Season's greetings to all of you ! Make sure 2009 will make falling asleep more natural without the ever-present temptation of turning your radio on and of getting out of bed by pure curiosity during the last few seconds it takes to disconnect from the DXer friendly world ! This resumes well what I did three nights ago. DXing, DXing and...again DXing, turning up and down both the LW and MW bands until around 5 o'clock when I couldn't stand any sound other than my own breath ! A new way to start 2009 was to relog 1 or 2 seldom heard Latins during semi-auroral condx, while DXing wasn't really above-average, but promising, though promising in vain as tonight was extremely poor for both Latin MW and TA LW DX and the moderate CME didn't turned my Montreal area QTH into a concrete based house with concrete roof and a big window near the radio toward the south... Well, into the logs !...
Trans-Atlantic DX 162 FRANCE France Inter, Allouis JAN 2 0607 UTC - noted in passing with morning show in FF at a good level through moderate computer-like QRN. + JAN 3 0628 - promo for "Comment voyager..." trip and adventure-related px -> "dimanche sur France Inter", then extensive traffic & weather reports, followed by a short newscast about a 6 months jail sentenced for a youngster who stoled a car, etc. Very good to fair. SINPO 45332 +JAN 3 0855 - w/ talk about the real value of life, then greetings to the sociologist who made the speech, extensive traffic and eather annc, time pips during the weather, then jingle leading to nx. (Chiochiu-QC) 171 MOROCCO Medi Un, Nador JAN 3 0355 UTC - at tune-in w/ a raï number followed by warm comments by the DJ who introduced, both in FF & AA, the latest track by HJ singer Juanes (which seems popular worldwide, even in my native Romania). SINPO 35343 with a fair signal and very minor high-pitched growl from a computer or from several computers in the neighborhood. The best LW broadcast signal this evening ! When this one, usually 9575 isn't propagated and vice-versa. 9575 is better during the greyline and 171 way before sunrise at the tx-site and way after sunset in Montreal, at least it seems to be that way according to my own observations. This is the only Moroccan that seems to be received in the Montreal area on LW. The target of Azilal 207 is always buried in NDB QRM; in fact, even marginary level audio wasn't heard (yet) from the Azilal RTM outlet on 207 kHz. Well... +JAN 3 0406 UTC - up to a very good peak right now (S5 over S7) playing a dance oriented raï vocal with exotic female voice "Mon amour"; only the chorus is in FF, the rest of the tune is in AA ! +JAN 3 0424 UTC - with a musical request toward two lovers with mention "...Florent Pagny sur Medi Un", then the soft-rock MoR vocal "Savoir aimer" by Florent Pagny recorded again in duo with FF-Canadian singer Isabelle Boulay, then the DJ greeted a Casablanca listener who requested a Raï duo. Good ! With the CATV disconnected from upstairs, the only QRN consists of a slight high-pitched growl, instead of the unbearable buzz that hammered reception on this channel (and many others) just a few days ago ! This appears to be bilingual AA/FF px with musical request of mainly more or less upbeat FF/EE/SS/AA songs. +JAN 3 0452 UTC - almost completly lost due to tx-site sunrise, but still hanging on with trad. AA mx ! (Chiochiu-QC) 183 GERMANY Europe 1, Felsberg JAN 2 0345-0903+ UTC - ending the nighttime talk show talking about the helpful relationship between animals and criminals or autistic children (zootherapy). Then at 0400, "Europe 1 Info" begun with the announcement of some astonishing events, for exemple the burning of cars around the 31th of December with the burning rate being 30% higher than the past year (1147 cars were fired up ! according to the Europe 1 anncr.) and also some strange weather notes about the current temprature in the eastern suburbs of Paris which was -8C. Weird, as the Gulf Stream should make exceptionnal anything under 0 C, EVEN AT THIS time of the year ! Very good and still hanging on at a poor level at 0903 UTC (03:03 AM EST). This was the loudest broadcast signal on LW, while RUV-189 was apparently knocked out by the semi-auroral condx... Still surprised to get this as even regular MW TAs such as Spain-585 were absent and Colombia-770 made several showings burrying the NYC powerhouse, WABC. +JAN 3 2355 - Very strong w/ end of a talkshow about wife complaining that their husbands or boyfriends are too much into music (just like me!), then an