[HCDX] Long and mediumwave logs March through May

[Mirela Chiochiu <acq@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Warm greetings to all of you !

Well, I must confess why I have not sent a report at all over the past few months. I have been beat up by someone who also broke my radio just because he wanted me that I accept that woman are liers and sometimes I can`t do anything about it. He also broke my Sony CFS-6000 and the LISETTE DUPRAS center for whom he partly worked has been at least paying us the fees of reparation from what I`ve understood and even more than that, even the price of a Yagi antenna. I ended up at Lakeshore where in spite of the concrete walls, I did some DXing (mainly supwerpowered Cuba during the 6-8 April run of auroral conditions) with a window to my north, armed with nothing more than my Sony A1 walkman BAREFOOT. As I got out from Lakeshore more and more and moved to a room with a southward facing window I brang the PK AM loop with me, but it was already too late as auroral condx won`t return, but still I got some small glimpses of VENEZUELAN DX, including the seldom heard (nowadays) YVRQ 910 which was also heard at the LISETTE DUPRAS residence. I didn`t want to mention all those places, but I did some DXing from there (quite a lot, especially at Lisette Dupras - I have a full C90 tape almost completely airchecked with Radio Coro at it`s peaks with among other goodies classic cumbias) and if you got to understand the reception conditions of all those areas you might understand in what circumstances the listening was done. So, yes, I was active... While Radio Coro isn`t really hard-core DX, that kind of stuff was also done with some seldom heard Latins on channels such as 910 that every now and then popped up. The QTHs were we stayed were worse than mediocre for trans-Atlantic or domestic DX, so 99.9% of what you`ll read here is Pan-American DX as listened at Lisette Dupras center (Kirkland), Lakeshore (also Kirkland) and Pointe Clerc.

The Lisette Dupras residence`s room was in a basememnt that was fortunate to have a window toward the south... There was a huge attenuation of signals to my west and east and only a small one of signals to the south, enough for WIRY to be unlistenable even when I threw the PK loop at it, but the strong daytime semi-locals such as WVMT-620 in Burlington, VT were relatively unscathed, just slightly weaker than outside... but for Pan-American skywave DX, it was prerfect as pesky midwesteners were easily nulled or, at least, easier than at home.

I won`t speak for my 1st room at Lakeshore, I could barely get the WVMT semi-local yet the high angle skywave signals came in armchair one night... The 2nd was wonderful and WIRY-1340 was decent and decoded C-Quam somewhat with some echo as my Sony SRF-A1 tried to get a stereo-mono switch but was more than on the verge of stereo, definitively better than at the Lisette Dupras residence just a few blocks away. It is also there I got YVRQ-910 for the second time this spring !

Actually my second room at Lakeshore provided me with better reception southward than anywhere included here in Pierrefonds. Why ? For tho reason, steel and concrete rejection of western pests and a relatively quiet environment. By comparison, here in Pierrefonds, I have a huge buzz on and off giving me terrible headache each time it`s on (on a more or less heratic schedule)...

Aside from this at Lakeshore, I discovered one thing, my highs and lows were due to extreme reactions to anxiety and had not much to do with manic depressive, but to Asperger syndrome and probably to inappropriate food to which I had some slight allergias, the worst being soy... Therefore, with this finding, I begun a new life and I`m about to have a real girlfriend really soon.

Enough comments, into the logs:

Trans-Atlantic DX

162 FRANCE   France Inter, Allouis MAY 2 0304 UTC - French dramatic talk about French litterature noted briefly at a very poor and mostly unreadable level through some slight static scratches. The first trans-atlantic DX I tuned to in more than two months ! (Chiochiu-P*QC)

183 GERMANY   Europe Un, Felsberg MAY 18 0200 UTC - instrumental jingle leading to the news with the main item being about the various strikes done by the workers in several European countries. Very good, almost armchair ! Surprised to find an outage of the buzz that disrupted me ! (Chiochiu-P*QC)

207 GERMANY   Deutschlandfunk, Münich MAY 18 0210 UTC - Classical music, very poor over an even weaker station belived to be Morocco. (Chiochiu-P*QC)

