LEM DXpedition News
In this page you will find the latest news fron the Lemmenjoki DXpedition site 68°46'17"N 26°18'57"E. This site has always been closely connected to the KOJE/KOH/KOMEX lists and North American News Watch.For more information about the QTH, please visit the following pages
http://www.diccons.com/radio/lem.htm by Esa Hänninen
http://www.dxing.info/dxpeditions/lemmenjoki.dx by Mika Mäkeläinen.
To send Lemmenjoki DXpedition News to this site, please use eMail tapio (dot) kalmi (at) sdxl (dot) org.
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if your browser allows JavaScript routines.Info about other DX-pedition sites in Northern Scandinavia: PUDXK PAX KONG
Measured LEM antenna directions on the Great Circle Map
Have nice spring and summer, we will be back in fall 2010.
Mika Mäkeläinen (MTM) and Jim Solatie (JMS)
See full DXpedition report at http://www.dxing.info/dxpeditions/lem291rep.dx
Friday 5th
This week has been ... well, not like during the solar minimum. Clearly the activity in the sun is changing our lives, at least ours, who have thought that the wonderful minimum AM-conditions would last forever ;)
Thursday was 'off', meaning almost no TA-signals. Today, Friday we enjoyed some great TA-moments in the morning. 1240 KAMQ Carlsbad, NM was definitely one of the highlights with a very clear full hour station identification.
Tomorrow it is time to return back to Helsinki.
Lemmenjoki - see you again in fall. We will miss you!
Best 73,
Mika and Jim
Tuesday 2nd
The last LEM-expedition this season has started. We have enjoyed quite good North American and Asian openings almost every day, but nothing spectacular yet.
Today, Tuesday the 2nd, NA has been very strong all day long. It is now 11 utc, and stations are still booming in, even though the sun rose six hours ago! But conditions are too widespread, from Miami to Seattle.
Jan-Erik Österholm (JEÖ) and Pertti Äyräs (PÄ)
Thursday 4th, Friday 5th
The Thursday conditions were quite mixed but NA seems to make a comeback. This was verified from the unattended recordings from the night between Wednesday and Thursday. Last and our latest night here the signals were even stronger and when writing this text at 07 UTC on Friday I´m quite sure that we now have our best conditions towards NA continent. Unfortunately, we have to leave in couple of hours. But that´s dx-life! So, it´s Adios and it´s Goodbye for now.
Wednesday 3rd
Some NA signals observed around 23 from the Prairies but shortly all gone again. Around 02 signals from right directions again observed and the Perseus Recording System was set on. Then to bed again. In the morning around 07 all NA was away but instead we had some signals from Brazil and the La Plata region. The conditions around 600 KHz were almost exactly the same as on Tuesday, with the same splits on 570 and 580. We have not paid much attention to stations from East owing to lack of interest. However, checking the existence or non-existence of signals from Japan or from the Pacific Ocean islands was done daily and regurarly. Almost always the non-existence was observed. On wednesday one interesting station was observed on 930 AM at 16.50. The station and the language remained unidentified but sounded like Farsi or something from that direction. Jouni Ilmari came in again at 17 with 1.5 liter wine canister which meant goodbye for more listening. He left around midnight UTC and Perseus was set on since some NA appeared on the bands. The antenna choice was 284 degrees which supposedly tells the direction of the conditions?
Tuesday 2nd
No evening NA but some early usual Brazilian stations. Around 01 some eastern NA but poorly. Went to bed to wait for better times. Then, around 06 stations from the La Plata region incl. R Nihuil on 680, with some other stations from Mendoza region accompanying. Also some interesting splits below 600 AM. One of these, on 569.9 turned out to be R Argentina from Buenos Aires and on 570 R Capital giving it´s web address (for the 1040 AM station) was heard. Afterwards some NA but around 09 all stations except the Russian and Norwegian ones disappeared. Surely something happened in the Sun. NA conditions recovered slightly 14 pm for a while and then gone again. In the evening there was nothing interesting.
Monday 1st
Strong signals from NA all the night and continuing to the morning, all directions were about equally favoured so difficult to find something new. One station of interest was Radio Soleil from Brockport MA in the Haitian French language on 1710 AM. If legal station, not known.
Sunday 31th
North America was again observed quite early with hopefully some pearls to be extracted from the files. Some Brasil in the early night but soon disappearing. Then NA conditions towards the Prairies parts of the NA with a.o. 1230 KDIX. Later some Mexicans like 1410 La Más Perrona. In the afternoon the usual material from West, 1180 KERN, 1390 KWOD, 1470 KBSL were observed among the others. The conditions in the evening started promisingly but then it turned out to be the usual collection from East Canada, mainly NFLD and Ontario. The third canister of red wine still has something it it, instead we had some cognag in the evening.
Saturday 30th
A very poor day in the DX context, “rupista jenkkikeliä” written in the logg book.
Friday 29th
Stations from the Orinoco Region and Eastern US along the morningside, 660 WIND for example. In the afternoon not surprisingly stations from the West with Alaska, 1430 and probably 1230 were observed. Also some weak Aussies were noted on the X-Band. Nothing of interest in the evening.
Thursday 28th
The conditions were quite close to those of Tuesday: East Coast and Cuban stations in the morning. 1320 WLQY was one of those few identified on real time. An interesting station sounding a Cuban was observed on 1400 with identifications but the name of the station is not clear yet, something like “Radio Banda/Samba/Tampa/Granma/Guama…..” Any clues? Usual stuff from West Coast in the afternoon.
Wednesday 27th
Quite dead on the bands, a little bit NA and Orinoco around 04 UTC. In the morning then, conditions turned to the East Coast for a while giving perhaps a couple of better stations (hopefully) and stations like 1230 WSBB and 1290 WNBF were noted on real time. Later in the afternoon somewhat stronger than usually signals from Alaska and Hawaii, but nothing extraordinary. The wine canister became empty and a new one (third) was opened…………
Tuesday 26th
Nothing interesting this morning, conditions lying in the northern parts of the NA continent. Conditions were like those around the sunspot maximum times. Alaskan stations associated with a couple stations from Hawaii were observed. And that´s it folks.
Monday 25th
In the night and morning only weak La Plata signals. Conditions improved in the morning but turned to the “vasen ylämummo” right away. Luckily some identifications were observed on the flight like e.g. 870 KFLD, 1180 KLAY, 860 KPAM along with some Mexicans which were not many, however. In the evening nothing special to tell about except that a red wine canister was opened and it was also emptied rapidly as we had a visitor, Jouni Ilmari from the famous Jomppanen Family. A second canister was opened in due time but it was not totally empty before Jouni Ilmari left and we got into beds.
Sunday 24th
PÄ and JEÖ left to Lemmenjoki on January 22 from Turku. Half way between Kittilä and Lemmenjoki we met the 289 crew Jim Solatie (JMS) and Håkan Sundman (HS) who had been spending one week before us on LEM289. We had a short chat on the empty Kittilä-Inari highway and arrived in Lemmenjoki around 1330 UTC.
After giving some presents to our host Kristiina, who turned 90 (!) on November 26 2009, we started to unpack and install our equipment for the coming to weeks. After one hour when I (JEÖ) connected my Perseus, an ugly smell arised and the Perseus was dead. The failure must have been in the transformer. Let's see what the producer says when he gets a letter of complaint.
After a short call to Jim Solatie and Håkan Sundman who were at the Kolari railwaystation we agreed, that Jim would leave one of his Perseuses to the station official and I promised to pick it up the following day, Sunday, January 24, I consequently did a 500+ km roundtrip from Lemmenjoki to Kolari and picked up the JMS Perseus. After a hectic drive in the dark I arrived in Lemmenjoki 2 hours and 40 minutes later. JMS's Perseus started as normally and my pedition was saved. I have already promised Jim three yellow roses for this action! Thanks Jim, you saved my two weeks!
The first day was boring in the early evening and after short night time check-ups we decided to sleep. After 8 UTC NA-stations starting to moving in and the conditions, primarily towards the US North West, were strong and among others KRTA Medford was heard on 610.
We, PÄ and JEÖ now have a total of 128 combined years of age and 100 years combined in our DX-careers - but we are still going strong!
Reports will be incoming as the pedition progresses.
JEÖ and PÄ
Håkan Sundman (HS) and Jim Solatie (JMS)
Friday 22nd
Nothing spectacular to report. NA audible after 23 utc and some new graveyarders in the morning, like KWON 1400 and KGOS 1490. NA signals died after 08 utc and came back only at 13 hours. Just dominants in the evening. Nothing from Asia.
Time to say good bye for now and leave the cabin to the Professors. Enjoy and have great two weeks!
Best 73 Håkan and Jim
Thursday 21st
Excellent NA-opening last evening from 2130 to 2230 utc, then in one minute all stations disappeared. They came back two to three hours later and stations like KYNO Fresno, CA 1300 AM were booming in, just after local sunset! Actually 1300 kHz has been a great frquency this season with many new stations to us: Marathon, Baltimore, Rensselaer, Mobridge, Orofino, Brawley and now Fresno.
The morning was useless, and so was midday. Then at 1400 utc NA emerged again with KJJR 880, KHJ 930 etc. But nothing from Asia, just some everyday dominants. Well, this is what the recordings tell us since the day was spent by skiing (25 km), and some nice massage at the Saariselkä Spa.
Wednesday 20th
No exciting daytimers last evening, but Venezuela and Puerto Rico surprisingly early with strong signals. And this continued all night long. In the morning some NA, peaking at 08 utc. KMIK Tempe, AZ was heard with a strong signal for over an hour on 1580 kHz. Then, after 09 utc nothing, the AM-band became dead. Only around 13 utc some Thai signals, like Phitsanulok 1116 and Lopburi 1197 with local identifications.
Sun has been very active today, so we are hoping for some interesting daytimers to emerge soon ...
Tuesday 19th
The best day so far. Conditions to almost every area, but luckily not at the same time ... which is quite rare for mid winter. In the morning some Orinoco, then NA, at 10 utc NHK1 stations from Japan, as well as Hawaii with strong signals. Then again NA, back to Japan at 1319 utc with NHK2 and later in the afternoon very strong China. Also x-banders from Australia were present with good signals and Symban on 2368.5 was almost like a local station ;)
Monday 18th
Mediocre CA & Orinoco again at night, then becoming better in the morning with many Florida stations: 540, 560, 610 etc. RDP Acores strong on 828 with local programming. Midday and afternoon were very poor, so obviously the new CH arrived. In the afternoon Chinese stations with extremely strong signals. Symban 2368.5 weaker today than yesterday.
Sunday 17th
Jim did some counting: 4975 verifications so far, 2807 last decade, 268 last year and 45 already this year. But none yesterday, so it is time for some more hunting.
