More unusual logs in bold
NB: A time of eg 0900 often means the 0900 recording, and not necessary the exact time of the ID.
KEN'S
DX DIARY AND LOGS - SUNDAY NOVEMBER 30th 2008:
UPDATE - FOR 5 YEARS THIS DATE WAS LISTED AS
27TH NOVEMBER, BUT IT REALLY WAS 30TH NOVEMBER!!!!
WHAT AN END TO NOVEMBER......
ALASKA
HEARD HERE IN SOUTHERN SCOTLAND.....
I ask myself one simple queston??
Have I been listening at the wrong times??
I have never tried that late, 1300 - 1400.
When West Coast stuff goes I assume thats the show over...
This mornings signals were nothing special, and no sign of West Coast
really...
Maybe odd weak signals, but nothing of note....
Audio clips in root audio folder obviously under 081130
David Hamilton has made a U Tube movie of the reception..
This can be found here.
My own slightly longish audio clip is found here
ALASKA:
Well there I was chatting to the mw dx cluster on SKYPE, and I find
myself for some reason, tuning to 680 at 1310ish. There I heard quite
loud music, and I thought, no, it can't possibly be Alaska.
For some reason, I can not stream their web page through windows M.E.
The stream crashes not only winamp, but the whole PC. I can stream most
other stations I have tried, but KBRW causes grief. So I had Maurits
in Belgium and David up the road both checking what I was hearing was
parallel with the web stream. Sadly there were no super IDs during peaks,
but it did ID at 1400.
Around 1333 there was a superb peak during a Katie Melua song, (Crawling
up a hill) and of course some other peaks during other tracks too. .
The top of the hour id at 1400 was pretty poor. I wonder if 1300 would
have been better. I think so.. I had assumed 1130 - 1200 would have
been best....
One other thing shocked and stunned me. The morning was of no particular
interest dx wise. I also seemingly have made the mistake of assuming
that if there is loud west coast dx, it will better the chance of Alaska
DX. Seems NOT!!!
So there you go, Alaska is possible at these lattitudes. It was best
by far on my temporary antenna in the open field, even though there
are many other stations on the LF part of the band better with the old
aerial. I never had the chance to connect the north aerial today. Too
excited.. So in a way this makes up for the PC crash in the middle of
the night when nothing was recorded overnight!!!!
Another thought. At 1400 I would always have my inverted L antenna in
which brings in Asians better. Now I know different!!!!
So what was heard now my recordings have been checked:
KBRW Barrow 680
KNOM Knome 780 (No ID, only bible music)
And one more which caught me out, but I assumed the music was KENI 650.
It turned out to be GREENLAND at 1500 and strong talk around 1515!!!
I am still singing an old Randy Edelman song which came to mind.. Farewell
Fairbanks. A great old track about the oil pipeline. The Guy who sang
Up Town Up Tempo Woman.
It's a beautiful day: What a beautiful crisp frosty
morning here in Scotland. I went a walk down the beverage and was rewarded
with the spotting of a roe deer charging through the woods where my
permanent aerial is situated. I have some nice photos of the frost and
the mist. Will post some soon hopefully. The deer was too fast for me
sadly.
Aerial Switch: I have threatened to make an aerial
switch to make life a lot easier for years now. I finally made the switch
box on Friday. Here it is below, complete with the choice of switching
4 different baluns into the circuit, or straight by pass.
 |
 |
OLD LOGS: Checking 23rd Sept again and found 980 WCUB
0602, and 1160 KSL 0600 and WHBY 1150.
Sat 28/11/08: No logs available yet, not listened
to the files. Except that at 0800 KMA 960 was there. Also at 1000.
Friday 28/11/08 :
I have a few logs for evening time. At 2300 I had a weak ID from WRRD
WI, a SS daytimer in WI. John in NL was also hearing this rarity.
I scraped an ID at 2300. Ads just before the top of the hour were much
better here.. Also a rare Joy 12-50 ID, and one of the confusing ids
for beginners. A CFRA weather report on CFGO!!! Of all things.
KEN'S DX DIARY AND LOGS - THURSDAY NOVEMBER 27th 2008:
Nothing really to report, except a couple of additional stations
IDed. 1420 Tent WBEC Pittsfield, MA, and KZQZ
St Louis, MO on 1430. The latter was a possitive ID. WBEC needs
a loan of keen ears just to confirm. It is not a good one. Seems to
be a mention of the Berkshires, as per their web site.
This morning I had WDHP VI on 1620 at 0300, and at the same time WGIT
PR 1660. WUNR was gd at 1000 on 1600. Also KKGM 1630. So far it has
mostly been run of the mill stuff.
KEN'S DX DIARY AND LOGS - WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 26th 2008:
Poor morning all round, high Ks and just the usual stations you may
hear on an average day. John in NL pointed out an odd signal on 1500khz
at 0800. There seemed to be an Indian chant on at the same time as talk,
but it turned out it was some kind of a loud chant over the talk as
part of a WFED show!!
