Loggings from January (so far) from Dunlo, PA, USA

[Dave Valko]

Before I get to the loggings, I want to apologize for these being a little late. I've been so busy trying to catch up on everything, I just haven't had the time to post any loggings. When I bought the Perseus, I knew finding time to listen to all the signals would be a problem. And it is!!! It takes a lot of time to sit down and re-tune/listen to all the stations!! Here's what I have for January so far. I wasn't able to get out to the remote site to listen for a couple weeks (someone broke the back window out of my Jeep one night!!). So my loggings are a bit sparse on detail. Here we go...

1 JANUARY 2012: A little audio on LHH 4015, nothing on 6970, and a weak carrier on 6385.3 Grutte Pier when I got out of bed at 0555. No sign of Bila Hora either. So I was hesitant to go out. Not only that but New Years Day has been known to be an inactive day for Europirates. But I had to go out to listen anyway. Conditions were indeed poor. Large area of 6 mhz MUF between UK and Iceland at the start. Had a pickup in the conditions though from 0735-0800, but then tailed off. Seemed like only Grutte Pier the only station to improve during that time. LHH didn't improve.

RX: Microtelecom Perseus SDR with ARR preamp.
ANT: 315' Beverage (BOG) at 50°, changed to 350° at 1045.
QTH: Pennsylvania State Game Lands #26
Duration: 0645-1235 UTC
Solar Indices: Solar Flux = 133 A Index = 3 K Index = 1 1 R1 radio blackout. X-Ray Flux was B3.
WX: Cloudy and damp. Stars came out at 0915. Low 30's.

4015 LHH 0659 very short anmnt between songs. Sounded like a Soul song. 0708 more song anmnts. "...here on Laser Hot Hits....Laser...frequency...". Weak and fady. (1 Jan.)

5820.02 Orion R. Instru. March-like Polka, Percy Faith opening, 0806:40 live greetings, ID, Happy New Year, 2012, greetings to Saxonia and Erin Winter. 0809 New Years song by Abba. Later, 0955 "Rock Around the Clock" by Bill and the Comets. Voice-over anmnts by John at 0958. Off the air at 1000:02. (1 Jan.)

6205.18 R. Star Signal w/OC at 0757. 0800-0804 opening theme from "DX Partyline", then more Classical mx. 0811 next song. W w/prob. ID 0815:20, then more Classical mx. Massive signal at 0833. Oldie C&W mx at 0906. Nice ID at 0906:50. Tlk abt "6-2 double 0". Still quite good at 1000 w/ID and report request to mailing addr in the Netherlands, e-mail addr, and phone. Weakening by 1015 w/slop-over QRM from 6195. (1 Jan.)

6219.96 R. Merlin Int. OC at 0841. Still no audio by 0850. Now getting some mx at 0905. Nonstop Oldies at 0911 peak, and after. Live version of "Michelle" by The Beatles at 0918. 0921;50 M anncr in UK sounding accent. 0922:55 more anmnts. 0924:30 voice-over w/RMI ID. Laser shooting SFX. 0930 "We Gotta Get Out of this Place" Animals. 1005:15 heard ment of R. Caroline. Some SSB QRM. (1 Jan.)

6300.08 R. Altrex Moved again down here at 0849:12. Got a little better shortly thereafter and heard Dance beat at 0850. Getting SSB QRM after 0852. Anmnt at 0902 and recognized his voice but couldn't copy. Slowly drifted down to 6299.95 by 1024. (1 Jan.)

6301.06 R. Altrex Moved down here at 0842:47 obviously realizing Skyline R. Germany was just above. (1 Jan.)

6302.04 R. Altrex Signal showing up here at 0835:03. Sounded like mx started at 0838. Moved down to 6301.06 at 0842:47. This and 6307 about equal. Right at threshold. Too bad Altrex wasn't on an hour earlier. (1 Jan.)

