LOGS / NEWS - OCTOBER 2012 A site mainly dedicated to Mediumwave Dxing |
| 710 | Rebelde | 
0700 29/10/12 - 2nd txer heard, qth unknown |
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| 970 | Rebelde |
0700 29/10/12 |
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| 1590 | WGBW | Denmark / Greenbay |
2300 30/10/12 (DX FRIENDLY STN) |
| 1600 | KGYM | Cedar Rapids, IA |
0700 30/10/12 - ESPN Stn, The Gym |
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121030_0400_920_kdhl_gd_id_tip_jf.mp3 121029_0700_970_rebelde_mix_wzan.mp3 121030_0700_0705_1540_kxel_vg_signal_inc_wx_stn_call.mp3 121030_2300_1590_wgbw_denmark_greenbay.mp3 121030_0700_1600_kgym_the_gym.mp3
121030_2300_1530_bbc_essex_close.mp3
MW DXING OVERNIGHT: As yesterday, the news agencies are covering hurricaine Sandy. The band at 0700 peak here was no where near the signals we have had in the last couple of days, although there are still plenty North American signals on the band. DH reported WNAM 1280 good at 0300, and despite splatter being troublesome for me at this time, it was there in a break on the audio from 1278.
A personal first here, at 2300 on 1590. This is a dxer friendly station that has run a string of dx tests in the past. Maybe, just maybe, I should take time and send them a report.
BBC MESSING AROUND WITH POTENTIAL MW CLOSURES: I think I possibly failed to report last time on these pages about the BBC broadcasting loop tapes of potential closures of four stations. But in the last days, the following two joined the closedown experiments. BBC Hereford and Worchester 738 and 1584 BBC Essex 1530, 765 , 729
The original stations effected were:
BBC Radio Lincolnshire 1368 kHz BBC Radio Merseyside 1485 kHz BBC Radio Nottingham on 1584 kHz Merseyside and Lincolnshire came back on air for some reason, whatever their point was. . I speak as a selfish dxer, but why don't they simply switch off and stop spending more money switching these things on and off.
JIMMY SAVILLE AND BBC RADIO ULSTER: Worldwide, the news uncovered about the well loved, until recently, Jimmy Saville has hit the headlines for many weeks. It has all become a bit boring, and seems to have encouraged many dubious claims from bandwagoners. But I saw a link on the web to this absolutely mad link from BBC Radio Ulster's very naive presentation team (And I do not mean just the YL). Imagine a concenting adult reading this out at all, never mind on the BBC... LOL... http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=A9yJUOdVyUc
LIVE TV ON THE INTERNET: Is it just me, or is there something not quite right about the so called Live TV streams on the net?? I was trying to find some coverage of the hurricane in the states the other day, while crap stations like CNN Europe bored us with sport or what Tony Blair said today, that kind of thing. First thing - Why don't the mighty Americans have European relays of the English network satelite news services?? We have Sky News, BBC, CNN (A European service that is a shadow of it's former International glory). After this we have CNBC and Bloomberg which don't really count as they are finance stations. France, China, Russia all have English news channels, and even the dubious Al Jazeera has a 24/7 English service to Europe. There is a Fox News service here in the UK, but it is tied to a subscription package. I would have hoped that a direct relay would have been possible by this time of real American stations. There is no CBC / Canadian outlet available either in English speaking Europe. So I tried on line for WABC TV CBS, WBAL, FOX. There seemed to be no real time live stream of what is broadcast in the states. All the streams kept stopping. I wonder if there is some reason none of these stations want a global service anyway. Below are a couple of lists. News available here, and links I was trying for live streaming.
My attempts at finding live streams are linked below. There must be proper live streams in this day and age available somewhere on the web?? These all seem to freeze when the ads are on, or simply stopped streaming programmes, and used a "back soon" screen. http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/livenow?id=8857235 http://www.myfoxny.com/category/237033/live-video-on-myfoxny http://newyork.cbslocal.com/video/
NEWS SERVICES THAT DON'T SHOW THE FULL REPORT / PICTURE: And as a final MOAN, what do these news broadcasters believe they are showing, when they show traffic say on the Brooklyn Bridge, yet all you can really see is the top of the bridge, and huge large banners on the bottom third of the screen!!This rubbish has gone on for years. Is there not the technology to resize the picture, and show it only on the top two thirds, if they insist on these massive banners??? It really is common sense, and isn't rocket science.They look so unprofessional when they produce reports like this.,
TOP BAND HAM BOOKS / ARTICLES ON LINE: This site was highlighted to me the other day by "Stu". An interesting top band publication. There is another one listed as well as other interesting articles on this top band site. http://myplace.frontier.com/~k9la/html/160m.html
MW DXING DURING A HURRICANE: As with yesterday, the stations are back, as though nothing happened. ie as though the propagation has always been there. I have had some reasonable logs today, but nothing to dx neighbour Paul C. He seems to have much more rarer stations than I have heard today. I wondered about the New York power houses. But 1130 880 660 770 were all still on air. But it seems WINS 1010 was off. It is difficult to tell here as CFRB Toronto also thumps in, and either or can be alone on the channel, or it can be a glorious mix!! From a miserable and selfish dxer's point of view, it would have been nice to hear silence on 880, 660, or 770. For some reason, these channels don't let much else through. More common is hearing other stations with 1130 or 1520 for that matter. Some unids. 1320 ann 25 thousand watt 1320, with fox news (Prob WILS), and 1290 a rat race with multiple ids.
