KEN'S DX DIARY AND LOGS - WEDNESDAY 11th JANUARY 2012

LATINS AGAIN OVER THE WEEKEND OF 7th JAN:

Another good opening to LA was observed over the weekend of 7th Jan. I am only now having the chance to check the signals on my recorded Perseus files. As ever, SS not being my strong point, I find IDs difficult, if they are not like the type of IDs you hear on Rebelde, or Puerto Cabello.

 

KEN'S DX DIARY AND LOGS - FRIDAY 6th JANUARY 2012

 

IS THE AERIAL KNACKERED?

Another one of those overnights when you think the antenna is broken. Virtually no signal levels to talk of this am. Checked against two other antennas at 0900 and all aerials report the same situation. Shocking band!! Still it saves on hard drive space. If the band is wide open, it takes some time to check your Perseus files properly... and I tend to have a clogged up drive!!

 

BBC 4 DOCUMENTARY ON SETI - SEARCH FOR EXTRA TERRESTIAL INTELLIGENCE:

Last night I was bemused by the BBC4 documentary on SETI. At least I think it was on BBC4. At any rate, the presenter made a bold statement.

"Maybe the wrong type of transmissions are being looked for and we are only able to imagine that the reception has to be the same as our own technology", was his correct statement.

He then went on to demonstrate the difference between a MW radio, full of noise and hardly ever used nowadays, and a busy FM band.

"You can't use a MW radio to pick up an FM station", was his point.

True, but wait. Go back to the previous statement. "Hardly ever used nowadays??"..

Haw, Hey, Hello... Are you making a true documentary?? Show me a clear channel then!!!!!

True, amongst the public there is probably a lowish percentage of listeners compared to FM. Or is there? I am not convinced that there are the listeners to radio stations there used to be. In my travels through this adventure of life, I honestly see more people listening to music of their choice on silly little mobile phones, and tiny headphones from i-pods and their derivatives. (I am a big bass speaker man myself)

I believe that there are many listeners to MW to both Five Live and Talk Sport, as well as BBC Radio Scotland for sports. I personally do not listen to sports, but I know many that do. But as far as radio goes. Well who do I know that really does listen to the wireless for music? Most car drivers run their CD's at the very least. Many have some form of MP3 players "in car". So what is the true figures? It is difficult to tell.

Who do I know that can name presenters on my local ILR? Maybe it is just me?? I never was able to name the presenters on BBC Radio 1 after the 80's, and certainly not in the last few years. I would never have heard of any of them.What I do know is that there is no way it is anywhere near the amazing saturation point that Atlantic 252 managed in this area. There were an amazing amount of listeners in SW Scotland to Atlantic 252 when it came on the air, back about 1989 or 1990.

I don't watch any of these silly screaming and clapping shows that seem so popular nowadays, but I do know that this type of TV is far far more popular now than radio. I personally would rather watch an old movie or more so, documentaries. But when you see bold statements made in documentaries about a subject you happen to be well clued up on, you may have a tendency to think, "Well that is just not quite right, or it is a little misleading in the context in which it is portrayed", it makes you think about the other documentaries that you have watched, and ask if they too are full of incorrect statements and misleading contexts??

 

KEN'S DX DIARY AND LOGS - THURSDAY 5th JANUARY 2012

HAPPY NEW YEAR AND HAPPY DXING:

Another year come and gone. Where has the time gone to?? Phew.

DX was very poor here in December, and although the antennas were checked and rechecked, there was nothing of value coming through. Sure I could have filled the log book with common stations, but I don't even make logs of stations like KXEL, or WBBM, WYLL etc. You could probably id them more nights than not in mid winter, and when the conditions pick up they are often quite good signals. But the band here has been so noisy and shushy, when in the past there have been big signals. This only dampens my enthusiasm for MW. I can't get overly excited when dxers report CBC 1400, or WWKB 1520. I'm looking for better dx than this.

Over the Christmas period, it was good to hear the signals on MW pick up, and some nice signals from less common stations. Many of the strange call signs reported my my dx neighbour Paul C, eluded me though. When an oddity was on 1410, I had WPOP, or when the ESPN station ided on 1600, I had a mess, till the ESPN id, which of course is not a proper or desired ID. With the festive season as well, time has been limited, so there are a number of files from the better days still to try and winkle out.

 

SW SCOTLAND LOSE RADIO SIGNALS - A CURIOSITY, BUT NO GREAT LOSS:

During the heavy storm that came through on Tuesday 3rd Jan, the local main transmitting station near Darvel dropped all radio broadcasts. TV was not effected. BBC 1-4 and Radio Scotland, Classic FM and ILR Ayr were all off air on FM. The associated BBC Radio relays right down the SW Coast were all off air. One curious thing I noticed, was that there were no reports of this on any of the news services I checked, eg BBC and STV local news. Even ILR Ayr on MW, itself off air daytime for a bit, failed to mention their FM service was off air!! I know they are only the same in name only, but surely they could have let the listeners know. Not that I am one of them, I was just checking bands to see what was on and what was off.

This has to be the longest I have ever seen the local tower off air! ILR Ayr returned in the afternoon of Wed 4th, with the full compliment of BBC and Classic FM a few hours later, around 5 or 6pm.

