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Kategoria: FMDX

13.10.2016 Nice Aurora signals

Published by JJH

After nice tropo signals to Sweden there was a great aurora signals. Geomagnetic activity was intensifying as Earth passes through the wake of a CME that was hit our planet. Below is short log:

73.49 1607 BLR BR Radio Stalitsa, Braslaw/RTPS 736km
72.98 1611 BLR BR Radio Vitebsk, Braslaw/RTPS 736km
71.48 1617 BLR BR Radio Vitebsk, Vitebsk/RTPS Jurjeva Gorka 824km
73.10 1638 RUS Grad Petrov, Sankt-Peterburg/Olgino (SP) 346km
71.69 1639 BLR BR Kanal Kultura, Brest/RTPS Rakitnica (BR) 1126km
67.64 1642 BLR BR Radio Vitebsk, Myadzel/RTPS Telyaki (MI) 818km
91.80 1700 S SR P2, Västervik/Fårhult TM (ka) 716km
100.30 1704 S SR P4, Skövde/Åsbotorp 2/Billingen TM (vg) 776km

+ plenty of OIRT Rossii stations.

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DXpedition to backyard – Lapland Tropo 11102016

Published by JMN

Tropo forecasts promised good condx for Lapland, not much activity there, so results not known. Today’s ducting was favorable for Central Finland. In the morning just some typical SR stations for this QTH with fair signals (no RDS). However one personal new catch: Radio Rossii Karelia 72.17 just over the noise level with Tecsun, but clear ID. TNX JJH!

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In the work (driving van) I was lucky to follow signals from 350-450 km improving all the day with the car radio. The morning was foggy, lot’s of accidents because of zero visibility and icy roads. The fog was accompanying us all day long, even temperature reached plus degrees in the afternoon. Still nothing special on lunch hour at home. Unfortunately Triax 4el can see only AZI 100-280 from the balcony…

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As Janne (JJH) said: ”Kalix tulee niin lujaa, että sen pitäisi kuulua mummon hetekallakin” (culture-bound, impossible to translate). Thanks to my good old lad, I moved the Yagi from balcony to backyard and placed RX’s on a less-elegant garden chair. Between the pines, the Northern sky can be seen.

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Word, Kalix was so strong, that it could have come even with a whip!

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Usually here is YLE Lahti 50 kW / 166 km

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..and here Järviradio Jyväskylä 3 kW / 34 km

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Such a fresh autumn afternoon today, but with the hot coffee it was fun for two hours. Then it was already getting dark and conditions seemed to be stuck on this direction. New H stations ided and recorded, and nothing special was heard using V polarization.

SR-transmitters from Örnsköldsvik, Sollefteå, Vännäs, Lycksele, Arvidsjaur, Älvsbyn, Kalix, Överkalix and Gällivare were noted. Possibly also Storuman and Vuollerim (150 W!). For some loggings, please have a look: http://www.fmdx.tk/october-logs/

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October logs

Published by JMN

Oct 2
1620 6320 HOL: Telstar Radio International
1625 6285 HOL: Zender Akenzo. s9+10 dB.
1645 6300 UNID. Jingles ”Nonstop music”. Playlist: Delilah, Popcorn. s9+
1709 7580 I: Radio Latino, Central Italy.
1715 6340 UNID playing Gazebo: I like Chopin and Alphaville: Forever Young
1808 6318 UNID playing Queen: I want to break free

Oct 5
0439 549 IRL: Spirit Radio.

Oct 6
0455 837 E: COPE Sevilla. ”91.4 y 99.6 fm, en onda media 837, COPE Sevilla”
1735 1305 E: RNE5 Castilla La Mancha, Ciudad Real. ”Radio Cinco, Castilla La Mancha”

Oct 8
1623 6290 HOL: tent. Johnny Tobacco. No ID but Jope Ruonansuu with S9+20 dB = ”ID”.

Oct 9
1720 6317 G: Rock Radio Network. Probably from the UK. Fluent English DJ’s.
1725 6205 HOL: Technische Man, Ruurlo. Announcing the phone number also in French
1754 6295 IRL: Reflections Europe.
1820 6265 HOL: Zender Akenzo S9+20 dB
-1840 6215 HOL: Radio Carbonade. Request songs Jope and Paranoid. From tobacco factory.
1915 6320 HOL: tent. Radio Quadzilla. Nonstop 80’s rock show.

