Greg's Radio Logbook

W5TXR Beacon

2011-10-09T23:57:00.001-04:00

Today's logging: Amateur 10 metre band Morse code beacon W5TXR on 28,260.8 kHz. Location: Schertz, TX, USA. Time: 2220 UTC. This beacon runs 5 watts into a vertical antenna. Heard here in Toronto with a weak but copyable signal (RST 339). Sending V markers "V V V de W5TXR...".

Loggings from Algonquin Provincial Park

2011-10-02T23:55:00.003-04:00

I went to Algonquin Provincial Park today to get in some hiking and to see the fall colours. This is about 250 km northeast of Toronto. I also did a bit of DXing while I was there and heard some interesting things.

In the car park of one of the hiking trails near the centre of the Highway 60 corridor I caught two local Environment Canada weather stations. One was in the regular FM band and the other in the weather band:

CJNK, Lake of Two Rivers, 100.1 MHz, at 1835 UTC in English and French with fair signal. Environment Canada Weather with weather conditions and forecast for Algonquin Park and area. 50 watts.
VEF956, Lake of Two Rivers, 162.4 MHz, at 1842 UTC. English and French with good solid signal. Environment Canada Weather, parallel to CJNK.

The other loggings are from late in the afternoon. I was finished hiking and dusk was about an hour off. I stopped at the picnic grounds at Tea Lake Dam, near the west gate to the park. I sat at a picnic table tuning shortwave, using my trusty Kaito KA-1103 with its built-in telescopic whip antenna.

NMG, New Orleans, LA, 8502 kHz, from 2140-2150 UTC. Fair to good signal. In English, in SSB. Marine weather conditions and weather forecast. Mentions of NOAA Ocean Prediction Center and National Weather Service Hurricane Prediction Center.
N7MSH/B, North Powder, OR, 28226.5 kHz at 2155 UTC. CW (Morse code) amateur radio 10 metre beacon. Good signal.
K5GJR/B, Corpus Christi, TX, 28224.5 kHz at 2155 UTC. CW with fair signal. Amateur 10 metre beacon.
K6FRC/B, Sutters Mountain, CA, 28250 kHz at 2157 UTC. CW with fair to poor signal. Amateur 10 metre beacon.
WI6J/B, Bakersfield, CA, 28287 kHz at 2157 UTC. CW with poor signal. Amateur 10 metre beacon.
K4SAK/7, Reno, NV, 28348 kHz at 2200 UTC. SSB with good signal. Net Control in Northern Nevada Sideband Net.
K5HK, Reno, NV, 28348 kHz at 2200 UTC. SSB with good signal. Checking into Northern Nevada Sideband Net.

WIRED: UVB-76

2011-10-01T00:56:00.001-04:00

There's an interesting article in the October 2011 issue of Wired magazine about the mysterious Russian shortwave station UVB-76 (on 4625 kHz). It's not often that a non-radio magazine writes about shortwave these days. The article is well worth reading.

You can also listen to this strange station online at uvb-76.net.

Saudi Arabia and Mexico on 10 Metres

2011-09-25T23:28:00.001-04:00

Two interesting amateur radio stations heard today on the 10 metre band:

HZ1FI, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on 28116 kHz at 1429 UTC in RTTY mode with a fair signal. He was working stations in the CQ Worldwide DX RTTY amateur radio contest. This is the first amateur station I've heard from Saudi Arabia.
XE3D, Merida, Yucatan, Mexico at 2223 UTC on 28215 kHz with a weak signal. This one was operating as a Morse code beacon.

Loggings on Shortwave

2011-09-17T20:29:00.005-04:00

Today's loggings. Receivers: Drake SW8 and Yaesu FT-817:

W1AW, Newington, CT, USA, from 0247 to 0255 UTC, on 1802.5 kHz in the 160 metre amateur radio band. Fair to poor signal. W1AW is the club station of the American Radio Relay League. They were on the air with one of their regular Morse code practice transmissions.
Voice of Turkey, 9515 kHz, broadcasting in English from Turkey at 0345-0351 UTC. Good signal. Turkish music, news headlines, and broadcast schedule. Off air at 0351.
Radio Exterior de España, 9535 kHz, transmitting from Noblejas, Spain, at 0356-0401 UTC in Spanish with fairly good signal. Rap/house music in Spanish, then ID and into news.
Deutsche Welle, 9480 kHz, via Kigali, Rwanda relay station at 0410 UTC in German. Fair signal.
Voice of Greece on 9420 kHz from Avilla, Greece from 0415 to 0455 UTC in Greek. Good signal. Greek music and talk.
Unidentified digital station on 10100 kHz at 0500 UTC. Strong signal with digital traffic in unidentifed mode.

Two Utility Stations and Two CB Loggings

2011-09-05T23:45:00.002-04:00

Still in Harrowsmith. I logged two utility stations on shortwave today, using the Kaito KA-1103:

KAG, 8462 kHz, at 11:50-12:00 UTC with poor signal. SITOR channel marker with "KAG" morse code ID. I have no idea what this station is - I can't find any information on the web about any maritime service stations called KAG. The transmission pattern is typical of other maritime stations like WLO, TAH, IAR, etc. I suppose it's possible I miscopied the ID but it's pretty hard to believe I'd mess up something as simple as that.
WLO, 17362 kHz, in Mobile, AL, at 12:15 with good signal. Transmission in English, in SSB, with weather from National Weather Service and notices to ships, etc. WLO and KLB IDs, and then off air.

I also caught a couple of CB radio transmissions around this time:

Unidentified CBers on 27025 kHz (channel 6) at 1221 UTC in incomprehensible jabber plus heterodynes.
CBer identifying himself as something like "Six Five" in Mobile, Alabama with fair to poor signal. 1222 UTC on 27215 kHz (channel 21).

Mediumwave Loggings, Including a Pirate Station

2011-09-05T23:00:00.003-04:00

I'm still up in Harrowsmith for the Labour Day weekend. I logged three mediumwave stations today, two of them new and one of them a radio pirate. Receiver: Kaito KA-1103.

WCKL, 560 kHz, Catskill NY, at 0357 UTC (11:57 p.m. EDT Sept 4) with fair signal. "Family 560" playing nostalgia music. This station is 1 kW daytime, 43 watts at night. If it really was at the night power, then this is a good catch. Relog - logged once before in Toronto.
WLIE, 540 kHz, Islip NY, at 0359-0402 UTC with poor signal. ID on hour, also with slogan "South Asian Radio". 2.5 kW day, 220 W night. New to overall log.
Pirate, 1710 kHz, 0405-0410 UTC. Talk in Haitian-accented French and Caribbean music. Signal coming from south east. Very weak but strengthened at times to listenable levels. This is likely to be one of the French language pirate stations known to transmit from Boston, MA and operated by people in the Haitian population there. New to overall log, and only the second pirate ever logged on 1710.

This brings the overall mediumwave count to 967 (counting the pirate).

Shannon Volmet, 3414 kHz

2011-09-04T23:00:00.001-04:00

I'm up in eastern Ontario, in Harrowsmith (near Kingston). One logging to report for today:

Shannon Volmet, 3414 kHz, from Shannon, Ireland. 03:00 to 03:11 UTC, in English. SSB. Aviation weather for Ireland and U.K. Lots of static crashes from thunderstorms. Receiver: Kaito KA-1103. New logging - Shannon Volmet is not new but this is my first logging of it on this frequency.

Running Using Batteries

2011-08-24T17:05:00.000-04:00

Some excellent and simple advice on how to really improve reception on a portable receiver: run the radio using batteries.

New York Radio, 3485 kHz

2011-08-21T23:30:00.002-04:00

New York Radio, 3485 kHz, New York City, 00:30 to 00:38 UTC in English, in SSB mode. Aviation weather for eastern and central U.S. cities: Chicago, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Detroit, Boston, etc. Relog.

Digital TV: CICA-DT

2011-08-18T23:00:00.001-04:00

CICA is the local Toronto TVO station. Today is the day they switched over from broadcasting in analog to digital. Logged them this morning at 1204-1215 UTC (8 a.m. local) with children's programming. Not DX and not a new station, but a new addition to the digital TV station log. Digital channel: 19-1. RF channel: 19 (500 MHz). Callsign: CICA-DT. This is the 30th distinct digital TV station I've received.

Radio New Zealand International, 11725 kHz

2011-08-17T23:37:00.001-04:00

I was up late and decided to check out shortwave before going to bed. This yielded a good reception of Radio New Zealand International. The time was 05:10 to 05:22 UTC (01:10 local time) this morning. Frequency was 11725 kHz in the 25 metre band. The surprising thing was that the signal was quite good, fairly strong, steady, and clear - 44434 on the SINPO scale. This was on an older portable Sony receiver on its built-in telescopic antenna. The station had a program of local news and current affairs.

The next morning I also was listening to Radio Australia on 9580 kHz (31 metres) at 12:10 UTC (08:10 local). Fairly good signal. This one is nothing unusual - Radio Australia has been on this frequency for many years and is a regular in the morning.

No Sporadic E Propagation

2011-08-16T22:27:00.006-04:00

As the FM DXing season winds down, one of the most surprising things about it this year was the complete absence of any sporadic E propagation. I spent much more time on FM this year than in past years, and I heard no sporadic E propagation on the FM band at all. There probably was some when I wasn't listening, but nothing while I was.

No complaints, however. I've been very successful with receiving new stations via tropo. And the season's not quite over yet so maybe there's more to come.

FM: WYRK, CFLZ, and WQHZ

2011-08-01T22:05:00.002-04:00

Today's FM DXing yielded some interesting catches:

WYRK, 106.5 MHz, Buffalo NY at 04:25 UTC (00:25 local time) with country music and excellent signal. This one is interesting. There is a local station on 106.5 in Toronto, CKAV (Aboriginal Voices Radio), and it had a solid, excellent signal. 50 kW WYRK in Buffalo is normally not audible here. But WYRK broadcasts in HD Radio as well as analog, and the Sony XDR-F1HD can recieve HD Radio. There was strong tropo from the south tonight. So CKAV controlled the frequency, but when the HD signal from WYRK was captured it took over the frequency. Occasionally it would weaken and CKAV would return for a few moments. It was interesting in that the two stations were not interfering with each other - one would own the frequency and then the other would take over, until the first returned. This is a relog for the overall log, but is my first logging of WYRK from Toronto.
CFLZ, 105.1, Niagara Falls ON, at 04:33 UTC. This one is interesting because it's the second logging today of a distant station on a frequency with a local Toronto station on it. Local CHOQ was transmitting a silent carrier. I was getting CHOQ on the outdoor FM antenna, but CFLZ owned the frequency when I switched to the indoor dipole. CFLZ was playing 80s music and identified as "105.1 The River". 4 kW. Logged once before when I was in Niagara Falls; new to the Toronto log.
WQHZ, 102.3, Erie PA, at 04:46 UTC. Good signal. "Erie's Z-102" playing classic rock. Only 800 watts!

Toronto FM log count: 157. Overall FM log count: 376.