ugly FF chansonnette leading to the end of the show, followed by nx, sx and wx, then "Si vous devez nous écouter sur les Grandes Ondes, rendez-vous maintenant sur la FM" closing annc of the Germany-183 tx, then "Europe 1, Europe 1" singed jingle, then switched abruptly to dead air after the first tone of a coming song, then off the air for good leaving only a SLIGHT amount of powerlines-like noise... Seems like moving the CATV leakage downstairs and setting up WiFi for the computer definitively helped ! (Chiochiu-QC - Grandes Ondes is a FF synonim for Ondes Longues or LW/Longwave - Bogdan) 189 ICELAND RUV, Gufaskalaar JAN 1 0505 - playing the cosmic rock hit "Paranoid Android" from the 1997 Radiohead's cosmic rock album "OK Computer" along with obscure (to me!) Icelandic and English mx selections; beautifool singed jingle sqeezed in between most of the songs. Killed around 0519 UTC by a weird computer-like noise which is obliterating reception on 189 kHz since, along with a brief flurry of semi-auroral condx. (Chiochiu-QC) 252 IRELAND RTE Radio One, Clarkestown / ALGERIA Alger Chaîne 3, Tipaza JAN 1 0045 UTC - EE talk and EE music o/ FF px. Both poor with NDB QRM reduced as much as possible. SINPO 22232. Ireland is a BRAND new visitor for me (although I don't keep a LW logbook) ! (Chiochiu-QC) Pan-American DX 550 VENEZUELA Mundial YVKE, Caracas, Distrito Federal JAN 1 0612 UTC - Assumed this one w/ salsa mx in mess. 2nd time this season ! It is slightly easier to receive in Montreal, now that semi-local CHLN in Trois-Rivière, PQ has vacated the channel, though a weaker semi-local, WEVD in Waterbury, VT can be a problem. WEVD is also on 550. (Chiochiu-QC) 555 ST KITTS ZIZ, Basseterre JAN 1 0613 UTC - fair in slight domestic splash from the weaker semi-local WEVD-550 with a woman MoR pop vocal. The first showing of this station in about a week ! + JAN 3 0105 - in and out, good peaks, w/ Caribbean music (mainly soca, calypso and reggae). SINPO 44533 (Chiochiu-QC) 580 VENEZUELA (maybe) YVMJ La Fe, Maracaibo, estado Zulia / DOMINICAN REPUBLIC HIAF, Radio Monte Cristi, Monte Cristi JAN 1 0103 UTC - possible ID as "Radio Mar" (for Maracaibo ?), then lost to back-to-back bachata music from Radio Monte Cristi. Radio Monte Cristi was also audible on the Sangean CST-818 PK's LW Magnetic Loop combo when the antenna was set to apmplify the highest frequency and was turned in order to null out CFRA Ottawa, albeit slightly weaker than on the Sanyo MCD-S830 barefoot. A half-hour later, HIAF was destroyed by WTIG or WTAG (I don't do domestic DXing) fading up to a very good near-local strenght. (Chiochiu-QC) 600 CUBA CMKV, Radio Rebelde, Urbano Norris JAN 1 0644 UTC - and of a salsa tune about the city of Santiago then apparent canned ID "desde 1958, somos la emisora de los grandos momentos de la nación " w/ escepts from Fidel's speech -> "? ? ? tiempos ?, "hacemos la información; hacemos de la información, la vida, Radio Rebelde, La Havana", then restrospective w/ old Rebelde airchecks huge followed by a mixture of Cuban salsa and Latin dance mx, over/ under the WICC/CKAT mix // 5025 which was even stronger (almost local-like). // 5025 was heard on the Sangean CST-818 connected to long-wire in our yard instead of the home-made PK's Magnetic LW loop +JAN 2 0207 UTC - sports px in progress, strong and on top of channel // 610. (Chiochiu-QC) 610 CUBA CMAN, Radio Rebelde, Bahía de Honda JAN 2 0207 UTC - good and slightly o/ the domestics with Cuban baseball, in // w/ 600. Rare, though it used to be semi-regular a few seasons ago ! (Chiochiu-QC) 670 CUBA CMBA, Radio Rebelde, Arroyo Arrenas JAN 1 0710 UTC - Fair in local splatter and IBOC hash, w/ mx // 710, 600 and 5025. SINPO 32242 (Chiochiu-QC) 710 CUBA CMW, Radio Rebelde, La Julia JAN 1 0712 UTC - Good mixing w/ WOR w/ trop mx // 710, 600 and 5025. The WOR career helped pushed down the local 690/730 splatter. SINPO 42432 (Chiochiu-QC) 750 VENEZUELA YVKS, Caracas, Distrito Federal JAN 1 0202 UTC - at tune-in excited SS chatter, mainly, but not exclusively music related, the M anncr ment how lovely it is to listen to great YV records by artists such as Reynaldo Armas, then played a roghly 1-minute excerpt from a Reynaldo Armas tune, then back to SS chatter. Over/under nulled WSB and slight local CKAC-730 (nulling out WSB which loops SW from Montreal makes the CKAC next-to-adjacent channel splatter QRM a bit more problematic, but huge at times (like always !). Severe crowd noises (since part of this New Year's Eve