Pan-American DX

600 CUBA   CMKV, Radio Rebelde, Urbano Norrís APR 8 0528 UTC - A monologue regarding the level of education versus the level of competence of the Cuban workers. The author of the speech spoke about several University master diplomees who aren`t able to write a sentence with a subject and a verb. Wow ! This wins my appreciation as the best sppech I ever heard on Cuban radio. Surprisingly strong with the Sony SRF-A1 AM stereo / FM stereo walkman at a northfacing room ! (Chiochiu-L*QC)

640 CUBA   CMBC, Radio Progreso, Guanabacoa APR 8 0630 UTC - Newscast regarding the vaccination against the H1N1 flu (again ?) of the Cuban citizens in the provincia de Villa Clara. Very good and seldom heard nowadays... Tried the next evening, but WNNZ was on daytime power, so didn`t had that luck then...grrrr ! (Chiochiu-L*QC)

670 unID COSTA RICA ?? MAR 13 0358 UTC - Something sounding vaguely Latin way under Rebelde and WFAN-660 hash. Possibly CR as the 760 tentative catche was up at the same time. (see 760) (Chiochiu*LD-QC)

670 CUBA   CMBA, Radio Rebelde, Arroyo Arrenas APR 8 0530 UTC - Heard in // 600 and even stronger than the former... Wow ! They must have been almost local-like ! They even had stereo-like faking unlike 600 (see above) ! (Chiochiu-L*QC)

690 COLOMBIA   HJCZ, Radio Recuerdos, Santafé de Bogotá MAR 7 0248 UTC - Playing old-fashionned Mexican rancheras way over the WLW-700 HD interference. Very good, SINPO 43333. (Chiochiu-LD*QC)

710 CUBA   CMW, Radio Rebelde, La Julia / others MAR 7 0249 - Noted in passing completly on top of WOR while switching back and forth between this and Colombia. (Chiochiu-LD*QC)

760 unID COSTA RICA ?? MAR 13 0358 UTC - Spanish vocals under RCN Barranquilla in WJR null. Maybe TICR in San José which ironically ID`s as "Radio Columbia" and which is more likely at this late time than YVQQ in Puerto La Cruz, Anzoátegui which would have played Gloria Al Bravo Pueblo anyway. Mexico unlikely because of concrete shield to the west and XEABC is supposed to be talk, while TILX is playing some music (I heard them on the Internet). Another possibility would be the Florida`s Spanish station - I don`t know if they still are Spanish gospel and I lost the tape segment I sent to Henrich Klemetz many years ago. (Chiochiu-LD*QC)

780 VENEZUELA   YVNM, Radio Coro, Coro, Falcón MAR 3 0246 UTC - A sermon by a numerologist talking about "el milagro de la numerología" - analyse your birthdate and your usually lucky numbers for winning at the Venezuelan lotteries such as Lotería de Táchira. Tremendous strength ! SINPO 44534 + MAR 17 0450 - Fading up to an excellent level for about 15 minutes with tropical music. + MAR 24 0302 - Taping a mixture of tropical music and Spanish pops that seem to replaces the regular Romantica Siete Ochenta show with it`s ugly old fashionned and uninspired ballads. + MAR 24 1002 UTC - At tune-in with back to back Venezuelan joropos with IDs between songs such as "toda la música criolla en Radio Coro" and lot of time checks. Generally fair with some deep fadings and minor WABC-770 splatter. Tape available if someone wants to hear Pan American DX from a basement ! (Chiochiu-LD*QC) SINPO 34233-2. + MAY 2 0428 UTC - "Aunque Me Duele" classic cumbia vocal. Before 0400 UTC, they had a new program called "(something) de la balada" which replaces La Bailante Siete Ochenta on weekend evenings. Fair with the PK AM loop. SINPO 34323-2. First time in May, usually during the off-season months, Radio Coro is doing a better job between the 1st of June and the 3rd of July (more or less). Also heard weakly several times a few days later much fadey these times while Latins in general were (and still are) almost inexistent. (Chiochiu*P-QC)

900 CUBA   CMKP, Radio Progreso, Cacocúm MAR 16 0200 - Ritmos. Fair, over / under some slight QRM. (Chiochiu*LD-QC)

910 CUBA   CMAF, Radio Cadena Agramonte MAR 2 0858 UTC - heard with a jazz influenced cha-cha-cha number followed by ID, news then brutal fade-out leading to a brief fade-in of YV visitor RQ-910 around 0914 UTC. Heard the previous evening with musical requests. (Chiochiu-LD*QC)

