Tuesday, March 03, 2009
WBGX Harvey IL 1570 verified - finally!
It was way back in 2003 when I picked up WBGX for the first time. The reception wasn't very good at the time and I never succeeded in QSLing the station back then. But on February 20 this year during ENOX14 the reception was much better and I managed to capture a clear and a loud TOH ID "AM1570 WBGX Harvey-Chicago". And just an hour ago I got a short but a kind verification from the station. My IL #32.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
KGVW Belgrade MT 640 and a T-shirt
Just a couple of hours ago I received a nice surprise from Montana US as KGVW 640 verified my report and mp3. KGVW's chief engineer, who is an active ham operator as well, wrote an interesting email telling about his hobby and his relatives who have lived in the North of Finland 
a long time ago.
a long time ago. I picked up KGVW way back in October 2007 during ENOX2 and since then I have sent a couple of reports to the station without any answer until now. CE told me that he had sent me also a T-shirt some days ago and it should arrvive before too long. KGVW became my MT -station #30.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Monday, February 16, 2009
King´s Village DX-station, January 2009: 4QD 1548
The selection of the DX-station of January was quite easy to do. I happened to be able to listen during a very interesting propagation to East / Far East on January 12th before sunset at around 12.45 - 13.30 UTC. Although we had possibly the best conditions "over the Pole" about a week later with some stations from Hawaii etc (around 23-25 January) I decided to announce the most interesting catch of the month to: ABC Emerald 4QD 1548 kHz. I know it is quite common in the Scandinavian Arctic to capture, but not so in Southern Finland at least with modest antennas. Actually I had the station verified also from my active DXing period in the 1970´s, but I have tried to get the signal all the time when DXing in my rural King´s Village QTH since about 1995. Finally on Jan. 12th the path to the Philippines (with stations like 1494, 1512, 1530 and 1548 audible) and to Australia was open and 4QD was coming although the powerfull RUS relay in Moldova had already signed on at 13.00. Also the UK station was very weak at that time. At the picture you can see snapshots of Spectrum View at different times showing the dominants around 13.00 utc. The ABC is also "easy" to see being usually at about 1548.012. Another picture is an old QSL from 1976 - I do not know if they still have that one.
Below is a short video (SpectraVue demodulating the signal) at around 13utc with ABC and at the end the PHL station with ID of the 594 DZBB (at 1303utc).
Monday, February 09, 2009
ENOX10: 16-28.10.2008 (HN, TK, TUA)
Thursday 16.10.2008
ENOX10 started today with Hannu Niilekselä (HN) setting up the listening post, to be joined by Tarmo Kontro (TK) on Sunday. Wet conditions seem to be the cause for a local electrical interference, which needs to be solved before any serious DX is possible. A true disappointment as prospects for decent cx are generally developing well.
Friday 17.10.2008
The day went by more or less in the hunt for the disturbance, which in the end was eliminated. So, also ENOX10 hopes to get in tact with other Nordic DX-expeditions. It looks as if all of the best QTH´s are occupied, so very few signals will have a chance to get by unnoticed. The following week should become one, where DX-history is written. With all developments in the U.S. and Canada regarding broadcasting, it may well be that during the next solar minimum in 11 years time, there will be very little to listen to in the AM band from at least that direction.
Saturday 18.10.2008
The night started without NA at ENOX, so I went to sleep around 0000 and did not even put any recording equipment on, which probably was a mistake reading some of the comments from other expedition sites. Early morning was fairly slow, too, but improved so that from around 05 UTC on there was a good go, however mostly to the "K-land". All in all, many nice stations were identified "live" (KRSA, KRTA, KVNU, KALL, KLAD...) , but on the other hand many interesting frequencies produced nothing. There is still place for improvement, and most recent indices seem to suggest that so it will be...
Lots of recordings, which evidently will produce some nice stations. For example, most GY-frequencies were open better than in a long time. However, the "feeling on the thumb" was that the most common rockies-west coast stations were dominating, so it will be tough to pick out new ones. Hopefully lots of interesting nights and days to come...
Sunday 19.10.2008
Instead of improvement the cx made a swing towards worse. Apparently we got substantial increase of density from the coronal hole. However, it has gone down rapidly today, so conditions will most likely start improving again, as expected.
In practice this meant a silent night, some prairies and Mexicans in the morning, then practically dying out. After mid-day a couple of hours of sharp concentration towards Washington and Northern Oregon, together with some Alaska and Hawaii, but dying out before local morning and stations opening with PSRA powers. So it was more or less the common west coast stuff, but with good signals for a while. Some of the identified stations were KUBC, KWBY, KMAS, KOKK, KWSN, KOZI, KKEE, CJAR, KCCR, WJMC, KVXR, KSRV, XEDCH and XESJ.
