Ultralight Loggings for the First Week of December

It's been a productive week for ultralight DXing. Seven new stations added, including one new Canadian provice (Manitoba) and one new U.S. state (Nebraska). The Manitoba logging was made on the Sony SRF-59, while all the others were on the Sangean DT-400W:

• 990 CBW Winnipeg, MB 2358 UTC 02-Dec-2008 SRF-59
• 630 WPRO Providence, RI 0428 UTC 07-Dec-2008 DT-400W
• 620 WRJZ Knoxville, TN 0558 UTC 07-Dec-2008 DT-400W
• 1110 WCCM Salem, NH 2145 UTC 07-Dec-2008 DT-400W
• 1400 WDNY Dansville, NY 2215 UTC 07-Dec-2008 DT-400W
• 1320 WJAS Pittsburgh, PA 2223 UTC 07-Dec-2008 DT-400W
• 880 KRVN Lexington, NE 2240 UTC 07-Dec-2008 DT-400W

Total ultralight station count: 219. Total U.S. states: 27. Total Canadian provinces: 3

CBW 990 is a 50 kW outlet of CBC Radio. I picked it while walking home from the subway. I've received this station several times before, but never like thit time. An astonishingly strong signal - I listened to it for ten minutes and it came in solid and steady with almost local quality for most of that time.

Three of these stations are new to my overall log: WJRZ 620, WDNY 1400, and KVRN 880.

KVRN 880 was an interesting catch. I'm not sure but it might be the first station I've ever received from Nebraska on AM. It's certainly the first on an ultralight. I heard it under WCBS. WCBS was dominating the frequency, but under it I could hear country and western music. Occasionally it strengthened enough to make out what was being said. The clincher was hearing a detailed weather report and forecast for the state of Nebraska.

This is a reception I made because of a new listening technique I discovered recently: sit on a frequency that is dominated by one station and then listen in the moments of silence for stations below it. It was my hearing WINS on 1010 below CFRB that made me realize this could work. No station has more of a dominant "presence" at my location than CFRB, so if I could hear another station behind it, it should work for other stations too. So that's how I got KVRN here and WJAS (which is on a frequency with another local station, CJMR).

Ultralight Awards

I was pleased to receive three more awards recently from the Ultralight Radio Awards Committee: the 200 Stations Heard Award, the 25 U.S. States Award, and the "entry-level" (i.e., one station) Trans-Atlantic Stations Heard Award. If you're interested in these awards, see the ultralight DXing files area at dxer.ca.

Ultralight Loggings to the End of November

After reaching 200 stations in the ultralight log I took a few days break from ultralight DXing. When I resumed, I began using two new ultralight radios: a Sangean DT-400W and an Eton E-100. As of the end of November, I've added another 12 stations to the ultralight log, bringing the total count to 212:

• 580 CFRA Ottawa, ON 1218 UTC 20-Nov-2008 DT-400W
• 790 WPIC Sharon, PA 1230 UTC 20-Nov-2008 DT-400W
• 630 WMAL Washington, DC 0520 UTC 23-Nov-2008 DT-400W
• 1140 WCJW Warsaw, NY 1445 UTC 23-Nov-2008 E-100
• 1410 WELM Elmira, NY 1223 UTC 28-Nov-2008 DT-400W
• 1410 WNER Watertown, NY 1238 UTC 28-Nov-2008 DT-400W
• 1010 WINS New York, NY 0510 UTC 29-Nov-2008 DT-400W
• 1240 WNBZ Saranac Lake, NY 1048 UTC 29-Nov-2008 DT-400W
• 1440 WNPV Lansdale, PA 1110 UTC 29-Nov-2008 DT-400W
• 1490 WBTA Batavia, NY 1305 UTC 30-Nov-2008 DT-400W
• 1450 WENI Corning, NY 1323 UTC 30-Nov-2008 DT-400W
• 1240 CJCS Stratford, ON 1738 UTC 30-Nov-2008 DT-400W

CFRA 580 took this long to log because I have a very powerful local station on 590 which bled into 580 so much on the SRF-59 that I couldn't log anything there. But the DT-400W seeems to have better selectivity so I was able to hear CFRA using it.

