LEM DXpedition News of 2018-2019 Season
Jari Ruohomäki (JPR)
I spent a few days in mostly sunny Lemmenjoki from late Tuesday evening till Sunday morning. Propagation was much worse than mediocre towards west. There were NA station each night and morning (except the first night), but the selection of stations seem to have been boring. Here are some examples: KPRM 870, KWAD 920, KICD 1240, KVNU 610, KROE 930 etc. Not a single station worth logging. I will not dig this kind of files more. There is no sense to use 30 hours to find one new station to report. It is better to hunt big fishes. LA did not give much more. It was very boring, too. However, I noticed one surprise: R Deus e Amor, Natal RN on 1330. This station has been listed as R Eldorado. It was heard by NA-antenna when there were not other ZY-stations audible. Maybe they have improved their equipment somehow. Also LA files will be deleted without exact digging.
Mestor will continue on LEM416.
73s JPR
Hannu Tikkanen (HAT) and Håkan Sundman (HS)
Saturday 09MAR2019
News in brief; seems that the propagation is gradually recovering from this week, but not quite yet. Lots of stations from the Great Lakes and Great Plains direction, together with a few Colombians from early morning. Currently at 0530 UTC white noise is clearly visible – when one looks out from the window. Soon we’ll start to get prepared for the driving session to Kolari railway station, but there’s still time for one or two TOHs.
Special thanks to Mika (MTM) and Jim (JMS) in Aihkiniemi, was fun to compare conditions and other relevant systems!
73s HS HAT
Friday 08MAR2019 - Saturday 09MAR2019
The morning started with promising signals from Brazil, but too soon they were replaced by dominating US stations. After a while the assortment spread out to the Prairies, so for instance KBMW-1450 had a neat signal from time to time. Nothing new this morning either. Very late afternoon was full of Thai once again, enjoyable signals before the frequencies were covered by Chinese, Indian and other more nearby stations.
If nothing magnificent happens on Saturday morning, this Friday midnight update will be our final. To summarize the week, one could say that it wasn’t exactly what we’d expect from an expedition during the sunspot minimum. The most basic NA day after day, no cx to Central nor South America, Asia yes but to identify those stations is another story…just a few Aussies, and that wraps up the package. So, looking at the trans-Atlantic direction, no North American stations to send reports to, and maybe half a dozen to South America. Another highly interesting focus area this time of the year, Australia & NZ, gave just a tiny tidbit of what could have been achieved. Comparisons with Aihkiniemi gave a conclusion not to compare, the difference seems to be fairly big, when one listens to Aussies.
This slot usually is reserved for the statement, where participants say that they’ve got huge amounts of files, and something good is bound to be found there. We would not count on that too much though.
Looking forward to the next minimum in 2030, hopefully the expedition will be more fruitful then!
Thursday 07MAR2019
Propagationwise the best morning towards North America. No need to repeat, I guess, that the palette was not very colourful; one could easily guess the station id’s on each channel without waiting for the identification. Mainly upper East Coast, Great Lakes, the Prairies…WAUB-1590, WDEP-1490, WPGG-1450, KATE-1450, WEGA-1350, KGGS-1340.
Around midday it was once again time for the daily outdoor activities in the perfect sunshine. And now around 11 UTC, we’re looking forward to early evening and hopefully something interesting!
Wednesday 06MAR2019
A mix of the East Coast, Great Lakes, the Prairies and the Rockies was the name of the game in the morning. Unfortunately no game for us, as the assortment contained only the most common ones (Is there a synonym for this saying? I have to figure it out for the next update). But in the very late afternoon / early evening, finally, there was a nice x-band opening to Aussies, during which e.g. Vision Christian Radio was heard on a couple of their frequencies, 1611 being the strongest. These signals were stronger than usually on x-band and lasted a bit longer; luckily so, because HAT experienced some technical issues with the receiving equipment exactly, when the stations surfaced…
Tuesday 05MAR2019
Evening offered a tiny Busselton sunrise cx peak, when 1269 was heard together with 1152. We had noticed already earlier during the week that 1152 broadcasts ABC programming instead of useless BBC WS, at least when we had been listening to it. -But nothing else to mention from the evening.
Monday 04MAR2019 - Tuesday 05MAR2019
Only very modest trans-Atlantic improvement, and the emphasis indeed is in the words “very modest”. Monday evening: some Thai with a few Filipinos, of course lots of China and such. Tuesday morning: a short opening mainly towards Great Lakes, during which only the most usual stations were heard well for about an hour. Prior to the disappearance of the signals around 0530 UTC English was replaced by Spanish originating mainly from Colombia. Late afternoon was spent with one of the hosts, so we don’t have much knowledge what would have been audible from Asia – but as far as we know, lots of general stuff from the width of the whole Far East was there jamming the channels, when we finally started the recording.
We’ve kept us entertained by reading the online log and of the spectacular stations our colleagues have logged during this sunspot minimum era. Strolling in the forest checking the aerials has been the favourite outdoor pastime, as the band has been empty for about 8 hours on both sides of the midday.
