LEM DXpedition News of 2017-2018 Season
Jari Ruohomäki (JPR)
Mestor was working with antennas 255 and 264.
Most days were boring. Not a single good day towards Chile, Brasil or the Andes. However, some nice openings towards La Plata.
73s Jari
Jari Ruohomäki (JPR)
Tuesday 27MAR2018-Thursday 29MAR2018
I headed to Oulu by an express bus on Thursday. It took 9 hours from Inari to Oulu. The two last days were clearly better towards La Plata and Brasil. However, propagation did not reach top level.
Summary for the whole expedition with school evaluation: 6.
73s Jari
Tuesday 13MAR2018-Monday 26MAR2018
I am sorry for being inactive on this column. There is not much to tell about the TA-conditions. Anyway, here is a brief description. It is quite strange that I have not had a single sharp morning opening. On the contrary, usually stations have disappeared an hour before sunrise. And I am not positive concerning the next days as the last three days have been the worst of all. Only some extremely weak whispers of Brasilian and Argentine dominants.
LA: Huge disappointment. No conditions worth mentioning towards La Plata, Brasil or Chile. The only new Argentine for me is Radio Maipú 1460. Brasil has given some mediocre level stations like R Rural PB 850, R Cassino RS 830, R Difusora Alagoas 960, R Gerais MG 830, R Rural RN 1090, R Juazeiro BA 1190, R Agreste RN 1460 etc. The most interesting night was on the 14th of March. There were stations from the lake Titicaca area audible from 2330 till 05 utc. I have never had so strong signals from the Andes and for so a long period. Some stations like R Juliaca 1300, R Andina 1370, R Espinar 1480, R Luz del Mundo 1560, R Bendita Trinidad 1540, R San Luis 1420 and R El Sol de los Andes 1460 were booming for hours. Other identified stations from that night so far are R Nuevo Tiempo 780, R Frontera 900 and R Frecuencia Amistad 1230. And, again, R Clube de Parintins AM was strong together with Peruvians on 1460. The best moment for the Titicaca area has been around 01 utc. The 14th was super, but probably mostly the same stations have been on the band in three other nights, too.
NA: Maybe I should have concentrated more on NA. The best days since the previous update were the 13th and 14th of March when stations were strong almost till noon. Since that NA-stations have numerous times suddenly filled the band, but all the stations have disappeared even faster. I suppose I have missed most of these golden moments as my main focus has been on LA. Some logged stations: KLMR 920, KAVP 1450, KCOG 1400, KFEQ 680, KKCL 1550, KPRM 870, KVOC 1230, WDYZ 990, WGVL 1440, WKIP 1450, KYCR 1440, KICK 1340, WSDZ 1260, KFMO 1340, KQVC 800, WYTI 1570, WOI 640 and XEQN 740.
I do not know how long I am still here. I have not a car to use. My leg is better now and so maybe I will ski back to Oulu and take a shortcut thru the village of Kuttura.
Monday 05MAR2018-Monday 12MAR2018
As HN has told on this page LEM397 started a week ago. I do not have an exact plan how long I will stay here but most probably the two next weeks at least. My left leg was operated a month ago and I have to be back at work in the middle of May. Therefore I have plenty of time for DX-ing.
Shortly about the conditions.
LA: My main focus is on Brasil as most stations will leave AM in a couple of years. Conditions have been clearly worse than expected. I have not met any sharp morning openings yet. One could call this kind of conditions as "concreate conditions": the same stations are audible every day. The most interesting catch has been Rádio Clube de Parintins on 1460. It dominated the frequency on the 7th and 8th till sign off at 0105 utc. There were peruvians on the upper AM band at the same time, however, I have not checked the files yet.
NA: Two first days offered a handful of new stations for me. As HN has told Tuesday evening the 6th offered a possibility to hunt daytimers. Eastcoasters faded up around 2230 utc. I was glad to id alive WCJW Warsaw NY singing off on 1140 at 2315utc. Since that it has been extremely boring till yesterday. The two last days have been better, but, however, the direction has been to the northern central parts. Today signals were quite strong from 05 to 08 utc, but they did not reach southern parts and Mexico. I succeeded in identifying alive KCSR Chadron NE on 610 at 06 utc.
The next report will be sent to Tapio after one week or so if the conditions are as boring as last week was.
If there are some highlights, I will let you know.
Hannu Niilekselä (HN)
Sunday 4MAR2018-Tuesday 6MAR2018
For the first time during this expedition there was a little opening to the upper East Coast close to local sunset in the evening of 3 March. It was not a real daytimer opening, though, since just the most powerful stations were noted. Still, improvement from previous days.
Also some stations noted throughout the night, but still far from being good. In the morning gradually the signals came from more and more western parts and any decent signals were gone already just past 06 UTC. Clearly a disappointment compared to the day before. Maybe the cx froze in the - 32,4 degree temperature at the time of local sunrise.
On Sunday evening Jari and Ritva arrived, which meant the beginning of LEM397 at the same time as LEM396 would still continue until Tuesday. Jari could set up his rig in peace, since nothing noteworthy was logged in the evening/early night.
Monday morning surprised us with fairly decent signals from the east coast, which lasted past 08 UTC. The good development was that also a couple of VA, NC and SC stations were noted.
Also surprisingly, the first Japanese station was noted already at 1120 UTC in truly bright sunshine. At 13 UTC the first Aussies were noted. Emerald 1548 strong and faint Masestic fanfares also from Newcastle, NSW on 1512 and 1233. Later the common SA ABC´s on 729, 891 and 1161 joined, at times with massive signals. Still, no sign of any commercial Aussies in spite of these nice signals for 4-5 hours.