790 WPIC, 1410 WELM, 1240 WNBZ, 1440 WNPV, 1490 WBTA, and 1450 WENI are all new stations for my overall log.

1140 WCJW is semi-local for me, and would be an easy catch, except that it is daytime only and during the day 1140 is swamped by slop from CKOC on 1150. I was never able to separate it from CKOC on the Sony SRF-59, but the E-100 and the Sangean DT-400W both were able to handle it. I heard it on both radios, but actually logged it on the E-100.

1410 WNER is a relog, but the last time I logged this it was still WOTT, which it stopped using many years ago.

1010 WINS was heard under local CFRB in moments of silence during a talk show on CFRB. Traffic report with mentions of Rockaway, and the Lincoln and Holland tunnels. No ID, but what else could it possibly be? This is a relog, but is my first time logging it in Toronto.

1240 CJCS: I actually heard most of this on my car radio (where the signal was fair to good). Had the DT-400W with me, so I got out of the car and tuned it in on that in order to log it on an ultralight. This is a semi-local station but I have not been able to hear it at my home. But just a few miles to the west, it comes in with a usable signal during the day. So the edge of CJCS's daytime groundwave coverage appears to be somewhere my home and there.

Ultralight Station 200: Glas Hrvatske, Croatia - 1134 kHz

After 199 stations heard on the Sony SRF-59, I was starting to take its amazing performance for granted. But station 200 blew me away. The radio gods decided to give me a present for station 200: my fourth country, my first transatlantic station, my first European station. And they convinced me that almost nothing is beyond the reach of these little radios.

Keep in mind that station 200, like the 199 preceding it, was heard on an unmodified Sony SRF-59 Walkman using only its built-in antenna. Keep in mind that this is a simple consumer-grade pocket AM/FM radio. Keep in mind that I'm located in Toronto, hundreds of miles inland from the Atlantic Ocean. And then consider that I received an AM station from Croatia on this tiny thing. Unbelievable.

Details:

1134 Glas Hrvatske, Zadar, Croatia - 17-Nov-2008 0440-0510 UTC - Music with no talk up to the hour. Talk in Croatian - sounded like a newscast thereafter. Severe interference from U.S. stations on 1130 and 1140, but strong enough at times that the language was identifiable. 600 kW. (Poor-Very Poor).

I actually verified the identity of this in three steps. I'd read on the ultralightdx list that some other ultralight DXers had got Glas Hrvatske (Voice of Croatia) recently. So I tuned to between 1130 and 1140 to see if I could hear it. I did hear something that sounded like a station in there. So I went to the Internet and found Glas Hrvatske's web stream (through delicast.com/radio/zagreb/HR_Glas_Hrvatske). This was my reference. Then I tuned to 1134 on my Kaito KA-1103 and waited for the signal to come in strongly enough to compare to the webcast. It took a few minutes but eventually the signal was strong enough to compare and I verified that what I was hearing on 1134 was indeed Croatia. Then finally, I started listening on the SRF-59 to compare it to what I was hearing on both the KA-1103 and on the webcast. It took about 15 minutes of listening but eventually the signal on the SRF-59 was strong enough that I could hear that it was the same programming as I was hearing on those other two sources.

I've gotten Glas Hrvatske here in Toronto several times in the past, in previous years. But it is the only transatlantic station I've ever received here (I have heard many more from Newfoundland). And now I've heard it on a little pocket radio. Very cool.

Radio Saint Helena Day

Saturday Nov. 15, 2008 was Radio Saint Helena Day. Saint Helena is an island in the South Atlantic Ocean, a British possession. The shortwave broadcasting station on St. Helena shut down operations in the late 1990s, but once a year they fire it up to do a special broadcast. So I guess you could say that they have a regular schedule - regularly once a year.

The broadcast was on 11092.5 kHz in USB from 20:00 to 23:30 UTC. I was listening for most of it (from 20:30 onwards). Here are the details of what I heard:

(1) Transmission to Japan:
20:30-20:40 (approx): Fairly strong for a few minutes. Male announcer mentioned this was a transmission to Japan. Song by the Carpenters. Then if faded out and nothing more was heard.

(2) Transmission to Europe:
Around 21:14: Faint music and talk. Too weak to make out what was being said or played, but enough to tell that there was a signal. Faded out after a few minutes and nothing more heard.

(3) Transmission to North America:
Nothing heard.

Radio: JRC NRD-525, attached to random length wire on my apartment
balcony (and hooked to balcony railing, which acted as part of the antenna).

A disappointing performance. I heard this station better a few years ago
on a previous Radio St. Helena day, and I was expecting more this time
around, as I was using a better radio attached to a better antenna this
time. Oh well, there's always next year!

