| KEN'S
DX DIARY AND LOGS - WEDNESDAY 30th SEPTEMBER 2009: |
LAST ENTRY:
This is the last entry for the month, and here is the judgement of September as a dx month. Pretty average. The band has not been dead by any means, but every day seemed to have been like the one before in the last few weeks. Yet there were a few surprises creeping in, so I guess I am looking for the same kind of a September as last winter. At any rate, there is quite a reasonable list of personal firsts above, and a couple more to be added possibly. And the firsts from last year are interesting. Many turned out to be common stations nowadays. It is amazing what you miss when monitoring single channels!! So was September above or below average?? I still say average. There has only been a taste of mid west and west coast at these lattitudes. I think by this time last winter, I had logged so much more inland stuff.
I have noticed that 920 is certainly not any HOT frequency this season. All I seem to hear is CKNX and the occasional sniff of XELE. I also notice that while last season I could not hear a great deal on 1130 for WBBR, this season so far has brought in regular reception of KWKH. WEGP doesn't seem to be quite as dominant, and 930 has produced WPAT on quite a number of days, yet it was a possible FKR-UK only in June.
AERIALS IN THE DISTANT PAST:
The other day I wrote a little about logs from yester year. Yes, logs from my early days of discovery of the MW band. I realised that I never mentioned anything about the aerials used in those days... The earliest aerial would have been a random wire antenna, strung across running SW from the dx shack. It would have been this which I heard my first TADX with. I did not have a rat's nest of antennas in those days. So the length might have been around 40 metres in length. (To use wavelength terminology)
ENGLISH FROM DEUTSCHELANDFUNK 1268:
Talking of earlier years, I have just remembered one of my early memories of non local MW reception. I was sitting waiting for my father to come out of a house he was doing a job in, when I was about 14 years old. I had just started dxing on the SW bands at this time, but had never given much thought to MW. I was messing around with the car radio, and picked up the evening English broadcast of Deutschelandfunk on 1268. I had never heard this broadcast before!!! So it wasn't long before I found the signal and tuned in at home!! This became 1269 after the November 1978 frequency changes. This night time English language MW broadcast is now sadly long gone.
THE JOKE OF THE 80'S FREQUENCY MANAGEMENT REGIME:
The DLF story above got me thinking back to the disasterous frequency management of the MW band here in the UK. I remember in the 80's after the ignorant radio frequency planning dept allocated many ILR stations an mf frequency either on top of European stations that broadcast to the UK in English at night, or the next channel up or down. Many ILR stations used 1260, and DLF came out with a very unique antenna to assist reception in difficult areas. It was a pretuned MW loop basically, set to 1268 only, and listeners set it up beside their portable radio. I think it was about the size of an LP record, but I never ever saw one myself. Anyone still have this collectable item??
I often wonder why the ILR and BBC stations were never allocated the use of the low power channels across the country on a bigger scale than they were. (eg 1485, 1584, 1602). Mind you this dubious frequency management was conspired by the same morons that deliberately jammed Radio Caroline 558 in 1989 or 1990, so intelligent decisions never played any part of that regime's history. Imagine a so called western government resorting to the deliberate jamming of foreign radio signals!!!!! The authorities of the day lied their way through the 80's and yet they probably all still retained their secure pensionable little jobs. I wonder in these days of relatively free and widespread media becoming available on satellite and on the internet, how proud these corrupt political extremists are of their dirty work in the 80's?
One of the most startling abuse of spectrum I can think of, is a station in London which was/ is allocated no less than four (4!!) MW transmitters just to cover London!!! What is that nonsence all about!!!! Was there any reason that a better aerial and transmitter could not be used at one site only???
Or were they really trying to jam the whole band so they could claim that their old propaganda fairy story of no frequencies being available, would at least look marginally more truthful??
UNIDENTIFIED CLIPS FROM YESTERDAY:
Thank you to David Hamilton for listening to my two unids from Monday on 1230 and 1430. I would also like to thank Paul C and Alf A in Norway for checking these out. The general opinion is that the 1230 station is more or less certain to be WBOK Radio in New Orleans. I am not sure if this is an FKR-UK. (First Known Report in the UK). I was not 100% confident because it wasn't an obvious "AM - 12-30" style of ID.
1430 was much more difficult. WEIR was a suggestion, but no definitive result was obtained on this very poor signal. One for the dustbin I suspect.
LOGS FROM THE LAST DAYS:
I don't have too many worthy notes from the last couple of days of recordings.
Last night around 2300 and also 0000 on my recoring, 650 Greenland is hammering in. It was much better than the 570 signal, which is often the better of the two here. On the higher frequencies, I noticed a higher noise level overnight, and discovered that I had not switched in the balun, after messing around with various settings last night. It really does make a substantial difference.
| KEN'S
DX DIARY AND LOGS - TUESDAY 29th SEPTEMBER 2009: |
590 SCREENSHOT:
I created the 590 screenshot for the MW carriers page. Accessed via main menu in dx equipment - Perseus MW Screenshots. What an odd carrier to the right. It looks like Chinese text!!!!
YEARBOOK 2007 - 2008:
I have uploaded a pdf of my full year from September 2007 till Summer 2008, taking in the winter season of 2007 - 2008. It is only a 51 pages, 368k, not like the 2008 - 2009 winter, which runs to 3733k, and 243 pages worth!!!! I guess that shows the content of this site is much more than the few scribbled logs it used to be!!!! Before that time, I never really kept an electronic log book. I may still have my older contributions which I used to send most months in winter to MW Circle, which I will reproduce here if I can find them. Technically they should all still be available, as I haven't deleted the files I don't think.
Every month, a new pdf will be produced of the full month's logs and chatter, just like a dx club magazine on line. August is already available, and September will be available in a few days. Come the end of the season, they will all be combined into another "yearbook". The July pages are included in the full yearbook 08-09. All available in the logs main index page.
NB: These mw dxing logs pages are readable and freely downloadable in the public domain, and always will be. They will NEVER EVER be hidden behind silly secret passwords that you have to pay someone for, before being able to read, or treated as though it were some illicit form of secret radio listening. These blog pages are on line for all like minded dxers to read and enjoy.
FREEVIEW ALL CHANGE AGAIN:
Anyone with digital terrestial television in the UK will seemingly have to retune the set top box tomorrow after lunchtime when some kind of a change is being implemented. I hope it is not like the last time there were major changes, which rendered some set top boxes useless. Some stored the first channels of BBC1 and BBC2 etc up in the hundreds, and the channel numbers were all over the place.. Only certain boxes. Weird.
I don't know how some folks will cope when the analogue will be switched off in late 2010 or 2011. I was at an old wife's house today, who couldn't get a remote control to work. Her batteries were slack. She is working with terrestial 1-5 and snowy at that. But she wondered how I had adjusted the sound. She had never adjusted the volume before, and said "Scottish" was harder to hear!!!!! Some folks will have absolutely no chance of working their set top boxes!!!!!!
I wonder when the much promised Irish channel is coming on air. I don't know if it is to be on Freeview or Satellite only. RTE are completely scrambled on Satellite, even though the UK terrestial channels are free to air. Somehow that doesn't seem right, for a government channel to be scrambled!!
UNIDs FROM YESTERDAY:
I have heard two stations yesterday at 0600, and I am sure one of them at least can be verified as WBOK, though I would very much like a second opinion.
090928_0600_1230_clip_30s_tk_mention_n_orleans_then_poss_id.mp3 ( WBOK New Orleans, LA 1230 maybe)
| KEN'S
DX DIARY AND LOGS - MONDAY 28th SEPTEMBER 2009: |
EI0CF 501kHz. (ECHO INDIA ZERO CHARLIE FOXTROT):
A little late perhaps in reporting a beacon on 501.05 more or less, but here goes. I think it signed off around lunchtime today, Monday. Finbar near Malin Head, Eire had his beacon active for a couple of days or so on the experimental area of the ham band. Signals have been reported in Scotland here, as very strong, David Hamilton reports it over the qrn in the evening time, with his indoor loop, and Alfie in Norway reported it last night too. Perhaps later in the week, I will be able to provide some photos and other details of the station.
CUBAN WOBBLE ON 930:
I have to apologise for my misinterpretation of the long detailed response from Curt Deegan in Florida with regards to the warble on 930 which has been heard here for some time now. Curt suggests, as you can read from his e mail published here on 22nd Sept, that the source of the racket was the unstable carrier of Radio Sucro. I had assumed this to somehow be some form of deliberate interference. However Curt suggests it is simply a duff transmitter which drifts around 930 in a fashion not unlike Ukraine TV on Band 1, noted by many European tv dxers in summer months. Apologies if I took the wrong context to the very useful contribution from Curt. (Funny why we assume the worst with Cuba!!)
WHO HAS THE COCKERAL CROWING AT 0300???
Does anyone know which station has a cockeral crowing at 0300?? I heard this the other morning, but couldn't identify the station. It would have been the night 630 was off, but NRK has sadly returned. The clip below has some of the lingo either side of the toth. (885k) (Using the long version of the birds name to save unnecessary hits from various dubious web sites... etc.. lol)
090927_0300_630_toth_1m34_unid_cockeral_crowing.mp3
WELL NEEDED ODD JOBS:
Tonight instead of listening to endless splatter, I decided to be a bit productive for a change. I connected up the MFJ Phaser, and began to experiment. I found that it is really good to work with it in conjunction with the old NRD 515. Enter a problem. The relays on the NRD have been in need of a scoosh of Servisol super 40 for some time. They are a bit old and ropey. There was also a noisy control on the MFJ, and any amount of Servisol wouldn't fix the dicky track. So initially I started to strip the MFJ, to find no value on the volume control which was duff. Luckily it wasn't O/C and was able to measure it. I wonder if MR MFJ rubs the values off his components?? There really is no need, as he uses a lot of little tiny surface mounted components, so it is not that easy to copy!! Anyway, after replacing the control, I also cleaned the relays on the NRD 515. I also cleaned the tuning device on the Lowe HF225E which is also a regular requirement, and soldered a dicky audio lead which was coming from the HF225 into the desk. Whenever the notion is there for doing routine maintenence, it is best not to stop. I am easily distracted.
