Warm greetings to all of you !
I hope you are doing very well.
The moon's eclipse which did hit the Earth on Sunday-Monday left me very
tired, almost as if the chemotherapy was still in full swing, and didn't had
the motivation to send in my latest logs.
On the wee hours of Sunday mornings, after midnight, there was a flurry of
decent Latin American activity in the 500s, the 600s and the botton part of
the 700s. On 580, there were as much as 4 Latins fighting against WTAG in
Worchester, MA. Radio Reloj got to entertainment level quality and YVQO
Unión Radio in Puerto-La Cruz, in the Anzoátegui state was, at times, fair
and occasionally good with the only QRM being 1 or 2 domestics along with
Cuban Radio Progreso (CMBC Guanabacoa back at what power level ? They were
running 50 kW a few years ago along with CMBD Las Tunas running a
medium-powered tx of 10 kW !). LW condx were abysmal until the last few
nights when they were decent and, the last night, they got on par... I felt
asleep listening to Morocco-171 which had a good signal and the other night,
in spite of being fairly tired, I felt asleep listening to Iceland-189.
I didn't tried too hard for MW TAs. Part of the reason is that I have a
moderate amount of noises between 1000 and 1390 kHz, severely harming my
mid-band reception which is where some of the easiest TAs are received such
as Croatia-1134 and even France-1206... Another reason was that I was too
excited with my still-brand new PK's Shielded Magnetic LW loop !
I just renewed for the NRC and I should receive soon the latest DX News
publication. I'm glad, I did it ! This means, less Spanish repports, as I
would need otherwise to make an effort to resend once again what I heard in
Spanish...Grrrr!
Into the logs now:
Trans-Atlantic DX (all times UTC)
162 FRANCE France Inter, Allouis JAN 13 0515 - w/ nx regarding the Gaza
conflict followed by an announcement for an upcoming item at 0530 UTC (07:30
AM local) and mention of France Inter. Good w/ some computer-like QRN. SINPO
45343 (Chiochiu-QC)
171 MOROCCO Medi Un, Nador JAN 14 0405 - tuned-in to a program which did
consist of mostly back-to-back plaintive Arabic vocals with male comments in
Arabic, then at 0500 had a short newscast in Arabic that was followed by a
weather repport in French. Then a pop-dance number by Akon which was
followed by a French newscast which mentioned an earthquake that did shake
neighboring Algeria not a long time ago, known in French as "glissement de
terrain", then international weather forecast for a few neighboring worlwide
cities, most of them being in southern France (where the daytime groundwave
signal of Medi Un does a good job covering those areas). Fair-good. SINPO
34343 w/ occasional QRM from a long tone popping up, was it a LowFER ?
+JAN 15 0027 - booming in at a good level with a romantic male raï vocal as
I write this.
The new computers do not produce QRM, but the older one do a lot. Maybe some
of the computer-like
growl sometimes noted on the lower half of the LW broadcast band is from an
"oldschool"
computer somewhere in my neck of the wood, perphaps just a few blocks from
my house ?
In any event, the powerlines-like noises are easily nulled and not too
strong either,
though quite annoying when I null out Morocco (Chiochiu-QC)
183 GERMANY Europe 1, Felsberg (Saarlouis) JAN 14 0528 - man announcer
just sayed "Voilà!" at the end of a news item, as I tuned away back to
Morocco-171. Fair w/ fading distortion which made for some unpleasant
listening, SINPO 35222 ! Stronger when noted in passing at other times.
(Chiochiu-QC)
189 ICELAND Rikisutvarpid, Gufuskalar JAN 12 0457 - w/ a haunting
atmospheric Icelandic reagge vocal followed an IS (Interval Signal) or
INSTRUMENTAL JINGLE, then man talk in Icelandic. Fair
+JAN 14 0453 - woman in Icelandic, burried by possible Low-FER QRM
(Chiochiu-QC)
198 UNITED KINGDOM BBC Radio 4, Droitwich JAN 13 0458 - Man talking in
British Accented English heard at a rather threshold strength and mostly
unreadable level under a poor-strenght beacon. SINPO 22512 (Chiochiu-QC)
216 FRANCE RMC Info, Romoules JAN 13 0428 - w/ "...sur RMC" heard at the
end of a news item to which I didn't pay attention as I barely came-back to
the DX shack as the ID was given. Briefly good. SINPO 42521, but soon
completly lost to the NDB "pest" that is disturbing reception on this
channel. The powerline-like noises are mostly an issue below 190 kHz. NEW !
