Summer solstice bandscan 2024.
Last night was a washout due to rain. Oh, well… at least the vegetation was happy.

I slipped outside around 2230Z in calm weather with drizzly showers. The LW band yielded five signals: Allouis, RUV 1/2, BBC 4,  Poland (I presume) and some European music on 252 kHz. I couldn’t catch anything to ID by before I had to retreat indoors, away from the next shower.

The MW band was a kind of surprise. I wasn’t expecting anything but the Brits. They were there, of course, with Talk Sport (1053/1089 kHz) at the top, but I did hear Spanish stations on 648 and 747 kHz, plus weak voices on several other frequencies, though none were strong enough to ID.

Reynir Heidberg Stefansson (2024-06-23)

Despite a very busy schedule aboard ship, I’ve still managed to spend a few minutes DXing from our balcony, using my simple Qodosen SR-286 portable, fed via an old spool antenna from Grundig. 
Last weekend was actually very good later in the evening while burthed at Warnemunde, Germany. 

Here’s what was heard on and MW 10 May 2024 from 19:20 UTC
756:  SRR Romania at good level
855:  RNE with soccer play by play at good level.  Many // noted including 909, 1107, 1152, 1179, and possibly 945.
927:  WMR as described above (5930  World Music Radio, Denmark with Spanish vocals at good/very good level.  // to 927 at excellent level with WMR ID at 19:20 UTC (and only 0.3 kW).
999:  Moldova  Radio Rossii at very good level in Russian
1170:  presumed Radio Capodistria, Slovenia with EZL music at good/very good level
1278:  UR1 Kurisove at very good level
1323:  Presumed SRR with English oldies at good level, and // I think, to 1332 and 1404 and 1530
1440:  very good level with English pop music.  Probably Radio 208, Denmark with only 600 watts.
1548  Moldova   TWR programming at very good level.

13 May (tonight)  Leaving Helsinki, enroute to Stockholm:
1053  Radio Maria, St Petersburg at very good level at 16:03 with monotonous rambling by a single YL
684  Radio Radonezh, St Petersburg with similar programming to above, but not in //.  Also very strong.
1035  Radio Eli, Estonia  Russian religious programming.  Very good level.  
Otherwise, a blank on the MW dial at this time (7:00 PM local)

73, from the high seas…. Walt Salmaniw to WOR iog (2024-05-13)

Spring bandscan 2024.
Unlike last night, which was rainy; tonight was dry, if cool and windy. I got outside around 2140Z.

LW was quick: Allouis, BBC R.4, Poland and what i believe was a weak peep from Gufuskálar.

Last night I had to make do with scanning through the Panny tranny’s memories on MW. The band sounded quite lively with even BBC R. Wales audible on 882 kHz in the bedroom window.
The band was weaker tonight with nothing but a single Romanian (1179 kHz) above 1100 kHz. Talksport (1053 and 1089) was the strongest station. As usual, 1053 kHz was the stronger signal, most likely because it always has local interference on it (grmbl!).

Reynir Heidberg Stefansson (2024-03-21)

On the 19 of March a nice surprise the noise levels here were much reduced!
So I tuned around and heard public radio of Armenia on 1395khz  at moderate strength s4 to 5 next a strong signal on 1494khz was it Moldova? I’m really not sure but was louder than usually finally Radio calcio out of Triest on 1503khz
So nice to have decent reception again.

Kelly Marie Angel Johnson (2024-03-20)

Re.: https://mediumwave.info/2024/03/14/pacific-bandscan/ 630 kHz

“Yes of course.  Now that I found it on the Internet I see that it operates with 500 kW.  3LO is 50 kW.  The English lesson program material makes sense to.”

And here another update from later today (March 15th)
“Station T8AA [1584 kHz /Ed] in Koror is indeed on the air in Palau. The internet says its 5 kW, and it seems to cover all the islands well. They also have an FM signal on 87.9 with very limited range. The only programming I heard was recorded music in the local language, not what I expected from a government station.
There’s also a shortwave religious station on the island. Hope Radio (formerly LaSea Broadcasting) has 100 kW on 9965 kHz. It’s signal overpowered my radio.”

Via Ben Dawson (2024-03-15)

My colleague who is on a round the world cruse sent this message this morning:

“We are now north of Indonesia and will stop at Palau tomorrow.   
I listened on 630.  There are signals in the distance, but not clear enough to identify.
I hear only one clear station on the AM band.  I am guessing it is 3LO from Melbourne.   It was broadcasting English lessons for Japanese speakers. 
But the shortwave bands are full of signals, unlike in the US.  Mostly signals in Chinese.  The Chinese time and frequency station BPM is strong on 5000 khz, with WWVH in the background.“

I had asked him if he would monitor 630 for me, operating as it is on a temporary antenna.  He did not report hearing the 1584 in Palau.

73, Ben Dawson (2024-03-14)

SW Pacific? 774 not 3LO but surely NHK.

Glenn Hauser (2024-03-14)

Winter solstic bandscan.

I took the radio outside around 2220Z. The weather was nearly calm with a few snowflakes and slight frost. As a result, I did not stay long outside, just long enough for a single run over each band.

First, the LW band. It felt like a half-abandoned block of flats with only three stations plus Allouis: Rás 1 on 189 kHz, BBC R4 on 198 kHz and the Polish on 225 kHz.

The MW band… a mixed bag. The British stations felt a bit anemic in signal strength while I was getting useable signals from Spain and Middle/Eastern Europe.

Reynir Heidberg Stefansson (2023-12-22)

Wow, it’s only 00:06 UTC and LSS in Masset is at 01:57, so almost 2 hours away, and I’m already hearing pretty good audio at times on 1413 Moldova (transdnistriya), 1386 and lots of carriers.  That’s pretty amazing!  Hope it takes off tonight! 

Good ID for Gold on 1458 kHz with only 5 kW.  Can anyone tell me why I’m almost always hearing Gold and not Lyca or others on this channel?

1179 Romania at good to good+ level at 00:15 UTC into Masset.

Walt Salmaniw to WOR iog (2023-10-12)

Autumn Bandscan 2023

I went outside around 2230Z. There was very, very slight drizzle in calm wind.

First the LW band. What remains of the usual suspects was audible, with BBC R4 as the strongest signal. While Gufuskálar is the closest sender, it is weak on the portable, possibly because the entire path
is over land.

On the MW band, the Spanish stations at the low end and some Central European stations higher up were coming in slightly stronger than usual. The Brits, however, were a bit weaker than I’m used to; none of them lit up the “TUNED” indicator on the Panny tranny’s LCD panel.

Well, this is all I recall this time.

Reynir Heidberg Stefansson (2023-09-23)

Summer solstice bandscan 2023.
I went outside with the radio around 2325Z. After a hot and sunny last week, the weather turned cool, cloudy and foggy.

The LW band appeared rather poor, with only Allouis (162kHz), RUV (189kHz), BBC (198kHz) and a weird tic-tic-tic sound (spread over the band). The last one was soon tracked to a nearby Lexus.

The MW band was little better off. The only signals of good strength were those of Talk Sport on 1053 and 1089 kHz. Others were audible but not of living-room strength.

Reynir Heidberg Stefansson (2023-06-22)