25-26 Dec. 2011 loggings from Dunlo, PA, USA

[Dave Valko]

25 December 2011: Nothing on 6970 LHH and a bit of audio on 4015 on check of the bands when I awoke. A slight carrier on 6205, but was probably nothing. Fair conditions at best and very fady. The X-ray Flux jumped 2/3 way up into the "C" level at 0900. Large 7 mhz MUF area east of Iceland. Noticed I was getting a lot of images after 1045, no doubt due to the weak 12v battery. Was 43 degrees inside the Jeep. Heard a total of 18 stations, not including the relays. Had conditions been good, it would have been a spectacular Christmas morning!!

RX: Microtelecom Perseus SDR with ARR preamp.
ANT: 315' Beverage (BOG) at 50°.
QTH: Pennsylvania State Game Lands #26
Duration: 0655-1100 UTC
Solar Indices: Solar Flux = 143, A Index = 1, K Index = 1 X-ray Flux = B5
WX: Clear and starry. Cool, Low to mid-20's F.

4015 LHH 0658 Pop mx, then echo Santa voice w/anmnt, and "Give Me Something to Believe In" by Poison. 0704 M host w/anmnt then Christmas song. 0708 more anmnts w/ment of what was coming up. Poor and really no better than at home. (25 Dec.)

5820.02 Orion R. On the air at 0759:19. 0801 Percy Faith. No warmup mx. "We Wish You a Merry Christmas". 0807 canned ID. Long Blues Christmas song. 0814 nice ID voice-over anmnts, ment of Saxonia on in 45 minutes, giviing Christmas greetings, Happy New Year from R. Tina. Much better by 0825. "Happy Christmas" by John Lennon at 0832. Short live ID 0843. 0858 canned GM ID anmnt, then said was closing down. (25 Dec.)

5820.02 KWRN via Orion R. Start at 0900 w/instru. version of "Wonderful Christmastime" and GM ID anmnts including addr. Getting hammered by the machine gun UTE at this time. 0903 EG ID and addr anmnt. More live anmnts, then "Jinglebells". 0922 "Step Into Christmas" by Elton John. More Christmas mx and anmnts. Gradually fading. Then seemed like deadair from end of pgm at 1000 to at least 1010. (25 Dec.)

6095 KBC via Wertachtal 1000 "We are the mighty KBC" ID jingle, then into "Merry Christmas Everyone". 1003 live anmnts w/Christmas greetings, ID, DJs coming up, and song anmnt for "I Believe in Father Christmas". Good signal of course. (25 Dec.)

6200 R. Orang Utan 0713 anmnt as I started recording, and into Dutch song. "Wonderful Chrstmastime" at 0728. Some sort of canned echo tlk at 0731. 0748:35 M w/ID anmnt and ment of 2011. Peaking nicely at 0755. 0757 "Welcome to My World" Eddie Arnold followed by a Polka. More ID/phone anmnts at 0808 over another Polka"Last Christmas" by George Michael at 0836. More anmts at 0926. (25 Dec.)

6205.02 R. Spaceshuttle Int. Signal here at 0713. Too weak but could hear Rock mx at 0720. 0734 and 0738 unreadable anmnts but recognized his voice. 0745:30 jingle in diabolical voice then Punk song. Starting to peak well. 0750:05 jingle and live M w/ID and freq. 0751:15 anmnt over "Here Comes Santa Claus" w/mention of "Christmas Day today". 0758 "Silent Night", then back to Rock mx. Dropped down a bit. More anmnts at 0833, and 0839 w/ment of e-mails, and Spaceshuttle. 0921 nice canned IDs, then live anmnts w/ID, freq, and e-mail. 0928 IDs and e-mail addr again. 0936 closing anmnt w/ID and freq, but continued w/mx and more final anmnts including mention of Europe and NA at 0945. Went off sometime between 0946 and 0950. Weak and oddly best in the last half hour. (25 Dec.)

