5 December 2010: 4026 LHH was doing fairly well at home at 0600 UTC. However there was a large area of 5 mhz MUF stretching from Scandanavia to Iceland and south as far as the UK. So I was a bit concerned. It was unusually noisy for some reason. Thunderstorm-like static crashes. On the weaker stations (which was about 90% of them), the static would kick the sync out of lock. Propagation started out decent enough. But all signals faded after 0750. Never did recover and it turned out to be poor in general. There was really quick fading as well. Peaks of only a second or 2 at most. I was thinking of calling it quits around 1000 thinking what weak signals remaining would fade out by that time anyway, but stations kept coming on the air. I ended up staying to almost 1130 as it was beginning to get light. And I still had a little bit of audio from R. Scotland Int. on 6400. If conditions would've been good, who knows how long they'd have continued to be heard!! Was down to 31 degrees F. inside the Jeep at 1000, and 28 at 1112.
RX: Microtelecom Perseus SDR with ARR preamp.
ANT: 315' Beverage (BOG) at 50°.
QTH: Pennsylvania State Game Lands #26
Duration: 0700-1125 UTC
Solar Indices: Solar Flux = 87 A Index =1 K Index = 0 No storms
WX: Cloudy. Chilly, around 19° F. (-7° C.)
4026 LHH 0701 end of oldie sounded like Roy Orbison, ID jingle "This is Laser", then live M anncr w/song anmnt, and into Pink Floyd song. 0707 song anmnt then another "This is Laser" ID, live M again w/ID, TC, and sked, and into song by The Eagles. Barely audible by 0910. (5 Dec.)
5820.04 Orion R. with R. Supersound Signal on late at 0759:18. Audio feed problems?? Percy Faith start up at 0801:14. 0804 canned ID and then "Off Shore Echos" magazine and AM Forum web site ads. 0809 John w/ID, freq, morning greetings including one to yours truly (thanks John!!). 0813 "Sultans of Swing" by Dire Straites. 0818 canned DT ID. Live GM anmnt at 0821. 0827 Off Shore Echos ad again. Nice canned ID at 0831, then live anmnts talk about snow ("...at least its now raining anymore...") and greetings to listener, and said there was guest in the studio. 0900:55 R. Supersound live ID by M w/ment of 5820 over instru. Polka. 0903:25 another nice ID " ?? very good morning, this is R. Supersound now on the frequency ?? studio one". Really sharp ID jingle at 0914, then more live anmnts saying "...one hour only and ?? on this freq. ?? good show". Some pleasant Schlagers and even "Walking in a Winter Wonderland" at 0940. 1000 jingle and live anmnt. Went off sometime between 1005 and 1011 while I was changing the laptop battery. Signal stayed pretty strong and readable until about 0950 when it began to weaken in power. (5 Dec.)
5835.02 R. Thunderbird Came on the air at 0846:15. Sounded like mx started at 0847:50. Apparent deadair until more instru. mx at 0850:25 that sounded like it was an oldie. Short, prob. ID, voice-over anmnt by deep-voiced M at 0851:25, but unfortunately I couldn't copy it due to the &%*$@# static crashes right over the key words!! A little more deadair, then another song and clear drawn-out "Radio Thun--der---bird" ID at 0853:30. 0854:40 what sounded like another ID in high pitched voice as "Radio Thunderbird bird bird bird...". 0856:05 M w/long voice-over anncr in DT w/ID and tlk. Did catch ID and ment of "broadcast" at 0858:00. 0858-0904 "Sultans of Swing" by Dire Straites and continued voice-over anmnts to 0900. 0904 jingle w/couple kids. Still going at 0910 when I returned but the ear-splattering machine-gun UTE was right on top blasting it out every 3 seconds. Finally clear at 0913 w/tlk over mx I couldn't recognize. 0913:40 electronic "Thunderbird Radio ??" ID jingle between UTE blasts and "Drivers Seat" by Sniff-n-the-Tears. 0918 another slick canned ID jingle and more live anmnts. The signal weakened after this making reception more difficult, but it was audible. Finally went off at 0948:48. Static noise was just awful. Had the signal been a little stronger and free of interference, it would have been nice. (5 Dec.)
