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Summer Es (spodaric E) -season started in here in May. So far this season has not been so productive but in the southern coast of Finland DXers have got some excellent results. I’ve got only one really good day (8th June 2017) when FM band was open for hours. My equipment for FM is Perseus SDR with FM+ converter and 5el Triax-yagi some 3m from the ground. I use my station as remote, QTH is about 12km from my home. My location in the west coast of Finland is quite ok for UK/Ireland and France but I am a bit too north for eg. Greece and Turkey. I have fixed antenna direction to 210 degrees, which receives the stations from Romania to Ireland.

22.5.17
The start of the season took some time. Short opening with low MUF to ROU/AUT/CZE. Then at 20z some BBCs on the low band.

23.5.17
FM band was up and down several hours. It peaked 11-12z to Italy with some powerhouse D and HRV also. MUF was hardly over 90 MHz but got some interesting Italians like Millennium, Radio Freccia (new chain), One Dance and Radio LatteMiele Torino.

24.5.17
Short one minute to Italy daytime then 1622-1655 mixed Germany and France. MUF again was not very high. Mostly powerhouses but managed to catch Radio Bonn/Rhein-Sieg. Some F shorties also later in the evening.

30.5.17
Another very short (few minutes) opening to ITA/HRV.

31.5.17
I turned my antenna to about 170 degrees so I was able to catch some Ukraine and even some Turkish stations this day. Band was up and down but peaked for 30 minutes to UKR between 1822-1847 UTC. Most of the stations were Russians from the occupied Krim, Simferopol.

2.6.17
Few minutes to openings to Balkan and Italy at 08z and 16z.

4.6.17
Over 4 hours opening mostly to Italy with lots of powerhouses and chain stations on the band. At the beginning of the opening also some RTE and BBC on the band the after the Italians some D, Balkan and CZE. At times MUF was high (over 105 MHz) but not many new Italians found. Radio Marilù, Radio Alba, Radio Piterpan were the interesting ones. From Germany AFN The Eagle was heard. At 1515z I heard ERA 2 Deutero Programma, which was the first Greek station for me since 1990s (I was QRT 1998-2013). From Serbia Radio Rubin was nice catch and especially Radio Ferizaj from Kosovo.

5.6.17
2 hours of es but unfortunately mostly powerhouses from Germany with MUF below 100 MHz. The best stations were probably the two first ones: Radio Pogoda POL and West City Radio ROU. Other worth of mentioning: Landeswelle Thüringen, Rom Radio (SRB), Hrvatski Radio Karlovac (HRV).

6.6.17
Few short openings in the morning and daytime: F, HRV, D, BUL. Not much to talk about.

7.6.17
3½ hours of chaos. Band was open from Bosnia to UK. So much QSB and QRM that very difficult to dig anything. I have not listened recordings yet but there are stations like Radio Central (SUI), Slavonski Radio (HRV), InfoRádió (HNG), we will see.

8.6.17
The best opening so far and Top10-days all time. All started with CZE Fajn Radio Hity at 0506z and ended at 1214z with RTE. Very good SVK/HRV/HNG/POL opening around 07z (I had “blind recording” on as I was working), then Ireland moving to Benelux and even some Danish stations! Denmark skip is less than 1000km for my QTH. Then France and condx fininshing to UK. I still have one hour of recordings to go thru but some goodies are: Rádio SiTy (SVK), Radio Kaj Krapina (local, HRV), RMF Maxxx Oleśnica (local, POL), Radio Doxa (POL), BBC Oxford, South East Radio (IRL), Today FM (IRL), Red FM (IRL), Midwest Radio (IRL), Skala FM (DNK), Radio Skive (DNK), North Norfolk Radio, France Bleu Poitou, La radio sans pub (F), France Bleu Maine, RBM (F), Radio 538 (HOL), Sweet FM (F), Radio Eenhoorn (HOL), L’Autre Radio (F), Radio Melinda (BEL) … much more quality in these stations!

9.6.17
Few minutes of HNG (Tisza-tó Rádió) and SRB (BB Radio Bački Brestovac) then later few minutes of BBC.

11.6.17
RAI and France Culture heard.

13.6.17
Condx to RUS and UKR. Antenna to wrong direction but at least to stations to report: UR 1 Persha Prog. and Radio Mir.

