KNX Los Angeles CA 1070 verification

My first verification ever from a West Coast station appeared in my inbox today. The reply came from Andy Ludham, Director of News Programming, at KNX in Los Angeles. KNX was heard briefly one morning on its frequency of 1070 kHz at the October 2008 DX-pedition to Lista. A few other of the most powerful stations on the West Coast (such as KGA on 1510 kHz) were also heard at the same time.

XECTL Radio Chetumal 860 verification

One of the surprises at Lista in October 2008 was catching a few rare stations from Central America. One of the best loggings was Radio Chetumal in Chetumal, Mexico, close to the border to Belize, on 860 kHz. Their signal made it through to our radios one morning identifying both as “Radio Chetumal” and using their slogan “la radio de todos”.  Although this station has a power of 10 kilowatts, it is rarely logged in Scandinavia.

José Leonardo Cámara Ramírez confirmed my reception of the station with an e-mail yesterday. He says the station dates back to 1985 and belongs to the “Sistema Quintanarroense de Comunicación Social” radio group. This radio group is owned by the state government along with 3 other stations in the state of Quintana Roo. Chetumal is the capital of  Quitana Roo and is now starting to develop as a big tourist destination. Chetunal is still not as developed for tourism though as other wellknown places along the coast of this state such as Cancún, Cozumel and Playa del Carmen.

My thanks to Henrik Klemetz and to Tore B. Vik for both identifying this station and for providing a working e-mail address.

KSTP St. Paul MN 1500 verification

Discovering the signal of KSTP in St. Paul, Minnesota, on the recordings made at Lista in October 2008, was another surprise. 1500 kHz is usually totally covered by WFED in Washington DC with WLQV in Detroit also heard from time to time. The signal of KSTP made a brief apperance one night, however, with several identifications before disappearing behind WFED once again. Program Director Steve Konrad confirmed my reception with an e-mail yesterday.

WQEW New York NY 1560 verification

Another station I have tried to get a reply from several times through the years is WQEW in New York. WQEW is one of the very strongest US AM stations at my place and can be heard every night in the winter season with Radio Disney programming. Their 50 kilowatt transmitter located in Maspeth, New York City, beaming east towards Europe explains their powerful signal here. Bob Galerstein confirmed my audio clips from Lista in October 2008 with a letter sent by postal mail last week.

CMHW “Dobleve” 840 verification

I have tried to get a reply out of CMHW in Santa Clara, Cuba, a number of times before succeeding last week. CMHW is not a difficult station to hear, especially at Lista where they are often the dominating station on 840 kHz. CMHW – or “La Dobleve” as the station is better known as – broadcasts with a power of 10 kilowatts and had a strong signal at Lista last October when I listened in to their night programme “Al ritmo de la noche”.

CHHA Toronto ON 1610 verification

CHHA “Voces Latinas” in Toronto is a station I have only been able to hear a few times. Their frequency is usually covered by either Caribbean Beacon in Anguilla or CJWI in Montréal here. At Lista in October 2008, however, the signal of CHHA was also heard briefly with Spanish language programming. CHHA is a station primarily catering to the Latin community in Toronto and broadcast mainly in Spanish, but also has programming in Portuguese, Italian and Tagalog.

Werner Lopez, Technical Coordinator at CHHA, confirmed my reception with a long and friendly e-mail. He says that the power og their transmitter was 1 kilowatt at the time I heard them. Right now, however, their AM transmitter is on low power only as they are in a transition period of their system patern from Non Directional to a Directional pattern. CHHA plans to arise power again when they finish collecting the money for the new tower system.

