KEN'S DX DIARY AND LOGS - THURSDAY 31st MARCH 2016

TODAY'S DX LOGS - A BIT DOWN ON YESTERDAY:

Many signals around, as well as many strong signals, but prob a bit down on yesterday.

Some logs incorporated into yesterdays list below, which is by no means everything that was coming through.

And I have finally updated my Texan log with a web stream recording to compare the toth ids on 1380, and can verify reception of KRCM, a daytimer, obviously on night power. Thank goodness for dishonest operators......

 

KEN'S DX DIARY AND LOGS - WEDNESDAY 30th MARCH 2016

TODAY'S DX LOGS - GOOD SIGNALS AROUND:

Many really fine signals around, and some rarer stations, though no firsts. Good id for 1380. There were some good signals around at the weekend as well. I hopefully will get around to checking the files soon. I quite enjoyed the dxing files this morning again. A few of the stns heard listed below.

570 CFCB Particularly good with plenty ids etc just before 0200 31/3
630 WUNO, PR Fair 0601, 30/3
680 WRKO Boston. Alone on the channel 0200 31/3. CFTR dominant 0600 (Both in audio clip)
680 CFTR Toronto good 0600 30/3, 31/3,
930 WBEN in mix 0606, 30/3
950 WWJ 0532 , 30/3
970 WFLA FL 0600 31/3
1250 WHHQ, Bridgeport, MI 0600, 30/3
1260 CKHJ Fridricstown, NB 0600 Bell media and fredrickstown heard. ID in dirt.., 30/3
1290 CJBK 0700, 30/3
1290 WNBF Binghampton 0600, 30/3
1300 WOOD 0700, also 0533, 30/3
1320 WILS 0534, 30/3
1360 WSAI Cincinati 0600, 30/3
1380 CKPC 0552 ID YL, better id 0554, 0555 wx etc. , 30/3 Good ID 0603 31/3
1380 WPHM Port Huron, MI Gd peak 0600, and good id into c/c 0533, 30/3
1380 WABH Bath 0401 31/3 and WEHH call mentioned as well.
1480 WGBU Grand Rapids, MI 0601 30/3
1590 Unid with the words Country Radio ??? Rupert Falls,,, or similar USB only 31/3

 

A montage of a few of the powerhouse signals heard today is available here....

920 CKNX - ONT,
1020 KDKA - PA,
580 CFRA - Montreal
680 CFTR - Toronto
700 WLW - OH,
660 WFAN - NY,
1190 WOWO - Indiana,
1170 WWVA WV,
1380 WPHM MI
1010 CFRB
1130 WBBR
740 Zoomer Radio Toronto
590 VOCM
950 CKNB
930 CJYQ (KIX Country)
650 VOCM
760 WJR

 

KEN'S DX DIARY AND LOGS - TUESDAY 22nd MARCH 2016

VERY POOR DX:

Both yesterday and today here are virtually not worth the trouble of listening to the files..... Brief peak around 0550 but nothing really of note coming through. Signals watery and weak.

 

KEN'S DX DIARY AND LOGS - SUNDAY 20th MARCH 2016

 

LOG:

1380 Radio Nueva Tiempo, Peru 0557 20/3.

 

KEN'S DX DIARY AND LOGS - SATURDAY 19th MARCH 2016

SS, CUBAN, AND PR:

580 WKAQ PR gd ids 0600
630 WUNO gd ids 0600
820 Radio Ciudad Hababa 0616 ID. Tip DH

 

KEN'S DX DIARY AND LOGS - SATURDAY 12th MARCH 2016

POOR AGAIN OVERNIGHT:

But a log of Radio Nueva Tiempo, Peru 0613 1380. Maybe I need to get the Latin antenna checked out now!!

 

KEN'S DX DIARY AND LOGS - FRIDAY 11th MARCH 2016

POOR AGAIN OVERNIGHT:

Well this header seems set to remain. Poor Poor Poor. Yet at 0300 Greenland heard with reasonable signal on 570 and poor 650. Not on 720 today though.

