LOGS / NEWS - DECEMBER 2009 A site mainly dedicated to Mediumwave Dxing |
Personal Firsts this month =0 SO FAR ALL TIMES
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SCOTLAND'S WINTER WONDERLAND: Well, I have not had too much to say this last few days. We have had snow like the proverbial winter wonderland here in Scotland. The trees have even been breaking and falling over under the strain of the weight of the snow. It is not often we have scenery such as this here in Scotland. The photos I uploaded last week are not worth talking about by comparason to the ones I have taken in the days afterwards.
I have a limited number on my local history site as well, but if you click the link, use the back button to return here, as there are no links back. As said here before, I'd prefer local kids not seeing photos of my beverages!! lol http://www.ayrshirehistory.com/sorn_winter_wonderland.html
DX CLUB RELEASE OLD UK LISTS: One of the dx clubs in the UK have released an old version of their former secret all time UK dx lists. These old files can be found here. The listing is a good guide as to what can be heard in the UK. I am led to believe, the current list is still kept amongst themselves, close to their chests.
Right click and save target as etc...
HOW TO EARN A QUICK BUCK: Talking of $$ and £££, I read an amusing begging letter in the IRCA the other day. One down under group call themselves a free service for radio archives, yet send out begging letters to raise funds for a web site with photos and audio clips etc.
Thanks for trusting
us with your memories, stories, photographs, With
tough economic times in 2009, our income will be struggling to
Considering web space costs about £10 or £20 a year for 3gig, and not much more for a lot more space, it makes you wonder where the rest of the six thousand dollars is going!!!!!! Why do they need $18,000 to run a £20 web site? I for one smell something seriously dubious in all this this. Should we all put our hands in our pockets and send this mob money?? Well they have some web pages up all be it with nightmare navigation. Maybe they do deserve a new car, or a good tropical holiday..... That will be right. Another web scam....... for sure... These scammers will certainly not be linked from these pages. But if anyone wants to drop a few grand in the post to me, do get in touch... lol.
STUART RUSSEL BOOK ARRIVES!! The extemely long wait from the supposedly wonderful AMAZON to decide to mail a book is now over. I have SHIPS IN TROUBLED WATERS by NIGEL HARRIS at last, delivered on Christmas Eve. This took an amazing 38 days to crawl in from England!!! Almost 6 weeks!! I doubt if I will ever be foolish enough to use Amazon ever again. Why does this take so long to deiver a book from England?? Even if it came by pushbike, it would not have taken all that time.
I have already made the author aware of the shocking service. I was initially put off at his own web site and delivery dates, of 5 to 10 working days, which can easily mean two or maybe even three weeks. I was also put off by the Caroline web shop for taking an amazing three weeks to deliver a book earlier in the year, although I would have preferred to give them money anyway, as it helps to keep the station on the air!! So I thought I would go for the well publicised AMAZON name!!! Never again. I use ebay to buy odd things from time to time, and often the goods arrive next day!! An average Joe, geared up to mail goods better than the mighty Amazon?? True it seems. The book itself is a great read, and as I expected. I read it over Christmas, and thoroughly enjoyed it all. Anyone who was a fan of Offshore Radio in the 70's and 80's is in for a treat, and this book is a must for the old creaky book shelf.
Nothing much to report here, except that the winter snow has arrived this year, and it is the biggest dump of snow I have seen here for a number of years. So I thought I would add a few photos I have taken this last week. I also have included some from yesterday's snow, and a few from a clear clear day last week, of the Paps of Jura, Sanda Island off Kintyre, and the Irish coastline, and high ground.
AN NEW ENTRY AT LAST HERE: It's been a week since I have made any entries in this page. It is not because of the band being bad. It has a lot to do with the band being rather good and wide open again in fact. I have been busy listening to my files too, and working on another web project for one of my neighbours, unconnected with radio. I have not yet filled in any personal firsts this month at the top of the page, yet there have been quite a number. That will be taken care of soon too hopefully, as well as filling in the last 3 months in my all time list. The audio clip project is coming on, though I have been slacking this last few weeks. Bear with me on the various projects which are on going here. Luckily there are no time limits.