6005 R Joystick Could here unreadable opening anmnts by M at 1100, then mx. Too weak and way too much WYFR slop QRM. (5 Dec.)
6175 R. Borderhunter Signal came up at 0852:32, and mx started 2 min. later. 0858 voice-over greeting and ID. 0900 another ID w/rolled "G"s mixing w/China R. Int. which signed on at 0900. More anmnts at 0903, but CRI too much. Into Dance mx. 0904 morning greeting. CRI just too strong for the Borderhunter. Audio seemed a little on the low side too. (5 Dec.)
6200 R. Orang Utan Could already here the mx underneath the broadcasters OC when its pgm ended at 0730. Instru. song and short voice-over anmnt at 0731:04. 0732-0735 "Man of Action" theme, then another instru. novelty song and 0735 and voice-over ID anmnt "A very good morning, this is Orang Utan", and gave phone as 0623792500. 0737-0740 short ID and "Taps". More voice-over anmnts at 0741 w/ment of Netherlands, ID, and morning greeting. Familiar peppy instru. oldie 0743-0745. Deadair for abt a min. then back to mx. Gave phone # again at 0753. More anmnts at 0754 but really faded. Another anmnt at 0807 but hopeless. Amazing how quickly this faded. Coming back up w/"Sylvias Mother" by Dr. Hook 0810. 0815 ID, acknowledged rpt, song amnt, ID "This record from the Byrds. ?? Orang Utan, good morning", and into "Tambourine Man". Faded again. Sounded like Bonnie Tyler at 0830. 0851 "Relax" by Frankie Goes to Hollywood. A much stronger R. Tower came on 6200.71 at 0902:22, but was able to notch it out. Moved up to 0911:09. (5 Dec.)
6200.71 R. Tower Came on at 0902:22. Instru. mx at 0911, then canned anmnt at 0912:05. 0916:31 canned anmnt w/phone # 0031-651858551 for requests. 0936-0941 Percy Faith song and live anmnts in DT and EG including IDs, morning greetings, phone #, "...R. Tower. We are back ?? back in business...", freq 6200 kcs, and good morning to Dave (in the tent??). 0941-0943 "Man of Action" theme and more anmnts. 0950 Polka "Ronda, Would You Like to Ride on My Honda", and more anmnts. Het QRM from what is probably the Chinese stn on 6200, and totally blasted out by 6195 NHK World slop-over after 1000. (5 Dec.)
6206.37 R. Orang Utan Moved here at 0911:09 to avoid R. Tower. Sounded like a Rock song. 0915 anmnt and peaked briefly at 0916 w/morning greeting, then phone #, and mention of Henri. 0929 anmnt and was able to get ment of Orang Utan. SP USB on 6205 destroyed it at 0941. Could tell Orang Utan went off at 0951:35 only from the carrier tone listening in SSB. (5 Dec.)
6210 LHH Getting a little spike at 0859. Better w/song anmnt at 0922 and into Donald Fagens "The Goodbye Look". 0939 peaking again w/more DJ anmnts mentioning "a cup of tea", and back to mx. Never got any better and faded. (5 Dec.)
6240 Time R. On the air at 0853:05, and mx start about a min. later. Strong enough to recognize song at 0901:45. Appeared to be a Schlager. Pleasant peppy almost Polka-like instru. song at 0910-0914. 0918 C&W flavored song. Peaking 0925-0929, but the machine-gun UTE just hammered it about every 5 seconds at this time. Canned ID anmnt by M at 0929:28 but awful static crashes wiped all but the very end ("...Time Radio") out. Poss. ID at 0934 by M in distorted voice. 0937-0939 very fast tempo Polka-like song w/accordion, followed by a slow waltz. 0942:42 W anncr briefly in echo, prob. ID. Then fast Polka. 0947:35 canned ID by M sounded like "...radio dial, Time R.". Signal was fading and appeared to play more Polkas. Went off at 1028:30. (5 Dec.)