Sunday was not such an exciting day. CA & Orinoco started around 22 utc and were heard all night long. In the morning some nice signals from La Plata and Brazil. Then between 09-13 NA pretty well. Nothing interesting from Asia in the afternoon. Todays highlights were Radio Paysandú 1240, Radio Eternidad 1700, KARI 550, KDDR 1220, KROX 1260, KXPO 1340, WCMP 1350, KWTL 1370, KGIM 1420 and KDAK 1600. Graveyards are dominated by the same stations over and over again like KTRF 1230, KDLR 1240 and KQDJ 1400.
Strong wind and -7 Celsius outside.
Jopi Nyman (JJN) and Jussi Suokas (JUS), both from the Susiraja Area, Eastern Finland
Friday 15th
No reason to start giving high fours nor do we expect a big paw from you for today's achievements (or the results of the whole week). A diluted cocktail of Argentina, Brazil, Orinoco and Newfoundland between 05-08 utc. Still expecting a massive opening next night, this is LEM288 now howling off.
Thursday 14th
DXers do it drowsing by the radio. There might have been many wiser ways to spend the past day, but we God's little wolfies painstakingly gathered our daily bread in little pieces: KUNX 1590, KNRY 1240 and KXNT 840, to name the highlights. In the afternoon we came to our senses and started listening to the files from the past few days. By the way, Cuba briefly surfaced for the first time.
Wednesday 13th
A promising start at 2040 utc with WBIX 1060 at 2100 but 40 minutes later just some megapower Brazilians left. Radio Globo surely cures the problems of most insomniacs. However, the stations returned for two more hours between 22 and 24 (e.g. WOYK 1350.) During the daytime widespread and flat conditions from Mitre to Waipahu and Boone to Laramie, but the force was not with us. So not that much tail wagging today.
Tuesday 12th
Waking up at night was a total waste of time, and NA was still absent in the morning. But then salvation: practically the whole of Spain emerged and after 7.00 utc we had an hour of FM-like signals from the Orinoco powerhouses. The cabin was suddenly transferred to downtown Bogotá. Traiganos aguardiente, amigo. NA slowly returned, and between 12 and 13 utc we really wolfed down the band (e.g. KVTK 1570, WKBF 1270, WRTO 1200.)
Monday 11th
Little time for serious DXing - concentrating on today's gala dinner. Lamb, of course. Some guys say they have digested divine dinners here. We go one step further: our cooking is absolutely lupine. Anyway, if listening to the remaining Canadian prairie stations is your cup of tea, then please join us. Two happy moments of powerplay howling, though, when we heard Celtic Music Radio and when JUS heard his first ever daytimer. Some basic Hawaiians, V7AB and Tonga again, and a bit of Californification before noon local time, but difficult to say if there were any new ones for us. But now, it's eating time, boys!
Sunday 10th
Stations from here, there and almost everywhere but Morokulien: KKNE 940, R Voice of Australian Chinese 1656, Marshall Islands, Tonga, Symban and R Disney. 0 degrees C outside.
Saturday 9th
Ex Oriente Lupus. The one, only, original and real DX-howling (c) expedition has started. Maybe we heard something today, maybe we didn't. Today's menu: Mezcal joven gusano rojo, mole poblano and Gallo Zinfandel.
Jari Ruohomäki (JPR) and Mika Mäkeläinen (MTM)
JPR Blog: http://dx-ingamerica.blogspot.com/ - DX-ING AMERICA
MTM Site: http://dxing.info/ - DXing.info
Wednesday 30th - Saturday 9th
See full DXpedition report at http://www.dxing.info/dxpeditions/lem287rep.dx
Tuesday 29th, 3RD DAY ON LEM287
Mika arrived at 22.30 utc. So it took him about 15 hours to reach Lemmenjoki. I think this is our 4th expedition together around New Year´s Eve.
Not so much to tell about the conditions. NA audible from 21 to 16 utc. Also some Orinoco and Cuba in the night. The most interesting period was after 12 utc. Antenna 300 was in full action till 13.45 utc. Dakotas and MN will offer something, that´s clear. But not much to say about the stations yet.
The current temperature is only -10 and finally the cabin is warm.
More info about LEM287 mainly on dxing.info
Monday 28th, 2ND DAY ON LEM287 - BORING
No morning brasilians, no La Plata, no mexicans and no even high quality yankees. Quite boring all night and day long. Canadians and dominants are booming and it is hard to be "at the right time on the right frequency". Files of more than 150 gb should contain some highlights. NRD loggings: KBSU 730, KUGN 590, KDAL 610, KUBC 580.
The current outdoor temperature is only -15. And the indoor temp has finally reached +20. That´s today´s highlight so far. Yesterday evening it was -31 and, of course, I was without electricity for 3 hours (17-20 utc). But now everything is under control, except the conditions should be much more directed and interesting.
Sunday 27th, LEM287 IS ON
LEM287 is now on. I arrived yesterday evening before 19 utc. Having given some tulips to our 90-year-old host Kristiina it was time set up the listening post. I am not sure about the quality of the conditions in the night because I had to concentrate on controlling all the 6 SDR´s and 1 NRD in a sensible WAY and sleeping as well. There were yankees all day long till 15 utc. It seems that the most interestings moments were before noon. I noticed KROE 930 and KID 590 "on the fly". Next I have to google which one is broadcasting ESPN deportes radio on 1310. Probably some bull***t from the west.
Mika Mäkeläinen (MTM) will join the LEM287 team tomorrow. I will stay here till the 6th of January and Mika the 8th if conditions are favourable.
Jarmo Havukunnas (JHU), Ilpo Parviainen (IPA) and Roland Sandberg (RS)
Blog http://lem286.blogspot.com/ - The Howl Raiser of 2009
Saturday 12th, SHOW MUST GO HOME
LURX has left the building (lost in translation: "Lurkkien rakennus on tuolla vasemmalla").
No more radioactive waste from LEM286.
Saturday 12th, LEM286 on the fly
IBERIA:
855 RNE-1 Galicia, Pontevedra
1125 RNE-5 Castilla y León, Soria
ASIA:
1368 JOJG NHK-1 Yamagata via Tsuruoka
1368 JOLG NHK-1 Tottori
1512 JOZB NHK-2 Matsuyama
1584 JOTG NHK-1 Aomori via Fukaura
1602 JOHC NHK-2 Kagoshima via Nahe
1602 JOGB NHK-2 Kumamoto via Hitoyoshi
NORTH AMERICA:
540 CBT, CBGA1, CBEF
550 WSAU, WGR
560 WGAN, WEBC, KPQ
570 CFCB, WMCA, WKBN
580 WTCM
610 KNML, KDAL, CKTB
760 WCHP
810 CJVA
860 KNUJ
870 KPRM
920 KWAD
930 KHJ, KSDN, KKIN
970 KQAQ, WNED
990 CBY
1020 KJJK
1030 KCTA
1060 WILB, WBIX, KYW, WLNO
1070 WAPI, KVKK, WTWK
1080 KRLD
1100 WZFG
1110 KBND, WUPE, WJML
1150 KASM
1180 KYES
1200 WKOX
1210 KUBR, KOKK, KHAT
1220 KDDR
1230 KOY
1250 WGAM, KBRF
1260 KWYR, WPNW, WXCE, KROX
1260+KDUZ Hutchinson MN
1290 WNBF, KOUU, WKBK
1310 WLOB
1320 KXRO
1340 KDLM, KWLM
1350 WOYK, WARF, KDIO, WCMP, KCOR, WOAM, WPDR
1360 KUIK
1370 WGIV
1380 KCIM
1390 WLCM, KJAM
1390+KHOB Hobbs NM
1400 WBIZ, KMHL
1420 KMOG
1460 KKAQ
1470 WJDY
1480 KSDR, KKCQ
1490 KXRA, KLGR
1500 WFIF
1510 WWSM, CKOT
1520 WNWT, KOLM
1550 WHIT, WRHC
1560 KZIZ, KGOW, KBEW
1580 KCHA
1590 KWBG, WVNA, WARV
CENTRAL AMERICA:
570 R Cristal, Santo Domingo
840 4VEH Cap Haitien
960 XEK Nuevo Laredo
SOUTH AMERICA:
1240 R Lider, Arequipa
1310 R Libertad, Arequipa
Saturday 12th, The End is Near ...
... because the signal levels are still on the raise (with KHOB in the afternoon and WCHP and WTWK in the early night). The official DXing part of LEM286 ended with Louisiana 1060, after that it was time to go to sleep before the massive dismantling process started (real hassle at this moment). Automated DXing continues up to 10 UTC.
Our three previous DXpeditions have been LEM248, LEM264 and LEM286 - so it's obvious that we have to wait until LEM428 for our next AM Carnival (for us AM stands for "Arctic Madness").
Thanks to all our viewers and commentators. We'll compile the final update with our "live loglist" soon. And as usual, Pandora's boxes are still unopened, those will multiply the number of fine catches in the next few years.
Sheer LURX-fun at this end, hopefully some smiles at your QTH as well.
Friday 11th, Impressive Signal Levels ...
... but not the kind of cx we had hoped. Huge opening to NL from 19 UTC (for example CFCB 570 finally logged), after that the East Coast joined in --- but no AL/LA/MS. Strong signals at night (incl. WJDY,WMCA,WKBN), but in the morning "all wide open".
Right now we are waiting for the beginning of our last afternoon session. Hopefully something else than MN this time.
Thursday 10th, Weird ...
Day 12: Nothing spectacular in the evening, sleep for five hours, standard morning, average afternoon (with some nice catches: KKIN, KCOR) and prolonged evening cx. For example KOUU is still audible when writing this at 16:35 UTC. Also 1400 is still open !! We are a little bit afraid now: it seems that the next 24 hours will be VERY hectic... (and all this without the ping-pong balls).
CKSQ Stettler AB 1400 logged at 16'53 UTC
Wednesday 9th, Minnesota Hotspot, Part II
Most of the day dominants only, but then it happened again: after 12 UTC the wild ride in Minnesota continued for one hour. MN is almost empty now: KASM, KNUJ, KXRA and KPRM being the best ones today.
Tuesday 8th, Minnesota Hotspot
Day 10 was full of action. It started with NL & ON, but the highlight of the day was DXing with a new style: next MN - next MN - next MN - next MN. Well, there was some SD included but we haven't experienced such a tight regional Minnesota cx before. KDIO, WCMP, WZFG, KSDN, KOKK, KSDR, KROX, KBRF, KVKK, KQAQ (superpower), KJJK and many more.
Monday 7th, Still Alive
Day 9 offered stations like KYW, WNED, WHRC, CBY and WARV - these describe the direction of the conditions. Better this way than ylämummo and we definitely have many iPods.
Last evening WBIX already at 2100 UTC with many other promising signals, later at least KGFX and WPNW with strong signals. Now the morning session has started with opening to Cuba and the East Coast.