Had WCHP
NY on 760 for close down at 2130. There was company on 970, but no IDs.
WFED sister station on 820 was heard at 2200, and . 2130 and 2300 WNYC
820 came through.
KEN'S DX DIARY AND LOGS - TUESDAY NOVEMBER 25th 2008:
Is 2008 the best DX season in years?? : Has this season been
for everyone else, as good as it has for me?? This may well be the best
ever dx season I have had, mainly I have to say thanks to the abilities
of the Perseus receiver. Oh yes, the band was exceptional in Sept, reasonable
in Oct, and now in November, the band is still jumping. My time is also
my own this year, and I hope this continues for the up and coming holiday
season, and give me a bit of time for live dxing. (I guess I better
be careful of distractions when I go out on a Saturday night then..
hi !!) It could prove an interesting year end, if the band is good to
us.
Well what a weekend and start to the week. I have really no idea how
to start this entry. The DX has been flowing thick and fast, with west
coast dx every day!!! The Perseus crybabies who say we are cheating
must surely even concede that they would be interested in making even
the basic observations of how the band is behaving during good openings.
I never realised there could be west coast dx at these lattitudes quite
so regular. It has been a spectacular few days. I have never had TADX
at noon, far less ONLY west coast!! Last stations to go on Monday were
CFUN 1410 and CJVB 1470!!! Amazing. I am even convinced I had Barrow,
Alaska on 680, when some brief country music faded in about 1140, but
of course, no IDs here. I guess if we get the same long quiet spell
in mid winter, we could be on to a good thing.
Observations on the Beverages: My neighbour and converted
MW dxer David Hamilton and I ran out a short beverage aerial, just scarce
of 200m running almost due north. (See aerial shot from 3rd November)
There was no sign of the 680 station on this north facing aerial sadly,
and so far, I have received NOTHING on it. All I succeeded in doing
on the 680 station was bringing up splatter from NL 675, which was a
little disappointing.
I was also making some interesting comparasons with my two beverage
aerials. I have a permanent antenna going in a north west direction
from here, through dense woodlands. Feeder is a mess, lots of joins,
and reconnections, and is probably about 200m in length, before the
500m of beverage even starts. I am able to use the field across from
me this winter, so I also have a dead straight 420m antenna running
across flat ground. Both are in the same direction, but very different
characteristics. From 530 up to somewhere near 1200khz, by far the best
antenna is my original permanent antenna. From roughly 1200 or 1300
upwards, the new temporary aerial is much better. On Monday during the
late opening, west coast reception showed the difference easily. At
1115 I had Vancouver on 1130. This was much better on the old antenna.
But 1470 Vancouver was much better on the new antenna. On lower frequencies,
the new temporary antenna has much more Euro splatter, which is not
really what I expected when the antenna was in free air, and much straighter
than the one through the woodlands.
Personal Firsts: Maybe I have not had so many personal
firsts this past weekend as I would have liked, but I have certainly
seen some good signals from many rarer stations, and good IDs from stations
I had only muffled talk from in the past. One example is CJVB 1470 Vancouver.
I only ever heard the familiar and unique 3 pips they use, and Asian
style chat. Now I have a nice ID in EE and with a very respectable signal.
CFAC 960 - ESPN Radio Calgary: I am still chasing a
local ID for the ESPN station on 960 from Calgary. Been chasing it since
last winter in fact. And guess what. The peaks mid hour can and are
often very respectable, till it comes to ID time. The 3 pips and Asian
talk is no problem to be a possitive ID on 1470, but ESPN programmes
could be from anywhere almost, and as I commented farther down this
page, ESPN Radio is certainly not a possitive ID. The same could have
been said for KJR 950 Seattle, but I had a local ID for this just this
season.
LOGS: - - - - - -
TUESDAY NOVEMBER 25th:
Not much to report this am after some really higher K's. They were forecast.
09, 10, etc had plenty of stations and to some it may have been a great
band, but here they were the common stations you may expect to hear
on an average night here, and thus not logged in the log book. WXXI
was coming through as well as WDEA on 1370 at 0000.
MONDAY
NOVEMBER 24th: (May be more logs to come)
680 UNID Weak audio coming in and out. Country Music. 1141.
Tent Alaska but of course there were no IDs.
710 KIRO Seattle, WA 1035 Just caught tail end of ids.
Surprised as I thought band was dying at 1000. Best on old antenna
730 Unid poss id below CKAC. Needs further listening 0900. poss ee 1038
770 CHQR Dominant 1032
780 WBBM 0855
950 KJR Seattle. Pres. ESPN. No ids today, but best
on my old permanent beverage
1060 R Education, Mex 0700
1130 CKWX 1105 ID as News 11-30 1114 pk with ads. Best on old
antenna
1150 WHBY 0700
1320 CHMB Vancouver 0900 No id but CC tk Also 1111
1400 WOND 0800
1410 CFUN Vancouver, BC 1145 Still coming in!! Hrd at noon along
with 1470
1410 WPOP 0900
1420 WOC 0900
1430 KZQZ St Louis, MO
0930
24/11
1470 CJVB Vancouver 0900 1110 noted only on new antenna. Still
there at NOON!!
