ENXO23 - 14-15.10

14.-15.10


The evenings could be much more lively - nothing to report from yeasterday.

First stations from the continental U.S. appeared at around 22 UTC, but just the very common ones (WLQV-1500, WWZN-1510, WWKB-1520...). It took another 2 hours, before more stations appeared. At midnight UTC it was worth the whilem to start taking the hobby more seriously. Nothing spectacular at night, though.

At this time of October the peak of the signals seems to take place just in front of UTC and the signals remain fairly decent until 7 UTC, then gradually being dampened by the sunlight. Still, some signals start to stay throughout the noon at this time of the year. Quite nice going in the morning, but without any specific direction.
The strong signal in the morning was KWEI-1260 with its new format ESPN Deportes. The most common Hawaii were strong again in the afternoon with KUAU-1570 being even stronger than the usual "king", KUMU, which also has changed format to ESPN and its call to KHKA.

Some of the more interesting stations identified at the time of listening live were WTTL-1310 and WRTO-1200 in the night and KGBT-1530 in the morning.

One more night and morning to go on ENOX23, then straight to LEM for one more week - hopefully with some OS as well !

ENOX23 IS ON - HN 12.-17.10.2010

12.-13.10.

After a 13 hour direct drive through blowing snow I arrived at ENOX on tuesday evening (12.10) at around 18 UTC, just to notice that the CME effects were still strongly on. Around 20 UTC the Canadians on 1230 started to come in, first CFFB and a moment later also CHFC. In addition to these, Greenland on 650. Even these with much variation in strength. Dead all night...

However, all of sudden in front of 5 UTC the MW band opened for some 20 minutes with the main emphasis on...Mexico ! The signals were still much affected by the CME with signals quickly coming in strong, only to disappear soon again. But lady luck was with me, as the strongest peaks in the signals centered exactly around the TOH. Since it was the midnight hour in most parts of Mexico, the Mexican National Anthem was heard all over. Some versions only lasted for 2 minutes or so, but the "norm" seems to be the 4-minute version. During that time some signals had time to fade in and out some 2-3 times. It was a gamble with identifications...,on 1080 the National Anthem was accompanied by what I believe to be a provincial one, postponing the "TOH" Id to 7 almost minutes past... Many interesting signals faded unfavorably, but having listened to all recordings from that period, I was still lucky to positively identify 23 stations around this signgle TOH , among them XETO-950, XETUL-1080, XEAU-1090 and XEYZ-1130, which all have not been previously logged in Finland.

In the afternoon, Hawaii and some Alaska started to fade in in front of 13 UTC and continued fairly past 14 UTC. Specifically the upper end was in good shape and KUAU-1570 came in particularily strong for over one hour.

14.10.

The evening of the 13th of October was dead. So was the night - at least on my recordings, which had encountered some unidentified problem and I had nothing on the hard disk. When I woke up, the going was quite good all over the NA continent, accompanied by some MEX. The remains of the CME effect were still there, with signals swinging back and fort. At one time the 297 degree antenna was best for the whole continent ! A coupple of stations identified "live" were WZOE-1490, WGNS-1450, KATE-1450, KIHH-1400, KWEI-1260, XERO-1240 and XESA-1260.

In general it has been somewhat interesting to have the CME-type of disturbance, where the effects of the CME cause dominant stations being cut out on many frequencies and the general recovery from the more significant effects taking place quite rapidly. The past years have been packed with all sorts of Coronal Hole effects, which are very different: even smaller effects seemed to make signals disappear and the lenght of the recovery often was painfully long. This is a lot more fun with "only moderately strong" CME´s !"

ENOX22 gave me a new TX on 1400 kHz

There was a sharp peak towards NA on Sunday morning, September 19, 2010 on ENOX22.

I was not DXing AM live but I let two IQs roll on the band. Later, when checking the files I have noticed some quite nice stations but all of them had verified me earlier.

