| KEN'S
DX DIARY AND LOGS - THURSDAY 31st OCTOBER 2013 |
MW
DXING LOGS FROM TODAY:
630 Radio
Progresso 0659 31/10
680 WRKO in with 680 NEWS 0700 31/10 ABC News
730 SS mixing 0700 31/10
760 SS on the WJR channel!! 0700 31/10
760 WCHP 2210 + 2215 and sign off ann good at times
760 WVNE MA 25kW Daytimer 2200 31/10
820 WNYC NY 2200 30/10
940 Unid, prob WCPC Houston MS. Sounded like their heavy preachers.2230
31/10 poor
950 Cuban warbler and Radio Reloj pips etc with CKNB 0700 31/10
970 WFLA 0700 31/10 News Radio 970 WFLA, Fox News
1070 WFLI Lookout Mountain TN very weak 2300 31/10
1080 WTIC Superb signal 2300 31/10
1190 WCRW Washington market 2230 31/10
1430 WNSW Newark 0700 31/10
1590 
WGBW 2303
31/10 good peak. alone on the channel. wx and into tunes
============================================================
DAYTIMERS
AT NIGHT HEARD IN OCTOBER:
I had
around 10 daytimers I think, for the month of October. A few are true
daytimers, eg WCHP and WIZZ, that completely sign off at night. Others
reduce their power significantly, and CFMB I believe have a very different
antenna pattern at night. There are others that can hardly be called
daytimers, that reduce power from say 5kw to 1kw and that kind of
thing. The freq database shows some amazing day / night changes in
their listings.
This
is the last day of daytimers this month. Tomorrow night WCHP for example
doesn't close at 2215, but at 2130. Same goes for the new one heard
last night on 760.
760 WCHP
2210 + 2215 and sign off ann good at times
760
WCHP Inc
s/off ann at 2215. really good in the clear tonight
760 WVNE MA 25kW Daytimer 2200 31/10
830
WFNO Norco, LA 0603, 0633, 0702 17/10 Pres day power PERSONAL
1st, poss FRK-UK? Suspiciously ss sounding mx on 14th all night, but
no id so far, bar ss slogan around 01 I think it was.
940
Unid, prob WCPC Houston MS. Sounded like their heavy preachers.2230
31/10 poor
1070 WFLI Lookout Mountain 2300 31/10 Very poor also very poor 30/10
1190 WCRW Washington market 2230 31/10 Sign off ann
1280 CFMB Montreal Daytimer 2100 29/10
1320
WDER Derry
NH DAYTIMER 2100 29/10 good peak for id
1520
WIZZ Daytimer 2211 19/10 music well on top of WWKB. closing ann 2215.
Also hrd 21/10
1590
WHGT Maucansville, MD, Daytimer 2200 19/10 weak 2200 23/10.
Begging advert to raise 300,000 dollars they have in debt!! Gees.
Maybe they better not burn any more electricity!!
==========================================================
RADIO
ORIENT 1350 GONE - KEEP GOING WITH THE OTHERS!!
The QRM
on 1350 that calls itself Radio Orient has closed MW apparantly, as
reported on Ydun's web pages. That is good news for us mw dxers. I
am not sure if it is really bad news for anyone bar the pockets of
the power supplier for 1350. Actually I see it is only listed as 10kW
in WRTH 2012, I thought it might have been more. It used to be one
of the large 300kw units in Nice!!.
I heard
a really good ID the other night on 1350 and remember thinking that
I should record it, never imagining that it was going off. Well in
all the Perseus files in the collection here, I must have hundreds
of IDs..
Wouldn't
it be nice if France switched off the rest of their powerhouses!!
1377, 1404, 1278, 1557, etc etc.
| KEN'S
DX DIARY AND LOGS - WEDNESDAY 30th OCTOBER 2013 |
MW DXING:
At first
glance, the band seems a little Mexican. 970, 1000 etc. But also Detroit
coming through on 1270. The band sure is active this last few days.
ANOTHER
POSSIBLE REASON TO REPORT WRONGLY:
This
hobby is littered with dxers not listening for proper IDs and making
assumptions through sports games and news feeds. The clip below shows
how a novice dxer, if there are any, could mistake WEGP for taking
ABC NEWS in this clip, even though it's really on WFBL. The 2nd &
3rd recordings show superb examples of multi call ids, that often
lead to dxers chasing ghosts.
1390
WEGP 2300
29/10 This is a common station here, but listen to the clip.
1360
WDRC Hartford
reasonable level to record multi call.
1390
WFBL Syracusse NY 2200 28/12 Good multi call ID.
LOGS
FROM THE BAND TODAY:
900 W
Radio 0700 30/10
970 Radio Formula 0700 30/10
1000 Radio Mil 0657 30/10
1070 WAPI 0700, BETTER 0500 30/10 Sounding more like WKPI!!
1270 WXYT Detroit 0700 30/10
1280 Unid SS 2200 poss daytimer?? hard to say. mixing with sports
29/10
1330
unid
ss 2200 29/10 D Double V??? Is this WRCA or poss WWRV??
(Update: Paul C, my dx neighbour tells me this is a web address, not
a call sign. Such is my poor SS!!
1390
WEGP 2300 29/10 This is a common station here, but listen to the clip.
A novice could not be blamed for thinking that ABC NEWS was on WEGP
here, even though its really on WFBL.