Oct 11
0450 72.17 RUS: Radio Rossii Kareliya, Muyezerskiy -tx.
0700 103.9 S: SR P4 Västerbotten, Skellefteå. Also 100.0, 96.3.
1328 104.3 S: Mix Megapol 105.2 Norra Norrland. Kalix -tx.
1340 103.8 FIN: tentative YLE Sámi Radio, Kolari. 567 km. No ID, but px in Sami language.
1350 104.6 S: Rix FM 105.6 Luleå, Älvsbyn -tx. ID as Rix FM only, regional wx & spots.
1405 103.2 S: SR P4 Norrbotten, Överkalix. Also 91.7 and 99.0 from here.
1405 102.2 S: SR P4 Norrbotten, Kalix. Also 91.3, 93.6, 97.9 from this tx.
1405 102.9 S: SR P4 Norrbotten, Älvsbyn. //102.2, 103.2. No ID. Also 90.6, 94.5 and 99.4.
14xx 100.4 S: tentative SR P4 Norrbotten, Vuollerim. 150 W / 495 km. Only ”language ID”.
Also many other SR transmitters noted, but not ided or logged.

Oct 12

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1437 101.0 S: SR P4 Dalarna, Mora. I have been thinking this is impossible because of Radio Aalto, Jyväskylä -tx (34 km). But today it came with strong signal.
1518 100.7 S: SR P4 Gävleborg, Hudiksvall.
1520 101.2 S: SR P4 Västernorrland, Sollefteå.
1520 100.1 S: SR P4 Västernorrland, Örnsköldsvik. No ID // 101.2.

Also many other high power SR P1-3 transmitters were audible, from Skellefteå to Hudiksvall.

Oct 13

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0143 107.0 S: NRJ Hälsingland, Hudiksvall. ”NRJ Hälsingland 107.0”
0435 106.3 S: Vinyl FM Dalarna, Mora. Regional commercials 0445-0450
0908 104.0 LVA: Latvijas Radio 1, Valmiera-tx. ”Latvijas Radio” -ID

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1710 91.5 LVA: Latvijas Radio 2, Riga. ”Latvijas Radio Divi”
1719 105.2 LVA: tent. Radio SWH, Riga. Commercials in Latvian.
1725 107.7 LVA: Latvijas Radio 4, Riga. ”Latvijska Radio Chetyre” -ID
1745 95.7 POL: tent. PR 1, Gdansk-tx. Programme in Polish, no ID.
1830 105.3 LTU: tent. LRT Klasika, Klaipeda-tx. Classical music only, must be this one.

Oct 19

0446 711 E: COPE Murcia.
0452 549 ALG: Jil FM.

Oct 20

0456 1134 E: COPE Salamanca. ID at first. Jerez dominated rest of the break.
0510 666 G: BBC Radio York.
0513 765 G: BBC Essex

Oct 22

0517 1431 G: Smooth Radio. Network ID only.
0528 765 G: BBC Essex
1519 6305 D: Radio Marabu.
1537 3930 HOL: Zender Kachelboer / Stove Farmer. New station with this name (ex. Bluestar)
1623 6240 HOL: tent Radio Python.
2218 1044 E: SER Radio San Sebastián.
2219 1521 E: SER Radio Castellón. Multiple ID’s. Saturday night break at 2218 UTC.
2259 1584 E: SER Radio Gandia. Too weak for audio report.

Oct 23

1608 6385 HOL: Radio Zender Zodiac. ”broadcasting from Central part of the NL, nearly 100 W”
1700 5050 HOL: Sluwe Vos Radio.
1714 6285 HOL: Zender Akenzo.
1720 6322 HOL: tent. Radio Joey. Jingleistä ei saanut mitään tolkkua, chatin mukaan Joey.
1727 6240 CZE: Radio Caroline International / Radio Goofy.
1730 3905 HOL: Radio Station Relmus from the North of the Netherlands.
1745 6205 IRL(?): Coast FM.
1825 3905 HOL: Kachelboer.

Oct 24

0427 1269 E: COPE Badajoz. Dominant in my QTH.
0427 1296 E: COPE Valencia.
0450 1026 E: SER Andalucia. Jaen or Jerez. Regional at this time.

