29 november 2011

nothing to report since my last post and its more or less the common stations that have been received on MW and low vhf has been pretty down due to the drop in the SFI. once again my recordings failed this morning which is getting to be a pain in the ass as i have been enjoying a long lie in the morning but it seems i will have to get up early once again. i contacted the electric company regarding the dip when it rains and they said they would send out an engineer but i am still waiting so i will be back on the phone today.

24 november 2011

nothing much to report today on MW or low vhf as both bands were pretty poor. i have been trying out a CTCSS decoding piece of software called ScanScope which can be used with mp3 recordings or from the ext sp out in my case on my uniden bearcat ubc 9000 xlt scanner into the mike input on my pc for live CTCSS decoding and the tones that are being received as far as i can tell are the correct codes and for the moment it seems to be working well and i did a short video of it in action and the codes shown have been checked and are correct ScanScope CTCSS decoding

23 november 2011

once again my MW recordings have failed and it always happens when there is heavy rain as myself and ken notice the lights going dim when it rains heavy and it must be enough to make the pc reboot at some point in the morning so i will give the electric company a call and tell them to get it fixed.


i had an email regarding my reception yesterday on 38.320 from dxer Ivan in Brazil who sent me this message

David,

Taxi at the São Paulo metropolitan area. Great catch! Congratulations!

73

Ivan Dias Jr. - Sorocaba/SP
http://ivandias.wordpress.co

Sao Paulo is roughly 9669 km from here and quite a good catch on 38 MHz and it would be interesting to know what power these have

22 november 2011.... cont....

as i type 15.05 there is nothing really happening on low vhf however i have just received a presumed Brazilian taxi controller on 38.320 via f2 in which the following is mentioned

consultório odontológico, av. Queiroz Filho 1019

colégio Drummond São Paulo  Santo André  Vila Humaitá

( with thanks to henrik & renato from the realdx group)

you can hear the reception on the following link presumed brazil 38.320

22 november 2011.... cont

i forgot to mention i received an unid spur on 34.288 yesterday morning which sounded much better in nfm than it did on am and as usual it was coming in not too bad untill toth when it faded out. you can hear a recording on the following link unid spur 34.288

22 november 2011

i was in the shack around 0530 and all i can say is PATHETIC !!!! and i was actually going to switch off MW at 0630 but i stuck it out to 0800 but the band was in such a poor shape i wasn't even listening half the time and was doing odd jobs that needed done in the shack and i hope it picks up soon as the interest is just not there at the moment and all the fun is on low vhf where there is some really good dx coming in. at around 1700 yesterday Paul over in Troon alerted me to KBRW carrier on 680 which i had a listen and the carrier was not too bad and was getting the odd burst of audio but the TV went on downstairs and that was that finished.

low vhf is continuing in a usual pattern and as i type there is Russian comms up to 40 MHz with what i presume is flea power Russian phone calls on 31 MHz and if the pattern continues comms from the USA should start rolling in at around noon. Paul Logan sent me a list of west coast police etc with freqs and unit numbers and if anyone wants it just send me an email and although it might be a little too early to receive them and with the SFI dropping back down its a handy list to have.

21 november 2011

came into the shack this morning and found my MW recordings had failed so nothing to report on MW. very little to report over the weekend and the low VHF transatlantic muf struggled to reach over 35 MHz. so a pretty boring weekend on low vhf and MW however Paul over in Troon has managed to receive some good dx on MW and i see on the cluster this morning he had  KNX Los Angeles on 1070 at 0830 this morning and i will have to start getting back into the shack early again just to make sure the recordings are working ok.