Recent Ultralight Loggings

Another batch of stations logged on the Sony SRF-59. This brings the total ultralight count to 199 - one station away from 200!

• 980 CFPL London, ON 2320 UTC 12-Nov-2008
• 1410 WPOP Hartford, CT 2340 UTC 13-Nov-2008
• 1460 WKDV Manassas, VA 0225 UTC 14-Nov-2008 Spanish
  
• 1120 WUST Washington, DC 1230 UTC 14-Nov-2008 French
  
• 1230 WHUC Hudson, NY 2225 UTC 16-Nov-2008
• 1360 WNJC Washington Twp, NJ 2345 UTC 16-Nov-2008

CFPL 980 was one of those stations that proved to be surprisingly difficult to log, given its relative closeness to my location and its power (10 / 5 kW). It has taken me almost two months to log it. Yet CFPL is an easy daytime catch in cities like Mississauga and Brampton, just to the west of Toronto. I'm in central Toronto and must be just outside the range of its groundwave coverage and in an area that the skywave signal must be skipping over.

WPOP 1410 is another ESPN Radio outlet. This one at least was carrying local advertising that made identifying it easy.

WKDV 1460 is a Spanish station. It was IDing itself as "La Caliente".

WUST 1120 is an ethnic station in Washington. It confused me at first because it broadcasts in French in the morning, so I thought it might be a new Canadian station (as there are currently no Canadian stations on 1120).

WHUC 1230 plays "nostalgia" music; WNJC 1360 appeared to be carrying sports programming.

More Ultralight Loggings

My new job is keeping me busy, and it's also getting harder to log new stations, but I still managed to add a few more to the ultralight log this week. As always, these were logged on a stock Sony SRF-59.

• 1040 WHO Des Moines, IA 2349 UTC 05-Nov-2008
• 1500 WFED Washington, DC 2335 UTC 06-Nov-2008
• 570 WSYR Syracuse, NY 0225 UTC 07-Nov-2008
• 910 WLAT New Britain, CT 2355 UTC 08-Nov-2008
• 790 CIGM Sudbury, ON 0520 UTC 09-Nov-2008
• 790 WAEB Allentown, PA 2055 UTC 09-Nov-2008

Total ultralight count: 193.

Some of these are stations that I had thought would be easy catches, but they proved to be tougher than I expected. WHO 1040 was tough because its frequency is hammered by local 50 kW CHUM on 1050 on one side, and by what sounds like IBOC noise from WBZ 1030 on the other. WFED was another station that took a lot longer to catch than I thought it would. I was glad to get CIGM - I'm trying to log as many of Ontario's stations as I can, and I think this one has applied to move to FM.

Ultralight Loggings for the Past Week

Since my last update, I've managed to log the following stations on the Sony SRF-59:

• 1670 WTDY Madison, WI 0348 UTC 26-Oct-2008
• 1190 WOWO Fort Wayne, IN 1240 UTC 26-Oct-2008
• 1620 WPNT South Bend, IN 0340 UTC 29-Oct-2008
  
• 1440 WHKZ Warren, OH 0353 UTC 29-Oct-2008
  
• 1270 WTSN Dover, NH 1115 UTC 29-Oct-2008
  
• 1410 WLSH Lansford, PA 1135 UTC 29-Oct-2008
  
• 1450 WWSC Glens Falls, NY 0206 UTC 31-Oct-2008
  
• 1400 WLLH Lowell, MA 0224 UTC 31-Oct-2008
  
• 1160 WSKH Skowhegan, ME 1050 UTC 31-Oct-2008
  
• 960 WELI New Haven, CT 1125 UTC 31-Oct-2008
  
• 1640 WKSH Sussex, WI 0255 UTC 01-Nov-2008
  
• 900 WBRV Boonville, NY 1114 UTC 01-Nov-2008
  

Total ultralight count is now 187. Total U.S. states: 26. One new state in this lot: Indiana.

WOWO 1190 in Fort Wayne, Indiana, used to be an easy catch. It used to be a clear channel station, which made it easy to hear all over the eastern part of the continent. But in 1995 it was bought by WLIB in New York, also on 1190, for the sole purpose of reducing its nighttime power and transferring its clear channel status to WLIB. So now WOWO is not that easy to catch in Toronto, since WLIB dominates the channel at night. WOWO is an old station, first going on the air in 1925.

