Loggings From the Last Couple Weeks from Dunlo, PA, USA

[Dave Valko]

A number of loggings this time around. Onward...

15069.76 Cupid R. 1631 current Pop mx. 1632 nice ID w/Netherlands QTH and ment of 19 mb and USA. Greetings to “the guys on the chat channel ?? in the USA”, complained about “something with the microphone”, “…right across America. Greetings to ??, good-day. This is Cupid R. ?? from the Netherlands. And hopefully ??”. Fairly good and clear but not quite 100% copy. (13 March)


Earlier, around 2240 UTC, I heard a signal on 6325 (or thereabouts). Wasn't getting much audio and didn't make a recording of it. Came back later as I was about to turn in and decided to check out the bands briefly. Was surprised to find a strong signal from R. Powerliner Int. on 6305. Conditions were great, finally!! Without a doubt, the best all Winter season. Oddly enough, there was an M class flare at 2322 and R1 radio blackouts. The MUF was 8 mhz over the UK. The solar flux was up to 113, but the K and A indices were a low 3 and 1. I don't know if any or all of those were responsible for the great conditions or not. Maybe conditions improve immediately following an M class flare. In any event, it was nice to hear the fantastic conditions. Its just too bad it didn't occur on a Sunday morning. (26 March)

6305 R. Powerliner Int. 0044-0119 Closing anmnt at t/in. Said was the last record, but turned out not to be. Continued with a lot of mx by Abba including "SOS” and “Knowing Me Knowing You” and also “Eyes Without a Face” by Billy Idol. Many IDs as both R. Powerliner Int. and RPI. E-mail addr as radiorpi@hotmail.com. Greetings to everyone on Iann’s chat room by name including myself. Still going at 0206 w/e-mail addr again. Great signal!! Peaking as S-7. Easy copy. No doubt the best ever heard here. (26 March)

6934.97 Mike R. Rock mx at 0103 t/in followed by canned ID jingle and “Some Like It Hot” by Robert Palmer. 0104 another canned ID w/ment of 9290. Another jingle at 0121 recheck “Mike R., your radio”. Live anmnts at 0138 w/e-mail mikeradio@live.nl. Into “California Girls” by The Beach Boys. A very nice signal but was getting some awful weird local noise on the freq. Finally clear at 0210 when noted another canned ID and “Walking On Sunshine” by Katrina and the Waves. (26 March)

6905.02 R. Bontekoe Found on the air at 0113 w/unrecog. song. Another started at 0114. 0115 ‘Calvary charge’ Bugle and what sounded like jingle w/boy shouting along w/laser SFX. There may have been an ID. Went off then at 0115:44. Poor but in the clear. (26 March)

6374.98 R. Bontekoe Found again here at 0123 w/mx, weaker than 6905.02 and w/heavy RTTY QRM. Didn’t recog. any songs. Seemed to be deep-voiced M at 0130 and off the air. (26 March)

6525.6v Wizard R. Found w/mx at 0141. Weak at t/in but getting better over the next couple minutes. Went into “Sweet Child O Mine” by Guns n Roses at 0143. 0147 live anmnt w/ID, ”good evening” and “This is a test transmission from Wizard R….”. Sounded like another Guns n Roses song. 0155 another live anmnt w/”testing testing”. Then played “Sweet Child O Mine” again. 0157 anmnt w/ment of “…test from Wizard R. This is a test from Wizard R. on this Saturday morning, test transmission from Wizard R. shortwave ?? United States of America. A very good morning”. 0159 another anmnt but fading and couldn’t copy. Tried a low power test at 0211. I was able to keep his signal audible detuned in USB to pick up the tone. Could still hear him below 4 watts!! Drifted down from 6525.62 at the start at 0140 to 6525.49 when he started his low power test at 0211. I had to tune in USB to avoid the Utility station below. Voice audio was really bassy making copy difficult. Pleased to log this new station. (26 March)

6314.21 Wizard R. Moved down here after the low power test. Found at 0121 w/what sounded like Pop and Dance mx. 0123 test anmnt w/ID, ment of USA, etc. Song at 0124 by Sonique. 0226 anmnt “…test transmission from Wizard R. on 6314, 6314. Wizardshortwave@qmail.com if you’d like to…”. Pretty nice signal at 0228. Apparent deadair 0232-0234, then more mx, ID anmnt at 0235, more mx and off at 0238. (26 March)

