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LOGS / NEWS - DECEMBER 2014 A site mainly dedicated to Mediumwave Dxing |
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DXing has been same old same old....
GREAT NEWS FOR EURO MW DXERS: More great news for MW dxers here in Europe. More of the high power German stations are going off the air. Many have been on the air for decades, and as I am a MW dxer, I will not miss the powerhouse Euro signals. They were always only QRM sources to me. The main exceptions being Radio 10 Gold and Arrow Classic Rock from Holland when they were on the air. Now the bible has taken their place. How wonderful... I don't think!! DX wise at least though, less clutter will give lower power, and more distant stations a better chance to come through, as well as the beloved transatlantic stations of course on the split 10kHz channels. Who knows, maybe exotic down under signals can make it to these lattitudes on clear channels. No hope I don't think of pefectly clear channels appearing in this round of MW closedowns. This years end so far as we hear, closedowns are NDR, 702, 792, 828 and 972. 972 was in years gone by a pest right next to Caroline 963. But I once heard a recording from Germany on 972, with heavy splatter from 963!!! I have no idea why some European so called dxers weep at the demise of these large powerful 24 hour signals on MW. My only thoughts are that their idea of dxing is very different to mine, listening to powerhouse euro stations??? This can hardly be classed as good DX, and is in fact not even MW dxing at all. This can only be described as merely being a listener?? A very different fish. Different indeed. In fact their programmes they listen to will more than likely be available to them on FM or the web?? (This subject reminded me so much of the Glasgow dx meetings in the 80's, and inspired a few memories below) Back to the bands, and some doom and gloom merchants compare the MW switch off to VHF TV dx on band 1. Now there IS a band that is dead 99% of the time and a complete bore to monitor now. I think by the time the MW band really empties like that though, I will be well in the long grass. AM is still well used by many lower power stations across Europe, and the globe in fact. Many stations across the water still pull the large audiences. For me as a MW dxer though, I am glad to see the back of this night time QRM. The MW band in Europe was choca for so many years with 24 hour power house stations. No one seems to know when to close up and go to bed these days. The BBC must be one of the worst organisations for wasting frequencies. Why are they not forced to close down at night rather than relaying radio 5 live which is available on MW anyway?? I for one won't miss any of the BBC local stations if they finally take the plunge and close their AM down. I won't hold my breathe for that day though. Having said this, it is not only the BBC who are the villains I wish someone would give Premier in London a decent freq and tx for a single channel instead of taking up about 4 freqs using 5 transmitters or whatever the last count was. How sensible is that?? And still the frequency planners refuse to give Radio Caroline an AM heritage licence. So back to the closures, and this last little while we have seen the first few QRO French stations close, (945, 837, 792). The above four NDR frequencies go in Jan, (702, 792, 828 and 972) and all German LW services are due to close at the end of the year / early next, as well as RTE LW 252. Later in 2015 more high powered Germans claim to be going off. 1422, 1268, 756, 549. There are stories circulating also of the French perhaps advancing their AM close downs. I will get the flags out when I hear the last of 1377 and 1404, to name a couple of their very splattery strong signals. Also NL 747 and 1251. Let us hope the momentum accelerates. See also my article yesterdays_mw_band.html
MEMORIES OF THE 80's DX MEETINGS IN GLASGOW: The stories above of a few continental dxers bleating about the loss of the Euro powerhouses reminded me of the DX meetings in Glasgow in the 80's. The guy that ran these dx meetings, John, thought he was doing great being able to pick up the ILR station on MW from the next county, my local ILR station. Gees!! This was the chappie that advertised his meetings in the World DX Club. ILR Ay r was his dx, but he used to sell himself as a dxer, while he was in fact more a listener to a few stations near by, rather than a hard core dxer. But he did hold these dx meetings, which were fun on a Friday evening initially, and then they changed to a Saturday afternoon. Or was it vice versa when I think about it. John would not allow us to talk about pirates... lol.. so guess what we used to do. So he used to turn his back on us, facing the wall, and mumble away to himself..lol. He had some strange obsessions... including constantly wishing to talk about Radio Yugoslavia for some reason. That station to us younger fellas was as interesting as talking about Radio Tirana all afternoon!! I went to the trouble to make him a mw loop one time, but he simply couldn't master it's operation. At