Friday 07FEB2020
The Wisdom of the Day from your reader-supported listening station:
Today's minimum is yesterday's maximum. This is Pastor Wolf and Pastor Wolf howling off.
Yesterday's menu: our all-time favorite gala dinner:
Fillet of lamb with coronal hole herbs, garlicky goat cheese potatoes with protons, and Aurora's cranberry and red wine reduction with Briego Vendimia Seleccionda (Ribera del Duero).
And finally tonight: Curried chicken, naan bread and rice served with Moritz lager from Barcelona and the last bottle of Corona beer from Ivalo.
Thank you again, our three dear readers!
73s
JJN and JUS
Thursday 06FEB2020
Monday 03FEB2020 - Wednesday 05FEB2020
On Wednesday the conditions finally ventured down to California but otherwise it's been mostly WA, OR, AK and HI that we have heard. Not much use for other antennas than the ones directed to 335 and 358 degrees. And not a lot to check from the night time recordings. We are still desperately waiting for our first ever daytimer opening, which Dr. Korhonen Space Weather Bureau has promised us on Thursday.
Tuesday was a cold day here and the inside temperature was down to 12 C when we woke up.
Monday Red-hot Karelian Fish Soup with Collavini Pinot Grigio. Tuesday's menu was traditional reindeer stew, potato mash and cranberry jam with La Mascota Syrah and on Wednesday we had another of our hot hot hot favorites, Fish a la Veracruz with Leyda Pinot Noir.
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Sunday 02FEB2020
A VERY silent night but fortunately the afternoon with the "upper grandma" was at times somewhat interesting. The Stumpies were a great help in checking three antennas.
Today´s highlight: Caipirinha Brasileira Lemmenjoki Style as an aperitif, followed with Feijoada Brasileira with Alfredo Second Pass Shiraz. Tastes worth a good and hearty howl.
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Saturday 01FEB2020
This is LEM429 howling on.
The expedition has started with some Hawaii and Iran.
Today's meal Hot Cajun Creole Fish and Crayfish Stew with Barth Riesling Fructus
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LEM428 25JAN2020 - 01FEB2020
Antti Aaltonen (ANA) and Timo Reiniluoto (TRE)
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Tuesday 28JAN2020 - Saturday 01FEB2020
On Tuesday morning the temperature dropped to -40.6 degrees C. Truly bone-chilling conditions! We made the only sensible choice and decided to stay indoors. On Wednesday the weather started to warm up a bit and after that we enjoyed fairly nice weather conditions until our departure on Saturday afternoon. Daytime temperatures varied between -10 and -15 C. This allowed us to check some of our beverage antennas in the woods. The 100 cm deep snow cover did not facilitate the work, but we did what we could.
Tuesday provided us with strong and stable NA signals all day but the cx still lacked any clear direction. On Wednesday the unexpected occurred and some sort of a CH disturbance more or less ruined the NA cx for the remainder of our stay. However, on Wednesday morning there was a strong opening towards Peru. This was definitely one of the highlights of our trip!
Between Thursday and Saturday cx towards NA were bad, but thanks to our constant monitoring of the AM band we noticed a couple of very strong and short (15-20 minutes) reception peaks during which interesting catches were possible - at least in theory. And the night between Friday and Saturday was the first night with somewhat decent NA signals. Saturday morning was very dull again and we could concentrate on cleaning up the house and welcoming some hungry wolves to the LEM-QTH. We left Lemmenjoki well-rested and without any major sleep deprivation.
Here are some examples of identified stations:
- KPDQ 800
- KAGO 1150
- Rádio Rural de Santarém 710
- Radio Campesina 1380, Cajamarca
- WTVB 1590
- KLYC 1260
- KLDY 1280
- KOJM 610
- WDJO 1480
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And this was our menu:
Tuesday:
- timbale of smoked salmon and mascarpone cheese
- Madagascar chicken (akoho sy sakamalao)
- banana pudding parfaits
- Lourensford The Dome Chardonnay 2018
Wednesday:
- bresaola, oven tomatoes and buffalo mozzarella salad with mustard dressing
- pancit canton with homemade longganisa sausage
- roasted pears with coffee mascarpone cream
- Willy Gisselbrecht Gewurztraminer 2018
Thursday:
- traditional Lemmenjoki salad
- reindeer tenderloin with mushroom risotto, glazed vegetables and cranberry sauce
- squeaky cheese with cloudberry jam and vanilla sauce
- Mount Peak Sentinel Cabernet Sauvignon 2015
Friday:
- pinchos with goat cheese and tomato
- feijoada com batata palha e pãos de queijo
- Oreo truffles prepared by TRE’s daughter
- Hewitson Le Secateur Shiraz 2018
Saturday:
Dear Friends and Wolves, thank you for your support and patience. This is LEM428 signing off.
73’s,
TRE & ANA
Saturday 25JAN2020 - Monday 27JAN2020
We could more or less repeat the introduction we used in our first report last time: the same two guys, the same receivers (seven NRDs), a huge load of premium quality food and matching drinks. Even the agenda has been almost identical. Breakfast at the student apartment of ANA’s daughter in Rovaniemi, shopping in Rovaniemi (this time over EUR 500 worth of groceries + the stuff we had purchased already in southern Finland). The driving conditions were excellent along the eastern route. And in Inari we made sure that Restaurant Aanaar will remain in business - at least for some time. BTW, the restaurant is highly recommended!
Already Sunday was a cold day but Monday beat at least ANA’s personal record: -39.4 degrees C. We took a brief walk outside but even that was almost too much. It was extremely uncomfortable and we were truly happy to get back inside to a more than sufficient temperature of +16 degrees C.
