Saturday, October 31, 2009

LEM281 update - 30.10

30.10.

As a minor disturbance began, signals also started coming earlier. Again directly from the direction of the Great Lakes, but no mixing with any LA. Many stations (such as WQLR-1660, WKSH-1640, KCJJ-1630, KFNW-1200, KFAN-1130 and KFAB-1110) outside the "usual" had audio already 2130 UTC or shortly there after. Signals came and went in fairly short intervals - it was obvious that there was some minor disturbance going on. However, the conditions did not develop to a daytimer party of any better sort. Still, with such early signals, the reordings are worthwhile to be checked carefully.

Gradually, signals in the night got weaker and weaker and it wasn´t any specifically good idea to try to chase them all night. In the morning, again, signals started to be good as the clock got close to 06 UTC. Midwest-rockies, mixed with some MEX. Fairly nice signals for some periods until 0940 UTC, when the conditions were cut like with a knife...

Nothing until sudden opening towards the upper west coast with huge signals from 1230 UTC onwards. Even the GY-frequencies performed strong, but the "quality" of stations tended to be limited to those heard already anywhere between 10-1000 times. For the first time during our LEM-week, the signals kept their strength until local sunrise - and some (such as KTBK-1210, KOUU-1290, KCLK-1430 and KGDD-1520) far beyond, almost until 16 UTC.

Still, it was not easy to find new ones from an area where conditiond have so often laid. New technology (IQ´s and Perseus) will certainly help in this, as we have (or if we ever have...) time to listen "every scratch" carefully.

As we write this at 2130 UTC, signals from the same direction are again coming in, with KKCQ-1480 identified at 2130. One more night and day to go. Well see...

Some of the more interesting loggings: KCOL-600, XESO-1150, XEIB-1170, KZMK-1240, KFBC-1240, KGRG-1330, KHMS-1420, KNTB-1480, KBIS-1490, KMBD-1590.

Friday, October 30, 2009

Trinidad's Very Own - KCRT 1240

KCRT Trinidad, CO 1240 kHz faded in for a short time on ENOX17 on October 13. This station made its first apperance in Finland now as far as I know and the station CE was very excited about my report and mp3. He wrote me back a long e-mail verifying the reception and he also promised to send me photos and other material about KCRT later on.

Thursday, October 29, 2009

LEM281 29.10 update

29.10.

The evening started "slow" again, however again with early signs of the direction being to the Great Lakes area. No LA or east coast "early openers", but directly to stations like WWKB-1520 and WRRD-1510.

At 23 UTC signals were barely above the level that it seemed worthwhile to have the SDR´s recording. One hour later, somewhat stronger and from time to time readable signals even on the graveyard frequencies. The general feeling was that it was worth listening but little hope of any "big fish".

Morning started slower than most mornings. At 06 UTC practically nothing, at 07 UTC a bit better, but still weak. From there on, no big signals either, but every now and then an interesting station "popped in", so the interest for listening was kept alive. Around 10-12 UTC the going was good and the direction was concentrated to the Great Lakes with morning programs in full swing due to the advantageous situation regarding the U.S. move to Standard Time only this coming weekend.

But again, the fun would not last forever...for some reason the condition started to weaken already before 12 UTC and practically died out shortly there after. Only some of the most usual west coast remained on the band until 14 UTC.

In between, quick checks for the Pacific and Japan gave a couple of stations, even if the conditions did not appear very interesting - just lots of difficult languages...

Earlier we reported that it would be unlikely that any new stations from the 24 October NZ-opening would be found. We were wrong, since we forgot to check also the Radio New Zealand national service frequencies: RNZ 1458 (Westport) and RNZ 819 (Tauranga) were noted...shame on us !

Some of the more interesting stations last night and this morning: WNWI-1080, WPDR-1350, KCAR-1350, KRFO-1390, KFIZ-1450, KBMW-1450, KMSD-1510, KCHA-1580, KOKB-1580, KGUM-567, KUAM-630.

North Platte's ESPN

KOOQ 1410 kHz from North Platte, Nebraska has been in my hunting list for some years now. If you hear ESPN on 1410 kHz it usually appears to be WPOP. However, on ENOX17 on October 11, 2009 this frequency offered ESPN from KOOQ instead of WPOP. The ID was clear on the top of the hour. The station management verified my report and easily recognized their station on the mp3.

LEM281 update 28.10

28.10.

CBG-1400 appeared early, at around 2030 UTC, but the conditions towards NA did not develop too well. Instead, lots of LA started appearing quite early and it was Spanish all over with good signals. NA started to join the party around 0000 UTC, but it was already too late for anything remarkable.