6254.9 R. Saxonia?? Signal came on within 5 seconds of 0904:15. Nowhere near strong enough to make it above the UTEs here or the static crashes. Would need the sync to work to have any hopes, but it just wasn't clear enough. Could definitely see the signal spike just up from time to time. Went off at 1003:50. Freq was rock steady on 6254.9. (5 Dec.)
6265.88 R. Spaceshuttle Int. Came on 6265.36 at 0953:17 quick drifted down to 6265.10, then back up to 6265.69 by 1000, 6265.95 by 1045, and 6266 at s/off. Some kind of choral singing or chanting at 1002. W vclist at 1012 return. Computer noise then. M anncr 1029. Mx coming through a little better at 1032 briefly. 1042:00 M anncr (deeper voice than Dick Spacewalker) w/nimbers given "...04?2...", then diff. M. Couple songs. Still getting audio 1052 w/M anncr in echo. Classical orch. mx at 1058-1104. 1104:25 ID and e-mail by M in altered voice but all I could copy was "You are tuned to...radio...", then at 1105:15 "Radio ?? Shortwave...", followed by a countdown from 5-1, and a jingle. Another ID anmnt in altered voice. 1106:40 ID sounded like "?? Free Radio Shortwave", another countdown and clear ID this time as "Spaceshuttle Radio...". Would have been much easier to copy if the voice was altered. Finally went off at 1108:11. Surprised I didn't see any other loggings of this. (5 Dec.)
6279.96 A signal here as early as 1105. Very weak. Did get a little stronger at 1124, but still not close enough for audio. Could be a broadcaster from regions unknown. (5 Dec.)
6287 R. Shadow Decent strength signal came on at 0735:03. Familiar instru. twangy electric guitar song started at 0739:48. 0743-0746 "Blinded by the Light" by Manfred Mans Earth Band. 0750 "I'm So Hot for Her" by The Rolling Stones w/short voice-over ID by M in heavy electronic echo sounding like "This is R. Shadow, east coast Holland". 0751 "Rockin' Me" by The Steve Miller Band. 0758 "Walk of Life" by Dire Straites. 0811 "My Home Town" by Bruce Springsteen. 0812:55 exact same ID anmnt as heard earlier at 0751. Even though it faded after that, it looked like there should have been audio on the peaks at times but couldn't detect any. Wonder if the modulation was low. UTE above and the machine-gun killer made it difficult at times. North Korea came on at 0953. Went off at 1003:10. (5 Dec.)
6304 R. Marconi Big signal on at 1104:37. 1106 w/"Who'll Stop the Rain" by CCR., then "Why Can't This Be Love" by Van Halen. Went off at 1112:35 at the end of the song. Quite strong for this late in the morning. Would have easily been able to identify it if there were any anmnts. Nothing but the 2 songs though. Klaus Fuchs reports this as R. Marconi. (5 Dec.)
6304.88 UNID. Was here about 1005 as the computer shut down automatically from low power. Noted 5 pleasant Dutch vcl songs from 1011 return to sudden s/off at 1023 in mid-song. When it signed off, you could see the xmtr being tuned up 2 khz then back down to about 6296 where it disappeared. From the strength of the signal, I'd say it was a couple 100 watts. Anyone know who this was??? ukDXer, Irish Paul, and Andy Richards reported R. Marconi on 6305 at this time. (5 Dec.)
6304.99 UNID. Signal here as early as 0720. Mx at 0723 retune. Seemed to go off very briefly at 0729:00. Didn't seem like the signal was modulated until mx was heard again at 0742. Christmas Reggae-style song "All I Want For Christmas is You" (originally by Mariah Carey) w/W vcl at 0743-0746. Into what sounded like a Motown oldie. Weakened too much after 0751. A few seconds of audio again at 0815. Went off at 0831:03. Crackling noise on the freq. Static noise was just horrendous too. And also got QRM from what was apparently RTTY on 6305.88 after it came on at 0814:44. After the stn signed off, there were 2 signals in this area; 6305.88 and 6306.12, both of which seemed like RTTY. They both went off at the same time at 0941.08. Made things very confusing for a while. (5 Dec.)