 

THE LUXEMBOURG EFFECT:

The usual sign on of RTB Belgium on 621 at 0400 has always come complete with the Luxembourg effect. The BBC World Service in the background is often heard here.

Is this the last of the Luxembourg effect examples here in Europe??

And where is the so called Lux effect cross mod coming from?? 198? or 720?? Or somewhere else?? Who knows..

 

WRONG DATES:

Just noticed I am still heading the entries on the black banner on this page, and on Feb page as 2015, now corrected. Did no one notice...LOL???

 

KEN'S DX DIARY AND LOGS - THURSDAY 10th MARCH 2016

POOR AGAIN OVERNIGHT:

Well another night of poor receprion, except for a little peak around 0615 for a bit....

 

MYSTERY SOLVED:

I heard an unid call on 1380 a few days ago, but couldn't get my head around it. I eventually assumed it was WPHM MI. But DH also had a similar log and the mystery call sounded different every time you listened to it, in the mushy conditions. Paul C eventually twigged it was sister, and main station to WABH Bath NY. Their // 1600 WEHH. Listen to the clips below

3/3 , 0556 "we're proud to be a part of your life, WEHH

Listen to the jingles / voice overs from their web stream.

1380 WABH Bath NY 0403 Id with WEHH in multi call 3/3

 

KEN'S DX DIARY AND LOGS - WEDNESDAY 9th MARCH 2016

DAY THREE, AND NOTHING AGAIN :

Well I would have suspected the antennas again this last few days, but for a very distinctive peak at 0620 - 0640 approx.... Some strong signals, though not it seems as good as by dx neighbours. Perhaps though I point a bit farther NW and the antenna is working directionally?? Who knows?

 

AUDIO ADDED FROM THE LAST FEW DAYS:

I have added some personal firsts and audio of the last few days. I expect to be adding to the montage clips in the next few days..

 

KEN'S DX DIARY AND LOGS - MONDAY 7th MARCH 2016

MW DXING BOOM OR BUST:

Well there you go, I was just boasting about the strong signals yesterday, and this morning and last night there is virtually nil heard. Hardly a signal from even the powerhouses..... I just hope that I have a bit of breathing space to compile the logs a little better, and the conditions are going to return? If not it could really be enough to stop me recording for another few months!! Maybe my antenna problems really never were, and I suffered from the stormy auroral conditions.

I even missed the visible aurora as well...Typical... So I am in my 50's and still haven't seen visible aurora.

 

KEN'S DX DIARY AND LOGS - SUNDAY 6th MARCH 2016

MW DXING AGAIN IN ANGER:

I really don't get what has happened here at this location, but the band seems very much quieter on a daily basis, and very very lively. I have quite a lot of dx to report, mainly in the logs list below. In fact I have so many recordings to listen to, it is like stabbing in the dark from time to time at random... Signals on every channel and although graveyard style growl on many, the strength is much improved on previous efforts earlier this winter.

I have a few personal firsts to add as well..... listed for now only in the logs below....

Work in progress..

 

KEN'S DX DIARY AND LOGS - THURSDAY 3rd MARCH 2016

LOGS FOR THE DAY:

Seems like a long time since I have had anything to report, but a few logs included in log listing below. 2300 was pretty good, and a few other things as well. No Greenland on 570 today, but instead Columbia, as well as earlier in the night, CFCB.

 

KEN'S DX DIARY AND LOGS - WEDNESDAY 2nd MARCH 2016

BACK TO DXING:

Re the recordings set for overnight 29/02 - 01/03 .... I forgot to put the Perseus usb lead in.... So no reports!!!! But this mornings recordings worked just fine.

Good to have dx again, but I have also been busy uploading and updating our sister site, dxarchive.com during January and February.

 

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NOTES AND LOGS FROM THE LAST FEW DAYS:

Please remember some of the unids and scribbles are really for my own benefit as well, and this is now my only log book. I don't have a paper copy, and haven't kept a paper log in years. I maybe should, esp for various sw bits and bobs I listen to.... But anyway, to the logs.........