1470
WLAM good id 2301 29/10 sad to see this oldies station relaying some
national thing // 1590
1590
WGBW Denmark Greenbay . Real Oldies // 1470 ID 2301 29/10
1640
WKSH Sussex Ex Disney, ex silent, now back with mx 2300 and dull sounding
ann 2300 29/10
QUICK
NOTES:
Unid
Arab off channel, 1st noticed by Maurits. 611kHz
710 VOCM
seems to have low audio. Worth a look incase something interesting
comes through.
1640
WKSH Sussex is not broadcasting Disney any more, but seems back on
the air with easy listening music and local ids. Keeping license alive??.
| KEN'S
DX DIARY AND LOGS - TUESDAY 29th OCTOBER 2013 |
RADIO FREE SCOTLAND QSL ARRIVES:
The post
today brought me the RADIO FREE SCOTLAND QSL CARD that I bought the
other day. The very kind dude that I bought the card from included
a couple of extra old broadcast QSL Cards. I take this opportunity
to reproduce them here..
MW
DXING:
Another
morhing and night that signals were well above average. Many frequencies
that are normally serverely splattered by Euros, had nice separation.
I think my files from the last couple of days will be keepers.
750 WSB
0700 29/10
760
WCHP Inc
s/off ann at 2215. really good in the clear tonight. Audable and ided
at 2130.
820 WNYC good up to 2200 29/10
840 Cuba CMHW Doublevie 0257 29/10
950 Noticed a cuban warbler on 950 recently. Hrd 0200 29/10 inc time
pips of Radio Reloj
980 WOFX Troy Fair peak alone on the channel 0700 29/10
990 XET, La T Grande 0700 29/10 Mexican. same station as yesterday
1070 Radio Noticias 0703 UNID SS 29/10 inc call
1200 WOAI in the mix of Newton / Boston, and Canada 0400 29/10
1250 WSSB Milwalkee 0002 29/10
1280 CFMB Montreal Daytimer 2100 29/10
1280 WPKZ Fitchburg, MA 2130 29/10, and 2135 WPKZ.net. Fitchburg
is not as it turns out a new station for me, but only a new call.
Been heard before...
1320
WDER Derry
NH DAYTIMER 2100 29/10 good peak for id
1350 KRNT Des Moines, Iowa 0400 29/10 singing jingle
1370 WTAB Tabor City 0300 29/10 gd id
1430 CHKT Toronto EE ids for a change 0000 29/10
1480 WGVU Real Oldies 1480 and 840 0804 29/10
1520 KOKC OK City 0000 29/10 in ESPN break from WWKB
1590 Unid with WAKR at 0800 29/10
1590 KVGB Great Bend KS 0400 28/10
1700 WEUP Alabama 0000 29/10
CRACKING
CUBAN STATION LIST, INCLUDING MAP - BUT LOOK AT 1180!!
UPDATE:
This item published originally yesterday has been moved to today's
entry because of the Cuban connection below. The link is also live
this time!!
When
listing Cuban logs on these pages, I neither know calls not locations
for ANY of the Cuban logs. But this web page may help in identification.
Well done to whoever has compliled this listing.
One thing
that sticks out like a sore thumb, is the sheer number of transmitters
on 1180!!! All to stop the silly American station, Radio Marti being
heard. What an amazing investment to make, to swamp the country with
transmitters on 1180!! Amazing. There is obviously at least one of
significant power to be such a regular here in Europe that it is a
pest. Obviously more than one actually as often echos are heard.
It looks
like Cuba links via digital means, whether it be web links, or digital
radio feeds, because the sync on many of the frequencies is pretty
poor. Listen at the top of the hour here in Europe to some of the
powerful channels, especially if they use the mechanical bird thing
at the top of the hour. These delayed streams stick out a mile. But
even the UK multi site stations like 1089 at 1215 are not even synced
properly these days.
http://www.bamlog.com/cubalist.htm
REBELDE
- CUBA:
Rebelde
cuckoo noted at 0301 on no less than 8 channels. Perseus is great
for looping only the cuckoo!!
1620,
1180, 770, 710, 610, 600, 560, 530.
131029_0301_rebelde_cuckoo_1180_1620_770_719_610_600_560_530.mp3
No doubt
the keen philatelists amongst the radio dxers will be aware of the
items below.
KPNP
WATERTOWN / MINNEAPOLIS / ST PAULS:
Has anyone
in the UK ever properly identified the odd output you sometimes hear
with the short chants on 1600kHz??? KPNP I thought was almost as difficult
to ID as Greenland to the non language expert.
I was
under the impression it was first heard in the UK in relatively recent
times, but I see there are reports going back to 1997 from up North
at Sheigra.
I heard
it again this morning and was mucking around with their web stream
when the chants stopped and they burst into chatter. Luckily I was
able to record the web stream, and heard a full ID!!! Listen to the
ID below, as well as a clip recorded off air. A lot of chatter was
heard on 26th Oct, Sat morning around 0800, as well as 0700 but no
sign of any id so far. I was unaware this was broadcasting to the
Minneapolis / St Paul's market. I had a romantic vision of farmers
in a hill village that lived simply, and grew corn, and herded goats
..LOL..
131029_0840_web_kpnp.mp3
131026_0800_1600_kpnp_pres_watertown.mp3
| KEN'S
DX DIARY AND LOGS - MONDAY 28th OCTOBER 2013 |
MW DXING:
Another
good morning so far by the looks of it... I must have knocked the
USB lead from the Perseus in the way out the door on Sat night, so
no Sunday files. But coming into the shack today, I find that the
band was jumping around 0830!! So that tells me what I have to do
timer wise tonight!! As a friend in NJ said on the dx chat the other
day, the band's on fire...