1470 WNYY 0700
1500 WLQR Detroit 0956
SUNDAY
NOVEMBER 23rd: (May be more logs to come)
670 WSCR 0900
780 WBBM 0900
1070 CHOK 1000, 0827
1150 WHBY 0900 0830
1160 WYLL 0900
1170 WWVA 1000
1330 WFNN The Fan 0900
1330 WLOL Minneapolis, MN. Personal 1st Relevant Radio. UTC
-6 1000
1400 WSLB Ogdensburg NY Rare graveyarder 0900 Personal 1st
1420 WOC 0858
1420 Tent WBEC Pittsfield, MA 0900 Mention "The
Berkshires" req extra keen ears.
1420 KTOE 1000
1460 KXNO Des Moines, IA 0903
1470 WNYY 1000
1500 KTSP ST Paul's, MN 0900 (Noted in Dec from recording)
1510 KGA poor 1000
1501 WLAC 0900
1570 WFLR (Not hrd this since about 1996) 0900
SATURDAY NOVEMBER 22nd: (Prob much more to come)
770 CHQR 0800 Very loud peak at the right time
890 WLS 0800
930 WBEN 0400
950 Classical Mx, Pres MB 0729
950 KJR WA 0900
980 CKPL ID as AM-9-80 0902
990 CBC Def echo on CBC news 0900
1000 WMVP ESPN 0900
1120 KMOX VG LEVEL 0900
1130 KFAN 0800 0900 Mixing WBBR but clearish id
1150 WHBY 0800
1160 KSL UT 0900
1160 WYLL 0800
1170 WWVA 0900
1180 WHAM VG PK 0800
1250 CHSM MB 0500 Good AM 12-50 id Also 0800 classicakl mx noted
1280 WNAM 0800
1280 WFAU 0900
1290 CFRW MB 0900
1310 WCCW 0900
1330 WFNN The Fan 0900
1380 KOTA SD / KLIZ Brainerd both id 0800 (KLIZ 1000 also)
1390 WRIG 0500 0600
1410 CFUN Vancouver g ids 0905
1420 KTOE tent . have to chk rec. 0800
1470 CJVB Vancouver 0900 voice id as well as familiar pips
1510 KGA WA 1100 0800
1530 WCKY 0800
1600 WWRL 0800
1620 KOZN ESPN Omaha 0500
1630 Pres La Grande WY 0728
1630 KCJJ 0900
1660 Relevant Radio FL 0900
1660 KQWR Fargo 0500
FRIDAY NOVEMBER 21st:
Probably some files still to browse through..
560 WGAN 0700
680 CFTR Remarkably strong at 0700
720 WGN 0600 id behind pips
800 CHAD FF 0700
890 WLS 0600
920 CKNX 0900
1150 WHBY 0600
1190 WOWO 0600
1330 WFNN Erie 0400. Has this call changed?? The Fan
1360 WDRC / WKAT mix 0700
1420 WHK 0900
1460 Hickory, Stn of the Cross 0900
1480 WHBC 0900
1540 CHIN 0400
1630 KCJJ 0600
1660 WWRU 0200
1660 Relevant Radio FL 0500
1700 KVNS VG 0800
Should be more to come for Friday, time permitting.. Maybe next summer....hi
KEN'S
DX DIARY AND LOGS - THURSDAY NOVEMBER 20th 2008:
I feel there were a few strong signals around today, but the
band not as lively, and not open to the west, like yesterday.
580 CFRA 0800
600 CBC Multi Freq listings 0927
680 WRKO/ CFTR mix 0800
820 WBAP 0800
920 CKNX 1000 VG
950 CKNB 0925
1000 ESPN Chicago only today, no sign of KOMO 1000
1170 WWVA WV 0900
1290 WJNO West Palm Beach 0800
1300 WOOD 1001
1330 WRCA 0200
1380 CKPC 1000
1420 CKDY Digby, NS AVR id 1000
Much more heard, but there are a few. Nothing special after yesterdays
surprises.
FAROE
ISLANDS - 531: I have been sent a few images of the transmitter
site at the Faroes. Thank you to Johan for this.
The transmitter building from the mast
New 50kW and 100kW Thomson transmitters under installation
531kHz mast and TX building. Notice the grass roofs,
typical of The Faroe Island's tradition.
Part of the old 200kW Thomson transmitter from 1990
KEN'S
DX DIARY AND LOGS - WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 19th 2008:
FAROES TAKES UP AN AMAZING 60 + Khz of spectrum!!!!
The Faroes have been testing a new transmitter installation,
but excessive audio splatter from the station can be seen on the following
2 screenshots.
 |
Waterfall View during excessive splatter, and
after adjustments using Perseus SDR software.
Click to enlarge. Sorry screen is smaller than the image.
