Wednesday, November 28, 2007

KOLM Rochester MN 1520 - verification

KOLM was heard briefly but with very clear and loud signal once during ENOX2. This ESPN affiliate had CNN news on the hour and before the news a complete ID with "Sports Radio 15-20, The Ticket" slogan. The operations manager verified the reception with a short e-mail mentioning that they have had very cold weather in Minnesota lately.
Tnx fr v/s info JPR.

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

KVNI Coeur d' Alene ID 1080 - verification and... a phone call!

This nice Idaho -station faded in on 1080 kHz during ENOX2 in October. KVNI had plenty of company on 1080 kHz in this same morning, October 16, 2007. In addition to KVNI also KKFX, KUDO and KRLD were all audible more or less at the time. But what was the most amazing -KNDK Langdon, ND announced it's legal ID on the top of the hour as well!
KVNI's morning dj verified my report with three e-mails. They also gave me call this evening and talked to me during the live morning show on KVNI. Naturally this time of year we talked about Santa Claus, Christmas and reindeers...

CFCO Chatham ON 630 -verification

CFCO has been on my most wanted list for a couple of years. It finally came thru with a decent signal on ENOX3 on November 6, 2007. It was quite badly mixed up with NRK but however just on the top of the hour CFCO faded in nicely with a perfect ID. The CFCO morning man verified the report and the audio with a kind e-mail in 24 hours. My ON -station # 55 and my second new Canadian on 630 kHz for this season. CKOV Kelowna BC was audible on ENOX2 earlier in October and it verified my report at the time. At the moment CKOV has obviously already signed off on AM.

Monday, November 26, 2007

KXLX Airway Heights WA 700 - verification

KXLX faded in several times on Nov. 7, 2007 in the morning. It had the clearest signal around 10 UTC promoting KXLY's "Vancouver Football" coverage and ESPN programming. 700 kHz has been very interesting frequency this season offering me KXLX, KGRV and KALL. Of course KBYR and WLW have been the dominating stations as usual.
KXLX verified my report quickly with e-mail. Thanks for the v/s -info JMS.

Friday, November 23, 2007

KMVI Wailuku HI 550 - verification

Heard this station on ENOX2 in October and sent a reception report back in October. It was a nice surprise to get an e-mail last night from Hawaii including a complete verification.
KMVI came in quite loud but it had severe QRM from Anchorage ESPN.
This was my second HI verie this week but however, there are still a couple of stations left to be heard from HI on AM -band to me.

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

KQNG Lihue HI 570 - verification

KQNG was hear on October 15, 2007 during ENOX2. At the time we had very good conditions towards Hawaii and Alaska. Many fine stations from those areas especially on the lower AM band were audible then. This was the first time I heard KQNG and the reception was surprisingly good.
KQNG's chief engineer verified my report with a kind e-mail and he also attached a picture of Oahu along with the e-mail. My HI -station #25.

WTCH Shawano WI 960 - verification


Just a 5 minutes ago I received a short e-mail verification from WTCH General Manager. He had listened to the audio and could easily recognize WTCH on the mp3. I picked up WTCH on ENOX2 when the station had a loud signal for a couple of minutes during the weather forecast after TOH news. Otherwise WTCH plays Classic Country.

KXLO Lewistown MT 1230 - verification


KXLO was captured for the first time ever in Finland during ENOX3. The station faded in just on the top of the hour with a clear ID following with the ABC news. KDIX was audible at the same time playing oldies and mixing up with KXLO. Luckily KXLO was the strongest one just on the hour. My report was verified with a long e-mail in 5 hours and v/s mentioned:

"I think the furthest I've heard a station that I wan't supposed to, was around 1500 miles. I remember hearing the 'mighty 690' 690am overnight when I was in Bozeman on the freeway, but that was not with a SW radio, just my car's am receiver. Actually, many people up here in mountain country can't reliably receive stations, so the use the XM or Sirius sattelite stations. So it's nice to hear that you found us bouncing so far!"

