| 1440 | WDRJ | INKSTER, MI (Detroit) | 
0300 10/11/10 (1kW) |
New / Personal first's this month = 1
=====================================================================
LOGS / NEWS - NOVEMBER 2010 A site mainly dedicated to Mediumwave Dxing |
| 1440 | WDRJ | INKSTER, MI (Detroit) |
0300 10/11/10 (1kW) |
=====================================================================
A VERY HAPPY ST ANDREWS DAY, BUT NOTHING TO REPORT: Not perhaps celebrated in the style of St Patrick's day, or thanks giving day, but the patron saint of Scotland's day is never the less today, 30th November. At least that gives me something to write about. It has been a very dull couple of weeks on the old MW band, and I can not gather up enthusiasm when the band is like so. This was highlighted to me last night when my dx neighbour and I were discussing WWKB and a possible piece of music at the top of the hour along side it. When WWKB is the exciting dx, it's time for a rest. I am hearing all the common stations at reduced signal levels most days, so when the band becomes depressed, then I certainly don't fill the log book with WBBR 1130 every morning. In years gone by, if it is felt band conditions are very poor, then I have a habit of not paying much attention to MW dxing, and goin on to do something else. But with the Perseus receiver, and wideband recordings, things may be different. It is always worth a quick check to see if there is any rare dx coming through. Chance would be a fine thing, I think to myself. I have been doing some web work for another project recently, which may shortly be linked into this web site directly. The dx archive site is run by former AUK people, and is meant to be an archive of much of the old QSLs and stickers and sound recordings from the Irish Era of the 1980's. But there is a whole lot more to the site than that. It was decided to use the "simple" format to the pages that I use both on this site and a local historical archive I am involved with. Because of the bad band conditions, much has been achieved this last few weeks.
CBC OLD CHIMES: I could have sworn I heard the old CBC top of the hour chimes last night, or was I confused briefly, as I had a few other things going on in the background. I will never know, as all files were deleted again, as has been the norm this winter. In my haste, I forgot to go back and verify my thoughts, whatever time it was.
A COUPLE OF PHOTOS: Below are a couple of shots taken today, the last day in November, and we are quite frozen up here. It looks like a cold night as well as it is currently snowing. Below that is an old UHF antenna, found recently in a loft. Definately an early one!!
MAR, a station that is heard on 1386 at weekends, and sometimes on 1314 as well, is being heard in the middle of the day here in Scotland. I have to suggest that this will be the best I have ever heard MAR since the 1980's. The current station are sort of the same guys as ran the big powerhouse station in 1980, some 30 years ago!!! Today they are broadcasting a tribute to Rick Dane of Radio Jackie North, who died in 2002 (approx)
Radio Jackie North was a rock station, and also used to be heard here in Scotland regularly on 217m, around 1395 or 1404. A few months ago I posted this clip from 1980, recorded here. And below is a clip of todays reception. It is good to see someone flying the flag for good old fashioned MW. To compare, I have a recording of ENERGY 1395 from Dublin also taken today. I'd say there wouldnt be a lot in the distance from Dublin to here, and from Merseyside to here.
800622_1200_1125_mar_recorded_scotland.mp3
MW BAND DIED - BEVERAGE DIED: The band hes been very poor this last couple of days. So I have nothing to report except that my antenna took a turn for the worse during the storms the night before last. On a trip to the woods to inspect the cable, I saw the small ditch where the cable runs, had washed down loads of branches and mess, snarling the coax, and breaking a join. I repaired and rerouted the cable slightly, and then walked the full length of the antenna to check it. After returning to the shack soaked to the skin, there was still no signals heard. The second time I took a radio and relayed radio north on the little ipod fm thing. Davie H up the road came along the second time. The fault was easily found. The yanking and tearing cable around to re-route it, made it give at the same joint. I never walked back past the join first time around. I went another way, checking another antenna, so missed this problem the first time. Davie and I then sat down for a coffee and a listen to Radio North at the volume it should have been at after the first trip!!