Sunday 6th, Identification Day
The 6th of December is the National Identification Day of Finland so the high-ranking officers of the LURX Military Wing (Captain Morgan - JHU, Major Storm - IPA and General Electric - RS) welcomed the parade of stations passing by:
KRLDCFACKRNTKUBRKOKKWDAYWBAPWLSWTCMWWJWWKBKOZYKNOXCFMB
WXYTKCTAKWYRKFNWWYLLKOLMWRIGKLIZCFRBCFMJCHCMCFZMCBGACJVA
WNAXCFRACKGACBYCBNACKCMKMONCINFCHMLXEWWWGRCBEFKGYNKCHA
WBIZKMAKVGBKSENKFBKKXTLKDUZKVANKKOLKVNSCJVBKLINWLCMCKPC
WGIVVOARCFAVKQDS...
The time is now 16 UTC and the march still goes on.
Saturday 5th, Hectic Times
Day 7 was the best so far - lots of interesting NA stations from the East Coast and the Great Lakes starting from 21 UTC. Haven't had much time to confirm the best ones. Today we had a long visit to Inari and now we are ready to take what we are given next week.
During the day we faced another obstacle and we lost yet another piece of cabin (fixing the door took surprisingly long time).
Saturday 5th, Gone With The Wind
No, you didn't know that Clark Gable had an identical twin brother, Coax Gable. And no, this time the solar wind didn't take away all the stations from the dial. On the contrary.
Late last night JPR called us and informed that solar wind is raising. At the same time we had noticed that the floodgate was opened somewhere and the wild DX ride started.
Friday 4th, Getting Colder
Day 6. Yesterday we already had -15C (5F). This begins to be a good temperature because all the fake Santa Clauses from Lapland start to move South (people there just have to remember the rule of thumb: White Beard = Santa Claus, Black Beard = Osama Bin Laden). We are still waiting for a little bit colder weather, because a real Lurk doesn't leave the cabin for antenna check-up until it is -20C (-4F) or colder.
Conditions ? Yesterday afternoon gave us some hope with stations like KUIK but later we didn't even get our happy hour after 21 UTC. And things haven't improved much after that even though the K-index seems to have frozen to zero --- as well as the interesting stations logged. We had some directionality in our afternoon session (WY & AZ) but this week has been far from what we expected.
Anyway we have "interesting Prospects on disks" from previous days. We feel that listening to iPod will finally save the first week of LEM286. In addition, things may change any minute --- and there's still another week left. We shall never surrender.
Thursday 3rd, Pain in the Arse (x3)
Parviaisen Tuska is getting worse (not a single new African station heard yet), but Turviaisen Paska does not bother anymore (canned chili tunafish is still the number one fluid). The third (and most serious) pain is caused by the situation on the dial: the band is often crowded with NA stations but dominants mostly block all the interesting stuff behind them. And because each of us has already 5-40 stations QSLed on most frequencies the level of frustration and tension is rising. The mismatch between indexes and real conditions is astonishing. The scary part of last night was the long and weird howling (it seemed to come from the west).
Time between 21 and 23 UTC was the only "happy hour" for us yesterday(with stations like WFIF, WWSM and WNWT), otherwise: BOOO-OOOORING. Waiting for the better (what else we can do ?).
Stop blog: JHU just heard JOGB Kumamoto/Hitoyoshi relay on AM 1602 at 13'20 UTC. It seems that we still have hope. No losses of equipment or furniture today.
Wednesday 2nd, Great Bend!
Day 4: Our ears are ringing, sweat is pouring off our foreheads and we can no longer focus anything. Did we get anything ? (... "Hi guys, did we get anything... ? ..."). Everyone is shaking their heads. Well, at least we tried.
Start with CBG at 1930 followed by many NL-stations, signal levels rising and everything was very promising. Later 1520 and 1510 gave some nice signals (incl. CKOT). After that nothing special. Morning was the worst so far and the day was a catastrophe. KYES was one of the few new stations to us. One of the few surprises was the strong signal of RN RASD signing on at 07 UTC on 1550. The Massey-Ferguson index level was the highest observed so far (6 on scale 1-5). M-F index is calculated from the observed level of distorted signals and overall noise and their effect to overall v...tus.
This day was Great Bend ("Suuri Pyllistys") to us. But nou hätä, we have lots of "interesting prospects on disks".
PS. KVGB was heard loud and clear.
Tuesday 1st, P in the Soup
Day 3: Night started with ON, but nothing spectacular appeared so we all went to sleep. More mourning in the morning, praying for the better pray during the day but all our hopes faded away. The overall noise level was high (between headphones and between participants) and signals on the dial sounded like they were driven over by Massey-Ferguson.
Losses of the day: one receiver & one chair. WXXI, KKAQ, WGIV, WVNA, KWBG & interesting projects on disks. One flashback from yesterday: "Sports Radio 6-10, The Sports Animal" was a welcomed addition to The LURX Zoo.
Monday 30th, Smell of Success !
The odour detected here earlier has had nothing to do with success, but now... 4VEH has been on our lists for decades and earlier we have heard it only tentatively (mostly at 1VEH level or max. 2VEH), but last night we finally succeeded in nailing it. We still have a few ever-hiders on the Caribbean (including the Island of Bob Marley, Captain Morgan and Usain Bolt). No sign of Jamaica last night even though the nearby Haiti had strong signal levels. Sigh.
Day 2 offered a decent NA scene but almost nothing from Africa, Asia, Oceania and Iberia. NA signals continuously from 21 to 12 UTC, again a wide scale from Coast to Coast: CBT, WCAT, KUGN, KOY, KPQ, KHJ and some other goodies also from the Caribbean (Radio Cristal, Santo Domingo 570 etc.). Many prospects on disks.
Sunday 29th, Live and running...
... with no surprises on the dial. Stations from Peru to West Coast, but Standard & Poor's would probably rate our first day as "Standard and Poor". Radio Lider 1240 & Radio Libertad 1310 .... XEK Nuevo Laredo 960, XEP Ciudad Juarez 1300 .... KGOW, KQAQ, WLCM, KBND ... and lots of common graveyard stations with strong signals. Many prospects on disks.
Saturday 28th, Warmin' Up in Dixie
We arrived a few hours ago, it was a little bit chilly so we made a fire and we are still setting up our hardware. Soon we'll be freakin' out as usual when the AM dial opens up for us. We are going to monitor the dial "24 days a week" or "Kuunnellaan niin, että tukka lähtee" as we say at LURX. In a few moments we'll power on our mighty receiver orchestra --- which may cause unpredictable large-scale results. The worst case scenario can be seen here (hopefully nothing like that, we would really like to include also some Californian stations into our log).
WARNING: This blog will contain highly radioactive material in the near future - viewer discretion is advised. Hold your hoses !
Jarmo Patala (JP) and Vesa-Jussi Rinkinen (VJR)
Saturday 28th
Great Lakes/East Coast night cx & Brazil. Graveyards opened also in the morning as usual. We slept well over night while our complete array of four Perseus receivers were recording the entire band.
Our next stop will be the shopping mall Zeppelin where we will enjoy some pizza before the final 6 hour drive to home.
This is KIK-DX signing off. Thanks for everybody who have made this expedition possible.
Friday 27th
NA conditions continued, with very nice signals to East Coast and Great Lakes, later more western states:
1390 WNIO, 1240 KGY, 1450 WENJ, 1400 KNND, 1350 KRLC
NA band was open until 1230 with full speed.
As normal some Asian but also nice X-band aussies, like 1638 with BBC news in Arabic.
Leaving tomorrow morning for 1100 km car drive to South, but we are expecting the best night and morning to come now.
Last report will follow from the highway.
Thursday 26th
Night conditions missing totally, morning to Iberian peninsula, daytime full of noise, then short but good opening towards Nippon 13-14 UTC 1431 Wakayama Hoso etc
Evening again time for Iberia.
2100 NE Brazil like 1410 Radio Santa Cruz
Then lakes until midnight UTC
Otherwise some antenna checking and cruising to Lemmenjoki.
Wednesday 25th
Mediocre Ontario - Great Lakes cx througout the night. K-index had several 3's in a row but however Dakotas, Utah, and especially Washington opened after 0600 utc. Finally, after yesterday's disappointments, we very happy about stations like 1150 KSOO, 700 KALL, 880 KIXI, 770 KTTH, 980 KTTO, 920 KDHL, 1230 KKEE, 820 KUTR, 620 KPOJ and 1390 KJAM Madison SD. Graveyards were in good shape too, sometimes offering signal levels like the regional channels do. JP had to struggle with unfortunate IT issues today. First one of his laptops crashed and then another one refused to operate Perseus properly.
-1 and some more snow.
Tuesday 24th
Promising NA East Coast/Cuba cx died soon after the sunrise. KYW 1060. In the afternoon hardly no NA signals due to an unexpected coronal hole. So it was time to have a litte walk and check antennas. VJR measured again start and end points of antennas with a GPS. In the afternoon China was booming until the evening. Also some PHL and TWN. Iberia strong in the evening and also UK; BBC Hereford and Worcester 1584.
Monday 23rd
Conditions get better, night time caribbean, YV and La Plata strongly
top of the pops:
at 0900 NA booming, 1490 KDBM, 1570 KVTK etc
at the same time few Hawaii'ans
Japanese, JOXR 864 and many NHK 2 and Korea
X-band aussies but weak
1230 KRYN, West Coast until 1430
Weather, -1 to -3 celsius and windy
Slight snow on the ground, luckily the landscape is all white, that's a luxury nowadays in South
Sunday 22nd
Poor to mediocre night and morning due to a coronal hole, but as the weather was perfect we made a little walk in the forest, and checked no more than half of the beverage farm.
Some highlights:
-KGOW 1560 until local sunset
-graveyards opened at 1300 UTC, 1400 KEDO, 1230 KGRO Pampa TX
-some filipino and lots of chinese
Saturday 21st
LEM285 on the road, starting at 0930 UTC.
As the LEM cottage was in super clean condition we were able to fire our Perseus immediately. Thanks YK and TAK.
As solarwind was up the conditions were not that good. But 12-13 Zulu NW USA, no graveyearders. Mostly dominants. After that Asia: China, Taiwan, some Filippines and later India.
Afternoon highlight was Kristiina's 90th year birthday, where we were participating among with the relatives and villagers. Good time and great service. Thanks for Kristiina & Co.
But now it's time for a little nap before next night's wonders...
73 JP & VJR
Yrjö Kainulainen (YK) and Tapio Kalmi (TAK)
Saturday, 21.11.2009, End of The Dream Pedition
At 0530 UTC the party was still going on. Some brasilian openings, La Plata, Orinoco, East Coast, Lakes, Ylämummo. Let's say that all but mexicans were there. Actually we had missed the mexicans for the whole week, but we can live with that. Maybe the next time we will have La Grande Mexican Fiesta, who knows.
This pedition has been the best ever pedition for us both. We have experienced many really nice surprises and have entered to the next level in many target DX tasks (Samoa, Tahiti, Marshall Islands, NHK1, NHK2, Bermuda and Newfounland for example). Also the co-operation with many other DXers has reached the top level. Thanks to all friends. And the equipments seem to be in the shape we want them to be. So all in all, everyhing worked out fine.
Thanks to Lemmejoki DX Cabin and everybody who have joined to build it the dream Place for many dream DX-peditions. We will definitely like to came back someday, maybe the next time will be after a year.
We signed off the guestbook around 8 UTC and the party continued in the background. The coronal hole's stream has been very slow and faint, so the disturbed period seems to be a short one. We wish good DX for all DX peditions around the Nordic countries and especially to Vesku and Jarmo, the LEM285 crew.
73s
YK and TaK
Friday, 20.11.2009, the Ultimate Tropical Week ends
In the morning we had quite ordinary openings from Orinoca to Ylämummo and also GY channels were more open than shut. No Pacific opening noted at all (only 1500 KUMU Honolulu HI was there, but it alone doesn't make up an opening ...) and no real Japan cx either. China and Philippines were present with strong signals with some other unid stations which we would place to the Far East area. Lots and lots of checking will be needed. We will later ask some tips from the Asia gurus. At 10 UTC no NHK stations were noted, so it was time for the last antenna checks and other maintenance tasks.
From 13 UTC to the late afternoon the cx was still good to Ylämummo and Alaska. The graveyard crawlers had their fun again. Especially 1490 CW station was very very strong. No id found yet, but all in the Ylämummo GY Fun Club knows that most likely it was 1490 KEYG Grand Coulee WA. But no id yet, so we have tiny hopes for something else ...
No kiwis or aussies were noted. In the ex-band many dutch and greek pirates loud and clear just after 16 UTC.
In the evening we started to pack and tought that we will have time to write this story, but nope, DXer's life is full of suprises and we got one very nice after 18 UTC. Every now and then we made the routine checks for Alaska, Greenland and Newfoundland and at 18:18 UTC Yrjö noticed 1400 CBG Gander NL poppping out of the ground noise. And around 18:55 UTC we had a full band of newfoundlanders, jii-haa !!! This kind of cx we have been checking every time we have visited Lemmenjoki, but always the best cx had started too late for the local programs which end 2030 UTC. Now we got readable signals already at 19 UTC, nice signals around 1930 UTC and many many excellent parts before 2030 UTC. This LEM284 farewell party with newfoundlanders indeed ended our Tropical Week and we were very busy when listening and packing. After NL the whole Atlantic Canada and North East USA joined the party.
We had agreed already beforehand, that we go to sleep at 2330 UTC latest. No matter of the cx, because we can let the Perseus team to do the work. And we needed some sleep before 12 hour drive back to Palokka, near Jyväskylä in Central Finland. So we let the radios to do all the work alone even if we had the dream cx to the East Coast going on.
Thursday, 19.11.2009, the Ultimate Tropical Week continues
The TA signals were at moderate to good levels all night long. We had a little La Plata opening around 01 UTC, Puerto Rico and all other Caribbean dominants were around as well as Orinoco. New live logging was 840 4VEH Haiti, but we haven't yet found any reggae masters or virgins even if we have been really trying 24/7 ...
North American dominants rose up around 0630 UTC, GYs at 07 UTC and the Great Opening of the Day was at 08 UTC. Very ordinary morning. And the cx faded away around 10 UTC without any decent signals from Japan or other parts of Asia. Some chinese stations were trying to come through anyway.
After the antenna checks the cx seemed to be as mediocre as it was when we went out. But around 1330 UTC both directions opened nearly at the same time. The asian cx headed towards Far East starting with 1080 Bangladesh Betar. Many thai and philippino stations were noted after that.
North America cx concentrated to Ylämummo again (or it was the easiest to point out at least, let's see what we can find out from the recordings :-). The graveyards were open from 1320 UTC to 1520 UTC. This looks more promising as it was: Mainly the usual GY stations filled the air ... But the studies continue also in this field.
We are writing this at 1630 UTC and listening to 590 KHAR Anchorage AK as background music. No signs about aussies or kiwis, but no more darra anymore, so we are ready for the last full DX day after a little nap.
And again some words about the local weather here in Lemmenjoki. Temperature was +0..2 Celcius, no rain, no wind but only gray clouds to dim the last parts of light we can get up here. So we had two levels of dimmers on today: Local level, the clouds, and upper level, something up in the ionosphere.
Wednesday, 18.11.2009 UPDATE
The Newfoundland cx started around 2030 UTC but the signals were too weak to report anything or to enjoy the local programmes. The signals got stronger around 2045 UTC, but unfortunately it was too late. At the same time (2045 UTC) the first brasilians showed up. After that we had All America All Night Long. It would be overkill to say that we had a party, but we had ordinary good DX all the time.
Wednesday, 18.11.2009, The Tropical Week continues with semi-Tropical-cx
In the morning we had full mix still going on, but not so strong as other mornings. The graveyard crawlers had their fun from 0830 UTC until 1000 UTC and some japanese tried to come in around 09 UTC. We could see Samoa on SDR dial, but no audio this time. So we had no party today and it was delayed to time not yet known.
From 10 UTC we had a lot of time to check the antennas and just go through what has happened in the last 2-3 days. The most important thing we found out were those extraordinary well built antennas. Every single antenna has been working like in our sweetest dreams. Very very well done job boys: Big thank to you all. We would like to say this now even if the week is not ended yet, because usually you forget things like this when you are rushing back home.
We had also some time to do some testing which should have been done before. TaK had two eSATA cables with him (Thanks OK!) and he had used one short cable (50 cm) for data transfers from laptop to external hard disk. Now we tested the situation with the longer cable (2 m). The results were good: no interference anywhere!
And the next step was to use the eSATA cable to do all recordings straight to the external hard disk. Also that test has been succesful all the 12 hours it has been part of the new way of DXing. There is only one thing you have to remember: DO NOT DO ANYTHING IN WINDOWS OPERATING SYSTEM which might cause a lot of read/write of the external disk. If you do, your Perseus starts to stutter. We don't know does it have any impact on the recorded file and we didn't test that either.
After the 2 hours midday break Ylämummo came back with GYs so we had again some real DX to do. But the dimmers were on the whole afternoon and every now and then there was a strange crackling noise. That made it impossible to do any serious MW DXing. That noise was not man made as far as we can tell. The source of that rattle is way up from Lemmenjoki.
But in the end of the day Alaska made very strong entrance around 16 UTC. It gives us hope for something better for tomorrow.
Jarmo (JP) and others, we haven't heard any aussies or kiwis yet. Nope, even if we have had australian Tandarra and Moondarra wines with us. Now we have only darra left, no tan, no moon, no aussies, no kiwis ... ;-P If we hear even a single one, we will let you know.
So, just one Big Bermuda Kiss after the previous report. Anyway the tropical week continues. Both on the radiowaves and on the ground. We had +0 Celcius in Lemmenjoki today, cloudy, no rain, no wind and nearly no snow ... Sigh.
Tuesday, 17.11.2009 UPDATE
The evening cx started already at 20 UTC and the first identified station was 1500 WLQV Detroit MI. The next one was 1510 WZZN Boston MA with the time announcement: "Good afternoon, it's 3 30 ... " And at 2240 UTC 1320 CHMB Vancouver BC came in. And this tells the whole story: The dominants rose up very very early and there were no frequencies for the daytimers or any other extras.
We have been waiting for the Newfoundland opening before 2030 UTC for the local programs and today we got a weak one. About handful of stations were audible at that time. About 1 to 2 hours later Newfoundlanders had the strongest signals, but that was just too late.
At 2155 UTC one of our shared long-lasting dream came true: We heard Bermuda! And how we did it? At first a little teaser from 1450 AM Gold with station identification and local TV shop ad to Hamilton. After a little break the signal got stronger and stronger and Bermuda was the King of the DX-Night. Now we have to believe HN and many others who have told us, that it comes booming when it comes. And when Bermuda came booming with all those old hits, we took a break and chilled with Tullamore Dew Whiskey. Very very nice experience after been trying and waiting so many years.
After Bermuda came the SCN Crew. 820 Paradise was in the lead of course, next was 555 ZIZ Radio at 23 UTC with BBC and local news and last but not the least was 895 VON. Just after these somebody came to stop the party just before it really had started. The dimmers were on and all other signals but Bermuda got weaker than before. Bermuda was booming in at least until 01 UTC. Now we got back to ordinary DXing: Between 23 and 02 UTC we caught signals from all over the Americas. From Buenos Aires to Greenland and from Newfoundland to Colombia. Full mix where it was very hard to figure out what's going on. So we took a nap.
Tuesday, 17.11.2009, Just Another Tropical Day
Late in the evening and the first hours of the night were just non-stop-party around Orinoco. North America was there also, but very weak, as behind a curtain or so. So again, we tought it would be better to get a little nap of 4 hours (0130-0530 UTC) before another day.
Around 06 UTC Orinoco was still going strong. And Iberia seemed to wake up, so we headed to Spain. And we really had a lot of fun there. The best moment was when 1008 Punto Radio Las Palmas, Gran Canaria (25kW) came over GrootNieuwsradio, Flevoland, HOL (200 kW). Nothing against the dutch, but it is really nice to get something new on this frequency. For a couple of minutes the situation was 5 points to Las Palmas and 1 point to Flevoland. Olé!
At 0815 UTC RNE5 break came in fine and clearly. After that we had just a little break before the japanese and the whole Pacific came marching in. Samoa was audible already at 0910 UTC and kept us happy until sign off at 10 UTC. Today we found two missing pieces of the yeasterdays party when 1098 V7AB Marshalls, Majuro and 1224 AFN Radio, Kwajalein popped up.
Ylämummo woke up around 11 UTC and the whole Pacific was still jamming there all the time. Oh boy, what a party ... And the japanese were really present and made it clear. JO.. here and JO.. there, JO.. everywhere, hiia-hiia-JO!
As you can see, we have been very impressed about the cx towards Japan and Pacific. But it has been better than never before. TaK would say, that he has never heard Japan cx before week 47/2009. But it doesn't say that the NA was away, no no no ... From 12 UTC until 15 UTC we have been crawling through the graveyards of the Prairies and Ylämummo. No details available about that, sorry.
After 12 UTC until now it has been good NA and Japan DX. Also some HI came in from the 30-degrees antenna, ooops ...
In Lemmenjoki it's getting little bit colder, now +1 Celcius, cloudy, but no rain and nearly no snow at all. For all the local people we hope cold weather with snow, but at the same time we wish that our Tropical Days and parties around the clock don't end here.
Love and kisses to home and to Randolph Nebraska. Mother Earth and Father Sun have given us another kisses and a big warm hug, ultimate DXing is going on.
Monday, 16.11.2009, the Tropical Day UPDATE
Late in the evening the day turned back to be so tropical as possible. Puerto Rico came booming in around 22-23 UTC. At the same time Quebec and some parts of the North East US were audible. We were desperately seeking for South East US, but went straight to Orinoco area for the rest of the evening.