On the AM band the conditions have followed the same pattern the previous LEM crews had experienced: NA all day without any clear direction. This has made it challenging to find any personally new ones. Unfortunately no cx to the east coast yet. Also the evenings have been a disappointment. We have no complaints, though, as we have had something to listen to all the time.
Here are some examples of stations identified so far:
- KTRB 860
- CKAT 600
- CHNL 610
- WNFL 1440
- KBZY 1490
- KXRA 1490
- KMAS 1030
- KGHL 790
- XEP 1300
Here is our menu for the first days:
Sunday:
- traditional Lemmenjoki salad
- pike perch with dill pesto and fried beetroots
- a selection of cheeses
- Champagne G.H. Martel & Co Brut Vintage 2009 ”150 ans”
- Burmester 20 Year Old Tawny Porto
Monday:
- cod kokoda
- ropa vieja y arroz con coco
- cranberry mousse with caramel sauce
- Enate Merlot 2015 (Somontano)
LEM427 11JAN2020 - 24JAN2020
Jan-Erik Österholm (JEÖ) and Pertti Äyräs (PÄ)
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Monday 20JAN2020 - Friday 24JAN2020
During the end of our pedition the conditions remained the same, i.e., signals from "everywhere" again making it a little bit boring and frustrating but we kept on recording all the time anyway. Huge amounts of files to go through, a big part of which can be deleted pretty immediately.
During two weeks we did not, as far as we know, have any real daytimer openings either around 22 UTC or during early afternoons around 12-14 UTC. Afternoon cx where usually rather poor with the best signals disappearing well before 12 UTC and returning before 14 UTC with cx steadily fixed to the Seattle-Vancuover area!
As far as we noted live, cx towards LA was mediocre to fair at most due to the strong NA signals that resulted in NA signal also on the antennas directed towards La Plata.
The real picture of what we heard will unfold when the files are scrutinized. Loggings will appear on OLL during the coming months and years.
JEÖ&PÄ
Wednesday 15JAN2020 - Sunday 19JAN2020
We have been slow in reporting, sorry for that. Compared to the first days of this pedition the conditions have improved from the coast-to-coast-not-much-to-be-found (C2C-NMTBF) type and especially on January 18 and 19 the NA cx was really interesting with stations emerging before 22 UTC and typically ending around 14 UTC. We really don't know much about what we have recorded but hughe amounts of files are secured for scrutinizing during the coming months and years. We had some touches of specific cx to the east coast during these days but nothing compared to the fantastic cx we experienced during LEM393 exactly two years ago. The 12-14UTC cx has mostly been poor. Even though the band has been filled, we have not noticed any real Daytimer openings.
LA cx have been mostly mediocre due to the fact that the cx towards the south has been unfavorable and the NA signals have been heard with good signals also on the LA antennas. Due to the amount of canned files we are, however, certain that many new stations for us will be found.
The weather has been fine the whole time mostly no snowfall and calm winds so the antennas work well. The only problem we encountered was on Friday when we had got some 10 cm of snow during the night. We had to clean the yard in order to get the car to the road for our mid-term shopping trip to Ivalo.. The help provided by Aslak was very much appreciated (Jouni-Ilmari was in Oulu and could not clean the way with his tractor).
Station loggings will appear in OLL as time progresses.
Saturday 11JAN2020 - Tuesday 14JAN2020
The Oldies Team JEÖ&PÄ arrived in Lemmenjoki around 5 p.m. after flying from Helsinki to Ivalo and then driving to Lemmenjoki in a rental car. The QTH was found in perfect condition thanks to JPR and JMS who escaped around noon.
The first couple of days have been following a boring pattern already reported by previous peditions. Band filled with NA stations during night, morning, day with mostly strong signals. So far, however, the total absence of any selective cx towards a sepecific region have made it difficult to find anything useful.
Due to strong NA signals mediocre cx towards Latin America with the exception of some nice openings to Puerto Rico. Brazilians more or less absent.
We now hope for a disturbance that would clean the band and hopefully change the porpagation pattern towards a more interesting direction.
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LEM426 28DEC2019 - 11JAN2020
Jari Ruohomäki (JPR) and Jim Solatie (JMS)
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Thursday 09JAN2020 - Friday 10JAN2020
LEM426 is near the end.
Last two days offered two cases worth mentioning. Yesterday there was a pretty sharp 2-hour-propagation to western NA which fortunately reached even the most southern parts California and BC in Mexico. This session lasted about two hours and the peak was at 08 utc. The first very promising daytimer opening occured yesterday evening around 22 utc. Huge amount of stations were on the band, but only a handful of common daytimers have been noted so far.
The rest of the day after the midnight opening has been a disaster. The weakest signals of this expedition.
73s HoFi team
Rib, Mocca and Sir JPR |
Reindeer ribs |
Lemmenjoki HQ |
Joenkielinen |
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Lemmenjoki by night with full moon
Monday 30DEC2019 - Wednesday 08JAN2020
Finally we have hope for decent NA-conditions. Right now at 07.47 utc (the 8th) all NA-aerials give signals on each frequency. So it is coast to coast condition again. However we are satisfied with that as it has been poor for about one week now.
The best part of this expedition has been a number of useful conditions towards LA. The best one took place on the 3rd of January. The band was full of stations for more than an hour around 08 utc. Propagation favoured Colombia and surrounding countries. It will take a few weeks to analyze properly that morning.
We stay looking forward to meet sharp NA-openings especially around midnight and late in the afternoon. The brand new and fixed Waco-antenna (305) is ready to be tested. According to JHU it was super in November.