PHASER:
Although the phasing units work fine with the Persues and the Lowe rx, I always like to use it with the NRD515. With the 515 being an analogue and instant receiver, what you adjust you hear immediately. With the Perseus, there is a delay, and it can be a pest when trying to phase two signals when you turn a knob and wait for something to happen. The Lowe is also not as handy for that use.
I remember last year during the St Helena broadcast, or was it the year before, my best reception with the aerial set up here was the HF225E. The Perseus couldn't match it, and neither could either of the NRD sets. I had the AOR at the time as well, and the Lowe beat it as well. I don't know if thats a big surprise or not, but that was my findings here!!
Of course for convenience of recording the whole MW band during the night while asleep, the Perseus blows anything else clean out the water!! Nothing else I have can possibly come close to the Perseus for just that record feature, which is why I bought it in the first place. Is there even anything else on the market now in the same price bracket that can even come close to matching this MW dxer's dream performance??? If there is, it ain't socking me between the teeth with reviews and publicity...
IT WAS THIRTY YEARS AGO TODAY:
Some 30 years have passed now since those distant long forgotten days as a young fella when I was becoming hooked on dxing the MW bands. I was very wet behind the ears as a dxer then of course. I had just left school and my first purchase of any size was a Grundig Satellit 3400, which was a step up from a domestic wooden radio. I still have the old wooden radio as well as the Grundig Satellit.
I have unearthed the old log books from that time, and sifting through them I see I was hearing 1010 WINS, CJYQ 930, Unid SS 1100 (Either Reloj Columbia or Globo. I would not have known the difference between SS and PP then. Do I know now on a bad night?) My first TADX was on the old wooden radio in late 1978. The first logs were CJYQ 930 as Q Radio, CJCH 920, and 710 VOCM. CJCH has only just left AM last year. I also have a log in January 1980 of my first CFRB entry, mixing with WINS. Some things don't change!!
I was making notes in the log book of who was on Caroline 319 at the time, and I see Stuart Russel playing Lily Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts, an old Bob Dylan classic. I guess Stuart would still play Bob Dylan on Caroline to this day. Richard "Busby" Thomson, Martin Fisher, Steven Bishop, Roger Mathews, Mike Stevens all pop up on my logs from these days. These chaps still provide us with great entertainment today, especially when they get together on the Ross Revenge for a weekend special. There's no wonder I became enchanted by the album music of the 70s.
Radio Delmare was on 1611 at nights from the ship off the Dutch coast. They used to even QSO with the landbased Dutch stations. Delmare was once described as a land based pirate with a ship!! The MV Magdelana, home to the ill fated Radio Mi Amigo had just been boarded and towed into Dutch waters by the Dutch government. A note in my log book for 25th September 1979 could not be published here for fear of offending...lol. The Scottish slang word "Polis" was also mentioned!!!
Dutch pirates heard on the old 227m area of the band include Cowboy Jimmy, Santiago, Armada, Skymaster, Orangutang, Houston Radio, White Star, Radio Rodeo, Hawaii, Nolan. The area from 1287 - 1341 or would that be 1286-1340 pre 1978, used to be an active region for Dutch pirates on a Friday and Saturday night. The Euros all signed off for the night in that area of the band, at that time. Literally hundreds of stations were heard over the course of a few years.
The Irish MW stations were in their infancy, and the log book tells me that in the Autumn of 1979 I heard Big D 1116, Boyneside Radio 1305, ARD 1161 with guys like Steven Rhodes and John Clark, Radio Dublin 1188, Southside Radio 999, Capitol Radio 1332 (Note the spelling of CapitOl, don't ask me why), Radio Carousel 1134.
Liverpool station Radio Jackie North was also being heard on 1404, and Radio 252 on 1197.
I had also logged a lot of SW international broadcasters. This is something I virtually never log nowadays.
I have even wrestled out some old manky tapes with old vintage ID's to play to you.
Here are a few clips....... including my first ever TADX recorded with a small microphone. It is amazing the lack of technology then, and the tiny beat up cassette recorder I used in these times had seen better days. By 1979 I had a better recorder, and by mid 1980 I had a decent cassette deck.
781117_0101_710_vocm_1st_tadx_log_night.mp3
781117_0306_920_cjch_1st_tadx_log_night.mp3
781117_0030_930_cjyq_1st_tadx_log_night.mp3
800124_0000_660_wnbc_new_york.mp3
800123_2339_850_whdh_boston.mp3
800123_0015_940_cbc_montreal.mp3
800126_2338_1010_wins_cfrb_mix.mp3
LOGS FOR THE LAST DAYS:
The band has been reasonable, but could be better at this time of year. Again at these lattitudes, we had a sniff at west coast dx on Saturday, but not startling as yet. A couple of times I have noticed that there has been powerful sounding audio from various stations just before 0600, yet bang on the ID time when many or even most will ID, there was some kind of a fade. I don't mean the signals vanished. I mean the loud dominant station vanished, and the frequencies were open to whatever could be heard in the mush. Sometimes this will work in a dxer's favour with rarer stations in the fade, other times it simply makes for annoyingly weak and watery top of the hour announcements. Here's what I have for you for Saturday, Sunday and Monday.
Saturday 26/9
680 CFTR
Vy strong and loud 0556
770 CHQR id in the mix with WABC
790 CFCB id on nfld stn 0551
990 CBC 2 separate progs, both same // nx 0600 CBC 990 Winnipeg ID really
in dirt 0558. Good CBC R 2 ad. This is a personal first as I have a
very very poor local ID. Heard the echo of two feeds before though..
1000 KOMO 0550 IDs etc Mixing ESPN Chicago
1000 Radio Mil, Mexico 0602
1150 WHBY 0600
1430 WNSW I think was the weak ID just after team 1430 id 0600
1470 WLAM Oldies 870 and 1470. CNN Nx 2300
1510 KCKK Gd 0600
1520 KOKC Wx ads and everything but an ID. Paul C had an ID today. 0534
1540 KXEL 0600
Sunday 27/9
570 CKGL
570 News Full call ids etc 0600
620 VOCM V VG 0601
630 CFCO 0604
630 Unid Euro pres with cockerals crowing 0300
1200 WOAI 0600
NOTED REBELDE, CUBA ON THE FOLLOWING CHANNELS WITH THEIR INTERVAL SIGNAL THING AT 0601
550, 560, 600, 610, 620, 650, 670, 710, 770
Very much same old same old today
Monday 28/9
501.05
EI0CF CW Beacon
610 Frenchy had a huge signal 0600. Due off is it not??
1130 KWKH again today at 0600
1230 Unid. It has to be an unid. I convinced myself the news from New
Orleans and the quick poss ID was WBOK, But not so sure. May upload
an audio clip tomorrow. 0600
1370 WDEA As strong as I have had them 0600
1430 Unid. Another annoyance. Newstalk station, but ID in the dirt.
Convinced sounded like WBER, but too weak.
1440 WJAB and WHK ids 0600
Like yesterday Very much same old same old today, except for the two surprises.
| KEN'S
DX DIARY AND LOGS - SUNDAY 27th SEPTEMBER 2009: |
TODAY'S AND YESTERDAY'S LOGS WILL BE UP SHORTLY:
A COUPLE OF RECORDINGS FROM THIS MORNING:
090927_0602_620_vocm_long_powerful_clip.mp3
DATES ALL WRONG:
I have just noticed my dates on the entries for this week are all wrong!!! Damn!! I have made so many sound clips too... I wonder if it is the headings for each day that is wrong, or the dates on my clips as well!!! Too much splatter and crackling in my head!!
NEW PAGE FOR SCREENGRABS:
I have just created a new page for Perseus screengrabs. The frequencies which have been done already make for interesting viewing.
Click
here for perseus screengrabs page
| KEN'S
DX DIARY AND LOGS - FRIDAY 25th SEPTEMBER 2009: |
SCREEN SHOTS OF CARRIERS:
David Hamilton has also begun adding some screenshots of carriers to his blog pages. So far, 1590 is on line, as will 1070 shortly after this text is written. They make for interesting viewing. The number of signals that are at audio level on many of the channels, really is exceptional. Maybe a few more frequencies will be done here. Maybe we should make a whole band available??? Each zoomed in screen shot takes around 45m to create, so maybe this will be left on some of the dawn recordings while doing other things. Check out Davie's logs and blogs on the link below.
UPDATE 2144UTC: 1070 added below from my own recordings. It will be interesting to see how Davie's compare.
http://band1tvdx.blogspot.com/
RECORDINGS OF LAST FEW DAYS:
I have included some recordings below, including CJVA 810, a difficult channel here. There is also a good signal from Cuba on 530 this morning, and and UNID SS on 960. Is it PR??
090925_0555_530_encyclopedia_long_strong_clip.mp3 (855k long clip)
090923_0600_540_cbef_windsor_ont.mp3
090924_0258_0300_920_xele_cknx.mp3
090925_0556_0600_960_unid_ss_pop_stn.mp3
090925_0600_1290_cjbk_inc_bad_toth.mp3
BAND A BIT SPLATTERY AND DOWN ON YESTERDAY:
The band this morning at first check seemed a bit down on yesterday. Yet there were some surprises. I also had the unid SS on 960, which did not have Reloj pips. I also include here a recording of 920 at 0300 when XELE was in, which is what I assume was there in the second half of the recording. There was sports behind KMOX at about 0545 today, and music behind WTAM 1100, but never fading in at the right time.
