WKBN Youngstown OH 570 - verification

I captured WKBN last Saturday morning in Parkalompolo under powerful Greenland's signal on 570 kHz. Luckily Greenland is quite a lot off from it's nominal 570 kHz and so WKBN was given a little extra room to get it's signal audible in Scandinavia. WKBN carried C2C and identified just before the top of the hour "Get it all at 570 WKBN.com". PD and CE sent me a kind e-mail and they also promised to send me a QSL and the broadcast facility information in snail mail very soon.

Analysis of High Latitute DX-conditions

I made recently a quick analysis of DX-conditions on MF (MW) of TA and Far East signals captured in Southern Finland during the first hald of the dx-season (august-december). Although quite a few dxers are blaming the conditions not being what is usually expected at this time of the sunspot cycle there has been some good openings almost on every month. However when looking more at for example the solar wind speeds there was a move from weekdays (in Sept.) towards the weekends (after October) of the high speed levels (700-900 km/s). So listening during weekends was not too good due to the recurrent coronal holes and high speed levels. As many of us know, also the "Auroral Index" is a very suitable method to forecast the conditions especially when signal paths accross the Auroral zone (oval). As you can see at the picture the low Auroral Indexes correspond very well to the observed "good TA / Far East mw-conditions". The full story can be read (in Finnish) at "Radiomaailma" Magazine 1-2007.

The days (1-6) marked on the picture are: 1) 21...22 Nov 2) 6...7 Nov 3) 16...17 August 4) 15 September 5) 12 October 6) 5 December.
73 TK
PS: Coming "soon" comparison of SDR-14 & SDR IQ - sdr-receivers - Stay tuned!

KVAN Burbank WA 1560 - verification

I heard this new station from Washington Burbank in Parkalompolo on January 26, 2007 at 07.55 UTC with Oldies music and AM/FM IDs. Stefan Wikander captured KVAN already a couple of days before during PAX69. The signal was very strong and I believe it will be a common catch from now on if the station continues operating on this frequency. With BH's appreciated v/s help I received a short verification via e-mail yesterday. WA # 61 for me.

WATR Waterbury CT 1320 - verification

People on WATR were amazing about my report and audio attachement and they played the audio clip and read my e-mail report in one of their Goodtime Oldies -shows in the air. WATR made it first appearance in Finland during LEM234 on November 8, 2007 at 00.59 UTC. The station identified "Good Time Oldies - 13-20 AM, WATR Waterbury" on the top of the hour. Nice to be able to add another CT -station to my collection.

PAX69 - the last live report 28th of Jan

Just like during PAX61 last season my attedance on PAX69 will end with quite good conditions on. The night was empty but about 0700 UTC stations faded in and the conditions are getting better all the time. Stations can be heard across the US and Canada and it's quite difficult to pick up the right antenna. When writing this KCID-1490 identified on the backround. More PAX69 news coming up in coming weeks so stay tuned on this PUDXK Blog. TuA

PAX69 - 27th of January

Actually there is not much to write about the conditions during the last 24 hours. Night was empty of almost any kind of TA signals. In the morning some ON-, QC- and east coast stations were present and later in the afternoon there were some west coast dominants to be hear. For today I have not found any new stations for me so far. I wish the last morning tomorrow will give some new stations to be picked up. TuA

The new KVAN-1560 was heard on PAX69!

TuA joined the PAX69-crew late Thursday evening. The equipment is two SDR-14s and a WR 313e. This DXpedition began in Parkalompolo already last week when two Italian DXers and Stewan Wikander from Timrå, Sweden arrived in Parka. The third Italian listener came on Thursday night as well.

TuA's start wasn't too bad with some nice stations on Friday morning and afternoon. For instance WSAU-560, WTVN-610, WBEN-930 and KEIN-1310 had decent signals. However the most interesting station today was the new one on 1560 kHz, KVAN Burbank, WA. It uses the old KVAN WA-1550 calls and had a huge signal. It played oldies songs like Eagles etc. and annouced AM and FM IDs. The signal was badly off the frequency - the correct frequency is 1559.980 kHz.

