Re: [HCDX] XEBAL 1470

["Karel Honzik" <karel-honzik@xxxxxxxx>]

Re: [HCDX] XEBAL 1470Dear friends,
thanks for your very interesting discussion!

In the beginning I have been also doubting a bit about such rare catches in Italy,
but because I think we can believe Rocco Cotroneo and because I remember that I noted
some exceptional latinamerican conditions reported from Italy some years ago, I think
we are going to know more about propagation of MW.

Also here in the middle of Europe the reception limits in our minds have been shifted
during last decade or so. In the past, I think, nobody would expect to hear Mexico,
Bolivia or Perú on MW in this part of Europe. I myself heard 3 Mexico City stations
for the first time in NOV 16, 1997. For me I discovered pre-Sunrise conditions that
brought signals from the west coast of SA. At the same time I heard (several times)
low power transmitters from Colombia and Venezuela.

Some time ago (2 years ago?) I have been discussing and comparing reception
conditions with one Italian DXer (I am sorry I do not remember his name anymore). I
think we have been listening - incidentally - once or two times at the same time. I
noted that his conditions to Latin America are much better than mine. On the other
hand he has been complaining on bad conditions to North America in his area. These
are better here in my location, although they cannot be compared to conditions in
north or west Europe, in areas located closer to a sea.

I know that Latin American stations come on MW with spring. Pre-Sunrise period is the
best time to look for them. It depends on conditions whether they are audible for 30
or 15 minutes before local Sunrise and few minutes after it. Here in my location the
signals fade out exactly at the time of Sunrise calculated for this place.

When one is so much fanatical that he sits at his receiver every morning before
Sunrise, I am sure he is going to - sooner or later - be prized by fantastic
experience.

But - on the other side - let us be aware of "too active" DXers who hear what they
wished to hear and write their wishes to their logbooks.
Fortunately there is a number of names, proofed during the years, that we can rely
on. I am sure Rocco Cotroneo is one of them.

GOOD DX,

Karel Honzik
the Czech Republic (Czechia)
***********************************
AOR AR-7030
30 m Long Wire


> Dear Jan-Erik and friends of the list,

I am Rocco Cotroneo and I am also writing on behalf of Andrea Lawendel and Enrico
Oliva. The three of us have spent the last week in my countryside house in Liguria,
Northern Italy, in a sort of oldtime friends meeting and dxped. I usually live in Rio
de Janeiro, Brazil, from where I am actively dxing too; Enrico and Andrea live in
Milan. We have listened together to XEBAL and other interesting stations on Mw,
lately. I posted a second message on this list, following yours, about exceptional
conditions underway here: a small unknown Peruvian was heard on 1390 and Formula
Mexico, the one you mention, on 1470.
It's not easy to answer to such a nasty message, but I'll try to do it. Let me stress
a few points.


*****I would argue that this claimed Italian
logging either is a severe mis-interpretation, a bad April joke or a result
of a total lack of DX-experince. Come on boys!

On a personal level there is not much I can say. I am not used anymore to such a low
level of rudeness and unfairness. Last time I entered a discussion on a faked tip I
was 20, now I'm 42. I did good April jokes in my life, but never regarding dxing. I
simply think it's not funny enough and too easy.
You are not obliged to know who we are. Many people in this list have known us for
decades. Let me just stress that we started mw transatlantic dxing in mid Seventies.
You may be proud to know that I know your name since 1975, the first time I saw it in
Nordic bulletins I used to read or subscribe. I personally live in Latin America
since 1998 and travel the continent  as a correspondent for Corriere della Sera, the
leading Italian newspaper. And listening to enough radio there to fully satisfy my
exotic hunger...
Let me tell you also that all our receptions are recorded, as long as it may be
significant nowadays with all this sort of technology gadgets around. A few minutes
have been digitalized into RealAudio and are fully available.


*****  First, the mentioned dates were extremely poor towards
the Western Hemisphere all over Scandinavia that should be in a much more
favourable situation to receive signals over the Atlantic compared to Italy.


Of course it is. My friend, if dx conditions in Finland and Italy were the same, we
would not have spent the last three decades waiting for a 500w Mexican or Peruvian to
get here. Simply this is not the case, you lucky boys. We are still here trying to
understand how this was possible. I don't have the faintest idea, you know ?
On the contrary, I know very well how Mw dxing is like in many places in Scandinavia.
A few years ago I spent a unforgettable week in Ivalo, Finland : it's just to sit
there in front of a 50 free channels situation and wait for new id's from US
daytimes. Cool, indeed. Total lack of Dx-experience? Yes, Jan. Please come here in
Central or Southern Europe one day and try. My house in Liguria is fully available
for you. Come here and spend a whole night dribbling interferences and searching for
faint voices in the middle of 500kw pests. Do you know that nowadays we have only two
fully free channels on the band, 1390 and 1470?




**** Very typically - and
almost exclusively - rare trans-atlantic catches during springtime is
received exactly during the grayline period.


Jan, as far as Italy and Southern Europe is concerned it's a little bit difficult to
talk of "very typically". You know? There are less than a dozen serious mw dxers in
Italy: half of them live in great cities and can listen only four or five times a
year, in some other places!!!  Can you imagine how rich and reliable are our
statistics? My present logbook is ten years old now. Regarding rare stuff, from this
location, I (we) had a bunch of Portorican and Uruguayan a few years ago, two
Peruvian, one Bolivian... Never heard Mexico before. That's all. I can almost hear
your sound laughing from the cold. We know our limits better than you, boy. That's
why it's fun.
I have two full C90 tapes on 1470 and 1390. We had XEBAL (heard in two different
nights) after WWNN Florida. Florida is extremely rare here too. We had Espacial on
1390 and, on 1470 again, Formula mixed with WMTW Maine. I'll send them to you, my
friend. I want to have a serious opinion on how is possible to mix these signals with
a good audio software or, alternatively, where in the emisphere I may have travelled
to make such a funny recording.
Borga, maybe?

Audio files are available on http://www.faiallo.org/sp.html


I don't think this discussion may be of interest on a public list. We can continue
personally if you like. I already had to defend our tips from Henrik Klemets' irony
on another list, wasting a lot of time I should devote to listen to our tapes...
Have a good summer

Rocco

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