Real Country - KOHU Hermiston OR 1360

It was way back in 2004 when I managed to pick up KUIK on 1360 kHz. Ever since I have tried to capture another Oregon station, KOHU Hermiston, on the same frequency. KKMO usually spoils this trying and when KKMO has been seldom away I have heard a couple of times KUIK again on my 335 -beverage.

However on Novemebr 6 this year on ENOX24 both KKMO and KUIK were away and I heard country songs late in the afternoon on 1360 kHz. Luckily the signal got stronger and stronger when TOH got closer. And on TOH a DJ announced nicely: " "We are your Hometown Radio Stations. This is Real Country 1360 KOHU Hermiston-Irrigon-Umatilla".

KOHU's PD verified my report and he also attached a photo of their broadcast property on the Northwest of Hermiston.

ENOX24 - November 6, 2010

ENOX24 –DXexpedition is coming to its end. It has been an interesting week with many nice catches from NA although conditions could have been better (as always!). It will be definitely interesting to go thru the files and try to get new stations verified…
In a way conditions were quite boring as the same stations and the same areas were heard almost day by day. However, I’m sure that there will be many surprises on the files. Stations from the Pacific Northwest, Hawaii and the Great Lakes –area dominated daily basis. However, ENOX24 first days offered stations from deeper south and the east coast as well.
A couple of nice veries have arrived during the week. A “daytimer” KQNK 1530 verified last night with a short email. KPIO-1570 blessed this hobby and verified my MP3 as wll. Also KOHI 1600 was very excited about my report and recognized easily KOHI on my MP3.

Another main goal for this expedition was testing the brand new RFSpaces’s NetSDR -received coming to the markets later this year. It worked fine and stable, overall performance was very good and it was easy to use. It is great to be able to record the whole AM band for later investigation. The widest usable BW to record is 1300 kHz and you can record this BW direct to your PC’s HD or your external HD as well. Both ways worked well. I used two SV applications simultaneously in the same desktop PC. One SV recorded all the time 1300 kHz BW and with another SV I checked earlier 1300 kHz BW -files with 0.73 kHz resolution. It was amazing! My PC never crashes neither did the NetSDR or SpectraVue –applications.

My special thanks to RF Space and Pieter and Moe for letting me use this NetSDR proto. NetSDR proved to be a perfect receiver also for us hunting the weak AM -signals over the Atlantic in remote and quiet QTHs equipped with long beverage antennas. I think this receiver will be very popular among the serious medium wave listeners and SWLs as well.
Thanks also to LEM –crew. It was fun and useful to exchange SMSs during the week. Thanks to You all for reading this Blog. ENOX24 is signing off.

TuA

ENOX24 - November 4, 2010

The solar weather has been little unstable lately and this can be heard very clearly on the radio. Not so much to pick up from NA in the nighttime but quite strong signals by WA-, OR- , AK- and HI –dominants in the afternoon. However, this morning gave quite a nice opening to the US east coast mixed up with many Puerto Ricon and Latin American stations. Some interesting stations from the last two days: KOHI-1600, WRTO-1200, WMRC-1490 and KALE-960 (tnx for the hint LEM Crew!)
As for the new receiver netSDR. It has been working greatly together with SpectraVue application nonstop since Sunday without any problems at all. The strong signal handling seems to be very good. I have not observed any serious overloading situations. In this way the new receiver seems to be even better than the previous models.

TuA

ENOX24 2.11.2010 - the best day so far

Some the most usual stations from EC and Newfoundland faded in last night as early as 19:00 UTC but they faded away soon. Nothing very interesting in nighttime but this morning and day were the best so far. Many huge signals were noted especially from the Pacific Northwest, Alaska and Hawaii.
From today’s logbook: KBIS-1490, KAGO-1150, KWDB-1110 and finally KQNK Norton, KS on 1530 kHz with a complete TOH –ID and Ap Network News .
NetSDR and antennas work fine. Weather outside windy and -6 degrees C.
TuA

ENOX24 - enjoying NA signals and testing netSDR

Strong NA signals daytime but worse overnights. Little boring conditions with lots of strong dominants all the time. Hopefully files will give pleasant surprises later on.
Here are two pictures of netSDR and SpectraVue’s (v. 3.09) display on 1090 kHz with 0.73 Hz resolution when playing back 1300 kHz BW recording.
NetSDR is a very quiet, sensitive and dynamic receiver . It is pleasure to use it.

TuA

ENOX24 started on October 31st in the afternoon

Strong signals from CO and UT and generally from the west coast. During the live DXing I noticed KIHU-1010 and KPIO-1570. Both are new ones for me. The first night was quite poor with only the usual dominants. Hopefully this comin day will offer more...
I have an evaluation unit of RFSpace's brand new netSDR receiver with me for testing. After a couple of hours listening it seems to be truly a great receiver. It records 1300 kHz range and gives 0.73 Hz resolution when playing back recorded files. Great!
Thank you RFSpace and Pieter for letting me test this new super receiver.

TuA

ENO22 loggings

The ENOX22 (Sept. 10.-13.2010 and Sept. 17.-19.2010) updated loggings can be found here.

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.