6205 QSO; R. Spaceshuttle Int./R. Mordor Mordor on w/Merry Christmas at 0954:55. Surprisingly decent at this time. 0956:25 ID and Christmas greetings.again. 0857:10 simple "This is R. Mordor" ID over instru. mx. Getting some SSB traffic QRM. Gone at 0959. Spaceshuttle back on here at 1002. Mx start 1002:55. 1003:30 anmnt. Happy New Year 1004:30 and R. Spaceshuttle ID then gone 1005:03. Mordor on and mx, then 1008:30 ID for Mordor and Merry Christmas. Definite phonetics "Mike Oscar Romeo..." Nice ID 1011:40. Off at 1012:10. 1012:50 Spaceshuttle on and mx, then ID. 1016 Mordor back on. (25 Dec.)

6220.21 R. Merlin Int. Weak basically inaudible signal here at 0714. Still there at 0754. 0831 a little mx on peak. Poss. M very briefly at 0833:30. Better. 0834:14 nice peak. 0834:30 def. M anncr. Definite R. Merlin ID at 0837:30. Another ID during anmnt at 0845. Incredible peak at 0848. And to think it was barely audible a half hour earlier. Very little audio again upon fading by 0857. Strange propagation!! (25 Dec.)

6265 R. Geromino SW On at 0756:02. Off though at 0758, and back on. Mx at 0800. 0807:25 canned anmnt. 0824:30 M w/long tlk ment of Gerominoshortwave@hotmail.com Unrecognizable Rock mx. More tlk at 0835 and 0842. ID and song anmnts. Didn't get the peak at 0848 that Merlin got. 0931 ID and ment of reception report, "...here on the shortwaves", gave a mailing addr. Finally went off at 1001:18. (25 Dec.)

6295 R. Mistletoe OC at 0929, fairly strong. 0933 IS, Man of Action theme, opening anmnts but clobbered by UTEs. 0938 echo e-mail, then Elvis Presley. Nice ID ruined by Perseus 'hiccupping' at 0940. Faded some by 1000. Seemed like everytime there was an anmnt, the UTEs just clobbered it. (25 Dec.)

6303.93 UNID. R. Boomerang maybe?? Humongous signal OC at 0958. Mx started 1004:14. Many Dutch songs and even a nice yoddling song and the Polka Orion R. likes to play. Not one anmnt. Off at 1031:48 at the end of the song. (25 Dec.)

6304.87 R. FSM Came on sometime between 0907 and 0921. Mx at 0921. Got worse as it faded by 0930. Went off at 0953:28. ID per Iann's blog. (25 Dec.)

6320 Speedwing R. Signal came up slowly starting at 0801. Definite audio and thought I heard bits of "Last Christmas" by George Michael at 0804 then. Mx again at 0816:35 on very short peak. 0842-0846 Disco Pop song plainly audible but couldn't recognize it (decent peak at 0844:00-0844:20). Then dropped down below audible level and even losing sync by 0857. There seemed to be some distorted audio on a few peaks between 0904-0908, but not sure if it really was Speedwing. Looked like it went off at 1044. (25 Dec.)

6324.84 R. Zeewolf Came on the air at 1014:50. Finally getting some mx at 1017. M anncr very briefly at 1020:50 and 1021:30. Someone here at 1026. sounded like mx. 1028:20 M anncr again and mention of "everybody" on very and cont. anmnts w/poss. ID. Definite M anncr at 1030. Still getting mx at 1040. M anncr 1041. Still getting strains of mx at 1054. Weak w/UTE QRM from above. ID per Iann (25 Dec.)

6326U R. Sextant Suddenly getting mx at 0836:20. "Spaceage"-like instru. mx. Almost sounded like flutes. Poss. anmnt at 0842:30. Nothing heard after 0842. 2 nasty UTEs pulsing away on 6326.9 and 6327.1 made it tough. Could only notch out one. Would never have heard this if not for Ricks blog. Tnx!! (25 Dec.)

6385.29 R. Grutte Pier (pres.R. Atlantis relay) Found w/mx here at 0713 and M anncr briefly. 0731:15 M anncr again but all I could copy was a poss. ment of Holland. 0734:55 M anncr but even weaker. 0754 and 0758:50 same M again but no stronger. 0801:15 tlk by different-sounding M. 0810:00, 0813:15, 0840:05 same M as heard earlier. 0858:20 and 0858:35 anmnt by M. Too weak to copy. Sounded like instru. mx over ToH 0900. 0900:40 M anncr again longer tlk. Went off at 0945:57. Teasing strength right at threshold. Audio seemed too bassy. (25 Dec.)