6310.67 R. Bonofox Came on the air at 0901:24 and immediately into mx. Polkas after 0911 when I returned from checking the 41 mb. Surprisingly pretty decent at 0917-0920, relatively speaking. Finally a very brief anmnt at 0940:35 but didn't catch an ID. But did give the e-mail addr several times at 0942. More Polkas. Was still there and a little audible at 1005, but gone at 1011. Wasn't as good as last week. (5 Dec.)
6315.18 R. Sallandse Boer Signal on at 1014:03 and lively instru. mx start 40 seconds later. 1016:40 very short quick voice-over ID anmnt in DT, and cont. DT annnts w/ments of amateurs and program. Some laughing. Another anmnt at 1019:20 w/poss. ment of "...hello Tim". Really weak mx then. Went off at 1023:36. Short xmsn. Pretty strong signal oddly enough. (5 Dec.)
6324.84 R. Altrex Came on at 0739:58. Mx hrd then at 0743. Little more mx at 0749 and 0751, then what sounded like a jingle at 0752 followed by live anmnts to 0755. Certainly sounded like his voice, but all I could copy was "...almost the same...". Little more mx at 0805. 0816 more anmnts sounding like he mentioned Orion. By 0830, the signal was down in the noise floor about 40% of the time. Finally back up on peaks w/mx at 0920-0927, 0935, 0946. From 0950-0953 sounded like New Age instru. mx, then unreadable live anmnts. Drifted down to 6324.77 by the time I finished at 1125. The massive static crashes kept kicking the sync out of lock. (5 Dec.)
6372.94 Magic AM Came on at 0943:28 on 6372.5, and mx started 0945:50. Rock and Dance mx. Nice Bass to the signal audio. 0954 "Pop Muzik" by M. 1002 ID by M "A very good morning dear listeners ?? you're listening to Magic AM on 6273 kcs..." and poss. e-mail and ending w/another ID and freq. 1004 more anmnts "Don't You Forget About Me". Up to 6372.86 by 1011. 1025:00 anmnt, into "Bang a Gong" by T-Rex. 1038:05 anmnt. 1045 acknowledged rpts and nice ID. End at 1046:10 w/e-mail addr pretty clear and jingle. 1054 ID "Good morning, Magic AM..." and e-mail again and ment of free radio. Still getting audio and 1114:20 M anncr drifted up to 6373.20. (5 Dec.)
6374.98 UNID. Signal came on here at 0943:04 just 24 seconds before Magic AM started. Definitely a little mx at 0944:15 and at 0946. Some sort of voice at 0948:48. Went off at 0955:00. Guess he realized Magic AM was on just below. Was weaker than Magic AM, but equal on occasional peaks. Who was this?? Pluto again?? Universe?? (5 Dec.)
6375 R. Pluto (pres.) Came on at 0824:47. Getting close to audio strength around 0835, but there was just no way. It was intirely too weak. But definitely there. Went off at 0853:21. The QRN was just awful. (5 Dec.)
6384.88 R. Pluto (pres.) Came on at 0949:04 on 6384.92. Since it was right on the edge of the massive 4 khz wide UTE here (6385-6389) I couldn't get any audio. The signal was strong enough though. Had it been even 1 khz lower I could have copied it I'm sure. Seemed to go off at 1031:58. (per Klaus Kuchs) (5 Dec.)
6400 R. Universe Was getting a signal here as early as 0923. A little stronger after 0930. 0932:56 M anncr w/morning greeting and cont. tlk on very brief peaks, then some mx at 0934. Drifted down to 6399.95 by 0935. Mx more audible at 0944:40. At 0945:10 he changed the freq first jumping to 6401 and then 6401.95, so it must be a digital xmtr. Unfortunately it was too close to the UTE above. Not to mention it had faded back down. At 0955:35, he moved back down to 6400. Guess he went off sometime around 1017 as the QSO started w/stn coming on 6400.06 at 1017:44. (5 Dec.)