Tarmo Kontro arrived in the afternoon, so we may see some Asia loggings, as well, in the coming days.
Monday 20.10.2008
Judging how good the conditions are is always relative. It is self evident that on an island by the Northwestern Norwegian coast reception conditions are substantially more favourable than 300 km further away and inland, specifically at times of "marginal" reception. This was evidenced well during the nights when daytimers were noted. At ENOX these conditions -if any- offered practically nothing.
Also on Monday, just a few Quebec stations at 2210-2230, with WCHP-760 for one short moment. then absolutely nothing until 05 UTC. Improving rapidly thereafter towards the U.S. East Coast, with many dominant stations being absent on intersting frequencies. Signals varying in strength and clarity, very good at times, but with atmospheric noise again soon. Well, these are the ingredients for good catches and recordings may provide with nice surprises.
The sad thing about this day was that just before 09 UTC the stations disappeared totally and the rest of the day was practically blank, with just some of the most common AK and HI stations audible for short periods. Later in the afternoon Asia (with a 500 meter wire) produced just a couple of most common JO and Thai stations. So, the "good" conditions with varying signals throug the day are yet to come...
Most interesting stations heard "live" (in addition to WCHP-760 above) were WTTL-1310, WBAT-1400 and WAZX-1550.
Tuesday 21.10.2008
The solar wind hanging closer to 400 than 300 seems to keep away any notable cx in the night. The common "lighthouses" (1400 and 1230) appear early, but the cx did not, once again, not develop any further, at least in this location. Some stations, however, in front of 00 UTC started pushing in, among them our old friend KGOW-1560.
But as surely as the sun rises, something is heard every morning for a few hours. Interesting conditions also this morning, reaching down to Florida even if nothing spectacular was noted listening live. WGAN-560, WIOD-610, WSBB-1230, WSLB-1400, WBAE-1490, but also stations like CFAR-590 and KWIK-1240 in the morning. After a little break around mid-day, a short lived opening with clear signals to the WA-BC corner again, then nothing for several hours. Late in the afternoon most common AK and HI with good signals for a while.
Even with these fairly short bursts of stations, there´s already quite a lot of work to do with recordings. From 19.10. KVEL-910 and KATQ-1070. We probably will get a bit more to listen to in the coming days.
Wednesday 22.10.2008
On needs to be an optimist with regard to cx in this hobby. However disappointments happen from time to time, but you should not loose your optimism. Days seem to go by and agin some unexpected minor disturbance has almost "eaten up" NA in the band, with the exception of 2-3 hours. These hours do not, of course, include those hours when just 4-5 dominant stations are being heard with almost non-existent signals.
Exactly the above pattern took place again: a few NA at around 00 UTC, but gradually dying out. At 04 UTC practically nothing, then gradual, but very slow improvement. At 05 still lousy, but steadily improving. At 06 the going was good, midwest to the rockies. Nothing spectacular "live", but expectations to find something wortwhile from recordings are fairly high. Around 12 UTC the signals started to come in loud from AK and HI for half an hour or so. But once again, the good going ended only too early. Whereas this time of the year AK and HI should be at its best rather around 15-16 UTC, this has not happened during this week at all.
The reason for all this would appear to be the somewhat unexpected level of density "out of nowhere", keeping the solar wind too high for any level of more steady conditions.
Tuomo Ahonen arrived today and occupied the bed left empty by Tarmo Kontro. So there´s also fresh, hungry blood around...
Thursday 23.10.2008
What have we done that has made the gods-of-cx turn their faces away from us ? For a week now the cx should have been improving but they have only got worse.....
Really nothing worthwhile to report for today, just an opening of about one hour from around 5 to 6 UTC towards central US and a little bit of most common west coast in the afternoon. If this is the best that the solar minimum has to offer, I start to believe that the greenhouse effect has spoiled also the ionosphere...The only comforting news is that in AND night after night daytimers and other gooddies have been noted. So we are not that far away from hearing something better...It just seems that AND is close enough (370 km from here) and beautifully positioned for NA when things get very marginal. The same experience has been so many times noted comparing KONG and LEM with regard to OS: beautiful signals in KONG and not a trace of the same stations at the same time in LEM, where even antennas should (at least in theory) be better. And LEM is even closer to KONG than LEM/ENOX to AND.
Well, let´s not get too pessimistic: everything looks set for a couple of interesting days ahead !
