As I write this, it is dark outside, and I am about to leave work. I just turned on the heat in the house last night, for the first time since probably March or April. I usually keep the heat off in much of the house to save some money. My cats prefer the heat being on, but I simply can't afford to heat everything, unless the outside temperature gets near freezing.
Last night, it was about 33F, which -- for my overseas readers -- is around 1 degree Centigrade. The closest to freezing we've had here since mid-April.
I went for a bike ride, and it was very brisk, but refreshing. The neighbors who had their Halloween decorations up all have taken them down. I still have several electric Jack O' Lanterns out, up high above the garage terrace, because it brightens up the murkiness of our typical November weather, and because the neighbor kids like to see them. So -- why not?
THANKSGIVING -- The Lost Holiday
One neighbor who had some nice Halloween decorations up had a Turkey decoration in their front window -- which is very cool, and also very rare. Thanksgiving seems to be a lost holiday when it comes to outdoor decorations. The stores never have much of anything to offer for the holiday decorator. You'd think there would be light-up turkeys and Pilgrims galore, but it is not so.
MEDIUM WAVE DX just may be PICKING UP?
On the radio scene I've noticed that MW DX seems to be trying to pick up. Last night, I heard KOB 770 Albuquerque in back of our local station (KTTH), playing the overnight show Red Eye Radio. When I was a kid I used to hear KOB (officially KKOB since the 1990s) nearly every night. Then, as the channel became crowded with more stations, KOB was harder and harder to hear.
Usually New Mexico and Arizona are tough to hear in this part of the PNW. The only Arizona station I've heard to any extent was 1580 KMIK, when they were still Radio Disney. After Disney sold that station off, when Disney went off the air, KMIK disappeared from my radio speakers.
There is a Navajo station that I have logged maybe 15-20 times since the 1990s, KTNN Window Rock, 660 kHz, which sometime comes in on a roughly SE bearing, playing Native American music. The first time I heard them was in the 1990s, on my GE Superadio III.
Nowadays, I usually hear KTNN during partial auroras, and sometimes they just come in because they want to. Usually 660 kHz is wall-to-wall CFFR Calgary, Canada.
A few nights back I also heard a rare Auroral reception -- 860 Khz, which usually is dominated by KPAM Portland OR (about 160 miles / 200 km south of here), was all KTRB San Francisco. There wasn't even a trace of KPAM on the channel.
AURORAL CONDITIONS: What They Are
For those who don't know what an Auroral reception is, here is a short explanation: The Auroral Radio Zone, like the visual Auroral Zone, surrounds the Polar regions of the Earth, and although the radio spectrum is affected by the same Solar energy that causes the Northern Lights, the Auroral Radio Zone is a little larger than the visual auroral zone. What the Auroral Radio Zone does is suppress radio signals. On those occasions where the sun blasts our auroral zones, the Auroral Radio Zone will suppress Northern MW/AM radio signals, and consequently stations from the Southern regions will be stronger and easier to hear.
In my region, Canada and the PNW (Pacific Northwest) will go quiet, and California, Nevada, and Mexico will be more prevalent.
KTNN 660 often is a great "beacon" for Auroral conditions here. During this recent Aurora, I didn't tune around much, but it was cool to hear California coming in so loudly.
In Europe, during an Aurora they probably don't hear Northern Europe on MW so much, and the Southern EU and African broadcasters may come in a lot better. But -- never having been in Europe -- that is just a guess.
Whether there are Southern Hemisphere Auroral conditions on MW I don't really know -- but the principle should be the same regardless of Hemisphere.
SHORTWAVE: TOUCH-AND-GO
The Shortwave bands have been touch-and-go here lately. A few nights ago (November 5th and 6th) the bands were mostly dead, dead, dead. The 31 Meter Band had a trace of one US domestic SW broadcaster (WRMI, playing Brother Stair) and the 49 Meter Band had the same thing. WWV on 10 Mhz was completely MIA.
So, although I've heard a few interesting stations over the past few months, there still are nights when it sounds like Nuclear Winter SW DX conditions.