910 VENEZUELA   YVRQ, Caracas, DF MAR 2 0914 UTC - with an unequivocal `RQ ID heard between 2 traditional Venezuelan harp music selections. Only poor to fair, but not heard in a while ! Heard after a brutal fade-out of Cuban pest Radio Cadena Agramonte. (Chiochiu-LD*QC) +APR 24 0933 - with Venezuelan harp music in mess. Fair in mess. SINPO 32221, but remarkable to distinctively catche it twice in less than two months on what is now a fairly crowded frequency. (Chiochiu-L*QC)

North American domestic DX

890 WBPS Chattam, MA MAR 14 2058 EST - Bachata music, not // Cuba-900. Strongly presumed ! Occasional Progreso noted at times, but somewhat weaker than in the past, far from it`s former powerhouse status and plagued nevertheless by WCBS-880 hash. (Chiochiu-LD*QC)

1340 WIRY Plattsburg, NY MAR 21 1214 EST - With a male jock playing a wide variety of country-blues, disco and 70s oldies such as Brother Louis with lots of local announcements in between the songs and local nx at 1230 EST. Not really DX, but always pleasant to tune-in and to tape something in C-Quam stereo ! (Chiochiu-KirklandPark*QC)

Additionnal comments:

Back on the DX scene, I must admit that if there is one disadvantage of listening home is that there is more WiFi to contend with and also a HUGE buzz that is on and off completly destroying my overwhelmingly sensitive ears. As far as tape airchecking goes, I discovered that two of the oldschool boomboxes I have are working and I can plug them to my Sony SRF-A1 or to my Sony A300 purchassed from audiocubes by my mother while I was at Lakeshore. The Sony A300 is selective enough to separe 1630 from the local 1650 megapest... It`s also the spot on the X-band where its coverage ends... At least it would get the 1630 KCJJ outlet which is a favorite domestic DX target of mine. Is it the only X-bander that has it`s C-QUAM plugged on right now ?

Speaking of the boomboxes I use to feed the C-Quam audio from my Sony SRF-A1 and Sony A300, I also use it to feed audio from a Technics SA 104 tuner famous DXer Mike Bugaj gave me several years ago, actually back in 2001 when I was with WTFDA and connected it to a small hole in the telescopic antennas of those same boomboxes. Boy, does it works ! I`m getting maybe not spectacular, but very good reception of slightly more fringe signals than I do with my regular gear. Also, it`s selectivity is very impressing ! 

I also took the dust out of the Justice AM antenna and changed the connector which was broken and this improved somewhat the reception of Radio Coro, although aside from the night of the 1st through the 2nd of May, it`s showings were far from spectacular here.

Next in the plans: 

1) an APS Yagi to allow me for some double-hop sporadic E layer FM DX on the button of the FM broadcast band ! A favorite target of mine is La Primera 88.1 in Santiago, Dominican Republic because it was the most logged double-hop Es signal both around my area and elsewhere (I even know someone in MASSACHUSSETS who got it according to the DXFM website) ! If someone knows what is the price of a Yagi`s rotator, I`ll be thankful.
2) the finding of the year (aside from ATARAX) AVENTURE FM airchecks or station`s recordings !! If anyone is having any, please contact me OFFLIST !
3) the Meduci AM stereo only tuner which would arrive later this week
4) some full C90 and C60 airchecks of Radio Coro scoped during fade outs
5) I`ll burn for someone a CD with old fashionned TROPICAL music as heard on Radio Coro
6) I`ll repair the Sangean ACS 818 who is quite fragile
7) I`ll purchase some rabbit ears as a back-up antenna if the AFS ever get hit by a lightning stroke, as I gave them about two years ago to the owner of a Haitian restaurant
8) a trip to the south maybe Isla Margarita - estado de Nueva Esparta

Well, that`s it for now !

May the good DX be with you !
Bogdan Chiochiu
Btw.: Where I could find more AIRCHECKS of Spanish speaking and French speaking stations from the 70s 80s and 90s ?

This report was brought to you by Bogdan Alexandru Chiochiu DXing from a variety of locations such as Lisette Dupras, Lakeshore, Kirkland`s Park (in the case of the WIRY-1340 weak semi-local) and the home QTH in Pierrefonds (Chiochiu*LD-QC / Chiochiu*L-QC / Chiochiu*P-QC / Chiochiu*KirklandPark-QC)
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