6307.05 Skyline R. Germany Signal here right from the start of the recording at 0712, but thought it was just a rogue signal. Definitely some mx after 0726. 0729 diabolical organ mx and dramatic mx, along w/occas. tlk w/echo in a threatening tone. Sounded like something that should have been at Halloween. Peaking nicely 0731-0732 then faded. 0735 Superman theme, then Bells tolling. Live M w/voice-over anmnts for 3 minutes starting at 0735:55 but couldn't copy. Ment of e-mail at 0738:30. Sounded like Punk mx at 0746. Brief anmnts at 0748:50. Appeared to be Heavy Metal at 0820. 0823:05 live M anncr again, and 0824:25. Couple jingles at 0826:40. Weak and only getting audio on peak. M anncr 0831:20 peaking briefly and plainly audible at 0831:40. SSB QRM after 0834. Faded badly then, but still showing in the display when I stopped recording at 1024. ID per Ricks blog. (1 Jan.)

6385.27 R. Grutte Pier Techno Dance-like mx at 0712. Peaking w"Save a Prayer" by Duran Duran at 0736 (bass in drums at the end were really prominent). 0741:35 canned ID and into next song. Peaking nicely at 0744. Lively instru. 0746. 0748:45 another canned jingle. Nice peak 0751.05. Still getting some mx at 0925. Still going at 1002 but no real audio to speak of. Still visible at 1021. (1 Jan.)

6920 R. Geronimo SW Saw a very small signal here at 0920 but not before. A little stronger w/unreadable tlk by W at 0933. M anncr just barely aidible at 0936, and again at 1021. (1 Jan.)

6930 Irish Music R. Very weak and just strains of mx at 0904 peaks. Getting some mx at 0949. M anncr briefly 0950:20, then jingle w/electronic voice, live M briefly again, and back to mx. 1008:55 M anncr w/ment of radio. 1020:45 ID jingle. (1 Jan.)

6970 LHH A very weak signal at 0716 and almost no audio. 0847 canned greeting by W "...Laser Hot Hits wishes you a very Merry Christmas", then into "Christmas Wrapping" by The Waitresses. A little stronger by 0900. Usual guys in SP in SSB QRM at 0948. "Do You Hear What I Hear" Christmas song at 1008. 1010 jingle and live M, into "Step Into Christmas" by Elton John at 1013. (1 Jan.)

7599.78 R. Star 1025 Unrecog. Pop song. 1026:50 song anmnts then general chatter. //6205.18. RTTY QRM from below. Must be using the same transmitting facilities as FRSH. (1 Jan.)

9480 MV Baltic R. 1042 Rock mx. 1043:20 brief M anmnt. Apparent co-channel CNR and slop-over QRM. (1 Jan.)

12257.07 WR Int. 1034 just a quick peak and heard M anncr very briefly. Mostly in the noise floor. 1035 again peak and heard M anncr and into mx. Not peaking long enough to copy anmnts or recog. song. Very very fady of course. (1 Jan.)

3795L Euro Ham Pirate 2141+ kept starting Pop Dance songs, stopping them, then starting another. Played "Barbie Girl" at 2146 (see Passport external drive) Fairly decent and steady signal. No QRM. Guys in Iann's chat were hearing it. Guys said anmnts in either DT or IT at around 2153. 2156 "Bad Boys". There was another stn responding w/recorded message complaining about Hams playing mx or something. Then ID 2205:55 starting with "International Amateur Radio Union". Mx stn came back on at 2214. (7 Jan.)

8 JANUARY 2012: 4015 LHH audible enough to recognize songs at 0605. A little signal with slight audio on 6970. Was geting a lot more static crashes at the SGLs than at home. Seemed like Summertime conditions!! Overall it was sub-par. There was a 6 mhz MUF between UK and Iceland.

RX: Microtelecom Perseus SDR with ARR preamp.
ANT: 315' Beverage (BOG) at 50°.
QTH: Pennsylvania State Game Lands #26
Duration: 0650-1020 UTC
Solar Indices: Solar Flux = 141 A Index = 5 K Index = 2 No storms. X-Ray Flux = B6
WX: Partly to mostly cloudy. Bright with near full Moon. Upper 20’s.


4015 LHH Had songs by Neil Sedaka and Paul McCartney (both 1976) at home. End of song at 0656 and M anncr w/song anmnts. Sounded like David Bowie. Song anmnt and jingle and more anmnts at 0700. Usual carrier on 4016 was causing a het QRM. (8 Jan.)