I was told in an email that Westerglen 1089 and 1215 were both off air as well at one time, but there was no easy way of telling here, signals were still strong.

I am curious as to why a commercial station does not have a temporary back up they could have used from their studio as a low power signal at least for their own town. Maybe they too were busy dodging slates and chimney pots of course!!

DX Heard - 96.7 City Beat from Belfast, and 96.8 Radio Borders

 

JAMMING 1593 - GOOD RIDDENCE TO BAD RUBBISH:

The shocking jamming on 1593 originating from West Germany is at last gone. Not soon enough in my view. Maybe their one listener has died??

What real rf engineer would suggest putting white noise in the middle of a broadcast band? Ask the BBC how happy they are with the crap on 693 at nights?? The BBC are being jammed by the very thing they themselves use for jamming other channels!! How clever is that?? Even radio hams have traditions of using certain parts of their bands for modulation other than telephony (speech). Surely if radio hams can even see the reasons behind this, the broadcasters can as well?? Why not designate these modulation systems their own frequencies well out of the way of AM broadcast bands.

The BBC and Deutsche Welle both complained of the Soviets transmitting white noise on their signals many years ago. How the tables have turned.

 

MW SIGNALS CLOSED AT YEAR END:

The end of a year is seemingly the time when plans to close mw signals are brought into force. This year has been no exception. Quite a number of signals are gone or are to go.

927 Belgium went off air 2300 31/12
1539 ERF German Religious powerhouse closed 0900 31/12
1593 German jamming station went off air 2300 31/12

Being a selfish dxer I will not miss the Euro powerhouses one little bit. It is quite unique being a witness to this demise of the very high power Euro stations, which clogged the band for decades. Where does it end? Will we ever have clear frequencies again?? Although many high power Euros are closing, there seems to be a trend to jump on a clear channel whenever one becomes available. A few years ago, 1476 and 1593 were the last clear channels, and by clear, I mean very very clear. They were used by hobby pirates to an extent. 1395 was clear on and off, when BIG L was off air, but last winter a strong Russian started using the frequency, and blew the last remaining channel. Spain began the use of 1386 and 1476 in the North of the country. As a result, signals are powering in here in Scotland. A new French station is using 1593, though not completely blocking the channel with white noise like the German jammer.

227m - The 227m band used to consist of the area of the band from 1287 through to 1341, or 1286 to 1340 as it would have been pre 1978. This area of the band used to be a hive of Dutch MW activity from the late 1970's till the band became useless due to ILR crud from the UK, 24 hour NRK etc etc. But in those days of the clear channels, they all cleared one by one at local closedown. I often wonder what dx would have been heard on these channels back then with the long beverages I have now and the receivers I have. Especially on weeknights when there were no (or at least very few) Dutchies. Another area that was clear all those years ago was around 250m, when the BBC had gone off and the channels LF were also clear.

Let's make a list of stations I can think of that were once powerhouses, or at least heard widely. Some have been off air for years. Many I have QSLs from for reports about 30 years ago!!

531 Swiss
540 Belgium
567 Ireland - RTE 1 (closed 31st March 2008)
576 German stn (closed 8th Jan 2012 with // 666 & 1017)
594 Hessischer Rundfunk (German) closed 31/12/09
612 Ireland - RTE 2 closed 12/4/04 (to be verified)
630 Norway /NRK (30th June 2011)
648 BBC WORLD SERVICE
666 German stn // 666 & 1017 (closed 8th Jan 2012)
729 Ireland - RTE 1 (closed 31st March 2008)
765 Sottens (Swiss) (Closed 31st December 2010)
819 Sud Radio Toulouse FRANCE / ex 900kw ANDORRA
846 RAI Italy
927 Belgium (31/12/11)
936 Radio Bremen (March 2010)
963 Finland was off but back with Chinese relays
1017 German stn (closed 8th Jan 2012 with // 666 & 1017)
1026 Austrian ORF (Been closed for years)
1062 Denmark, although use of AM / LW from DR keeps changing
1179 Radio Sweden (October 31st 2010)
1188 Belgium
1278 RTE 2 Dublin closed 15/12/03 (to be verified)
1287 Czech / Prague
1314 Norway (Radio Netherlands was the last to use this txer)
1386 Kalliningrad / Radio Moscow
1395 BIG L / Dutch stn
1476 Austria / ORF (Closed 31st December 2008)
1512 Belgium / BRT
1521 ILR Crawley, England now gone
1539 ERF German Religious powerhouse closed 0900 31/12/11
1566 Switzerland
1575 German DRM Jamming station
1593 German DRM jamming station went off air 2300 31/12/11

 

TRANSATLANTIC STATIONS OFF AIR:

Greenland - All transmitters

570, 650, 720, 900, 810

550 CHLN
560 CHVO/ KIXX 103.9
610 CHNC 31/10/10
630 CFCY
780 CFDR
920 CJCH
950 CHER
960 CHNS
960 CFFX
980 CKRU
1070 CBA/ CBC
1320 CKEC
1380 CKLC
1550 CBC

INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTERS OFF AIR:

Radio Sofia / Radio Bulgaria 31/01/12
Radio Sweden 31/10/10
Radio Norway
Radio Finland
Radio Denmark
Swiss Broadcasting Corporation / Swiss Radio Int
Radio Andorra
Radio Berlin Int