party was broadcast from outdoor) prevent me from clearly hearing the countdown. It's always nice to listen to YVKS-750 on Dec. 31 because it is the only time of the year when they play some music. +JAN 2 0258 UTC - Man annc briefly talking about the YV citizen's right to fight against the popularist Chavez regime, then a canned announcement for an upcoming px that I can't described much since the huge signal at tune-in (JAN 2 0258 UTC) quickly faded away. Anyway, here is the canned annc for those interested in the way Latins are IDing: "a continuación, le presentamos la reposición de un programa de archivos de RCR, Palabra esta radio; el siguiente programa educativo y cultural contiene elementos de lenguage, salud y sexo tipo A y de violencia tipos A y B y puede ser escuchado por niños, niñas y adolescentes sin supervición de sús madres, padres, representantes o responsables; RCR presenta Conversaciones, una producción nacional independente de Jesus Gamgouchi, certificado de productor nacional independiente, numero 3625, para dar sú pimiento a la obligación impuesta por el articulo 14 de la Ley de Responsabilidad Social", then the canned annc continued "a partir de este momento, un encuentro ? ? ? protagonistas ? ? ? artistas, Conversaciones con ?", during the end of the canned announcement the signal quickly faded away and when the px begun for good, the readability was almost nil. YVs are required by law to describ aspects of the content of their shows before airing them, it's part of La Ley Resorte of our lovely psychopath Hugo Chávez. Is RCR-750 having a website ? My favorite YV "pest", Coro-780, has got one a few months ago and their Internet stream is more reliable than the other Kys 101.5 Caracas stream I'm used to, when the DX isn't coming in and I like to virtually travel to YV-land. (Chiochiu-QC) 760 COLOMBIA, HJAJ, RCN Cadena Basíca, Barranquilla, departamiento del Atlantico JAN 2 0715-1103 UTC - in and out, more in than out, good peaks, w/ back-to-back HJ and YV cumbias, some quick "RCN Radio" IDs between the tracks and brief nx at ToH. WJR was quite easily nulled out, although not always totally. SINPO 33523 in WJR's null ! (Chiochiu-QC) 770 VENEZUELA YVKK, Valencia, estado Carabobo JAN 2 1042 UTC - Tentative ! Man in Spanish w/ possible mention of "Venezuela". Poor in mess. Could also be Cuba-770 since Fidel Castro and Hugo Chávez both have a solid friendship... Listening to the tape once again may not proove to be that useful as the reception was mushy, but I would keep trying for this as it would be my best bet for the Carabobo state, I think. (Chiochiu-QC) 770 COLOMBIA HJJX, RCN Cadena Basíca, Santa Fe de Bogotá, Districto Capital JAN 2 1041 UTC - playing "La Gonza de la China" by Los Melodícos, a Venezuelan "orchestra bailable" that was popular from their start in 1958 through the years, not only in YV-land, but in the HJ-land too. "China" or "chinita" is a diminutive for a smal "muchacha", for a rather small cute chick, frequently used in Venezuela (c.f. the classic YV pasaje "Chinita de Maracaibo" by Chelique Sarabia). Clearly // 760 which fading out, as this one did rise above WABC. Unusual fading pattern ! Earlier, around 1026 UTC, when obscure (to me!) cumbia selections were played, both Barranquilla-760 and Bogotá-770 were equal in strenght. Relog ! Rare ! A rare moment when I'm able to listen to two different Colombian MW outlets during the same listening session ! (Chiochiu-QC) 770 CUBA Radio Rebelde, unID QTH JAN 2 1041 UTC - in mix with WABC, HJJX and poss. YVKK with lively SS announcements in // w/ 5025. Didn't pay attention to these announcements as I concentrated my attention on 770 rather than 5025 were these announcements were more than intelligible, they were local-like ! (Chiochiu-QC) 780 VENEZUELA YVNM, Radio Coro, Coro, estado Falcón JAN 2 0928 UTC - end of a cumbia song, then ID, TC followed by a canned announcement for the Romantica 7-80 px: "De lunes a viernes, escuche Romantica Siete Ochenta, Romantica Siete Ocheta donde se escuchan las canciones (?) (?) (?) y la música de ayer y de hoy, marca el (?) (?) (?) (?) y tus artistas favorita por Radio Coro Siete Ochenta, primera en música"; that annc was followed by an abrupt switch from eclectic trop grooves (cumbia, salsa, vallenato, etc.) to plain trad YV mx (mainly joropos and pasajes which are two llanera mx styles). At 0934 "se siente nuestra música en Radio Coro Siete Ochenta" (you can feel our music on Radio Coro Seven-Eighty) followed by a local TC as 