Month: September 2020

Iceland

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Autumn equinox bandscan.
A chilly breeze on a moonless night. At least I was well fortified
with tea and custard creams.
If there was any change with the LW band, I couldn’t tell it.
The MW band was neither weak nor strong. I couldn’t tell if I heard
Smooth Radio, but I did hear Absolute Radio relays on 1197 and 1233
kHz, and Manx Radio on 1368 kHz. There was also a good Spanish signal
on 855 kHz. Otherwise, the band was “UK ROOLS, EUROPE DROOLS”.
Reynir Heidberg Stefansson, eastern part of Iceland (2020-09-24)

United States

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New DX Test from WNJC-1360 this Sunday, 9/27.
Duke Hamann of WNJC just sent me an email announcing the details of the next DX test in his series of weekly tests, and this one will contain a couple of interesting twists.
Duke will begin the test on Sunday, 9/27 at 0000 EDT (0400 UTC) and initially air the same Morse code IDs and variety of tones that he has previously aired. This time, however, he will use a backup antenna tower that he has never used before, one located on a long-closed trash dump the station has leased for 30 years. The land owners have refused to renew the lease as they want to develop the land, so the station will lose this tower site in 6 months. Power will be 1250 watts and the antenna pattern will be non-directional.
DXers who are also ham radio operators will enjoy a second twist during this test. To quote Duke: “If your [sic] a ham, I am also planning on trying a test using FT8 over the frequency. It will be a one-way transmission every 15 seconds for 1 hour calling “CQ WNJC FM29″. I am going to try to do it Sunday at [0100-0200 EDT] 0500-0600 UTC as long as I can get the timing set with the internet stl delay.”
As before, reception reports and notes of appreciation can be sent to Duke at kc2dux at duxpond.com
Steve Howe, Saint Albans, VT to ODXA via WOR groups.io (2020-09-23)

China

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Radio Beijing International will stop MW 774kHz.
Radio Beijing International (Beijing Foreign Language Broadcasting Station), a division of “Beijing Radio and TV Station” (former Beijing Peoples’ Broadcasting Station), announced on September 15 that they will stop MW 774kHz (10kW) at 16:00UT on September 22. The remaining broadcast will be on FM 92.3MHz, internet http://www.am774.com and Cable FM. They began broadcast in September 2004 with the nickname “Radio 774” on 774kHz for the audiences in Beijing. They also began FM broadcast (92.3MHz) on February 2017. The programs mainly consist of English lessons, broadcast at 23:00-16:00UT. The original item is shown at https://cahcn.github.io/posts/2020-09-16-774kHz-Radio-Beijing-International.html/
Takahito Akabayashi, Tokyo, Japan to WOR groups.io (2020-09-21)

United States

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Indiana AM Station Suspends All-Digital Transmission.
After about four months in all-digital mode, an AM radio station in northeast Indiana has turned off MA3 digital operations for now and returned to analog transmission.
WIOE(AM) in Warsaw, Ind., was the second station in the United States to conduct such an experiment on the AM band. The station serves the Fort Wayne market.
Owner Brian Walsh was enthused about the quality and coverage of the signal. But he told Radio World he ended the experiment on Sept. 11 because of a lack of interest from listeners.
Radio World article.
Svenn Martinsen to DX-LISTENERS’ CLUB fb group (2020-09-20)

United States

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WNJC-1360 DX Test last night.
Heard here in Nassau County, NY (Longitude: -73.673324 Latitude: 40.674652) from 0420 to 0500 UTC on Sangean PR-D5.
Lots of fading and QRM from WKMI (a new one for me) but the sweep tones and CW Ids came through. Best reception at 0430 with military march (Hands Across the Sea?) followed by clear SID and CW ID. From then on, the fading got worse but the tones, especially the “off the hook” tone were still audible. Last really clear Ids were at 0453.
Lyndxer to WOR groups.io (2020-09-20)
Duke Hamann will be running a weekly DX test Sunday’s on 1360 AM WNJC from 12:00 – 1:00 AM EDT the next 3 weeks.
Ydun Ritz (2020-09-20)

Improving MW Conditions

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Condition for MW DXing is improving, as we are heading into autumn/winter in the northern hemisphere. Below two reports from Finland and MI/USA:

Good conditions towards Americas this morning using kiwi-SDR in eastern Finland. Stations from Alberta to eastern Canada mixing with some Colombian (680 radio nacional and 770 RCN) stations.
Markku Tiainen FIN to DXing.info fb group (2020-09-20)

There was a nice opening to Asia this morning before sunrise. Several stations from Japan and Korea were heard including those on 693, 747, 774, 972, and 1566. SDR recordings may reveal others later. All “big gun” channels for West Coast DXers but a bit more challenging from the Midwest. The highlight of the morning was catching Alaska on 530 kHz by way of non-directional beacon “ADK” in the Aleutian Islands.
Tim Tromp to MWDX – The National Radio Club fb group (2020-09-20)

Colombia / Venezuela

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There has been discussion in Cadena DX, the Latin American Facebook group, on the VOA programs via Radio Libertad 600 kHz in Barranquilla, Colombia. Santiago San Gil in Barinas wrote that normally Radio Libertad was received there with “acceptable signals” but that since the programs began there has been significant co-channel interference. Fernando Viloria in the coastal Venezuelan state of Carabobo says he has been hearing an unlisted station calling itself “Radio Verdad” and “La Emisora de la Alegria” on 600 kHz. The station has not announced a location. Several DXers wrote of tuning the Radio Libertad programs on the remote SDR in Bonaire. They report it is putting in a good signal to Bonaire.
Don Moore in WOR groups.io (2020-09-19)

United Kingdom

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From Radio Caroline Northern Support Group on Facebook 19 September 2020:
“Morning. Chris Pearson here in a sunny Douglas on the Isle of Man.
Just wanted to give you a TuneIn update ahead of another Radio Caroline North weekend.
As you may know, as a result of a court case brought against TuneIn by a couple of major record companies last year, late last week, and with no notice, TuneIn pulled a huge number of radio stations from its offering which it deemed to be “outside the UK”.
This included Manx Radio’s AM and FM offerings.
I’ve spent the past ten days chasing TuneIn down and sharing proof that Manx Radio is included in UK legislation. This has included paperwork to prove we are members of PRS and PPL (music licensing), Ofcom (via the Island’s Communications Commission), RadioCentre and that the IoM is specifically referenced in UK broadcasting legislation.
RadioCentre in particular, were very helpful as TuneIn is another Silicon Valley corporation and communicating with them can be a little fraught. Matt from RadioCentre managed to put us in direct contact with TuneIn’s European boss.
They’ve had all the paperwork they need and we’re told there should be some resolve “early next week”.
Obviously that doesn’t help us this weekend, so, avoid TuneIn feeds (which include Alexa and Sonos devices amongst others), and log in directly to Caroline North via the Manx Radio website, the Caroline North link at http://www.radiocaroline.co.uk and via services like Radio Player.
You can also hear Caroline North on 1368kHz from Manx Radio and 648kHz on the Caroline frequency. 
This is frustrating for all, but I’ve spent a huge part of my week trying to sort things.
Enjoy your weekend and keep it Caroline.”
Mike Terry (2020-09-19)

Czech Republic

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Some bad predictions, hopefully they won’t occur, same happened in 2015:
Czech Republic to switch off MW and LW End of 2021
https://translate.google.de/translate?hl=&sl=auto&tl=de&u=https%3A%2F%2Fdigital.rozhlas.cz%2Fcesky-rozhlas-rozsiril-pokryti-dab-na-95-procent-populace-a-oznamil-vypnuti-8296374
This will only affect the CRo frequencies, other stations aren’t
affected.
Marco (2020-09-18)

On December 31, 2021, Czech Radio will turn off medium and long wave transmitters, in the ranges indicated by the abbreviation AM. “Technology is not entirely promising and is obsolete. We have to prepare for this in terms of communication, because it will not be easy to persuade senior citizens in particular to exchange their receivers, “said Karel Zýka, Director of Technology and Administration of Czech Radio.
That is also why the Czech Radio will launch the “Senior” station just for them. The public service media currently operates six mediumwave and one longwave transmitter.
Ydun Ritz (2020-09-18)