Avainsana: Kausi 2016

Yesterday Lady E made an appearance during the Republic of Ireland – Sweden match @Euro2016. It was a draw in Saint-Denis, but in Utö the Irish only had a brief upper hand as the regular Swedish tropo stations dominated the band.

Later in the evening there was another Es cloud, this time above Finland, that brought in OIRT stations from the Kola peninsula and Murmansk. But the highest frequency we got was only the TV sound on 83.74 (and most of the crew couldn’t take their eyes off Belgium vs Italy). A pity as there would be a lot to discover there.

Here are the best players of the Irish team:

95.500 13.6. 1639- IRL: LMFM, Drogheda.
96.600 13.6. 1640- IRL: R Kerry. Killarney (KY) tx 100w.
97.300 13.6. 1639- IRL: KFM Kildare.
98.100 13.6. 1640- IRL: 98FM, Dublin. Three Rock Mountain tx.

The Wolves of Uhtua, JUS and JJK, keep themselves busy sweeping the cliffs between Es openings. The weather has improved steadily, all day sunshine and up to +18 C in the shade.

Madame E seems to be really fond of the Euro Finals, as we had a great 3-hour French opening yesterday evening, right in the middle of the evening game, again.

The beginning and the end were the best. In the middle the band was a mush with too many stations, including Belgians and Germans. At times topping 75 dBf on the XDR scale (noise level is around 10 dBf with our system).

Some Spanish stations in the mix, and highly likely the first ever log of Madeira in Finland. Though there was no local content for a 100% match.

As all things come in threes, we’ll be expecting the next ”le foot” feast soon 😉

Highlights off the top of the heap below:

87.500 12.6. 1559- D: Kick!fm, Gelsenkirchen (NrW). Tx Essen (NrW). JJS/Utö17
88.000 12.6. 1816- + MDR: Tentative: R Renascença. Pico do Silva -tx. ID. The only Renascença on the fq… and the bearing matches exactly. 4111 km. OSY/Utö17
88.400 12.6. 1819- I: Antenna R Esse, Monteriggioni (SI). Tx Monte Argentario (GR). JJS/Utö17
88.700 12.6. 1901- E: Cadena 100, Madrid (MAD-M). 93.6 COPE (RDS), 100.0, 90.2 SER (RDS), and 89.5 (”gooooooooooooooooooool de Alemania!!!!!) In Galicia, Lugo province most likely. JJS/Utö17
89.200 12.6. 1900- F: Fréquence 10, Dinan (22). JJS&JTK/Utö17
89.400 12.6. 1810- F: Plus FM, Blois (41). JJS/Utö17
90.100 12.6. 1800- BEL: DH Radio. Perwez (wal-bra). JJS/Utö17
91.700 12.6. 1827- I: Radio Orte. JJK/Utö17
92.300 12.6. 1657- F: RJFM. Montluçon (03). JJS&JTK/Utö17
93.400 12.6. 1752- F: Latina FM, Paris (75). Troyes (10)-tx. JJS/Utö17
94.900 12.6. 1630- + F: R Graf’hit, Compiègne (60). JTK/Utö17
95.800 12.6. 1753- F: Latitude FM Troyes (10). JJS/Utö17
96.200 12.6. 1613- BEL: 7 FM, Wemperhardt. Tx Gouvy/Beho in Luxembourg. JJS/Utö17
98.400 12.6. 1649- F: Sensations, Guyancourt (78). JJS/Utö17
98.800 12.6. 1646- F: R Espace, Lyon (69). JJS/Utö17
99.000 12.6. 1624- F: Nevers FM, Coulanges les Nevers (58). JTK/Utö17
100.000 12.6. 1833-1841 E: RPA Radio del Principado de Asturias, Gijón (AST). Local football. RDS ID only. Utö17
100.100 12.6. 1835- F: RCA, Saint-Nazaire (44). JJS/Utö17
100.300 12.6. 1840- F: Océane FM, Questembert (56). ”Océane a Pontchâteau sur 94 5.” Faux local announcement. JJS/Utö17
101.000 12.6. 1641- F: RFL 100, Tours (37). ”Notre radio en Touraine, ce RFL 100”. JJS/Utö17
101.700 12.6. 1646- + F: Maradio Cristal, Mantes-la-Jolie (78). JJS/Utö17
103.500 12.6. 1643- + F: Virgin R, Paris (75). ”Virgin Radio a Paris 103 5, 103 5.” Real local ID. JJS/Utö17
104.200 12.6. 1609- BEL: Warm FM, Seraing. Liège-tx. ”Your daily prescription of electronic music”. Yum. JTK/Utö17
104.500 12.6. 1629- BEL: Must FM, Habay-La-Neuve (wal-lux). Tx Rouvroy / Montquintin. JJS/Utö17
106.500 12.6. 1626- BEL: Metropole Radio, Gaum. JJS/Utö17
107.300 12.6. 1620- F: R Alpa, Le Mans (73). JTK/Utö17
107.900 12.6. 1554- F: N’Radio. JJK/Utö17