14.6.17
Band never opened properly. Here and there some powerhouses and Radio ROKS – Ukraina.

Some AIH66 QSLs are coming in + few others to old reports:

CJOY Guelph ON 1460
WOSH Oshkosh WI 1490
WDTW Dearborn MI 1310
KGYN Guymon OK 1210
KAUS Austin MN 1480
WVON Berwyn IL 1690
WJRW Grand Rapids MI 1340
KQWB West Fargo ND 1660
KVFD Fort Dodge IA 1400
KNUJ New Ulm MN 860
CBU Vancouver BC 690
WKRS Waukegan IL 1220
WIBW Topeka KS 580
WREY St. Paul MN 630
WXNT Indianapolis IN 1430
CJAD Montreal QC 800
WKBM Sandwich IL 930
KFSP Mankato MN 1230
WSDZ Belleville IL 1260
CJBC Toronto ON ON 860
WRDZ La Grange IL 1300
WING Dayton OH 1410
WBAL Baltimore MD 1090
WSSP Milwaukee WI 1250
WNIO Youngstown OH 1390
WPDR Portage WI 1350
KVXR Moorhead MN 1280
WIBD West Bend WI 1470
KVGB Great Bend KS 1590
CKTB St. Catharines ON 610
KTRF Thief River Falls MN 1230
HIC26 Radio María de La Altagracia, Santo Domingo 1240 em v/s Giampiero Bernardini
HCUM2 Radio Universal, Guayaquil 1270 via Facebook
HJCL Radio Panamericana, Girardot 1140 via Facebook
YVKJ Radio María, Caracas 1450 em v/s Giampiero Bernardini
OBX2J Radio Continente, Cajamarca 820 via Facebook

I have bolded few better ones.

It’s been a while since last QSL-update. So here are the new ones:

Radio Revolten, Halle FFF 1575
Atlantis Radio 1395
AIR Rohtak 873 (real QSL snail mail!)
AIR Jalandhar 1143 (real QSL snail mail!)
CRI Dongfang 603
4QD ABC Emerald, Qld 1548
KHRA Honolulu HI 1460 NEW COUNTRY!
5RN Adelaide SA 729
5AN Adelaide 891
A3Z Radio Tonga, Nuku’alofa 1017 NEW COUNTRY!
Radio Kiribati, Bairiki 1440 NEW COUNTRY!
KNUS Denver CO 710
CJNB North Battleford SK 1050
KUIK Hillsboro OR 1360
CHMJ Vancouver BC 730
KNWC Sioux Falls SD 1270
KSTP St. Paul MN 1510
WXRL Lancaster NY 1300
WMT Cedar Rapids IA 600
KNZZ Grand Junction CO 1100
WGR Buffalo NY 550
KCMO Kansas City MO 710
WHAM Rochester NY 1180
KGNU Denver CO 1390
KXTL Butte MT 1370
KIAM Nenana AK 630
KFEQ St. Joseph MO 680
WSBT South Bend IN 960
KLO Ogden UT 1430
WFDF Farmington Hills MI 910
KPTY Waterloo IA 1330
WBZ Boston MA 1030
CMKC Radio Revolución, Mayari Arriba 950 (via Facebook)
CMKC Radio Revolución, Palma Soriano 840
CMKC Radio Revolución, Chivirico, Santiago de Cuba 1190
La Voz del Yuna, Bonao 1670 (via Facebook)
ZYH243 Rádio Imaculada Conceição 1320
LT3 AM 680, Rosario 680 (via Facebook)
HJJZ Radio 3:16, Bogotá 1310 (via Twitter)
CP… Radio Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz 960 (via Facebook)
OAU6D Radio Lider, Arequipa 1260 (via Facebook)
OBZ4H Red Radio Integridad, San Miguel 700 (via email 5 months!)
Radioreggio 101.60

Thursday the 15th of December 2016

Thursday was our traditional trip to Kirkenes -day. It took us around 6 hours. We left the cabin around 9am and came back around 3pm. We wanted to maximize the daylight. As you know, we have kaamos here – the sun is not rising at all! So between 11am and 1pm there is shallow blue light, otherwise it is more or less dark or totally dark outside. We made our normal visit to Vinmonopolet of Kirkenes and visited also two grocery shops: Rema1000 and Kiwi. In Finland side of the border we did some shopping at K-Market Näätämö and Nordmarket Näätämö.