the times of my visits, I used to make his vega portable radio perform miracles, and make it sing to him. Getting Laser 558 by day etc was a simple task with his loop. I even put a digital readout on it for him. (A sticky strip of paper with RTE, NOVA, Manx, Boyneside etc marked on it..lol) The loop was thrown to the side and the "digital" readout had been picked off the next time I saw him. I remember another MW dxer used to go to these meetings as well, but "Fred" is more interested in amateur radio nowadays as far as I am aware. I haven't heard from him in years though, but his country house is still like Jodrell Bank..lol.. (checked on google). But I was awe inspired by his tales of west coast reception, which at that time I had never had a sniff of. Fred also had a great collection of old receivers, and in fact that was where I saw my first Racal. Fred had the RA117, which was very similar to the RA17, and looked identical, as did the RA17L. (I now have 3!!) I really should make a concious effort to sent old Fred a Chrismas card with my email address in it. A hell of an interesting chappie. I also met Don, an experienced TV dxer. Don in fact used to also dx UHF, and had some monster antennas up at his house somewhere in the Southside, but I couldn't take you there now. I don't even remember Don's second name. I would occasionally meet up with John in the Ingram Bar in Queen Street, where he had been going every Saturday or something for xxx years, and he always had xxx pints!! It was a funny old place. A dxer pal Wally went with me one time, and ended up being grilled about Radio Yugoslavia, while John's other cronies just sat and said very little.. LOL I think I must have been "winchin" up there at that time, which also allowed me to record a few of the Glasgow FM pirates of the day.
CHRISTMAS JUST AROUND THE CORNER ... AGAIN: How the time seems to fly in. I don't seem to have done much dx wise this autumn. We just don't have the band conditions we had a few years ago at the sunspot minimum. But let's at least hope there may be some hobby pirates on the air worth a listen to around the holiday period. Of course Christmas is the time for celebrating the festivities. Each to their own, but I should be looking to be getting the hell out the place to go to see a gig or two. Hogmanay looks good as well this year. Last year I was "expected" at a house party at New Year that turned out to be very much a non adult night. This year I will certainly be doing something more outgoing. But that brings me to the point. Some years ago, perhaps 2004ish, a friend wanted to come up for the night and go to the boxing day bash that happens every year, more local to me than to him, with bands playing etc. I cannae go, was my reply. the MW band has been absolutely jumping. I don't want to miss anything. So he came and stayed the night, went out and took a taxi there and back, and I sat in the shack, wrapped in a duvet in the freezing cold dxing single channel stations, perhaps using left and right channels at the top of the hour with two receivers, and thinking I was doing great. All that while there was a great night going on!! I get the feeling I was probably planning to buy another receiver around that time as well, so I would be trying to stay away from pubs etc. If I knew the year, we could look back and see what the logs were actually like that night, and probably have a chuckle at the so called dx I thought was superb then. It prob was 2004, and I see in my log that I stayed up the whole night. There are logs all through the night up to about 1030 when I must have retired for the night / morning. The log book is full of pages and pages of logs of stations I class as common now and don't or at least rarely make a note of. WOR, WJR, WRCA, WCRN, CKLW, WBBM, WOOD, WWKB, WBBR, CKNB, WABC etc, as well as some that are off air, like Thunder 1530 Iceland. (Thunder 1530 still on the air over in Asia now) These days, thanks to the "LIFE CHANGING RECEIVER" the Perseus SDR, I have no need to be as anti social. No one liked to get out more than I did back then, but that night I always remember I was hoping for good rare dx. This coming festive season, I don't hold out much hope for decent dx on a dead band. Gees we are barely hearing WBBR at this point. But if the band were to open suddenly, the Perseus can do the recording and I will listen at a time that suits me. The hell with this sitting in again!! I was even pacing the floor a bit last weekend knowing there was somewhere I should be. But I couldn't get my local taxi guy, and the cabs in the town are twice the price, or more. Not good when I am the only one from this area that would have been going to that particular venue!! And I just can't bring myself to try the driving back from the pub. I will drive to a venue any night, but I don't fancy listening to drunks all night while drinking orange juice..lol.. That ain't tennis. So I had to make do with a night in the hoose, pacing the floor. I couldn't be bothered even going to my local for a pint, knowing something better was happening. An as far as the mw band went on Saturday night!!! Huh!!!