710 Rebelde
Booming 0700 30/10
PERSEUS ON WINDOWS 8 - VIA DAVE P ON PERSEUS GROUP:
NB: Any gaps and spaces on line 2 were in the original entry. I haven't tried this, so whether it needs the spaces is unknown!! (KB)
WILL
I EVER NEED OR WISH TO MOVE TO WINDOWS 8: The XP O/S itself has been stable enough over the years, once you get back to all the windows traditional settings, traditional control panel, etc making it look like Windows 2000. I own a PC to actually use, not to watch stupid babyish moving graphics on the start menu...etc etc. It is my feeling many of the new releases are only money spinners, with zero benefits for my own personal uses here. Anything I used the PC for even way back during Windows M.E, I could do with ease. Self aclaimed experts will scoff at the last statement. I can not comment on a PC used for games. I have never used any, but for all other uses, I had no trouble. It is many a long year now of course since that particular bridge of WIN XP had to be crossed, and it runs just fine. Oh no, but support will soon be withdrawn from MS, my critics may say. And what of it. I have never asked for support ever, so I am not going to be even remotely involved in that problem. I have never even downloaded any updates. I see no point. I think my main PC sits with XP + service pack 2. Why should I clutter the machine with constant upgrades??? If safety was such an issue, I would sit with a yellow jacket on and a crash helmet...lol.. The main PC is never connected to the web anyway. And never will be.
WHO SWITCHED ON THE LIGHTS?? As though by magic, like someone pulling a switch, the mw signals have come back, with some very powerful signals appearing on the band at 0700 this morning. Such is the long period of the doledrums, that the peak time has moved on and seems now to be rather good around 0700. I saw on the Skype chat "there was nothing unusual heard today", but let's be honest, when we have had virtually zero signals for the last few weeks, this is a large step in the right direction.
MONTAGE OF COMMON STATIONS: I have created a montage from today. The following
common stations are included.... 930 CFBC RANDOM LOGS FROM TODAY: Rebelde Heard on the following: 600, 610, 670, 710, 970, 1180, 1620 650 News
and information you need ..?.??.. music city...so pres WSN Nashville,
mix with VOCM
The latest IN CAR ENTERTAINMENT, from the 1920's, taken from the BOYS WIRELESS BOOK, C1924 ish.
MW LOGS: Well, again, it has been a load of old rubbish here. No entries on this site, means black conditions. So bad is it, that many mornings at peak times, around the dawn enhancement period, power houses like WWKB, and WBBR and the likes, have simply not been heard. I have tried the Latin antenna, but the same applies. Band dead. I think I have probably stated before that I don't mean there had been no Euros or weak signals from the Euros. I simply mean that all I hear is 9kHz signals with large signals. The 10kHz channels have been virtually empty. Today for the first time, some audio was heard from WWKB, WMVP, WBBR, and some others. But there was not enough to get me excited, and the files were soon deleted. But the band is as lively as I have seen it for weeks. Opinion here: The worst I think I have heard, for such a long period.
Well, to keep it short, I have none. Some dxers seem to be hearing Asian / Middle East pretty well, although I don't really have much interest here in a station you can't even hear real IDs. The Saudi on 1521 is often very strong. I believe I was hearing All India Radio on 1071 as well, but in local languages. So much so that I couldn't ID the thing. So how about the subject of this web site.. Transatlantic MW dxing.. NOTHING.. I had CJYQ today. Big deal. I will wait till I have far better conditions, to do some real dxing. I have logged CJYQ and VOCM and CBC before. When that is the dx, I am afraid I have no interest. I have many other projects, some radio related, some not, that I can put some time into in these dark days of the tadx hobby.
"The band seems to have blown out recently, with virtually nothing being heard". This is the entry I started to write on Wed 3rd of Oct, and ran out of things to say, if you can believe that!! But the truth is, the same still holds. I seem to have had zero dx in the last few weeks worth noting. O yes there have been mornings where Cuba is heard on 1180 or 1620. Big deal. I have no desire to spend time at the receivers if this is what can be called dx. So like what happened at the same time last winter, I seem to have begun to drift away from mw dxing. Am I like the stereo type schoolboy who only supports the winning football team?? Well I guess so. When the band is as dead as it has been, it is very difficult for me to maintain any interest.
PERSEUS RANDOM FAILURES: I had a random failure of a recording top of the hour during the night recently. When checking the PC in the morning, one can find the complete set of hours recorded, or just occasionally there may be one that failed. Now one question I ask. Why is it that the one that fails is normally the desired time, eg the other morning here 0600 failed. 0600 is the peak top of the hour here for TADX. If it was another time of year, the time is guaranteed to be still the peak recording!! Murphy's Law?? It is something we have to either live with, or get up and do live dxing again!! What happens during a failure?? I have no idea. The failed file usually will not play back, although recording has obviously started and stopped almost as soon as the file is being created on the hard drive. Guys using other methods of recording over night also report failures, so it is not only the "auto hot keys" set up that will fail on the odd occasion. I would even stretch my neck out and suggest that a dxer claiming he never has the odd failure, is telling stories, or not recording top of the hours every night. The other morning I had a unique failure that I had never seen before. After 0000, every top of the hour until 0600 had a very short file, as though recording had stopped within seconds. But these files were all playable, even though they were only seconds long. But at 0630, the corrupt file actually played and then played backwards!! Most unusual.. LOL. My only solution to this problem was to simply delete the registry key as described in the manual, and / or my Perseus articles, and return Perseus software to factory settings. If the problem persists, I guess it is a windows problem, and it is time for the old reinstall of all software to happen. It never does a PC any harm to have a fresh install every now and then, to keep the unit up to speed, so to speak.
DOWNLOAD A CORRUPT PERSUES FILE THAT PLAYS BACKWARDS..LOL (A MERE 1 MEG)
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