First time ever that I caught TA audio on 216 kHz ! Seems like it's either
powerlines-like noise or beacon QRM on longwave for me, at least parttime !
(Chiochiu-QC)
234 LUXEMBURG RTL, Beidweler JAN 13 0532 - Tentative reception w/ French
talk that was difficult to follow in quite heavy beacon QRM, SINPO 22422.
Only 2nd time here and the reception wasn't as good as on the 22nd of
December of 2009. SINPO 22522 (Chiochiu-QC)
252 IRELAND RTE Radio One, Clarkestown / ALGERIA Alger Chaîne 3, Tipaza
JAN 13 0625 - Tentative reception with country vocal over weak French talk
with receiver tuned to 253 kHz in AM Narrow Mode to dodge local UL NDB on
248 kHz. SINPO 22532. 2nd time here and best reception by far ! It appears
that, once I dodge interference from UL, then 252 kHz (253 in my case) is
the easiest LW channel above 200 kHz to get Trans-Atlantic audio.
Algeria-252 is the only LW signal heard above 200 kHz on a regular basis,
although never really strong ! Is RTE-252 carrying American country music or
just light pops, jazz and Irish folk mx ? In any event, I seriously doubt
Russia-252 would carry on such stuff and there are no repport of Russia-252
from North America, except maybe from the Pacific Northwest ! There are only
3 outlets worldwide operating right on 252 kHz ! (Chiochiu-QC)
4845 MAURITANIA Radio Mauritanie, Noukchott JAN 11 0038 - playing
primitive tribal music w/ falsetto vocal. SINPO 35433. The easiest foreign
tropical bands signal aside, of course, from Rebelde-5025 ! (Chiochiu-QC)
Pan-American DX (all times UTC)
530 CUBA Radio Enciclopedia, unID QTH JAN 11 0608 - Instrumental
middle-of-the-road music with announcements each 3 or 4 songs. Generally
good with very slight interference mostly from nulled as much as possible
CIAO (Toronto, ON). At this time, the announcement heard was "música para
meditar", then talk about the importance of music for Pithagore and other
inhabitants of Ancient Greece. This announcement was made over a modified
instrumental version of 50 Cent's smash rap hit "Candy Shop". The next song
to follow at 0611 UTC was a Cuban jazz number, so this station does not only
carry
international instrumental middle-of-the-road stuff, but also at least a
lil' bit of Cuban music along with some instrumental violin or piano-based
Cuban music in spite of the presence of Radio Músical Nacional. SINPO 43544.
Also heard Sunday evening (JAN 11 EST / JAN 12 UTC) on the Sangean CST-818 /
PK's Shielded Magnetic
LW loop combo which does shows quite some gain on the botton of the AM
broadcast
band w/ almost, but not quite, the same level as the Sanyo MCD-S830
barefoot. (Chiochiu-QC)
550 VENEZUELA YVKE, Caracas, Distrito Federal JAN 12 0111 - Presumed w/
woman host during a talshow about an unclear topic "la noche, noche"
"oportunidad" were among the very few words I could copy in heavy QRM from
semi-local WEVD in Waterbury, VT. Unfortunatly, nulling WEVD also nulled
Venezuela. Still WEVD has fair-strength and former CHLN had a jumpy
groundwave+skywave good-strength (though looped NE from Montreal while YVKE
loops SSE) and was still nullable from Montreal. The signal was fair to good
though. YVKE-550 is the 3rd most regular YV in the Montreal area after
YVKS-750 (the easiest one) and YVNM-780 (the 2nd easiest one). SINPO 42542
(Chiochiu-QC)
555 ST KITTS ZIZ, Basseterre JAN 11 0532 - relaying BBC World Service with
"BBC news...". One of the items dealt with geopolitical events that did
happen through the years, ie in 2004 as much as during 2007. Always
difficult to clearly understand British English for a more or less fluent