Lemmenjoki old headquarters |
Our antennaforest was a total mess |
Time to enjoy some locally caught fish |
Joenkielinen, one of the nearby fells |
Our Dx-dog Mocca after fixing antennas in the forest |
Jim, Kimmo, Kristian and Jari. Kimmo has his remote QTH in Ivalo and Kristian is a local dxer from the same place |
New Year's Party |
Seven reindeer tongues for dinner |
Some snow around |
View from the listening post |
Lots of small incidents in the forest |
Proper maintenance tools needed |
Almost there |
Saturday 28DEC2019 - Sunday 29DEC2019
 Greetings from Lemmenjoki!
Meet our new best friends, the Stumpies. There is a record amount of snow for Christmas time (about 60-70 cm), so we need the best help in checking antennas.
On the AM-band there are North Americans 23 hours a day. Last stations from Vancouver fade away at 17 utc and the first Newfoundlanders can be heard already around 18 utc.
Two weeks to go and already after the first full day we feel a bit exhausted ...
PS. The blog editor will be travelling next 8 days, so the next update will be on 07JAN2020.
Prosperous DX-year 2020 to all readers! /ed.
LEM425 30NOV2019 - 13DEC2019
Hannu Asikainen (HAS) 30NOV-07DEC2019 and Hannu Niilekselä (HN) 30NOV-13DEC2019
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Wednesday 11DEC2019 - Friday 13DEC2019
On Tuesday evening the first signals appeared already in front of 21 UTC (not counting NL signals which often are there 1-2 hours earlier…). Also this time it started directly from the Great Lakes area, moving quite soon even to the Dakotas and Colorado. Later in the night again very slow. In the morning all the way from Paraguay to the West Coast and during the day mediocre all over, but listening live it felt very uninteresting.
Wednesday evening, Thursday night and all day Thursday was overall the worst day so far in all 2 weeks time. Very little of anything until around 12 UTC, then mediocre Midwest to West Coast. Quite a surprise that with very little variation in the solar indices in all, something still disturbed propagation quite severely.
Thursday evening started again better with good quality signals directly from Midwest soon after 2130 UTC, however getting weaker again before 23 UTC. In the night some Midwest to West Coast.
On Friday morning it was time to pack, so that some recordings were playing live in the background and the feeling was that West Coast was once again dominating.
By 09 UTC it was time to say goodbye to Lemmenjoki and head in the southerly direction for a meeting at Ylläs later in the day.
In all LEM425 produced something from North America every day, but concentration was - unfortunately - typically in the Northwestern areas, where it is difficult to try to find something new. Fortunately, a couple of hours of some East Coast on just 2 days provided a bit of variation to this, but really not that much. The amount of new stations was for both HaS in the first week and for HN in 2 the weeks the lowest in at least 10 years.
Weatherwise these 2 weeks were probably the mildest for ages in December with temperatures mostly between 0 and -10 C. Only on one day the temperature dropped down to -25 C. So it was good for checking antennas and some cross country skiing .
Since the following 2 weeks up to Christmas are unmanned at LEM, recordings were left on. With the coronal hole effects arriving around December 17-18, there should definitely be quite a lot of variation in the conditions. Whether that will produce any positive results is yet to be seen later on ...
73 HN
Sunday 08DEC2019 - Tuesday 10DEC2019
After HAS left for warmer and more rainy latitudes LEM425 continues as a one man show - WITH DX'ing activities more or less 24/7.
Saturday evening and the following night did not favor NA, so the first worthwhile TOH was 07 UTC with more East Coast concentration than many previous days. Still, the more northerly and westerly located powerhouses soon gained strength and tended to cover many interesting frequencies. While WKWF-1600 was for the first time audible at 09 UTC, on the West Coast antenna KTRB-860 was stronger than ever before. In all, a tough day again trying to dig out something new. After 14 UTC the band was already too messy and the last NA signals died out around 16 UTC.
No early signals on Sunday evening either. As the first stations with meaningful signals appeared around 23 UTC, they were very unstable indeed. This went on most of the night and all morning. Stations could pop up from almost any direction for only a few seconds without necessarily trace of any other stations of the same caliber from the same direction. Good examples of these “max 10 second appearences” were KLTX-1390 at 02 UTC, KHIL-1250 at 03 UTC (at the same time R Provincia de Buenos Aires 1270 loud and clear). In the morning at 11 UTC KATA-1340 for 5 seconds exactly at TOH… No“better” californians on other frequencies. The fun ended already around 13 UTC.
Monday evening opened nicely. For the first time the early signals were from the right direction, e.g. East Coast, not from somewhere in the prairies. On interference free local channels, many acquaintances were renewed, mainly from the New England corner. Further digging hopefully will bring something new. Overnight is yet to be cheked. In the morning NA signals were readable already at 07 UTC, but again from different directions. WWRK-970 with its nice The Rock FM -format was strong (though most likely with daytime power, as seems to have been the case all this autumn) in the morning giving promise for potential from further south. However, this direction died out and most signals were from Midwest during the day, not so much West coast today. The sad thing was that the signals got “dirty” already around 1130 UTC and died almost completely out in front of 13 UTC. Some minor disturbance had apparently arrived, as also the solar wind climbed from little above 300 to well over 400 in a fairly short time. Let´s hope that it will bring some more variation to the direction of signals !
