THE HAMRADIO DOT COM

At night there was some US propagation but we were sleeping until 03z. Then some stateside started to rise and finally also Central and South America (other than B and LaPlata). Southern stations (like Puerto Rico and Venezuela) are still now in the files but some US files we checked: some goodies from Lakes like WPNW Zeeland MI 1260 etc. Morning opening ended to Alberta area. Asia seemed to be ok today but we haven’t checked anything as we went to Nitsijärvi for sauna. I had to warm it up. It took some time but it was worth of it. No reindeers spotted today.

Tomorrow we will travel to Kirkenäs. Food was today rice and barley wine chicken. Yummy.

The beer of the day: Myanmar Lager (my beer country #154)

The conditionwise the fourth day was similar to others: indexes were not too good but no real bad disturbances either. During the night band was not very interesting, some BRA and common US. The band opened in the morning, 0700z brought some good ones like 1310 KFKA Greeley CO and 1590 KGFK East Grand Forks MN, but disc work has just begun. We didn’t check much Asia (which opened late), we have had some QRM from NorthEast during the early afternoon. But at least we noticed briefly 801 KTWG and at 1730z 891 aussie. “Tapes” have to be investigated later. The most of the day went from my side with the check of the 16th files. Seems that Colorado condx were great. So far found 560 KLZ, 590 CFAR, 600 KCOL, 610 CHTM, 670 KLTT, 710 KNUS, 780 KCEG, 790 KFGO, 810 KVLZ, 810 WHB, 820 KUTR, 950 KRWZ, 970 KBUL, 1110 WJML, 1290 KOWB, 1370 KXTL, 1440 KRDZ, 1470 KAIR, 1480 KLMS, 1630 KRND, 1660 KXOL, 1700 KVNS and so on. Great opening!

Other activities were some antenna/equipment check, the petting of our herd of reindeers (spent several ours around the woods next to us and also in our yard) and food&drink. We ate today spaghetti bolognese.

The beer of the day: Pyynikin Gluteeniton Kauppaipa – gluten free beer from Tampere

Our new pet

As told we heard some early bird US last evening but nothing really happened before the morning. US opening was strong and nice between 05-08 UTC. Also some Mexico here and there. The most of the day went while checking the first files. Only some cooking and snow work in between. From Asia we have not much to say so far as the time went by looking for older files. After listening to 0600 UTC files the best catches are: 950 KRWZ Parker CO, 970 KBUL Billings MT, 1110 WJML Petoskey MI (60 watts!), 1290 KOWB Laramie WY, 1370 KXTL Butte MT, 1470 KAIR Atchison KS, 1660 KXOL Brigham City UT and 1700 KVNS Brownsville TX. Even got some QSLs already! Much more to come when all files have been listened to.

Food was the pork fillets from Vähäkyrö, Botnia and spaghetti. For brunch we had baked potatoes and random fridge stuff.

The beer of the day: Buxton Battle Horse – black IPA or American style barley wine

Bathroom was -6C.

Day 3

On Sunday weather got warmer. All day we had around zero Celsius, during the day 1 we had some 6-7 minus before. Patrik did some snow work. Of course it is better to be done today when snow is heavier …

Band opened to west around 23z. But only common USA/CAN-stations. The night was mixed with La Plata and Brasil, stateside never opens really well before 0530z. At least now we logged the most common Alberta stations … we missed them last time. 1230 CHFC Churchill MB was probably the best catch. But we still need to dig some files. From La Plata the best one was 1150 LT9 Radio Brigadier López, Santa Fé. Asia never really opened. Weird QRM especially with 46 and 60 degrees antennas. We have not checked Asia files yet but I believe there is not much to talk about.

Just before local midnight we noticed at some CAN and stations like WFME are audible already at 2045z. I tried to catch some daytimers but seems that I was not lucky. Also 1700 WRCR was heard but we still need ID. Same time with NA, Brasil was strong already before 2100z. Very early”

Lunch: meatball-bacon scramble Dinner: cola chicken and potatoes

The beer of the day: Crooked Stave Hop Savant (Galaxy)
The special mention: BarlindBeer BjörköAle Session IPA 2,7 %

Finally arrived to Aihkiniemi! After 950 km drive from Vaasa we arrived around at 23:00 local time (Friday the 13th) to Partakko in Inari. We were received by plenty of snow so we had to do some work with the extra snow before we could drive in the yard of Aihkiniemi pedition site. Now as it is our second trip here, the place is familiar and we could put up our stations (4 of them) quite quickly. The daytime we mostly were just listening, doing some snow work and cooking (makaroonilaatikko & salad) + drinking some new beers from eg. Sweden, Croatia and UK.

The first real stations noticed were Brasilians around 2300z. La Plata was ok almost all night – first starting with many Brasilians (broadcasting soccer, no IDs) and then ARG/URG stations like 950 LR3 AM950, Buenos Aires, 1030 LS10 Radio del Plata, Buenos Aires, 1230 LT2 Radio Dos, Rosario and 1470 CX147 Radio Cristal del Uruguay, Las Piedras. We also got a local ID from 750 LRA7 Radio Nacional, Cordoba.