ENG speaker like me ! Poor-fair with very slight splash. SINPO 24543 +JAN 12
0135 - briefly at a poor, but listenable level w/ gospel music. SINPO 24522
(Chiochiu-QC)
560 CUBA Radio Rebelde, unID QTH JAN 11 0647 - w/ "Solo Música" program of
lively Cuban tropical music (mostly hard-edged Cuban salsa using major
chords) //600 and 710 (with WOR semi-nulled and very minor hash from
semi-nulled WLW-700 along with some barely noticeable local splatter) and
stronger than those 2 probably higher-powered. The most reliable Rebelde MW
frequency on Saturday night ! First time in 2008-2009 yet and better than
during the past seasons... SINPO 44544 (Chiochiu-QC)
570 CUBA CMDC, Radio Reloj, Pilón JAN 11 0559 - "A usted le gusta estar
bien informado", time pip, "la hóra, doce cincuenta y nueve" then RR morse
code ID, followed by an interesting announcement regarding the All-Night
status of Radio Reloj over clock ticks "Radio Reloj, lo acompañana en la
madrugada, en esa hóra de la noche durante la madrugada, Radio Reloj, la
emisora que marca todo el tiempo se imagina en el aire (¿disfrutando?) lo
que caracteriza nuestra compaña; a las 4 de la madruga comienza el
(¿Masuquino?)...en en lbarrio de la isla de la radio cubana..." them na
continued with "Muy buenas noche..." as the signal faded under WSYR +JAN 11
0604 - peaked again at this time to an armchair copy level after a time pip
and an ID -> w/ nx item regarding the Ecuadorian president Rafael Torres
visit to Cuba ! Very good, armchair copy, over and under megapest WSYR
Syracruse, NY with Coast-to-Coast that faded-up over Cuba with apparent
proof of the resurrecion of Jesus Christ (even though I wonder why the man
who loves woman, instead of rising from death are trapped into a female body
and they continue to love woman, while reincarnating into a female - not
only I'm skeptikal regarding resurrection, but I think resurrection violates
the metaphysical laws), followed by an item about the struggling discovery
of iced water over Mars. and no sign at all of the subdominant WMCA in New
York City. SINPO 43544 The most reliable Radio Reloj outlet in the Montreal
area and by a wide margin ! Of course, you don't need armchair level to ID
this one with the high-pitched RR Morse Code IDs popping out of QRM every
minute, but I find the content of their continuous newscast highly
entertaining ! (Chiochiu-QC)
580 COLOMBIA HJHP, Radio Montería, Cali JAN 11 0548 - Tentative with
vallenato music mixing with WTAG and 3 Latin Americans. Unless there is a
new style of bachata music with accordeons I'm not aware of (Radio Monte
Cristi was the 3rd strongest signal on 580 in semi-local CFRA Ottawa null
behind WTAG and WKAQ and slightly atop YVMJ), the accordeon based trad LAm
mx was coming from a different station. SINPO 22512, only up briefly. If I'm
able to squeeze an ID out of this birdie, it would be my best South American
DX ! (Chiochiu-QC)
580 DOMINICAN REPUBLIC HIAF, Radio Monte Cristi, Monte Cristi JAN 11
0548 - Strongly presumed w/ bachata music in mess. This was, over the last
couple of years, the strongest Dominican in the Montreal area. With the
assorted domestic and Latin American jumble on this channel, it sounded like
a new kind of bachata with both synthesizer, mandolin-like guitar
and...accordeon ! (Chiochiu-QC)
580 PUERTO RICO WKAQ, San Juan JAN 11 0528 - carrying a talkshow dealing
w/ work-related health troubles hosted by a doctor. Woman listener called-in
around 0534 UTC to talk about her problem that worsened during the course of
2007 and he needed the doctor's advice -> "yo quero la opinión del medico".