I meant to include this small clip the other week of WXRL during a good peak. This station is quite rare here, with common WOOD often dominant. 101023_0700_1300_wxrl_lancaster_buffalo.mp3
MONTAGE OF TODAY'S COMMON STATIONS: I have created a montage of the band today, at various times overnight, by way of an explanation of everyday dx heard here in the west of Scotland at this time of year. You can see some that are often booming are mushy, like WTIC and WBBM.
970 WZAN
ANNOYING STATIONS WHEN YOU KNOW THE BAND IS AVERAGE: I have often written here that the band is average. What do I mean by this? See the montage above. Well rarely a day goes by without TADX being audable, even in mid summer. But just at some times in the season, you begin to feel like the next day is the same as the previous day. There are many stations that are common here, and a good indicator, though of course not a definitive guide, could be some of the stations below. Many of these channels have often more exotic DX, but when you hear the following common stations, you tend to think the band is a bit "same old same old". Remember an unusual station can pop up on any frequency at any time, and even be the only unusual station on the whole band. But if something other than common stuff is heard on the channels below, at least there is a sporting chance of more unusual logs. Mid band around 960 is a good place to start.
770 Has this channel got company?? 77 WABC is the regular, or Rebelde, but worth a look for CHQR and their top of the hour jingle, that so many other stations use these days. (same tune / jingle company)
920 The information leader in Mid Western Ontario - CKNX - So many stations have popped up on 920 in the last couple of years since dominant CJCH left the air. But too often it is the annoying dominant CKNX.
950 CKNB - Flat, 70's pirate sounding pop music, often very strong though watery audio. (Radio Jackie sounded better when they ran from the woods) - A poor sign if there are no talk stations, sports stations or classical stations mixing.
960 HOT talk, news talk todays talk, The Zone WEAV. This is another channel where dx can easily be heard if the band is good, but more often than not, it is only dominant WEAV.
970 Maine's talk radio 9-70 WZAN. Seen as a pest on 970, yet sometimes 970 can reveal other dx.
1350 First in York, first in sport, WOYK and their singing jingle is very common on this channel, despite it being a busy freq, as well as a Euro channel.
1360 The Talk of CT, WDRC always seems to be dominant here
1370 AM 1370, WDEA Elsworth always seems to be dominant here
1390 The talk of the county, WEGP is often dominant on this sometimes interesting channel. Since BIG L has been off air, it seems to only have been WEGP, and WFBL heard.
1430 The Team WENE, mixing with ethnic music on this busy channel seems to be the only two stations heard, yet at times it can be a great dx channel.
1440 The Word WHKT, The Big Jab, WJAB, and sometimes WVEI (also sport) are the three common stations heard at 02 and 0300, the only silent period of the big RTL transmitter here in Europe. But just sometimes a more unusual station will be heard, and thus it is worth recording a toth at 0200 and 0300 just for a minute or two, incase something other than common stations flutter in. Remember also more of an annoyance is the sports stations that play through the hour!!!
Many other channels have far more dominant stations, where other dx is less regular. 590, 730, 750, 760, 840, 860, 880, 1010, 110, 1130, 1500, 1510, 1520, but these too are always worth a watching.
RECORDINGS FAILED, AND NO RADIO SWEDEN: I forgot to mention yesterday that I have not really been up in the middle of the night this whole season so far, thanks to the wonders of the Perseus. I was only talking recently on our Skype DX chat about how the Autohotkeys and the Perseus SDR run very smoothly here. But following night (whatever night it was last week) the recordings failed. I couldn't work out why. The recordings were all there, right up to 0900, but after 0100 I think it was, all files were about 100k in size and just a noise. BUT. On closer inspection, I realised that my hard drive was full to the brim with recordings. That was all. So the next day I made sure there were plendy gigs left, and began deleting files. In my haste I wiped the last English broadcast as well as the last transmission from Radio Sweden, two recordings I was going to keep in the archives!!! Oh well. Such is life. For the record, I filled lots of drives in the last couple of years, and still like looking through the files, especially from good days, but I am not keeping very many this season. Only the odd file with personal firsts etc. Another comment I would make at this time is that I had another PC this time last year, and it was one that didn't like the extreme cold of the radio shack. It would close down on a severe frosty night!! I just refused to go out and leave the gas fire on in here. Too scared!!!