6450 R. Universe Signal came on the air at 0828:33 and pgm start at 0830:40 w/John Lennon's "Happy Christmas". 0834-0838 "The More You Love, The More you Live" by A Flock of Seagulls. 0842-0845 "Rock-n-Roll is King" by ELO. Instru. Dutch song w/voice over at 0845:35 M anncr w/voice-over ID anmnt "Rock-n-Roll is King, ELO. Good morning everybody. Radio Universe...Merry Christmas...Christmas show from R. Universe. ?? listeners...Achim, Achim from Germany...hope the frequency...Merry Christmas...". Bryan Adams "Do They Know its Christmastime" at 0853. 0859:35 canned tlk by deep-voiced M, and again at 0904:00, and at 0904:35 w/what sounded like "...R. Universe, thank you for listening". 0945 live M anncr again but really no chance by this time. Too weak. Surprisingly got some audio at 1035 on peak. Could still easily see the signal when I stopped recording at 1045. Clear freq except for rare UTE xmsn and machine gun UTE blast. (25 Dec.)

6930 Irish Music R. Very small signal came up at 0827:47. Picked up strength at 0839 and getting some mx. Even stronger at 0846. "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" at 0903-0906. 0938 machine gun UTE blasted away right on top perfectly matching anmnts at this time!! Couldn't have been more perfectly matched!! 0943-0947 "Do They Know Its Christmas Time" Bryan Adams. 0951:50 host "Carol" w/anmnt, and again at 0955 w/ment of song "What a Wonderful World". Later, 1034 more anmnts by Carol, followed by Techno Dance mx. Still audiable at 1045. (25 Dec.)

6970 LHH Becoming more audible at 0850. Fair lvl by 0921. 0924 song anmnts and ment of LHH. 0929-0932 Moody Blues with "Dawn Is a Feeling", short song anmnt, then ID jingles w/SFX. Getting some SSB traffic after 0937. 0940 song anmnts again, jingle ID, then more anmnts. 0957 song anmnst w/ID, and chatter. Seemed like more current mx after 1000. M anncr weakly at 1055 Probably the strongest Pirate on the band at this time. (25 Dec.)

6985.19 RWI Signal here at 0713 start of recording. Much too weak. Very fady. At times completely invisible in the noise floor, and sometimes peaking to almost audio level. Finally up just enough at 0828 hear a little weak audio. Drifted down as it usually does from 6985.16 to 6985.07 by 0900, and 6985.03 by 1000 where it seemed to drift around +/-20 hz. Still going at 1045. (25 Dec.)

9480 EMR via MV Baltic R. 0817 something here but seemed like I was getting other signals as well. (25 Dec.)

9480 R. Saxonia via MV Baltic R. 0909 "Up Around the Bend" by CCR, then unrecognizable Rock song. 0913:00 GM anmnt. (25 Dec.)

9480 R. Gloria via MV Baltic R. 1048 W vcl, //6140 which was good. SP remake of "Nights in White Satin". This freq rather weak and fady. Also, this freq a few seconds ahead of 6140. (25 Dec.)

12257.09 WR Int. Just peaking strong enough at times to get strains of audio. 1047. (25 Dec.)

At least 11 stations on the air at the same time at 0922!! (25 Dec.)


26 December 2011: Conditions were nothing special when I woke up. 4015 was about as yesterday. 6970 nonexistant. Found out via Iann's chat that Black Bird and Grutte Pier were on and indeed they were. Nowhere near the activity like yesterday (only about 8 stations heard), but still worth the effort to go out. Nice to hear Shortwave Combination Christmas with Dr. Tim relay. Poor conditions overall. Signals dropped off quite a bit after 0800. 7 mhz MUF east of Iceland. Was getting some really annoying "static"-like crashes on average every 15 seconds after 0830. Was centered around 6950 with upper limit around 7500 and passing down into the 49 mb. So it affected every signal. No idea what it would be but it was very strong. No problems, technical or otherwise. A calm morning.