He also attached the actual cut that was played at midnight local time when I picked up KXLO.

WILS Lansing MI 1320 - verification

WILS morning man verified my report and audio clip with three e-mails. He even discuessed the "distant reception in Finland" in his morning show yesterday with his co-host. Afterwards he sent me the audio of this show - it was really interesting to hear my own reception report being read during the WILS morning show.
WILS is going to go from 5 kW to 25kW soon. They are planning to give me a call in the live show right at the very moment they will flip the switch and go to 25kW.

KSRA Salmon ID 960 -verification

KSRA was heard briefly with ID and news on the top of the hour on ENOX2 in October. 960 kHz has been quite generous frequency this season giving me totally three new stations so far. Two of them (KLTF and KSRA) have already verified and I'm still looking forward to receive verification from "Moose Country" WTCH Shawano, WI.
Tnx fr KSRA v/s info BH!

Recent verifications

Here's a list of some of my most recent AM verifications:

WTMJ Milwaukee WI 620 letter t-shirt
KGVO Missoula MT 1290 e-mail
CKKY Wainwright AB 830 e-mail, logo
KOLM Rochester MN 1520 e-mail tnx for v/s JPR!
XEPE Tecate BCN 1700 e-mail tnx for v/s JPR!
KIT Yakima WA 1280 e-mail
KLTX Long Beach CA 1390 e-mail
KKLF Richardson TX 1700 e-mail tnx for v/s TUA!

73's -jsn-

Saturday, November 17, 2007

KUGN Eugene OR 590 - verification

I captured KUGN on Oct. 16, 2007 during ENOX2. The station suffered quite badly KHAR -QRM but luckily I heard a couple of ads and promos as well as the fine ID around the top of the hour.
General Sales Manager verified my report with a fine station logo attached on the message. This was my OR # 53.

ABU, thanks a lot for your v/s -info!

WCCW Traverse City MI 1310 - verification

This one seems to be a very DX-friendly station. I have got two e-mails and along the second e-mail there was a fine verification letter attached in the message.
I picked up WCCW during ENOX2 and my report was verified by the operations manager who himself was reading the announcement on my mp3 -clip I sent to the station.
WCCW is an ESPN affiliate but it tends to announce the local identifications quite often.

Friday, November 16, 2007

KDZR Lake Oswego OR 1640 - verification

I have sent reception reports to KDZR every now and then during the last few years but for some reason I havn't got any reply from the station until now. KDZR verified my reception in old fashioned way - in other words the station manager sent me a verification letter in snail mail. This was my first snail mail QSL for a very long time and so it was a very nice surprise indeed!

LEM251: 10-17.11 (TAK, YK)


Friday 16.11

LEM251 (TAK , YK ) final report 16.11.07: Lousy night, morning and day. Towards NA mainly dominants all over the continent. In the afternoon some Philippine stations. LEM251 will return from the bushes tomorrow. Bye to all .

Wednesday 14.11

LEM251 (TAK,YK ) report 14.11.07 : Poor night and morning to NA . In the day some West Coast, mainly power houses. In the morning interesting BR/IB-cx up to 9 UTC. Asia nearly dead. Interference from electric fence very annoying! Apparently the coronal hole has started its effect .

Tuesday 13.11

LEM251 (TAK,YK) report 13.11.07 : Conditions detoriated in the night notably. However, some NA almost all day; mainly dominants with some GY openings. Interesting opening towards Britain and Spain in the morning. Asia poor, except China strong (of course ) . At 21 UTC some weak NL etc coming in.

Monday 12.11

LEM251 (TAK,YK ) rpt 12.11.07 : Good cx to NA all night and day. No trace of OC, only one HI . Japs poor. Had to get some sleep; now at 20 UTC NL's are pouring in. See, how long this lasts. Only two PNG´s found active (3335 and 3905 plus carrier on 3220 ) .