THE LONG MISERABLE WAIT FOR AMAZON: I will never try and buy anything through Amazon again. I thought they were an "on the ball company", and geared up as a mail order crowd. It seems I was wrong. I have been waiting for the book "Ships in Troubled Waters" by Nigel Harris for about a month now. I intentionally never ordered through the Radio Caroline Web shop, as they took three weeks for delivery of a book earlier in the year. I really would have preferred to order from the Caroline Web shop, as part of the money goes towards the upkeep of the Ross Revenge, and keeping the station on air, but with a book taking three weeks to come from England, that can hardly be classed as a good service. Amazon on the other hand have beat that record by a long shot, and their service is not much short of a disgrace. I wonder if I am the only one who has had this problem with this outfit?
QUICK AND EASY MW DX LISTS: Davie up the road (David Hamilton) sent me a link for a great mw listing which I have not seen before. Quick and easy they are called, and they certainly are. No clutter, and no begging buttons trying to sell you better versions etc. Any regular readers to this blog will know I hate clutter on software, or web sites .... There are four lists.
Pity there are no States or Provinces incorporated.
PERSEUS RELEASE: The Perseus release was interesting, and a number of people have contacted me to thank me for the detailed installation guide on these pages. Thanks for the vote of confidence. It seems that there is to be a new release again before Christmas, to tidy up some loose ends. I wonder if the long sought after navigation with recorded files will ever happen, as well as the cure for the deafening whistle that happens if you miss the tiny thin playback bar with the mouse.. Try listening to recordings if you are just up in the morning or came in from the pub. You'd wake the house up with the noise!!
OFF TOPIC - SCIENTISTS CAUGHT WITH THEIR TROUSERS DOWN: The news a couple of weeks ago was quite interesting. Scientists in England have been caught red handed fixing and manipulating figures related to controvertial supposed global warming. A download of 60 meg is on line for download, of all the emails which contain the details. Here are a few links.
Read about the scientists here Link to the 60meg file of original material
THE GREAT GLOBAL WARMING SWINDLE: Anyone interested in this subject should watch the excellent documentary, THE GREAT GLOBAL WARMING SWINDLE. Here are a few words about the documentary.
http://www.moviesfoundonline.com/great_global_warming_swindle.php
RTTY ON 570 MW - FROM WHERE??? Are there any dxers with rtty software or decoders, that can identify the source of the rtty on 570 in the European afternoons and evenings. Logged here initially a few weeks ago, along with Greenland, and I had wondered if it was somehow getting into their duff 570 transmitter. But I tried an inverted L antenna the other day, and found the signal came right up. It is also heard on the NRD, and is not a product of the RPA1 preamp. On the thru position, the rtty is still loud and clear. Neither is it any overload from 518. There were similar signals on 518 a few dayes ago, but 518 went off, while 570 carried on. This has also been heard in Holland by John M.
SAQ 17.2 kHz 24th DECEMBER: SAQ reactivate the lf transmitter again at 0800 on 24th December on the ver low freq of 17.2kHz. I must remember to set my recording to take in the extreme LF area of the band. Just incase I am not up in time to chat to Santa on his rounds.. http://www.alexander.n.se/startsida_e.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexanderson_alternator
This is another interesting web site http://mt-utility.blogspot.com/
SKYPE CHAT: Our Skype chat has been quite busy lately too, and makes for interesting dxing, having live text chats with other dxers about their logs, (and anything else for that matter). Some of the dxers are having great success, logging many weird and wonderful calls that just are not making it here. Swings and roundabouts I suppose, as I have had a few pleasant surprises myself.
FESTIVE SEASON: Dare I say what I say every Christmas. I hope to have some spare and lazy time to myself to do some dxing around the festive season. I may even get the chance to do some late night live dxing. Then again, I may be out where I should be, and enjoying myself. So long as the band stays nice and calm, just maybe for once we may have a few surprises during a former traditional time of busy dxing, between Christmas and New Year. Not that I am short of recordings from real good days that still need rechecked!!
