KEN'S DX DIARY AND LOGS - SATURDAY 29th OCTOBER 2011

STILL NO DXING:

Doing other projects while the band is so poor. I have seen nothing to interest me signal wise on the mw band, and files have been deleted already, from last night.

 

KEN'S DX DIARY AND LOGS - FRIDAY 28th OCTOBER 2011

STILL NO DXING:

Last night I made no recordings, but checked the band live around 0730 / 0800. Nothing was heard on any antenna. Paul C produced a nice log of Latins. Maybe I should have recorded with the Latin antenna. I stole the volume control from the Latin antenna the other night, to use on the new beverage. I must remember to run down the field and put another control on the west aerial.

 

KEN'S DX DIARY AND LOGS - WEDNESDAY 26th OCTOBER 2011

LAST FEW DAYS FOR DAYTIMERS:

This is now the last few days for the daytimers in October. By the 1st of November the time shift will mean the daytimers sign off somewhat earlier. I have not had a great deal of success with daytimers this season. Maybe three?? 940, 1370, 1470. The 1370 was suspected of being on daytime power at night, though of course there is no way to say for sure.

 

WINTER TIME / GMT RETURNS:

The clocks will go back an hour this coming Saturday, meaning that there will be less daylight at night for outdoor activities. We come into line with GMT again. Aye, the nichts are fair drawin' in.

 

GOOD OLD JOLLY OLD FARMER:

Well my old friendly farmer isn't particularly old. But he is such a sport. The field across from me is rather a large field, and is usually planted by this time of year with the winter barley. But this winter has been too wet for the plough etc, and again, I am able to string out a more "traditional" beverage. By traditional, I mean that it will be straight, and all on a flat plain, more or less, rather than the permanent antenna over in the woods which is up and down and round and round. I have it of course as straight as possible, but it is only as straight as the next set of thick undergrowth or the next banking.

On Monday night Davie H and I were over in the field across the way, rolling out the wire and planting the sticks that hold the wire up in the air. The height is about 7 feet from the ground, just over head height, so as to not be in the way of walkers etc. We went down the field at last light, so as not to show off to the local kids that we were running 420m or wire out on sticks. On Tuesday we saw just how "all over the place" this was, but the sticks and wire were out in the field, which was the main objective on Monday night.

Yesterday we finished the job, and now it looks like a temporary fence put up by the farmer. Sadly we are going to have to wait for the results for some time. There was a major storm and aurora just before switch on.

On Tuesday night. there were no North Americans heard. What I first assumed was CBC creeping in on 1400 last night, ided at 2200 as The Harbour Light of the Windwards. (A great name, though unfortunate format). The signals here came in on the new antenna before any of the others. There was also SS on 1230 and unid on 1280. Let's hope this is a sign of things to come.

My only worry is that the new antenna seems more prone to QRN / Noise!! We tried to run it a little farther north this season. Sadly I couldn't find any extra coax, so it is not as far north as I would have liked. But it is a few degrees farther north than before. The drawback is that it terminated straight in line with a house.

If the noise continues, this may well be changed. I think I would rather have a slightly farther south quieter antenna than a noisy more northerly??

Anyway, I have the field for experiments for the next few months, until it is sown in Feb/ March or so.

I have drawn in the new antenna in yellow on the image below. Click to enlarge obviously. The feeder isn't included this time. It is not difficult to see where it runs.

The idea behind another antenna in the open land is not signal strength, but back null. I am hoping to have a better front to back ratio.

 

MORE MOANS AND GROANS ABOUT PERSEUS SDR:

I was a little bit surprised to hear on the dx chat the other day of an outburst aimed at some Finnish dxers from a dx club officer. Some MW dxers were commenting that they are still listening to Perseus files from a dx pedition that took place a couple of years ago. I was sent a copy of this outburst.

I think we can safely say that checking recordings and IDs of two and more years ago (but also less than that) has hardly anything to do with DXing. I know there are people who don't agree with me, but surely in this case it is not a DXer DXing at the receiver, but a computer who does all the DXing and the non-DXer just noting down what the computer has done.

