound which the older TV doesn't have. The bandspread on my old set however is far superior. 3 inches for band 1 as opposed to less than half an inch with the JVC. I have not had much experience with the JVC during active bands, as I managed to track it down from ebay just at the tail end of last years season. But from the limited use I have had, it seems to lock with weaker signals than the Pye TV. I wonder how the selectivity will compare during an intense opening.

I also have a great DVD recorder which records directly from the video out, and does NOT go into some unwanted silly pause mode if there are unstable signals. The LG RC1000 DVD/ VIDEO combi is the only model I have used so far that doesn't pause at varying signals, which includes during tape drop out if transferring old video tapes..The cheap ASDA recorders in my experience ALL seem to PAUSE if the signal is less than perfect, which is no use whatsoever for recording TVDX. Can anyone else point me in the direction of any other current models that would let a dxer record snow if he wanted??

I have noticed on line that often there are dxers asking for the manual and circuits for this popular TVDX tool.

Therefore I have included these three items.

jvc_cx_610gb_flyer_optimised.pdf (1917K)

jvc_cx_610gb_manual_optimised.pdf (2562K)

jvc_cx_610gb_circuit_optimised.pdf (8577K)

The unoptimised file for the circuit diagram was over 30 meg, so a compromise is used here. The large sheet was scanned in 4 sections each side, and reduced to 2. I may try and see if the larger jpegs files will join up easily

THE 40 YEAR QUESTION - ARCHIVE LOGS IN PDF FORMAT??: I noticed somewhere recently a cheap shot about logs that are reported on web sites will not be there in 40 years to look back on, whereas they would be if they were reported in DX magazines. I actually PARTLY agree in some ways, because there are currently no historical organisations around to my knowledge with web space for archives. There are small groups of enthusiasts, but what happens on death?? Or what has happened to many of us when ISP's go down, are taken over etc. AOL recently removed personal web sites from their servers without much in the way of warning.

The web is a great resource for the future, as long as there is some kind of an organisation to assure continuity. To say that electronic web sites will not be here in 40 years may be so, but hopefully not though.

Who can responsibility be passed to? There are no government backed outfits even yet to my knowledge that would welcome storing historical files. I have been through this in the last 10 years with the mountain of local historical photographs and documents I have gathered. Rather than encourage or assist, anyone in authority I have dealt with did nothing but discourage and create false obstacles. This I must stress was because they couldn't grasp the technology, and came nowhere near in fact understanding even the basics of digital archives. In fact I was sent from person to person to person and back again, as though they enjoyed wasting peoples time. I would suspect this still stands to this day, although I completely distanced myself from these people a few years ago. This was for important local history files.

So how on earth would MW dxers convince any jumped up official that there was a need to archive our geeky audio clips and strings of meaningless (to them) logs and call signs!!

But on the other hand, stuffy dx clubs who refuse to archive all their back issues on public web sites may end up with lost issues, when there is no one left with original copies. One dx club I know of has gaps in their older archives. . .

So with those thoughts, I have decided to produce the logs pages for the last dx season in pdf format and they can be saved or even printed out. I have made one so far, for January, and it does look OK.

JANUARY 2009 LOGS FROM SW Scotland in pdf format

Comments welcome though (Constructive comments that is)

KEN'S DX DIARY AND LOGS - WEDNESDAY 1st APRIL 2009:

KEN'S DX DIARY AND LOGS - WEDNESDAY 1st APRIL 2009:

PERSONAL FIRSTS: I have removed the personal first table from the top of this months page. There was only one lonely station last month, so I though I would tidy the page up a bit. If I have a sudden upsurge of first time logs however, it will be back.

PERSEUS AND THE RPA 1 PREAMP: I have not taken delivery yet of the RPA 1 preamp as mentioned in last months logs pages. Boy did the thread on the Perseus yahoo group generate some interest. I uploaded a full MW band from Sylvain in the Quebec with Amp off/ Amp on, see March logs page. We had everything on the group from "amazing" to almost "disbelief". There were even comments from some dxers who hadn't taken the time to listen to Sylvain's file, and others who baffled us with theory and facts and figures, which for me personally are quite meaningless without a sample such as Sylvain's to back it up. I am not sure sometimes how some manufacturers sell their preamps without a proper sample of amp on/ off.