4026 LHH 0304 “Abracadabra” by Steve Miller. 0308 anmnt w/”Laser Int.” ID and 6210 khz freq., and into an unrecognizable song which went to 0313 and the end of the MD. Decent signal for 4026 at home. Was also getting some audio on 6220 throughout the evening. (26 March)


13864.87 Mike R. Heard a carrier tone here. Couldn't get any audio because of the local noise. Probably could have though if not for the noise. (26 March)

15080.9 R. Black Arrow Getting a signal at 1200 here also, but much too weak. Probably too early for us. (26 March)

15070.04 Cupid R. 1501 more recent mx and tnx and acknowledged rpt. 1509 “Back in Black” by AC-DC. Nice ID at 1521, and ment of closing down. Fairly decent signal. (26 March)

15050.1 R. Experience Noted here at 1515 and I could just barely make out his carrier tone when listening in LSB, sometimes peaking at nearly audible level. I listened past 1600 and never did get any audio though. (26 March)


6374.97 Polaris R. 2311 here. Did get a little audio at 2313. Weak w/RTTY QRM. Drifted to 6374.93 by 2325. Still just bits of audio. (26 March)

6420 R. Powerliner Int. at 2317. 2351 anmnts. Recognized the voice but difficult to copy. (26 March)

6325.03 R. Trans Europe At the start but also getting mx at 2322. Voice-over anmnts at 2328. Unable to copy though. Not quite strong enough. 2335 more anmnts by soft-spoken M w/poss. ment of "radio". Went off at 2339. (26 March)

3906.47 R. Alice Per report in Iann's chat, I found a carrier. Too much Ham QRM though. Seemed to go off at 2358. Was there a min. earlier. (26 March)

6325.10 Polaris R. Moved down here at 2347 and a better signal. Heard a few anmnts, then off at 0010. (26 March)

3929.98 R. Batavia Reported in Iann's chat, checked the freq, and did get a carrier here at 2355. Impossible as signal too weak and too much Ham slop-over QRM from the Great Lakes Emergency Net. (26 March)

6304.96 R. TRX 2307 playing mx at start. Strong but QRM from R. Bravo Sierra carrier on 6304.8. Hrd Blues mx on various checks. Others confirmed R. TRX. (26-27 March)

6304.8 R. Bravo Sierra Couldn’t get anything more than a carrier here as early as 2307. Tried all sorts of adjustments but couldn’t bring out the audio. Was gradually getting stronger, and about as strong as 6305 TRX at 0003. Couple words at 0018:45. 0020-0021 IDs and goodnight and good morning!!! Same again 0022:30. 0040:25 another ID and tnx for report. Finally in the clear at 0043 as R. TRX went off. Desmond Dekker song at 0047 . Then "Spirit in the Sky" by Norman Greenbaum 0048-0052. And another oldie it seems. (26-27 March)

6300 R. Powerliner Int. coming in here after the change at 0000. Anmnts at 0006 but UTE came on. Clear at 0008. 0017:37 off. (27 March)

4095 R. TRX Found while tuning around. Some mx at 0002. Fair strength. Terry said this was TRX. (27 March)

3904.83 R. Underground At 0015 caught the carrier. About equal to 3929.98 Batavia. No chance. Hams right on the freq here too. (27 March)

6300 R. TRX Just caught end of live voice-over ID by M at 0103:10 “…TRX Radio, TRX Radio, TRX”. Into Blues mx. Went off at the end of a song at 0131:03 w/out any more anmnts. (27 March)


27 March 2011 (part 1): When I awoke and checked out the bands, 6259.9 Atlantic had some audio. 6220 and 4026 LHH both were audiable w/4026 stronger. Conditions were fair with quite a bit of static crashes no doubt from the thunderstorms in the south. There was a lot of fading as well. Lowest MUF was a small area of 8 mhz between Iceland and Greenland. The gradual morning fade-out came early. With the Sun really becoming active in the last month or so, conditions seem to be improving. A couple months too late though. But if it continues, next Winter season should be really interesting!!

RX: Microtelecom Perseus SDR with ARR preamp.
ANT: 315' Beverage (BOG) at 50°.
QTH: Pennsylvania State Game Lands #26
Duration: 0630-0835 UTC
Solar Indices: Solar Flux = 113 A Index = 1 K Index = 0 No storms. X-Ray flux was B4.
WX: Cloudy and chilly. Around 23° F. (-5° C.)