But the highlight of course was the traditional dinner in Hotel Kultahovi on Monday evening! We were taken by surprise to notice that all the tables were reserved, but luckily we got the seating on the cabinet side. Inari seems to be full of tourists, who want to enjoy of the visual wonder of the northern lights - we must be the sole exceptions regarding the desire to see this phenomenon!
Saturday 02MAR2019 - Monday 04MAR2019
Expedition was scheduled to slightly extraordinary late time due to work related issues, but early March is also supposed to offer highly interesting propagation to various directions due to sharp sunrise and sunset effects. As MTM and JMS were travelling to Aihkiniemi on the same train, we had a very pleasant Friday evening gettogether in the diner. After a breakfast in Rovaniemi the teams split heading for the destinations of their own. Driving conditions could not have been any better: excellent sunshine, dry asphalt, no reindeer nor traffic towards our direction.
Knowing the consequences of the current CH there was no rush to start listening. Thus normal household duties were carried out in the beginning; out with the ashes from the oven, in with the equipment, smashing the ice berg from in front of the woodshed with an ax etc.
If the conditions were perfect for driving, that’s about all regarding the title. Saturday afternoon offered useless Asian stations without any particular direction of interest, and the night time recordings of Sunday gave only some weak signals from Brazil. Sunday morning contained a short opening with the most common powerhouse stations around Rockies and Great Lakes. The only funny exception was an old acquaintance, daytimer KLNG Council Bluffs IA 1560, which seemed to have forgotten to turn off the transmitter for the night, as it was heard there, too. Other than that: nada.
Some light disturbance must have taken place during the day light hours of Sunday, because the Asia afternoon was even worse than that of Saturday. The following night and Monday morning were no better, the other way around. The few stations from Rockies are already disappearing, as this update is written after 05 hrs.
But one has to remember to keep up the optimism. Even if this day was worse than yesterday, it probably still was better than tomorrow!
Jarmo Patala (JP) and Vesa-Jussi Rinkinen (VJR)
Saturday 22FEB2019
Friday-Saturday night: The first NA stations appeared at 2345 and the signals were strengthening steadily until the peak at 0350. Then a small gap but the sunrise after 6 AM boosted the signals again. Now La Plata and Brazil played a minor role. NA signals were still strong at 07 UTC when we had to unplug our receivers.
Based on North American signal strengths we rank Saturday morning within the best 3 days. As our file investigation proceeds we can say later which was the most productive day.
Now it's time to say big thanks to the LEM pool and start our way home. We hope the next crew, Team Korhonen, will enjoy their week!
73 JP & VJR
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Thursday 21FEB2019 - Friday 22FEB2019
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Thursday 21.2 offered NA signals all night long, and also nice La Plata signals appeared before the sunrise. After the 6 AM peak, North American signals vanished and we thought that was all for today. But we were luckily wrong. As we returned to the QTH from antenna checking tour, conditions opened towards Northwest US around 10-12 UTC. Thanks to the recent solar x-ray eruption the stations including most Asians became wiped out from the band around 14 UTC. Soon after this event Asians started to rise again, Japanese at the head, then followed by Filipinos. 1730-1900 we caught some South Australians which were new for both of us: 1125 5MU Murray Bridge and 1242 5AU Port Augusta. K-index had risen to 3 on Thursay-Friday night so we didn't expect very much from the following night. But the sunrise changed the game again. Typical NA peak was just before the sunrise, then a slight fade-out, and after 08 UTC stations from Idaho, Utah and also California came out of the noise, meaning the 336 degree wire was the most useful antenna today. |  |
All in all we would rate Friday as the 3rd best day of our expedition.
 Thursday: Super tender sous vide sirloin steak, red wine sauce and veggies. |
 As Friday dinner The Love River Canteen offered cauliflower with melted butter and home made meatballs with rosemary-garlic tomato sauce. (Our special thanks, hugs and kisses go to Eija!!) |
Monday 18FEB2019 - Wednesday 20FEB2019
"On Monday the sausages were made, on Tuesday the sticks were whittled", says an old Finnish child lore.
So there is not very much to report from Monday and Tuesday. NA conditions were almost non-existent. Maybe the highlight of the day was RNE5 local breaks now as early as 0625 and nice India opening with clear station IDs at 1500.
Wednesday night followed the same pattern than the past two days. NA was almost silent and some La Plata stations and Brazilians in the night. But 20 minutes before sunrise the situation started to change. Many NA stations from the East Coast and from the Lakes area rose from the noise. On AM hours there were a lot of stations from all over the US. The last west coast stations vanished after 1400. Wednesday has been clearly our best day so far!
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JP had success with Oceania, even we know the wire does not work properly. He was able to catch the ID from Newstalk ZB 1035 at 1300.
 Monday: Lamb stew with sweet potato purée |
 Tuesday: Yaan Kraw Red Curry Chicken Soup |
Saturday 16FEB2019 - Sunday 17FEB2019
LEM412 crew JP and VJR took to the road from Hyvinkää on Friday at 0740 UTC. We had an overnight stay in Kittilä and finally we arrived to LEM QTH before 1000 UTC on Saturday.