Friday 24.10.2008
Yessss...we got what we wanted and should have gotten already days ago - lazy again at night but excellent go through the day. The only obstacle being a difficult-to-detect problem with our antenna splitting configuration, finally spotted down to the main splitter in some manner mixing the signals and giving many kinds of trouble. We lost much of our attention to this, so listening live was distorted. But we were still able to play in lots of material where one could "from far away" hear that it will produce results after we get our hands on the recordings.
From 19.10. in one 10 minute burst: KQAQ-970, KJJK-1020, KVKK-1070 and WZFG. Shows well the power of SDR:s in specific circumstances.
Saturday 25.10.2008
The fun (?) continues and produces enormous amounts of material to listen to. From midwest to west coast. KUGN-590, KRTA-610, CKOR-800, KBBO-980, KXRO-1320 and most likely many, many more...Full time job for a couple more days.
Sunday 26.10.2008
Nighttime seems to produce more stations elsewehere than at ENOX. Here nothing spectacular has been noted "live" early at nights. However, because of the SDR:s, active listening has been more concentrated to earlier recordings and daytime "cruising" than staying up nights. This is more or less a 24-hour job, but you need that 4-5 hours at night anyway... we´ll see - the SDR recordings are yet to be checked.
Morning started with signals from Florida to west coast, bringing in WBOB-1320 and KBBO-980 at the same time. Later in the day all kinds of interesting stuff like KRMG-740, KSRA-960 and KJOC-1170, with cx swinging a bit here and there. Mexicans every now and then with huge signals for some minutes, but fading out rapidly.
The interesting phenomenom this week has been that afternoon cx tend to die out just as they should actually become stroger. This time of the year AK and HI should be at their best, but cx have been very modest, with only the most common stations audible. with fair signals.
Monday 27.10.2008
The same pattern seems to continue: a fairly lousy start at night, better in the morning and hanging somewhat later in the afternoon. No specific direction today, mostly the rockies and west coast with a bit of texmex as flavour. AK and HI best so far, but not what they could be. No spectacular findings yet. KLAD-960 seems to have become a common thing, heard daily in the afternoon. GY produces fairly uninteresting stations mainly from the rockies to the WA-BC corner.
This will be our last night, time to hit the road in the morning. The evening does not seem that bad: signals with audio already at 2015 UTC on 590, 620, 740, 930, 1210, 1230, 1370, 1390 and 1400. We´ll see...
As WEGP always says "Thanks for listening".
------------------
3 months later …
Lots of positive expectations were loaded to the 2008-2009 season and in that context also to ENOX10. The season can still produce nice conditions (with for ex. ENOX14 in the second half of February), but as a whole this season has not fulfilled all expectations.
For some odd reason the periods where conditions (towards specifically the North American continent) were expected to be excellent, have not been as good as expected. All kinds of “extra” small disturbances have cut the best “edge” out, just as everything seemed to be turning perfect. This has continued all season long and seems to apply to Oceania, for example, as well.
Lots of new and otherwise good quality stations have been logged from NA, but this is most of all thanks to the SDR´s. Had we been “fishing” with just a couple of traditional receivers/listener, this season would have been close to a catastrophy. Comparing results from 1997 –the solar minimum 11+ years ago- to this season, the conditions this season have not been but a shadow. Had we had SDR´s 11-12 years ago, an unbelievable amount of “goodies” would have been logged.
So, ENOX10 was loaded with high expectations. The first obstacle, however, was a strong local electrical interference. Luckily, it did not take very long to locate a couple of poles in the nearby powerline, which due to broken insulators let electricity to flow into ground in wet weather and to cause the interference. The local electric company acted instantly and the problem was fixed.
In the first days conditions improved day-by-day with some nice stations logged. The cx were, however, directed mainly between the prairies and west coast, which makes it a bit difficult to find something new for specifically those who have been into this hobby since the 70´s. The almost total lack of early openings to the east coast also was a bit surprising.
Just as the conditions should have been “peaking”, a small disturbance from an unknown source arrived and caused problems. There seemed to be a substantial difference if you were listening in ENOX or if you were 400 km´s closer to the North American continent, by the Atlantic. Our Norwegian friends had started their AND –expedition and reported good early openings and generally good conditions. At the same time ENOX was –at best- just usual without any specific highlights. It seems that when conditions are even a bit “disturbed” the differences of what is being heard grow bigger between locations such as ENOX , AND and PAX.
