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Tekijä: JMN

35 vuotias humanistinretale. Kädetön kaikessa mikä liittyy tekniikkaan, mutta innostus sitäkin suurempi. Erehtymällä oppii ja yrittämällä kuulee.

QSLs of the month – June, July, August, September

Published 08.10.2016 by JMN

Backlog with these QSLs of the month, but here are some examples of recent replies from radio stations, which I could nominate as ”QSL of the month”. Of course almost every received QSL does make my day, but these selected QSLs are verifying a rare catch, they are filling all the criteria of a perfect QSL with every single detail marked on it, they arrive by snail mail which is pretty rare nowadays – or simply they are more than an oneliner ”Yes that’s us” -message.

June – Galgalatz 91.8 MHz Israel

galgalatz-qsl

July – VMW Wiluna WA 6230 kHz Australia

vmw-qsl

August – Svitle Radio Emmanuel 67.82 MHz Ukraine

svitle-radio-emmanuel-qsl

September – Radio Punto Zero Tre Venezie Tarvisio.Fm 90.1 MHz Italy

rpz-qsl

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Total 400 logs for FMDX season 2016

Published 04.09.2016 by JMN

The end of August brought some ES stations and the number of logs reach 400 total. More than 100 of those stations are new-for-me, so the season can be considered a good one (using only one receiver, no SDR). Magical Tropo Day 26 August will be written in Finnish FMDX History – guys on Southern Coast heard numerous new countries! Czech Republic is not common catch but it all started with nice regional stations caught by many listeners in South and South-Western Finland. Soon they got Austria (many transmitters), Slovenia 88.5 by MB and in the end Croatia (Zagreb and Ivanscica transmitters!). The new Finnish tropo record is 1691 km by JJJ Mynämäki. Congratulations to everyone! Also Slovakia was heard for the first time by ducting. Other logged countries were Belarus, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Russia and Sweden. HNG, KAL, NOR and UKR have been heard earlier in Finland by tropo, but those countries were not logged that day. Now total is 23 heard countries by Tropo. Unfortunately these conditions didn’t reach inner Finland, so the longest was Suwalki 105.5 from here.

On Sunday 28 Aug ES season was completed with nice OIRT opening, mostly to Kirov and Perm. Surprisingly Radio Rossii stations have regional window till 0800 UTC on sunday mornings. Regional programs were on air already at 0730, possibly they started at 0710 UTC.

total 400 logs

Based on total number of my personal QSLs, some statistics on ”most important countries and languages for FMDXer”

1. Russia (110 QSLs)
2. Germany 67
3. Italy 65
4. France 39
5. Czech Republic 37
6. UK 35+3
7. Ukraine 29
8. Romania 27
9. Serbia 22
10. Sweden 22

If we look at the map, the result can be explained geographically. Bigger the country is, more conditions will be favorable to this area. Only CZE and SRB are smaller countries among the list, probably stating that those countries have a relatively good number of local stations to listen to..

FM season seems to be closing, it is time to concentrate on AM – especially TA signals. Lattemiele played a song (23082016) that suits pretty well for this time of year.

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July-August 2016

Published 22.08.2016 by JMN

Although June was not a perfect FMDX month, then July was a total flop. Fortunately August has been a bit more active so far..

FMDX 07 and 08-2016

The evenings are getting darker and the interest turns to AM. Some nice TA-catches on 49 mb in the mornings, no reason to forget Iberian peninsula and it’s numerous MW stations and of course (listening) free radio will be fun, in case there is no tropospheric ducting.

The holiday season will finish in Central Europe, so it is time to send some FM-reports again. The goal is to have 100 FM QSL’s for this season  – 25 to go!

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Viisi syytä kuunnella meteoreja

Published 15.08.2016 by JMN

Moni voi kysyä, mitä järkeä on metsästää asemia lyhytkestoisilla heijastuksilla, joista valtaosa on sekunnin mittaisia minipingejä ja pisimmätkin harvoin kestävät edes 10 sekuntia. Onkin totta, että jos DX-kuuntelu muutenkin on hieman erikoisten ihmisten hommaa ja FM-kuuntelu vaatii jo eräänlaista tärähtämistä niin me meteorikuuntelijat vasta outolintuja olemme omiemmekin joukossa. Mutta mitäpä tuosta, top 5 audiotiisereineen!

