As I first started this article, it was grey outside. It was a moderately cold day in October, and after starting this blog post, I never got around to finishing it. It was originally supposed to cover January through August of this year.
So here it is. Several months later, obviously, and late to the game... I am finishing this article up in early May, 2024, and the loggings I'm listing here -- instead of covering the time since I last posted a "Logbook" style article, will just be a sampling of what I've been hearing over the past couple months. A little bit of this, a little bit of that.
When I first came up with the idea of posting my own Shortwave Logbooks after the demise of the original Shortwave Logbook website that was on the internet since before 2002 when I discovered it, I thought it would be a real fun thing to do. But it got to be a bit painstaking. It's one thing to post what you heard -- a whole 'nother thing to try to make it interesting reading.
I have determined that I will just go through my paper logbooks and list just a few of the highlights, and some of the commonly heard stations here, being that writing extensive logs here on the blog is quite time consuming and I'm not sure how many readers get into the listings.
But still, on any SW forum or talkgroup there are tons of loggings posted, so I suppose there is an interest out there somewhere.
I'll see you on the other side, my little Bootser.
MY GE SUPERADIO II -- a classic AM / MW Radio
I've posted a pic of my tough, built-like-a-tank GE Superadio II up top because I just fired it up about 3 weeks ago (as of May), and it still works! It's a 1991 built model I got probably in 1992, and it was my refrigerator radio for maybe 10 years until my cat Boots Junior knocked it down onto the kitchen floor. The radio survived perfectly.... one of the tines on the AC plug got bent. That was an easy fix.
So I switched my vaunted GE SRII on after maybe a year or more of not firing it up. The only side effects were three gurgles on the MW side when I tuned it to the local sports station. I attribute that to some dust on the tuner cap -- that can happen, even to tuner caps with metal plates, and the SRII has a smaller metal tuner than the original Superadio did. My Yaesu FRG-7 also had that issue until I cleaned it. Dust and oxidation on metal tuner capacitors will cause some issues before you tune the dial from end to end a couple times. With my GE SRII, tuning the dial back and forth a couple times cleared it up.
Ever since then, it's worked perfectly.
Like I said in a previous article -- RADIOS ARE MEANT TO BE PLAYED. Fire the older ones up at least once a month, or once every other month, and let 'em run a while.
As for the GE SRII itself, it's a very good MW DX'er. Some say it's one of the best. I have found all three Superadios to be more-or-less equally good (I am one of those guys who has a really good GE SR III) -- any differences in performance, aside from some audio ones, are hard to discern.
The SRII seems to have slightly narrower bandwidth than the SRI, and a little more volume. The SRIII has slightly narrower bandwidth than the SRII, and similar volume to the SRII. However, the SRII is easier to tune than either the SRI (slightly wider bandwidth) or the SRIII (narrower bandwidth with very cramped channels between 1300-1500 kHz).
For Superadio fans, the famous "Earmark" site has info on all three Superadio models, including schematic diagrams to mull over, to spot the differences in circuitry. The man who runs the Superadio site is a tech who knows radios, and knows Superadios.
SOMETIMES MINIMAL EQUIPMENT IS BEST
Although I didn't use my SRII on any of the following loggings (except one section that I've dedicated to my SRII's reactivation), they were done with similar equipment -- regular AM/FM and AM/FM/SW radios, most of them moderately priced when new. All of my loggings are done with minimal equipment, really. A couple small portables off their whip antennas, or my older AM-FM-SW portables with my 25 ft / 10 meter indoor wire clipped to their whip antenna. No amplified, factory made, outdoor loop antennas here. First off, I can't afford one, and second off, I really don't feel the need for one.
I try to get the most that I can off the minimal radio equipment I have.
My Panasonic RF-B45, one of the best radios I've got. It's a star on MW, as it will DX very well even without aid of an external loop. For a while it was a bit hedgy on Sideband & CW, when the BFO clarifier was acting up, but a few shots of DeOxit cleared most of that up. It still doesn't favor the edges of the control's reach, but the BFO works, so I'm happy enough with it.
Panasonic made great radios. Too bad they stopped making them.
I also have to shoot a little DeOxit down the back side of the volume control wheel from time to time, but a lot of radios need that after some time of disuse. The radio is a 1996 model -- 28 years old, and it's gotten a fair bit of use over the years since I got it at the "Electronics Universe" store down in Auburn, right before it closed, in early 1997. So, a bit of 'care and maintenance' is sometimes called for. :-) A couple of my loggings on MW this listing were done on my trusty RF-B45.