The solar weather looks promising for Saturday and Sunday... let's see what happens! TuA

Final log and analysis of LEM234

In the end of this message is link where you will find short analysis about identified NA-stations in LEM234 pedition 4th - 11th of November 2006. Final log you will find from LEM234 log

The conditions was mostly fair during pedition week. After coronal hole disturbance 4th of November the conditions came whole time better and the best conditions was just in beginning of new coronal hole disturbance 9th of November at 12utc. As many times before it was also now possible to pick up some NA stations also 12 hours later at 2300utc - for example KCIM and WLRM 1380 (FFF). Graveyards was whole week disappointment. Only 9th of November was good.

The best times to listen was around 23 utc (for example FFF: WLRM 1380 and WATR 1320) and then from 03utc to late afternoon. Best time to catch identifications was top of hour, half hour and 5-6 minutes and 2 minutes past the hour.

From directions - I noticed that the best directions to antennas would be 302, 316 and 333 degrees and of course Alaska antenna 357 degrees.

Some stations was very common: For example KGVO Missoula 1290 and KHNC Johnstown 1360. So it was impossible to pick up for example KRKK Rock Springs 1360.

In next analysis I have counted all identified NA stations which are listed in 2 column in EJH KOJE-list. However not WYLL-1160 and KVNS-1700 (very common) and not 1 column stations (why KDHL-920 is there?). Note that I have counted same station only once in 30 minutes.

Link

http://baanaweb.fi/mnbvc432/LEM234_SUMMARY.pdf

JVA

CJRJ Vancouver BC 1200 - verification

This brand new station in Vancouver, BC began it's test broadcasting somewhere in October, 2006 and it was at once picked up in Lemmenjoki. I myself reported the station on November 9, 2006 at around 10:00 UTC during LEM234. It has a huge signal for a long time and it played mostly Ethnic music with announcements like "Something new called - RJ 1200" between the songs. The station owner replied to my f/up report today with an e-mail message and told that he had sent me a letter and a T-shirt in snail mail long time ago. When he found out that I haven't received his mail he promised to send me a new T-shirt at once. This would be my second T-shirt this season...

WHBL Sheboygan WI 1330 - verification

I have heard this station a few times before LEM234 but always with a very faint and noisy signal. This time the WHBL came somehow louder and the signal was clear - but only for the short moment. Luckily the station identified just then when it faded in on November 8, 2006 04:29 UTC.
A short e-mail came after a f/up in 3 hour.

KRCN Longmont CO 1060 - verification

KRCN's signal wasn't too strong but however it faded in just before top of the hour giving the announcement including all the stations in Radio Colorado Network. This station was heard in a couple of times in Finland last autumn - I captured KRCN November 7, 2006 at 1.59 UTC during LEM234. A short e-mail verification arrived in 2 weeks.

WHCU Ithaca NY 870 - verification

WHCU wasn't easy to pick up since WWL had a very strong signal on 870 kHz on November 8, 2006 at around 6:30 UTC during LEM234. WHCU faded in for a couple of minutes and identified "Newstalk WHCU". The signal wasn't really "first rate" but however, you could recognize the call letters and some other details before WWL faded strongly in again. E-mail verification with the complete confirmation and a nice Cayuga Radio Group -logo came in 7 hours.

KUTR Taylorsville UT 820 - verification

KUTR was audible for about 1½ hours in early Sunday morning on November 5, 2006 during LEM234. It carried it's own "Soft Sunday Sounds" program with light and relaxing instrumental melodies. KUTR identified as "AM 820" and "You have found it, AM 820." KUTR has many local ads and PSAs and the signal was mostly loud and clear without fading for 1½ hours. A nice hand written QSL -card came in a month.

CJVA Caraquet NB 810 - verification

CJVA sent nice colourful e-mail verification with the station logo on it in 2 hours tonight. The station faded in with a loud and clear signal on November 8, 2006 around 7.00 UTC playing country songs and announcing the station ID and slogan in French. CJVA was mixed with WGY but actually CJVA was dominating the frequency mostly this time. This was the first time I picked up this one.
V/s mentioned : "I can confirm that you really heard our radio station CJVA 810 am. The announcement is a station promo for a Sunday morning show hosted by Mr Roger Morel.