19 november 2011

nothing really to report as the muf was around 36 MHz yesterday for transatlantic dx although it went to 42 MHz briefly. Ken was in my shack yesterday picking up a book i had ordered for him and the scanner was on in the back ground and it stopped on 31.650 i think and there was a phone call in Russian which got to strong levels and i am amazed that i can receive them at all as these must be really low power and i wonder if dxers in Russia  receive UK phone calls on the same band.

i came across a interesting web and video on the Russian buzzer and its well worth a read/watch and i wonder how many of these things are left on SW  the russian buzzer

17 november 2011

conditions yesterday were well down from the previous day and the muf struggled to reach 40 MHz for transatlantic dx and nothing too interesting was received apart from an unid on 36.100 which at the time the usual strong signals from TA taxis were coming in on 35 MHz but i am not sure my reception is a taxi and you can hear my reception on the following link UNID 36.100

what has happened to the MW band as it continues to be VERY average/poor and i am thinking the recent solar conditions and the extremely good f2 conditions have something to do with it as the poor conditions on MW coincided with the f2 conditions and to be honest at the moment my enthusiasm is just not there as at the moment the usual east coast power houses are the dx and i am actually getting better and much more distances on 40 MHz + than i am on MW and looking back this time last year i was getting west coast USA etc with  strong signals and even KBRW Alaska was making the odd appearance.

15 november 2011....cont

once again thanks to Paul Logan with help in iding some of my clips

47.08 Maine Dept of transport WQIF295
42.86 KAA202 Lees Summit Missouri
42.06 KAA243 Springfield MO
40.31 with a PL of 250.3 its Huntsville Alabama (Ch 5), Tennessee Valley Authority

15 november 2011

while the uniden was scanning away and i was checking TV freqs etc at around 14.45 there wasn't really allot happening then at 1500 bang the band went crazy and the muf started to rise and rise and i was getting USA comms on 47 MHz from Presque Isle ME and comms are still coming in as i type 18.11 to 43 MHz and there was also a transatlantic opening on 50 MHz. i had an odd one on 40.310 which sounded like a CB type conversation and at the peak of the conditions my lowest scan on the uniden was 40 MHz so by far today was the best of this cycle and long may it continue. you can see some of the more interesting recordings from today on the following link 15/11/2011 transatlantic f2

i have been receving snotel data on 40.670 from Utah which i sent a reception report and i got a reply today in which it said .... Awesome .. RJ .... that was it !!!!! what was wrong were they too lazy to lift their hands to type a few words is it really that hard to type a few words. 

14 november 2011....cont

i just had an email from Roger  Schroeder chief of police Missouri and its great he took the time to reply to me.

Great to hear from you! As the chief of police, I can tell you it is exciting to know you are “hearing” from us, also If you don’t know, we are the state capital of the State of Missouri, located in the heartland of the US. You must operate some sophisticated equipment, and it’s obvious you enjoy what you are doing. From our standpoint, I hope nothing happens, which gets too exciting. We like quiet days. Take good care of yourself, and I wish I were with you to enjoy your beautiful country.

14 november 2011

was out most of today but got back just in time for the peak of the transatlantic muf and i received KAA522 Willow Springs Missouri 42.38 and 42.64  Jefferson City, Missouri ( thanks to paul logan for the help ) and a few more which can be seen on the following link transatlantic f2 14/11/2011 and for signals this has been the best day so far this cycle and amazing as the sfi has dropped.

13 november 2011....cont

i actually think the MUF was quite high today but as its the weekend i think there is little activity but on the following link you can hear what was received today and the first two clips there might be some encryption on them or the audio is just plain bad 13/11/2011 transatlantic f2

13 november 2011

the MW band continues to be very average and reports from ken are that there is a good peak from 2300 which there is no chance at that time for me as TV is still on and one thing i have noticed the past few days is the band seems to drop out as the so called dawn peak comes. once again low vhf continues to be very good and yesterday the transatlantic muf peaked over 40 MHz but nothing from the west coast heard as yet.