I am
beginning to think the large list logs at the top of the page is a
little cumbersome, and difficult to find anything that has been added
in recent days etc... Maybe it is better to have a few of those interesting
logs on a per entry basis. I am going to create the logs for today
on this entry, and also add them to the main list, as the copy and
paste basic pc commands will not take up too much extra time.
UPDATE:
Maybe it will take a while. The logs are good for today, and adding
to a fair list. So I don't recon the logs for today will filter through
to the top of the list after all.
LOGS
FOR TODAY:
570 5-70
News 0656 28/10 CBS SPORTS Radio Good 0400 with WMCA and WSYR
580
CFRA OTTOWA
Booming 0400 28/10
600 WMT Cedar Rapids IA 0700 28/10
620 WVON Bangor, ME ESPN WORLD SERIES below VOCM 0400 28/10
YL id
670 WSCR 0700 28/10. Used the word SCORE a hundred times!! Rebelde
cuckoo in there as well
680 WRKO 0300 28/10 ABC Nx with 680 news
730 CKAC booming 0300 28/10
760 WCHP NY Daytimer 2210 28/10 vg peak. Scrounging ann, and sign
off 2215.
840 WHAS Booming in 0700 28/10
790 Cuban Warbler heard 0700 28/10
800 The Greatest hits of all time AM 580. CKLW and VOWR both id a
couple of mins before. 0658 28/10. 0733 good CKLW ids. The oldies
turned out to be an ad for another Windsor stn, from 580. Tnx John
/ Paul
820 WBAP Fprth Worth Dallas 0700 28/10 99.5 fm
830 WCRN, WCCO AND WFNO Norco all on 830 and ided around 0700 28/10
870 WHCU 0700 in the mix ann 95.9 FM, equal with WWL at times.
900 W Radio Mex. Good ids 0657 28/10
920 WOKY Milwalkee 0700 28/10
960 KMA 0656 28/10 Pops in before the hour, although sounding like
KLA but toth it is the zone
970 Radio Formula Mex mixing with WZAN, 0657 singing id 28/10, 0705
C&W in the mix. C/W still there 0730
980 WOFX Albany 0700 28/10
990
XET
La T Grande De Monterey, MEX. 1st hrd, but no idea what it was. SS
lessons Paul C. 0700 28/10
1000 Radio Mil with ESPN Chicago 0700 28/10
1000 WMVP Chicago exc id 0400 28/10
1050 CHUM good strong id 0700 28/10
1070 SS 0657 Radio Noticias 10-70 28/10
1130 KTCN MN. Ann 103.7 FM 1130 AM 0600 28/10 NO call noted, in with
WBBR
1150 WHBY Kimberly 0700 28/10 Good , and 1st log this season gue to
ILR activity locally
1200 Bloomberg 1200 Boston area / WOAI 0600 28/10
1250 WSSB Milwalkee Sports 0600 28/10
1280 WNAM 0700 27/10 great id from this common stn
1280
WHVR
Hanover PA Daytimer 0400 28/10 5kw / 500w This is mule(?)
country, 1280 whvr..
1320 CJMR ee id ann // 1250 very loud 0701 28/10 (2300 weird ss show,
with Salt Lake City announcements, sounding religious somehow, turns
out to be scheduled show on CJMR)
1330 WHBL WI 2300 28/10
1350 WEZS Laconia NH 2200 27/10, 28/10 Good peak both days
1350
KRNT
Des Moines, Iowa 0202 28/10 peak during ESPN echoy. JF noticed this
at 02. Also 0600 good id singing jin
1360
WDRC Hartford
reasonable level multi call... 2300 28/10 also reasonable 0400 28/10
1370 WDEA common music station carrying sports from ESPN!!!
1470 WNYY ann FM 97.7 I think. and 1470. ABC nx 0700 28/10 noted a
few times lately.
1470 unid baseball stn worth a recheck 2300 28/10 partial call...
1480 espn baseball tonight 2300 28/10
1510 KCKK Littleton / Denver Very poor at 0400 28/10
1580 unid ss mixing CKDO 2301 28/10
1590 WGBW Denmark / Greenbay around 2203 28/10
1600 WUNR 2200 28/10 with weekly ee show
1610 CHHA good id (regular in last days) 2300 28/10
1650 WHKT Portsmouth 2200 28/10
1650 CJRS Radio Shalon Montreal in EE 2203 with "True Talk Radio"
27/10
1700 KVNS 0700 28/10 inc Colm Hayes "what time is it" silly
old Nova insert
1700 KBGG Des Moines Ia 0200, 0300 28/10 id as THE CHAMP
ATTEMPTING
TO RECEIVE ASIAN STATIONS ON A FLAG ANTENNA:
I was
messing around with a northerly flag antenna on Saturday afternoon.
Wondering which station to try and null, I had a go at 1269 DLF, and
1377 France. I obtained a nice null on both at times, but the antenna
was a low signal, and rf noisy affair. (So far). So there was no sign
of the elusive Asian station that dx friend John F has been picking
up. That includes excellent reception of Japan on 1413 for example.
I have no idea what I am doing wrong at the minute. All I get is qrn
or Euros!! The long beverage is better for Euros than Asians, so that
has virtually no practical use. (Excellent for North American reception
though, which is what it was built for of course)
DLF
AND HISTORIC PROGRAMME ABOUT GERMAN RADIO:
Anyway,
it was while I was messing with the Northern flag on Saturday, that
I kept hearing reference to old names of German broadcast stations
on DLF 1269 to give it it's new freq. I was forever still referring
to 1268..lol..
