| 1200 | WRTO | Chicago, IL | 
31/01/10, 0900 |
| 1380 | WABH | Bath, NY |
31/01/10, 0800 |
| 1710 | Radio Soleil | Boston |
12/01/10, 0400 Pirate poss * FKR-UK |
Personal Firsts this month =3 SO FAR ALL TIMES
ARE IN GMT |
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MOUNT LEINSTER IN THE SNOW: I have received a few snaps taken of Mount Leinster sent to me by Finbar, EI0CF. Mount Leinster is RTE's highest site in Ireland at 792m above sea level. The site was not accesable since before Xmas, so some of the engineering staff went for a look by helicopter!!.
PERSEUS NEW DLL WORKS FINE WITHOUT DOT NET FRAMEWORK: Today is the first time since the Christmas release of the Perseus latest software that I have been working at PCs which required a clean install of windows. I saw on the yahoo group that someone suggested the large 237 meg dotnet framework clutter is not necessary with the new DLL. It was neither confirmed or denied I dont think by Nico. I was under the impression the new DLL served as some kind of other function. According to the release notes on Microtelecom web site, the new DLL fixed issues with multi receiver use, and something to do with a third party piece of software, called CW Skimmer. I have never tried the latter, and the PC I use is at the limit with one Perseus, never mind two. So I wasn't too bothered about downloading it. But I thought I would make a point on trying a PC that has never been on line looking for updates. I first tried it as before with the new drivers, and the Perseus installed OK, but would not start up. I replaced the dll as supplied by Nico, and voila, the receiver burst into life. I have to say I find it odd that the software required a 237 meg download to begin with, and now it only requires a 117k file, and yet there is nothing about this in any of the release notes, or have I missed something??? The old DLL just did not work in conjunction with the new drivers, unless the pc had been kept up to date. (I have no reason to download all these daily updates that a lot of folks do. It is not every machine that is on line, even in this day and age.) But there it is, an unannounced fix for the required dotnet framework anyway.
ICE FLOW JANUARY 15th 2010: If anyone has city speed broadband and wants a look at a 64 meg video clip taken last night in the dark, using a spotlight of the ice flow on the river at the back door, click the link. The ice damed back some 50 or 100 yards downstream, and the water level began to rise rapidly, untill the pressure was too great and the whole lot began to move downstream. This was spectacular to see, but in the dark, only limited photography was possible. This would have been stunning if it had happened in daylight hours, and I would have had some great DV quality footage. But it was lucky to see this at all at these lattitudes. The couch potatoes I mentioned yesterday were all sat on their couches. I never saw another soul out watching this awsome spectacle, and the noise from the ice breaking up was quite a loud rumble.
Anyway, click to view a 64 meg .mov file. VLC player will play fine.
Woops a daisy. File never loaded properly yesterday. Reloaded Sunday.
GREENLAND RECORDINGS: I have an unusual request from Paul, a dxer in the States. He requires a reasonable recording of Greenland taken off air. I have found him a decent clip from October, two separate clips in fact, when the signal was strong and clear, though perhaps still a little uninspiring. Freq for both was 570, though shortly after the clips were made, the transmission became nothing more than a blank carrier and about 1% modulation!! They seem in no hurry to make repairs. 091004_2227_570_greenland_inc_cw.mp3 (1,799k) 091004_2257_570_greenland.mp3 (2,395k)
COLD WEATHER AND THE GLOBAL WARMING SCAM: With all the cold weather we have had around here, there has been little heard from any of the global warming scaremongerers. But I was listening amused the other morning to WHAM 1180 and a trailer/ promo for Sean Hannity, one of the controversial talk show hosts on American radio. These guys don't miss the liars and hit the wall. The shoot from the hip, and kick them where it hurts!! We need some more outspoken folks like that over here, before they turn the country completely into a nancy boy state. Anyway, have a listen to Sean Hannity having a go at the global warming scam, recorded from WHAM 1180 yesterday.
