KING´S VILLAGE D X

Walking in a winter wonderland!

2012-01-25T12:19:00.006Z

It is here: winter
Indeed it is now here at the QTH - everything is covered by the increasing snow - after this picture we have got about 20 cm more and it is still snowing (since about 5 days...). the antenna (LWOG) is now deep in snow - and the lw wirh some snow also making it heavier and heavier. Not to mention some electric problems making the SDR-recordings to stop. Well, the weatherman says however that we will enjoy cold (and bright) weather later on.

And the Space Weather
has been a bit active as well during the last few days with an active sunspot. However the latest impact was more Proton oriented with only moderate Aurora down here in Southern Finland.

The first impact on Jan 22 at 0615utc (as informed by SpaceWeather.com) was noted also: all the TransPolar/Trans Atlantic frequencies were "shaked" + - 3 Hz just during the impact of the CME and the Solar Wind Sock (picture below, an IQ-analysis of 1470 kHz around 06-07utc). Interesting - I have noted often some smearing etc during bad propagation and sunrise - now it seems the ionosphere did collapse a bit just during the impact making real Doppler effects.

When it snows, ain't it thrilling,
Though your nose gets a chilling
We'll frolic and play, the Eskimo way,
Walking in a winter wonderland.
73,TK

King´s Village DX-Station December 2011: BSS Sanin Hoso (JOHF 900) Japan

2012-01-18T10:54:00.002Z

Japanese stations are rather common in (at least Eastern & Northern) Scandinavia. Although sometimes in Southern Finland the European QRM is very heavy. Aslo, often during the condtions towards Asia China tends to dominate channels.
So it was a surprise to log BSS also on 900 kHz in December with "Sanin Hoso" announcement. This seems to be a 5 kW JOHF. BSS has been audible several times also this winter on 1431 (when the Euro-QRM is not heavy), but this was the first time to get it here. Although the 1431 has other JOs, BSS seems to be the easiest and a lot easier than 900 (where China usually dominates if Europeans are poor). This logging was the my MW JO-station n:o 79 logged in King´s Village QTH (not all with local IDs however).

73 TK

Happy New Year 2012

2012-01-01T19:07:00.002Z

King´s Village DX wish you a Happy New Year 2012! The end of the year was interesting in Southern Finland: temperatures as high as + 10 degrees C and no snow! And one of the strongest winter gale with heavy wind. Fortunately no damages at the QTH - the electricity was down as many as eight times during the worst day Dec 26. So all the IQ-recordings of unattended DXing stopped of course.
Let´s see how conditions will develop in the beginning of this year. There is an interesting sunspot turning towards Earth - we will see if we get a real fireworks after a rather long period on inactivity.

73 TK

Happy Winter Solstice 2011!

2011-12-21T11:59:00.002Z

King´s Village DX wish you all a Happy Winter Solstice 2011. This year the solstice will happen exactly at 05.30 UTC on Dec. 22nd.
Let´s see what will happen to propagation conditions when the days will become longer after tomorrow - hopefully increasead ionization will improve the ionosphere a bit, although we will possibly see an increase in solar activity as well.
This year the winter seems to be green still at the King´s Village DX QTH, no snow and freezing at all. Actually every third year we will see the end of the year without snow in Southern Finland.

73 TK

King´s Village DX Station November: La Primerisima 1470 Panama

2011-12-14T10:19:00.002Z

It was quite easy to pick this one as a Station of the month as it was an interesting story to find this one on 1470. As we know, this channel has long been an "indicator frequency of Trans Atlantic propagation conditions".
I found some remarks in my notebook when I have made some routine checks on 1470 making notes like - "Primerisima - maybe a new slogan for Vibracion ", Vibracion slightly higher than usual" - as I found this one on about 1470.001 and Vibracion has been always below the nominal frequency.
Thanks (again!) to Swedish MW-dxers I found information that indeed this is "La Primerísima Panama". Actually on same days during November Panama has been audible also on 1350, 1510 (tent.), 1530 (tent.) and 1560. And some days La Primerísima has been one of the few signals on mw band!
AHK has made also a nice story about the station and has also been in contact with the station (and got a qsl as well) - more at "DX Perseus".

Tack till svenska DXare!

Saludos a La Primerísima 1470 Panama!

73,TK

King´s Village DX-Station October: Radio Fé, 1220 Lima Peru

2011-11-29T08:16:00.002Z

Well, once again - the propagation favoured Peru - and on October 28th especially Lima area - there were a lot of Lima stations audible - and almost nothing else! This was a typical very concentrated propagation towards a certain area which sometimes happens during the local sunrise. Stations from Lima were noted on about a dozen mw-channels from 1010 to 1570.
It was very interesting a note a station on 1220 whose program sounded very different of what I have noted here - it seemed to be christian station with some "palabra" and music, after 05 utc with promos mentioning also "Radio Fe" - I was a bit surprised to hear that as I did not know anything like that here. After some resources and again help from Henrik K. (thanks HK) it turned out to be a fairly new station at Lima Peru - Radio Fe 1220. The reception was rather good at time although with heavy spatters from 1215 and 1224. Also the station´s slogan "La Senal que Mueve Montanas" was heard.
It seems the station has started in 2010 and the station has a web-site and it streams the programs on net as well:http://www.radiofe1220.com/.

Saludos a Radio Fé Lima !

73,TK

Mornings and Nights at the King´s Village DX QTH

2011-11-11T17:18:00.003Z

Some nice mornings in November has been noted with a beautiful sunrise, but after the geomagnetic storm in the end of October it took quite a few days to reach the better conditions; as a matter of fact after the "big bang" in Oct 25 the next "normal level" of Trans-Atlantic signals was noted on Nov 9th with quite a few signals from Colombia (Ondas de la Montaña on 1350 - normally very hard to get something due to Euro-QRM), Minuto de Dios 1370, Vida AM Manizales 1420, Maria (presumed via Ondas del Ibaqué) - Maria also on 1500 (Manizales) - on 1540 classical music was tentatively also a Manizales station. And some others. It was nice as there was almost none from North America to disturb. And the sunrise was beautiful, as well.

In the evening a nice conjuction of the Moon and Jupiter was noted on Nov. 9th as well - nice!

73,TK

King´s Village DX Station September: Radio Vilcanota 1570 Peru

2011-11-03T13:42:00.003Z

Once again dx-conditions favours Perú as often this fall. Already heard for the first time in August the station was afgain audible in September heard also by other DX-ers in Finland. It seems station can be heard although usually Bethel Lima dominates the channel. It is actually a bit higher than Bethel, so by looking at the screen (sometimes you have look at the screen on SDRs) you might separete these two Peruvian stations! Also the propagation conditions are sometimes very interesting letting through stations from Cuzco area or Southern Peru while stations in Lima area are not heard. That´s why it is so intersesting to dig these out of the noise.

Also this one has a web-stream at web - which I have not yet get working.

Saludos Cordiales a Radio Vilcanota Sicuani Peru!

73,TK

Asia DX Finally Started!

2011-10-25T15:08:00.004+01:00

Finally I was able to get my MW-Asian DXing started with a Longwire on Ground (about 280 metres to NE) - or "LW on Mud & Clay - "LWoMC". It seems -as always in October - that conditions are quite good to Far East & South East Asia. It seems nowadays cx favour more southernly parts of Asia - in 2009-2010 Far East / Japan was more frequent.
Let´s see if we can get some new South East Asian stations, especially I would like to get some new Philippinos and Thai stations.
After the first days one new Philippino station was noted - this one on 1350 (1349.97) and it seems this is DZXQ Metro Manila having at least some days programs also after midnight. Thanks to HR at the Barents Region (see the link of his Barents DX Blog at left side) it seems they also relay ANTV channel.
Let´s see if we get the real ID soon, at least during the last weekend (21-23 Oct.) there was no ID at midnight.

The updated list of the Philipinos heard durinf the last years at the King´s Village QTH below.

73,TK

King´s Village DX-Station August 2011:Radio América 1630, San José, ER, Argentina

2011-10-01T08:03:00.007+01:00

This is station was first captured in Europe at the end of July(in the UK and Sweden by HM) and soon discovered by Henrik Klemetz to be a new station transmitting the FM-channel "Radio Melody" at San José Entre Ríos Argentina.
It was very nice to be able to pick up the signals also at my QTH, first during the PUDXK-Summer Meeting on August 3rd (see earlier posts) and after that it seems the signal is quite often at least visible on the chanel and also with audio at times. It is nice to note this one dominates quite often the frequency and it is easy to recognise being a very steady carrier at 1629.992 kHz. Other carriers (one or two from Argentina as well) seems to drift more. This could be seen at the IQ-analysis picture below (many horizontal lines because of static).

Also in September the station seems to carry "Radio Melody" programming at least at night time. One of the best days of reception was on Sept 18th when the station had a nice program of Argentinian Tangos (Tango is very popular in Finland as well) around 03-04. A full ID of Radio Melody at 03.30 was heard as well.

The station has verified the first reports thanks to help of Henrik Klemetz (to Hasse Mattisson SWE & Andrew Brade UK) - thanks to HK for sending a picture of a nice eQSL!

73 TK

King´s Village DX-Station SUMMER 2011: Radio JPJ Lima 3360 kHz

2011-09-04T12:51:00.003+01:00

Usually MW-SW-listening is not the first priority in summertime, but sometimes something happens. This summer a new station was discovered on 3360 kHz. And it was a new one from Peru! This is nice as the number of SW-station has been going down since a few decades. One of the first who noticed this signal was the famous TreDX-gang during the DX-pedition in Åland around June 10th.
More info about the station with pictures at the TreDX-blog.

Soon quite a few were able to listen to this station with it´s lively music programmes during the morning hours. It seems it had some problems with the TX in July but it is going nowadays better and also with stronger modulation.

And if you want to hear HIFI-signal, just check the stations web-feed:
JPJ.

Saludos Cordiales a Radio JPJ!

tk

PUDXK Summer Meeting 2011 at Kungsböle Lovisa 3-5 August

2011-08-05T15:49:00.018+01:00

(Some text added on August 7th & UPDATE 11 August)

Once again the weather during the meeting was very nice with temps around +25 daytime and not too cold even at night.
The meeting started with a repair of the FM-antenna by JSN & MKA, Thank You guys! No Es was noted but tropo got better on friday morning. After the antenna fix, FM-dx was also made on the roof by tiny Tecsun rx, which seems to be a very good rx!

The main meal was traditionally "Kungsböle rökt lax"(KingsVillage smoked salmon) with some nice Riesling wine Altenberg de Wolxheim - Alsace Grand Cru 2008 (thank you MKA,JSN,LN!).
The meal ended also with traditional "Sun Blueberry Pie" with handmade vanilla sauce (tnx JSN!). If you compare now the pie to the one in the meeting summer 2009 (the report is at http://pudxk.blogspot.com/2009/08/pudxk-summer-meetings.html - now we can see a lot of spots whereas in 2009 the sun (and the pie) was totally blank! As we know after 2009 the sun was almost spotless for two years - and now the situation has changed. And of course the main disturbances occured just during our meeting - and we are waiting still for the next two CMEs due to arrive soon! The animation of CMEs can be found here!

And there is no dx-meeting without sauna - this time we had nice sauna both nights and the second one with 5 blondies from nearby local brewery!

Some AM-dxing were also made and a few Peruvians were noted - however the conditions changed due to the disturbance. Now we tested also remote-dxing as MR had his RXs at Joensuu on all the time and the configurations to my new modem (capable to connect to the net with 3G and also distribute the connection to 8 pcs!) were done by JSN (thanks!).
Later on at night (morning on August 6th at around 2220utc) a visible Aurora was noted here - I could not make photos of it but a nice piece of video was made only about 100 kms West of King´s Village in Helsinki: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFXtJx4EHEw
All in all, the meeting went well; thank you all! Now the MW-dx Season 2011-12 is officially opened - although the night between 5th and 6th August showed NO ONE signal from TA when I made a recording of 1200-1700 kHz with the NetSDR. Next night (August 6th-7th) only a few Transatlantic signals noted, like Globo 1220! But the conditions will improve next week... hope so.

Update 11th August: After checking SDR-files from 4th August the new Argentinian station on 1630: AM 16-30 San José Entero Rios BA (relaying Radio Melody) was noted (4th August 1.15 utc-). It seems while we were having the "early morning sauna" around the sunrise the condtions were favourable.