OVERVIEW: Medium Wave is an Improvement over 2018-2021 For Sure
Aside from CKJR 1440's format flip, KVON 1440's appearance in KYVL/KMED's disappearance, and cameo appearances of Salinas, California's KION 1460 in ESPN Yakima's absence, the only notable thing I've noticed on MW lately is that X-band seems to be coming in a little bit better at night. After several years of barely hearing Rock station KBRE 1660, Merced, California, it's been coming in fairly regularly on my radios strong enough for me to enjoy the Rock music they play. Of course, with varying degrees of signal strength and readability.
Shortwave Has Improved Also -- But.......
Shortwave has been a mixed bag. Over the past year, conditions have obviously improved, especially when compared to 2020 and previous, when much of the Shortwave band was mediocre on a good night or morning.
The high HF ham bands (20 Meters, 17 Meters, 15 Meters, 12 Meters, 10 Meters, and the CB Sideband Outband (27425 - 27550 or so) have been touch and go, with some mornings, afternoons and evenings being better than others. It's not terrific most of the time, but there are some stations to hear. 30 Meters, one of my favorite bands to check out, is touch and go also. When Pinneberg, Germany's RTTY comes in on 10100, I know that the band will be "in". Same thing with NAU, the US Navy RTTY station on 10153. Unfortunately a neighbor's solar installation covers a sizeable chunk of 30 Meters with squirrely noises between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m., but those noises cut off in the early morning, and if there's CW on the band I still usually can make it out through the RFI, as the RFI doesn't cover the entire band.
One thing I've noticed is when tuning some of the lower ham bands -- 40 Meters, 80 Meters and 160 Meters -- there appears to be a relative dearth of activity when compared to previous Solar Cycle peaks. 80 and 160 especially seem to be devoid of signals when compared to 1980, 1991, 2002, and even 2011-2012 when I remember hearing a LOT more activity on those bands. 160 Meters was never a hot, popular band but 80 Meters was usually well populated with QSO's any night, including summertime, when one had to listen through the static crashes to hear the guys talking.
The last few evenings which I've tuned through 80 Meters, even when conditions are pretty good, it's been like a ghost town, with maybe 3-5 QSO's, and even the CW (Morse Code) section is pretty spare. In 2002 it was highly active, and during earlier decades it was often packed with signals between 3850 and 3990 kHz. It's like visiting a Main Street which used to be lively with shops and shoppers, but now is half boarded up.
The 40 Meter Ham band is still holding up reasonably well. But I think that the combination of propagation and the declining number of active hams in the US is causing more and more of the bands to be devoid of activity compared to earlier times.
Well, enough talk. Here they are -- a small sample of loggings.:
MEDIUM WAVE / AM BAND FIRST.
I'll start out with Medium Wave, which is my main radio band to distance-listen.
The ionosphere has been at least a little bit friendly to MW DXers this past year and a half, although the big DX hasn't really kicked in like it did between 2011 and 2015 (the peak of the last Solar Cycle). Supposedly we are closing in on the 'peak' of this Solar Cycle. It sure doesn't seem like peak solar cycle conditions, however, when I switch on my MW radios.
That said, it's tons better than it was in 2017-2022, on both MW and SW, when many nights sounded like perpetual summer or Nuclear Winter radio conditions. We did have a massive Solar Flare that hit the Auroral Radio Zone on the night of May 10th, which turned most of the DX channels on MW to static (the locals, and close regionals were fine), and SW was dead, dead, dead, on all bands, except Radio Educacion, located in Central Mexico, was barely detectable on my Panasonic, Tecsun, and XHDATA D-328 (all using my indoor wire).
