LEM DXpedition News of 2012-2013 Season
Jan-Erik Österholm (JEÖ) and Pertti Äyräs (PÄ)
Sunday 03MAR2013 - Friday 08MAR2013
Sorry for the delay in reporting of what happened in Lemmenjoki during LEM330 during the second week, e.g. March 3-March 8, 2013. Really not too much!
We seriously, as we told earlier, considered the possibility of cutting the LEM330 short by one week. But, looking into the overloaded fridge and our wine cellar, we decided to stay also for the coming week. During the morning hours of March 3 there was nothing at all on the band. Weak signals from BRA/LP noted around 03-05 UTC with som weak peruvians on the common frequencies. The same pattern on March 4 but with a pretty good opening towards AK/HI around 11 UTC and weak X-band Aussies starting around 15 UTC.
Below average BRA/LP during night hours on March 5 above 1000 kHz. A short opening towards NA around 05.30 UTC but signals disappeared completely just after 06. During March 6 both BRA/LP on the 255 wire and some NA on 319 wire noted starting around 04 UTC. We don't know at this point what was going on.
As usual, the last two days, and in particular, the last night-morning March 8 proved to be the maybe best during our pedition. Even GY frequencies open and cx strongly towards the Atlantic Seaboard states of NA and Caribbean-Orinoco. Some identified stations can be mentioned, e.g., WASB 1590, WGDJ 1300, WGHB 1250 and WSEG 1400.
All in all, the pedition was cx vise mediocre, but the last two days, together with pretty good LA-openings during the first couple of days saved our weeks. Lots of terabytes were deleted as useless already in Lemmenjoki, because they tend to be heavy to carry back down south.
Friday 01MAR2013 - Saturday 02MAR2013
The conclusions made during our professorial session some evenings ago proved to be highly questionable. During the last two days the band has been completely empty corresponding to what is being said on professional sites such as Space Weather Now and JA's pages. The impact of the coronal(ass)hole, a translation of said phenomena into Finnish which has earlier been provided, increased the K-index to 4-5 and the solar speed approached 600. As a result not even the Murmansk 657 and 1440 companions were audible.
Saturday was spent in Saariselkä with a coffee brake on the top of a windy but beautiful Kaunispää and later filling up of both solid and liquid foodstuff.
In early evening on Saturday there was a short promising Aussie opening with stations on 1548 and the X-band. The opening, however died rapidly.
Pertti and I already talked about breaking up LEM330 half way but it seems we will fight to the bitter en March 10. Otherwise therewould be to much leftover in the fridge for the first crew in late September.
Thursday 28FEB2013 - A flat zero day
Truly lousy BRA/LP during part of the night, nothing at sunrise, even more nothing during day hours. Fortunately we could follow the Val de Fiemme Worlds Skiing Championships. Not even with our combined age of 135 years of age and 105 years of combined DX-experience could we dig out anything useful from the bands.
Tuesday 26 FEB2013 - Wednesday 27FEB2013 - Coronal (ass)holes and similarities
After the nice X-band Aussie opening on Monday evening our expectations for improving cx was high for the following days. Unfortunately an earth directed coronal (ass)hole (in Finnish musta perseenreikä) hit and left the band clear with only two stations audible, the ones from Murmansk on 657 and 1440. Last night the signals came back with Brazilians and LP but what we have checked so far pretty mediocre. Just before sunrise before 06 UTC 1470 gave tent. WWNA FL and some weak Orinoco signals in addition to BRA/LP. Very weak signals from the most common peruvians on 1500, 1540.5 and 1570v. Our day time activities concentrate on deleating worthless audio clips. BUT....we still have som 10 days to go so we are still in high mood.
After a joint professorial session last evening Pertti and I came up to a conclusion that when solar predictions tell us that the solar activity is quiet the band is quiet and vice versa. If you dear readers come up with more innovative thinking, please inform.
Monday 25FEB2013 - Surprise, surprise!
Conditions radically changed in 24 hours. During night hours Brazilians were dominating with moderately but clear signals. We have not any idea of what has been recorded during night hours because the Perseus did the job. It is remarkable, though, that the cx pattern changed so dramatically. During morning hours the band was filled with Orinoco and Caribbean stations above ca 900 kHz but nothing on the lower side of the band, contrary to observations done by JPR and HN during LEM329 and our observations during the first day . Cx towards NA still useless but the conditions towards the north (Caribbean) might indicate that we can experience interesting NA openings before we leave on March 10. The common West Coast stations, such as KOMO, KRKO etc was heard as late as 12 UTC when the temperature in Lemmenjoki was ca + 4 C and the sun high in the sky!
After a 4 km walking tour we arrived at the QTH arround 14 UTC noticing that the band was filled with Asian stations. Around 15 UTC the X-band (1600-1700) became filled with low power aussies with strong signals. Maybe the best I (JEÖ) have experienced since LEM294 together with HN. We have no idea whatsoever at this point what we have recorded and are there any local aussies audible between 540-1600.
We will return with more datails after some days when we have had the chance to check recordings. We look forward to the coming 3-4 days when the solar predictions seem favorable. But who knows? At least no prediction help available from two aging professors e.m.!
Saturday 23FEB2013 - Sunday 24FEB2013
The same pattern as mentioned below by JPR&HN during LEM329 has continued during the first day of our 17th common pedition. Weak BRA/LP during night hours and a two hour period of NA centering around the US/Canadian border from NL-MB, i.e., nothing to mention. But the same pattern, NA-stations appearing predominantly below 900 kHz! Really mysterious! KOMO 1000 appeared around 8 UTC and KBRW 680 around 12 UTC. Some stations identified during the night hours are Brazilians R Onda Viva, Arguarí 1490v, Belo Horizonte, MG 1060 and R Globo (presumably Uberlandia, MG) on 1019.94.
Pretty strong cx toward South East Asia during afternoon and strong signals from Aussies in the 120 m.b. Since the forecast for the coming three day are predicted to be quiet, we of course hope for some real cx to appear.
Jari Ruohomäki (JPR) 05FEB-23FEB and Hannu Niilekselä (HN) 11FEB-22FEB
Wednesday 18FEB2013 - Saturday 23FEB2013
The same pattern as in previous days continued: some brazilians at night and before sunrise, at sunrise a short burst towards NL-ON-NY on the lower end of the AM spectrum, but absolutely useless.
Jari took Hannu to the Ivalo airport for late Friday flight and drove back to "finish" LEM329 (do the cleaning of the house etc...). On Saturday morning a little better towards NA, but most likely nothing to brag about - the night and morning was used mostly for sleeping, so the files are yet to be checked.
In all, a very strange 2 week period: no cx to talk about. On only one day NA continued until 10 UTC, otherwise a sharp rise at exactly 06 UTC in the lower end of the MW spectrum. Also remarkable about this was that the exact time when the signals peaked for some 10-15 minutes stayed the same, even if the length of the day moves at a pace of some 10 minutes/day this time of the year !
The days program after 07 UTC started with checking the few moments of audible stations each day and continued for some 12 hours of checking old files. Except for the few potential brazilians that Jari recorded each night, after 2 weeks of listening, no files to be carried back home for further checking ...
We have never before experienced anything like this - we need well educated professors to explain why sometimes with solar values like thoise we had stations boom in and now it completely different. Shit happens !
LEM 329 signing of ...
Monday 18FEB2013 - Tuesday 19FEB2013
Monday night and morning: nada... In the afternoon tent. KTWG-801 well for 5 minutes, but disappearing before the 12 UTC TOH...
Tuesday night and morning: "almost nada"...stations starting to come in the lower end of the band before 06 UTC, but starting to disappear already before TOH, being completely gone in 20 minutes - unbelievable... In the afternoon, apparently fairly strong Asia and a couple of X-band Aussies very weakly.
Friday 15FEB2013 - Sunday 17FEB2013
On Friday the only light (not highlight...) was again the "appearance period" around 06 UTC when something was audible from the western world. The "sunrise peak" was fairly short again, but with a bit better signals than the day before. NA appeared, as in previous days, strongest in the lower end of the mw spectrum with practically nothing above 1000 kHz. A slight improvement from previous days was that some LA were coming in in the upper end...Some faint signals remained until 07 UTC, but only for the record... An interesting feature was COPE Granada with local ID at 0557 UTC accompanied by suspected XEOK R Acir, both with the 320 degree antenna, whereas R Venezuela Mara Ritmo was all alone on the 290 degree antenna... Some identified NA included WWFE-670 (again...).
Friday proved to be the best day so far, even if the cx were again very strange. Some fairly unusual brazilians on unusual frequencies (such as 1310 and 1350) appeared around 04 UTC, coming in better with the 290 degree antenna than the usual 255 degree one. A few peruvians (e.g. 1250 and 1340) joined. Then again around 06 UTC NA, together with some MEX appeared quite rapidly again in the lower end, but this time kept on being audible all the way to around 10 UTC. After 07 UTC NA stations were noted also in the middle and upper parts of the band. The signals were, however, quite weak, variable and mostly uninteresting. Still, these were our first chances to even try to find anything new. First identified stations in a week on any of the GY-frequencies made their appearance ! Identified NA included CBEF both on 540 and 1550, WGR-550, WVSG-820, CJMS-1040, WNWI-1080, WTKG-1230, KICD-1240, KFMO-1240, WBAE-1490.
After the K-index had jumped to 4 again, there was less hope for decent cx for Sunday. And this proved to be true. Stations tried to make their appearance again at local sunrise. Some 10 minutes before 06 UTC it looked like they would peak again in a few minutes. There were signals from Cuba, Mexico and NA and everything looked fairly good. But a few minutes in front of 06 UTC they all drowned into mud and identifying stations on the TOH was no more possible. What was left was just a handful of Cubans with faint signals for the next 30 minutes and that seems to be all for today. To put the past week into perspective, as of writing this out on Sunday at 0830 UTC, all the NA-files created with simultaneous recording on 2 antennas in a week of listening have already been checked and destroyed ...
Wednesday 13FEB2013 - Thursday 14FEB2013
In the night hours and morning of Wednesday some improvement towards Latin America, but still on an uninteresting level. As expected, there were some NA coming in around and little after sunrise, but with very weak signals and mostly in the lower end of the MW spectrum. Practically all signals were gone again soon after 07 UTC, so there was lots of time to check the recordings. The most interesting stations found were KNML-610 and XEHB-730.
Thursday proved to be an even bigger disappointment. After an empty night the NA signals were rapidly improving just in front of 06 UTC. But just 2 minutes in front of the TOH, a very rapid deterioration began and the TOH was not what it seemed just a couple of minutes earlier. And in 20 minutes time it was time to stop recording and go for older files again...no return of any signals all day, Whereas Asian signals had come in around 12 UTC in the previous days, this only started after 14 UTC today....what a day...there can be only one direction from here... Most interesting stations in the 15 minutes of "conditions" were WKBN-570, WTNY-790 and WCPT-820.
Monday 11FEB2013 - Tuesday 12FEB2013
Monday dreadfully quiet in the night and morning - something completely wrong...In the afternoon at around 1440 UTC EE tlk programming on 729 and 630 for a short while. Very likely ABC´s but too weak to even hear the accent, disappearing quickly. Later some uninteresting Asia ...
Tuesday in the night just a handful of ZY- stations and less than 5 weak signals of the most common NA. In the morning little improvement just at 06 UTC, but still weak. Cuba, some FL, NY and ON, mostly in the lower end of the AM spectrum. In the upper end just some isolated LA. WWFE-670, WFEL-760. WPRV-790, WHJJ-920, WTEL-980, R Avivamiento-1530.