73 TK

No DXing (almost...)

2011-07-12T13:24:00.003+01:00

Well, the reason is simple: the weather has been either "too good" which keeps busy doing other summer activities including a Finnish traditional "carpet washing in rivers and lakes" etc or the increased thunderstorm activity. Actually at the King´s Village area near sea we have only to look at the beautifull increasing clouds rather than having the very heavy storms at least until nowadays (around 12th July).
In fact I did one night a small bandscan on MW and found the usual Peruvian channels 1500, 1510 and 1640 (Kalikanto) with some audio - Santa Rosa 1499.985 being the strongest one. Usually in July there has been only Brazilians so this seems to be promising sign for the coming MW-TA-Season due to start around the end of the month or in the beginning of August.

I have been testing also the new mobile Internet connection: the speed is better and the fee lower - strange! - the new connection is running between 2-5 Mb/s download and 1-3 Mb/s upload; sounds good. Have to do some research as the mobile router needs the port forwarding in order to use it with the Perseus Net - connections. More about that later.
73,TK

Towards the new MW-DX Season!

2011-06-21T19:35:00.004+01:00

Once again we are on the important day of the Northern Hemisphere: the Annual Summer Solstice is now at 17.16 UTC - so we are now looking forward not only to the real summer season in Northern Europe - but also into the next medium wave DX as the nights are becoming gradUally longer. We in Finland have to survive the big "crazy" celebration days of the midsummer soon ("Juhannus"). Unfortunately the real ancient celebration which used to be rather exactly during the solstice has been transferred to the weekend around these days (and like many other such ancient traditions the christian culture has captured the old traditions). Anyway the tradition of Finnish Mid Summer Festifal is still strong with a couple of interesting magic traditions including Sauna & Swimming at remote lakes with mosqitos. Some - not so exact information of this - can be found at the BBC`s news - but there were notting about the Finnish Madness of DXing ? The story can be found at BBC-Finnish Midsummer

The picture below shows the situation at my Northern QTH (Haapavesi)- sun still shining after 22 local time at about 320 degrees.

KING´S VILLAGE DX WISH YOU ALL HAPPY SUMMER SOLSTICE!

King´s Village DX-Station May: Radio Television Caranavi 1550

2011-06-18T13:43:00.004+01:00

Bolivia on medium wave is not so easy at least with small antennas, but sometimes especially during the spring months it seems the propagation favours these stations when the usual dominants further North are not so strong. It seems this one on 1550 is one of the most common from Bolivia to be heard. That was the situation in the beginning of May when the MW was going to be rather silent at the end of the real MW-DX Season this winter. The station was dominating the channel quite a few mornings during the local sunrise at the DX-QTH. It seems the sation usues also "Television" in it´s station identifications. The signal was best usually around 01.30-02.00 UTC. The station has a web-page - also in English at http://rtc.bz/index_archivos/mision_in.html.

Best wishes to Bolivia!

73s TK

King´s Village DX-Station April: Radio Onda Cero, Chamaca 1640 kHz

2011-06-03T10:03:00.005+01:00

A typical Peruvian programming started to appear on 1640 in April and after some work from the Swedish Experts including Fredrik Dourén, Torolf Johnsson, B I Holmberg + Henrik Klemetz - the location was discovered to be at Chamaca, Cusco dept. Peru. TNX HK & all other DXers in Sweden! The station had even a special program with greetings to Nordic listeners on May 6th, but the propagation (and the time of the program) did not favour our attemps to lsiten to the program.

Since then the station was audible rather often especially before May and the increasing sunlight here in Finland. I am sure we can capture the signals again in August. The high frequency and rather free channel can make it rather easy to get this one later on. There is however, many times also the Dominican station on the same frequency, but you can easily separate the programming of these two - Onda Cero has a typical "Peruvian modulation" and usually at night programs with folklore muisc and messages to the listerners. In April-May Onda Cero was very stable on 1640.008-.009 kHz. Maybe the high location has also something to do with the good reception. Hopefully we can get more info from the station about the power of the Tx.

The latest news from the station (via FD, TNX) - the new name of the station is RADIO KALIKANTO, with slogans: "desde chamaca-chumbivilcas para el mundo" "una radio para confiar".

Saludos Cordiales a Radio Onda Cero / Radio Kalikanto, Chamaca!

Special Antenna Tests of a New Flag-6to1-antenna

2011-05-17T15:41:00.005+01:00

A special new antenna design was invented at the King´s Village DX-QTH on Sunday May 15th. This special system constists of an ALA100 Delta-Flag combination System. The impedance matching is 6 to 1 ! This is a bit redisign of the Swedish 8 to 2 type of matching system. The work will continue with the Swedish and Finnish Teams developing these designs further on ;-). By the way at the picture the "Flag-element" of the antenna is just going up!

It seems this particular design did work so far only on 15th and 16th of May 2011 !

73, TK

King´s Village DX-Station March: Radio Alegría Arequipa Peru

2011-05-02T07:43:00.009+01:00

Since a few years I have tried to capture this one with a real identification. There was also rumors that it the station have changed the name to "Radio Las Vegas". I even "send" my sister´s son to record some frequencies at Arequipa (when he was travelling the area). Afterwards there was no evidence of the name change. But finally at the end of March things started to happen with good conditions especially to the South of Peru and the Andies. Finally we got real identifications and also the close down announcement of this Radio Alegría, Arequipa. No doubt the station is still Radio Alegría. Also the web page was easily discovered with on-line transmission on web - cool! Furthermore Henrik Klemetz (&co) in Sweden found out that Radio Las Vegas is also on 1510 - but it is located at Cuzco!
Thank You HK!
Radio Alegría has been audible quite often this spring with nice programs of Peruvian folklore music. It seems the carrier frequency is stable at 1510.016 although the modulation on AM is a bit distorted - at web, the signal is loud and clear. There is also chat so when you listen to (AM or web) you can send greetings via net!

Saludos cordiales a Radio Alegría, Arequipa - La Ciudad Blanca!

73,TK

(Photo by Jarkko Tulla, March 2010)

Latest Cooking Recipes from the King´s Village DX-QTH

2011-04-05T12:22:00.006+01:00

Just tune into my cookin pot at the King´s Village DX Hut!
Well, this is not an April Fool, but my latest tests using the mobile Internet connection (a 3G-mobile modem / DNA operator) reveleas that by putting the modem with the enclosed antenna into my old cooking pot makes the connecting better by using the old pot as an reflector! The antenna setup can been seen at the picture above.

My current setup includes the Perseus & Perseus server software (4.0beta), the above modem and a small HP110 laptop - all these connected to an antenna. During the latest tests I have been still using my Asia-antenna - a wire under the snow (picture). According to several users of the system it seems to have been working OK for the most of the time - at least when the connection has been using "3G" (maximum upload about 300 vs download around 700 kb/s). The server is configured as "GPRS"-mode and the speed has been around 50-90 kbs most times. The picture below shows a typical screenshot of another Perseus user listening to his own Perseus and my Perseus simultaneously on the same computer. Unfortunately it seems my Perseus was seriously off the exact frequency! Thanks MR for testing the connection.

I will inform when my server is online during the next few days and weeks (only when I am also at the QTH). Usually it will be online in the evenings / nights. Probably I will change to a longwire antenna soon. The information will be in the Perseus-Yahoo Group and/or you can see my Perseus on the Perseus server Map.

73,TK
PS: BOG/LWOG is still under the snow, but not very long ...

Radio Nord Revival 1512 kHz

2011-04-03T07:43:00.004+01:00

In the beginning of March (8th, 12th & 13rd) it was nice to listen to Radio Nord on MW. Of course the reception was better on SW 6060, but it was interesting to note that both the first transmissions with 60 Watts had a readdable signal - as a matter of fact it was better than the signals of the more powerfull TX during the weekend 12-13rd March. The reason was that the first TX was a bit off the nominal on about 1511.897 kHz, so the intereference from the very powerfull Iranian (and Saudi) was avoided. The screenshot (picture above) on 12th March shows the analysis of carriers during the evening - my setup (IQ+PC) is maybe not staying on exactly on the channel, but as can be seen the difference of the carriers is only about 1 Hz, the Iranian being on about 1511.999 while Radio Nord was on 1512.000 (note that I have corrected my calibration error of 1 Hz by moving a lower scale a bit). Saudi-Arabia was on about 1511.991. What I have been told the tx of R Nord was very stable - may picture shows the variation of about 200 mHz, but that should be because of my receiver set up. The SDR-Radio IQ-Data File Analysis is a very good tool to analyse the carriers indeed.
Just looking forward into the next broadcasts of Radio Nord in May, more information from their web-page - stay tuned!
73,TK

King´s Village DX Station February: DXAB Davao 1296 kHz

2011-03-20T12:38:00.004Z

Well, once again a Philippines MW station has been announced as a station of the month. This station has been very hard to hear earlier, but this winter I realized that it is a bit higher than other stations (mainly China, Taiwan, Japan NHK and later Afghanistan) on this crowded channel 1296 kHz. It is good the European stations are not interfering durin the afternoon hours. DXAB could be heard only in the beginning of February and it seems not be able to be heard now in March as it is closing down around 14 utc. At the picture is an SDR-Radio IQ-analysis of the signals on 1296 (6th Dec 2010)showing the DXAB signal before it´s close down, it is measured about 30 Hz above the others.

DXAB (1296 kHz Davao City) "Radyo Patrol" is an AM station of ABS-CBN in the Philippines. The station's studio is located at ABS-CBN Broadcast Complex, Broadcast Avenue, Matina hills, Davao City and it's transmitter is located at Km 4 McArthur Highway, Matina in Davao City,DXAB Davao also simulcasts ABS-CBN News and Current Affairs programs such as TV Patrol Southern Mindanao and TV Patrol (Wikipedia).

The slogan of the station is "UNA sa Balita, UNA sa Public Service".

Best regards to Radyo Patrol DXAB!

73,TK

Updates to the Philippino-DX & Japan-DX lists

2011-03-09T08:28:00.005Z

I Finally made some updates to my lists of looged MW_Philipinos & MW-Japan lists. The Philippines stations are mostly logged during the last years (mainly 2007-2011) at my King´s Villages QTH near Lovisa (a couple of earlier loggings included) while the Japanese are all heard during the last two DX-seasons (from Oct 2009 - Febr. 2011).

From the Philippines only a few new were observed this winter, although the conditions were better to SE Asia while Japan / Far East was not that good which can be explained of the increased Solar activity.

Two interesting new ones from the Philippines were DZIQ 990 kHz and DXAB 1296 kHz.

New Japanese channels this season were 1125 (NHK), 1152 (NHK), 1197 (JOBF), 1296 (NHK), 1341 (NHK) - now free from Euro QRM!, 1431 BSS JO--, 1458 JO--. The number of Japanese is now 78, although some NHKs has only network ID and a few commercials are waiting to be identified. Anyway it seems that during low geomagnetic activity more than 50 Japanese MW-stations seems to be audible even in Southern Finland.

The Philipinos list is at the picture below. The list of the Japanese is presented at
Japan-DX

The Latest DX-Tools at the King´s Village DX QTH

2011-02-11T11:03:00.003Z

February means more light which affect of course to the MW-DX. While waiting for better conditions after the latest disturbance I noted a few good days with Far East / S E Asia reception just prior the geomagn. disturbance on Feb 1st. However new problems with antennas were noted although the latest tools to check the antennas has been invested (good during soft snow) in January. I fixed the BOG by inserting a new temporary wire of about 200 m to 45 degr. The wire has been covered by new snow, hopefully deep enough to be safe when the Skidoo traffic starts again! However something happened afterwards also to this and/or the transformer. Note the fixing of the ski bindings - using a piece of antenna wire! The skis are actual ex-Swedish Army skis,hi.