 

540 Unid 0700 29/02 as well as 0500 29/2, and 0600 28/2. Newstalk ann, lost in CBC, but HD3 came through well enough. Prob FL. Update - After using the Perseus network, have confirmed the HD3 call to be the same as I am hearing. Orlando, Florida.

549 0600 28/02 Christian thing off air in Ireland
560 WGAN 0700 2/3, gd levels 05 6/3
570 R Nac Colubia. Grandos Radio id 0600, but full id 0602 3/3
570 Greenland 0700 3/2 + 0600
580 CFRA 0500 6/3 etc
650 Greenland 0600 3/2
680 WRKO Gd 94.7 fm ann 0700 29/2
680 Radio Nac Columbia VG 0618 08/03
720 Greenland 0600 2/3 Unique tune below the BBC // 650 and 570.
760 WCHP 2300 2/3 sign off. In the clear. VG (Daytimers best at start of month in spring of course) 3/3 2300 2nd stn mixing at 2300
750 WJR Booming 0556 but almost gone by 0600 id time. fade. 6/3
800 VOWR Booming in 2300 and id 2301. 2/3 Long bassy announcer, but not the one you hear in mornings.!! Really does put you in mind of old time radio style... Might be quite enjoyable listening if it wan't for the bible dribble.

820 WNYC Quite good 2256 3/4 ad for WNYC party or something..power down 2257 I think.
900 CHML 0600 6/3
920 0400 29/2 ss Radio something...
950 WKDN Philadelphia, PA Family Radio 0200 4/3 (Personal 1st)
970 WGAN 0000 3/3 good id just before the hour
1090 WBAL Baltimore 0700 2/3. Usually difficult with UK activity on 1089, but Hrd id and going into ABC news.
1160 WVNJ NJ 0700 2/3 Very poor, but call heard toth (Personal first)
1160 WYLL 0900 6/3
1170 WWVA Fox news 0700 2/3. good clear signal. No id. TOTH id goofed up.
1180 WHAM not hrd in some time 0700 2/3
1190 WLIB 2300 powering down or disappearing 2300 4/3. thought... WLIB power up at night??
1200 WOAI Tx 0700 2/3
1230 WCMC Very weak yl id in mush 0700 2/3
1270 WDLA Walton, NY Personal 1st ID 0300 6/3 Listed as daytimer. good freq now
1270 CJCB Country 0700 6/3
1270 WXYT 0600 5/3 vg peak
1278 Ukraine thing sign off 2058 2/3
1280 CFMB Italian Montreal 2230 3/3 no ids though
1290 CJBK 0700 6/3 More a mush this last days that stns popping in and out on 1290
1310 WLOB 06 3/4
1320 WDER Derry 0700 6/3
1350 SS ann 0701 28/2
1380 Radio Nouova Tiempe, Peru 12/3 0613
1380 UNID yl ss 13-80 am ?? 0602 4/3
1380 Unid ss yl tk on frequencia etc... mention of mexico 0700 28/02 best usb. re as Texan but still haven't heard ID yet. Radio Aleuya ids noted 0559 OM 4/3. 0559 5/3 SS FREQS..
1380 KRCM, Shenandoah, Tx 0600, 0700 5/3 amongst other times, see above. found stream, and compared ids.

1380 WPHM MI below YL in long boring SS tk. 0559 5/3, 0633 3/3, also 0556 "we're proud to be a part of your life, WPHM"

UPDATE: The above log on 3/3 at 0556 was not after all WPHM, but WEHH. 1st log at 0633 is OK though. This was also heard by DH in the mush, and confused us a bit. PC made the connection of WABH and WEHH, with WEHH seemingly the main stn, with promos. Listen to the jingles / voice overs from their web stream.