4026 LHH 0636 Dance mx, deep-voice M w/widely spaced out IDs including "Rockin' Laser" w/Laser shooting SFX, live anmnts w/DJ saying it was his last song at 0639, more jingles and into another Dance song. Pretty decent signal. (27 March)

5820.04 Orion R. Signal up at 0657:27 weakly, then came up to full strength about 20 sec. later. 0658 Polka, and Percy Faith at 0700. 0703 Summermeeting ad followed by different version of "Classical Gas". 0707 "Off Shore Echos" ad, then live anmnts by John mention the sunshine in Holland, morning greetings, ID w/freq 5820, R. Saxonia on 6255 at 0800, and KWRN. Sounded like U2 at 0714. AM Forum ad. 0722 ID jingle, and more live anmnts at 0723 acknowledging rpts, ment R. Saxonia sked again, song anmnt and into "In the Summertime" by Mungo Jerry. Couple songs and live anmnts 0736. Didn't peak like Merlin did. Elvis at 0749, ID jingle, and "A Day in the Life" by The Beatles. 0802 "Summertime" jingle and shorter live anmnts including ID and greetings, jingle, and back to mx. Peaking a little at 0805, 0808 Deep Purple, then really began to fade. Almost inaudible by 0825. Morning f/out is coming really early now. (27 March)

5835.03 R. Thunderbird Signal on the air at 0744:34. Rare peaks near audio threshold early on. Fading to just a spike every once in a while. Still, barely a spike visible by 0827 end. ID per Iann's blog. (27 March)

6200.03 R. Orang Utan After Bulgaria went off at 0730, noted something on 6199.84. Don't know what that would be. Orang Utan came on at 0737:22. Didn't get any audio until mx at 0754 and later at 0802. Started out on 6199.99 and drifted up just a tad to 6200.03. Just too weak, and too much fading. Had to notch out the het from 6199.84. (27 March)

6214.55 King Shortwave?? Came on at 0727:24. Right at audio threshold. Cetainly sounded like mx at 0733 and 0735. Faded down in the mud after 0739 and just showing a little spike every now and then. Drifted up to 6214.67 by 0827. (27 March)

6219.98 LHH Pop mx at 0647 start. 0657 laser SFX, and Dance mx. 0701 voice-over anmnts w/ID and ment of "6210 48 meters", jingle, and back to mx. 0704 getting stronger w/chatter, song anmnt, ID, and ment of "one of the bad boys from Galaxy Int" and "Finally, here on the back ?? on shortwave, this is Laser Hot Hits". 0708 nice ID w/ment of 4 mhz and DJ name Paul Stewart. Really fading up and down over minutes after 0710. 0722 usual "More hits, back to back, Laser Hot Hits" ID jingle, then live anmnts. 0725 amazing peak. 0727 end of song and live nice ID and ment "Laser Hot Hits across Europe on shortwave ?? Paul Stewart from Galaxy Int., then album is called...", ID jingle, etc. Said they were off the air "Laser has been off the air for quite some time on the 4 mhz band...". Finally recognized "Juliette" by Bee Gees at 0738. Gave P.O. Box 293 Merlin Ont. Canada addr at 0743. Gradually fading and barely audible by 0827, but still in at 0835 quit. (27 March)

6245.02 R. Continental Came on the air at 0822:19. Poss. mx at 0823 but signing on just too late. (27 March)

6260.04 Antonio R. Came on at 0812:30 and 0813 poss. mx. Came on too late and hardly noticeable after 0820. But the spike was showing up at 0827 when I stopped recording. (ID per Iann and Ricks Pirate Radio Blog) (27 March)

6304.79 R. Merlin Int. Already on when I started recording at 0647. 0648-0652 Joe Walsh "Lifes Been Good", then possibly Eagles. 0656-0658 "All Night Long" Joe Walsh. 0658:55 couple words w/ment of shortwave. Amazingly strong at 0659. 0703:30 live tlk by W w/song anmnts and ID "...R. Merlin Int. in the 48 mb...". Into Fine Young Cannibals "Good Thing". 0707:20 short anmnt by M and W w/ID. 0710 more chatter by M and W w/IDs and ment of the US and requested correspondence. 0715 W anmnt w/mailing addr and song anmtn. 0718:40 echo e-mail once. More mx by Pat Benatar, Tiffany, Queen, The Proclaimers, Don Mclean, Van Morrison, etc. and anmnts after every song. Fading, but nice brief peak at 0739. Still there when I bugged out at 0835 but inaudible of course. (27 March)