Monday, 16.11.2009, the Tropical Day
Just after the midnight CA made very very nice entrance, and got us into tropical trance. This was really nice opening for LEM284 with the antenna direction of 284 degrees ;-). 555, 700 NBC, 895 and many others were audible. Yes, we didn't write them all down, but burned the MW signals from all of them to our disks. We will tell the rest of the story later.
By the way, North America was booming in all night long all the time (as far as we can tell) from Ylämummo down to the Caribbean.
We took a nap around 02-05 UTC and after that we were ready for the Rock'n'Roll:
0800 UTC Radio Polynesie / France Inter, Papeete, Tahiti popped in
0930 UTC Japan joined the party
1000 UTC Samoa gave nice sign off in the low end of the band, which was full of NHK1 ids
1055 UTC NHK1 local party all around
1155 UTC NHK1 local party all around
1255 UTC NHK1 local party all around
1300 UTC Very nice Hawaii entrance
1318 UTC NHK2 local party all around
1530 UTC AIR with the backlobes of the 302/319 antennas, but we don't know what we got because it was time to eat and to prepare to go to sleep and write this story etc.
By the way, North America was going strong all the time until 15 UTC.
So it has actually been tropical trance with rock around the clock. But it's not all. Here is the weather report: Temperature in Lemmenjoki +4 C, no wind, little rain and cloudy. You can say "tropical" about that too. Very rare here in November. We can keep the cabin warm with our computers and radios ;-)
After we have experienced all mentioned extraordinary strong signals from all over the planet we felt that Mother Earth and Father Sun have kissed us in a way we have never experienced before. Now we just wonder, if it's time to get ready for another kiss ...
Sunday, 15.11.2009 DAYTIMER-UPDATE
The early evening cx was just so-so, but around 22 UTC our dear Earth Mother turned into new position and after that we have been celebrating the solar minimum.
In Sunday evening cx opened towards the Lake Area, especially WI and IA (TaK would have loved to add NE to the party, because his daughter Kiira is over there). Around 2200 UTC we noted our first daytimer ever: 1510 WRRD Waukesha WI with ESPN Deportes. And an hour later another daytimer: 1560 KLNG Council Bluffs IA (very very close to Randolph NE ;-) came in at 2252 UTC for a couple of minutes. And we really really like to find out some more from the disks ...
Sunday, 15.11.2009
Morning was a mix of Ylämummo (NW US) and Orinoco and the dominants from all over North America. Common graveyard stations came in clearly every now and then, and some little Hawaii openings before noon. TAK got his 20th HI station, 720 KUAI Eleele with VJR's NRD-535. Thanks VJR!
Any other regions of the Pacific between Japan and California were not audible when we were near the radios. Actually we have no idea what was happening between 0900 UTC and 1030 UTC, because we were checking the antennas.
In the afternoon strong cx to Asia, especially Philippines and China. Also some japanese were audible including NHK2 stations at 1602 kHz. Which they were? We'll tell, if we can figure it out. So, all in all, just terrestial Asia cx.
Got some new snow with a gentle breezes and the temperature was mild -4 Celsius.
Saturday, 14.11.2009
We arrived just early enough to have a chat with Håkan and Jim, they have had nice Japan opening at 1000 UTC.
The standard terrestial conditions continue. Promise of Japan opening was just a promise. Even if 1310 CIWW Ottawa ON popped up at 2020 UTC and 1560 WQEW New York NY joined at 2100 UTC, the night conditions were with the usual stuff. The signals were fading and fluttering a lot around midnight, so we slept over the night.
Weather was a little bit windy, -10 Celcius and just a little snow on the ground.
Håkan Sundman and Jim Solatie
Saturday, 14.11.2009
We are now preparing for departure with normal NA-conditions being recorded in the background. The night was poor with only the usual stuff; also early evening turned out to be a dissappointment. However, after a week with many great openings, we are ready to head home and leave the cabin for webmaster TAK & Co.
73
Håkan&Jim
Friday, 13.11.2009
In spite of being Friday the 13th, this turned out to be another good day. Exceptional mid-day conditions towards the Great Lakes with loggings like KDDR-1220, KYMN-1080 etc. The graveyeards will probably also provide many interesting stations.
Thursday, 12.11.2009
The first daytimer opening on LEM283: WCHP Champlain, NY 760 AM, WTOR Youngstown, NY 770 AM, WKGM Smithfield, VA 940 AM and hopefully many more on the hard discs. Then normal NA all night and morning. At 0815 utc local Spanish RNE5 stations had clear signals: 1017 Burgos, 1098 Lugo and Avila, 1125 Badajoz, 1305 Ourense, 1314 Tarragona and Salamanca, 1413 Pontevedra and 1503 Lugo. It has been over 15 years since we last heard RNE5 with local programming (instead of the regional breaks). From 09 to 10 hours utc almost all Mexican stations were booming in. It will take a few hundred hours to dig out everything, so we will come back to this later. Also some nice NA signals among the Mexicans: KHPP Waukon, IA 1160 AM with 100 watts (under only one 50 000 watt superpower (WYLL) - KSL was off for over 30 minutes!!!), WCMP Pine City, MN on 1350 AM (52 watts at this time), KWMO Washington, MO (84 watts) etc. Despite of the low powers, both WCMP and KWMO had very strong signals!
We can hardly wait for the remaining last two nights and days.
Wednesday, 11.11.2009
A good dx-day, but far behind the Super-Tuesday. The morning started nicely with WNLK Norwalk, CT on 1350 AM. A bit later we had a short opening to Florida with excellent signals from stations like WFLF 540, WQAM 560, WWFE 670 etc. In the evening KGRG Enumclaw WA was rocking our mind away with 26 watts (or perhaps they used the full power of 500 watts already).
Tuesday, 10.11.2009
The best NA day ever in our 80 years of dx-ing (together counted). Extremely strong signals the whole day. Semilocal stations like Russia on 1260 and 1440 AM were barely audible, since the frequencies were covered by Canadian/US stations. Graveyards were full of strong signals, too. Unfortunately 99 % of the stations were familiar to us already, but there were some highlights, too, like the 77 watt Oregon station KRCO Prineville. The 50 000 watt giants CBC Vancouver and XEWW Tijuana had to surrender. Samoa on 540 had an excellent signal when closing down at 1000 utc, Tahiti on 738 AM (with France Inter relay) was stronger than French superpowers on 1278 and 1377 AM and Tonga's signal on 1017 AM was out-of-this-world . Also stations from Hawaii and Alaska had huge signals.
Monday, the 9th November
K-index jumped up to 3, which meant La Plata and Brazil. NA started only at 09 utc with strong signals from the Ylämummo (West Coast). In the morning on 1400 AM a commercial, in which Puerto Montt was mentioned. There is a Chilean station at Puerto Montt on this frequency, but this was an advertisement for Restaurant Puerto Montt in Buenos Aires! Thanks Henrik Klemetz for your help in solving this. Tahiti 738 AM again very strong, but no signs of Samoa or the other smaller islands.
Sunday, the 8th November
Excellent NA all day long. CBC Gander 1400 AM had a nice signal already at 1730 utc and WEGP 1390 AM was clearly audible at 1830 utc. However, despite our hope, there was no daytimer opening. NA started to boom in at 23 utc and continued till 15 utc, 16 hours non stop. Also lots of Cuba and Caribbean in the morning. Tahiti on 738 AM well at noon. Some personal new ones: KGAY 580, KANA 580, KRTA 610, WTRY 830.
Antti Aaltonen (ANA) and Timo Reiniluoto (TRE)
DXing the way it was meant to be
November 7, 2009
Second and Final Report from the Quality DXing Summit LEM282: the cx may not have been quite as extraordinary as expected, but nevertheless we are pleased with the results of LEM282 - and at the same time we are totally exhausted. The almost 24/7 listening activity took its toll and now we need to use all of our remaining strength to prepare this short report (greetings from the train!). We did not encounter any spectacular daytimer openings or highly directional cx, but the tremendous signal strengths and the clean, undisturbed AM-band kept us wide awake. Even though we are committed to "conventional" receivers, we have a huge amount of recordings to be checked. Here are some highlights from Wednesday until Saturday: WKY 930, CIBQ 1340, KDWN 720, WVNA 1590, WGIV 1370, WZFG 1100, KLSQ 870, KXRO 1320, KKZN 760. This is LEM282 signing off.
Feliz descanso! 73's, ANA & TRE
---Tämä viesti on lähetetty mobiililaitteesta ---This message has been sent mobile device
November 3, 2009
We have been way too busy to prepare any reports earlier, but better late than never! Upon arrival we had higher expectations than ever before, but the cx have been a slight disappointment so far. The band has been absolutely packed with stations, but due to the very general nature and direction of the cx, the antenna switcher has been glowing red from almost lunatic use. But don't get us wrong: the cx are not bad at all and we have made many nice catches. We have had a wonderful time and despite the almost 24/7 commitment to the radio waves we have lived up to our undisputed reputation as the best chefs and sommeliers above the Arctic Circle. Here are some highlights: KCTE 1510, KLIX 1310, KMXA 1090, WMT 600, CKOR 800, KFLD 870, KXLJ 1330, KCMO 710, KQAQ 970, KUGN 590, KIHH 1400, KBCH 1400, WPDR 1350, KZOO 1210, KCAR 1350, KGNO 1370, KKAN 1490, KINY 800, JOPB 639, Samoa 540, ...
Hannu Asikainen and Hannu Niilekselä, both from the capital district.
Lots of NRD-535´s, SDR-IQ´s and one Perseus.
http://www.tarana.co.nz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2875&Itemid=268
SPECIAL REPORT AFTER THE PEDITION: STOP PRESS - LEM281 NZ-log
We thought we had experience good conditions before. Yes, we had, but none before of this caliber to the direction of New Zealand…this was supposed to happen only at KONG …
Now, about 10 days after having returned home from LEM281, the Perseus-recordings of the “hottest” moments of the magic 24 October have been thoroughly examined. And the results are somewhere between devastating and astonishing. Even between ourselves we have it hard to believe that this is true.
In all 45 NZ-stations were logged, of which 36 never heard in Finland before. Many signals were strong and lasted over several fade-in periods, but some were truly weak – some merely a “sigh”. But with the Perseus, its capability of continuously repeating a chosen few seconds and comparing an identified signal with another frequency, stations can be 100 % “identified” even if the signal visits the frequency just a few seconds.
Such ease of identification is specifically true with the music networks (Southern Star, New Zealand´s Rhema and Coast), but also with spoken programming (NewstalkZB, R Live, R Sport). With the good advice from our friend Bjarne Mjelde –“the God of KONG”- we paid specific attention to TOH, when eventual Europeans and Asian stations “hold their breath” for a few seconds. Many NewstalkZB and RNZ National identifications came through right during those few seconds !