The remarkable improvement from the day before gave hope for some evening NA, as well. And we were not disappointed as NA carriers started to appear on most frequencies around 2230 UTC. It often happens that early signals disappear only after a few fade-ins, but now they just kept on gradually improving. And many of them were readable before the local sundown in the transmitting end. The peak of the cx seemed to be in Upstate NY, but there may be something even from somewhat further south as well.
However, the signals died out just after 00 UTC, but that was a perfect moment in the sense that the most interesting time frame was past anyway.
Good going also in the morning with clear signals, so hopes for at least a couple stations for the both of us should not be too much to expect.
After the signals died out by around 0830 UTC, it was time for me to start packing for a continued DX-expedition to Aihkiniemi for one and a half weeks.
JPR will continue keeping you informed and entertained, since LEM 397 will most likely turn out to be the longest expedition ever - maybe lasting all March ...
73 HN
Thursday 28FEB2018-Saturday 3MAR2018
I arrived at LEM late on 28FEB after a continuous 13h 20 min drive in beautiful sunshine, starting with -20 degrees in Helsinki and finishing with -3 degrees at Lemmenjoki - quite exceptional.
The first three days have been more or less spent waiting for the cx to improve - which they have gradually done. The first night and day were practically empty.
After 03 UTC on 1.3. some Midwest emerged, but the signals died out already before local sunrise around 0530 UTC. In the evening 3 minutes of WLQV-1500 at 2200, but nothing else in the night.
On 2.3. the same pattern with Midwest around 03 UTC, but dying out soon after 05 UTC. Still, some stations remained and from 0630 to 0800 UTC some fairly interesting east coast emerged, though with very weak signals. In the afternoon first signs of AS/OS from around 15 UTC with a few strongest ABC stations and some X-band Aussies. In the evening again at 22 UTC, a couple NA emerged for a few minutes, but disappeared again in about 10 minutes and nothing else in the night.
On 3.3. in the morning more clear signals from east to west for some 4 hours, but still room to improve. A bit surprisingly, the AS/OS direction was only a shadow of the day before. Just some China, Korea and Thai, no JPN or OS. Maybe this was due to the rapid change in temperature (ho-ho ...), since it changed from 0 degrees - 25 in less than 24 hours ...
Virtual "pre-LEM396" portion 20FEB-28FEB 2018
As there was a week of empty chairs at LEM, the LEM395 crew set up one of my laptops and Perseus, which I had left behind after the LEM390 expedition in December. The antenna used was 290 degrees, with the hope for some east coast NA conditions. Only the TOH´s were recorded.
By now all the recordings have been checked. Knowing what all has been heard in the Nordic countries in January-February 2018, the expectations were fairly high, but as it turned out this was the most disturbed period in 2018 so far. And that does not necessarily favor east coast reception.
About one third of the days were practically blank, during one third stations were heard for a couple of hours but with worthless results. The remaining 3-4 days offered periods of decent cx for at least a couple of hours. No early openings, usually nothing worthwhile in the night and decent signals between 05-07 UTC. At their best, signals lasted well audible until around 09 UTC on two days.
Even if east coast was occasionally heard, the signals were accompanied by more westerly stations even with the 290 antenna. The exception was 25FEB with stations from the Boston, MA area booming in with terrific signals at 6 UTC and 7 UTC with very little anything else than a few common FL stations. I just wonder what might have been heard if the recording would have lasted longer than 8 minutes each hour.
?
Jarmo Patala (JP) and Vesa-Jussi Rinkinen (VJR)
Jan-Erik Österholm (JEÖ) and Pertti Äyräs (PÄ)
Wednesday 24JAN2018 - Friday 26JAN2018
Almost exactly the same pattern continued with the exception that we had the first feeling of day timers but due to high interference level it did not give much. Some stations can be mentioned heard around 2130 UTC: WCHP, 1250 WMTR, 1290 WDZY, 1510 WWSM and 1520WIZZ. One evening we had a very strong opening towards the Philliphines around 20 UTC and we even made some recordings although we will not make any reports to those.
To summarize: we enjoyed 13 days with overall good cx. There were openings to all the desired directions of the Americas with periodically very good signals. A clear shift was noticed in that the NA cx was not only locked to the Upper Mid West.
We will take the evening flight today from Ivalo to Helsinki and wish the next crew JP/VJR, arriving tomorrow Saturday, good cx and an enjoyable time!
LEM393 is now closing down.
73 JEÖ&PÄ
Tuesday 23JAN2018
Due to a high solar winds (400-500 km/s) the second week was cx vice not as good as the first. LP/B appeared as usual around 21 UTC and after a sweep over the files we note that we had LP/cx all night with periodically strong intervals. The cx died before 07 UTC. As for Orinoco and NA the night cx was very modest. However a strong peak between around 0640-0800 UTC was noted including also interesting signals from the US East Coast and ver strong cubans all over the band. The signals startied to fade out around 0830 and although NA was observed back and forth until 14 UTC we do not expect anythink spectacular to be found.
Monday 22JAN2018
LP/Brasil filled the band with reasonable, sometimes good signal strengths, between ca. 22-07 UTC. A fast check reveals that the LP/B cx lasted almost uninterrupted until around 07 when they started to disappear very fast. Mediocre signals towards northern parts of SA and NA almost absent around UTC. Before 9 UTC the band died until late afternoon when some Upper North West stations were audible. This day was by far the worst during the past 9 days of the pedition.