The morning window to Europe is closing too early now, so I'm ending the Sunday morning (night) excursions up to the State Game Lands to listen. Its always a sad time of year. Reports will be less frequent over the Summer months. But with the increased solar activity, hopefully more stations will start using the upper freqs and there'll be more to listen to. Weekend evenings have seen more stations on the air recently, so maybe there'll be more to report from that aspect as well.


27 March 2011 (part 2): Started kind of early. Not much heard. Just a few of the 'regulars'.

RX: Microtelecom Perseus SDR with ARR preamp.
ANT: 315' Beverage (BOG) at 50°.
QTH: Pennsylvania State Game Lands #26
Duration: 2040-2240 UTC
Solar Indices: Solar Flux = 113 A Index = 1 K Index = 0 No storms. X-Ray flux was B4.
WX: Cloudy and chilly. Around 45° F. (7° C.)

6959.58 Atlantic R.?? Signal here at 2115 getting close to audo threshold. Mx at 2225 but QRM from SSB traffic. (27 March)

6305 R. Merlin Int. (pres.) Getting a signal here at 2131. Some mx by 2148. Long tlk by M anncr at 2153:45 to 2156 but imposs. to copy. Mx more audible at 2159. sounded like "I Ran" by A Flock of Seagulls at 2212-2214. 2219:20 M anncr. Heard it when I returned back at home at 2255. More mx and M anncr with a lot of tlk. Couldn’t copy though. Too weak and too much local noise. Last heard at 2315. Don’t know if it went off or just faded out. (27 March)

6220 LHH Getting a bit of audio at 2215 (27 March)

3932 R. Baken 16 After I stopped recording, I checked the 80 mb and found a signal here. I thought nothing of it until I saw a log of this in one of the blogs (I think Irish Paul). (27 March)


6305 R. Powerliner Int. 2315 deadair, then mx suddenly up at 2316:57. 2321 anmnt w/rpt tnx and listener acknowledgements, “This is R. Powerliner Int., R. Powerliner Int. 6305, a short on 6305. All the greetings to Artem in Moscow Russia. A very good morning”. More anmnts at 2323. Tlk abt the mx later, more IDs, freq., closing down, “One More record to go”. Rolling Stones “Get Off My Cloud”. 2327 deadair, one more song, 2331 anmnts. (1 April)

6302.33 R. Marconi 2256 usual Pop and Rock mx. Nice ID at 2303. Said it was "...very hot in here". Greetings. Acknowledged some listeners. Song “You Spin Me Round” by Dead or Alive. (2 April)

6210 R. Powerliner Int. Came on around 2300. ID at 2306. Hello to everybody. 2309 signal suddenly dropped way down and couldn't get any audio. Came back up at 2310, then anmnts at 2311. (2 April)


7705 R. TRX Getting some mx weakly at 2332. George Maroti had Blues. Artem in Moscow got ID at 2333. Did indeed sound like Blues mx at 2335. (2 April)

6100 R. Borderhunter 2343 Polkas way underneath an Asian here. Others were hearing him better. Finally ID at 2348, fortunately when the Asian was fading. (2 April)

3904.83 R. Underground Once again just an extremely weak carrier at 2358. Terry and Dr. Tim both confirmed freq. So it definitely was R. Underground. Just too weak and too much Ham QRM. (2 April)

6210 R. Borderhunter 0004 signal here stronger than 6100. Maybe some mx. Definite ID at 0005 and then Polka. Still going at 0055 w/Polkas but said was closing down. (3 April)

6304.96 R. Underground Seemed to come on around 0030. Moved here from 3904.8. Noticed the carrier was quite unstable and wobbly. Did hear some music at 0034. (3 April)

Since this report spans the last couple weeks, it was best to compose it in time/date format this time. Interesting to hear so many stations from home. I'm hoping the Wellbrook antenna, when mounted away from the house, will make reception quieter/improved. Until next time, whenever that may be.....

[JoJo]

hello Dave, thanks for the log and comment