I connected up my southwest phased BOGs last night and woke up early for a little sunrise DX to gauge “Down Under” (DU) conditions, since after all, it’s that time of year again here when DU’s can make their presence known in Michigan. Expecting nothing more than a few weak carriers to kick off the season, I was pleasantly surprised with weak audio on several channels. These logs all revolve around local sunrise time here, which was 11:03 UTC Aug.26th, 2017, times below are UTC. 612 4QR ABC Brisbane with weak audio, easy enough to tell it’s rugby play-by-play with...
August 21nd, 2017 Eclipse peak: 18:22 UTC / 2:22pm EDT, 85% Totality Antenna: DKAZ loop aimed 180 degrees South Receiver: Perseus SDR Location: Western lower Michigan While enjoying the eclipse outside, the SDR was faithfully recording large chunks of RF spectrum which should provide much enjoyment over the next few weeks. Peak DX time occurred here near the bottom of the hour before tapering off at 19:00 UTC. Fishing for IDs at TOH isn’t going to cut it this time around and it’ll require careful listening of content and other clues near the BOH to pick out the more unusual...
Some unexpected activity has been taking place on 1710 kHz during the week of July 17th. Casual “drive by” checking of the frequency during the early evening hours revealed a new signal this week, something different from the usual suspects of distant TIS stations and the occasional W807 which is sometimes heard here. An open carrier has been noted on most evenings, often accompanied by a 400 Hz test tone. The carrier, always becoming stronger as the sunset approaches, has reached S8 levels here. Music has also been heard, beginning on UTC 7/16/2017 during the 0100 UTC hour. This has...
I’ve posted many DXing videos to YouTube over the years demonstrating the Perseus SDR. A common question from other SDR users is: “how do you create your videos and retain good video quality after uploading to YouTube?” Below are some notes I’ve made about the process, which was written for Windows 7. I now use Windows 10 and this process remains largely unchanged. Windows 7: I use Camstudio Version 2.00 to capture video from the Window’s desktop. Within Camstudio, I have the audio set to “Record from Microphone” under the Options pull down menu. Under the same Options menu, I have the...
New stations heard in Western Michigan on the Perseus SDR from January through the end of March. All times/dates UTC, antenna used is noted in the log. 610 KCSR Chadron, NE. – 1159 UTC 3/3/2017 – With c/w song and OM “24 hours a day, we’re AM 610, K-C-S-R, Chadron” and into CBS News at TOH, on SW BOGs. 640 Radio Progresso, Cuba – 0110 UTC 2/1/2-17 – Clear and dominant during semi-au cx during WMFN absence, on South D-KAZ, // to 880. 640 WHLO – Akron, OH. – 2300 UTC 2/17/2017 – Very poor under dominant WOI with semi-local...
I had hopes of hitting #2000 before the year ended, and that goal was accomplished yesterday afternoon when a faint 1490 KLGR was heard. I don’t count call letter changes and all logs between 530-1710 kHz have been from my same suburban West Michigan location. I started my logbook in 2009 with a “barefoot” DX-440 that was good for a few hundred medium wave stations, but I wanted more! Enter the DX Tools Quantum Loop, which worked wonderfully with the DX-440, and netted me a few hundred more stations including my first ever Trans-Atlantic station (1134 Croatia) and several more...
New stuff logged during the months of April & May from West Michigan with the Perseus SDR and D-KAZ antenna: 1070 WFRF Tallahassee, FL. – 0100 UTC 5/9/2016 – Very weak with religious programming and call letter ID at TOH while mentioning North Florida and South Georgia coverage areas, on the South D-KAZ during semi-auroral conditions. 1140 WRLV Salyersville, KY. – 1000 UTC 4/3/2016 – Poor with c/w music and slogan: “Pure country is classic country” and then call letter ID under dominant WRVA, on South D-KAZ. 1230 WHIR Danville, KY. – 1005 UTC 4/3/2016 – With local ads and...
23 new stations added to the logbook in February! Here’s the rundown with a few reception videos thrown in. All heard from West Michigan using the Perseus SDR and reversible North/South D-KAZ antenna. Times/dates are UTC, all logs are new except where noted. Total MW stations now logged since Jan 2009: 1,845. DOMESTIC: 540 WDAK Columbus, GA. – 2/13/2016 1300 UTC – Briefly over a few seconds of WKFN dead-air with legal TOH ID and slogan “Newsradio 5-40, Columbus” and then lost again to WKFN, on South D-KAZ. 550 WDUN Gainesville, GA. – 2/13/2016 1300 UTC – With local ad...
New stuff heard in January from West Michigan using the North-South reversible D-KAZ & Perseus SDR. Not a bad start to the new year! Domestics: 560 WMIK Middlesboro, KY. – 1200 UTC 1/23/2016 – Southern accented OM ID and city with Southern gospel music under WIND. 600 WBOB Jacksonville, FL. – 0508 UTC 10/1/2016 – With scheduled DX test on day power/pattern, fast and slow morse code IDs, sweep tones, call sign IDs, etc. Very strong at times. 810 WWOS St. George, SC. – 1200 UTC 1/23/2016 – Strong signal with religious choral music and YL announcement: “For Christ honoring...
Decent TA conditions discovered tonight at the upper end of the band from the Middle East, and then I caught this! My first Trans-Atlantic reception on a domestic channel, this is the VOA from Sao Tome. They sign on at 0300 UTC with their signature Yankee Doodle Dandy interval signal which is clearly heard in this clip along with voice IDs. Heard with the D-KAZ antenna pointed North to null WCKY as much as possible:
