 |
New / Personal first's this month = 0
=====================================================================
LOGS / NEWS - APRIL 2011 A site mainly dedicated to Mediumwave Dxing |
|
=====================================================================
MW DXING OVER THE LAST WEEK OR TWO: There has been a kind of swing around back towards North American dx in the last little while. For the list of Latins noted as personal firsts this month, I have thrown them in to the top of the May logs page. I had not gone through all the recordings and logs before April was through. So I shall keep the catches altogether.
DX FROM THIS MORNING: This update has been half heartedly ready to upload since Tuesday. But I have added a few bits and pieces. Yesterday some dxers in the Benelux identified a ss station that has been heard here for nearly 2 weeks on 1640, along with the regular WTNI. It is the same station that was heard in 2004ish, Radio Juventus from the Dominican Republic. 050129_0156_1640_R_Juventus_Dom_Rep.mp3
I have had a couple of days of no recordings. Wednesday morning, I had no antenna plugged in. It had been removed during a hail storm earlier in the day. And Thursday morning I had used the North American antenna, and discovered that signals were so so weak... Radio North etc were still strong, but there seemed to be something up with the aerial. When I checked at lunchtime today, all seems in order. Odd. There was a call sign I'm sure on 1600 in the mix with WUNR. Didn't sound much like WLUZ to me, PR station. I recon I have heard WLUZ before, though it is not yet in the all time list, and neither is the 1640 station mentioned above. I really need to update the list. .
TADX ON 25MHZ FM: A few weeks ago I had a nice ID from WBAP on 25912ish FM mode. I actually have a QSL from WLW for a log many years ago on 25mHz. If I remember correctly, they verified 700kHz.There are other transmissions worth looking out for.
WMOB 1360 HEARD IN SCOTLAND AS WELL: The nasty station that sends out rude e mails to dxers, was heard here on a recording from 21st March at 0604. Tnx to tip from BD and AB. That was the morning WMRE 1390 came through as well.
SAQ 17.2kHz THURSDAY: On Thursday there was a broadcast from the VLF station SAQ at 1245UTC. There was some tuning up previous, and no QSL cards will be issued for this broadcast. And guess what. I forgot again!!
LATINS AND CENTRAL AMERICANS: This last week has been amazing here, and possibly the best I have ever heard from Latins. Super strength of signals all over the HF end of the band. My log book is a disgrace really, and I thought I would make a note of the logs here on these pages including unids. Just to make things easy for myself to go back to the recordings. I have many many personal firsts, but have not made the complete list as yet. My biggest problem is the language. My own SS understanding is not even enough to get past on holiday. When I was in SS speaking Minorca a few years ago, I had to rely on ee. Numbers are confusing as well here. I had a stn on 1430, which turned out to have a jingle I hoped was an ID. All it said was 14-30 AM according to PC, another dxer here in Scotland!! So I am no expert!! I also can not tell the difference between all the different jolly sounding music that the stations play!! It is not ideal having to rely on assistance from other dxers, but the language was always rather fast for me. Even back in the days when I used to listen to the tropical bands, 4.9mhz, as well as 3.3mhz. I am not sure what is still on from LA now on tropical. Drawbacks with the Latins is the fact many stations just carry on through the hour. But on the plus side, a music station often has a voice over between tracks, and it can often be very rewarding listening at any time during the peak. Currently here, 0500 seems to be just great!! At this time of year the DX window is very narrow, but what a window it was on 8th!! Many frequencies seem to sound like graveyards as some stations are off channel by quite a bit more than you hear when the north Americans are coming through. So often I use USB or LSB to try and bring out the sound a bit.
FRIDAY 8th APRIL 2011 around 0500 NB - CHECK MAY PAGE FOR UPDATED LOGGINGS OF LATINS FROM THIS DAY 900 0500
Unid SS. 0458 mention poss Puerto Rico, though nothing listed. Maybe
just a Euro?? NB - CHECK MAY PAGE FOR UPDATED LOGGINGS OF LATINS FROM THIS DAY
SATURDAY 9th APRIL 2011 AROUND 0500 1130
Columbian // 1520. Multiple freq anns just around 0500.
SUNDAY
10th APRIL 2011 AROUND 0500
MONDAY 11th APRIL 2011 Nothing very different noted. Files deleted
TUESDAY 12th APRIL 2011 AROUND 0500 1540
0500 Unid SS. Long SS tk and shouting voice overs around toth. Prob
an id in there.
