King´s Village DXing August-September 2008

Testing the Perseus (software 1.1.b vs 1.1.c)

Indeed the latest version runs quite OK even on my laptop (T40, with 512 MB memory, 1.3 GHz processor) and on my old table-top (Fujitsu) of 3.0 GHz/1.5 Gb mem. only slightly better actually. All these recording 1600 kHz RF-file. And the new file being 16-bit file, it saves HD and now you can record (without modifying the windows parameters) 5 minutes files (of about 2.2 Gb each). The latest version has also the “zoom” when you can zoom the frequency reading to be able to read rather precise frequencies down to below 1 Hz. However on my setups, it is still rather slow and there are problems when trying to do that when playing back the recorded file. Still I find easier to use SpectruVue for exact frequency read-out. Otherwise the Perseus software is fine with many bells and whistles like the DSP-noise reduction etc. Well done, Nico.

August/September: Dario goes King´s Village´s DX (sdr & car-dx)

Famous DXer (“PlayDX”) Dario Monferini from Milan visited my DX-QTH at King´s Villages for a few days at the end of August. Dario enjoyed some good openings on mw as well as on FM (St Peterburg stations). Dario tested also SDR-DX using Perseus and SDR-IQ receivers. He managed to get quite a few Trans-Atlantic signals. I had to work all days – so my job was more to obtain cooking and make food for us. We enjoyed Salmon “Lemon” with some Italian style vegetables (with Italian Mozzarella) among others (like pasta etc!). Dario “DXing” can be seen on the picture. Some catches of Asians were made also using my car´s RX – these includes good reception of Korea 1566 and JOIF 1413 (at 2000 UTC)

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More pictures of Darios adventures at the Play-DX-site.

DX-meeting at Haapavesi with Aurora Borealis and the EDXC

After Dario’s DX-days I drove to Haapavesi-QTH with Viktor Rytkovsky (picked up at the trailway station Kouvola). We went via Joensuu and took MR (Mauno Ritola) with us. As always during the last years we soon noticed geomagnetic disturbance starting when driving up North! And indeed at the night 4^th Sept we could even see the Aurora Borealis. Thanks to Jari Ylioja – an active photographer of Space & Aurora (more Jari´s pictures at SpaceWeather Auroa Gallery) the Aurora was photographed at the same time only 1,5 kilometres to the South of our QTH! So dxing was no so active, the only “result” was a carrier of the Nigerian station on 917 kHz (s/off around 23ut).

Aurora during the DX-meeting at Haapavesi. (photo thanks to Jari Yioja – more Jari´s photos at SpaceWeather.com)

After the meeting we went to Vaasa to the EDXC 2008 meeting. It was nice to see many DXers at Vaasa, although my staying lasted only a few hours.

Some DX in August– September

So far I am still waiting to be able to use my Far East BOG. So most DX is made using my longwire of 130 meters (NNW). Some nice openings to Latin America has been noted with some new stations for me. I decided also to announce “The King´s Village Station of the Month” each month. These are new for me or otherwise interesting to be announced.

I will put my presentation of the latest trends of SDRs in Finland later on the web later on.

KING'S VILLAGE STATION OF THE MONTH - AUGUST: Rádio Itapirema 1390

This station was particularly interesting as it took some days to discover what is doing a strong het on 1390.0 kHz. Soon I noted the signal is coming from Brazil above the nominal on 1390.215 kHz and after some work it was discovered to be Radio Itapirema of Ji-Parana, Brazil. Thanks JEÖ & MR for listening to the clip!

I am not sure if this split still exists, later on I have noted Rádio Jornal here (which is more usual at my QTH).

KING´S VILLAGE STATION OF THE MONTH – SEPTEMBER: Radio Libertad, Arequipa 1310

This station was first noted on Sept. 29th with nice Andean music. First it was a bit difficult to say what station is saying “Libertad” here although the music was “very Andean” music with nice melodies. The station even had time signals which were rather exact (not so familiar on Latins). Soon I noted the loggings of last year (credits to JMS, JEÖ and TSM in Finland) and indeed the station was the same as then – Radio Libertad de Arequipa, which seems to be a new station started last year. Actually the station seems to be on split as well, on 1309.98 kHz. I also found a RF-recording on my last winter´s HD of 4^th December 2007:

Radio Libertad with same kind of programming and announcements – and on the same split! The station has been dominating the channel also after September – many times in October – sometimes with good signal and only some QRM from at least two others (one being Venezuela with Nat. Anthem at 0430 – this one a bit above on 1310.01, the other one with programs sounding like Radio Maria – could be Radio Maria, Panama (carrier frequency rather near the nominal). Radio Libertad has also web-pages and program feed on web - very nice! On October 7^th some other stations from Perú were noted with good signal.