King´s Village DX-Station April: Radio 41, San José, Uruguay

April dx-conditions turns often southwards - this time quite a few good openings to South America were noted to Uruguay, Argentina, Bolivia and Southern Peru. However I missed also quite a few of them due to the electric power cuts at the cottage. On April 21st however, a number of stations from Uruguay and Argentina were noted. Uruguay was noted at least on 1360, 1370 (should be the Montevideo station), 1410 (ID), 1470 (presumed to be former very common Cristal), 1510 (CW57 ID), 1540.01 (could be Patria), 1560 (should be Maldonado) and two stations on 1580 (unfortunately no ID - although HK checked the recording, but only mentions of "Republica oriental del Uruguay" was noted). This station, CW41 Radio 41 is not the hardest to get, being fairly common and thus a good indicator of propagation. The station suffers often QRM from a Brazilian (nowadays Cultura Ipú seems to be a dominant here). CW41 is slighly below the nominal frequency at around 1359.99. Also CW41 can be listened (like more and more Latins nowadays) via the web page:http://www.radio41.com.uy/ There is also a lot of information on their web-pages. Amnong other news there was a news about the "Milk Expo" at Nueva Helvecia (Uruguay has a number of interesting names of towns!). So let´s have a glass of fresh milk! Saludos a Radio 41 CW41! 73,TK

King´s Village DX-Station March: Radio Iracema Ipu Brazil 1360

Sometimes a station starts to dominate a channel previously dominated by another stations. This seems to have happened with a few Brazilians from CE and Ipú. On 1360 the most common station from L.A. has been the Lima station La Nueva Q FM and from Brazil usually either Bandeirantes or R Cultura, Paulo Afonso, BA. But this spring suddenly it seems the Ipú station Rádio Iracema has been heard quite easily, slightly below the nominal frequency (around 1359.988). Another station from Ipú has been noted also quite often on 1520 kHz. So it is a pleasure to announce Radio Iracema as a DX-Station of March 2012! The station has a webpage with online audio as well - very nice to listen to! 73 TK

King´s Village DX-Station February: JOHS Rumoi Hokkaido 1557

The frequency 1557 has one of the most powerfull signals from the East: Family Radio who blocks the channel almost totally. Sometimes a Chinese station can be heard but on February 12 I managed to note a short but interesting opening to Northern Japan with some strong signals especially from Hokkaido. So this station "Hokkaido Hoso" (relaying JOHR 1287) could be heard under the dominant station. Back in the 1970´s I collected several QSLs from Hokkaido Hoso already when they were not on European channels which made it easier to hear. However this was the first time to pick up JOHS 1557. The old QSLs were rather nice, I do not know if they send these nowadays.

73,TK

Another Opening to the East

Once again a nice opening to the East, particularly this time to the Philippines was noted on March 5th around sunset. Often before the Spring Equinox time you can have nice reception to the East (SE Asia) around local sunset or just before that time.
On March 5th around 15 utc (near the local sunset) I made a TOH recording and soon discovered a few Philippine signals on several channels. At this time many of most interesting stations have already signed off, but some channels were audible, like 666, 882 (DWIZ, which has been rather rare nowadays), 990, 1269 (Bombo Radyo seems not to s/off around 14utc - at least now it was still going on), 1314 (with typical religious programs) and 1349.97 "la Verdad".
Earlier - many times - good propagation to the Philippines means there is a geomagnetic storm starting soon - and as we know now - the impact of the recent CMEs was due to come soon - now we know, the first one with bright Auroras occured on March 7th - maybe more to come?
An example on 990 kHz is here - DZIQ Radyo Inquirer was really dominating the channel around 15: Radyo Inquirer


73,TK

An Opening to the Far East

Still sometimes after the "real winter months" paths to the Far East and Japan opens up nicely even in Southern Finland. Although the best conditions were during 2009-2010 sometimes you can get some nice signals even from Northern Japan. And at the same time usually dominanting Chinese are not that strong. Now in March the days are coming rapidly longer and the band to the East is open only around 15-16 utc whereas in February you can get signals between 14-15 utc.
A such good opening was noted on February 12th - however signals were not so good around 14 utc when the Europeans were still rather silent, but best signals were noted around 15.00 utc! I had only a relatively short IQ-recording session with Perseus but quite a few stations were noted. Actually only one new - but nice - a 100 W Hokkaido Hoso /HBC relay on 1557 under a very strong Family Radio. This logging was Japan n:o 81 at my QTH during 2009-2012. A sign of good Hokkaido conditions was STV Radio Sapporo 1440 being a dominant for a while - this channel is usually dominated by a "local" Russian Zvezda St Petersburg (normally S9+30dB). You can hear an example on the right in my "Clips" Box-archive. Another example in the Box is JOFR 1278 - a very common one, but as it was Sunday the station was starting the Silent Period with a full ID with call letters.

73,TK

King´s Village DX-Station January: Radyo La Verdad Metro Manila 1350

Already since about October a station from the Philippines has been widely noted on 1350 (or a bit below the nominal at 1349.97). The station seemed to have exclusively a program feed from the television UNTV channel 37 (with programs like "An Dating Daan")and seemed to operate all night with this broadcast. It seemed to be from the Metro Manila so almost all were thinking it to be DZXQ Manila. Quite a few station in the Philippines broadcast religious programmes especially at night time.
Finally when I made again a routine check what is coming on the channel on January 18th I heard a bit different program style after 13 utc - and soon an announcement mentioning (in Spanish dialect) "trece-cinquenta" was heard. After listening more to the recording an announcement with "full ID" was heard "UNTV Radyo La Verdad 13-50 tapat at totoo". And a search in Internet revelead soon that the station has started regular programs only 2 days before on Jan 16th after a long tests with UNTV ch 37 program feed! According to web, the call is now DWUN and the power is 50 kW. It seems that this one is an easy catch nowadays - thanks to a split channel below the nominal 1350. Usually from Asia the Chinese Jiangxi is very common on 1350.000 (with English slogan "Natural Radio") like also an another Chinese Togliao on 1349.987(often with easy to recognize programs in Mongolian) not to forget JOER Hiroshima (at least when conditions favour more Northernly signals).

73,TK

I See the Full Moon Arising

Well; or:
I see the bad moon arising
I see trouble on the way
I see earthquaqe and lightnin'
I see bad times today
(CCR)
It can be true as it was -27 C on an February evening at my QTH with almost a full Moon and the Planet Mars rather close to the Moon - unfortunately Mars was hiding behind the apple tree and the spot on the photo is actually a street lamp!

The conditions seems to be improving at least to the West with some nice openings to Latin America noted with a lot of stations especially from Peru, Colombia and the Caribbean. However no new catches so far. The East has been rather silent - even the Chinese stations have been rather hard to hear. Something from Taiwan (e.g. 1260 & 1314) and the a few from the Philippines noted also lately, but nights are coming shorter and the Spring will be here soon!

73,TK

Walking in a winter wonderland!

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

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

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!

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

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

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

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

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!

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

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

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

(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...)

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