5820.03 Orion R. 0757 usual 'Om-pah' Polka. 0800 canned ID and into Percy Faith. 0807 nice voice-over ID anmnt w/freq and greeting to listener, Saxonia, Achim. More anmnts at 0819 but getting some SSB QRM at this time. Still readable w/Dutch Polka-sounding song at 1001. Canned ID at 1007, then the Mi Amigo song and voice-over by John. Signal still there at 1018. Even a little mx at 1020. Little spike still there as I was about to shut off the computer. (8 Jan.)

5835.03 R. Thunderbird Signal on at 0839:03. Could only get wisps of audio. More audible on rare peaks, but just too weak. Too noisy too. Machine gun UTE clobbered it at times. Went off at 0946:48. (8 Jan.)

6200 R. Orang Utan 0703 Pepperbox instru. "Don"t Dream, Its Over" at 0713 then live anmnst at 0713.:25. Morning greetings. "...R. Orang Utan of the Netherlands...". "Proud Mary" by CCR at 0719. Decent peak at 0721. 0727:10 jingle ID, then live anmnts at 0728:10 including SMS number. Bee Gees at 0731. More anmnts at 0734:20. 0826 "Takes My Breath Away". Very fady. (8 Jan.)

6254.6 R. Saxonia?? Came on at 0905:13. Way too weak but definitely there. Sync just barely able to lock on at peaks. UTEs above at 6257 were causing QRM. Still on at 1005 but couldn't see it after that. (8 Jan.)

6282 R. Shadow Came on the air at 0737:04. Mx started at 0744. Poss. jingle 0749. Seemed like some songs were modulated more than others. Definite canned anmnt jingle at 0845 but imposs. to copy. 0930 still on w/strains of audio. QRM from pulsing UTE on 6281 abt every 30 seconds. Static crashes were tough on weaker signals like this one this morning. (8 Jan.)

6300.66 R. Bonofox On the air at 0916:06, and mx started at 0916:40. Just a little stronger than R. Shadow. Strong enough to recog. the song at 0924 but didn't. Finally short anmnt at 0934, followed by canned anmnt "...thank you for listening...". Possibly more anmnts at 0946. Still there at 0955 but no better. Went off at 1015:35. (8 Jan.)

6302.14 R. Altrex Signal here w/mx at 0744. 0747 "Born on the Bayou" by CCR. 0751:40 live anmnts w/many greetings in general and to individuals. 0753:20 ID and ment of 2011 and "hope you like the program" and another nice clear ID and said was closing down. "...its quite early...almost 9 o'clock here...This is Altrex from the land of Peace...". Voice audio had a good punch to it. Best I've heard Altrex in a long time. (8 Jan.)

6305 Something here at 1015 for a minute or so. Maybe someone tuning up?? (8 Jan.)

6308 R. Fox 48 Came on the air at 0906:35. Instru. Polka started at 0908:45, followed by a Rock Pop-like song, then another instru. Polka. 0919:00 very brief muffled voice-over anmnt which was plenty strong but couldn't copy. 0920:10 another short GM sounding anmnt, but again no ID heard. Just a mention of "morgen". Continued Polka's. 0928:15 M anncr w/just a couple unreadable words due to static crashes and went off at 0928:35. (8 Jan.)

6310.07 Old Time R. Huge signal came on at 0801:14. Dutch song started at 0804:20, followed by a Polka, then a few more Dutch songs. 0819 "Stop Playing Games With My Heart" by The Backstreet Boys, and off at 0821:48 near the end of the song then reappeared on 6315 (see below). (8 Jan.)

6315 Old Time R. Signal turned up here at 0822:20 w/continuation of Backstreet Boys song followed by peppy Dutch song and another. 0826-0831 Pop Dance song. 0831:00 - 0832:00 Sounded like a Dutch version of the Eddie Rabbit song "Driving My Life Away" w/voice-over canned ID anmnt in echo by M starting with "Old Timer R.". Couldn't copy the rest. Into nice instru. Polka and couple more to 0840. 0840 slow song w/mostly talking instead of singing. 0843 Polka, then Dutch song at 0845. Went off in mid-song at 0901:41. Enjoyable music. Unfortunately the UTE on 6317 was somewhat of a problem. Had to narrow the bandwidth and use the passband to avoid it. (8 Jan.)

