THE HAMRADIO DOT COM

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)

Some new ones:

Radio Mi Amigo, Kall-Krekei 3985 QSL card via snail mail
WRPN Ripon WI 1600
KQAQ Austin MN 970
OAM7L Radio Solar, Espinar 1440 via Facebook
OA.. Radio Andina, Juliaca 1360 via Facebook
ERA 2 Deutero Programma 90.60
Radio Soundportal 89.60
Smooth Radio 97.50
L´Autre Radio 107.90
RTÉ Lyric FM 95.20
RBB inforadio 93.40
Radio Dolcevita, Ferrara 104.20
Donau 3 FM 106.20
Naxi Max Radio, Čoka 106.60
BNR Radio Blagoevgrad 106.60

It’s been a while when I posted my QSLs. These have arrived since March:

JOXR ROK Radio Okinawa 864
CRI Huadian 963
BED47 BCC News Network, Tainan 1296
6RN ABC Wagin WA 1296
KCHA Charles City IA 1580
WHRC Miami FL 1550
WIRL Peoria IL 1290
WJMO Cleveland OH 1300
KOAN Anchorage AK 1080
WOTE Clintonville WI 1380
KNND Cottage Grove OR 1400
WBCN Charlotte NC 1660
KDYM Sunnyside WA 1230
KKNW Seattle WA 1150
WJMC Rice Lake WI 1240
KYCR Golden Valley MN 1440
KGVO Missola MT 1290
KDMT Arvada CO 1690
KKDZ Seattle WA 1250
WEBC Duluth MN 560
WHHQ Bridgeport MI 1250
KQEQ Fowler CA 1210
KRSV Afton WY 1210
KSUB Cedar City UT 590
YS.. Radio Elohim, San Salvador 1630 – new country, El Salvador!
ZBVI Tortola 780 – new country, British Virgin Islands!
HCRF2 Radio Ecuantena, Guayaquil 1030
CP107 Radio Yaguarí, Vallegrande 1440
Radio Maria 92.20
Radio Maria Südtirol 106.70
Radio Italia Network 101.50
Radio Vallebelbo National Sanremo 102.20
Radio SRF1 101.50
Radio Nova 89.60
Radio Torino 95.30
Qmusic 99.20
SLAM! 99.20
France Bleu Picardie 100.60
Radio Italia Uno Party 95.20
Radio Bonheur 90.10
VRT Radio 2 West-Vlaanderen 100.10
NPO 3FM 99.80
Radio Victoria, Halle 105.20
France Bleu Poitou 106.40
7 FM 96.20
Radio Gente Umbra 93.00
France Bleu 107.1 107.10
Radio Studio One 107.1
SRR Radio Iasi 90.8
Mouv’ 93.50
Nes Radio 88.40
One Dance 88.70
RPL Radio 89.20
Radio Mater 88.60
Radio Bonn/Rhein-Sieg 91.20
Radio Millennium 88.70
WDR5 89.00
WDR4 90.70
Radio Ferizaj 92.60
Radio Bamberg 88.50
RDS – Radio Dimensione Suono 97.90
Radio 24 98.00
ČRo Sever 88.800
Radio Egrensis 93.20
Radio 80 (Ottanta) 89.20
Radio Cer 90.20
BR Klassik 88.00
Deutschlandfunk 94.10
Deutschlandfunk Kultur 97.40
NDR 1 Niedersachsen 98.00
Radio Rubi 96.40
Radio Doxa 96.70
BBC Radio Oxford 95.20
Galaxie Radio 95.30
Sud Radio 90.00
Radio Skive 104.30
Radio 538 98.40
Radio Melinda 107.80
Radio Eenhoorn 107.50

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.

Since the last post some nice QSLs have arrived:

Radio Maria, Le Col de la Madonne 1467 (I have this before as TWR Monte Carlo, I think from 1984)
Heritage Radio, Manchester 1602 via Facebook FFF
AIR Guwahati 729
AIR Allapuzha 576
AIR Dharwad 765
AIR Lucknow 747
AIR Nagpur 585
AIR Kargil 684
AIR Chennai 720
AIR Shimla 774
AIR Rajkot 810
AIR Delhi 666
KKNE Waipahu HI 940
KKEA Honolulu HI 1420
KEWE Kahului HI 1240
6PNN Busselton 1152
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
WSJP Sussex WI 1640
WCNZ Marco Island FL 1660
WKBN Youngstown OH 570
WMAX Bay City MI 1440
WMAN Mansfield OH 1400
KMRY Cedar Rapids IA 1450
KKMS Richfield MN 980
KNSS Wichita KS 1330
WNCO Ashland OH 1340
CHML Hamilton ON 900
WGY Schenectady NY 810
WCMP Pine City MN 1350
KCNZ Cedar Falls IA 1650
KOKC Oklahoma City OK 1520
KCCR Pierre SD 1240
WNWI Oak Lawn IL 1080
KDHL Faribault MN 920
WGAN Portland ME 560
WTCH Shawano WI 960
WAUB Auburn NY 1590
WMKT Charlevoix MI 1270
WNVR Vernon Hills IL 1030
WOKY Milwaukee WI 920
CKJR Wetaskiwin AB 1440
WLMV Madison WI 1480
KFJB Marshalltown IA 1230
WGVS Muskegon MI 850
KNOX Grand Forks ND 1310
KBJD Denver CO 1650
WQLR Kalamazoo MI 1660
WCLO Janesville WI 1230
KPRM Park Rapids MN 870
WBEV Beaver Dam WI 1430
KTNQ Los Angeles CA 1020
WKEI Kewanee IL 1450
KDAL Duluth MN 610
WPHT Philadelphia PA 1210
KIXZ Amarillo TX 940
WSUI Iowa City IA 910
WOI Ames IA 610
KOZY Grand Rapids MN 1320
WENE Endicott NY 1430
KOZN Bellevue NE 1620
KOLM Rochester MN 1520
KFXD Boise ID 630
WLS Chicago IL 890
WROW Albany NY 590
KCHA Charles City IA 1580
XEPE Tecate BC 1700
HO… Radio Adventista de Panamá, Panamá 1560
XEEP Radio Educación, Mexico DF 1060
HJZF Radio Cóndor, Manizales 1540
OBX4X Radio Bienestar, Chorillos 760 FFF?

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