THE HAMRADIO DOT COM

Sorry but AIH78 was a bit hectic at times and I didn’t have stamina to write during the last days. But I will do that later.

Some latest QSLs, partially from AIH78:

Antenna 1, Açores 828 (new country, Azores!)
COPE Zamora 1269
SER Radio Galicia 873 via Twitter
COPE Cataluña y Andorra 783
JONR ABC Asahi Hoso, Osaka 1008
JOQR NBC Bunka Hoso, Tokyo 1134
KHVH Honolulu HI 830
KLHT Honolulu HI 1040
WHFA Poynette WI 1240
KOEL Oelwein IA 950
WOZN Madison WI 1670
KCAP Helena MT 950
KGHL Billings MT´780
KATE Albert Lea MN 1450
KOFI Kalispell MT 1180
WMFN Peotone IL 640 (FFF/SFF)
WITY Danville IL 980
KOAC Corvallis OR 550
WDJO Cincinnati OH 1480 (heard in Pori)
CB.. Radio Maria, Santiago 1060
ZP5 Radio Encarnación 760
OAU6O Radio El Sol, Paucarpata 1610 (FFF)
Radio 103 103.70
Radio Argento 95.40
BB Radio Plus 89.70
Radio Néo 95.20
Radio Kiss (CZE) 98.10
Radio Proglas 97.90
Polskie Radio 3 91.50

Radio El Sol sent greetings over radio. They were also at Facebook Live.

Day 5 Tuesday 12.12.2017

Today we had our traditional trip to Norway to Kirkenes. We had our annual beer batch from the local Vinmonopolet and then on the way back we bought food from the border village of Näätämö. They have two grocery shops there with main customer base coming from Norway and Murmansk. This year we also had change to visit in Sevetin Baari which is a legendary pub and little shop in Sevettijärvi sami village. It was closed last year but now new entrepreneurs re-opened it. From Sevetin Baari it is 90 km to next pub (in Kaamanen, Inari if Kaamasen Kievari is still open).

So we didn’t watch so much band conditions as our trip took over 6 hours. NA was open again and this time at 1300z we had finally “area propagation” to WA/OR/Northern CA-area. 1240 KEJO Corvallis OR, 1330 KKPZ Portland OR, 1390 KZGD Salem OR, 1450 KBKW Aberdeen WA and 1540 KXPA Bellevue WA were new ones for us. I suppose we will find some more later. Tromså K-index peaked to 6 so propagation was unstable.

Food: Spaghetti with pork sauce

The best beer: Svalbard Spitsbergen Stout (from Svalbard!)

Day 4 Monday 11.12.2017

The effect of new coronal hole hit and Tromssa K-index was from 2 to 4. Propagation was still more or less same: NA started to come in midnight and continued till afternoon. We will see later if there is any good catches in the files. So far only KATE Albert Lea MN 1450 was noticed “live”. Asia seemed a bit more Iran oriented today. JA signals were down.

We had our traditional “pre-Norway sauna” at Jounila, so afternoon was spent 6 km away from the listening position. We had sauna, we watched Shark Tank from TV and dishwasher was doing its job for our dishes.

Food: Pasta carbonara

The best beer: BrewDog Abstrakt AB:22

Day 3 Sunday 10.12.2017

Tromså K-index dropped to 0 and it made some changes to the propagation. NA propagation was a bit more interesting although band closed earlier than on Saturday, around 1300z. 740 KCBS San Francisco CA and 1330 KWKW Los Angeles CA were new catches for us and there is more to come as the digging of those files has not been started yet.

The biggest suprises came from Pacific. I was monitoring carefully 621 for Tuvalu and suprisingly it came up at 0939Z for few minutes! This is the second time when this station has been heard in Finland. Also Radio Tonga was strong today. 1449 V6AH is still in the monitoring list. Asia files we have not much checked yet. Japan seemed to be in a good shape.

Weather: same as on Saturday. We still have some work to do with snow but that work is almost done. The new bird here for us has been Siberian jay. Lots of tits (especially Siberian tit) and squirrels have visited our yard. No reindeers so far this year although there was few nearby when we arrived.