Break around 0545 UTC (45 minutes past midnight, EST) for a couple of
commercial ads, IDs such as the fast one "WKAQ...noticias...del pueblo...año
de salúd...muy (¿optimal?)...por WKAQ", which did make for a diffuclt copy
in spite of the good reception, and morning show promo, then back to the
same doctor-hosted talkshow. Another break was noted around 0530, but that
one was mostly burried by WTAG and Monte Cristi. SINPO 42542, fadey signal
over/under QRM. The second strongest signal after WTAG in CFRA's null which
fortunatly drops power from 50 kW by day to 10 kW by night making their
groundwave+skywave mix very easily nulled ! Over the past few year, this has
been the easiest Puerto Rican for me in Montreal ! The MP3 file of the
January 11 reception was posted over the Yahoo! group LatinMWDX !
(Chiochiu-QC)
580 VENEZUELA YVMJ, Maracaibo, estado Zulia JAN 11 0554 - Tentative !
Briefly in at a weak level getting through a strong jumble of domestics and
LAs with a beautifol woman llanera harp vocal. With WTIC-1080 obliterating
1070 with their ugly and awful hash, this one is the best bet for those
wanting to log the Zulia state during non-auroral condx ! Mark Connelly
sometimes hear "La Fe" popping over the WTAG/WKAQ/HIAF/RJR mess, right ?
YVMJ-580 is probably the best South America on this quiet DX-friendly
channel, much easier than HJHP which I only see once reported by him and
tentatively to that ! (Chiochiu-QC)
600 CUBA CMKV, Radio Rebelde, Urbano Norris JAN 11 0658 - woman announcing
that the last hour of Todo Música is about to begin. Huge signal, over/under
WICC and semi-nulled CKAT. (Chiochiu-QC)
610 CUBA CMAN, Radio Rebelde, Bahía La Honda JAN 11 0702 - noted with Todo
Música very weak in the domestic mess audible in the CHNC-610 null, but
unequivocally // to
CMKV-600. SINPO 12511. This Bahía de Honda rebroadcaster (repetidor) runs
only 1 kW making it for some very challenging DX during normal non-auroral
conditions ! (Chiochiu-QC)
640 VENEZUELA YVQO, Puerto-La Cruz, estado Anzoátegui JAN 11 0619 - Noted
with, at times, a fair signal that, occasionally, actually got good, but
very mush and fadey with Radio Progreso and some very weak domestics such as
WNNZ and semi-nulled CFZR or CFYR (I don't know the call letters of Mojo
Radio, do not even know if they are still active). SINPO 33522 over/under
Cuban Progreso. Spanish religious talk noted at 0116 about a precept
("precepte" in FF - "un proposito")
that was "moralizador" which went on until about 0624 UTC, then paused for
ads, then canned ID
"...del país, visión, Unión Radio...opinión", then the ads followed-up for a
few moments, until the
religious program resumed ! (Chiochiu-QC)
640 CUBA CMBC, Radio Progreso, Guanabacoa JAN 11 0617 - after a segment of
eclectic Cuban music
that included salsa, pops and reaggetón, heard with an elaborated singed "la
onda de la alegría" jingle at 0616 UTC,
just before 0617 UTC. Fair over/under WNNZ/YVQO/others with no sign of
Guadeloupe ! (Chiochiu-QC)
710 CUBA CMW, Radio Rebelde, La Julia et al. JAN 11 0645 - with Todo
Música program.
Very good despite some echo (is there a 2nd Cuban on 710 kHz ?)
with WOR semi-nulled (that also cutted down on the 690 and 730 splatter)
with the Sanyo's
ferrite bar perpendicular to the SW/NE that still favor Cuba ! I think they
jam Radio Mambi !
Very slight WLW-700 IBOC noted on 1 occasion, but not much. Are they cutting
down their
IBOC at night, so the hash was imaginery-level ? (Chiochiu-QC)
760 COLOMBIA HJAJ, RCN Cadena Basíca, Barranquilla, Atlantico JAN 14
0045 - with teletalk regarding the social security. Fair in a more or less
deep WJR null ! Much better than during the wee hours of Sunay morning, when
Latin American signals were almost inexistent above 710 kHz, but still
not too good as the propagation seemed to favour Trans-Atlantics (at least
on LW) rather than mediumwave Latins ! (Chiochiu-QC)
6010 unIDs JAN 11 0035 - 2 or 3 threshold Latins getting through growls and
slight noises. Nothing readable !