Sunday 21JAN2018
As far as we know average LP/B and NA was heard during the night hours with the absence, however, of a real day timer opening. The highlight of the day was the appearance of first signals from LP and Chile around 0630UTC and then by an unusually good opening to mainly the southern parts of Peru, especially towards the Cusco-Puno area. Several new Peruvians were identified such as R Onda Azul 640 rising to good signals at times. R Frontera, Juliaca was noted on 910 together with RQ 910. On 1420 we identified R San Luis, Pallapa (Cusco). We expect more to be found as we analyse the recordings. The band emptied almost completely after the opening towards SA ended just before 9 UTC. No NA during the rest of this day.
Saturday 20JAN2018
Without in-depth knowledge of what really was heard during the night hours we can make some general comments. CX continued with the appearance of LP/B after 21 UTC but with very modest signals. Between 02-05 UTC we noticed strong LP/B signals on many frequencies, e.g., Argentinian R Dime (we are not sure about the station´s name today) on 1420 with a strong signal. Many frequencies were unusually clear so we might be able to find some new ones. NA was almost absent around 21-22 UTC and that continued through the night. The big kick of the day was, for a change after a lot of NAs earlier in the week, a nice opening towards Orinoco and the Andinians, mainly Ecuador. We were glad to hear Ecuadorian R Panorama, Ibarra 1440 with good a signal just before 8UTC. After around 08.45 the SA stations faded out and, surprisingly, the band was left almost empty. Very bad NA cx for the rest of the day. As we went for our mid-term shopping to Ivalo between 12-14 we do not have a clue of the cx other than they were not good.
Friday 19JAN2018
Several NAs were observed around 21UTC but we have no idea if any real day timers have been heard. A fast scan of frequencies like 1500 did reveal KSTP just after 21 UTC as well as Detroit of course. On 1250 WHHQ was heard also just after 21 UTC indicating that the cx moved directly to the Mid West. We have not had the time to scrutinize the recordings. LP/B were below average the whole night. The bright spot of the day was between 07-09 when the band was filled with NA. The epi-centrum seemed to be MN but also OK, MO and IA. Maybe the most interesting so far that was nailed is the 760/10 watts IA station KRNI Mason City 1010 with a clear and pretty strong TOH id for Iowa National Public Radio mentioning both WSUI and KRNI. Interestingly, the KRNI ID was much stronger than that of WSUI. Other stations heard during this period were, I.e., WBKK 820, KCUE 1250, KDMR 1190, KSDN 930, KQCV 800, XESOS 730, KDWN 720 and more probably to come. Noon and afternoon were not very good even though stations were coming in up to around 1430 UTC.
Thursday 18JAN2018
Almost exactly the same cx as on Wednesday but Thursday offered one of the best NA cx we have experienced. Stations all over the band from after 21 UTC (a real day timer opening absent though) until ca 15 UTC. Again good East Coast opening between 07-09 UTC and around 12 UTC strong opening towards the Mid West especially MN.
Hardly no signs of AK, not even later in the afternoon. The best catch so far that we have noted is again on 900 in the form of the previously unheard WURD Philadelphia. Others that can be mentioned are WURA VA 920, WAVL MN 800 and KKIN MN 930. We expect a coronal hole disturbance over the weekend so hopefully we will get some good cx towards LP/B also.
Wednesday 17JAN2018
Conditions as a whole were very good. NA and LP/B emerged well before 21 UTC. LP/B was steady the whole night all over the band. However, the NA signals became too strong after 06 UTC and so we lost the much awaited morning opening towards the southern region of the Americas. We expect, however, to find something new LP/B stations from the night cx recordings. Even though the NA opening around 21-22 UTC was absent NA stations were present the whole night and continued up to 15 UTC with periodically very strong signals. We observed a strong shift in the character of the NA cx since there was no strong openings towards the North Western corner of the US except for after 14 UTC. During morning hours NA from the East Coast and the Mid West were so strong that they could be heard even on the 255 LP/B antenna with decent signals. Between especially 7-9 UTC we had a good East Coast opening that was followed by a mixture of East Coast and Mid West up to 13 UTC. Live listening did not give indications of specific cx towards the south western parts of the US neither Mexico. On 900 WSWN Belle Glade FL was noted as was WNIS VA 790 to mention a few. Many more are expected to be found of course when time allows for listening to recordings later this year.
Saturday 13JAN2018 - Tuesday 16JAN2018
Greetings from the Lemmenjoki DX-headquarters!
We, that is the LEM393 crew consisting of two elderly fellows PÄ and JEÖ, arrived here Saturday the 13th of January 2018. We came here by a Finnair flight from Helsinki to Ivalo and then by a rented car (which by the way is rather expensive for two weeks - but you have to pay for gorgeous hobbies like DXing). The Lemmenhoki HQ was clean and in good condition thanks to the previous group "The Uhtuan Wolves". They had experienced a good listening week and we were are hoping the same. After some hard work and hard all the cables, all the gadgets, all the computers etc. had found their positions on the table. We were ready for recording the distant signals i.e. to DX.
The conditions during the first 24 hours were modest in their character, the reason being some sort of small eruptions in our big Friend the Sun. Not much of interest was heard on the band, as far as we know from live observations. Of course, as always, something may well be lurking in the recorded files.