I'll place these loggings in no particular order -- if I try to do it any other way, I'll never finish it. Signal strengths are estimates, without the full SIO designation. S5 is local strength, S1 is just readable, S2-4 is somewhere in between, with S4 probably being what you'd hear on a dependable, regional station in your state, province, or country.:
870 kHz -- 1127 p.m. PDT -- CKIR, Invermere, BC Canada -- (English) -- S2-S3 -- The first time I ever heard this station located in the Interior of British Columbia was over a decade ago. And CKIR at that time was a real catch, a new station I had never heard before, and even at that, it was extremely weak with just one slogan ID. At the time, CKIR was one of several Canadian "EZ Rock" stations -- stations that played a good variety of soft rock, pop and Adult Comtemporary hits. Penticton's CKOR is a station on 800 that I heard nightly that used to have this format. CKIR, located a couple hundred miles north, doesn't relay CKOR but is part of the same family of stations. Anyway, I first heard CKIR on my GE Superadio 3 (+loop) maybe in 2014. It was very weak, but readable. This time around, earlier last night in fact, I heard CKIR with clear ID's, and S2-S3 signals at times. Normal 870 occupier KFLD Pasco, WA was barely decipherable. It's one of those freak occurrences that make MW DXing so much fun. It's like fishing. You know what sort of fish are in the lake, but you still never know what you're going to catch. I made this reception with my Sangean PR-D4W and loop, although I'm sure my GE SRII would have pulled it in as well. (Sangean PR-D4W, Crate Loop) 7 May 2024
890 kHz -- 11:19 p.m. PDT -- CJDC, Dawson Creek, BC Canada -- (English) -- S4 -- I used to hear CJDC almost nightly in the 2010's. Then when the Solar Cycle dipped I didn't hear it hardly at all. Last night (I'm typing this in the early a.m.) I heard CJDC with near local quality signals. I heard a BC Highway PSA against drink driving, a Pet Oral Health spot by a veterinary clinic, a "one stop for all your tractor and farm needs" store commercial (locations in Dawson Creek and Tumbler Ridge), a spot for the Lido Theatre in Dawson Creek, a promo for Women's Hockey championships on TSN, and a full slogan "Pure Country", going into a modern Country track. It's pretty cool to hear local spots on a DX station -- it gives you a bit of local flavor. Here in Seattle there are no stores advertising tractor parts. (Sangean PR-D4W, Crate Loop) 7 May 2024
1480 kHz -- 9:40 p.m. PDT -- KEJB, Eureka, Calif./ KBMS Portland -- (English) -- S3+ -- I was tuning my XHDATA D-219 on the MW band, using the loop, and instantly heard a really cool oldie, George McCrae's "Rock Your Baby". Now, being that this oldie is also an old R&B hit, I wasn't sure if the station I was hearing was KEJB Eureka (oldies) or KBMS Portland (old-school R&B). It turned out to be KEJB Eureka, which was dominating the channel, with a weak KBMS underneath. KEJB had a jingle, and then played Roy Orbison, and then the Kinks' 1966 hit Sunny Afternoon. Channels like 1480 are kinda cool because some nights you can hear both stations going back and forth, one with oldies, the other one with 70's-90's R&B. On this occasion, my little XHDATA D-219 was holding up pretty well. I've found that it's a good DXer, although sometimes when tuning through the MW band it will latch onto the stronger signals, leaving the weaker ones behind. You can still tune the weaker ones -- it just takes a bit more effort. (XHDATA D-219, Crate Loop) 6 May 2024
1510 kHz -- 1:55 a.m. PDT -- WLAC, Nashville TN -- (English) -- S1-S4+ -- I tuned my GE SRII (with aid of my crate loop) to 1510 to see if KGA Spokane was in well. It was, but there was talk behind it, in English, which was unusual, as the only station I've heard behind KGA is KFSN, Piedmont, California, which is Spanish language and ranchero music. After further listening, I could tell that the station was news-talk. Meanwhile, Ben Maller, Fox Sports talk host, was on KGA. I switched radios to my Sangean PR-D4W, curious to see if the distant talk station behind KGA would come in better. The PR-D4W seemed to resolve the signal a hair better, but overall it was the same, strength-wise. Soon I heard the early morning news show, with Gordon Deal, and then a Leaf Gutter commercial, followed by a liner promoting the mid-morning Clay & Buck Show (a conservative talk show syndicated nationwide), and then an ID: "....talk radio 98.3 and .... WLAC." This was a new station for my log, #612. WLAC is a famous AM station in the US. For years, white kids in the North and Midwest would tune in WLAC at night to hear blues and early R&B that they couldn't hear on local stations. One could say that WLAC had a part to play in the development of early Rock 'N' Roll music. Being a 50KW station, WLAC covered much of the Eastern United States. This is only the second station I've ever heard from Tennessee -- when I was a kid I heard WSM a few times on my Penncrest multibander, and also my old Silvertone upright tube radio my Dad got me at a thrift store, and also on a DX-160 with a 60 ft. wire.
Two nights after I first heard WLAC, I heard it again on my GE SRII + loop. Haven't heard them since, however. Obviously, MW was delivering over a few good days in late April. (GE SRII, Sangean PR-D4W, Crate Loop) 22 April 2024.
1490 kHz -- 3:08 a.m. PDT -- KYNR, Toppenish, WA -- (English, other) -- S3+ -- KYNR is one of two stations I can pick up (when the ionospheric conditions are right) that plays Native American music and chants (the other station is KTNN 660, Window Rock, Arizona). Although 1490 is a 'graveyard' channel in the US -- i.e. it is one of several AM band channels set up for thousands of 1000 watt, local stations -- KYNR is easy to pick out because of its programming. The music itself is cool. KYNR is run by the Yakama Indian Nation, the letters standing for K-Yakama-Nation-Radio. Toppenish is a small city in Eastern Washington, in the Yakima River Valley south of Yakima. (GE SRII, Crate Loop) 25 April 2024
1520 kHz -- 3:15 a.m. PDT -- KOKC, Oklahoma City, OK (tentative) -- (English) -- S2+ -- The 1520 frequency channel here is usually KXA (KKXA officially) Snohomish, WA, a classic country station north of Seattle that plays late 1980's-1990's country hits. There used to be a Portland, Oregon station that would also be on the channel, but it's been MIA for a few years now. But there is a persistent talk and news station that I keep hearing, beaming East-West, but I never seem to get an ID. I'm certain it's KOKC, Oklahoma City, a station I logged a few times back in the 1980's on my old Sanyo M9926 boombox and a loop. Back then it was KOMA, with a similar format, I think. (GE SRII, Crate Loop) 25 April 2024
The logo for KCLK, Asotin, WA, a sports station on 1430 that serves Asotin, Lewiston (ID), Clarkston (WA) and that arid and agricultural region of Washington and Idaho.
