Report from Dunlo, PA, USA for 12 December 2010

[Dave Valko]

12 December 2010: Conditions didn't seem very good at 0600. 4026 LHH was a bit weaker than last weekend with hardly any audio. 6959.6 Atlantic was there though (audio at threshold as well), about the only glimmer of hope. Solar Flux was 87, the A Index was 1, and the K Index was 0. No geomagnetic storms. The MUF seemed too low with a small 5 mhz area between Scandanavia and Iceland at the time. At least it was quiet this morning. When I looked outside, it was misting and icy. I decided the conditions just weren't worth the risk going out to listen and stayed in this morning. I did set up the Perseus (on DC) connected to the T2FD and recorded from 0649-1018. The local noise was still too high at 10 db attenuation, so I set it at 20 db. I'm sure that contributed to the signals being weakly received, but it was a compromise. Here's what was observed.

5820.04 Orion R. Signal on at 0756:47. Sounded like a Polka from 0800-0803, then Percy Faith s/on tune. 0806 poss. "Off Shore Echos" ad. Mx just audible. Recognized Johns voice at 0827 but imposs. to copy. Audio down near threshold. Really dropped down by 0840 w/just snatches of audio. Just a little bit of a spike at 0930. Went off at 1016:20. A slightly extended xmsn today??

6005 Very small spike here at 0900 while looking for Atlantic 2000. The T2FD isn't oriented the best for Europe. Certainly increased the WYFR slop from 6000 though.

6165.01 R. Scotland Int. Came on 6165.10 at 0906:25. Sounded like mx at 0913 and maybe an anmnt at 0916. Down to just a 45 hz separation with the bdcster by 0930. Went off at 0938:50. No chance with the bdcster here.

6200 There were actually 2 signals here after 0900; 6200.02 and 6200.09. Both staying above the noise floor by 0920, but sometimes peaking a little higher. Nowhere near strong enough for audio. By 0940 6200.02 was overtop, and even moreso by 0958. So maybe 6200.02 was China and 6200.09 was R. Underground. Both blasted out by NHK at 1000.

6210 LHH A spike here on the display at 0649. Finally getting a little mx at 0942 peaks. Some kind of laughing SFX at 0943 and back to mx. A strange 2 minute fade up out of nowhere. Faded back down then. Getting some SSB and UTE QRM at times from just above

6260 Getting some local buzzing noise on this freq, so no chance for Antonio R.

6280.04 Trans Europe R.?? Signal came on at 0750:05. Getting close to threshold audibility on a few peaks in the first 5 min. That was the best. Signal was last seen at 0916.

6287 R. Shadow?? Signal came on at 0742:07. Was approaching audio strength a few times in the first 15 minutes. Dropped down after that, and couldn't get any definitive signal after 0920.

6300.49 Old Time R.?? Signal here showing up in the weakening Spanish Sahara slop QRM around 0930. Not far from audio. Went off at 1009:45.

6324.67 Misti R.?? Was getting some small spikes peaking above the noise floor at times around 0838. That was about it.

6401 FRSH Signal on the air at 0749:11 starting out on 6400.69. Mx started 0752:52. Usual s-on routine at 0755 w/IS, canned ID, fanfare, jingle, and filler mx to ToH. Live ID mentioning 30 years and sked and into repeat of the anniversary pgm. Weakened and up to 6400.87 where it stabilized by 0900. Still audible and just about 15% readable by 1018 when the computer battery died.

Except for Orion R., Laser Hot Hits, and FRSH, the rest are all basically tentatives or presumed at best. Hopefully conditions (both propagationally and weather) will be better over the holidays. I have some time off work, so I'm looking forward to doing a lot of listening.

[JoJo]

Hello Dave, thanks fro going out again. I am Happy you could copy some parts of Orion Radio

Keep up the good work