530 Encyclopedia
0555. Long tk, web address ids. Strong signal
540 CBC FF Windsor Dominant over CBGA, and mixing with CBT and "W"
Mex 0600
560 WIND Chicago 0600
650 WSM 0631
920 XELE Mexico mix CKNX 0300
960 Unid SS playing Rod Stewart and Ben E King etc 0555 and 9600
990 CBC and CKGM 0600
1130 KWKH 0600
1210 WPHT Hrd during Virgin silence. The Big Talker 0600 CBS nx
1250 JOY 12-50 0551 ee id
1290 CJBK 0600 Dominant but not booming
1380 CKPC 0600
1470 WBKV West Bend 0600 Classic Country and CNN Radio News
1540 KXEL 0600mix ing, and weaker than CHIN
1660 KRZI Waco, TX ESPN 0600
LOGBOOK A MESS:
I have often stated in these pages from time to time, that my days for detailed logs are well and truly over. Some, or indeed many dxers still manage to find the time to type out the logs in the fashion we have all been used to for many years now. I'm a little envious when I see some well produced log pages, eg John F send me a word document last winter of all the MW stations received. All typed up in the style of MAH. Hats off to John and others who take the time to make their logs neat. John's logs are on these pages, check logs index.
Here all I do is scribble logs in a paper A4 log/ writing pad, and later type up a basic log list as above. No SINPO, no prog details, unless noteworthy. It is faster for me and gets the job over quicker. Perhaps not ideal, but it is just the way it goes.
Maybe if I copied all the rough text logs, which are in freq order, I could sort them into freq order in a per month basis. But then again, I don't tend to date the logs, if it is only for one morning. The date is at the top of today's entry. I suppose the above style logs are taking shortcuts to the extreme. I usually don't include QTH with the common stations, assuming everyone has knowledge of the QTH of the common call signs.
It also may bug some serious logger type dxers, when I don't use call signs with the VOCM network, or CBC stations. I am in the habit of calling them VOCM 620 for example. If I heard a rare local ID which can be heard earlier in the evening, I would then make a note of it. These ID's are sometimes heard from memory around 2000 or 2030 in mid winter (When reception so early is common). In general in these pages however, I will use VOCM and CBC when referring to the whole network. Again, it is just the way it is.
Neither do I make any effort to use call signs with Latins or Mexicans, unless they use the calls. Radio Coro 780 is Radio Coro. I have no interest in looking up their call every time I hear them. They don't use it, the way CFRB for example use their's.
| KEN'S
DX DIARY AND LOGS - THURSDAY 24th SEPTEMBER 2009: |
GRAVEYARD FREQUENCIES:
On the MW band there are low power channels for small local radio stations in the States. They are commonly known as Graveyards. 1230 and 1240 are two which spring to mind, and are often seen with strong signals, but audio is not always heard. In fact it is quite a rarity to have audio on 1230 and 1240. Normally it is a deep growl, caused by the volume of traffic on the frequency. Last season I made a Perseus screenshot of 1400kHz, and was amazed by the carriers seen. With the good band this morning, I recorded a full hour from 0530 - 0630. The screenshots below took maybe 45 minutes to complete. But look at the strong carriers I see, and the distinctive one on 1240!!! Also added is 1070 as well.
THE SHOTS BELOW ARE FROM MY JANUARY PAGE:
PERSEUS SOFTWARE SCREENSHOTS: I was inspired a while back with some screenshots Paul C here in Scotland made of carriers on 1400kHz. But I don't think I was ready for the sheer amount that can be seen.
 |
 |
Two screenshots of 1400kHz. The first one shows a very unique and odd carrier. It is a wanderer, and also includes a solid carrier which seems to follow it. I was extremely surprised at the sheer number of carriers making it across the Atlantic, when you consider that we only ever seem to hear CBC and WOND. I personally have only one other US station from 1400kHz, in NY state. Click to see full size JPEG. The shot below shows the fade out at that time of year.
 |
VIRGIN 1215 CARRIERS MISSING THIS MORNING:
No sooner do I report odd carriers either side of Virgin, than they are gone. see yesterday's article. Maybe there was a station signing on somewhere with carrier and 4kHz tone?? Who knows.
UNID STATION ON 530 MIXING WITH CUBA:
For a couple of days now, I have been hearing an unid language and an unid station mixing with Cuba on 530. Last year about this time I had an unid which ided like radio cultura or similar. Then of course Encyclopedia became dominant there, and Faroes had terrible splatter etc etc. Is it the multicultural Canadian I am hearing?? I must look back at Sylvain's files from Canada, and see if the station is on there.
OFF TOPIC (QUOTE - UNQUOTE):
Stamp collecting and dxers sometimes go together I think. Are there any reading this?? Is this wrong postmark worth anything, or is it simply a curiosity?? I have kept this for years, but sadly I should probably have kept the envelope as well. For those that are wondering what is wrong. It is postmarked 32nd March!!!
Also would a wrongly labeled CD from an Eagles Box Set be collectable?? Or a wrongly labeled 7" vinyl record which has "Bruce Springstein - Santa Claus is Coming to Town" instead of what the label says?? I think it may be Alison Moyet on the label. Are these of value or just simply of interest?
LOGS FOR THE DAY:
There were a number of good solid signals around today from many of the common stations. So much so, that I have made quite a few audio clips of them, one or two quite long, and loud!!! The sun has again risen in sunspot count. But the K reached zero, so maybe a good couple of nights ahead?? Who knows?
530 UNID
mixing with Cuba 0559
550 WGR Buffalo 0600700 WLW loud 0600
730 CKAC Former sports stn, loud with music 0600
750 WSB mix with CBC 0600
780 WBBM Very Very strong 0611, as well as 0600
800 CHRC French Talk strong 0530. 70% sure accented ee id 0535 as Quebec's
800 AM (Or was it CKLW)
810 CJVA, Caraquet, NB 0530 FF tk mixing and below Scotland
830 WCRN Very loud 0600
870 WWL Very Loud 0600
930 WPAT 0600
930 WBEN 0300
940 UNID Pres Mexican. Web address, but sounded like an ID R something
at the end. 0601
950 WWJ 0600
1130 KWKH regular this week 0600
1250 WSSP Milwalkee 0600
1350 KCAR TX There again but much weaker 0600
1360 WDRC / WTAQ 0600
1410 WPOP 0600
1420 WOC 0600
1480 WSAR 0600
1490 ann AM 1400 AND 1490 pres WBAE ME, but in mush. no call
1600 WUNR Superb signal 0602
1660 "The Avenue" Florida 1410 and 1660, id and ads 0623
RECORDINGS FROM TODAY AND YESTERDAY:
I have some recordings below, many of the common powerhouses, but they were so powerful today, I made some clips. Also I have a great example of a fast fade in and out on 1570 of Boomer. Small file. Have a listen. Also what is prob, (but of course not def) KOKC behind WWKB 1520. Sometimes the top of the hour gap is at the right time. Today it wasn't. I hear the ID on 940 SS, but just can't seem to match it up with anything. My SS lingo is shocking!!
090924_0555_530_unid_mix_encyclopedia.mp3
090923_0604_660_wfan_ny_long_clip_vg_signal.mp3
090924_0600_770_wabc_qrm_iboc.mp3
090924_0600_780_wbbm_chicago_vg_signal.mp3
090924_0600_830_wcrn_gd_signal.mp3
090924_0600_870_wwl_gd_signal.mp3
090924_0534_890_wls_iboc_noise.mp3
090923_0600_930_wpat_paterson_nj.mp3
090924_0601_940_unid_ss_suspect_mexican.mp3
090923_0600_970_wbgg_pittsburgh.mp3
090923_0600_1390_wlcm_victory_13_90.mp3
090924_0600_1520_wwkb_inc_unid_other_stn_pres_kokc.mp3
090924_0543_1570_eg_of_fade_in_and_out_amazing_fade_ff_stn.mp3
CREATING MP3 AUDIO CLIPS:
I often wonder why some dxers use such a low sample rate to create their MP3 clips. The clips I have on line here are not really particularly large, and unless otherwise stated, and are generally no more than a few hundred k. Sure, maybe an 80k sound clip will download faster, but if it is a good clip, and is of a booming signal, then the clip is wasted if compressed so much that it sounds like a low bit audio web stream from 1999!!
For the sake of a few kb, I use the so called standard Cool Edit CD quality of "44.1k 16 bit mono" when recording to a .wav file to begin with. I use the old tried and tested Audio Catalyst from Xing (old 1999 vs, but works great for compressing .wav files) to convert to MP3. I am able to set the mp3 bit rate to flat out, but variable bit rate. The quality of the recording will determine how the software "takes the data required" from a MW clip. Often the final bit rate is only around 30-40kb/s, but for high quality AM recordings, the bit rate can be around 80kb/s, sometimes higher.
This shows that the people who record their old manky cassettes from the 80's onto their PC at a mere 64k fixed rate, could do with using a much higher bitrate. 64k is far too low, and many recordings of the old offshore stations have obviously been made from good quality recordings, but are spoiled by poor bit rate. The phasey noise heard when played through an audio system is annoying. It may not be noticable on cheap £6 speakers that come free with a PC, but on a pair of 15 inch band speakers, it tells!! For no extra cost and a little bit bigger file, the results could be virtually lossless. Check some of my Radio Nova recordings from mid 1984 on this site as examples of high bit rate AM radio. Some of the Dave Christian recordings were particularly good. (I don't remember which radio recorded these originally) Or listen to 780 WBBM, or 880 and 660 from the clips above, and judge for yourself.