Friday 06DEC2019 - Saturday 07DEC2019
The eve of our independence day started off on Thursday evening earlier than the previous evening. First signals (from “mainland USA”) appeared around 2030 UTC and at 21 UTC some stations (like WFEA-1370, WATR-1320 and WMTR-1250) were identified. However, the signals never gained much strength and the skip kept on moving westwards with just some most common stations. By 23 UTC even the West Coast was covered with signals coming in from local daylight. Signals were quite nice until 00 UTC and more interesting than in any previous night, though without any big surprises. After that almost dead again until after 08 UTC. Most interesting period was around 10-11 UTC with first better East Coast signals all week. After that just standard high power prairies and West Coast to a bit past 14 UTC.
On Friday evening signals appeared already about 1920 UTC when upon checking the band most channels in the upper part of the band had recognizable carriers, although the audios never got good but around 2130 UTC. Even then only a few stations popped audible for short moments. Early night had quite nice signals from the MN-ND region, but before 01 UTC they were gone. Morning and all day was a disappointment. Yes, there were stations all day, but the only delight was a tiny opening to Midwest, which started clearly after 11 UTC and ended only too early, already before 12 UTC. In all, probably the worst day all week.
After the signals were gone around 14 UTC it was time to head for the Ivalo airport and say goodbye to HAS after a week of intensive hunting for new stations, but with far less results than expected. HN will continue for one more week, so new updates will follow.
Tuesday 03DEC2019 - Thursday 05DEC2019
On Tuesday evening, a small opening to the borderlines of USA and Canada. Some stations also in the night, but not worth checking much outside the TOH´s. In the morning some Cuba and Puerto Rico, as well as a couple FL. Later in the morning mediocre East Coast and gradually Mid West. Rockies to West Coast strong all day on the 335 degree antenna.
Wednesday was almost the copy of Tuesday. At around 1030 to 1100 UTC some huge signals from both east and west. WDMC-920 like a local, at the same time CKST-1040 and WEPN-1050 all alone on their frequencies - everything on the same East Coast antenna. There must be something here after closer inspection. At 1200 UTC excellent AK and HI, after that afternoon everything (except AK and West Coast ) weaker and nothing of interest.
Thursday evening and night very slow, with just a short opening to the Rockies area at around 2325 UTC. Really not much before 0800 UTC. Standard Rockies-West Coast strong all day, however almost dying out in front of 12 UTC. Little recovery after 1300 UTC, together with AK and some HI, but only mediocre at best.
Lots of material to go through but little results so far. No CH´s in sight though, so we´ll see what that may bring.
Saturday 30NOV2019 - Monday 02DEC2019
After a full 15 hour drive we arrived to Lemmenjoki at around 1930 UTC on Friday evening. First NA appeared around 22 UTC, but signals were directly from the MI-MN-WI-SD region and very unstable. This seems to be fairly typical for December, when the light is low in the northern hemisphere and signals tend to travel seemingly in pure daylight for hours before local sunset at the transmitter end.
Some stations were there all night, but the conditions were very mixed with stations from the prairies heard at one moment and soon there were Brazilians on the same frequencies with the same NA antenna.
Later in the morning, during the day and the afternoon, familiar stations from the prairies to the upper west coast were fading in and out. No big joy all day ...
On Saturday evening the same happened, but with stronger signals. At 2045 UTC the band had plenty of stations from the same area as in the previous night with good signals for about half an hour. Some stations from the upper East Coast were also noted, but most frequencies already covered by more westerly stations. Unfortunately also Europeans were exceptionally strong with many potentially interesting frequencies being practically covered by interference. Nothing new for the both of us this evening either.
The night and early morning were typically lousy until 08 UTC, which was the first hour with better signal strengths. At around 10 UTC stations all of a sudden were noted also with the East Coast antennas. Signals had no stability, but for about one hour the going was somewhat interesting, even if no new ones were noted listening live. Within one hour everything was back to “normal” - boring, all the way to around 14 UTC.
Sunday evening was “back to basics” without any early signals. Only after 08 UTC on Monday were there any worthwhile signals. However, all day the selection was fairly boring again with the same upper direction, hard to think what to go for…Midwest around 12-13 UTC was a bit better, but only a couple stations on the HAS “wishlist” were noted - none for HN. Hoping for a bit of variation with the cx !
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LEM424 16NOV2019 - 23NOV2019
Ilpo Parviainen (IPA) and Jarmo Havukunnas (JHU) aka Team Lurx
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Friday 22NOV2019 - Saturday 23NOV2019
Bad cx continued, again as predicted. Hence nothing spectacular was noted. More Brazilian stations, but nothing really interesting and not as powerful as they were in the beginning of LEM424. "Africans good" (IPA). Cx clearly improved at sunrise, but again the cx stick to West Coast and the Great Plains. Not complaining though - highlights; 600-KOGO, 940-KGMS, 1060-KDUS, 1130-KSDO, 1450-KMMS, 1520-KKZZ. Time to go home.
73's / JHU & IPA
Thursday 21NOV2019 - Friday 22NOV2019
Finally the predicted CH hit the cx down and we were offered the level of cx that we have got used to the last couple of years. CH didn´t clear the band totally. Handful of NA stations were fading up and down with lots of hiss noise - they were of course common dominants from Great Lakes to West Coast. Couple of most usual Brazilians were noted - nothing else from SA. Some nice signals though from Africa, f. ex. 1404-MBC and lots of NIG´s.
No noticeable effect of sunrise to the cx. Later in the afternoon a brief but intense rise of signals gave us couple of nice stations; 790-KABC and 1290-KCUB. Last NA stations left the stage at around 15.00 utc.