It was remarkable, how strongly the peak of the conditions was concentrated on the North Island and the northern part of the South Island (with the only exception of BSport 1224) . Europeans were pretty quiet and Asia in general non-existent in the beginning, however Japanese stations soon joining the party.
Upon listening to the medium wave band in the remaining days of our LEM281 expedition, with all possible Asian languages filling the frequencies, it was hard to believe that all those signals just weren´t there on the “magic day” 24 October, 2009… It will very likely not happen again in the very near future …
In fidem
Hannu Niilekselä (HN) and Hannu Asikainen (HAS)
540 24.10. NZ + New Zealand´s Rhema, New Plymouth/Tauranga
567 24.10. NZ RNZ National, Wellington
657 24.10. NZ + Southern Star, Wellington/Tauranga
702 24.10. NZ + R Live, Auckland
774 24.10. NZ + R Sport, New Plymouth
783 24.10. NZ Wellington Access Radio, Wellington
801 24.10. NZ + New Zealand´s Rhema, Nelson
819 24.10. NZ + RNZ National, Tauranga
828 24.10. NZ + R Trackside, Palmerston North
837 24.10. NZ + RNZ National, Kaitaia
882 24.10. NZ + Southern Star, Auckland
900 24.10. NZ + Coast, Whangarei
918 24.10. NZ + RNZ National, New Plymouth/Timaru
927 24.10. NZ + NewstalkZB, Palmerston North
972 24.10. NZ + New Zealand´s Rhema, Wellington
981 24.10. NZ + RNZ National, Kaikohe
1008 24.10. NZ NewstalkZB, Tauranga
1026 24.10. NZ + NewstalkZB, Kaitaia/Whangarei
1035 24.10. NZ NewstalkZB, Wellington
1053 24.10. NZ + NewstalkZB, New Plymouth
1080 24.10. NZ NewstalkZB, Auckland
1107 24.10. NZ + R Live, Tauranga
1116 24.10. NZ + RNZ National, Nelson
1143 24.10. NZ + RNZ National, Hamilton
1161 24.10. NZ + Te Reo Irirangi o te Upoko o te Ika, Wellington
1215 24.10. NZ + NewstalkZB, Kaikohe
1224 24.10. NZ + Bsport, Invercargill
1233 24.10. NZ + R Live, Wellington
1251 24.10. NZ + New Zealand´s Rhema, Auckland
1278 24.10. NZ + NewstalkZB, Eltham/Napier-Hastings
1296 24.10. NZ NewstalkZB, Hamilton
1332 24.10. NZ R Sport, Auckland
1341 24.10. NZ + NewstalkZB, Nelson
1350 24.10. NZ + R Sport, Rotorua
1359 24.10. NZ + Coast, New Plymouth
1377 24.10. NZ + R Sport, Levin
1386 24.10. NZ R Tarana, Auckland
1413 24.10. NZ + NewstalkZB, Tokoroa
1458 24.10. NZ + RNZ National, Westport
1476 24.10. NZ R Trackside, Auckland
1494 24.10. NZ + Southern Star, Hamilton
1503 24.10. NZ + R Sport, Wellington/Christchurch
1530 24.10. NZ + Coast, Napier-Hastings
1557 24.10. NZ + Coast, Hawera
1593 24.10. NZ + R Samoa, Wellington
DAILY PEDITION REPORTS
31.10.
Our last evening started pretty much the same as many previous nights. No trace of east coast NA, but directly to the Great Lakes region again with KKCQ-1480 and KFNW-1200 appearing at 2120 UTC with good signals - an incredible 2 hours before local sunset. However, the signals did not develop very much durng the best daytimer period. Only after 0000 UTC the band was gradually filling up with midwest-rockies area signals. The conditions were more diverified than some other nights, so there were no specific highlights in the night.
Again signal were weaker between 02-06 UTC but gained strength again in the morning, still in the same direction. Around 10 UTC the upper west coast opened very nicely with station all the way from OR to upper BC, with AK and HI also joining the party with good and clear signals. Some fading in and out took place, but signals came back again as quickly as they had disappeared only a while ago.
The AS side was fairly good to Japan already from 11 UTC on with all possible asian languages joining them gradually. No trace of any interesting OS.
The stregth of signals started deteorating gradualla around 1230 and we started packing. One receiver was alll the way to 14 UTC, but the signals had already faded to an uninteresting level.
Most interesting stations logged: KVOK-560, KRTA-610 (huge signal), CFLD-760, CKOR-800, CFBV-870, KXLJ-1330.
Time to say goodbye - the sets were left warm for LEM282, and as far as we know at the time of writing this, the going has continued "better than just mediocre".
Thanks for following the developements with LEM281
Hannu&Hannu
30.10.
As a minor disturbance began, signals also started coming earlier. Again directly from the direction of the Great Lakes, but no mixing with any LA.
Many stations (such as WQLR-1660, WKSH-1640, KCJJ-1630, KFNW-1200, KFAN-1130 and KFAB-1110) outside the "usual" had audio already 2130 UTC or shortly there after. Signals came and went in fairly short intervals - it was obvious that there was some minor disturbance going on. However, the conditions did not develop to a daytimer party of any better sort. Still, with such early signals, the reordings are worthwhile to be checked carefully.
Gradually, signals in the night got weaker and weaker and it wasn´t any specifically good idea to try to chase them all night. In the morning, again, signals started to be good as the clock got close to 06 UTC. Midwest-rockies, mixed with some MEX. Fairly nice signals for some periods until 0940 UTC, when the conditions were cut like with a knife...
Nothing until sudden opening towards the upper west coast with huge signals from 1230 UTC onwards. Even the GY-frequencies performed strong, but the "quality" of stations tended to be limited to those heard already anywhere between 10-1000 times. For the first time during our LEM-week, the signals kept their strength until local sunrise - and some (such as KTBK-1210, KOUU-1290, KCLK-1430 and KGDD-1520) far beyond, almost until 16 UTC.
Still, it was not easy to find new ones from an area where conditiond have so often laid. New technology (IQ´s and Perseus) will certainly help in this, as we have (or if we ever have...) time to listen "every scratch" carefully.
As we write this at 2130 UTC, signals from the same direction are again coming in, with KKCQ-1480 identified at 2130. One more night and day to go.
Well see...
Some of the more interesting loggings: KCOL-600, XESO-1150, XEIB-1170, KZMK-1240, KFBC-1240, KGRG-1330, KHMS-1420, KNTB-1480, KBIS-1490, KMBD-1590.
29.10.
The evening started "slow" again, however again with early signs of the direction being to the Great Lakes area. No LA or east coast "early openers", but directly to stations like WWKB-1520 and WRRD-1510.
At 23 UTC signals were barely above the level that it seemed worthwhile to have the SDR´s recording. One hour later, somewhat stronger and from time to time readable signals even on the graveyard frequencies. The general feeling was that it was worth listening but little hope of any "big fish".
Morning started slower than most mornings. At 06 UTC practically nothing, at 07 UTC a bit better, but still weak. From there on, no big signals either, but every now and then an interesting station "popped in", so the interest for listening was kept alive.
Around 10-12 UTC the going was good and the direction was concentrated to the Great Lakes with morning programs in full swing due to the advantageous situation regarding the U.S. move to Standard Time only this coming weekend.
But again, the fun would not last forever...for some reason the condition started to weaken already before 12 UTC and practically died out shortly there after. Only some of the most usual west coast remained on the band until 14 UTC.
In between, quick checks for the Pacific and Japan gave a couple of stations, even if the conditions did not appear very interesting - just lots of difficult languages...
Earlier we reported that it would be unlikely that any new stations from the 24 October NZ-opening would be found. We were wrong, since we forgot to check also the Radio New Zealand national service frequencies: RNZ 1458 (Westport) and RNZ 819 (Tauranga) were noted...shame on us !
Some of the more interesting stations last night and this morning: WNWI-1080, WPDR-1350, KCAR-1350, KRFO-1390, KFIZ-1450, KBMW-1450, KMSD-1510, KCHA-1580, KOKB-1580, KGUM-567, KUAM-630.
28.10.
CBG-1400 appeared early, at around 2030 UTC, but the conditions towards NA did not develop too well. Instead, lots of LA started appearing quite early and it was Spanish all over with good signals. NA started to join the party around 0000 UTC, but it was already too late for anything remarkable.
In the morning NA started to stregthen rapidly after sunrise with good signals, mainly from the Rockies to West Coast, once again. But all the time there was more and more concentration towards Southern California and from around 08 UTC to about 10 UTC it was better than either one of us had ever experienced. Stations seldom heard or never before logged came in with crystal clear signals. There will be a lot of interesting stuff on the recordings in addition to those akready identified when listening "live".
As you would expect, such fun cannot last too long, and the peak of the conditions was gone after 1030 UTC. Only some of the most common stations were left with "dizzy" signals. And even those died out before 14 UTC. No Pacific or Asia in general in the afternoon/early evening.
But in all, what a day !
Best stations logged live: KUGN-590, KGEZ-600, KWDN-720, KCNO-830, KHHO-850, KPAM-860, KLFF-890, KXLO-1230, KLBS-1330,KPRK-1340, KVTO-1400, KSUN-1400, KCLX-1450, KLIV-1590.
27.10.
Interesting developement: better indexes, generally worse conditions...
The night started with absolutely no signals before 01 UTC, then some LA, but nothing fancy. In the morning, between 06-07 UTC, fair to good signals from NA, but without direction. At this time with general type conditions it is almost not worth to listen to anything else but TOH and half hours, since local nighttime programming has very little content from a DX-ing point of view.
However, the signals abruptly died out totally before 08 UTC and did not return but at around 1130 UTC. Then one hour fair-good signals towards the Rockies-West Coast, but only to the northerly states, except a few interesting signals from California and Mexico in the same direction. Again, signals died completely out around 1330 UTC. Before that, a couple of interesting NHK-2 from the 1320 break, but no Pacific at all, just "mediocre chinese" as far as we can tell...
Highlights of the day (with a couple from recordings from the previous days): KERR-750, KFMB-760, KPDQ-800, XEKE-980, WZFG-1100, KBND-1110, KGRG-1330, KPRK-1340, KTAQ-1340, KCAP-1340, KWRM-1370, XEKT-1390, KMOG-1420, KZNX-1530, KWBG-1590, JOSB-1602, JOFD-1602, JOCB(JOFD)-1512, JOTC-1467.
26.10.
The conditions started fairly late, at around 23 UTC and opened directly towards the Great Lakes. A lot less impressive signals than in the previous night and less concentrated. Only a handful of interesting stations and weakening signals after 01 UTC. Little better in the morning with very much varying signal strengths; practically no conditions in the afternoon, neither to the east, north or to the west. So it was good to check some recordings.
Highlights from today and the night before: KSUB-590, KCOL-600, KDWN-720, KUAI-720, KKZN-760, KBGN-1060, KDYL-1060, KVNI-1080, KHIL-1250, KOLY-1300, KLIX-1310, KROP-1370, KMOG-1420.
