Report from Dunlo, PA, USA, for 19-26 December 2010

[Dave Valko]

First of all, I want to apologize for such a large report. I was simply too busy and didn't have the time to send out the 19 December report. Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas. Thanks to everyone who was so kind as to send their beautiful Christmas e-cards and video presentations!! Its nice to know there are so many thoughtful people in the hobby.


19 December 2010: No sign of 4026 or 6210 LHH and only a very slight carrier on 6959.7 Atlantic when I checked at 0600. I hadn't realized LHH changed freq to 4015. The X-Ray/MUF flux map hadn't been updated since 1422 on Saturday. The Solar Flux and A Index looked a bit too low. Not only that, but it was only about 17 degrees outside. Despite the bad signs, I wanted to go out to listen. So bundled up and went up to the SGLs. Had a scary start. I was getting very little signal strength. Took about 5 minutes to discover the reason for the weak signals; the last time I used the Perseus, I had the attenuator set at 20 db. Conditions weren't very good. There was very little that was audible at 1000. Decided to call it quits after 3 hours at 1015.

RX: Microtelecom Perseus SDR with ARR preamp.
ANT: 315' Beverage (BOG) at 50°.
QTH: Pennsylvania State Game Lands #26
Duration: 0715-1015 UTC
Solar Indices: Solar Flux = 81 A Index =3 K Index = 1 No storms
WX: Cloudy. Chilly, around 17° F. (-8° C.)


5819.80 R. Saturnus Signal on at 0925:02. Sounded like a bit of mx on at peak at 0933. Signal was still there at 1006. No chance. (Tnx ukDXer, and Iann blogs) (19 Dec.)

5819.98 Orion R. 0758:48 start up w/"Little Drummer Boy" Christmas song, then stopped and some whistling, and cont. song, then Percy Faith. 0804 canned DT ID, then AM Forum and "Off Shore Echos" ads. More mx. 0831 John acknowledging e-mails, then Christmas song by The Pretenders. "Sleigh Ride" at 0837, then "Do They Know Its Christmastime". 0842 quick dedication, ID, and Christmas greeting. More Christmas mx and anmnts. 0902 rpt request, closing anmnt w/"bye bye" and off at 0903:40. Pretty good signal but a very fady. Strangely not on the usual 5820.04 today. (19 Dec.)

6140 European Music R. via Wertachtal Germany *1000 on w/canned ID anmnts including ment of 6140, and into Rock mx. 1004 nice ID, canned anmnt, them more Rock mx. Pretty good signal but a little slop-over QRM. (19 Dec.)

6200.03 R. Orang Utan Signal here after the bdcstr went off at 0730, then mx audible at 0732. Much weaker than it has been recently. Schlager at 0741 and anmnt at 0843. Clearer at 0748 and caught ID during anmnt. Mailing addr at 0752. Another ID at 0815. Sync locking on only abt half the time. Getting adj. QRM including some sort of UTE on 6199.8. Really dropped down by 0856. (19 Dec.)

6209.93 LHH "Major Tom" at 0726. 0729 song anmnts and back to Rock mx. Getting a little audio at times after. Sounded like an ad w/web addr at 0851. 0858 song anmnt w/ID and 4025 freq. Getting better w/olides. SSB QRM at the ToH 0800 and 0900. A little off freq this morning. (19 Dec.)

6217.47 Blue Star R. Humongous signal at 0732 w/pleasant Schlager. Nice audio. 0742:25 short canned ID, and into "Bye Bye Love" by The Everly Brothers. 0744:45 another canned ID and into the "Caroline" song, followed by a Christmas song. Nice live ID anmnts including phone at 0756. 0813 morning greeting, IDs, mailing addr P.O. Box 1104, 8001 BC Zwolle, Netherlands, and phone 0031-655597513. Deadair at 0818 during Johnny Cash song. Acknowledged rpt from Finland "5/5/4/4/4". 0827 Fleetwood Mac. Another anmnt w/phone and ID at 0900. Still some audio at 0944:10 when it went off the air. Fady signal and faded quite a bit after 0900. Amazing on peaks early. (19 Dec.)

6264.97 R. Geronimo Shortwave Signal on at 0752:38. Massive UTE on the freq from 0806-0809. The signal wasn't very strong, but by 0850, it was good enough that there should have been audio. I think there just wasn't any. At 0858-0902 I did copy "Highway Star" by Deep Purple. Tech difficulties with the audio before 0858?? 0902 anmnt but all I could copy was ment of shortwave, "drop us a line", e-mail and mailing addr "...thats Geronimo Shortwave, P.O. Box...". 0909:05 M anncr but all I could copy was "...on the shortwave bands today ?? good music..." Sounded like more Rock mx w/anmnts. Some mx still poking through at 1003. (19 Dec.)

6293.95 Signal on at 0945:42. Think it went off at 0948:55. Didn't hear any audio although the signal was strong enough. (19 Dec.)

6299.81 UNID. Signal on at 0747:54 and mx audible at 0749:35. Impossible while SADR was playing mx which was splattering all over the 6293.2 to 6301.8 range. Went off at 0807:00. (19 Dec.)

6299.97 R. Devalon Int. Came on the air at 0920:30. Mx at 0923. Unrecognizable songs. A lot of SADR QRM. Same stn that was on 6299.81 earlier?? 0929:45 canned ID "You are tuned to free radio ?? International...", then what sounded like live tlk. 0930 long tlk w/ments of 2010, and "hello", "...and receive a R. Devalon...so stay tuned, won't you?...with a report..." 0932 ID jingle and back to mx w/"Jingle Bell Rock". 0935 song anmnt and nice ID, and jingle, then cont. Pirate DX loggings. Weakened. Still getting some audio at 1013. (19 Dec.)