RX: Microtelecom Perseus SDR with ARR preamp.
ANT: 315' Beverage (BOG) at 50°.
QTH: Pennsylvania State Game Lands #26
Duration: 0655-0945 UTC
Solar Indices: Solar Flux = 144, A Index = 1, K Index = 1 X-ray Flux = B5 R1 radio blackouts. Had 2 solar flares yesterday.
WX: Cloudy with a few flurries. Cool, upper 20's F.

4015 LHH Dance mx at 0654, then "Magic" by Olivia Newton-John. 0659 M anncr w/few words then right into another song, but another signal showed up here causing a lot of QRM. Getting what sounds like some computer noise on the freq. Weak but steady. (26 Dec.)

6205 R. Mistletoe IS at 0902, "Man of Action" theme, ID routine. Dr. Tim News promo at 0912, then John Mellancamp. 0919 Alvin and the Chipmunks, then song anmnts, ID, and e-mail. Best at start but weakening. Still kind of readable at 0940. (26 Dec.)

6205.03 R. Spaceshttle Int. Noted here at 0703 playing mx. Getting hammered by the machine gun UTE. 0715:50 canned jingle sounding like Spaceshuttle. Peaking a bit at 0716 then tailed off. Another canned anmnt at 0747. Improving at 0751. Heavy drum beat in Dance song. 0753-0754 voice-over anmnts. Recognized Dick's voice but couldn't copy. More anmnts 0755 w/ment of "6205" and "Spaceshuttle". Off at 0756:10. (26 Dec.)

6218.94 Bluestar R. Came on the air at 0707:19. Guess he didn't hear Merlin just above. Sounded like mx started right around 0710. Getting stronger at 0716. Odd fast novelty song kind of sounding like "Dominique" but it wasn't. 0724 into "Suzie Q" by CCR. 0728:08 very short jingle between songs. Nice peak at 0731:20. 0731:35 canned ID "You're listening to Bluestar ??". 0758:25 another short canned ID. Sounded like a lot of Dutch songs. Still going at 0840 but not as good as it was earlier. A signal still there when I stopped recording at 0940. (26 Dec.)

6220.21 R. Merlin Int. Was all alone here at 0703 start of recording. Really weak. Strains of audio on peak. Also losing sync when it went in the mud. Showing a little promise w/more audio at 0733. 0744 M tlk at least briefly. Went off the air at 0824:04 and changed freq obviously when he found out Bluestar was just below. (26 Dec.)

6280.22 R. Merlin Int. Only took 3 seconds to get here from 6220.21 at 0824:07. Weak of course. M anncr on brief peak at 0825. A lot of horrible QRM from pulsing UTE. Mx audible again 0847-0850 and best at 0902-0903. A little mx at 0916 peak. The signal was still in at 0940. This freq is getting as bad as 6295 for UTEs. (26 Dec.)

6300.38 Crazy Wave R. On the air at 0828:04. Wisps of audio on peaks, probably strongest at 0852-0853. Could still see the signal at 0940. Condition just not good enough. (26 Dec.)

6320 R. Black Bird Had a really nice signal and 100% copy when I started at 0654 w/ment of "Laurel Highlands" when I turned the computer/Perseus on. Unrec. Pop mx at 0703. 0706:50 anmnt w/ment of myself and others listening and on Iann's chat. Ment of freq. Report request. 0708 "She's a Rainbow" by Rolling Stones. Weaker. A little stronger at 0712:35 w/more anmnts w/song anmnt, ID, freq, etc. Into "Dreams" by Fleetwood Mac. 0717:55 nice ID and ment of "The early morning show". "Stairway to Heaven" 0719-0726. 0726 greetings to listeners and ment of rpt from R. Tina, and Rick in Finland. 0732 ment of listener in Finland, ID, song anmtn. 0734 stronger w/anmnt including shortwaveblackbird@gmail.com Into "Just Like a Woman" by Bob Dylan. 0745 another anmnt w/ment of closing down in 15 minutes. Then songs by CCR and Queen. 0755 e-mail addr again. Off at 0757:40. Audio a little distorted. (26 Dec.)

