Free Radio Report from Dunlo, PA, USA for 31 Dec. and 1 Jan.

[Dave Valko]

31 December 2006: Finally decent conditions this morning. It was somewhat fady and there was quite a bit of static crashes, no doubt from the storms in the southern US. It was nice hearing stations for the duration, but apparently there weren't that many stations on. The strength of R. Boomerang was just unbelievable. That alone made the trip up to the remote listening site worth it. On the way up I nearly hit a Deer. The session could have ended before it got started!!

RX: JRC NRD-535D
ANT: 315' Beverage (BOG) at 45° Tried to lay it out more towards 40° this time.
QTH: Pennsylvania State Game Lands #26
Duration: 0655-1015 UTC
Solar Indices: S.F. = 80 A Index = 1 K Index = 0 No storms.
WX: Partly cloudy, Moonlit, warm 35° F. (2° C.)

6878 Power FM via Pirate Music (pres.) 0657-0701 "Oye Coma Va" by Santana. Weak but there. Getting some slop QRM from 6855 US bdcstr. Mx still barely coming through at 0744 check. (31 Dec.)

6401.04 WMR 0707 weak carrier and poss. audio. 0722 anmnt, sounded like Jack Russell. Very weak audio at 0815 check, but better at 0844. 0907 Scottish song, then 0909 song anmnt by Jack, then another Scottish song. Ment of SW at 0930 check, ment of 6401 khz, song anmnt. Voice audio a tad stronger than mx. Best signal on the back at 0935. Still going at 1001. (31 Dec.)

6220 Mystery R. 0710, ID by W, Dance mx. Peaking at S-6 at times. (31 Dec.)

6210 R. East Coast Holland/VOTN 0711 Audio sounded more like a spur at this time. Definite mx. Then heard the songs "One" by U2 from 0712-0715, "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen from 0735-0739, "Hotel California" by The Eagles from 0739-0746, "Stairway to Heaven" by Led Zeppelin from 0752-0800, and "Dust in the Wind" by Kansas from 0802-0805. Unreadable anmnts at 0715, and 0729. Hrd a ment of QSL card at 0746 anmnt. Finally got an ID at 0801 along w/the Hoogeveen addr, ment of 6210 khz, and MW band. GM and EG anmnt then and said would be on MW later. Gave phone 0031-625426740. 0811 nice ID and phone again. 0821 ID and greetings to Dr. Tim, etc. 0843 gave the hotmail e-mail addr. Weak at first but then picked up well, and really dropped off by 0904. Still there though at 0948. (31 Dec.)

6304.97 R. Boomerang On w/humongous signal at 0829!!! Wasn't there 2 min. earlier. Peaking at S-6!!! 100% copy. Seems like 1 kw!! 0829-0832 "Fox on the Run" by Sweet. 0832-0835 song possibly entitled "Free Electric Band". Some lively German or Dutch Pop songs. Also "I Fought the Law" by The Bobby Fuller Four from 0846-0848, "New Years Day" by U2 from 0857, and finished with a song by The Hollies. 0839 ID and said local conditions not good. Another ID anmnt at 0852 and said was closing down, and gave New Years greeting. DT and EG anmnt after U2 song. Best ever!!! Amazing!! (31 Dec.)

6294.97 R. Victoria Had a carrier here at 0850 then some SSB traffic and UTE QRM. Clear at 0900 and definitely hrd mx. Much too weak though. R. Victoria logged at exactly this time in Piraten News. (31 Dec.)

6327.47 R. Saturnus 0859 Synth mx but pulsing UTE QRM right on top. Usual deep-voiced M anncr at 0910 but all I could copy was part of the phone number "...0031...". 0912-0915 "SOS" by Abba. 0919-0923 "You're Beautiful, Its True" by James Blunt. 0925 another anmnt but too weak and too much QRM. Mx and M again at 0927. If not for the UTE, I could have copied most of the annmnts. (31 Dec.)

6305 R. North Pole (pres.) Extremely weak signal here but did definitely hear mx. Too weak and too late though. Still in past 0938. (31 Dec.) ID per uk DXer who had them at 1010.

6264.97 Premier R. Int. OC at 0938 t/in. Audio up at abt 0939:25. Male group vcl. 0940 M anncr very briefly then electronic jingle, dialog between M and W like from an old movie or TV show. 0942 back to mx. 0944 some sort of jingle by W and M anncr in UK accent. Ment "...this morning, 25....", and into what sounded like an oldie. 0952 M ment of "...200 million pieces of...". 0953 "King of the Road" by Roger Miller. Still in at 1005. (31 Dec.)