ALASKA 680 COMING THROUGH AGAIN: Alaska has been regular signal wise here, but completely lacking IDs. KBRW on 680 is by far the most regular, and can sometimes peak to quite reasonable signal levels. Last night at some time or other around 1740 I think it was, the signal was very good. Sadly there are a few things on the negative side with KBRW. Their audio is like something out of 1970s African tropical bands, very low and muffled. They don't seem to ID much more than once an hour either. So the chances of an ID during a peak, are pretty slim. The added drawback here is holland. The bible station from Holland on 675 has exceptionally wide bandwidth when they play those funny style of tunes they play, and can cause real grief here. I have a flag antenna facing more or less due north, but results from it are poor. Weak signals etc. I am not sure if something is wrong, that the signals are so poor. OK it brings in 675 NRK with virtually no NL most of the time. But as far as an antenna especially for AK is concerned, it is not much use. Signals on a bevergae facing NW are much better. Maybe I need to try and swing it around slightly. I don't know. Or maybe I am looking for beverage signals on a flag, ie trying to take ten gallons out of a five gallon drum.
COAST TO COAST STATION ON 610 - CKTB, ST CATHARINE, ONT: I was under the impression I sometimes hear KDAL with C/C but always fading out aty toth, or during id,s. Today, Friday, I managed to hear an ID after c/c, but it came from CKTB Ontario. So beware. I did hear the KDAL station last winter, which also carries c/c. I suspect CKTB will be a common station if the Frenchie ever closes up shop. That has been on the cards for some time now, yet still they hang on in there.Typical, though not exclusive, was the response to my request to the station for information on the AM closure. Nothing.....
LOGS
FOR DECEMBER SO FAR:
17.2
Swedish LF station SAQ test. hrd well. 0800 10/12
LOGS AND PERSONAL FIRSTS: I have been neglecting my recordings lately. It has been chaos since mid week. Just as I was going to settle down and try the files from Wednesdays great morning, the Perseus release came out. I have had a number of personal firsts, mainly thanks to tips from Paul C, but there are also some unids which I have still to work at. Bear with me on publishing the logs for a day or two. The Canadian kids station on 1670 was active last night. Is it on air every day?? Don't hear much tonight on 1670. Maybe the kids are normally in bed early....
PERSEUS RELEASE AGAIN: Today has been fun and games again with the Perseus latest release. I finally have the software working. If you read yesterday's entry, you will see that I couldn't make the new release work here. Here's what happened. There was much speculation on the Perseus Yahoo group last night, but eventually Nico left a message that they had a laptop at Microtelecom with the same results as I have. Various windows updates and dot net framework updates were made to the Microtelecom PC before it burst into life. . I had tried dot net framework with wave chopper, but still never got it to work, but I was up for trying it again. I couldn't find the last download I made, so had to download it again. It turned out to be the same file I did download before, which I found in the wavechopper folder!! Typical. It is 237meg, so it is a fair download. First off I tried the Perseus again with a clean install of XP and service pack 3. 2.1h wouldn't work, like yesterday. I installed the dot net framework, and voila. Success. Working perfectly. Next I tried a fresh install of XP with service pack 2 only, and the dot net framework. Success again. Working perfectly. So this leaves us with the assumption that to use Perseus from version 2.1h and onwards, we have to use a PC with XP and Service Pack 2 to begin with. This was the minimum spec anyway. But we require dot net framework. That is unless there is a "work around" planned. Here is the link for a download. Always handy to have the .exe file incase it is required again. 237 meg takes about 90m to download here. http://download.microsoft.com/download/2/0/e/20e90413-712f-438c-988e-fdaa79a8ac3d/dotnetfx35.exe
The new version was said to be memory hungry, more so than the older version. I quite honestly can say I haven't found this. I made a test with Radio Sweden on AM, using the same settings, set to spect, zoom function on. Here are my results. First the older version 2.1f. When I am using a single core 2.8g PC, I need the extra few percent!! NB. I reverted back to the old driver to try vs 2.1f, but resource demands on the CPU were about the same. No difference noted. All tests made at 2000khz sampling.
I can also say that nothing has moved or got in the way, and auto hotkeys can still be used with the former files I made up for vs 2.1f. They are on line here if anyone want's them. Check Perseus Lifechanging Receiver article. So I am now successfully recording files with the new release.