1380 WABH Bath NY 0403 Id with WEHH in multi call 3/3
1380 Radio Nova Tiempo Peru 0613 12/3 - Tip DH
1400 WOND Still dominating below CBC, little else gets thru from USA. 0400 3/4
1410 FF Canadian good 0657 27/2
1420 CKDY 0159 3/3
1420 WACK Newwark NY 2300 2/3 Only noted once before I think.
1440 Unid ESPN in a rabble of stations. Great channel now
1460 Station of the cross 0100 6/3 Prob WHIC Rochester, no call id hrd though
1470 Formula Mex 0500, 0600 4/3, 0400 6/3
1480 WPWC Dumfries VA SS id 0700 27/2 (Personal First I think) also 0500 3/3
1480 WSAR 2300 3/4 ABC nx..
1480 WGVU ids 0700 4/3
1490 Unid 2358 4/3 promo for news radio WGA? Call tent. In mud
1490 unid call, but sounds different every time you listen on am or usb. 0000 6/3
1490 WBAE Portland 2300 3/3
1490 unid, id YL sounds like news radio WZAN 2231 2/3which is affiliated with WBAE. fair signal peak
1530 WCKY over euros 0700 2/3
1530 WVBF Middleborough Ma 0000 6/3 weak in Euro crud. Daytimer. best usb.(sat night)
1540 KXEL 0700 3/3 well dominant. 0500 29/2
1590 WHGT MD Daytimer 2300 2/3. In splatter from frenchy 1593.
1600 WAAM 0700 27/2
1611 Radio Northern Star, Norway, noted a few times while checking files, with reasonable signals for 65 watts. Recording shortly.. wg 2356 26/2.

1640 WTNI Noted reg
1660 poss PR ?? Multi call, long winded, though usually recognise towns on pr.0400 4/3
1700 KVNS reg eg 0500 4/3
1700 WRCR 0500 6/3

NB:I have not included too many logs of the regular power houses, but an audio montage of their reception may be included shortly, and the logs will be added to..

830 WCRN, 770 WABC, 730 CKAC, 660 WFAN, 590 VOCM, 570 Greenland pres, WEGP 1390, WRCA 1330,

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A LONG BORING SAGA OF ANTENNA TROUBLES:

I write this mainly for my own records and so I can keep track of what's been happening with my antenna set up..

APPROXIMATE TIMELINE OF EVENTS

Winter 2014-2015 poor for MW. Had suspected aerial system for some time. Bought a 250m drum of cheap crap tv coax, hoping it would do rather than spending hundreds on the stuff I would really like!! Conditions were poor, so lacked enthusiasm for repairs.

Antenna feeder completely dug out by a JCB digging a ditch, at some time in 2014 I guess. Forgotten exact date. Thanks to the heavy duty cable, damage was minimal, and cable was rerouted at a hopefully safer place below and in the middle of a hedge.

Sat 26th September 2015 - Not happy with signal levels on beverage so with the help of DH, set about to replace coax feeder. Discover antenna connected to earth, while replacing coax with new TV coax. Signal levels and tadx return for a time.

End of October 2015 - Signal levels seem to suddenly drop in the last little while, and noise levels awful. Beverage antenna cable run replaced, and joined up in parallel with old cable run. No difference to signals.

Balun removed and feeder connected direct from beverage to shack - no difference to signals.

Removed completely the old beverage cable and therefore had a single cable run of 4 drums of cable, all soldererd and greased, plus the extra 100m at the end. - Signal levels still crap.

Run out a 300m run of twin and earth house wiring cable to try using as a feeder. On day two of this venture, I managed to connect up one of the joins that hadn't even been connected the night before. The previous nights signals therefore had been heard on 200m of twin and earth lying on the ground!!! Tested cable with music feeding up the coax - music 300m away at feed point. Music at the feed point louder with twin and earth mains cable, than through the coax. While music playing, terminated shield end of coax to earth at feed point, inner to antenna, and walked to 500m end of beverage. Connected one end of test speaker to beverage and the other end to ground. Music heard 800m away!! Proving I have a good earth!!! Eventually reeled it all back in as a dead loss. (We were both very surprised that the ac/dc test worked using ground as 1 terminal)

Signals still weak and noisy at New Year when the Euros were all closing. Had to use another antenna to record them.