David H uses Audio Recorder Plus 4.0 which is a real time MP3 recorder, though very simple compared to for example Cool Edit, Sound Forge etc. There are many many recorders available, many freebies..
| KEN'S
DX DIARY AND LOGS - WEDNESDAY 23rd SEPTEMBER 2009: |
SMALL UPDATE TO PERSEUS LIFE CHANGING RECEIVER:
I have added a paragraph about the Perseus auto hot keys use, in my article, Perseus - A Life Changing Receiver. Apologies for non inclusion in the first instance.
IMPORTANT: If using the autohotkeys toolbox from this site, and the text files, remember to change the folder name every morning, if you keep your files for any length of time. I add a "b" at the end. Otherwise they might get overwritten the following day. The folder name is created as the time the autohotkeys files are activated, and not at the time of the recording. Therefore a folder named 09.09.24 is not necessary going to be for that day. It may have been set to record at sometime before midnight, resulting in the folder name created being for the previous day. I would rename the folder example above simply 09.09.24b. You might have to rename the date as well, depends in when the files were activated. I had to rename them anyway from the original autohotkeys file names, so I could find files by date.
KCAR 1350 CLARKSVILLE, TX:
This novelty was noted thanks to tips from David H and Paul C, after reading of Paul Logan in Northern Ireland hearing the station.... if you get my drift.. Paul L heard KCAR at 0200, which I did not have recorded. But I was surprised to find the station is still there at 0600, although no sign at 0500!! There were other stations coming in from the area. WOAI 1200, and KRLD 1080. But it makes you wonder if they have hiked the power from the 410w days, or 65w nights.
I guarantee a report to the station will tell you, "Yes of course we were running 65 watts at the time of reception..." lol... I had another Texan last winter, the 37 watt station KCOX Jasper, also on 1350. They run 5kw by day. I certainly don't believe either were on their flea power night time output. But of course, I am not complaining. This kind of "accident" gives dxers a chance at different dx stations.
090923_0600_1350_kcar_tx_id_9s_voice_red_river_5s.mp3
AUDIO CLIPS 2009:
I have changed the audio clips page for the 2009 dx clips a little. The list is now simply in freq order. There are also links to all the PDF files I have on this web site. The link is in the logs index, or under audio downloads in the main menu at the top of the page.
CLICK FOR 2009 AUDIO CLIPS PAGE
VIRGIN RADIO - STRANGE CARRIERS:
Has anyone else noticed the strange carriers either side of Virgin's 1215 signal (Or whatever they call themselves this week). I am seeing a carrier on 1211 and 1219, quite strong as well. This has been noticed since the weekend. Only seen on Virgin's frequency of 1215. I am not seeing it in the middle of the day here in Scotland, so maybe coming from a farther away transmitter??? Anyone any ideas?? The shot below is taken from a time of speech. 1210 and 1220 are TADX carriers.
SUN TAKES A TURN FOR THE WORSE:
Anyone who has been keeping a close eye on the sun, will know there has been a prolonged spotless period this summer. The sun gave a grunt at the beginning of the month, and quickly returned to being spotless, but reports on the propagation indicators suggest the sunspot count rose to 11 on Monday and to 26 yesterday. Let's hope things calm down again for our beloved MW dx season.
ETHNIC ANSWER FROM 930:
The answer to the ethnic chanting heard on 930 the other day while the warbling noise was coming through from Cuba, is for sure WPAT, Paterson, NJ. It was heard again this morning, with chants either side of the TOTH. There was a good legal ID at the toth. I wonder if this station has made any improvements to it's set up. It has been heard a few times this season, yet never before. Maybe the ex powerhouse CJYQ being a rarity nowadays makes this an easier channel.
TODAY'S LOGS AND
I have a personal first and a couple of rarer stations peeking through this morning.
540 CBEF
(CBC) Windsor, ONT FF Dominant over CBGA and CBT
570 WMCA NY 0600
600 CBC / Rebelde 0600
660 WFAN NY Exc 0601
670 Rebelde 0600
900 CHML 0607
920 CKNX 0607 VG
930 WPAT Paterson, NJ Ethnic chants and toth ID 0600
970 WBGG Pittsburgh, PA 0600 Personal First **
1080 KRLD Dallas 0600 in the mix with WTIC
1130 KWKH heard again mixing with WBBR 0600
1200 WOAI 0607
1350 KCAR Clarksville, TX 0600 Tnx Tip DH, PC, and indirectly PL
1380 CKPC 0608
1390 WLCM 0600 Fair pk
1620 WDND, SOUTH BEND, IN and WTAW 0600
1640 WTNI 0600
1660 WQLR 0600
| KEN'S
DX DIARY AND LOGS - TUESDAY 22nd SEPTEMBER 2009: |
A FEW AUDIO CLIPS ADDED FROM THE WEEKEND:
Here are a few clips from the weekend and the last few days.
090922_0545_530_encyclopedia.mp3
090921_0534_580_wtcm_traverse_city.mp3
090921_0532_600_wmt_cedar_rapids_ia.mp3
090920_0600_850_wknr_cleveland.mp3
090922_0600_830_wcrn_double_audio_feed.mp3
090922_0600_980_wtem_washington.mp3
090919_0600_1130_kwkh_inc_wlw_id.mp3
ISP DOWN AGAIN:
As has happened a couple of times in the past, I was unable to log on to the internet at all over the weekend. It was first noticed on Saturday morning, and efforts to ring the company are in vain at weekends. There are no employees around till the beginning of the week it seems. As also happened before, when the service was tried again on Monday morning, it worked fine. What a pain in the backside however.
GOOD DX OVER THE WEEKEND:
Busy weekend here again, but I still managed to make the recordings to check out when there was more time on hand. I had some good DX Sunday and Monday, and no less than four personal firsts!!! (580, 600, 850, 970) The band I felt was a bit average today, Tuesday and sounded much less exciting.
530 Encyclopedia
Cuba 18/9 0604 reg and strong recently, but awful muffled yl presenter
530 UNID 0558 21/9 Def 2 stations mixing here. Encyclopedia and ???
540 CBC French nwk. 2 stns echo 0600 20/9, + 21/9 USB FF - best LSB
ee best
550 WGR Buffalo, NY 0600 20/9
560 700 WLW VG 0530 18/9
560 UNID 0600 21/9 News Radio 560 ??KB or KD?? or similar. Must listen
again
580 WTCM Traverse City. 0534 21/9 pres hrd mixing 0600 with
CFRA, but no ID **
600 WMT Cedar Rapids, IA 0532 21/9. Noted during the time when
CBC has low audio**
630 Unid FF poss the Canadian. 0600 20/9
630 CFCO 0600 21/9
670 WSCR Chicago 0603 21/9
720 WGN 0600 18/9
750 WSB Atlanta 0545 22/9
790 Reloj Cuba. Time pips etc 19/9 0532
830 WCCO and WCRN 0600 21/9
830 WCRN Dual audio feed again 0600 22/9
840 WHAS 0534 20/9 (Still had no id on the mex/ SS mx which is suspected
to be Cuba here on 840)
850 WKNR Cleveland, OH ESPN full ID. Rare, WEEI fade out 0600
20/9**
890 WLS Chicago vg 0534 21/9
900 Unid. Clear mention of WATERTOWN but no call heard 0600 20/9
900 W Radio "LV De La Americano Latino", Mexico. 0559 20/9
950 WWJ 0600 21/9
970 KQAQ Austin, MN. This was the Classic Country last year,
but id eluded me. Got it 0533 21/9**
980 WTEM Washington ESPN 0600 22/9 (Multi call inc WWXN Warrington,
WWXT Prince Fredrich, or similar)
980 Unid Almost made an ID, call heard, but presenter mumbled or faded.
0536 18/9
1060 Classic Country AM 10-60 0533 20/9 1st log this season
1080 KRLD 0600 20/9 ID in a mix up with WTIC
1130 KWKH inc WLW ID 0600 19/9 (Obviously taking their audio feed from
WLW) Also 22/9 0600
1150 WHBY Gd 0533 20/9
1320 UNID ESPN stn 0600 20/9 No local ID, although YL mumble audible
only just with CJMR QRM
1320 WILS 0600 18/9 FOX NEWS RADIO
1330 WFNA, Erie, PA 0600 20/9
1480 WGVU 0534 18/9
1520 WCKY 0500 20/9 ID in the mix.
WARBLE ON 930 SORT OF IDENTIFIED AS CUBAN JAMMING :
It seems the signals we have been hearing here in Europe on 930 are coming from Cuba. It is unclear why they broadcast this jamming signal.
Some US dxers were in touch with David Hamilton after he uploaded his clip to youtube. The same helpful American dxer from FL also got in touch with me, and included the following information.
Ken,
I hope you don't mind me contacting you directly. I sent the response below to David, in response to his email inquiry to me. After seeing your web page which was listed on his blog, I thought you might be interested in my response as well.
Curt
-------
W. Curt Deegan
Boca Raton, (southeast) Florida, USA
David,
The recording on YouTube and the one linked to on your Blog, are both examples of the Wobbler, as I dubbed it in early 2005. I avoided using "warbler" so as to not confuse search engines with stories about the bird.
The fact you're hearing it over other programming is not at all unusual. The affect tends to cut through very well, like the sweep tones that are used in organized DX test broadcasts. It is common to hear the Wobbler with no trace of the source station audio, the Wobbler laying itself atop programming content of the more local station with which it interacts.
At times the severity of the affect grows to considerable levels, which is when it can be heard at great distances, coupling that with atmospheric conditions, of course. Some time back, one Wobbler was heard as far as the northwest US coast and even Hawaii, during an especially vigorous outburst from a Cuban station on 1100, which I regularly monitor.