11 november 2011

still nothing really exciting happening on the MW band and i recorded overnight this morning which i haven't done for a wee while but the PC rebooted at some point so no recordings this morning and the band seems flat as i type ( 0814).

low vhf continues to be very good and there was some really strong signals from the USA yesterday and there was a report of the Californian highway patrol on 39 MHz received in southern UK and i had a strange one on 34.425 which i have been told the language sounds like Vietnam or from that area but from ???? and you can hear the recording on the following link F2 RECEIVED IN SCOTLAND

i have a very old president Adams ssb radio which i decided to take up the dx hill for a bit of a listen and usually up there the place is deserted and when i first got up there was not one person in sight so i started to get the radio etc set up and i had a simple dipole and as soon as i started to find a decent branch on a tree to hang the dipole the place looked like a bloody holiday camp with people out for a walk and asking what i was up to and i hate messing around with antennas with eyes watching me so the antenna was strung out very low but conditions were amazing as California Oregon Nevada New Mexico were all heard on 27 MHz and even though the location is quite high and a very good path to the USA its good to hear such long distances on a simple setup.

8 november 2011

some good signals from the more common stations on MW from 0630 - 0700 and i have an unid W station on 1430 at 07 which i will report back later when i send it to dxers who have better ears than me. yesterday Ken called me on the radio to say that he had a phone call from a mate of his saying there was good signals coming from Ireland on uhf/vhf tv and he suggested we go to the dx hill and see what we could get but before we went i had a quick check on b3 which i normally receive two RTE  but conditions seemed flat but off we went with Ken"s jvc 610 and a multi element uhf yagi and when we got there guess what .... yes it seemed flat up there too with just a couple from Northern Ireland and one thing we did notice was the yagi .. bloody hell it was narrow and the slightest movement and we lost a station ah well it got us out the house for 10 mins lol !

1430 update .... i sent my clip to Paul over in troon and my reception turned out to be WENE  playing a clip from WCBN Chicago as if getting id"s on mw was hard enough when they play other stations calls

7 november 2011

the MW band continues to be very poor here and to be honest i have been switching on at the dawn peak and having a quick listen and switching back off again as there is nothing apart from weak common stations and i hope i am wrong but its going to be a long winter if it continues like this.

low vhf continues to be very good and following a pattern ie comms from the east in the morning then from noon comms from the usa etc start to come in and the MUF is getting higher each time as yesterday i was getting comms from the east as high as 43 MHz and a few carriers appearing on R1 tv ( 49.739 - 59 )

i have added a ticker bar at the top of the page which i can report band conditions or any interesting stations that are coming in as they happen.

5 november 2011

while listening to low vhf yesterday Ken called me on the radio to say he was receiving what sounded like phone calls in Russian and he actually thought he had new Russian neighbours which he was picking up on 31 MHz and i had a listen and i was receiving them as well and the signals started to fade so it was coming via f2 and these must have been extremely low power or coming via a repeater. not only that we were actually watching the MUF rise as we started to receive comms 38 39 43 MHz which then R1 TV opened for me to NOVA Czech rep and 1+1 Ukraine but this was via sporadic e and one thing i have noticed is when f2 conditions are in and sporadic e starts the f2 conditions drop out and return when the sporadic e fades ... coincidence ??? there was reports of African TV being reported as far north as Liverpool yesterday but sadly conditions didn't reach this far north but its looking very promising.

2 november 2011

less said about the MW band at the moment the better ..... low vhf continues to be very good with the MUF getting quite high today and had me looking at E2 R1 for carriers which it didn't quite reach and on the following link there is a few recordings of what i got higher in the band and some unid data
F2 2 november 2011

i also had  Hebrew on 39.150 which can be heard below so signs looking good for some good F2 higher in the band

1 november 2011....cont

tentative iran police via f2 received today 1 november 2011 f2

1 november 2011

the MW band continues to be very poor and i like to be in front of the radio at the " dawn peak " but conditions have been so poor i have let the Perseus do the work as i cant get excited when the band is like that. at the moment 30 MHz and above is where the dx is and a couple of logs which have been received here over the past few days and thanks to Paul Logan for the help

33.560 KUG740 Lancaster County PA (100 watts ) ( cw id )
33.740 Connecticut but which?
33.780 Verona NJ, reference to Essex fells NJ
33.960  KNBD931 Westchester Co, NY

i received an unid language on 34.000 in which i have had a few emails ranging from India Israel and Africa and you can hear the receptions on the following link
F2 30 OCTOBER 2011