[HCDX] Trans Atlantic and Pan American LW / MW logs

[aurel chiochiu <acq@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Warm greetings to all of you !

While DX conditions have been excellent so far, I have to blame the dumb engineers who are reparing the interstate endlessly with a bothersome buzz going on until shortly before midnight ruining sunset DXing more than ever and dissapearing as Radio Coro weakens and WBBM becomes unnulable...

Otherwise, I was on the verge of logging Germany on 153 kHz using the brand new PK LW loop I had for my birthday...

Last night, I went for a ride on my mum's car to escape from the noisy conditions that prevalates here and I heard some of the regular domestic and Cubans with tremendous strength. However, it is clear for me that the Hochelaga-Maisonneuve QTH is far less noisier and I will once again leave for this one later today !

Now, I'm looking for an antenna to go with the Meducci AM Stereo tuner, even though a Perseus is also interesting... Do you know a communication receiver that receives AM Stereo on LW and SW ? Is Iceland-189 in stereo ? Are they're still pushing out a loud Motorola C-Quam pilot tone like they did a few years ago ?

It appears that our Sony XR-A33 car tuner doesn't support Motorola C-Quam, as the Stereo light didn't flash while I was listening to WICC in Bridgeport, Connecticut QRMing Cuba last night !

Enough speech, into the logs:




Trans-Atlantic DX


153 GERMANY   Deutschlandfunk, Donebach NOV 7 0410 UTC - Presumed with classical music. Poor-fair overall with another station way underneath (Romania or Algeria). (Chiochiu-Pierrefonds-QC)

162 FRANCE   France Inter, Allouis NOV 8 0612 UTC - noted in passing with French rock music. Fair. (Chiochiu-Pierrefonds-QC)

183 GERMANY   Europe 1, Felsberg NOV 7 0401 UTC - promptly heard as the powerline buzz ended at excellent level with an item about Nicolas Sarkozy. Excellent, local-like ! SINPO 55555 for several minutes in a row ! The nx was followed by an interview with someone working at a high-speed party center ("La Ronde" in French Canadian, "fête forraine" in original French and "bâlci" in Romanian). The interview was cut once every 10 minutes to allow from some Nouvelle Scène French chanson by Bénabar and others. SINPO 45444 10 minutes later. (Chiochiu-Pierrefonds-QC)

189 ICELAND   Rikisútvarpid, Gufusukalar NOV 8 0640 UTC - Lite rock music mix, then a sudden switch to 19 century classical organ followed by a conversation in Icelandic between a man and a woman with a very soothing voice, ideal for unwinding ! Around 0840, while the radio was still open, they were playing jazz music as the person who turned off the Grundig G5 ultralight told me today ! (Chiochiu-Pierrefonds-QC)

198 ENGLAND   BBC Radio 4, Droitwich NOV 7 0448 UTC - health items. One of the items was about Australian researching things about the human body. Only fair, but armchair copy with the Sangean ACS 818=CST tuned to 197 in AM Narrow mode to avoid noise and QRM ! (Chiochiu-Pierrefonds-QC)

216 FRANCE   RMC, Romoules NOV 7 0429 UTC - French sports talk regarding several soccer teams noted in passing sligthly over what seemed to be the CLB beacon in South Carolina (I don't understand Morse though). (Chiochiu-Pierrefonds-QC)

252 ALGERIA   Alger Chaîne 3, Tipaza NOV 7 0430 UTC - morning show announcements in French. Received with a very good strength, but the modulation was only fair ! Over a poor co-channel Irish signal ! (Chiochiu-Pierrefonds-QC)

603 unID   NOV 6 2237 UTC - Woman talk in unID language hetting badly CKAT-600 on the high-side... Occasionally splittable on the Sanyo MCD-S830 / PK AM loop combo, but clearly splittable on the Sangean ACS 818-CST / PK AM loop combo with the receiver detuned to 604 in AM Narrow to get away from 600. Poor signal and too mushy to see if I heard Spanish out of Spain or French from Lyon, France. The only mediumwave Trans-Atlantic that I tried to get under local noisy conditions ! (Chiochiu-Pierrefonds-QC)



Pan-American DX

600 CUBA   CMKV, Radio Rebelde, Urbano Norrís NOV 8 0214 UTC - relaying their FM feed with IDs such as "Música Viva 96.7 Potencia FM" and heard with requests from listeners living in QTHs like Pinar del Río. One of them requested a song by Ricardo Arjona which is one of the most popular Central American rockers (outside Mexico) and who cames out of Guatemala ! Huge, over / under WICC and CKAT on the Sony XR-A33 car-radio / omnidirectionnal whip combo ! //670 and 710 ! Is WICC in stereo ? They were playing a weird mix of English oldies and Italian pops, both old and new ! (Chiochiu-car-Pierrefonds-QC)

670 CUBA   CMBA, Radio Rebelde, Arroyo Arrenas NOV 8 0404 UTC - playing an instrumental version of the Cuban classic "Guantanamera". Good, over QRM ! WFAN had it's IBOC exciter turned off all night long, so no more QRM even after local midnight. Heard far from the powerlines ! (Chiochiu-car-Pierrefonds-QC)

710 CUBA   Radio Rebelde synchros NOV 8 0406 UTC - woman happily announced things undergoing inside the Solo Música px. Briefly good with echo sound, then overtaked by IBOC hash from WLW-700 Chicago. 690/730 next-to-adjacent local splatter not much of an issue with the car radio in the Normal filter position ! (Chiochiu-car-Pierrefonds-QC) 

760 COLOMBIA   HJAJ, RCN Cadena Basíca, Barranquilla NOV 8 0425 UTC - Excited Spanish announcers apparently live from a remote place. Poor under megapest WJR, in it's uneffective null using the Sanyo MCD-S830 / PK AM loop combo. (Chiochiu-home-Pierrefonds-QC)

780 VENEZUELA   YVNM, Radio Coro, Coro, Falcón NOV 8 0421 UTC - an old-fashionned cumbia song ended, then promo for "La Bailanta Siete Ochenta" followed by a commercial merengue track. Very good, in WBBM Chicago's null ! (Chiochiu-home-Pierrefonds-QC) 



North American domestic DX

1600 WWRL New York City, NY NOV 7 2150 EST - with an English Caribbean music program and frequent IDs... Often excellent and thrashing local CJWI-1610 with the Sony SR-A33 car radio in AM Wide position ! Author's comments: I could feel some separation between the right and the left channels, even though they don't broadcast in STEREO anymore ! (BC-QC) 


May the good DX be with you !
Bogdan Chiochiu


This report is brought to you by Bogdan Alexandru Chiochiu, DXing from his weekend home in Pierrefonds (MTL's West Island), QC using his Sanyo MCD-S830 / PK AM loop, Grundig G5 / PK LW loop and Sangean ACS 818-CST with the same PK longwave loop






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