This is to accommodate 800 by 600 screens
 |
Spect
View during excessive splatter, and
after adjustments using Perseus SDR software.
Click to enlarge. Sorry screen is smaller than the image.
This is to accommodate 800 by 600 screens
The above
screens are a "before and after" example. The "after"
is after technical adjustments of power and modulation (reduction
of 3dB) were made. Antenna for this reception is a little excessive,
500m beverage running NW from my own qth!! See antenna photos in the
October logs page.
I e mailed the station re this splatter and received a very prompt
response.
Hi
Kenny
We have reduced the Tx power by 3 dB and modulation by 3 dB yesterday (18-11-2008) to reduce the noise.
A team from Thomson is at the moment at Akraberg installing a new MW transmitter.
We expect the new transmitter (where noise problem is solved) to be operational in the beginning of December 2008 (week 49).
Best
regards
Jóhan P. Poulsen
Faroese Telecom
HETRODYNES / OFF CHANNEL STATIONS:
I have made some notes in my log of off channel stations around
the MW band, heard here in Scotland.
None of the frequencies measured particularly accurately.... I don't
really know the identity of any of these except Nigeria. 917 is Nigeria.
1385 was heard in European afternoons a few weeks ago
684.1 |
917
|
1098.2 |
1385 |
1386.2 |
1457.6 |
1467.3 |
1476.3 |
1574.2 |
ASIAN
STATIONS TODAY:
At last I had an ID from All India Radio on 1395 at 1530. Personal
first. (Hrd it for a while without ids). Also hearing Eastern stations
on 1476, 1386 and usual China 1521. The old Mayak INT signal heard on
1521 too at 1600. Isn't Perseus and Autohotkeys a great
combination when you can't be by the receiver.
ESPN - NEVER ASSUME AN ID OF AN UNKNOWN ESPN STATION:
I have often said in these pages that is is not a good idea to hear
an ESPN station and jump at the most likely candidate. I may well have
done this, although in fairness, I have it logged as a tent. I had thought
espnradio1260 was WNSS Syracuse NY. It is, but this morning I heard
ESPN RADIO 1260 WRIE ERIE, PA.
I assume anyone else in the dx world who doesn't assume ESPN stations
as a tentative log, has full local ids to back up their claims?? A unique
web address is good enough for a local ID of course, or a unique slogan,
but obviously NOT just hearing the ESPNRADIO and the freq. The above
log is living proof of that.
TADX logs :
560 WGAN 0100
570 CKGL ONT 0600 ESPN
670 CUBA Rebelde. vg 0200
680 CJOB Winnipeg mix with CFTR 0700
690 CINF pres FF No call id today.
700 WLW g @ 0600
720 POSS WGN behind BBC, Just no id at right time 0800
760 WJR 0800 0700
800 CKLW 0800
820 CHAM Talk Stn 0800
870 WWL Pretty good this am again 0700
890 WLS Chicago 0800
920 CFRY mix CKNX 0700
920 WIRD Lake Placid 0300 ESPN SEMI DAYTIMER Personal
1st
940 Montreal AM 940 0800
960 WEAV 0800The Zone
990 ESPN The Team, Montreral 0800
1160 WYLL Chicago 0800 030
1260 WRIE Erie, PA ESPN RADIO 1260 0800 Poss my tent
my Syracusse ESPN stn in Sept.
1300 WOOD 0800
1300 WOJE Cleveland 0800 / mix WOOD
1330 WFNN Erie, PA 0800
1330 WRCA 0300
1350 WOYK York, PA 0800
1360 WKAT FL 0900
1370 WXXR Rochester 0900
1380 CKPC 0800 0100
1390 WFBL 0300
1410 UNID Canadian Press News CFUN OR CKSL, London Ont
1420 WHK 0850
1420 WOC 1000
1460 WHIC Rochester, NY 0900
1460 CJOY 0800 Jingle id
1470 WBKV 0700 Poor
1470 CJVB Vancouver, BC 0900 full id today
1480 WGVU MI 0900
1480 WHBC Canton 0700
1490 WBAE 0800
1500 WFED / WLQV MIX 0800
1540 CHIN 0100 Gd levels as ever
1550 CBE Windsor, ONT 0800
1620 WDHP Virgin Isles 0302, 0200
1650 CJRS Poor 0200
1660 WMYR FL 0100
1660 WFNA 0200 poor
KEN'S
DX DIARY AND LOGS - TUESDAY NOVEMBER 18th 2008:
Asian DX:
Some good signals in the afternoon today. At 1500 WYFR Taiwan
in ee. Family Radio tk. Also All India Radio on 1395 and briefly //
1566 at 1541 in EE. No ID for AIR.
TADX:
Now that's what I call a lively band. Here the band stayed open past
1000, and brought in some West Coast dx again. Gonna try and catch up
on these logs, but there are more I am sure. Getting hectic.