CBT Grand Falls NL 540 verification

Now that Belgium has left and Hungary doesn’t use the frequency at night, 540 kHz has become a frequency opening up for Transatlantic DX. During the October 2008 DX-pedition to Lista, 3 stations were heard on this frequencies: CBT in Grand Falls, Newfoundland, CBGA1 in New Carlisle, Québec and WFLF in Pine Hills, Florida. Of these 3 stations, CBT in Grand Falls Windsor in Newfoundland usually had the best signal. CBT broadcasts with a power of 10 kilowatts carrying regular CBC Radio One programming as well as  local programming and regional programming. Keith Durnford at CBC in St. John’s confirmed my reception of CBT with an e-mail today.

CBGA1 New Carlisle QC 540 verification

One of many new stations (well, new to me at least) which popped up at Lista in October 2008 was CBGA1 in New Carlisle, Québec, on 540 kHz. CBGA1 broadcasts French language programmes from CBCs “Première Chaîne”, but has local station identifications like other CBC stations. Jimmy Berthelot, Chief Technicien, confirmed my reception with a brief e-mail today.

WHO Des Moines IA 1040 verification

1040 kHz is a frequency where I hardly hear any signals from North America on my usual DX pedition site at Lista. During the October 2008 venture to Lista, however, the signal of WHO in Des Moines, Iowa, was heard at times and sometimes even with pretty good signal. WHO broadcasts with a power of 50 kilowatts and is a common catch in Northern Scandinavia (not so in the south). Today I received a tiny QSL card by postal mail confirming my reception of WHO

WIZZ Greenfield MA 1520 verification

WIZZ is one of the easiest U.S. day timers to hear at my usual DX pedition site at Lista. Only WFIF in Milford, Connecticut, on 1500 kHz is more common. If conditions towards North America are good enough, the signal of WIZZ can sometimes be as good or even better than the signal of the normal powerhouse on 1520 kHz – WWKB in Buffalo, New York – around their their sign off in the evening. WIZZ broadcasts a nostalgia format from Greenfield, Massachusetts, with a daytime power of 10 kilowatts

I have tried to get a reply from WIZZ several times before, but no luck untill last week when I got a very friendly e-mail from WIZZ Chief Engineer Dan Ferreira. A few weeks later I also received a full detailed QSL card by postal mail. My reply came as a result from a follow up to a report to my best ever reception of WIZZ at the October 2004 DX pedition to Lista. WIZZ was also heard this winter, but with much more interference from WWKB than in October 2004

CKDH Amherst NS 900 verification

900 kHz was an interesting frequency on the October 2008 DX-pedition to Lista. One of several Transatlantic stations surfacing was CKDH in Amherst, Nova Scotia. Despite its location on the East coast of Canada, CKDH is not logged too often in Europe. I have never heard them before this DX-peditions, despite many DX-peditions to Lista over the years. The power of their AM transmitter is just 1 kilowatt though so that probably explains why CKDH is not hear more often.

Kurt Fawthrop at CKDH sent me a brief e-mail confirming my reception of the station today. CKDH plans to switch to FM so this station will be gone from the AM band pretty soon.

HRUP6 Radio Satélite 900 verification

One of the biggest surprises of the fabulous October 2008 DX-pedition to Lista, was logging the signal of Radio Satélite in La Ceiba, Honduras, on 900 kHz. Radio Satélite was a station we had never heard about, much less a station we thought it was possible hearing. Their signal, however, faded up one morning with a weak but clear station identification announcing the local time as “2.22 horas”.

I couldn’t find an e-mail address for Radio Satélite, so I had to send a letter and an accompanying CD with a recording of my reception by ordinary mail. The hopes of getting a reply were pretty small. I was thus very surprised to find a long and friendly e-mail from Arturo Zúniga, locutor at the station, in my e-mail inbox today. Arturo writes that Radio Satélite operates on AM 24 hours a day across several cities in Honduras: Tegucigalpa, San Pedro Sula, Choluteca and La Ceiba. Radio Satélite in La Ceiba is listed with a power of just 1 kilowatt. My thanks to Artur for one of my rarest QSLs ever!