Wednesday 20NOV2019 - Thursday 21NOV2019
Cx started early at 20.30 utc with stations coming from a far west, f.ex. 1370-KWTL, 1400-KQDJ, 1480-KSDR, 1480-KKCQ, 1490-KLGR were noted at 21.00 utc. Later at night moderate NA-cx, though f.ex. 1560-KBEW, 1560-KLNG were noted. In the morning cx got better, f.ex. 580-KSAZ, 610-KOJM, 1490-KRKC. Because of other inside and outside activities we don´t really know what happened on the band later that day, but what we can see from YAS-log is that cx continued strong again until 15.00 utc. West Coast was the name of the game today. Lots of very interesting files to go through.
Tuesday 19NOV2019 - Wednesday 20NOV2019
After 22 hours of continuos NA-cx (not including AK-stns) we had again promising start at 21.30 utc., but sadly only some dominant stations from NY and ON surroundings were heard. NA stations kept on coming the whole night and even though there was plenty of stations on frequencies, it was hard to find anything interesting. At 06.00 utc cx got better - first couple of stations from Florida were noticed - and after that we had yet another great cx to West Coast until 15.00 utc. Some highlights including couple of new ones for us; 790-KGMI, 890-R Formula (any ideas?), 890-KVMX, 1010-KCHJ, 1150-KAGO, 1220-KHTS, 1270-KVMI, 1370-KGEN, 1370-KWRM, 1480-KSDR, 1520-WPAY, 1550-WJIL, 1600-KIVA.
Monday 18NOV2019 - Tuesday 19NOV2019
Couple of NF stations very early, at 18.08 utc, after that some dominants from the Great Lakes area, but nothing spectacular after that.
After midnight moderate NA-cx the whole night, none worth mentioning stations were heard, some Colombians were also very powerful.
In the afternoon very strong signals from the West Coast, f.ex. 870-KLSQ, 1010-KCHJ, 1080-KVNI, 990-XEBC, 1310-KMKY, 1370-KNWC and lots of interesting prospects on the discs. Cx ended approximately at 16.30.
Sunday 17NOV2019 - Monday 18NOV2019
Couple of NF-stations early, then nothing worth mentioning. Nice rise of signals at 4 a.m., but only usual EC and Great Lakes stuff. Also much more moderate signals from South America. Some Cubans and Colombians in the morning.
In the morning from 8 a.m. forwards pretty good conditions to EC and Great Lakes. Some nice stations, but not so many new ones for us though, f.ex. 610-KNML, 1150-WIMA, 1230-CJNL, 1340-WAGN and tentative 1350-WNTX.
Saturday 16NOV2019 - Sunday 17NOV2019
Nice conditions to EC early from 21.30 onwards with stations like 040-WYSL, 1120-WKAJ, 1140-WCJW, 1140-KCXL, 1360-WHBG, 1360-WNJC, 1390-KCLN and of course lots of nice prospects. Also unusually strong signals from La Plata area.
Later in the morning usual Great Lakes stuff and later on some WC, f.ex. 1300-KCMY, 1340-KIHR, 1480-WCNS.
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LEM423 02NOV2019 – 09NOV2019
Juha Vehmas (JVH) and Teijo Mäenpää (TSM)
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Saturday 09NOV2019
The development of nighttime TA cx respected general starting rule, i.e. first Canada and Brazil. But cx were nasty until night top around 00 and 01z. Real bottom existed at 02z, but after that cx improved steadily and before LSR nice opening to La Plata was audible again, but not as marvelous and long lasting as 24 h earlier. A bit surprisingly NA cx made a new LEM423 record with top JIX-index of 92 around 0630z. And JIX was continuing high level until LEM423 signing off right after 10z. Beside packing, cleaning and food service we didn´t listen NA live at all, but until 0930z east coast wire of 292° gave better JIX values than 321° Rockies wire.
Saturday morning was Flamenco-beacon morning. Very pleasant signals from not so usual beacons at Italy and Spain, but not any live signals from South America. Whole week beacon signals from Canada were very weak, which was quite a surprise and that will need some inspection work afterwards from recordings. Total summary was over 100 live identified new UTE-stations (NDB, Navtex and WSPR -stations) in one week and that is very nice result.
Summa summarum. LEM 423 was the 5th DXpedition in Lemmenjoki for this hunting team and offering the best conditions. Further on research work with recordings will be fascinating during cold winter period and will refine loggnings and ratings. And also, purely as a vocation LEM was once again a great break and success. On the way back to south through Pokka wilderness our expedition was crowned by a marvelous color field in the cold (-22°C) and snowy nature beauty with warm trace of sunshine (foto).
73s
JVH and TSM
Friday 08NOV2019
Late evening fade in of TA-signals was not as early and powerful as at best openings of the week. But strong opening doesn´t always lead to a night of strong cx, in matter of fact, the correlation tends often be controversial. And lousy evening opening can turn to most welcomed morning hours MW band, and this fulfilled on Friday morning: La Plata cx were the best that JVH as ever experienced! Many frequencies seldom giving any station or just a powerhouse one, offered now quite readable signal from local and remote places, for instance from Argentinian very southern province of Santa Cruz in Patagonia Radio Nacional on 860 kHz, 15 020 km from Lemmenjoki! And most of those recordings from excellent 264° beverage are of course yet untouched. In addition to that, NA after 01z recordings might be quite prosperous.
Friday offered very unusual selection on the lower beacon band (200-500 kHz). Stations from Pakistan, Iran and UK. And from US too. Not very specials, but large amount new ones. Very interesting day, and maybe recordings offer some specialities too ...