After 07 all signals gone - some Asia after 12 UTC, ABC-2485 strong, but no AUS in the MW-band.
Saturday 09FEB2013 - Sunday 10FEB2013
No conditions so far. Only a few ZY-stations in the night. R Campos Difusora 850, R Liberdade de Caruaru 910, R Cancao Nova, Cachoeira Pauista 1020, R Folha de Boa Vista and R Difusora de Paranagua 1460 are worth mentioning.
It is cold and shiny every day. Daily temperature has reached -30 degrees in the night.
Tuesday 05FEB2013 - Friday 08FEB2013
Greetings from Lemmenjoki! I arrived here on Tuesday evening the 5th. Having had a toast (or maybe 6) with Aslak I set up my equipment (2 NetSDR). Not so much to tell about the conditions. I had some ZY-stations in the first night followed by a pretty sharp Cuba-Florida opening around 06 utc. The most interesting catch was WHIM 1080. Also a number of strange cubans like R Revolución 1460. Thursday and Friday have been almost useless in the night, morning and afternoon to any direction. However, I have not checked Iran or Kazahkstan.
I am hunting for a couple of huge fish which means two really good conditions towards LA or NA. It would be enough. I will stay here till the 22nd of February. HN will join the LEM329-team on Monday the 11th.
Hannu Tikkanen (HAT) and Håkan Sundman (HS)
Saturday 26JAN2013
Finals. Last night almost offered an evening opening, when the frequencies started to show life in the form of weak audio, and the timing was also right. The interesting ones remained too weak though, but we had time enough to notice that the stations were straight from the Great Lakes, skipping the regular East Coast. These stations were gone as fast as they had emerged, and after a while the usual stuff returned.
The morning conds were the usual c2c assortment, and at 0807 we turned off the puters.
All in all the conds were surprising; strong NA signals for the entire expedition length. The assortment was highly challenging indeed and sometimes it took two days for a listener to find a new one. But it's always fun to spend a week in Lemmenjoki, and probably we'll find something from the files later on, too.
Friday 25JAN2013
Semifinals. Nothing to say about the night or early morning, a bit later mediocre conds concentrated into the Great Lakes. Afternoon there was the regular stuff from the West on the band, and finally some usual candidates from the Seattle region.
The finals will be written in Kolari station tomorrow evening.
WBHR-660, WHCU-870, WGVS-850, WITY-980, KEYF-1050, WNCO-1340, KWLE-1340. And ofcourse The Cross which was audible with a fairly nice signal on 4755,485 this morning and yesterday.
Thursday 24JAN2013
Conds are getting slightly better. In the morning there were more common Cuban stations audible and one or two from Florida to keep the listeners awake. The interesting direction unfortunatelly dried out soon, and the rest of the day was business as usual. We're looking forward to the next two mornings!
WQAM-560, KTRB-860, KFIG-940, WBBW-1240, XEES-760.
Wednesday 23JAN2013
Yesterday was the scheduled day for our Inari trip and the traditional dinner in Kultahovi Restaurant, which had done some interior renovations. Trout was excellent, but unfortunatelly we had to leave the wine list untouched. Today we returned to our regular expedition menu ...
Some Canadian east coast in the evening, a few Venezuelan and PR at night, and a couple of Cubans in the morning. Then, business as usual ie. Canadian prairies and west coast powerhouses.
We had planned to check the aerials today, so despite the 17 m/s wind and storming snow we went up the hills and forests to see that the wires were still there. Newscast informed later in the evening that the temperature with the wind chill factor had been almost -30. We're happy that we didn't know it earlier!
Asia was gone today, so HAT was able to listen to R Waddensee without any disturbing Japanese stations on 1602. Program listening at its' best!
We had been wondering about ESPN Deportes 1570 and its' origin from the first day. Our bet was correct, according to local sources in Lodi area, KCVR has changed the format. No id on local gate, but no need to make a report either. Luckily so.
Highlights are few. KLDY-1280 and KOUU-1290 maybe?
Tuesday 22JAN2013
Ihan paskakelit. And now the same in English. Useless night, common NA in the morning, and some useless stations continuing on the band. This must be the worst gone worstest? Japs in the afternoon, but no new NHK though the break and sign off were geard.
Today's menu. Truite du Lac Inari Grille, pommes de terre laponie et sauce aux betteraves rouges.
Monday 21JAN2013
Alaska and some northern stations continued their presence until extremely late yesterday evening. Personal record was set, when CBC stations were still audible on 860 and 1340 at 2045 with the 0 degree aerial! NA was noted also over the night and the signals continued again to late afternoon/early evening.
But. The stations are the most common ones all the time, so it's highly difficult to find any new stations no matter what time one listens, evening, night, morning or day. Anyhow, the good news is that there are stations to listen to!
Aussie aerial was dead to our surprise. So today we spent some time in the forest fixing the antenna. A few Filipinos were heard later in the afternoon to confirm that the signals travelled through this wire once again.
Some identified stations of today and yesterday. KKOB-770, KBRV-800, KDLR-1240, KCCR-1240, KVBR-1340, KBRB-1400, KBMW-1450, KCOL-600, KTFI-1340, XESA-1260.
Sunday 20JAN2013
Nothing particular in the first evening or night, some NA thru the night though. Morning and day offered usual stuff mainly from the lakes, Rockies and west coast. Some mexicans popped in every once in a while, keeping the listeners in alert.
Stations identified live: KXOR-660, KVOZ-890, KHEY-1380, XEKT-1390, WWNN-1470. And NHK break giving some regulars only; JOAD-1152, JORB-1152, JOUC-1377 etc.
Saturday 19JAN2013
LEM328 met the Lurx brothers some 30 km before Lemmenjoki. After exchanging the latest news the teams parted, HS and HAT to start their week. The house was in perfect technical condition, as RS had done some additional finetuning around the splitterboxes, obrigado!
Just a few NA signals were noted around 14-15 utc, extremely weak and nothing to record. So we've had time to set up the equipment and solve some it-issues. Spain was booming in, as it always does when they have a sports night without any local breaks.
Ilpo Parviainen (IPA), Jarmo Havukunnas (JHU) and Roland Sandberg (RS)
See the original LURX Blog at http://lem327.blogspot.fi/
Saturday 19JAN2013 - Team Lurx goooooooooooes now!!!
The last day of Operation D´Xcellence started again with nice African rhythms. The work we did erecting the new coax-cable to the woods to get us a 1.000 meter antenna to the south really paid off, because this southbound antenna has been a real lifesaver (or better yet a cx-saver) for us the last couple of days. There is a huge difference between listening to African stations with Alaska -antenna or real Africa -antenna.
Stations though came this evening a little later and signals weren´t that strong. After yesterday´s strong cx today´s TOH´s at 20, 21 and 22 UTC were a little disappointing, but nevertheless stations were identified, mostly the same ones that we got yesterday with better signals. However, nice addition to yesterday´s cx was that this time we also got couple of Nigerians with nice signals. 917-Gotel was heard louder than ever.
Not a single NA-station on band the whole evening. Little before 00 UTC three most common Brazilians were noted and fourth one came along after the TOH. By 01 UTC they were gone.
The whole morning was spent in the woods in antenna works, so at this point we don´t have a clue what happened on the band. AT 07 UTC there was a band full of faint NA-signals.
To sum up, it has been a wonderful two weeks here. We had so many different types of cx, so many surprises and thus so much interesting files to go through that we can´t say anything else than that this has topped our expectations by far.
This is the end of this blog, but not the end of the LEM327 story. We have used 7 x Perseus as hardware and 7 x Jaguar as software and the next step is to let PC to analyze each MW channel and detect interesting offsets and hotspots. So far we have just scratched the top of the ice berg and the fun part is about to begin.
The report that ends all reports, ends - how else but - with a nice poem;
"Dah dah, tic tic yo, dynamite.
Hot-demma, we're super-jamma,
when we rock the rig right,
it's like dynamite"
(William Shakesheare)
Maybe there’ll be another D’Xplosive LURX radio adventure some day in the future. If so, you’re welcome to join us again.
73 & Cheers de
Captain Morgan
Major Storm
General Electric
Friday 18JAN2013 - HoArrible cx
Disturbed cx continued. Africans came pretty early with 10 HoA-stations on the band at 17 UTC. After that stations fading up and down giving at the best really nice signals. In total 13 HoA-stations were noted but not all identified. At 21 UTC Ethiopian sign off was a good one. Also some not so usual Egyptian stations were noted. At 22 UTC MOZ-sign off with five stations. After that nothing worth mentioning from Africa. No cx at night.
First U.S. stations were noted again after 23 UTC, but only one or two and very much disturbed. No cx at night. In the morning at 08 UTC again some kind of cx peak that lasted about 15 minutes. Nothing spectacular, just dominants from EC. No NA cx after that the whole day.
No Chinese stations today nor anything else from Asia. So, in all, besides the improvement in African cx, the downhill of cx is still continuing. Good thing is that it can´t get much worse anymore.
One day left of Operation D´Xcellence.
Thursday 17JAN2013 - Ohoi, rock bottom ahead!
Cx are still getting worse to all directions. Cx to Africa worse than yesterday - still some HoA -signals, but again weaker. 1224-MOZ again, but weaker.
No NA-signals before 23 UTC. After that only half dozen dominants heavily disturbed. Some disturbed signals from Cuba and EC (1590-WARV) in the morning at 08 UTC, but after that total radio silence to U.S. and LA.
Some Chinese stations after 12 UTC and Iran etc. normally strong after 14 UTC. Not much more to say.
Wednesday 16JAN2013 - Bad - worse - today
Can it be worse than worst? Yes it can. Africa was again starring this evening, but yet again quite mediocre performance. Signals were maybe little bit stronger, but there were basically the same stations on the band and still not strong enough signals. Not good. We want more!
NA-cx downhill continued as this was again worst evening so far. Some decent signals after 23 UTC but nothing even worth checking. In the morning at 08 and 09 UTC some nice signals, but no new ones for us today. Best ones noted were 600-KCOL, 630-KFXD, 750-KERR, 750-KHWG, 930-WTAD, 960-WSBT, 1490-WKLQ and 1590-KGFK. Mostly the same stuff that has been around the couple of last days. No worth-mentioning cx after 10 UTC. No LA-stations were noted.
The recent discussion in DX community about joint-reports is surprisingly not a new one. It has been a hot topic also in the past. This was discovered by our Lurx-research-team when going through the old Lur-X-files. A unique video clip from the 1940´s was found and kept secret until now. It has been uploaded to YouTube for your entertainment - you can check it out here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8SYXyhMF3k
For our foreign readers; we are sorry that the subtitles are available only in Finnish!
Tuesday 15JAN2013 - Dias como hoy
Again some northern lights on the northern horizon and thus hopes were high for nice African cx. And we did get some HoA signals at 17.30 UTC but bit too weak for our taste. Strongest was 837-VoBME with booming signal. After that some promises of nice cx on the band but signals just didn´t get strong enough. At 22 UTC 1224-EP de Cabo Delgado came with strong signal, but no other MOZ-stations noted.
NA-stations came late this evening as well. Decent signals at 22.30 UTC, but this was clearly the worst evening opening for us so far. Nothing interesting was noted. Night cx was also poor.
In the morning the bad cx continued. TOH-id´s at 08 UTC was the highlight of the day giving us a bunch of semi-nice stations like 580-KUBC, 600-KCOL, 1300-KOLY, 1340-KFGW, 1490-KORN, but the only new one for us today was 1420-KULY. Cx ended at 09 UTC, but the stations rose back up again after 11 UTC for a short while with some WC-stations. Signals rose up once again at about 13.30 UTC and after that some short cx-peaks until 15 UTC.