I will update my lists of the observe mw-Japanese stations (some new stations heard this winter) and the Philippines soon, so stay tuned!
73,TK

King´s Village DX-Station January 2011: Weifang JGD 1287 kHz

2011-02-02T11:31:00.005Z

A few times in January as already in the autumn this channel 1287 kHz - which is now pretty "clean" of European QRM gave us a station from China which is very interesting. As a matter of fact it was heard first which a bit strange IDs as "iHome Radio" (slogan in English). When I heard it first it actually sounded like "iPhone Radio". Anyway the station was revealed by MR with his Chinese friends to be "Weifang Jingji Guangbo Dientai" and it has also these Englsih slogans during the TOH IDs. In fact the latest edition of WRTH says this channel is "i Home Service" ! Yes, the WRTH knows!
This channel 1287 has been nice to check the reception of the Far East and South East Asian stations also in Southern Finland this season as it has given as also at least (a dominant) JOHR Sapporo, MBC Korea and a station in Thailand in the afternoon.
Weifang is situated in Shandong Province and it is called a "kite capital of the world".
As it is a New Year´s Day in China - I wish everyone a Happy New Rabbit's Year !
新年好
Xīn nián hǎo!

King´s Village DX-Station December 2010: DZIQ Radyo Inquirer 990 kHz

2011-01-19T15:13:00.003Z

Well, once again a new station from the Philippines! Thanks to JKZ of Tampere who found this one first I was also able to hear DZIQ 990 kHz in December 12th 2010. After making some checks of my earlier recorded Perseus-files it was also noted a couple of times before like on Nov. 6th which seems to be very good for the Philippines with a couple of interesting frequencies open (like 684, 954, 990 and 1080 together with some more common channels).
DZIQ seems to be easier now - I do not know if it has done something to the transmitter equipments - according to some information it is using 50 kW of power on AM. It is a news station having mainly talk / news programs at time of reception in Europe (12 - 13 utc). It is always nice to get it as there is also a strong German station dominating the channel and when conditions are favouring Asia, China easily dominates the channel as well.
It seems anyway that the station changed it´s call to DZIQ in 2010 and according to some sources it actually started broadcasting on AM in 2010. The station is owned by the newspaper Philippine Daily Inquirer.
If you can not receive the station on MW you can access the web-page and have the feed with video from the studio, just click http://www.dziq.am/.
Best Wishes to DZIQ Metro Manila!

King´s Village DX-station November: DYEZ Aksyon Radyo Bacolod 684 kHz

2010-12-31T09:38:00.007Z

On November 6th I was lucky to capture some philipinos on MW, which is always nice in Southern Finland with rather modest antenna systems. I was also lucky to set my Perseus to record a bit more around the TOH at 13 utc (instead on normal 4-8 minutes around the toh) and got finally a recording of about 20 minutes. I noted a few Philipinos and this was the most interesting for me as i have heard this tentatively only once in Dec. 2009. Some other stations from the Philippines were noted today as well, among them another one from Bacolod: Bombon Radio 1269 and a new one for me. DZIQ on 990. DYEZ 684 had a typical news and information program with some advertisements and a few mentionings of "Aksyon Radyo Bacolod".

From the station´s web-page we can find some information:
"BROADCASTING from the city of Bacolod, the commercial and political hub in Negros Occidental, dyEZ Aksyon Radyo-Bacolod traces its roots to the city of La Carlota where it first started operations from the administrative building of the then Elizalde-owned Central Azucarera De La Carlota in the 1960s.
The small community radio station, originally having the call sign of dyEN, hosted some of the pioneer broadcasters in the province until the declaration of Martial Law when it was closed down. Several years later, it resumed operations as dyEZ and became the dominant news and music station before the proliferation of FM stations. By the 1980s, dyEZ shifted its programming to fulltime news and public affairs. With it came the change of name from Radyo Balita to Radyo Owang until finally settling on what is widely perceived as the most the appropriate name for a dynamic news and public affairs station: Aksyon Radyo.Serving a base listenership of at least a million from its primary area of coverage, which are Negros Occidental’s 32 towns and cities, Aksyon Radyo-Bacolod has consistently proven its worth in the most competitive environment of AM broadcasting in the province."

The station is fun to listen and you can do it easily just by logging into the page of DYEZ:http://www.aksyonradyobacolod.com/

Best Wishes & Happy New Year to Aksyon Radio DYEZ!

73 tk

Season´s Greetings!

2010-12-20T20:58:00.004Z

Once again we are approaching the winter Solstice tomorrow (21st Dec at 23.38 UTC) so it is time to wish you all the Season´s Greetings!
Actually this day means "the start of winter" - obviously we have already seen the start of the winter in Finland at least with snow accumulating now to about 60 centimeters in the South of Finland!
This Solstice is a very unusual also as we will have the lunar eclipse also on the same day (Dec 21st), unfortunately it seems we will have clouds in my part of the country at that time (morning).

NetSDR testfile

2010-12-20T09:17:00.004Z

A testfile recorded in Muhos 5th Dec around 07 UTC (1300 kHz Span, recorded with NetSDR, ant:bevarage to North America, about 900 m @305 degrees) is now available at:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/5321722/MUH%20051210-1150000Hz_20101205_065851.zip
It is a huge one (5 min.) zipped, about 1,6 Gb file.
It can be listened to with SpectraVue 3.09 or later as well as with the WinradHD, the later seems to have nice sound, but unfortunately there seems not to be a timebar so you have to listen it through.
EDIT Dec 20th:
Sorry, it seems the file can not be accessed, as the following message has been received from DropBox:
"This email is an automated notification from Dropbox that your Public links have been temporarily suspended on account of generating excessive traffic. Your Dropbox will continue to function completely normally with the exception of Public links."
Sorry for that.
73 TK

PUDXK-PreChristmas Meeting & Testing the netSDR at Muhos

2010-12-12T10:56:00.007Z

It was nice not only to test and do some DXing at Muhos during the weekend 4th - 5th December but also to celebrate 2 x 50 years anniversary of two PUDXK-members (the two Jaris). We started again (like two other PUDXK-meetings) at "Sokeri-Jussin Kievari" at downtown Oulu (at Pikisaari, a small island just near the City Centre) - http://www.sokerijussi.net/.
At the listening QTH (JPRs DX-QTH Muhos) we had nice weather, some sunshine during the few daylight hours between 10 and 14 local time(sic) and temps around -10 degrees. Only about 5 cm snow, whereas in Southern Finland we got more and more during the week after this weekend, now accumulating to about 1/2 a meter at time of this writing!

Testing the netSDR
Testing was done only by "ear" without any equipments. I made some simultaneous files with Perseus & netSDR for later review. The Perseus was hooked up to an AcerLaptop (dual-core @ about 2 GHz)while the netSDR was connected to a bit older Dell (single core @about 2 Ghz tabletop pc). So the limitation of processing power limited us just to record everything on netSDR at FFT of 2048FFT/BLK and all the analyzing has to be made aftwerwards. The listening has to bedone using the spectrum display of the total span of 1300 kHz without measuring the exact carrier frequencies. The software used was SpectraVue 3.09. I did make some listening and freq. measurements also using a small span to achieve very good bandwidth resolution (picture) - and comparing the sensitivity with Perseus at the same time.

Performance of the netSDR as expected ...
was very good with a low noise floor and oscillator noise as stated in the specs. You have to notice of course that the unit tested was a prototype and as far as I know the real units (coming Q1-2011 ?) will be a bit better and there will be an option (?) to have even an oscillator of even lower noise soon. So by ear the output of netSDR sounded to be better than that of Perseus and/or IQ we had working at the same time. I do not know if some noise of Perseus was coming from the Perseus PSU as it was using the original power supply unit. The NetSDR was using an "old separate linear (?) PSU" originally used with SDR14 - not the original of 14 or netSDR. It seems that also the netSDR is equipped with a small switching PSU which should be replaced. An issue I fully do not understand - that was the case also with the original PSU of SDR14. Anyway the low signal performance of netSDR was good as well as filtering with the provided software (SpectraVue 3.09). I made a small comparison with very low signals on HF (the Papuan later on on 3905 kHz) by listening it directly on both the netSDR and Perseus. In genaral the reception was quite similar but the sound of netSDR sounded "better" and cleaner (the bandwidth of both rx´s was about 3 kHz). But the difference was very small. What we are missing still with the SpectraVue is the notch which is good on Perseus and on some situation wins the competition, when there is a strong het or signal nearby. As reported earlier the measurement of exact carriers was easier with netSDR/ SpectraVue as SVue tells you "automatically" 4 most powerfull carriers of the viewed span - and you can also see the spectrum (and carriers) at small spans when LSB/USB is used while on Perseus you have to use AM when looking at the spectrum or waterfall on small spans (usually we use 100 or 200 Hz spans). With Svue rather exact measurement can be done like on the picture: using the FFT of about 1Million and demod span of 100 kHz the resolution is about 0.1 Hz. Well, this is not often suitable and when you record 1300 kHz span you have to do measurements with the resolution of about 0.7Hz - which is, however usually enough.
As the unit was an prototype one, there was some decrease of spectrum (maybe the sensitivity as well) on the higher end of the mediumwave band (1500...1800 kHz) which could easily be seen on the spectrum. This issue has been reported also by RFSpace, however.

Recording the Spectrum ...
of 1300 kHz was good, and the 5 minute files were about 2 Gb each. While recording it was possible not only to listen but also to transfer file to external HDs, connect them etc which was very good as the netSDR was SUPER stable - it was running about two days without any crashes. This could be because it was connected by Ethernet and not by the USB. The USB-connected Perseus did suffer of some instability - an issue detected earlier also - you have to be careful when connecting other usb-devices when you have Perseus recording - we had some issues when the Perseus stopped working during these situations. The connecting of netSDR via Ethernet worked really good - this was reported by TuA earlier also when he was using the device at ENOX in November. The 1300 kHz span was good as this is enough for the entire MW-band to be captured. The size of files is so about 12 x 2 Gb = 24 Gb/hour when Perseus record files (using the 2 MS/s/1600 kHz span) of about 2,3 Gb/5 minutes which makes about 28 Gb/hour. OK, not a very big issue, but during the 10 hour session you can save about 40 Gb of HardDisk. We did not tried to record other than 1300 kHz SPANs duringthe tests. It seems we did not do the calibration very well, as the both NetSDR-files and Perseus-files seems not to show correct frequencies, the NetSDR files seems to have an error of about 1 Hz (too much) while Perseus shows about 2-3 Hz too much. Shame on us.

Evaluation of files later ...
at home I finally made some afterwards listening ("Post DX-session evaluation") of the files of total of about 300 Gb. Again there was no big difference between the signals I listened to, so in general both hardwares worked ok. Maybe I can do some real "DX-listening" with those files later (I transferred only some files of TOH´s of the two nights with me) in a few days. I know some files have already been analyzed by JVA who has also a powerful "automatic split frequency capture&analyze software" - but he can tell about it later on. The listening was done using my Pentium dual-core @3GHz (4 Gb memory) PC so it was easy and took maximum 10-20% of the processing power. The recommended PC/Laptop for the NetSDR is at least about 2 GHz/dualcore, but as we noted the recording and listening (without exact carrier measurements) can be done easily with older pcs/laptops of about 2 Ghz/single-core. Then you have to use the full spectrum view and set the FFT low (like 2048 FFT/BLK) and possible set the screen update speed (n=10-20). And furthermore - you do need a BIG HD (preferably an internal, but the external works ok and there is no problem with multible USB-connections as you have the RX hooked up to the Ethernet port).

The reception conditions...
towards "TA" were rather average to good especially on 5 December (coming better later that week) and some early reception of common NAs were noted starting at around 19 utc. Also some Latin American were noted at night on both 4 and 5 December. The conditions were rather wide spread however with stations from Venezuela to West Cost.The antennas used during the tests were beverages (700-900 meters)usually at around 290 ... 305 degrees.

Last but not least...
I have to point out that the NetSDR is priced at about 1300...1400 euros - and you can get a Perseus at about 700...800 euros, so if the money talks you can get "about the same" with 500 euros less. However, if you want to see the exact carriers easily, prefer using the SpectraVue (or SDRRadio) software and like the "look and feel" of NetSDR and last but not least - like to use the Ethernet connection (and easily connect the device used remotedly via net) the choise is NetSDR. And there will be some software development going on with the SpectraVue (I believe), SDRRadio and what is the most interesting with the totally new "CuteSDR", which seems to be an open source platform to develop softwares available also for Mac OS - an issue most wanted by the increasing number of Mac-users among radio enthusiasts!
Well, which one? for myself - I´d like to have them both.

Thank You very much for RF-Space letting us to test this proto of the great new receiver, let´s hope we will see the final products soon!

