[HCDX] latest foreign LW / MW / WiFi logs

[aurel chiochiu <acq@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Warm greetings to all of you !

After two very quiet weeks, the solar activity is starting to climb again, not enough to enhance Latin American mediumwave reception, but definitively enough to block TA LW reception, especially Iceland-189... During the first day of solar activity on the rise, though, I had my BEST SIGNAL THIS SPRING YET out of France-162, so the solar activity is more complex that what one actually thinks.

While I managed to squeeze enough time for monitoring both the TA LW and the MW bands, most of my otherwise free DX moments were swamped by exams, especially on Wensday when my day started at 9 o'clock and ended at 6 PM (18 o'clock if you'd want)...

I was able, yesturday, to meet a bonefide female DXer, a Cuban girl who had headache due to many sleepless early mornings spent on listening to the ever-challenging XEs from her spot in eastern Cuba, in Holguín, one of the smarter girls I've ever meet (even though, I'm still wondering wherever I felt in love with her). While condx were very poor, we were glad we were able to ID Radio Reloj on 570 on the Sanyo MCD-S830 barefoot and we were also glad because we were able to enjoy Rebelde-5025 on the Sangean ACS-818 CST / outdoor random wire combo. All in all, almost enough for mid-spring standards !

Today, since more than half of my exams are done, I wasn't too buzy, but a low pressure front and some lazyness prevented me from contributing to the radio clubs until later this evening !

While this week, the time for DXing was rather limited, I had some amount of time in the beginning of the week devoted to airchecking. I found a spot in my room where the PK's Shielded Magnetic longwave is far enough from the computer to avoid picking up unwanted QRM, yet not *that* far in order to allow me to connect the encoding cable from the Sangean's jack into the soundcard of my computer... Rikisutvarpid, the Icelandic main public service 189 kHz LW outlet, was playing some astonishing Europops, including the Romanian international smash hit "Dragostea din Tei" by O-Zone ! I think the more we approach June, the smaller the darkness path between Gufuskalar and Pierrefonds will be, though I will be leaving for Romania shortly after my last exams...
 

Into the logs:

TRANS-ATLANTIC DX

162 FRANCE   France Inter, Allouis MAY 7 0152 - "Kiss" by Prince (1986) followed by chopped French talk, then French chanson "Il suffirait de presque rien pour t'emmener à Saint-Germain" by Serge Reggiani, then more French talk before the top-of-the-hour. Poor and chopped with some kind of computer QRM, but not bad for mid-spring D layer absorption standards ! (Chiochiu-QC)

171 MOROCCO   Medi Un, Nador MAY 7 0158 - religious Egyptian vocals (which are popular in Morocco as well, as I have been told by Arabic friends at cégep). Very poor, but quite clear especially when tuned to 170 kHz instead of 171 to avoid a high-pitched growl on the high side of the channel. (Chiochiu-QC)

189 ICELAND   Rikisútvarpid, Gufuskalar MAY 7 0345 - playing a wild (!) mixture of Europops, including Romanian worldwide smash hit "Dragostea din Tei" by O-Zone followed by a Scandinavian alternative rock cover of the same song (?), then Ukrainian and Dutch melancholic electropops with short analysis in Icelandic of the songs played. Best between 0330 and 0430 UTC (SINPO 55454), but still hanging on with a very poor signal after 0500 UTC ! At 0345 GMT / UTC, it was close to local-like strength, excellent, really ! It came to a point the Paul Karlstrand statement brant "Clear ang Long Range AM Radio Reception Everywhere" was 100% true... If I wouldn't have received the PK loop as a Xmas present in order to exacerbate my interest in DXing, I would have been now a whole lot less active on the dials ! One of my first DX dreams when I came to Canada were to catch on broadcasts on broadcast bands not used elsewhere in the radio than in a very few countries, such as the LW broadcast band, the SW tropical bands or OIRT-FM ! Is just that those frequencies seem more mysterious to me ! (Chiochiu-QC)

http://fr.radiocontact.be/page/radio-contact-live-on-air/15.aspx BELGIUM   Radio Contact, Bruxelles MAY 9 1730 - with the :30 newscast. One of the items were dealing with the growing number of persons afflicted by the porcine flu which has jumped to 2554 victims in the USA and about researchers trying to find a vaccine against this disease (which will contain a very small microchip to resolve the mind control issues of the Freemasons, of course). This station, in both the Belgian and the Romanian version, always had its newscasts at :30 ! Unfortunatly, it dissapeared forever from Romania in November of 2003 when its changed both its format (from Hot AC to Hot CHR / Top 40) and its name (Radio Contact -> Kiss FM), but is still well and alive in Belgium ! IMPORTANT: Since a few hours, the website of this station is down... A Google announcement "Oups ! This link has broken" prevent me from trying to find Radio Contact on the web ! So, I'm stuck listening to Radio Cor (see below in the Pan American "DX" section) (Chiochiu-QC)

