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Avainsana: Sony XDR-F1HD

8 June 2017: BIH, CZE, POL, D, AUT, later Benelux, G, F with DNK!

Published by JMN

From the bed to the band. Morning opening was already going on at 0550 UTC on lower band, bringing Bosnian, Czechia, Poland, Germany and Austria. Mostly basic stations. I had to leave QTH for 40 minutes, between 0640-0720 UTC, and when driving, I enjoyed the selection of songs CRo 1 on 89.7, including ”I wasn’t expecting it now”. Fits perfectly to the feeling 🙂 The band closed a bit after I came back, afterwards it was annoying to notice an arab on blind recording which I roughly changed to the other frequency, because the signal was ”too weak”.. Next time then!

An hour later the strongest BBCs appeared and soon band was open to BeNeLux. Next 30 minutes of DNK MUF 108 were definitely the best half an hour of my DX history! It is pretty rare to have a widely open band for such a short distance (1100-1200 km!)

Guys in Utö pedition described today as ”second best day ever in Utö” which is not hard to believe!

My personal visual log is here: http://www.fmlist.org/fm_logmap.php?datum=2017-06-08&omid=1183

 

 

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7 June 2017: HRV, BIH, ITA, G, F

Published by JMN

An afterwork opening totally surprised and the first ID ”..19 sat, slusate Radio Postaju Vinkovci” never ended up to the recording. Luckily the news tune after ID, together with written ID, could lead to a reception report 🙂 Soon conditions turned to Italy. Very quick fading and weird conditions also today. Most of the band was empty, but on few frequencies was continuous ”pile up” full of stations fighting of airspace, 10-15 seconds each.. In the same time French and English stations were aubidle. Like yesterday, neither today none of the directions really opened. So far the first week of June has been pretty good with 86 logs.

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6 June 2017: small F opening, new MS country

6 June 2017: small F opening, new MS country

Published by JMN

Late night conditions indicate usually a morning start. DX Sherlock looked fine in the morning, and soon French stations faded in. The highest noted frequency was 94.5 MHz. Not long lasting opening, all gone before I even left to work around 0730 UTC. Blind recording (95.7 MHz) during work day was practically empty, except multiple meteors. In one of them bright id as ”Radio Een” brought new heard MS country BEL! In the evening some Komi on OIRT. Identified stations visually: http://www.fmlist.org/fm_logmap.php?datum=2017-06-06&omid=1183

Today’s highlights (once again)

New meteor country BEL (clip: Radio 1)
A new-for-me French station Sweet FM

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5 June 2017: from BEL to BUL

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For 2 hours short-lasting but strong reflections from West to East Europe, very difficult to follow and MUF was moving 80-100-80-100-80 continuously. Band was silent for 5 minutes, and open for another 5 minutes, then same again.. Still one new-for-me station Ritmo 80 from Bari on 87.8. Bari needs a bit overlong skip (2453 km) which happens every now and then during weak Balkan openings. Maybe Adriatic sea and tropospheric ducting helps a bit!?

Full log here: http://www.fmlist.org/fm_logmap.php?datum=2017-06-05&omid=1183


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4 June 2017: IRL, Piemonte, SUI, F, D, SRB, ROU

Published by JMN

An interesting tour today starting at 1125 UTC from Ireland (only RTÉ high power transmitters).

Soon lower band was filled with weak Italians (South Finland MUF 108),

travelling from Piacenza and Torino

little by little to West and surprisingly hitting to Switzerland!

Then skip was getting shorter, offering again only high power transmitters (BR, SWR, MDR).

After a silent hour new start to Serbia.

Some guys logged also rare Kosovo and Albania. An arabic double hop with ROU/BUL, more in South coast, which where ided as Egypt. Unfortunately there was like a wall around 97 MHz, only once I noticed Balkan over 100 MHz. Few new-for-me stations from Piemonte, SUI and SRB. Full log here.

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24 May 2017: OIRT Russia and Benelux, F and D

24 May 2017: OIRT Russia and Benelux, F and D

Published by JMN

First WhatsApp alert came already around 9.00 local time from TV Voice on 65.75 MHz, but conditions didn’t start yet. After full 7 hours work day next alert came during my way home, and made me push gas pedal a bit deeper. It took some time to open the rx, because a (wanted) guest arrived to dacha just a bit after me, bringing a bike I bought.

 

Finally to the balcony, a fading OIRT opening offered many GTRK stations during the regional window 1510-1559 UTC, with shorter skip to Belarus. After 16 UTC another opening started suddenly bringing stations from Benelux and nearby, unfortunately it was very short.. Today’s personal log can be found here. 48 logs so far are an average start for this season!

Today’s highlights:

Radio Latina 101.2 MHz (LUX) broadcasting in Portuguese(!)
A new-for-me GTRK station ”Chuvash Radio”

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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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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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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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Uurainen: weak evening opening to France up to 108 12062016

Published by JMN

Missed first 30 minutes of this opening, it seemed that the best moments were going on when turned rx on. Soon the conditions get weaker and only TDF stations were heard, still up to 105.5 at least. After one hour exactly the same direction opened again. 100.7 was probably Honnert 7 from LUX as 88.9 was Luxy. 100.4 was still speaking French in african accent. This time it showed RDS referring to Frequence des Loisirs, but no audio ID. Better luck was with Radio Campus 3, which ided at least 10 times at the top of the hour. Waiting for more to come tomorrow!

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