680 WRKO 0900
830 WCRN 0900 Not as dominant as a few weeks ago
960 CFAC Calgary Tent ESPN RADIO No local ID unfortunately,
so tent. 0800
1000 KOMO Seattle, WA 0900 0930 1000
1010 CBR Calgary 1000 No id, but familiar CBC news
tune at toth mix CFRB/ WINS
1170 WWVA Wheeling, WV 1000 0800
1180 WHAM in Cuban mix 0800
1260 WMKI Boston Radio Disney 0800 local ids
1290 WRNI RI 0800 BBC Relay after ids
1310 WLOB 0800
1320 CHMB Vancouver, BC 0900 China Radio Int ids
1330 WRCA VG 0900
1370 WDEA VG 0900
1380 WSYB Rutland, VT 0800
1380 WMYF 0900 Dominant and alone on ch
1410 CFUN Vancouver BC. 1004 Call id as well as Talk
14-10 id. 0904
1420 CKDY Digby 0900 Multi Stn ann
1420 WHK 0930
1460 WDDY Albany NY 0900 Radio Disney local id
1460 WHIC Rochester, NY 0800 ID but bad fade just as call ann. "Station
of the Cross".
1470 CJVB Vancouver, BC 1000 1006 0900 distinctive
3 pips just past toth + CC TK
1480 WSAR Fall River, 0900
1490 WBAE Portland, ME 0800
1510 KGA Spokane, WA VG 1000 and 1006
1550 CBC Windsor Ont VG 0900
1560 WQEW Local ID from Radio Disney
1600 WUNR Poor id 0900
1380 KOTA Rapid City noted 0400 6th Nov. Tnx for tip JF.
KEN'S
DX DIARY AND LOGS - MONDAY NOVEMBER 17th 2008:
A mixed bag this weekend. Saturday was the most amazing day
here at 0900 anyway. What an opening on the top of the hour, at 0900.
Sunday and Monday were poor.
RADIO ST HELENA DAY: Again as they do each year, ST
HELENA in the Atlantic Ocean activate their 1kw SSB transmitter on 11092.5kHz.
This year, I was unaware of the date, but thanks to Alf in the Skype
mwdx chat, I found out just in time, and into the bargain, happened
to be around on a Saturday night. Signal was not as consistant as last
winter, but still good for a time, and good enough to have a request
read out on air. It is always nice to hear St Helena, and long may they
continue to broadcast on SW.
FRANCE BACK ON!!!! BAH - HUMBUG!!: The QRM is back
on 1377. For the amount of dx I have had this season on 1380, the channel
has been pretty unproductive since Friday when I first noticed the channel
free of QRM. I had a semi daytimer as I will call it, but that was about
it. WYNF North Augusta which should be on flea power at night. I had
hoped for South Dakota, but still I have only heard an ad for Rapid
City. No IDs from elusive KOTA.
SKYPE: There is a bunch of us using a SKYPE chat box
at night now, and within reason, anybody is welcome. David Hamilton
has also started a MW CLUSTER style chat box, for tips only. This serves
equally as well for live tips, as it does for various overnight recorded
PERSEUS files. I have found this chatterbox to be very useful, and although
not public, it still serves better than the chat box on this site, which
is very limited. I would still like some kind of a live chat which was
public, and text remaining maybe for 2 weeks or so. For the sake of
digesting the dx tips... Maybe some of us will work at this, but not
a chatterbox with any clutter. In web page design, I really hate the
clutter and flashing lights often found on the web. Only a personal
preferance you understand.
LOGS: Mon 17th Nov: (Not a great morning)
1330 WRCA 0600 Ann Watertown/ Boston now
1370 WDEA 0400
1420 WHK 0600
1470 WLAM 0400
1480 WSAR 0400 + 0600
1620 WRDW Augusta
1660 WCNZ 0400
LOGS: Sat 15th Nov:
540 CBC Dominant in EE
570 CKGL 0900
650 KNR Greenland pres. ALWAYS PRES. No id. Little unique tune at 2200
though
660 CFFR Calgary AB 0900 6-60 News
740 AM 740 Toronto, VG sig and live nostalgia. Nice to hear
a music stn and live shows.
770 CHQR, Calgary, AB 0900
880 WNBC NY Really wild signal strength 0000
900 W Mexico 0900
920 KXLY Spokane, WA 0900 Initially tent, but quite
confident now.