NEW PERSEUS RELEASE - A LONG NIGHT:
There was a mad rush to download the new version of Perseus last night, so much so that the Microtelecom server seemed to be struggling under the strain!! The initial excitement soon turned to despair here however. My evening was set out before me. I planned to have a nice relaxing one and trawl through the files from the previous overnight session, as there were some rarer stations around on the MW band. I thought as usual there would have been the usual simple transition to the new release. Not so. After managing some download bandwidth from the struggling Microtelecom site, I discovered that the new version requires new drivers to operate as a full working version. This was unexpected. The instructions suggested creating a restore point. I never made any system restore point, mainly because my system restore is always turned off. I also trusted Microtelecom's download. Maybe I should have tried the new version on an old test drive. Hindsight is a great thing. The instructions in the WinUSB_ENG_R1.pdf were unclear due to differences in languages I suspect. But after reading, all that is required is to navigate to the device manager in windows XP.
The easiest way to reach the device manager for me using Windows XP is simply this: 1. Right click "My Computer" (Not on a shortcut) 2. "Properties" 3. "Hardware" 4. "Device Manager"
Alternative 1. Start 2. Settings 3. Control Panel 4. System 5. Hardware 6. Device Manager
Using the old style drivers Perseus appears in "Universal Serial Bus Controllers" (At the bottom of the list in mine). Click the + to expand.
"Perseus HF receiver - Microtelecom s.r.l." has an entry here Right click this entry key and click on "update driver..." Browse to navigate to wherever you have downloaded the new software to. The drivers are within the folder in the new release. NB. Using WINZIP, the folder is not shown, and all files are left loose within one folder. I have never seen a zip file with folders. (Usually I had to use WINRAR to create a .rar file which contained multiple folders)
Once you install the drivers, Windows says that the device is installed and working properly.
And in Device Manager, there is a new entry for Microtelecom and Perseus
BUT On my system it ain't gonna work. I can not now use Perseus with either the new version on the old version for live dxing. Both work fine for playback of recordings.
I get either this message, claiming drivers not found, despite the above device manager entries.
OR this message
I have error messges, saying Receiver Not Found, so software operates in demo mode. This is a playback only mode. It looks as though there are going to be flashing signs every day to say the 60 day trial is almost over etc. What happens when it is?? Remember the timed out version last New Year??
I was recording New Year celebrations on MW each hour through the night. When I came home from my night out, a timed out message had come up!! This was on supposed working software!! Is this new version going to time out when we least expect it?? Is it going to be reliable?? Who knows. To be sure, I think I will stick to version 2.1f for making recordings. It was promised not to have any silly time out messages in built.
STILL NOT WORKING: So what do we do with the software that doesn't like my PC? OK I thought to myself, let's uninstall within device manager, and reinstall the old drivers, and return to the previous version. Right click the new entry and uninstall. OK, let's also delete the microtelecom key in the registry. All done. Let's also reboot the PC for a laugh and try it from there. After boot up, windows finds a new device. Navigate to the original CD that came with the Perseus receiver. Now it is not so easy. The new drivers get reinstalled anyway, so somewhere along the line, the new drivers are not completely uninstalled. Like most software, traces seem to remain. And during this frustrating time, I was not helped by an old friend being on the phone for about 2 hours while I was trying to work this out, and wouldn't go off the phone!!! (I could smell the vodka coming down the phone line..lol) Nothing like someone yattering in your ear to put you "aff the chap" as they say here in SW Scotland. Began to worry incase the hardware had somehow been modified/ firmware update of some kind, and I couldn't reverse it. I tried the perseus on another PC, and it burst into life fine. I ended up throwing another hard drive in the main machine, with a fresh install of Windows, and tried again. Version 2.1f worked perfectly with the old drivers, and when I updated again, both new and old releases sat down and refused to play live, just as before. I hastily made a new windows install on a fresh drive, ready for my overnight recordings. Went to bed beaten, and feeling like a novice!! Came into the shack in the morning and all was fine, recordings made overnight with autohotkeys were fine. So I gave the main hard drive a try again, and with a fresh brain, noticed at this screen, when trying to reinstall the old drivers, there was an option for "Don't search, I will choose the driver to install" I had always used the first choice, and browsed for the drivers. Using the second option, see below, the old drivers installed straight away, and without any problems. Great I think, no need to wipe my main drive after all.