05:04 ! Not sure if the "se siente nuestra música (...)" annc is canned or live by what is called in Venezuela "locutor de guardia". Almost QRM in WBBM null -> SINPO 34323. Are there any other northern South Americans on 780 ? The oldest repport of Ecos del Torbes, YVOD I saw in IDXD dates back 2002, though I see they are still active on 780, even though SW 4980 is off since several years. (Chiochiu-QC) 1110 VENEZUELA YVQT, Carúpano, estado Sucre JAN 2 2233 UTC - Assumed this station from hearing it on a regular basis during BETTER AURORAL CONDX w/ SS-sounding mx at a very threshold level way u/ a good but fadey WBT ! Later, WBT was highly disturbed by IBOC hash from WTAM Cleveland (off the back of the Sanyo MCD-S830 barefoot), so condx aren't auroral anymore like they were during the early morning hours (see below). (Chiochiu-QC) Domestic DX 640 WNNZ Westfield, MA DEC 31 1810 EST - huge, local-like, w/ very slight QRM, w/ talk about the Palestinian conflict inside an NPR feed from 88.5 MHz FM. Obviously on daytime power for several days ! Usually, at night, this one is almost completly destroyed by Cuba, residual CFYR Mojo Radio as well as occasionally YVQO and Guadeloupe. SINPO 44554 The same level on JAN 1 and, tonight -> JAN 2 EST / UTC (Chiochiu-QC) 740 CFZM Toronto, ON JAN 3 0113 EST - obviosuly this w/ MoR female vocal. Excellent with minor splatter from nulled as much as possible local CKAC-730. Probably not a big deal to hear, but it is for me ! In spite of the CKAC splatter, 740 is quiter than channels like 780 were a loud pulsating noise is on and off every 3 sec. Tonight, at this time, MW is more crowded with weird noises than LW, though I'm tired of hearing only Europe 1 at a listenable level, so I'm writing this repport instead of DXing. (Chiochiu-QC) 780 CFDR "Seven-Eighty Kicks" Yarmouth, NS JAN 2 2143 EST - end of a great melancolly-driven female country vocal (and country is the last thing I listen to, though it's a tad better than punk-rock full of falsetto vocals), then "We are all about...Classic Country, 7-80 Kicks" followed by an ugly western tune I deleted from tape while recording Morocco-171 over it ! Very good, mixing with megapest WBBM Chicago, IL in null of a threshold YVNM-780 signal and in null of splatter from local-like WABC-770 and in null of splatter from true local CJAD-800 ! SINPO 42543 (Chiochiu-QC) 1110 WBT Charlotte, NC JAN 2 1814 EST - Unbelievably bad reception, still acceptable for a DXer like me, but with some annoying IBOC hash from residual WTAM-OH. SINPO 42543-2 (Chiochiu-QC) 1140 CBI Sidney, NS JAN 3 1745 EST - w/ the end of a taped concert by the great French Canadian Quebec superstar Danie Bélanger along with Arianne Mofatt and Marc Berry, then the man annc talking about the concert tradition that CBC Radio One have been doing this for "...twenty years on CBC" and non-IDing as "You are listening (?) (?) (?) CBC Radio One". Poor at best in null of local-like WBBR-1130 and a very threshold WRVA-1140 signal. The only CBC on the frequency that will move to FM very soon AND very fast !! I found the Canadian Maritimes to be more elusive than the New England domestics being low or medium powered, New England broadcasters are almost all "pests" to me ! (Chiochiu-QC) I was still awake at 2:45 AM local (EST) the last few nights with the Sangean CST-818 and its PK's Magnetic LW loop in a quiet spot, away from the computer hash that is audible ONLY in the IMMEDIATE vecinity of the computer I'm using right now, upstairs, inside my rather big bedroom. Most of the LW TAs have faded away with the exception of Europe 1 which is still amazingly strong (though fading out at 0248 EST) and, on mediumwave, the Latins have been very poor tonight. The only time condx were distinctively auroral were earlier the other morning when WABC was jammed by the big Santafe de Bogota flagship RCN Cadena Basíca outlet on 770 kHz. In fact, the "madrugada" of Thursday, condx were as much auroral as they have ever been in 2008-2009 yet, but the season is not finnished, so I can always hope and wait for better LAm MW DX condx. I did thought about calling a friend, who used to work as a security guard at the Musé d'art contemporain de Montreal, who likes both oldschool Haitian kompas and Colombian cumbias, but it was too late to disturb him. He knows I'm a maniac of World Beat, but I have not told him about DXing yet. At least, I have the tapes ! As far as tapes are concerned, they begun to be harder and harder to get. Is it easy to