A week went by with us expecting the conditions to improve, but they just seemed to get worse…Then, the long expected improvement , but only regarding listening in the daylight hours – evenings and nights remained practically empty. Still, this was OK, as there was a good go on 24-27.10. with lots of stations, and even some “goodies” every now and then. Lots of recordings are yet to be checked, so hopefully some more will be found…
So, when it was time to pack and head south, we were happy with what we had experienced, but a bit disappointed in relation to the high expectations. Yet, as it has turned out with ENOX 11-13 later in the season, ENOX10 was probably the best of these, even if we did not know it then….this is a strange minimum !
ENOX10 loggings - 1st draft later ....
ENOX10 started today with Hannu Niilekselä (HN) setting up the listening post, to be joined by Tarmo Kontro (TK) on Sunday. Wet conditions seem to be the cause for a local electrical interference, which needs to be solved before any serious DX is possible. A true disappointment as prospects for decent cx are generally developing well.
Friday 17.10.2008
The day went by more or less in the hunt for the disturbance, which in the end was eliminated. So, also ENOX10 hopes to get in tact with other Nordic DX-expeditions. It looks as if all of the best QTH´s are occupied, so very few signals will have a chance to get by unnoticed. The following week should become one, where DX-history is written. With all developments in the U.S. and Canada regarding broadcasting, it may well be that during the next solar minimum in 11 years time, there will be very little to listen to in the AM band from at least that direction.
Saturday 18.10.2008
The night started without NA at ENOX, so I went to sleep around 0000 and did not even put any recording equipment on, which probably was a mistake reading some of the comments from other expedition sites. Early morning was fairly slow, too, but improved so that from around 05 UTC on there was a good go, however mostly to the "K-land". All in all, many nice stations were identified "live" (KRSA, KRTA, KVNU, KALL, KLAD...) , but on the other hand many interesting frequencies produced nothing. There is still place for improvement, and most recent indices seem to suggest that so it will be...
Lots of recordings, which evidently will produce some nice stations. For example, most GY-frequencies were open better than in a long time. However, the "feeling on the thumb" was that the most common rockies-west coast stations were dominating, so it will be tough to pick out new ones. Hopefully lots of interesting nights and days to come...
Sunday 19.10.2008
Instead of improvement the cx made a swing towards worse. Apparently we got substantial increase of density from the coronal hole. However, it has gone down rapidly today, so conditions will most likely start improving again, as expected.
In practice this meant a silent night, some prairies and Mexicans in the morning, then practically dying out. After mid-day a couple of hours of sharp concentration towards Washington and Northern Oregon, together with some Alaska and Hawaii, but dying out before local morning and stations opening with PSRA powers. So it was more or less the common west coast stuff, but with good signals for a while. Some of the identified stations were KUBC, KWBY, KMAS, KOKK, KWSN, KOZI, KKEE, CJAR, KCCR, WJMC, KVXR, KSRV, XEDCH and XESJ.
Tarmo Kontro arrived in the afternoon, so we may see some Asia loggings, as well, in the coming days.
Monday 20.10.2008
Judging how good the conditions are is always relative. It is self evident that on an island by the Northwestern Norwegian coast reception conditions are substantially more favourable than 300 km further away and inland, specifically at times of "marginal" reception. This was evidenced well during the nights when daytimers were noted. At ENOX these conditions -if any- offered practically nothing.
Also on Monday, just a few Quebec stations at 2210-2230, with WCHP-760 for one short moment. then absolutely nothing until 05 UTC. Improving rapidly thereafter towards the U.S. East Coast, with many dominant stations being absent on intersting frequencies. Signals varying in strength and clarity, very good at times, but with atmospheric noise again soon. Well, these are the ingredients for good catches and recordings may provide with nice surprises.
The sad thing about this day was that just before 09 UTC the stations disappeared totally and the rest of the day was practically blank, with just some of the most common AK and HI stations audible for short periods. Later in the afternoon Asia (with a 500 meter wire) produced just a couple of most common JO and Thai stations. So, the "good" conditions with varying signals throug the day are yet to come...
Most interesting stations heard "live" (in addition to WCHP-760 above) were WTTL-1310, WBAT-1400 and WAZX-1550.
Tuesday 21.10.2008
The solar wind hanging closer to 400 than 300 seems to keep away any notable cx in the night. The common "lighthouses" (1400 and 1230) appear early, but the cx did not, once again, not develop any further, at least in this location. Some stations, however, in front of 00 UTC started pushing in, among them our old friend KGOW-1560.