I wonder if there is a third Latin on 6010 aside from Radio Mil and La Voz
de tú Conciencia. Is HCJB Ecuador
still there ? I think they are 2300-2400 (0000 UTC), but I seldom tune into
shortwave, though when I do,
I usually have a lot of fun doing so ! (Chiochiu-QC)
North American domestic DX (all times EST)
580 WTAG Worchester, MA JAN 11 0115 - running Coast-to-Coast and //
WSYR-570, atop the Latins ! (BC-QC)
1110 WCEC Lawrence, MA JAN 10 2755 - M anncr inviting his listeners to talk
to own of his personal knowledges,
since he is "una enciclopedía de la salsa" with brassy salsa music in the
background, the introducing a Willie Colon track,
someone my new Colombian friend really enjoys ! Legal ID in English at 1800
EST (2300 UTC), then into a Belinda
song (Mexican punk-rock singer in the vain of Avril Lavigne). (BC-QC)
1140 JAN 10 2306 unID reggae music briefly strong. Almost certainly a NA
domestic, but who ? (BC-QC)
Additional comments: my brand new Colombian friend I caught with at the
college radio station just before the holiday
may comeback tomorrow, unless he froze, because Montreal is experiencing
what may be the worst coldfront of the history.
Sunday, we will be having a temperature reaching -27 around noon. But he was
really stock on my radio watching me, switching
back and forth between WJR and RCN Barranquilla and, as we heard twice the
HJ anthem, he told me the Colombian anthem was
like an authentical piece of poetry !
Tonight, condx seem average on LW with Morocco-171 and Iceland-189 the
strongest broadcasters and since with school
approaching (I went yesturday to obtain my schedule), it is likely I won't
be able to send in as many repports than I did during
this holiday.
As explained above, Montreal is going through an unbearable cold wave. I
don't know if it's related to it, but the CATV Internet
connection has worsened during the last couple of hours; the signal was very
threshold and often totally lost to nothing using wireless
WiFi, so we switched back to CATV which, fortunatly, doesn't disturb LW as
much. Maybe some of the powerlines-like noises
are from the beighborhood. If the radio isn't withing 1m of the NEW
computer, there is no additional noise. With the OLD ONES,
it's a different story, but currently there are no old computers in our
house, just old radios ! Even with the CATV, the Internet
connectivity varies from low to very low...
Also, a NEW item. During the last couple of nights, I've been experiencing
severe noises between 1000 and 1400 kHz mediumwave.
Now, they vanished and the medium part of the dial is quiet once again with
the ugly and really unbearable exception of IBOC on a
few channels, BUT NOT ON 1070 ANYMORE ! So apparently WTIC-1080 has learned
to avoid QRMing WBAL-1090 and
WNCT-1070 (Greenville, NC - not heard here regularly, but probably destroyed
in their own backyards) ! However, due to the
abysmal conditions toward Latin America, I get no South Americans of any
kind on 1070 kHz and the often unnulable CBA in Moncton,
NB is off. However, the Euskadi Irratia TA on 1071 may or may not come over
Montreal ! But, as I recheck this stuff at 2142 EST,
the horrendous hash is back on 1070 obliterating a weak music station south
of Montreal. I think that the hash was simply not
propagating... I think I'm gonna write a FCC complaint for WTIC-1080 !
During the next couple of days, most of my free time, aside from DXing,
Aventure FM researching, a possible girlfriend and worldwide movies
(I enjoy international movies as much as international music) will be spent
writing complaints to the FCC. I couldn't show my Colombian friend
RCN Antena Dos on 650, because of the WFAN-660 IBOC and nulling out WFAN
pretty much deals away with Colombia while
favoring WSM in Nashville, TN ! I will onviously talk about WSM instead of
Colombia in my complaint.
Also, I'm looking forward expanding my very small QSL collections ! More on
that later !
An important highlight of the last night's DX session was the presence of
odd signals with data like noises popping in and out, while listening
to Morocco-171 and Iceland-189. If these are Low-FER, then I've never heard
any before last night. There are times, I'd almost like to
learn morse in order to DX those challening and lower-powered beacons...