NA conditions seems to improve. Already on Saturday afternoon many midwest and westcoast dominants were audible. Saturday-Sunday night was interested indeed. Stations from Brazil, La Plata and Puerto Rico offered nice signals also on the lower part of the AM band. By examining Jaguar's YAS log and the JIX curve we can see that East coast antennas gave strongest signals between 01-05 UTC and west coast antennas 02-06 UTC. Last NA stations faded out after 09 UTC. There were no aftenoon NA conditions today.
Antennas (except Pacific wire) are all working well.
 Saturday's welcoming dinner: Pike perch in saffron-butter sauce |
|  Sunday special: Sous vide tarragon chicken with parma ham and creamy funnel chanterelle sauce |
Hannu Niilekselä (HN) and Pertti Äyräs (PÄ)
Wednesday 13FEB2019 - Saturday 16FEB2019
The LEM411 story finds its place in the front row of the sad ones. Not that there would not have been disastrous conditions for 2 weeks in the earlier years. But the fact that this happens in the midst of what we believe to be the minimum year in the 11 year solar cycle is something a bit hard to understand. In addition, the general geomagnetic indecies were not that awful either. As also the second week of the LEM 410 crew before us was the practically the same, it extends the length of the “almost dead” period to 3 weeks…
When in more trubulent times we experience strong and/or frequent CME´s , not to even mention proton events, it is clear that the east-west path can be totally cut out for long periods. I (HN) have been in Lemmenjoki once when in two weeks time not a single transatlantic station was audible…but in a minimum year…
Still, every day at some point of time we heard one or two North American stations, and in two-three occasions for about 1-2 hours there was a little opening with some more stations, but never with good signals. It was a miracle that in those instances we were able to log a couple of stations never before heard in Finland.
Latin America was present daily with poor to moderate conditions. According to PÄ, listening live and after some quick checks of the recordings, no pinpoint openings were noted. Rather, the stations you would expect to hear were there from day to day. Still, with the mere amount of hours recorded, there is always a chance for finding something of interest, but it will take a lot of effort. Regarding NA, all recordings were cleared “on the spot”.
Pertti left for Oulu on Friday. On Saturday morning there was some promise for improvement as NA stations were still somewhat audible, as I hit the big switch for LEM411.
Maybe next time will be better…
73 HN & PÄ
Friday 08FEB2019 - Tuesday 12FEB2019
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We ended our story 5 days ago assuming that it cannot get worse than this…oh yes, sure it can. There has been no improvement in NA direction. CA/SA has kept about the same – some nice signals in the night, but everything dying out already before our local sunrise. The solar wind has been only moderate, but the CH effects have left no room for the cx to appear. All other solar data has been pretty much decent – normally producing varying conditions – but the reason for no-cx may be that for some odd reason the Polar A index has kept mostly around 20. We have found no correlation between weather and radio cx. At first we thought that also the cx were frozen. But as weather has significantly improved –today it was a sunny day with -7 C- there is no such development with the cx. So we have concentrated in cleaning the disks after each night and listening to recordings from past expedidions. In addition, our amplifiers have been checked and loose transistors welded. Aslak has taken care of our antenna trails with his ski-doo, lifted up any low hanging wires (not much work there, he reported) and at the same dropped any snow down. So, we are all set for improving reception… |
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Saturday 02FEB2019 - Thursday 07FEB2019
Pertti arrived on Saturday after having spent the night “warming up” at JPR´s place in Oulu. Hannu warmed himself up by taking a straight 14 hour drive on Sunday. Warming up was definitely needed, as on Monday morning it was “way below” -40, both C and F degrees.
Also the conditions were frozen. Today, Thursday it is only -20 C, but the cx are still frozen, even if the geomagnetic indices are not totally bad. Frozen is to be read “disastrous”, since there has been nothing (except for a couple most common Brazilians) in the evening. Only some weak Latin American and a couple Puerto Rican stations some nights, with one morning that has offered any meaningful NA cx. This was Wednesday, as NA was somewhat audible for about 1,5 hours. The good about it was that it swept about the East Coast. Otherwise it has been practically dead, also at around sunrise, when the cx should peak. Every day we have told ourselves that it cannot get any worse than this, but somehow it has.
Earlier in the week Paragyayan stations were noted and today (Thursday) northern parts of Latin America were fairly well audible 03-06 UTC. Newfoundland opened for a 10 minute period around 06 UTC, but then everything died out (froze ?) again already before our local sunrise and nothing has been audible all day. Even Asia started opening up only after 14 UTC. Who knows about all those Chinese and Thai signals …
It cannot get worse than this…
Ilpo Parviainen (IPA), Jarmo Havukunnas (JHU)
Thursday 24JAN2014 - Saturday 02FEB2019
On Thursday the 24th the cx took sudden turn to worse. The next three days we had small fade-ups of NA signals in the evening (for app. 15-30 minutes) and same again at the sunrise (30-45 minutes). Needless to say that we didn´t make any catches worth mentioning.
However, we did got decent and interesting cx to Brazil on the 25th and 26th.
Asia cx stayed moderate (mostly China, India and of course bandfull of Iran).
On the 27th and 28th cx started slowly to get better. Some Colombians in the sunrise and some NA, but not yet anything new for us.