1430 kHz -- 3:10 a.m. PDT -- KCLK, Asotin, WA / KYKN, Salem, OR -- (English) -- S3-S4 -- This channel usually is a mishmash of these two stations, sometimes mixing with KBRC Mt. Vernon, WA, although KBRC wasn't in there this particular morning. KCLK is a sports station in the extreme SE corner of Washington State, maybe 15 miles from the Oregon border and just across the Snake River from Idaho. It's in the dry, desert-like area of my state. KYKN Salem is a conservative talker. When I tuned in this a.m., KCLK had Ben Maller, and KYKN was playing Hugh Hewitt's early morning conservative news-talk show. The local station on 1420 wasn't splattering on 1430 all that much this a.m. (GE SRII, Crate Loop) 25 April 2024
1460 kHz -- 11:15 p.m., PDT -- KCNR, Redding, Calif., KION, Salinas, Calif. -- (English) -- S3-S4 -- This particular evening I took my Realistic DX-375 for a spin on the MW dial and heard a rare station out of Redding, a large city of 100K+ people in Northern Cal. Since KUTI Yakima (ESPN Yakima) was taken off the air late last year 1460 has been a combination of grab-bag frequency and ghost town. This particular March evening I heard a bunch of commercials for Redding area businesses, including an oil change place, wi-fi in Palo Cedro (a Redding suburb), and the Redding airport. KION Salinas, a news-talker that I used to hear when it was KDON (back when I was a kid) was also on the channel. Ever since ESPN Yakima's plug was pulled, 1460 has become a California DX spot. Sometimes another station shows up that plays Mexican music (KRRS Santa Rosa) but they haven't been heard much lately. (Realistic DX-375, Crate Loop) 11 March 2024
1260 kHz -- 6:20 a.m. PDT -- KMZT, Los Angeles, Calif. -- (English) -- S4~ -- I was doing some writing in my den, and -- as per usual -- I had my Sangean PR-D5 switched on. This morning I was tuned to 1260, to see what was going on the channel. Oregon station KLYC, McMinnville (in the Northern Willamette Valley) recently switched from oldies to Hot AC music, and some of their selection of songs are decent listening. Sometimes during the early a.m. an oldies station from Idaho, KKOO, has strong signals. This a.m., KKOO was MIA but KLYC was in readably. So I was listening to them while typing away. Suddenly, just before or after 6 a.m., I started hearing Classical, symphonic music. It turned out to be KMZT, a station in Los Angeles owned by a guy who loves radio, and loves Classical music. He apparently has a decent bankroll, so he does what he wants with his radio station. Classical music on the AM band is rare. There used to be a station out of Reno, KCRL, which played it, but they switched to other formats before turning into KOH on 780, for a while being KROW playing country music, being that much of western Nevada is cattle country. KMZT was a new station for me, #611. (Sangean PR-D5) 12 March 2024
CKBX, 100 Mile House, British Columbia, made a cameo appearance on my radios in early March. 100 Mile House is in the BC Interior, on the Cariboo Highway, a trunk line that connects Northern BC (Prince George, the Peace River country, Quesnel, Williams Lake, etc.) with the Lower Mainland, where Vancouver and other metro cities are located.
840 kHz -- 10:51 p.m. PDT -- CKBX, 100 Mile House, BC Canada / KXNT, Las Vegas -- (English) -- S3~ (CKBX) A2~ (KXNT) -- I was tuning my Tecsun PL-398 using the milk crate loop and heard a CKBX ID, and promo for their stream, before a modern country song began to play -- "You ask me why you are the way you are... I grew up on a farm..." An hour later I heard CKBX again, and then KXNT, Las Vegas, peeking through on a N-S bearing with the Coast To Coast AM program. This second logging of CKBX was on my XHDATA D-219. 840 used to be a fairly busy and musical channel, dominated by a station out of Seaside, Oregon, KSWB, that played Classic Hits, and another station out of Eugene, Oregon, KKNX, that played oldies and standards. Back then, hearing those two stations was invariable, night after night. When the solar cycle crapped out in late 2017, those two stations disappeared from my radios. I still haven't heard either station since. CKBX is a rare station on 840 for some reason. It's only about 200 miles north of here, but I've probably only heard it 5-6 times total. Catching it on my XHDATA with loop was pretty cool for that reason. As for KXNT, it's rare here. Las Vegas doesn't make it to Seattle very often. When I do hear them, it's usually around 4-6 in the morning, when they boost power and have their morning newscasts.
