LWDX Loggings 2013-01-30

Up until today I did not have a receiver that covered 290-510kHz.  Since these are my first loggings in this range, some are simply local beacons that I have never heard before. Although not technically distance listening, they are listed here anyway.

The noteworthy loggings are beacons from Canada.  YMW bounced down all the way from Maniwaki Quebec – about 68m/108km north of Ottawa.  That’s a total distance of about 360m/580km!  The other logging was ML from La Malbaie Quebec which is northeast of Quebec City on the St Lawrence.  Oddly enough, the total distance is about the same!

LWDX Loggings 2013-01-27

A got a couple of new LW loggings.  Just when I think I’ve run out of things to receive on my little Sangean portable, I get surprised.

France Inter (FF, confirmed via webstream) came in on 164 kHz.  I know the station is listed at 162 kHz and sites like MWLIST report no offset  however the audio seemed way more on-channel at 164.  My radio lacks the precision to really measure this though.  Also nabbed a beacon that is located about 30 miles away.

LWDX Loggings 2013-01-22

First off – yesterday I posted about a faint logging of BBC Radio 4 on 198khz.  As you can read in that post, the logging could be open to debate depending on how hardcore of a dx’er you are.  Well after last night, there’s no need for debate.  BBC Radio 4 came in stronger and clearer and I was able to listen to the morning news for a bit.

In fact it was a really good night for northern Europe.  In addition to the BBC, I logged Europe1 on 183kHz for the first time!  It was a fair signal that was constant with hardly any fading.  This is a french language station aimed at France from a transmitter in Germany.  There is an extensive website about the transmitter here.

LWDX Loggings 2013-01-21

So depending on which rules of DXing you subscribe to, I logged BBC Radio 4 from Droitwich UK on 198 kHz.  Here’s the deal…  it was a faint but constant program of talking.  There were male and female voices and although I could only make out a few words, the tone and emphasis matched the program on Radio 4’s webstream (with a delay of course).  I count this as a logging.   As I said, the signal was faint and I had beacon DIW from North Carolina beeping in my ear the entire time.

LWDX Loggings 2013-01-17

SCORE!!!

As mentioned in tonight’s MWDX post, the atmosphere was helping mid-atlantic signals northward.  This netted me two beacons!  CLB on 216 kHz boomed in undeterred and DIW on 198 kHz was the weaker of the two fighting with another signal that I was unable to identify.   Check out this extensive page about DIW courtesy of W3EEE.

Just a bit down the band and later in the evening I caught a signal that was weak but consistent.  It was playing a piano piece which I could hear however the signal was too weak to make out speaking.  It turned out to be RÚV’s Rás 1 from Iceland!  I high-fived myself because this is my first confirmed LW broadcast logging! (keep in mind what equipment I’m using).  The distance is 2390 miles – not too shabby for a 300kw signal.  It’s weak but steady signal reminded me of the old RFO that was on 1375 kHz from St Pierre et Miquelon in the early 2000’s.

The tower that RÚV Rás 1 transmits on 189 kHz from is apparently the tallest structure in western europe (412 meters).  Here are some pictures that I found embedded in Google maps:

Mast – Taken by alex.tulosabes

Base – taken by sweeno

LWDX Loggings 2013-01-16

I’m just getting back into the DX thing.  Last night I spent some time on the LW band and ID’d a new non-directional beacon (NDB) from Montréal!  Also I was hoping to log the NDB from Caraquet NB CAN on 520 kHz but did not.  I did however get Petawawa logged again.