TADX - DXing in SW Scotland - Latest Logs September 2007

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Saturday 29th September 2007

Left overnight recording on 1660, wake at 0620 to find a noisy band. 2 stns on 670, like an echo, ie 2 Cubans. SS on both 630 and 730, and some other scribbles which I have obviously written when half asleep, and can't quite make out what it is!!!

Friday 28th Sept 2007 (inc Thursday night 27th Sept)

Band has the common LF Canadians at 2134, and CKEC VG at 2200, on 1320. Awake at 0300 to find the band very noisy. At 0553 excellent Relevant Radio IDs on 1660, as well as WJCC 1700.

Managed a VOAR id past Virgin' splatter on 1210, at 0607. Cuban time pips on 960, and SS announcements sounding like ids on 830 @ 0616. Not played back to try and id yet. SS also on 700 and 550. R Vision on 530 had a good id @ 0640.

Thursday 27th Sept 2007

I will start off by saying that I am leaving my logs on an almost daily basis on both the web pages of http://www.tadx.mediumwaveradio.org, as well as on the forum of mediumwaveradio.org. This as far as I can see is the ONLY public forum for MW DXers from here in the UK.

In the last couple of days I have had a couple of DXers visit. One fellow called in to have his NRD545 checked agains mine, which incidently is working fine, and the other to have a look at how my beverage has been slung out, and terminated. So the walk last night served as checking the line for breaks as well, and I am happy to report everything is as it should be. It always gives the old enthusiasm a boost when discussing dxing with others of a similar interest.

The logs for over night are starting to look encouraging again. I began checking the band early, and was finding the Newfoundlanders coming in by 2110. Usual suspects, 930, 600, 590 , followed closely by others, like 620 an 950 etc. I checked 1240 regularly, but found the freq virtually unusable due to persistent Euro splatter. Finally ided VOCM in the mush at 2230, which would be CKIM.

Overnight, I recorded 1080, or at least I seem to have. Woke up and that was the channel that was on!! At 0500 there was at least 3 stations on 1500. A possible SS id that faded up over Frenchy CKAC, at 0523. Need to check recordings. CKAC were iding good style at 0535. Had another Frenchy on 800, mixing with VOWR, and pres CKLW. (CHRC??) Excellent ID from WJR at 0532 on 760. Had a poor id for WOOD 1300 at 0035, and CJBK on 1290 at just before 0500. WLW 700 there too with a network show.

I was very surprised indeed to hear an English American voice behind BBC Radio Scotland at 0541, which is usually off the clock here. Had tried the phaser with Radio Scotland last night while my guest was here, and to my surprise, we reduced the signal dramatically. I always had assumed that because it was dual sited, it would never null, but there ya go!! This station heard at this stage with beverage only, made me crawl out of bed, a caffine cuppa made, and amble down to the cold, miserable shack. After wasting so much time trying to phase out the beeb, with only moderate success, it was almost TOTH, and I gave up, just for the day. I really need to do some work here. I have had it penciled in my jobs to do for about 10 years, to add small value tuning caps in // with the large value ones in the phaser. Like the old bandspread trick in older valve receivers, this would have a "fine" tuning effect. I haven't been using the phaser much. Like the ewe I slung up last season and the season before, the beverage alone hammers it. But in a tricky situation like this, I really must "blow the stoor off it".

At 0500GMT, I had an excellent signal and full TOTH id from WDEA 1370. Hear it so often with it's style of oldies, but not ided so far this season. CBC on top of the Euros on 540.

Cuba was present on 570 at some of the time, but something else from time to time beating. 670 was // 5025, as was 610 (Mixing with the frenchy) and 710. Superb peak on 680 news Toronto at 0611. 530 and 555 both coming in, the latter sounded like BBC relay. No id on either. First id this season on 580 CFRA this am, 0605. and Toronto Radio 640, at 0633. Had ids on the common Canadians on 650, 930, 780, 560 in the passing, and WCBS 880 at 0615. At 0616 CJCH was struggling against some opposition, but no ids noted. Ads on 1250, sounded American, but faded out before ID, if there was an ID. Sport on 1330, and country music on 1570 made me think of Winkler, but prob just the Frenchy, as I heard more rocky stuff a little later.

Fade out really was before 0700 here, with only a few stragglers left.