6304.94 UNID. Came on the air at 0809:25 on 6305.04. The same stn that was on 6299.81 2 min. earlier?? Mx at 0810. Drifted down to 6304.94 quickly at 0812. Audio right at threshold. Seemed strong enough on peaks after 0818, but didn't hear any audio. Dropped down after 0830 and was in and out of the mud by 0845. Looked like it went off at 0908. (19 Dec.)

6306.96 R. Powerliner Came on the air at 0935:35 on 6306.68. Drifted down to 6306.44, then back up to 6306.96. Mx at 0942. Still getting a bit of mx at 1002 on peaks. Just too weak. Tnx ukDXer. (19 Dec.)

6308.83 Big signal came on at 1005:15. Unfortunately I had shut the recording off at 1006 before I could get any audio. (19 Dec.)

6309.94 R. Pluto (pres.) Signal on at 0924:05. Finally mx came up at 0929. Some SSB QRM. Went off sometime between 0936 and 0939 while I stopped the recording. (R. Pluto per Achim) (19 Dec.)

6324.95 R. Pluto (pres.) The signal came on 6325.86 (which is where R. Sonic was about a half hour before oddly enough) at 0944:25, but was quickly moved down to 6324.95. Still there at 1006. Not strong enough to get any positive audio. (19 Dec.)

6325.87 R. Sonic Watched him move the freq from 6331.05 above down to 6326.05 at 0808:45. 0814:25 anmnt w/ment of "...25 cm this morning". Dance mx at 0821. "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" at 0826. Nasty SSB traffic QRM at 0840, but song sounded like "Wild Boys" by Duran Duran. Off at 0905:13. Freq drifting down to 6325.79 by s/off. If not for the pulsing UTEs on 6327, would have been a nice signal. (19 Dec.)

6331.05 R. Sonic Signal on at 0801:18, then 0803:17 "Drivers Seat" by Sniff-n-the- Tears. Changed freq down to 6325.87 at 0808:45. QRMed from a UTE above on 6334. (19 Dec.)

6381.42 R. Station Dutchwing End of anmnt at 0751 and into Pop mx. ID 0754:50. 0810 "So This is Christmas" remake. 0816 "Jingle Bells". 0819:50 morning greeting and ID, all the best for Christmas, etc. 0822 "Jingle Bells". 0826 more anmnts. Went off the air at 0836:10. Getting some QRM from UTE above, sometimes fair though, other times the UTE would encroach over Dutchwing. Audio seemed a little muffled. (19 Dec.)

6400.56 R. Waldmeister?? Signal came on at 0925:30. Peaks out of the noise every few seconds. Unfortnately poor conditions and too weak. (19 Dec.)

6959.67 Atlantic R. 0715 getting the "Route 66 Oldies Show". Seemed a little better at 0858. 0959 pgm changeover mx. 0901:25 Canned "1251 AM" partial ID, then into "Walk Like an Angel" oldie. "Not Fade Away" by Buddy Holly at 1006 recheck. (19 Dec.)

9919.92 R. Tropiqx?? Definite signal here at 1009. Not strong enough to pull out any audio. (19 Dec.)

3905 Skyline Int. R. 2333 nice short voice-over ID and ment of the Netherlands, more tlk a min. later. 2347-2349 more anmnts w/ID and listener acknowledgements, etc. Went off at 2353:40. A stronger signal on the Windom w/ground at the input on the filter choke connector, but also more noise. Some slop-over QRM from a massive Ham on 3900, and some brief Ham QRM from abt 500 hz below. Also some idiotic Ham splattering away on 3910 playing excerpts of a tasteless parody Christmas mx CD at 2345. Heard at home. (23 Dec.)

3932.02 R. Polaris Getting a signal and a very weak mx at 2333 t/in. Heavy quick fading. Songs almost recognizable on peaks, other times the signal was completely invisible in the noise floor. Seemed best around 2346. Ham QRM after 2351. Went off at 0027:05. Heard at home. (23 Dec.)

4015 LHH Very weak. Finally getting some mx on peaks after 0014. No chance for a formal ID. Awful rumbling noise just below the freq made it even more difficult. Heard at home. (23-24 Dec.)

4035 TRX R. 2333 Rock-a-billy sounding mx. 2336:45 M anncr but just couldn't copy anything. Was trying to figure out which antenna was better for about 10 or 15 minutes. The Windom with filter choke grounded actually seemed stronger than the T2FD. However the T2FD was clearer and quieter. 2341 more C&W mx. Went off at 0011:30 w/out any further anmnts. Wish I would have been on the freq earlier, right after sunset. Heard at home. (23-24 Dec.)

3900 Spaceman R. Getting a carrier here at 2114. Must be Spaceman. Indeed, everyone in Ianns chat hearing it well. 2308+ hrd on occasions w/what sounded like GM songs. Nice signal. Went off just before 2343. Heard at home. (24 Dec.)

3906 Blue Star R. 2308 fast Pop Dance song. 2313 sounded like “Green Tambourineâ€

[JoJo]

Hello Dave, First a Marry xmas to you too. Thanks for the reports. Strange the tx was running on 5819,98khz Dec. 19th. I didn't change the DDS Glad you copied Orion radio. Cheers, for now!