Today we had very much disturbances on the band and with the exception of 08 UTC TOH in all very faint signals. Typical disturbed cx. Hopes of finding anything new from today´s NA recordings are next to nil.
After ten days of very poor to poor cx to Iberia we finally got something today. Before this the whole time it has been one or two stations per fq and cx towards Galicia, País Vasco and Castilla y León region with delightful exceptions of Cantabria and Asturias. This morning we had really strange and interesting cx when basically only stations from Comunidad Valenciana, Aragón and Navarra were audible.
With the cx on a break, we had some time to outdoor activities. Today we had a brisk winter weather with -30 degrees. So we let the artistic side of ourselves loose and did some snow works. And as you can see from the picture below we did pretty good. From the picture you can also see the current snow level at the forest - yes, there is a forest behind that pile of snow. Next expeditionists might want to take some mining equipment with them ...
Monday 14JAN2013 - Damn, it´s Kolt out here ...
With a slight delay the disturbances of magnetic field caused by M-flares hit the cx. Solar wind speed rose well over 500 km/s and the band emptied up. At 21 UTC heavily disturbed WEGP-1390 was the only barely audible U.S. station on the band - no sign of f.ex. CBG-1400. We thought that finally we could get a nice full night's sleep, but once again we were totally wrong. This is becoming a habit for us. About an half hour later cx started to rise and after 22 UTC the band was again full of U.S. stations fading up and down. EC was very weak, stations were heard mainly from westwards of MI. Strong cx continued until 02 UTC. No Orinoco or La Plata, just U.S. stations. Highlights were 1320-KOLT, 1450-WLEC, 1450-WMIQ, 1460-WBRN and 1590-WIXK.
Also finally some light at the end of the tunnel for cx to Africa. This was the first time we could say we almost had cx to Africa. The hope is not lost.
In the morning finally some LA-stations along with some U.S. stations. Cx were at the best mediocre and despite our efforts we weren't able to identify anything interesting. Cx dried up at 13 UTC.
Sunday 13JAN2013 - Porridge still bubbling
Well, maybe we did little bit exaggerate that explosion on the sun. Just some mild crackles of M-flares stirring the porridge. The cx continued strong with opening again before 21 UTC. This time signals were weaker, but still decent. Stations noted were 790-WTNY, 920-WURA, 1450-KFIZ, 1570-WTWB. Also some Cubans and PR again very early - best ones noted were 1020-R Artemisa and 1350-R Ciudad del Mar.
This was a third night in a row with almost total absence of Orinoco stations, or any LA-stations that matter, not even Brazilians. Just Cuba and PR and tons of U.S. stations.
Decent cx continued in the morning and the whole day; MN was strong again. Stations identified were 630-KFXD, 690-KTSM, 860-KTRB, 860-KNUJ, 900-KTIS, 930-KKIN, 1070-KVKK, 1100-WZFG, 1200-WRTO, 1230-KGHS.
Below you can see a picture of the inside of our modern high-tech monitoring room we just got finished. It takes roughly a week to assemble and dismantling takes another week. That´s why we always have to spent two weeks on our expeditions.
Saturday 12JAN2013 - Those lucky bastards ...
yes! Yes!! YES !!!! YEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Coming up next ...
Skyfall!
Yep, sky was filling with northern lights and the band went crazy. Strong signals even before 21 UTC fading up and down, multiple stations on each fq. By midnight we had identified 760-KKZN, 850-WWJC (DT), 930-WTAD, 940-WKGM, 1060-WQOM, 1110-WJML, 1110-WYRM (DT), 1120-WUST, 1190-WCRW, 1400-WSLB, 1690-WMLB, also lots of unids and tents. and had hundreds of GB's interesting stuff to go through. Updates will follow. One of the coolest evening openings we have ever had. What a treat!
Cx lasted the whole night and day slowly drying out by 15 UTC leaving still a hand-full of dominants on the band. Most of our day went with checking the evenings recordings while rx's were piling up new files all day long. Quick check at 12 UTC TOH gave us 1030-KCTA, 1340-KPRK and 1440-KRDZ, so some goodies should be expected to be found on this days recordings, too.
Friday 11JAN2013 - Quick update
We are so overwhelmed and exhausted with the recent cx's that we just shortly report here what has been going on lately;
Again very similar early evening on the band. Much promises but after all nothing gained. Noticeable thing was that PR-stations were heard widely on the band even before 22 UTC. At 21.30 UTC some interesting stations fading up and down (like; 870-CFSX, 1020-WURN, 1040-WYSL etc.), but the band died before 22 UTC - or at least the interesting stations faded out. After that again some serious sleeping.
In the morning and whole day mostly dominants (plus 1230-WSOO, 1450-KZZJ) with good signals and again strong signals from the WC (= West Coast, not the actual WC) later on, mostly same stations than earlier days (plus 800-CKOR, 820-KUTR, 1150-KSEN, 1280-CBQG, 1300-KACI etc.).
Cx continued non-stop so that there was still over half dozen AK-stations audible when NL started to crowl in. The sky was filling with northern lights ...
Thursday 10JAN2013 - Quick update
We are so overwhelmed and exhausted with the recent cx's that we just shortly report here what has been going on lately;
After the great cx the day before we didn´t expect that much of the next day - in fact we were kind of hoping a bit quieter day, so that we could catch up and recover from our sleep deprivation.
To be honest we don´t have a clear picture what happened on the band, but according to our logbooks and quick bandscans, not much. Signals were audible again before 21 UTC, but nothing worth mentioning was noted.
In the morning after decent sleeps we found full bands length of stations booming in with very strong signals, mainly from MN-MT. Non-stop cx until 16 UTC. Best catches of the day were 560-WEBC, 610-KDAL, 640-WOI, 750-KHWG, 800-KBRV, 840-KKNX, 1340-KWVR, 1400-KBJM and 1400-KXGN, but we haven't checked so many TOH-ids today.
Couple of updates to yesterday's catches; 1200-KYAA (tnx OJS for hint!) and 1280-KQLL.
Wednesday 09JAN2013 - Ylämummo revisited
We have had huge problems with our internet connection thus we are one day behind in our reports. We´ll try to catch up soon, if and hopefully when internet-cx gets better. The weather has been either below -20 degrees or snowing. We have got about 20 cm more snow in the last couple of days.
Nevertheless, DX-cx got better again on wednesday. Cx started at 22 UTC with stations like 1300-WAVZ, 1350-WGPL, 1500-WFIF, 1590-WGBW etc. At 23 UTC we got 1070-WAPI with nice TOH-id. The cx continued whole night; U.S.-cx mostly C2C with lots of Cuban and Oronoco again (starting from 530-R Enciclopedia and Rebelde).
In the morning at 08 UTC we had nice opening to EC continuing until 10 UTC, with stations like 630-WMAL, 1240-WBBW, 1340-WXKX, 1320-WDER. After 10 UTC cx again to MN and westwards.
On our first Lurx-expedition we had great cx towards OR-WA region. But compared what we experienced later today, that was nothing. The cx started at 14 UTC with huge 1540-KASA TOH-id accompanied with 870-KLSQ and 1500-KSJX. But the best was yet to come. After brief BC-cx with 760-CFLD, 840-CKBX and 870-CFBV, at 15 UTC we got a real treat from OR-WA-region: 660-KXOR, 660-KAPS, 720-KFIR, 960-KALE, 1240-KCLV, 1280-KLDY, 1490-KBZY and 1590-KTIL among other more common stations. And there´s still huge amount of files to go through.
After today´s superb cx lots of adrenaline was running in our veins and we decided to took the challenge of providing wood to the next expeditionists. And as always we did it the lurx-way going well over the top. In the heat of the moment we lost the track of the location of the entrance of our cabin but we finally managed to find it somewhere from the middle-front of the pile. Unfortunately one of us didn't succeed and is still somewhere out there outside on the other side of the pile trying to find the way in.
Sweet Home Alabama
In modern DXing ever-increasing work is done by software and eyes, but ears will always be needed for “final nailing”. Here "KFIR 7-20 AM Sweet Home, Your Voice of The Valley" & “10-70 WAPI Birmingham” nailed with eyes & ears.
Tuesday 08JAN2013 - Another day ...
Another day in DX paradise, at least for some of us. Not so good cx towards the U.S but Orinoco and Cuban stations had pretty good signals.
Cx started again early with some U.S. stations, but signals were considerably weaker than yesterday. WNWC-1190 and WHGT-1590 were noted again but with weaker signals. Night was pretty OK, but we had to get some sleep, so not much to say about cx.
In the morning really strong signals (1520-WVOZ, 1250-R Viva, 1190-UCSG R, etc). At 09 UTC some FL-stations (850-WFTL, 1140-WQBA, etc). Then again U.S. with some common stations from MN and westwards. After 12 UTC good cx to Alaska giving us finally 1330-KXXJ with really nice signal.
We have completed our second antenna building project and we now have 1000 meter antenna towards South. The difference to antenna towards the North is huge. Hopefully we will get a chance to test it with good cx to Africa. So far no such cx.
Monday 07JAN2013 - Evergreen Terrace
Monday´s cx started early sunday evening with WNEM-1250 at 21 UTC. Next TOH gave us WNWC-1190 and WHGT-1590. At night nice cx to U.S. (graveyards open all night), Colombia, PR and Cuba. In the morning cx continued to be steady, mainly to MN and westwards (910-KCJB, 920-KWAD, 1020-KJJK, 1260-KROX, 1340-KROS, 1390-KRFO, 1420-KGIM etc.)
At 14 UTC we got 1340-KQJZ and tent. 1540-KASA. Cx continued until 18 UTC with lots of signals from the sunny side. Totally exhausting day with 20 hours of DXing and one hour sleep... and besides that our next antenna project took promising steps ahead as we got 400 meters of coaxcable erected to the woods. Now we are just too tired to joke about anything ... or maybe just one thing, greetings to the lapdogs of Uhtua - we probably found one of your chewing toys from the forest. Does this look familiar?Please mail us your address for delivery!
Special thanks to TAK for the huge work done: TURTLE is a life changing D'Xperience. V2 rocks!
Sunday 06JAN2013 - Ho-ho-ho...
All three happy Santa´s are safely at the location. No reindeers were harmed during the process, which was a nice bonus.
After some stormy technical adjustments we were ready for furious and D´Xcellent band scanning. By 21 UTC we had also antennas connected and scanning finally started to make some sense.
Nevertheless, after promising start at 21 UTC with some usual suspects (like 1060-Natick etc.) conditions melted down totally. At 04 UTC some nice Colombians were noted, unfortunately not in the cabin but on the upper band, but nothing spectacular or even worth mentioning was noticed. An hour later a decent cx to ND, MT and thereabouts. ESPN-730 raised some eye-browns, but was soon discovered to be only KINF with a new format.
At 08 UTC short opening to OH giving us the only new U.S. station of the day; 1230-WYTS.
The early morning temperature of -27 degrees Celsius gave us a good chance to prepare some D´Xtreme outdoor activities. By the time we got geared-up the temperature had risen well above -20 degrees Celsius. Besides that the snow level in the surrounding forest is about 60 centimeters, so all in all quite ideal conditions to erect a kilometer long antenna. But we did it!
As it has began to be a tradition to tell everybody the content of DXpedition meals, here we reveal the secret of a perfect and typical Lurx-menu;
1) brush your teeth with extra strong toothpaste to guarantee piquant aroma of the meal (after that most of the meals taste the same, so there´s no need to purchase any fancy foods!)