Food: macaroni casserole (thanks Pat’s mom)

The best beer: Hawkshead / Cigar City Tiramisu Imperial Stout

Day 2 Saturday 9.12.2017

The band was open to North America all night but propagation seemed to be still very generic. The morning was more or less same but we still have to check those files. Suprisingly 780 WXME Monticello ME was heard with WBBM: “WXME AM 7-80 Monticello …”. This Maine station was logged for the second time in Finland. In the morning V7AB Radio Majuro was very strong until their sign off at 1130Z. One from the most wanted list was also heard: 990 Gold FM from Fidzi although KIKI Honolulu was making QRM. Havaiji was in a good shape: 1110 KAOI, 1240 KEWE, 1270 KNDI and 1370 KUPA are new ones for us!

In the evening we mostly watched ice hockey (Patrik’s Lukko and Timo’s Ässät both lost their games) and drank some beverages so Asia propagation is unknown. ABC fanfare at 891 was heard and there seems to be some Filipinos (594 DZBB) and Japanese stations in the files.

Weather: we got some new snow and temperature has been around -5 C.

Food: potatoes and beef in tomato sauce

The best beer: Avery Vanilla Bean Stout – Bourbon Barrel

Day 1 late Thursday – late Friday 8.-9.12.2017

Finally on DX-pedition! Our 4th DX-pedition started this year a bit earlier than before as the 6th of December was the 100th anniversary of Finland and day off. Timo moved to Vaasa already on Wednesday evening. Our trip started on Thursday morning at 07:30am. We stopped in Kempele to buy the most of our food and then in Rovaniemi for a pizza break. We were excited to hear that Inari Väylä (only some 20 km from our QTH) was the coldest place in Finland, about -35C in the morning.

We arrived to Aihkiniemi around 22:30 – after 15 hours of drive. When we approached the place, weather changed a bit warmer and it was only -24C when we arrived (it went up to -9C next day). We were very lucky and the final path to listening cottage had so little snow that we could drive our Skoda directly to the front of cottage. After some unpacking we were ready for the rocknroll.

Earlier in the weak propagation was dominated by a coronal hole which made radio propagation more or less disturbed. It continued till Thursday. We were lucky as the effect of coronal hole started to vanish little by little during the first day. Propagation was up and down and it wasn’t really really juicy to any part of the world but on the other hand mediumwaves were open to almost everywhere.

The first night started with La Plata stations which picked up at 0400z. Same time Brasilian stations continued till 07z with stations like 730 ZYH759 Rado 730 and 1050 ZYI203 Radio Capixaba. We were suprised that North America came in already at 2300z and propagation continued all night. Unfortunately stations were more or less usual suspects. In the morning at 06z we got the first new US catch 1070 KFTI Wichita KS when band was good to KS/SD/WY area. Band seemed to dive after 0715z but suprisingly it came up few hours later giving West Coast stations till 1500z! New stations so far noticed are 550 KOAC Corvallis OR and 1140 KXRB Sioux Falls SD. Same time Alaska was very strong (all common Alaska stations were heard) and even for the first time we got several new HI stations: 830 KHVH, 990 KIKI and 1040 KLHT. The real blast was 1035 Newstalk ZB at 1203z. Our first MW station from New Zealand! Other Pacific was not noticed except strong Majuro 1098. Maybe tomorrow …

During the evening we listened to earlier recordings so not so much to tell about Asian propagation so far. DWNX 1611 was heard during the sign off and sign on. 891 and 1296 Aussies were also heard. We also watched some icehockey from the computer.

Daily meal: chicken in cream sauce with rice and salad
The best beer: BrewDog Pump Action Poet

Me and Patrik Willför will return to Aihkiniemi of Inari for the 4th time. AIH78-DX-pedition is planned to start in the 7th of December (close to 8th) and lasts till the 16th of December. I will again publish here daily our best catches and other stories from the North. Forecast now is quite promising. The best catches from AIH66-pedition were:

711 AIR Siliguri
1359 JOBB NHK2 Osaka via Wakayama/Fukuchiyama
1377 IRIB Radio Kermanshah, Paveh
580 WHP Harrisburg PA
900 WDLS Wisconsin Dells WI
1030 WNVR Vernon Hills IL
1260 WSDZ Belleville IL
680 ZYH471 Rádio Clube, Santo Antônio de Jesus BA

We also heard 1017 Radio Tonga, 1098 V7AB Marshalls and 1440 Radio Kiribati + Aussies 729 5RN, 891 5AN, 1152 6PNN, 1296 6RN and 1620 4KZ. 443 USA/CAN/ALS stations were identified.

Weather web cam from Nitsijärvi, near Aihkiniemi site. (Photo: Liikennevirasto)