6324.65 R. Zeewolf Signal on the air at 0936:55. Mx started at 0940:08. Seemed a bit undermodulated. 0954:43 - 0956:25 live M w/voice-over anncr "Good morning from Zeewolf Radio...frequency…reception…". Couldn't copy anything else because of the static crashes. A little too weak and undermodulated to tell what kind of mx was played. Faded but was still there at 1020 when I quit. Was hearing a M in EG at 1012 but turned out to be a spur or image on 6325. (8 Jan.)

6384.97 UNID Signal came on at 0840:45. Started at 0842:15 w/pleasant Dutch song. Seemed like all nonstop Dutch songs. 0856 " El Paso". 0904:55 sounded like jingle. More of the same mx. Gradually fading. The signal was still visible though when I stopped at 1020. (8 Jan.)

6322.11 R. Grutte Pier On the air at 0751:12, and mx start at 0752:55. Fairly strong at this time, and really nice at 0755 peak. Couple instru. Dutch and Polka's. Weakened some and UTE above was taking over. There was also an intermittant UTE right on this freq too. Some really nasty SSB traffic on 6420U from 0822-0839 wiped out the signal. Went off at 0925:48. A really bad freq with all the UTEs around. (8 Jan.)

6450 R. Universe Came on the air at 0833:42 and Pop mx started at 0835:10. Anmnt at 0851 w/e-mail addr repeated and possible ment of freq before. More anmnts at 0903. Mx right at the threshold of recognizibility. Anmnt again at 0935:55 but too weak to copy for the most part, but did hear ID at 0938:50. Was still on the air at 1020. (8 Jan.)

6930.02 Irish Music R. Couldn't tell exactly when this came on but it was audible as early as 0845. Looked like there was a little spike of a signal as early as 0815. Current Dance mx on peak at 0847. 0849 live anmnt "...real funky music there...we're going to party all night and sleep all day....Irish Music Radio". 0852 song anmnts, jingle, more anmnt briefly, then more mx. 0903 end of song, song anmnts w/"IMR" ID by live M, then back to mx. Mx at 1017. (8 Jan.)

6970 LHH Weak signal and almost no audio to speak of at 0708. Nothing at all at 0830. Finally some tlk at 0901, and jingle ID at 0902, and back to mx. A little tlk at 1017 check. Too weak to copy. (8 Jan.)

Got a really sharp e-QSL out of the blue from R. Mordor and didn’t even send a report, yet. He saw my report from Christmas in The International Free Radio Board and sent me a QSL saying I was his first American to hear him!! Was in QSO with Spaceshuttle. Tnx!!!! (10 Jan.)

14 JANUARY, SATURDAY MORNING SESSION: Did some listening for the Global Pirate HF Weekend this morning. A bunch of stations backed out but did manage to hear R. Shadow with a nice signal for a short time.

Solar Flux = 124, A Index = 6, K Index = 1 No storms So conditions weren’t very good for the upper freqs.

15235U R. Shadow 1232 mx coming through. Really nice at 1244 w/"Party Doll" when attenuator was off on Perseus and using the T2FD, then nice ID at 1245. Another oldie “Talk to Much” 1245-1248. 1248 "Great Balls of Fire". 1250:05 canned W in echo "This is R. Shadow on Shortwave", then Johnny B Goode". Played Buddy Holly "That'll Be the Day" at 1253 as my request. "Blue Swede Shoes" at 1255. (14 Jan.)

21460 R. Black Arrow Went on at 1257 for one song and did hear it briefly. Weak. (14 Jan.)

15515 R. Borderhunter 1302 s/on w/many jingles and ID jingles. 1314 "Born in the USA". 1347 nice ID over "I Can't Get No Satisfaction" by Rolling Stones, then acknowledged listener in the chat, then another nice ID ment of 19mb and "Secret Sounds" and into "Jump" by Van Halen. Jingles at 1403 and off. (14 Jan.)

15100 R. Black Bird 1340 weak signal and just a little spike coming up from time to time. A little mx at 1343. Anmnt at 1344 confirmed by the op. in Iann's chat. (14 Jan.)

15083U R. Fox 48 Getting a little mx finally at around 1307. Some wailing Rock mx at 1316. (14 Jan.)