100114_sean_hannity_on_1180_wham.mp3
SHIVERING SCOTLAND: I live in the country, and the crybabies I have heard bleating on about the snow, and the ice and the pavements are slippy and the cooncil haven't cleared the paths, and this and that. These jokers seem to think it is their right to have a man walking 5 feet in front of them with a brush at all times, incase they should slip!! It is winter for god sake, and with that can come snow. Yes, the white stuff. It's not a new invention. You'd think some country folks around here had never seen snow before, to listen to them. No it is not a good idea to go up the street in carpet slippers or high heels. You would think that country folks at least would just get on with it, when the cold weather comes. And use maybe even use a pair of decent boots to get around!! Would you go to a ski resort with slippers?? I think not. I think in another 20 years the couch potatoes I hear now will expect the cooncil to come round and "dicht their backsides" in the morning for them!! If there were any Scandanavian or Canadians listening to these crybabies, or watching the TV reports about the "awful snow conditions" they have had to bear, they would just laugh at them. lol. I have heard the wx reports on CFAM this season!! We never had lows of anything like -48 here!!!
RADIO SUNSHINE / RADIO SOLEIL: There has been no sign on the FF pirate on 1710 so far again. Well the carrier is there, but much too weak to hear audio. In actual fact, I did check on the day the station was coming in on 1710, and there were 3 strong carriers on 1710. The FF station at that time however was well dominant. I wonder where the other two come from. I did hear SS here last winter, but as ever, lacked IDs. I pick a fine time to receive a FF Haitian pirate. The poor souls will be far too busy assisting their fellow countrymen to find missing persons etc after the terrible earthquake, to respond to a long distance report. I believe there is some kind on emergency net set up on 7045 and 3720 for assisting the victims.
PERSEUS AGAIN: I made a muck up of a contribution to the new Perseus wish list files. It seems it can't take much text, and after I pasted a load of text in to the tiny box, all that showed up was a few lines. Below is the complete contribution I tried to add.
A good idea to create a specific page for this kind of wish list. At least I have made a suggestion, even if it is never used. Although I surely can not speak for other dxers, I have had correspondence with many MW dxers who have bought the Perseus receiver/ SDR exclusively for the wideband recording capabilities. For myself, I have no other reason to own a Perseus other than the record / playback facility, which adds such a new dimension to our hobby. I would not have dreamed of spending the money on another receiver, without something special, Which Perseus does have of course in the shape of wideband recording. An SDR, housed in the middle of rf noisy computer seemed mad to me initially!!. I still own an NRD 545 and 515, as well as the Lowe HF225E, all great and classic receivers. The NRD545 with it's variable bandwidth, the 225E with it's amazing capabilities to bring out stations from the mud. The Lowe was by far the best of all the radios during the 2007 St Helena broadcast, and that included the Perseus, and an AOR 7030 I had at the time. I don't know why the HF225 was superior. It was just the way it was, and all aerials tried.. But for MW dxing, the Perseus comes into it's own for one reason. I can listen at the top of the hour to the complete MW band, 120 channels or so and not be limited to one channel!!! What a difference!!! But the record facility, the main selling point of the receiver for so many dxers, has remained underdeveloped. I made an imaginary Perseus "photoshoped" style. That is unfortunately the limit of my knowledge I'm afraid. If I knew hard programming, I would design my own. But I doubt I ever will have that ability. I am willing to pay for a version capable of the following upgrades. This image below comes from my "Perseus - A Life Changing Receiver" article.
1. Moving easily from current recorded file to next, or previous file. Is navigation backwards as easy to make as a step forward? The SDR can flawlessly run to the next file in the series. But to repeat an id 20 seconds back into the previous file, requires a lot of clicking and browsing. 2. Buttons for "forward" and "back" 10 seconds, and use also right and left keyboard arrows, (like winamp keyboard shortcuts.) 3. Pause Button 4. Kill the live area around the playback bar that causes the dreadful loud tones during playback. Some of us use band/ disco speakers, and the noise would lift the roof!! 5. A wider playback bar would be a great benefit. It is very thin if you are using it all the time. 6. A wider playback bar would benefit the short repeat annoyance if you click on the playback bar, but have a tiny movement of the mouse at the same time. A minimum time for the repeat function on the playbar may benefit, say a second or 2. I dont think anyone is going to be listening to a repeat less than 2 seconds are they?? It may be these updates would be a nightmare code wise, to incorporate. Who knows. But every dvd player, software player etc all have basic file navigation, forward and back. The addition of these items of basic navigation would make the perseus untouchable. Pro receivers may not have some functions that a hobby rx has. (as per group messages) But name me a pro rx with a wide band rec facility. Ken
AND FINALLY, THE DX: O yes, and the DX. I have no updates to report of dx logs. The band has been the same old same old every morning. It is more like August than mid winter.