Syy 1: Meteori”keli” on pääsääntöisesti ennustettavissa. Siinä missä satunnainen E tulee milloin huvittaa, meteorit voi katsoa kalenterista ja kompassista. ”Pääsääntöisesti” siksi, että on noita ollut floppejakin, jossa maksimi on jäänyt hyvin vaisuksi. Ennustettavuudesta esimerkkinä RBB Fritz kuului Soundgarten ohjelmallaan vain 15 minuutin kytistelyn jälkeen.

Syy 2: Asemavalikoima on erilainen. Meteorilla voi kuulla sellaisia asemia, jotka ovat tropolle turhan kaukana ja sporadiselle E-kerroksen heijastumalle vähän liian likellä. Ionisaatio on harvoin niin voimakasta, että alle 1500 km skippi jaksaisi taittaa yli 100 MHz taajuuksia ja se tuntuu menevän sitä hankalemmaksi mitä lyhyempi hyppy on kyseessä. Vastaavasti yli 1000 km jälkeen tropokin muuttuu haastavemmaksi. Meteoreilla voi siis täydentää tuota hankalaa kelityyppien rajapintaa, erityisesti valitsemalla monitoroinnin kohteeksi taajuuden, jolla on jotain mielenkiintoista kuultavaakin. Lähes joka kiviltä jää muutama itselleni uusi asema plakkariin. BB Radion olen toistaiseksi onnistunut kuulemaan vain MS-kelityypillä (1303 km)!

Syy 3: Myös pienet tehot ovat mahdollisia! Vaikka varmasti yli 90% meteoriasemista onkin teholuokassa 30-100 kW, aina sieltä seasta pienitehoisempiakin nousee idille. Perseideillä esimerkiksi 3 kW tehoinen Deutschlandfunk idasi taajuudella 88.7 MHz. Ennen pitkää se 3 kW lähettimestä kantautuva signaali kuuluu harvinaiselle kaupalliselle pikkuasemalle. Eikä DLF suinkaan ollut ainoa, tämä 4 kW tehoinen mylly kuului tehoonsa nähden varsin kirkkaasti.

Syy 4: Myös pitkäkestoiset pingit ovat mahdollisia! Vaikka suurin osa pingeistä onkin tuhottoman lyhyitä audiosta tunnistamista ajatellen, joka sateella tulee useita 3-5 minuutin pituisia heijastumia. Etenkin laajakaistatallentajille ne ovat nannaa ja mato-ongellakin osuu useimmiten mukavia asemia. MP3: BBC Radio 2 + NRK P1 88.7 MHz 3:30 min

Syy 5: Meteoribongaus onnistuu pilviselläkin säällä. Yhtäkään perseidiä en nähnyt paljaalla silmällä yrityksistä huolimatta, mutta radion kautta kuulin (ja näytöllä näin) niitä satoja.

