Greetings from the Snow

It seems this winter will become a record winter not only for good DX but as far as amount of snow is concerned. The snow has been accumulating up to about 40 cm now and there is more to come. The DX QTH is in the middle of snowy trees. BOG is under about 40 cm snow and my longwire seems to have problems in the forest.
The conditions seems to be "back in normal" without any big surprises in the end of January, let´s hope some better times until the next CH due to arrive around Feb 10.

Meanwile I have updated the list of Japanese MW stations logged from December 1st 2009 up to January 20 2010. The number of stations is now 70, I had forgetten a common JO-station JOER 1350. A few new were also noted in the beginning of January, like NHK-stations on 945 (NHK1) and 1467 (JOID Oita). More at the King´s Village DX Blog.

KANA Anaconda MT 580 kHz - "Mighty 580"

KANA was heard once in a while during ENOX19. Mostly with a very poor and faint signal but for a couple of times KANA came in very clearly fading in and out with CKUA Edmonton, Alberta. KANA is a sister station for KBOW Butte on 550 kHz which I heard and verified back in 2007 during ENOX2. KANA used its legal ID "Mighty 580 - KANA, Anaconda, Montana" on the top of the hour. Again, SDR-14 and the newest version of SpectraVue did a great job!

Capturing KANA was a hard job. However, it seems that getting KANA verified is even more difficult. Fortunately I finally found out a working email address to the station's GM and in this way I got KANA verified in 2 days.

KANA became my MT #32.

WKIP Poughkeepsie NY 1450

WKIP was a pleasant surprise on 1450 kHz on ENOX19 with a TOH ID at midnight our local time. 1450 kHz is not very easy nowadays and it's usually only a couple of seconds on TOH when you can pick up something TA on it. I was lucky since somehow this time WKIP came in clearly even if only for a few seconds.

WKIP's engineer sent me a kind verification email along with two photos of the station and its towers.

KFNN Mesa AZ 1510 kHz was heard on its daytime power

KFNN has been on my hunting list for many years. However, I have never succeeded in picking up this one - not until now. During ENOX19 I had many fine late afternoon conditions offering couple of fine stations. KFNN switched on its daytime power at 13:58 UTC one afternoon and right after this the station faded in strongly with a loud and clear signal. KFNN became a dominant station covering the KGA's signal and this could be seen clearly on SpectraVue's display.

KFNN verified nicely in two days with an email message.

More interesting ones on 1350 kHz - KCOR San Antonio TX

KCOR has been heard several times recent years in Scandinavia. However, it made its first appearance in Enontekiö not until during ENOX19 back in December. It faded in on the top of the hour with is "La Primera AM" announcement and a call-letter-ID with quite a clear and loud signal. Later on KCOR played Mexican music. 1350 kHz has been a very interesting frequency this season and all my new ones on 1350 kHz have been verified so far.

KVOC 1230 - ESPN for Casper, Wyoming

KVOC surfaced very late in the afternoon on 1230 kHz simultaneously with KKEN Astoria on ENOX19. However, KVOC came in louder and clearer and it was quite easy to recognize its TOH ID "KVOC - ESPN". It was hard to find a working email address to the station but once I found the right address KVOC verified my report with a kind email in three hours. This ws the first time I picked up KVOC and it became my WY #19.

KASM Albany MN 1150 kHz

Also this one was heard very late in the afternoon like almost all other new Minnesota stations for me on ENOX19. KSEN and KSAL were also audible at the time on 1150 kHz - especially KSEN was heard loud and clear all afternoon with its fine oldies songs. KASM announced frequently "KASM Radio Network" and it run some local ads as well.
KASM verified nicely with a kind email.

KRFO Owatonna MN 1390

KRFO made its first, short apperance in Enontekiö on ENOX19 late in the afternoon. The station surfaced some minutes before the top of the hour but luckily it gave a nice ID just then. At the time there were many signals audible on 1390 and it will be interesting to see if it could be possible to identify more new ones on this frequency.
KRFO verified briefly mentioning "You are the fourth Finn to pick us up in the last five years or so."