The aerials were mostly working well, except for the 255 degree wire which provided very faint signals only. After changing the balun box in the forest all was again OK. Similarly, the 30 degree antenna pointing towards the Pacific remained in a useless condition providing a noisy signal the origin of which is not known so far. Changing the balun or coaxial routing did not help. Obviously it is the aerial which collects the noise.
The weekend weather was very windy indeed, but the radio conditions slowly started to improve and on Tuesday (and Wednesday) good conditions providing also signals from the US East-Coast were observed. Very little checking of the recorded files so far since the band towards the Americas has been open from early night to late afternoon.
All nights have provided signals from southern South America as expected. The morning of Tuesday the 17th was rather interesting since it was possible to hear East-Coast NA stations using the aerials for Brazil and La Plata and vice versa, stations from Bazil were heard using the Eas-Coast NA aerials. This is not very convenient for station identification purposes but luckily this type of radio conditions did last only that morning or at least we do hope so.
No specific lists of identified stations will be given in this context. Some loggings are already given on the Online Log pages and more are to come.
Jopi Nyman (JJN) and Jussi Suokas (JUS)
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Friday 12JAN2018 This is LEM392 howling off. The last full day here was also yet another day with NA stations from some time early morning till late afternoon. The overall verdict is hard to give because we spent several hours either cleaning, socializing with our hosts or in the antenna forest. All in all, this week has been a really exceptional experience for us. Not a thing to complain about. The final meal was again on the hotter side: Pork vindaloo, rice and Tiger beer. Our special thanks to our soulmate Tapio Kalmi who has kindly let us use this platform to promote the beneficial and benevolent ideas of Susialism (wolfism). Sent from pawPad Thursday 11JAN2018 Another memorable DX day with NA signals from 21 till past 16 utc. During those hours the conditions had time to visit all the four corners of the continental USA, and we also got several new stations from British Columbia. It was a disappointment, however, that CIVH 1340 had dropped the word Wolf out of its slogan. Such rebranding is not appreciated nor tolerated here. The antenna forest needs some more work tomorrow as, for instance, the middle part of the old 300 degree antenna seems to be missing. But for the most part all the antennas checked have been nicely high in the tree branches. And most importantly, we celebrated today the much anticipated traditional lamb festival: una combinación de tapas del norte y sur, herb marinated lamb with goat cheese potatoes, Zenato Ripassa red wine, and squeaky cheese for dessert. Wednesday 10JAN2018 The first thoughts this morning were that today might be a suitable day to check the files from the previous days to get a bit better understanding of what we have amassed, but by 7 utc the North Americans had returned to the band and stayed there well after the customary 15 utc mark. They were, however, mainly dominants and no real novelties were caught live, but we also spent a pleasant time chatting with Jouni-Ilmari, so there might be some surprises waiting in the files, though the day is not likely to be the highest one on this week's priority list. The evening meal was beef stroganoff and KWV Shiraz to match the sensation. Tuesday 09JAN2018 Hole Lotta Love! The coronal hole swept most dominants away, and we dare say we had a fairly nice DX day... Oh, c'mon, modesty aside: in spite of horrific indices known to us from many lem expeditions today's morning hours were the mother of all NA DX, a real jackpot with lots of four-letter calls we didn't know actually existed. Did we deserve all this luck? But of course, absolutely. Aouuuw (a very loud howl)! After a perfect DX day, pampering continued with a selection of Spanish meat tapas and Humulus Lupus double IPA followed with a meal of Pollitos borrachos and Trapiche Extravaganza red blend (another loud howl!). Monday 08JAN2018 The overall conditions followed the same basic pattern as yesterday, but unfortunately the selection was quite dull. Each frequency had a couple of strong dominants and not much else, but even though we didn't catch anything new live, it is most probable that the Perseus files will contain some nice surprises, as the conditions lasted throughout the day. Some wading in the antenna forest was also done to ease the tension felt in the ears. There nothing more fun and besides you might spot some curious birds. And finally, to greet our faithful reader and an ardent lover of northern Spanish haute cuisine, we were obliged to prepare fabada asturiana today, of course with the best possible local ingredients carefully chosen in Asturias, but also with a taste of Lapland as the morcilla de reno was locally produced in Ivalo. The drink, naturally, had to be robust cider poured to the glasses from high above the head the Asturian way, which made the floor a bit sticky, we have to admit. Two long dx days also required a matching dessert, a wee dram of Wolfburn single malt. Sunday 07JAN2018 About 30 cms of new snow here, and a corresponding downpour of stations as well. Conditions started early with many NA stations audible before 21 utc, but they were just teasers keeping us awake till past local midnight before we gave up and let automation do the dxing. The wake-up hours after 05.30 utc have given us a constant flow of clear signals, mostly dominants from the Great Lakes and the Midwest, but also occasional howling sessions every now and then. As a potential yet unconfirmed piece of news we assume that KKAA 1560 has a new owner and the station is again active relaying 890 AM KQLX Lisbon-Fargo. After yesterday's symptoms of slight capsaicin poisoning, today's meal was somewhat milder: traditional Red Karelian Fish stew accompanied by Adobe Gewürztraminer white wine. Saturday 06JAN2018 This is LEM 392 howling on. The Uhtua Wolfies, represented by Mr Steppenwolf and Dr Fleischwolf, growled in after noon today and the Hofies obediently stepped out some seconds later. Except KOUU 1290 there is nothing much to report from the past afternoon, because most of our time went to different computer hassles, which all appear to be solved, we hope. Today's opening fine dining meal (HOT) consisted of lomo de cerdo flameado al tequila and oven baked potatoes together with Castillo de Molina Pinot Noir red wine. |
   