meteoriidit
Kuuden vuoden aikana meteorihavaintoja on kertynyt jo sen verran, että rohkenen esittää jonkinlaista ”statistiikkaa” empiiristen havaintojen perusteella. Jotta meteorikuuntelu olisi mahdollisimman mielekästä, olen pyrkinyt käyttämään havainnointitaajuutena sellaista, missä olisi itselle jokin uusi mieluinen asema ID:n osuessa kohdalleen. Sellaisia ovat esimerkiksi Pohjois-Saksan kaupalliset isot ketjut ja puolalaiset alueradiot. Pelkästään mahdollisimman iso teho ei ole taajuutta valittaessa ainut kriteeri, sillä vaikuttaa, että tuosta optimihaarukasta(1400-1700 km) 20-30 kW tehoiset asematkin pingaavat tuhkatiheään. Käppyrää laadittaessa vääristymää syntyy jo monitorointitaajuuksien valinnassa – joka taajuudella kun ei ole suurtehoasemaa tarjolla kaikkiin hahloihin. Osaa taajuuksista on monitoroitu tuntitolkulla ja toisilla vain käväisty kun haluttu asema on idannut heti kättelyssä. Lisäksi käppyrässä on huomioitu (RDS-tallennuksen puutteessa) vain audion perusteella tunnistetut tai id:n antaneet asemat, joiden osuus kaikista heijastumista lienee promillen luokkaa – sattumalla on iso osuutensa. Pylväsdiagrammin perusteella voi kuitenkin arvailla jonkinlaisen optimin olevan n. 1550 km nurkilla, joten ihan helppoa tuo 1000-1500 km etäisyydellä sijaitsevien asemien kuuntelu ei meteorien avustuksellakaan ole!

English summary: five reasons to tune in meteor scatter

1. Meteor conditions can be seen on your calendar, unlike the Sporadic E!

2. A variety of stations is different – fill the range (more or less 1000-1500 km) between tropospheric propagation and Sporadic E reflection!

3. Most of the signals come from 30-100 kW high power transmitters, but also lower power is possible. It may allow also small private stations to be caught on this range!

4. Also long lasting reflections are possible! Every shower has many reflections with duration 3 to 5 minutes.

5. Observing shooting starts is possible even in cloudy weather conditions!

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ES July 31 and August 1-5

Published 03.08.2016 by JMN

After a flop July ES seems to be activating little by little. On July 31, morning conditions offered some UKR and MDA on OIRT. Highest log was Radio Shanson with rolling RDS on 88.8 MHz. Next day continued with OIRT conditions to Komi. Conditions were good, also Radio Rossii transmitters listed as 100 W and 400 W were audible, but unfortunately there is nothing much to hear from Komi under 100 MHz. All signals disappeared around 0900 UTC, so I couldn’t confirm, if GTRK Komi-Gor has a regional bulletin from 0910 to 1000 UTC.. maybe next time!

On August 2, surprisingly good evening opening to Benelux and France up to 108 MHz for one hour, with some double hop to Spain! (NB: Could have been prelonged Tropo over Bay of Biskaya too!). Spain will be difficult to identify, but guys on South-Western coast had better condx towards Iberian peninsula! Only some of the Spanish signals reached inner Finland. From France mostly networks as France Inter, Fun Radio, MFM, Nostalgie and NRJ. From Belgium Radio Contact and a new-for-me network Joe FM.

20160723_145740

During inactive July many of us have found new hobbies: sailing, fishing, stamp collecting or picking up berries and mushrooms (it’s the best season now for them!). In this picture you can see some of 20-30 porcinos (penny buns) under my old abandoned Alfa Romeo, which seems to be optimal athmosphere for such a mushroom (enough humid and probably soon rusty!)

July 4th brought no conditions at all, but MUF was 108 literally next day, just after midnight on the South Coast. Unfortunately the best skip didn’t reach inner Finland, but some low band stations were audible for short time (i.e tentatively RAI 87.8).

July 5th, the summer meeting day started with 30 minutes OIRT conditions in the morning to UKR/BLR. A new-for-me station Svitle Radio Emmanuel 67.82 ided. Last time night conditions trigged super day June 8, this time we were expecting a little bit more than this, but even MUF 74 is good compared to MUF24.

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Flop July (time for AMDX)

Published 19.07.2016 by JMN

July has been a flop so far. Most of the conditions have been favorable for coastal area. The only good opening, which reached Inner Finland, took place on July 14 – the day when we made a roadtrip to the biggest shop of Finland, located in Tuuri. Couple of short time openings (mostly on OIRT) could have been audible in Central Finland, but no-one has been in front of rx at the right moment.

