nothing of real interest on the band this morning but on 1230 at 08.00 it shows you how unpredictable the MW band is .. as you know i use a flag antenna ken who is less than 100 meters from me is using a beverage and Paul in troon which is 20 miles away is using a flag antenna and we all got different things on 1230 at the same time
ken 1230 wgkv grand rapids 0800
paul 1230 WSBB New Smyrna Beach FL 0800
myself unid latin mustic through toth
it just goes to show even at short distances different stations come in and you cant predict what will come in.
Saturday, 6 February 2010
Friday, 5 February 2010
5 february 2010
i haven't been through all my recordings this morning yet but just thought i would add this one before i go through them all.
WBAL Baltimore on 1090 coming up at just the correct time at 04.00 utc
more to follow ......
WBAL Baltimore 1090
WBAL Baltimore on 1090 coming up at just the correct time at 04.00 utc
more to follow ......
WBAL Baltimore 1090
Tuesday, 2 February 2010
2 february 2010
there has been a discussion on the Australian FM and TV yahoo group about the Sony xdr receiver which i have discussed before on here so i wont go into it too much. most owners of the xdr claim its the best thing since sliced bread and nothing can touch it on b2 this might be the case in Australia where i think most of the time the stations that will be received will be in English but here in the UK and EU where there are alot of languages that i think the majority of dxers wont understand fast rds decoding is a MUST!.
in the tests done by myself and ken baird the rds resolving on the xdr wasn't as good as the standard Sony 920 we had doing a a/b test and ken has some recordings on his web site and if i remember the audio from the 920 was a bit better as well. for me in sporadic e fast rds is a must and i know some dxers listen to the program content of the dx station but me personally i couldn't care less what they are on about as in sporadic e with all the fading etc i want the rds resolved quickly, station recorded and move on to the next frequency.
the following is what i would use and in what conditions
SONY XDR = tropo and getting close to local stations
SONY 920 & esslinger rds software = sporadic e & meteor scatter
not a thing to report on MW the past few days but Paul over in troon is still continuing to dig out some great dx the difference 20 miles and a sea path makes
in the tests done by myself and ken baird the rds resolving on the xdr wasn't as good as the standard Sony 920 we had doing a a/b test and ken has some recordings on his web site and if i remember the audio from the 920 was a bit better as well. for me in sporadic e fast rds is a must and i know some dxers listen to the program content of the dx station but me personally i couldn't care less what they are on about as in sporadic e with all the fading etc i want the rds resolved quickly, station recorded and move on to the next frequency.
the following is what i would use and in what conditions
SONY XDR = tropo and getting close to local stations
SONY 920 & esslinger rds software = sporadic e & meteor scatter
not a thing to report on MW the past few days but Paul over in troon is still continuing to dig out some great dx the difference 20 miles and a sea path makes
Sunday, 31 January 2010
31 january 2010
it seems i was rather hasty in moving my flag to the west as Paul over in troon had a couple of good ones this morning
1520 KOLM Rochester MN 0900
1200 WRTO Chicago 0900
1460 KXNO Des Moines IA 0800
960 WSBT South Bend IN 0800
but saying that would i have got them if my flag was back at 290 deg. for what they are flag antennas are really quite directive ie when i had two flags in use one to the NW and one to the SW i could get BRAZIL on 740 on the SW flag and Canada on the NW flag so i might just have to make my flag rotatable but that would mean making it a bit smaller and would it affect its performance.
the reason i changed to the west was i remembered this time last year i had quite alot of weak SS signals and was hoping it would be the same this year but with the antenna in roughly the correct direction but it has been poor to Caribbean etc so far with only TBN on 820 and ZIZ on 555 showing up regular.
1520 KOLM Rochester MN 0900
1200 WRTO Chicago 0900
1460 KXNO Des Moines IA 0800
960 WSBT South Bend IN 0800
but saying that would i have got them if my flag was back at 290 deg. for what they are flag antennas are really quite directive ie when i had two flags in use one to the NW and one to the SW i could get BRAZIL on 740 on the SW flag and Canada on the NW flag so i might just have to make my flag rotatable but that would mean making it a bit smaller and would it affect its performance.
the reason i changed to the west was i remembered this time last year i had quite alot of weak SS signals and was hoping it would be the same this year but with the antenna in roughly the correct direction but it has been poor to Caribbean etc so far with only TBN on 820 and ZIZ on 555 showing up regular.
Friday, 29 January 2010
29 january 2010 cont
if anyone is interested in home-brew radio or electronics i strongly suggest looking at this guys videos on youtube they are very interesting and most helpful
http://www.youtube.com/user/radioam232
http://www.youtube.com/user/radioam232
29 january 2010
again i didn't record much on the MW band as i was up early and the band seemed VERY average to the west so i had a quick listen on 160m and found MD0CCE bob from the isle of man calling cq i will listen later to see if he got any reply's. as for conditions maybe i was a bit quick in moving the antenna to the west but will see how conditions are in the coming weeks
MD0CCE bob
MD0CCE bob
Thursday, 28 January 2010
28 january 2010
the MW band is in real bad shape at the moment and i haven't even recorded the past few mornings but i have been checking the band live from 08.00 - 09.00 and nothing of real interest coming through so not alot to report really. there hasn't been much on the MW cluster and there hasn't been alot of mails from the MW circle so i think everyone is in the same boat.
there is still ongoing problems with the video playback on my blog and the guys in charge say they are aware of it and i have to keep editing a post and not even changing anything and publishing it again for the videos to play which is a pain in the ass but hopefully it should be fixed soon.
i have sent DK1MAX max in Germany another hauppauge wintv box for vhf TV dx this time its the usb 2 version which it hasn't got a video mute on it when no signal is present like the usb 1 version i had sent him before so he should be able to see weak signals coming out of the static and i look forward to his reports when the sporadic e season starts also with his PMSDR receiver and also i look forward to John Märsylä reports from the Netherlands who has also ordered the PMSDR
if anyone would like anything published on my blog whether its MW dx TV dx or any kind of dx or pictures of your receivers or antennas just leave me a message.
there is still ongoing problems with the video playback on my blog and the guys in charge say they are aware of it and i have to keep editing a post and not even changing anything and publishing it again for the videos to play which is a pain in the ass but hopefully it should be fixed soon.
i have sent DK1MAX max in Germany another hauppauge wintv box for vhf TV dx this time its the usb 2 version which it hasn't got a video mute on it when no signal is present like the usb 1 version i had sent him before so he should be able to see weak signals coming out of the static and i look forward to his reports when the sporadic e season starts also with his PMSDR receiver and also i look forward to John Märsylä reports from the Netherlands who has also ordered the PMSDR
if anyone would like anything published on my blog whether its MW dx TV dx or any kind of dx or pictures of your receivers or antennas just leave me a message.
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