21480 R. Borderhunter 1234 just a weak signal and some mx at times. (14 Jan.)

6420 Black Bandit R. Polka at 2201, then old C&W song. 2206 live ID and throat clearing. 2221 more anmnts w/ID, greetings to listeners. More anmnts at 2226. Pulled the plug at 2234:15. (21 Jan.)

6295.08 Cupid R. Anmnts at 2201. 2210 het from stn on 6296.41 which was effectively notched out. Anmnts at 2215 w/greetings and messages to listeners on the chat, then just hammered by the UTEs here. Pink Floyds "Wish You Were Here" at 2222. 2229 anmnt mentioning 6290, then changed freqs to 6290 because of everyone having UTE QRM. (21 Jan.)

6291.37 UNID. 2202 "Have You Ever Seen the Rain" by CCR. 2206-2208 "Sweet Hichhiker" by CCR. 2209-2213 "Radar Love". "Squonky" in Iann's chat said AC/DC at 2214. 2215 moved down to 6289.4 for 10 seconds, then continued down to 6286.49 playing AC/DC all the while. 2216:25 anncr but just couldn't copy. Again at 2217:05 ending with "Hello". Then went off at 2217:25. (21 Jan.)

6525.2 UNID. The guys in the chat were hearing something here too. I had a weak carrier, definitely there, but no chance at all. Went off at 2202:52. (21 Jan.)

6296.42 UNID. Came on the air at 2206:40. Definitely mx. UTEs blasted it often. Jumped (not moved) down to 6295.37 at 2226:50. Anmnts at 2227:50. Thought hrd ment of Mazda several times. Anmnts again briefly at 2230:10, then the UTEs just destroyed it. Finally clear at 2234 w/80's Rock. 2236:20 anmnts but tlking to fast to just couldn't copy. A few more words at 2237:35, then UTE came back of course and wiped it out. Gone then at 2238. Terry thought Paardenkracht. (21 Jan.)

6290 Cupid R. There were UTEs here too but not nearly as bad. Anmnts at 2232 at 2240. Anmnts and canned ID. Still going at 2250. Rinus said 700 watts. Didn't seem as strong as usual. (21 Jan.)

When I checked upon waking at 0600, there was no 6970 LHH, but it was audible on 4015. Nothing else noted. Conditions seemed somewhat poor. Since it didn't seem all that good, and the weather was clear and only about 8 or 9 degrees F. outside, I decided to stay in and record with the Perseus. (22 Jan.)

Solar Flux = 142, A Index = 6, K Index = 1 No storms. X-Ray Flux was B4. There was a sudden large spike that occurred around 0300 but was settling back down. The MUF was 6 from the middle of the UK to the middle of Iceland. Actually the lowest its been all week. The Auroral zone was very thin. (22 Jan.)

6206.35 R. Orang Utan 0722 M anncr then back to mx. 0753 canned jingle. Right at threshold audio, but strong enough to recog. songs on very short peaks which was rare. Went off early at 0847:18. "arctic chicken' in the chat said Orang Utan. (22 Jan.)

6150 R. 6150 Hearing it the whole time. Using a 1-2 minute test loop. Anmnts by M w/occas. mx bridge. Could hear ments of QSL, freq, and poss. mailing addr. 0730 ment of 6-1-5-0, QSL with possible e-mail address and at 0730:25 finally an official ID "This is R. 6-1-5-0...". Was best at 0730. Not 100% sure but it sounded like the loop ended at 0758. Seemed like the loop started at these times; 0719:55 0726:40, 0728:50, 0731:00. (22 Jan.)

6198 Signal here at 0805 (22 Jan.)

5820.04 Orion Radio Signal on at 0757:53. Polka briefly at 0800, then Percy Faith. Canned ID, then mx start. 0805 "Venus" by Shocking Blue. 0808 SSB traffic QRM. Instru. mx and John w/opening anmnts, ID, greetings, e-mail acknowledgements, ment Saxonia going on. Into CCR. 0813 canned ID. More live anmnts at 0817 acknowledging an e-mail, and ment of Saxonia again. Fortunately the guys ended their SSB conversation at this time, but they did come back about 5 minutes later. The machine gun UTE started firing up around the freq too. Dropped off to basically nothing by 0900. Looked like he was still on to at least 1020. (22 Jan.)