Wednesday 26th Sept 2007

First of all may I say that I have added to the end of my memory bank on the NRD 545, a frequency I often forget about. 555 ZIZ. I was even listening to it this past Saturday night, and forgot to mention it on these pages, so add ZIZ 555 to my list of logs for Saturday night, with a very respectable signal, although they played very unsociably past the top of the hour, which from memory was around 02UTC. I also noted them last night, very strong, at 0510. Trouble was it was a very long and boring talk on the German economy. How entertaining is that to an islander in the Caribbean?? Prob a relay of the BBC WS. I never had an ID Saturday either, but it is the only station on that freq in the world I believe. There is another split freq worth checking. Grenada, 535.

For the record, the memory channels on the NRD are 053 - 172 for the North American MW channels on AM, and 353 - 472 are memorised in either USB or LSB, whichever sideband in farthest away from the nearest Euro. (eg 1520 is LSB as Euros are on 1521). I make my overnight recordings on a PC, and note the time when the TOTH would be on the recording. In this way, in the morning it is easy to have a quick listen to top and bottom of the hour from the middle of the night.

I need to update my pages about the operating techniques, and receivers. I have made quite a number of alterations since the current article was written. If you are reading this on the mediumwaveradio.org forum, the link for my web pages is simply

< www.tadx.mediumwaveradio.org >.

The latest logs are available there as is the links page with station lists and solar indices etc. Both can be linked from the home page.

A few logs from last night.

Tuned in early, as it is getting towards the end of the month, and a good time to catch the daytimes, or the stations that dramatically reduce power at night. At 2140, the Newfoundlanders were already in, and strong on 930 and 590. 600 followed close by. 950 CKNB noted a bit after 2200, and an interesting one, 1240 what I think was VOCM network on 1240. This played some country music at 2225, and at exactly the time they were gonna id at 2230, the station vanished into a mass of Euro splatter. Further peaks during pres news, never brought any ids. I was so disgusted I never even saved the audio file. Maybe I should have, as there was quite a good peak around 2225.

At 2257 I noted a station on 760, but again plagued by Euro splatter. Was it NY Daytimer WCHP. I also had stations on 1310 at 2300, but no ids. Had common 830 WCRN, and the ethnic that is still difficult to ID on 1430. Fell asleep on 960, but there are a few ids of OLDIES 960, CFFX London, Ont ids on the overnight recording.

Woke up at 0413 GMT, and find the band not alive, but OK. 1500 had a crumby talk show, 2 stns mixing on 1620, and 1130 NY had a superb signal, at 0439. Also logged 660 WFAN, ESPN 890, and 1420 at 0500 WHK Cleveland. Had the dreadful muisc station on 1250, the station that sounds the same every time you hear it, and also some easy listening on both 1330, and 1370. Not ided them yet.

Fell asleep again mid dx, but left on 1080, which brought in the second station on the channel, at least last nights second station. WPTS Florida.

Tuesday 25th Sept 2007

A few notes on Tuesday night as I type this up. Early fade in for many of the Newfoundlanders tonight. Maybe they have been there all along, and I have just tuned in later. 590, 930 both in well by 2140. At 2225 on 1240 I had a surprisingly good signal with music I am sure was // 590, but not 100%. At 2230, their TOTH, the signal faded into euro splatter just on the ID, and as I type, hasn't really come back properly. Typical. Still with it at 2248.

Well the month of September seems to have slipped past very quickly!! Last nights listening was not particularly notable. By 2300, many of the common stations were coming in, VOCM network stations on 620, 590, 650, and I am sure 570 was coming in //, but never had an ID, so that will have to wait to another day.

RTE makes 570 a very difficult channel here. Had ids on 880 WCBS, 950 CKNB, but while still trying to ID the Ethnic Canadian on 1320, I still have no IDs. Left recording on at 0155 on 1320, but played past TOTH. Woke again just before the alarm went off, at 0459, in time to hear a kind of an anthem on 1470. No notable ID, but haven't played back recording yet.

Had some IDs from 780 KIX, 1140 CBC, and WEGP talking about some guy from station WRKO Boston not providing a talk show due to a dispute. Clear at 0533. Music on 1370, like what WDEA would play, but the chatter at 0535 was not really usable.

Another station again below 1080 WTIC at 0545. Still no id on that one.