The 28th was really promising. At sunrise some semi-nice NA signals (WNYC-820, WGUY-1230, WVOL-1470) and Caribbean/Colombia was also strong. And we got significant improvement on Asia cx. Japan, Korea, Philippines and Thailand joined the party, however China was still on the steering wheel.
The 29th was yet another disappointment. The cx took considerable step back, even though some yet familiar catches were made (WTAB-1370, WKTP-1590). At night decent cx to PR. Asia cx was again good. Lots of nice Chinese catches were made.
The next evening started promisingly (WWBC-150 with huge signal) but stations faded out pretty quickly and we faced yet another pretty disappointing sunrise cx on the 30th.
With the cx of the 22nd, the 31st we had the best NA-cx of LEM410. Sunrise cx was very interesting (WTAG-580, WZAB-880) and there´s actually some kind of hope to find some new ones for us from the discs. However the cx died soon after sunrise and there was no afternoon cx to NA. China still coming strong with others.
The February started very promisingly with nice NA signals before 21 utc. However yet again the cx died very soon, this time after reaching Maine. So, nothing there either for us. At night some nice La Plata signals, then some NA but the band died before sunrise.
The NA cx stayed the whole two weeks period at the East Coast, the westernmost (dx-wise interesting) signals coming from Minnesota. Of course powerful dominants like KOMO etc was heard almost daily when NA stations were audible. No really afternoon cx at any day - on some days we got about half an hour worth of dominants fading in and out, but that was just a waste of discspace.
In all, some nice NA catches were made, but at best we had about two hours a day NA cx worth listening to. There are a lot of nice China recordings and some decent SA recordings to go through, so we are not very disappointed about the results but on the other hand this wasn´t exactly what we expected of this two weeks minumum season expedition.
73´s
IPA & JHU
Saturday 19JAN2019 - Wednesday 23JAN2019
The senior members of Team Lurx arrived back to Lemmenjoki after couple of years voluntary exile at Savukoski. The reception was little bit freezier than we expected; -36,9 degrees was lowest measured outside temperature on Sunday.
The first couple of days conditions have been variable. NA audible basically "whole day" but cx's really worth listening to only approximately two hours per day. Continent- and whole bandwidth-wide selection of SA-stations with some Caribbeans between 21-07 utc.No Asia-cx worth mentioning.
Best loggings so far; WROW-590, WVMT-620, WBMQ-630, CJBQ-800, KEYH-850, WMNI-920, WERC-960, WFIR-960, WISK-990, WCSZ-1070, WSFC-1240, WMTR-1250, KFRU-1400, KVTO-1400, WKCW-1420, WDUR-1490, WMLM-1520, WHGT-1590, WFAB-890, R Cultura de Sergipe-670, R Municipalista de Botucatu-1240.
Foods and drinks; yes, both.
Jopi Nyman (JJN), Jussi Suokas (JUS) and Hucca (the DX-wolf)
Friday 18JAN2019
This is LEM409 howling off. A dull dominant-infested day today that started with Colombians and lasted no later than 11 utc. At one point heavy radiotelephone interference in Russian on 1400 AM was noticed. As it is clear that disturbing signals in the north never come from Russia, it is most probable that it was Norwegians who were behind this scheme and just used Russian as their code language.
Final delight: reindeer tenderloin, potato purée, and red wine and cranberry reduction served with Mezzo Monte Valpolicella Ripasso, followed with squeaky cheese and cranberry jam in a true Lapland fashion. Great.
Once again, our humble thanks to our regular readership, especially – and not to reveal their true identity - the culinary, equestrian and dibi reader for your comments and suggestions.
73s
Hucca team
Wednesday 16JAN2019 - Thursday 17JAN2019
The high point of yesterday was Wolf Point, but the real dxing ended soon after 9 utc when the signals rapidly evaporated in the atmosphere. Today was much better conditionwise, and the morning hours offered us Cubans and some much wanted East Coasters like WFLF 540 and WLIS 1420.
Around noon, however, the band was quite empty again. The afternoon, like yesterday as well, was much better spent socializing with our hosts and neighbours Jouni-Ilmari and Aslak.
Wednesdays’s meal: slow-cooked bbq pork and gratin de pommes de terre texmex with Regolo Sartori
Thursday’s meal: yellow saffron and orange flavoured fish soup with Steininger Riesling
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SDRs have revolutionized Dxing but we do expect some further software development to reach the next level in this hobby. In particular, tools or apps such as a solar wind shield, a sunspot blotter and a coronal hole filler would be really helpful add-ons. |
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Monday 14JAN2019 - Tuesday 15JAN2019
No mind-blowing DX news from our neck of the woods. Last night was disturbed, but otherwise there has been a steady flow of NA signals the past two days with few special moments though, as the conditions have quickly shifted to the same selection of west coasters on both days. The best stations have been KXYZ 1320, KRWB 1410, KKXL 1440 and KTRP 1450 that is alive again.
Recent TOH experiences have inspired us to develop a new, post-Einsteinian theory of time. Since time is relative, the top of the hour should not be where it is now: if it were set at 11 past or so in a more flexible manner the present deep fading during the legal identifications wouldn’t be such a nuisance. We have already tweeted the omnipotent President Trump on this most important matter and are preparing to meet our local EU representative as well.