Anyway,
this sounded like a very interesting documentary about German broadcasting.
I wonder if Deutschewelle would consider making an English version???
I may email them.
A
GREAT ID STOLEN FROM A 1200KW SIGNAL:
What
a little curiosity, that is so irrelevant really, but that's the way
to steal an id. The big 208 was still broadcasting on 1440khz just
before 2300, and a moments silence while the speaker drew breath was
rewarded with an ID of WHKW. I have also included the same clip on
AM mode, and then SSB to hear the massive difference that using SSB
for AM reception can make..
Now the
reason I say irrelevant, RTL go off air anyway, and WHKW is a very
common station, heard anytime when RTL is off air, and even sometimes
when it is on air. But imagine if that had been a rare ID from a station
on 810, or 909, or maybe even 1040, all my channels that are snarled
up 24/7 by local crap. I have also managed to ID NY on 810, and WHO
1040 that way!!
131028_2259_1440_a_curiosity_whkw_id_stolen_from_rtl_am_then_usb.mp3
WHAT'S
UP WITH THE CANADIAN GRAPH?
Does
anyone else use the Canadian space weather graph??? I use it a lot.
http://www.spaceweather.gc.ca/generated_plots/zonstackr.png
That
takes you to the latest image, of the continous updates. In the last
few days though, they have been predicting dreadful geomagnetic disturbances,
and so far, they have been 100% wrong!! How odd...
A few
of their "forecasts" are listed below... Has their system
gone corrupt or something, or is the level of forecasting just not
that great in reality?? A kind of a Michael Fish type weather forecast..
AND
FINALLY TODAYS!!!
| LOGS
UP TO 26th OCTOBER 2013 |
(UPDATE: 30/10/13 The top of the page thing was becoming unmanagable,
and thus I have let it fall down in the middle of the October entries
somewhere.)
(I
may carry on adding to this section and keep it at the top of the
page. Good idea?? Bad idea?? Couldn't care less??. I think it might
be better with logs every few days, and maybe a large collection copied
and pasted at the end of the month or something. And see below for
normal diary of radio stuff.)
530 Radio
Encyclopedia 24/10 0700 no id, but familiar yl tk at times
540 CBC Booming in ee 24/10 0700
560 WQAM FM 0700 24/10
570 Unid prob Radio Nac Columbia 0400 15/10 ref to special festival
transmission
570 WMCA 24/10 0656 - Been regular in the last weeks
570 5-70 NEWS 0700 24/10
570 WSYR Syracuse, NY 0705 24/10
580 Unid SS with ID noted 0402ish 15/10, but id in the mush. hearing
WAPA 680 so maybe WKAQ
580 CFRA loud 0700 24/10
610
WIOD Miami various toth 16/10
680 WAPA PR Loud 0300 15/10 alone on the channel
pretty rare, though heard before. Also 0200 19/10 very good signal.
And sign off 0300 19/10
690 CKGM CV 6-90 Canadian 0559 28/9 ex 990 CKGM) GD 24/10 0700
740 Radio Soc Bahia Brazil 0600 4/10
760 unid echoy voice overs ss or pp 0533 15/10
780 Radio Coro 0606 4/10
800 TWR Bonaire 0605 4/10
830
WFNO Norco, LA 0603, 0633, 0702 17/10 Pres day power PERSONAL
1st, poss FRK-UK? Suspiciously ss sounding mx on 14th all night, but
no id so far, bar ss slogan around 01 I think it was.
920 WHJJ 0600 28/9
920 R Nacional Paraguay 0300 15/10 Poss not heard since the
80's
920 WHJJ Providence, RI 0600 16/10
930 Radio Monte Carlo Montevideo 0302 15/10 Poss not heard
since the 1980's
930
WBEN good toth 0600 28/9, and 0600 22/10
940 WYNZ FL Sports 0700 20/10
940 WMAC Newstalk 9-4- Maken, GA 0600 28/9 USB only. LSB has
the het from pres Mex
950
WTLN Orlando, FL 0700 20/10
960
WHYL 0300 14/10 rare here, but heard a couple of times lately.
oldies. silly singing jingle, and into oldies. "Which Way Are
You Going Billy"
(you can't
have heard this Ken, it's a daytimer..lol..quote / unquote). Also
hrd 0200, and 0700, as well as 16th. Good id 0633 24/10, and mx thru
the hour 07 24/10.
960
WEAV The Zone Regular, but VG 14/10 0100
24/10 0700 no id, but nice ids 0633
963 Buzz Asia London Fault ann 0000 27/9
980 WCUB WI, 0702 23/10 initially sounded like something else. 0702
24/10
980 Such a mess. Poss Troy? 0600 28/9
980 WOFX Troy NY 0700 24/10
980 unid ss, with mx at times 20/10 0700. no sign of ids though.
980 AM 9-80 London, Ont, 0606 27/9. Ids after Canadian Press.
1020
KDKA very loud signal 21/10 0600
1060 Radio Education, Mex. Particularly strong id 0602 17/10
V good 0630 24/10
1070
KHMO Hannibal MO 0632 24/10. This is the stn that planned a DX test
earlier in the year, or last year, so chances are good that I may
hear from them with a QSL card or something.