King s Village DX Tests: Can a 150 Grams Box be a Communications Receiver”

Before the results of the test project testing several sdr-receivers will be published I will unveil something interesting while making a short test of a new DRB-30 premium model. Everyone interested in digital AM (DRM) reception may be aware that the latest model of this German little “box” is pretty good capturing DRM-signals. Together with the freeware Dream-software it seems to achieve good price/quality ratio among this “hard” job receiving and demodulation those signals which are like jammers for the rest of us. More about the box can be found at http://www.nti-online.de/edirabox.htm. The manufacturer kindly supplied the test group already last summer with the box for some time (the basic model) and now I had the opportunity to test the latest model which is in Finland for reviews and tests by a DRM-research group.

I made a simply “real world” test comparing this tiny box to a 3 times pricier WinRadio and a CIAO-sdr receiver which is at about same price level as the DRB-30 (around 350 euros). I hooked up all these boxes to my laptop (HP Pentium 1.6, 512K memory) which has enough USB-ports to eat all these gears. You can drive the DRB either via the parallel cable or nowadays also via a USB-Parallel cable and adapter. I had a second soundcard as well (the iMic at the picture, the white round box), but it is not needed for analog signals. At the picture the equipments is just receiving good quality digital signal from Radio New Zealand 9890 which is often at about 99% ok at around 9.30 utc.

During quite good propagation conditions I took a distant station, Wantok Radio Light 7120 (slightly below I suppose) to be a test station and compared the reception by my own ears. No measurements whatsoever were made. The environment was urban with heavy RF-interference and the antenna was a ALA100 (3x7meters loop). The results of the intelligibility of that faint signal were:

1st prize: DRB30 with Dirabox (console software) & SDRadio modulating software
2nd prize: Divided between CIAO H101 and WinRadio 313e.

The reception was of course very bad, but something could be heard particularly from the equipments with the DRB-box while with other receivers I could only tell that the station was there. This station is not widely heard at urban situations normally while in a countryside QTH it is a common guest at 12.30-13.00ut time slot in Finland.

This test was made on shortwaves and the interference situation of adjacent channels was not that bad. If there is a lot of interference which you can kill by notch, the WinR and CIAO are better with the notch ability on the software.
I have to make a comparison between the box and my communications receivers ICOM9000 and AOR7030 later on, but as far as sensitivity and intelligibility is concerned these tiny boxes are usually as good as older, typical communication receivers like ICOMs & AORs.

So it was quite nice to discover that with a good program to modulate received signals (I did make a try with a WinRad software as well), the small box is really capable to receive signals as good as more expensive models. This box now with the USB-parallel adapter cable seems to be nice companion to the laptop taking to trips. However, the CIAO does have two alternatives: the program together with nice synchro-AM and it takes the power via the USB, so no need for additional power supply.

I hope to publish more about the tests of the last months including something also about the SDR-14 panadapter-receiver system. The first articles in Finnish can be found at the “Radiomaailma” –magazines of the last year.

73 TK

WDJA Delray Beach FL 1420 -verification

WDJA was one of the most interesting stations I captured during LEM234. The station came loud and clear dominating this frequency on Monday morning, November 6 at 7.00 UTC. WDJA identified as "Money Watch Radio AM 14-20 WDJA Delray Beach and AM 1000 WJBW Jupiter". They had CNN News on the top of the hour.
V/s wrote: "Yes we received the report and file... the clarity of the audio was surprisingly clear and exciting for us." E-mail QSL arrived in 2 weeks.

KELO Sioux Falls SD 1320 - verification

KELO was heard on November 8, 2006 at 1.04 UTC when station was reporting US election results nationwide and locally. The signal bounced to Lemmenjoki with many other interesting stations like KOZY and KHRT on 1320 kHz. This was one of my most wanted station on 1320 kHz and now I finally cought it! E-mail verification in 1½ days.