Late February 2016. Make overnight recording and find tadx signals are good!!!

 

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Earlier on in the winter, I had become somewhat dissatisfied with results on the main beverage antenna that has been running in the woods at the back of me for quite a number of years. The antenna required nothing more than routine maintenence from time to time, like a walk along the length after a high wind to check for breaks and branches through the cable, or repairs after farmer Sanny and his hedge cutter had made a mess of things. But walks revealed nothing and all seemed in order. But signals weren't right.

It has been like a continous saga. But I have never managed to finish the story. There was no story to talk about. I have had another lousy season on mw, and eventually gave up recording. I was inspired by the logs DH and PC were producing at the end of Feb, so set the recordings again... Amazingly I have signals again!!!

Below are the observations and experiences I have had since the back end of the year.

My main coax was in tatters, with who knows how many joins. So was the old wire. So I finally bought a drum of cable, 250m of satellite tv coax, not the thin stuff, but the usual tv coax thickness. I had probably had the coax since 2014.

The original cable had a couple of longish lengths of hellical type cable. This is an expensive cable, though I hasten to add that I rescued it from the scrappie's a few years ago. It was also joined by other bits and pieces of different cable to reach the antenna at more or less 300 metres away. I only discovered the length when the 250m drum of new cable did not even reach the shack. So in September I joined that new drum onto the long length of heavy stuff that runs straight from the shack. When the coax was replaced in September, (see report on September page, copied below) I had a little time with really nice signals again from the tadx and good separation from the Euros. But the signal level suddenly dropped. Or it seemed to, and perhaps included a lot of QRN.

When the signals changed from good to very low on the beverge, even with the new coax, I checked it for breaks and even done the ac/dc test on it. ie feeding music up the coax from an amp and listening to a speaker in the woods. I was I guess quite shocked at the results, which seemed acceptable, and audio was heard through the coax at 300 metres or so. Because of the low signal levels, I expected nothing.

I had of course re-routed the switch box which I have in the shack, and preamp, those items were not a problem. In fact switching in the inverted L brought in the Euros as strong as you would expect, so the cabling was all OK. But to be sure, I used a separate cable direct from the Perseus to the beverage feed, and still signals were way down. Euros as well.

What was the cause. There was so many trials and twisting of wires, that I have probably lost track of all that was done to try and improve matters.

Initially, my first visit to the antenna feed point showed that the antenna was connected to earth!!! This must have been done in the dark or something. But by passing the balun at the antenna, and sticking the coax straight to the beverage, there was little improvement. runs had not been connected up, yet on connection, it made little difference.

I had always meant to replace the beverage wire as well, so set about replacing 400 of the 500m length, with complete drums of wire, and not the joined up mess I had in the woods, after years of hedgecutters and storms. See small bit on the November page, also copied below.

Initial beverage cabling was run just above the existing beverage, on the same sticks following the same path. It was even initially joined together, as an experiment. I would have loved a parallel cable say 6 feet apart, to experiment, but that just wasn't practical. Anyway, signal levels on this new beverage cable were still pretty poor.

At one stage I even suspected the antenna wire itself. I had put up a beverage in the open field a few years ago, but it was such a noisy noisy antenna, I pulled it down. Was there something strange about this wire, which i had also used in that noisy beverage??

Even a run of housing electrical cable of 300m was tested as a feeder, and still the band seemed pretty poor.

 

BUT....BUT.... WHAT ABOUT THE QRN??

One significant problem over the few months until prob mid January, was shocking wideband local noise. I am not even sure how long this went on for. It was worse below 700kHz, and seemed to be significantly louder on 680 for example, than 700. I began using clear channels like 675 and 567 on the car radio when driving, to try and track the source. But I never found an area where the noise was worse than anywhere else really.