I believe yours is the first report from across the Atlantic, if I've not forgotten an early one. (!!..KB..lol)
This affect is different from bubble jamming. Those signals do not fluctuate in period and intensity as the Wobbler does. Bubble jammers have a constant swishing or chugging sound that doesn't vary. Also, with careful investigation the bubble jammer signal will be seen to be modulated audio on a steady carrier, while the Wobbler is created by the fluctuations of the carrier itself. If there is no other station on the frequency, the Wobbler can't be heard on the offending station at all, without injecting a local oscillator signal. Bubble jammers can be heard idling on empty channels just in the event an offending broadcast should begin.
For the last several months the number of stations exhibiting this anomaly has dropped to only a few, with 930 being the only one heard daily at my location. During this time Cuban MW broadcast installations have been upgrading their equipment with Chinese assistance, further substantiating them as the source.
In the good old days -- three or four years ago -- the Wobbler on some stations would become violent and then suddenly the station would completely leave the air. After some delay the station would return, usually along with the Wobbler at reduced level but gradually building back up. This cycle could go on for days.
You can enhance the affect by switching to sideband mode and off-tuning slightly. What you are hearing is a heterodyne produced when the unstable, wobbling carrier wave, beats against a stable carrier. Inserting the BFO produces a more audible result, especially if the only other stations on the channel are very weak. If you have CW mode you'll hear it even better and see the signal on spectrogram software in it's full glory. In USB or LSB you hear and see only half of the wave form, in CW mode you get the full affect.
As I am writing this, the Wobbler on 930 is extremely active and easily heard using the tuning technique I describe, even at 3pm local time. From DFing and other efforts by DXers in Florida, the 930 station producing the Wobbler is presumed to be Radio Surco, Ciego de Avila, in the province of the same name, Cuba.
My web site has several audio samples and pictures of the Wobbler -- link in my signature. Unfortunately I have grown lax in updating the site with my recent receptions, though I've logged one or more Wobblers nearly every day since I first began my investigations nearly five years ago.
Thanks for the report. Nice to know the Wobbler has not stopped creating an occasional stir in the DX community.
Curt
-------
W. Curt Deegan
Boca Raton, (southeast) Florida, USA
http://ScooterHound.com/WWWR/wobbler
Check out Davie's daily blogs and logs
| KEN'S
DX DIARY AND LOGS - THURSDAY 17th SEPTEMBER 2009: |
WARBLE ON 930..FROM WHERE??
Last night on our MW DX Skype chat, both Alf Aardal in Norway and I were discussing the strange wobble on 930 at nights these days. This is assumed to be coming from across the water, as it is on 930, and not a Euro/ Asian channel. Does anyone have any ideas of the source of this odd sounding signal?? It must be somebodys local. Paul C suggested it sounds like Rolf Harris and his wobble board thing!!! I have noticed this for quite some time now?? I have included both a Perseus screen shot, as well as a couple of audio clips.
090917_0301_930_warble_and_cfbc_appearing.mp3
David Hamilton's YOUTUBE log of the same thing at 0528 this morning
My dx neighbour Paul Crankshaw in Troon found this in Hardcore Dx. I wonder if this is what we are hearing.
Message: 11
Date: Sun, 7 Dec 2008 05:39:42 +0430
From: "Albert Muick" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [HCDX] Logs for Al Muick 06 December
To: <hard-core-dx@hard-core-dx.com>
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
QTH: Kabul, Afghanistan
RX: WinRadio G303e
ANT: 200m Longwire/Randomwire
ACC: Palstar MW-550P Mediumwave Preselector
930 UNID,
heard in AR with Koran talks and singing at 0110 on 06 Dec.
OK signals but a lot of noise and this is where no station should be
in this
region of 9 kHz spacing. Wondering if this is Saudi Holy Koran program
shifted down from normal 936 or Pakistan shifted up from 927? Station
still
there after daylight here at 0214 but declining rapidly. Any help would
be
appreciated! Not there when I checked this evening at 1755.
I have to say that at 0530 the Euros are almost gone, and certainly the Eastern stations are gone by this time, which still makes me think it could be from across the water.
CJYQ 930 AND BEACON:
I was also talking in general about CJYQ and about the beacon that used to come in and out with CJYQ, which was dominant on 930 at one time. Here is an old dx recording from 1980, almost 30 years ago!! It is 2.9meg in size, but the beacon is coming in and out with this longish clip. I still must dig out my old dx audio archives some day.
801017_cjyq_930_2351utc_c90_120.mp3 (2,973k)
AUDIO CLIP PAGE FOR 2009 SEASON:
I have just created an audio clips page for 2009, which includes links to the clips I have put on line so far this season. It is not easy trying to find a clip again if you have to look through a months worth of DX. The page can be accessed by clicking below.
2009 - 2010 SEASON AUDIO CLIPS PAGE
PERSEUS USER SETTINGS:
I was reading the Perseus Yahoo group yesterday when I saw some questions asked about the user settings on the Persus, and in particular the AM high pass filter. It seems not all users are aware of the difference this makes to the audio.
This can be set to suit the speaker set up used and the listeners ear. A high setting of 500 gives extremely tinny, cheap nasty sounding audio. The setting of 100 is the default setting, and is OK, but try reducing the setting to 30, or 25, and see the results. AM sounding as AM should sound. It has a nice LF response, like the "Orban Optimod" sound. Try it. If you have the Perseus plugged into a decent set of hi fi speakers, it will sound awesome. If you use the tinny little speakers you get for a tenner with a PC, you may well set them on fire though ...lol... I personally use 15 inch woofers in the old band / disco speakers I have, so the lf response is nice!!
Click the blue icon on the top left of the Perseus screen to open the dialogue box.
Once this
box is opened, click settings
AM high
pass filter is on the right column
WUNR DOMINATING 1600:
Both myself and Paul C here in SW Scotland were discussing this station on our Skype chat recently. This season so far, the freq of 1600 has been dominated entirely by WUNR. Have they increased power?? I feel that I did read this a while back but can't be 100% sure. Their signal with the SS and sometimes FF format lacks regular IDs, but they do have the legal ID somewhere near the top of the hour. Like most of these ethnic stations though, the ann is rarely bang on the hour, and they will often play through.
OFF CHANNEL STATIONS:
I think I asked the same questions at some point last season. Who are the villains operating off channel? I don't mean the stations operating within tollerance, but the ones operating well off channel, causing dxers grief. I have noticed a couple badly off this season on 600 and 940. To a lesser extent, 570 has an off channel station sometimes too, which I suspect to be Greenland.
ON THE BAND TODAY:
As ever, I have not listed powerful regular stations here, unless of exceptional signal strength. There were however some exceptional signals around at 0530 these last few mornings, as there are at 0600 now. It has gradually become useful, though the peak seems to be still sometime before 0600.
620 VOCM
gap in audio 0531, others heard below, but no IDs
570 CFCB 0531 Also VOCM ids last night
570 WMCA NY 0502
630 Radio Tropic?? SS Poss just WUNO 0500
680 CFTR 680 Nx exceptional levels 0530
680 WRKO Boston well dominant 0600
750 WSB 0531 in audio gap from CBC
790 Reloj 0531 Time pips etc (Had Cubans mixed up initally here..)
870 Reloj Pips etc below/ mix WWL 0530
910 Easy Listening music 0534. No id. Difficult Channel.
970 WZAN VG level 0534
980 WTEM Washington ESPN stn 0600
1070 CHOK good levels 0600
1130 KWKH again 0600
1290 WJNO FL 0400
1350 WOYK VG Level 0600
1380 CKPC 0600
1510 WLAC 0606
1580 CKDO VG levels 0600
Still have a lot of listening to do. Been busy making the shack tidy again, after months of it being a slum!!
Below I have a few recordings from today, including some of the powerful signals.
090917_0530_680_cftr_vg_signal.mp3
090917_0600_880_wcbs_vg_signal.mp3
| KEN'S
DX DIARY AND LOGS - WEDNESDAY 16th SEPTEMBER 2009: |
MAKING USE OF TECHNICAL BLUNDERS:
Again this morning I noticed 830 WCRN had no audio. It has been known to have two audio feeds at the same time, but today it had none. They again had carrier only, except that this time around there was something interesting coming through!! WEEU Reading PA was heard at 0531. Long may this continue!!
They might be better using WINAMP and throwing a load of songs in a playlist rather than using their very unreliable and probably expensive automated system. Let's hope for mw dxing sake they don't think of that!!! hi. As I said before on these pages, this has been going on since last season, and I am so surprised that a 50kW AM station has so few listeners overnight that no one has reported this to the station, or none of the station staff even check!! Maybe the engineer is a MW dxer!!!
Oddly I have never seen these technical blunders reported elsewhere either. The other one to watch is CBC on 600kHz. Now that transmitter has virtually no audio, allowing other dx to come through as well.
090916_0531_830_weeu_reading_pa.mp3 (640k)
FERMER PLOO'IN THE FIELD:
My farmer neighbour has begun to plough his field across the way from me. I guess that is the beverage across the open field hit in the head this winter. O well, not to worry. It's not as though a 500m beverage in the woods beyond is anything to be sniffed at..lol
SKYPE AND FIREFOX UNWANTED PARACITE:
I mentioned yesterday on these blog pages that I detest silly clutter in a software package. I appreciate MANUAL functions that I can switch on and off, as well as no clutter and silly pop up boxes.
Now I had a weird anomoly last night and have only found the answer this morning. I was looking at the on line version of the entry from yesterday from this site, checking for typos and errors etc. I noticed some kind of a silly link, which I never put on the page, to a non existant telephone number in the UK. This was seen in place of a time on my logs. There were a few others down the page a bit. I checked another web page with a lot of times, (David Hamilton's blog page), but never saw anything. I then tried the archive site, AZANORAK (a sad anorak..) and it was also full of unwanted and undesired pop up links, due to Skype somehow latching on to the digits within the text.