Just my two cents...

Just where do these jokers get off?? From what I can gather, the poor dxers in question were only passing comment about the workload involved in listening to the recordings from a dxpedition they had been on. I am unsure who the poor chaps were that were verbally attacked, as I never saw that particular piece of text. But surely quite a gesture from an officer of a club which is supposed to promote MW dxing.

I guess the officer in question wouldn't dream of watching a movie recorded off the television that may have been broadcast when the dxer was down the pub on a Saturday night. That has hardly anything to do with really watching a movie. Surely it is the case that it is not a viewer watching the television, but a VCR or DVD recorder who does all the viewing. This non movie watcher is just looking at what the DVD recorder has already done.

How ridiculous and stupid does that sound.. LOL!!!

Incidentally I also enjoy looking back through old Perseus files. They are and will be a time capsule from the MW band, and in years to come, may well prove to be of such an interest!! I only wish we had Perseus files from the history of radio to look back on. That would have been so so interesting.

 

DX LOGS FOR TODAY:

Large Aurora has still killed the band. Radio Puorto Cabello was booming in at 0700, but being honest, there wasn't much else. This non dxers files are already deleted.

 

KEN'S DX DIARY AND LOGS - TUESDAY 25th OCTOBER 2011

DX LOGS FOR TODAY:

ROCK BOTTOM. Large Aurora killed the band completely. At 2200 on 1400 I had Harbour Light of the Windwards

 

KEN'S DX DIARY AND LOGS - MONDAY 24th OCTOBER 2011

DX LOGS FOR TODAY:

I still have files to check for Monday morning. KDKA was booming at 0800.

980 WCUB Muffled yl id in strong peak 0659
1230 WTKG Grand Rapids 0600
1310 WCCW TRaverse City 0700 and other times lately
1370 WXXI 0800
1440 Unid with Brother Stair 0800
1690 CJLO 0600

 

KEN'S DX DIARY AND LOGS - SUNDAY 23rd OCTOBER 2011

DX LOGS FOR TODAY:

930 WLKK call = WBEN CBS nx 0300
1300 WOOD 0700 good
1310 WLOB 0700
1520 KOKC mix unid slow mx. WWKB carrier only 0700, 0600, 0630, Back on 0802

KEN'S DX DIARY AND LOGS - SATURDAY 22nd OCTOBER 2011

WHAT BIG BRAVE MEN OUR POLICE REALLY ARE:

Off topic, to coin a phrase, but anyone world wide watching the news at the end of the week, couldn't help but be disgusted at the UK breaking new ground for turning the country into a police state. We were treated to scenes of big brave police officers trampling all over peoples homes and evicting women and kids from the gypsy camp in Essex. I wonder how much boasting these big brave he-men did when they went home to their own wives and kids?? "Yes dear, we put the women and kids on the streets, and ruined their few precious personal belongings, terrified the kids, tipped babies out of their prams, yes dear, what fun it was. What a good boy am I."

Like it or not, not everyone is fortunate enough to "have". Some poor sods are "have not's". But what they have, they have to make the best of. They are surely not rats.

These are what are supposed to be policing our streets. Now where were these big brave officers during the London riots some weeks ago. They stood back in a line watching historical buildings in London being torched. But they thought nothing of ploughing through less than fortunate peoples' mobile homes.

Remember that these characters have their inflated salaries paid for by the taxpayer. Did they earn their corn this week by terrorising women and children?? What does this tell you about the UK of 2011??? And what did the rest of the world make of the pictures on the CNN?? Would they have ploughed through the camp, if it had been a camp of "immigrants" from the East? What was the point of my grandfather fighting in the trenches in 1918?? To protect what????

