– a beginner’s fascination with DXing

MW DXing Is Not Easy!
My first attempt at mediumwave DXing on the Danish island of Fanø in the Wadden Sea! Placed right in the front line of the sand dunes at Rindby Strand with a clear view across the North Sea, I decided to test what could be received using almost the most basic setup imaginable: an affordable pocket-sized micro receiver, the Amnvolt v2.33.
Mediumwave operates under completely different conditions depending on the time of day.

Nighttime DXing
After sunset, the band comes alive as skywave propagation kicks in, but sorting through the signals is quite a challenge. Operating a micro receiver like the Amnvolt using only its telescopic antenna without a directional ferrite rod makes pinpointing signals tricky when multiple transmitters collide on the same frequency.
Logging the exact transmitter site can quickly feel like a guessing game. Searching databases for a program like BBC Radio 5 Live reveals a dozen synchronized transmitters across the UK broadcasting the exact same audio on a single frequency. Identifying the precise origin point seems practically impossible!

Daytime DXing
The real surprise came around midday. Sitting outdoors near the beach right by the open water, daytime reception yielded surprisingly clean signals via sea-path groundwave propagation—completely free from heavy nighttime co-channel interference.
With fewer signals competing, daytime MW turns out to be much easier for navigation. To avoid the UK single-frequency networks, I targeted a unique single-site station: Kringvarp Føroya from the Faroe Islands on 531 kHz. According to MWLIST, it runs at just 5 kW, but that groundwave path over nearly 1,000 km of open salt water was enough to catch an audible signal on the Amnvolt’s simple whip antenna right at midday!

Once my holiday wraps up, I am looking forward to testing the same band with my Qodosen DX-286. While I won’t have the ideal beachfront location at Rindby Strand, I’ll be listening under the open sky in my garden in Esbjerg, Denmark—where the Qodosen’s internal ferrite bar antenna should help null out unwanted signals and clean up those crowded shared frequencies!

Søren Dippel (2026-08-12)

Today a link to an SDR in Iran (no other exists there) was posted on the Twente SDR.
http://yuvkjna3sqi4jrr7qngea6fzzqqkaaodv6rzajntixlmkie7cfg5txyd.onion
You need the TOR browser from torproject to access it, maybe the operator wants to hide its identity.
Medium wave, long wave, some SW bands and even FM broadcast bands (only a small part) are available.
No station on long wave, but some NDBs at 300 kHz. Some strong MW stations. SW reception is also fine.

Marco (2026-08-13)

Radio Caroline on Facebook today:
12 August 2026

Thirty new solar panels were delivered to our Orfordness Transmitter site in Suffolk last Friday. When installed this week they should boost our power generation by another 16 KW at peak times, further reducing our electricity bill.
Transmitter engineer Alan Beech is on site this week working on the installation, along with his helpers Dave and Paul, and presenter Rob Ashard.
Martin Spencer, who runs our London DAB, will also lend a hand, bringing kit to improve the audio on our 648 AM frequency.
In the next day or two Radio Structures will arrive at the transmitter site to overhaul our towering 648 mast.
This is essential maintenance and 648 AM may go off air for short periods during the work. Please bear with us!

Mike Terry to MWmasts iog (2026-08-12)

Radio Caroline – Service Message
Tuesday 11th August – Following on from the fantastic fundraiser weekend we will be undertaking major works on our main 648 antenna system at Orfordness over the next few days. Our contractors will be replacing and upgrading the staywire tensioners and other items which will require us to use the standby antenna on low power and other service interruptions during the daytime. We will also have a team on site installing extra solar panels and undertaking general maintenance to our equipment. 
Keep an eye on the webpage and our feeds for further updates and photographs as the work progresses. As always, thank you for your generous support which allows Caroline to continue and expand.
https://radiocaroline.co.uk/#home.html

Mike Terry to WOR iog (2026-08-11)

This shows the climb of the ШАРРТ antenna in Krasny Bor (near Saint Petersburg) in 2025, so it still existed at that point. At least this antenna has been secured with barbed wire.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwSW2p81W_Q

Marco (2026-08-10)

Midday Medium Wave Magic
Medium wave reception during daylight hours is normally considered a difficult challenge. During the day, the ionospheric D-layer absorbs most skywave signals, leaving groundwave propagation as the main way for medium wave signals to travel beyond local distances.
For that reason, I was quite surprised on August 7, 2026, between 09:00 and 09:30 UTC, when I used my small Amnvolt receiver (version 2.33) outdoors in the dunes at Rindby Strand on the Danish island of Fanø. The island is located in the Wadden Sea, close to the North Sea. Using only a tiny, affordable handheld receiver and its telescopic antenna under an open sky, I scanned the medium wave band to see what could be heard in these unusually quiet surroundings.
What made it interesting was not only the number of stations received, but the strength and stability of many of the signals. Some of the transmitters were located several hundred kilometres away, with the longest paths approaching 1000 km, yet they arrived as surprisingly powerful signals despite the fact that the reception took place in the middle of the day.
My listening position at Rindby Strand is located in the outer dune belt of Fanø, directly exposed towards the North Sea. The paths from many British transmitters cross mainly open sea rather than dry land.
At medium wave frequencies, the sea can be an efficient conductor for groundwave propagation. Instead of the signal being weakened by poor-conducting terrain, the North Sea provides a very favourable path for radio waves travelling along the surface. Maybe the sea itself became part of the receiving system.
Another factor is the low level of local radio noise. Modern environments are filled with sources of electromagnetic interference from electronic equipment, LED lighting, switching power supplies and many other devices. Moving the receiver outdoors and away from these sources can make a big difference, especially on the medium wave band where noise can be the greatest limitation.
I noted which stations could be received during this short period and wanted to explore how much difference a quiet location, an open sky and a favourable geographical position can make.
It became a reminder that successful radio reception is not only about antennas and receiver sensitivity. Sometimes an important part of the receiving system is the landscape around you.
From a small island in the North Sea, with nothing more than a tiny, affordable handheld receiver and a telescopic antenna, the surrounding sea provided a surprisingly effective pathway for medium wave signals.
The information about the stations’ locations and transmitter powers was taken from www.mwlist.org. Since several of the stations broadcast on the same frequencies, I could not always be certain of the exact transmitter locations. Where different transmitter powers were listed, I consistently used the highest power given for each station.

1395 kHz Happy AM 24 h, Middelburg, Holland 0,1 kW – 550 km
1098 kHz Radio Seebreeze 24 h, Laren, Holland – 0,1 kW – 410 km
1089 kHz TalkSport 24 h, Moorside Edge, UK – 200 kW – 690 km
1071 kHz TalkSport 24 h, Wrekenton, UK – 1 kW – 630 km
1053 kHz TalkSport 24 h, Droidwich, UK – 150 kW – 770 km
909 kHz BBC Radio 5 Live 24 h, Westerglen, UK 50 kW – 760 km
810 kHz BBC Radio Scotland, Burghead, UK – 25 kW – 775 km
693 kHz BBC Radio 5 Live 24 h, Start Point, UK – 80 kW – 1000 km
648 kHz Radio Caroline, Orfordness, UK – 25 kW – 580 km

Søren Dippel (2026-08-09)