1340 kHz -- 8:28 p.m. PDT -- KBBR, North Bend OR / tentative KATA, Arcata, Calif. -- (English) -- S3-S4 -- I kept hearing oldies on this channel, with liners for "The Jukebox", and KBBR, North Bend, Oregon is an oldies, "Jukebox" station. North Bend is on the Oregon Coast, and is right next to Coos Bay -- part of Oregon's own "Bay Area". Behind the oldies I heard sports talk, and KATA Arcata is CBS Sports. Being that I couldn't ID the sports network or the station, I left that logging as a 'tentative'. On KBBR there also was a commercial for a business that does concrete and construction -- not only in the Coos Bay region, but also in Medford and Brookings, in other parts of SW Oregon. SW Oregon -- including Coos, Curry, Josephine, and Jackson Counties, is my favorite part of Oregon. Being that Arcata is next to Eureka, California -- just a couple hundred miles down the Coast from North Bend / Coos Bay -- I figure the sports station I heard was probably KATA. Sometimes with MW DX you get reception from certain regions really well. A couple nights after this logging of KBBR I heard it again, playing oldies, along with KIHR, Hood River, Oregon, playing country music, with "98.__" included in their IDs. (Panasonic RF-B45, Crate Loop) 3 March 2024
1330 kHz -- 10:22 p.m., PDT -- KLBS, Los Banos, California / CJYM, Rosetown, SK -- (Spanish / English) -- S3+ -- Usually I tune in 1330 to hear CJYM's classic hits and Can-Con hits, but this evening I heard some old school Romantica and ranchero, mostly on a N-S bearing. Then I heard a KLBS ID. I've logged this station before, but it's extremely rare. Usually it's just CJYM at night, and local, low powered college AM'er KGRG-1 during the day. (Tecsun PL-398, Crate Loop) 4 March 2024
1010 kHz -- 2:32 a.m., PDT -- CBR, Calgary, Alberta -- (English) -- S4+ -- CBR often comes in fairly strong here, as it's a 50KW CBC station that serves southern Alberta. Although it's right next to local 50KW news station 1000 KNWN (former KOMO), CBR often is quite readable. It usually -- despite the splash from 1000 KNWN -- is stronger than CBU, Vancouver, a CBC station which is a couple hundred miles closer. This particular a.m. the BBC was playing, and they had a report on sand mining in Cambodia on the Mekong River, which is causing some issues in the Mekong River for a lot of people who depend on the river for fishing. (Tecsun PL-398, crate loop) 18 March 2024
1140 kHz -- 12:34 a.m. PDT -- KHTK, Sacramento, California / CHRB, High River, AB -- (English) -- S1-S2 (KHTK); S3-S4 (CHRB) -- Usually CHRB, High River is dominant on this channel, with a mix of religion and country music, and that was the case this a.m. KGEM, Boise also comes in with Catholic programming. This particular midnight hour CBS Sports Radio was also present, making it KHTK Sacramento -- which is fairly rare on this channel most nights. The "Hey, Sacramento!" during a commercial was also a dead giveaway. I've only logged KHTK a few times over the years. I first heard this on my GE SRII, and then used the Tecsun PL-398 to take advantage of the bandwidth switching and reduction of splash from local station KKNW on 1150. (GE Superadio II, loop; Tecsun PL-398, loop) 23 March 2024
I logged quite a few stations on my XHDATA on SW this Spring. It's a great little radio!