 

KEN'S DX DIARY AND LOGS - FRIDAY 21st OCTOBER 2011

DX LOGS FOR TODAY:

900 W Radio Mex. Loud 0700
990 0700 TFN 9-90 New id for team 990 espn stn
1000 Radio Mil, MEXICO 0634 Noticed by Davie H
1200 WOAI 0700
1210 WPHT quite clear 0700 today, less splatter from Virgin
1220 WHK The Word 0700
1270 WXYZ Detroit 0700 Fox Nx. Decent ID now toth instead of mumbled
1380 WABH Bath NY 1377 off air. 2300 Fri Night
1620 U93 = WDND 0558

 

KEN'S DX DIARY AND LOGS - THURSDAY 20th OCTOBER 2011

DX LOGS FOR TODAY:

930 WBEN ann 107.7fm // 0700
1170 Loud WWVA 0700
1300 WJNO Cleveland / WOOD mix 0700
1310 WCCW 0700
1370 WDEA / WXXI 0700
1440 Detroit's Christian Talk 0100 poor in mud
1500 WFED 0900 Strongest stn prob on the band. Late opening.

 

 

KEN'S DX DIARY AND LOGS - WEDNESDAY 19th OCTOBER 2011

DX LOGS FOR TODAY:

1200 WOAI San Antonio, Tx 0700
1230 WTKG Grand Rapids 0700
1270 WTSN Dover 0700
1500 WLQV id as Faith Talk 1500 0700
1620 WTAW in today at various hours. Rebelde QRP or is WTAW QRO??
1630 KCJJ / KKGM 0100
1660 KRZI 0400 Good ids.
1660 WQLR Kalamazoo gd 2300
1690 CHTO Toronto gd 2300

 

KEN'S DX DIARY AND LOGS - TUESDAY 18th OCTOBER 2011

SEVERE RAINS IN THE LAST DAYS:

UPDATE: Exactly the problem. Large branches making their way down small burn snarled the cable. Repairs made.

Not too much of note to report today. Severe weather here has somehow damaged the main beverage, I suspect wood brought downstream on the wee burn where the feeder runs, may have broken a joint. Will make repairs at lunchtime Tuesday. Rain has been excessive, and the river has been in a serious spate condition in the last day. But I have seen it much higher.

Used the shorter beverage last night, but found either conditions a bit flat, or the antenna much poorer.

 

UTILITY STATIONS ON 30mHz:

With the current sunspot numbers soaring again, the higher frequencies have been alive. Monitoring frequencies like 27555usb, 27025am, 29860FM and others, brings in many a distant QSO.

Other frequencies may include 25990FM and 25910ish, also FM??? These links from WBAP in TX and another FM station in TX can come up reasonably strong at times, but often they are in the mud. The links are very low powered.

But also not heard in many a long year, are the communications around 30/ 34mHz. I have been making spot frequencies to pop into a scanner, but of course IDs are few and far between. It is not only American voices that are heard. There are SS and unid languages heard here as well, as the high solar indices allow round the world propagation.

Below is an audio clip with automated ID of the repeater on 29960FM.

111014_1435_29960_wb2hww_repeater_id.mp3

 

UNID EE STATION ON 31155:

Yesterday, an interesting station was heard on 31155. Initially I assumed an overload, but it was heard on ICOM ICR7000, as well as a Tandy scanner, and also noted by Davie up the road.

This was a radio station, with a music format. Stevie Wonder was noted, and a telephone number. It was difficult to determine the accent. One moment it sounded American, but then it may have been something else. I dont think it was a harmonic, as it seemed clear on FM mode, using WFM, when there was a rare signal peak. Half the freq is 15577ish mind you. Maybe we will check today. It is also a third sub harmonic of around 94.6 as well, (if this is the correct terminology).

Have a listen to the clip below and see if you recognise the accent. I am thinking it sounds more like an international broadcaster than a home grown American station?? I will look at 15575ish today.

111011_approx_1500_31155_unid_e_station.mp3

 

A FEW AUDIO CLIPS FROM THE LAST DAYS:

Below are two of the Chinese stations that come through regularly. CHIN Toronto is common, and CINA Radio (heard id as SEENA RADIO) has become quite regular in the last few weeks.