AM HD IN EUROPE: I am trying again to receive AM HD here in Europe, and so far this year, only managed to see the HD light on Radio Disney 1560, and WFAN 660. Signals have at the times I have tunes in been less than booming, except the morning I tried Disney. Again, like last season, only the HD light flashed, and the receiver so far made no attempt to kick in properly or even display text. Last year I had the set cut on me twice as though the HD was about to kick in, but that twice it reverted back to standard AM, and again, no sign of any text. I shall keep on trying especially if we get any good strong signals some morning, when I am dxing live.
I have not had too much to report on these pages in the last week or so. The band seems to have kind of stagnated. To the guys who use transistor radios and report on the forums reception of Boston on 1510 for example, my daily dx would be a treat I suppose. But when you are used to the regulars coming in on 760, 590, 750, 1560, 1510, 1520 1130 etc etc etc, the band can sound stagnated. I managed a personal first today on 1440 at 0300. WDRJ Detroit. It has been a poorish season here so far, if you count westerly openings as making the season good. Last year by this time there had been many openings to the west, and mid west. We often heard the distinctive classical music on 950, sometimes late on in the morning. Up in the far north of Scotland, I hear that MAH has been receiving some excellent dx as far as I am concerned, with multitudes of calls I am not familiar with. Martin also hears Japanese dx in the afternoons. I have seen a few carriers and watery audio on 680 a couple of times, although nothing I would call usable. Nor have I ever knowingly heard Japan!! I have to say I don't spend a lot of time on Asian dx mainly because they are on the same channels as the Euros, making life much more difficult.
A FEW AUDIO FILES FROM RECENT DAYS: I have included an unid ss from 800. Sounds more like RCN than TWR, can anyone verify that is an RCN that I am hearing in there??
101105_0658_800_unid_ss_poss_twr_or_rcn.mp3 101110_0000_also_2356_1380_ckpc_vg.mp3 101101_2200_1390_wegp_wfbl.mp3 101110_0300_1440_wdrj_detroit.mp3 101102_0900_1470_wcsh_ids_on_wlam.mp3
MAKE HAY WHILE THE SUN SHINES - 1395 / 1377: We have again the opportunity here in Europe of a nice quiet DX channel of 1395, with BIG L being off air. From a selfish dxers point of view, dare I say more???? lol. Last night I was not in the shack, but had set the perseus to record various top of the hours. Luckily I managed to record 2100, and heard France 1377 going off abruptly. The jamming signal that has been heard there in recent times was heard plainly just LF of the 1377 freq. There also seemed to be music there. Exactly what the jammer and the signal being jammed is, I have no idea. I have read various theories. Asian Sound in Manchester was also heard during the French silence. They must have some problems at night with the Frenchy. The freq was allocated some years ago when the French station was off the air, we had hoped for good. It is a shame 1377 doesn't go off altogether. 1380 is given quite a bit of grief here by that French station. I did hear CKPC at 000 with a booming signal, while Paul C here in Scotland also heard the VT stn at 2200. I have two stations mixing, but never pulled any IDs from it. Maurits in Belgium pulled out Tanzania and an EE id of Radio Free Africa on 1377 at 0058. At that time the beverage was pointing to north America, and thus I had a great deal of splatter from believe it or not 1380 CKPC at that time!!! On the subject of freeing up the band, good to see NRK leaving 630 and 675. Also Swiss stn on 765 leaves on 5th Dec I believe. I think 765 used to be a channel where Senegal came in. Pity we cant see other power house stations do the same, like 675, 1323, 675, 1377, 1422 etc and of course 1593 DRM!!!