According to Solar observers, we are entering an upswing in Sunspots, and we are headed for more and more Solar activity in the SW spectrum, which should improve conditions over the next several years. I remember the years 2011-2014 being really good years for SW listening. MW was also very good. Hopefully, the years 2023-2025 will be much the same.
RADIO REBELDE -- ON OR OFF THE AIR?
One station that seems to be either having staffing, budgeting, or technical trouble is Radio Rebelde, a perennial station on 5025 Khz. I used to hear them nearly every night, even when SW conditions were poor. The only time I wouldn't hear them would be when SW conditions were abysmal. As many SWL's had noticed, Rebelde seemed to disappear right after Hurricane Ian went across Cuba. I noticed them back on the air a couple weeks later, and I noted it in my SW notes here on this blog.
But they aren't on the air much, if they still are on the air. Every night I've checked 5025, it's been nothing but static. The only time I heard them was during the early morning hours here 4-6 a.m. or so local time, so maybe those are the only hours Rebelde is broadcasting.
Either way, it would be sad if Rebelde goes off the air permanently.
Well, that's about it for this week's blog posting. I still am working on a Shortwave Logbook entry that I will post some time in December. I also have a couple other articles that I've been working on lately, which I will also post -- hopefully some time before Christmas.
Today is November 11th, our traditional Veteran's Day, a holiday which used to be called Armistice Day here in the US. The day was originally dedicated to the Armistice, the date that World War One ended (officially, the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, 1918). In the US, as well as other countries, it was used to commemorate and honor the veterans of that horrible war.
Here in the United States, the name of the holiday was changed to Veteran's Day after World War Two.
I don't usually celebrate Veteran's Day, as there really aren't many Veteran's Day celebrations or commemorations to speak of anymore -- there aren't any parades, and most commemorations are memorials at military cemeteries. Meanwhile, I have been honing up on my bagpipe skills again, after a few months break. I will play them at a family Thanksgiving dinner later this month, and a couple of the tunes I am re-learning are The Battle Of The Somme and The Bloody Fields Of Flanders, two commemorative tunes that were written by British Army soldiers during World War One.
As some may know, the bagpipes were originally sheepherder's instruments, with some form of bagpipes being popular in much of Eurasia in ancient times. In most areas of the world they have almost become extinct as a native instrument, to the extent that they are mostly associated with the Scots today, as the Scots not only kept the instrument alive, but advanced it to the present day three-drone, one chanter form we recognise today.
It was also in Scotland that the bagpipes graduated into an instrument of war, used to rally the troops and to signal movements during battles between clans. The British Army adopted the pipes as an instrument of war when they absorbed the Scottish regiments, and the British Army still has a piping school to this day. The bagpipes were used widely in World War One, where many pipers died in the trench warfare prevalent during that war. They were used more sparingly during World War Two, with a famous piper, William Millin, serving during the Normandy landings.
Here is a Wiki article on William Millin, who was a Canadian, whose family moved to Scotland when he was a child.:
Millin played the pipes during the Normandy landings, and amazingly survived unscathed. When Millin talked to captured German snipers after the battle, they had said they refused to shoot him because they had thought he had gone mad.
Both The Battle Of The Somme and Bloody Fields Of Flanders are remarkable tunes, and the background behind them being written is even more remarkable -- that such great music would be produced in the harsh, horrific, dank and disease ridden, wartime conditions present in the trenches of the Somme (where 50,000 soldiers died in one day). In fact, the soldier who wrote The Battle Of The Somme, Pipe Major William Lawrie, died at that battle some time after he wrote the tune.
The Battle Of The Somme / Entry Into Crater / Heights Of Dargai (played by a pipe band).
The Battle Of The Somme (solo bagpipes).
The Bloody Fields Of Flanders, played by Willie McCallum.
My salutations to all who served. My dad served in the USAAF in World War Two, as a B-29 Superfortress gunnery teacher. He didn't serve in aerial combat, but I like to think that the men he trained were able to save their lives with their gunnery skills he taught them, when flying in B-29's in the Pacific Theatre.
Here's hoping that wherever you are, you and your family are safe, healthy, and living in Peace.
C.C. -- November 11th, 2022