record to record your DX into MD or CD ? I know of an astrologist who tape her sessions using burned CD-ROMs. The highlight of the last few days DX sessions ? Three: hearing tentative Venezuela on 770 which is the best bet for the Carabobo Venezuelan / YV state, positively IDing Colombia on the same channel, by paralleling it with the 760 regular visitor in Barranquilla and hearing Medi Un with an almost entertainment quality reception on 171 kHz with a request px and a friendly M anncr playing a wide blend of Moroccan & Algerian raï, Libanese pops as well as FF, EE and a SS pop/rock tune by Juanes of Colombia which, nowadays, is famous worldwide. Its the best reception I ever had of Morocco-171 and it comes of no coincidence as I had replaced cable upstairs with WiFi, though terribly reducing the amount of noise on LW (even though it's still far from perfect, TA LW reception improoved dramatically). That LW loop is one of my best alltime Xmas presents ! I'm so impressed with the PK's Magnetic LW loop, that I'm wondering if a Magnetic loop is a decent antenna for pulling in low-powered Bolivians and Peruvians on 90 or, at least, on 60 and 49 meters SW. What is the best loop antenna for the tropical bands ? The LW (longwire - I love to use abbreviations) aimed south does not bring anything SA other than a few ZYs (Brazilians) on 60 and 49m. Also, very important, I had my mind cooking tonight while I'm listening to Europe 1 fade away for the night on 183 kHz and writing at the same time (now 162 is fading too with tx site sunrise in Allouis) about RCR. I had two tapes full of RCR signal's peaks and, while I'm very slow w/ QSLing, would dearly love to send them to their Avenida del País en el Paraiso Edificio RCR address, but has the address changed since I called them in 2000 ? Is there a postal code or "codigo postal" I need to know before submiting my tape to them ? Also, I would like to write a small explanatory letter, since my SS isn't that bad, but a tape is better than a wrtitten letter, because stations love to know how they sound like away from their tx site, right ? According to Bruce Conti, the Toronto's semi-pest, semi-DX (pest because it is an extremely strong nighttime signal with bad music and little DX interest and pest because it is still barely 10 kHz away from a Montreal local) outlet CHWO "Prime Time Radio" switched to CFZM "Zoomer Radio"... I didn't had the patience to listen to them for several minutes, but I was excited at tune-in, for just a couple of seconds, as they suffered very little splatter from the nulled as much as possible CKAC-730 major local "pest"... I hear some awful IBOC hash from 710 WOR on 720 kHz with weak semi-nulled WGN, though not as strong as I would have thought... Tonight, condx are abysmal for both the TAs and LAs. The weak signal out of the moderatly difficult domestic CBI-1140 strongly suggest this and the absence of Croatia-1134 was also disappointing as this is SLIGHTLY MORE REGULAR than Spain-585... Only one minor highlight this evening:-> hearing the closing announcement of Europe 1 with their usually strong signal, this time without that awful CATV QRN ! Hearing Morocco-171 with a poor, but listenable signal right now for the best LW broadcaster of the moment (0154 UTC, JAN 4) ! This repport is brought to you by Bogdan Alexandru Chiochiu DXing from Pierrefonds (Montreal's West Island), QC using a Sangean CST-818 rx and a PK's Magnetic loop for longwave as well as a Sanyo MCD-S830 barefoot for mediumwave ! May the good DX be with you dear Risto Kotalampi, as well as all the other hard-core-DXer wishing 2009 to be, at least, a decent year for MW Latins, as their SW counterparts are closing down fast making mediumwave DXing a vital hobby for the gringos that we are !... Bogdan Chiochiu Btw.: I wonder why my logs haven't appeared, as I did sent this message twice and it didn't appeared... ---[Start Commercial]--------------------- Order your WRTH 2008: http://www.hard-core-dx.com/redirect2.php?id=wrth2008 ---[End Commercial]----------------------- ________________________________________ Hard-Core-DX mailing list Hard-Core-DX@hard-core-dx.com http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/hard-core-dx http://www.hard-core-dx.com/ _______________________________________________ THE INFORMATION IN THIS ARTICLE IS FREE. It may be copied, distributed and/or modified under the conditions set down in the Design Science License published by Michael Stutz at http://www.gnu.org/licenses/dsl.html