http://www.radio21.ro/site/Radio21Live.m3u ROMANIA   Radio 21, Bucharest MAY 9 1757 - non-stop music interrupted around the top-of-the hour for some commercial adds, including one for a theatre event in the style of well-known Romanian writer Caragiale, then back to Rhythmic CHR music (mostly Dance and R&B); apparently automated most of the time. The only real show this station has with live jocks appears to be their morning show "Fabrica Dementa" ! Its that way, because in Romania TV is way more popular than radio, unlike other countries I care about such as Venezuela. This is because prior to 1989, the Romania of the Ceausescu era only had ONE TV network 2 hours nightly, so when private TV appeared in post-communist Romania, the people were so attrackted by TV that the slowly begun to forget about radio. In today Romania, most people listen radio mostly in their cars and at work and are seldom tuning into a radio station while at home; its like a kind of vengeance for the lack of TV before 1989-1990 ! (Chiochiu-QC)


PAN-AMERICAN DX

555 ST KITTS   ZIZ, Basseterre MAY 9 0145 - with English talk; very weak, but clear with no noticeable splatter from either 550 or 560. First time that I'm hearing this Caribbean split during the month of May ! (Chiochiu-QC)

570 CUBA   CMDC, Radio Reloj, Pilón MAY 9 0404 - RR morse code ID making through the WSYR/growl mess each minute. Very weak signal strength and very poor reception overall, but the code ID was clear enough to impress the female DXer that was visiting me last night ! SINPO 11111. (Chiochiu-QC)

600 CUBA   CMKV, Radio Rebelde, Urbano Norris MAY 8 0256 - Cuban baseball game in mess. Not heard clearly enough when the female DXer was here, the following evening, though. +MAY 10 0210 - suddenly fading over a domestic pest with sports announcer talking about a baseball player moving to his right ("...a sú derecha"). SIO 422 and faded down under a domestic pest barely two minutes later. The most reliable Rebelde MW outlet here when WFAN IBOC hash is on 670. I'm listening to it as I type this; seems like the new computers are doing much less in the way of QRM than the old ones ! (Chiochiu-QC)

750 VENEZUELA   YVKS, Radio Caracas Radio, Caracas, Distrito Federal MAY 7 0110 - apparent Venezuelan sports coverage very poor with an equally weak WSB along with possible Cuba (CMHG Radio Progreso, Sancti Spiritus). Some slight splatter from next-to-adjacent local CKAC on 730. (Chiochiu-QC)

760 COLOMBIA   HJAJ, RCN Cadena Basíca, Barranquilla, departamiento del Atlantico MAY 7 0112 - woman news announcer reporting news via the phone. Very poor with some WABC-770 splatter, in WJR null ! This one is heard from time to time in May in the Montreal area, at least once during the first half of the month (the first half being prone to slightly more darkness and less D layer absorption than the latter half of May leading toward June) and never good enough like during the REAL DX season. (Chiochiu-QC)

http://www.kysfm.com/images/player/player.htm VENEZUELA   KYS FM 101.5 (la emisora matriz del Circuito Digital Kys), Caracas, Distrito Federal MAY 9 2115 - woman jock of a moviehall program talking in Spanish about a new movie regarding traveling in time ("Presajo" its the name of the Spanish version of this American movie) involving Nicholas Cage. He was allowing both his students and his children to step into time, thanks to his brand new time machine. After inviting her listeners to go out to see that movie at the end of this month, she played an Adult Contemporary reggae vocal, apparently by UB40. Fair-good Hi-Fi stream with a slightly distorted sound ! (Chiochiu-QC)

http://200.6.157.20:8034/listen.pls VENEZUELA   Radio Coro, Coro, Falcón MAY 9 2247 - with "el fin de semana de especiales" which sounds like an AOT station (Album Oriented Tropical station in contrast to AOR - Album Oriented Rock as they had a special for several Spanish artists, including a block for YV "orchestra bailable" Los Melodícos, from which I recorgnized the "Apagame La Vela" classic cumbia song), perphaps a special px on Mother's Day ! This stream, just like the Radio Contact one, has had problems earlier this afternoon... As you already know http://www.radiocoro.com/ is unavailable since several weeks in a row, the stream is the only Internet feature of this station still working right now ! +MAY 10 0118 - "¡Feliz fin de semana! ¡Usted escuche la Bailante Siete-Ochenta!" followed by a happy cumbia song... Good streaming quality with slight background noise... Earlier, the noises were quite rough on my ears... its not streaming live from their studio, but from a radio tuner in their neighborhood ! (Chiochiu-QC)