Sunday 11.11

LEM 251 (TAK,YK ) is up at Lemmenjoki. Good cx to NA, but lots of dominants. Also some Japs,eg NHK1 local ID of JOLG 1368 at 10 UTC. First NA now audible at 19 UT , cx probably lasts again until15 UTC. SDR-IQ found very useful despite opposite opinions! Tnx to JMS for borrowing an NRD

Thursday, November 15, 2007

ENOX4: 7-14.11 (HN)


Thursday 15.11

ENOX4/14.11: In spite of the CH-effects, some stations came in around 21 UTC, WLIB-1190 again excellent at 22 UTC. WAUK-1510 until 23 UTC, when conditiond died out. In the morning and daytime only KBRW-680.

Drove 130 km down to Ylläs. Around 2230 UTC stations suddenly rose, WOOD-1300 with a HUGE signal. On 1510 WAUK again until 23 UTC, at 2303 KMSD and at 2315 the Colorado station announcing "Mile high sports"//1570. Nothing in the morning of 15.11. HN

Tuesday 13.11

ENOX4/13.11: CH-effect arrived and cx got weak. Short openings in the evening with NY strong for 10 min at 22 UTC. Around 00 UTC some WI. Short opening towards AR and PAR around 06 UTC. NA almost dead all day, but suddenly clear common signals from WA 14-1430 UTC. WLIB-1190, WBKV 1470, PAR 920&1020. HN

Monday 12.11

ENOX4/12.11: Significant improvement with NA from yesterday, but still a bit unstable. 1320-CKEC with good audio already 1835 UTC. Huge NL-NS signals at 2000, opening slightly more south with 1200-WKOX and 1520-WIZZ. Midwest cx at night, dying out around 2330. Argentina at 0200 on 1030. Midwest all day, little CO, ID and WA/BC until 1415. 550-WSAU, 600-WMT, 1060-KRCN, 1240-KWIK, 1590-KTCH (stn # 44 hrd in Finland on this fq !). HN

Sunday 11.11

ENOX4/11.11 Yesterday's X-ray flux apparently "ate up" the top of the conditions. Stations already 20.15 UTC, all night and all day, until 13 UTC, but mostly interfered signals from the prairies and Seattle region only. KCCR-1240, KWYR-1260, WAUK-1510 and again KGOW-1560. HN

Saturday 10.11

ENOX4/10.11. Early opening at around 2030 UTC, improving until 0000 but mainly dominant east coast-midwest stations only. Weak between 0000-0600, then better again until 1000, but without direction. WCRN-830, CHML-900, CFFX+KLTF-960, WNED-970, KVKK-1070. From recordings WAUK-1510, KGOW Houston TX-1560. HN

Friday 9.11

ENOX4 9.11. Promising improvement from yesterday, beginning before 21UTC, but only dominants from NL to AK and down to Venezuela. Lots of recordings with little hope for something new. WFDF 910, WLNO 1060, WJMC 1240, KZIZ 1560. HN

KLTF Little Falls MN 960 - verification

CFAC and CFFX are the most common stations nowadays on 960 kHz and usually it's hard to capture another stations from this channel. That's why it was nice to have KMA a couple of times on 960 kHz with a huge signal during ENOX2 and ENOX3. However, the most pleasant surprise was KLTF with a clear TOH ID on the top of the hour on ENOX3 on November 7, 2007. The General Manager of the Little Falls Radio Corporation verified the reception last night and he was curious to know what is our local time zone compared with their local time in Minnesota. Nice e-mail verification arrived in 6 hours.

KWLM Willmar MN 1340 - verification

KWLM's News Director verified the reception with long and kind e-mail last night. What I heard from KWLM during ENOX2 was a legal ID and ABC News on the top of the hour. News Director recognized his station easily and remember getting a reception report from Finland last time 5 or 6 years ago. He asked if I might be interesting in wearing KWLM's T-shirt...