AND SOME SHORTWAVE LOGGINGS, In No Particular Order Of Importance
9730 kHz -- 0020 UTC -- Radio Romania Int'l, ROMANIA -- (Romanian) -- SIO 1-252FF -- This broadcast is for Romanians in Eastern North America, and whenever I hear Radio Romania in Romanian, whether they're beaming to North America or to Europe, it's a treat because of the cool pop and other music they play. This particular late afternoon the signal was more "Polar" than usual, meaning it had very fast fading, and it was also weaker than usual as well. They played a lot of pop / dance music, the kind that was popular in the early 2010's. The station came in well on three of my SW radios: my Panasonic RF-B45 (on which I first tuned in the station), my Tecsun PL-398 (through its whip, and also by clipping my indoor wire antenna to the whip), and -- ironically -- it came in best on my little XHDATA D-328, with the wire clipped to the whip. The XHDATA is really a great SW broadcast receiver. I listened to Radio Romania's music broadcast Saturday afternoon for about half an hour before I had to go do some chores. The music sounded surprisingly good on my XHDATA through the headphones, which is the best way to DX with this little radio. (XHDATA D-328, 25 ft. indoor wire antenna) 21 April 2024
15190 kHz -- 0110 UTC -- Radio Inconfidencia, Belo Horizonte, MINAS GERAIS, BRAZIL -- (Portuguese) -- SIO 252F -- I tuned into what sounded clearly like a soccer game, play by play broadcast that was either time shifted from an earlier one I heard on Radio Amazonia, or a different game with similar announcing by a man and a woman. This is the first time I heard Radio Inconfidencia, and the fourth Brazilian SW station I've heard during this Solar Cycle (the other three being Amazonia, Radio Brasil Central, and Voz Missionaria). I heard Inconfidencia the next afternoon at 0226 UTC (7:26 p.m. local time) playing an old-style swing music track sung by a woman. (Panasonic RF-B45, wire antenna; XHDATA D-328, wire antenna) 18 & 19 April, 2024
14173 kHz -- 0055 UTC -- TO3Z, Guadeloupe -- (English) SSB -- SIO1-242 -- I was tuning the 20 Meter ham band this March afternoon when I heard W6JN calling a DX station, using sideband (USB). The DX station was hard to hear because the signal was weak, and there was considerable fading. The accent of the operator didn't necessarily help. I kept coming up with misread characters until I finally got the call correct a couple times: TO3Z, which is the island of Guadeloupe, in the French Caribbean. TO3Z made contact with AF4O in Florida, AA6AA in California, and a few others which I could barely read. I haven't heard Guadeloupe before -- at least to my memory. (Realistic DX-390, 25 ft. indoor wire) 3 March 2024
14162 kHz -- 0049 UTC -- EA3AQ, Spain -- (English) SSB -- SIO 141-2F -- On this channel I heard this Spanish ham station working several US stations on sideband, including WB5DW (it might have been WD5TW -- I could have misread it), N0KAF (Colorado), KX2T (Florida), WT8P (Washington State), and W7EOV was calling him. (Realistic DX-390, 25 ft. indoor wire) 3 March 2024
14169 kHz -- 0052 UTC -- PP2CC, Brazil -- (English) SSB -- SIO 242F -- Apparently there was a ham contest on this afternoon because PP2CC was calling "CQ Contest" on SSB, and he got a lot of return calls from US stations, and a Canadian that I heard: W5DX (New York), VE9KPT (called him, not sure if they made contact -- VE9 is the Yukon), WB5DW (Texas), KK6HPB (prob. California), and N5EE (prob. the South Central US). (Realistic DX-390, 25 ft. indoor wire) 3 March 2024
9775 kHz -- 0317 UTC -- Voice Of America, BOTSWANA -- (English) -- SIO-453-4FF -- I tuned into a program in English that was accented. At first I thought it was Cubano English, then possibly Melanesian English, but the talk was about events in Nigeria, Kenya, and South African leader Thabo Mbeki. Then there was an ID: "You're listening to Daybreak Africa on the Voice of America." After the ID there was a report from Johannesburg on the opposition to the ANC. This transmission was to North and Central Africa from VOA's transmitters near Francistown, Botswana. (Panasonic RF-B45, 25 ft indoor wire) 15 March 2024
14200 kHz -- 2356 UTC -- J62K, Saint Lucia, Caribbean -- (English) SSB -- S2-S3 -- I am not sure I've ever heard a station from St. Lucia before. The operator had a California or Midwest accent, and he said he was "down here", which implied he was on vacation possibly. He gave a full "Juliet 62 Kilo" ID and worked quite a few US stations. (Realistic DX-390, 25 ft. indoor wire) 27 March 2024
14217 kHz -- 2348 UTC -- KA7GKN, W0WD, W7SV -- (English) SSB -- S4-S5 -- There were four guys talking about prices going up, the lack of good fish in the stores where they lived, and good, East coast rye bread which isn't available "here" (Arizona). The guy in Arizona had what I call a 'Florida accent', i.e., he sounded like a transplant from the NE US, probably New York or New Jersey. A lot of Floridians are originally from the NE US. They retire there, or go there for the winter months. In this case, the "Floridian" seemed to be in Arizona -- another state with transplants from other parts of the US, including the NE. The rye bread, by the way, was "Chompys" or something like that. I looked it up -- it's a big brand in New York. You learn a lot sometimes by listening to guys on the 20 Meter ham band. (Realistic DX-390, 25 ft. indoor wire) 27 March 2024