It had come to our notice that neighbouring dxer DH and myself were hearing the same QRN. Initially we both thought we both had our own source of local QRN. Thus, we had to assume it was somewhere close by. One of the problems was that it sounded electrical, and if it was industrial, there would be little we could do. But if it was faulty power lines, there was a chance of reporting it, and having it repaired.

Davie and I went out a few times with a map and compas and drove around, but never seemed to get a point where the source, which was nullable, actually crossed lines on the map. In fact most of the directional lines all pointed in roughly the same direction. And from the many locations we took a bearing from, it never seemed particularly strong on the portable radio, but always heard and nulled, and coming from one of two directions 180 degrees apart. This was all a bit odd.

We have a local large windmill, which was also worryingly in line with the QRN. We even drove past it and the noise was pretty loud, but only very local to the windmill. Like what you would get while driving past a house with a noisy telly or something. But certain locations we stopped at to take a direction, definately seemed to miss the windmill by quite a bit. This was a relief.

It was on a day I was farther a field on some other business, that I switched on the car radio, and all I could hear was a dreadful buzz.... the buzz I was getting back home, yet this was many miles away. I drove homewards through another town, and had the radio almost overloading at one point. I had found the area of the source of the QRN.

I was down at the source again, and also took Davie a couple of times, and met up with Paul there as well. We certainly had found the source of the noise. On our final visit with Paul C, you could actually hear the sparking coming from the pole, so it was probably a dangerous piece of crap that badly needed repair. Before we got a report ready to send to the power company, the noise stopped. I had meant to visit the noisy area at night and look for corona, but never got around to it until the noise was gone. I took a drive to the site and there was a piece of bright tape around the offending pole, which had a multitude of transformers etc on it. I guess the farmer who's land the pole was on, also was concerned!! Thankfully!!

I just wish we had taken a video or a wideband recording of the noise down near the source. BBC Radio 4 on LW was even obliterated. There must have been radio hams in the area surely that had interference???

So in the end the source of the QRN turned out to be 7.5 miles away!! It seemed a lot farther because of the roads, but on Google Maps as the crow flies, it was only seven and a half miles. I probably wouldn't have thought that was possible before. In the early 80's I did have one bad QRN source from a power line only about a mile away.

 

 

So the final questions are obvious and unanswered.

Why was I lacking signals?

Were the band conditions so so poor that it really was just not worth recording?? Are the conditions really good just in the last few days of Feb and into March that the signals over ride the bad antenna? Or was I simply trying the recording any time that the band was poor, and missing the good days??

Was there some other reason???

Did all the aurora conditions just kill mw??

Did the high local QRN levels somehow desensitise the Perseus??

Is the repaired antenna showing better directional properties, hence weak Euros and the conditions were too poor for tadx to show up?

I have absolutely no idea.... But even BBC on 1341 was much weaker than it should have been, as was Manx Radio. Maybe the dry weather we have had has dried something off?? But it was tipping it down all night and most of the day on 1st. And anyway, why could I hear ac/dc at the end of the antenna.

This last few days of recording the MW has proved to be definitely fruitful as well as quite remakable! After all, this is the same antenna that sounded dead a few weeks ago!! My wideband recordings on 31st December of all the Euros closing, were made with another antenna and worked just fine.

 

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COPY OF END OF SEPTEMBER 2015 ARTICLE:

REPAIRS TO ANTENNAS:

A funny thing happened this past Saturday.

For many a long month I have moaned and bitched and whined about the lousy MW conditions. I guess the TADX has really been very poor because I am not the only dxer to complain of this.

I have had a 250m drum of satellite coax kicking around, bought for the purpose of renewal of the beverage coax on the main 500m north west pointing antenna, due to the large amount of joins I have on the cable. I think I had intended to get this done last winter and never bothered my shirt due to lack of interest because of the crap signals.

So on Saturday past, Davie H offered some assistance and we decided to try replacing the coax to see if there was any benefit. I had assumed that 250m of coax would be enough. Not so. I must have at least 300m of coax between the shack and the start of the antenna proper!!!! (I have never measured the coax).