WGAN Portland ME 560 verification

WGAN in Portland, Maine, has become a regular catch after CHVO in Newfoundland left the air in October 2008. Lara Seaver, Promotions Director, confirmed my MP3 recording of the station with a brief e-mail. This was another October 2008 catch at Lista. WGAN is now definitely the most common station on 560 kHz here with news/talk format.

KEZW Aurora CO 1430 verification

Today I received my first verification from the state of Colorado. KEZW in Aurora, Colorado, was heard one morning during the January 2007 DX pedition to Lista. Huge surprise as the signal of stations in the Rocky Mountains hardly ever makes it to Lista. I haven’t had any success in my attempts in getting a reply untill General Sales Manager Emily Kyle confirmed my reception of the station today.

KEZW – or “Studio 1430″ as the station calls is a Nostalgia/Oldies station serving the Denver area. The station broadcast with  power of  5 kilowatts at night.

WEPN New York NY 1050 verification

WEPN in New York is a very easy catch on 1050 kHz, especially at Lista. I haven’t tried very hard to obtain a verification from this station, but when I saw replies from Bob Galerstein to other DX-ers, I decided to send a reception report to him as well. Today, I got a letter in my snail mail with a perfect verification text from Bob. This was for a report from the October 2008 DX pedition to Lista. Bob mentions their transmitter are in East Rutherford, New Jersey with a power of 50 kilowatts day and night, while their studios are located in Midtown Manhattan.

Radio Zavidovici 1503 verification

Sometimes my recordings from previous DX-peditions just lie very quietly on my computer without being touched. One of these recordings was of an unidentified station on 1503 kHz. I had a suspicion this station was Radio Zavidovici in Zavidovici, Bosnia, but didn’t try to confirm the identity of the station untill last week when I sent an MP3 recording to Danijel Dado Slipogor at Radio Zavidovici. Dado replied and confirmed my suspicions with a nice e-mail some days ago. He tells that Radio Zavidovici is a local station with programming only from 7.10 untill 19.15 local time. Their transmitter has an output of 1 kilowatt from a 52 metre tall antenna mast. Dado is also a HAM with the call signs E72PLQ.

1503 kHz is a frequency where usually only BBC Radio Stoke and at times Iran surfaces here in Southern Norway, but on the November 2006 DX-pedition to Lista, the signal of Radio Zavidovici was heard briefly. This is the one and only time when I have ever heard this station, so I am quite pleased about this logging as well as Dados nice reply.

CHNS Halifax NS 960 verification

CHNS in Halifax, Nova Scotia, used to be a very common station at my place and by far the most commonly heard station on 960 kHz. I have sent a couple of reports to this station through the years, but no answer untill today when I got an e-mail verification from Alison Morash, Promotions Manager,  confirming my reception of the station on February 11, 2006.

CHNS left the AM band for good on October 19, 2006, and 960 kHz is now a much more exciting frequency. CHNS can nowadays be heard on FM and is known as “Hal FM”. They broadcast an interesting mix of Classic Rock music which I listen in to now and then on my computer. CHNS also used to broadcast on shortwave 6130 kilohertz with the call signs CHNX. The shortwave transmitter was closed down in 2001.

CKDO Oshawa ON 1580 verification

CKDO in Oshawa, Ontario, is another easy catch and is easily heard on its frequency 1580 kHz. In fact it is very difficult to hear anything but CKDO on this frequency. The station broadcasts with a power of 10 kilowatts and was also heard very well on the October 2008 trip to Lista. CKDO has an oldies format, but also carries many sports events. When I heard and reported them in October, I heard them with live hockey coverage of the local team The Oshawa Generals.

I have had some trouble getting a reply from them, but today Shawn Smith sent me a very nice and fully detailed QSL card by postal  mail. I very much prefer such replies to e-mail replies, but email replies are of course the norm today.

WEAV Plattsburgh NY 960 verification

After both CHNS in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and then CFFX in Kingston, Ontario, left AM for a new life on FM, WEAV in Plattsburgh, New York, has become the dominant station on 960 kHz at my place. WEAV The Zone has a talk format and is now usually an easy catch at my regular DX pedition site at Lista. Program Director Jamie Dennis kindly confirmed my reception of the station with an e-mail today. This was for a report from the October Dx-pedition to Lista.

By the way, the location of their transmitter is Peru, New York, just south of Plattsburgh. Reminds me of a few other American names like London ( Ontario), Athens (Georgia), Amsterdam (New York) or Paris (Texas) – the latter is of course also the name of a fascinating movie. The transmitter of WEAV operates with a power of 5 kilowatts noth day and night.

WNAM Neenah-Menasha WI 1280 verification

WNAM in Neenah-Menasha, Wisconsin, was one of the more uncommon stations heard during the November 2007 DX-pedition to Lista. Normally the frequency of 1280 kHz is completely covered by either WFAU in Maine or by WCMN in Puerto Rico with VSB2 in Bermuda and CFMB in Montreal also showing up from time to time. Hearing stations as far west as Wisconsin  is rare at Lista, so we were pleasantly surprised to hear WNAM with a pretty good signal at times. WNAM was easily recognizable playing non stop nostalgia music with some announcements in between the music played. Today Market Manager Jeffrey A. Schmidt confirmed my reception of the station with a brief e-mail.

CBE Windsor ON 1550 verification

CBE is a pretty easy catch at my regular DX pedition site at Lista. It is the dominant station on 1550 kHz and about the only North American station which it is possible to hear on this frequency. CBE is the CBC Radio One outlet in Windsor, Ontario, and broadcasts with a power of 10 kilowatts.

CBE was heard well during  the October 2008 DX pedition to Lista with several local station identifications before and after the CBC News on the hour.  Some days ago, I received a full detailed QSL card (yes they still exist) by regular mail, some stickers, a frequency guide and a bookmark from the station.

CKMW Winkler MB 1570 verification

Hearing stations as far west as Manitoba is not very easy or very common at Lista. On the very successful October 2008 DX-pedition, however, we managed to hear a couple of stations from Manitoba. One of them was CKMW in Winkler which was heard pretty well on 1570 kHz one night along with the dominant CFAV Radio Boomer in Laval, Québec. Both stations transmit country music so it is not always easy to separate them from each other other

Director of Engineering Laverne Siemens sent me a nice QSL letter today where he writes that the transmitter of CKMW is really located in the neighbouring city of Morden. CKMW transmits with a power of 10 kilowatts 24 hours a day and the transmitter is a Nautel XR-12 operating into a two-tower array. CKMW became my very first verification from a station in Manitoba so I am quite pleased about this one.

CJOY Guelph ON 1460 verification

I have a lot of audio files and reception reports waiting to be sent out to common and fairly common stations in Canada and in the USA. One of the stations which is heard fairly commonly is CJOY in Guelph, Ontario.

CJOY can be heard quite frequently on 1460 kHz with their Oldies format programming usually mixing with WDDY Radio Disney in Albany, New York. CJOY has applied to move to FM, but so far the application has been denied by the Canadian broadcasting authorities. CJOY Program Director Larry Mellott confirmed my reception of the station at  the October 2008 DX pedition to Lista with a brief e-mail today.

Radio Afrika International 1476 verification

Hearing Radio Afrika International from Vienna on 1476 kHz was not really “hard-core-dx”, but it is a nice station which I enjoy listen to every now and then. Unfortunately, the 1476 kHz transmitter  at Wien-Bisamberg closed down on December 31, 2008, so their programmes are now only available on FM in Vienna and as an online streaming service on the Internet. I sent a reception report to Radio Afrika International for their December 30 broadcast and today Jana Frühauf sent me a full detailed QSL card and a nice letter by postal mail.