1080 WHIM FL 0600 16/10. 0700 20/10, 0500 24/10
1080 KRLD TX 0700 23/10
1130 KWKH The Tiger. Sad to see this inspiration for Don Henley is
reduced to sports. 0600 24/10
1200
CFGO Ottowa vg 0700 13/10
1280 WAPA ID PR 0201 19/10 Noti Uno id (initial log time 04 was a
typo)
1290 Radio Puerto Cabello Venezula 0400 4/10 ss tk punto and numbers
Also vg at 0700
1290 WJNO 0600 3/10
1290
CJBK London, Ont Reg stn vg 0700 23/10
1290 2230 24/10 ID like WOCK .... in the mush. requires
a relisten
1290 CFRW Winnipeg 1st logging this season 0700 26/10
1320 WLQY FL 0600 3/10
1370
WTAB Tabor City wx 0601 3/10
1370 WXXI 0300 13/10
1380
WOTE Clintenville, WI 0700 24/10
1400 Radio Calleo Super Radio or whatever 0600 3/10
1400
CBC local ids 2200 21/10
1430
WNSW Newark, / NYC 0700 16/10
1460 CJOY 0700 21/10
1470 Radio Formula Mexico 15/10 0300 IDs., 16/10 exc ids 0600
1480 WLMV SS id 0700 24/10 Madison
1500 WLQV Detroit 0700 24/10
1500 Radio Santa Rosa, Lima Peru 0600 3/10 off ch . 1499.8 ish
1520
WIZZ Daytimer 2211 19/10 music well on top of WWKB. closing ann 2215.
Also hrd 21/10
1520
WWKB giving mention to WBEN!!! 0000 22/10
1530 WCKY
OH 0700 24/10 on top of Euros
1540
WDCD good signal 2300 19/10
1550 rebelde 0600 3/10
1590
WHGT Maucansville, MD, Daytimer 2200 19/10 weak 2200 23/10.
Begging advert to raise 300,000 dollars they have in debt!! Gees.
Maybe they better not burn any more electricity!!
25/10
2200
1590 WCGO Evanstown / Chicago 0700 24/10
1590 WGBW Denmark / Greenbay 2302 24/10
1600 Unid poss Asian tk, like the HMONG stn in Mo or wherever it is.
0600 28/9, Also 26/10
1610 CHHA Toronto ids 0700 24/10
1620
WTAW 23/10 0700 messed up id, 0600 good id though usb more than lsb.
better 0600 24/10
1630
KCJJ Booming 23/10 0700, and good 0600 and 0500
1640
WTNI booming at 0304 25/10 id during game etc
1640
KRZI 0500 26/10
1650
KYHN good 0600 and 0500 23/10 mixing with CINA (Radio India)
1660
WWRU 0500 23/10 very good at this time
1660 2357 Unid playing star spangled banner. maybe a power down. ee
sports and others in mess 21/9
1690 CHTO rare id, though heard often 0002 22/9
1700
KBGG Des Moins, Iowa 0700 24/10 - rare here....id 17-00 the champ
over Queen - Champions song
1700
XEPE Mexico (San Diego market) 0500 26/10
| KEN'S
DX DIARY AND LOGS - FRIDAY 25th OCTOBER 2013 |
MW DXING:
Another
good morning with some strong signals around although yesterday was
far more intersting I think. So far. Thats the thing with adding logs
to a single list, they don't become reported on this diary area. Good
station noted on 1070, KHMO Hannibal, MO. Also heard
again is the 830 stn, WFNO in LA. There were ids
around 0657 and 0633ish.
| KEN'S
DX DIARY AND LOGS - THURSDAY 24th OCTOBER 2013 |
QSL
FROM RADIO FREE SCOTLAND:
I have
recently bought an old Radio Free Scotland QSL card. It cost me more
than I hoped, ie the fiver asked. I had to go to 25 quid!!! But I
have it in the archives now. A real national treasure. See my page
on the dx archive area for RADIO
FREE SCOTLAND. It is such a shame that it is not for my
own local area, where there was a service as well on the BBC sound
channel, audio only. The station apparantley broadcast from high ground
near the location of the now Darvel main tv tower, called locally,
the "MUNT". The site is an amazingly high place, complete
with a monument etc. I need to go up again and take some photos.
| KEN'S
DX DIARY AND LOGS - WEDNESDAY 23rd OCTOBER 2013 |
MW DXING:
Well
some good signals from common stuff today.. CFGO 0700 1200, XERF 0700
1570, WHIC 1460 0700, WTAW 1620 0700 (messed id), KCJJ 1630 0700 booming.
Some audio clips from today are listed on the logs above from 1630
1650 1660, 1290, 1200. KCJJ is especially good.
| KEN'S
DX DIARY AND LOGS - MONDAY 21st OCTOBER 2013 |
MW DXING:
Well
MW dxing has been quite interesting this past weekend, with a couple
of daytimers being heard. WIZZ 1520 was a target for a long time,
although I heard it last season I think it was. But the ID the other
night is much superior.
| KEN'S
DX DIARY AND LOGS - THURSDAY 17th OCTOBER 2013 |
WFNO
NORCO / NEW ORLEANS 830:
I think
he says New Orleans on the recording, this personal first heard with
pres 5kw and not the night power on 17th, at 06, 0630 and 07 with
SS mixing with WCRN. They must have been heard farther afield last
night, as signals were very respectable, considering. Call is not
particularly clear, but the NORCO part is good.
Suspiciously
ss sounding mx on 14th all night, but not heard any id so far, bar
ss slogan around 01 I think it was. WCRN are guilty of running two
streams on top of each other (Fault condx), but not usually ss mx!!
Someone else reported this in North America on the same day.
I don't
see this one in the UK lists that I was looking at.