FM: WVOR 102.3 and W248BH 97.5

2011-07-31T12:51:00.001-04:00

Two loggings today, via tropo:

WVOR, 102.3 MHz, Canandaigua NY at 04:58-05:05 UTC. Fair to good signal. Rock/pop music with legal ID with callsign and location on the hour. 460 watts.
W248BH, 97.5, Gates NY at 05:20 to 05:27 UTC. Fair-poor signal. Mars Hill network with Christian talk. Translator of WMHR. Only 19 watts!

FM log counts: Toronto 154, overall 375.

FM: Islamic Prayers on 87.9 MHz

2011-07-29T12:14:00.002-04:00

Today I came across an unlicenced radio station at the bottom end of the FM band, on 87.9 MHz. As soon as you hear a station broadcasting on 87.9 you know it's an unlicenced station because there is only one station in North America licenced to broadcast on this frequency (10 watt KSFH in California).

An unlicenced station is not necessarily transmitting illegally. It is legal to broadcast on FM without a licence at very low power but the range is very limited - a few tens or hundreds of metres at most. That's how those little "talking house" or business broadcasters, and those tiny FM transmitters you can buy for use around the house or in your car are legal.

Stations that transmit illegally are usually called pirate stations. In most big cities, unlicenced stations operating at illegal power levels appear occasionally on empty frequencies. That's what I think I heard today.

Details: 87.9 MHz at 02:40 to 02:56 UTC (10:40 p.m. July 28 local time). Fairly good signal. No talking or announcements. It was broadcasting what I think were Islamic prayers - sounded like a solo voice half-singing in Arabic. Went off air at 02:56.

I googled for information about this and found two references from a year ago in Glenn Hauser's DX Listening Digest about an Islamic pirate station in Toronto on 87.9:

DX LISTENING DIGEST 10-12, March 26, 2010: "On Air: ON, Toronto, 87.9, a pirate with prayers in Arabic from the Scarborough Muslim Assocation at the Jame Bakr Siddique Masjid, heard at 74 km. Industry Canada has been notified (FMedia! Final Issue 2009-2010 via DXLD)"
DX LISTENING DIGEST 10-16, April 22, 2010: "87.9 - Islamic prayers and talk, in mono, seems to originate from the city's northwest quadrant, perhaps in Etobicoke, Brampton or Mississauga. It carries well over a large area, despite adjacent 88.1 CKLN in downtown Toronto. I am guessing something in the order of 50 watts."

I count pirates in my log counts, so this brings the Toronto FM count to 152 and the overall FM count to 373.

FM: WDDH 97.5

2011-07-23T17:56:00.001-04:00

Early today (just after midnight local time) there was tropo coming in from the south and it gave me one more station for the FM log:

WDDH, 97.5 MHz, St. Mary's PA. Received at 04:19 to 04:25 UTC. Fair to poor signal. ID slogan "The Hound" with country music and mention of something in Bradford, PA. 19.5 kW.

Toronto FM log count: 151. Overall FM log count: 372.

FM: Stations from Ottawa and Huntsville

2011-07-22T23:22:00.003-04:00

There was a good opening this morning from the north and northeast and it yielded four new stations for the Toronto log - three from Ottawa and one from Huntsville. I probably could have caught more but I had to leave for work:

CJMJ, 100.3 MHz, Ottawa ON. 12:25 to 12:30 UTC (08:25 local). Fair signal. Majic FM with pop music and talk. Ads for Ottawa businesses. 100 kw.
CISS, 105.3, Ottawa ON. 12:31 to 12:35 UTC. Poor signal. Kiss FM. News, Ottawa traffic report. Mixing with CFCA (Kitchener-Waterloo). 84 kW.
CHEZ, 106.1, Ottawa ON. 12:36-12:41 UTC. Poor signal. David Bowie's "Space Oddity", CHEZ 106 ID. 100 kW. Relog but first logging from Toronto.
CBL-FM-1, 106.9, Huntsville ON. 13:00-13:02. Poor signal. CBC Radio news. 70 kW.

Four new stations for the Toronto log and three for the the overall log. Counts are now 150 and 371.

FM: CKJJ 102.3

2011-07-21T23:28:00.001-04:00

One new logging on FM today:

CKJJ, 102.3 MHz, Belleville ON, at 11:05 to 11:34 UTC (07:05 local time). Poor to very poor signal. UCB Canada - Christian pop music and morning talk. News on half hour, followed by weather for Belleville and Kingston, and traffic report for Belleville. 15 kW.

Toronto FM log count: 146, Overall FM log count: 368.

FM: WHTK-FM, WSYR-FM, and WCTL

2011-07-17T23:55:00.004-04:00

Today's FM DXing yielded three new ones for the log:

WHTK-FM, 107.3 MHz, South Bristol (Rochester) NY at 13:15 UTC (09:15 local). Fair to poor signal. Sports talk, slogan "Sports Talk 1280" (parallel to 1280 kHz), ads for Rochester, WHAM, etc. 6 kW.
WSYR-FM, 106.9 MHz, Solvay (Syracuse) NY at 13:19 UTC. Fair to good signal. News talk. IDs. Parallel to 570 kHz. 9 kW.
WCTL, 106.3, Erie PA at 13:25 UTC. Religious, preaching/sermon. ID on half hour. Mixing with CJBC-5 in Peterborough. 3.4 kW. Relog - first logged on July 10 in Port Dover - but first time logged in Toronto.

Overall FM log count: 367. Toronto FM log count: 145.

Two NOAA Weather Stations

2011-07-17T23:00:00.001-04:00

There was enhanced propagation from the south on VHF today and it gave me two new NOAA weather stations, although the identity of one is uncertain:

WNG539, Spencerport NY, 162.525 MHz, at 02:10 - 02:20 UTC (22:10 July 16 local time). Poor signal. Weather for area around Rochester, NY. Callsign ID.
Unidentified: 162.45 MHz at 12:25 UTC (8:25 a.m.). Poor signal mixing with VFI621 in Normandale ON. NOAA weather for the southern tier of New York State. Faded out after a few minutes. Is likely either (a) WXN55 in Mt. Washington NY, 300 watts, or (b) WWH35 in Cooperstown NY, 100 watts.

WXN29: 162.425 MHz

2011-07-16T22:11:00.002-04:00

I logged another NOAA Weather Radio station today: WXN29 in Cat Hill, NY on 162.425 MHz at 12:33 to 13:00 UTC (8:30 a.m. local time). Weather information for the southern tier of New York State, including Elmira, Corning, Wellsville, and other places. Tropo. 300 watts.

Taxi Dispatcher

2011-07-15T22:18:00.003-04:00

Tuning around 162-163 MHz this morning, heard one thing to note:

Taxi dispatcher issuing instructions to cars. 163.29 MHz at 11:35 UTC. Excellent signal. Looked this one up at radioreference.com and it says this is Toronto's Arrow Cab, callsign XNG53.

FM: CBLA-FM-3

2011-07-12T22:14:00.000-04:00

Today's FM tropo logging:

CBLA-FM-3, 100.9 MHz, Wingham ON from 11:56 to 12:06 UTC (07:56 a.m. local time). Fair signal. CBC Radio One with program "Ontario Morning". News on hour. 11.8 kW.

Overall FM count: 365. Toronto FM count: 142.

FM: Loggings from Port Dover

2011-07-10T23:06:00.007-04:00

I visited Port Dover today, a nice beach town on the north shore of Lake Erie. While there I spent some time tuning the FM band on the Honda car radio in my Civic. Logged six new stations:

CJDL, 107.3 MHz, Tillsonburg ON, at 18:45 UTC (2:45 p.m. local time). Excellent signal. Talk, country music. URL given on air: country1073.ca. 4.5 kW.
WKZA, 106.9, Lakewood NY (near Jamestown), 18:52-19:00 UTC. Excellent signal. "Kiss FM", playing pop music. 5.1 kW.
CIKZ, 106.7, Kitchener-Waterloo ON, at 19:00 UTC. Very good signal. "Kix FM", country music. 1.7 kW.
WCTL, 106.3, Union City PA (near Erie), at 19:07 UTC. Good signal. "Life 106.3" playing Christian rock. 3.4 kW.
CFHK, 103.1, St. Thomas ON (near London), at 19:20 UTC. Fair signal. "Fresh FM" with talk and ads. 16.7 kW.
WEFR, 88.1, Erie PA. 19:22-19:30 UTC. Poor signal. "Family Radio". Religious with ID on half hour. Mixing with WUBJ from Jamestown NY. 630 watts.

I also logged one new station later when I stopped in Normandale, a bit west of Port Dover.

WXKC, 99.9, Erie PA, at 20:15 UTC. Very good signal. "Classy 100". 50 kw.

This brings the overall FM log count to 364.

FM: WRKT and WTWF

2011-07-10T13:30:00.003-04:00

FM DXing from home this morning. Logged new stations, both from the Erie PA area. Tropo.

WRKT, 100.9 MHz, North East PA. 12:28-12:36 UTC (08:28 local time). Fair-poor signal. "Rocket 101" with rock music (oldies). 4.2 kW.
WTWF, 93.9 MHz, Fairview PA. 12:45-13:00 UTC. Fair-poor signal. Country music "93.9 The Wolf". Verified against webcast at 939thewolf.com. 6 kW.

Toronto FM log count: 141. Overall FM count: 357.

Digital TV DX: W42CO Rochester NY

2011-07-08T23:00:00.002-04:00

This morning there was good tropo propagation from the south and it yielded a new digital TV station logging (the first in two years):

W42CO, Rochester NY, from 11:55 to 12:08 UTC (around 8 a.m. local time). This is digital channel 42 and also operates on RF channel 42 (638 MHz). This station is a Christian broadcaster in the TCT network - I think it is actually rebroadcasting the programing from WNYB 26 in Jamestown, NY. It had four subchannels: (1) Religious programming, (2) health infomercial, (3) TCT Family with children's cartoons, and (4) TCT La Frente with children's cartoons in Spanish. It operates at only 8 kW so it's a good catch.

This is the 29th distinct digital TV station I've received here.

Equipment: Toshiba TV connected to outdoor four-bay UHF antenna through Tivax STB-T8 digital TV converter.

VFI621: 162.45 MHz

2011-07-08T10:00:00.001-04:00

There was some tropo to the southwest today and because of it I received another Environment Canada weather radio station:

VFI621, 162.45 MHz, Normandale ON, 00:35 - 00:42 UTC (8:35 p.m. July 7 local time). Poor signal. Weather for north shore area of Lake Erie. Normandale is on Lake Erie, a bit west from Port Dover. ID with location also heard.

William Hepburn has compiled an excellent list of Canadian weather radio stations here.

VAD320: Environment Canada Weather

2011-07-07T22:47:00.001-04:00

I recently bought a small VHF/UHF outdoor antenna (actually a mobile antenna with a magnetic mount) and put it out on my balcony. It's hooked up to a receiver I got recently that can tune those parts of the radio spectrum, a Uniden BCT-15X.