I noticed this morning there is a new and unwanted silly toolbar, or button at the top right of firefox. It has a drop down box allowing the so called "Skype Extension for Firefox" to be removed. I never noticed any options in the first place for NOT having it there to start with when installing Skype. I wonder if it went in with the new version of Skype?? A few screen shots are given below. What is it with software companies that they have to have their wares install pointless and annoying pop ups like that. I thought that was the idea behind firefox in the first place, that it didn't have the silly annoyances IE has had for years.
Am I really the only one that can't abide with pop ups and clutter??
From my entry yesterday on this web site
From AZ Anorak
From AZ Anorak
The unoticed button on the top right of Firefox
| KEN'S
DX DIARY AND LOGS - TUESDAY 15th SEPTEMBER 2009: |
NOTES AND IDOL CHATTER:
After a very hectic weekend here, including an all day funeral on Friday, things have settled down again. I have still been able to record every morning though at 0500 and 0600. I have also been recording 10m around the bottom of the hour at 0530, and was rewarded on Friday morning with KNTH Houston, TX on 1070, a personal first. I feel that this past week, the peak time is certainly around 0530 - 0545, but beginning to fade by 0600. However this morning, Tuesday, 0600 was rather good, and maybe by the end of the week, 0600 will be the peak for a time. The band seems to be very much the same every morning this last few days, and the hint of mid west stations from last week seems to have gone. KCKK was regular for a few days on 1510, but WWZN has returned as the dominant station. I suppose I am looking for the same volume of personal firsts and exciting new stations as last year. Yet this year's list includes many of the firsts heard at this time last year, which turned out to be common place over the course of the winter. Last season was the first real dx season with the Perseus being used in anger. The season before, conditions crashed just before I bought the Perseus SDR, and stayed very average for the rest of the season.
I have been watching my farmer neighbour across the way, harvesting the barley in this great spell of weather this back end. It has been a long time coming. I haven't caught up with him to see if he will plant his winter barley, or like last year, leave it until spring. I obviously hope for the latter, and keep my fingers crossed. The beverage from last year is sitting ready to set up!!!
UNID STATIONS:
I listed a few UNID's at the end of the week. Thanks to Arild in Norway for listening and suggesting the Cuban for the 840 Mexican music station. I just lack the proper ID, as signals have been quite strong this past week on and off, but never at the right times!!! The programme I have heard is their night time programme. My 630 station was WUNO PR. Tnx again to those who took the time to listen to the audio clips, and also thanks to Arild for his kind comments on this web site.
UNID 1370 0400 13th Sept:
David H called me about the station heard on 1370 at 0400 Saturday past. On the first play, the ID sounded like the daytimer heard last season, WGIV, but listening to the recording again and again, I am convinced it is nothing more than an ad on WDEA. I just can't make out what is being said as there was a bit of Euro splatter, but it sounds like some kind of a comment at the end of an ad or promo, rather than an ID. I would like a second opinion on this one too. Either side of the toth at this time, was a Boston Redsox game, which WDEA carry, but WGIV are exclusively gospel, judging by their web site.
AUDIO CLIPS:
Here are a few audio clips from the last days, including 1370. A few more may find their way here before too long.
090915_0500_1130_kwkh_vg_peak_over_wbbr.mp3
090913_0400_wdea_odd_toth_inc_redsox.mp3
LOGS OVER THE WEEKEND OF NOTE:
530 Encyclopedia
Cuba 0600 13/9
540 CBC FF Windsor, Ont. 15/9 0600 (Not usual FF CBC stn)
550 WSAU 11/9 0600
550 ESPN 0531 11/9 no local ID.
560 WGAN 0534 11/9 GD
560 WIND 0531 11/9
570 CKGL 14/9 0600 Gd ID
590 WEZE Boston 15/9 0500
600 WAEL PR 15/9 0600 Personal First
610 WIOD FL 0500 13/9
630 CFCO 15/9 0557. (11/9 0533 GD)
650 WSM 15/9 0500
680 CFTR 15/9 0600 some great signals
720 WGN 0530 11/9
760 WJR 0600 12/9 Booming in
810 CJVA 0527 12/9 Hrd mixing with Radio Scotland.
Difficult channel here
840 WHAS 0534 11/9 SS again mixing. Poss Cuba
850 WEEI 0500 12/9
870 WWL 15/9 0605 vg
900 CHML 15/9 0600
980 WCUB 0500 13/9 Vy poor id
1070 KNTH Tx 11/9 0530
1090 WBAL 0505 12/9 Id in the mud, but hrd
1130 KWKH 15/9 0500 0600 (also 0600 13/9)
1150 WHBY 0500 13/9
1170 WWVA VG 11/9 0500 vvg 0530
1280 WNAM 0532 11/9
1290 SS 0500 13/9 Should be identifiable
1310 CIWW 0500 15/9
1320 WILS 0400 13/9
1330 WRCA VG signal 0500 12/9 (0530 15/9 Out of a WUNB px,
so beware of this call here)
1370 UNID / Disputed station. I suspect WDEA 0400 13/9
1380 CKPC 15/9 0530
1390 WLCM 0534 15/9
1400 WOND 0500 12/9
1430 WHK 0500 12/9
1440 SS 0557ish 12/9 David H has a rarity here, but I can't pull ID
out yet. need to try again.
1510 KCKK 0500 11/9 Really dominant over WWZN today
1590 WAKR 0533 15/9 Rare ID heard through the German jamming.
Rebelde Cuba hrd 0600 13/9 on 550, 560, 600, 670, 710, 770
SKYPE NOT WORKING:
I have not been able to log on to Skype since last week. I feel it is not a fault with my PC as such. Even with firewalls disabled and Skype reinstalled etc, it still won't log on. I have come to the conclusion that Skype have pulled the plug on old operating systems. I was using windows M.E. for the web PC. I have been for many years now. The operating system was always a trusted reliable system on my main machine, up until larger hard drives were required a few years back. (Limit was 120 gig drives, or official limit of 137 or whatever the figure is). If it were not for the hard drive limitations, I would probably have still been using WIN M.E. The operating system had far less clutter, and despite the on line forums, for my uses it was always fast, reliable, and never crashed any more than any other windows based system. Anyway, I had to move on, but kept the web PC using an old operating system, mainly for checking that these web pages still looked OK on old browsers. But now all over the web, I am constantly finding silly messages about older browsers, as webmasters add clutter to their sites. Even Radio Caroline have a large unfriendly screen now on their pages. Exactly why they require these changes I have no idea. I have been told that the simple design of these mw dxing pages make it a very fast loading web site. I shall continue to use this simple format for as long as possible. Many web pages on line remind me of dial up days, when the pages take such an age to load.
So anyhow, looks like I will have to spend some time on the web PC later, to get back on Skype. I can't really get enthusiastic at spending the time just at this moment, but needs must. I find it odd that I can't find reference to this on line anywhere, but maybe I am the only one left using a 98 based system!!!! I have never been a fan of imposed upgrades.
Update: I have just reinstalled XP on a drive as a web PC, and Skype is working fine. I first installed the cluttery new version, but was much happier after I uninstalled the mess, and installed the older version. Boy there are so many software designers who seem to think everyone wants clutter and pop up boxes and meaningless changes for the sake of change, rather than for any useful purpose.
PERSEUS AND MACAFEE:
I have also been following the on line discussions within the Perseus Yahoo group about Macafee Antivirus picking up on the Perseus.exe file of the latest version. Whatever it picks up, it has been deleting and sending the files to virus vaults. A similar thing happened with Spysweeper, which seen the mem.dat files created by Perseus memory files, as some kind of a dicky file called "backdoor hackdoor"!! Not very confidence building!!
I can say that I only run Perseus on a dedicated DX machine, and really don't have any other resource eating software running on it. Because it is never on line, I don't need any AV or anything running the background. The Perseus PC is only just running the full 1600kHz. If I open an html file, eg all time list, while the Perseus is running, the stuttering starts. But in general the old single core 2.8g is fine for the full band. (Perhaps this is because I don't have endless software running in the background, I don't know). I have had experience with both Norton and Macafee in the past and find them quite annoying for slowing up machines. I have used AVG free version 7 for a number of years as well, till they stopped supporting old versions of Windows. But my point is, there are any amounts of antivirus freebies out there. There is no real need to be stuck with one which is not suitable. I noticed some of the replies to the questions of Macafee were similar to my own ideas. (eg ditch it). AVG free has worked well now for a number of years. Avast is another, one of many. Some folks already do what I do. When they upgrade to a new PC, they use the old banger on line as a dedicated web machine. But of course this can not possibly suit everyone's situation!! It may be some people need their fastest PC on line for work, and this would be the best bet for Perseus too. The imaginary situations are endless.
| KEN'S
DX DIARY AND LOGS - THURSDAY 10th SEPTEMBER 2009: |
YESTERDAY'S LOGS UPDATED, AND UNID STUFF:
I have added a few more logs to yesterday's list, after listening to the files again last night.
I also have a few UNID signals from yesterday, and also from today. Will put up recordings at some point. SS stn is surely identifiable. The rest could be the weak signal syndrom.
1. 0500 9/9 I have a difficult call on 1390.
2. 0534 9/9 SS 840 with Mexican Regional jingle, which sounds like the format of a 50kW station WCEO COLUMBIA SC. But it is listed as a daytimer, although as seen from last years log's, it doesnt matter sometimes!!!