I'm not far from 200 stations now. I want to reach 200 using only the SRF-59, and listening from home. After 200 I will start experimenting with my other ultralight radios, and may try listening from other locations to see if that helps. The ultralight awards let you count loggings made up to 20 or 25 miles from home, so that gives some room for experimenting with different locations. The two problems with my location are both due to the fact that it's inside an apartment building: electrical noise and attenuation from the building's steel frame. I'd like to find an outdoor location to listen from to see if that helps.

Two New Ultralight Radios

I recently bought two new ultralight radios. Two weeks ago I got up a Sangean DT-400W at Durham Radio in Whitby, Ontario, and yesterday I bought a Eton E-100 at the Durham Radio table at the York Region Amateur Radio Club hamfest. Good deal on the E-100: they were selling them for only $44.95. I'm not going to start DXing with either of these yet. I want to reach 200 stations in the ultralight log using the Sony SRF-59 before I start using any other radios. But after 200 I think they'll both be used a lot.

Recent Ultralight Loggings

Not a lot of time for radio this past week, but I managed to add another set of stations to the ultralight log using the SRF-59.

• 1630 KCJJ Iowa City, IA 0354 UTC 18-Oct-2008
• 1480 WZRC New York, NY 2255 UTC 18-Oct-2008 Cantonese
  
• 1480 WSDS Salem Township, MI 2356 UTC 18-Oct-2008 Spanish
  
• 1650 WHKT Portsmouth, VA 0355 UTC 19-Oct-2008
  
• 1160 WVNJ Oakland, NJ 2256 UTC 19-Oct-2008
• 1420 WHK Cleveland, OH 2342 UTC 20-Oct-2008
• 1160 WPIE Trumansburg, NY 1040 UTC 25-Oct-2008
• 1160 WYLL Chicago, IL 1042 UTC 25-Oct-2008
• 1160 WBYN Lehighton, PA 1046 UTC 25-Oct-2008

Total ultralight count: 175. Total U.S. states: 25.

KCJJ 1630 is the first station I've logged from Iowa for the ultralight log.

WHKT 1650 is a Radio Disney outlet. I've heard it many nights before this logging, but the difficulty with logging Radio Disney stations is that they all seem to carry a lot of generic network programming and identify with callsign only once an hour. So if the station happens to fade at the time of the hourly ID, you have to wait for another hour to try to ID it again.

WHK 1420 is a News Talk station in Cleveland, Ohio. This station is a real old-timer (as its three letter callsign show). It began broadcasting in 1921, and is the oldest AM station in Cleveland, and the fifteenth oldest in the United States.

WPIE 1160 is a new station for my overall log. This is a sports station located in the Ithaca, NY area.

1160 used to be a clear channel - I suppose it still is technically. In the 1970s it was one of the few AM frequencies where we could regularly hear into the western United States from the east. I heard KSL Salt Lake City, Utah many times from eastern Ontario. But now there are so many stations on 1160 that there is no chance of hearing KSL any longer.

Ultralight Loggings for the Past Week

Several more AM radio stations logged on the little Sony SRF-59 over the past week.

• 960 WFGL Fitchburg, MA 2257 UTC 09-Oct-2008 Religious
  
• 1510 WLAC Nashville, TN 0305 UTC 10-Oct-2008 Talk
  
• 1510 WPGR Monroesville, PA 0305 UTC 10-Oct-2008 Religious
  
• 1540 CHIN Toronto, ON 0342 UTC 10-Oct-2008 Multicultural
• 1660 WQLR Kalamazoo, MI 1050 UTC 11-Oct-2008 Talk
  
• 1570 WFLR Dundee, NY 1149 UTC 11-Oct-2008 Country music
  
• 1380 WKDM New York, NY 2350 UTC 15-Oct-2008 Mandarin Chinese
  
• 1660 WWRU Jersey City, NJ 0250 UTC 16-Oct-2008 Korean
  
• 560 WIND Chicago, IL 0245 UTC 17-Oct-2008 News Talk
  
• 560 CFOS Owen Sound, ON 0245 UTC 17-Oct-2008 Oldies
  
• 930 WIZR Johnstown, NY 0310 UTC 17-Oct-2008 Oldies
  
• 630 CFCO Chatham, ON 2345 UTC 17-Oct-2008 Country music
  

Total ultralight count: 166. Total U.S. States count: 24.