In the morning NA started to stregthen rapidly after sunrise with good signals, mainly from the Rockies to West Coast, once again. But all the time there was more and more concentration towards Southern California and from around 08 UTC to about 10 UTC it was better than either one of us had ever experienced. Stations seldom heard or never before logged came in with crystal clear signals. There will be a lot of interesting stuff on the recordings in addition to those already identified when listening "live".

As you would expect, such fun cannot last too long, and the peak of the conditions was gone after 1030 UTC. Only some of the most common stationswere left with "dizzy" signals. And even those died out before 14 UTC. No Pacific or Asia in general in the afternoon/early evening.

But in all, what a day !

Best stations logged live: KUGN-590, KGEZ-600, KWDN-720, KCNO-830, KHHO-850,KPAM-860, KLFF-890, KXLO-1230, KLBS-1330,KPRK-1340, KVTO-1400, KSUN-1400,KCLX-1450, KLIV-1590.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

LEM281 27.10 update

27.10.

Interesting developement: better indexes, generally worse conditions...

The night started with absolutely no signals before 01 UTC, then some LA, but nothing fancy. In the morning, between 06-07 UTC, fair to good signals from NA, but without direction. At this time with general type conditions it is almost not worth to listen to anything else but TOH and half hours, since local nighttime programming has very little content from a DX-ing point of view.

However, the signals abruptly died out totally before 08 UTC and did not return but at around 1130 UTC. Then one hour fair-good signals towards the Rockies-West Coast, but only to the northerly states, except a few interesting signals from California and Mexico in the same direction. Again, signals died completely out around 1330 UTC. Before that, a couple of interesting NHK-2 from the 1320 break, but no Pacific at all, just "mediocre chinese" as far as we can tell...

Highlights of the day (with a couple from recordings from the previous days): KERR-750, KFMB-760, KPDQ-800, XEKE-980, WZFG-1100, KBND-1110, KGRG-1330, KPRK-1340, KTAQ-1340, KCAP-1340, KWRM-1370, XEKT-1390, KMOG-1420, KZNX-1530, KWBG-1590, JOSB-1602, JOFD-1602, JOCB(JOFD)-1512, JOTC-1467.

KOGA - a fine NOS -station on 930 kHz

After identifying KOOQ North Platte on 1410 kHz on ENOX17 I took a look at stations' locations and distances from Enontekiö in Nebraska and surrounding states. I found out that among the stations that should be audible at the same time is KOGA in Ogallala, Nebraska on 930 kHz. So I tuned to 930 kHz and after a couple of minutes a station with local ads and PSA for Ogallala faded in. It also played fine tunes like Steven Bishop's "On And On" from 1970's. I made a mp3 -clip, wrote a report and sent them to the KOGA's personality that Roland Sandberg kindly let me now.
A nice email along the verification came in about 24 hours.
Tnx Rolle fr v/s!

LEM 281 update 26.10

26.10.

The conditions started fairly late, at around 23 UTC and opened directly towards the Great Lakes. A lot less impressive signals than in the previous night and less concentrated. Only a handful of interesting stations and weakening signals after 01 UTC. Little better in the morning with very much varying signal strengths; practically no conditions in the afternoon, neither to the east, north or to the west. So it was good to check some recordings.

Highlights from today and the night before: KSUB-590, KCOL-600, KDWN-720, KUAI-720, KKZN-760, KBGN-1060, KDYL-1060, KVNI-1080, KHIL-1250, KOLY-1300, KLIX-1310, KROP-1370, KMOG-1420.

Sunday, October 25, 2009

LEM281 - 24-31.10 (HAS,HN)

LEM 281 = Hannu Asikainen and Hannu Niilekselä, both from the capital district. Lots of NRD-535´s, SDR-IQ´s and one Perseus.

24.10 - 25.10

We arrived to Lemmenjoki at noon on Saturday 24th. The first plugged NRD gave hints of NA with fair signals from the western parts of the U.S. However just the usual stuff, as far as we could determine while unpacking and installing our rigs.

Gradually we got the technical side somewhat in shape and started to take a more serious touch to what was going on. We could only confirm what we had anticipated - nothing of true interest from NA was coming in. But stregthening signals towards Hawaii kept our interest awake, even if in the end only the most common hawaiians were logged. BUT, they led us to monitor also the rest of the pacific, just in case. And that certainly paid off. As we noted a couple of the most common NZ st.ations, we naturally started to search for more. And more we heard, which also left the anticipation that "there still might be something on the SDR/Perseus recordings".