830 WFNO
Norco, LA id 0603, 0633, 0702 17/1 (poss 1st report known in the UK?)
====================================
TEST
CARD BACK ON THE TELLY - 2013 UPDATE:
Back
last year, I gave you the channel number for the BBC Test Card F.
The channel number has changed but the test card is still easily accessable.
Below therefore, I repeat the original article with the channel number
changed.
Who of
a certain vintage will not remember the good old test card and music.
There are even web sites with old test cards. But did you know that
the test card is available on Freeview in the UK?? It is available
on most receivers as far as I am aware. OK then, where is it??
It is
hidden behind a series of button presses.
1) Go
to channel 200, (Formerly 105, BBC Red Button channel) and wait will
the screen appears
2) Press
the Yellow button within 30s, and then wait 5 seconds or so.
3) Switch
to any other channel, eg 12, (or channel up then channel down or whatever)
4) Switch
back to channel 200, and wait till the mainly green setup screen appears.
Originally
the greenish screen came up itself, but I had to press the green button
to have the green screen appear the other day.
5) Press
the Green button again, and the BBC Widescreen test card will appear,
complete with the lassie and the clown. (The test card sometimes takes
a little while to appear)
| KEN'S
DX DIARY AND LOGS - WEDNESDAY 16th OCTOBER 2013 |
RADIO CAROLINE AND RADIO SCOTLAND PDF's:
I recently
bought a Radio Scotland 242 Showbeat magazine from ebay, and have
included it on the dxarchive area of this site. I have also managed
to get a decent res scan of the magazine / booklet, Radio Caroline
And It's Stars, from 1965. Thanks to Paul Graham for his sterling
efforts with this one. I think you have got to grips now Paul with
scanning!!! OEF recently tried to reproduce this magazine, and the
scans were of such poor res, the text was virtually unreadable.
RADIO
CAROLINE 60's PAGE
DIRECT
LINK TO PDF FILE
RADIO
SCOTLAND 242 HOME PAGE
DIRECT
LINK TO PDF FILE
| KEN'S
DX DIARY AND LOGS - MONDAY 14th OCTOBER 2013 |
BEVERAGE
NULL ON DLF:
I decided
to take a walk on Sunday, down the length of the antenna. This was
the main 500m beverage which runs through the woods at the back of
me. It will have heavy branches and even trees down through the cable
every now and again, especially after a storm. Part and parcel of
having an antenna through thick woods. So I run along and check the
full length of the wire every now and again. I had to remove a few
branches, and one tree. that was holding the wire on the ground, though
it was at a place where there was thick wire used, so there were no
breaks.
At the
end of the antenna, a thick branch had come down through the cable,
and ripped the resistor from the end of the line. As I was only checking
out the aerial, i had to return later to make repairs. When reconnecting
the earth, I had a receiver left on 1269 DLF, and I noticed that connecting
the earth directly made crackling noises back in the shack, as well
as making the signal disappear. This was interesting. I had never
managed a null on this aerial. After connecting the resistor, I made
the signal disappear and left it at that. I also has a big pot of
black grease with me to protect the connections from the elements.
So there
I was, pleased that somehow I had a full run of wire, that I could
actually get a null from. This verifies that the wire is conducting
the full length, despite the multitude of "temporary" joins
over the years.
I got
off lucky this year with the farmer hacking the hedges. There is usually
some damage, but this year he missed all wires!!!
But that
is not the end of the story. I waited till dusk, and walked along
to the end again, and tried to obtain a perfect null on the volume
control. Nothing. No null obtained when the signal was very strong.
Source though was a different receiver and included preamp. Is this
set up having an effect??? I think I shall have to investigate a bit
more. Initially I was using an instant receiver, HF225E, while the
second time I used the Perseus, which has a slight delay on it.
Tonight,
Monday night, I also had a look along the shorter westerly beverage,
which runs more or less due west, rather than north west like the
longer antenna. The resistor at the end of that one was also broken
off. I attached another 4.7k volume control and managed to null out
Radio Forth on 1548.
So only
time will tell if any of the two antennas are quieter towards the
Euros, as the theory states. Ideally it would be nice to be able to
have adjustments to the resistor value remotely, but that would be
quite an awkward thing to implement I think.
One question
I always ask about beverages. What would the advantages be of a twin
cable spaced at a foot or a couple of feet?? I have seen pictures
of the 1920's designs from QST where the beverages look like old telephone
wires. I shall have to find the link to the pdf I was reading.
====================================
EARLY
/ LATE OPENINGS:
I was pleasantly surprised to see the band open last night, Sunday
night, as early as 2100. There was some nice signals around, and traces
of possible daytimers, though annoyingly, no ids heard on any of the
unknown signals. The band was also open late in the morning today,
Monday. Even past 0830UTC, WWKB, WBBR etc were still coming through.
Yes dxers, we are well into the dx season now, when drive time dx
is audible.
The band
was jumping at bed time last night, though in the morning it was not
quite so exciting. Yes signals were there at 0600. Yes the signals
were also heard at 0700 and later. But nothing too exciting was heard.
So things are looking up.. . Maybe.. The Canadian solar forecast /
graph looks so disturbed tonight again!!
I tried
a crap portable radio upstairs in the house Sunday night, well away
from the shack and the antennas. I did hear WBBR 1130 and Boston 1510
WUSC is it, or whatever it's called this week. Not bad for a sony
and ferrite rod!! It was best in Sync AM mode though.
====================================
RADIO
BRITANNIA:
It was
good being by the receivers on Friday when Radio Britannia was on
the air of 1476. The signal was probably the best I had ever heard
this station, and certainly the first time I had ever heard an ID
of Radio Britannia.
