87.9 MHz Mystery Station

About a week ago, I noticed a radio station on 87.9 MHz. It was a Spanish language station playing continuous Spanish contemporary music (perhaps, Spanish Christian contemporary music). The only voices heard were short announcements at the 27 and 57 minutes past the hour. 

Despite taking Spanish in high school and college, I had a difficult time translating the announcements, but I believe that the station is called “Radio de Morte e Vida” (Death and Life Radio).  

Springfield, Massachusetts was mentioned once, so the station may be located in that city or thereabouts, which is about 40 miles to the north-northeast. (I can receive the station on my car radio if I travel north or northeast from my home in the general direction of Springfield. Traveling south of here, there is no signal.)

As you know, there are supposed to be no radio stations on 87.9 MHz in the USA. So when I first heard the station, I figured it was a fly-by-night pirate that would pull the plug soon. But the station has been on the air 24/7 everyday since I first heard it. With a name like Morte e Vida, maybe it is a Halloween pirate station that will go away after the holiday.

I’m stumped, but I will stay tuned and let you know if I discover anything more.

Equipment used ICOM IC-R8600 receiver and ICOM AH-7000 discone antenna.

UPDATE: Less than one day after publishing the above, I tuned to 87.9 and find a dead carrier – no audio, just RF; an S-4 signal with the pre-amp on.

UPDATE 2: The dead carrier lasted all day on Friday, but this morning, the audio (voice and music) has returned.

Radio Progreso

WSB on 750 kHz was off the air for maintenance, so I monitored 750 last night to hear what I could hear and Radio Progreso transmitting 10 kW from Palmira, Cuba was loud and clear for awhile and then disappeared into the noise. Radio Progreso is a new logging 1408 miles to the south-southeast. Also heard CBGY in Bonavista Bay, Newfoundland (1050 miles, east-northeast) on 750, but CBGY was already in the log.

Equipment used: ICOM IC-R8600 receiver and 130-foot loop underground antenna.

Found on the Aisle of Shame

Grocery shopping today, I made a pass through the Aldi Aisle of Shame and came upon the LED novelty lamp that you see in the accompanying photo. 

I could not resist buying it. Not because I am a big cacti fan, but because the lamp is a dead ringer for the logo of TAPR (Tucson Amateur Packet Radio). (I am a TAPR member, its secretary, newsletter editor and on its board of directors.)

The lamp now sits on a desk in my ham shack. I was worried that the LED might cause RFI, but so far, so good.

WSRS

It has been a slow summer for DX, basically due to what I wrote in the previous post. But I did manage to log a new station driving a mile from the QTH: WSRS on 96.1 MHz transmitting 16.5 kW from Worcester, Massachusetts, 70 miles to the northeast.

Traveling north a mile from my house, I drop down a steep ridge from over 1000 feet ASL to 200 feet ASL. I lost count how many DX stations I have caught on this ridge, which I call the “Willis Street RF Trap.” 

WSRS is only 70 miles away and not great DX. But I have also caught some really great DX, like KTBT in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma (almost 1300 miles away) on the “Trap” in my trusty 2007 Subaru Outback Sport.

Where‘s Stanley?

My wife and I have been having health issues the past two months and I have seldom had time to turn on the radios. As a result, I had nothing to write here about my radio activities because there were next to none. 

This post is just to inform my loyal readers that I am still alive and kicking and looking forward to turning on the radios more often real soon now.

Another Sunday Morning Test

The May 1st, WCGA test was a success here 880 miles from its transmitter. 

Began hearing the test just after 0400 UTC with the “Star Spangled Banner” under WTAM, followed by Morse code, sweep tones, etc. until I shut off the IC-R8600 and went to bed about 15 minutes into the test. Best heard on the 120-foot Loop Under Ground antenna, weaker on the remaining leg of the 80-meter dipole and nothing on the HyGain 18AVT/WB-A vertical.

Sunday Morning Test

Two Kentucky radio stations conducted simultaneous DX tests 0400 to 0600 UTC on April 10.

Receiving WMST 1150 kHz was easy. Strong signals heard on all four antennas (including a VHF/UHF discone) and the ICOM IC-R8600 receiver.

WWKY 990 kHz was a no-go. Not a surprise since WNTY is four miles from here on 990. I listened for about 45 minutes hoping that WWKY would break through WNTY, but it never happened. So I went to bed.

WMST is located in Mount Sterling, Kentucky, and was transmitting 2500 watts, 632 miles to the west-southwest.

WSDE in the log

Logged WSDE at 0046 UTC on 1190 kHz transmitting 20 watts from Cobleskill, New York, 107 miles to the northwest. Used my ICOM IC-R8600 receiver and one leg of my 80 meter dipole antenna (the other leg came down in a storm earlier this winter).

Radio Kiev

Mid-winter FM Catch!

Running errands this morning, I had the Subaru radio tuned to W241CG-FM on 96.1 MHz. Although W241CG-FM is located in the next town, it is only transmitting 210 watts, so it sometimes drops out as I traverse the hills and dales of Wolcott, Connecticut. When it dropped out at 1502 UTC, I heard the station identification for WAMU in Washington, DC (American University’s radio station).

Actually, WAMU transmits on 88.5 MHz and what I heard on 96.1 was the WAMU HD Radio  stream. That’s a first for the log!

WAMU is located 282 miles to the southwest... a nice mid-winter FM catch!