Great outdoors on Friday meant snow shoveling from all antennas nearby the cabin, impacting even 2 m uprising of the wire with relatively long span. In the evening traditional sauna and sausage grilling at the fireplace relaxed DXers for the next day adventures.
Thursday 07NOV2019
Nigh time TA cx suffered from the continuing space weather turbulence, i.e. rising solar wind and negative Bz-index. Nothing special was noted during shortened wake up moments. La Plata cx laid at JIX-level 60-66 btw. 02-06z giving live no remarkable identifications although R Universidad Córdoba 580 was noted. NA reached over JIX 70 level during 06 and 07 TOH´s and continued in daylight hours.
So far temperature has been btw. -8 and -23°C and all trees all the time nicely snow covered. Very familiar to every DXer, quality of sleep and recovery is the bases for success: So we put extra care for this essential issue in our timetables and also by participating morning webinars.
Wednesday 06NOV2019
Brazilians already around 21z, but cx didn´t reach the level of previous nights. Instead 00-04z La Plata was running fine with wide variety of quite basic, but new stations for JVH. Polar A-index 17 and K-index 5 dropped NA cx although not to zero, JIX-index was over 60 btw. 01-06z. As an afternoon great outdoors hobby in some 30 cm of snow the most remote beverage 78° was winded to the reels.
Highlight of this day was Glen Lyon –ship, which is 268 meter long floating oil production vessel. Call on 340 kHz is much longer than normal: GLENLYON. Signal was quite easy to read, although it was very messy. In total the Wednesday was poorer, new beacons, but only the normal level catches. Trying to Africa area, but no results from live listening.
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Tuesday 05NOV2019
Exceptionally readable Brazil-signals around 21-22z with live id from Rádio Juazeiro BA 1190 and Rádio Olinda PE 1030. NA antenna obviously also early and good offering went past the phones to the hard disk all the time all the night. 23z lousy La Plata cx included fragments from the Andes like Radio Pachamama 850. Morning hours gave simultaneously fair HJ stations with welcomed Panamá 840 and strong NA 04-07z with JIX-index top 87, good also later on.
Very short beacon band opening to North America at 0458 UTC. Value of the recordings is extremely high with these very short openings.
Monday 04NOV2019
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Monday evening offered early NA almost direct from the Great Lakes, but soon Brazilians took place in captains logbook, e.g. Rádio Esperança, Estância SE 1250. SA stations dove slowly but deep after 02z, but NA gave nice signals especially at 0415-0620 (JIX over 80): To be studied from the recordings.
Again beacons from USA, this time at 0504. Lower frequencies open not so easy at over long distances, as normal AM-area. For some reason, signal level was much lower on beacon band.
During daily great outdoors on Monday we enjoyed snow shovelling and checking of 280° and 292° beverages in sunshine with just -12°C. A couple of kelo´s (dead pine wood) leaning on the wire or threatening nearby was removed.
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Sunday 03NOV2019
NA appeared quiet early and faded away, but raised again recording over 70 JIX from 04-09z, top at 06z. SA cx was running all the night with the usual path from Brazil to La Plata countries. Morning hour just before LSR at 0640z gave some HJ corner stations: Live nothing special was noted, except RCN San Andrés 910 fulfilled long time daydreams giving one of most wanted Caribbean dx-countries, some 800 km from the continent of Columbia.
Best beacon live moment so far to USA was at Sunday morning. With live listening I found four piece of WSPR beacons at 0633-0712 UTC. Maybe NDBs from recordings… Some nice Navtex-transmissions from East too.
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Saturday 02NOV2019
Quite snowy Pokka Wilderness Hwy 955 brought us with some extra timing safely to Lemmenjoki HQ. After QTH setup a very special evening spectacle was offered live in TV from Turku: Vibrations raised to the ceiling already before first dx identifications when Ilves beat TPS 6-1!
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First touch to beacons of this season were entry level WSPRs from Southern Europe; easy to find here, not so easy at home. On AM field first TA signals were noted from Canada, soon also from NE Brazil.
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LEM422 26OCT2019 – 02NOV2019
Hannu Tikkanen (HAT) and Håkan Sundman (HS)
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Saturday 02NOV2019
The band was pretty quiet in the early Friday evening, only CBG-1400 had super strong signal after 21 UTC but really nothing else. The evenings are countless, when an early appearance of CBG has in vain given expectations about an early opening, so we anticipated exactly nada. The surprise was a big one, when the whole AM band suddenly went nuts. First the big guns from the East coast and the Canadian maritime provinces filled the band, then Midwest joined the show. Switching the antenna one could hear how Brazilian and Argentinian stations were dominating the same frequencies, and once again choosing back the proper aerial the gray line reception of Puerto Rico came in on their most usual frequencies, not forgetting the usual Colombians. All of these stations were heard at the same time as of 22 UTC, many of them becoming audible on “wrong” aerials and creating a total mess on every frequency. Though this might sound very fascinating, it actually made listening a challenge and hard to determine if there was any hidden focus in the propagation. The mess went on without a pause into the morning. In the daybreak hours at least part of the propagation centre had migrated to Midwest and Prairies but still the frequencies were full of dominants from East to West. We turned off the receivers one hour later than usually to keep recording as late as possible, but finally the inevitable end was to come.
One can only imagine, what kind of stations we could have theoretically heard, if this evening opening would have taken place two days earlier, when the US stations were still been using their day time power for “extra” 15 minutes or so. But it will be interesting to see, if there are any unusual stations among the highly dominating ones.
Driving conditions were not so good, but neither as bad as expected, so we made the journey to Kolari station well in time, on the roads with 10-20 cm snow cover. Finally, in the diner, we could sum up that despite the extremely modest start of the expedition, the very final days somewhat compensated it.