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Jari Ruohomäki (JPR) and Jim Solatie (JMS) 29.12-6.1
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Friday 05JAN2018 - Saturday 06JAN2018 We did not get any top conditions for the last two days. S has been much worse than before. We have had NA before and after noon, but these conditions will not give much. An interesting detail was last evening when eastcoasters suddenly rised up at 2115. There were a large amount of signals on the band, but mostly common ones, of course. WWSC 1450 and WMTR 1250 were notes. All the NA-signals faded out at 2145. This was followed by Brasil and La Plata. Right now at 0813 utc there are NA on the upper AM band, however, the last top of the hours sounded quite boring. Summary: Our main target was Brasil and La Plata and we are satisfied with that. NA was a disappointment again. We did not pay much attention to other continents. 73s HoFi team Tuesday 02JAN2018 - Thursday 04JAN2018 Almost exactly the same pattern has continued. So we do not have much to tell. NA: Dominant stations have been audible in the night. The best moments have been at 08-09 utc. Conditions have been mainly towards central parts, however, today we had more eastern signals and WCYR 1400 and WLVJ 1040 were noted. We hope to find more FL from the files. Afternoons have been mostly useless with stations like KONP 1450, KEYG 1490 etc. LA: Nice signals from Brasil in the evening hours even before 21 utc except last evening which was much weaker A good example of the nature of the evening conditions is Rádio Uirapuru CE 1460. We have not got another great morning opening like on the 1st of January which has given a number of nice stations: Rádio Cerro Azul RS 1190, Rádio Nova 31 SP 1190, Rádio Clube Sao Domingos SC 1190, Rádio Ampére PR 1460, Radio Cultura, Guaira SP 1470, Rádio Difusora Maravilha SC 1440 and Rádio Poata PR 1560. Last night we had mixed LA-conditions from La Plata and Brasil to Andes, Orinoco and the West Indies, but nothing really interesting found alive. Last update will be sent tomorrow or on Saturday. We will leave Lemmenjoki around noon on Saturday when The Wolves should arrive at Lemmenjoki. Friday 29DEC2017 - Monday 01JAN2017 Here is a brief update from LEM391. We had exceptionally good indices during the first four days. We should have had good conditions, however, we really did not have. The same pattern continued on Friday and Saturday: weak NA and the most interesting area was Brasil. Friday and Saturday offered ZY-signals surprisingly early and even decent ones after 21 utc. Files have not been checked yet at all. Later in the night and morning signals faded in and out. We were able to id Super Rádio Boa Vontade, Manaus on 610 in the morning. The worse the indices, the better the conditions. This has happened on this expedition. K-index rised to 4 on Sunday the 1st of January. And finally we got interesting conditions. Night was quite boring, but morning was super fascinating towards Brasil and La Plata as well. Europeans were surprisingly quiet, even totally absent. Therefore even quite weak signals were useful. It is not common to have eligible signals from these areas after 08 utc. This time we were able to enjoy them till 0820 utc. This kind of opening can be compared to NA daytimer listening. In addition to this, the morning NA-signals were the best so far before silence after noon. And yes, we did have successfully the traditional New Year's Eve party. All the Jomppanen brothers, except Taisto, and Aslak's fiancee Minna were present. Aslak and Minna had kindly prepared delicious smoked trout. Happy New Year 2018! Wednesday 27DEC2017 - Thursday 28DEC2017 LEM391 is on. Jari started just after Christmas on the 27th and Jim has just arrived today on Thursday evening. So HoFI team is working now at full power. Really not much to tell about the propagation. The best target has been Brasil with mediocre conditions around 00 and 07 utc. R Cidade, Jundai SP 730 is the only identified one worth mentioning. All the NA files can be deleted. Most common eastcoasters in the night and a little bit more in the morning. However, no sign of Cincinnati on 1480. More news comes as we have something to tell. |      |
Hannu Asikainen (HAS) and Hannu Niilekselä (HN)
Saturday 16DEC2017-Sunday 17DEC2017
The tossed coin did not land well ... Saturday turned out to be probably the worst day of this 10 day period. Stations were heard most of the daytime hours, but the direction was again "problematic" and signals were generally more disturbed than on several other days. It will be painstaking trying to find anything of intrest from these recordings - most likely many gigabytes of useless files were created.
A quick check of the files from the nigh towards Sunday is well matching expectations. As the new CH effects arrived, everything is mixed. A few common upstate NY stations were noted at 00 UTC. Signals were weak, together with terrible EU-QRM. KFBX-970 on top with the 290 degree antenna at 03 UTC ... at 06 UTC many Colombianos with fine signals ... at the same time WEGP-1390 clear and fine, as was KRKO-1380 ...
By 07-08 UTC the signals had become covered with strong atmospheric noise ... but to my big surprise, almost crystal clear, mainly from the Midwest, again at 09 UTC. After that, listening on the background while packing, mostly atmospheric noise again.
73 HN
Thursday 14DEC2017-Friday 15DEC2017
Some change noted: while the emphasis still lies in the northwestern states, also some east coast coming along. Basically the whole North American continent audible, but generally not as good signals as on some of the previous days.
Stations getting weaker already before 13 UTC, so it was time for HAS to start packing for the evening flight from Ivalo to Helsinki. For HN still 3 days to go ...