We left all US antennas to record the MW band except one PC was recording with 30-degree-antenna. And we finally got ID from Radio Marshalls from Majuro, Marsall Islands! Actually V7AB was audible between 0900-1130 UTC, but during the sign off Korea was again too strong. Quick scan has not revealed any other Oceanian stations.

The morning was again quite good to USA. Propagation stayed to Ontario, Great Lakes and New England. Some of the good ones: 570 WKBN Youngstown OH, 610 CKTB St. Catherines ON, 950 WIBX Utica NY and also Mexican 1060 XERDO Reynosa TA. Iberia was also strong in the morning: 693 RNE1 Castilla La Mancha, Toledo as the best catch.

Last two postings will be published after returning to home. Day 7 is our last full day in Aihkiniemi.

Wednesday the 14th of December 2016

All the indexes were showing even better radio propagation. And good it was again. When we had West Coast on Monday, East Coast on Tuesday then Wednesday seems to be Great Lakes day. The band opened early morning to USA and continued until midday. Graveyard channels were open again nicely. I noticed special spot to Minnesota: 1370 KSUM Fairmont MN, 1420 KTOE Mankato MN, 1470 KMNQ Brooklyn Park MN, 1480 KAUS Austin MN and 1520 KOLM Rochester MN became audible all at 07z. Other catches from the morning: 580 WIBW Topeka KS, 610 KNML Albuquerque NM, 680 KFEQ St.Joseph MO, 1240 WSDR Sterling IL, 1240 KICD Spencer IA, 1340 WJRW Grand Rapids MI, 1340 WNCO Ashland OH, 1370 WLJW Cadillac MI, 1400 KVFD Ft Dodge IA, 1400 WMAN Mansfield OH, 1450 WLEC Sandusky OH, 1640 WSJP Sussex WI and 1690 WVON Berwyn IL so this morning was probably the best so far.

In the afternoon we went to Jounila for sauna and fill our water supplies. Aihkiniemi cabin doesn’t have running water. Only men are running out from the cabin to release some processed water …

The best beer was Barrel of Monks Father Christmas (from Boca Raton, FL – zero FL logged so far) and the meal was chicken in tomato sauce.

One of our gourmet breakfasts

Jaguar and Perseus

Tuesday the 12th of December 2016

The morning opened to USA/Canada very nicely! Today propagation peaked to the East Coast which is maybe not so common up here. WKRS Waukegan IL 1220, WGY Schenectady NY 810, WHCU Ithaca NY 870 and KRCM Shenandoah TX 1380 were the good ones. Lots of stuff to listen to at home. The west path closed earlier than on Monday, around 1200z I think. At 1130z we again tried to hear Majuro on 1098 but Taiwan (?) was too strong, only BBC news were heard at 1100z. Asia sounded a bit more quiet than yesterday but on the other hand we didn’t do much of “live job” in the evening. 729 and 891 ABCs were noticed again and also QSLed by Mr. Graham Himmelhoch-Mutton.

During the day we fed our pets: various tits, 3 squirrels and 2 Eurasian magpies. They were happy as temperature dropped to -20C and energy is needed. The daily meal was potatoes with chicken sausage. The best beer was North Coast Old Stock Cellar Reserve (Bourbon Barrel).

Cabin and Skoda

Cabin and Patrik

Monday the 12th of December 2016

Propagation!! Finally!! After reasonably quiet morning band started to boil towards the West Coast. Around 11z signals started to pop up from Rocky Mountains to California. MW band held open to USA at least to 15z, so there are lots of gigabytes to investigate later. Stations like 1250 KIKC Forsyth MT has been found from the disks.

Then band opened to east and Japan. Nine NHK2’s with the callsign sign offs at 1540z were easy catches. It will be interesting to see what else we will find later. At 1730-1830 two ABC Aussies from Adelaide were strong: 729 5RN and 891 5AN with a good copy during the ABC news break.

