18 Dec. 2011 loggings from Dunlo, PA, USA

[Dave Valko]

Finally felt good enough (not quite as sick as I have been, relatively speaking) to maybe try a Europirate micro-DXpedition to the SGLs and got up at the usual time of 0600. Checking out the bands, found 6970 LHH with almost no audio, 4015 LHH was a little stronger and almost readable, but nothing on Orang Utan yet. Solar indices were S.F.=120, A Index=0, K Index=0, X-Ray flux of B2, and an MUF of 6 mhz over Iceland. Not exactly favorable propagation. And since it was only about 22 degrees with snow-covered roads, I decided to go back to bed. But did try a little experiment. Set up the Perseus and laptop on full AC power to see how reception would be compared to all DC. Used the battery only for the preamp. Conditions were OK but unusually noisy for mid-December and very fady. (18 Dec.)

5800.03 FRS Holland Signal on at 0751:20, then mx start at 0752:20. IS and s/on routine at 0756. ID jingles, fanfare, etc. 0800 ticks, then ID/freq anmnt. 0800. Rock mx. A lot of splash QRM from the UTE on 5790 and lcl clicking noise. 0820 "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" stopped and more tlk. Sounded like Bananarama at 0836. 0905 clicking noise and QRM finally stopped and clear reception w/tlk abt historic events. Peaking nicely too. ID jingles w/Christmas mx. Faded quickly after abt 1020. Still visible at 1124 when the recording was stopped. (18 Dec.)

5820 Orion Radio Signal on the air at 0800:47. Mx start at 0801:35. No Percy Faith today. 0807 John w/live anmnts, "Orion R." IDs. 0812 canned GM ID. Some SSB traffic QRM at 0825. John back again at 0832. Went off at 0902:14. Not very strong and rather noisy and very fady. (18 Dec.)

6140 EMR via Wertachtal 1000 canned ID "Broadcasting from Europe to Europe", "This is the true sound of free radio to Euope" and ID w/ment of Christmas by Tom Taylor. Immediately into Ashford and Simpson song. Good signal. Faded of course but still audible w/ending ID at 1059 then into R. Australia nx. (18 Dec.)

6199.84 Delta Radio/ Radio Titanic Looked like the signal came on at 0947. Polka Waltz start 0950:07. Into "So Far Away" by Dire Straites at 0955. 0957 voice-over anmnts. 0959 believe Little River Band, but then totally blasted out by 6195 by NHK in SP. (18 Dec.)

6200 R. Orang Utan Signal on at 0644:06. Not that strong but could hear the mx. Losing sync to the nonstop RTTY xmns just below when this faded. Some nice peaks around 0722. 0730 live anmnt w/freq and ID "...6200 kcs to R. Orang Utan...". RTTY was fading but came up stronger at 0830. Seemed to still be there by 1000, but getting a lot of slop QRM from 6195. (18 Dec.)

6216 Radio Spaceshuttle Came back on here at 0845:55. Getting some mx and live anmnts again at 0848. But just a bit too weak. At least there wasn't any QRM then. More sound bites at 0850. Picked up a little at 0855, then went off at 0855:35. Came back on at 0856:50. Seemed like some deadair at 0902 then live anmnts. Went off at 1011:14. (18 Dec.)

6220.09 R. Spaceshuttle Int. Came on at 0801:05. Rock mx at 0802. SSB traffic QRM on the freq. 0814 sound bite and back to mx. Live voice-over anmnts at 0816. Sounded like SMS number at 0817. More live anmnts at 0824. ID at 0825. SSB QRM was really bad after 0827. Drifted down to 6220.01 by the time he went off at 0844:36. (18 Dec.)

6246.31 R. Perfekt?? Noticed a signal here as early as 0930. Something was on 6246.17 for about 10 minutes to around 0954. Could see the signal still there at 1030. Really no hope for this as it was in and out of the noise floor. (18 Dec.)

6260 Radio Devalon Carrier up at 0923:44. There was some lcl noise and also USB traffic on the freq so it was difficult to tell when the pgm started. The signal was strong enough. Sounded like M anncr at 0942. Poss. mx briefly at 0943 and more tlk at 0944. Diff. M briefly 0945. Poss. ment of studio w/tlk continuing to 0948. Sounded like an oldie then. Long tlk again from 0952-1000. Went off at 1029:38. Could've copied it if not for the lcl noise. (18 Dec.)

6282.89 R. Altrex Came on at 0814:45. Really fady but definitely had some mx at 0819 and 0823. Live anmnts at 0824 and recognized the voice. Then some sort of sound bites sounding like it was a movie soundtrack. Drifted down a little but came back up to 6282.94 by 0840. Still on 6282.86 but then suddenly changed freq to 6281.74 at 0936:27. Looked like the signal was still there at least to 1030, and maybe even 1045. (18 Dec.)

6289.8 Radio Alpenroos On at 0827:15 w/decent strength. Mx started 0830. Live anmnts at 0834:35 w/ID "You're listening to the Pirate station Alpenroos...". Gave SMS number couple times. Back to mx at 0837. More anmnts at 0858. Really dropped off after 0930 and went off at 1002:15. There was some nasty broad noise on the freq as well as some UTE QRM at times. The noise made it tougher. (18 Dec.)

6294 Free Radio Victoria Signal came on here at 0947:56. Went off at 1003:10. No audio noted but suspect FRV as it back on at 1013:49 w/similar signal. Massive UTEs on 6296 just hammered it. Too weak and too late as well. (18 Dec.)

6299.81 Unid. Big signal on at 1016:07. First noted on 6199.91. Drifted down and stabilized on 6199.81. "Take on Me" by Ah-ha at 1018. Seemed to intentionally lower the power at 1028 as the signal dropped way down. Came back up though at 1031. M anncr voice-over tlk at 1031:25 sounded kind of like a UK accent. Ment of 1973. More tlk 1038 and gave out what seemed like SMS number ("...once again 00...4376...write to ?? Radio e-mail"). Then the signal dropped way down again until it came back up suddenly at 1044:56. Died again at 1046:07 and went off at 1047:07. (18 Dec.)

6300 R. Black Power Signal up at 0723:10 and mx started 0724:58 w/"Axel F Theme" followed by "Wild Thing", and "Radar Love". 0743 "Dancing Queen". Finally live anmnts at 0751 including IDs. Really strong but distorted signal and audio. Went off at 0837:46. Really no carrier signal; kind of like a DSB w/out carrier. (18 Dec.)

6303 Unid. Massive signal on the air at 0935:24. Mx start up at 0938:08 and suddenly stopped 30 seconds later. Instru. mx back up 0941:00. Polka at 0945-0947. 0947:50 countdown and blastoff w/Techo mx, then Dutch instru. song. Went off at 0952:15. Who was this?? (18 Dec.)

6304.81 R. FSM Looked like a signal came on at 0859:12. Above the noise floor most of the time, but way too weak to get anything. Went off at 0920:30. (18 Dec.)

6305 R. Saturnus Came on at 1003:42. But like FSM, this was just too weak. Went off at 1036:55. (18 Dec.)

6325 Misti Radio On the air at 0808:00. Mx seemed to start at 0811. Sounded like maybe a M tlking at 0830 then W vcl, but a bit too weak, too much QSB, and QRM from the UTE on 6326. Went off at 0905:23. (18 Dec.)

6385.3 Radio Gruute Pier Looked like the signal came on at 0831:00. "Boiling" UTE here from 6383-6386. No chance with the UTE here the entire time. (18 Dec.)

6930 Irish Music R. On the air at 0857:49. Getting music less than a minute later, then M anncr at 0859:00. Nasty lcl buzzing noise QRM drifting over the freq from time to time. That's why I go to the SGLs to listen!! Peaking at 0906 but the noise returned. Noise totally blasted it out from 0935-1000, and again later. Signal was too weak. (18 Dec.)

6935.1 R. Scotland Int. Finally in the clear as the lcl noise moved down over Irish Music R. at 1031. Live anmnts at 1031:50. Song anmnts and ID. Sounded like e-mail address too. Rock mx. 1037 jingle and off at 1037:18. (18 Dec.)

Pretty amazing I got 15 stations with at least audio listening at home with everything running off AC power. A successful experiment even though the local noise was plainly evident and causing problems. Still disappointed the Wellbrook doesn't work better on European Pirates.

Merry Christmas to all!!!