Groundhog Day 2016

I saw my first groundhog of the year yesterday afternoon. In the past, I did not see my first one until late March or early April, but the past few weeks have been so mild that they are ahead of schedule.

I expect to see my first grounder of the year real soon now, too!

Lots of carriers and more

In this neck of the woods Friday evening, there were more carriers than usual on the LW and the non-standard (USA/Canadian) 9-kc MW channels.

📶   162 – Allouis, France, IPHA data, strong steady signal

📶   183 – Sauberg, Germany, with a weak carrier

📶   198 – BBC Radio 4, with very good audio

📶   207 – Iceland or Morocco, with a weak carrier

📶   252 – Radio Algerienne, Tipaza, Algeria, with varying audio, music was better than voice but the language barrier probably had something to do with my ear's interpretation of the audio

📶   585 – Unknown station with a solid carrier

📶   684 – Unknown station with a solid carrier and very weak, unintelligible audio

📶   855 – Unknown station with a solid carrier

Saturday evening was similar, but with some differences in the line-up and no 9-kc channel carriers.

📶   162 – Allouis, France, IPHA data, strong steady signal

📶   183 – Sauberg, Germany, solid carrier but poor unintelligible audio

📶   189 – Rikisutvarpid Ras 1+2 in Iceland, solid carrier, no audio

📶   198 – BBC Radio 4, solid carrier, no audio

📶   216 – Radio Monte Carlo in France, solid carrier, poor audio

📶   252 – Solid carrier, poor or no audio

Equipment used was the ELAD FDM-S2/SW2 and an 80-meter inverted Vee antenna.

Mid-February Listenings

There has been some interesting propagation in my neck of the woods lately.

Saturday evening, Morocco's Radio Mediterranee Internationale on 171 kc was stronger than usual – probably the strongest I ever heard it.

This morning at the crack of dawn, I tuned my car radio to 1070 kc just for the heck of it and was surprised to hear two stations. Usually backwash from WTIC on 1080 interferes with everything on 1070, so either conditions were very good this morning or WTIC had their IBOC turned off. I was only able to identify one of the two stations, CHOK in Sarnia, Ontario, which I had previously logged with my C.Crane CC Skywave receiver.

I have logged some new stations recently:

📶   WBPZ (1100 UTC February 12) on the 1230 kc graveyard frequency transmitting 1 kW from Lock Haven, Pennsylvania, 237 miles to the west-southwest.

📶   WBYN (0000 UTC February 14) on 1160 kc transmitting 1 kW from Lehighton, Pennsylvania, 153 miles to the west-southwest.

📶   CFRA (0500 UTC February 19) on 580 kc transmitting 30 kW from Ottawa, Ontario, 283 miles to the north-northwest.

All three were heard on my ELAD FDM-S2/FDM-SW2 receiver and 80-meter inverted Vee antenna.

WCNL vs. WINS

I bought some new shelves and have been renovating the radio shack the past two weeks, but I have managed to squeak out two new station loggings during that time.

📶   WYNY on graveyard frequency 1450 kc transmitting 1 kW from Milford, PA, 98 miles to the west-southwest, using my ELAD FDM-S2/FDM-SW2 receiver and 80-meter inverted Vee antenna.

📶   WCNL on 1010 kc transmitting 10 kW from Newport, NH, 126 miles to the north-northeast using the stock radio and antenna in my 2007 Subaru Outback Sport. WINS usually dominates 1010, but on my way home from work yesterday, WINS was battling with a country-western music station. Just as I pulled into my driveway, WCNL identified. Good timing!