It certainly made a very interesting thread, and is still on going. I keep waiting for the postman, as I am really keen to try the Amp here to see if I can replicate Sylvain's recording in any way. I also intend to upload a couple of wideband files from here at high noon to compare to the results Sylvain has. I can't say I am waiting patiently for delivery..lol.

NOT MUCH TO REPORT: Not much to report still on the MWDX scene. There was no sign of the DX test this weekend on 1400, and no logs even from the states. Maybe it never took place. The summer months are rapidly approaching, and the time is almost here for TVDX and sporadic E. But sometimes an interesting surprise comes along, see below.

RADIO MACHRIHANISH: I heard a chappie on 80m yesterday chatting from a mobile location that made me sit up and take note. His antenna was at the very spot that a very old and early wireless station used to be situated, in the Mull of Kintyre, at Machrihanish.

I visited that very spot 20 years ago this year when I was on holiday with the then YL. I had specifically asked the people we were staying with if they could take me to the spot where the radio tower once stood. I don't seem to have any photos sadly from that time, and have a note in an old photo album that the first 20 photos had been stuck and wasted in the old Zenith camera I had at the time.

I had read about Radio Machrihanish and it's early involvement in wireless in "The Scot's Magazine" of July 1989. The article is to be found below. I have made it into a pdf file.

I had a very interesting chat with Brian MM0GTX, one of the local amateurs who have the right to use the special event call GB1 FVT (First Voice Transmission). Typing GB1FVT into QRZ.com will show a photo of the site. Maybe I will have a few more recent photos of the old site shortly on these pages??

One curiosity to come up during our conversation was that I couldn't for the life of me remember the names of the friends we were staying with at the time. Imagine staying for a few days with someone and not even being able to remember their names!! Mind you I have not seen them since, so I suppose that can be excused after 20 years!! Isn't it strange that I was on holiday with a group of folks I don't even know nowadays!!!!

One treasure I do still have are some old recordings taken from 3rd - 5th July 1989 from Northside Radio in Co Donegal from 846kHz. The old Radio North closed because of the new Wireless Telegraphy act in Eire on 31st Dec 1988, but returned "in disguise" a few weeks later as Northside Radio. By March 1990 they were back iding as Radio North. I must try and fine exact dates for these changes to archive them.

I had taken my big reel to reel and Grundig satellit 3400 on holiday to record the strong signals the Donegal stations had in Kintyre. Arran is in the way from this location, and really does cut down the signals. Even today on the other side of Arran from here, and on Western Kintyre, Radio North is like a true local station on the crumbiest of radios.

I really must get the old reel to reel running again and transfer these old tapes. I have just found an old note that shows how technology has helped us over the years. One of my reels has a big space at the start due to "accidentally wiping track 3" according to the note. The number of TADX ids I have lost because of turning a cassette over in the middle of the night that I had already recorded on is also an annoying reality of old manky tapes !! Changed days.

I used to trail the big Grundig Satellit 3400 everywhere with me. Even over to the Alps on ski holidays. It fell off a bus seat in Dublin once as well thanks to a clumsy old woman, who I just had to smile at and say "It'll be OK"..... Even to this day my "normal" non radio cronies cringe if we are going on any long trips incase I fill the cars. But it may be easier now. I take a Sony ICF 2001D which is a very good portable although really disappointing on FM compared to the Grundig. I expected much better on FM from SONY.

Anyway, I am becoming carried away in nostalgia here. Below are links to the scans of the article on Radio Machrihanish, which appeared in the "Scot's Magazine" of July 1989, purely by coincidence the month I was going over there to visit. Lucky the magazine was like most and dated a month in advance. I am sure it will be OK to use material from this mag on a non profit making web page, but I will be e mailing them later today to make sure. (So download the article quickly incase it isn't, although I don't know why it shouldn't be when they are getting a free plug!!)

CLICK HERE FOR A 911K PDF FILE

Sunset at Machrihanish 1989