A testfile of 5 minutes covering 500-1800 kHz will be published later on for those wanting to test with the SpectraVue 3.09 or later.
73 TK

SWR Special Summer Meeting Broadcast - Results of the Competition

2010-12-06T10:16:00.009Z

I have finally got the list of the DXers who had accepted reports to Scandinavian Weekend Radio on August 6-7th 2010 and we have done the decisions of the winners of the competition. As we reported earlier, a special QSL will be out - the Art Director has been doing the first drafts and we hope to get the printing machines printing during the Christmas Season, please be patient!

The list of reporters and distances from the tx site Virrat is:
Europe/World: Alan Pennington, Caversham, UK. Distance: 1900 kms.
Scandinavia: Henrik Klemetz, Borås, Sweden. Distance: 780 kms
Finland: Raimo Karjalainen, Rantsila. Distance: 257 kms.
Thanks to Mauno / MR for calculating the distances!

The prize of the most distance reporter, the WRTH 2011 (from the WRTH) will go to Alan soon!
The special prizes for two others will be sent also soon - these are donated by the Kymenlaakso AMK University of Applied Sciences.

Thanks to all the reporters!

73s, The FDXA Summer Meeting 2010 Team.

King´s Village DX-Station October 2010: Radio Verdad Guatemala 4052.5 kHz

2010-12-01T09:58:00.004Z

Also this month a station on the tropical bands was chosen. This is mainly because this particular station is one of the few station still transmitting from Central America on tropical bands and it is a very friendly one for radio ethusiasts. I remember to have heard back in the 20´th century and got also a reply then. I tried it a couple of times this fall when it was transmitting with a temporary small transmitter on 4055 kHz but I think it was rather hard to capture in Europe. Now after the end of October ( I checked it on Oct. 28th and found it with rather good signal) it was again on 4052.5 (4052.455) and since then it seems to be a regular visitor on this a bit odd frequency between 75 and 60 mb.
Information I have seen (thanks to R. Wayne Borthwick, VA7GF vie Glenn Hauser DXLD):
The antenna is a 89 m long with a phasing stub 11m long hanging near the middle. The two current nodes are separated to give near maximum collinear gain (about 7.5 db above isotropic theoretical). Since the antenna is oriented NE to SW it is ideally oriented toward covering Mexico and Western N. America on one side and C. America, S. America on the other side.

I designed it so the lower elevation angle minor lobes are about 8 to 10 dB down off the ends of the antenna to cover E. USA and Europe. It hangs over a gully with a max depth of about 25m and is end fed through a matching network by approx. 10 m of RG8 coax. The matching network is mounted in a sheet metal box on the tower and consists of a single 30 cm diameter coil of three-eighths soft copper tubing. Top of the coil is to antenna and bottom to ground with the 50 ohm tap about 1.8 turns up from the ground.

The big problems in the installation were getting a good solid ground in dry earth covered by concrete and buildings. Lots of work by the mason chipping holes for the ground wires in the concrete. It also turned out the power feed from the transformer at the edge of the of property had a bad neutral so today that got fixed. Prior to that we were completing the neutral current through our antenna ground, and indication that the antenna ground is at least capable of a few amps at 60 Hz without too much voltage drop.

Hope this and the 500 W carrier from the Omnitronix solid state transmitter helps reception up your way. 73 (R. Wayne Borthwick, VA7GF, Oct 29, WORLD OF RADIO 1537, DX LISTENING DIGEST).

Freezing DX!

2010-12-01T09:53:00.003Z

Two important issues are to be announced soon:

1) The list of the accepted reports from DXers of the SWR FDXA Summer Meeting Broadcasts 6-7th August.

2) The King´s Village DX Stations October and November.

While waiting for these news (which are not from the DXleaks) we can enjoy the Art of the Arctic Winds coming from the North Pole at the window of the DX-QTH at King´s Village. Yes, it has been freezing times the last two weeks with temps. down to -20 degrees C. But we are used to manage, unlike the friends of us in Central Europe.

73 TK

How to Listen to the Philipinos on MW?

2010-11-20T09:07:00.007Z

During the "Golden Years of DXing in 1970´s" with loops and small wire antennas (and an old tube receiver) one could easily get a few MW stations from the Philippines also when they started the broadcast day. I remember one of these was DWWW on 1280. And several others, but that was before the Asians adjusted the channels to the current 9-kHz spaced allocation which is everywhere but in Americas.
Things become a lot more difficult later on. However, during wintertime, especially in October, sometimes you can get a few (a dozen seems to be almost the maximum number) of them even in South Finland. What you need is a wire to 50...80 degrees (a beverage could be best or a BOG/LWOG) of about a wavelength long and of course a suitable receiver. Nowadays a SDR-rx which records the whole band before the sunset (usually in Finland around 12-14 utc) at least during the TOH´s is good. A good outdoor loop (ALA100 for example) can be used as well, but you have to reduce the intereference from Europe. In Lapland the situation is of course better.
It seems that last season was not that good as the more Northernly stations (Japan, Korea and Northern China) were often the dominants. For these areas in South East Asia, you need actually a bit more disturbed propagation conditions.
This year I has been able to note at least two good days for reception of Philippinos in October: the 5th and the 10th of Oct. Some new frequencies were noted like 684 (Aksyon Bacolod) and 864 (UNID so far). I have tried to measure some of the offsets (list) as quite a few of them seems to be rather stable on their offsets. From the list all but those on 1422 (maybe back on nominal now?) and 1575 have been noted recently. Some of these might be possible even in Central Europe - at least the easily recognizible carriers? Please note the accurancy of the offsets is about 1 Hz due to the daily variation, Doppler effects and the resolution / accurancy of Perseus (some of the measurements have been done by SpectraVue-IQ).
What's also interesting with the Philipinos is the language (sounds a bit like Spanish) and the style of programming they have (some of them religious, though). Those having "normal" informative / music programs also identifies rather well with call letters and/or slogans. They seems to have to give "the official ID" prior to closing down.
The published lists of "KOJE" etc of NA-MEX stations is a big one as the lists of Latins (and so seems to be the lists of logged "Kiwis" as well nowadays. This is a tiny one, but the small number can become bigger - so let´s try to get them!

New SDR-Equipments & Tools

2010-11-20T07:52:00.004Z

While waiting for a new NetSDR with the latest versions of software I made some tests with SDR-Radio SOftware. I was not very satisfied to measure frequencies accurately or maybe I just do not know how to do it? However it works OK and especially the easy connection with remote RXs is interesting.

The software has a nice tool to analyze IQ-files to make quick waterfall charts of several files. What I would like to add here is lines of frequency steps (like vertical lines / grids for every Hz or so).

Here is an example of a typical situation on 1580 kHz - the TA conditions were rather poor, but the dominant TA carriers can be seen around the nominal (usually: Maria Barranquilla right below, Bogota station on around +4 Hz and the Dominican on around +16 Hz. I had to adjust contrast to show only the strongest carriers as there are a lot of RFI at my home QTH. Interesting smearing can be seen also before the sunrise.

King´s Village DX Station September: Radio Fly, Papua-New Guinea

2010-10-30T10:47:00.004+01:00

It is not very often that a new shortwave station starts transmissions on tropical bands. However, during the summer the first signals from this new station in Papua- New Guinea was first time picked up in Finland.
After I got my Asia-BOG working in September I could listen to Radio Fly on 3915 kHz very often, sometimes with good signal during the night time broadcasts of mostly music with some IDs and announcements. The best time was always before the local dawn.
However in the end of the month this frequency has been silent. I have heard them on 5960 kHz but very seldom and always with the very heavy intereference from China which has a powerfull transmitter on 5960.
The station is run by the Ok Tedi Mining Company and there is more info on their web-page here
Let´s hope the station will resume using 3915 kHz in the future.

Trying to Catch the Harvest Moon and check the Autumn Equinox in Northern Germany!

2010-10-09T08:21:00.006+01:00

I had a very nice overnight (21-22 Sept.)visit to a wellknown DXer Jürgen Bartels at Süllwarden near the coast of North Sea. JBs QTH seems to be one of the best in the Continental Europe, as being in the countryside there is no big manmade noise - and being at the edge of Europe facing towards the North America, it is ideal for TransAtlantic DX. I was amazed of the set ups of JBs equipment: everything including FM and TV was controlled by a sigle PC and you can even do simultaneous listening with sdr-rxs (Perseus / WinRadio)and exact measurements of carriers by SpectrumLab - the demodulation was done by SpectrumLab as well - and the antennaselection by the famous JB´s StationList. Jurgens photo of the setup with some TVDX going on is here.
We did note some of the most easier North American stations on MW but something was coming through by tropo on FM and even something by Es on TV. But we so much to talk during the night that the real listening was impossible.
You can see more about the Jürgen´s set up at his web pages:http://dx.3sdesign.de/
When flying back from Berlin later that week I noted also a very rapid temperature change in the troposphere - later on I heard that a good ducting with big tropos on FM were noted (from Finland to Romania and Eastern Europe)!

And yes - we were very near the Autumnal Equinox moment - and the Harvest Moon was almost 100% Full during the Night - wouuuu!

Thank You Jürgen - Danke Schön!
73 TK

Final Call For Reports of SWR 6th August

2010-10-04T14:52:00.004+01:00

This is the final call of all reception reports of the special SDXL-Summer Meeting 2010 broadcast over Scandinavian Shortwave Radio on August 6th.

All correct reports will be answered with a special QSL.

Furthermore there will be prizes:
1st Prize to the most distance listener - WRTH 2011 from World Radio TV Handbook-
check: WRTH

2nd The most distance Scandinavian
and
3rd The most distance Finnish
Dxers will get a special prize as well.

Please send your reports with the return postage to SWR (before 1st November 2010):
SWR

DX-Station August 2010: CX154 Radio Patria Treinta y Trés, Uruguay 1540 kHz

2010-09-30T16:00:00.007+01:00

On August 21st I had one of the best Uruguay-openings on mw for years. Although I could "listen" (record) on 1390 - 1580 kHz, several - for me new - captures were found. Again, Thanks to Henrik Klemetz some of these were solved/verified, like Treinta y Tres 1390, Radio San Carlos on 1510 and the station one 1540 which turned out to be from Treinta y Trés as well.

The station of August on 1540 is RADIO PATRIA, TREINTA Y TRES, URUGUAY and it is easy for me to announce this as the station of August as it made it through interference by other Latins and Europeans (on 1539)!

I thought the station has been heard earlier in Scandinavia, but I am not sure as the station writes "Es la primera confirmación de recepción a larga distancia que recibo".

Thanks for the material send by the stations technical personel Sr Gian Carlo Fallini as well as Paolo Fallini CX2UA for the photos!
More pictures at the blog of CX2UA

It really seems the start of the season has favoured some stations further South, like from Uruguay and Argentina, but also some from Peru. So the conditions might be a bit different of that of the season 2009-2010.

73,tk

SALUDOS CORDIALES Y GRACIAS AM 1540 RADIO PATRIA TREINTA Y TRES!

DX-Station of the Summer 2010: Radio Corporación, Cerro de Pasco 1540 kHz

2010-08-29T10:42:00.003+01:00

Before the medium wave season really starts (actually it has started already) I decided to announce a DX-Station of the Summer Season - this station was observed first time already in March 2010 and was identified first in Sweden by several dxers with the help of Henrik Klemetz - it has been noted also after that a copule of times even in summer months. Thanks to the stations frequency which is a bit above the nominal, it can been "seen" often and there is also a "het" easily audible on the upper side band of 1540 with the favourable propagation conditions to Peru. The station is located very high - at the altitude more then 4300 meters - maybe one of the reason it can be heard so well and often although there are several stations around 1540 kHz often present. The station identifies also as "La Voz de Cerro de Pasco" but often just "Corporación" is heard. I don´t know if the station is active on its sw-frequency 6170.

Saludos Cordiales a "Radio Corporación"!

It´s Harvest Time!