STATESIDE MW PIRATE HEARD - RADIO SOLEIL INTERNATIONAL: At last after hearing these elusive stations for a few seasons, but only barely, I had a very strong peak from RADIO SOLEIL INTERNATIONAL today. This was on 1710 at 0400, although heard at 02, 03 and 05 as well. It may well have been the weak signal on 1710 at 2200 11/1. I don't know if these guys are running a special transmitter for heavy snowstorms or something, in the hope the FCC won't come out, but they were strong!! Listen to the two clips below, one is long, from AM, and the other is shorter, with toth, and IDs in AM, then SSB. This is the first positive ID I have had on any of the handful of stations heard. There was a NY religious station heard, as well as SS stn in NY, and I think the FF station is in Boston, hrd in FF last winter, but not possitively ided. I will have to look up the web. I have a link to their web pages which I presume is still working.
Click here for the web site of 1710, Radio Soleil International
Or listen to today's clips 100112_0400_1710_radio_soleil_long_clip.mp3 100112_0400_1710_radio_soleil_am_ssb.mp3
We always assume these stations are running quite low power, but this one may surprise us I think, judging by the signal!! I think that is one that I may just write to!!! Maybe I needed the boost, as I feel all dxed out at this time of year. It is a shame that hobby stations such as Radio Metalica or Radio USA don't use the top end of MW sometimes to try for dx reports.
WWRU POWER DOWN: Alan in Northern Ireland let me hear a clip of WWRU powering down at 2200 on 1660. I had also recorded 2200, and was amused by the break, mid ID. 100111_2200_1660_wwru_power_down.mp3
ALAN'S LOGS FROM NORTHERN IRELAND: Alan from Portrush who is a lively member of our Skype chat mw dx group has offered some logs for posting in public. Click below to view. Alan lives on the North Coast of Northern Ireland and brings in some superb DX on his SDR IQ RX and Super KAZ, at 140 feet for the bottom leg. (40 odd metres), at around 300 degrees. CLICK HERE TO VIEW ALAN'S LOGS 1/12/09 - 10/1/10
ILR AYR OFF AIR FOR SOME HOURS: Unusually for these type of stations, but ILR AYR was off the air last night, Sunday, for a few hours, unfortunately coming back on just before midnight. Pity they never stayed off all night. The MW band was pretty average during the off period, but some good WBZ ids were noted, as well as WHO and unid counrty mx stn, which pres is the French Canadian. Audio seemed to be similar to the audio from CKNB 950, and on peaks was reasonable at best, but always faded at the end of tracks etc.
ASIAN PIRATE ON AIR: I am not sure of it's language, but my pal Trevor from Kilmarnock rang to alert me of Pakistani or Indian or similar type of music and language on around 1026kHz. I couldn't hear anything here at all, only Euros and DTR. I originally was trying FM, as the first text came in saying that it was just below IRL Ayr. I naturally assumed FM, but amazingly, it seems we have a QRP pirate on MW!! Davie up the road and I went out a field trip last night, but couldn't hear a thing. It had switched off just about the time we arrived in Killie. So we couldn't track a station down that wasn't on the air!!!! It was a great shame. It seemed to be quite a coincidence that ILR Ayr was off just at the time when there was someone on the next channel. We should have taken a run to their MW site and see if we could get some photos of their transmitters, if there was someone working at the normally unmanned set up. These fools will only have themselves to blame for unwanted problems if they continue to operate on the next channel to a local ILR station. This will obviously cause some grief in the immediate area around the transmitter. They probably would have a free run at the airwaves if they chose some kind of sensible frequency. Watch this space for more info as it happens. I don't think I have ever heard anything unusual like this on MW in years. The last pirate MW signal heard from Scotland I think was a test around xmas time one year, maybe in the early 90's or late 80's, on 1251. This was loud and clear and from Glasgow somewhere. Then there was also a Radio Gladice on 1248kHz from Glasgow area with an address in Motherwell, Radio Active on 1242 seemingly from Ayr was heard around 1984, and various Edinburgh pirates over the years. Radio Telstar, Radio Free City, Radio Kay. There was also a SW station Radio Woodstock in Falkirk which had used MW in the past, and heard once as well on 1254kHz.