According to information found on the Web, the Low-FER
are fairly similar to the NDBs ! Is it right or is this information
misleading ?
If I had to highlight the whole holiday DXperience, then the PK's Shielded
Magnetic LW loop could hardly be forgotten... One of my oldest DX
dreams I had when I begun DXing back in 2000 was to pick up stations on
broadcast bands NOT used in NA. Eventually I had limited success
DXing Ecos del Torbes and Radio Villa-La Sencilla on 60 meters, but until
the 2008-2009 winter I didn't had the equipment necessary for LW DX.
As I write this and as I'm also impress by the good performance of the
Magnetic loop on the botton of MW when set to amplifiy the highest frequency
(around 500 kHz, though with some gain on 530-585 kHz too), I may try to
purchase such an antenna for MW purposes toward my birthday.
If someone ever used a Magnetic loop for the tropical bands, especially the
90 and 60 meter bands, should that person be clever and let me know,
it would be awesome ! I don't have the right setup for anything other than
threshold and unusable audio out of the strongest Peruvian and Bolivian
SW broadcasters and I have the curiosity needed to explore the tropical
bands too, not only longwave, mediumwave, FM and the international bands !
Bogdan speaks: Last, but not least, I joined the NRC (National Radio Club)
and should receive DX News later this week. I would like to congratulate
Marc DeLorenzo for pointing out to me the correct address ! I'm sometimes
ashamed that my DX activity goes up and down... I always seem
to miss on the best condx... How would you rate the 2008-2009 DX season yet
? Very good for TAs (at least at times) and very poor for the
LAs ! Seriously, I would like to see more CMEs... For me, hearing medium or
lower-powered YVs is much more challenging that hearing
powerhouses such as Spain-585 running 600 kW from Madrid ! I always count
the YV states, since each state has its own broadcaster and each
one of the 23 or 24 Venezuelan "estados" (depending on how you cont DF's
Caracas area) are heard with varying degrees of regularity and I
would dearly appreciate if Bruce Conti could gladly include "estado Zulia"
or "Anzoátegui state" on Popular Communications and elsewhere !
Since Colombia and Venezuela are the only SAs likely to make further inland,
it's amuzing to try pin down more YVs with motivation, counting
each new state from which a previously unheard area of Venezuela bunched at
your receiver ! Counting YV states is like counting XE ones or
USA ones, this is what's the point !
Until now, I logged Distrito Federal on 550, 670 (semi-regular many years
ago before Rebelde-670 raised power and WFAN added IBOC),
750, 910, 1130 (strongly presumed) and 1200, Falcón on 780, Anzoátegui on
640 and 1080, Sucre on 1110 and 1500, Zulia on 1070 and
Aragua on 570. So I have 12 or 13 YVs depending on how you feel of the
presumed but not confirmed (YET!) Ideal YVRL logging on 1130
which is near Maiquetía, not too far from the Caracas suburb from which
YVRQ-910 is broadcasting, all in Distrito Federal ! I campaign to
make IDXD -> VDXD (Venezuelan DX Diggest) during the next solar CME !
For NRCers who have not seen the Hard-Core DX repports, my Colombian friend
was hypnotized as I switched back and forth between
WJR and RCN Barranquilla on 760. He also told me that the HJ anthem was a
well thought piece of poetry with lots of fancy words. He
may comeback tomorrow, providing he can afford the current coldwave (c.f.
no, not that dark-edged musical style of the 80s) !
This repport is brought to you by Bogdan Alexandru Chiochiu DXing from
Pierrefonds (Montreal's West Island), PQ - QC, Canada
DXing using the Sanyo MCD-S830 / ferrite bar antenna combo for MW
DXing using the Sangean CST-818 / PK's Shielded Magnetic LW loop combo for
LW
DXing using the Sangean CST-818 / random wire combo for SW
DXing using his body / his ears along with the auditive skills that came
along for any useful purpose of the items underlined above
May the good DX start showing with signal strengths that would convert a
non-DXer into a DXer !
Bogdan Chiochiu
Btw.: Have the bucks needed in order to become part of the NRC arrived at
the Aurora, CO mailbox ? I'm sending this repport to IDXD as well,
just in the case everything is already OK in doing so !
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