Today I was tuning in the weather band at 162 MHz. There are two regular stations here: the Environment Canada weather station here in Toronto (XMJ225) on 162.4 MHz, and the NOAA weather station in Buffalo, NY (KEB98) on 162.55 MHz. Today I heard another one: VAD320 on 162.475 MHz, the Environment Canada weather station in Thorold, Ontario. This was at 11:50 UTC (just before 8:00 a.m. local time) with weather for the Niagara region. Poor signal.

It's funny. Thorold is closer to me than is Buffalo, but the NOAA station in Buffalo is a regular, whereas the Thorold station is not.

FM: Loggings from Milton

2011-07-03T23:01:00.003-04:00

I went for a hike today on the Bruce Trail at Crawford Lake Conservation Area in Halton Region. Afterwords I spent about half an hour tuning the FM band on the car radio. This yielded three new FM stations for the overall log.

CHES 88.1 MHz Erin ON. 20:58-21:05 UTC (5 p.m. local time). Erin Radio, with the "Crooners Show". Very good signal. 50 watts.
WNJA 89.7 Jamestown NY. 21:13 UTC. Fair-poor signal. Classical music program, WNED ID (WNJA simulcasts WNED from Buffalo). 6 kW.
WCOT 90.9 Jamestown NY. 21:21-21:30 UTC. Poor signal. Family Life Radio - Christian rock. 12 kW.

I also heard an NPR station on 90.1 MHz at 21:15 UTC, but nothing to identify which one it is.

Overall log count: 355.

FM: CBLA-FM-1, 90.5 MHz

2011-07-02T22:19:00.002-04:00

Today's FM logging:

CBLA-FM-1 (CBC Radio One) 90.5 MHz Crystal Beach (Niagara) ON at 00:50-01:15 UTC (8:50 p.m. Sat. July 1). Fair/poor signal. Parallel to CBLA 99.1. 320 watts.

Overall FM log count: 352. Toront FM log count: 139.

Noted in Passing

2011-07-01T19:12:00.000-04:00

Tuning around the VHF & UHF bands with a wideband receiver, heard two things of interest:

TTC (Toronto Transit Commission) communications on 412.6125 MHz at 16:20 UTC. ID as "CCIS".
Air Canada Flight 359 in contact with Toronto Pearson airport on 132.8 MHz at 16:40 UTC.

FM: WKRK-FM, WFXJ, WGWE, and WGYY

2011-07-01T18:49:00.002-04:00

Today is a statutory holiday in Canada, and so I was able to do some FM DXing during the day. There was decent tropo going on so I was able to log another four new ones.

WKRK-FM 92.3 MHz Cleveland Heights OH 04:45-05:15 UTC (00:45 local time). Fair to poor signal. Alternative rock music. Slogan "Radio 92-3". 41 kW.
WFXJ 107.5 MHz North Kingsville (Ashtabula) OH 13:56-14:08 UTC (09:56 local). Poor signal. Classic rock - "The Fox". 3.6 kW.
WGWE 105.9 MHz Little Valley NY 14:10-14:18 UTC. Fair. Classic hits, local announcements, callsign ID. 7 kW.
WGYY 100.3 MHz Meadville-Franklin PA 15:10-15:18 UTC. Fair. "Froggy 100.3 and 98.5". Country music. 20 kW.

All of these are new to the overall FM log, so the overall count is 351 and the Toronto log count is 138.

There is one more new FM station to note. On 100.9 MHz I heard a faint station in a South Asian language playing what sounded like Indian music. Its programming doesn't match any of Toronto's stations, I didn't hear anything that would identify it, and I wasn't able to track down any information on the web that would provide a clue as to what it is. There was also a lot of interference from local CHIN-FM on 100.7. For now it remains a mystery.

FM: WERG and CBE-FM. And CBCK

2011-06-30T18:42:00.002-04:00

There was a good tropo opening to the southwest this morning, which netted me two more stations for the FM log:

WERG 90.5 Erie PA 11:55-12:00 UTC (8 a.m. local time). Very strong signal. Rock music, callsign ID. 2.75 kW.
CBE-FM 89.9 Windsor ON 12:00-12:15 UTC. Very weak signal. CBC news on the hour. ID for CBC Radio Two. CBE-FM is the only CBC Radio Two station on this frequency in Ontario. 100 kW.

There was also tropo from the east. I didn't log anything new in that direction but I did hear CBCK, 107.5, the CBC Radio outlet in Kingston, ON with a strong signal at 12:17 UTC.

Overall log count: 347. Toronto log count: 134

FM: WFRG

2011-06-27T18:25:00.001-04:00

There was a tropo opening towards the east this morning and it gave me another logging of an FM station.

WFRG 104.3 MHz Utica NY 12:29-12:33 UTC (8:30 a.m. local time). Poor signal. The Big Frog 104. Country music, news on the half hour from "the WIBX newsroom". 100 kW. Logged before from Clarington ON, but new to Toronto log.

Overall FM log count remains at 345. Toronto log count: 132.

FM: WMHN, CKNX-FM, and WLLW

2011-06-21T22:36:00.006-04:00

Another warm day and with it decent regional tropospheric propagation. Three stations added to the log - two of them first time loggings and the third new to the Toronto log.

WMHN 89.3 MHz Webster NY 04:25-04:40 UTC (00:25 local time). Weak signal. Christian broadcaster with show "Unshackled". Identified by comparing to station's webcast at marshillnetwork.org. 1 kW.
CKNX-FM 101.7 MHz Wingham ON 11:48-12:02 UTC (07:48 local time). Poor signal. Pop music. Ad for "weilerscleaning.com" which is in Wingham. Popping out from under dominant WLOF. No ID but confirmed by comparing to webcast at 1017theone.ca. Relog but new to Toronto log. 100 kW.
WLLW 99.3 MHz Seneca Falls NY 12:07-12:15 UTC. Poor signal. The Bob and Tom Show. ID for "The Wall 99.3" and frequent mentions of the Finger Lakes, including weather for the Finger Lakes. Mentions of NY State towns in ads, including Seneca Falls and Canandaigua. 5 kW.

Overall log: 345. Toronto log: 131.

The purchase of the Sony XDR-F1HD has really paid off. The number of new FM stations I've logged because of it is great. Most of the loggings have been on frequencies that are adjacent to strong dominant stations, meaning they're blocked by interference on my other FM receivers. The Sony's selectivity is very very good. And the new outdoor FM antenna has helped a lot too.

Radio Romania International

2011-06-19T23:58:00.001-04:00

One shortwave logging for today: Radio Romania International on 11,955 kHz at 23:28 UTC with programming in Spanish.

FM: CBL-FM-4, WKKY, and CBBP

2011-06-19T23:55:00.002-04:00

Another warm summery day with tropo enhancing regional propagation, and another three stations added to the log. Two of these are relogs but are first-time loggings from Toronto:

CBL-FM-4 97.1 MHz Owen Sound-Wiarton ON at 12:00 UTC (8:00 a.m. local). CBC Radio One with CBC Radio news popping up briefly over a rock station. Relog, new to Toronto log. 17.5 kW.
WKKY 104.7 MHz Geneva OH. 12:35-12:45 UTC. Country music and callsign IDs. Father's Day talk. New. 6 kW.
CBBP 103.9 MHz Peterborough ON. 18:55-19:01 UTC. Fair signal. CBC Radio Two with classical music. Received in northeast Scarborough on my Honda car radio, mixing with local CIRR. Relog; new to Toronto log. 17.5 kW.

Toronto log count: 128. Overall FM log count: 343.

FM: CBCM-FM and CJOS-FM

2011-06-18T19:30:00.000-04:00

There was enhanced propagation from the Georgian Bay area this morning and this enabled me to add two more stations to the FM log:

CBCM-FM 89.7 MHz Midland-Penetanguishene ON 12:30-12:45 UTC (8:30 a.m. local time). CBC Radio One with weather for Ontario and program "Fresh Air". Weak signal. 28 kW.
CJOS-FM 92.3 MHz Owen Sound ON 12:48-13:03 UTC. Classic rock show "Flashback". Slogan "92.3 The Dock". Ads for Owen Sound businesses. Fair to good signal. 24 kW.

Overall FM log count: 342. Toronto log count: 125.

CB Channel 6

2011-06-12T23:39:00.001-04:00

The only thing to report for today is this. I was tuning around 27 MHz at 16:40 UTC and on 27025 kHz I heard a cacaphony of interference, feedback, and gibberish. What I could make out was in English, in southern U.S. accents, but none of it made much sense to me. This was CB Radio channel 6. Not sure what these guys are trying to communicate when they transmit this sort of stuff.

FM: WFHM-FM and WREO

2011-06-10T23:27:00.000-04:00

I logged another two new FM stations today:

WFHM-FM 95.5 MHz Cleveland OH. 04:35-04:55 UTC (just before 1 a.m. local time). Very poor signal with long fadeouts. Christian rock music. Ads. Cleveland area phone numbers. Verified by comparing to the webcast at www.955thefish.com.
WREO 97.1 MHz Ashtabula OH. 11:55-12:06 UTC (@8 a.m. local). Poor signal. Popular music of 70s, 80s, and 90s. IDs as Star 97.1 and with URL of station. ID with callsign and location on the hour, then into news from "the Action 24 newsroom".

Overall FM log count: 340. Toronto FM log count: 123.

Both of these were tropo loggings. Tropo has been decent this season, but I have not yet heard any E-skip propagation this year at all. Strange, that.

FM: CJBC-4-FM

2011-06-09T23:22:00.001-04:00

Another tropo logging this morning.

CJBC-4-FM 99.3 MHz London ON 11:45-11:56 UTC (07:45 local time). French. Radio-Canada Première Chaîne network. Parallel to CJBC 860 kHz. Weather, talk about Ontario schools. 22.5 kW.

Toronto log count: 121. Overall count: 338.

FM: WBBS and CJBX

2011-06-08T22:40:00.000-04:00

Another day, another two stations added to the FM logs. Both are tropo loggings:

WBBS 104.7 Fulton (Syracuse) NY 04:10-04:30 UTC (midnight local time). Fair-poor signal. "B 104.7" - Country music, show "After Midnight". Ads for Syracuse. 50 kW.
CJBX 92.7 London ON 11:52-12:10 UTC. Fair-poor signal. "The New Country BX 93". Country music. News on the hour "from our sister statrion 1290 CJBK". 50 kW.

Toronto log count is now 120. Overall log count: 337.

FM: CHBM and WZXV

2011-06-07T23:53:00.001-04:00

I added two more stations to the Toronto and overall FM logs today, although only one is really new. The other is a local Toronto station with a new callsign, and as I've explained before, the logging system I adopted years ago has me counting callsign changes as new stations. This was adopted in the pre-Internet days when we didn't have the resources available to tell the difference between a mere callsign change and two different stations operating from the same city on the same frequency a few years apart. And it's too late to change it now.

CHBM 97.3 Toronto ON. 04:50 UTC with excellent signal. Boom 97.3. Local station, formerly CJEZ. Rock music.
WZXV 99.7 Palyra NY (south of Rochester). 04:58-05:02 UTC. Good signal. Religious, with show "Sound Words". ID on the hour followed by news. 2.8 kW. Tropo.

