[HCDX] two oddities the past night

[aurel chiochiu <acq@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

In English this time, since I'd like to appeal to a wider audience:
Hello to all of you !

The past night (around 0445 UTC), I listened to shortwave a bit and noted at least two or three weirdnesses. The first one is that I noted severe QRM against Rebelde-5025. Due to the much longer amount of daylight hours at this time of the year, there is no more window for African tropical band reception before the station's signing-off time. Therefore, I didn't know how the 60MB Africans were doing this time. So, apparently at least, Benin is still on. Also, Guinea Equatorial VERY strong on 5005 (SINPO 44444), stronger than ever and playing soukous music !

A big oddity, on the negative side of things though, is that I tried to get 2540 (LS11 Radio Provincia, 2X1270) as stimate DX colleague Arnalaldo Slaen in Argentina via Conexión Digital tipped me to, but only got a very bad form of electrical motor-like noise that harms the surroundings of the 120 meters tropical band. However, as far as 120 meters tropical DX go, I'd want to give all my congratulations to Robert Wilkner in FL from having heard ABC (with cyclone warning) on TWO frequencies ! This is an awesome shortwave catche, even though it is, happily, more often reported than the distance (near the anipodes) and the low frequency would suggest at first. I might say that when you will be able to squeeze out a stronger signal out of the 50 kW 120 meters ABC outlets, you may always want to hear something down-under on MW. And no, I'm not dreaming ! Ray Moore on Florida's southwest coast is regularly hearing TP DX on a Drake with a loop and anti-static system and even though the signals are rarely really strong, it is a challenge the MW splits aren't offering to anyone east of the Mississippi ! It is hard to say what is regular, but the 1503 Radio Sport NZ outlets seems quite more regular than the other trans-Pacific fare Ray is reporting. So for Ray and any other western Florida DXer with the right equipment, give these TP splits on the AM band a shot before the thunderstorms of May/June destroy the weaker signals !

While getting on the positive side of things, I had a weak signal on 3290 kHz (my first 90 meters tropical band DX using the Sangean CST-818), but it was to weak to ID the language, so I missed on it.

I might inform all of you as well that my local super-pest CFAV-1570 Radio Boomer, accross the Rivière-des-Prairies river from my home QTH in Pierrefonds-Est in the Saint-Dorothé neighboor, less than 10 kilometers from here, seems quite a bit "weaker". The splash is almost not noticed on 1550 and it probably explains just WHY I was able to hear odd noises on 120 meters and weak man talk on 3290 kHz ! On the other hand the 90 meters tropical segment is that quiet either and there is a lot of this time computer-like QRM destroying most of the DX. Also, like Glenn Hauser recently commented, the 60 meters tropical band (and it applies to other tropical range of QRGs too) is a broadcast band of "ghosts". Aside from Peru, Bolivia and Brazil, there isn't much activity on 60 meters. There are almost no YVs, all the few remaining HJs are using 49 meters and almost no remaining mainland Central Americans or Dominicans ! I'm only 18 and believe me, when I begun tropical band DX in the summer of 2000, using just a Realistic DX-351 multiband portable, a keyboard sitting on the antenna, a metal box over the radio which replaced my hand, as a conductor for the weaker sigs and a short copper wire connected on one end to a hole before the telescopic antenna begins and on the other one to the floppy disk of the turned off computer, I could get almost every night reception of Radio Villa La Sencilla 4960 (my first tropical band DX ever !), Ecos del Torbes 4980 kHz (responsible in part for my love with Venezuelan DX) and other weaker signals which, for the most, went unidentified, because the noise using this rudimentary portable was quite high and it got some mixing products and overload from major international broadcasters on several spots on 60 meters as well. There was also Radio Marti around 5030 kHz. All of these 3 broadcasters are ALL gone ! Really sad ! Ecuador also has no more remaining outlets actives on 60 meters ! But, with local listeners in mind, I must say a strong groundwave AM signal or a local FM broadcaster are doing the job much better even in the tropical areas ! Still, it is quite sad, especially considering how hard is to log Ecuador on MW from my part of the world and how fun it was to hear local YV radio with the freshness of our hobby, "all-year-long" not just in the fall and winter like on the MW AM band. Still, the past night, I could tune it to Cuba on 600 and 670. Also heard a Tikenjah Fakoly afroreggae tune on 540, but the extremely unlikely didn't happened, since it was // with local 95.1, so CBEF Windsor, instead of the 1 in a billion chance of occurances ORTM Mali. Still, it always worths to regular checks the MW band during the off-season months - you may be gladly surprised with extremely unusual tropical, equatorial and sub-equatorial MW catches, as veteran DXer Mark Connelly often states ! There is also the TV/FM DX season for which I'm getting ready.

I'm looking forward sending a message very soon dealing with my appreciation regarding the past DX season. I don't know if it is more suitable to do it in Spanish or in English or in both languages. Me gustaría mucho tener consejo y opiniones sobre el idioma en cual es mejor escribir el bilan de la última estación DX. Me gustaría dar placer a todos los DXistas, pero necesito algún tiempo para escribir un mensaje bilengual.

¡ Muchisimas gracias ! Thank you very much for your advices and have a nice day !
May good DX be with you !
Bogdan Alexandru Chiochiu
QTH: Pierrefonds-Est (Montreal's West Island), QC
Equipment: 
MW: Sanyo MCD-S830 w/ internal ferrite bar antenna; 
SW: Sangean CST-818 w/ 15 meters long-wire connected to the encoding cable which was it's self putted into the ext. antenna jack
"La jalousie est un grand pieux dans l'évolution spirituelle !"
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