But as surely as the sun rises, something is heard every morning for a few hours. Interesting conditions also this morning, reaching down to Florida even if nothing spectacular was noted listening live. WGAN-560, WIOD-610, WSBB-1230, WSLB-1400, WBAE-1490, but also stations like CFAR-590 and KWIK-1240 in the morning. After a little break around mid-day, a short lived opening with clear signals to the WA-BC corner again, then nothing for several hours. Late in the afternoon most common AK and HI with good signals for a while.
Even with these fairly short bursts of stations, there´s already quite a lot of work to do with recordings. From 19.10. KVEL-910 and KATQ-1070. We probably will get a bit more to listen to in the coming days.
Wednesday 22.10.2008
On needs to be an optimist with regard to cx in this hobby. However disappointments happen from time to time, but you should not loose your optimism. Days seem to go by and agin some unexpected minor disturbance has almost "eaten up" NA in the band, with the exception of 2-3 hours. These hours do not, of course, include those hours when just 4-5 dominant stations are being heard with almost non-existent signals.
Exactly the above pattern took place again: a few NA at around 00 UTC, but gradually dying out. At 04 UTC practically nothing, then gradual, but very slow improvement. At 05 still lousy, but steadily improving. At 06 the going was good, midwest to the rockies. Nothing spectacular "live", but expectations to find something wortwhile from recordings are fairly high. Around 12 UTC the signals started to come in loud from AK and HI for half an hour or so. But once again, the good going ended only too early. Whereas this time of the year AK and HI should be at its best rather around 15-16 UTC, this has not happened during this week at all.
The reason for all this would appear to be the somewhat unexpected level of density "out of nowhere", keeping the solar wind too high for any level of more steady conditions.
Tuomo Ahonen arrived today and occupied the bed left empty by Tarmo Kontro. So there´s also fresh, hungry blood around...
Thursday 23.10.2008
What have we done that has made the gods-of-cx turn their faces away from us ? For a week now the cx should have been improving but they have only got worse.....
Really nothing worthwhile to report for today, just an opening of about one hour from around 5 to 6 UTC towards central US and a little bit of most common west coast in the afternoon. If this is the best that the solar minimum has to offer, I start to believe that the greenhouse effect has spoiled also the ionosphere...The only comforting news is that in AND night after night daytimers and other gooddies have been noted. So we are not that far away from hearing something better...It just seems that AND is close enough (370 km from here) and beautifully positioned for NA when things get very marginal. The same experience has been so many times noted comparing KONG and LEM with regard to OS: beautiful signals in KONG and not a trace of the same stations at the same time in LEM, where even antennas should (at least in theory) be better. And LEM is even closer to KONG than LEM/ENOX to AND.
Well, let´s not get too pessimistic: everything looks set for a couple of interesting days ahead !
Friday 24.10.2008
Yessss...we got what we wanted and should have gotten already days ago - lazy again at night but excellent go through the day. The only obstacle being a difficult-to-detect problem with our antenna splitting configuration, finally spotted down to the main splitter in some manner mixing the signals and giving many kinds of trouble. We lost much of our attention to this, so listening live was distorted. But we were still able to play in lots of material where one could "from far away" hear that it will produce results after we get our hands on the recordings.
From 19.10. in one 10 minute burst: KQAQ-970, KJJK-1020, KVKK-1070 and WZFG. Shows well the power of SDR:s in specific circumstances.
Saturday 25.10.2008
The fun (?) continues and produces enormous amounts of material to listen to. From midwest to west coast. KUGN-590, KRTA-610, CKOR-800, KBBO-980, KXRO-1320 and most likely many, many more...Full time job for a couple more days.
Sunday 26.10.2008
Nighttime seems to produce more stations elsewehere than at ENOX. Here nothing spectacular has been noted "live" early at nights. However, because of the SDR:s, active listening has been more concentrated to earlier recordings and daytime "cruising" than staying up nights. This is more or less a 24-hour job, but you need that 4-5 hours at night anyway... we´ll see - the SDR recordings are yet to be checked.
Morning started with signals from Florida to west coast, bringing in WBOB-1320 and KBBO-980 at the same time. Later in the day all kinds of interesting stuff like KRMG-740, KSRA-960 and KJOC-1170, with cx swinging a bit here and there. Mexicans every now and then with huge signals for some minutes, but fading out rapidly.
The interesting phenomenom this week has been that afternoon cx tend to die out just as they should actually become stroger. This time of the year AK and HI should be at their best, but cx have been very modest, with only the most common stations audible. with fair signals.