Overall log count: 335. Toronto log count: 118.

FM: WLGZ and WKGS

2011-06-04T23:04:00.002-04:00

There was tropo coming in from across Lake Ontario this morning, as is often the case during the warm weather months here. And because of it I added two Rochester NY area stations to the log.

WLGZ 102.7 MHz Webster NY 13:44-13:50 UTC (9:44-9:50 a.m. local time). Weak signal. Ads for Rochester. ID as "WLGZ" and as "Legends 102.7". Oldies rock music. 6 kW.
WKGS 106.7 MHz Irondequoit NY 13:52-14:13 UTC. Fair signal. Kiss FM - playing pop music. 3.5 kW.

Overall FM log count is now 333. Toronto FM log count is 116.

FM: WDNY and CBLU

2011-06-03T23:33:00.001-04:00

This morning before leaving for work I spent a bit of time tuning the FM band. There was some tropo to the south and north, and I had time to log two new stations before I had to leave.

WDNY-FM 93.9 MHz Dansville-Wayland NY 12:10-12:25 UTC. Weak signal. Classic rock, slogan ID "Y93-9". Phone number for station and callsign ID. 2.5 kW.
CBLU-FM 94.3 Huntsville ON 12:25-12:30 UTC. Weak signal. CBC Radio One with program "Ontario Morning". 70 kW.

Overal FM log count: 331. Toronto FM log count: 114.

FM: WRVO and WFRY

2011-05-30T23:00:00.000-04:00

Today, May 30, 2011, I added two stations to the Toronto FM log and one to the overall log. There was some tropospheric propagation bringing in stations from the eastern end of Lake Ontario.

WRVO 89.9 MHz, Oswego NY. 11:35-11:42 UTC. Good signal. NPR. WRVO ID. Logged before - this is a semi-local station in Kingston, ON. First logging of it from Toronto. 50kW.

WFRY 97.5 MHz, Watertown-Carthage, NY. 11:50-12:00 UTC. Good signal. "Froggy 97", news items, country music. ID on hour. New to overall and Toronto logs. 97 kW.

This brings the overall FM log count to 329, and the Toronto log count to 112.

Logged these on the Sony XDR-F1HD using the new outdoor FM antenna I bought recently. The antenna is omnidirectional with a single element curved around into a circle. I doubt it is very efficient but it has the virtue of being small, small enough to fit unobtrusively on my balcony. And even an inefficient omnidirectional antenna that's outdoors is a big improvement over an indoor antenna.

CQ World Wide WPX CW Contest

2011-05-29T23:30:00.002-04:00

I was on the air today making some contacts in the CQ World Wide WPX CW contest. Also kept a log of the stations I heard. Time: 15:00-21:10 UTC. Bands: 15 and 10 metres (21 and 28 MHz). Some good DX heard, plus the usual assortment of stations from the U.S. and Canada.

15 metres: Stations from Colombia (HK1R), Chile (XQ1KZ), Aruba (P49Y), Puerto Rico (NP2/OL5Y), Martinique (FM5CD), Honduras (HQ9R), Senegal (6W/RK4FF), Brazil (PW7T), Azores (CR2X), Portugal (CS2C), and Italy (II9T).
10 metres: Stations from Bonaire (PJ4A), Colombia (HK1NA), and Brazil (PW2D and PS2T).

More WSPR Receptions

2011-05-09T23:07:00.002-04:00

Another WSPR session. Highlights included receiving 5 watt stations from Venezuela and Spain. Details here.

WSPR Receptions

2011-05-07T23:58:00.001-04:00

Listening for stations in WSPR today. Highlights included receiving a 1 watt station from the U.K. (G4BJO) and a 2 watt one from Switzerland (HB9TPL). Details here.

Two More FM Stations

2011-04-24T23:10:00.001-04:00

Driving back to Toronto today, I heard two stations on FM on the car radio new to my log. Both were heard near Odessa, Ontario, which is just west of Kingston:

WBEE 92.5 Rochester NY at 20:40 UTC. Fair signal with country music. This is "new" in that I've never received this station with this callsign, but long ago I did log it under its former callsigns of WNYZ (1976) and WMJQ (1978).
WSLZ 88.1 Cape Vincent NY at 21:00 UTC. NPR, part of the North County Public Radio network. Classical music, ID on hour, and then NPR's "All Things Considered". Fair signal.

This brings the overall FM log count to 328.

I should mention that my logging scheme, adopted back when I was just starting out, long before we had the Internet to look up station histories, is to count frequency and callsign changes as new stations. In the old days it was difficult to tell if two different callsigns from the same location were actually the same station with a callsign change, or two different stations operating at different times from the same location on the same frequency. So I opted to count each new callsign as a new station. And after all these years, there's no way I'm going to spend the time revisiting all those cases to figure out which are which. So the actual number of different stations logged is somewhat less than the official count.

AM Roundtable

2011-04-24T23:00:00.000-04:00

Late last night (02:41 UTC April 24) I was tuning around the 80 metre amateur band and heard several stations on 3885 kHz transmitting in AM. It was an AM roundtable. I caught the callsigns of two of the participants: KC2IFR in South Glens Falls NY, and WA1HLR in Skowhegan ME.

Its always interesting to tune the 80 metre band when I'm in Harrowsmith. There's little interference and the band is full of signals at night. By contrast, almost nothing is audible on 80 for me in Toronto because of the noise levels. The building's steel frame does half the job, and the masses of electrically noisy consumer electronics that my neighbours and I have does the rest.

FM Logs in Kingston

2011-04-23T23:50:00.001-04:00

I logged two new FM stations today while visiting Kingston, Ontario (my old home town). Neither station counts as DX from there since they're both local. Received these on the Honda radio in my old Civic:

106.3 MHz, CIRJ, Kingston ON at 2100 UTC. This is Kingston Information Radio, a low power (50 watt) information station. It was broadcasting a loop of prerecorded information of interest to people in Kingston.
106.7 MHz, WBDR, Copenhagen-Watertown NY at 2107 UTC. "The Border 106.7" playing hit music.

This brings the overall FM log count to 326.

FM DX

2011-04-14T23:30:00.005-04:00

Two years ago I spent some time DXing the FM band. Eventually I hit a wall which caused me to set it aside. The wall was the fact that the FM band in Toronto is saturated with local and semi-local stations. Almost every frequency has a dominant station on it, or is adjacent to one. Just about the only truly open frequencies are 90.7 and 88.1 (now that CKLN is off the air).

Recently I found a solution to this. Both Sony and Sangean have FM receivers, designed for HD Radio, that are highly selective. That is, they do an extremely good job at preventing strong stations on one frequency from bleeding over into the adjacent frequencies. For example, we have a strong local station on 91.1 in Toronto. On most of my FM recievers, this station also spreads over and covers 90.9 and 91.3. I figured that if I had a receiver that was selective enough to stop this from happening, it would open up a lot of frequencies for DXing. So recently I bought a used Sony XDR-F1HD on eBay to use for FM DXing. This is currently set up and connected to the indoor wire dipole antenna that came with the unit.

Today (Apr. 14, 2011) when I was trying it out I found that there was some tropospheric propagation happening, and that some distant and new stations were coming in. Here's what I heard:

91.3, WQLN, Erie PA at 03:10 UTC. Decent signal. Classical music program - NPR. Relog.
94.3, CJBC-1-FM, Belleville ON at 04:08 UTC. Poor signal. French - Radio-Canada. New.
95.1, WFXF, Honeoye Falls NY (near Rochester) at 04:12 UTC. Fair signal. 95.1 The Fox. New.
95.5, CJOJ, Belleville ON at 04;23 UTC. 95.5 Poor signal. Hits FM - classic rock. New.
97.9, WPXY, Rochester NY at 04:32 UTC. Poor. Hit music. Relog; new to Toronto log.
104.3, CKWS-FM, Kingston ON at 04:45 UTC. Very weak. Oldies. New.

Four of these are new to the overall FM log, so that brings the overall count to 324. Five are new to the Toronto log - the total count in that log is now 110.

WSPR

2011-04-12T23:50:00.001-04:00

For the past week and a half my DXing activities have been about using a new amateur radio mode called WSPR. Stations use this mode to operate as low power beacons; I've been using it to log a bunch of these stations. Because I've been doing this as part of getting my own station on the air in WSPR mode, I've been posting about it over at my amateur radio blog. Rather than duplicate that material here, I'll direct you to the posts on that site, in case you're interested. Posts are here, here, here, and here.

2011 CQ Magazine World Wide WPX Contest, SSB

2011-03-27T23:50:00.002-04:00

Logged a lot of stations heard in another amateur radio contest, the 2011 CQ Magazine World Wide WPX contest, SSB. Date: Sun. March 27, 2011. Time: 11:50 - 13:00 UTC and 17:50 - 22:55 UTC. Bands: 20 and 15 metres (14 and 21 MHz).

Stations heard from Europe, North Africa, and the Americas: Anguilla, Argentina, Aruba, Belgium, Belize, Bermuda, Canada, Canary Islands (Spain), Colombia, Croatia, Denmark, Dominican Republic, England, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Martinique, Morocco, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Serbia, Scotland, Spain, Trinidad & Tobago, United States, Wales.

WKVQ 1540 kHz Eatonton, GA

2011-03-12T23:45:00.005-05:00

Very early this morning the nice folks at WKVQ 1540 in Eatonton, Georgia, put on a special DX test broadcast to give DXers a chance to log them. I did not expect to hear this station because Georgia is a long way from Toronto, and because we have a 50 kW local station (CHIN) on 1540 here. WKVQ is 10 kW day, 1.6 at night. I don't know which power they used for the test but even a 10 kW station is a tough catch on a crowded frequency at that distance. Nevertheless, I knew that the station would be broadcasting Morse code IDs and that Morse code has a real ability to punch through the noise. I figured that if CHIN had a program of talk, not music, that there might be the occasional gap through which WKVQ might creep. I've logged other stations this way, by hearing IDs during brief silent pauses on the dominant station. So I set things up to record 1540 overnight so I could review the recording later.

The DX test was scheduled to run from 06:00 to 06:30 and from 07:00 to 08:00 UTC. That's 1:00 to 1:30 and 2:00 to 3:00 a.m. local time. CHIN was playing music, but there was an announcer between songs. At 06:29 I thought I heard a Morse code ID underneath CHIN during a momentary pause in the announcer's speech. Very, very faint. I had to listen to the recording over and over, fiddling with the equalizer settings in Winamp to boost certain audio frequencies and to suppress others. Eventually I was able to improve it enough to verify that I was hearing "WKV?" with the final letter being four elements long - it was partly wiped out by the announcer on CHIN. Since "Q" is a four element character in Morse code, and since no AM station is going to broadcast its ID in Morse code except in a DX test, and since there are no other stations on this frequency whose callsign starts with WKV, this was enough to convince me it was WKVQ. Cool!

This is station number 965 in my overall mediumwave log, and number 386 in the Toronto log.