24.10 - 25.10
LEM 281 in full swing...
We arrived to Lemmenjoki at noon on Saturday 24th. The first plugged NRD gave hints of NA with fair signals from the western parts of the U.S.
However just the usual stuff, as far as we could determine while unpacking and installing our rigs.
Gradually we got the technical side somewhat in shape and started to take a more serious touch to what was going on. We could only confirm what we had anticipated - nothing of true interest from NA was coming in. But stregthening signals towards Hawaii kept our interest awake, even if in the end only the most common hawaiians were logged. BUT, they led us to monitor also the rest of the pacific, just in case. And that certainly paid off. As we noted a couple of the most common NZ st.ations, we naturally started to search for more. And more we heard, which also left the anticipation that "there still might be something on the SDR/Perseus recordings".
When we started going through those, the cold truth was revealed: we had experienced the once-in-a-lifetime opening towards NZ - not a single aussie (except for a couple of the most common ones on the X-band) were noted. But NZ, yes. No logged stations in the lower end of the mw-band, but the further up we checked, the wilder it got (sorry about the possible mistakes with + for first in Finland, these are "out-of-the-memory"):
| 1035 Newstalk ZB, Wellington | |
| 1080 Newstalk ZB, Auckland | |
| + | 1107 R Live, Tauranga |
| + | 1161 Te Reo..., Wellington |
| + | 1215 Newstalk ZB, Kaikohe |
| 1224 UNID with Sporting News Flash | |
| + | 1233 R Live, Wellington |
| 1296 Newstalk ZB, Hamilton | |
| 1332 R Sport, Auckland | |
| + | 1341 Newstalk ZB, Nelson |
| + | 1359 Coast, New Plymouth |
| + | 1377 R Sport, Levin |
| 1386 R Tarana, Auckland (superstrong) | |
| + | 1413 Newstalk ZB, Tokoroa |
| 1476 R Trackside, Auckland | |
| + | 1494 Southern Star, Hamilton |
| + | 1503 R Sport, Wellington/Chirstchurch |
| + | 1530 Coast, Napier-Hastings |
| + | 1557 Coast, Hawera |
| 1593 tent. R Samoa, Auckland | |
| 1602 tent. 2XA, Levin |
The signals partially peaked at times when Newstalk ZB had breaks with local commercials. The recordings have been quite thoroughly checked, so it is unlikely that the list would get any longer...
From NA the night 24/25 was an interesting one. No east coast in the evening, but opening directly to Colorado and Idaho, with signals coming in with power from clear daylight. Nothing spectacular listening live, but maybe something in the recordings...Some LA in the morning and later in the day stations fading in and out with fair signals for short periods, mainly west coast again. Almost dead in the afternoon
The best station from NA so far 1240 +KEZY San Bernardino CA. More to come...
HJK Juhani Korhonen and JJK Jari Korhonen
2xPerseus SDR, LEM antennas
24th of October 2009
The band was full of stations the whole night. WKY-930 with La Indomable 930 identifications and many more flooded in to make a good stuff for our HDs. LEM280 should have lasted a day or two more, because we knew an opening towards Oceania was to come at around Oct. 24th-25th, because the previous good opening was on Sept. 27th. You can read the results elsewhere. Every day we made a good try, but K57, Tonga and X-band Aussies were the only result. However, pretty nice week!
23rd of October 2009
KQAQ-970 with a huge signal at around midnite and XEMCA-1090 at 0040. WSAU-550 at 0100 and KXMG-1150 at 0115. But the morning was a dissappointment. The band was quite empty during the day, but short opening gave KRTA-610, KOVO-960 and AK. Tonga-1017 audible at 1000 utc, but nothing else from that direction. Very selective Iran condx in the afternoon (Ardabil on many frequencies and a few others from the same direction, GTRK Dagestan 621 as a bonus). Pretty good signals from the Great Lakes after 2230 utc. Stations like WCMS-1030, WNED-970, WGNZ-1110, WPDR-1350 and WIOU-1350 and a lot more indicated that the conditions were becoming better. KKNZ-760, KRCN-1060 and KMXA-1090 very strong at 2330 utc.
22nd of October 2009
The frequent quest from the earlier dxpeditions, Radio Perú-1320 indicated a storm, but for small periods of time such stations as KTBK-1210 and XEQK-1350 vere noted. The sunrise effect gave SA and PR (WRSJ-1560 and WEGA-1350, the latter with Radio Nueva Victoria 1350 identifications). Guadeloupe also very strong in the morning. Iberian stations and UK and Ireland with nice signals on many frequencies, good reception at 0715 when R5TN had local. Ethiopia-918 at 1615 utc and Radio Gotel-917 at 2200 utc.
21st of October 2009
Not very much to say about the night, WIPR-940 again. The sunrise effect was a dissappointment, La Plata and Great Lakes. The signals became better after 0800, CKDM-730 with a huge signal. KRLD and WNWI-1080 and KTRF-1230 were also noted. At around 2200 utc nice signals from WCFJ-1470, WJDA-1300 and hopefully many, many more from the recordings. WCTS-1030 and WRRD-1510 after 2300.
20th of October 2009
The night was similar to the previous one. WKBN-570 and other stations from OH were noted in the morning. The day was not very good. Some NHK regionals at 1155 better than earlier and later on X-band Aussies. China as usual. Nice signals from WBIX-1060 and WCHP-760 from 2130 utc on, followed by WTVN-610 and some Caribbean stations.
19th of October 2009
Great Lakes and NL were noted quite early, XEUT-1630 at around 0530, 780 Primero de Marzo in the morning, a bit later KYES-1180 very strong, KDIX-1230 again, KKGM-1630, KLSQ-870 with good signals. KGUM-567 at 1200 utc, but nothing else from the Pacific. JJ CC and X-band Aussies. At 2130 nice signals from Newfoundland and at 2200 from PR, WIPR-940 and WQBS-870.
18th of October 2009
The night conditions favored Great Lakes. Some Mexicans were noted in the early morning hours, like XEUVA 1170 and XEDA 1290. Later on during the day stations like KDIX-1230, KDBM-1490 and KOWB-1290 were audible. China as usual, some common Pilipinos and X-band Aussies, too.
17th of October 2009
We arrived to Lemmenjoki at around midday and made the equipment ready for serious DXing.
Usual dominants from the West Coast and AK were noted. Mainland China (Xilingol PBS 1395, Radio 7 1215) from the Asia and weak signals from X-band Aussies (R Italia-1629)
Jari Sinisalo and Martti Karimies
Blog:http://pudxk.blogspot.com/2009_10_01_archive.html
Log:http://www.netikka.net/jsn/LEM279_loki.xls
Summary
Something from our log books ("On the fly"): WLCM-1390, KALL-700, KUTR-820, KZOO-1210, KLHT-1040, WSBB-1230, WFOY-1240, WMMB-1240, WTMA-1250, Japanese utility (maritime) stations on 1649.5 & 1663.5, Rete Italia, Darwin(?)-1611, DZNL-783 (split), WCHP-760, WFIF-1500, KDAL-610, KLSQ-870, WKYW-1490, WTNY-790.
Besides DXing, we've enjoyed culinary cooking and good wines as usual.
Thursday 15.10
NA with nice signals till 07:15 UTC. Then a small disturbance from the sun wiped out all TA-signals. We left Lemmenjoki at 11:00 UTC and drove to Oulu where we stayed the night at JPR's QTH - many thanks JPR for your hospitality! On Friday morning at 04:30 UTC we continued to Vaasa. Martti and I are both very satisfied with the results. There's a lots of work ahead to go thru all the files.
Wednesday 14.10
NA with nice signals from 00:00 UTC. After 05:00 UTC also Andean stations. Later on, stations from TX and the Rocky Mountains area. We spent the whole afternoon in Sevettijärvi area testing a promising, possibly new, QTH. Our main concern was a 20 KV powerline. We were equipped with a laptop, an SDR-IQ and a 900 meters longwire erected almost parallel to the powerline for our testing purposes. Luckily, we didn't detect any electrical "bruises".
During our visit to Sevettijärvi there were quite nice conditions to the Far-East. In the evening nice opening to the Philippines at 20:00 UTC. East Coast NA started at 21:00 with some daytimers.
Tuesday 13.10
Improved NA-conditions: At 04:00 UTC the conditions favoured the Rocky Mountain area. At 07:00 a big swing to the East Coast. In the afternoon an early opening to HI/AK. Unfortunately not as strong as on Sunday.
Monday 12.10
Nice Orinoco opening at local sunrise. Mediocre NA.
Sunday 11.10
Mediocre NA, good MEX-opening in the morning. In the afternoon the best HI/AK-opening I and Martti have ever experienced before - though, not a "brilliant" one. 1330 & 1430 AK were heard. But have not been checked from the recordings.
Saturday 10.10
We (JSN & MKA) arrived to Lemmenjoki on Saturday at 8:30 p.m. UTC. It took about an half and hour when our DX-gear (3 x Perseus, 1 x SDR-IQ) was up and running.
We have enjoyed the great weather here: clear skies, snow some 10 centimetres, temperature in the mornings between -8 to -14 Celcius.
Mika Mäkeläinen and Pertti Äyräs
Blog:http://www.dxing.info/community/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=2594&p=4775#p4775
Report:http://www.dxing.info/dxpeditions/lem278rep.dx
Brazilians were the first to cross the Atlantic around 2200 UTC, but weaker than the previous day. Nighttime conditions were similarly mixed, with Atlantic Canada being consistently strong, and weak outbursts from the La Plata area, Puerto Rico and East Coast North America (catches including Radio Antares from Argentina on 1650 kHz and WKOX Newton MA on 1200 kHz). In the wee hours North American propagation improved, and by dawn there were stations on just about every frequency. Signal strength is currently very good, but there is no apparent focus area. 24 hours to go before leaving….
Thursday, October 8
The night session began on Wednesday evening at 2200 UTC with quite good signals from Brazil, but unfortunately the national “A Voz do Brasil” is aired precisely at that time, so getting station identifications was impossible. After the end of the program, conditions had shifted further southwest, favoring Argentina and Uruguay. Our catches include Rádio Tupinamba, Brazil, on 1120 kHz, and Radio Azul, Argentina, on 1320 kHz. North American stations emerged around 0220 UTC, after which conditions focused on Atlantic Canada, Canadian Prairie and the Pacific Northwest. Cubans were heard after 0500 UTC for a couple of hours, but then conditions to all directions dwindled. Recordings will hopefully reveal something more, especially from South America earlier in the night, but conditions towards North America were still disappointing. In the afternoon, Japanese stations marched in force around 1200 UTC. During the ensuing four-hour Asian session especially Chinese signals were very strong, but once again conditions tended to favor such a large area that finding anything beyond the common dominants is challenging.