ISN'T
IT TIME - AS "THE BABY'S" USED TO SAY ( Isn't it long overdue for an update to this blog? OK there is nothing wrong in taking things easy over the holidays, and doing nothing other than taking very postcard like photos. But enough's enough. I have to get out the big chair someday.. DX this holiday season has been what they say in the trade, "absolutely ***** average". I neither have exciting dx to report nor super strong ids on normally weaker stations to include here. Not that there has been no dx. I know some dxers and enthusiasts who may struggle because of locations etc, to hear WBBR or WWKB. But here there has been dx every day. Isn't it somehow odd that in mid winter when the expected peak should be, that we are listening to some late morning openings and only have the watery carrier of CKNB on 950, and not sports from KJR, or loud classical music from MB, that we had on a daily basis in November?? I always feel the band is poor if I hear the watery carrier on 950, and the bent on screen peak and drone on 940 caused by an off channel station somewhere.
POSSIBLE NEW CONTRIBUTROR TO THESE PAGES: I was discussing possible contributions from another dxer to include here. Alan who will be introduced after his first contribution, has heard some gems lately over in Northern Ireland. 1170
AK at 1500 Full details shortly. All contributions are more than welcome from anyone else that wishes to publish their own logs on line and doesn't have a blog of their own. Maybe it would be an idea to publish logs here from other dxers who wish their logs to be seen in public, and not just in club publications, and non public groups etc. All I will say is that the logs have to be in a ready to use format. My days for mind numbing typing out of other folks logs is long gone.
TYPING LOGS IN THE OLD DAYS: I used to receive logs for a couple of pages of pirate news in a DSWCI magazine some years ago, and used to physically cut up logs into tiny strips, set them out on the floor in freq order, and then roll out a length of sellotape to stick them in order. Then I'd start with the old manual typewriter and tipex trying to decipher some serious scribbles!! After this laborious task was complete, I had to send the finished pages off to Denmark by swift air, because I was always working at the last minute!! Phew, how pc's and email have changed the life of log publishing in the dx press.
RADIO CAROLINE - 20 YEARS ON LAND: The Ross Revenge has been off air from the High Seas for an amazing 20 years this year! And it will be an amazing 21 years this year since the brutal and highly illegal raid on the Ross Revenge by Dutch and English gun slingers. And while I'm in the mood for links to youtube, here's one that makes the hackles stand up, The Hooters and Give the Music back, mixed along with video of the Ross Revenge being raided by a bunch of alcoholic Dutch thugs in 1989. Remember the station was operating from International waters and the Dutch and British had no jurisdiction whatsoever on the high seas and acted in complete contravention of all international law. And guess what. No one was jailed for their crimes of piracy on the high seas. They gave the confiscated gear back to Caroline and that was that. No official was ever even brought to justice, whether it be hanged, or sacked from their nice little pensionable position, or had their little perks removed, or their houses taken away from them. It just shows that these government officials are above the law, and had they shot anyone aboard the Ross, I doubt that they would have had to answer to it.
LOOK AT THE YOUTUBE VIDEO OF THE HOOTERS.
TOP BAND DIPOLE BITES THE DUST: I feel like a Canadian having to make statements like the following. Let me diversify. My top band dipole runs from my old rickety single pole mast, to a tree across the river from the shack. The live end was high on a thick branch. During a recent windy spell the branch has broken, after years of service holding up various antennas. It was probably weakened by all the snow we have had, which broke many big branches and even full trees have fallen over around the area. The top band dipole landed in the drink. It took me a day to get out to make repairs. But when I went to pull up the cable again, I found it is frozen solid into the ice on the river!! Now as they say in Canada, I have to wait till the spring thaw.. lol The forecast is certainly for the cold snap to last a bit longer. I must also remember next time I am climbing a tree to put up an aerial, that I may be quite a few stones heavier than the snow on some of these branches that fell ..!!