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

KJAM Madison SD 1390 -verification

A nice e-mail verified my report and audio file of KJAM's reception during ENOX3. The business Manager of this quite a rare station sent the verification in an hour today. KJAM used the slogan "Dakota's Best" and it was heard briefly during a clear slogan, ID and a piece of music. Now both SD and ND is captured and verified on 1390 kHz...

KBSU Boise ID 730 -verification

This was a nice surprise during ENOX3 on November 7. KBSU was audible about 1½hours under Vancouver's traffic station on 730 kHz with jazz -programming. KBSU is owned and operated by The Boise State University and it was heard in Lemmenjoki by MKA for the first time this fall and now on ENOX3 for the second time ever in Finland.
The chief engineer verified my report in 2 hours.

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

KBPS Portland OR 1450 - verification

KBPS was one of those several new OR -stations for me on ENOX2 in Enontekiö. KBPS is located in Benson High School in Portland and the high school students run this station as a part of their studies and for example during the summertime, KBPS hires students to run the radio station.
This time KBPS was audible for a short moment on the top of the hour with a clear ID. A kind e-mail verified my reception report in 2 hours.

KLFF Richardson TX 1700 -verification

KLFF is not the easiest one to capture on 1700 kHz. Actually I heard KLFF for the first time this fall on ENOX2. The station was simulcasting KLIF-570 and it used slogan "Stimulating talk 5-70 KLIF". The KLIF PD verified with nice e-mail in 6 hours.

Saturday, November 10, 2007

LEM250: 3-10.11 (JMS, LN)


Saturday 10.11

LEM250, 10.11.: Many NA stations already at 22 UTC and an hour later the AM band was in total chaos. Excellent, but IMPO (impossible-to-get-new-ones) conditions continue this morning. When you have 5-35 NA stations from each frequency, this is really hard work ;) We wish all the very best to the next LEM crew, as well HN in Enontekiö. Enjoy! - Lauri Niemi (LN) and Jim Solatie (JMS)

Friday 9.11

LEM 250, 9.11.: DXing became wonderful again. WLQV 1500 and WWKB 1520 had good signals already at 2000 UTC!!! Two hours later the upper band was full of stations, but despite huge expectations and hard work, nothing new was heard. At 2300 UTC WLNO 1060 was like a local station, becoming the highlight of the night. NA faded away at 0030, but were replaced an hour later by Caribbean and Orinoco stations. Sunrise was very strong towards NA, also some Florida (eg. 940) were present. - Jim Solatie

Thursday 8.11

LEM250, 8.11.: Empty feeling. The national shooting tradegy touches us all. Conditions are very poor.

Wednesday 7.11

LEM250, 7.11.: Very strong NA all night and all day long. Too wide conditions, since all states and provinces are represented, i.e. stations from New Foundland to Mexico to Alaska.

Outside it looks like a winter wonderland with 10 cm of new snow, trees are beautifully covered with it and the sun is shining. Temperature is -10 Celsius. Now it is time to take a break and visit Inari primary school and give a lesson on creativity. - Jim

Tuesday 6.11

LEM 250, 6.11.: Quite good NA conditions continue, but not too exciting stations. I talked earlier today with Tuomo, who had similar feelings in Enontekiö. Mid October was much better. But let's be patient, the conditions should improve all the time. Some Brazilian stations from Sunday: Radio Cidade Esperanca 1310, Radio Regional Cicero Dantas 1320 and - with huge signal - Radio Difusoras Cajazeiras 1070. From NA today eg. CIOR 1400 and KZIZ 1560. Best 73, Jim Solatie

Monday 5.11

LEM 250, Monday 5.11.: Quite good conditions. Brazil very strong at night, then NA all day long and now in the afternoon Pilipinos and Chinese. Majuro 1098 and Kwajalein 1224 with power earlier today, but nothing else from the Pacific. Some identified stations: XEES 760, Globo 1160 and KJUG 1270.