On both days we have also tried to enjoy the sensation of total freedom. The Finnish poet Aaro Hellaakoski once wrote that it’s wading in deep snow that will make you free because following a road makes you a mere slave of the road. We don’t know how elated the old poet may have been but for us the elation of wading in the forest after three days of uninterupted new snow somehow only relates to the sensation of aching hips and knees.
| Monday’s meal: (Not so) poor man’s jambalaya and Staropramen lager Tuesday’s meal: Un surtido variado de tapas de España y Laponia, Lebanese meat balls, mint raita and Matua Pinot noir The picture shows our DX Wolf Hucca enjoying his well-deserved meal. |
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Saturday 12JAN2019 - Sunday 13JAN2019
LEM 409 has howled on. The expedition started slowly with the usual first-day hassles, but nothing important was surely missed as the TA signals quickly deteriorated after 12 utc. Some strong Filipinos at 20 utc, a selection of LA and PR (with a shot of Cocoa) at night and western NA starting later in the morning. 1060 Radio Unica with the Coyote howling spot and a following howl-back definitely the highlight of the day, but also KVOI found after Jim’s tip, KTYM, KROE, KGIM, KDSJ etc please us.
The opening meal was a very spicy white fish dish in Veracruz style served with Black Tie Riesling/Pinot Gris, and Sunday’s delight a great L-A-M-B, goat cheese potatoes and red wine reduction with an enjoyable BIN55 Shiraz from Australia. (Nam!/ed.)
Jim Solatie (JMS), Jari Ruohomäki (JPR) and Mocca (DX Sniffer)
Saturday 12JAN2019
| We have to send a short extra update as we met a massive Peru invasion around 00 utc. This will be fun! As you can see, Uhtua Wolves have arrived and met DX Sniffer Mocca. 73s HoFi team |  |
Monday 07JAN2019 - Friday 11JAN2019
CH arrived on the 4th of Jan after which conditions have been much more boring than last week. However, there has been only one useless day. It was the 7th of Jan; a famous Finnish DXer would describe that day like "bandilla enemmän kohinaa kuin signaalia" or "ei näill'ä keleillä herrojen huonetta rakenneta". Conditions of the other days have been mainly towards NA. After several hours of deep silence stations have suddenly appeared to the band with huge strength. Unfortunately the selection of stations has been mainly boring. But, of course, we have found some surprises. One of them was an interfered nice 3-hour-opening to Arizona giving, for example, KVOI 1030, KTAN 1420, KUAZ 1550, KOFA 1320 and KTAR 620. Puerto Rico has suprised also this week around 22utc. Finally on the 8th we had nice ZY-signals mixed with La Plata. We do not remember so have so poor LA conditions around New Year´s Eve before. We will remember LEM408 of huge amount of NA-files.
Right now we are cleaning the house and checking the band at 2230utc. Rádio Difusora Vale de Curu CE 1559.820 and WRRD 1510 are strong. However, only a handful of the brasilian dominants on the band and some most common NA.
LEM408 is signing off. We can clearly hear the pained howling of the Uhtua Wolves from Saariselkä. Welcome and good luck!
73s
The HoFi team
Friday 04JAN2019 - Sunday 06JAN2019
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CH902 made the band really interesting by providing a daytimer opening from Maine to Western New York. The next morning we had nice signals for 15 minutes from South Brazilian upper band stations like Radio Encantado 1580 and Radio Clube Joinville 1590. Then everything was gone for a while, until Sunday morning, which offered some nice stations from Arizona. Since the snow is getting more difficult to walk on (actually walk in), we needed to call for some help in checking the antennas. Here you can see Pia at the end of the 300 degree beverage antenna. And of course some real beverages needed to be enjoyed afterwards. 73s Jim, Pia and Mocca |  |
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Wednesday 02JAN2019 - Thursday 03JAN2019
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Here is a short summary of the first week. We have focused almost totally to North-America. There is a simple reason to this orientation: AM band has had hardly any LA-signals. La Plata, Chile and Brasil have been absent. The only ZY-station identified so far is R Ingazeira 1470. So there is at least one AM station left. There has been a lot of work with NA each day. Usual stations have faded up before 21utc on several ocons. However, we have not met any specific eastcoast daytimer conditions. Puerto Rico and even Orinoco have been audible surprisingly early in the evening. The best openings have been towards the Great Plains, the Rocky Mountains and the most western states. Some stations from the Mountains, like KOUU 1290, have been strong even before 23utc. Gallup-antenna to 320 degrees has been in continuous use till 15utc most days. We have also noticed nice signals from WA-OR even till 16utc on three days at least. There should be a chance to find BC-stations on graveyards as well. Unfortunately we have found less than a handful interesting Mexicans. |
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All in all, we have one week to go and LEM408 is already a success regarding NA. Here are some examples of the identified stations: KBOW 550, KOJM 610, KNDY 1570, KHFX 1140, KCLX 1140, KZMQ 1140, KYOZ 1330, KHIL 1250, KOGO 600, KFLN 960.