The first US stations noticed were at 04z KXEL and new one for us 1660 KQWB West Fargo ND (some common CAN already at 01z). Next few hours USA was up and down giving some common stations like 950 KCAP and 1430 KCLK. As solar condx should be ok we expect more from next night.

Daytime started very slow. We couldn’t hear anything from Asia until 1300z when band was full of Japan. Before that we were thinking what is going on, no signals what so ever on MW. We need to investigate files more later but we noticed some decent stations from Taiwan and China plus two tentative Aussies: 846 4CA Cairns and 1548 4QD Emerald at 17z.

The beer of the day: Uprising Treason – IPA from Windsor, England.

Patrik PW at AIH53

The cottage today.

Indeksit

Soon I will hit the road with Patrik (PW) to Aihkiniemi in Inari. Pedition AIH53 will be active 14.-21.11.2015. As we have currently lots of protons in the air, we hope that bands will recover till the end of this week. Soon I will publish also last year’s AIH40-pedition logs. They are not actually final as we still have some files to explore. One year is not enough! (Especially when I was very lazy in the early part of 2015). Also still some nice NA QSLs are coming in for the reception reports of AIH40.

I am trying to publish daily reports from AIH53 to this blog.

Not much radiowise to tell. Aurora borealis was visible last night and it killed some of the propagation for sure. We went after the sunrise to Norway, Kirkenes (to buy lots of expensive beer) and we have not checked much of the files. Seems that there was some propagation to USA in the morning but mostly dominants. Better catches need more investigating. Early morning at 0300 I was recording the band with 160 degrees antenna. Unfortunately no Sudan or Ethiopia were found (so far). So another day with not much to tell. Tomorrow will be our last full day. Maybe we will take off our 210 “Gibraltar” antenna.

Menu and beer of the day: ham cassarole with green side salad, HaandBryggeriet Norse Porter

Day 5 was listening all day. For me it mean listening to Day 4 morning 0630z file which took almost one day to go through. That morning was interesting mix of Great Lakes, Midwest and Mexico. Some goodies from Day 4: 570 WNAX, 590 KXSP, 600 WTMJ, 880 KWIP, 1060 KGFX, 1140 KSOO, 1150 KSAL, 1260 WXCE, 1400 KLIN, 1420 KTOE, 1470 KNMQ, 1550 KKOV so even 3 stations from South Dakota. From Mexico I found from these from this one file: 610 XEGS, 740 XECW, 860 XENL, 1030 XEMPM, 1050 XEG, 1260 XEAW and 1320 XECPN.

Last night band was open from Brasil to East Coast but we need to investigate the files more. In the morning Patrik went through West Coast files and found some new AK-stations: 930 KNSA, 1080 KOAN but the absolute highlight was 1500 KHKA Honolulu HI with good callsign identification! Asia didn’t sound particulary strong but we will see the files later. Patrik also snagged some new RNE5-stations.

Menu and beer of the day: pasta with minced meat, Anspach & Hobday The Porter.

Our kitchen. Yes, it is small.

Not much to tell about this day: we mostly checked older files and kept computers running. Possibly propagation is getting better but this day was overall bad – but there might lurk suprises: in the morning at 0630 UTC MW opened to USA and Mexico. Files needs to be checked but there were 3 South Dakota stations 570 WNAX, 1060 KGFX and 1140 KSOO during this opening. Another goodies are 590 KXSP Omaha NE, 600 WTMJ Milwaukee WI and 880 KWIP Dallas OR. The better Mexicans were 610 XEGS, 740 XECW, 860 XENL, 1030 XEMPM. We have not checked Asian files but that direction sounded not so good today. From Iberia got mostly stations from Galicia. There was also Brasil opening in the early night.

We spent the most of light time outside checking the antennas. 13 antenna network in the twilight is a bit confusing. Aihkiniemi’s antennas are coax feeded and starting points are far away from the cottage. The rest of time was spent with the older files, beers and cooking.

Menu and beer of the day: Finnish potatoes with the broiler-onion sauce, Maku Brewing Golden Ale.

Listening room

Patrik going to antenna work

Temperature has dropped quite a lot recently. In the morning it was still something like -12 C but it has come down to almost zero degrees.

The sun was still active, but only one C-flare today and still no CMEs. Night was quite quiet. Some South America tried to come in, but nothing special found from there so far. We both slept most of the night, I was checking the band frequently between the naps. In the morning around 0430 UTC there was nice opening to Ohio: 1370 WSPD, 1470 WLQR and 1520 WNWT were heard. Another peak was around 0700 UTC with goodies like 1030 KBUF Holcomb KS and 1340 KCBL Fresno CA. Later during the day the band was open to West Coast but our files are uninvestigated. Morning produced also very nice RNE-break with the super catch 972 RNE1 Melilla, Melilla.

The Eastern propagation was again different than the previous days. The start was slow but later Chinese and Indian stations came up with some strong JAs. Evening IB-breaks gave some new ones for us. Some catches: 837 COPE Burgos, 1053 COPE Zaragoza, 1224 COPE Mallorca and 1224 COPE Lérida.

This was also “the cleaning day”. Our cottage does not have running water, but there is a cottage village nearby which has very nice apartments with sauna and shower for our use. Sauna was super!

Sauna in Inari