090909_0532_840_unid_ss_mexico_poss.mp3
3. 0500 9/9 Unid call on 1320, like a slow and deliberate WPZO or similar, popping out the mush. Weak and noisy, so may be an advert or something.
4. 0500 10/9 1480 Unid sounds like Atlanta's Sport WRKI or similar. Weak and noisy, so may be an advert or something. WHBC id just before this. So maybe their top of the hour.
5. 0400 10/9 920 Unid call sounds like .... HD, Rochester. Too noisy and mushy.
A YEAR AGO TODAY:
I don't know yet how I would describe the band conditions at this moment in time compared to last year. I think it is too early to decide if the conditions are up or down on last season. If I was to have a guess I would say they are about the same so far. There are many stations being heard that last year I would have classed as good DX, and many were personal firsts, yet they turned out to be regulars last winter. Stations like WSAU 550 is one, WRIG 1390 is another. There are many examples. I have made a new column in my all time list, of stations heard in 2009. They are coloured a horrible yellow, so it is easy to see what has been heard so far this season. I look back at the personal firsts and FKR-UK logs in September, and see most of them were being heard towards the end of the month. So we have plenty time for the September DX season to really move up a gear. As it stands, I have heard CJOB this past three mornings on 680, but always below 6-80 NEWS. There was a hint of classical music this morning on 950, and CFRY was heard again on 920, today minus the ID. (Straight into news after the music stopped).
FIRST WEST COAST LOGS OF THE SEASON:
JF and BD both report Vancouver on 1470 at 0400 or 0500, but nothing heard here. The distinctive three pips were heard by both DXers, and I guess this is the first West Coast logs of the season. Well done chaps. Incidentally these three pips must be played on the stations studio equipment, whatever they use for jingles these days. They are certainly not top of the hour pips like the BBC. They are often more than a minute out!! MAH up in the frozen north has also began his dx season in earnest with west coast logs now coming in.
DO YOU COUNT THIS KIND OF LOG AS 100%..?
Some DXers have been watching the CFRW web site, when they hear a piece of music on 1290kHz, and if the music heard corresponds to the tune on the web site, voila - then they have heard CFRW. Is this classed as a full proper ID? Is it OK for a station which may be heard on a semi regular basis, but not for an FKR-UK?? (First Known Report in the UK) This is a similar approach to comparing what is being heard, with a web stream. Fair enough it does give 100% certainty of what is coming through on the air, but does not provide the elusive ID. How satisfied is a DXer who hears only parallel web streams? For me, I really desire the elusive ID's. For many however, this approach may be enough to satisfy themselves. But is it good enough to qualify for the FKR-UK listings?? I had classical music on 1220 last winter, during the opening to the Mid West, and it could really only be the MB station, but I lacked the ID, and it doesn't appear in my all time lists as identified.
So how about hearing the above pips for Vancouver 1470, or as I did last year, the CBC News jingle on 1010. There is nothing else on the frequency that the above two examples could possibly be. Like all things in life, there are grey areas and exceptions. How about Greenland. Who had a decent recording of a station ID from this station. Has everyone assumed when they log the station in the dx publications every month, there will never be anyone asking to hear their IDs, or don't they have ids. Is it right to list Greenland month after month without the prefix "pres", for presumed? The same can be said for 555. As stated further down this page, it is the only station on 555, and the only possibility, even if all that is heard is a BBC relay.
ON THE BANDS TODAY: The whole band seemed to be like a graveyard channel at 0500 today. There were strong signals every 10kHz, but often only mush. 0600 is not great yet, and the peak seems to be around 0530 somewhere. A couple of weeks will make 0600 a useful TOTH.
560
WQAM FL 0600
680 CJOB Barely heard 0500
700 WLW VG 0600
760 WJR 0503 Like a local, stronger than groundwave 755 + Euros
950 WWJ 0600
1170 WWVA 0500
1320 CJMR 0500
1480 Unid Snds like Atlanta's Sport, but maybe just an ad on
WHBC
1480 WGVU with ann 850 and 1480 oldies now. The multi calls threw me
to start with.
1510 KCKK 0500 Not as good as yesterday's log though
1540 KXEL 0500
| KEN'S
DX DIARY AND LOGS - WEDNESDAY 9th SEPTEMBER 2009: |
UPDATE
FROM YESTERDAY:
Last night I was listening to yesterday's files and managed to hear the rare Fargo station on 1200 that Paul C first reported yesterday. I also had country music again on 970 around 0500, with a possible mention of 96 at one point. This must be FM, assuming the ann did say 96, because if it related to MW it would of course be 97. I also heard this last winter, but failed to get a decent ID. At 0505 on 920 I had the elusive station carrying IRN USA radio news. I still have not heard a satisfactory ID on that one. There was some speculation last winter, but I would prefer to hear a full ID before the station goes into news, or for that matter after it comes out the news. At 0500 it was the Canadian pest, CKNX which was dominant. Also WOYK had a loud and clear ID at 0503 on 1350.
TODAY'S LOGS:
Another morning of conditions picking up and opening towards the West. 920 and 1290 were both good, while 680 was behind Toronto.
550 WSAU
0500
630 WUNO PR 0601 Lists of associate stations
680 CJOB 0500
840 UNID Mex mx, wih Mexico Regional mentioned. 0532
900 W Radio Mexico Screechy YL in SS vg at 0532
920 CFRY 0500
940 WINZ 0535 Sports Animal
960 Exc Zone WEAV ID 0500
1150 WHBY 0400
1160 WYLL 0300
1240 VOCM 0532. Surprisingly good peak
1260 WMKI Boston 0500
1280 WFAU 0400 ann 1280 1450
1290 CFRW 0500
1310 WLOB 0400
1320 UNID slow deliberate ann like WPZO 0400
1360 WTAQ 0534
1480 WHBC Canton 0535
1510 KCKK Mile High Sports Radio 0500
1510 SPORTING NEWS RADIO Pres WLAC / KCKK Amazing echo 0534(out of sync)
1650 KCNZ 0500
TODAY'S RECORDINGS:
Below are a few recordings, some made today, some other recent days. Listen to the Greenland 570 signal compared to the other two, 1st 720, then 650. CHML is booming as is WEAV.
090908_0458_570_greenland_also_0459_570_720_650.mp3
090909_0601_630_unid_ss_multi_calls.mp3
090909_0500_960_weav_vg_new_id.mp3
090908_0400_1200_kfnw_fargo_moorhead_weak.mp3 (Call at 5s)
| KEN'S
DX DIARY AND LOGS - TUESDAY 8th SEPTEMBER 2009: |
MW LOGS FOR THE LAST FEW DAYS:
This morning there were a few rarer stations peeking through. I even managed a personal first!!! I know a lot of DXers who have logged KOA Denver on 850, but it is one of those stations that has always eluded me, until this morning. I seem to be receiving strong enough signals, but most mornings recently, I have only had more regular stations, with the following exceptions.... DX neighbour Paul C in Troon has had a string of rarities already this season. But like before, we are both on very different fades. It is not that there are no signals, we are both receiving different stations. David H only 100 yards away had no sign of CJOB this morning, but had good 680 news. It really is a lot to do with luck!!!! Paul had 1200 KFNW at 0500. I could hear the West Fargo / Fargo Moorhead part, but nothing else. But after checking my 0400 recording, I found a call ID there.. Tnx to Paul for the tip. He was the first to report it though, and thus takes that claim, of being first known in the UK to report it.
570 Greenland
Hammering in 0500 0456 mumbling and short jingle type tune. // 650 and
720
570 WSYR 0505 5/9
630 CFCO 0500 7/9 0502 4/9, 0528 4/9
670 WSCR 0500 8/9
680 CJOB Winnipeg 0500 8/9 1st log this season
680 WRKO 0500 5/9
740 AM 740 Toronto VG 0501 8/9
820 TALK 820 (CHAM) 0500 5/9
830 WCCO 0500 8/9
850 KOA DENVER 0505 8/9
900 CHML VG 0500 4/9
960
KMA 0500 8/9
1070 poss W station in mush 0300. 8/9 Too weak.
1130 KFAN ID 0457 8/9
1150 WHBY Kimberly 0300 8/9
1200 KFNW Fargo 0400 + 0500 8/9
1310 WLOB 0500 5/9
1350 WOYK Gd ID 0503 8/9
1220 WHK 0500 7/9
1280 WNAM 0505 8/9
1470 WNYY 0500 7/9
1470 WLAM OLDIES CHANNEL 870 and 1470 AM 6/9 0301
1500 WLQV 0300 Good id mix Washington. 8/9
1510 KCKK Denver best in USB. 0300 8/9 0300 6/9
1540 KXEL 0505 4/9
1620 WBND South Bend 0300 6/9
1640 WTNI 0505 4/9
WEAV 960 - TOTH ID CHANGED AGAIN
Another
call to watch out for again on 960 is WTSJ from WEAV the Zone. They
ann again at the toth 1320 WTSJ Randolf. Worth remembering for reference.
TVDX IN SEPTEMBER:
It may be that I am not as thorough as some TV dxers, but I can't remember such an intense opening in September like we had today. I took some shots of NOVA that would have looked great amongst mid summer photographs of sporadic e. I have to admit, that I don't check very often at this time of year. It was Davie H who alerted me to the opening. Logs were as follows:
SPAIN E2
Nova R1 and R2
SLOVAKIA R2
LATVIA R2
RTL R2
HRT E4
| KEN'S
DX DIARY AND LOGS - THURSDAY 3rd SEPTEMBER 2009: |
PERSEUS AGAIN:
I have written a few lines about the Perseus SDR after having used the set for almost two years. I have also made new autohotkeys files for every hour for use with Perseus 2.1f. This is different from previous versions, since the zoom buttons, and frequency panel are different. I have below a complete autohotkeys toolbox for downloading, file format is .rar, so winrar is needed. Anyone who creates their Perseus folder in the same manner as I have, will be able to use the text files included. All the contents of the zipped rar file are in the public domain, but if there are any issues, do let me know.