570 & 950 TRANSMITTERS STILL BROKEN: The transmitter on 570 from Greenland is still a virtual carrier, vith about 5% modulation. How this is worth keeping on the air, I have no idea. There have been some strong signals of late as well, the other morning was no exception. The CBC transmitter on 600 seems to have a little more audio than it had for many months, though not exactly roaring it's head off. I can fully understand that with government stations like 570 and 600 CBC there is no desire to care whether it is on or off, but commercial station CKNB 950 operating from NB in Canada have had very watery audio for a long time now. Quite how they manage to make a few dollars in advertising with that audio I have no idea. It is worse than a bad 70's land based pirate.
PERSEUS LATEST AND WINRADIO EXCALIBUR: I have a feeling that the Persus yahoo group is getting kinda big and out of control sometimes. There are almost 2000 members now I think, so it is quite a large group. But the negative side of that can be that messages get lost in the mess. Nico did say that after the Christmas release, he was going to be doing other stuff in relation to hardware, so I guess that's it then. Perseus may be as far developed as it is going to be for the time being. So the dream of a navigable recorded file system will remain a dream. Of course the Perseus has opened up a new dimention to MW dxing, and it would be difficult to go back to single channel dxing now I suspect. It will work well as it is, but I have felt that for a year now we have had the software spoilt for the sake of a few repairs and tweaks. There have been more gimmiky colouring in tools added, rather than tweaking what is already up and running. For me personally, the exclusive reason for buying a Perseus was the record facility, which has been left somewhat under developed. But like everything else we must move on and see if there is anything better or more managable just around the corner. The WINRADIO Excalibur looks interesting. It has also the claim of a wide band recording facility. The software has yet to be seen in a demo mode, so I am unsure if WINRADIO will provide the basic record / playback system that the Perseus lacks. The Excalibur is guaranteed to lack something silly, that will make the choice between Perseus and the WINRADIO difficult for MW dxers. That is assuming the WINRADIO is not going to become the damp squib that perhaps some of the other SDR's ended up being. Of course Perseus has a clear run till March at least, when Winradio announced they will release the Excalibur. It amazes me that the competition have taken over two years to produce anything that comes close to Perseus. But then again, no one actually has released any serious competition as yet, as it is not yet available, and we know nothing of it's performance. So far it is only promises. I'm sure I have seen similar promises somewhere before??
Bjarne
in Norway received some correspondence from WINRADIO.
And you may read some pre release notes from WINRADIO about their forth coming radio.
NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS - OR NOT: So what New Year's resolutions did you make? Am I going to be nice to everyone this year on this blog, and not be critical of for example Amazon for ridiculously poor delivery times, or to highlight more con artist's at work on the web? I doubt it. I guess nothing will change. Our friends in Denmark at mediumwave.info (Ydun) recently published the desire for money for the assistance to run an $18.000 web site. That is eighteen thousand dollars they want to run a web site that can be run for a tenner. I can't believe this outfit are being given web space for their rip off. Am I am missing something these guys are doing which is very important? Is it eally nothing other than a serious scam, which is what I am reading into it. I for one shall not encourage them. See Dec pages for more details. People take these "make a quick buck" scams in their stride these days, and seem to accept it is part of modern life. I remember not so long back almost being a sucker to some guys I once thought of as trustworthy and well respected dxers. (Luckily the then webmaster was on the ball). These modern day cut throats are no better than the bogus callers on the elderly, that talk their way into pensioner's houses and steal their precious savings. Both are pretending to be something they certainly are not. How these characters can sleep at night is beyond me. So that nicey nicey New Years Resolution is out the window. So what else is there? OK maybe I will drink less, and stop going to late night parties, and running around in bad company...lol Then again, what's the point in giving this up now?? If it doesn't kill me, something else will.. lol Then I could say to myself that enough is enough, and relax the intensive MW dxing that has been going on since the advent of the Perseus receiver. Some days, I feel there is splatter and noise inside my head, even as I drift off to sleep at night!!! But then again, we better make the most of it before our wonderful regime in charge decide to impose more unwanted sanctions and close down radio as we know it altogether. At least we have the Perseus files as memories. OK, let's carry on as usual..... without the resolutions... where's the dx...... |