The various effects of the Coronal Holes passing the sun's surface almost daily can clearly be heard and felt, since you do not really know if "places" are getting more quiet or more disturbed. This was again evidenced in the early night, as the mw spectrum was "all shook up". This was well evidenced at 23 UTC when all of a sudden some signals emerged. With the 335 degree antenna KBSN Moses Lake WA 1470 was coming in as a lonesome station from clear daylight. At the same time two other stations were noted with the same antenna: Harbor Light from Grenada 1400 and KLTK Minneapolis MN 1130, both with clear signals. Only a few minutes later the mw spectrum was empty again for about 40 minutes. All of the sudden LA, mostly Peruvians and Colombianos , were all over.
The moring of Friday started with LA and some CA (not much else than Cubans), slowly turning towards NA. The good thing, though, was that the more easterly signals appeared better than any of the previous days and lasted past 11 UTC. The signals were still strongest from the northwest, but the more interesting stations from the east coast and lower Midwest. By 13 UTC practically all NA-signals were gone again.
Predicting what is to come is like tossing a coin ...
73
HAS and HN
Tuesday 12DEC2017-Wednesday 13DEC2017
Days go by with the same pattern of propagation conditions - or almost.
We have not got rid of the heavy emphasis of the upper northwestern parts of the North American continent, but there was an interesting development on Tuesday in that stations from OR and WA in the upper part of the MW spectrum were heard all the way to almost 1600 UTC. Signals were exceptionally clear all afternoon, but the first reported station for HN was KUIK-1360 at 1553 UTC ! HAS had some nice encounters all afternoon.
The global K-index reached 4, which caused an odd phenomenom: the first signals the following evening were noted at around 2315 UTC. That itself would not have been a piece of news as such, but the band opened directly to the area where the signals had died only some 7 hours earlier. All the powerhouses of the Northwest were noted with quite nice signals for a while. On top of that, one the first stations identified at that time was an OR station again on 1360 AM, but instead of KUIK it was KOHU with Real Country programming. As often before, KOUU-1290 had a huge signal for some 30 minutes.
At around 0000 UTC, all of a sudden a short burst to the very easternmost US with WCYR-1400 with a nice signal for a while. After that, practically nothing until 0600 UTC when some ME-MA stations on the GY-frequencies were noted - the first interesting East Coast all week so far. However that did not last long and the rest of the day was practically useless with upper Northwest again, but with quite lousy signals all day.
Some Japanese again in the afternoon.
Sunday 10DEC2017-Monday 11DEC2017
The pattern of the conditions has remained the same: no cx during the night time hours, very slow in the morning past 07 UTC, signals getting stronger by 08 UTC with the main direction being upper west, AK and HI.
A little more variation on Monday. Newfoundland very strong already around 0730 UTC with the most common ME. It looked quite promising for a while, but never developed into anything more for the east coast or even Midwest.
The new CH disturbance arrived and swept away the more easterly stations already after 08 UTC and we were back to the usual westerly signals. However, these signals remained fairly clear until around 12 UTC and also some NM, AZ and western MEX were noted.
Around 1130 UTC also Japan opening up with quite nice signals from the most common commercial stations. AFN 1575 booming in all alone for a while
Still not much to go for this week ... no daytimers in the evening and also the awaited afternoon openings to Midwest have been totally non-existent.
Friday 08DEC2017-Saturday 09DEC2017
The 100th year of independence of the Republic of Finland needed to be celebrated in a white-tie party (HN) until 12 midnight before it was time to head for LEM390 at 6am. After a 14 h 20 minute drive we arrived at the LEM headquarters, warm and tidy ... nice to be here again.
After setting up the "tools" it was easy to note that no early signals were available, due to the effects of a CH just passing by. In the morning signals started picking up, fading in and out in the disturbance. As the direction was to the upper western parts, not much was expected. Although the signals lasted to beyond 1430 UTC, not much worth mentioning was noted.
The highlight of the day for HN, however, was the capture of the long time wanted KONA-610, becoming confirmed station #100 from the state of Washington later in the day. Time to celebrate number 100 for the second time in 2 days !
Saturday started about the same, but with a bit stronger signals. Some stations were reported (by HAS) in spite of the difficulty of the direction being still in the NW-US. For quite some time also AK and HI were booming in with terrific signals. In spite of many plans no new reporting targets have unfortunately emerged from those states.
Due to lack of any decent cx, so far nothing to report regarding other continents.
Hannu Tikkanen (HAT) and Håkan Sundman (HS)
Saturday 02DEC2017
There’s not much to say about Saturday, the listening session was short due to our departure. North America was slightly better audible for about an hour; then it was time to turn off the computers and to start finishing the cleaning of the house and packing the car. It might have been an interesting day, hard to say, but at least the usual ones from Great Lakes had also great signals. The only identification on the fly was KFJB-1230 at 0700 UTC, which still was a very mediocre TOH. The signals were nicely developing around 0730, when the systems were turned off, so possibly the following TOHs would have been more productive. But, c’est la vie.
In general the days were very equal with each other, and there was no real depth in the conditions. Thus the same common selection of graveyarders and regional channel stations used to dominate throughout the expedition. Also some real East coast conditions would have been a welcomed alternation to Canada prairies/Idaho/Wyoming/Montana direction. On the other hand, there was no real solar disturbance or major storm either, and the stations were audible for our full week, so in this sense it could have been much worse, too.