73s The HoFi team
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Sunday 30DEC2018 - Tuesday 01JAN2019
Happy New Year 2019!
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Our traditional New Year Eve’s dinner was traditional reindeer stew called Poronkäristys (made 50 % from rump steak ja 50 % from smoked flank steak) with mashed Puikula potatoes. The best poronkäristys ever, prepared by our local chefs Aslak and Minna. Jari and Jim on the other hand took care of the dessert: Finnish squeaky cheese with cloudberries, enjoyed with ’a few’ glasses of Chateau du Tariquet’s Bas-Armagnac.
PS. NA continues almost nonstop.
PPS. With this sound clip from KDYL 1060 we would like to encourage the next dx-crew to start preparing mentally. It is still 12 days to go, but be ready to meet some true Coyotes up here in the wilderness.
Wednesday 26DEC2018 - Saturday 29DEC2018
Greetings from Lemmenjoki! Light snow (30 cm) and comfortable temperatures (-5 to -15 C).
We arrived on the evening of the 26th and it has been now three days with almost non stop NA DX. Stations start to appear well before 21 utc and continue till 15 utc. Some Vancouver giants (1410 and 1470 AM) were audible yesterday until 18 hours utc. And when New Foundland surfaces before 19 hours, NA is on almost non stop.
CH 901 did not break the conditions, but instead gave a very nice boost.
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Hannu Niilekselä (HN) and Hannu Asikainen (HAS) 08-15DEC2018
Wednesday 19DEC2018 - Saturday 22DEC2018
The expected major change in the direction of the conditions never occurred - unfortunately… The solar wind started increasing again and reception remained best mostly from the upper north western corner of the U.S., each day forward even more so.
In this light, listening live, there is not much else to report than the fact that in some hours, in spite of “bad conditions”, at some points the signals could still be extremely clear and enjoyable.
Summing up the two weeks:
- On the bright side: stations audible every single day and on most days in some periods of the day with truly enjoyable signals
- On the darker side: it is incredible how little change there was in two weeks - almost the same selection of stations from day to day, and unfortunately from a direction with little chances for anything new.
Recordings will continue all Christmas until the LEM 408 crew will take charge - most likely on the second day of Christmas.
73 HN
Sunday 16DEC2018 - Tuesday 18DEC2018
Not much change - unfortunately. Tiny openings in the early evening hours, but no real daytimers noted, just dominants with daytime powers on, way out from clear sunsine. This is quite typical especially for the mid-winter months when the light is low everywhere on the northern hemisphere.
Night time cx have been totally useless, some isolated stations every now and then, but weak and interfered. The first hour with meaningful signals is usually 08UTC and the more westerly areas start booming in. You can hear Cuba and Seattle with the same antenna on the same frequency, but still there is hardly anything else in between on other frequencies.
Especially I have been missing the wonderful afternoon openings to the mid-west, which in many years has been the salt and sugar of mid-winter NA-DXing.
In the beginning of this 2 week expedition, on some days California was quite nicely present, together with north-western Mexico. But it seems that the only stations left are those on both sides of the U.S.- Canadian border. Those signals have at times been unbelievably strong and clear. In this light it is interesting how difficult it has been to hear any of the remaining stations in British Columbia on the graveyard frequencies.
This autumn the on-line-logs both in Finland and Norway have been full of fine and truly surprising stations. It seems that all of that has come to an end, at least for a while. This all is of course due to the relatively unstable solar wind. As in the first months of this season we experienced quite long periods of stable, undisturbed conditions, all of that seems to be gone now. This is somewhat surprising as we are in midst of a solar minimum.
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But still, Lemmenjoki is a paradise … in addition to the luxury accommodation Aslak has taken good care of maintaining a 1,6 km ski-track in shape. Also with the weather co-operating it has been a bonus to be able to ski some 10 km every day. |
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Thursday 13DEC2018-Saturday 15DEC2018
Thursday and Friday passed by with practically the same pattern: signals gained strength only around 08UTC and soon they were strongest from West Coast again.
At times very clear and audible all the way to 16UTC, but there was nothing terrific about the stations, pretty much the same every day from a direction that has been emptied out already a long time ago.
There have been some isolated openings to the more Eastern parts during the week, but only today Saturday 15th was the first day with notable improvement. Signals all the way from 2045UTC to the afternoon, something notable also during the darkest hours of the night. However, listening live, it seemed that there was no reach to the more southern parts of the East Coast. Recordings will show.
Tonight is the last chance for HaS, as he will be leaving tomorrow morning. For me (HN) there will be another week, hopefully with more variable conditions. Only a few new stations on top of the 2400 so far is not really much considering that altogether earlier this season at AIH, KONG and LEM about 100 stations new-to-me have been reported.
73 HAS&HN
Saturday 08DEC2018 - Wednesday 12DEC2018
The expedition started with high winds - however only solar… which has been well noted during the first 4 full days of listening.
There was a little opening to the eastern parts on Sunday morning, but there after it has been only far west. Even if the solar wind has remained high for several days (showing some decline only today Wednesday), the signals have been quite clear, even if very unstable.