Wednesday, October 7
Trans-Atlantic signals emerged gradually after 2300 UTC, with North America dominating after midnight UTC. The signals were fairly strong until around midday, including even stations from the Eastern half of North America. Canadians tended to dominate frequencies, but also some Mexicans were heard. As stations from all over the continent were represented, it was difficult to get any decent signals on the graveyard frequencies, and even elsewhere, frequencies tended to be dominated by the usual suspects. Around sunrise there was a typical opening to the Caribbean, Colombia and Venezuela. It was a pleasant surprise to hear some Alaskan and Hawaiian stations in the afternoon, especially the Hawaiian music played by KKNE Waipahu on 940 kHz, audible past 1600 UTC, although this is of course not a rare station. In the afternoon, I began recording Asian stations at 1220 UTC, and gradually signals grew stronger than on any previous day. However, again everything from Japan to the Persian Gulf seemed to flood the AM band at once. The most common Philippine stations (954, 1062, 1233 and 1314) were noted in the mix. Bjarne Mjelde was simultaneously listening in Norway, and alerted us to New Zealand on 1035 kHz, but not a trace of the station was observed here. How unfair – seems like the border control extends even to the airwaves... Just before surrendering the AM band to Europeans, a few Koreans were identified at 1600 UTC, among them KCBS Wiwon on 719.87 kHz and HLKG Daegu on 738 kHz.
Tuesday, October 6
Newfoundland stations opened the night as usual on Monday evening, followed soon (2230 UTC) by WEGP 1390, and the most common Puerto Rican stations at 2245 UTC. Most North American stations soon disappeared, while a mixture of Latin Americans kept us guessing what to hunt next. North Americans returned gradually around 0100 UTC, and improved until the signals quickly deteriorated around 0530 UTC. The most common West Coast stations remained weak on the dial for hours afterwards. In the early morning signal strength was decent, but conditions favored the same area as before, Minnesota and North Dakota, as well as the Canadian Prairie. There was a short morning opening to Latin America around 0400 UTC. Our best catches include KATL Miles City MT and KKOB Albuquerque NM on 770 kHz, as well as KOOQ North Platte NE on 1410 kHz. In the afternoon, the first Japanese stations opened the Asia session at 1300 UTC, but once again conditions covered such a wide area that finding anything new is challenging. Vietnam easily beat Norway on 630 kHz, which – fortunately – has sounded relatively weak this week. Australian X-band stations were noted at 1500-1600 UTC, but nothing out of the ordinary, or at least not before we get to review our recordings.
Monday, October 5
This night offered pretty good conditions to North America. The first Newfoundland stations were heard around 2200 UTC Sunday, and with nightfall creeping westwards, new stations became audible all the way to the West Coast, where darkness fell around 0200 UTC. Conditions were limited to the upper half of the AM band, but signals were strong and European interference weaker than usual. Graveyard channels began yielding recognizable signals after 0200 UTC. Among the best catches was KTNO University Park TX on 1440 kHz, which probably forgot daytime power on, judging by its monster signal. Overall however Canadian stations were on top of the pile, and such northerly U.S. stations as the new KYES Rockville MN 1180 kHz and KFNW West Fargo ND 1200 kHz were audible for hours. This was the best propagation from North Dakota that I have ever experienced, including such catches as 1370 KWTL and 1450 KZZJ. In the morning, while North American stations remained dominant, there was a very nice opening towards the southern half of South America at about 0415-0500 UTC, with a few other Latin Americans in the mix, and focused luckily on the lower end of the dial. I have never before heard so many Latin American stations on the bottom AM frequencies (including Radio Colonia, Uruguay on 550 kHz). Soon after 0500 UTC signals from all over the Western Hemisphere began to lose steam. The northwestern corner of the U.S. and a handful of dominant stations from elsewhere lingered around past 0600 UTC and didn't fizzle out for hours. It was quite impressive to hear a handful of stations from the Rockies and the West Coast sticking around long into the afternoon, even though signals were weak. A few common Hawaii stations were heard for hours, but nothing new. Later in the afternoon, Japanese stations popped up around 1300 UTC, but conditions soon degenerated into a typical pan-Asian mess with stations from all around – except from Oceania.
Sunday, October 4
The first Newfoundland stations (590, 930, 1210 and 1400 kHz) appeared around 2100 UTC on Saturday evening. A couple of the most common daytime stations were logged tentatively, and reception of trans-Atlantic signals improved gradually. Conditions seemed to favor the East Coast of North America, Ontario, and later in the morning around 0400 UTC, also the Rockies. During all that time, stations from Colombia, Venezuela and Puerto Rico were relatively strong. Latin American signals peaked around 0500 UTC, and especially the lower end of the AM dial offered nice surprises. Our instant catches include Radio Auténtica, Bogotá (540 kHz), ZIZ Radio from St. Kitts (555 kHz), WUNO San Juan PR (630 kHz) and Caracol, Bogotá (810 kHz), but there is bound to be many more. Signals lost power rapidly, but 0600 UTC was still quite good. I turned the receivers off after 0700 UTC, when only a bunch of regular catches, mostly from Canada, remained audible. In the afternoon, a few Alaskan and US West Coast stations appeared when the sun was still high up, but nothing worth listening to. Chinese stations became audible around 1230 UTC, earlier than the previous day. Signals from Asia were overall very strong, but conditions were spread over such a large area that finding new stations is going to be a challenge. Again no coveted Aussies, except for a few weak X-band stations.
Saturday, October 3
We arrived in Lemmenjoki early enough to get first recordings running by 1400 UTC, when the first Far East stations were starting to push through the noise. Conditions improved a bit by 1500 UTC, but were still very wide, so everything from Japan to India was found on the dial. The 1600 UTC top-of-the hour was best, and conditions favored China, Indo-China and India. Bangladesh on 693 kHz had a booming signal. No sign of any Aussies despite frantic scanning of the X-band for any signs of life.
Håkan Sundman (HS) and Jim Solatie (JMS)
These past six days have been amazing! Every day something spectacular. Today Cuba, yesterday Puerto Rico, the day before Australia and before that China. North Americans are daily guests, too, this morning being the best so far. It is unbelievable how strong these distant signals are during the morning and evening hours.
Here are some loggings from Online Log:
| Asia | |||
| 1386 | 29.9. | 1602- | AFG: Paktin Voice Radio, Barmal. These last two evenings have been loaded with stations from India and Iran. Nice change, since no-one likes to listen to Australia every evening ;) At this time Paktin Voice was spelling their email address in clear English. And they sent a nice verification back the next morning: dear jim hope to be well and happy, we are sooooooo happy that heard you listened and heard paktinvoice radio there in findland. that is so great. the paktinvoice radio stuff thanks from you that you have given information to us about the radio. - kareem deputy director. |
| Oceania | |||
| 576 | 27.9. | 1530- | AUS: 2RN ABC Radio National, Sydney. Super signal for 45 minutes! | 702 | 27.9. | 1600- | AUS: 2BL ABC Sydney, Sydney. "ABC Sydney". Local break after the news with a weather report to Sydney, followed by Overnight. | 711 | 27.9. | 1550- | + AUS: 4QW ABC Western Queensland, St. George, QLD. ABC Local Radio programme. | 873 | 27.9. | 1530- | + AUS: 2GB 873 The Talk of Sydney, Sydney. "873 2GB". After sending them an email, it took just 10 minutes before they called us back and soon we were live on the air. We were talking about the reception quality and long antennas of course, but also about world's greatest lovers. They had just published a study and Finland was not in Top 10, but luckily not among the worst 10 nations either. It was a surprise for the host, since Finnish men have - as he did just hear - such long antennas ;). | 954 | 27.9. | 1540- | + AUS: 2UE NewsTalk 954, Sydney. Dream Aussie conditions, over 20 mediumwave Aussies heard this evening ... plus the x-band! 2UE had a huge signal during this commercial break. A minute after AIR Najibabad took over the frequency. | 1017 | 27.9. | 1530- | + AUS: 2KY Sky Sports Radio, Sydney. Audible for 40 minutes with a strong signal. | 1341 | 27.9. | 1540- | + AUS: 2HH Sky Sports Radio, Newcastle. Different programme from 1017. Lots of local commercials between the sports results. Faded away around 1620 utc, being perhaps one of the last audible Aussies during these conditions. However, we have just checked those frequencies which we heard live during the opening. Some 100 other frequencies remain to be checked later. | 1431 | 27.9. | 1545- | + AUS: 2RN ABC Radio National, Wollongong, NSW. Simulcasting 576 kHz. Signal strength like a local station. | 1530 | 27.9. | 1540- | + AUS: 2VM 1530 AM, Moree, NSW. Jilinzhi Kuaile Guangbo and AFKN were dominating the frequency, but 2VM got two chances: first with a commercial block (two local Moree companies were advertised) and a bit later the second fade-up with a programme announcement between the songs. I just realized that we have spent almost 250 days in Lemmenjoki this decade. Four times have we had a short Aussie opening. So this is not so easy. | 1656 | 25.9. | 1630- | + AUS: Radio Voice of Australian Chinese, Brisbane. |
| North America | 1130 | 30.9. | 0400- | USA: KWKH Shreveport, LA. Much stronger than all semilocal stations! "The Home of the Legends, AM 11-30 KWKH". |
| Central America | 630 | 30.9. | 0430- | CUB: Radio Progreso, Pinar del Rio. Wow! So many new Cubans this morning! | 810 | 29.9. | 0445- | PRT: WKVM Radio Paz 8-10, San Juan. Where was BBC Radio Scotland? This 30-minute CA/Orinoco-opening was out-of-this-world! "Radio Paz 8-10" had a reception quality which normally belongs to Scotland. Under Paz there were no BBC, but Caracol. |
We will leave Lemmenjoki tomorrow and continue directly to Southern France to visit MIPCOM, the annual tv-festival. Good bye to all our reindeer friends. We will meet again in six weeks.
We wish a great dx-expedition to LEM278!
Håkan Sundman and Jim Solatie
Greetings from Lemmenjoki,
A new AM-season has started. We (Hakan Sundman and Jim Solatie) arrived Lemmenjoki on Thursday evening and started immediately a massive antenna work. Our twelve 1000-meter beverage antennas were in quite good shape, but of course there is always a lot to do: fallen trees, new grounding resistors (päätevastukset), splitters etc. However, since this is our 10th season start, everything goes more or less like a routine.
Conditions have been wonderful so far. Very good La Plata, quite good NA, excellent Asia and exceptional Australia. Today, the 27th September we heard over 30 mediumwave Aussies! Perhaps the best dx-hour ever in our lives, and most likely nothing can beat this ever. So definitely a turning point in our dx-career.
Loggings can be found at Onlinelog. Not much yet though, since current dxing is more like managing hardware and recordings. You need to be very careful to have the right antenna switched on, amplifiers in right position and hard discs running smoothly. Stations themselves will emerge from the hard discs during the next 12 months (or 12 years or ...).
Best 73
Hakan and Jim