When we started going through those, the cold truth was revealed: we had experienced the once-in-a-lifetime opening towards NZ - not a single aussie (except for a couple of the most common ones on the X-band) were noted. But NZ, yes. No logged stations in the lower end of the mw-band, but the further up we checked, the wilder it got (sorry about the possible mistakes with + for first in Finland, these are "out-of-the-memory"):

1035 Newstalk ZB, Wellington
1080 Newstalk ZB, Auckland
+ 1107 R Live, Tauranga
+ 1161 Te Reo..., Wellington
+ 1215 Newstalk ZB, Kaikohe
1224 UNID with Sporting News Flash
+ 1233 R Live, Wellington
1296 Newstalk ZB, Hamilton
1332 R Sport, Auckland
+ 1341 Newstalk ZB, Nelson
+ 1359 Coast, New Plymouth
+ 1377 R Sport, Levin
1386 R Tarana, Auckland (superstrong)
+ 1413 Newstalk ZB, Tokoroa
1476 R Trackside, Auckland
+ 1494 Southern Star, Hamilton
+ 1503 R Sport, Wellington/Chirstchurch
+ 1530 Coast, Napier-Hastings
+ 1557 Coast, Hawera
1593 tent. R Samoa, Auckland
1602 tent. 2XA, Levin

The signals partially peaked at times when Newstalk ZB had breaks with local commercials. The recordings have been quite thoroughly checked, so it is unlikely that the list would get any longer...

From NA the night 24/25 was an interesting one. No east coast in the evening, but opening directly to Colorado and Idaho, with signals coming in with power from clear daylight. Nothing spectacular listening live, but maybe something in the recordings...Some LA in the morning and later in the day stations fading in and out with fair signals for short periods, mainly west coast again. Almost dead in the afternoon

The best station from NA so far + KEZY San Bernardino CA. More to come...

Friday, October 23, 2009

WJDY 1470 - a CNN affiliate in Salisbury, MD.

WJDY has became an usual guest on 1470 kHz during this season. It's one of those stations which seems to be easier to pick up in a good QTH located in Southern Finland than in the listening posts on the Arctic Circle. However, I heard WJDY during ENOX17 with a decent signal for a moment.

I got a short email last night from WJDY. They were quite amazed after listening to my mp3 and they easily recognized the WJDY's ID and programming on the audiofile.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

WTCM Traverse City MI 580

Once in a while the lower AM offered quite strong and interesting signals on ENOX17. WTCM has been my hunting list for some time but not anymore. This one faded in with CFRA with a very loud and clear signal with C2C and a couple of local ads and a fine ID. I waited for an answer to my report a couple of days and yesterday I got a kind, long email from the station. WTCM is my MI #32.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

LEM279 up and running (10.10 - 15.10.2009)

Greetings to you all, fellow DXers!

We (JSN & MKA) arrived to Lemmenjoki on Saturday at 8:30 p.m. UTC. It took about an half and hour when our DX-gear (3 x Perseus, 1 x SDR-IQ) was up and running.

We have enjoyed the great weather here: clear skies, snow some 10 centimetres, temperature in the mornings between -8 to -14 Celcius.


Fog is rising up from Lake Kuivajärvi at sunrise

Here's a short summary what has happened on the radiowaves:

Sunday 11.10: Mediocre NA, good MEX-opening in the morning. In the afternoon the best HI/AK-opening I and Martti have ever experienced before - though, not a "brilliant" one. 1330 & 1430 AK were heard. But have not been checked from the recordings.

Monday 12.10: Nice Orinoco opening at local sunrise. Mediocre NA.

Tuesday 13.10: Improved NA-conditions: At 04:00 UTC the conditions favoured the Rocky Mountain area. At 07:00 a big swing to the East Coast. In the afternoon an early opening to HI/AK. Unfortunately not as strong as on Sunday.

Wednesday 14.10: NA with nice signals from 00:00 UTC. After 05:00 UTC also Andean stations. Later on, stations from TX and the Rocky Mountains area. We spent the whole afternoon in Sevettijärvi area testing a promising, possibly new, QTH. Our main concern was a 20 KV powerline. We were equipped with a laptop, an SDR-IQ and a 900 meters longwire erected almost parallel to the powerline for our testing purposes. Luckily, we didn't detect any electrical "bruises".

Extreme DXing in the "middle of nowhere".

During our visit to Sevettijärvi there were quite nice conditions to the Far-East. In the evening nice opening to the Philippines at 20:00 UTC. East Coast NA started at 21:00 with some daytimers.

Thursday 15.10: NA with nice signals till 07:15 UTC. Then a small disturbance from the sun wiped out all TA-signals. We left Lemmenjoki at 11:00 UTC and drove to Oulu where we stayed the night at JPR's QTH - many thanks JPR for your hospitality! On Friday morning at 04:30 UTC we continued to Vaasa. Martti and I are both very satisfied with the results. There's a lots of work ahead to go thru all the files.