2011 ARRL International DX Contest, SSB

2011-03-06T23:50:00.000-05:00

More DXing on the amateur bands - stations heard while I was making contacts in the 2011 ARRL International DX Contest, SSB. Date: Sunday March 6, 2011, Time: 15:10 - 20:30 UTC, Bands: 15 and 10 metres (21 and 28 MHz). Good conditions, and 10 metres was open to the south.

A sampling of what I heard:

15 metres: HQ2GL Honduras, V48M St. Kitts & Nevis, DL2ARD & DL2DX Germany, PJ7DX St. Maarten, E71A Bosnia & Herzegovina, S50R Slovenia, 8P5A Barbados, 9A3TR & 9A5Y Croatia, TM6M & TM7F France, EA3EZD, EA3QP & EA7RU Spain, OQ4U Belgium, 5C5W Morocco, CR2A Azores, TI5N & TI8II Costa Rica, PJ4G Bonaire, CT3HF Madeira Island, J7Y Dominica, and YV5AM Venezuela.
10 metres: NP2I U.S. Virgin Islands, LR4E Argentina, PJ7DX St. Maarten, P49Y & PJ2T Bonaire, HK1W Colombia, and XE1CWJ Mexico.

NRV 8422 KHz

2011-03-04T20:00:00.004-05:00

Caught a distant one today, Friday, March 4, 2011 at 13:30-13:43 UTC. On 8422 kHz I heard NRV, a U.S. Coast Guard station located on the island of Guam in the western Pacific Ocean. It was broadcasting a SITOR channel marker with Morse code IDs. I didn't have anything set up to decode the SITOR signal but the Morse code ID was clear. This is my first logging of this station, and of any station from Guam.

2011 ARRL International DX Contest, CW

2011-02-20T23:59:00.004-05:00

This weekend (Feb 19 & 20, 2011) has one of the big amateur radio contests of the year, the ARRL International DX Contest, CW. I was on the air making contacts in this contest, and during this time I also kept a log of all the stations I heard, worked or not. I've said this before but I'll repeat it again: if SWLs are looking for a new aspect to the hobby of shortwave radio, they should check out the amateur bands, especially during a major contest. There are a lot of DX targets available on the amateur bands from places that have few, or no, shortwave broadcast stations. Here are some of the highlights of what I heard:

Feb 19: Listening on the 10 metre band from 15:30 to 16:30 and from 19:15 to 20:30 UTC. Stations heard included:

PJ6A from the island of Saba in the Carribbean.
PJ4A in Bonaire.
VP2MMM on the island of Montserratt.
KP2M from the U.S. Virgin Islands.
V31RR from Belize.
CW5W in Uruguay.
FM5BH, Martinique.
V48M, St. Kitts & Nevis.
PY2MT, Sao Paulo, Brazil.
HK1AA in Colombia.
CE3/VE7SV in Chile.
YN3M, Nicaragua.

Feb 20: 40 metre band, 04:30-04:45 and 11:30-11:40 UTC:

C6AGU, Bahamas.
C6AGP, Bahamas.
PJ2T, Bonaire.

Feb 20: 15 metre band, 14:30 - 18:30 UTC:

CE1/K7CA, Chile.
EA8NC, Tenerife, Canary Islands.
PJ2T, Bonaire.
PV8ADI, Boa Vista, Brazil.
EF8R, Canary Islands.
HK1R, Colombia.
CR2A, Azores.
ZF2AM, Cayman Islands.
EA8URL, Canary Islands.
XE7S, Mexico.
CR3L, Madiera Island.
CN3A, Morocco.
IR4M, Italy.
CO6LP, Cuba.
C6AGU, Bahamas.
CW5W, Uruguay.
V48M, St. Kitts & Nevis.
HQ5A, Honduras.
CS2C, Portugal.
ED8A, Canary Islands.
EA5DFV, Spain.
EA4KD, Spain.
PY2NDX, Brazil.
TI5KD, Costa Rica.
EA4TX, Spain.
D4C, Cape Verde.
EA2W, Spain.

Feb. 20: 10 metre band, 20:35 UTC:

PY2NDX, Brazil.

Feb 20: 20 metre band, 20:50-23:55 UTC:

EF8S, Canary Islands.
V48M, St. Kitts & Nevis.
WP3C, Puerto Rico.
TI5A, Costa Rica.
D44AC, Cape Verde.
PV8DX, Brazil.
HK1N, Colombia.
CR3L, Madeira Island.
PZ5P, Suriname.
OA4SS, Peru.
PY2NDX, Brazil.
C6AGU, Bahamas.
PJ4A, Bonaire.
P4OL, Aruba.
P49V, Aruba.
XE7S, Mexico.
PV8ADI, Brazil.

Two Amateur Radio Contests

2011-02-13T23:58:00.000-05:00

On the air this weekend making contacts in two amateur radio contests. Feb 12 & 13: CQ WPX RTTY contest. Feb 13: SKCC Weekend Sprintathon. Logged a lot of stations but nothing unusual.

WCXN 1170 kHz Claremont, NC

2011-02-12T23:11:00.003-05:00

I logged a new mediumwave station today, Feb. 12, 2011: WCXN, 1170 kHz, in Claremont, NC. I heard a Spanish language station on 1170 under WWVA, so I left the radio on overnight, using the Sony MP3 recorder to record it. The station was present all night, making the time of this logging 0340 to 1000 UTC.

The station was usually under WWVA, but sometimes dominated the frequency. Mexican music format with several “La que buena“ IDs. No callsign heard - not sure the station ever gave one. But “La que buena“ is WCXN’s slogan. Also while WCXN is a daytime only station, it has been reported widely on the DX reflectors as frequently staying on all night. Since there are no other plausible candidates, I concluded this must be WCXN.

There was also a second Spanish station heard with talk under WXCN a few times. But it was very weak with no identifying material heard.

This is the 385th station in my Toronto mediumwave log, and the 964th in the overall log.

Two More Repeater Loggings

2011-01-30T23:55:00.003-05:00

The only recent loggings to report are two new amateur repeaters heard. These are just local stations, but logging these things is still a new activity for me, since I've spent so little time exploring the VHF amateur bands.

Mon. January 24, 2011 at 0015 UTC: VA3GTU, Toronto, ON, on 145.13 MHz with Morse code ID.
Sat. January 29, 2011 at 1345 to 1445 UTC: VE3RTC, Scarborough, ON, on 146.745 MHz with Morse code ID. There were two amateurs having a chat here but it was in Chinese and I didn't catch their callsigns.

Amateurs on 2 Metres

2011-01-23T23:15:00.005-05:00

Today's loggings come courtesy of the 2 metre amateur radio band:

1615-1630 UTC, 145.13 MHz. Heard several stations checking into the morning ARES net. ARES is the Amateur Radio Emergency Service. This net is run by the Toronto ARES Group. I think they meet here every morning at this time. First time I've heard them, mostly because I seldom visit the VHF amateur bands.
1645 UTC. Heard the Morse code ID (in FM mode) of VE3RTR on 145.15 MHz. This is a repeater that covers a large swath of the north shore of Lake Ontario. It is located near Baltimore, Ontario. It is operated by the Heritage Amateur Radio Club.

BARTG RTTY Contest

2011-01-22T23:57:00.001-05:00

Today's radio activity: I was on the air making a few contacts in the BARTG RTTY contest and I kept a log of the stations I heard. Nothing special. Despite this being a British contest, the only stations I heard were in the U.S. and Canada, only 14 stations. Conditions didn't seem very good today. Listened between 1832 and 1923 UTC, and again from 2146 to 2219 UTC. 20 metre band, around 14.1 MHz.

CJY241 - 152.87 MHz

2011-01-21T23:30:00.002-05:00

Continuing with the casual exploration of what can be heard on VHF, I caught an interesting one today. This morning, Fri. Jan 21, 2011 at 1320 to 1335 UTC (8:20-8:35 local time), I found a frequency that CBC Radio reporters use to talk to the studio. At least that's what I heard. Specifically, I heard a silent carrier on the frequency from 1320 to around 1330. Then one half of a conversation was heard. I already thought this was a CBC feed so I turned on an FM radio to CBC Radio One at 99.1, and heard the same conversation there. The CBC was broadcasting the news and the anchorman was talking to a CBC reporter at some location. What I heard on 152.87 was that reporter's half of the conversation. According to RadioReference.com the callsign of this CBC media feed station is CJY241.

I actually first heard this station on Jan 14 (that's why I was sitting on the frequency today) but on the 14th I didn't hear enough material to ID it.

There's such an incredible variety of signals on the radio bands and I'm always surprised when I discover yet another way in which radio is used.

Miscellaneous Loggings

2011-01-16T23:11:00.001-05:00

Heard / seen on the radio today:

At 1544 UTC I heard VE3NUS on 224.3 MHz with a strong signal. VE3NUS is an amateur radio repeater in Unionville, Ontario (just north of Toronto). No traffic heard; just the repeater's automatic Morse code ID. This is the first amateur station I've ever heard on the 222 MHZ (1.25 cm) band. (I don't spend much time on the VHF and UHF amateur bands).
Saw two amateur stations operating in SSTV on 14230 kHz. At 1941 UTC caught K05Z from Krugerville, TX calling CQ SSTV with a weak signal. A few minutes later I caught another image from him, now working AB0HB. Then at 2040 UTC I got WA4PEQ working some stations, including VE3IYA. Decoded using MMSSTV.
Back on VHF, tuning around and caught one of the dispatch frequencies of one of Toronto's big taxi companies, Beck Taxi, on 150.28 MHz. Excellent signal. Issuing instructions to cars. This was at 2240 UTC. (I stumbled across this one while setting up computer control of one of my radios).
At 2246 heard an unidentified amateur radio net in progress on 146.810 MHz in the 2 metre band.

Amateur Loggings

2011-01-09T23:30:00.001-05:00

DXing the amateur bands today. What I logged:

SSTV: Received KC4RP, McDonough GA, on 14230 kHz at 1538 UTC calling CQ. Only received a single image and no sign of an answer.
PSK31: Logged KT4WI in Ormond Beach FL, on 21072 kHz at 1653 UTC. In contact with F6EQZ, who was not audible here.
ARRL RTTY Roundup contest: Logged a lot of RTTY stations between 1700 and 2215 UTC on the 15 and 20 metre bands. Most were in the U.S. and Canada, but I did log a few from elsewhere: PZ5RA in Paramaribo, Suriname (15 metres); P49X in Aruba (15 and 20 metres), HI3TEJ in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic (15 metres), and XE2K in Mexicali, Mexico (15 metres).

SSTV on 20 Metres

2011-01-03T23:00:00.002-05:00

One of the many transmission modes that radio amateurs can use on the HF bands is slow-scan television (SSTV). SSTV lets one transmit pictures using a narrow bandwidth signal, one narrow enough to fit in the 3 kHz legal bandwidth limits on the HF bands. The tradeoff is that low bandwidth means slow transmission and low resolution. In fact, it can typically take between 30 and 120 seconds to send a single frame. There is also no audio. So SSTV doesn't allow for the transmission of video. Instead, it is more like a slow slideshow, with pictures in SSTV mixed with talk between them in standard SSB.