99% sure the ID I had on 1060 at 0615 was Radio Education de Mexico. Quite a good peak. Poor ids on WRKO 680, and ESPN 1000 from Chicago. The Cuban was on 570 with the time pips etc. That is about the night time logs.

When tuning in at around 0000 UTC, 540CBC was on top of the Euros, but the band in general was noisy and poor. So much so, I never even left anything recording at that time. Awake at 04UTC, and had some poor WTIC ids on 1080. Still trying to find what was mixing with WTIC the other day, but no success so far. Had an ID on 1360 WDRC at 0403. I thought that the band sounded a bit noisy. The persistant rain never helps, giving a bit of a growl on the band from the power lines, but I think conditions were not that great anyway. Left recording on 1600, and fell asleep again. (I was a bit knackered, as I had been out on my pushbike a run, making use of what little clear skies we have had this summer. Typically I was absolutely soaked coming back home!!) I have played back 1600, and found a WWRL New York ID at 0500, after a long string of ads lasting over 5m.

I am a little confused about the times. The WWRL id may have been 06utc. My MSF clock in the bedroom I use when remote tuning, is always BST, so if I am half asleep, I may sometimes log the wrong time!!

Some dxing done last night, but busy on the text chat to some dx friends. Band not as good as it has been in the last weeks. Was up to about 4am local time and thought I would stay up till dawn, but ended up setting the alarm for 6am local, 0500UTC, and guess what. Slept through the alarm!!

There were 2 stations on 580 at 0231, English on 1660, and a strange one on 1600, which included a definite ID of WCHL 1360. Maybe one of those talk shows saying which stations carried them, but sounded more like some kind of ad. Prob WWRL. Left 1080 on record at 0310 for the rest of the night, but heard mainly Euros, and a few WTIC ids. As I say, the band much depressed compared to a week ago. Also listenig to 555, ZIZ, but playing past the TOTH.

No dx last night. A clue in the lyrics of the record from the great Frankie Miller.... Drunken Nights In The City........

Heard a few common Canadian and Eastern stations last night. Ided 1050 ESPN New York, and 710 VOCM network, and 930 CJYQ, before turning in. Band a lot noisier tonight, and a quick check on the a's and the k's showed why. Overnight left recording on 1470.

Listening by 0530, and a bit before. 920 CJCH was good, (Remember this one goes FM sometime too), and 750 CBC with Radio Australia. // 540 also good at this time. 570 had Cuba this am, and had powerful ids from WFAN 660. 680 news was mixing with a c/c station, and a sort of easy listening station. WTIC mixing with an as yet unknown station on 1080. Prob needs an overnight left on the channel. Sat on 1080 at 0600, but guess what. Only the more common WTIC came in!! IDed 710 and 740 VOCM, but on 710 Cuba was coming in and out as well. No ID but // 5025. Also on 710, a poor WOR id was heard at 0621, and Cuba again on 860, // 570 at 0623. VOCM 740 was powerful at 0628, but on the bottom of the hour, (their top of the hour in NFLD), there was slight splatter from Euros, but still a good rec. Unid SS on 640 at 0634.

Due to persistent rain, there was a lot of power line growl this morning as well. My beverage runs beneath power lines unfortunately, but that's just the way it goes.

That's it, not a very inspiring

Have updated my links page as well with some useful AM related links.

Update: The unidentified station on 1470 turned out to be WBKV, West Bend, WI. "BKV- Your Country Oldies".

I began listening at 2220, when CJYQ and some of the other common East coast Canadians were already in, and strong. Noted a strong VOCM id on 930!! By 2325 I had unid on 1600 for a short spell before fade out. The ethnic station was on 1320, which I left a recording overnight at 2345. Woke up at just scarce of 0400, so tried the radio, and WYLL Chicago was noted on 1160. Frenchy on 1570. I recall sometimes this used to be very strong and common place. May have been something in the mix with the fast cw style id. Have to check rec. 0512 I had 2 stations on 1620, a sports and c/c. A little later the sports station was ann as ESPN. Unsure which one this could be. I know KOZN listed as ESPN, but is there any more. Tried a quick google, but nothing else seems to come up. I am not so keen to take this as a proper id.