WSVU North Palm Beach FL 960 verification

One of the star loggings from Lista last October was catching the signal of WSVU “Seaview AM” on 960 kHz. This station had not been heard previously in Scandinavia according to the KOJE master list of North American AM stations, but popped up one morning around sunrise with an acceptable signal for a few minutes mixing with the dominant station Radio Reloj in Cuba. The station is listed with a night time power of just 250 watts so it was a big surprise hearing them. WSVU broadcasts from North Palm Beach, Florida and has a adult standards format.  Today Rex Lardner, Director of Marketing at WSVU sent me an e-mail confirming my reception of the station.

CHKT Toronto ON 1430 verification

CHKT in Toronto is a station I have heard many times on 1430 kHz. Their programmes are easily recognizable as they only broadcast foreign language programming. The main language of CHKT is Chinese but I have also heard them with programmes in a.o. Tamil and Pashto. The main problem about CHKT has been getting a proper station identification as I believe an identification is only heard at the top of the hour. On the October 2008 DX pedition to Lista, however, I managed to get a good quality identification of CHKT and tonight Louise Lam, News & Public Affairs Manager at Fairchild Radio Toronto confirmed my reception of CHKT with a friendly e-mail.

XEEP Radio Educación 1060 verification

Stations from Mexico are not heard often at my place, but at Lista in November 2007 we managed to hear a few. One of them was Radio Educación in Mexico City. The signal of Radio Educación was heard one morning on 1060 kHz when their signal was heard pretty well mixing with the dominant station Radio 26 in Cuba and WBIX in Boston.

Lic. Virginia Bello Méndez, Directora General at the station sent me a kind letter and a very colourful QSL-card by FedEx some days ago confirming my reception of the station. Unfortunately, the frequency mentioned on the QSL-card is their shortwave outlet 6185 kHz and not 1060 kHz which was the frequency I received them on. Oh well, I’ll still count this one as a verification of XEEP on 1060 kHz.

CFAV Laval QC 1570 verification

After many attempts, Claire Bellefeuille, Directrice at CFAV Radio Boomer, confirmed my reception of the station today. CFAV, or Radio Boomer as the station usually identifies as, broadcasts from Laval just outside Montréal. CFAV is an “easy” target for Transatlantic DX and is the dominant station on 1570 kHz here. This was for a MP3 recording of their signal as received at home with a 70 metre long antenna in October.

WLMC Georgetown SC 1470 verification

WLMC in Georgetown, South Carolina, was another nice catch at Lista in last October. The station was heard with gospel music and announcing various religious and community events in and around Georgetown. WLMC broadcasts with a daytime power of  1 kilowatts while their nighttime power is  just 184 watts. As we heard them around 7.15 p.m. EST, I guess we heard them with 184  kilowatts only. A nice catch indeed!

Station owner  Rod Stalvey mentions they spent some effort and money to improve their transmitting facility 2 years ago and this may explain why the station makes it through all the way to Scandinavia at times. In 2006 Mr. Stalvey also verified my reception of their sister station WGTN on 1400 kHz, heard in February 2006 at Lista. WLMC has got a really nice logo (with palms), see above.

OAX4O Radio Victoria 6020 verification

QSLs from shortwave stations are rare these days as there are simple not a lot of stations left on the shortwave dial.  Radio Victoria in Lima is one of very few stations in the bigger cities of Peru which are still transmitting on shortwave. The station has been heard quite regularly on both 6020 kHz and 9720 kHz here with 6020 kHz providing best reception. The programmes are not too exciting as they only consist of the religious “La Voz de la Liberación”  programmes. Radio Victoria is owned and operated by the pentecostal church “Iglesia Pentecostal Dios es Amor” run by Brazilian missionary David Miranda.

Today I found a friendly e-mail from Henrique Silvo Ramos, Administrador, who, judging from his name, must be a Brazilian living in Lima.

HJKM Emisora Mariana 1400 verification

Emisora Mariana in Bogotá, Colombia has been heard quite regularly on 1400 kHz this winter at my QTH, even with a 70 metre longwire antenna only.  As with most Colombians, reception is always best around sunrise now in winter.

