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As has been the case for much of this winter's DX season, LF conditions were very erratic during this past weekend's CLE NDB-listening event.



Geomagnetic activity fluctuated wildly from hour to hour, gradually settling down for Sunday night's last opportunity, with K-indices dropping to 1's or Ø's.

courtesy: http://www.solarham.net/planetk.htm

With the DST slowly climbing towards positive numbers after a week of coronal hole streaming and auroral absorption, I had hoped that Sunday night's conditions would be a bit better than they were ... although poor, it was the better of the three nights.

courtesy: http://wdc.kugi.kyoto-u.ac.jp/dst_realtime/presentmonth/index.html

Participants in the central and southern states noted excellent conditions and were not as badly affected as listeners to the north, where the effects of any auroral activity are sudden and much more severe ... I'm always surprised at just how much difference one or two hundred miles further to the south can make.

The following NDB's were heard over the course of the weekend, all using the Perseus SDR to record two-minute grabs, every hour, from dusk through dawn. Going over the recordings takes some time but being able to, in effect, listen all night, readilly illustrates how much the band conditions on LF can change so drastically from hour-to-hour ... sometimes for better and sometimes for worse.

25 11:00 350 VTR McGrath, ALS
23 05:00 350 SWU Id Falls, ID, USA
23 05:00 350 RG Oklahoma City, OK, USA
25 10:00 350 RB Resolute Bay, NU, CAN
23 05:00 350 ON Agate, OR, USA
23 05:00 350 NY Enderby, BC, CAN
24 13:00 350 DNS Denison, IA, USA
24 10:00 351 YKQ Waskaganish, QC, CAN
23 05:00 351 AE Paradise Hills, NM, USA
23 09:00 352 RG Rarotonga, CKS
25 10:00 353 ZXY Whitehorse, YT, CAN
23 05:00 353 RNT Renton, WA, USA
23 04:00 353 PG Portage La Prairie, MB, CAN
23 08:00 353 LLD Lanai, HWA
24 09:00 353 IN Ericsburg, MN, USA
23 08:00 353 DI Dickinson, ND, USA
23 05:00 353 CY Cheyenne, WY, USA
23 05:00 353 AL Dixie, WA, USA
23 08:00 353 5F Chevron, AB, CAN
24 07:00 355 YWP Webequie, ON, CAN
25 14:30 355 AUB King Salmon, ALS
23 08:00 356 ZXE Saskatoon, SK, CAN
23 08:00 356 ZF Yellowknife, NT, CAN
23 11:00 356 PND Portland, OR, USA
23 08:00 356 ON Penticton, BC, CAN
25 11:00 356 ODX Ord, NE, USA
23 08:00 356 MEF Medford, OR, USA
24 11:00 358 YKG Kangiqsujuaq, QC, CAN
23 05:00 359 YQZ Quesnel, BC, CAN
23 05:00 359 YAZ Tofino, BC, CAN
23 05:00 359 SDY Sidney, MT, USA
24 13:00 359 GGF Grant, NE, USA
23 05:00 359 BO Ustick, ID, USA
24 11:00 360 SW Warroad, MN, USA
25 13:00 361 HI Holman, NT, CAN
23 08:00 361 E3 Wabasca, AB, CAN
25 10:30 362 YZS Coral Harbour, NU, CAN
23 08:00 362 RPX Roundup, MT, USA
23 09:00 362 OWP Sand Springs, OK, USA
23 08:00 362 BF Seattle, WA, USA
23 08:00 362 6T Foremost, AB, CAN
23 10:00 364 4D Helmet, BC, CAN
25 07:00 365 PAL Palma, EQA
23 05:00 365 MA Mayo, YT, CAN
23 05:00 365 HQG Hugoton, KS, USA
23 05:00 365 DPY Deer Park, WA, USA
23 06:00 365 AA Harwood, MN, USA
25 10:00 366 YMW Maniwaki, QC, CAN
25 11:00 366 PNI Pohnpei, FSM
25 10:00 366 EOK Keokuk, IA, USA
25 11:30 367 R5 Pukatawagan, MB, CAN
23 08:00 368 ZP Sandspit, BC, CAN
23 08:00 368 VX Dafoe, SK, CAN
23 08:00 368 SX Cranbrook, BC, CAN
25 11:00 368 SOY Sioux, IA, USA

It will be nice to see a 'quiet sun' once again, hopefully sooner than later. For such a wimpy solar cycle, this one is not going down without a valiant fight, as it continues to mess-up LF and MF propagation, with an almost non-stop bombardment of coronal hole streams.