I always
think of an old SW station called Britain Radio when I hear Kenny
Crecendo. This is not long running BRI, Roger Davis and co, but a
1970's station of the same name. Probably the northern accent that
does it, though a very similar name when you think on it. On the recording
given, they were claiming to be test transmitting from the North Sea!!!
Kenny
used to call his station radio 189 when he was on 1611 a few years
back.
A recording
is given below.
No known
contact details of Radio Britannia is known.
131012_1850_1476_radio_britania_inc_ids.mp3
1978_britain_radio_kent_place.mp3
====================================
DAYTIMER
ON 1470 FRIDAY NIGHT:
There
was an oddity with a talk format on 1470 around 2230 - 2300 Friday
night. It seemed to sign off just before the top of the hour, cutting
off mid ad. So annoying when they don't make a sign off ann when they
power down. Maybe it was WWNN, which is full 50kw daytime?? Phew..
====================================
UNID
SS SHIPPING STATION:
UPDATE:
"Big shaved heid" tells me it is Tarifa Radio... Thanks
OM for the update. SS and me not too good.
I noticed
a strong shipping station Sunday night, 2303 on 1677khz USB. Many
of these stations also have ee, but not this time. But what a signal!!!
131013_2304_1677usb_ss_coastal_stn.mp3
| KEN'S
DX DIARY AND LOGS - THURSDAY 8th OCTOBER 2013 |
MW DXING:
I have
not had a good week of dx. In fact the band was as bad as last October.
Virtually nothing at 0600 on most of the days. I do remember last
October, and the band was closed for most of the month, until 28th,
when as though someone switched on the lights, up it came.... full
signals again from the common 50kw stations etc. Really odd.
================================================================
ROB
ASHARD'S COLLECTION:
I have
uploaded a large file of 380 meg, with scans of press cuttings from
the 1980's offshore radio era. These come from the collection of Rob,
who is still doing programmes on Caroline. Thanks for sharing.
Remember
these are the raw scans and not nice pdf files.
rob_ashard_press.zip
I have
good reason to want to scan original press, rather than only 1980's
style photocopies. Check out the quality of the images below in this
test. See if you can tell the difference. One is scanned from the
original cutting and one is done from a particularly bad 80's photocopy,
that is probably a photo copy of a photo copy. These were like VHS
tapes, meaning that every copy generation got gradually worse.
So anyone
with a collection of original newspaper cuttings that wants to share,
please feel free to contact me. Subjects of interest are certain UK
70's / 80's landbased pirates, Irish 70's/ 80's LBPs, and Offshore.
Sadly
many folks are content to sit on their old offshore cuttings and never
let anyone see them / share / make public. Another opportunity wasted
is how I would describe this attitude. How many collections have gone
in the bin due to death?? I see this regularly in my local history
archive work.
Large
A3 Epson workhorse scanner here ready and willing to do the donkey
work. Many of the papers are too big for a4 scanners. Rather than
scanning 2 halves, sometimes its as well scanning on the bigger machine.
The scanner has already done a lot of work.
================================================================
IRISH
PIRATE RADIO DOCUMENTARY:
In ireland,
Dublin Community Television have recently carried parts 1 - 5 of a
series of short interviews with people involved in Irish pirate radio
during the heyday. Some of the folks interviewed include Tracy Evans,
Radio Dublin's DJ Angie, Deckie (Meehan), and others. Parts 1-5 are
on the link below, with part 6 to be aired this coming Friday, so
it's not on the web as yet. I am not sure the coverage of Dublin Community
TV. Via terrestrial digital?? Not sure.
I have
reproduced their press release below...
http://vimeo.com/channels/574044
PRESS RELEASE
OCTOBER 1ST 2013
‘DUBLIN’S PIRATE DAYS’ ON DCTV UPC Channel 802
The last two episodes of Dublin Pirate Days will definitely shed new
light on the pirate radio era in Dublin as Valarie Coffey tells how
herself and Radio Dublin DJ’s ended up in war torn Lebanon in
the 1980s at the height of that nations civil war and how the American
Ambassador kept them safe and in the final episode TV3 and Ireland
AM presenter Aidan Cooney (once known as Aidan Jay) tells how he had
a gun held to his head while on the air with Big D Radio by a paramilitary
gunman.
DCTV’s volunteer led six part series that takes
a glimpse into Dublin’s pirate radio past.
On December 31st 2013 it will have been 25 years since
the introduction of the new Wireless Telegraphy Act which significantly
increased the penalties for illegal broadcasting in Ireland. With
the introduction of the new law came the closure of the dozens of
pirate radio stations who dominated the Irish airwaves for a decade
previous. The six part series ‘Dublin’s Pirate Days’
premiered on Dublin Community Television (UPC Channel 802 & AerTV)
on Wednesday August 28th 2013 looking back at those buccaneering days
and the end of a broadcasting revolution.
‘Dublin’s Pirate Days’ features
interviews with well known former pirate DJ’including Declan
Meehan, Aidan Cooney, Garvan Rigby, Walter Hegarty, Tracy Evans, Martin
Block, Mike Purcell and Andy Preston. Created and presented by Eddie
Bohan, a broadcast historian and produced by a volunteer crew led
by director Samantha Kernan, the series shines a light on those momentous
final moments of pirate broadcasting in December 1988 and reveals
some of the hidden history of Dublin Pirate Radio.