940 Montreal. VG levels 0700
1010 WINS NY VG 0900
1050 WEPN NY SUPERB SIGNAL AT 0700 Multi Call IDs
1060 WBIX
1140 LV Miami 0700
1150 CJRS Pres. FF But not // 610.
1160 KSL Salt Lake City, UT best ID ever from this
one. Mix WYLL till toth 0700
1190 WOWO Fort Wayne, ID 0700
1290 CJBK 0800 also g at 0500 ESPN stn
1310 WCCW Traverse City 0700 vy wk today
1320 CJMR EE id 0500
1330 WFNN The Fan 0800
1350 WNLK Norwalk, CT 0700 Ann wstc 1400 wnlk 1350 wstcwnlk.com
1350 CKAD Middleton, NS 2200
1370 WXXI Rochester, NY. Also amazing splatter only Manx Radio
id 0900
1380 WYNF North Augusta, SC ESPN Semi Daytimer, ie QRP at night.
0900
1380 WPHM wk id 0905
1440 WEEI relay 0100
1430 WENE NY The Team. G pk. Dont normally log this pest. 0900
1480 WHBC Canton
1500 UNID music, mention mexico, but maybe just mx of Mexico 0800
1570 XERF VG levels chimes and kids voices 0800
1630 WRDW Augusta 0900
1640 WTNI 0800
1660 WMYR FL 0000
1680 WSSM SS 0900
1690 WPTX Lexington Park 2200
1700 KVNS vg levels 0800
1700 WEUP AB 2200
KEN'S
DX DIARY AND LOGS - FRIDAY NOVEMBER 14th 2008:
FRIDAY NIGHT: Noticed that France was off on 1377 at 2200.
Hopefully from the selfish dxer point of view, it is off for good. I
hope it is not off to have any silly DRM fitted or anything. This is
so strong and splattery here, even though the beverage direction is
towards North America. The directivity of the said beverage can not
possibly be perfect for such a length of cable. In the case of the beverage
I normally use, 420m approx. At 2300 I had a surprising on the top,
in the clear ID from KXTR Kansas City 1660.
Now that's more like it. Mid west stations coming in today
as were Cubans, as were FL, as were... well coming in from all over
really. A lot of the common stations are not noted here. Neither are
they noted in my log book..
Logs:
560 CUBA Rebelde 0702
660 CFFR Calgary, AB 0700 (6-60 News)
820 WBAP TX. VG 0702
780 WBBM Chicago 0600
920 CFRY MB 0559
920 CKNX ONT VG 0656
950 CUBA Radio Reloj Cuba 0700
980 WTEM Washington ESPN 0700
1060 CKMX Calgary, AB AM 10-60
1250 WSSP mixing with the "lift music" channel
1290 CFRW MB 0600/1
1310 WCCW Traverse City 0700 ESPN
1350 WARF Akron, OH 0700
1360 WKAT FL 0700
KEN'S
DX DIARY AND LOGS - THURSDAY NOVEMBER 13th 2008:
I feel the last couple of days have been very much average
here. Maybe I am still in "weekend away in Amsterdam" mode,
but I feel the band has been rather poor since around 6th. At least
there is DX to be heard though. There have been times in the past years
when there is nothing at all to be heard, eg after a large aurora. I
may seem not to be using the MW DX Cluster on Skype so much, but if
my log book was to be inspected, there would be nothing exciting seen
there either. I have tried to make a direct link to the MW chat on Skype,
but all I seem to achieve is a load of unusable code on the page. Had
this trouble some time back with some kind of RSS code on another web
page. (New style code just for the sake of it??) Perhaps best to search
skype users for "tvdxrools".
LOGS: Only a few logs worthy of note here. Personal
first on 980, WTEM Washington, an ESPN station, heard
just before 0700 on 12/11, but right on TOTH 9-80 CRUISE (CKRU Peterbrough,
Ont) came right up over the ID. At 0600 on 13th however, there was a
weaker local ID and multi station call. CKRU is not in itself a common
log here, so it was quite a good ID to pick out, in fact it was a nice
peak. The other more unusual station was 1700 KKLF,
on top of KVNS at 0600 on 12th.
OLD RECORDINGS: I have been listening to some old recordings,
and have come up with the following unusual ones.
600 CJWW SK 0553 27/9
1110 KFAB OMAHA 0600 27/9
1370 WXXI Rochester 23/9 0559 and followed by....
1370 poss WLJW just after WDEA ID. Need 2nd opinion. 0600 23/9
1480 WLMV Madison, WI 0558 27/9
KEN'S
DX DIARY AND LOGS - TUESDAY NOVEMBER 11th 2008:
Nothing recorded overnight last night either. I had been out
at a MOTORHEAD gig in Glasgow, and was pretty late on the road.
KEN'S
DX DIARY AND LOGS - MONDAY NOVEMBER 10th 2008:
AMSTERDAM RADIO DAY: Just back from the Amsterdam Radio Day
at the weekend. There were about 450 people turned up to this annual
event this time. A great time was had by all. Highlights for me included
meeting up again with the German guys who run the radio day at Erkrath,
a great team. I also met up with some guys from Waterford, Eire who
I have not seen since 1986!! The theme of the radio day this year was
"Radio Caroline Late 1970's". Musically for me, this was a
great time for the station. The format is still very similar on the
current satellite service, and I can still enjoy the album show from
BUZBY on a Friday evening, or Johnny Lewis or Martin Fisher, or Roger
Mathews, Stuart Russel etc. Their shows were always enjoyable back in
the late 70's. Web sites such as AZ Anorak (A SAD ANORAK!!) now have
so much material directly downloadable from that era. It is great to
be able to access these archives, thanks to web technology. 10 years
ago, this kind of archive would have been unthinkable.