THE PERSUES TIMER / AUTOHOTKEYS TOOKBOX FOR PERSEUS 2.1F (4,158k RAR)
PERSEUS SDR, A LIFE CHANGING RECEIVER
A FEW LOGS FROM DAWN:
Today the band seems quite average, with lowish signals at 0500. But a few interesting ones crept in. 0530 may be a better peak, but not so many ID at the bottom of the hour. I find often around 0533-0535 is good before the next programme starts, for the ids.
560 WGAN
0500
570 CKGL 0500
580 CFRA 0500
650 VOCM / WSM 0500
750 WSB/ CBC 0500
770 WABC / La Habana. WABC claiming to come from Land of the Free. (new
qth?? lol)
800 VOWR 0458 No ID during long muffled bassy speech. Why Why Why don't
they buy a new mic??
820 WBAP 0500
830 WCCO in WCRN silence 0500
840 Mx mix WHAS 0500
920 CKNX vg 0505 (in the mush at 0500)
950 WWJ 0500
960 Pips and pops mix zone - Reloj? 0530
1180 LA HABANA mix WHAM 0500
1280 WFAU 0500
1320 WILS 0500
1330 WRCA 0500
I had station (s) on 1470, but never managed to id them. 1470 has not given any other ids than WLAM this season. And even at that, the WLAM ids were earlier in the summer.
| KEN'S
DX DIARY AND LOGS - WEDNESDAY 2nd SEPTEMBER 2009: |
WBAE THE BAY ON 1490:
Yesterday's log of a 1400 and 1490 ann (on 1490) is I think The Bay, WBAE in Maine. Earlier in the year I mentioned that some web sites of American stations make it difficult to see what the frequency or location or call really is. Often their sites are simply clutter. Try this one out and see if you think it is clear where they broadcast from.
950 WWJ ADDED:
Just found a WWJ ID at 0505 25/8. so that's another one made it this season.
920 - NOT SO HOT??
Are the HOT channels this winter going to be the same as last winter?? Well this season, 920 has produced only CKNX, and XELE. Of course there is plenty time yet, but it was a very HOT channel last season. 1380 was another hot channel despite the Euro splatter usually present. There is the remarkable period just after dawn, when the tadx stations are often stronger than the Euros. This period is highlighted by the Persues wideband recordings, when it shows up all over the band.
A FEW LOGS FROM THIS MORNING AMONGST THE COMMON STUFF:
890 WLS
Gd 0534
900 W RADIO 0500 Mex
990 CKGM Gd ID 0500
1170 WWVA Best this season 0500
1250 WSSP ID TOTH 0500
1320 WILS Lansing, MI 0500
1420 WOC
RARER OPPORTUNITIES IN DXING:
There are two, maybe three rarer opportunities on the MW band for a little extra dx at no extra cost at this moment in time. What am I talking about? I refer to broadcast stations with faulty transmitters or studio feeds. Three common stations here in Europe are broadcasting with signals which are other than perfect. Here are the ones I have noticed this last few weeks:
600 CBC SYDNEY, NS. Is this being closed by stealth?? I don't know, but audio is barely audible at the minute, and this gives us a chance to possibly dig out some other DX from below the strong carrier. The thing is, it has been like this since I started back at mw dxing in mid August. If the CBC really cared about this transmitter, it would have been repaired weeks ago. Maybe it will finally be switched off?? One problem with the freq is that there is something quite off channel, causing a bit of a growl.
830 WCRN BOSTON: This 50 kW station has had audio problems with their overnight attempts at automation since last year. Often, like this morning, they broadcast carrier only for long periods, allowing other DX to be heard, but I have to say, I have not managed to ID the SS station beneath as yet. Last season they were often broadcasting two feeds of these fill in programmes like coast to coast at the same time! Double audio feeds!!!
What I fail to understand is how a 50kW station can have so few listeners overnight, that no one has told the station. They may as well sign off at a sensible time, and save electricity!! Does the station staff not even have their radios on?? They surely must be aware?? Mind you, their talk output is hardly what you may call gripping. If it ain't some decent classic rock, I have no use for it!!
Being a selfish dxer hoping to dig out rarer dx below their carrier, I ain't gonna let on to the station.
950 CKNB: 95 - CKNB in NB has also had audio problems in the past. Their audio is traditionally low, including at present, but it has been heard much much lower earlier in the year. Watch for other dx behind this common oldies station on 950 as well.
1390 WEGP: I have spoken to at least one other DXer who agrees that so far this season WEGP seems to be down a bit on last season. Maybe they have found that the price of electricity is too much to run full power?? Last year it seemed much more dominant than it has been so far this season, giving already WFBL, WRIG, and maybe others a much better chance to crackle through. They often have a few seconds silence at the top of the hour as well, which is good for dxers, between "The Dennis Miller show, on Westwood 1" and "Fox News Radio".
555 - THE FORGOTTEN CHANNEL:
So often do I forget to check the frequency of 555. In fact it was Davie from "Davie's blog's and logs" that first mentioned it this season, a couple of weeks ago. Because of the cosmetics of the Perseus SDR, a turn of the mouse wheel moves the frequency by 10kHz (with the setting I always use for TADX anyway). The split frequency as it is known, of 555 St Kitts, is rarely checked/ remembered. But while checking the band at the LF end this morning, I noticed the strong carrier, and there it was - a thumping signal from a BBC relay. Sadly, there were no local programmes at this time. Local IDs are heard earlier on in the night, so mid winter is a better time for this unique station. Unique in the fact that it is the only station in the world on that frequency, so there is no doubt even if a dxers hears the BBC. But as a dxer, it is always desirable to have a local ID from ZIZ Radio. Check my audio clips page for ID's a couple of years ago. The other split frequency of 895 is not so well heard, and was only at carrier level at 0535 this morning.
I always wondered what the point was of a station in the West Indies carrying BBC news from England which has absolutely no relevance whatsoever over in the Western Hemisphere??
From years gone by, there were many other split freq's. From memory here are some former splits that made it to Europe. I think 555 and 895 are the only two left.
535 Radio
Vision Christianas
535 Greneda
555 St Kitts
705 St Vincent
725 Surinam
825 St Kitts (now TBN 920)
834 Beleize
895 Nevis
1165 Caribbean Radio Lighthouse
ELVIS COSTELLO AND THE ATTRACTIONS:
I have just picked up on a little piece of useless information. The Manx Grand Prix was on Manx Radio 1368 today. (Road racing, not unlike the TT) It was reported that the wife and younger brother of Elvis Costello of "Oliver's Army" fame was racing on the Island. I can understand his "Attractions" to the sport, but hope that the lyrics from one of his other well known tracks "I can't stand up for falling down" doesn't apply in this case.
PERSEUS ARTICLE: I am in the proccess of writing an article about use of the Perseus SDR for the past almost two years. A true revolutionary piece of DX kit. It will be incorporated either in receivers, or in the personal observations pages of Perseus eventually. Watch this space. It is not any 200 page article or anything, but only a few thoughts and comments that are not quite proof read.
| KEN'S
DX DIARY AND LOGS - TUESDAY 1st SEPTEMBER 2009: |
Well another new month, and it looks like the summer is well and truly over. Sad really to think of the long light nights gradually disappearing, and returning to blackness which is hardly desirable, but for the mw dxing opportunities. The sun is still spotless, and has been since mid July. For MW dxers, this is a good sign. I wonder if it will beat last years long spotless period from mid July to mid September. I guess if it does, the scientists who are guessing about the sunspot minimum, may have to edit their own journals a little too..
UPDATE: Sunspot count of 12 today (For yesterday's data). The sun has woken up!!
920 XELE ID AGAIN:
AB confirms
my unid on 920 some days back, was indeed XELE again. I take my hats
off to AB and PC for their SS skills, which are so much better than
my own. Tnx also to Alf Aardal for listening as well.
RADIO CAROLINE 531:
Radio Caroline has been on 531 all weekend from the Ross Revenge, but nothing heard here. Even with the Faroes on fades, I heard no trace of their signals, which was a pity. The shows were great though with a number of the presenters from the 70's again on the radio ship, and bringing some life back to the station and the ship.
LOGS FOR TUESDAY MORNING:
0500
560 WGAN
0505
940 WINZ FL THE SPORTS ANIMAL 9-40 WINZ (said as a word, like WINS)
0505
960 Unid mix WEAV. Just too much in the mud to ID. (Paul C had VA stn
ID)
970 WZAN Maine's Talk Radio id, not the RADIO FOR MEN jingle
990 CBC
1060 WBIX. Boston Herald ad plays thru toth
1110 WBT VG today
1190 WLIB NY
1200 WKOX EE id 0502 in fade as usual. Music loud either side of that
time! SS jin 0505
1270 WTSN 0505
1310 WLOB 0505
1360 WDRC
1420 WBEC Pittsfield, MA
1430 WNSW Newark
1440 WRED The Big Jab
1490 Unid Ann AM 1400 and 1490 - 5 day forecast - 0505
(Thought to be WBAE Maine)
Not a great deal around today other than common stuff, and not very powerful at that, but then on 1420 and 1430 there are rarer stations heard on each channel. How odd the MW band can be. The recording at 0505 out of the news did produce a few extra ones, as seen above. 1230 had something at audio level for once, but nothing audible at the top of the hour. (TOTH). And quiet easy listening music heard on 1340, 0504. or maybe hymns.
OLD LOGS:
I found another personal first on 550 from old files waiting to be deleted. Rebelde, Cuba on 550 0700 10/3/09.