WOULD YOU BUY A USED CAR FROM THIS MAN: I had a great laugh at someone else's expense yesterday. No not quite used cars, but I was almost on the floor laughing at the silly old fool in my local pub yesterday. Can ye have a look at a TV he asks me. On the way into the room where the duff one sat, I almost trip over another one. "Is this it", I ask?? "Oh christ", he says, "That was her." (It's always the wife's fault when she is not around...lol).. "She bought that from someone that came intae the pub... Look at it, nae wire, and look at the screen." He was more concerned about the no wire, which more than likely was only like a PC power lead. But the screen was obviously broken. "Aye she paid him 80 quid for that." I told him I remember some folks I knew being caught out buying scrap televisions and videos from dodgy guys in vans years ago. Aye they are still in the wrapper they would say. These shifty guys from across the water had obviously bought a few rolls of cling film and wrapped them up...lol... "Aye", the auld fella at the pub tells me yesterday, "That TV was wrapped in cling film!!!" "So you gave a dodgy bastard that pulls up in a van outside the pub 80 quid, without even trying the set out", I scoff. Not only that, but the same folk wouldnae give me 80 quid for a second hand worker, and into the bargain if it coughed once, they would bring back to me... No wonder I was struggling to stay on my feet laughing at them.....lol
Same old, same old, dull, boring, virtually nothing worthy of note, all that kinda thing. That would describe the MW band dxing just now. Prob the worst season so far that I have experienced since I got the Perseus SDR. Absolutely bricking myself to connect any antennas up this last few days. The torrents of hail and lightning and also thunder rumbling away does not give confidence to leaving anything plugged in. In fact I am just not doing it. If the band was anything like interesting I would get up and connect it up live for a while, but it has no interest at all at this time. I am so glad I chose to store loads of dx wideband files on drives. Every now and again I pick up a drive and plug it in, and time travel dx back as far as late 2007, when I got the Perseus. Good fun. Historically interesting as well. But I have just left the drives where they are during this current thunder and lightning phase we are going through. I don't wish to tempt fate.
WEATHER REPORT: The weather however is anything but dull.. Phew... a wild and windy place this last few days. Keeps the air fresh and the stoor doon as they say. But think on the storage boxes I should find on the shore this weekend!!!
ELAD OR AIRSPY?? What will be the best receiver for band 2 dxing this coming summer I wonder. A 450 quid ELAD that is also a general coverage sw and mw set, or a 130 quid AIRSPY USB oversized dongle almost??. There are now YOUTUBE movies of a 10mhz section of band 2 being recorded and played back. They are not quite ready off the shelf, and some folks have paid up front in October for these units. Not sure how comfortable I would be with this. The spec of the AIRSPY, freq coverage from 24Mhz - 1.7gHz. Possible option for a converter for lower freqs. The future looks good after all..... I like the idea of recording 10mHz of the FM band at the top of the hour.... or even the OIRT band when there is a big opening. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgTyQ0KJIVo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GslRi-huUio
Same as yesterday, nothing worthy of note here.
Well, it looks like we had one reasonable morning, before conditions died. Nothing worthy of note here.
Well I have again been wondering if something has happened to my antennas. But both beverages produced the same results in the last few weeks. Very little. Therefore it was a nice surprise to hear the band jumping at 0800 on 30th, Sunday morning. I started compiling a page yesterday, but was distracted with various other things, and never finished the entry. Not least I hasten to add, simply just listening to the files. Monday and Tuesday have been a different ball game with nothing of note heard. 1 day of dx!!! 1 reasonable day since 14/10, yet even that dx on 30/11 was gone by 0900, though a few were heard inc am 1250 in MB at 1030, even though 1000 was dross. I may take a moment here to list log 0800, and also give a montage. I will omit things like CBC 600 and VOCM 650 620 etc of course. I also had horrible QRN on the LF area of the band, which I seem to be stuck with these days.
MONTAGE OF SIGNALS AT 0800 30/11/14:
730 CKAC LOGS OF NOTE: 650 WSM
Nashville 0800, 30/11 id just after VOCM id.
NIGERIA 29/11/14 - 917kHz: I know many dxers in Europe hear the distinctive het and occasional audio from Nigeria on 917kHz. Being off freq, it gives us that rare opportunity to hear the signal from deep into Africa from here in NW Europe. I check from time to time to see if there is any chance of a station ID, but it is usually in the mud here. The other night though, it was quite good at 02 and again at 0300. Whether or not there is an ID or not I have no idea. I kept a bit of the music in the clip so it is longer than a normal id only type clip.
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