It took a couple of tries to get a reply, but I finally got I nice e-mail reply confirming my reception of the station.

WBTX Broadway-Timberville VA 1470 verification

Hearing the unexpected is to me the main thrill about DX-ing. We heard several unexpected stations during the October 2008 DX-pedition to Lista. One of the highlights was hearing WBTX licenced to Broadway-Timberville in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley on 1470 kHz, a daytimer with a power of 5 kilowatts. WBTX was a station we never had heard about,  and much less expected to hear. The station was heard at sign-off at 6.45 p.m. EST one evening with about the same signal strength as the usual dominant WLAM in Maine.

WBTX belongs to a group of 3 radio stations and broadcasts a Southern Gospel format. The station confirmed my reception with an e-mail last week and also asks me to make a liner to the station. I’ll do as requested of course, so may be you will hear my voice if you listen in to WBTX one time!

WOND Pleasantville NJ 1400 verification

WOND in Pleasantville, New Jersey, is a station I have heard many times. WOND is the second most commonly heard station on 1400 kilohertz at my place, and would have had a very good signal had they been on a clearer frequency. 1400 kilohertz is normally occupied by CBG in Gander, Newfoundland, here.

The challenge for WOND has been obtaining a verification. Last week, however, their Director of Engineering Mike Ferriola sent me an e-mail with a perfectly acceptable verification text. This was for an MP3 recording of their signal at Lista last October.

WATR Waterbury CT 1320 verification

WATR in Waterbury, Connecticut, was another nice catch at our last venture to Lista in October 2008. WATR came up with a clear station identification around local sunset in Connecticut at 22.00 UTC. I guess the station switched from their listed day time power of 5 kilowatts to the night time power of 1 kilowatt at around this time.

After a couple of tries, General Manager Tom Chute confirmed my reception of the station with an e-mail last week.

KBRW Barrow AK 680 verification

Hearing Alaska on mediumwave has been something I have tried for years in the winter afternoons and evenings. The station I have hunted for has primarily been KBRW on 680 kHz, which is supposed to be the easiest Alaskan station to hear on mediumwave in Scandinavia. KBRW is located in Barrow, 515 kilometres north of the Arctic Circle. Barrow is the northern most community in the USA and on the North American mainland and has a population of around 4,000 only.

KBRW is a very easy catch in Northern Scandinavia. At my location at around 59° N in Southern Norway, however, KBRW is far from being an easy catch. Conditions just have to be very good for their signal to propagate this far south. On December 2 last year I discovered a carrier on 680 kHz and at 15.00 UTC I noticed a clear albeit muffled ID for KBRW! Later on I discovered that their signal even made it to both Germany, Scotland and England on this date so conditions must really have been exceptional on this particular day. On December 2, the signal of KBRW was audible from 15.00 to 22.00 UTC at my place, weak signals only and deep fading but no doubt that it was KBRW all the time. Reception of KBRW was again possible in late January, when conditions on mediumwave was also exceptionally good. My receiving antenna on both occasions was a 70 metre longwire antenna only.

Last week I was pleasantly surprised to find a letter in my mailbox confirming my reception of KBRW. Vice President and General Manager Robert C. Sommer mentions that 66% of the programming of KBRW is locally produced and that 70% of their audience is Native American, mainly Inupiat Eskimo. KBRW is owned and operated by Silakkuagvik Communications Inc. and is a non-profit community owned station. Their AM transmitter operates at 10 kilowatts 24 hours a day.

Needless to say, I am very pleased to finally both hear and verify Alaska on mediumwave!

Radio Libertad 1310 verification

Radio Libertad was a surprise catch one morning in Occtober when DX-ing with my very modest equipment at my home QTH. This station has been heard a couple of times in Scandinavia, but as far as I know it is not a very common catch on its frequency of 1310 kHz. Radio Libertad broadcasts from the lovely city of Arequipa, Peru, a city I had the chance to visit myself some years ago.