No call but no doubt KRND, WY, so I see this as an ID...1630 La Grande, at 0418. Again at 0425. Personal 1st I think from memory. ESPN heard on both 1640, pres WTNI, and 1660. The latter has at least 2, maybe 3 possibilities. KRZI, which I have hrd here, and likewise WQSN both possibilities. Also saw KQWB Fargo mentioned as an ESPN station on the web somewhere. Seemed dominant for a time at various checks, but no call.

An interesting one. Tune in to quick station id of sorts, on 1470 at 0428. The ID was only "Your country oldies station". I haven't listened back to rec yet to see if there is an ID which I missed. On 1150, WHBY Kimberley ided nicely at 0430, as did WTIC on 1080. Decided to get out of bed and go to the receiver at 0439, leaving country music on 940. Surely not Montreal?? There was poss SS on 940 at 0444. Need to check rec.. Again at 0456 ESPN and c/c on 1620. Still no calls.

Ads in Manitoba 0504 on 680 suggested the band getting good again. CJOB ids just after this. Good ids from VOCM 590 at 0510, CBC 1400 // 1140 at 0517. CKDO 1580 with oldies. 0530 on 1620, some kind of tune, but still no call on the elusive ESPN station.

Noted at 0535 the annoying QRM on 1670 I have had for the last while was not present, and stations were heard, no ids though. CBC 1550 carrying Radio Netherlands at 0536, and 0545 there was some weird music behind the Frenchy on 610. Hard to determine what type of music. Also an English station in the mess.

720 finally ided WGN Chicago at 0558 and 0600 behind the beeb. at 0605, there was sport on 1270, and ESPN ids, but nothing to say which station. Maybe just talking about ESPN?? Others hrd, 970 WZAN, 680 both WRKO AND '680 News', Toronto. Band about dead by 0703, but KMOX was hanging in there when other powerhouses were not.

I guess it will be a sleep after dinner tonight.

More......

I am putting these entries on the mediumwaveradio.org forum, as well as on these web pages. Strange though it may seem Tony, I remember commenting about the black text on the dark grey background on the forum many months back. I never gave it much more thought, until I was using firefox the other night, which for some reason displays nice white text on the grey background. Another software oddity..

Tuesday night I started to check the band before 2300, but found nothing. On checking later, I still found nothing, only Euro splatter. Forgot I was using another antenna to listen to 80m earlier in the evening, which is no use for North American MW stations. To cap it all, I was listening to some chaps on 80m trying to explain to another ham how to connect a bit of wire for an aerial into his receiver so he could pick up Swansea Sound 1170 on MW. Thats what I get for wondering how the fellow had managed to achieve the status of a radio ham in the first place!!

When I had the beverage connected properly, 610 CHNC was very strong. The VOCM network was coming in, and had a good id on 590 at 2330. on 1130 WBBR was mixing with another station at 2342, which is early. Ottowa on 1200 was strong with sports at 2354. WLW 700 at 2356, with ids. I thought that a little early for this one at this time of year. Not a complaint. At 2358, CBC Radio 1 local id as 540 and 1400kHz, although heard on 600!! 640 CBC was also good at 0000.

I thought there was a lot of excessive euro splatter, noticable on 680 which hadn't been there the last few nights. At 0004 there were 2 station sharing 1510, and surprisingly Boston's "The Zone" was not the station carrying the sport!! The Zone carried a silly network programme with a typical rude talk show presenter. Alas I never managed to ID the sports station, even though I left 1510 on through the night. Woke up at 0223 and changed to 930, for the night recording.

Woke by 0502, when a good ID for WHK 1420 was heard, 880 WCBS, Frenchy on 730, 690 and 860, but no ids. 570 had Cuba, complete with the time signals and all. 830 WCRN good at 0552, and 890 ESPN id, quite good from WAMG, no call just ESPN 890 ids, with WLS way in the background. Annoyingly at 0600, there was a station mixing with CBC, which I only caught odd words, and couldn't id. 1080 WTIC Hartford booming in as was 1170 WWVA, with a weather report about 0605. WTAM id on 1100. There were 2 stations in the mix on 1080 at 0606, but couldnt id the 2nd one. At 0615 XEW 900 from Mexico had a nice peak. Unsure what was coming in on 710, if it was Cuba or Mexican. Never stayed long enough. By 0636, the whole of the VOCM network had gone. But I was hearing country music on 650 only, which turned out to be from WSM. So that was 2 of the less common 3 letter call signs heard last night, and a Mexican. More later.