Three of these are new stations for my overall log: WFGL 960, WPGR 1510, and WKDM 1380. WWRU 1660 is the first station in my ultralight log from New Jersey.

CHIN, a local station for me, is showing up in the list now because I somehow missed it when I was logging my local stations back in September.

I was surprised to log WIZR 930. It was completely dominating over the semi-local WBEN Buffalo. Surprised because it runs only 28 watts at night and should not even be audible here, let alone overpowering a semi-local station. Just one more example of how radio is full of odd surprises.

Recent Ultralight Loggings

Loggings on the Sony SRF-59 over the past few days:

• 1150 CJRC Gatineau, QC 0530 UTC 05-Oct-2008 French
  
• 1220 WHKW Cleveland, OH 0555 UTC 05-Oct-2008
• 1330 WFNN Erie, PA 2245 UTC 05-Oct-2008
• 1360 WYOS Binghampton, NY 1210 UTC 07-Oct-2008
• 1330 WRCA Waltham, MA 0325 UTC 08-Oct-2008
• 1310 WLOB Portland, ME 0333 UTC 08-Oct-2008
• 1260 WMKI Boston, MA 0457 UTC 08-Oct-2008
• 1280 CFMB Montreal, QC 1053 UTC 08-Oct-2008 Italian
  
• 1410 WDOE Dunkirk, NY 1135 UTC 08-Oct-2008
• 1440 WJJL Niagara Falls, NY 1210 UTC 08-Oct-2008
• 1440 WDRJ Inkster, MI 2244 UTC 08-Oct-2008
• 1390 WCAT Burlington, VT 2310 UTC 08-Oct-2008

Total ultralight count: 154. Total U.S. states count: 23.

WMKI and CFMB come in here regularly, but it took over a week to log both of them because they seldom ID. WMKI is a Radio Disney station, and IDs itself only as Radio Disney, except for the legally required callsign ID on the hour. CFMB is an ethnic station in Montreal. In the morning it carries Italian programming, and apart from the required ID on the hour, I heard little that could identify it.

WCAT is the first station in Vermont I've logged on an ultralight; the 23rd state in all.

Ultralight Awards

This week I received two awards from the Ultralight Radio Awards Committee for my ultralight DXing efforts: the 100 Stations Heard Award, and the 20 U.S. States Award. They look spectacular and I was pleased to get them. They were also issued very quickly - it took only a few days for me to receive them after submitting my applications. If you're interested in these awards, check out the ultralight DXing files area at dxer.ca.

Recent Ultralight Loggings

Loggings on the Sony SRF-59 for the past few days:

• 1310 WRSB Canandaigua, NY 1155 UTC 02-Oct-2008
• 1480 WLEA Hornell, NY 1207 UTC 02-Oct-2008
• 1470 WNYY Ithaca, NY 2317 UTC 02-Oct-2008
• 1320 WDER Derry, NH 0257 UTC 04-Oct-2008
• 1240 WATN Watertown, NY 1129 UTC 04-Oct-2008
• 1420 WACK Newark, NY 1145 UTC 04-Oct-2008
• 1550 CBE Windsor, ON 1202 UTC 04-Oct-2008

Total ultralight count: 142.

WLEA 1480 is a new station for my overall log. All the others are relogs.

I'm surprised it has taken me this long to log CBE in Windsor. This station is pretty dominant on 1550. But in Toronto 1550 tends to be swamped by CHIN on 1540. I also think that, at night, Toronto must be in CBE's skip zone, because I remember this station coming in quite strongly in Kingston when I was listening there.

Ultralight Loggings: Sept. 30, 2008

Loggings on the Sony SRF-59 ultralight for Sept. 30, 2008:

• 1460 CJOY Guelph, ON 2145 UTC
  
• 1460 WHIC Rochester, NY 2145 UTC
  
• 1070 WKOK Sunbury, PA 2232 UTC
  
• 870 WHCU Ithaca, NY 2240 UTC
  

Total ultralight count: 135.

WKOK 1070 is a new station for my overall log. It's an all news station, 10 kW daytime, 1 kW nighttime, in eastern central Pennsylvania. I logged it before sunset, when nighttime skywave propagation is already beginning to occur but while the station is still on its daytime power.

WHIC is a relog but its callsign has changed since the last time I logged it. This is parallel to WLOF at 101.7 FM, from Attica NY, which is also audible at my home location. This is a Catholic station using the slogan "The Station of the Cross."