Oct 26

0455 1161 G: Viking 2, Hull
0500 1485 G: BBC Radio Humberside
0523 1026 G: BBC Radio Cambridgeshire
0525 747 E: RNE Andalucia, Cadiz

Oct 27

0448 1134 E: COPE Jerez Radio Occidental
0500 918 E: tent. Radio Intereconomia. No ID.
0512 774 G: BBC Radio Kent.
0525 747 E: RNE Andalucia, Cadiz.

Oct 30

0525 1071 CZE: CRo Plus. Surprisingly Czech here – earlier using shared tx’s with CRo2, now own tx’s!
0533 1071 G: TalkSPORT, Newcastle/Clipstone.
0559 738 RUS: Vsemyrniya Radioset, Moscow.
0601 828 RUS: Radiogazeta Slovo, St. Petersburg.
0602 882 G: BBC Radio Wales.
0605 999 I: RAI 1, Volpiano-tx.
0612 1107 D: AFN The Eagle. Still here, should have stopped broadcasting on this FQ.
0620 981 CZE: Radio Cesky Impuls.
0624 891 HOL: Radio 538, Hulsberg. Informative recording of closure of their service on this frequency.

Oct 31

0500 1017 G: Free Radio 80’s
1550 6100 AFG: Radio Afghanistan, Kabul.

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Total 400 logs for FMDX season 2016

Published by JMN

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

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

total 400 logs

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

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

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

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

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Pientä tropoa

Published by JJH

24.8 – Ei mitään maata mullistavaa, mutta pitkästä aikaa pohjoisen SR-asemat kuuluivat normaalia paremmin. Harmillisesti ei kuitenkaan niin hyvin, että pitkään jahtaamani Radio Skellefteå 89.7MHz olisi luureihin tarttunut. Muutaman kerran se on vuosien varrella noussut toviksi, muttei koskaan idille saakka. Parille seuraavalle päivälle ”LENni” enteilee hyvää, joten täytyypä olla kuulolla.

100.10 0435 S SR P4, Örnsköldsvik/Åsberget TM (vn) PI logged: E224 PS logged: SR_P4___ 375km
94.40  0443 S SR P2, Örnsköldsvik/Åsberget TM (vn) PI logged: E402 PS logged: SR_P2___ 375km
95.40  0443 S SR P2, Lycksele/Knaften-Rålidsberget TM (vb) PI logged: E402 PS logged: SR_P2___ 432km
96.30  0444 S SR P2, Skellefteå/Prästfäbodsberget TM (vb) PI logged: E402 PS logged: SR_P2___ 366km
101.20 0447 S SR P4, Sollefteå/Multrå-Flugtjärnshöjden TM (vn) 432km
103.30 0450 S SR P4, Lycksele/Knaften-Rålidsberget TM (vb) PI logged: E224 PS logged: SR_P4___ 432km
93.50 0514 S SR P2, Sollefteå/Multrå-Flugtjärnshöjden TM (vn) PI logged: E402 PS logged: SR_P2___ 432km
96.90 0516 S SR P2, Sundsvall/Södra Stadsberget TM (vn) PI logged: E402 PS logged: SR_P2___ 431km
98.70 0603 S SR P3, Lycksele/Knaften-Rålidsberget TM (vb) PI logged: E203 PS logged: SR_P3___ 432km
92.70 0607 S SR P1, Sundsvall/Södra Stadsberget TM (vn) PI logged: E201 PS logged: SR_P1___ 431km
97.10 0612 S SR P3, Arvidsjaur/Julträsk-Akkanålke TM (no) PI logged: E203 PS logged: SR_P3___ 491km
97.90 0613 S SR P3, Kalix/Långträskryggen TM (no) 425km
94.40 0755 S SR P2, Örnsköldsvik/Åsberget TM (vn) 375km

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July-August 2016

Published by JMN

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

FMDX 07 and 08-2016

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

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

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Viisi syytä kuunnella meteoreja

Published by JMN

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

English summary: five reasons to tune in meteor scatter

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

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

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

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

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

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ES July 31 and August 1-5

Published by JMN

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

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

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

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

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

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Flop July (time for AMDX)

Published by JMN

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

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

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

IMG_5070

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Uurainen: weak Ireland over 100 MHz 30062016

Published by JMN

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

June 2016 compilation

june 2016 in uurainen

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

june 2015

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

Year/Total logs

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

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

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