6385.27 R. Grutte Pier (pres. R. Atlantis relay) Also here at 0703 w/Rock mx. Better at 0714 like Black Bird, but blasted by CW and machine gun UTE QRM. 0720:50 M anncr w/professional voice. All I could copy was"...6385 khz...a song called...". More anmnts 0735 starting w/"1979...". 0736-0740 "Space Oddity" by David Bowie. 0740 more song anmnts, then "Major Tom" by Peter Shilling from 0742-0744. 0744:00 M anncr. 0744-0747 W vclist. 0747:00 M anncr and jingle at 0747:40, then more tlk. Really faded then. 0800 anmnts but too weak. Barely keeping sync by 0830. Audio was just too bassy, otherwise I could've copied more. Finally went off at 0925:57. (26 Dec.)

6417.60 R. Dr. Tim via Shortwave Combination Christamas/Uncle Sam R. Came on the air at 0800:04. Started w/GM R. Dr. Tim ID at 0802:30. CW "Radio Doctor Tim" ID, then pleasant GM song w/R. Dr. Tim ID during song at 0806. Many clear IDs and website at 0806:50 - 0808. Rom. Pop-like mx at 0808. Instru. flute Irish-like mx at 0812. 0815:10 canned GM ID and jingle. 0817 "Christmas Wrapping" remake. 0821 Christmas song by Queen. 0823:35 canned ID anmnt again "...R. Dr Tim, free radio from Germany", "and now...studio message", followed SSTV. 0825:50 W w/Christmas greeting, then Gloria Estevan w/"I Want to See Christmas in Your Eyes". 0830:40 W again w/couple words mentioning Dr. Tim. 0834-0837 "Santa Baby". 0842-0844 own Dr. Tim News promo w/complete contact info, then promo from the website. 0848 "All I Want for Christmas is You" by Mariah Carey. 0856:50 R. Dr. Tim promo again, then SSTV, then "We Wish You a Merry Christmas:" at 0859-0901. 0905 "Marys Boy Child". 0908:45 canned ID anmnt, then into "Silent Night" to 0913. 913:30 W w/greeting "Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from...". 0917:30 live EG voice-over ID as "Good morning listeners. You've been listening to a relay of Dr. Tim we broadcast special from Radio Shortwave Combination Christmas. Listeners, you're listening to Shortwave Combination Christmas from the Netherlands and a relay of Dr. Tim. Going to continue our program with music and ?? Dr Tim ?? standing by. So ah, Shortwave Combination Christmas ?? Christmas....send an e-mail to, unclesamradio@hotmailcom" 0920:35 "Send your e-mail to unclesamradio@hotmail.com" short anmnt. Church bells at 0921 then a Christmas song. Church bells again at 0924. Several more songs including "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" at 0932. 0937:25 another short live anmnt but couldn't really copy. 0938 canned e-mail ending w/"...hotmail.com". Good signal for the propagation this morning. UTE QRM from below. (26 Dec.)

6970 LHH "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" at 0706. "Freedom" by George Michael at 0710, then anmnts at 0712 including reception rpt acknowledgements from UK and Swedish listeners. Jingle ID at 0723. 0733 M anncr again. Almost no signal at all after that until about 0850 when it picked back up. (26 Dec.)

That's all for this Christmas holiday. Seemed more festive this year than usual. Thanks to all the stations for going on the air. And thanks to those with their blogs. They're a great help. Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!!

[Radio Universe]

Hi Dave,

Thank you very much for this nice report! During this broadcast I used a 60W transmitter so not bad

Keep up the good work over there and all the best for 2012!!

Radio Universe, op. Wim.

[Dave Jones]

Hi Dave,
Thanks for the logging of WR International for 25th December 2011. I trust you are having a good holiday, look forward to hearing from you in 2012.
Dave.

[JoJo]

Hello Dave,

Thanks for logging Orion Radio and KWRN. Indeed no warming up this morning, almost overslepped myself

[Zeewolf]

Hello Dave,

Thanks for the log of Radio Zeewolf Int. on 25-12-11.
I think that this is my first log in the USA.

Greetings,
Herman,
Radio Zeewolf int.

radiozeewolf@hotmail.nl