2010-08-25T12:53:00.006+01:00

This years Harvest Time of DXing Latin America has begun indeed! Some nice openings to Peru and LaPlata area has been noted.
Particularly interesting conditions has been observed before the current (23-26 August) Coronal Hole distururbance.
On August 20th the conditions favoured more Argentina while on August 21 some interesting stations from Uruguay were noted. As an example of the mixed stations can be seen on the screenshot of an IQ-recording containing pictures at 0230 when Radio Belgrano on 1509.99 was dominating (it has been on this "split" quite a long time) - but soon another station just above it was noted - also from LaPlata - the second screenshot shows the situation at 03.00 when another one was dominanting. After 03 utc with some commercial spots for Maldonado and San Carlos are was heard and a full ID after that ""...15-10 kHz Radio San Carlos, una radio regional cubriendo este y sur del Uruguay.." (Thanks to Henrik Klemetz for checking the ID).
Once again an example how modern SDRs help us to see there is something else on the channel than the normal dominant!
Some other (for me new) stations were noted on August 20-21 like Argentinians 1550 LT23, 1560 LT11 and a few still unidentified Uruguayans on 1520 (pres. one of these was from Uruguay) and 1540 (commercials mentioning Uruguay, tentatively this could be Radio Centro). It seems quite a few new split frequenccies were noted as well. Stay tuned for more info and the station of the month to be revealed soon!
73 TK

The MW-DX-Season 2010-11 Officially Started!

2010-08-12T10:55:00.007+01:00

This season´s mw-dx was officially opened during the "SDXL-Summer Meeting 2010" at Haapavesi. The Fireworks at the end of the meeting together with a heavy thunderstorm (sic!) marked the "official start" this year.

It seems there has been some good Trans Atlantic DX-openings like the one on August 9th with some nice loggings of Bolivia (at least on 1440 by JVH) ! and a few Peruvians (1540.16 seems to be rather common now, noted also at my home QTH). It seems we will see some good openings towards Latin America also later this month.

More about the Summer Meeting with some pictures later on. Stay Tuned. In the meantime please try to identify some of the DX-stations from the small video of the performance by our special guest star at the meeting Sauli Heikkilä ("DXing in 1970´s").
73 TK

Special Broadcast from the SDXL Summer Meeting - and a Competition

2010-07-22T09:15:00.004+01:00

A Special broadcast by the Scandianvian Weekend Radio on 1602 kHz & HF will be broadcasted from the SDXL Summer Meeting at Haapavesi on August 6th - 7th. More info at swradio.net.

Competion for DX-listener´s

SDXL in co-operation with Northern Dimenson DXers, Haapavesi Folk High School and King´s Village DX will announce a competition for DXers in Finland and abroad!

Who will be able to pick up the broadcasts on August 6th-7th from the biggest distance (from the TX site at Virrat, Finland N 62°23' E 23°37').

The competition will have 3 categories:
1) Finnish listeners
2) Scandinavian listeners
3) Rest of the World

All reports should be sent (with a return postage) to SWR (see SWRadio.net). Please give a distance and/or your coordinates with the report.

Correct reports will be replied with a special QSL-Card.

More info about the convention at http://dx2010.blogspot.com/

Best 73s
SDXL Summer Meeting Team

Happy Summer Solstice !

2010-06-21T14:13:00.004+01:00

So we are again wittnessing the time when the "sun is standing". Although the sun was behind some clouds at 14.28 local time (11.28 UT, the exact time of the solstice) it seems we are starting to move towards the next medium wave season - slowly. As the sun stands so did my little friend on the tree, staring at my ALA100 loop under the old oak tree in my backyard. The antenna is having a summer rest for a month or two...

King´s Village DX wish you a Happy Summer Solstice 2010!

The Secret of the "Kantelemies" revealed!

2010-06-14T16:40:00.007+01:00

During a short visit at Haapavesi with some preparations for the next solar minumum (more about that later on)I got the answer of the strange "Kantelemies" / "Kanteleman" standing at the backyard of the DX-Summer Meeting Venue´s Buildings at Haapavesi: the guy is playing with this nice instrument the first version of an old traditional Finnish song which has been an interval signal of YLE "Suomen Yleisradio" - Finnish Broadcasting Company since 1931! Actually the very first tune was played with kantele and the later version with other instruments and finally by the computer. A Kantele is a tradional instrument of the people of North Eastern parts of Europe at least. A kantele (pronounced [ˈkɑntele] in Finnish) or kannel ([ˈkɑnːel] in Estonian) is a traditional plucked string instrument of the zither family native to Finland, Estonia, and Karelia. It is related to the Russian gusli, the Latvian kokle and the Lithuanian kanklės. Together these instruments make up the family known as Baltic psalteries (Wikipedia). Haapavesi is very well known of this instrument and has been called also as a "Kantele Town" of Finland! You can listen to the original YLE-interval signal by clicking the video above.

More details with programs (in Finnish) now about the FDXA Summer meeting blog: http://dx2010.blogspot.com/.

The next picture shows that the preparation for the next solar minimum has been taken place at my Haapavesi QTH: totally 238 birches has been planted in two rows (to the north west, towards North America) - so maybe I have to start more activily to dx North America after 5-6 years when the trees should be of about 5 meters high. I will be back of the results then...

More details of the SDXL Summer Meeting in August

2010-05-23T13:50:00.005+01:00

...will be published soon. In the meantime, you can take a look of the symbols of the event: maybe the first one is a guy tuning an old tube receiver and another one, erecting antennas during the winter dx-pedition or maybe "following the tracks of a DX" (which seems to be a new habbit among sdr-dxers...).
Stay tuned for more information at sdxl-summer meeting 2010

King´s Village DX-Station April: Radio Victoria, Arequipa

2010-05-16T13:51:00.002+01:00

This station was finally IDed in April after many recordings on this very interesting channel, often dominated by the Venezuelan or Colombian stations. As Radio Victoria is a bit low on the frequency it is easy to see even without audio. Now on April 10th the channel was free of other stations and the station ID was heard almost in the beginning of the IQ-recording starting at around 0250. In about an half an hour the station had only this announcement and non stop music programmes.
As my sister´s son (Jarkko) visited Arequipa he made some recordings with an "semi ultralight" Philips receiver & MP3-recorder (Transcend MP330, which is a nice little device with a line-in!) and he managed to make some observations of the Peruvian stations in Arequipa. More about his observations later on - the recordings have been analyzed by Henrik Klemetz. Among other things some announcements and slogans of Radio Victoria were found:”Radio Victoria, llegando a todo el sur del Perú, presentó ‘Los Protagonistas’ en Victoria deportiva”. “Transmite, transmite, radio, radio, radio, Victoria. Radio Victoria, la emisora de Arequipa para el Perú”. “Radio Victoria, en todo superior, superior, superior”.
Thanks also for the logo of the station, Henrik!

Saludos cordiales a Radio Victoria, Arequipa!

King´s Village DX-Station March: Radio Cóndor Manizales

2010-04-17T07:01:00.008+01:00

This station was heard on the nice "Manizales" dx-opening on March 26th. As in my earlier post the identity was found by Henrik Klemetz (TNX HK!) and the station also verified that it was really Radio Cóndor although the word "Cóndor" was just lost in the very deep fade at around 04.00. A nice email from the station´s director pointed out of a nice coindicence as my DX-QTH is near Kotka city in Finland (Kotka in English = eagle and "cóndor" is a big "Andean eagle" as well. The director Mrs. Ana María Mesa writes "Sí, el cóndor es un ave andina de gran envergadura. Es una bonita coincidencia."
Below is a clip with both the ID captured on March 26th and an "original" from the web (tnx HK!). Although it is hard to hear the "Cóndor" when the station was heard, the station verified that the program was from them, as well as the (canned) ID although it fell down fading out at the critical moment. Thanks for the picture of Manizales,Henrik.

Muchas Gracias Directora Ana María Mesa!

Measuring Latin American frequencies

2010-04-10T08:00:00.012+01:00

During a few nice mornings in March I made some more offset measurements of the typical (and some more rare) stations of Colombia (& some other Latin American countries).
Especially on March 26th during a nice opening to Colombia favouring Manizales - Cali area, quite a few signals were well above audio level making IDing also by audio possible. The list of the statations heard is on picture below the article. The band was captured simultanously by IQ- and SDR-14-receivers at the King´s Village QTH covering 1190 - 1580 kHz. I have kept also one IQ on at home more to review the current conditions and make some observations during the sunrise period (usually about 15 minutes by daily basis) with a ALA100 loop (3x7 meters) in the garden. Although the urban RFI is heavy. sometimes signals do make their way up from the noise. On 26th March nice signals from some of those Colombians were noted also at home. The clearest was Sonora Cali mixed with Maria Manizales on 1500 kHz. At the picture you can easily see the slight drift of Maria and Sonora closing down (a clip with the Sonora sign off with QRM of Radio Maria).

The second figure shows a three days analysis on 1540. It is very easy to do with the SpectraVue automatically just to "listen" afterwards with waterfall and "allow file chaining" on. All measurements are done on a resolution of 0.19 Hz, but there is a calibration error of (below) 1 Hz. On 1540 it was nice to note that besides the common Bahamas (dominates during conditions favoring the Caribbean/Colombia) or TurboMix Cajamarca (during conditions favouring Peru) a Colombian station on 1539.994(5) could be noted. The waterfall shows it being the dominant on March 26th.

The station turned out to be Radio Cóndor Manizales which could be an "easy guess" as Mainzales was also strong on 1450.027 (no ID though) and 1500.005 (Maria). Thanks to Henrik Klemetz (again) to solving the ID!
On the bigger view a station on 1540.154-5 can be seen. This was first noted in Sweden by Gert Nilsson. On March 26th the close down was at 04.17 after instrumental music. A Peruvian or from Bolivia? Any ideas?
Remarks 17 April: According to Swedish DXers the station is Radio Corporación, La Voz de Cerro de Pasco (Tnx TJ, HK)

The whole list (mainly 26 March & a few others can be found by clicking the text below)
The list of offsets (google docs).

73 TK

King´s Village DX-Station February: Taiyuan PBS China 1422

2010-03-27T12:58:00.002Z

It took some time to announce the February DX-Station as I tried to found some info about this one - Taiyuan PBS, Voice the Elderly, which was first noted already in November - it must have raised the power as soon it become a dominant Asian station on this channel. Often it is also stronger than the German station, at least in Eastern Scandinavia. The ToH id starts always with a Time Check (like at 13 hrs) "Beijing shi jian er shi dian zheng" (Beijing time exactly=zheng 21) followed by "Taiyuan ren men guang bo diantai" (Taiyuanin People Radio Station) " and the channel "Laonian ren yisheng" (for Elderly People life) the frequency "AM yi si er er" (AM 1422) and at last "Huanying shou ting" (Welcome to listen). On screenshot you can see the station being quite strong on 1422.995 while Germany is on 1422.00. It seems this channel is only on AM as usually these Chinese channels gives first the FM then the AM frequencies.
The Chinese stations on MW are always a challenge as there seems to be always new transmitters and program channels to be found. Several new have been observed this winter as well. And well, the language is another challenge indeed!
Ni Hao!
TK

SDR- IP impressions

2010-03-20T08:21:00.003Z

SDR- IP impressions during a one night listening tests
at Muhos:

As there has been earlier posts about the SpectraVue´s approach to listening and measuring the frequencies (see posts on the KingsVillageDX-blog) this is not discussed here rather we try to make a summary of the lsitening tests by TuA in Lapland, some comparisions by listening to mw-band at Muhos (about 1000 m beverage to the West) on March 5-6th and the analysis of the recorded files by afterwards.

Go to the full story at pudxk.blogspot.com !

Feelings from the PUDXK Winter Meeting

2010-03-19T19:38:00.004Z

Some feelings & pictures from the PUDXK 2010 Winter Meeting. Impressions of SDR-IP will be published soon at the PUDXK-Blog.
73 TK

Happy Spring Equinox!

2010-03-19T19:26:00.004Z

So it is time to turn into Spring time now with more sunshine and less Northern Dimension DX-conditions. But be prepared for the nice Trans Atlantic dx, maybe again a bit better for the Andies and later to Brazil and La Plata. Meanwhile you can look at the sunrise around 06 local and listen to the spring birds!
73 TK

MW-conditions Nov. 2009 - Feb 2010

2010-03-12T11:25:00.002Z

Maybe the best mw-reception conditions particulary to Northern Dimensions (actually from Japan to North America West Cost) were observed in Scandinavia during the last few months. The conditions did change however in February. Is this the normal annual change towards more active sun during the spring equinox or is this due to the rapidly increasing solar activity will be seen soon.

However I make a small analysis of the "Auroral level Indexes" (POES measurements) making a graph of smoothed indexis (about 9000 observations of the satellite measurements over the Northern Hemisphere) from November to February.

It seems that the lowest average of Auroral levels for a long time were on December 2009 with an averaged value of 2.64 while the averages for Nov. was 3.05, for Jan. 3.12 rising to 4.21 in February.