73s HS & HAT
Friday 01DEC2017
Some sort of a disturbance must have occurred, as the band went quiet for the night and for the early morning. After the worrying silent period the stations started to reappear, first a fistful of Venezuelans and then again North America. Spain was also strong, as it always happens when the North-South path is disturbed. It took a while for the conds to decide where to head for, thus e.g. WKTP-1590 peaked, before the final destination of the conds was determined: Washington/Idaho/Montana/Northern California. At times the gradeyarders once again had excellent signals; probably no use to repeat the same list here though, so let’s just add KSMA-1240.
Now it’s about time to continue with the usual closing down process of each expedition, i.e. electroluxing the house (still couldn’t find the damn Hoover), washing the floors, wiping the dust etc. The final report & summary will be written out once we’re back in the capital area on Sunday. But it’s a safe bet to say already now that we shall definitely miss the Lemmenjoki conditions: real winter with -20 degrees, occasional sunshine and lots of snow. Back to slush! (This was also a particular topic for some of our friends this week, we’ve heard.)
Thursday 30NOV2017
From the nighttime recordings KGOW-1560 could be mentioned with its’ new format, Vietnamese programming. Morning was pretty lame (lots of usual NA) and gave reason to suspect that the day was wrapped up pretty early. After all the conds concentrated towards Great Lakes, the first sign was WSBT-960 booming in alone on the frequency. Later in the afternoon the propagation focused once again towards Idaho, and the usual GY-dominants had superb signals from time to time. Finally the centre of the propagation moved a bit southward to Utah. Heard on the fly: KVSI-1450, KSOP-1370, KXQZ-1340, KTMM-1340, KNEU-1250, KWIK-1240, KEXO-1230, KCKN-1020. -And of course R Northern Star 1611 audible all of the daylight hours.
Wednesday 29NOV2017
Dinner at Kultahovi was excellent as always together with their superb and friendly service. After returning to Lemmenjoki it was time to check the band, nothing particular was noted, just Adelaide-891 until their local sunrise. A little bit later the NA gradually surfaced, and pretty soon the band was covered by them. But when you hear for instance WLQV-1500 like a local station (or almost) already at 2030 UTC, you know from experience that the chances of hearing something interesting during the evening session are disappearing. So, exactly according to this previously tested theory we monitored very good signals of the usual Great Lakes stations, instead of the much wanted ones from the more easterly part of the USA.
Radio Northern Star 1611 was identified during the morning coffee to see that the path was open. The conds after the coffee were very mixed, the Rocky Mountain aerial had a spread from Minnesota to Washington depending on the frequency. Signal level was weaker than previously and the afternoon hours were uninteresting, a short disturbance must have taken its’ toll. KVOC-1230, KART-1400, KBMW-1450, KOVC-1490 were typical examples of today’s stations. (KONA-610, KXRO-1320 and KNEU-1250 from yesterday and the day before, from the files.) The other directions are really not worthwhile to mention, Central and South America were very silent and Asia gave the standard routine of 2-3 Filipinos. Well, now they were mentioned anyways.
Tuesday 28NOV2017
Is it me, or are the conds repeating themselves? Yesterday evening: nothing. Nighttime: nothing. Daybreak, midday, afternoon: common USA and Canada, nothing interesting. Central and South America: nada, Asia: almost nada provided that Japan’s KOMO-level stations are counted as achievements. If they’re not, then Asia is also nada. Today’s reports summary: KBC Radio, Harlingen 1602.
Time for the traditional dinner at Inarin Kultahovi!
Monday 27NOV2017
To put a short story short: Sunday evening offered just a couple of very common Filipinos and a few Thai stations; from North America there were familiar stations from the Northeastern corner of USA and from the Maritime provinces, so the night was spent asleep in anticipation of the daylight hours. Signals from North America were indeed strong at times during the day, but the menu was once again too familiar mainly focusing to Idaho, Wyoming, Pacific Northwest etc. So it was not a surprise that the stations such as KWOR-1340, KBBS-1450, KOVC-1490, KDBM-1490 were dominating. In addition we spent 3-4 hours with our old friends of the landlord family, so the files recorded during the social event need to be checked later. A quick peek told that there was an opening towards Rockies in the afternoon. South America was mostly absent today, and Asia seemed to offer at least the usual Japanese stations with the continental China.
Sunday 26NOV2017
Saturday evening offered just a handful of stations strictly from the Canadian Maritime Provinces, so there was no point to continue monitoring the AM band further into the night. And the nighttime recordings confirmed the same, nothing at night either. In the morning the similar conds continued, the same Canadians together with some very common YV/HJ stations, i.e. still nothing exciting. Canadian Prairies together with the west coast power houses emerged together with the morning light, so the decision to go out to check the aerials was a very easy one. A couple of hours were thus well spent pushing through the snow to the bitter end of each aerial, trying to catch one’s breath after every 50 meters or so - quite an aerobic exercise, one could say!
Lots of Japanese big guns, some Korean (AFKN 1440) and of course a multitude of Chinese (or Taiwanese, who are we to know) had filled the band during our absence, so it was time to turn the focus to the East. It remains a mystery, if we’ll ever really thoroughly dig through these files, but it’s always nice to listen to Japanese and Korean on AM-band for a change instead of Chinese only. Ohh, and late yesterday evening we enjoyed a long hobby listening session of Adelaide-891. Nothing else from that direction, though.