So with the old version 2.1f working again on the original hard drive, again I tried to reinstall the new drivers. Again, they install fine. Again the successful message in device manager. Again the cryptic sign that says no drivers found etc. Perseus plugged in and out again too as you would do, but still the same. Reinstall the old drivers again, and leave the version 2.1f as a working unit. I decided there could be a clash with the hardware, or you somehow had to be connected to the web to activate? The main PC is never near the web. I have a web only PC, which is a good system. Too much work and stuff on the main pc to be bothered with web stuff slowing it up. Tried a completely separate PC, and find that incredible though it seems, the exact same thing happens. This leads me to wonder why. I can think of a few reasons.
1. Does the software somehow require a web connection to activate? 2. Does the software fail to operate unless it detects that the PC is at least a dual core machine?? 3. Does it now require a certain windows update or .net framework etc to operate?? I never managed to work wavechopper on my main machine. It required web connections. 4. Is there something simple which I am overlooking. 4. Have I lost it altogether, and need to take up knitting??
Answers to......etc etc....
After trying the software, on playback mode, I can comment on a few things. I hope there are no annoying pop up screens every time perseus activates. That could mess up the autohotkeys files. I see there are no real improvements that benefit my kind of dxing, which is MW. The recording bar is still very thin, the deafening tones when you miss the playback bar are still there, and there are still about 9 or 10 clicks to go back 20 seconds to a previous recorded file, depends where you keep the files. It is a pity, as the main selling point of the receiver is the record facility for MW dxers, of which there are many. Most of the mw dxers I am sure bought the receiver on the strength of it's wideband recording capabilities. I did notice an on / off (pause and clear) button for the waterfall, which is going to be handy for struggling systems. It seems during initial tests, to reduce CPU usage a little more. Nice one. Fancy colouring in tools have no benefit here really, unless they are a solution waiting for a problem. May be useful to some dxers though. Nice that the labels go off with the push of a button. I don't do much with those either. So here am I, the only one I think who never managed to get the software to work!!!
MW DXING IN DECEMBER: Sometimes I go through phases in dxing. In years gone past, I would not switch on a MW transatlantic signal for months, and then suddenly I would hear a good lively band, and become hooked again. I think that is what has happened to me yesterday. For the last few weeks, we seem to have been in the doledrums, and every time I check the band, all I am hearing is common every day stations. Sometimes even they were poor or in the mush. My interest wained, and I became busy with another web project. Many nights I did not even bother to record any over night files. I was caught out one night last year when I didn't record anything, and Davie up the road had a logbook full of weird calls from southern states that I had never even heard of (The calls, not the states.. hi). Some of these rarities were FKR-UK logs. I have such a mountain of files to delete from the last 3 weeks that are gonna go in one foul press of the delete key, bar one odd night of a strange call on 1470, and ee on 1570. So there you are, the story of the last few weeks. I have noticed the band is picking up slowly, but I wouldn't have said the band was anything near it's enhanced state of early November. Fade out is still so much earlier than a month ago, not something one would think was likely, giving that we have much more darkness. Again this morning I didn't bother to record 1000, as everything was almost gone. Alf Aardal in Norway reports the band wide open past 1300 and 1400 yesterday, but if truth be told, I never rechecked after the initial fade out. Maybe I should have. But read on. Now that I am gee'ed up again, maybe work can continue on the web stream audio clip resource. Davie up the road has made another 15 or so, waiting for me to bang them on line. Guy in Seattle has also made the offer to assist. As I said, I have been on a dx go slow this last couple of weeks, so there is still a lot of work still to be done on this project, and I have a load of other items which couid be labeled "work in progress" for this site as well. Keep watching....