6005 Radio Gloria via Radio 700 No sign of this at all. Not even a carrier. (22 Jan.)

6160 R. Malaisy No chance for this with the Canadian(s) there. (22 Jan.)

6254 R. Shoreline Looked like the signal came on at 0808:25. Getting some local noise here swallowing up the signal after 0825. (22 Jan.)

6254.6 UNID. No chance with the local noise here. (22 Jan.)

6260.13 RWBI On the air at 0816:25 starting out on 6260.13. Right in the upper edge of the noise. SSB traffic QRM after 0830 to 0839. Strains of mx at 0840 and 0842. Sounded like M anncr at 0842:55. Seemed best at 0843:25. Went off at 0918:30. (22 Jan.)

6261.9 Wizard Radio Came on the air at 0952:00. 6261.95 at 1012, drifted back down 30 hz, then lost by 1020. Way too weak and too late. (22 Jan.)

6282 Radio Shadow Came on at 0729:40. Almost strong enough for audio on a peak at 0800. Still rising out out of the noise occasionally at 0940, but that was all. (22 Jan.)

6288.9 UNID. Nothing (22 Jan.)

6292 R. Scotland Int. On at 0954:39. Too weak for audio. Went off for a short time at 1001 and 1009. Looked like he went off for good at 1022:20. Oddly weaker than he is usually. Testing a lower powered xmtr?? (22 Jan.)

6298 UNID. Looked like there was a signal jumping above the noise floor at 1115 but can't be 100% sure. (22 Jan.)

6304.79 Radio Merlin Int. 0832 Signal on the air at 0820:37. Pgm started 0828. Canned jingles at 0829. Mx then. CW QRM at 0835. 0840 live M anmnts w/poss. ment of Merlin and "today". Back to mx. Last seen at 1040. One of the stronger signals, and it was quite poor. (22 Jan.)

6319.94 UNID. On the air at 0841:05. Off at 0843:50. Showed up on 6324:93 at 0846:38. Had the exact same signal visual signature and strength as 6319.94. So had to be the same stn. Possibly some extremely weak mx. At 0855:45, moved up to 6325.04. Went off at 0904:40. Plenty strong enough. (22 Jan.)

6319.7 R. Bohemia Int. No sign of this. (22 Jan.)

6319.7 R. Caroline Int. Of course no sign of this either. (22 Jan.)

6325 R. Pluto Nothing. (22 Jan.)

6395.88 Elvis AM A signal came on 6395.88 at 0934:45. Drifted down 30 hz by 1000. Extremely weak. Don't know if this was Elvis AM. (22 Jan.)

6422.09 Radio Grutte Pier Guess it was this here with a signal coming on at 0856:15. Looked like it was still peaking at 1020. Impossible as it was too weak and getting slammed from the Massive UTE above. (22 Jan.)

6474v R. Pionier Came on at 0829:07 on 6474.29 and drifted down to 6473.88 in just 5 minutes and 6373.76 by sign off. Strains of audio. Possibly anmnt at 0838. Went off at 0840:49. Short xmsn. (22 Jan.)

6525 Unid. Had local noise wandering back and forth across this freq so no chance to hear anything. (22 Jan.)

6920 Unid. Nothing heard here. (22 Jan.)

6930.03 Irish Music Radio Had the local wandering noise here as well but could see the signal come on at 0820:22. There may have been some audio on peaks and when the noise moved away. Could still see the signal at 1129. Drifted down a little and settled on 6930.03. (22 Jan.)

6970 Laser Hot Hits Very weak inaudible signal at 0717. Getting a little wisp's of audio at 0823. Definite anmnt at 0827. Strains of mx after that till it started fading again at 0840. SSB traffic here after 0900. (22 Jan.)

[JoJo]

Hello Dave,

thanks for the logs. I understand you are bussy, it looks like the days get shorter and shorter. Her also less time for everything, but I will write you soon.
cheers, John

[Altrex]

Hello Dave,

Many thanks for your radio report. Good to read you did copy Altrex
better as long before. Hope it will be better the comming weeks in 2012.

Have a good listening,

greatings,

Altrex

[Zeewolf]

Hello Dave,

Thank you very much for your logging of Radio Zeewolf Int.
I hope that you receive me again in the coming weeks.

All the best,
Herman.