MONTAGE FROM THIS MORNING: I include a montage of common stations from around 05 and 06 today, maybe the odd one from 0400. CLICK
HERE TO PLAY
1150
WHBY
I had a favourable e mail with regards of a common problem of old CDs and DVDs not playing or copying. My suggestion was a pair of different manufacturers USB removable drives as complete back ups of all photos, recordings etc that require to be saved. As I mentioned, I have loads of drives full of Perseus recordings from the last couple of winters when the DX was excellent. These I dont have back ups of, due to the financial requirements for this. (Many hard drives would have to be bought) For my old Caroline recordings that I have on CD, I tried a little frogramme called ISO BUSTER that I had heard about a couple of years ago. Voila. Many but not all of the files that couldn't be listened to or transferred to hard disks are indeed being saved. Some of the errors in cheap bright green and bright orange CDs from or 1999 or so maybe are giving the most trouble.
A link was sent to me the other day about the RSGB being the latest club to have "trouble" with their accounts due to a sticky fingered member. A quote from the RSGB web site even named the party involved.
RSGB General Manager The Board of the RSGB has today released the following announcement: Peter Kirby, RSGB General Manager, has left the Society’s employment after the discovery of financial irregularities on his part. For the time being, RSGB Director Don Beattie, G3BJ, will act as General Manager. At this difficult time for the Society can I ask that everyone supports Don in his role. He may be contacted at Don.Beattiersgb.org.uk or 01234 832 701/07802 922 219. Dave Wilson
I am personally stunned that the well respected RSGB has fallen foul of criminal elements. But I guess this seems to happen frequently, not only with radio clubs, but with clubs in general. Locally to me there have been countless "scandals" over funds at social clubs, independent groups, bowling clubs, local governments, Christmas hamper clubs, and even charity fund raising. You read about the latter in the papers every week. Yet it also seems to be a modern trend to take that in your stride, and many seem to carry on in their "positions", unquestioned and unchallenged!! Isn't this a sad reflection on the society we are creating? It is even sadder when other members of their group rally around them as though they have done no wrong, as seems to happen some of the time, but not all of the time thankfully. On a positive note, it was good to hear in the news that a former MP from Scotland has been sent to the nick for financial wrong doings with regards to his so called expenses. Remember this is public funds that are being abused, and I don't mean small time pilfering such as buying a meal for a friend on account. I wonder how much a pint or a gallon of petrol would cost if all these scams were not going on in our local and national governments???? I think it is the broken trust that turns most peoples stomach with regards to these characters. So what is going on that hasn't been rumbled (yet)?? There's a multi million dollar question.
This unusual station was reported as a Russian station, heard late Monday night / Tuesday morning on 1395. It was reported here in Scotland, in Belgium and in the North of England. A search on the web produces a German station, but seems the ids others heard in EE were related to a Russian station of the same name. I only hope it was not an official transmission, and we are going to be presented with a powerful Russian signal on the last clear channel here in Europe. It is nice to hear distant chanting from All India Radio, or to hear some of the AM enthusiasts that still broadcast on a weekend. Or just maybe something different. It was heard again on the 1st April signing off at just after 0000 GMT.
Play
recording from 31st March / 1st April
Merseyland Alternative Radio were heard with a test broadcast 30th March, closing at 2100UTC. Or was it 2200UTC? I never made any notes in the log book!! Signal was very loud and clear, and not unlike to the YOU-FM broadcast in strength. Was the Russian station only a test from MAR? An email from Mar suggests no. Was it a test from someone else? Did it come from Russia? Well it wasn't heard again till 31/3 into 1st April, so that tells us it was a test of some kind. Below I have given a short aircheck, including parts of the music when the signal was booming. Unfortunately when the chatter at the end was being heard, a wandering carrier which I assume may be Dutch, had come on the frequency. Play
recording of MAR
At the weekends, you can expect to hear ENERGY 1395 from Dublin, and MAR. But there have been Dutch stations also using the channel, as well as another station in Ireland. A relay of ABC from Australia was also heard one night, thought to be a relay from Ireland. Energy and MAR are both on air for long hours over the weekends, and at a distance, the channel is a mess. It is a real shame that they cant use different channels. Geographically, they are pretty close anyway to be using the same channel. But understandably both like the idea of using the clear frequency of 1395. And for obvious reasons. I can say in the favour of MAR. They do make an effort to produce good old fashioned radio programmes. They are not simply chucking on a computer and leaving non stop music running. Energy do this. But there is something nice about Energy's audio. They run lovely "Nova" quality Optimod sound. It may not me noticed through a cheap pair of "cans" or titchy PC speakers, but through a beefy system, the audio quality can be heard.
The broadcasdts that were widely reported on 6877 I think it was, have also been heard lately. Thanks to a tip from SH, via BDXC, Via a report from Glen Hauser, the same broadcasts are being made on 10405, or slightly lf of that maybe?? Heres a sample of the English language sections. There was another English ann that mentioned a local FM channel as well, which I don't have. CLICK
TO PLAY CLIP
WHATS IT ALL ABOUT NICO?? LOL: Last Saturday I think it was, the Perseus / Microtelecom map showed a very different view. Have they been using someone elses bandwidth without telling or something??? Who knows.
|