24937 kHz -- 0113 UTC -- JA1LLN, Hokkaido, JAPAN -- (English) SSB -- S1-S4~ -- This guy had a varying signal, but was always readable. He's in Hokkaido, and his location is near the coastline, on the NE part of the island, near Kushiro. He was working W9QL (near Chicago) and W9MHC (Indianapolis). JA1LLN was running his radio on stock power, through a five element beam antenna. This was the best reception I've heard of a station on the 12 Meter ham band in a long, long time. Hearing this guy made me get out the atlas and look up Japan to see where he was located. DXing, whether SW or MW, usually makes me look up locations on a map or atlas. It's something I did even when I was 5, when I first heard long distance AM band DX. Long distance radio is like travelling without leaving your chair. It strengthened my interest in geography and other states and countries. (Realistic DX-390, 25 ft. indoor wire) 28 March 2024
15310 kHz -- 1621 UTC -- Bible Voice (Canada), GERMANY -- (poss. Tigriyna) -- SIO-252FFF -- This signal was a "Polar signal" -- lots of fast fading, and it was in a decidedly African language. I heard a man talking, then some EDM pop music, and later on, some folk music that sounded like African Highlife music. There was also a Canadian address for Newmarket, Ontario given before the signal cut off at 1630 UTC. The station was Bible Voice to Somalia, with the transmitter in Germany. I know a lot of DXers don't like religious programming on SW, but many times the programs aimed at Africa and Asia have a lot of interesting music, and hearing the languages is cool. (Tecsun PL-398, 25 ft indoor wire) 1 April 2024
15360 kHz -- 1634 UTC -- Adventist World Radio, SRI LANKA -- (Sindhi) -- SIO-150-2FF -- There was quite a bit of fading on this station's signal, which sounded South Asian because of the language. The music at first sounded Middle Eastern but then I heard the tabla, which is the drum commonly used in Indian and Pakistani folk and classical music. There were also people singing in unison. When a woman began talking, the station began to fade out. The 19 Meter Band was lively this a.m. I don't often hear Sri Lanka -- in fact, I have only probably heard it a couple times in all the years I've DXed the SW bands. In this case, the signal bounced across Eurasia and over the Pole to get to me. (Tecsun PL-398, 25 ft indoor wire) 1 April 2024
15565 kHz -- 1647 UTC -- Radio Vaticana, VATICAN -- (English) -- SIO-353FF -- This reception was a bit fadey, with Polar signals, with a man talking in English, accented English, almost African in accent (but I wasn't sure). He mentioned "the meaning of life..." "God" and "dignity". He also mentioned Pope John Paul II. Then there was an 'Alleluia' chorus, before a man began talking in what was more clearly African accented English. This appeared to be some sort of news report on human trafficking, weapons trafficking, helicopter gunships, and the US and EU not recognising a junta as an actual government. Because of the fading it was difficult to get the whole story. The man ended the program with "Praise Be To Jesus Christ" and there was an orchestral interval signal that sounded like either Handel or Mozart (not sure which). According to EiBi, this was Radio Vaticana to East Africa in English. It came in well on my Tecsun PL-398, but even better on my little XHDATA D-328 off the wire antenna (I hadn't yet figured that the Tecsun also pulls in stations stronger if you clip the wire antenna to the whip). The XHDATA D-328 is a little marvel on SW. (Tecsun PL-398, whip; XHDATA D-328, 25 ft indoor wire) 1 April 2024
Three cats I had back in the late 1990's-2000's. I just found this picture. I had just cleared out an area that had been overtaken by blackberries, and my three cats -- Scooter (front), Boots (Boots #1 -- middle), and Snoopy (in back) all were curious as to what I was doing. I think I took this pic in 2004 or 2005, with my Canon TX camera, which was taking OK pics for a mostly unused SLR. It's odd how time passes. Snoopy disappeared one night in 2006 or '07, just went missing. Boots was killed by a coyote. Scooter died at the vet's office while they were trying to give her saline (her kidneys had been failing). The last two losses were particularly tough. I'm a lot more savvy about taking care of my cats now. I don't let them outdoors much. And I make sure they get plenty of fluids.
IN OTHER LIFE....
The weather here has been surprisingly pleasant. The air is fresh, and night time temperatures are moderately cool -- around 45-50F / 4-5C or so. Some nights have gotten low in temperature, with a couple approaching freezing. Daytime it gets up into the 60's F, and most days have been pretty sunny. During the famous Solar Eclipse we had on April 8th it was thick clouds, so there was no chance of seeing the Eclipse at all, and because Seattle is about 1500+ miles from the path of totality, there was no chance of hearing any Eclipse-caused MW or SW DX. I did tune the 20 Meter Band to hear the guys on the air talking about the Eclipse -- surprisingly, there wasn't much ham activity.
Northern Lights -- second time I've seen them, ever
We also had an aurora recently, which wiped out the SW bands and turned MW into a locals-only affair, with just one or two California stations popping through the hiss -- KFBK Sacramento 1530, and a weak KGO San Francisco on 810. Surprisingly, the only SW station I could hear was Radio Educacion, in Mexico. It wasn't readable, but it was there. I didn't get out to see the auroras but a neighbor took a couple good pics. I got out late on my bike and saw the tail end of them -- these beams of light appearing in the north. Very cool.
Last time I saw an aurora was in the summer when I was a kid, and we were camping in NE Washington, in the Sanpoil Valley. At that time they were just a moving glow. My mother, who was born in Edmonton, Canada, told me about seeing them when she was a girl.
Weather = Warmer, mostly
The hills are getting greener by the day, and although I haven't heard the frogs croaking and chirping at night yet, I suppose it will kick in within a couple weeks. It's a bit late, of course, but better than last year.
I may have been a bit presumptuous in saying earlier this month that this Spring is back to "normal". We've had two nights in a row of freezing temperatures (frosty windows on the cars, and temps down around 29F/-1C). And the trees on the hills are just now where they used to be around April 5th in the early to mid 2010's, when Springs were last "normal".
So we still have a ways to go. But it is nice to see the sun again. :-)
I will close this article with a vid from a song mentioned in the MW loggings -- 70's R&B singer George McCrae's Rock Your Baby. It's a breezy, upbeat track, predating disco by a year or two, while still having just a hint of that disco feel to it (and I wasn't a fan of disco, really). It's McRae's only big hit. The story behind the song is pretty remarkable. Hugh Casey, of KC & the Sunshine Band fame, came up with a demo with two other KC & The Sunshine Band members, and needed a singer who could hit the high notes. They had intended for George McCrae's wife -- Gwen, a soul singer -- to do the task, but she couldn't show up to the session, and George filled in for her. The rest is soul music history.
It's known as one of the first disco hits.
I also mentioned the Kinks' Sunny Afternoon. 1966 was a great rock and pop year -- the Beatles had turned out Rubber Soul and Revolver, Bob Dylan turned out some great singles (I Want You, Rainy Day Women #12 & #35), the Yardbirds came out with their futuristic, Jeff Beck tinged single Shapes Of Things, NW band Paul Revere & The Raiders came out with a string of edgy, punch hits (Kicks, Hungry, Good Thing); the Byrds came out with Eight Miles High, British pop and folksinger Donovan came out with Sunshine Superman and the excellent, proto-psych-folk album of the same name; and the Rolling Stones produced their first album of all original material (Aftermath); the record labels Motown and Stax were going full guns with all sorts of hard hitting tracks -- and last but not least, the Beach Boys came out with Good Vibrations, which -- at the time -- was the most expensive pop single ever made. Underneath all of that, the Kinks were one of those second tier bands that were basically unstoppable. Even though they couldn't tour the US after 1965 due to some legal issues, they still had hits over here. And this track is one of them. It's not your typical, British Invasion cheery mop-top type tune. It's a statement about the class system in the UK in the 1960's, a subject matter that the Kinks' Ray Davies mined a lot in the late 1960's.:
NOW FOR SOME ANARCHY.....
Now I'd like to shift gears before closing the article. I first heard this track on Radio Australia, probably very late 1976 or very early 1977. At that time, Punk Rock -- especially the hard core, UK variety -- was just a rumor here in the NW US. It got a little mention in the rock magazines, but nothing else. We'd heard about the Sex Pistols, but no station here in Seattle would dream of ever playing them. Besides, the early Sex Pistols' singles never made it over here except on import, usually a few months after initial UK release, and there were very few records stores with UK or European records. Suffice to say, Anarchy In The UK was not what I thought it would be. Reading about the band, it sounded like all they did was make noise. Anarchy In The UK was anything but that. Melodically, it reminded me a bit of mid-period, 1965 Bob Dylan, with the guitars turned up way past 11.
I was impressed.
I've got to credit Radio Australia for playing it. If they hadn't, I might not have sought out the import single (imported from France, of all places -- not the UK), and I would not have developed such an appreciation for the Pistols, or punk rock music. I think their Never Mind The Bollocks album is a classic. Here's Anarchy.:
Well, that's it for this time around. After posting this, I'll get back to practicing on my Dean 12-string (Dean Tradition 12 S GN), which I've rediscovered after having it in its case since late 2018. I wrote a lot of songs on it since I originally bought the 12 new in 1996 (for $360). Now I'm trying to relearn / remember those songs. Some of the better ones I recorded and turned into a demo CD called With Flowers (which maybe 10 or 12 people actually have copies of). Other songs I've forgotten. My left hand is still getting used to the wider neck and the string tension.
We'll get there. Hopefully -- if there still are open mikes out there, somewhere -- I might try one. As they say -- you only live once, right?
Peace.
C.C. May 12th, 2024.
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