On Monday and Tuesday evenings the earliest signals noted have been around 22 UTC, opening directly to the full daylight of the West Coast with stations like KXET-1130, KOUU-1290, KKMO-1360, CFTE-1410 and KGA-1510. But these are not a specific joy…
Afternoons have provided with chances for new station, although from this direction finding one requires a fair amount of efforts !
So, we are waiting for some change…
Antti Aaltonen (ANA) and Timo Reiniluoto (TRE)
Wednesday 05DEC2018 – Saturday 08DEC2018
From Wednesday onwards we had very nice conditions: first some snowfall and after that temperatures falling to close to -20 degrees. Truly beautiful compared to the dark, wet and dull landscape we had to endure in the beginning of our stay in Lemmenjoki!
On the other hand, the cx remained dull to the very end of our trip. Nighttime conditions were non-existent. Friday afternoon provided us with nice signals from the Midwest and the west coast, but it was difficult to find anything interesting.
All our hopes for better cx were in vain: on Saturday the cx hit rock bottom. Practically nothing audible from any direction. This gave us plenty of time to clean the house thoroughly, allowing HN and HAS to enter a shiny and fresh QTH.
On Independence Day we arranged the traditional military parade of two reserve officers right outside the LEM-QTH. We are sure all inhabitants of the area appreciated this and made them feel more secure.
Here are examples of identified stations:
- KPHI 1130
- KLOK 1170
- KMHL 1400
- KTCT 1050
- KOEL 950
- AIR Bengaluru 612
- RNE-5 Ciudad Real 1305 local px, very strong
- AIR Siliguri 711
Wednesday:
- whitefish tartar and ”skärgårdsbröd”
- lamb tenderloin with Jerusalem artichoke risotto
- blueberry foam
- Remelluri Reserva 2011 (Rioja Alavesa)
- traditional LEM-salad
- reindeer tenderloin with oven roasted vegetables, feta cheese and madeira sauce
- traditional Finnish squeaky cheese with jam and vanilla sauce
- Orin Swift Abstract 2015 (Napa)
- Blandy’s Santa Luzia Madeira
- cucumber-yogurt soup
- duck breast with teriyaki sauce; quinoa, avocado and sweet potato timbale
- selection of cheeses and jams
- Finca Ferrer Colección 1310 mts. Block A1 Pinot Noir 2015 (Tupungato, Valle de Uco, Argentina)
This is LEM406 signing off. Dear Reader there in Uhtua, thank you for your kind attention.
73’s,
TRE & ANA
Saturday 01DEC2018 – Tuesday 04DEC2018
We are back at Lemmenjoki, faithful to our concept of analog receivers (we have seven of them) and excellent cooking.
On our way to Lemmenjoki we enjoyed a tasty breakfast at the student apartment of ANA’s daughter in Rovaniemi. After that it was time for two hours of hectic shopping (over EUR 400 worth of groceries). We took the eastern route via Sodankylä and after having a wonderful late lunch at Restaurant Aanaar in Inari we finally arrived at LEM headquarters at 6.15 p.m.
You may be interested to know more about the conditions. Well, here you go: temperatures between +1 and -6 degrees, cloudy and very little snow.
On the AM band the conditions have been exactly as expected: awful! We realized well in advance that we had picked the wrong week. Therefore, we are not really disappointed because we knew what our fate would be. Very little improvement is expected before we have to leave on Saturday. As we always look on the bright side, we are truly happy that there will be so much less recordings to go through at home and we will be able to concentrate on something more productive.
During the first night and morning some fairly decent La Plata and US west coast, but after that the cx have deteriorated each day.
Here are examples of stations identified so far:
- KARI 550
- KVMI 1270
- KBAM 1270
- Rádio Liberal, Belém 900
- AM1420 Villa Martelli 1420
- XELBL 1350
- RNE5 Ávila 1098 local px, very strong
When the cx fail you, there must be something else to do. Fortunately we share a common passion for cooking! Below is a list of things the coronal holes did not ruin:
Sunday:
- traditional Lemmenjoki salad
- Bahia-style Moqueca prawn stew
- chocolate mousse with ”Pätkis” (a Finnish mint chocolate candy)
- Carl Loewen Riesling Quant 2017
- Red Leaf Icewine Vidal 2015 (VQA Niagara Peninsula)
- Bresaola, oven tomatoes and buffalo mozzarella salad with mustard dressing
- smoked salmon chowder
- Asian pancakes
- Domaine Laroche Chablis Premier Cru Les Vaudevey 2016
- Red Leaf Icewine Vidal 2015 (VQA Niagara Peninsula)
- carrot, turmeric and ginger soup with cumin roasted chickpeas
- pork neck with homemade kimchi
- ChocoMe cranberry chocolate
- Joseph Drouhin Rully 2015
Juha Vehmas (JVH) and Teijo Mäenpää (TSM)
Thursday 22NOV2018 - Saturday 24NOV2018