Additionnal comments:

Since January, I'm a member of ABDX. I have been informed lately that this list accepts logs of WiFi streams which is why I have included those... If someone at Hard-Core DX have an objection on my repport containing any log of foreign stations streaming on the web, he can let me know... When we came to Canada, shortwave radio or a longwave one (I always believed, since radios tuning LW were fairly rare here, that this band was special and could be received with patience - perphaps because once at NOON at my greatparent's old house, I was treated with weak Arabic music on LW at NOON near the middle of the band, probably from Jordania-207 or Algeria-198 - I'm not too sure) was quite expensive and the buildings where we stayed first in the Bordeaux-Cartierville area of the city of Montreal were fairly noisy (not that my actual QTH is always very quiet, but...) AND I didn't knew then that AM radio was stable enough to travel beyond the USA and Canada to my Montreal area Sanyo MCD-S830 barefoot receiver which I have since. Of course, I've heard WQEW-1560 (then a NOS station) almost nightly, but foreign stuff on mediumwave was unknown to me. Therefore, when we had access to Internet, I was naturally very excited and as I've always been intrigued by foreign cultures, so it was my way to "DX", though I understand listening to it that way is a bit like cheating...

Since December, I continue to impress with the Austrlian PK Shielded Magnetic LW loop and I do have a few questions: it can't go below 162 kHz; 153 is only amplified very slightly when I tune down to 162 kHz. I understand that the top end performance is slightly reduced when it operates with baterries instead of a stronger power supply. Is it the same problem with low end performance ? If it is so, can I order an antenna that picks up 100-180 kHz in order to get through this botheringsome issue ? Otherwise, this antenna works very well, but I would love to hear domestic radio from Romania and since a colleague near Quebec City caught Romania on 153 kHz maybe I could get it too during the right conditions. I should also add that my mother has an Algerian friend and I wasn't able to show her Algerian DX... I can regularly get Algeria on 252 kHz since this tuned antenna is perfect for amplifying as much as possible the 252 kHz channel while attenuating quite a bit the ever-annoying local UL beacon on 248 kHz and when detuned to either 253 in AM Narrow or 254 in AM Wide mode, the reception is fair when conditions are right, but for 1, it isn't enough for me and for 2, the Bechar transmitter on 153 kHz is known to be easier to receive from eastern North America than the Tipaza 252 kHz one, ain't it ? 252 is strongly QRMed by Irlenand (RTE Radio One) while 153 is relatively clear with Germany and Romania both seldom audible in eastern North America ! So is there a way I could clearly receive the signals on 153 kHz, dear Paul Karlstrand ? I need this channel, both because there is Romania's biggest transmitter and because of a curiosity as well as an emerging passion for Algerian raï music !!!!!!! As far as the PK loops are concerned, I also wonder if there is a loop made specially for the 90 meters tropical band. I always found 90 meters more challenging than 60 meters where I've heard a fair amount of stations... I'd love to hear Ondas del Huallaga on 3329.62v kHz ! It would be a great motivation for me to get to bed early and to wake earlier than I always do ! I wonder if the amplified PK loops is what one would call an active antenna or if the amplifier inside an active antenna works differently ?