2) main course; half defrost piece of pizza (burning hot on the sides and icy in the middle) with orange juice
3) and end the meal with some salted peanuts and licorice with bubbling limonade
After that meal it is hard to stay in hermetic space with the other guys, but what wouldn´t you do for a perfect meal.
Jim Solatie (JMS) and Jari Ruohomäki (JPR)
Saturday 05JAN2013
On the last two days (4th and 5th Jan) we had good daytime conditions to NA/Great Lakes. Signals were very strong between 08-12 utc on both days. However, since this is the most common area in NA for dx-openings, it is quite tough to find new ones and we concentrated our efforts to graveyards, finding stations like WSAL 1230, WHCO 1230 and WSOY 1340.
It is time to say good bye to Lemmenjoki and welcome the new crew, the famous Lurx-team!
73
Jari & Jim
Friday 04JAN2013
The 3rd Jan ended with some daytimers like WCRW 1190. After 22 utc a few Brazilians, then very strong NA in the morning. Signals continued to be superstrong till early afternoon, but the usual dominants seemed to block all interesting frequencies. Let's see if a more careful check will reveal something.
Weatherwise it is still quite mild, about -10 C. Today Friday it is sunny (or moony, because the sun does not rise) and very beautiful with lots of snow, about 60-70 centimeters. A perfect day for outdoors again.
Monday 31DEC2012 to Wednesday 02JAN2013
Excellent indices, poor results. Each day has been similar: weak signals from NA, CA & SA during the night, then some Orinoco or NA in the morning and almost nothing from the Americas afternoon. Asian openings are not that exciting at mid winter, since signals are not as sharp and strong as in Sep/Oct or Feb/Mar, so outdoor activities have taken our attention.
This morning (the 2nd Jan) we had a short opening to Colombia, and La Voz de Jesucristo from Medellin was the dominant on 1530 kHz. However, Colombians were strong only above 1500 kHz, so not much is expected to be found.
Three more days to go. We keep our fingers crossed.
Thursday 27DEC2012 to Sunday 30DEC2012
Jari arrived already on the 26th December, and enjoyed straight away a nice Brazil and La Plata opening during the early hours on the 27th Dec. That was clearly the best one yet.
Jim came a day later and since then dx-conditions have been pretty boring. Nothing special at nights, and mornings have been only moderate, too. The spectrum is too wide (from Rio de Janeiro to Vancouver) and signal strengths are not that powerful.
We have spent lots of time outdoors: skiing in Levi and Saariselkä, and checking antennas here. The snow level is already about 50-60 cm, so antenna work is getting quite tough.
Six more days to go, so hopefully something will show up on the AM-band.
Jim:"So far 470 verifications this year (2012). Last year (2011) it was 374. The 'all-time-total' is way over 6000. The promise for 2013 is clear: no more than 100. It's time to get a life ;) But you know what usually happens to new year's promises ..."
Hannu Niilekselä (HN) all alone in the dark of the north...
Friday 21DEC2012 and Saturday 22DEC2012
Not much change. On Friday morning some stations from northern Latin America, but weak signals. NA started to gain strength only around 09 UTC, but - once again - concentration was around the northern and western parts of the NA continent.
Nothing truly interesting all day, just the same KTIX-1240 - KRKO-1380 - KART-1400 line until around 1330 UTC without any peaking signals - still atmospheric instability with signals running away and coming back a bit better again after a while. KCVR-1570 has been audible better than usually - maybe they have done something with their transmitter groundings or alike.
On Saturday morning it seemed more promising than the day before with some stations coming in fairly well already at around 06 UTC. But the cx never developed to anything substantially better all day. On most days the clearest signals have been noted around 10-12 UTC, but this did not happen in the final day of LEM 325.
The solar weather is getting better, but for some odd reason during this season it has often meant worsening conditions in the AM band. With 4 weeks experience from this fall up here at Lemmenjoki, one thing especially makes me wonder: where have the “night CX” disappeared. There has not been a single night, where around 01-05 UTC you could speak of any meaningful cx. This is true for as well NA as CA and LA. Just one evening (October 31) there were a few daytimers heard around midnight, but otherwise it has been just some signals in the evening, but disappearing before they developed into anything.
I can still remember how in the 1970´s and 1980´s you reported stations in the night even on such GY frequencies as 1450 - and you were using a Trio with almost non-existent selectivity, no amplifiers and the stations were running on just 250 watts those days ...
Time to say good bye and wish for a Peaceful Christmas & DX-eventfull New Year !
In fidem
Hannu
Thursday 19DEC2012
The same story about the evening and the night: just faint signals by the two CBC´s on 1230 in the evening and practically nothing at night.
In the morning the signals picked strength earlier than usually, by 8 UTC the Rocky Mountains and Pacific North West came in with quite nice signals. Lots of stations from that area, especially in the upper part of the AM band identified, but no really unusual ones.
At times, also some short spells with the more easterly antennas, but many of the stations seemed to be just the same ones that were coming in better with the “right” antenna.
Still quite lot of fading, during some periods the signals were clear, but soon again loosing strength, and atmospheric bruise taking place.
Suspected Tonga-1017 and Marshall-1098 for a while at around 1030 UTC before stations Chinese and stations from the more southerly parts of Asia started to take over. No Japanese noted.
In all, no terrific cx so far, but a lot better than with the protons some days ago.
Wednesday 19DEC2012
In spite of the solar wind increasing, Tuesday had been a relatively surprise with the strength of signals. But the wind did its job: in the evening, following night and early morning very little to talk about.
Except that with the 284 degree antenna all of a sudden at 05 UTC the only station identified was KCLK-1430 ! This phenomenom of receiving signals with antennas pointing at other directions is a true sign of disturbed cx ...
It took all the way until 08 UTC before anything started happening. Still, at this hour there were seemingly just a couple of signals and the signal strengths were almost non-existent, with a nice “soft cover” on top.
I almost did not hit the “record” button at all, but then thought “ok, just to make sure”. And I am glad I did, as on the top of the hour listening live I identified WJNO West Palm Beach on 1290 - a station that is probably the most common FL station at my summerplace close to Helsinki, but which I never before have identified up at Lemmenjoki.
The channel to West Palm Beach seemed to be open, as one of the very few other signals was WBZT-1230 from the same city. Very weak, but partly due to the name of the city, well identifiable. 970 gave two stations with equally weak signal with the 284 degree antenna: WZAN and KFBX ! In the next minutes also WRNI-1290, before the signals faded into non-existent….Truly strange, but interesting.
The fun of the day was that after 08 UTC the signals were gone, fading a little bit in every now and then, but there was a similar minor peak at 09 UTC giving WRNI-1290. Then nothing all day ...
Tuesday 18DEC2012
Somewhat better towards Latin America in the night with fairly decent signals for some 4-5 most usual Brazilians and Argentinians. These were also present in the morning at around 07 UTC.
Fairly nice signals towards Iberia in the morning hours, but the local breaks are yet to be checked.
NA started opening up at around 07 UTC, directly to the upper west. The signals improved gradually and by 10 UTC it felt like there were “real cx”, but the quality of the stations was limited to only the most common ones.
The atmospheric bruise was still present, but varying in strength. A little after 12 UTC the signals became clear and for some 15 minutes all the Pacific Northwest was booming in with force with the 335 degree antenna. But no big deal - the stations were all the usual ones, as far as I can tell after having checked about 50 % of the day´s recordings.
But the good news is that blood is circulating again after a couple of totally useless days - something that never happened this autumn during the 3 weeks I have spent in Lemmenjoki prior to this week.
Monday 17DEC2012
The minor proton event started to subside and consequently the first NA signals were noted at 23 UTC - just 5 stations identified (WLQV and likes), but it was a clear sign of hope ...
In the night some lonesome NA and most common Orinoco, but not anything to mention from further south on the TOH recordings with 255 degree antenna.
In the morning still very slow with a continuous atmospheric bruise. Best at 08 UTC, but very slow going in all.
Later in the afternoon no trace of NA, but ABC on 2485 with a fairly nice signal for a while, so the longer route seemed to be opening up, as well.
Saturday 15DEC2012 and Sunday 16DEC2012
This week at Lemmenjoki was originally not booked by anyone, so when I had the chance and was located only some 200km from here at Ylläs, I decided to use the opportunity.
The Uhtua Wolves (LEM 324 crew) had been howling all week so loud that the conditions had gradually weakened and, finally, the howling attracted a minor proton event just as it was time to change on Saturday.
From experience I knew that at least the first days would be spent with older files. In the afternoon of Saturday, just some Southern Asia opened up somewhat, but my interests in those directions is so minimal that there was nothing to listen to - except old files from previous expeditions.
In the morning on Sunday I noted that not all hope is gone, since a handful of the most common Orinoco stations were audible on the otherwise empty band.
Again in the afternoon some less interesting Asia, together with some Iberian stations with good signals already at 14 UTC.
The proton event seems to be gradually subsiding, which gives hopes for improvement in the coming days... we´ll see ...
Jopi Nyman (JJN) and Jussi Suokas (JUS)
Friday 14DEC2012
It's time to say goodbye. The past 24 hours have not offered anything very significant DX-wise. Last night's RNE R5 break at 18.45 utc once again only involved Cataluña and País Vasco, although we had contrary information from Spain that, starting the first of December, this would be a compulsory break for all the regions. However, the morning local break at 8.00 - 8.15 utc was noted with fair signals on many frequencies (eg. 936 Valladolid). NA kind of peaked between 7.30 and 8.30 utc (CKHJ 1260, CKDY 1420, WBAE 1490 etc), and at timed almost reached acceptable levels, and Asia (a little bit of Chinese and Tagalog) briefly had the best opening this week after 11 hours utc.
Today's menu: Roast potatoes, pork medaillons in red wine with red wine - the compulsory dx-wine Radio Boca.
This is Uhtua Wolves howling off.
Thursday 13DEC2012
Hello again our faithful readers and our dear editor. So, ANA, HAT, HPI and TAK, how are you doing today? Today's big news is that there is now more firewood in the inside storage than was carried in by the previous record holders last week. Also worth mentioning is that the AM dial was mostly free from dominant -- and other -- stations all day (but some soothing Christmas entertainment was provided by WMOB 1360).
Today's menu: an assortiment of Mediterranean tapas for starters and then pasta puttanesca with Terra de Lobos red wine.
Wednesday 12DEC2012
On the right track -- almost. When we woke up today, there was much more life on the trans-Atlantic AM dial than on the previous days, and also many stations below 1000 kHz. What's more, the NA stations kept coming in throughout the day. But we are not totally happy: the signals seemed to have a low point at the top and the bottom of the hour. Few new identifications were noted live, but we trust the modern proverb that Perseus creates the conditions, and that we'll find something new later on at home. Today's conditions focused on the Dakotas, Idaho, Utah and Wyoming (KSPZ 980, KCCR 1240, KTUB 1600). Many RNE 5 stations also had nice signals at 8 utc but the whole network ran a national newscast from the parliament today. They could have chosen a different day for their supposedly important session.
Today's highlight: Lamb Lemmenjoki, goat cheese potatoes and Le Grand Noir (Black Sheep) Cabernet-Shiraz. (Nam! /ed.)
Tuesday 11DEC2012
Another station hunt today. Iberia was dull, but we were almost starting to get excited while digging the graveyards. No real tasty bites though but constantly scrolling up and down the band revealed catches like WZON 620, WBAE 1490, KZZN 1490, KODI 1400 and KWOR 1340. And to make the game more difficult, all of the above-mentioned stations, for instance, and KWKW from California, were heard more or less at the same time. This was one of those days when there is more life in graveyards than the regional channels -- and when 1350 finally had an audio signal, it turned out to be Armenia. Even a little bit of Hawaii at 10.00 utc, but nothing worth mentioning later.