73 TK

The Latest DX-conditions Prediction Method

2010-02-27T11:52:00.004Z

The new method for prediction of mediumwave reception conditions using the "Icicle observation Method" (not yet approved by scientists, though) has been discovered this winter! The picture shows a clear correlation of icicles and Auroral Level (prediction by the University of Colorado). More research will be done in a near future. Note that the picture shows improving conditions at the end of this month (27-28 Feb & 1 March)which actually have already been noted by Nordic dxers.
This is one of the items to be discussed at the next PUDXK-winter meeting next week near Oulu. There will be other interesting themes as well - stay tuned into the PUDXK-blog and this one in March. ;-)
And please be carefull on the roof - just now billions of tons of snow is covering the roofs in Finland and Scandinavia and people with snow shovels are a common view.
73 TK

Special DX-Station of "Holiday Season 2009-10" Arctic Radio Morokulien

2010-02-24T14:41:00.006Z

Although I do not collect QSLs any more it is nice to get one ;-) !.
This special station has been reported earlier in blogs and reviews and today I got a printed QSL. Actually my reports were just information of tests and broadcasts, mainly on this blog (or email to the organnizers). So it was nice to receiver also a card and a verification of the reception of Dec 20th 2009.
So this is a special "King´s Village DX-Station" of this winter ARTIC RADIO MOROKULIEN IN FREDSRIKET MOROKULIEN.
Once again my best wishes for 50 year old Artic Radio Club!
Ja, må hon leva uti hundrade år!
73 TK

Radio Symban, Sydney 2368.5 - once again

2010-02-22T16:51:00.004Z

This DU-sw station seems to be a real DX-target in Scandinavia now. Rumours say it has more power now, although my observations show not very good reception. Or maybe conditions just have not been that good during those days I have checked it. But anyway it is also interesting to observe it also at urban QTH where audio is impossible. I made some measurements using a SDR-iQ and SpecLab just to check the best time to listen and the variation of the frequency. While the frequency can be seen rather well using the SpecLabs normal window, it is also easy to follow the signal level and the drift (abourt 1 kHz) using the SpecLab´s plotter window. As usual, the best time to listen has always been around the local sunset (at RX) and the sunrise at Sydney. The clip herewith shows that sometimes audio is good enaugh for an ID. The best reception I have had has been during a quick rise of solar wind.
73,TK

DX-Station of January: JOTR Akita 936

2010-02-13T07:06:00.004Z

During this long solar minimum and maybe the best North Latitude reception conditions it was pretty easy to hear quite a few AM stations fom Japan even in Southern Finland with modest antennas. As reported earlier a number of these stations were audible around 10:30 - 14:00 UTC. The best time was usually around 11 utc up to 1320 (NHK2 local IDs) in December and in the beginning of January.
Although there were a few stations (heard for the first time by me) which were running with low power from 100 Watts (some NHK relays) to 1000 Watts, I decided to take this station ABS Akita Hoso JOTR 936 as a station of the month. I have never heard it in 1970´s when it was even easier to pick up some of these before the new frequency allocation in Asia. JOTR was first heard in December around 11 and 12 utc. But in January 10th the station had even better signal in the afternoon UTC.
Congratulations to ABS Akita Hoso!
おめでとう秋田放送!

SDXL SUMMER MEETING 2010 6-8th August

2010-02-06T08:10:00.012Z

King´s Village DX in co-operation with members from the PUDXK - dx-team and the Finnish DX-Association proudly invates all radio enthusiasts to the:
ANNUAL DX-SUMMER MEETING 2010 OF THE SDXL (Suomen DX-Liitto ry, Finnish DX Ass..
Time: 6th - 8th August 2010.
The Venue: Haapaveden Opisto, Haapavesi (Haapavesi Folk High School) at Haapavesi, Finland.
QTH:64.138345N,25.362961E (a map below).

The program will include the latest news from the world of MW-DXing, Propagation and SDR-receiver technology. There will be a listening post near by with many kind of receivers. Workshops of current questions in DXing and radio technology will be hold.

The meeting is open for all interested in radio related hobbies and it is not only for the members of SDXL ry. Special arrangements and program for Nordic and other International guests will be organized.

Please contact me for further details. A blog-page (mainly in Finnish) will contain more information and will be published soon.

The picture included here shows a view at the lake and an island (with a Camping place and restaurant)- one of the places of the evening programs during the meeting. It is dated excatly 1 year before the meeting (6th August 2009 at 00.00 Finnish Summer Time) and shows the lightning conditions. Feels like the first MW signals are due to arrive here.
73,TK

Näytä suurempi kartta

Opening Countdown

Greetings from the Snow!

2010-01-31T13:36:00.009Z

It seems this winter will become a record winter not only for good DX but as far as amount of snow is concerned. The snow has been accumulating up to about 40 cm now and there is more to come. The DX QTH is in the middle of snowy trees. BOG is under about 40 cm snow and my longwire seems to have problems in the forest.
The conditions seems to be "back in normal" without any big surprises in the end of January, let´s hope some better times until the next CH due to arrive around Feb 10.

Meanwile I have updated the list of Japanese MW stations logged from December 1st 2009 up to January 20 2010. The number of stations is now 70, I had forgetten a common JO-station JOER 1350. A few new were also noted in the beginning of January, like NHK-stations on 945 (NHK1) and 1467 (JOID Oita).
The list is at Google-docs (Japan list, times usually around 1055 to 1400 UTC)
Japan list

DX-Station of December 2009: Radio Symban Australia

2010-01-23T14:36:00.003Z

It is not often that a new station appears on Short Waves! Indeed short waves are still used at least in Australia, where we can hear ABC on 2310, 2325 and 2485. But last year a new station "Radio Symban" started also here on 2368.5 kHz. It was first heard in Europe by MR (Mauno Ritola) and soon many dxers tried to get in here on 120 mb. The carrier could be seen often on the frequency, but to hear the audio was rather difficult. Maybe partly because the power has been rather low around 150-250 Watts only. It seems the power has been at least some days a bit more (up to 500 Watts), but information from Australia says it is still no more than maximum about 240 Watts. Another reason which makes it difficult is the current reception conditions which favors more Northernly paths. Anyway I managed to get some audio (apparently relay of a Greek radio) in some evenings in December. The best time has been always the local sunrise around 19 utc. Later on, in January the station has been heard quite regularly and during some days of a minor geomagnetic disturbance and a quick rise of the solar wind the reception has been almost near the level of strong ABC outlets! The station has some local programming with spots etc just after 19.00 utc. Usually around 17-19 utc the program consists mainly Greek music.
Thank you also for the nice hadwritten QSL received from the station´s "QSL-manager". The station has a web-page and a working on-line feed of the program as well. Let´s hope it can run the full power later on to make it easier to listen to.

Examples of Far East DX- conditions

2010-01-17T06:53:00.008Z

As an example of signals received in December from the Far East you can listen to the video at the December archive of old posts (22 Dec.) where you can hear typical signals of JOUB 774 and JOIF 1413.

In addition an example of signals on December 8 at 1200 UTC can be found at my 4shared page. It is a Perseus file of about 30 seconds at noon covering the mw-band. You can explore the widespread reception conditions as there are stations also from North America´s North West, Alaska and Hawaii and the Easternmost stations from the Philippines like DWCM 1160.9 kHz.
The link to the file (zipped, 30 seconds)is

SPR_091208-1154_01000kHz_001 115945 120015 .zip

There is also a 45 seconds file at the same time (12:59:45 - 13:00:15, 343 Mb WAV) at Guy Atkin´s blog http://fivebelow.squarespace.com/. Thank You Guy for adding the file to the archives!

Exploring Japan on MW - times they´ve changed

2010-01-17T06:27:00.007Z

Japan on MW has been an interesting target for me since I started to listen to MW-signals from Asia. My first QTH in the Center of Finland was rather good for Asia during dark wintertimes.
In the era of reporting and QSL-hunting (70´s ... 80´s) I got about 30 QSL-cards and letters from Japanese MW-stations (NHK and commercial stations). Before the current mf-allocation they were pretty easy to hear on their 10 kHz spaced channels. It took about 20 years to get these 30 stations verified. I think in my old logbooks are about 40 stations heard. Some examples of the QSLs at the picture.

In December 2009 I tested how many of them can be heard in about month in this deep solar minumum. I recorded almost daily total mw-band at several TOH´s for 5-15 minutes (including several recordings around 1320 utc to get the NHK2-IDs). All recording were preprogrammed beforehand at my King´s Village QTH. Some days the program crashed because of the electricity problems (at rural areas there are sometimes short power blackouts - usually 1 seconds or so...) so there were some periods of several days without recording. I have now explored majority of the recordings. It seems conditions favoured Japan as was expected - during this deep minimum and almost total darkness even in Southern Finland, conditions towards North-West, North and North-East are going on daily. Example of these conditions is KUMU Hawaii which could be heard almost daily in Scandinavia.

The count of the stations heard from Japan (NHK´s partly IDed only as "NHK1/2", partly rather definite ID as being the only NHK on the channel). Commercial stations were IDed by the company initials (usually, as an example "KBC Radio" 1413 JOIF).
So during about 20 days recordings at around 11,12,13 and 14 UTC totally about 55 stations were heard. I could estimated that during the best days (like 8th December for example) one could get an ID of 30-40 stations during about 3 hours containing 4 recordings of 5 minutes each at the TOH and 1 minute at 1320 UTC! That is a difference - during 1900´s I had a TRIO 9R59DS receiver and some longwire antennas - now a Perseus SDR-receiver and a BOG antenna. So one can not compare the results of 1970´s - 1980´s to todays captures!

The list of the stations:
freq station remarks
567 JOIK NHK1, Sapporo no call id
594 JOAK NHK1, Tokyo/Shobu no call id
648 JOIG NHK1, Toyama no call id
666 JOBK NHK1, Osaka
693 JOAB NHK2, Tokyo/Shobu
729 JOCK NHK1, Nagoya no call id
747 JOIB NHK2, Sapporo no call id(*
774 JOUB NHK2, Akita
792 NHK1, tent. Embetsu (//Hokkaido NHK) no call id
828 JOBB NHK2, Osaka/Habikino
837 JOQK NHK1, Niigata no call id
864 JOXR ROK Radio Okinawa, Naha/Nanjo
873 JOGB NHK2, Kumamoto
927 NHK1
936 JOTR ABS Akita Hoso, Akita
954 JOKR TBS Tokyo Hoso, Tokyo/Toda
963 JOTG NHK1, Aomori local news
990 JORK NHK1, Kochi no call id
1008 JONR ABC Asahi Hoso, Kyoto
1017 JOLB NHK2, Fukuoka
1053 JOAR CBC Chubu-Nippon Hoso, Nagoya/Kuwana-Shi
1071 JOFK NHK1, Hiroshima no call id
1107 JOCF MBC Minami Nihon Hoso, Kagoshima
1107 JOMR MRO Hokoriku Hoso, Kanazawa
1116 JODR BSN Niigata Hoso, Niigata
1134 JOQR NCB Bunka Hoso, Tokyo/Kawaguchi
1179 JOOR MBS, Mainichi Hoso, Osaka
1197 JOFO RKB, RKB Mainichi Hoso, Kitakyushu Fukuoka
1224 JOJK NHK1, Kanazawa no call id
1233 JOUR NBC Nagasaki Hoso, Nagasaki
1233 JOGR RAB Aomori Hoso, Aomori
1242 JOLF NBS Nippon Hoso, Tokyo/Kisarazu
1260 JOIR TBC Tohoku Hoso, Sendai
1269 JOJR JRT Shikoku Hoso, Tokushima
1278 JOFR RKB Mainichi Hoso, Fukuoka
1287 JOHR HBC, Hokkaido Hoso, Sapporo
1314 JOUF OBC Radio Osaka, Osaka/Sakai-Shi
1332 JOSF Tokai Hoso, Nagoya
1368 JOHP NHK1, Takamatsu Kagawa no call id
1377 JOUC NHK2, Yamaguchi
1386 JOJB NHK2, Kanazawa
1386 JOKB NHK2, Okayama
1395 RKC, Kochi Hoso, Sukumo Kochi
1413 JOIF KBC-Kyushu Asahi Hoso, Fukuoka
1422 JORF RF, RF Radio Nippon, Yokohama
1431 JOZF GBS, Gifu Hoso, Gifu
1440 JOWF STV, Sapporo TV Hoso, Sapporo
1467 JOID NHK2, Oita / NHK2 Hokkaido (** no call id
1494 JOYR RSK, Sanyo Hoso, Okayama
1503 JOUK NHK1, Akita no call id
1512 JOZB NHK2, Matsuyama no call id
1521 JOTC NHK2, Aomori no call id
1584 JOQG NHK1, Fukaura Aomori no call id
1593 JOQB NHK2, Niigata
1602 JOSB NHK2, Kitakyushu Fukuoka
1602 NHK2, Embetsu //747 Sapporo

*) Sapporo NHK 747 nowadays no call at 1320 only "NHK"
**) poss. Different relays diff. Days, one day //Hokkaido channels

Ids: NHK usually at 1320 after the weather
Some NHK1 with local programs before 11 utc
Some NHK-stations "Ided" being the only one on the frequency
Commercial stations Ids with company inititials with some exceptions (like "Radio Kansai 1395")
56 stations logged Dec 1 - 31 2009 (updated list after check 15th Jan.)
Perseus sdr + 250 m BOG (under snow) to NE

SDR-Receiver tests Part II

2010-01-06T11:32:00.007Z

I did some more tests and search of the latest SDR-radios & softwares during the Holiday Season. It seems there are something going on on several receiver / software manufactures on SDRs just now.