I would also like to thanks the several DXers who talked to me about expensive used communications receivers that are now down to the 400$ price range on EBay... I will reply to them later this weekend... It is likely this summer for my birthday I'll have ever a new antenna or a new receiver and for XMas the left side of my hobby will be satisfied ! In the mean time, if Paul Karlstrand, which is one of the DXers for which I have the hugest respect, could get into the qualities of a MW magnetic loop antenna versus a LW one of the same type, I would be very glad ! I've heard a LW MAGNETIC loop is way much better than most types of LW antennas and better than the average Beverage, while for a MW magnetic loop antenna, the things are different... Is it true ? What should I expect with such an antenna and, the big question, will it surpass my barefoot Sanyo MCD-S830 which is my biggest goal so far... It seems that for the receivers (i.e. GE Superradio) having already a large internal ferrite bar loop, using a Select-A-Tennaish loop don't alter things too much... I also wonder if a magnetic mediumwave loop is better than a Select-A-Tenna, let alone a Radio Shack loop... I've only heard bad things about the Radio Shack loop, though I know at least one DXer who is using it with a limited amount of success... I also wonder how a MAGNETIC MEDIUMWAVE loop compares with a K9AY which is the top-rated MW loop by far ? The biggest problem I have with my Sanyo MCD-S830 barefoot is a lack of sensitivity in the 800s and the 900s, as if it had two ferrite bars, one cut for 600 kHz and another one for 1500 kHz with a huge gap in the 800s and 900s... However, there are many interesting Latins down there... Therefore, our old dying carradio could pick up YVRQ 910 around my Pierrefonds QTH while there was barely a very threshold trace on the Sanyo MCD-S830 barefoot... I don't have room for Beverage, as my patio along with my yard are fairly small, though my Sangean has a RF filter to avoid overloading with local signals (though its dynamic range is weaker than that of my trusted Sanyo) and in a RF quiet environment, such as Newfoundland, it shouldn't matter too much... Last, but not least, since my posts are readed by some of the USA's top DXers, I wonder how I could become involved in a DXpedition, such as the Newfie ones and what should I do in order to become part of it... I finnish cégep in 2010 or 2011 and, while at cégep, I have a huge vacation between late December and LATE January... I'm not sure if I will attend, I just wonder if there are still some DXpeditions undergoing right now during, say, the next two years. I think DXpeditions are one of the hugest challenges that a DXer can get through and usually a pleasant one, more exciting than trying to motivate yourself from tuning to some tantalizing stations you aren't motivate to try listening and you aren't even sure of picking up; the other DXers often motivate me from staying active in this hobby... 

I know I didn't DXed shortwave since the last weekend, but I would like to thank Glenn Hauser for having helped me in identifying the FEBA religious Arabic broadcaster on the 31 meter band ! I would like to know more about FEBA ! What is the purpose of this station ? Is it a new SW broadcaster ?... Is it related in a way or another to TWR (Trans World Radio) ? Is FEBA considered as shortwave DX catche or as a major international broadcaster, therefore a pest ? I'm puzzled on the difference between shortwave DX and SWLing... I guess I'm somewhere in the middle, although closer to a SWLer than to an FM, shortwave and mediumwave or longwave DXer !

We are leaving for Romania this coming week and I succeded in contacting some of the Bucharest top DXers on the SOFTPEDIA messageboard. However, it is unclear to me yet, if I will be able to meet at least one of those DXers or not ! That being said, I've heard there are a lot of young thiefs in Bucharest, especially among the low class population, and most of the building we will be staying into are have both concrete walls and concrete ceilings which is very bad for LW and MW and not too good for FM DX either ! If some of you are interested in seeing my feedback to the softpedia messageboard, including some of the MP3 files I sent to this messageboard, you can visit it at  http://forum.softpedia.com/index.php?showtopic=542525 and its called (in Romanian) "Amintiri din FM-ul de pe vremuri" which contains some comments about radio stations I grew up listening to along with some insights about DXing with MP3 audioclips... That being said, I don't understand why the moderator of SOFTPEDIA moved both my LW and MW DX topics and my local FM memories to a brand new post which should deal only with Romanian FM rememberings...its beyond me ! You can recognize my messageboard ID, as it is related to my favorite radio station of all times, Aventure FM 105.9 in Paris (back in 1988).

Last but not least, a teacher at my cégep has a cousin who has a huge interest in both DXing and foreign languages... I hope to meet it after returning from Romania... It seems like my interest in DXing has never been stronger...

This repport is brought to you by Bogdan Alexandru Chiochiu, DXing from Pierrefonds (Montreal's West Island), Quebec, Canada using a Sanyo MCD-S830 barefoot for MW and the Sangean ACS-818 CST / Australian PK's Shielded Magnetic longwave loop combo for LW

May the good DX be with you !
Bogdan Chiochiu
Btw. I: We could try reporting what we heard on the online DXTuners on the WiFi section of ABDX, dear Kevin Redding, ain't we ? Its more entertaining, DX-wise, than reporting Hi-Fi WiFi streams, right ? I'm not a member yet of the DXTuners community, since it isn't free and hyperactive as I am, I'm a champion for losing my password...
Btw. II: Is anyone lately hearing any TA LW DX despite the rising solar activity ?

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