Episode
6 (The Final Episode of the Series) to be broadcast Friday October
11th 2013 at 7.03pm featuring Ireland AM’s Aidan Cooney and
Christmas FM’s Walter Hegarty
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Dublin Community Television
The Guinness Enterprise Centre
Taylor’s Lane, Dublin, 8.
Telephone:
+353 1 4100834 - piratedays (at) dctv (dot) ie
OR
Eddie Bohan (Series Creator), rebelradio (at) dublin (dot) ie
0851442088
| KEN'S
DX DIARY AND LOGS - FRIDAY 4th OCTOBER 2013 |
MW DXING ANNUAL PDF:
I have
uploaded the correct index for access to the latest additions, and
also indexed the logs pages. Apologies if the links were missing the
other day.
transatlantic_logs_index.html
================================================================
A
FEW OTHER LOGS FROM THE LAST DAYS:
UPDATE
- MOVED TO LOGS AT THE TOP OF THE PAGE
Also
booming on 28/9 were CFRB, KDKA, WTIC, WABC, etc.
| KEN'S
DX DIARY AND LOGS - THURSDAY 3rd OCTOBER 2013 |
MW DXING ALL TIME LISTS:
I have
finally completed my all time lists update, last done in 2010!! A
job I was needing to do for a long time. The all time lists are available
through the main logs menu.
To see
the stations that have been added, click on the following link. firsts_2010_2013.html
In my
work, I can't help but notice that many frequencies that I believe
I should have logs from, are missing. eg Mira Flores Peru I think
it is on 1250, Apollo on 1320, 1580 I am sure I had two Columbians
mixing, and 1690 has had more SS than 1 Mexican, I'm sure. I really
must have a closer look through my logs and stuff.
In the
all time lists, I have marked the REGULAR
stations in red. There are many more that can be called regular I
guess, but those marked are a reasonable guide to what comes through
on a regular basis.
transatlantic_all_time_logs.html
I have
also created a pdf of the file for possible ease.
transatlantic_all_time_logs.pdf
As I
reported yesterday, the annual dxing pdf is now available from the
last couple of years as well.
UPDATE:
NOW THEY ARE AVAILABLE. I HAD NOT UPLOADED THE UP TO DATE INDEX TILL
NOW!!!!
================================================================
A
FEW OTHER LOGS FROM THE LAST DAYS:
(Transferred
above)
================================================================
MORE
PRESS CUTTINGS COMING SOON:
I have
been sent a pile of press cuttings of Offshore Radio in the 80's from
Rob Ashard to include in the archive here. There is a bit of scanning
work to be done, but give me a week or so and I should have a start
made. Especially since the weather is breaking here and the rain is
on!!
================================================================
CAROLINE GONE FROM SATELLITE:
The sad
news of the month is that Radio Caroline have gone since 30th September
from the airwaves of the Astra satellite. The station continues only
on the Internet as a web stream. The satellite service has been with
us in one form or another since the last days of the ship in the North
Sea. They were gifted airspace from Chris Carey of Radio Nova who
had capacity that was unused but contract not run out.
They
started for real in about 1999 and gradually built up to 24/7 hours
of broadcasting again. It had been an uphill battle to gather the
money required to hire airtime on the Astra birds.
I really
need to look for the dates etc of all the various services, which
included via the Nova transponders on TP5 of Astra, via QEFM TP 16,
via EKR transponder, was that on TP 36 or 38??, and digital on both
Hotbird and Astra 28 deg.
| KEN'S
DX DIARY AND LOGS - WEDNESDAY 1st OCTOBER 2013 |
THE
MW DXING FROM SCOTLAND ANNUAL "2011-2012" & "2012-2013":
UPDATE:
NOW THEY ARE AVAILABLE. I HAD NOT UPLOADED THE UP TO DATE INDEX TILL
NOW!!!!
I have
produced a pdf in the past of a year in dxing. This year and last
years was not done, but I took some time the other day to compile
these pdf files, so they can be saved as one. They are not indexed,
but rather a chronological listing of my monthly ramblings. External
and indeed internal links are disabled, as they would not work properly
in the pdf file. Currently there are 6 years worth available.
transatlantic_logs_index.html
======================================================
The MW
band has been good for a long period of time but this morning, well....
bang.. All gone.... A few earlier in the evening, but a look at the
Canadian graph shows why!!
Because
of the blow out, not much to report. But I did hear a couple of note,
see below.
======================================================
RADIO
700:
I
think it was, German on 1611 all night. It seemed non stop music till
o400, then relaying Radio 700. I would imagine this would be a Dutch
pirate testing a rig or something???? I don't think 1611 would be
given to a legal station, or would it?? Remember 2402khz or there
abouts test and development a few years ago.
131002_0400_1611_radio_700.mp3
======================================================
WLAM / WCSH:
I
like to try and list this at this time of year. I have heard of dxers
chasing ghosts with weaker signals of the following programme on WLAM
relaying channel 6 news from WCSH TV.
131001_2230_1470_wlam_good_wcsh_id.mp3
======================================================
ALL TIME LISTS BEING UPDATED:
I
have not done any updating to my all time lists since 2010!!! So I
spent some time making a healthy start, only last night. Watch this
space. There are a large number of additions, and already I have noticed
some that I have heard and haven't made it to the new station box
at the top of each monthly page.
The
html file with the listing for the last couple of years is to be found
here...
======================================================
NEW BLOG:
Stu
on our DX chat has a new blog site. Let's hope this lasts the pace.
I do need to update my links page, as some of the 5 minute wonder
pages have vanished.
http://www.swradiorelay.com/