After a couple of tries Oscar Roumainville Tejada sent me an e-mail confirming my reception of the station yesterday.

KWSL Sioux City IA 1470 verification

Another Iowa verification found its way to my e-mail inbox today. This time from Traffic Director Nicole Maranville at KWSL in Sioux City, Iowa. KWSL “La Preciosa” is, as the name implies, a Spanish station. The station was heard briefly on 1470 kHz on the January 2007 DX-pedition at Lista, and has also been noted a few other times at Lista.

KXNO Des Moines IA 1460 verification

Hearing stations as far west as Iowa is not that common on my usual DX-pedition site at Lista. At the November 2007 DX-pedition, however, we managed to hear quite a few stations from as far inland as Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin.

One of the stations heard was KXNO in Des Moines, Iowa, a station neither me or my DX-buddy Torgeir Nyen had heard before. KXNO was heard with a fair signal around our sunrise one of the mornings announcing the slogan “KXNO – Des Moines’ Sports Station”. Assistant Programme Director Geoff Conn sent me an e-mail confirming my reception of the station today.

Zenith Classic Rock 1584 verification

Zenith Classic Rock holds a temporary license to broadcast on 1584 kHz and is presently on air on weekends only with a power of 1 kilowatt. The station transmits in AM stereo using the C-QUAM-system and is believed to be the only station in Europe presently broadcasting in stereo on mediumwave. The transmitter is located in Ballygorey, County Kilkenny, which is north west to the city of Waterford in Ireland.

I managed to hear the station during the first weekend of 2009 despite using a 70 metre longwire only and despite heavy interference from Radio Tay in Scotland. Andy Linton confirmed my reception of the station today and also promises to send along a QSL-card when they have been printed. Andy also tells the AM  transmitter is a BE AM2.5 transmitter, capable (and using) AM Stereo and that the power run is 1kW. Their AM antenna is an 80m vertical tower, insulated, base fed. That height is 100 degrees at their frequency which is the optimum size. The exact transmitter location is Ballygorey, Co. Kilkenny, which is also the studio location of Zenith Classic Rock.  The FM transmitter is on 103.8 MHz, 2kW from White Mountain, Co. Wexford.

It’s been a long time since I have heard and verified a new station in Ireland and I am quite pleased about being able to hear this station with my limited radio equipment at home.

In June, I also received a full data QSL card, a postcard and some information about the station. Zenith Classic Rock hopes to be back with a new temporarily licence towards the end of 2009. They also want to apply for a permanent licence later on.

WEZS Laconia NH 1350 verification

Catching the signal of WEZS on 1350 kHz at the last DX-pedition to Lista was a big but pleasant surprise.  WEZS was caught with a top of the hour identification at 22.00 UTC on the first night of our DX-pedition. Not too good a signal, but enough for a postitive identification. WEZS is an Oldies music station located in Laconia, New Hampshire.

Owner and General Manager Gary W. Hammond sent me an e-mail today verifying my reception of the station.  He says WEZS dates back all the time to 1922 with the call sign WKAV becoming WEZS in 1994. At present WEZS operates with a daytime power of 5 kilowatts into a 192 foot (58 metre) non-directional antenna located at Sanbornton, New Hampshire. Their regular service area normally encompasses about 65 to 70 miles (105-112 kilometres) only. This season, however, the signal of WEZS has been heard by several DX-ers in Norway and Finland.

WNSH Beverly MA 1570 verification

One of many interesting stations heard at Lista last October was WNSH broadcasting from Beverly, Massachusetts, on 1570 kHz. WNSH came up to beat the dominant CFAV in Québec a couple of times during our first evening and was heard with a clear station identification at 22.58 UTC (6.58 EST).

We thought we heard the station with their daytime power of 35 kilowatts, but according to a verification e-mail sent by Chief Engineer Gregory P. Lynam they were on their night time effect of only 85 watts at that time. I have never received a North American AM station with such a low effect before so I am really pleased with this logging (and with the QSL too, of course!).