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LEM405 cx were declining day by day thanks to some odd and rare ionospheric surprises: Slight coronal hole 895 disturbance hitting our planet turned to a “rare wave” in earth´s magnetic field making magnetometers around the Arctic Circle shake, and so were shaking the MW cx too. Especially Friday 23rd morning was quite lousy, but then we were pleased by sunny daylight hours and Marshalls Island 1098. In the late afternoon a real blizzard turned all forecasts again. We got 20 cm of snow to the bare ground, and early birds rising to the trans-Atlantic MW band: nice Brazilian top around 21z and then strong NA. Saturday morning offered amazing utility opening to the US. WSPR beacons are transmitters of amateur radio operators using K1JT's MEPT_JT digital mode to probe radio frequency propagation conditions using very low power (QRP/QRPp) transmissions on 474 kHz. TSM catch these stations 20 pieces from US, one from Alaska and one from Hawaii. Transmission power of these varies only from 0,5 to 2 watts. Already from Perseus files have found two more NDB beacons (frequencies about 300-500 kHz) from US and more will come. All these have never before received in Europe. Files from night time could maybe offer more surprises from China, Japan and Thailand. Just in the beginning of the Friday snowstorm our local 911 Welding Rescue Company arrived in all secret from the dark and did the job by the balun box: The broken connection of the 335° PST-wire got a new socket and the mystery of the break of this antenna was resolved. 73s JVH and TSM |
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Saturday 17NOV2018 - Wednesday 21NOV2018
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The Tampere origin duo was warmly welcomed by the HQ hot soapstone fireplace. Ionospheric conditions for our dx week 47 were predicted to be good for MW DXing. First four nights have the same main story beginning with early night Brazilians and continuing all night long with also La Plata on the band and NA especially in the mornings. On Monday 19th SA cx lasted to 08z and on Tue 20th after 07z, but after coronal hole 894 sweep in the late Tuesday hours with some aurora borealis SA stations vanished as early as 05z. NA was strong on Sunday ante meridiem, but quite lousy on Wed 21st. Hawaii has offered some nice basic stations. So far Brazilian and Argentinian stations have been in the main role each day. Radio Morena, Guayaquil 640 can be described as an exceptional catch among Buenos Aires area, Uruguay and Sâo Paulo area stations from directions 240 to 250 degrees. So far best utility stations are Navtex-signals from Japan, Thailand, India, Malesia and Indonesia. And nice beacons from Puerto Rico and Bahamas. Some new NDB’s from Canada and International waters too. In the antenna forest some field service have been done removing dead wood leaning to the line and so ensuring the support and height of the wire, also with some maintenance of waterproof connections in the beverage endings. The scenery in Lemmenjoki is still snowless. Hiking in the wilderness have been a great fun and welcomed counterweight for the anxious sitting by the RX in the QTH. Some loggings have been already been fed to the MW-list direct from the Jaguar and will be added to the OLL as soon as the macro system or so will be able to do the data transfer job. |
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Juhani Korhonen (HJK) and Jari Korhonen (JJK)
According to the fridge logbook Korhonen cousins heated the HQ during the week 46 instead of earlier planned week 45.
Jim Solatie (JMS) and Jari Ruohomäki (JPR)
Mestor will work next week(s) before the alive expedition by the Korhonen cousins.
73s JPR
Jari Ruohomäki (JPR)
Saturday 27OCT2018
LEM402 is signing off. I am on the way back to Oulu in Tervola. Yesterday offered again pretty good propagation to western NA. But today all the NA-signals disappeared in the morning after 06 utc. This is the first day this week when AM band is empty so early in the morning.
All in all, I was surprised to have such clear NA-signals every day. I have not had WA-OR-CA conditions for five years or so.
73s JPR
Friday 26OCT2018
The same pattern has continued on LEM402. No specific conditions to Latin America. Also NA east coast has been quite quiet. But the western parts have been pretty good during the daylight hours even till 14utc. Especially the 24th was interesting. Westcoast was followed by huge signals from Alaska and Hawaii till 15utc.
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Saturday 20OCT2018-Wednesday 24OCT2018
LEM402 has been on since Saturday the 20th of October. Nice to be here again. Weather conditions have been great. Mostly sunny and temps around 0. There is no snow yet, but a minor snowstorm will hit this area on Thursaday.
Here are the highlights so far:
1. Saturday, the 20th, was good towards NA. Night was boring, but morning and night were better. The whole continent was open which did not make this easy. Westcoasters were audible till 14utc.
2. Pretty good LA opening on Sunday morning 05 to 08utc. Stations from the West Indies to Orinoco and the Andes faded in and out.However, there was a lot of interference from dominant NA-stations. Therefore I had to use 264 antenna. Radio Latina, Lima 990, for instance, dominated the frequency for almost two hours.
???
?
Jari Ruohomäki (JPR) and Jim Solatie (JMS)
Mestor will continue LEM-season from the 10th of September.
73s JPR
Jari Ruohomäki (JPR)
Greetings from Lemmenjoki!
The new dx-season has started in Lemmenjoki. Perfect weather conditions: sunny sky and temps from 15 to 19 degrees. Not so much to tell about the propagation. However, this morning the 8th of September seems to have been pretty good towards La Plata and southern brasil around 03 utc, but I have not had time to check the files. For example, La Voz de Artigas 1180 was strong.
I will drive back to Kempele tomorrow in the morning. So there will not be more news this time.
73s JPR