Over the past two weeks, I have spent some time reviewing several Perseus SDR recordings sent to me by Walter Salminaw in Victoria, B.C.




Walter is a hard core, mainly BCB DXer, who has a winterized vacation home in the remote Haida Gwaii Archipelago region of north west British Columbia, formerly known as the Queen Charlotte Islands.


He has built several permanent antennas, including loops and various beverages, mainly favoring Asia, the Pacific and over-the-pole. Some of his BCB recordings reveal mind-numbing signals from all parts of Asia ... not S9, but S9+++ and simply amazing.

I had asked Walter for some of his files that covered the NDB band, during periods of good propagation, so that I might be able to determine if my selected list of Alaskan beacons were actually on-the-air or not. There are several NDBs in Alaska that seem to be active, according to FAA information, but have never been heard by NDB DXers. Using Walt's recordings, along with his NW-pointed beverage, allowed my to have a deep listen into Alaska and finally get some answers.

It was exciting to tune through the very quiet band, from a northern perspective, and to hear many of the more 'difficult' (normally weak here) Alaskan targets at S9 levels. Unfortunately, going through my list of suspects, turned-up no sign of activity from any of them and explains why I have never been able to hear them from here! Like so many regions around the world, it seems that the once huge network of Alaskan NDBs is quickly being phased out up there as well.

An unexpected side benefit of going through Walt's files, turned up several instances of beacons in the Canadian north, that had been reported shut down, several years ago. It was surprising to hear them still as active as ever. Additionally, one NDB in Alaska, unheard here for two years and thought to be gone for some time, was found to be still happily keying away.

I've sent these findings to the RNA database for updating ... but it would have been nice to hear some of my long-sought after Alaskan 'ghosts', which seem likely to have been off-the-air for several years.

I would like to thank Walter for taking the time to share his Perseus files with me and for his unexpected contribution to the RNA database. Here are a few of the log's highlights:

DD UTC kHz Call mi New Location

courtesy: http://www.noaa.gov/

The CLE 200 event this past weekend once again delivered mediocre propagation on all three evenings. In spite of Sunday night's G1-class geomagnetic storm and high K values, Sunday's overnight period proved to be the best of the weekend's generally 'below average' conditions ... this is the time of the year that LF propagation is usually at its best. Thankfully, there are still several months ahead that could offer some really great mid-winter prop.

The following NDBs were logged using the Perseus SDR along with my LF inverted L, resonated at 300kHz:

28 09:00 335 CC Concord, CA, USA
28 09:00 335 CVP Helena, MT, USA
28 08:00 335 YUT Repulse Bay, NU, CAN
28 06:00 335 YLD Chapleau, ON, CAN
28 09:00 336 LF La Salle, MB, CAN
28 13:00 337 FF Fergus Falls, MN, USA
28 09:00 337 7D Hudson Bay, SK, CAN
28 12:00 338 CMQ Campbell Lake, ALS
28 09:00 338 ZU Whitecourt, AB, CAN
28 12:00 338 RYN Tucson, AZ, USA
30 08:00 338 SHL Sheldon, IA, USA
28 07:00 338 TU Tulsa, OK, USA
28 12:00 338 YPX Puvirnituq, QC, CAN
28 12:00 338 K Port Angeles, WA, USA
28 10:00 339 6X York Landing, MB, CAN
28 10:00 339 MKR Glasgow, MT, USA
29 06:00 340 YY Mont Joli, QC, CAN
28 13:00 341 ELF Cold Bay, ALS
28 10:00 341 OIN Oberlin, KS, USA
29 06:00 341 YYU Kapuskasing, ON, CAN
28 09:00 341 DB Burwash, YT, CAN
28 09:00 342 PFT Pinecreek, MN, USA
28 09:00 343 YZH Slave Lake, AB, CAN
28 09:00 344 YOP Rainbow Lake, AB, CAN
28 09:00 344 XX Abbotsford, BC, CAN
28 09:00 344 FCH Fresno, CA, USA
28 09:00 344 BKU Baker, MT, USA
28 09:00 344 POY Powell, WY, USA
30 08:00 345 GF Grand Forks, ND, USA
30 08:00 346 OLT Soldotna, ALS
28 09:00 346 YXL Sioux Lookout, ON, CAN
28 15:00 347 TNC Tin City, ALS
28 13:30 347 DJN Delta Junction, ALS
28 06:00 347 LEN Leeny, ID, USA
28 15:00 347 SBX Shelby, MT, USA
30 08:00 347 YK Yankton, SD, USA
28 09:00 347 PA Prince Albert, SK, CAN
30 08:00 348 MC Mason City, IA, USA
28 07:00 348 MNC Shelton, WA, USA