6400 QSO An Unid. stn (R. Scotland Int. per Andy Richards) came on 6400.06 at 1017:44 after R. Universe went off. Fairly strong w/mx at 1020:00. DT anmnt 1021:40. Went off at 1024:15. Was getting too much computer noise, otherwise I could have IDed it. Apparently R. Universe (Universe per Andy Richards) came back on then on 6399.91, and going back off at 1030:00. But another stn (maybe R. Pluto as I thought I saw a rpt on the web that he was in the QSO as well) had already come on 6400.37 at 1029:42 going off at 1030:37. Probably it was Universe coming back on then for about 45 seconds. R. Scotland Int. came on 6400 at 1032:13 then w/1033:50 start up of instru. mx used as a Pirate song. Into "Sympathy for the Devil" then DT annmnt 1034:00. Then in EG tlk abt the QSO at 1035:40. Went off at 1037:12. Seemed no one was on then until 1046 when 2 signals showed up; one on 6400.04 and the other on 6400.05. 6400.05 went off at 1047, and 6400.04 had a DT anmnt. Mentioned R. Scotland Int and what sounded like "hello Tim". Then RECH came on 6400.00 at 1049:30 and gave ID and a signal rpt to Universe ("excellent signal at 9% of 50 over"). RSI back at 1055:15 w/Led Zeppelin and tlk w/ment of Universe, RECH, and Tower. Other stn (R. Universe again??) came on 6399.92 at 1102:05. Could hear the M tlk, but he was too weak. At 1104:43, someone (not RSI or RECH) came on 6399.96. DT voice-over anmnt in echo at 1106:25 w/morning greeting, but it faded and thats all I could copy. At 1111:11 RSI back while the other stn was on. Both signals were on until 1117:05 when 6399.96 went off. RSI was played prob. an Eric Johnson song, insru. song followed by a Polka and went off at 1119:35. The 6399.96 stn then came on but it was too weak. RSI came back at 1121 and said was closing down at 1125. (5 Dec.)
6419.88 R. Station Dutchwing Signal came on weakly at 0732:30, and w/popular Italian song at 0733:52 to 0739. Then instru. Polka-like accordion song. 0742:55 nice EG ID "Good morning everybody. This is Radio Station Dutchwing. We ?? Dutchwing". 0744 couple LA Pop songs. C&W mx concert at 0748. Like other stns, this faded after 0750. Was getting some SSB traffic too from about 0756 to 0807. Came back up at 0810. 0812:55 voice-over IDs "Very good morning. You're listening to the radio station Dutchwing broadcast ?? and a little slow as well...You're listening to...(then Dutch)". 0819:04 another ID, mention closing down, then went off 0819:33. (5 Dec.)
6952.9 R. Jan Van Gent Signal seemed to come on at 0857 but can't pinpoint it to the second. Very weak. Surprised to hear some anmnts on a peak at 0923, and some mx at 0941-0945. More anmnts at 1001. Just too weak to copy. Audible more often from 1025-1056 including some voice-over anmnts. Thought was hearing a W anncr at times as well. Not quite strong enough. Freq started out on 6953.0 but drifted down continually to 6952.53 when I quit at 1125. It was still going. (5 Dec.)
6959.69 Atlantic R. Bits of mx already at 0723. 0728 closing anmnt by the Leslie Stevens for the "Route 66 Oldies Show". There was another OC signal on 6959.82 and took a while to figure out which was which. Atlantic was audible once I notched out 6959.82. Next pgm started 0733. Actually weakened and very little audio to speak of till after 0930 when it began to pick up again. "Solid Gold 60's" show. 0957 seemingly pgm closing anmnt by Geoff Dorsett. Apparently the Gerry Stevens show after 1000. Did catch "I Got You Babe" and "Mr. Tambourine Man" peaking around 1050, but then faded. (5 Dec.)
No chance for 6300 R. Marconi as there was a massive UTE taking up about 4 khz centered on this freq all night long. Hope this UTE disappears. There are too many 48 mb freqs taken up now as it is.
A nice showing this morning!!
Report from Dunlo, PA, USA for 5 December 2010
Moderator: Moderators group
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Dave Valko
- Hardcore Gold Piratear
- Posts: 246
- Joined: Sun Jul 30, 2006 13:12 pm
- Location: Dunlo, PA, USA
Report from Dunlo, PA, USA for 5 December 2010
73
Dave Valko
Dunlo, PA, USA
Dave Valko
Dunlo, PA, USA
Glad you could copy us.