KMSD Milbank SD 1510 - verification

KMSD was audible during LEM234 on November 8, 2006 at 01:59 UTC. They had local volleyball coverage and the station identified with a complete station announcement just before the top of the hour. As far as I know this was the second time that KMSD was captured in Finland. KMSD belongs to the same company together with KDIO-1350 and it verified my report in 10 hours with an e-mail message.

WHBK Marshall NC 1460 - verification

WHBK Marshall NC on 1460 kHz became my first QSL in 2007. This one was a big and pleasant surprise! I found the the station's ID and the announcement when checking my recordings from LEM234 later at home. This was the first time WHBK was heard in Finland. The station faded in and out with KXNO and some other US stations on the frequency. E-mail verification arrived in 6 hours.

Knob for SDR tested & some DX lately

Finally tested the new knob for SDR-14. Indeed, most of us dxers like to use a knob instead of a mouse controlling our radios. So I tried also to use the Griffin PoweMate knob for changing frequencies on my sdr-14 receiver.
The knob is ok for that job, however I found that when you are used to the mouse and especially the scroll wheel of the mouse you do not get that much benefit using the powermate knob actually. The knob "sits" comfortable on the table on on the mouse pad. Anyway the installation of the drivers are rather easy, but it is best to have the latest version of the software from the net. I have heard some problems using the older version of the driver. You have to play with the software a little bit and teach the function commands to the knob first, after that the change of the requencies is easy. For the time being I have to change the place of the digit using the keyboard commands (like 10´s , 100´s etc). And I have to choose the step from the SpectraVue program as well when I change from European channels (9´s) to TA-channels (10´s). Otherwise the knob works OK - the next thing is to use it with the WinR 313e as well.

I have heard many comments of the DX-conditions in Northern Europe lately. Indeed as far as my DX-QTHs observaytions is concerned, the December CX has been the poorest for years! Not only the recurrent coronal holes but the very angly sunspot (930) made the propagation very bad until the very end of the month (29-31 Dec.). The solar wind speed which was averagely at about 400 km/s (average of months in Aug...Nov - quite typical for declining cycle) has been on an average above 500 km/s (average of December) - a very high figure!

Now in the beginning of January, like on Jan 3 & 4 - although the K-index has been around 2-4, the conditions have been even better than in the end of December (K 0-2) with some stations of North America & Latin America (mainly Col/Venez. + C.Americans - a few of them with moderate to good signals. Also lately the tropical band conditions have been better with some Papuans (3335, 3905) and Indonesian stations both in the afternoon and in the evening and a few Brazilian stations at dawn & even ARDS 5049.92 again coming in with "nice signals" (ok, S7 at best) even late in the evening (after 20ut).

LEM239 (JPR, MTM)

2-3rd of January
Two quite similiar days. Weak SA and NA signals in the night. Best signals towards Brasil and Argentina at 07-08.15utc. Several FFF-loggings.

1st of January
Yankees all day till 12utc. Best signals to the GL-area, f. ex KFNX 970. A few mexicans today. Some loggings from the previous days: WKOB1600, KUTR, WOSU 820, KRLD, WKJK, WNWI 1080.

31st of December
NA whole night and day, but mostly only fair cx. Best opening towards the Great Lake area around 12 utc: KOKK 1200, KBRF 1250, WPDR 1350. Hardly any LA on the band,

30th of December
Mixed NA whole day. Best one WNEM 1250. Hardly any from LA.

29th of December
Disappointment. Mixed fair cx all night and day. Some peaks to Orinoco and Cuba, f.ex. Rebelde 560 and 610, Cadena Agramonte 910, R Popular Cali 1080, Reloj Bucaramanga 1120, KRCN 1060 13utc.

28th of December
JPR jointed the group. Fair cx to brasil, fex. R Atalaia 1310 and LP. NA from central part and some mex in the morning and afternoon. Some loggings XEBI 790, XEEY 660, XEGNK 1370, XEPH 590, KBEW 1560, KATE 1450, WRDB 1400, KXEO 1340, Reloj Cuba 1020.

27th of December
MTM started alone on the 27th. Fair LA in the night, and some NA in the morning. Best ones WKRC 550 and WBNS 1460.