Anyway, as Davie held the drum, I reeled it out and walked to the start of the antenna in the woods.

As I said, we first of all tried the run to see if it was going to reach the shack. It didn't. So a hasty change of plan allowed a connection to the long single run of thick coax that was undamaged all except for the place near the shack I had to cut it and let it go into the river some time back due to high water levels and flooding. (Large trees catching heavy coax could have ripped the side out the shack..lol)

So I have a 300m run approx with only 2 joins now, and not the dozen or more joins

But the story doesn't end there.....

When we went back to the start of the antenna itself, I had a quick look at the balun.

"Hey Davie", I say, "Come and have a look at this".

"Bloody hell the aerial is connected straight to earth" (Language tamed a bit for publication..lol)

And so it was. The wire came in from the sticks holding up the antenna, and ran to the earth point. Now I have to think back carefully, and try and think when last I was messing around with the antenna.

Last year about this time maybe, the farmer had been digging ditches, and the digger had caught the coax and hauled the lot out into the field. Luckily it was tough old cable, but there was still some damage. I did at the time re-route the coax so that hedge cutters could not get it again, in theory. But this digging up of the coax had nothing to do with connecting the antenna to ground. The area around the start of the antenna is in thick woods, and was untouched by the JCB. So why was it connected to ground??? When had it been so connected?

I can honestly say I have absolutely no idea.

I see in September 2014 I am whining about very poor mw dx. In October there was some good dx on 14th. That included graveyarders on 1230 and 1340. I was also commenting about good Euro separation again from the TADX.

After that, I think the MW dx was just so poor I eventually gave up recording.

So does this mean that the one really good day in October was just using the coax as an antenna???

Maybe?

I note that in January 2015 I have said I walked the antenna a few times and found nothing broken.

Maybe the connection had been wrongly made in the dark? I quite a number of times sent music up the cable and took a speaker to the woods, to check the continuity of the coax. I guess I must have sent music up the cable after the JCB dug the cable up. Who knows.

One final note. Since I had some cable left over after joining the coax to the thick stuff already running to the shack, I wondered if it was long enough to reach the shack from the shorter westerly beverage. It certainly reached a point where there was a majorly thick cable running into the shack from a past antenna. Back in the shack Davie asks me to try 981 Radio Star on the beverage. Usually better on shorter bev I tell him. Clicked the switch and sure enough it was better.

"Hang on", says Davie, "The coax isn't joined up to the new stuff".

He was right of course. This reception of Star was only on the coax!! What a crazy mixed up aerial system I have here!!!!

The band is not great, but at least there are a few signals around now. Chicago was in on 1000, and 780 at 0600 29/9. I have joints still to solder and I had thought about replacing the aerial cable itself with 4 lumps of cable at 100m each, and making proper joints, soldered etc.

And it is good to have signals on every channel again, peaking here around 0600 at the minute.

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COPY OF END OF OCTOBER 2015 ARTICLE:

MORE ANTENNA REPAIRS:

I have had some help a week ago from David H to rewire the beverage antenna. We recently rewired the coax feeder, which turned out to be about 300 metres or so. This was mainly because after so many years there were so many joins of short pieces of cable!!!

But last week we re ran 4 drums of cable, ie 400m of the actual antenna wire.

I was completely unsure how we should attempt this new run of cable, taken from a beverage antenna I had running through the open field a few years back. (Use the best you have available I keep telling myself, and don't hoard the best cable in a shed)

If I had space, and sticks available, I should have perhaps ran the wires say 3 feet apart, and did some experementing. But I don't really wish to draw attention to the aerials running all over the place, so opted to run the replacement cable on the same sticks, but leaving the old wire in position. Both cables have been joined for now at the feeder.

I really should go change over whilst recording and see what if any difference there is.

And finally for now, on Sunday, I was in the woods resoldering the earth connections, making two extra earth connections, as well as soldering the 4 joins at each 100 metres. It is quite a clumsy way of operating sometimes, using a blow lamp, but it does work...

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