Final catch of the day: chicken korma, naan bread and beer.
Monday 10DEC2012
The best hymns are short as the old folks say. This morning lots of nice signals from the Iberian Peninsula and the British Isles. Several RNE R5 locals at 08.00 utc, but after that nothing happened. Some helluva bz or something just let a handful of dominants fly over the ocean. When we returned from the antenna forest around 12.30 utc, the NA signals had gained some very promising force meanwhile, but that was all gone before 13.00. What about last night? Well, Radio Ardabil was heard signing on at 03.00 utc.
But most importantly: Karelian fish stew and Wolfberger W3 (Riesling, Muscatel, and Pinot Gris).
Sunday 09DEC2012
If high hopes is unnecessary information then we don't unfortunately have a lot to tell you about. Half a dozen TA stations had readable signals as early as 18.38 utc yesterday, but by 22.00 utc it was clear that the wisest choice would be to hit the bed and sleep well. At 05.00 utc the morning broke with a meagre selection of Argentina, Cuba, Puerto Rico and Venezuela. The North Americans joined about an hour later, and between 07.00 and 09.00 utc we were getting quite near to what a real DX party is, but just getting. The solar indices seem to be better than excellent, but the regional channels, let alone the graveyards, just don't start boiling. Well, CFCO 630 was new to us, and it had a steady signal through most of the morning hours, and CKTB 610 is a very pleasing catch as well.
If the conditions don't cook up, the chef does. Our culinary heaven never lets you down. Today smoked reindeer liver, venison steak, roast potatoes country style, and Pata Negra (the Black Paw) wine.
Saturday 08DEC2012
This is Uhtua Wolves howling on. Right after the man on the radio had finished saying "This is CBS news" at 10 utc, we started huffing and puffing, howling and growling outside the hut, but that didn't scare the two Hansels inside. Brave men, or maybe their mothers haven't read any of the lesser-known Brothers Grimm fairytales for them. We got a good - and quite a promising - briefing, and our expedition did, indeed, get an optimistic start. Last January we only heard one single US identification during the whole week, and now the first TOH already gave us, e.g. WQSC Charleston SC 1340. It is difficult to say what else the two Perseus were recording for us, as there was so much interesting to talk about with HN and HAS, and also Jouni-Ilmari visited us briefly, but we expect to find some other good stations from the files as well.
Later today Heaven's Kitchen also opened their temporary restaurant up here, and the first dish on the menu was fiery Shrimp Creole and Kuohu beer. Chilishrimpses hey, as they sing in an old Finnish evergreen. Paw-licking good.
Hannu Asikainen (HAS) and Hannu Niilekselä (HN)
LEM 323 “wrap-up”
In all we were satisfied with the fact that NA was heard every day. Even if we did not keep a 100 % watch on Pacific, Asia, South America , Africa etc, we still made frequent checks on most of those directions, as well. It was evident that no super cx were taking place.
The cx towards NA were quite heavily concentrated to one main direction from day to day, but fortunately there were a couple short-lived shots at the East Coast, as well.
Considering that we are living times, when you can easily end up with a week without any transatlantic signals, the results were above expectations.
Some more interesting stations identified so far (in addition to those mentioned in our reports): WILL-580, WEFL-760, XEUDO-820, KCHJ-1010, WILB-1060, KKOJ-1190, WJNL-1210, WGBB-1240, WYCB-1340, KKTY-1470, KDCC-1550. “Some” files yet to be checked...
Saturday 08DEC2012
The evening turned out to be even less interesting than the day before. The night showed some improvement with more identified stations than any other night. No big surprises though, but a promise for improvement specially to the more easterly states.
In spite of the “early promise” at night, it took again until 08 UTC before the signals started to surface with a little better volumes. A clear difference to any previous days was the strong appearance of Cuban and Orinoco-area stations when listening with our East Coast antennas. Stations were heard from both east and west, but the signals from East Coast started to become interesting only after 09 UTC - a bit late for our LEM 323.
At 10 UTC WSOK-1230, WKIP-1450 and WKWF-1600 identified, but the Uhtua Wolves (Jussi and Jopi) were already howling behind the door - it was time to change crew and leave all the goodies for our new LEM-crew...
Friday 07DEC2012
Some most common NA appeared already before 21 UTC and this gave rise to expectations of some early evening goodies, but as during so many other days, the cx did not develop to anything substantial.
TOH recordings from the night included isolated stations, such as KWAD-920 and WGL-1250, but in general the any interesting signals, not too many though, were badly disturbed by enormous European QRM.
In spite of the very low geomagnetic activity, the expected improvement of cx seemed not to happen. The surprising thing was that also Central and South American stations were not appearing in any significant numbers either.
We had to wait all the way until 08 UTC for the level of signals to improve to an interesting level. Ontario was coming in very strong, but once again the cx did not reach but the upper central parts of the U.S.
Some improvement by 11 UTC which for some reason has been the dividing line, when signals also on the GY frequencies start to separate themselves from the “hum” . Until this point on these frequencies you´ll hear the net talk shows and sports programs, but the individual signals are so weak that when they break for local material, no signals are heard.
In all, this day, however, the signals never got as clear and strong than on some of the previous days and they more or less died out already before 13 UTC. In the light of the positive development of the solar weather, this day was clearly a disappointment.
Thursday 06DEC2012, Independence Day
No need to write the same lengthy story about the evening and the night - no change there. Newfoundland in the lower part of the band appeared fairly early around 2030 UTC, getting very strong in 15 minutes, then suddenly disappearing almost completely. That was it for the evening and the night...
In the morning stations once again started to appear, but very slowly. By 07 UTC there was not much to talk about. But the improvement continued and signals after 08 UTC were quite strong and stable.
In the afternoon side stations were coming in with force, but again only from the fairly limited area of the upper Central parts of the continent. All Canadians were very impressive again. The signals later in the afternoon continued strong until 13 UTC, but for the 2 last hours they were "soft", having lost the brightness. Something was going on again. But little disturbances like this can bring very special stations audible, blocking dominants, so recordings will hopefully reveal some gems.
Our knowledge of what really was going on between 1150 and 1400 UTC was 99,9 % limited since our landlord Taisto, his wife Paula, son Ola, Aslak and his son Harri paid a visit to us and we spent the Independence Day afternoon lighting a couple candles and chatting about everything between the clear blue sky and this lovely paradise. No Independence Day parade noted here this year...
Wednesday 05DEC2012
The curse "minor disturbances can cause big problems with skywave propagation" seemed to be following us, even if -in principle- the cx should be OK. A couple of less impressive NA between 2230 and 2300 UTC, then stations but never reaching any cx to talk about.
The night did not offer anything notable, but in the morning stations started to gradually come in around 07 UTC. We soon noted that the stronger signals were again coming from around the Great Lakes and upper prairies.
Still, as the morning developed, also some East Coast stations appeared. The signals were fairly weak and seemingly uninteresting in the morning, so the breaks between hunting for top-of-the-hour identifications was used checking antennas and hauling in wood from the outdoor storage. This employed us a fair amount of time, since the stack inside had diminished under "alarm-level" and apparently very little effort had been taken by our previous crews to improve the situation. For the sake of order we are enclosing a picture how the stack should look like upon leaving the paradise...
The signals were quite bright later in the morning, but the magnitude of stations on GY frequencies in the morning side of the day did not allow any single signal to climb on top of the others. Not one single top-of-the-hour identification was well enough audible all morning on these frequencies. The tactics was to use as easterly antennas as possible in order to avoid the more westerly located stations from covering these faint signals. This tactics worked for some time with the 271 degree "Orinoco-antenna".
Only after 11 UTC also the GY frequencies came alive with many of the common stations from the upper parts of the Central U.S. identified.
Afternoon was good with clear signals all the way to 14 UTC, with only minor periods of "fatique". Little anything new was heard live, even if listening was very intensive, but a mountain of recordings was created, so hopefully some jewels are hidden aside the otherwise fairly dull selection of stations heard.
Tuesday 04DEC2012
The evening of December 3 was no better than what all day had been: practically nothing by 00 UTC. Checking the recordings of the night was a one minute job: absolutely nothing !
Predicting the cx by the development of the solar weather seems to be more tricky than most of us would think. We were experiencing a spell with no Coronal Hole or CME effects, but nothing was heard all morning. During the day -for a reason not known- the solar wind was increasing. And what happened ? All of a sudden in the middle of the day the signals started to come in, gradually improve and end up with very nice signals with both 284 and 320 degree antennas all afternoon.
Almost all of our recordings are unchecked as of writing this, but based on listening live we have a good reason to believe that quite a few nice stations will be found.
What to expect next ? We really do not know as any prediction so far has proved to be mostly wrong...it is better just to be alert and make the most of what is audible !
Monday 03DEC2012
The evening started in fairly good time with first NA signals around 22 UTC - too late for most East Coast daytimers, but giving possibility for some more westerly ones. The signals were not too impressive for almost an hour, but around 23 UTC stations from around the Great Lakes and northern prairies were coming in quite nicely. Nothing spectacular was noted, though, but this was better than previous nights, which gave promise for better conditions.
Some stations even from the East Coast were noted from recordings of the night, but signals were badly interfered with the more-than-average QRM from European channels.
In the morning stations started to gradually gain strength around 06 UTC in a manner which would indicate nice conditions for the rest of the day. By 07 UTC we had good signals from both east and west. As the solar weather was good and also the forecast promising, this was to be the "real beginning" for our expedition.
But what happened ? By 08 UTC all the signals were practically gone and the rest of the day was spent hauling wood, listening to recordings of the morning - and testing the band every now and then. Only to realize that the remaining part of the day was worst of all days so far...
Still, the very first hour of the morning gave us some nice stations, even if the lack of any direction with the cx made "hunting" for anything specific a bit difficult. A beautiful example of this was a 2 minute section with 320 degree antenna on 620. VOCM was dominating, but CKRM pushed it away. Only a minute later WTMJ was the king, but WDAE with a local gate came suddenly in. Just some 20 seconds later the ESPN Sports Center began, most likely from KTAR !
Sunday 02DEC2012
Saturday evening was not rising high hopes due to the change of transmitting schedules in NA, as the first stations started to appear before 23 UTC. The skip was already then towards the Great Lakes area, but signal levels did not reach any notable levels. The stations coming in were more northerly than previous evening, which was well in line with the arrival of a minor disturbance, which was clearly seen in the space weather charts.
The night was empty again, and first signals were noted around 07 UTC. Strongest stations were again from the upper prairies - were there still the amount of Canadians like in the ´80s, many clear signals would have been noted - now just a few of the remaining ones.
The day went by with signals strengths varying immensely and identifying stations mostly from northern Minnesota, the Dakotas and Montana- Wyoming - not much hope for any new ones.
The peak of clear signals timed between 13-14 UTC when many of the northerly located stations were booming in. Still, in all, a fairly dull day: hard work without too many notable results.
But again, the space weather forecast looks very good indeed and we still have almost a week to go !
KTRF-1230, KJCR-1240, KIJV-1340, KKTL-1400, KQDJ-1400, KZZJ-1450, XEP-1300.
Saturday 01DEC2012
The night was pretty much empty, as expected. No opening towards South America that we would have noted. Around 06 UTC the first NA signals had reached a readable strength and the first bandscan of recordings revealed that we were talking about "whisper-level" signals from across North America. Later on the levels improved somewhat, but never got to any decent ones.