KLGR Redwood Falls MN 1490 kHz - a nice add to my MN -collection

After receiving KLGR's confirmation just a few moments ago I have now verified all three MN -stations operating on 1490 kHz. I picked up KQDS way back in November 29, 1990, KXRA was heard now during ENOX19 on December 12, 2009 and finally KLGR bounced to Enontekiö on ENOX19 as well. KLGR faded in just on the top of the hour with ID followed by the ABC News. A short email note from the station confirmed my report and mp3 audio.

CJEU Gatineau QC 1670 - a new Canadian on the X-band.

CJEU "Radio Enfant" was heard on several occasions with huge signals on ENOx19 back in December. I sent a reception report and mp3 to the station right after I noticed the station for the first time on Decmber 12, 2009. It took a several days to get a kind email with the confirmation from CJEU.

As far as I know CJEU began its broadcasts on December 10, 2009.

ENOX20 and Ylläs

DXING AT YLLÄS AND ENOX20 AROUND YEAREND (by Hannu Niilekselä)

After Christmas I had the chance to DX North America at Ylläs (a bit) and at ENOX20 (more serious), almost a week in each place. I was using Perseus only at Ylläs, but also a few SDR-IQ:s at ENOX20. Lists of stations logged (so far) at both locations can be found elsewehere on this website.

At Ylläs I was spending the Christmas holiday with family, so DX-ing was only the "second fiddle". At Ylläs I only have one 900-metre antenna (305 degrees) and various sources of external interference, which tend to kill any weaker signal and drive you nuts. In addition, since it is a ski-resort, any serious DX-ing is possible in the night and morning until 0700, shortly thereafter the ski lifts are turned on and thats it. So the results must be seen in a diffe Tough luck !rent light than those at ENOX20, where the array of 4 antennas and (at least this time) practically interference free surrounding give totally different possibilities for rare loggiongs.

But lady luck had her fingers tangled in the atmospheric conditions: the day I moved from Ylläs to ENOX20 also the pattern of the cx changed totally. Whereas at Ylläs the AM band opened up early practically every evening with daytimers coming in, those conditions disappeared. Only a few of the more common stations appeared on the AM dial around 22-23 UTC - truly boring. In the morning the conditions started aroun 07-08 UTC, but were quite general in nature and signals were crisp and clear only for a few hours the whole week, mainly oriented to the prairies: these would have been good Canada cx in the old days, but no stations there anymore ! The good midwest openings that LEM reported the previous week were gone too. Just some west coast, which died out shortly after 15 UTC. Life is sometimes tough !

Ylläs loggings
ENOX20 loggings

KXRA Alexandria MN 1490

Minnesota seems to be a never ending story on ENOX19!

I checked Sunday evening one of my late afternoon files from ENOX19 and I came across a loud and clear KXRA -signal on the top of the hour. Later on KXRA was mixed up with many other US signals just like Spectravue's great display showed- hopefully some of them will be identified after the closer look at the signals.

KXRA verified very quickly with a very polite email and this verification made my total MN 56.

KCTA Corpus Christi - a 50.000 watts daytimer in Texas on 1030 kHz

KCTA was picked up late in the afternoon with a very strong signal once in a while. It broadcasted firstly in Spanish and later on in English with its religious format. Station's GM verified kindly with email. My TX #24.

KDLM Detroit Lakes MN - my fourth MN -station on 1340

KDLM is my 4th verified from MN on 1340 kHz. Actually there are five stations from Minnesota operating on 1340: KVBR, KWLM, KROC, KDLM and the one I have not heard - KRBT. Hopefully it will be found on my ENOX19 files...

When I picked up KDLM on ENOX19 it had a TOH -ID and, like many others at the time, it played beautiful Christmas music.

KCJB Minot ND 910 - more North Dakota stations on ENOX19

KCJB is quite hard to pick up since there is usually "a monster", CKDQ that covers the frequency just then when KCJB could be audible on a certain conditions. This time I was lucky as for some reason CKDQ faded totally out on the top of the hour and KCJB surfaced with legal ID and Fox Radio news.

SDR-IQ did a great job and picked up the signal loud and clear.

KCJB is my ND# 26 and so far my 5th new ND -station on ENOX19 and this "Information Leader" verified kindly with a short email in three days.

WLMA Greenwood SC - another BIG surprise on 1350 kHz on ENOX19!

WLMA 1350 kHz became my 3rd verified station from SC and my 23rd verified NA on 1350 kHz. This South Carolina station had a clear and loud TOH ID when it surfaced in Enontekiö on ENOX19 and so it was very easy to WLMA's President to recognize her station on my mp3.

WLMA was running its nightime power of 85 watts when I captured the station since the local sunset in Greeenwood was way later than my listening time. That makes the hearing even more amazing!

WCMP Pine City MN 1350 kHz

One of the new MN -stations for me on ENOX19 was WCMP Pine City on 1350 kHz. This one identified on the top of the hour:

“Information Radio is AM 13-50, WCMP Pine City serving East Central Minnesota and Northwest Wisconsin since 1957.” A short email verified my reception today.

1350 kHz has become a very generous frequency nowadays with many interesting stations like WLMA from Greenwood, SC which has, however, not QSLed yet...

KOVC Valley City ND 1490 - the last one on the Dakota Country Radio

Some posts earlier I mentioned that there is still a station left (the third one) in Dakota Country Network that I have not heard so far. Well, when checking the ENOX19 recordings on one of those great afternoons I came across a fine TOH ID of the missing one - KOVC on 1490 kHz.

So I got a whole trio of Dakota Country Radio stations in one ENOX -expedition! Moreover, all the stations verified my reports quickly - a fine gesture nowadays!

KVSH Valentine NE beat CJGX on 940 kHz!

Trying to capture a Nebraska station on 940 kHz in a winter afternoon is not the first thing that comes to your mind when chasing NAs on the AM -dial. Everybody knows that CJGX is very difficult to beat at this time of the year in the afternoons. But, however... KVSH made it - amazing!

KVSH was heard on it's 5000 watts daytime power on ENOX19 with a pretty loud signal at times mixing up with CJGX. It palyed country music and was quite easy to recognize under and over CJGX for about an hour.

The station manager verified quicky with a complete verification text.

LEM279 - Recent Verifications

Hi,
Hectic times at work and in private life, too - not too much time to browse to LEM279 recordings . Yesterday evening's one-hour-perseus-session yielded one new one to me: WNZS Veasie ME 1340. Lately just few reports out and 6 QSLs in:

CKNX Wingham ON 920 - short e-mail from PD Scott Pettigrew. It's nice to get a new Canadian home, before they all move to FM :-)
WTWK Plattsburgh NY 1070. Nice promo and TOH identification. CE Chad Brosseau informed that "WTWK is one of our talk radio station specializing in content for women." Interesting - what a pity it was clearly audible for only a minute!

KALL Salt Lake City UT 700. Nice e-mail from PD Bill Riley. Thanks a lot Bill!
KPQ Wenatchee WA 560. Finally got this one. Thanks Dan!
KTTH "The Truth" Seattle WA 770. After a couple of years of trying. Dir of Eng. Tom Pierson verified promptly my latest report. Tom writes: "Very good reception report!"

KCAP Helena MT 1340. Received this one with nice TOH announcement. Dewey Bruce comments: "We are getting a lot of e-mails from your neck of the woods." - hmmm...

My very best wishes to all of you Finnish, Swedish and Norwegian bloggers! It's always a lot of fun to read your comments and fine achievements in DXing. Happy New Year 2010 to you all, fellow DXers!