However, on 1400 kHz I came across a new TX, that has been heard a couple of times before in Scandinavia but never by me. It was KIUN Pecos that faded in nicely on TOH giving an ad and a legal ID.

Thanks to HN/OJS for the v/s -info. I got this one verified in two hours.

WIMA Lima OH 1150

WIMA 1150 kHz was heard in Enontekiö on September 12 this year. As everyone knows WHBY and CKOC usually dominate on 1150 Khz nowadays with the east coast and the Lakes region conditions. Also this time they were strongly audible simultaneously with WIMA. Luckily WIMA faded in clearly just before TOH giving legal ID and a short weather forecast in the Reds sport coverage break.

WIMA's board operator (also a ham operator) verified my report with an interesting email. He wrote among other things that: "The audio sample you sent was TOH Reds ID news liner with Kelly Wilson...That truely is an incredible catch. Everyone at the station is talking about this."

WIMA became my 12th verified station on 1150 kHz and my OH #32.

ESPN Deportes 1450 kHz

Some stations really take time to verify...
I have frequently sent reception reports, tapes, cassettes, emails and mp3s since the 1980's to WIIN/WFPG/WKXW/WFPG/WENJ Atlantic City, NJ. Back in October 2007 on ENOX2 I picked up the station once again airing ESPN programming with an unusually loud and clear signal. However, as usual - nobody verified my reception back then.
Finally tonight I succeeded in getting a kind email with a complete verification from WENJ.
OJS, thank you for your contact information!

ENOX17 and ENOX19

The ENOX17 and ENOX19 updated loggings can be found here:
ENOX17 and ENOX19

WDIA 1070 kHz - The first black formatted station in the US

Probably the best catch I captured on September 12 in Enontekiö was a Tennessee station, WDIA from Memphis on 1070 kHz. It was audible about 10 minutes and came in loud and clear when playing music and when giving an ID you could still hear "WDIA" clearly.

WDIA is 62 years old and still going strong. I got two different emails from two different persons on WDIA. They both verified my report and MP3. Another was an assistant program director and he was so excited that he read my entire email on his "Fun Afternoon Show" live on the radio. Another reply came from a WDIA news anchor and she invited me to visit thei wonderful city of Memphis,Tennessee. The home of the blues and Elvis Presley.

WRWB Huntington WV 1470 kHz

WRWB from Huntington West Virginia on 1470 kHz became my first new catch for this season. It was heard on two TOH IDs in a row on ENOX22 on September 11 this year.

WRWB's program director was quite pedantic when verifying my report and especially the MP3 audio I sent. He wrote me earlier in the week that he will listen to my MP3 very closely during the coming weekend. And he did and he even asked the announcer who was working at the time listen to my MP3 as well. And they both clearly recognize WRWB -ID on the MP3.

So this way WRWB became my third verie from WV.

Albert Lea Radio, AM 1450 KATE

During good Minnesota openings last December on ENOX19 I was waiting for "KATE" identification on 1450 kHz. I never heard it back then. Instead of KATE I picked up WELY with a good legal ID.

So it was quite a big surprise when KATE surfaced on 1450 kHz on Sunday night on September 12 this year. They had a weather forecast and a complete slogan ID. A Carly Simon song was played as well with a loud and clear signal.

KATE's news director verified my report quickly. KATE became my MN #61.

WGAI Elizabeth City, NC 560 kHz - another "Newsradio 560"

Even though I didn't hit the best conditions last October there were some mornings with decent signals on lower AM as well on ENOX17. And sometimes it pays to check files as closely as possible.

It was one of those mornings when I captured WGAI and WGAN simultaneously on 560 kHz. Both stations gave legal IDs on the top of the hour with the call letters and slogan "Newsradio 56".

Luckily WGAN had a male announcer and WGAI was announced by a female announcer. So this time it was easy to identify those stations even if their calls are so close to each other.

WGAI verified with an short email and it became my NC#11.