KEN'S DX DIARY AND LOGS - TUESDAY JUNE 28th 2011

NOTHING TO REPORT:

I really have nothing worthy to report on this site for the last few weeks. At this time of year I like to watch the sporadic e on band 1 as well as band 2. This season has to have been the poorest that I have ever seen at these lattitudes. Although 2 or 3 years ago must have been a close runner up. Last summer, we enjoyed regular openings from the month of May, until about ealy July or late June, when all suddenly stopped!! But before that, there were frequent openings to the east.

This year so far has been nothing short of a joke!! So much so that too often I haven't been even bothering to check the bands. When there is nothing there for weeks on end, it becomes tedious, and dull. As I have said on these pages in the past, I have heard dxers grumbling about all the Euro stations and wishing they all closed. A large percentage of TV transmitters have now closed on band 1, and thus, often seems that there is nothing now to be seen. When Spain was on air, at least it was a regular beacon, and you knew the band was open. Looking at a blank screen day in day out does nothing for my own enthusiasm, and I go off and do something else.

But this summer, June has been such that rain has been the most common weather or it certainly seems so. Many beech trees are already brown with the harsh cold weather we have had. So the will to do outside work or maintenence or walking etc has not been there either.

 

MW DXING:

I have recorded on a couple of mornings, peak here around 0300 or 0330GMT at these lattitudes. A few Brazilians were noted, including Brazil Central on 1270. I shall get back to the mw dxing, but enthusiasm is not there when most morning recordings have produced little in the way of DX.

 

PERSEUS SDR RETURNED TO OWNER:

The Perseus I spoke about last month that had taken such a long time for repairs to be made was finally returned to the owner in Ireland approx 8 weeks after it was returned for repairs. This extensive time scale was not helped by the silly "Send to England to send to Italy to send back to England to send back to Ireland" policy of the whole saga. That must surely be classified as nuts!!

 

PERSEUS FM TUNER:

The Perseus receiver has now a plug in add on box for band 2 FM enthusiasts. This certainly looks very interesting, and will be a great add on fo the Perseus SDR. Supplies don't look as though they will be available for this years sporadic e season, so I don't think I am in such a rush to make a purchase. And with the sporadic e year we have had, it doesn't look very promising so far anyway.

I have yet to see a dxers comparason with the SONY receivers, 920, or hd sets.