It’s been couple of years when I have had time for AMDX in summertime! Couple of logs for July:

729 FIN: Pispalan Radio, Tampere. A new AM station from Finland. 80W PEP. 1624 17.07.
5066 COD: tent. Radio Candip, Bunia. African music till 2007 UTC. A night before prelonged program. 1905 13.07.
6241 HOL: Radio Casanova. 1950 16.07.

IMG_5070

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Uurainen: weak Ireland over 100 MHz 30062016

Published 30.06.2016 by JMN

During work day got some ES alerts by WhatsApp (BBC/TDF). Similar evening opening began around 8 o’clock with BBC and TDF stations, suddenly turning to Ireland. Mostly RTÉ up to 102.7 MHz, but also private stations were logged: LMFM 95.8 MHz, Classic Hits 4 FM 94.9 MHz and Today FM 101.8 MHz. Ireland has been rare here as it seems to be, that over 100 MHz opening is easier with average distances and the most of the island is close to maximal skip 2400 km. Surprisingly for example Dublin is only 2100 km from here – so it should be pretty common on band!

June 2016 compilation

june 2016 in uurainen

June 2016 was pretty dry month, compared for example to last year.

june 2015

Counting also May demonstrates that Season 2016 has been pretty good so far. The following ”statistics” are based on logs mostly made by Sony XDR F1HD and 4 element Yagi, so the receiving equipment should not affect.

Year/Total logs

2016/304 (till 30 Jun)
2015/324 (out of the band 14 Jul-22 Jul and 26 Jul-20 Aug)
2014/566
2013/364 (out of the band in August)
2012/121 (best day 14 Jul spent in work)
2011/65 (+ 16 logs from Turku)

Summer 2016 could easily beat the personal best ever season, the mythical Summer 2014!

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Central Finland: opening in the morning of 19062016

Published 21.06.2016 by JMN

DLF, France Musique and other high power stations were heard. Maximal MUF was 97 MHz, but most of the time 90 or under. These low band conditions seemed to continue till 1200 UTC (left work at 0730 UTC).

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Uurainen: a private opening up to 108

Published 19.06.2016 by JMN

These evening condx can be described as private conditions, because the reflecting cloud was so small, that it gave MUF 108 only for Uurainen, but not for other localities in inner Finland. The diameter of such a cloud must be less than 30 km. Usually those ”private” conditions can offer stations up to 108 MHz, but there are lot of empty frequencies. If the reception area is small, so are the transmitters heard only from small geographical area. Condx started with OIRT, probably MDA and UKR. First CCIR ID was local commercial spot of Radio Pyatnitsa from Rivne, soon turning to Romania (mostly networks), but also some Serbian local stations: Radio Mig 107.3 MHz and Radio Gong 93.6 MHz.

After a short break the conditions started again from BUL, ROU and some Italians on the band too. MUF rised again over 100 MHz and opened rare direction: Istanbul (2400 km). The maximal skip is rarely open over 100 MHz. In the end it turned back to ROU..

Full logs will follow later in Visual log book. I just reached my goal: 100th Russian FM QSL, so it is time to concentrate to other countries. Italians of 29 May are still unreported, so are couple of French stations and so on..

Based on last days, seasonal trends seem to be middle of Russia (Komi/Tatarstan), Bulgaria and France – exactly as it seemed to be in the beginning of season. Interesting variety!

13492862_10210040407032858_412238884_n
Another kind of pretty rare ID

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Central Finland: OIRT opening to BLR and TS

Published 17.06.2016 by JMN

After excellent Utö logs some more ordinary catches from Central Finland. Couple of posts ago I described OIRT as ”a less interesting band” but it has something more to offer than Radio Rossii. Today Radio Askhadar 66.68 was heard tentatively and Kunel Radiosy 67.79 with clear ID’s, both from Tatarstan. Gomel FM jingle from Belarus surprised on 66.98. Radio Shanson network ID came on 71.72, it is just a bit over 1000 km to Kaluga – interesting oblast. Unfortunately no local commercials heard or local programmes going on Radio Rossii.

QSL Qazaq Radïosi, UNID-TX 101.9 MHz brought verified FM country # 40

Kazak Radiosy QSL

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