Monday 27.10.2008
The same pattern seems to continue: a fairly lousy start at night, better in the morning and hanging somewhat later in the afternoon. No specific direction today, mostly the rockies and west coast with a bit of texmex as flavour. AK and HI best so far, but not what they could be. No spectacular findings yet. KLAD-960 seems to have become a common thing, heard daily in the afternoon. GY produces fairly uninteresting stations mainly from the rockies to the WA-BC corner.
This will be our last night, time to hit the road in the morning. The evening does not seem that bad: signals with audio already at 2015 UTC on 590, 620, 740, 930, 1210, 1230, 1370, 1390 and 1400. We´ll see...
As WEGP always says "Thanks for listening".
------------------
3 months later …
Lots of positive expectations were loaded to the 2008-2009 season and in that context also to ENOX10. The season can still produce nice conditions (with for ex. ENOX14 in the second half of February), but as a whole this season has not fulfilled all expectations.
For some odd reason the periods where conditions (towards specifically the North American continent) were expected to be excellent, have not been as good as expected. All kinds of “extra” small disturbances have cut the best “edge” out, just as everything seemed to be turning perfect. This has continued all season long and seems to apply to Oceania, for example, as well.
Lots of new and otherwise good quality stations have been logged from NA, but this is most of all thanks to the SDR´s. Had we been “fishing” with just a couple of traditional receivers/listener, this season would have been close to a catastrophy. Comparing results from 1997 –the solar minimum 11+ years ago- to this season, the conditions this season have not been but a shadow. Had we had SDR´s 11-12 years ago, an unbelievable amount of “goodies” would have been logged.
So, ENOX10 was loaded with high expectations. The first obstacle, however, was a strong local electrical interference. Luckily, it did not take very long to locate a couple of poles in the nearby powerline, which due to broken insulators let electricity to flow into ground in wet weather and to cause the interference. The local electric company acted instantly and the problem was fixed.
In the first days conditions improved day-by-day with some nice stations logged. The cx were, however, directed mainly between the prairies and west coast, which makes it a bit difficult to find something new for specifically those who have been into this hobby since the 70´s. The almost total lack of early openings to the east coast also was a bit surprising.
Just as the conditions should have been “peaking”, a small disturbance from an unknown source arrived and caused problems. There seemed to be a substantial difference if you were listening in ENOX or if you were 400 km´s closer to the North American continent, by the Atlantic. Our Norwegian friends had started their AND –expedition and reported good early openings and generally good conditions. At the same time ENOX was –at best- just usual without any specific highlights. It seems that when conditions are even a bit “disturbed” the differences of what is being heard grow bigger between locations such as ENOX , AND and PAX.
A week went by with us expecting the conditions to improve, but they just seemed to get worse…Then, the long expected improvement , but only regarding listening in the daylight hours – evenings and nights remained practically empty. Still, this was OK, as there was a good go on 24-27.10. with lots of stations, and even some “goodies” every now and then. Lots of recordings are yet to be checked, so hopefully some more will be found…
So, when it was time to pack and head south, we were happy with what we had experienced, but a bit disappointed in relation to the high expectations. Yet, as it has turned out with ENOX 11-13 later in the season, ENOX10 was probably the best of these, even if we did not know it then….this is a strange minimum !
ENOX10 loggings - 1st draft later ....
Tuesday, February 03, 2009
ENOX13 loggings - 1st draft
This is ENOX13 loggings first draft. Updates will be published here as soon as I have gone thru more recordings and files. TuA
Thursday, January 29, 2009
KINGS´S VILLAGE STATION OF DECEMBER 2008
It took some time to announce the December station at King´s Village. That´s the time of "new recording DX-machines". Maybe we are approaching the era of just saying "Last year I have logged 50 Tbytes of stations - I will be back later on".
As noted earlier I will try to pick up here the most interesting station of my loggings each month. Usually it is a new logging to me or some other kind of interesting happening like "special reception conditions".
In december the conditions were generally good. However the best reception was again concentrated to the North (North America) mainly with some exceptions. The conditions towards Asia - Pacific were not that good at my QTH. With modest antennas you have to follow the band quite frequently and mainly at sunriset or sunset times. One of the most interesting days to me inDecemeber was actually the 2nd December. The conditions towards Mexico City were remarkable good at around local sunrise in Finland. I was capturing the band from about 1290 upwards and found in about 15 minutes several stations with nice signals on 1290, 1410, 1470 and 1500. There were some unidentifies signals also which seems to be "somewhere in my HD".
The stations with best signals were: 1290 XEDA México DF., 1410 XEBS La Sinfonola, México, 1470 XEAI Radio Fórmula and 1500 XEDF R Fórmula, México. The Formulas 1470 / 1500 have been heard several times but at my QTH 1410 and 1290 very rarely, the last one only once since by DX-career.