NORTH POLE ALASKA ON 1170: Yesterday I was struck dumb, (that's novel.. lol) when Stateside dxer "NDB Mark" heard North Pole AK on 1170 via global tuners, from Alan in Port Rush's receiver. (Northern Ireland) I think I can include the audio clip here, if I can find it. Mark has also been listening to some of my recordings which are available on Guy Atkin's site. He has noted a host of beacons, some never known to be reported in Europe before, inc two from AK. Details will follow. KJNP North Pole 1170 1500 8th December 2009
KCKK DENVER 1510: Logs for today are being made. Still listening to my files. But here is a taste of how KCKK Denver came in at 0400. 091209_0400_1510_kckk_denver_am_lsb_vg.mp3
LF TESTS: Tomorrow to commemorate and event in radio history, the 17.2kHz transmitter in Sweden will again be on the air. There will also be a transmission from the German LF station. The Swedish txer will also be heard on 24th Dec on their annual xmas eve broadcast. GERMANY: There will be a special broadcast from DDH47 on 147.3 kHz in December: On 10th of December 1909 Prof. F. Braun and G. Marconi received the Nobel Prize for Physics at Stockholm. Both gentlemen were honoured for their developments in the field of wireless communication. On its 100th anniversary, Prof. Braun Day (DL0PFB) will make a special transmission with the longwave transmitter DDH47 (147,3 kHz) of National Weather Service Deutscher Wetterdienst. From 9th December 2009 23:00 until 10th December 2009 01:00 UTC the transmitter is available for 2 hours in telegraphy. (Ydun Ritz)
GRIMETON RADIO/SAQ TRANSMISSION There will be a transmission with the Alexanderson alternator on 17,2 kHz on December 10 2009 at 08:00 UTC and will be repeated at 16:00 UTC the same day. The reason for the extra transmission is a centenary commemoration of the Nobel Prize given to Guglielmo Marconi and Karl Ferdinand Brown. We do not require any QSL-reports this time and will not verify.
GOING THROUGH CHANGES (AS OZZY WOULD SAY): It has been a sad week for dxers. We have lost 1590 again to jamming from Germany. I suppose their listener will be extatic though. They may get another listener if they run an awareness campaign. Big L is back on 1395, but in all honesty, is causing no real grief in the late morning hours. The night time hours are somewhat different. The station in Canada on 610 is still on the air in French, despite the transmitter supposed to have been switched off by now. I wonder if they have an extension, or if they have conveniently forgotton to switch off?? 890 has seen the return of Boston's WAMG, the former ESPN station. According to a report on the web, they have been back since 3rd Dec with SS, noted here last night. Below are some of the changes happening / happened in recent times. There may be more.
594 QRO German due off year end?? 610 Frenchie still on air (Due off 1st Dec) 890 WAMG Boston back on air in SS 963 Finland back with relays 1395 Big L back on air (QRP WNKR moved to 1512) 1440 Extra Hour of relays 0000 - 0100 1593 German Jamming back
DECEMBER AGAIN : Well here we are in the season of goodwill again, and the band is as good as dead. So much so that in the last week, I have about 5 entries in the log, and one of them is Boomerang on 1660, a Dutch pirate!! On the plus side, think on the hard drive space saved, by not keeping any rubbish files!!!
QRM BACK: BIG L is back on 1395. Bad news for dxers.
NOVEMBER DX LOGS NOW ON LINE: My logs for the whole month of November are now on line and available in the public domain. They are all at the end of the pdf file for November, in frequency order. (*PDF) They may not be as neat and detailed as contributions are to a paper DX club. But I simply don't write long logs any more. This is far far too time consuming. I admire the dxers who still take the time to complete detailed logs these in days of wideband recordings. I never seem to find the time to do much else when the band is good for dx, never mind write up detailed logs... You are no sooner finished listening to a top of the hour recording, till it's time to record another one!! Great fun?? Or geeky?? lol ... Both I think..
FINLAND - ALL TIME MW LIST: It seems that according to what I am reading, the UK all time mw dx list will still remain secret, away from the public eyes. I have found another list which may be a better option for European dxers to use as a reference, created by Finnish DXers, and available in the public domain. This may be preferable to use as a guide to what is being heard in Europe, rather than the UK all time list. I am not sure if this is a listing from one DX club, or an attempt at producing a complete all time list of known logs. It is certainly a very impressive list of dx catches, and may act as a guide to dxers that are not members of the paper dx clubs.
http://www.diccons.com/radio/jenklist.xls
There was once talk of the UK all time list being made public, but on the dx club concerned's web pages, it is described as being available "soon" in a subscription only yahoo group. (As usual with dx clubs, I mean cash subscription, not membership subscription). That is hardly what could be called being available in the public domain. What a disgrace, after all the work that has been put in to it by various dxers under the pretence that the list would be made public. My own all time list is and always will be available in the public domain, but that is only a shadow of the complete UK listings.
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