6285.03 UNID. Pyongyang?? Signal here but suddenly moved down to 6284.95 and back up to 6285.01. So someone tuning xmtr. Too weak though. Poss. mx at 0958. Definite mx at 1002. 1008 M anncr, but of course imposs. to copy. W anncr at 1009. Continued tlk by M and W. I think this just might be North Korea. No loggings of anyone here in Piraten News. (31 Dec.)

6281.2 Definite carrier here at 1004 but much too weak. (31 Dec.)

6240.9 1006 definite carrier and poss. audio. Sounded like something here although nothing reported in Piraten News. (31 Dec.)

31 December 2006 (evening): Decided to go up to the local reclaimed surface mine instead of the State Game Lands (its closer). I expected to hear more stations on the air. Conditions weren't that good either, so I only stayed just over an hour.

RX: JRC NRD-535D
ANT: 315' Beverage (BOG) at 45°
QTH: Reclaimed surface mine
Duration: 2030-2040 UTC
Solar Indices: S.F. = 83 A Index = 1 K Index = 1 No storms.
WX: Cloudy, drizzly, very windy. 38° F. (3° C.)

6295 Reflections Europe (pres.) 2040 M anncr. Audio just barely coming through. Almost readable by 2054 but UTE QRM. Didn't realize this was Reflections Europe till about 2055. (31 Dec.)

6300.51 WNKR Carrier here at 2043. Still there at 2057 and subsequent checks. Never could get any audio though. (see below). Robin Banneville response to my post in the ALI Free Radio Board said this was WNKR. (31 Dec.)

6305.2 UNID. 2052 M ending anmnt w/phone "...0031...". Wasn't there at 2048 t/through. Into DT Pop song at 2052. Continuous DT Pop songs then. Not one more anmnt noted. LSB traffic QRM from 6203.5. Signal dropped off after 2100 and tough by 2135 t/out. Who was this?? Delta?? Mazda?? (31 Dec.)

6220 Mystery R. OC from 2030 start to at least 2120, but on w/mx at 2122 check. So had to start up within those previous 2 minutes. Not as strong as expected. Oddly enough it was off at 2153 when I checked back at home. (31 Dec.)

6300.51 WNKR Still getting the signal here at home at 2320 check. Poss. audio w/what may have been mx and M anncr but too weak to be sure. (31 Dec.)

1 January 2007: The last day of the holidays and was looking forward to hearing a lot of stations. Conditions weren't good but seemed OK. Unfortunately there was almost no activity on the band!! I never expected it to be almost totally dead!! I guess everyone was sleeping late after celebrating the night before. It was unusually noisy w/static crashes again. Really disappointed considering I got wet in the wind-whipped foggy rain laying out the BOG through the dark gloomy woods. You win some, you lose some!!

RX: JRC NRD-535D
ANT: 315' Beverage (BOG) at roughly 45°
QTH: Pennsylvania State Game Lands #26
Duration: 0655-0905 UTC
Solar Indices: S.F. = 83 A Index = 2 K Index = 1 No storms.
WX: Foggy, drizzly and rain, very windy, warmer 43° F. (6° C.)

6289.3 UNID. Weak carrier at the start. Too weak to tell if there was audio. Still there at 0747 and 0822. Gone at 0832 check though. Plagued by UTEs on this freq. Someone here?? (1 Jan.)

6878 Power FM via Pirate Music (pres.) Weak carrier at 0719, but did get a little mx then. (1 Jan.)

6210 R. Telstar South Weak carrier and poss. weak audio at 0742. Bits of mx finally at 0755. 0756 definitely M anncr, and again at 0759. Poss. ment of "Happy New Year" sounding like a UK accent. 0804 M again. 0806 W vcl, getting a tad better, almost able to recog. songs. 0828 "Jingle Dogs" came through!! Dropped down a little by the end at 0902. (1 Jan.)

6401.04 WMR (pres.) Finally on at 0859 check. Kind of weak and didn't seem to be modulating. North Korea QRM as usual. Didn't stick around to see if any audio would be copied. (1 Jan.)

So that's it for the holidays. Very disappointing with the horrible conditions on Christmas Day and the total lack of activity on New Years Day. Conditions may not be that good again this weekend as there is a Recurrent Coronal Hole moving into Earth position for the middle of the week. Maybe it will calm down by Sunday morning.