So I decided to give the name of "December DX-station" to XEDA México 1290! From the stations web-page I can read that the station is not a young one- rather excatly it was 72 years old!
From the stations web-page:Radio "13" was officially inaugurated the December 3, 1936, broadcastingon AM band at 680 kHz. At first it was operating by Pedro Riestra and then by Angel Fernandez, its programming in the early forties was based on Hispanic music, with programs like " Spanish Times”. In 1945, Guillermo Morales Blumenkron Radio took control of Radio 13 and began transmitting and five years later, it began transmitting cinemas / billboard - programs with the "Cinema of Mexico." At that time it was known as "Soap Station California Gardens and transmitting already on 1290 KHz. Nowadays it seems to be mainly talk/sports etc.
Also this one web-feed as well and seems to be reliably heard via web as well.
The announcement of the January 2009 King´s Village Station will be posted soon, so stay tuned!
73 TK
Sunday, January 18, 2009
AND4 (January 8-18, 2009)
AND4 (January 8-18, 2009): Participants: GF, JA, OF and TBV
January 8-9: Good conditions to MN (for instance 970 KQAQ), WI from the evening until early morning. Excellent all band WC conditions from the morning until early afternoon, in particular California stations had impressive signals. One of the best days in AND history. 1510 KGA surprised us by showing up as early as 22:25 UTC.
January 9-10: The evening was promising with stations like 1400 WSLB and 1410 WNER noted early on. Unfortunately the night and morning was disappointing. Propagation improved slowly until by 15h UTC conditions were about as good as one day earlier. WC stations faded out after 15:30 UTC with BC signals still present after 16h UTC.
January 10-11: CJVB stayed with us until well after 17h UTC. 3 hours later we were listening to EC stations. Quite a few signals from the US northeastern states. Some DT signals as darkness moved westwards with a strong signal from 1210 KTBK Ke Buena just before they changed to their nighttime pattern. Spot conditons to ID and WA a couple of hours during the night. Widespread signals during the morning, some DT signals from MN, ND during early afternoon.
January 11-12: Some MN in the late evening (920 KDHL, 1030 WCTS). Propagation improved all night and signals were unusually strong by morning with no particular area preferred. Excellent to the WC in the early afternoon with good GY signals. One example 1400 KJDY.
January 12-13: Fabulous conditions! Strong signals early in the evening from NL. WI and MN stations noted very early. Excellent all-band signals throughout the night, morning and into the early afternoon. We are beginning to wonder if we have sufficient disk space for another 5 days ...
January 13-14: Strong and early signals from ME, 1490 WBAE was like a local at 22h UTC. Good conditions to mainly the EC during the night and the morning. Poor during the day as the disturbance caused most signals to disappear.
January 14-15: Varied conditions over the last 24 hours as a weak disturbance continues. Excellent opening to the northeastern states in the evening, ME before 20h UTC, lots of NY DT signals 30 minutes later. Then the best propagation slowly moved westwards to MI. NA stations were replaced by South American signals after 22h and were absent until the morning when we got another excellent EC opening. Poor during the day, however, WA stations very good at 14 and 15h UTC.
January 15-16: Some ME and NY after 21:30 UTC, then good EC conditions all night mixing with a few Latin American stations. Excellent and very interesting morning and day to eastern, central and even southern parts of the US. Only a few dominant stations around. Some Mexico as well like 1320 XECPN La Mexicana. We are very pleased with the conditions.
January 16-17: Again nice signals from NL, ME and NY early on with peak propagation slowly moving towards the west. Strong signals during the night and morning with WC signals much better than the previous day.