Saturday 25NOV2017
LEM389 started with the familiar process; the car into the overnight train, an express dinner in a nearby Pasila hotel and finally a pleasant but quite a short evening session in the diner. Driving conditions from Rovaniemi to Lemmenjoki were almost very good with occasional snowfall only, so we arrived in Lemmenjoki in good time to rapidly set up the equipment to check the TOH at 13 UTC. Lots of common stations from the west coast direction were audible, a little bit later the strongest Japanese and a couple of Filipinos were also noted, and of course the usual Alaskans with excellent signals. Though there was nothing new to be reported from North America on such an assortment, this was a very nice start and quite an uncommon one – it’s not only once or twice we’ve heard just hiss and sputter for starters!
Antti Aaltonen (ANA) and Timo Reiniluoto (TRE)
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Wednesday 01NOV2017 – Saturday 04NOV2017 The challenges of this DXpedition were described in sufficient detail in our preliminary report. Now it’s time for a more positive approach. The propagation conditions were all the time very satisfactory, and at times quite good and exciting – at least from the point of view of a non-SDR listener. Nights offered mostly La Plata & Brazil, but some random nighttime openings towards NA were also noticed. Wednesday morning was good towards the east coast of NA and Friday morning was excellent towards WA/OR. Nothing worth mentioning was heard from other continents, thanks to the terrible QRM we suffered from between Saturday and Thursday. Here are some examples of identified stations:
The weather was gorgeous almost all the time. On most days we had to draw the curtains in order to prevent the sunshine from dazzling us. Sunshine is a ”nuisance” we have seldom suffered from at LEM. The lowest nighttime temperature reading was -19 Celsius, but during the day it was much warmer, normally between -5 and 0. And to the reading pleasure of our one and only reader (and to the irritation of other readers, if any), here are the major achievements of our DXpedition: Wednesday:
73’s, TRE & ANA Preliminary report Wednesday 01NOV2017 – Friday 03NOV2017 We have spent the week struggling with various challenges:
Stay tuned! Saturday 28OCT2017 – Tuesday 31OCT2017 Criminals always return to the scene of the crime. And also we are back, only after nine and a half months! Our concept remains unchanged. The spacious trunk and the rear seat of the BMW wagon were filled to the maximum capacity with food. And yes, we even managed to squeeze in seven NRD’s and related equipment. As a sign of our endless capability to renew ourselves we took the train to Rovaniemi instead of the usual destination Kolari. TSM and JVH had left the premises in impeccable condition. However, the guys had warned us of a major problem. And this is a Genuine Problem, not just a challenge! The band is infected by completely unbearable QRM!! The interference makes the 30 degree antenna totally useless and therefore the chances of catching anything from the Pacific islands are nil. With the exception of Hawaii, of course. During the daylight hours the QRM is strong also an all other antennas, making even NA dxing very difficult. This is the worst kind of QRM we have ever encountered, but as Finnish officers and gentlemen we try to adapt to the situation and make the best out of it. Investigations regarding the source of the QRM are ongoing and some suspects have been identified, but the iron hand of LEM law has not yet reached the culprit. As far as the reception conditions are concerned, nights have been dominated by Brazil and La Plata, and mornings/afternoons by NA from various directions. WA/OR have been strong, but on Tuesday morning also some east coast was audible. Nothing spectacular so far and it is likely that our attempts to catch something spectacular will be undermined by the QRM during the remaining days. Here are examples of stations identified so far:
Sunday:
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| LEM387 21OCT2017-28OCT2017 Teijo Mäenpää (TSM) and Juha Vehmas (JVH) | ||
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| LEM386 16SEP2017-24SEP2017 Jari Ruohomäki (JPR) and Pertti Äyräs (PÄ) | ||
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Saturday 23SEP2017 - Friday 24SEP2017 No changes. Only the most southern TA-signals on the band. It seems that the last two mornings have been quite boring. Equipment is being packed right now at 06.15utc and we should be on the road before noon. 73s JPR and PÄ Wednesday 20SEP2017 - Friday 22SEP2017 The same pattern has continued. However, there has been more La Plata than Brasil. The sharpest moments have been between 02 and 04 utc. Thursday morning has been the best one so far. We had pretty clean and strong signals towards Argentina accompanied by some ZY-stations. No signs of more northern signals. All the antennas are in good shape. We have measured them and checked those one which were not checked by TSM. And we have not noticed any unexpected interferences. LEM should be ready for the season. Sunday 17SEP2017 - Tuesday 19SEP2017 LEM386 is on. Pertti arrived to Jari´ s new residence in Kempele, just next to Oulu, on Friday evening at 18.30. Mika Mäkeläinen (MTM) joined us later in the evening. Mika was on his may to Aihkiniemi (AIH). We headed to Lemmenjoki quite early on Saturday morning and reached LEM-QTH clearly before sunset. The house was warm and clean to start LEM386. The first night was pretty boring. However, there was a peak towards Brasil and La Plata around 03.30 utc. Most probably this mediocre opening will not offer much. Monday night was even worse. Last night was the best so far. We had pretty good conditions to Brasil and La Plata from 02.30 to 03.45 utc. Stations like R Educadora MG 670, R Farroupilha RS 680, R Shalom CE 690, R Cassino RS 830, R Evangelizar PR 1060 and R Jornal do Comercio PE 1080 have been identified so far. The most common Orinoco, CA and NF-stations fade up after 03.30 utc. Maybe we have a chance to have more NA-stations later this week? We have set up and tested a new SA-antenna. Its direction is about 9 degrees towards north from the old La Plata antenna and length should be about 1200 meters. Our main purpose is to dig more stations from the lower AM band by this new antenna. Results will be given later. |
