Category Archives: MF

1440 YNRM Radio Maranatha Managua Nicaragua heard in London

Been a while since I posted (yet again) and a very belated Happy New Year to whoever reads this…

MF has been rubbish for couple of months or so but with the Euro shut-down of France/Germany and Luxembourg MF stations some more DX becomes possible. The morning of 1 February had some very interesting conditions towards Latin America and I logged my first Nicaraguan: See how Radio Maranatha was sounding on this clip –

First time round with NR and second without. ID is “Rios de Agua Viva” – see http://moladx.blogspot.com.es/2013/04/yna3rm-1440-khz-radio-maranatha-managua.html for more details and thanks to JF and MMS for the tip and ID.

Irish MF Unlicensed Outlets Audible in London

MF and HF conditions have been terrible overall the last couple of months though NA MF peaked up last week in October whilst in Carcassonne and the 300m BOG brought in some good catches. Here in London the first week or so of November has seen middling MF with only east-coast regulars making it through. However the Irish unlicensed stations have been particularly good this month – often audible through the late afternoon, evening, night and early mornings well after dawn.

Here’s how Radio North 846 and Star Country 981 were sounding couple of nights ago in London:

Whilst the north of Ireland relay of Horizon FM on 927 kHz seems to have had either a transmitter power or antenna gain boost. Here’s how it was coming into London at 19.15:

Some MF DX amongst the HF Wipe-Out

HF conditions have been dire the past week or so due to an active sun. However there has been some interesting MF DX available.

I assume either Family Radio WFME New York was off this particular morning or strange propagation conditions as KGOW Houston Yahoo Sports Radio was coming through on 1560 kHz at 0500 UTC 8 September 2015:

Later that evening I had some Brazilian reception on 940 kHz from Radio Super Rede Boa Vontade Rio do Janeiro. Brazil is unusual at this QTH due to southern UK location and Flag beam width not optimal for 220 degrees (Flag points at 300 degrees).

Kit was Perseus SDR with 10×4 m flag antenna and Wellbrook FLG100LN pre-amp/balun.

NA MF Season Starts

The NA MF season has started again here in London after the Peruvian dominated LA/SA summer season closed. 0400 07 August 2015 was the best time and date last week and here’s how some common east coast power houses were sounding: 1660 WWRU NY, 1700 WRCR Rockland NY (new station), 1560 WMFE Family Radio NY and 1510 WMEX Boston MA.

There was nothing much evident below 1200 kHz but lots of carriers above that as well as audio from the more powerful stations. X-band in particular had carriers/audio on every channel.

Equipment was usual Perseus SDR plus 10x4m Flag antenna but I have replaced the home-brew binoc balun with the updated FLG-100 low noise Wellbrook pre-amp/balun. Playback was via the new 5.0a Perseus demo. Jury’s out on whether it will be worth paying for the updated V5 software when released. Perseus and FM+ are being heavily discounted now. From £699 plus £299 for the FM+ at Martin Lynch you can now pick up for £549 and £199 – looks like Elad is taking Microtelecom to the cleaners…

BTW no NR was applied to the playback – why some MF dxers insist on distorting audio with inappropriate use of noise reduction I’ll never know!

Peruvian MF stations heard in London

The LA MF season is well underway and here’s how three Peruvian stations were sounding in London Tuesday morning just before dawn 16 June 2015. Radio Santa Rosa 1500, Capital Radio 1470 and Bethel Radio 1510 from Lima on Perseus SDR/10x4m Flag antenna

And no, Horatio, without the Perseus these would not have been dxed live 😀

Stuart