January 17-18: ME stations from 19:30 UTC, then the usual pattern with some EC, and propagation focus moving slowly to the Great Lakes. Fair signals at night. Excellent in the morning with widespread signals. AND4 is over and this may well have been an even better DX-pedition than AND3 in terms of more stations heard and stronger signals.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
ENOX13 (January 9.-15., 2009)
January 10, 2009
I set up my equipment in Enontekiö yesterday (Friday) evening. The first night was very lousy with some of the most usual dominants from Newfoundland , Ontario and Maine. In the morning AM was covered with stations from Venezuela to Oregon but the signals were not as loud as I expected to be. In the afternoon quite good HI- and AK conditions with the stations like KMVI 550 (fine local TOH ID) and KSSK 590.As I concentrated mainly in maintaining the antennas today I have not had time to go thru any recordings from today. However I let the SDRs rolling all day long.TuA
January 11, 2009
Generally better DX today than yesterday. Some interesting signals also in the night but after all the signals were quite unstable then. In the morning and around midday stations mostly from the EC then later on light improvment to the WC. Afternoon did not offer almost anything at all compared with Alaskans and HI on Saturday. Today’s new ones for me from a couple of recordings; WYSL-1040 and WSTV-1340. Hopefully the solar weather gets better…
About the weather in Enontekiö area; +/-0 degrees C and full moonlight. TuA
January 12, 2009
Clearly the best day so far during ENOX13 - the solar wx seems to be improving. Stations were audible all day and many of them even with decent signals. All GYs except 1450 kHz were more or less open and they offered some new stations for me. I slept all night thru but had my all SDRs working...From the logbook KBRB-1400, WLCM-1390, WZFG-1100, KBKR-1490, KGED-1680 (my last one from 1680 kHz). TuA
January 13, 2009
Not much to add to what AND- and LEM -crews have written about the conditions during the last 24 hours. Very strong NL –signals Monday evening and so I concentrated in hunting CFSX-870. And yes, I succeeded in capturing it after many years of trying. The signal was not really the first rate but anyway I even picked up an ID for CFCB-570. CFSX relays CFCB in nighttime and runs it’s own programming only during the day.Otherwise it was again hard to find something new on the dial. However, a couple of GY –stations saved the rest of my day.The weather is getting colder up here. Right now it’s -31 degrees C. TuA
January 14, 2009
Many stations from NL, ME and ON were audible last night very early. Morning was periodically OK as well but because the solar wx got worse midday and afternoon were disopointments compared with the previous days. From the recordings two new stations: WJON-1240 and KBEW-1560.This is my last report from ENOX13. It’s time to pack and clean the cabin. I’ll be on the road Thursday at noon at the latest. All the best to AND- and LEM- crews for the rest of the week. Special thanks to OF/AND4 for changing cx- and loggings information via SMS during my stay here in Enontekiö. ENOX13 is signing off./TuA
I set up my equipment in Enontekiö yesterday (Friday) evening. The first night was very lousy with some of the most usual dominants from Newfoundland , Ontario and Maine. In the morning AM was covered with stations from Venezuela to Oregon but the signals were not as loud as I expected to be. In the afternoon quite good HI- and AK conditions with the stations like KMVI 550 (fine local TOH ID) and KSSK 590.As I concentrated mainly in maintaining the antennas today I have not had time to go thru any recordings from today. However I let the SDRs rolling all day long.TuA
January 11, 2009
Generally better DX today than yesterday. Some interesting signals also in the night but after all the signals were quite unstable then. In the morning and around midday stations mostly from the EC then later on light improvment to the WC. Afternoon did not offer almost anything at all compared with Alaskans and HI on Saturday. Today’s new ones for me from a couple of recordings; WYSL-1040 and WSTV-1340. Hopefully the solar weather gets better…
About the weather in Enontekiö area; +/-0 degrees C and full moonlight. TuA
January 12, 2009
Clearly the best day so far during ENOX13 - the solar wx seems to be improving. Stations were audible all day and many of them even with decent signals. All GYs except 1450 kHz were more or less open and they offered some new stations for me. I slept all night thru but had my all SDRs working...From the logbook KBRB-1400, WLCM-1390, WZFG-1100, KBKR-1490, KGED-1680 (my last one from 1680 kHz). TuA
January 13, 2009
Not much to add to what AND- and LEM -crews have written about the conditions during the last 24 hours. Very strong NL –signals Monday evening and so I concentrated in hunting CFSX-870. And yes, I succeeded in capturing it after many years of trying. The signal was not really the first rate but anyway I even picked up an ID for CFCB-570. CFSX relays CFCB in nighttime and runs it’s own programming only during the day.Otherwise it was again hard to find something new on the dial. However, a couple of GY –stations saved the rest of my day.The weather is getting colder up here. Right now it’s -31 degrees C. TuA
January 14, 2009
Many stations from NL, ME and ON were audible last night very early. Morning was periodically OK as well but because the solar wx got worse midday and afternoon were disopointments compared with the previous days. From the recordings two new stations: WJON-1240 and KBEW-1560.This is my last report from ENOX13. It’s time to pack and clean the cabin. I’ll be on the road Thursday at noon at the latest. All the best to AND- and LEM- crews for the rest of the week. Special thanks to OF/AND4 for changing cx- and loggings information via SMS during my stay here in Enontekiö. ENOX13 is signing off./TuA
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