Conditions towards the east on LF as well as on the broadcast band (BCB) have taken a positive leap forward over the past few days. Last night, 160m was open to Europe from here, the first opening of the season as far as I am aware. I also spent some time listening to a dozen or more TA (Trans-Atlantic) carriers on the broadcast band, signalling good conditions over the pole finally.The polar skip also extended down into the LF band, as it did the previous night.

In the afternoon hours I started watching for Europe1 on 183kHz, transmitting from western Germany, and was able to see its weak carrier on the Perseus SDR's waterfall display several hours before sunset. Twilight here brought a dramatic improvement in signal strength as shown below.



As daylight approached the transmitter site in Germany, the 183kHz signal provided a good visual example of 'dawn-enhancement', with the signal showing a dramatic flare on the waterfall indicating its build-up in strength.




Once dawn arrived, it was interesting to see that the signal was able to hang-on for over an hour with reasonable strength before fading out rather quickly. Even though the transmitter site was in full daylight, the dark skies to the west were able to sustain propagation for some time before it all came crashing down.

Of late, the pre-dawn hours here have also been providing some exceptionally strong signals from Asia on the BCB. These are often enhanced at sunrise as well, as the strength often takes a short fast peak, before fading out for the day.

One of the loudest this week was from JOAK (NHK1) in Tokyo on 594 kHz ... listen ...

This was heard on the Perseus SDR and inverted-L antenna. The LF polar signals shown above, were recorded with the 10' X 20' loop and Wellbrook preamp while looping towards Europe at 030 degrees.

With the DST going positive, hopefully these good conditions will continue to build over the next few weeks. October is often one of the best months of the year for LF/MF DX.

courtesy: http://wdc.kugi.kyoto-u.ac.jp/dst_realtime/presentmonth/index.html

It seems that our medium-frequency NDB CLE's (Co-ordinated Listening Event) go hand-in-hand with solar disturbances and wacky geomagnetic conditions. If you want to know when the next big geomagnetic upset will be, just check the date of the next CLE!


Along with a half dozen M-flares and auroral-producing 'K' indexes of 5-6, most of North America was blanketed with severe thunderstorm activity, always typical of this time of the year. In spite of the poor conditions, several signals did manage to find their way into my log. Sunday night provided the best conditions, with far less thunderstorm activity and a slight improvement in propagation. Saturday night's lightning map looked like this:

courtesy: http://thunderstorm.vaisala.com/explorer.html

courtesy: http://www.noaa.gov/

Loggings in RED where made on Friday night, GREEN on Saturday night and BLUE on Sunday night.

All stations were heard on the Perseus SDR while using my LF 'inverted-L' resonated at 300KHz.

 LOG:

DD UTC    kHz     Call       mi    Location

--------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
22 06:00 240 BVS   48      Burlington, WA, USA
22 10:00 241 YLL   648    Lloydminster Municipal Apt, AB, CAN
22 12:30 242 ZT    223      Port Hardy, BC, CAN
22 10:00 242 XC   342     Cranbrook, BC, CAN
22 10:00 244 TH   1166     Thompson, MB, CAN
23 07:00 245 YZE 1890    Gore Bay, ON, CAN
22 12:00 245 HNS   865    Haines, ALS
24 09:00 245 FS   1311    ROKKY - Sioux Falls, SD, USA
22 10:00 245 CRR    821     Circle Town County Apt, MT, USA
24 05:00 245 CB   1528    Cambridge Bay, NU, CAN
23 12:00 245 AVQ    1298    Marana Regional Apt, AZ, USA
22 09:00 246 ZXJ   517   Y'Taylor' Fort St. John, BC, CAN
22 09:00 248 ZZP   486     Dead Tree - Queen Charlotte Is, BC, CAN
22 09:00 248 QL   471    Lethbridge, AB, CAN
22 09:00 248 QH    811   Watson Lake, YT, CAN
22 09:00 250 FO   1002    Flin Flon Municipal Apt, MB, CAN
22 12:30 250 2J   220    Grand Forks Municipal Apt, BC, CAN
22 09:00 251 YCD   32    Nanaimo, BC, CAN
22 09:00 251 PWD    850    Plentywood, MT, USA
22 12:30 251 OSE   1708    Oscarville - Bethel Apt, ALS
23 11:30 251 AM   1445     PANDE - Amarillo, TX, USA
24 08:00 253 GB    1324    'Garno' Marshall, MN, USA
22 09:00 254 ZYC   441    Calgary, AB, CAN
22 09:00 254 SM   891    Fort Smith, AB, CAN
24 11:30 256 TQK   1322    Scott City Municipal Apt, KS, USA
22 12:30 256 LSO    188    Kelso - Rocky Point - Kelso, WA, USA
22 12:00 256 EB   537    Namao - CFB Edmonton, AB, CAN
22 09:00 257 XE   757     Saskatoon, SK, CAN
24 09:00 257 SAZ    1329    Staples, MN, USA
22 09:00 257 LW    192    Kelowna - Wood Lake, BC, CAN
22 09:00 258 ZSJ   1324    Sandy Lake Apt, ON, CAN
23 08:00 420 FQ    1422   MONTZ - East Chain, MN, USA
24 09:00 428 POH   1433    Pocahontas Municipal Apt, IA, USA
22 12:00 429 BTS   1571    Wood River - Dillingham, ALS
24 09:00 434 SLB   1410    Storm Lake Municipal Apt, IA, USA
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thankfully, by this time next month and into October, quieter nights and better propagation will prevail ... fall often produces the best propagation of the year and has always been my favorite time of the year, outdoors and at the dials.

Lasse, SM5GLC, operates an online remote Perseus and made the following comments:

Over the past few weeks/months I have see some "power-users" on my Perseus server... and my plan was to dissect the server log to investigate the usage percentage of my server... and found that already in May the log is 240 kb and growing fast. It seems impossible to analzye by hand.

Now I do notice one user, not too far away (only some 200 miles or so), seems to spend 2-3 hours per day using my server. Mostly just use all allotted time and then get back on asap. I know my antenna is nothing to write home about and the performance is mediocre if any... so this makes me wonder. What on earth do this user do with all the time??

Do others see similar behaviour??

By browsing the log it seems most, user time,70-80 per cent, are from Russia. Most others stay only for a very short period of time, up to a few minutes.

Has anyone tried to hack a script that would automatize the log analysis?? 
A few Q's that I do have are:
Is the server abused by some?
What is the optimal allowed time? and then the drop-out time?
What usage load would be best to shoot for??

Don, VE6JY, a long-time remote owner added:




Both operators raise some interesting questions!

If you have used a remote SDR or do so with some regularity, how did you find the experience? What types of things did you listen or look for? How much time would you typically spend on the site? What do you think the limits on time should be?

I have used a remote once or twice in the past, to listen for my Tri-Tet-Ten's chirpy, low power signal, and found it very useful but I've never used one for general listening.

What are your experiences?

As indicated in an earlier blog, a planned scan of the 49m band was made a few nights ago ... one at 0400Z (10PM local) and another at 1200Z (5AM local). Both had a decidedly different flavor. Frankly I was surprised at the number of broadcasters and especially the number from Asia, China mainly, heard in the morning scan. One information source I found indicates that most of the strong shortwave signals from China are more designed for jamming than for program content.

My initial impression was that many of the more interesting low power targets from Central / South America and Africa may be a thing of the past but I may be wrong. The 'news' page, of the World Wide DX Club, seems to indicate that there are still lots of juicy targets out there if you are willing to put in the time to look for them, as many seem interested in doing. There also seems to be a larger variety of DX targets available in the higher bands such as 25m and 31m.

For the most part, these broadcasters don't fool around with QRP, and their signals are pretty dominant. Conditions of late have not favored Europe or Africa so there may be more activity from these regions than I think.

The following stations were logged with the Perseus SDR along and the 10'x20' loop / Wellbrook preamp, looping E-W, at 0400Z:

5810 EWTN (inSpan) Vandiver, Alabama 500kw
5830 WTWW (rel) Lebanon, TN 100kw
5850 Sun Power Radio (RMI) Okeechobee, FL 100kw
5890 WWCR (rel) Nashville, TN 100kw
5910 NHK Radio Japan Issoudun, France 100kw
5920 WHRI (rel) s/off Cypress Creek, SC 250kw
5920 Radio Romania Galbeni 300kw
5935 WWCR (rel) Nashville, TN 100kw
5970 Radio Italia (in Portuguese) Belo Horizonte, Brazil 10kw
5980 Channel Africa s/off Meyerton, SA 250kw
5985 NHK World Radio Japan (in Span) Okeechobee, FL 100kw
6000 Radio Habana Cuba Titan Quivican 250kw
6020 Radio Gaucha s/off Porto Alegre, Brazil 10kw
6030 Radio Marti Greenville, NC 250kw
6040 Radio RB2 (in Portuguese) Curibata, PR 10kw
6050 unid  / weak
6060 Radio Habana Cuba La Habana 100kw
6070 CFRX Toronto, ON 1kw
6090 Caribbean Beacon (rel) Anguilla 100kw
6125 Deutsche Welle s/off Manama, Bahrain 250kw
6160 CKZU Vancouver, BC 500w
6165 Radio Habana Cuba La Habana 100kw
6175 Voice of Vietnam Cypress Creek, SC 250kw
6180 Radio Nacional Brazilia Brasilia 250kw
6185 XEPPM Radio Educacion Mexico City 1kw

These stations were logged at 1200Z, using the same system:

5830 WTWW Tennessee 250kw
5875 BBC Nakhon Sawan (Thailand) 250kw
5915 China Radio Int'l Hohhot 100kw
5925 Voice of Vietnam 2 Hanoi 50kw
5935 PBS Xizang Lhasa-Baiding 100kw //6110
5955 China Radio Int'l Beijing 150kw
5970 PBS Gannan Hezuo 15kw
5975 CNR 8 Beijing 100kw
5985 Myanmar Radio Yangon 25kw
5990 unid China Radio Int'l same interval sig as 5915
5995 Taiwan Xing Xing Kuanyin sign-on 10kw
6000 CNR 1 Beijing 100kw
6003 VOH Korea (S) 100kw
6015 KBS Hanminjok Bangsung 1 Hwaseong (S. Korea) 100kw
6020 weak / poss Radio Victoria Lima with time pips 3kw
6030 CNR 1 Beijing 100kw
6040 weak w/eastern music/ poss Air Jeypore India 50kw
6050 weak / poss RTM Malaysia 10kw
6055 weak w/continuous music / unid
6060 Radio Argentina Exterior General Pacheco 100kw
6065 CNR 2 Beijing 150kw
6070 Voice of Korea / in Japanese Kanggye 10kw
6080 PBS Hulun Buir Hailar (Mongolia) 10kw
6090 NHK World Radio Japan Ibaragi-Koga-Yamata 300kw
6095 KBS World Radio Kimjae (S.Korea) 250kw
6100 Radio Serbia Bijeljina 250kw
6105 Radio Taiwan Int'l Kouhu 100kw
6110 Voice of America / chinese Udon Thani (Thailand) 250kw
6110 PBS Xizang Lhasa-Baiding 100kw //5935
6115 Voice of Strait Fuzhou (PRC) 50kw
6125 CNR 1 Beijing 100kw
6155 CNR 2 Beijing 150kw
6160 CKZU Vancouver 500w / relay CBU AM
6165 Voice of Vietnam 4 Hanoi 50kw
6175 CNR 1 Beijing 100kw
6180 CNR unid but time pips match other CNRs
6180 Radio Taiwan Woofferton 250kw
6195 BBC Kranji (Singapore) 125kw
6200 Voice of Jinling Manjing (Singapore) 100kw
6280.14 Unid with music / poss SOH Xi Wang Zhi Sheng Tanshui (Taiwan) 100 watts
6365 Hand sent keyer CW with callups 7CJ 7CB 7FB QTC into nr/ltr groups
6389 similar to above but nr/ltr groups
6400 Pyongyang Kanggye (N. Korea) 50kw
6501 USCG NMO Honolulu with wx bdcst
6518 Voice of the People Kyonggi-do-Koyang (S. Korea) 50kw
6518 N. Korean jammer Kujang 250kw
6600 Voice of the People Kyonggi-do-Koyang (S. Korea) 50kw
6600 N. Korean jammer Kujang 250kw
6679 Honolulu Radio w/ aviation Volmet
6754 Trenton Volmet wx bdcst

The number of broadcasters using remote sites is also surprising. It seems that the relaying of program content for others is big business and for many countries, much cheaper than running their own 250kw stations.

Some links that I have found very useful for identifying SW BC stations:

http://www.geocities.jp/binewsjp/ic/bia15.txt

http://www.short-wave.info/

http://www.shortwaveschedule.com/