Great 3+ hour opening started today before 1000 UTC with MUF @108 to Russia (KD) and Ukraine, shifted later then to Turkey and the Balkans, and died out slowly. At one point, Istanbul stations covered the whole band with their very narrow 200 kHz spacing.

In the afternoon, we got a new start to the UK and Ireland, but MUF barely reached 98 MHz. And, of course, to celebrate Euro 2016, we got a brief stint to the west coast of France during their opening match in the evening.

Here’s what we have found so far (+ means First in Finland):

87.900 10.6. 1110- UKR: R ERA FM, Odesa. Local ads.
88.200 10.6. 1252- ROU: Stil FM – R ZU, Călăraşi (CL). Tx Olteniţa.
88.800 10.6. 1915- SUI: R BEO, Bern.
89.900 10.6. 1320- BUL: R Focus, Plovdid. Local ads
91.000 10.6. 1110- UKR: R ES – The Voice of European Union. Tx Odesa, ex-Gala R.
93.200 10.6. 1215- + ROU: Smile FM, Vaslui.
94.200 10.6. 1303- GRC: Status R, Alexandroupolis (33).
94.500 10.6. 1026- TUR: R.Müzik, Sanyer (Istanbul).
95.800 10.6. 1138- TUR: Bayram FM, Istanbul.
96.300 10.6. 1346- G: Heart Bristol.
96.400 10.6. 1355- G: The Wave 96.4, Swansea.
96.900 10.6. 1148- + TUR: Kemençe FM, Sakarya.
97.100 10.6. 1354- G: R Carmarthenshire, Llanelli.
97.600 10.6. 1050- LTU: Radiostotis M-1 Plius, Vilnius. Kaunas tx. Tropo.
98.100 10.6. 1206- TUR: Raks FM.
99.600 10.6. 1020- + RUS: R Hit FM, Krymsk (KD).
100.000 10.6. 1025- TUR: Power FM, Istanbul.
100.300 10.6. 1023- UKR: Radio More, Simferopol.
101.100 10.6. 1232- ROU: Sky FM, Constanta.
101.100 10.6. 1005- + RUS: Avtoradio, Sochi (KD). Local weather by local sponsor (Охрана Плюс).
101.200 10.6. 0958- RUS: Retro FM, Krasnodar. Local ads
101.300 10.6. 1158- MDA: Radio Sport, Chisinau. 101 i 3 FM Radio Sport.
102.100 10.6. 1155- MDA: GRT FM, Comrat.
102.300 10.6. 1029- UKR: R Sputnik Krimu, Simferopol (KR).
103.500 10.6. 1030- TUR: Haber Radyi Samsun.
104.700 10.6. 1010- RUS: Nashe R, Krasnodar (KD). Local ads
105.000 10.6. 1029- TUR: Tutku FM, Samsun.
106.900 10.6. 1015- + RUS: Dorozhnoye R, Sochi (KD). Local number for advertisers
107.500 10.6. 1009- + UKR: R Pyatnytsya, Berdyans´k (ZP).
107.800 10.6. 1022- TUR: Radyo Hevi Istanbul.

BBC Somerset promised something better from the UK, but not much more materialized. Well, maybe later…

After some wind-related erectile dysfunctions, we’re finally all set!

Below is a scene from the shoreline, with a vertical 15 element Körner closest and another horizontal one further down, both equipped with a Research Comms 1301 masthead amplifier (28 dB). Both antennas are then split to each listener. The ”power budget” seems to sustain the losses from the cables and all the splits just fine, without any loss to the S/N ratio. Some even split their end once more to serve multiple receivers without noticeable degradation.

The two cabins are in the background, some 80 meters away from where the picture was taken.

In addition, there is one common Band I/OIRT yagi and one horizontal 8 element Triax with the same pre-amp per each cabin to cater for the insatiable needs of our tens of receivers 😉

From left to right: MB, JJS, JY & OSY

And that’s me (JTK) behind the camera. JJK was shutter shy, and we’re still waiting for JUS to join us Friday evening.