Still, as some signals were audible throughout the day, lots of stations were identified even if there were no real highlights. There was some level of interference blocking them - that was evident. None of the days 5-6 weeks ago were as dull as this one: no peaks with better signals all day, no highlights among identified stations. But, of course, the good thing was that we were not coming from somewhere in the dark and there is a lot of room for improvement !
Even if the list of identified stations is fairly big, a perfect illustration of the general situation is that practically all recordings of the day have already been listened to and, consequently, destroyed...
WTCM-580, WEZE-590, CKTB-610, KNML-610, KTAR-620, WKNR-850, KWAD-920, KWIQ-1020, KWWN-1000, WCHB-1200, WFAS-1230, KOLY-1300, WJRW-1340, KWTL-1370, KBJM-1400, WPGG-1450, 1540-KMPC.
Friday 30NOV2012
The long haul to LEM 323 started a little earlier than the "official" time would have been, since week 48 had no attendants. We wanted to start early on Friday morning in order to use every bit of daylight to the almost 1200 km journey, and also to avoid as much as possible the first real snowstorm of this winter forecast for the very southern part of Finland for the night and all day Saturday.
The forecast was no nonsense. By 5.30 am snow accumulation was already around 20 cm with the intensity increasing with hard winds blowing. So we were prepared for a truly difficult start, but before the traffic jams predicted for the morning in every newscast. We expected to have to drive the first couple of hours in the storm, but to our big surprise we caught the front end already around Järvenpää, just some 40 km north of Helsinki. After that it was nice driving in a few minus degrees on a totally snowless highway all the way to Rovaniemi.
The temperatures started to fall and the amount of snow to increase. Upon arrival to Lemmenjoki after 14 hours of driving we were welcomed by a nice -30 C fresh winter weather with some 40 cm of snow. But the cabin was nicely warm and we had a good 2 hours to prepare for the evening cx, hopefully bringing us some daytimers from across the Atlantic.
Some stations from the East Coast started to appear around 2130 UTC, but already then it looked as if it would be far from fantastic openings. Some mediocre signals by the most common stations were noted, with no real daytimers. And around 23 UTC the signal levels had gone to just about non-existent. Time to rest...
Jarmo Patala (JP) and Vesa-Jussi Rinkinen (VJR)
Friday 23NOV2012 - Friday 30NOV2012
Because anybody wasn't coming to LEM DX cabin for the next week, LEM322 left Perseus and PC to do some recordings remotely. So let's hope that we'll see some nice LEM322 loggings which are done from these recordings. (Editor)
Thursday 22NOV2012
We got up to check the band at 0130utc and found luckily several East Coast dominants indicating that there are still some conditions. But as nothing interesting occurred, we continued with automated recordings and took another three-hour nap.
Around 0530utc still stations from the East Coast, and now the signals were improved. Also the graveyard frequencies were open. Some traces of Mexico and Cuba. Conditions vanished after 07utc when there were mainly AK dominants. NA rose again after the daybreak, KIHH 1400 being one of the delights. NA stations were heard with variable signals through the afternoon.
Japan rose around 1200utc with amazing signals. NHK2 JORB 1152 was caught at 1320utc.
We didn't forget Spain today either. COPE Lleida 1224 was noted with the local break at 1827 and RNE5 Catalunya 1314 with their new regional break at 1845.
Tomorrow Friday it's time to say goodbye for this DX paradise. We return back home tomorrow at 07utc so that we will arrive home "in time", around the midnight. Thanks JJK and TAK for loaning us the Perseus! Thanks also JUS for keeping us updated about RNE5 breaks. And our very special ***THANKS*** goes to IPA for your continuous (J)upport!!
73 JP, VJR
Wednesday 21NOV2012
"M flare killed the radio star..."
Increased solar X-ray activity indicated yesterday how the conditions will develop today. Now it is good moment to have some fresh air and check some of the antennas.
The day was gray but the west coast wire of 336 degrees was in good shape.
Transatlantic conditions are down. We heard only familiar dominants from North America between 06-08utc and a handful of even more familiar Alaskans. In the afternoon some Japan at 14utc and then real "Orient Express" at 1530, meaning 22 local Iranian stations in one Perseus file!
Dinner: Pork tenderloin in creamy chanterelle sauce, made of dried self-picked mushrooms, and Brussels sprouts.
Tuesday 20NOV2012
Our DX day started just before 06utc with stations from SD, KS, UT, WY area. Nice variation after so many Great lakes and OR/WA conditions. 1340 KTOQ, 1400 KLIN, 1290 KOWB, 1240 KFH, 1320 KFNZ, 1330 KNSS. Also some Mexico: 1010 XEHL, 1550 XENU.
Morning conditions began to disappear after 0830utc. When writing out this at daybreak we just sit back and enjoy black coffee and dominant stations with wide filter on.
Fairly disappointing afternoon in terms of NA conditions. Noise level had increased from yesterday, signals were weak and fading and the graveyards did not open either.
Japan opened before 1200utc giving strong signals until 1300utc. Then nice opening to the Philippines again.
We observed solar data on NOAA website (http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/rt_plots/xray_1m.html) to make some analysis about changing conditions. The explanation must be the increasing X-Ray flux before 13utc. Japan got strong between 1145-1300 while North America was vanishing. By 1300 both Japan and North America were gone. At 1325 we have log entries on Philippine stations and Japan was gone.
1230 CHFC with regional CBC program spot to Manitoba at 1242utc.
1548 Super Radio DZSD Dagupan City 1333utc.
From 15utc onwards amazing cx to South East Asia. Myanmar 576 and 594. Laos 567. Lots of Indians and several Thai stations with great signal.
Dinner: Oven baked salmon in herb cream with celery puree.
Now we just relax after dinner and look forward late evening conditions to Spain and maybe to Africa as well.
Monday 19NOV2012
Brazilians and some La Plata with fading signals on Sunday/Monday night. The COPE break at 0628utc offered Ourense clearly. Finally around 06utc Minnesota and Iowa opened bringing in strong signals on regional channels. So far the identified stations include: 1340 KWLM, 1490 KRIB, 620 KMNS, 1310 KEIN, 1230 KYSM, 660 KXOR, 1320 KOZY, 1230 KRYN and 1240 KCCR. Yankees started to disappear after 0730 but we must be happy, we did not expect this good NA morning. Between 06-07 NA stations were heard with all west directed antennas, Brazil was gone. Some Hawaiians were noted from 1100 onwards KUAU 1570 being the highlight, it was heard 3 hours in a row. NA dominants were heard throughout the day but then at 1400utc NA opened well and especially the graveyards were in good shape.
The Philippines opened on the lower band on both Sunday and Monday evenings at 2000utc. A station on 594 and DZRH 666 were noted with decent signals.
X-band aussies were also noted on 1611 and 1620, between 18-19utc, but we only canned them meanwhile we focused on today's dinner: Beef steak with sauce espagnole, seasoned with smoked chilli.
This was an interesting day so our expectations for the coming night and the following morning is high.
Sunday 18NOV2012
We woke up just before 05utc and the band was full of yankees with all NA antennas. But no worries, the Big Cat nails them all!
NA stations started to disappear after 0530 utc, and by 06utc there were mainly AK dominants. NA got a bit stronger at dawn, around 07utc, also the graveyards were open. Daybreak was very weak to all directions. Asia was unbelievable weak in the afternoon. And not so many stories to tell about NA either.
We checked the toroidal box of Japan wire and found indeed a problem with the grounding wire and another one with the antenna connection. We were able to fix them and then the wire started to work. Now we are missing only cx towards Japan.
At 1430 UTC Japan opened finally! Good signal levels on many frequencies but so far the identified ones are familiar to us...
Dinner: Fried salmon with dill mayonnaise and vegetables in saffron-thyme sauce.
Saturday 17NOV2012
We arrived at LEM QTH today after 1100 UTC. The road and weather conditions were very good, bright blue sky with -16 degrees celsius, and we spot also some reindeers. NA conditions favoured familiar Alaskan stations, unluckily not very much to mention about other directions. After 14 UTC lots of Chinese and PHL noted on 1314. From continental China: 1467 Baoding and 1296 Shanghai. In honor of Asian conditions we start soon preparing Thai green curry chicken soup for dinner. All antennas seem to work OK, except Japan wire, we try to troubleshoot it tomorrow at daylight.
Juhani Korhonen (HJK) and Jari Korhonen (JJK)
Sorry, no information available ...
Hannu Niilekselä (HN) and Håkan Sundman (HS)
Tuesday 06NOV2012
Finally time to pack and head for the south from this paradise of landscapes and DX´ing. This morning there seemed to be a little touch to the New England area for a short moment, but the cx in general are worst so far during my stay of 17 days up here. Still, the delight of the morning was WBUR-1240 alone on its frequency for several minutes just at the top-of the- hour.
There is nothing so special about it in general, sometimes this just happens. But I got a kick out of it, since I never have heard the station before and after 82 NA-QSL´s on that frequency you do not too often encounter a new station - not even to think about listening to it live !
To sum up these 17 days of continuous listening I experienced what I have for long been wondering about: having the chance to live through a solar maximum period where after quiet conditions a relatively small CME occurs and be recording with today´s SDR-receivers. I recalled the previous periods of solar maximums to have been truly interesting, with many exceptional stations heard with "just" traditional receivers.
During the past solar minimum, somehow I felt that "this is not good" with the CH effects very often spoiling the otherwise quiet conditions. You would have geomagnetic K-indices around 1 for several days without any notable conditions. This had to change.
These two weeks proved that I was not all wrong with my thoughts. Even if the direction of the cx from day to day mostly lingered in the same westerly directions, they also brought some nice signals from the wanted Southwester states, and many times the powerhouses on a certain frequency were totally blocked out by the CME effects, bringing in a tiny signal from relatively nearby. I love this and would in the future trade 100 CH´s for one decent CME !
I came here with fairly low expectations due to the "troubled times" and based on the fact that September-Mid-October had been fairly useless for transatlantic signals. But I was totally surprised: I have never been here on a DXexpedition (there must be 30+ of them so far) when there would have been such a continuous flow of stations from NA coming in. A huge amount of gigabytes have been stored and I do not know if I´ll ever have enough strength to go them thoroughly through...
To give an idea what there may be on the recordings, here is a list of some stations identified so far, together with my good companions Janne and Håkan and myself alone, working 24/7 on the recordings, but really just scratching the surface: KTIE-590, KNSP-710, KYYA-730, KBRV-800, WKAR-870, KTBR-950, KGKL-960, KVLV-980, KXXT-1010, WMIN-1010, KXEN-1010, KQQQ-1150, KTRC-1260, KCNI-1280, KSCR-1320, KLEM-1410, KPUR-1440, KNXN-1470, KIQS-1560.
Thanks to all of you having followed these reports and good luck for DX´expeditions to come !
Monday 05NOV2012
As the CH effects had taken over, no early signals noted, by 00 UTC I went to sleep and just set the top-of-the hour automated recordings on. Checking them in the morning surprised me somewhat: while at 00 UTC there was practically nothing, by 02 UTC the band had filled with strong Midwest signals. But the signals were coming like from behind a cloud and were "wobbling" so much that it was hard to read even a strong signal on a clear frequency, not even to talk about the GY:s, which were one "pot of porridge with the lid on". Some identified signals revealed that they were quite interesting, stations not necessarily so rare, but rather seldom heard and this time alone on their frequencies.
By morning the signals had got a bit more clear, even if the CH effect s were still making all signals "soft and murky". This continued all day and the selection of stations was limited, with huge signals from Canada and the upper U.S. prairies area.