Anyone with a shortwave receiver that supports SSB and a computer with a soundcard can decode SSTV signals. I use free software called MMSSTV for this. MMSSTV also generates SSTV signals that can be sent to a radio transmitter, of interest if you're a radio amateur that wants to try out this mode.

Radio amateurs using SSTV tend to stick close to a small range of frequencies so they can find each other. On the 20 metre band they're usually found around 14230-14240 kHz.

Today I had MMSSTV running, monitoring 14230 kHz to see what would pop up. I caught two stations operating in SSTV:

WB5UXC, Pearlington MS at 2200-2220 UTC with a fair signal. He was in contact with KA0UNB (who wasn't visible to me) and with an N9 station. At 2219 he was calling CQ using a special CQ image.
XE1RK, Mexico City (D.F.), Mexico at 2221-2230 with a good signal. This station answered WB5UXC's CQ call and they swapped pictures and talked in SSB. Fairly clear picture.

It may just be a slow slideshow but I think it's great that amateurs can transmit a type of television signal on shortwave.

Note that SSTV is different from ATV (Amateur television), where amateurs transmit standard broadcast quality television signals. ATV allows for full video with audio, but is restricted to the UHF bands because of the wide bandwidth needed.

Loggings on Highway 7

2010-12-29T23:30:00.014-05:00

I drove back to Toronto today from Ottawa and DXed the AM band while I drove. Car DXing is simple enough - leave the car radio on some frequency while one drives. If something worth logging pops up, pull over, then note down the details. The pulling over and stopping isn't necessary if one uses a voice recorder to make notes, but I don't.

Conditions on the AM band were great today. Occasionally, around the time of the winter solstice, some amount of skywave propagation can remain in effect all day. Normally there is no skywave propagation on mediumwave frequencies during daylight hours because of the ionizing effect of the sun on the D layer of the ionosphere. This layer absorbs signals at these frequencies, preventing them from propagating further. At night, the D layer disippates, which allows signals at mediumwave frequencies to pass through it to the higher F layer, which reflects them back to earth. This is the reason for long distance propagation on the AM band at night. However, around the time of the winter solstice the days are the shortest of the year, and the sun is at the lowest elevation in the sky. So the D layer does not get as strongly ionized and skywave propagation on mediumwave doesn't entirely disappear during the daylight hours. I would expect this phenomenon would be stronger, more frequent, and occur over a longer period of time at more northerly latitudes. Here in southern Ontario I've only ever seen it happen within a couple of weeks of the winter solstice. And it was happening today.

I logged the following stations. I heard more stations than this, but as I was driving I didn't think it was worth stopping to log stations I knew I'd heard before. Four of them turned out to be new catches, which is a fantastic haul. Combined with the three new ones I caught in Ottawa earlier, I got seven new stations on mediumwave today. I can't remember the last time I got so many new ones. This brings the overall mediumwave log count to 963.

WPNI, 1430, Amherst MA at 1810 UTC (2:10 p.m. local time) with fair signal. 5 kW. Playing folk music. ID as WUMB. WUMB is the University of Boston FM station on 91.9, WPNI is carrying its programming at the present time. First time logging. Received in Ottawa, ON.
WENE, 1430, Endicott NY at 1815 UTC with fair signal. Sports. ID as "The Team" and gave location as Binghampton. Received in Ottawa. Relog.
WEOK, 1390, Poughkeepsie NY at 1835 UTC, poor signal. 5 kW. Heard ID and frequency. Received in Carleton Place, ON. First time logging.
WNIO, 1390, Youngstown OH at 1858 UTC. Fair-poor signal. 9.5 kW. Sports talk, ID as "The Sports Animal". ESPN. Callsign ID on the hour. Received in Carleton Place. Relog.
WROW, 590, Albany NY at 2015 UTC. Poor signal. Christmas music, ID as "Magic 590". Relog.
WHBL, 1330, Sheboygan WI at 2100 UTC, around sunset local time. Poor signal. 5 kW. News with items about local events in Wisconsin. Mentions of Sheboygan. Received on Highway 7 in central Ontario. First time logging.
WIGN, 1550, Briston TN at 2130 UTC with poor signal. 35 kW. Religious. Several IDs and location heard. Received in Havelock, ON. First time logging.

Loggings in Ottawa

2010-12-29T23:00:00.002-05:00

Dec. 29, 2010: My last day in Ottawa and I found some time to tune the radio dials today. Had the portable Kaito KA1103 with me. It always seems that radio reception is far better when I'm out on a trip than when I'm at home, probably because I'm not inside a steel frame box and am away from the electronic noise of hundreds of neighbors. Here's what I heard today:

On 507 kHz at 0233 UTC, I heard a Morse code beacon: WE2XGR/6. This is one of the experimental amateur stations operating on the proposed 600 metre band. This one is located in Penn Yan, NY. Signal was good.
WDEV 550 kHz, Waterbury VT, at 0240 UTC with sports program "The Score", mixing with co-channel WGR. Fair signal.
WMAC 940 kHz, Macon GA, at 0300 UTC with news, weather, and clear ID. Poor signal.
Unidentified station or stations in Spanish on 690 kHz heard at 0248 and at 1130-1145 UTC. Talk, Cuban-sounding music. No ID heard. There are several possibilities of what this station could be. If it is a Cuban, then most likely it is CMBC, the 20 kW outlet of Radio Progreso in Jovellanos. That would be a relog for me, as I logged it many years ago.

WDEV and WMAC are new stations, so that brings the overall mediumwave count to 959.

Two Stations on 690 kHz

2010-12-26T23:30:00.002-05:00

While driving up to Ottawa this afternoon, I had the car radio on 690 kHz and caught two new stations. I was on Highway 7 between Perth and Carleton Place, Ontario at the time.

WELD, Fisher WV at 2140 UTC with fair signal. Faded out after a few minutes. Oldies music, ads, and ID. 3 kW.
WZAP, Bristol, VA at 2145-2201 UTC with a fair signal. Religious programming. ID on the hour with callsign and location. 10 kW.

This was around dusk, but before these stations would have switched to their night powers (a measly 14 watts in both cases).

This brings the count in the overall mediumwave log to 957.

WWVH 5000 kHz, Radio Enciclopedia 530 kHz, and WNNZ 640 kHz

2010-12-26T23:00:00.004-05:00

December 26, 2010: While in Harrowsmith, in eastern Ontario (north of Kingston about 20 km) I spent a bit of time tuning the bands on the Kaito KA-1103, my usual travel radio, using its built-in antennas. Made three noteworthy catches:

WWVH, 5000 kHz at 0509 UTC. WWVH is the time-and-frequency station in Kaui, Hawaii. I heard it under WWV in Colorado. The two stations transmit the same format, but WWVH is identifiable because it uses a female voice for the time accouncements, while WWV uses a male one. WWVH also announces the time before WWV. Signal was poor but clear. I've logged WWVH on 5000 kHz before, but it is seldom audible here, and I don't think I've ever caught it on a portable receiver with no outdoor antenna before.
Radio Enciclopedia, CMBQ, 530 kHz, Havana, Cuba, 0545-0601 UTC. Radio Enciclopedia transmits cultural programming across Cuba. I caught them playing so-called "beautiful music" tonight - e.g., the theme from the 1940s movie "Laura". Musical numbers with announcements between them in Spanish by a female announcer. ID and location on the hour. Didn't catch the ID but did catch the location. Fair signal in null of CIAO in Toronto. New station for my overall log.
WNNZ, 640 kHz, Westfield, MA, 1320-1340 UTC. Morning (after sunrise) logging. Fair to good signal, strongest on frequency, in null of Toronto's AM 640. Carrying NPR program "All Things Considered". 50 kW. Logging a 50 kW station from Massachussetts isn't unusual here, but this is my first reception of this station. Normally the frequency is blocked by my local AM 640.
I also did a scan for WiFi WAPs using my netbook computer, running inSSIDer. Found four WAPs, all probably local. I don't know if there's any point to doing this sort of WiFi DXing - it's a good way to add quantity to the logbook, but there seems to be no way to know where the WAPs are so there's no way to distinguish between routine local receptions and DX. But they are radio "stations" of a sort, so there must be some way to turn this into a branch of DXing.

The two mediumwave stations were new, so this brings the count in the mediumwave overall log to 955.

CIQW 99.3 FM, Quinte West, Ontario

2010-12-25T21:42:00.000-05:00

Added a new station to the FM log. I was driving to Eastern Ontario today and while stopped in Trenton, I caught a new FM station: CIQW, 99.3 MHz, from Quinte West, Ontario (which makes it a local station where I heard it). This is Quinte West Information Radio, an automated station broadcasting information of interest to residents and visitors: Environment Canada weather information, public service and community announcements, highway conditions, etc.

This is the 320th station in my overall FM log.

2010 ARRL 10 Meter Contest

2010-12-12T23:59:00.000-05:00

The 2010 ARRL 10 Meter Contest was on today and I spent some time making contacts with amateur stations that were taking part in it. The band was open and conditions were good. I kept a log of all the stations I heard. I was listening between 1630 and 2145 UTC. Mostly I was logging stations operating in Morse code (operating from 28.0 to about 28.05 MHz) plus a few in SSB (around 28.5 MHz). Logged stations from the United States, Canada, Belize, Mexico, Brazil, and Argentina. 10 Meters is interesting. It's closed much of the time, then opens and easily supports global propagation at modest power. Sometimes it opens to one particular part of the world. Today, from here, it seemed to be open only to part of South America - I didn't hear stations from very many countries, but I did log six Brazilians, all from the southern part of the country, plus one Argentinian from the same general region.

I've said this before but will repeat it. DXing amateur stations is something SWLs should consider doing more often. With shortwave broadcasting on the decline, there are many parts of the world that you may only be able to hear on shortwave on the amateur bands.

Sunday Morning Nortown Net

2010-12-12T23:55:00.000-05:00

Every Sunday morning from 11:00 to 11:30 local time (16:00-16:30 UTC) the Nortown Amateur Radio Club here in Toronto (North York) has a net or roundtable on 28,300 kHz in the 10 metre band. I occasionally check into this net despite not being a member of that club. 10 metres is good for local communications when long-distance propagation isn't happening there (which is a lot of the time) but most amateurs don't use it for that - the VHF and UHF bands are used instead. Today I heard three stations in the net, all located in Toronto: VA3AAD - John the net controller, VE3ENA, and VE3BKA. It's a nice, relaxed net, worth checking into if you're a radio amateur in the GTA area.

Some Routine Shortwave Loggings

2010-12-11T23:55:00.000-05:00

Did a bit of tuning about the shortwave broadcast bands during the afternoon today. Just a few routine loggings:

Radio Exterior de España on 17850 kHz at 1910-1940 UTC in Spanish from relay in Costa Rica. Fair signal.
Radio Nederland on 15315 kHz at 2220-2224 UTC in Dutch from relay in Bonaire. 250 kW. Poor signal.
WYFR, Family Radio, on 11740 kHz at 2225-2256 in English from Okeechobee, FL. Fair signal. Religious.

NMG 12788 kHz

2010-12-05T23:55:00.002-05:00

Tuning around 12 MHz today and came across a station broadcasting a marine weather forecast. This was NMG in New Orleans, LA, a U.S. Coast Guard station that broadcasts marine weather and other information of interest to mariners. The forecast was read by a computer-generated male voice - I think they call it "Iron Mike". Details: Dec. 5, 2010 21:50-22:12 UTC on 12788 kHz in SSB with poor signal.

About an hour earlier (20:15-20:35) I was also listening on the 20 metre amateur band to radio amateurs - heard several in a roundtable discussion on 14245 kHz and heard lots in a huge pile-up on 14205. But nothing exotic or noteworthy heard.

2010 TARA RTTY Melee

2010-12-04T23:48:00.000-05:00

Today found me logging amateur stations participating in a radio-teletype contest: the 2010 TARA RTTY Melee. Logged 12 stations, all on 20 metres (around 14.1 MHz), all in the U.S. or Canada. Decoding software used: MMTTY. Not much else to report.

70 cm Repeater VE3VOP

2010-11-15T23:50:00.000-05:00

Ok, this isn't DX. But for me part of the DXing hobby is about exploring the radio spectrum to see what's there, and about exploring new aspects of DXing. Since I've spent very little time on the UHF band, and very little on the 70 cm amateur band (440 MHz), anything I hear there is new. I spent a bit of time listening to the 70 cm band today (Nov. 15) and I heard some talk in an unknown language on 443.325 MHz. I didn't catch the callsigns of the stations, but at one point I heard a Morse code ID. The hams I heard were talking on a repeater, and the Morse code ID was the repeater's automated ID. This was VE3VOP, the repeater of the Mabuhay Amateur Radio Club. Time was 00:23 UTC. It's a local repeater, located here in Toronto. Signal was excellent, as you'd expect from a local.

Catching a local repeater isn't much of an achievement. But it does show that hunting for amateur radio repeaters is another possible facet of DXing. There are unusual propagation conditions that allow VHF and UHF signals to travel long distances, so this could be another niche of DXing.

DARC WAE RTTY Contest

2010-11-14T23:59:00.000-05:00

My DXing activities on Nov. 14, 2010 were about logging stations in an amateur radio contest: the DARC (Deutscher Amateur-Radio-Club) Worked All Europe RTTY Contest. I was on the air making contacts and kept a log of all the stations I heard. I was only on two bands (20 and 40 metres) and logged 21 stations. And even though this was a European contest, radio conditions were not so great so all the stations I caught were in North America - one in Canada, one in Mexico, and the rest in the U.S. And I only actually worked seven of these on the air. The Canadian station was VY2SS in Prince Edward Island. The Mexican one was 4B1EE, in Queretaro, Mexico.

WGNY-AM 1220

2010-11-08T23:38:00.002-05:00

This morning I caught a station on the AM band I've never received before: WGNY-AM on 1220 kHz from Newburgh, NY. Until recently 1220 was pretty effectively blocked by semi-local CHSC in St. Catharines, Ontario. But that station shut down at the end of September leaving the frequency clearer, although it is still partly blocked here by WHKW in Cleveland, Ohio. CHSC's departure made the reception of WGNY possible.

Details: Nov. 8, 2010, 1220-1230 UTC (7:20 local time), playing oldies. Also heard report of current weather conditions, and slogan "Fox Radio" and station URL foxradio.net. Signal fair-poor, mixing with and usually under WHKW. Received on the Kaito KA-1103 portable and also tuned in on the Eton E-100 so I could add the logging to the ultralight log. This is ultralight logging 339.

Amateur Radio DXing - 2010 ARRL CW Sweepstakes Contest

2010-11-07T23:55:00.000-05:00

On Nov. 7, 2010 I spent some time making contacts in the 2010 ARRL CW Sweepstakes contest. I also kept a log of all the stations I heard. I heard 37 stations (and worked 20 of them) on the 40, 20, and 15 metre bands. All were in North America, except one, CX/N3BNA, in Uruguay. CX/N3BNA wasn't actually participating in the contest but he was on 15 metres at the time of the contest, so I worked him on the air.

All the other stations were in the continental U.S. or Canada, except for NP2X in the U.S. Virgin Islands. One Alaskan station was also heard, KL7AF, which is located at Elmendorf Air Force Base.

This shows one reason why SWLs should consider DXing the amateur bands. As far as I know, there are no shortwave broadcasters left in Uruguay or in the U.S. Virgin Islands. So if you want to hear those countries on the air, the amateur bands are really the only practical option.

Amateur Radio DXing - 2010 CQ Worldwide DX Contest, SSB

2010-10-31T23:55:00.006-04:00

On the weekend of Oct 30/31, 2010, I spent some time on the air, at my amateur radio station VE3LXL, making contacts in the 2010 CQ Magazine Worldwide DX Contest (SSB). It occurred to me that I should also keep a log of the stations I heard, even the ones I failed to work on the air. I am already in the habit of logging amateur stations when tuning around the bands, so it only makes sense to also do this when I'm operating my station.

It also occurs to me that this is a form of DXing that SWLs should consider doing more often. It's no secret that shortwave broadcasting is in trouble these days, with shortwave broadcasters dropping like flies. But there is still plenty of activity on the amateur bands, especially on weekends of major contests. And there are many countries that are difficult or impossible to hear on the shortwave broadcast bands that have active amateur stations. If you're an SWL, give it a try. You can find a list of all the upcoming amateur contests at WA7BNM's contest calendar.

I did all my listening on the 15, 20, and 40 metre bands. I won't list all the stations I heard this weekend - there were over 90 of them. But I will list the countries I heard: Antigua, Argentina, Azores (Portugal), Belize, Bermuda, Bonaire (Netherlands Antilles), Brazil, Canada, Canary Islands (Spain), Cayman Islands (U.K.), Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, England, France, Galapagos Islands (Ecuador), Germany, Madeira Islands (Portugal), Mexico, Netherlands, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Slovak Republic, Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands (U.K.), U.S. Virgin Islands, United States, Uruguay, Venezuela.

WiFi DXing

2010-10-24T23:55:00.003-04:00

I am wondering if it is possible to turn the search for Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) Wireless Access Points (WAPs) into a branch of the DXing hobby - WiFi DXing. Wireless networks communicate by radio, using two bands in the 2.4 and 5 GHz range. Each network's base station can be thought of as being a tiny, micro-powered radio station. By scanning for wireless networks with your computer, you can get a list of the nearby stations of this type. So is there a form of DXing possible here? Is it possible that under certain conditions signals can propagate long distances, becoming DXable targets?

As an experiment I used software called inSSIDer 2.0 that I installed on my station computer to scan for wireless networks in my neighbourhood. The network card has a small antenna on the back of the computer; I didn't try augmenting it. Since I live on the 12th floor of an apartment building I have the advantage of height. There are also other apartment and condo towers nearby, and two main streets with office buildings and businesses, which gives the potential for numerous wireless networks. The advantage of using inSSIDer is that it gives you the number of the channel the WAP is using, which allows you you to know the exact radio frequency. That's not really important for most purposes but it's something you'd want to know if you use a frequency-based logging system.

The results of this experiment were interesting. I did a single scan at 16:36 UTC on Oct. 24, 2010. InSSIDer listed 66 WAPs nearby. Clearly there's no shortage of targets. It's safe to assume all are within a few hundred metres of here. InSSIDer tells you the network's name, the type of device and the network speed it supports. What it does not tell you is where the WAP is actually located. (Or maybe it does - inSSIDER does seem to have an option for attaching a GPS to it, so maybe it can identify the network's location if you do that. But I don't have a GPS). Without knowing the WAP's location, there's no way to tell if a new network you're seeing is a DX reception or just a new nearby network.

I think there's potential to this, although clearly it's not radio DXing in the conventional sense. There's nothing for you to listen to, and you use the computer's wireless card as the receiver, not a conventional radio.

Shortwave Loggings

2010-10-24T23:00:00.000-04:00

Some interesting things heard on shortwave today, Oct. 24, 2010:

AFRTS (American Forces Radio and Television Service) feeder heard on 12133 kHz at 0505 to 0518 UTC, in USB with weak signal. Programming was talk, sports talk, and army announcements. Station location: Saddleback Keys, Florida.
Unidentified utility station on 12120.5 kHz at 0520 with high-speed digital traffic. Strong signal.
Radio Nacional da Amazonia, Brasilia, Brazil, heard at 0525 UTC on 11780 kHz with fair signal. Brazilian music and talk, in Portuguese naturally, between songs. 250 kW.
Radio New Zealand International, Rangitaiki, New Zealand, hear at 0534 to 0602 with poor signal. Tentative - no ID heard but programming was typical of RNZ. Stupidly, I forgot to record the frequency but it was in the 25 metre band.
Unidentified utility station on 12014.5 kHz at 2030 UTC with fair signal carrying high speed digital traffic.
WEWN, Vandiver, Alabama, heard at 2120-2140 UTC on 12050 kHz with good signal carrying Catholic religious programming in Spanish.
WYFR, Family Radio on 12055 kHz at 2140 UTC with talk and music in English. Interval signal at 2200 then off air. Weak. This was not from WYFR's usual site in Florida but was instead being relayed from Ascension Island in the South Atlantic. To central Africa.
BBC World Service, from Ascension Island, on 12095 kHz at 2210 in English with poor signal. Talk and news. Interference from a Spanish language station on the same frequency - may be Radio Damascus in Syria, which is the only station listed as operating in Spanish on this frequency at this time. However, nothing was heard that could identify it.

Dominican Republic and Brazil on 10 Metres

2010-10-23T23:22:00.000-04:00

The 10 metre amateur band is dead much of the time, but today (Oct. 23) it came alive for a bit and I heard two DX stations. Details:

HI3B, Dominican Republic, heard at 2110 UTC in Morse code (CW) on 28028 kHz working various stations. RST: 379.
PY2XC, Sao Paulo, Brazil, heard at 2133 UTC on 28018 kHz in CW working several stations. RST 479. The only station that worked PY2XC that I was able to hear was VE3IN here in Toronto.

30 Metre Beacon

2010-10-22T23:50:00.001-04:00

Today: my first reception of an amateur radio beacon on the 30 metre band. WA4SZE/B, Manchester, TN, USA, heard from 1210 - 1250 UTC Oct. 22, 2010 on 10148.6 kHz with a fair signal. The beacon was sending a continuous stream of dash-dot beeps with a "WA4SZE/B" ID in Morse code every few minutes.

Shortwave Broadcast Loggings

2010-10-22T23:00:00.000-04:00

Some shortwave broadcasters heard this morning (Oct. 22, 2010):

Voice of America, 9885 kHz at 1155 UTC with fair signal. Talk/news show in Spanish.
Radio Vatican, 9830 kHz at 1158 UTC with strong signal in Spanish. Religious programming. Transmitter location unknown, but given its strength is likely from Sackville, NB relay.
Radio Marti, 9805 kHz at 1201 UTC in Spanish. Fair signal. News/talk show. Broadcasting from Greenville, NC, USA.
KBS World Radio, 9650 kHz at 1203 UTC via Sackville, NB relay. Excellent signal in English with news from Seoul, South Korea.