A FEW THOUGHTS ON FREQUENCIES: I am often faced with
what seems like a barrage of stations on a particular frequency, but
am equally as often only ever able to pull in the "usual"
stuff on the channel. Let me diversify. 970 often seems to have more
than just common place WZAN, yet I have only once managed to log anything
other than WZAN (from North America). Another channel I feel I regularly
miss unusual stations is 1430. It always seems to be either the Toronto
ethnic station, or WENE, The Team. 1480 is another. Usual stations are
WSAR and WHBC. Yet often I feel there is more around. Is there more
around. Yes is the answer, but they have simply eluded me so far.
LOGS: On Sunday night/ Monday morning my drive letter
of the hard drive changed again, due to removal and additions of other
drives. I never noticed this before setting my overnight timer, which
was a bit of a bummer, so no logs this morning. Glad of a long lie this
morning to catch up on sleep. Was out in Amsterdam till about 4 or 5am
Sat night, and had to catch an early flight home Sunday, so to say I
wasn't at my best would be an understatement !!
KEN'S
DX DIARY AND LOGS - FRIDAY NOVEMBER 7th 2008:
Last night I had an amazing reception of WEGP at 1930. Sadly
there was no time check on the station at this time. I have uploaded
an audio clip.
Bang: As is often the case, the band wil suddenly go
from being amazingly active to - dead!! It happened again this morning.
I noticed reception wasn't as good in the evening, despite the vg signals
early in the night. So no logs of note this morning, only the common
stuff.
KEN'S
DX DIARY AND LOGS - THURSDAY NOVEMBER 6th 2008:
MW DX CLUSTER: This is a SKYPE chat box set up by David
Hamilton for soley MW DX tips. We have another chat box available for
chin wags. Anyone (within reason!!) is welcome to join. Look for David
in the Skype search by his user name "tvdxrools" (Surprised
it's not changed to MWDXrools .. lol), or myself "Scottish_dxer".
Paul C and John F have both joined, as well as Alf from Norway. It is
now possible while live dxing to chat live to other active dxers. Amazing.
The chat box on this site is a little basic, due to the need to keep
refreshing it. I know the Skype chats are not public, but it really
is a great way to keep in touch with fellow dxers LIVE. The chatter/
chinwag box is being used by us, but to join, you have to be invited
in by one of us. Let's see how it goes. All you have to do to join is
download and install SKYPE. Google it. It is a freebie..
BEVERAGE NOTES: I was sitting with my old permanent
beverage through the undergrowth as well as the new one in the field
opposite me, patiently waiting for the rare daytimers the other night
during the American elections. I had the North facing antenna disconnected.
I did not realise that at 0900 KOMO 1000 and KJR
950 were both coming through. So tonight after tea, I went
across and reconnected the North antenna in the hope of rare dx tomorrow!!!
ESPN - NEVER ASSUME: I heard an excellent reason you
should never assume without a proper ID from an ESPN station. I heard
today at 0600ish, 1660 UNID SPORTS. Hrd WCAF, WOAI, WEEI, AND POSS KGAR
calls within a few minutes on an UNID ESPN station. Signal was not good
enough to properly hear why these calls were all being aired, but it
is not difficult to imagine. They all will ID near the toth, so it is
best to listen for a unique ID which is properly identifyable. The only
logs I have seen which are worse, are like the following - KXXX
pres. Country Music. It could be anyone!!
LOGS: Some good logs this morning. Prob a good bit more to
come.
550 WGR Full ID 0900
560 WIND, Chicago 0800
570 CKGL Finally tied this stn with the ESPN id frequently hrd
640 CFMJ Toronto CAll id 0900
650 WSM Nashville 0900
670 WSCR 670 0900
760 WJR Super signal at 0903
800 CKLW 0900
950 KJR Seattle, Wa. 0900
990 CKGM Call id. The Team 990 0400
1000 KOMO, Seattle 0900
1000 WSVP Chicago 0900 15s
1290 WMCS, Greenfield, WI 0900
1300 WJMO CLEVELAND, OH ID 0855
1300 WOOD 0804
1460 WHIC Rochester, NY The Station Of The Cross 0600
1500 WLQV, Detriot. Very Dom at 0100
1700 San Diego's AM 1700, Mexican
Some recordings of this dx are already uploaded to my root audio folder.
Look in audio downloads.
KEN'S
DX DIARY AND LOGS - WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 5th 2008:
ASIAN STATIONS HERE IN EUROPE: The obvious difficulty between
Asian reception and North American reception is the fact that Asians
are on the same QRG as the European stations, ie every 9kHz. Therefore
if there is a strong Euro, or local, reception will be hampered. But
some winter afternoons produce quite remarkable signals all the way
from Thailand, China, Taiwan, India, Korea, and sometimes sitting nicely
on top of the Euros. Some logs for the last few days are included here.
I had an unwanted PC reboot just before 1800 when I was gonna record
on Tuesday night. WYFR on 1557 was very strong.
567 - UNID Asian sounding stn at 1457 3/11
612 - Old Russian Int signal which is not so loud these days. 3/11 1500
1385 - UNID hrd reg on 1385, easily separated. Unid lingo though. 4/11
1900
1386 - Chinese sounding language. Music and lively inserts. Ads?? 3/11
1500
1476 - Unid Asian stn here. Is this Thailand?? How do you go about getting
an ID!!
1521 - Peking. Often very strong and even heard on a cheap tranny. 3/11
1500 and reg
1521 - Old Russian Int sig heard here also 4/11 1500
1557 - WYFR Taiwan. Religious Propaganda. 3/11 1700
1566 - UNID heard poss HLAZ 4/11
2310 - Australia
2325 - Australia
2485 - Australia
Remember the latter 3 are just above the MW band and easily heard when
the conditions are good. 2310 is only 610kHz away from 1700.
AMERICAN
ELECTIONS: So much for my high hopes of rare daytimers across
the band, staying on the air through the night for the elections in
the States!! Last night I was even up the woods in the pitch black,
connecting up my wood (NW) antenna, in place of the north antenna, in
preparation for the rare daytimers. If there was a sniff of west coast
stuff and a late opening it would have been no problem to slip back
and reconnect the northerly aerial in the morning.
Alas, I haven't picked out anything particularly unusual in that respect.
But sometimes a nice surprise is just around the corner. I have a personal
first from KNX, Los Angeles, CA on 1070 at 0700!! Again,
so far I have not heard any other signs of anything unusual, yet there
was KNX, quite dominant!! Last winter at this time, I may have had the
signal, but there was no Perseus (in those days.. lol !!) so the ID
evaded me.
A few logs for the last couple of days:
Wednesday 5th November 08:
610 WIOD 0700
990 CKGM Call ID 0600
1070 KNX 0700
1160 WYLL 0700
1280 Pres CFMB Montreal. Still on daytime antenna pattern I think. Asian
during the night
1300 WOOD 0830
1420 WOC 0700
1540 KXEL 0700
Tueday 4th November 08: At 0700 unless stated:
650 WSM Dominant id 0701
680 CFTR
750 WSB
770 WABC
790 WAXY
800 CKLW
930 CFBC
1330 WFNN The Fan Erie, PA 0600
1350 KCOX (KTXJ 102.7) Jasper, TX
1370 Unid relaying BBC World Service above WDEA
1420 WHK Cleveland OH 0600
1480 WHBC Canton, OH 0700 0600
1520 KOKC Oklahoma City 0900
1630 WRDW Augusta, GA
KEN'S
DX DIARY AND LOGS - MONDAY NOVEMBER 3rd 2008:
November has come around again, and with it are seasonal low
temperatures here in SW Scotland. October has been a mixed bag. A lot
of high Ks around on many mornings.
Space Weather: Isn't technology just great. Instant
on line solar reports for current A and K index. I remember in the 80's
I used try to listen to WWV at 17 or 18m past the hour for the space
weather. It was often difficult to receive here in the UK, and I used
to envy the US dxers who had strong reliable signals. I always thought
it was a great idea to record wwv on 1 channel of a tape, and the dx
on the other, for reliable times when trawling through manky old tapes.
Again sadly WWV was not reliable enough here in Europe for this.
It was so annoying that none of the dx friendly international broadcasters
of the day carried this information either. I made this suggestion to
Radio Netherlands once, but the idea was never taken up.
KILMARNOCK STANDARD ARTICLE: An article appeared in
the Kilmarnock Standard about a chap who used to work on Radio Caroline.
I wonder if anyone knows of him. CLICK
HERE TO DOWNLOAD.
Beverage Update: I have been hoping to pull in Alaska
here every year, but alas, it has always eluded me. But the other day
while repairing the broken westerly beverage, I took a mad notion to
stake out a north facing antenna. I don't have the direction available
for a real long northerly antenna, and have to use the feedpoint of
the permanent antenna in the woods. I have already updated the aerial
photograph to include the 2 new antennas. I am as well to make use of
the field before the end of Feb, when the aerials need to come down.
 |
It is a shame I don't have the heavy duty coax available for a separate
feeder, and be able to have the choice of the wood antenna also. The
run is extremely long, something like 200m, and I am using some really
thick coax cable which I saved from someone burning for the scrap a
few years ago!!! I gave him twenty quid for it!! That opportunity doesn't
come around that often...
Logs over the last couple of days: Thanks to a tip
from Paul C (via DH), a rather average 0700 recording on Sunday produced
a great surprise on 1080. I may have overlooked it, assuming it to be
WTIC, but at the top of the hour, the Dallas station KRLD
is there, dominant, right on top of common WTIC. Amazing. Check the
recording in the root folder. This is a personal first. Also at 0600
on Sunday, another personal 1st, CFPL London, Ont 980.