Interestingly, considering the obvious disturbance, some areas of the far Pacific opened up just after 08 UTC, fading in and out for almost 2 hours, then disappearing totally. Tonga, Marshall, Tahiti and Kiribati at times with relatively good signals.
Sunday 04NOV2012
All my comments are concentrated on observations regarding North America and Mexico, since I only have limited interest in South America these days, especially when NA signals are available...there may have been all time cx to Latin America, or not !
The evening did not offer anything worthwhile, first NA appeared just in front of 23 UTC and some of the common station were coming in all night, but signal levels were low.
Contrary to previous nights, the signals started getting better already at around 04 UTC. However, European QRM was terrific, which made many channels impossible to listen to. Notable improvement took place as late as 07 UTC with the direction of conditions - surprise, surprise - to the Midwest - West Coast area. However, also signals from Texas and Mexico pushed through at times.
Around 0930 UTC the northernmost areas of Japan started opening up. At the time for NHK-1 identifications at 10 UTC the signals did not have the same strength and clarity anymore, but some stations were still coming in.
Stations were coming in all afternoon, but they were not as strong as previous days and the selection appeared to be quite uninteresting.
Saturday 03NOV2012
This should have been the normal day for changing the LEM-crew, but since no-one was coming, Hannu opted to make use of the opportunity to stay a couple of days longer. Håkan would have bought a one-way ticket to Finnair coming up here, but since it would have cost about 3 times as much as a return ticket, he had a return ticket for this Saturday. And after a week of intense listening he was ready to use that option.
The conditions in the morning seemed very promising, so two Perseus were doing their job while Hannu drove Håkan to Ivalo. Upon returning around 11 UTC the feeling on the band was "wild west" at its best. So it was just to secure that everything was playing in well.
Still no East Coast. The emphasis seemed to be in the WA-OR-NV-CA line, where there still are targets to be heard. And conditions like this will offer the very best chance to "nail" at least a few of them. There will be lots of material to be checked !
Friday 02NOV2012
In the evening of Thursday the band was checked frequently. No early signals, but interestingly KBRW-680 and WQLE259-1610 with good signals at 22 UTC. In mid-winter this would not be particularly special, but considering that it is still autumn and about mid-day in Alaska especially the 10 watt station did well !
The usual sunset Brazilians were noted around same time, but the band opened to the NA direction only around 23 UTC, which made it fairly uninteresting considering the change in transmission times on Nov. 1 for daytimers.
In the morning signals got stronger earlier than many other days. Around 06 UTC the band was filled with stations with good signals from all over, which also meant that the dominants took over on most frequencies. Signals remained good throughout the day and the last stations from the Canadian north were noted at 15 UTC.
Highlights of the day included again the 40 watt repeaters from the Northern Territory. Also the appearance of some more interesting California stations indicated that the effects of the CME were subsiding.
Thursday 01NOV2012
Our last chance for the October-timed daytimers...The night started OK with WEGP-1390, accompanies by the strongest Canadians from Ontario appeared with good signals already around 21 UTC. Gradually other U.S. stations joined and before 22 UTC the band was already full of stations. We tried to concentrate to take care of our choice of antennas and tackle some technical issues (noise from laptop-Perseus connections) and to secure that we were recording OK. Some of the most common daytimers (type WQOM-1060 with daytime power, WRRD-1510) were noted, but we hope that some more will be found later on on the recordings.
As of writing this we do not know what was coming at night, but in the morning again around 5 UTC stations started coming in gradually with better signals. To our surprise also Hawaii started coming in as early as 07.30 UTC and around 9 UTC also many Japanese from Hokkaido, soon accompanies with some Pacific. Expectations for more Pacific later on and fantastic 10 UTC NHK-1 identifications were high, but the cx to that direction dried out before that and never improved during the day - just the most common Hawaiians, together with Alaska remained, including WQLE259 on 1610 almost like a local station with its 10 watts of power!
As is typical for conditions related to a CME, also practically all remaining NT 40 watt repeaters of CBC North were noted.
The afternoon was not as good towards the West Coast as in previous days and the signals more or less died around 13 UTC.
JOHS-1557, JOID-1467, Majuro-1098, Kiribati-1440, KFIG-940, KOZE-950, KNEU-1250, KEYS-1440.
Wednesday 31OCT2012
The story continues... The solar wind being under 300. our expectations for this day were high. The first NA were noted at around 22.30 UTC and WGBW-1590 being one of the very first stations identified.
But the joy was short lived as already before 00 UTC the cx were gone and just some of the powerhouses remained with faint signals amongst terrible European QRM.
In the morning around 5 UTC it was easy to note that the "whole U.S." and the remaing Canadian were coming in with signals still quite weak, but strengthening gradually. Still, it never turned out to be a fantastic day, even if stations were hear throughout the day. The signals never got really strong, neither clear, and we spent the day waiting for improvement that necer came. Only in the afternoon was it possible to hear a few signals separating from the others on the GY frequencies, since stations were in such a bundle that practically none of them became identifiable all day. On the clear channels and regionals the usual stations dominated with fair signals.
KARI-550, KUBC-580, KRTA-610, KNML-610, KFXD-630, KFLD-870, KOGA-930, KSPZ-980, WNWI-1080, KAGO-1150, KOBB-1230, KXRO-1320, KEYL-1400, KEYG-1490.
Tuesday 30OCT2012
The solar wind has been under 300 now for the second day in a row and finally it starts to show on the band. The first NA started appearing before 23 UTC, but more from the Great Lakes direction than East Coast, where the winds seem to be...
However, the promising start for nightly cx did not last, and the stations more or less died out before 00 UTC. But after a few hours, things started gradually to happen. The stations were coming in a "bundle" already before 05 UTC, gradually gaining strength. Everything between Cuba and the West Coast was neatly wrapped on most frequencies. This caused the GY channels to be hopeless with about 100 signals being on them at the same time. On the regionals you would hear East Coast with the 320 degree antenna, on some other frequency West Coast on the 284 degree antenna, with Cuban stations being heard on all the antennas ! But, this is what was to be expected, amounting to a mountain of files, where the real job starts.
The later the morning got, the better the signals were. After the Cubans started to lose their breaths, chanches for loggings improved. All day there was no specific direction for the cx and anything could pop up anywhere. We tried to keep a close watch for daytimers on the air due to the East Coast Siperstorm, but none were found listening live. Maybe some will be noted when we get to examine the files in detail.
The West coast held their strength past 14 UTC, but European QRM started to be too bad for any worthwhile DX´ing. Later on we expected better Australia conditions than in the previous days, but were disappointed. Just some X-banders for a short while, but without decent signals. Asian experts would, though, have got kicks out of this afternoon - we presume...
KOC-550, KNML-610, WMAL-630, KTTO-970, KNPT-1310, KLIX-1310, Vision AM 1611.
Monday 29OCT2012
The pattern continues: practically nothing at night, in the morning one top-of-the hour with decent signals towards NA. Then worse than previous days, 6 hours with nothing. In the afternoon again quite nice signals to the western parts of the U.S, accompanied with Alaska and Hawaii.
A little touch to the X-band Aussies later in the afternoon, but worse signals than the day before.
Geomagnetic indices look good, but something is not right...we´ll see
BBN Panama-1350, CHNL-610, XECL-990, KEYF-1050, KSMX-1240, KLIX-1310, KSUN-1400, KSKR-1490.
Sunday 28OCT2012
Writing out these daily these daily report is getting a bit boring due to the same patterns of stations and timings from day to day. A bit stations in the night, but strong European splatters and fairly weak signal makes it relatively unintresting.
More strong again at 06 UTC, mainly to the Midwest to West Coast areas. Some Mexican stations also made their appearance just as they were having their midnight National Anthems on.
As during previous days, just as everything seemed to be "flying in", stations just disappeared totally and the rest of the morning was just empty.
Some West Coast and X-band Aussies again in the afternoon, but not as good as the day before. The first Japanese NHK-station was also identified as one of the highlights of the day in the sense that japs had been almost non-existent so far.
JOFD-1602, XETX-540, XEHO-580, XEES-760, KVOX-740, KPRM-870, KVOZ-890, KNDK-1080, KEYS-1440, KPUR-1440, KSVE-1650.
Saturday 27OCT2012
LEM 320 got a flying start in that Håkan took the plane to Ivalo and while Hannu was driving to get him, stations were flying in with the Perseus. The conditions in general seemed to be stronger and more stable than in the previous days, so at least there will be lots of work to do afterwards, even if all of the "generals" seemed to be covering the frequencies.
After we returned from Ivalo having done all shopping for the week, the band was still stable. Håkan "the Master of Timing" did not take any pressures about it and calmly started setting up his gear. In the light of the forecast for solar weather he knew that this would not be the last opportunity...
The afternoon provided mostly upper North West and Alaska, again companied by the most common Hawaiians. The nice surprise for the afternoon, simultaneously as West Coast was coming in strong, we noted a couple of the X-band Aussies coming in strong. A bit later ABC news was coming in parallel on 1548 and 630. Clearly a nice improvement !
As listening live was fairly limited this day and consequently identification of anything better was limited to KFJL Central Point OR on 1400.
Hannu Niilekselä (HN) and Jan-Erik Österholm (JEÖ)
Saturday 27OCT2012
Time to say goodbye for LEM319 and hello to LEM320. Jan-Erik left to catch the plane from Ivalo just as the cx towards North America were providing the clearest signals so far. Concentration seemed to be again to the western parts, even if some Cuba-Colombia-Venezuela seemed to be coming in with the more easterly antennas, which might provide something worth while also from the U.S.
Friday 26OCT2012
The night started with signals directly from the Great Lakes area already around 23 UTC, which offers a great possibility for stations with still daytime power on. Very much to listen to, although the first findings mostly include the same stations as later on, even if they, too, are running on their daytime powers.
The fairly early start and feeling that the cx are on the rise set high expectations for the morning. Around 5 UTC stations started gradually gaining strength, so the hopes were high. However, morning in all turned out to be less exciting. At the time when the cx should have peaked, stations suddenly started to fade away and it turned out to be worse than on many previous days. In the afternoon much improvement with strong signals from the North West, together with exceptionally clear Alaska, together with Hawaii. This lasted past 14 UTC, but no "exciting" frequencies were providing anything worthwhile. Guam on 801 a bit later gave hopes that there might be some hope for the Pacific and Australia in the coming days.
KUBC-580, KKOJ-1190, KOUU-1290, KHRT-1320, KQMS-1400, KWEI-1450 (now ESPD)
Thursday 25OCT2012
Very much the same, some stations to both SA and NA in the night, and NA signals starts improving in strength around 06 UTC . Some Mexico always in the background. No east coast conditions yet, just some isolated stations appearing now and then.
In the afternoon typically Alaska and Hawaii, but no supercx. WQLE259 from Prudhoe Bay with its 10 watts transmitter heard every day, at times with a good signal.
Even if indices are good, the conditions are not as good and stable as one might expect, with much instability, signals quite surprisingly disappearing almost totally for long periods.
CKGM-690 now here //990, KCMO-710, WMAC-940, WNWI-1080, WJRW-1340, WPGG-1450 (ex WENJ), WGBW-1590 broadcasting with 540 watts according to QSL. In addition a mountain of stations from the Rockies-West Coast area.