Something from our log books ("On the fly"): WLCM-1390, KALL-700, KUTR-820, KZOO-1210, KLHT-1040, WSBB-1230, WFOY-1240, WMMB-1240, WTMA-1250, Japanese utility (maritime) stations on 1649.5 & 1663.5, Rete Italia, Darwin(?)-1611, DZNL-783 (split), WCHP-760, WFIF-1500, KDAL-610, KLSQ-870, WKYW-1490, WTNY-790

Besides DXing, we've enjoyed culinary cooking and good wines as usual.

Our pedition log will be pulished at: http://www.netikka.net/jsn/LEM279_loki.xls

Monday, October 19, 2009

New Alaskans 1330 and 1430 have verified

It's nice to capture new stations every now and then - especially from a state like Alaska. Since KXLJ-1330 and KMBQ-1430 began broadcasting during the last season I have been hunting them in every possible occasion. During ENOX17 I was lucky to pick up them both at the same time late in the afternoon. KXLJ is an ESPN affiliate and KMBQ aired local broadcasting when I heard them. KXLJ had a fine TOH ID and KMBQ used frequently it's slogan instead of call letters. KMBQ's frequency drifted between 1430.010 kHz and 1430.020 kHz during the listening period (about an hour) and it was never on it's nominal 1430.000 kHz.

KXLJ verified very quickly with an email. V/s told that they have actually received reports from Scandinavia even earlier but the listeners' mp3s had been so faint and distorted that the station management has not been able to identify KXLJ on them. So the v/s officially verified my report to be the first correct report that KXLJ has ever received. KMBQ verified with a short email including a complete verification.

My total AK is now 46.




Thursday, October 15, 2009

ENOX17 – October 14, 2009

The conditions to North America during the last few days have been quite good. Mostly east coast on nights, in the morning east coast together with Cubans and South Americans and later west coast as usual. A couple of Hawaii and Alaska openings in the afternoon. Especially last Sunday was great towards AK and HI and during this opening KXLJ-1330 and KMBQ-1430 were both well audible on ENOX17.

Many fine IDs, great stations and huge signals have been saved on the disks. It will take some time to go thru all of them. I have checked, let’s say…, about 1% of all the material so far so there is plenty of interesting moments ahead. Here is the link to the first draft version of ENOX17 -log. It will be updated during the coming weeks and months as soon as there are new loggings available.

It’s time to pack and drive home tomorrow. All the best to all KONG-, PAX-, AND- and LEM -crews during this season. Thank You - ENOX17 is signing off.

TuA

Sunday, October 11, 2009

ENOX17 - SPECIAL UPDATE - OCT. 11, 2009

KXLJ Juneau AK 1330 and KMBQ Wasilla, AK 1430 were both captured on ENOX17!
TuA

Friday, October 09, 2009

ENOX17 – October 9, 2009

When you look at the current solar weather it should be clear that right now we have the top conditions with TA –signals on the medium wave. However, I have been facing a lot better conditions several times with much worse solar weather. Okay, TA –stations have been audible every night, morning and day but somehow signals have not been so loud and clear as they could be with these K- and A –values.
Last night was poor. In the morning stations from coast to coast were audible but signals were not too strong and they faded in and out all the time. Stations faded mostly away as early as around 08:00 UTC. Later in the afternoon some west coast dominants as well as Alaskans and some GYs were audible for a while. So this was the worst day of ENOX17 so far - hopefully cxs get better during the coming weekend.
As for the good news. I have received some nice veries today including WIND-560, KIHH-1400, KZNX-1530. Earlier this week KWKH-1130 verified my ENOX17 report with an email. Otherwise it has been sunny day with the temperatures between -20 and -3 degrees Celsius.
TuA

Wednesday, October 07, 2009

ENOX17 - Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Heavy snowstorm hit Enontekiö today . There is already about 5 cms white snow on the ground around tne QTH and it’s still snowing hard. Temperature is -8 degrees C. Luckily I walked thru and checked all the antennas yesterday when it was sunny all day long.
Today was the best day so far on ENOX17. I slept later than I planned last night and so actually I don’t know if there were conditions before 00:00 UTC. Anyway the rest of the night wasn’t good at all but fortunately conditions got better after sunrise.
Many loud and clear signals for example from the Lakes District were audible before noon. Signals were quite stable and I was lucky to pick up some new stations for me. From today’s logbook: WVNA-1590, WCCN-1370, WPDR-1350, WCLU-1490 and KZNX-1530.
TuA

Tuesday, October 06, 2009

ENOX17 (October 4, 2009-)

October 6, 2009
I arrived Enontekiö late on Sunday evening. It took a while to set up all equipment I have. Later in the night and morning many fine signals frm NA were audible especially on the upper band. My first new ones were this season's super stations KYES-1180 and KWKH-1130 both with loud and clear signals. KZZJ-1450 and KDLR-1240 are worth mentioning as well.
Clear and chilly outside the cabin. Monday’s low -4 degrees C.

TuA