QSL JEÖ

CMCH R Cadena Habana, Artemisa 1100 FFF
CMCH R Cadena Habana, La Habana 1120 FFF
XEIQ R Acir, Cd. Obregón SN 960 FFF
HC--- R Alegre 1490, Quito 1490
WKCK Cumbre 1470 AM, Orocovis 1470
WNWI Oak Lane, IL 1080 SFF
OAU4B R Nuevo Tiempo, Lima 1380
XETB R Laguna, Torreon, CO 1350
YVRD La Voz de Apure, San Fernando de Apure 1220
YVUZ R Guarapiche La Primera, Maturín 840
WTCJ Tell City, IN 1230 FFF
KWAD Wadena MN 920
OAU6D R Lider, Arequipa 1240 FFF
OAX4L R Miraflores, Lima 1250 FFF?
ZYK688 R Morada do Sol, Sao Paulo SP 1260
ZYJ823 R Globo, Joineville, RJ 1590
XEPE Tecate BC 1700
XEAAA La Triple A, Zapopán, JL 880 FFF
XEV R Formula, Chihuahua CH 880 FFF
WDWS Champaign 1400
CKMO R Angulo 740
CMKO R Angulo, Holguín 1110
ZYJ687 R Itapirema, Ji-Paraná, RO 1390 tnx JPR
L--- R Ribera Sur 1390
OAU7W R Peru, Juliaca 1320
YVSV R Portuguesa, Araure 1370 tnx JPR
WAPA San Juan PR 680
WISO Ponce PR 1260
XESP Guadalajara JL 1070 FFF
XEJB Guadalajara JL 630 FFF
XECQ Culiacán SN 920 FFF
XEEY Aguascalientes AG 660
HCLG2 R Carrousel, Guayaquil 660 FFF
ZYI412 R Caiuás, Dourados MS 1250 TFF
HJMC R Viva, Calí 1290
LT39 R Victoria, Victoria ER 980 SFF
L--- R Canaan Celestial, Isidro Casanova BA 1490 FFF
XEPH Sabrosita 590, Ciudad de México, DF 590 SFF?
WGTN Georgetown SC 1400 FFF
WTKA Ann Arbor MI 1050 FFF
KTEL Walla Walla WA 1490
LS1 R de la Ciudad, Buenos Aires BA 1110
CP--- R Virgen de Remedios, Tupiza 4545
WWSC Glenn Falls NY 1450
WJPA Washington PA 1450
WCVL Crawfordsville IN 1550 FFF
KYAL Sapulpa OK 1550 FFF
KCBJ Minot ND 910
KOWL South Lake Tahoe CA 1490
WBIX Nannick MA 1060 FFF
LU17 R Golfo Nuevo, Puerto Madryn, CH 540 FFF
LR4 R Splendid, Buenos Aires 990
L---- R Soberania, Buenos Aires 890 FFF
ZYH759 R K do Brasil, Goias, GO 730 FFF
KLER Orofino ID 1300
LT23 R Regional, San Jenaro del Norte, SF 1550
LV24 R Rio Tunuyán, Tunuyán (Mendoza) 1320 SFF
L---- R General San Martín, Villa Lynch, BA 610 FFF
LU26 R Coronel Dorrego, Coronel Dorrego BA 1470 SFF
WFTL Ft. Lauerdale FL 850
LT38 R Gualeguay, Gualeguay ER 1520 FFF
KHTS Canyon Country CA 1220
ZYH--- R Trapiá AM, Pedra Branca CE 1510 tnx JMS
KHOW Denver CO 630 FFF
LW1 R Universidad, Cordoba, CA 580
ZYJ616 R Rural AM de Parelhas, Parelhas, RN 1470 tnx JMS
CB146 R Yungay, Santiago 1460
ZYK599 R Mensagém, Jacaraeí, SP 1470
L---- R El Sol, Quilmes, BA 1450 FFF
KORT Grangeville ID 1230
HO--- Radio María de Panamá, Panamá 1310 FFF
WJBO Baton Rouge LA 1150 FFF
WAEL Mayaguez PR 600
XECL Mexicali SN 990
CB60 R Monumental, Santiago 600 FFF