73s
HAT and HS
Thursday 31OCT2019 – Friday 01NOV2019
The evening of Wednesday was lame just like the previous ones, the only exception was that instead of Brazil the NA stations surfaced at 2130ish. But as the stations were the dominants, there was little joy from this evening opening. In the morning the offering included the Americas from Argentina to Canada but as stated many times before, only the dominating USA/Canada stations and common South America. Seems that whenever one tuned into 1240 at :05, there was the weather forecast and WMMB identification audible. Still, no cheers were heard during the morning session. Kiribati 846 was audible for a short while, and that covers the Pacific section of the day. The afternoon signals looked a bit more interesting, but the only dx-level identification on the fly was KXO-1230.
Thursday evening offered dispensable signals from Brazil and a good night’s sleep. K had climbed to 3 and the timer recordings were in accordance with the expectations, nada, and so was the whole Friday morning. Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil with variable signals together with lots of fading; all in all not interesting at all. Only a few scattered NA here and there. Luckily the stations made a return after the morning break, and the reception was very enjoyable at times. Kiribati 846 had a strong signal in peaks, and the same goes for Tonga-1017, though the Alaska-aerial was in use for Tonga, too. Midday and the late afternoon produced variable reception from Great Lakes to the western regions. WIRY-1340, KNEU-1250 and KGBT-1530 (which has been an everyday visitor these days) were heard at the same time as examples, naturally the west coast and the Rockies, as well as all the usual Hawaiian & Alaskan stations – which shows the width of the reception.
The final report will be written, after we’ve returned to the capital area via Kolari. Based on the forecast our expedition ends in bad driving conditions, so the daybreak dx-session will be a short one.
Wednesday 30OCT2019
After returning to Lemmenjoki from our annual dinner in Inari it was time to rapidly finalize the hard disc transfers, as the Brazilian stations made an early appearance; also the alert was received from Aihkiniemi crew for the same purpose. Usually this kind of propagation is a fairly short one with the same strong stations being heard evening after evening during their local sunset, but this time the reception remained strong and it was still ongoing, when the receivers were turned off and switched to timer recordings. It will be interesting to see in the future, what we have on those files.
Early Wednesday morning brought a very pleasant surprise: instead of the usual ones from the west Prairies & Oregon-Idaho-Washington the band was suddenly filled with South American signals especially from Colombia, Ecuador and even some from Panama. The stations were not rarities, but good enough game for us. Together with the Spanish speaking stations there were NA mainly from the eastern states, e.g. WMMB-1240, WPGG-1450, WBAE-1490 dominating their frequencies. So far we haven’t found anything new for us from these top of the hours, but the hope remains, when we’ll have more time to dig deeper. Also nice reception from Kiribati 846, Tonga 1017 and Marshall Islands 1098. The rest of the day was very nondescript, and the signals vanished fairly early.
Monday 28OCT2019 - Tuesday 29OCT2019
Nothing particular happened in the evening of 27th, and in the following night either. On Monday morning there were decent signals towards Paraguay and neighbouring countries, as well as some moderate NA reception; really nothing to boast about though. KGLB-1310 succeeded in giving their identification at 0600 hrs, when all the other signals had vanished just about one minute before the top of the hour. So we made another grand tour on the hillside checking a couple of aerials without any stress to get back to the receivers. Late afternoon was vapid, the only station worth mentioning was CBQG-1280, one of the last 40-watters in the whole Northern Canada.
Late Monday evening produced a very mediocre Brazil opening, some stations with nice signals but in general nothing fancy. We don’t know about the night time recordings, they remain to be examined later, but a quick look showed that they’re not a top priority...Tuesday morning showed that the reception favoured the western part of the Prairies, and during the daylight hours the propagation moved once again further to the westerly states of Idaho & the Pacific Northwest. KLOO-1340, KART-1400, KONP-1450 etc were noticed, at times with huge signal strength. Anyone familiar with this area’s assortment of stations probably already guessed right that it’s hardly possible at all to find new stations, even though the conds would look interesting before a more thorough inspection.
So Tuesday evening was spent in Inari to participate our traditional evening at Restaurant Aanaar together with the AIH-crew, Mika Mäkeläinen and Jim Solatie. Excellent dinner in excellent company!
Saturday 26OCT2019 - Sunday 27OCT2019
Our current expedition started in a slightly mixed feelings. The knowledge of at least one but possibly two coronal holes was something that we didn’t need after our previous not-so-excellent endeavour, namely LEM414. Also the driving conditions were expected to be challenging; storm warnings were given not only to ionosphere but also to ground level. Two out of the three forecasted “20-30” parametres actually took place: 20-30 cm of snow, and 20-30 A-index. The only one that fell behind was the temperature, instead of minus 20-30 it was zero at Rovaniemi train station and dropping to only minus 3-4 in Lemmenjoki.
So it was a pleasant surprise to notice some Alaskan and Hawaiian stations surfacing after all around 13 UTC, and an Eureka peak at 1400 hrs with 1400 and 1480 kHz -stations. As the storm had reached only level G2 instead of even worse alternatives, the hope was alive that the break of the propagation just might be shorter than we had feared. Anyways, the path was open only in North-South direction in the evening and early night, so an effort was made to hear some African stations. The propagation seemed to concentrate around the very southern part of the continent, as e.g. Malawi 756 was heard. To a much bigger surprise there was a short and sharp nighttime opening towards Idaho and Oregon, and some of the stations had weird signal levels. KVLV-980 (which had left the transmitter on after its official close down time) and KXET-1130 were really booming, if we may use this worn out expression.