111013_0600_1540_chin_g_and_e_ann.mp3

111013_0000_1650_cina_fair.mp3

 

WDFN DETROIT - 1130 AT LOCAL LEVELS:

I was tuning the band the other day and something made me stop and listen to the sport on 1130. It was WDFN Detroit, loud and clear at the standard WBBR level. Luckily I have recorded the audio clip, as I foolishly deleted the Perseus file in my haste. I really was keen to keep that particular file. Anyway, audio clip below

111012_0700_1130_wdfn_detroit_booming.mp3

 

 

SPORTS STATIONS AND NOT SPORTS STATIONS - WBBR / WHKZ:

This subject is worthy of note on it's own. Often I have heard stations which have a non sports format, linking up with the sports networks for big or important games. There have been a couple of logs in the last few days. WBBR 1130 is not too unusual to hear carrying sports. I would say WHKZ ir much more unusual to hear with sports.

110116_0001_1130_wbbr_sports.mp3

111014_0203_1440_whkz_football_coverage.mp3

 

WRNI 1290 NOW LATINO PUBLIC RADIO IN SS:

Remember if you hear SS on a frequency, it does not necessary have to be coming from Latin or Central America. It could easily be US in origin. WRNI has been reported recently as having turned SS, and below an audio clip from them.

111012_2228_1290_latino_public_radio_wrni.mp3

 

XETU 980 - STEREO VIDA / RADIO RAMA:

The web is a great resource as a dx tool. While I like to hear the IDs, and never hear "man talking" or "music" on a web stream, and make a long, because it was //, I do use web streams to confirm or otherwise a top of the hour announcement. The station on 980 the other day was far too fast spoken for me. I thought there was at the very least a // FM freq ann, but that was my limit. I had to get the help of SS expert (well 100 times better than I am at SS..LOL) Paul C. Paul not only ided the station but found a web stream as well to record the ann heard on the clips below, and the ann heard on the air can clearly be heard. Don't ask me about the Radio Express part on the web clip. If I had heard that on air, I would no doubt have been sent wildly off the beaten track.

111016_0700_980_xetu_radio_rama_stereo_vida_freq_ann.mp3

111017_1100_web_stereo_vida_radio_rama_mex_xetu_short_vs.mp3

 

WTAB TABOR CITY, NC:

Another station a web clip helped identify was WTAB Tabor City. Tnx again to Paul C. Spotted by Paul on the 12th October and heard again here only on the 13th, this was a new one on both of us. I have a very poor ID on the 12th, but slightly better on the 13th, and including the advert heard on the web clip.

The clip below of 12th is pretty poor, and the ID is repeated 4 times. The clip from the 13th was much better, and is really audible!!

 

111013_0700_1370_wtab_nc_poor.mp3

111012_2000_1370_wtab_web.mp3

111012_0700_1370_wtab_very_poor_id_4_times_then_wx_lsb_then_usb.mp3

 

 

KEN'S DX DIARY AND LOGS - MONDAY 17th OCTOBER 2011

DX LOGS FOR TODAY:

940 WCPC Houston, MS 0630 + 0700
1240 WBBW Youngstown / Warren ESPN 0700 New for me.
1310 WLOB pretty good 0700
1390 Unid Home of.... Sounds like OH. Not sure. Maybe just WEGP in the mess.
1630 KKGM 0000

KEN'S DX DIARY AND LOGS - SUNDAY 16th OCTOBER 2011

DX LOGS FOR TODAY:

950 WWJ 0700
980 XETU Mexico Radio Rama and Stereo Vida ids 0700 (Tnx Paul C for help with ss)
1130 WBBR 0000 with SPORTS as opposed to business news.

