[IRCA] Everglades Bandscan

[bportzer@xxxxxxxxxxx]

I'm currently in south Florida on business.  Unlike most such trips, this one included a weekend, allowing a bit of extra time for sightseeing   Last Saturday afternoon, I visited Everglades National Park, partly to see the flora and fauna and partly as a daytime DXpedition of sorts.  Most of my listening was done near the Flamingo Visitor's Center, approximately 70 miles southwest of Miami.  Located near the southern tip of the Florida peninsula, it has a clear salt water path to western Cuba.  Cuban stations may be pesty interference to DXers in the eastern US and Canada, but they're rare DX back home in Seattle so I was genuniely interested in hearing them.  
 
The receivers at my disposal included a Sony SRF-39FP and the radio in my rental car, a Dodge Caliber.  Most of my listening was done on the car radio, but a fair amount was also done on the Sony, especially when it came time to null out some of the strong stations.  Here's a summary of stations heard, not counting the stations in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Naples, and most other south Florida cities.  The numbers in parentheses indicate the signal quality, with 1 being threshold audio and 5 being local quality.   All times are local (UTC-4).  Most listening was done 1200-1600 LT, except as noted.  
 
            ---Bruce 
 
530       Cuban(4) with bits of presumed RVCI Turks & Caicos (1.5) in its null
540       Jumble (2) of 2-3 stations dominated by woman in Spanish possibly //560
560       Cuban, in WQAM null (4)
570       Reloj (4)
590       Cuba, (5) running classical music show, "Radio Musical Nacional" ID, another SS in its null
620       R Rebelde (5) loud with distorted audio
630       Cuban, don't recall which network (2)
640       R Progreso, (3) in WMEN null
670       Cuban (3.5) //620 with WWFE nulled
680       Cuban (2.5) //670
690       R Progreso (4), //730/750
710       R Rebelde (5) with WAQI nulled
730       Progreso (3.5) //750/690
750       Progreso (5), sounding much stronger than listed 1kw
790       Reloj ticker (2) in WAXY null
810       Bahamas, ZNS3 (4)
820       Reloj (3) in null of domestic SS station
840       Unid SS (4), probably Dobleve but didn't hear ID
850       Reloj (3) mixing with WFTL-West Palm Beach
860       Reloj (5)
870       Reloj (3) o/unid domestic
880       Progreso (3)
890       Progreso (5)
910       R Metropolitana (5), Habana, relaying Progreso network until 1800, then broke away for local programming with Metropolitana ID.
930       Reloj (3) with unid domestic in background
950       Reloj (5)
960       Reloj (1), morse code "RR" noted several times under unid domestic with standards music.  Nothing else audible.
970       WFLA, Tampa (3.5), talk show and "970wfla.com" ID.  At approx 220 miles, this was the most distant domestic I IDed.  There may have been others from Tampa-St Pete area or farther locations, but I was concentrating on Cubans and generally didn't pursue domestics.
980       Cuban (5) with news format, probably CMCK (Coco, Peridico del Aire) but never heard an ID
990       Spanish (3), probably Cuba
1060     Cuba (5), listed as CMDX but didn't hear ID, noted with several Bob Marley tunes in early afternoon, had sports event later
1070     Cuba //1060 (2)
1080     Cuba //1100 (4) o/unid US station
1100     Cuba (5), apparently R Cadena Habana but didn't heard ID, //1080/1120
1120     Cuba (4) //1100
1180     Radio Marti (5+), loudest and closest station, splattering 1160-1200, Unid Cuban underneath
1190     Unid (2) SS with tropical music, not sure if Cuban or domestic
1320     Cuba (3), Bob Marley music //1060
1340     Radio Ciudad del Mar, Palmira (5), two "CMFL, Radio Ciudad del Mar" IDs at 1600, then alternating anmts by man & woman //1350.  A few minutes earlier they ran what sounded like a religious talk, a man with frequent mentions of "Cristo" & music I would normally associate with Christian radio shows.  Unfortunately, I don't know enough Spanish to understand what he was saying.  It certainly seemed like unusual programming for a Cuban station..
1350     Radio Ciudad del Mar //1340 (3) with unid station in background
1450     Radio Guines (5), definite ID at 1558
1540     Unid SS station with opera (4), Radio Sagua listed, r&b music from presumed ZNS1 Nassau (3) in its null
 
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