SDR-RADIO

This is a nice piece of software which obviously is in the development stage, but versions that I tested worked quite OK with a SDR-IQ-receiver. Obviously this is more intented to HAM-operators and IQ-compatibility is only one of the features of this softaware. The highlights of this are an integrated MP3-recorder and easy connectivity into Internet and remote use of the receiver (like IQ). However I could not find a good possibility to measure the exact carrier frequency like using the SpectraVue-software ( see earlier post "Part I" recarding the latest SpectraVue 3.03). More about SDR-RADIO on their web-pages.

SDR-IP and SpectraVue 3.03

It seems the release of the new SDR-IP-model will be in Q1 2010 and the current softaware version of SpectaVue 3.03 seems to support 2 Ms/s samplerate to achive IQ-recording of 1.8 MHz with the resolution of 0.95 Hz. The resolution enhancement is important to all of us who wants to really see and measure the carrier frequency to the last Herz. This feature have been discussed many times earlier (see the archives of earlier posts) as it is often important to visually examine the spectrum of several carriers on the tuned frequency. The latest version of the manual does not mention the support for Perseus (or other IQ-recordings) - as it was on an earlier version - an issue discussed sometimes with earlier versions of SpectraVue. It is very understandable for the software designer just to support RF-Space products. As of IP IP-board some other interesting options are at least: support for down converter of 88-108MHz (an internal 10 MHz locked downconverter).The SDR-IP utilizes straight TCP/IP and ethernet for all communications. This offers the highest possible performance due to the highly optimized ethernet drivers on PC, Mac and Linux systems. So different Operating Systems are supported. The 1.333 Mhz sample rate gives a very convenient 1.2 Mhz output (IQ) bandwith – just suited for a MW-dxer. At that sample rate the resolution is about 0.6 Hz. Let´s see when we get some real world tests of the new IP-model!

Win Radio - new model !

I was a bit surprized to get to know that also WinRadio has released a new model "coming soon". The presented Excalibur model seems to have a few interesting features like three independent channels (i.e. three receivers in one), all parameters can be set separately for each channel. Each channel can also record audio simultaneously and independently. Recording and playback are also provided at the output of the Digital Down-Converter, where an entire 2 MHz spectrum band can be recorded for later demodulation (seems to be real IQ-recording, not the "IF"-as in earlier models). The recording facility also features pre-buffering to avoid a loss of signal at the start of a transmission. A flexible Scheduler function makes it possible to program each channel separately, for unattended recording on preselected frequencies, at specified dates and times. There are not yet more information of the scheduler. However according to specs I have found that the maximum resolution is only 1.5 Hz which is not as good as that of Perseus or SpectraVue softwares. As there are no more pictures or information, you can not say if the carrier frequency can be "seen" exactly or measured by the software automatically. More information will be seen in the near future I hope.

So it seems this year we will see more happening in the field of constantly developing receivers!

Perseus Markers - just another try

2010-01-03T11:50:00.008Z

During the Christmas period one of the favourite short wave DXing targets has always been the Papua-New Guinean stations. These are few still left on 90 mb. As I had no possibility to check them during their Christmas programs or the often longer New Year´s Evening shows I made a short preview recording a Perseus file 3200-3400 kHz on Dec 29th while visiting my DX-ing cottage.

Quite a few fellow DXers have been making graphs using the Markers Log - feature of the latest Perseus software (2.1h). One major problem to do the graphs is the file format - it does not write the markers loggings as a tabulated file but rather a vertical file one freyency after another (figure showing the format). I transferred all the rows to Excel, made a "manual transpose" of the three channels info into a horizontal table, made then a new file with only the right rows (every 3rd) and got finally a table where you can make a graph. It is a bit hard to explain but everyone knowing how to operate with Excel can do that. Maybe there are easier ways and easier softwares (I do not know how e.g. SciDavis can do that), but when you know how to do it it is rather easy with Excel as well.

The signal of 3365 Papuan was the strongest starting from about -85 dBm. The noise level using the BOG under 20 cm snow was rather low around -140...-150 dBm. The signals of 3260 and 3325 were a bit weaker. Note that although the graph shows 3260 going stronger that is not true: an utility station started after 2030 utc and occupied the channel. So using large spans with known signals could lead wrong information!
Finally you can listen to an example of PNG Madang 3260 recorded earlier this december (Dec 2nd)- the signal was quite strong during the sign on around 19utc!

Arctic Radio 1584

2009-12-29T07:50:00.006Z

Arctic Radio was monitored during the tests and the official broadcasts at home with a IQ and an ALA100 antenna. Although the noise level is high and there were interference from the co-channel stations it was heard several times at night and in the afternoon of Dec. 28th. Fortunately on Dec 28th they were transmitting after 14 utc of their afternoon broadcast and the signal level starting (Arctic R. is the black line) to increase then as can been seen in the graph. The levels were recorded afterwards using SpecLab´s Plotter window and the data was transfered to Excel for the graph.
Below is also a small clip of the transmission with heavy noise containing a part of the programme before 15 utc (with Iran coming quite strong as well) and an announcement in Swedish later on. The picture shows a SpecrtaVue screen with resolution of about 0.1 Hz.
Keep up the good work in b´casting all the staff of Arctic Radio Morokulien.

I wish also my best wishes to Arctic Radio Club now 50 years old
!

LATEST SDR-RADIO TESTS PART 1 - PERSEUS

2009-12-28T11:00:00.009Z

I have had some time after all to check a bit what is happening in the field of new software and receivers in the fascinating world of SDR-technology.

Finally tested a bit the latest release of Perseus software 2.1h. I was of course waiting for something from the big wish list which is easy to do but the implementation of the list is in the hand of the software designers. It is like waiting for presents from Santa Claus, you do not always get all you are dreaming of.

Well, the most important new features for me has been so far:

Multiple receivers attached to a single PC.

- for me not a big issue as I have currently not enaugh powerfull PC to run two Perseus at the same time. This feature is really good during DX-peditions. I wonder how many Perseus you can put into a same PC- they say you should not go more tahan totally 2000 kHz sample rate alltogether on one machine.

Waterfall Time Ticks

- this could be a usefull addition when checking what is happening on a certain SPAN especially hunting some carriers. However it seems SpecLab can do this more accurately and with many nice options.

Markers Log (file)

– this feature seems interesting, but of course not for a "normal" dx hunter, but for a more "scientivical" approarch what is happening on a certain SPAN. For instance when you try to find out certain fade in times of weak stations. However, the format is not a table if you log several markers (like a carrier and a noise marker) so you have to make some tricks with softwares (like Excel) to make graphs. Maybe someone could make a simple 3rd party software to do the graphs. As it seems the marker is locked into the peak of carrier, the lock can be loosed when the signal fades out ? And if you want to log markers before the fade in it seems hard as the marker is not locked to the exact frequency as far as I can understand. So making frequency locked logs of relative signal strengths one should use SpecLab instead. With SpecLab Plotterwindow you can trace the data of many carriers not only the signal level but the frequency drift as well.
The picture shows an example of a typical frequency with known offsets (Korea 1566.003 and Hubei China 1566.030).

Fully featured demonstration version

This version is nice to those who want to just test the software using some example files or files from friends. So now you do not need to have a Perseus RX plugged at least once to your hardware. This seems to be as a marketing tool for the Perseus. Money Talks.

WinUSB drivers and control DLL. Windows Vista and Windows 7 support.

Now the support of Vista 64bit and Win7 with own drivers, which is good. For me not a reality until I have to go for a new operating systems. I am still having a good worksing enviroment with an old XP. What I would like to see is a working system with Apple Macintosh OS or Linux environment!

Not all that good..

But what was a disappointment for me was that you still has to listen on AM or SAM when trying to read the exact carrier frequency! As you can see in an example here (AM-window behind the LSBdemod window) – a TA channel 1510 kHz, which also has very usual (and good indicators) of US stations: Boston, Denver and Seattle on 1510.018, 1510.000 and 1509.987 resp. (+- 1 Hz). If you look at the Perseus using lower sideband to avoid Euro QRM 1510 you are lost !

The same situation using the latest SpectraVue (now 3.03 with RBW 0.1Hz) – software shows using the LSB the carriers well and also automatically gives you the frequency reading on the upper left corner of the window. Maybe Perseus software could have one more button "show the center frequency of SPAN" which is independent of demodulation.

However, all in all the software runs OK and there are many good additions, it seems also there will be in a near future a version of Perseus software with easy connection over the internet. Let´s see. And last but not least: Perseus is the best receiver I have ever had. period.

KING´S VILLAGE DX - A MYSTERY AFTER THE SOLSTICE

2009-12-22T19:40:00.004Z

When visiting my cottage I found a mystery around December 23rd at the cottage - now with a lot of snow around everything - also covering my antennas. Fortunately I had my video camcorder with me - a short video shows what is happening in the darkness of King´s Village...

So it is time to wish you all the best for the Holiday Season 2009!
73 TK

The Sun is Standing !

2009-12-21T05:08:00.002Z

KING ´S VILLAGE DX WISH YOU A HAPPY WINTER SOLSTICE 2009 - THE SUN STANDS AT DEC 21 1747 UT AND WE ARE BEGINING OUR WAY TOWARDS SUMMER!

In the meantime when we also are in the middle of snow and ice in Europe we can enjoy the best medium wave conditions towards the Northern Dimensions!

The photo shows the scene at Abborsfors 10 kms South of the Kungsboele QTH, three days before the solstice, the weather was still fine with sun and - 19 centigrades (18 Dec 10 UTC).

More about latest DX soon.

73 TK

Ecos de Naranjito - revisited

2009-12-04T06:51:00.006Z

After a nice email and also a postcard from the station (Licdo. Leoncio Delgado Hermida Gerente Propietario) I also got a link (Thank you Henrik Klemetz!) to Valter Comuzzi, Italy, who kindly send us some photos (originally from 2004 - grazie Valter!) of the station. The photo here shows the front door of the station.
Hopefully Ecos de Naranjito´s project of the new transmitter is going well and we wish the situation with electric power is better also soon.

Muchas gracias y saludos cordiales a Licdo. Leoncio Delgado Hermida!

King´s Village DX-Station, November: 4KZ Ingham, Qld, Australia!

2009-11-30T17:55:00.012Z

That´s it - the X-bander 4KZ finally has been noted several times this fall, although I have had several "fights against the nature" with BOGbiters trying to eat my Far East Bog! The station has usually phone-in shows at nites and sometimes with very marginal signals it is easy to recognize during the TOH with interval signal music and time pips before the news. The best reception has always been during my local sunset around 14.30 - 16.30 UTC. It seems 4KZ has been so far the easiest catch although not so easy - 500 Watts AM and about 14.000 kilometers distance is the reason. I know some special conditions has been noted in the North (Lapland´s DXpeditons), but the situation is a bit different down here.
By the way - the Finnish Immigration Museum near Seinäjoki has received a house (hut) from Ingham last summer. It is an old sugercane workers hut of Finnish immigrants in Australia built in the 1900th century. Obviously it was not only Italians but Finns doing the cane cutting during that time. The barack will be rebuilt at the museum village next summer!
The article of the project is also at http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2009/01/08/2461654.htm

Thank you very much for the email from 4KZ, the director of 4KZ - Al Kirton says "For some reason, we seem to receive quite a few reports from the Scandinavian region" - that´s right - Scandinavia is certainly a densely populated area of guys trying to pick up distant signals on AM! Another email from the station (Thank you Anthony Palmer - Maintenance Supervisor) contains some photos, here is a 100 Ft tower of the Ingham transmitter (1620 AM). Thanks guys down there!