K index is still 2, so the show has not reached its peak yet. My mobile can not receive any text messages at the moment, so I apologize the delay in replying. Kuivajärvi-lake has frozen and is currently covered with 5 cm of ice. Soon it would be in excellent condition for skating. JMS

Sunday 4.11

LEM250 (3.-10.11.), LN (Lauri Niemi) & JMS (Jim Solatie): A few centimeters of snow, -17 degrees Celsius and beautiful sunshine, a perfect way to start my 3rd expedition this fall. Strong NA all morning long, but loads of dominants. Just a few stations of interest (new ones): XEMF 780 and KMZK 1240. JMS

Thursday, November 08, 2007

ENOX3: 6-8.11 (TUA)

Wednesday 7.11

Fine day with many interesting stations on the lower band. West coast stations didn't dominate all day this time. Instead of strong WA- and OR -stations some nice surprises were heard from MT and ID. From today's logbook: KBSU-730, KXLX-700, KERR-750 and KJJR-880. Today's low temperature -21C and sunshine all day long. TuA will drive home on Thursday and HN continues on ENOX3 from now on.
-----
I was on the road all day long on Tuesday and I didn'n done any live DXing. However, after quick check to the recorded files in the evening clearly indicated nice cx with strong and clear signals all day. Hopefully recordings fill offer at least some new ones for me...

Right now (5:25 UTC) the band is full of NAs with decent signals. Talking about QSLs. I just got a very friendly verification from WCCW-1310 to my mailbox. The station was picked up here in Enontekiö a couple of weeks ago. Next blog report will be in the evening. ENOX3/TuA

Tuesday 6.11

Arrived in Enontekiö late in the evening. About from 21 UTC first NF -stations faded in. Later on the usual US east coast dominants as well as Brazilians. Stay tune for more news from ENOX3 during the next few days. TuA

Saturday, November 03, 2007

LEM249: 27.10-3.11 (ANA, TRE)

This is the second and final report from LEM249. The delay in preparing this report was caused by the hectic listening during the final stages of our trip, and partly also by the shock of returning back to work (from which we have not yet entirely recovered).

The last 2 ½ days of LEM249 gave us pretty nice conditions towards NA. Also La Plata was strong during the night and the early morning hours. Even though stations from western U.S. dominated (the east coast was almost totally absent), the main problem with NA was the fact that the conditions lacked any clear direction. The dominants were so strong that picking up new ones was really tough work.

Although we used only conventional receivers (4 x NRD 535, 1 x NRD 545, 1 x NRD 525 – we prefer doing things the old-fashioned way!), we have loads of recordings to check during the coming months.

As far as cooking is concerned, we made history. We are convinced that the LEM-site has never seen better cooking. Even the quality of wines was unheard-of for these latitudes.

Finally some catches worth mentioning: KJAM 1390, KHOW 630, CKOV 630, WKOX 1200, XEES 760, KTSM 690, WKTY 580, KKKK 1580.

ANA

KMAS Shelton WA 1030 - verification


Another pleasant surprise this evening came from Shelton, WA.

The KMAS's General Manager verified my report and wrote:

"Coincidentally, I just heard from a fellow who heard KMAS in Arctic Norway on the same day you received our signal!!
I appreciate your communication, and will put you in our "Long Distance Listeners" Club" on our website: http://www.kmas.com/

GM also attached a nice logo with his e-mail QSL.

KTMT Ashland OR 580 - verification

This Spanish speaking Oregon station called itself "Radio Lazer" and had a decent signal on October 16 during ENOX2. It was a pleasure to pick up many quite rare stations on the lower AM band this time. Many of them had clear and loud signals and that's why it is nice to send reception reports as well as audio files to the stations.
KTMT's PD verified my report last night with an e-mail QSL. Tnx fr v/s info HAT!