Wednesday 24OCT2012
Again stations at night, but no LA this time, just some common NA with huge European disturbance. A few strong Brazilians around 06 UTC with already fairly many NA at the same time. Today for NA was worse than Tuesday without the same clarity , instead the signals were "soft" and not as strong. Later in the day more clear signals, but very strong concentration in the very North Western corner of the U.S. This lasted, contrary to previous days, until around 13 UTC. At that time also some AK and a couple of Hawaii. WQLE256 Prudhoe Bay playing a taped weather forecast for the Prudhoe Bay area ending "That is your 1610 weather message for October 23rd, have a good day´s evening".
In addtion, early this morning we got a 15 cm snow cover - so winter is arriving at Lemmenjoki according to regular schedule ...
KLTZ-1240, KGIM-1240, KWVR-1340, KULY-1420, KLBM-1450, KVCK-1450, KTEL-1490.
Tuesday 23OCT2012
In the night mixed LA and NA, but with weak signals. Some Orinoco, turning to Brazil and only some of the most common NA from all over, with a couple of Mexican stations with huge signals.
In the morning clearly towards NA, first a little bit of fairly common East Coast, starting at around 05 UTC. Then disappearing, but returning with good signals towards the Midwest-West Coast area. Best signals so far, even if the stations were completely gone in several occasions, usually at the TOH ! Even if this direction has dominated on this expedition and on many previous ones, we both were still able to pick a few new stations.
After 10 UTC the stations were practically gone and once again, not much to talk about for the afternoon and early evening. A shadow of Australian accent on 891 just in front of 19 UTC.
KYYA-730, KATL-750, KTRC-1260, WSUA-1260, WMOB-1360 (with 320 degree antenna...), KXGN-1400, KULY-1420, XESDD-1030, XEBCS-1050.
Monday 22OCT2012
Varied and unstable conditions continuing, as expected with the solar maximum at hand. Interestingly, the first and only station identified from the U.S. was KGOW-1560 at midnight UTC. Some Brazilians and Argentinians again in the nighttime hours, turning later towards Peru.
Regarding NA, not much change, but slower than yesterday, starting with a touch of the east coast as late as 0830 UTC, but very soon concentration of conditions again in the prairies to west coast area, with a bit of southwestern US states included.
No trace of improvement in the easterly and Pacific directions. Indices continue fairly low and stable, so expectations remain at least moderate.
Some stations identified: R Union-880, R Lider-1240, R Miraflores-1250, XERO-1240, WPRV-790, WBAA-920, WTAD-930, KTTO-970, KJJK-1020, KWIQ-1020, KBLE-1050, WIMA-1150, KBLY-1260, KTOQ-1340 and KSID-1340.
Sunday 21OCT2012
In the night some strongly fading Argentina and Brazil, but not many interesting ones. NA started as the night before at 0000. However, just one station was identified: KGOW-1560 ! Less stations than on Saturday until around 06 UTC again, then improving but again with no specific direction and strong fading: at one time fairly nice signals, but after only a short while nothing again. This is actually quite good with today´s SDR´s as you do not have to panic as in the old times when something pops up all of a sudden.
Our friends from their last day at KONG report concentration towards the East Coast of NA, no such notion over here. just stations from all over, but more westerly than easterly. The positive of the direction was that also stations from further south and Mexico, all the way to around 10 UTC.
Afternoon provided just a 2-3 Hawaiians and some Alaska, but no Japan or Pacific again.
The geomagnetic indices are developing positively, so the mood is good and expectations high. As of writing this in the morning of October 21 the band sounds promising so we´ll see...
La Region-1590, R Iracema de Ipú-1360, XEITE-830, KJJK-1020, KBLY-1260, KTFI-1340, KTOQ-1340, WMOB-1360, WENJ-1450, KOVC-1490, WBAE-1490.
Saturday 20OCT2012
Hannu arrived at Lemmenjoki already on Friday evening to greet Pertti Äyräs, who was leaving on Saturday and in order to be ready for "the game". Timing could not have been better as Hannu´s sole interest is with NA. The first NA stations for quite some time were noted at around 0000 UTC, just a handful of the very common ones, but that was OK at these times of troubled times. First at 0400 was there anything noteworthy, getting gradually a bit better. Also some Brazilians and Argentinians at night, but according to Pertti, not much to talk about.
The cx towards NA developed somewhat around 06 UTC but, very typically to times of solar maximum, fading strongly in and out. Some stations were audible throughout the day, but with very poor signals and the concentration being between the Rockies and West Coast - a difficult direction to find any new ones.
Later in the afternoon no trace of Japanese or Pacific stations (except for a couple of Hawaiians), just some Chinese, although the better experts in our clan would have been able to advice us diletants that they all are not Chinese...
Some examples of stations noted: KHWG-750, KOZE-950, KWIQ-1020, WHIR-1230, KFTI-1340, KRSC-1400, KSKR-1490, WGBW-1590.
Pertti Äyräs (PÄ)
Saturday 20OCT2012
This was my last day at Lemmenjoki and, of course, provided the best NA conditions of my pedition LEM318!
Hannu Niilekselä had joined me previous evening and he got right into business. And as far I know the NA signals have been very strong since then. The LEM319 Crew Hannu and Jan-Erik Österholm arrived at the right moment and according to a propagation condition prognosis they will have a good time for the nex few days.
LEM318 has signed off!
Friday 19OCT2012
Not very much to tell about the night conditions. First in the morning appeared signals from NA stations and from around 14 UTC on the Asian stations with mixed conditions, signals from every "oriental direction".
Thursday 18OCT2012
A miserable night with nothing of interest audible. Only in the morning some NA signals but even at sunrise they were rather weak. WIOU Kokomo IN was noted with ID on 1350 and, maybe surprisingly, WMOB Mobile AL on 1360. Later in the afternoon the usual stuff with Alaska and somewhat later Asia with strong signals, China and Taiwan told me Jim Solatie (from the simultaneous Aihkiniemi DX-Pedition (about 100 km north-east from Lemmenjoki). And why not to believe him?
Wednesday 17OCT2012
In the night nothing interesting (as it has been for some nights now) but NA stations started their invasion around 02 UTC (5 am local time) and were audible for many hours, but for the most part only around 05 UTC (sunrise) the signals were strong enough to allow identifications of them. At this hour I managed to identify several stations from Nebraska: 1230 KHAS Hastings, 1400 KLIN Lincoln, 1340 KGFW Kearney and 1430 KGRA Grand Island. I also identified KMAJ from Topeka KS. Hopefully there are more on the harddiscs. The signals then rapidly faded away leaving an practically empty band with some 6 semilocal signals from Russia and Norway.
Later on, in the afternoon, Asian stations again boomed in but difficult to say anything about the direction of the conditions. However, one noticed very strong signals from Iran and this supposedly represents the kind of conditions.
Tuesday 16OCT2012
Woke up in the night and observed that the conditions had shifted towards NA. So I selected another antenna, put Perseus into work and went to bed. Nothing more from these conditions are known by now, but around 5-6 am UTC (being up again for a while) the signals were rather strong.
Monday 15OCT2012
Nothing interesting observed in the night, except R Caicara from Porto Alegre RS on 1020 and R Centenario from Uruguay on 1250. In the morning first some Brazilian stations, but when another aerial pointing towards NA was selected, some US and Canadian stations become audible. 1400 KSUN from Phoenix AZ was identified but a stronger representative from this state was 1580 KMIK Radio Disney from Tempe AZ. Mentioned about some reconstructions in the station facilities and this must explain the strong signal. Also KNDC Hettinger ND and KBUR Burlington IA were identified on 1490.
In the afternoon again strong signals from Asia, for example lots of them from Japan. Jouni Ilmari from the Jomppanen family visited me later in the evening and this visit resulted in a wine drinking, When he left around midnight I, however, managed to put my Perseus into work with an antenna towards Brazil, since I observed some Brazilian stations on the band, one on 1520 AM at 20.50 UTC being probaly R Ilha from Tobias Barreto SE which I have heard once last winter at this early hour.
Sunday 14OCT2012
The night was providing some Brazilian stations but not too many and nothing of interest was detected so far. Later in the morning Alaska, as usual. Afternoon provided strong signals from Asia, e.g. many stations from Thailand. Weak Australia on the X-band.
Saturday 13OCT2012
Nothing interesting during the night hours. Around 1230 Alaska woke up again at around 11.40 am with signals from many stations. One of these was on 1229.92, i.e. a slightly offset fq, and it apparently is KVAK Valdez which has been found earlier on this split channel. Another new one for me was KXXJ on 1330. In addition, a TIS station from Alaska was observed on 1610. It´s identity will surely be revealed in the future. Later one stations from Asia were booming in but the direction of the conditions remained somewhat unclear, perhaps owing to lack of experience!
Friday 12OCT2012
Wake up with high expectations but the signals were poor during the whole night. Nothing towards the morningside.
In the afternoon weak Alaska and a couple of Pilipinos with their interestingly sounding language. But then the conditions became worse and let´s see what the night will carry in.
Thursday 11OCT2012
Weaker conditions this night again with a minor number of stations, and mostly from southern South America. On 830 R Rosario had their musical px "El festival de las estrellas" etc. On 1019.93 there is a Brazilian which has been heard a couple times with talk programming but I haven´t been able to identify it so far. Lots of recordings were again made and surely something will be found.
On Thursday afternoon I noted, to my big surprise, a lot of stations from Alaska and Hawaii around 14 UTC. The signal were quite strong from many stations and I felt it like a magic moment on the otherwise rather empty band. Later stations from Australian X-band stations popped up, some with decent signals. Also the normal AM band provided some Australian stations, eg. 720 and 891. In addition, lots of stations were observed from The Philippines almost until to midnight.
Wednesday 10OCT2012
Some conditions are back again and Brazilian stations were quite strong at night but nothing very interesting could be logged. Of course recordings were made and possibly something will later be found. One interesting observation was Brazilian stations on 850 KHz. Usually, when something is heard here during this type of conditions, it´s Radio Carve which strongly dominates. But at least this night R Carve was on 850.26 providing space for others. I managed to identify R Rural de Guarariba PB, a new one for me. Later around the sunrise the usual Peruvian stations appeared and sill later also some usual stations from NA were observed.
Tuesday 09OCT2012
This was a disastrous day what comes to radio conditions. Only some semilocal Norwegian and Russian stations were audible in the preceding night. Even the stations from Iran disappeared in the afternoon that day. But as long there is hope there is life (or was it otherway around?). Let´s be confident!
Monday 08OCT2012
Got up early hours of the night just to note that the TA signals were almost no-existent, only a couple of weak signals observable from Brazil. Back to bed and up around 04 UTC when the conditions were better and provided signals, again, mostly from Brazil. Some interesting signals are waiting on the computer hard discs (I hope!). No North or Central American signals until now.
Saturday 06OCT2012 - Sunday 07OCT2012
Arriving at Lemmenjoki on Saturday Oct. 6th around 6 pm it was already almost dark but I got into the woods to connect the baluns and managed to connect four antennas to my SDR radios and computers. Unfortunately only one (255 degrees) of these was working properly. There were some conditions towards Brazil and La Plata regions around 02 UTC but unfortunately my recordings failed since the programs were stopped (maybe short power failure) after some 10 minutes when I was already in bed. The conditions continued in the morning with same type of conditions. No NA signals, only Brazil and La Plata. During the daylight hours I managed, after some trouble, to get 8 of the 12 aerias operating. In the afternoon Asian signals boomed in (Iran was strong!) but no recordings due to lack of interest.
LEM318 is on since Oct. 6th, but in reality since Oct. 5th when my trip from St. Karins in southern Finland started towards Lemmenjoki. After driving some 10 hours I arrived at Oulu where I met Jari. He provided me bed and breakfast and interesting discussions which, I hope, will continue after about two weeks.