USEFUL PERSEUS BLOG TO CLOSE: An odd and surprising announcement noticed today by David H, when he reported Guy Atkins and his useful Perseus blog is closing. I am not really sure of any real reasons?? Maybe it is a costly business to keep all those gigs on line??? The current web space I hire costs around £20 a year for 3 gig, to do as you please. ie not a freebie with ads or limited styles etc. So it isn't exactly breaking the bank. Prices rise for more web space, but not dramatically. It seems a pity that one of the most respected blogs will disappear into the ether. I understood freebie blogs would always be there if the owner left them on line?? It seems to be such a lot of text and such a lot of work to simply pull the plug and then it's all gone, like the burning of books in the 1940's!!!
PERSEUS SOLD: Well that's that. I have been trying to sell an NRD 545 for some months. It never sold, but I managed to do a swap for an 8 week old Perseus. Now that Perseus is on its way over the water, after a deal was made last Friday. Now I have a hole in the shack where there once was a 545, but hey, when last did I use it. You can follow the developments of the said 545 on Mark Bothwick's web pages, from the Scottish borders. http://scottish-dxing.yolasite.com/mw-dx.php
IS 610 OFF AIR OR NOT - ANSWER = YES... FINALLY: CHNC 610 was due to be off air by 1st November according to a report seen on the web. It is amazing that in these days of technology and the web, real hard info is difficult if not impossible to find. It was neither reported in IRCA, nor was it reported in North East Radio Watch. And again, a mail on the subject I sent to IRCA was not accepted / used , even though I signed up etc. An odd way to work?? But yesterday, both Paul C and Sylvain in Quebec received an e mail from CHNC to confirm they are indeed off air now, and using FM only. This being a common dominant station here in Europe, should open up the band to farther DX. WIOD FL, Rebelde are often heard, and should be more common. I am more interested in rarer dx that may come in, as both WIOD and Rebelde could be classed as common stations. // 1150 is also off air.
HISTORICAL RADIO SWEDEN CLOSES: Radio Sweden closed down the transmitters on SW and also 1179 on Saturday night. There was a short programme dedicated to the history of Radio Sweden, which is still downloadable in their 30 day archive. I wish they would take the time to make some of their old Saturday shows available if they still exist in their archives. That must have been one of their most popular shows.
REMEMBER THE MW BAND ON A SATURDAY NIGHT: A Saturday night on MW here in Europe used to be quite exciting listening, when Blue Danube Radio was on in English on 1476, and the Saturday show was on from 2300 till 0030, and extended edition. The first 30m was the same as the SW service. Back then, the old 227m band was very quiet, and gave way to many of the Dutch pirates with international programmes, and sometimes odd UK stations were heard in this area of the band. The 227m band ran from approx 1287 when Prague closed, 1296 when BBC closed, 1305, 1314 when NRK closed, 1323 Moscow and BBC Cyprus closed, 1332, and even at one time the BBC went off 1341. Pre November 1978, the frequencies were 1kHz less.
WATCH OUT FOR WCSH TV SOUNDTRACK: WLAM 1470 often carries the TV sound of WCSH TV in Portland. It's one of those calls that if you are not aware of it's presence you could spend an hour trying to trace the call and believe and worse still, report that there has been a rarity logged.
DAYTIMERS AT THE END OF OCTOBER: I had some luck with daytimers at the end of October, but I feel that some were only just out of reach. A few logs of note are below. Nothing new unfortunately, all heard in the past. Some freqs like 1290 and 1310 and even 1300 sounded like they had something more interesting, but despite the news jingle being clear as usual, the call was in the muck.... I have also been in the habit of being a bit slack when it comes to Cuban logs all over the band, and I feel that my all time list will for sure not include many stations that have been heard in the past. But I have included some new Cubans in the personal first list for October, inc 640 which I am convinced I have heard before this..
500
UNID DIGITAL AND CW "PAT". No call. Is this a ham?? 06 +07
1/11
This morning the band was wide open at 0900, although strong common signals only, nothing to write home about. WWKB, WWZN, WBBR and WOYK 1350 all booming in, along with Disney 1560. I tried the HD set and the HD light immediately came on, but the HD never kicked in, and neither did any text ID or anything.
|