Navtex DX Session

2010-10-19T23:55:00.001-04:00

Results of an overnight DX session: 0310 to 1150 UTC Tues. Oct. 19, 2010. I left the receiver on overnight tuned to 518 kHz, hooked to the computer with Navtex Decoder running to see what would come in. Here's what came in. No new stations.

1. NMG ($04G), New Orleans, LA:

0310-0320: Navigation warnings.
0700-0740: Weather forecasts, two satnav messages, and some navigation warnings.

2. VCK ($04C), Sept-Iles-Riviere-au-Renard, QC, Canada:

0418-0425: Navigation warnings.
0523-0525: Meteorlogical warnings - gale warnings.
0610-0612: Meteorlogical warnings - gale warnings.
0655-0655: Meteorlogical warnings - gale warnings.
0818-0820: Weather forecast.

3. NMF ($04F), Boston, MA:

0510: Navigation warnings.
0844-0910: Navigation warnings and one satnav message.

Radio Cultura do Para, 5045 kHz

2010-10-18T23:55:00.000-04:00

A new logging of a tropical band broadcast station tonight. From 0305 to 0331 UTC I heard a weak station playing Latin music on 5045 kHz in either Spanish or Portuguese - it was too weak to determine the language. No ID. Three hours later, when I was having trouble sleeping, I came back to it - from 0645 to 0725 UTC (that's 0245 to 0330 AM local time). Now the signal was stronger, although with a lot of interference from Radio Rebelde, Cuba, on 5040 kHz. It was playing Brazilian or Portuguese pop music with talk in Portuguese. Finally at 0725 I heard an ID "Radio Cultura" and a mention of "Amazonia, Brazil". This is Radio Cultura do Para in Belem, Brazil. 10 kW.

Back in the old days I used to enjoy tropical band DXing and logged a fair number of broadcasters on the tropical bands. Sadly, most broadcasting activity on these bands has ceased now. So it was a nice surprise to actually log a new one today.

Another HF-FAX Reception

2010-10-18T23:45:00.001-04:00

I made a second reception of a station transmitting weather maps via HF-FAX today. This was actually part of the same DX session that netted the reception of NMF yesterday, but two hours later, when the UTC date had already changed. Details: NMG, New Orleans LA, on 8503.9 kHz at 0030 to 0100 UTC Mon. Oct. 18, 2010. Fair to poor signal. Weather maps for the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea. Lots of interference (noise) but readable.

Three Unidentified Utility Stations

2010-10-17T23:59:00.002-04:00

Rounding out today's loggings are three unidentified utility stations and some shortwave broadcasters. The utility stations:

9030 kHz, 2248 UTC: High speed digital signal, maybe some type of RTTY.
4805 kHz, 2330 - 2337 UTC: Station with "sweeping" sounding signal. May be a coastal radar station.
4820 kHz, 2338 UTC: Another station with the same type of "sweeping" signal as heard on 4805.

The shortwave broadcasters:

WWCR, Nashville TN on 9350 kHz at 2100 UTC with show "Prison Planet" hosted by Alex Jones.
WTJC, Morehead City NC on 9370 at 2217 UTC with gospel music.
WBCQ, Montecello ME on 9330 kHz at 2225 UTC with religious preaching.
Radio Cairo, Cairo Egypt, on 9305 kHz at 2226 UTC in Arabic with Arabic music and talk by a woman.

TO3GA

2010-10-17T23:45:00.001-04:00

An interesting amateur radio logging today as well: TO3GA on the French island of Martinique in the West Indies. This was a DXpedition station operated by a German amateur, DL3GA. He was operating in CW on 40 metres (7026 kHz) at 2320 UTC Oct. 17, 2010. He was working lots of stations in quick succession. The only one I heard was DF1AL in Berlin, Germany.

HF-FAX Reception on 9110 kHz

2010-10-17T23:30:00.002-04:00

Something new today. I was tuning around 9 MHz on shortwave to see what I could discover and I came across a strong digital signal. I started up MultiPSK to attempt to decode it and quickly discovered that it was an HF-FAX signal, with a transmission of weather maps of the North Atlantic and the Carribean. This is my first reception of an HF-FAX station ever. Frequency: 9110 kHz. Station: NMF. Location: Boston, MA. Time and date: 2230 - 2244 UTC Oct. 17, 2010. Signal quality: good.

This is one thing I enjoy in radio - exploring what's out there and discovering hitherto unknown types of transmissions and stations.

Useful links here, here, here, and here.

WGBW 1590 DX Test

2010-10-16T23:59:00.000-04:00

WGBW 1590, Two Rivers, Wisconsin, held a DX Test between 0500 and 0600 Z on Sat. Oct. 16. I listened to 1590 from 0515 onwards trying to catch it. Usually stations doing DX tests use distinctive tones and, sometimes, Morse code IDs, to ensure they stand out. I heard nothing from them for the entire time of the DX test. The channel was dominated by WAKR in Akron, Ohio, and by noise. That is, I heard nothing until 0559, when WAKR faded momentarily and the noise abated, and I heard faint but clear "...WGBW AM 1590 Two Rivers, Wisconsin...". It's certainly odd that the only thing I heard from the DX test was the station's full legal ID at the top of the hour.

Another new station for both the Toronto log and the overall log. I've not received this station before.

Thanksgiving DXing

2010-10-11T23:59:00.003-04:00

Over the Thanksgiving weekend I was in the village of Harrowsmith, Ontario, near Kingston. And as I usually do when I'm up there, I did some DXing. I'm always impressed by how much more I can hear there than from home, even though I'm just using a little portable shortwave receiver with its built-in antenna when I'm there. The reason for the great reception is that there is so little interference. There is very little electrical noise on the bands, and I'm not in a steel frame building there.

I was tuning around on the lower shortwave frequencies, and here's what I heard. Date: Oct. 11, 2010. Receiver: Kaito KA-1103 on its telescopic whip antenna.

3485 kHz: Gander Radio, Gander Newfoundland, 0257 - 0300 UTC, with aviation weather.
3476 kHz: 0302 - 0310 UTC, weak station in English with Irish sounding accent with air traffic control transmissions. I think this is Shanwick Radio, an air traffic control station in Ireland.
3476 kHz: Gander Radio, Gander NL, 0310 - 0314 UTC. On after the preceding station went off. Air traffic control for North Atlantic from Gander airport in Newfoundland.
3350 kHz: Radio Exterior de Espana, broadcasting from Costa Rica, at 0317 to 0335 UTC.
3320 kHz: Radio Sonder Grense, Meyerton South Africa, from 0336 to 0042 UTC. With music and talk in Afrikaans.
3395 kHz: 0402 - 0403 UTC. Unidentified utility with strange pulsing sound: 3 harsh mid-tone beeps and one deeper one, repeated, with each cycle taking about 2 seconds.
3185 kHz: WWRB, Manchester TN, at 0405 UTC. Christian broadcaster. 100 kW.
3885 kHz: Ham radio roundtable in AM mode aty 0411- 0425 UTC. Stations heard include W2NBC in Oak Ridge NJ, WB2CAU in Dix Hills NY, and N1HCI in Concord NH.
3880 kHz: KG2IR, Greenlawn NY at 1320 UTC. Another amateur in AM mode.

And Even More Navtex DXing

2010-10-09T23:59:00.001-04:00

I did an overnight Navtex DX session on Oct. 9. I left the computer on decoding what came in on 518 kHz and then checked it the next day. Here's what put in an appearance:

NMF ($04F), Boston MA, 0447 - 0510 UTC, good signal with marine weather forecast for northeastern U.S. waters and four navigation warnings.
VCK ($04C), Sept-Iles-Riviere-au-Renard QC Canada, 0601 UTC, good signal with meteorological warnings, reporting gale force winds in the Cabot Strait, Northumberland Strait, Gulf Magdalen, Chaleur-Miscou, Anticosti, etc.
VCK ($04C), Sept-Iles-Riviere-au-Renard QC Canada, showing up again at 0654 UTC with more meteorlogical warnings.
NMG ($04G), New Orleans LA, 0700 - 0735 UTC, fair signal with marine weather forecast and navigation warnings.
NMF ($04F), Boston MA, 0854-0856 UTC, good signal with navigation warnings.
XLJ895 ($04P), Thunder Bay ON Canada, 1032 UTC, good signal with marine weather forecast (for Great Lakes).
NMG ($04G), New Orleans LA, 1102-1113 UTC, good signal with marine weather and navigation warnings.

All of these are relogs, except for XLJ895 in Thunder Bay, Ontario, which is a new station for me. As usual, I used Frisnet Navtex Decoder 2.1.5 to decode the signals.

More Navtex DXing

2010-10-07T23:59:00.000-04:00

Another Navtex DX session and two stations received, both of them relogs. Frequency: 518 kHz, date: Oct. 7, 2010, decoding software: Frisnet Navtex Decoder 2.1.5.

NMG ($04G), New Orleans LA, 0305 to 0315 UTC, fair signal with marine navigation warnings.
VAR-9 ($04U), Saint John NB, 0321 to 0330 UTC, fair to good signal with marine navigation warnings.

Navtex DXing

2010-10-06T23:21:00.002-04:00

Last year I briefly tried out Navtex DXing, but then didn't keep it up, despite the encouraging results of that first experience (for instance, receiving the first station I've ever heard from Greenland). Today (Oct. 6, 2010) I decided to come back to it. Here's what I found:

0420 - 0425 UTC, VCK ($04C), Sept-Iles-Riviere-au-Renard, Quebec, with navigation warnings. Good signal.
0426 - 0436 UTC, NMA ($04A), Miami FL, with navigational notices. Weak with garbled messages, but station identifier clear.
0445 UTC, NMF ($04F), Boston MA, with marine weather forecast for northeastern U.S. waters. Good signal.

All these stations were logged on 518 kHz, just below the bottom end of the AM broadcast band. VCK and NMF are relogs, but NMA from Miami is a new one for me.

Navtex is transmitted in a mode called SITOR-B. To receive Navtex, you need a receiver that supports SSB reception, and a computer to decode the signal. I use a software application called Frisnet Navtex Decoder to do the decoding.

Navtex stations on 518 kHz all broadcast in English. The world is divided into regions called Navareas. The stations within a Navarea take turns transmitting according to a predefined schedule. Each station in a Navarea identifies itself by a single letter (e.g., "A"). William Hepburn, at his DX Information Centre site, has a comprehensive list of the stations in each Navarea, with their identifiers and transmission schedules.

Navtex DXers identify stations using the format $NNI, where "$NN" is the Navarea number and "I" is the station's single letter identifier. For example, $04F is station "F" in Navarea 4, and from Hepburn's station list you can see this is station NMF in Boston, MA.

I also heard an aircraft navigation beacon on 516 kHz at the same time (0420 UTC): YWA in Petawawa, Ontario, with a fairly decent signal. This station is a regular visitor here in Toronto.