We finally got all snow job done and now our car is next to our cabin. Good exercise too to two fat DXers.

The best beer of the day was RUIG / Rooie Dop Dark Storm and the meal spaghetti bolognese.

Timo is the king of birds (lapintiainen)

Sunday the 11th of December 2016
The weather here in Inari, Lapland is good. The wind has calmed down and the skies are almost clear. And on Saturday it was not so cold either, around -10C. Radio propagation to USA in the morning was not very good. Only few old friends like 560 KLZ and 910 KCJB Minot ND were heard. Station came up and down very quickly. We still have too many protons on the air but it will get better!

Very quickly up came also Hawaiji stations around 0930Z. They were audible about 15 minutes. We identified the following: 940 KKNE, 1240 KEWE, 1420 KKEA, 1460 KHRA and 1570 KUAU. Few hours after this, at 1130z Patrik heard on 1098 kHz some country music, fade out and hints of national anthem. We almost got Radio Majuro from Marshall Islands!

The evening files are mostly untouched yet but at least 891 5AN ABC Adelaide was strong some time. Hopefully we get more Aussies from the files.

No reindeers spotted in the premises yet. Some birds appeared just in minutes when I threw some old bread to the garden for them.

We drank one new beer country! Corsaire from Guadeloupe was beer country #155 to Timo and #171 to Patrik. The best beer was Avery Anniversary Twenty Three. Daily meal: macaroni casserole (courtesy of Pat’s mom).

Good morning!

Still some work to do!

Me and Patrik (PW) arrived to Aihkiniemi on late Friday evening around 11pm. AIH66 is our 3rd DX-pedition to Aihkiniemi. What was waiting for us was half meter of snow to get rid off. We decided to do only part of the job but it still took 1,5 hours to get into the house and get everything on.

Some disturbed condx were expected but by our suprise the first night provided some short openings to the Great Lakes. CHRN Montreal QC 1610 and WDTW Dearborn MI 1310 were the first ones for us. Solar disturbance made NA path very difficult and openings in the morning were very short – almost all old friends except KFXD Boise ID. In the morning around 06-07z band was hot to La Plata and Brasil. ZP5 Radio Encarnación, Encarnación 760 and ZYJ277 Rádio Difusora do Paraná, Marechal Cândido Rondon PR 970 were the nice ones. To Asia we had some technical problems at first but then band opened nicely to Taiwan and China. I believe that we have 891 aussie also in the files. Late night band was full of Koran stations – we will see what we will later find from the files.

The best beer was Funky Buddha’s Nikolai Vorlauf imperial stout. The meal for the day was the “perunarieskatortillas”.

PW

TIK

FM season has brought some QSLs. I am still going through the 8th of June files so I have some “backlog” with my reception reports. MW-QSLing has been quiet even I’ve sent a couple of follow-ups.

AIR Dibrugarh 567 via Facebook
6ABN Busselton WA 1629 em 3d v/s Paul Kochanski, Radio Production Co-ordinator f/up
KIHH Eureka CA 1400 em 0d v/s James Tejada, Operations Technician
Radio Luz del Mundo 1560
San Marino Classics SRM 103.20
DASDING (SWR) D 90.80
AFN Kaiserslautern “The Eagle” D 100.20
Oui FM F 88.40
hr1 D 94.40
Ouï FM La Radio de la Mer F 88.40 (same tx but with the sub-programme, for the future use…)
Fusion FM F 94.30
BBC Radio Suffolk G 103.90
Radio SCOOP F 91.30
LFM (Lausanne FM) SUI 89.10
COB’FM F 92.70
Radio Focus (Bulgaria) BUL 89.00
Radio Caroline F 90.80
Radio Vaticana 105 Live CVA 105.00
Radio Company Campania I 88.40
Nostalgie Belgique BEL 92.30
SWR4 Baden-Württemberg D 91.10
Radio Megaton HRV 104.90
Radio Voce della Speranza Roma I 104.80
Radio Velkaton BIH 107.00
Radio Alta I 94.60
Val202 SVN 94.10
Radio Record I 93.70
Radio Campus Troyes, Troyes F 88.70
SRo 1 Rádio Slovensko SVK 91.20
Bluradio Veneto I 88.70
Play Radio SRB 92.50