KEN'S DX DIARY AND LOGS - SATURDAY 15th OCTOBER 2011

DX LOGS FOR TODAY:

780 WBBM 0630 ann // 105.9
1290 WHIO 0700 ann 95.7 //
1630 KKGM 0000
1650 CINA 0000 Reg recently
1660 KRZI TX 0000
1690 CHTO 0000
1710 Mumble in foreign lingo. Thinking sounded like USA stn hrd on RI Perseus

KEN'S DX DIARY AND LOGS - FRIDAY 14th OCTOBER 2011

DX LOGS FOR TODAY:

1080 WHIM FL 0700
1360 WYOS Binghampton. ESPN 1360 0700
1440 0203 WHKZ Warren with football / sports, and not religion
1520 Unid like John Denver mx below WWKB at 0700
1630 KRND inc Call letters heard for the first time 0701
1680 WPRR Exc id during ss stn silence, but silly me deleted Perseus file before making rec 2300

 

KEN'S DX DIARY AND LOGS - THURSDAY 13th OCTOBER 2011

 

NOTES FOR THE LAST DAYS:

As this is my first entry for October, I can say that time has not been on my side this last 2 weeks. I had a friend over from the States at the weekend, and in the week before, I don't think I had anything worth reporting. Many mornings the band was dull as my local ILR station. But last night, the North American antenna was in use, as it has been in the last days, and I am glad to announce that some rarer stations are coming in here again.

As we swing around towards the end of the month, remember to watch for daytimers signing off or powering down, any time from 2200utc I guess at this time. 2230 seems quite active and worth a listen at this time. You may even be lucky enough to hear the now elusive CJYQ 930 / Radio Newfoundland id.

I screwed up a bit last night when setting the overnight recordings, by not making sure the folder name for yesterday had been changed. If the folder name is not changed, and I set the recordings before midnight UTC, the folder name is automatically given "yesterday's" date. If that folder name already exists, files will be overwritten with the new recordings. It is a convenient enough system, and I usually by habit, change the name before even listening. As a result of sloppy old me, I had not managed to record off a sound clip of a couple of stations I wanted to. Thankfully I managed to record the three main clips of the rarities.

 

DX LOGS FOR THE LAST DAYS:

580 WKAQ PR 0635 13/10
630 Unid Cuban. Cadena ?? or something 0700 11/10
890 SS Boston ex ESPN Dominant 0600 10/10
920 WURA, Quantico, VA (Washington DC market) 10/10 0601Radio Unida VA. (radiounida920.com)
980 AM 9-80 London, Ont 0634 12/10, worth rec, but wiped perseus file by mistake
1080 Radio Cadena Habana 11/10 0700 Pers 1st tnx Paul C for help in ss. Snds like Concordia to me, but assured it is Havana.
1190 WAMT Florida 0600 11/10 Pers 1st
1130 WDFN Detroit 0700 12/10 Extremely dominant, so much so I thought it was WBBR
1230 Unid W call 2300 Almost had it!! 11/10
1240 WCBY CHEBOYGAN, MI "12-40 Big Country Gold" Pers 1st (TIP PAUL C)
1280 WNAM 0630 12/10 Better signal than normal, worth rec, but wiped perseus file by mistake
1290 Latino Public Radio = WRNI 2228 12/10
1290 WJNO 0600 11/10
1290 WMCS 0634 Fair pk worth rec, but wiped perseus file by mistake
1290 WHIO 0630 13/10 ann 95.7
1300 WOOD Regular again
1320 WLQV Hollywood, FL Pers 1st
1330 WHBL 0630 12/10 Good ID, worth rec, but wiped perseus file by mistake
1370 WTAB NC 13/10 0700 Hrd this yesterday but ID was so poor. Pers 1st. Not bril today but same ad as yesterdays rec of web stream. Yesterdays, tip Paul C.
1410 WMYR The Avenue, FL 0700 11/10 Usually 1660 // is heard here
1470 WJDY 0600 13/10 Tip Paul C
1540 WDCD 0200 11/10 and other times
1650 CINA 0000 13/10 Been logged a few times lately

 

THE PONY EXPRESS COMES GALLOPING IN:

Usually these days, we have instant e mails and text messages from around the world. Last night, I checked the e mail, and one came in dated 29th Sept or there abouts. Where did the e mail sit between being sent and arriving here??? It was not any special e mail, had no attachments or odd properties. The Pony Express in the wild west days could have sent it faster. And yes, while I remember, it was only sent from a friend in the next village!!