King´s Village November DX-Station: 2 days left!

2009-11-28T11:08:00.004Z

The selection of the November DX-Station will be in two days. Recent DX will be rather difficult especially towards North East / East not only because of the BOG-biters, but also due to the current global warming (?) with continuing rains has made by BOG now into a BUW (beverage under water) at least at the beginning of the wire - the picture shows the beginning of the BOG before the rain - some snow was still there up to about 14th November.
One Philippino what was finally IDed in November: 1160.9 DWCM Manila. Seems to be pretty regular altough current conditions favor stations more North and of course China! Ni Hao!
Stay tuned!

Fight against the Nature - BOG Biters!

2009-11-14T10:30:00.005Z

In October I tried several times to get even something from the Far East and Australia on MW-band. I installed the BOG as usual on the cultivated field (to about 45 degr./NE). The simple antenna is about 250 m long, yet enaugh to bring something from NE direction and whats more important the noise level (mostly from the telephone lines near by carrying ADSL-traffic) is pretty low.
But the wire was destroyed several times in October - sometimes to several pieces - and it turned out to be rabbits / hares testing their teeths to my BOG! So nowadays I call these animals "BOGbiters".
However I have managed to do some DX although also the European QRM seems to be stronger this year.

Anyone who likes to check the band from 909 kHz to 1701 kHz (October 19th 15hrs UTC, there are of course a lot of Europeans, some Chinese etc but a few Aussies on X-band - 1620 the strongest - and on 1548 ? - but something sounds like English on 1233 as well? - Please send your comments to me if you find something interesting) can do by downloading the Perseus file of 30 seconds at:
SPR_091019-1450_01305kHz_001 150002 150032 .wav

PAPUA -NEW GUINEA ON 90 MB

2009-11-14T08:34:00.012Z

Like Indonesia, Papua was an interesting target with a lot of stations on 120, 90, 75 and 60 meters in the end of 1900 century. Well, there are fortunately still a few stations left on 90 mb. Usually in winter period almost all active stations can be heard - some better durinf their morning broadcasts around 19 - 20 hrs UTC and some during the evening b´casts around 12-13 UTC. I made a scan of these in October while visiting my QTH at Haapavesi. The stations heard can be seen on the picture with offsets frequencies (+-1 Hz). There is a missprint on the picture - please note that .99xx means below the nominal while .0xxx is above!
Around 13 hours utc RRI 3345 had a break of a few minutes making possible to listen the TOH of the Papuan on 3345!
The best reception of these was on 3290:

If you want to check the band yourself you can also find a short Perseus file at 13 utc on 4shared:
90mb_2110_13ut_000 130045 130130.wav

Indonesia on SW

2009-10-31T10:46:00.002Z

All those who have been active DXers in 1970-1990 remember well the numerous Indonesian Shortwave stations on tropical bands. Now we have only a few left like a couple of RRI stations - the most commons are on 3325 (Palankaraya), 3345 (Ternate), 3976 Pontianak, 3987 Manokwari and 3995 Kendari. The closing down ceremony with a famous "Rayan Pulau Kelapa"-song is very well remembered among us. During my latests visits to my Haapavesi QTH (almost in the middle of Finland) I checked of course some of these channels. What else can we say but sing along:
Tanah airku Indonesia
Negeri elok amat kucinta
Tanah tumpah darahku yang mulia
Yang kupuja sepanjang masa

DX-Station of October: Ecos de Naranjito Ecuador 1470

2009-10-31T09:15:00.004Z

This station was easy to select as it was heard at home with only a small 3x7m ALA100 loop antenna and an SDR-IQ receiver and the listening situation was quite a surprise. I heard it"live" during a brief check of reception conditons. The frequency of 1470 is well known as an indicator channel of Trans Atlantic reception. When I checked the situationon October 3rd during the local sunrise time I soon realized that a station was interfering normally very strong Venezuelans (both Vibración and Llanerísima are often heard, the first one now being on 1469.995 and the last one on 1470.034). The Venezuelans played their National Anthem as usual at local midnight but a station with localy oriented program with a gentleman at the studio (with "mensajes" and beautiful Ecuadorian music) was intefering others - and soon it became to dominate the channel! Soon I heard also announcements with time check and ID "...minutos faltan para las zero horas ... 14-70 ... Ecos de Naranjito". The 3rd October was one of the best days to get Ecuadorians in Scandinavia. Many DXers reports to have heard several stations! The strongest stations at my QTH were on 1350 (TeleRadio), 1370 (Rocío), 1470 (Naranjito) and 1530 (both Dorado Deportes and Ondas Canaris). Below you can hear the announcement of the station - the clip shows how the Ecuadorian beats the stronger Venezuelans easily!

Best greetings to Ecos de Naranjito!
Felicitaciones a la Ecos de Naranjito!

DX-Station of September: NuevaQ FM Lima Perú

2009-10-24T13:38:00.004+01:00

The September DX-station was a Peruvian station which is rather new broadcasting on MW-band. The reason was easy: I discovered a strange programme which sounded Latin, maybe Peruvian with cumbia music. Soon I heard it mentioning "Nueva Q FM" or something like that. After some work with internet I discovered that there are at least that kind of programming on FM and Internet. After a while this station was heard all over Scandinavia (maybe the first loggings by Norwegians at Kalvoya already in August?) and it soon became a very easy target for Trans Atlantic DX enthusiasts. The station has a web feed as well, at least of this name - I do not know if the feed I found is exactly the same as on MW 1360 kHz. The recording of the station is made in September, but the station has been heard better also in October. I had to make some tricks with a still picture & sound - using Apple Mac´s clever iMovie application.
Congratulations to the Nueva Q-FM!
Felicitaciones a la Nueva Q FM!

Saludo de Aniversario

2009-10-17T06:38:00.004+01:00

One of the easiest Peruvian AM-station to catch in Scandinavia is Radio Santa Rosa, Limá, Perú.
On October 16th (actually 15th - 16th night in Perú) quite a few Peruvians were audible in Finland. Many DXers have reported to listen several stations (the easiest channels have been at my QTH: 1240, 1310, 1360, 1380, 1400, 1470, 1500 and 1540).
When I checked a SDR-recording of 16th October at around 05.00 UTC I heard the announcement (check the video) of Radio Santa Rosa of their 51st Aniversary. The quality is not the best as I had only a ALA100 loop (7x3m) & SDR-IQ at my home QTH with RF-noise.
As can been seen, Radio Santa Rosa dominates the channel being even stronger than Europeans on 1503 kHz!

So I am happy to wish this:

SALUDO MUY CORDIAL DE ANIVERSARIO A RADIO SANTA ROSA 1500 KCS AM !

King´s Village DX-station August 2009: Radio Princesa AM 1560

2009-10-15T07:35:00.003+01:00

Brazil offers usually interesting dx-opportunities in August. This year we had several openings although the reception conditions started soon to favor more Northernly stations from Peru, Colombia and Venezuela.
Several sunday mornings I had a station right below 1560 kHz. Later on it turned out to be a new station for me ZYH257 - Rádio Princesa da Matas, Vicosa (AL)! It is possible that the station usually signs off earlier, but sometimes it was heard past 3 UTC. The frequency (1559.551) has been observed in Brazil as well. The latest list of Brazilian MW-stations (June 2009)is a good database of Brazilians, you can get it from DX-Clube do Brasil - Thank You!
By the way, while searching information of Radio Princesa, a video was found at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5KQKJnzdmY. Somebody has been there,hi! Online programming was not found, but it seems the home page is pretty new.

A good candidate of the DX-station of August was R Planalto de Ji-Parana 1390 kHz (new name, possibly a new owner,too?).

Indicator Stations from Far East

2009-10-08T05:13:00.006+01:00

There are quite a few indicators of Far East conditions audible using a car radio. This is good as when driving to your DX-QTH you can listen what´s the situation on AM band is. I am very pleased with my latest VW and it´s integrated receiver with real knob! A pity it has no switch to 10 kHz increments, so listening to TA is difficult. One of the Far East examples of usual stations is Korea on 1566 - if it is loud and clear (and not India) the conditions over the Northern Latitudes are better. Also 1170 is a good channel to check if the dominant is an European, the Philippines or Korea. An example of the Korean KBS can be heard here.

DX Highlights in September at King´s Village

2009-10-06T07:34:00.006+01:00

St Petersburg DX-CLub´s Alexander Beryozkin visited Finland in September on his way to the EDXC Dublin. We spent a few days around Kotka and Kouvola and visited among other places the Kouvola Tube Radio Museum. Alexander discovered also a secret with this receiver - he started DXing with this heavy tube rx (photo) in 1968 - the secret is that while listening to 19 mb was forbidden in Soviet times - the clever designer in Riga had made "an Easter Egg" to the receiver: by pressing both SW1 and SW2 switch down you can tune in to the 19 mb as well. We spent also some time in the old border of Sweden and Finland at Abborfors (10 kms South of the King´s Village) to celebrate the 200 years anniversary of the freedom of Sweden andFinland at the very border station down there.

Further tests of a modest HP-laptop (HP530) has been made recently - now I have this very modest laptop as a mobile pc with Perseus SDR. It has actually only a Celeron 1.83 cpu, but after the downgrade from Vista to XP (and an additio of memory to 1Gb) it works rather well, even when recording full 1600 kHz. The HD has been changed as well, but also the new 80 Gb is rather small for huge sdr-recording. What is the best - the unit´s PSU seems to be practically noise-free!
When visiting the Northern DX-QTH at Haapavesi in September I made some antenna tests with a BOG (400 mtrs East) and heard some Asian stations - unfortunately some powerline noise made very difficult to get Aussies on X-band.

Also a new antenna wire reel system was tested while working with a 300 m horse fence wire to West (plastic wire with three bound coppercoated steelwires), pretty light weight and inexpensive antenna but needs insulated supports (fence sticks were used).

Got my Far East BOG finally working at King´s Village QTH in the end of September - and noted the first X-band Aussies in the beginning of October (1701 and 1620).

Great Trans-Atlantic conditions continued all the time with stations from Brazil, Peru and Ecuador among others. Some of these signals can be heard almost daily with small antennas also at Home with ALA100 loop under an old oak tree!

The decisions to announce the August and September DX-stations at King´s Village are to be made very soon - stay tuned!

WELCOME TO KING´S VILLAGE DXING

2009-10-06T05:21:00.000+01:00

This Blog will be devoted to DXing in King´s Village DX-QTH. Earlier notes have been included in the PUDXK-DX blog, which is a common Blog for all the members of the Northern Dimension DXers - a small community of DX-listeners particularly interested in Medium Wave DXing in Northern Finland and Lapland.
Since my main DXing QTH is in Southern Finland I will be reporting later - and hopefully more often - in this blog of my own.
DXing since 1970 has been changed a lot, earlier with analog receivers my focus was to listen and verify stations in the beginning of my DXing career. Nowadays my interests are in listening (mainly to Asia-Pacific and Latin America) "difficult stations on MW", making observation of offset frequencies and exploring reception conditions. I organize also special DX-camps in my Northern Finland QTH as well as in the "King´s Village".
King´s Village - Kungsböle (Swedish)- Kuninkaankylä (Finnish) is a small Village 100 kms to the East of Helsinki near Loviisa. My QTH is an old small house near the centre of the Village. The exact QTH is at 60N 25E. My second QTH is at Haapavesi, 500 kms North of Helsinki (65N 24East). I do some DXing at home in Espoo as well although the the level of RF-noise is high.
Current equipments: King´s Village: Icom9000, SDR-14 & IQ, Perseus-SDR. 280 m BOG NE, 130 m LW NW, 280 LW W. Espoo: SDR-IQ, ALA100 Loop. Haapavesi: Perseus-SDR (IQ), EKD 515. Sev lws/beverages/bogs - partly under construction.