Morning gave nothing worthwhile, so we headed out for the forest to carry out our designated tasks: to reel off one of the East bound wires (the so called Japan-aerial) as the most important one. We could have happily done without 30, even 40 cm of snow, but it didn’t much slow us down. The job was over in two hours, and another two hours were spent with the other wires. Automatic recordings revealed that we hadn’t missed anything.
Afternoon was already better than yesterday, a wider assortment of stations from the same region – Idaho, Wyoming, Pacific Northwest. The most common stations (have we ever used this phrase before in our previous LEM-reports?) of the region were heard, and a bit later a wider selection of usual HI and AK joined. There might be no point in repeating the most usual GY-stations here such as KWOR-1340, identified were not so many in the first place, so e.g. KFLN-960, KGOE-1480 could be named as examples.
The programme for tomorrow: a bit more walking in the winter wonderland, and hopefully some interesting DXing!
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LEM421 18OCT2019 – 26OCT2019
Jari Ruohomäki (JPR)
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Here is a brief summary concerning LEM421. The most interesting condition have been towards northern South-America and and its surroundings. I noticed two times nice conditions which lasted for several hours. During the other one stations were audible till 08-09utc which was quite surprising. In addition to this there has been NA-stations on the band every day except today. However, it seems that the selection of stations is boring. I have noticed only a handful of new NA-stations to me so far. I have not met any specific daytimer conditions. CH's effect arrived as expected. I have not noticed a single TA-signal today - neither at night nor during the day.
Ja sitten vähän härmää. Antennin 282:n päälle on kaatunut n. 15 cm paksu kelottunut honka. Se nojaa kuitenkin toiseen puuhun niin, että paino ei ole kokonaan piuhan päällä. Jos se tästä tuesta nyrjähtää, niin poikki mennee. En uskaltanut yksin ruveta touhaamaan asian kanssa, ettei käy mitään vahinkoa. Parempi olla 2 jäntevää miestä (esim. HS ja HAT), jotka saanevat yhdessä työnnettyä kelon toiseen suuntaan. Varmuuden vuoksi kannattaa mukaan ottaa saha. Paikka on n. antennin puolivälissä. Tästä n. 100 m eteenpäin on antenni kiristetty napakasti oksan ympärille. Antenni on tässä kohtaa turhan matalalla. Ehkä näitä ylimääräisiä keloja ei kannattaisi tehdä, vaan antennit on hyvä tarvittaessa kiristää vetämällä päistä. Tai sitten juuri tämän kelan takia 282 on niin hyvä kuin se on 🙂. Kelan purku ei käsipelillä onnistu; siihen tarvitaan sahaa tai kirvestä oksan tyngän poistamiseksi. Onnistunee samalla reissulla, kun kelon kaato.
73s JPR
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LEM420 06OCT2019 – 19OCT2019
Vesa-Jussi Rinkinen (VJR) remote recordings
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Updates are coming later.
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LEM419 28SEP2019 – 06OCT2019
Jari Ruohomäki (JPR)
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LEM419 has been on since Saturday evening. I did not except any breathtaking results from this expedition as propagation was prognosticated to be bad. But it is great to be here again. It is much more nicer to recover from a tiny leg surgery here than at home. A titanium plate was removed from my left leg last Friday. So now my both legs are as straight as our beverages in Lemmenjoki.
And yes, listening conditions towards west have been bad. Tuesday the 1st of October was pretty good towards western parts of NA from 01 to 03 utc. Before and after that it has been mainly boring or very boring. LA has not been better. There have been some ZY-stations and La Plata each night, but propagation to that direction has been worse than average.
I even succeeded in picking up a handful of new NA stations to me on the 1st of October. Here are some identified stations: KBIZ 1240, KBGN 1060, KVSH 940, KLMR 920, KATL 770, KVCU 1190, KOLT 1320, KCHE 1440, KXPN 1460, KKTY 1470, KLMS 1480, KGOS 1490, KAMI 1580, KLYC 1260, KKAN 1490, KOLY 1300, R Olinda PE 1030, R Esperanca, Estancia SE 1250, R Nova Plan CE 1510, R Espirito Santo 1160, R Progresso CE 1140, Em Treinta y Tres 1390, Radiomundo, Montevideo 1170, Em Cd. de Montevideo 1470.
Autumn colors are perfect right now. And the antena forest is full of lingon berries.
73s JPR
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LEM418 21SEP2019 – 28SEP2019
Vesa-Jussi Rinkinen (VJR)
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Updates are coming later.
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LEM417 07SEP2019-21SEP2019
Jussi Suokas (JUS) 07-21SEP and Jari Korhonen (JJK) 07-11SEP
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Greetings from Lemmenjoki.
Another dx-season has started in Lemmenjoki. While we were working at JJK’s new antenna farm in Ivalo we also left one Perseus each to record the night time band here. Jari unfortunately had very bad luck with his recordings as there were only seven Perseus files when we came to Lemmenjoki for the second short visit. Nothing much was lost, though, as the Jaguar YAS log revealed that the nights from the 7th till the 10th had been basically silent using the new 305 antenna, and only the 11th of September seems to be worth checking a bit more carefully.
Jaguar will continue working at Lemmenjoki till the 21st of September when VJR takes the command, and hopefully a hard disk full of goodies will reach me later this year.
73s JUS
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| (c) Finnish DX-Association ry www.sdxl.fi |
| Editors: Esa Hänninen (EJH) 1978-2008, Tapio Kalmi (TAK) 2008-2022 |
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