WLQV Detroit MI 1500 verification

WLQV in Detroit, Michigan, is a station which sometimes pops up at Lista on 1500 kHz. Usually, WFED in Washington DC (and its predecessors WTOP, WTWP and WWWT) totally owns this frequency, but on both the November 2007 Dx-pedition as well as the most recent October 2008 DX-pedition, WLQV had a good signal at times, sometimes even better than the signal of WFED.

Sales Manager Brad Smith confirmed my most recent reception of the station (from October 2008) with a brief e-mail.

CIWW Ottawa ON 1310 verification

For some reason I have never bothered to send a reception report to the most commonly heard station on 1310 kHz: CIWW in the Canadian capital Ottawa. CIWW – or “Oldies 1310″ as the station brands itself – can be heard on 1310 kHz whenever conditions favour North America. CIWW always has the strongest signal although it is not unusual to hear WLOB in Maine on this frequency either.

Program Director Danny Kingsbury dutily confirmed my reception of the station with a brief e-mail. This report was from the DX-pedition to Lista last month (October).

DX-pedition to Lista, October 23-26, 2008

The first – and probably the only – DX-pedition of this season for my part took place on October 23-26. The QTH was again Lista on the south western coast of Norway. Lista is located between Kristiansand and Stavanger on the coast, some 6 hours drive from the Norwegian capital Oslo as can be seen on this Google Map.

My DX buddies this time were Torgeir Nyen and Tore Johnny Bråtveit – Torgeir travelling from Oslo while Tore Johnny travelled all the way from Melhus south of Trondheim. Being able to spend some days just on the radio hobby with other DX-ers is always enjoyable even if we don’t hear anything interesting. This time we were even blessed with good DX conditions making this my best DX-pedition to Lista since February 2006 (and possibly even beating the February 2006 DX-pedition).

As usual, we used a 800 metre long antenna towards the East Coast of North America / Florida / Cuba and another antenna towards the West Coast. The signals were generally better on the East Coast antenna (not a surprise), and I only used the West Coast antenna to grab some of the big stations in Alberta and Manitoba.

Conditions definitely favoured the East Coast of North America and were especially good towards Florida. We hardly heard any South American stations, it felt like there was a big wall somewhere in the Caribbean which simply kept stations from Venezuela and Colombia out. Well, we didn’t complain!

Some of the highlights: 540 WFLF Pine Hills FL, 560 WQAM Miami FL, 580 WDBO Orlando FL, 920 WGHQ Kingston NY, 960 WSVU North Palm Beach FL, 980 WCAP Lowell MA, 980 WAAV Leland NC, 1070 WFLI Lookout Mountain TN, 1350 WEZS Laconia NH, 1440 WPRD Winter Park FL, 1440 WLWI Montgomery AL, 1470 WLMC Georgetown SC and 900 Radio Satélite in La Ceiba, Honduras.

A number of U.S. daytimers were also noted: 760 WCHP Champlain NY, 1470 WBTX Broadway VA, 1500 WFIF Milford CT (huge signal at times), 1510 WWBC Cocoa FL and 1520 WIZZ Greenfield MA.

Neither 580 WDBO, 960 WSVU, 1440 WLWI nor 1510 WWBC has been heard in Scandinavia before according to the KOJE master list of North American AM stations.

Update April 9, 2009: Most of our logs are now available as a PDF file (in Norwegian only)

Radio Caracas Radio 750

Radio Caracas Radio – or RCR which the station is more commonly known as – in Caracas is the most frequent guest on 750 kHz at my place whenever conditions turn southwards.

RCR was also heard on the November 2007 DX-pedition at Lista even though the conditions definitely favoured North America at that time. RCR was one of only a few Venezuelans coming through on the DX-pedition, and I have heard them with a much better signal on previous occasions. When I heard them in November, I listened in to a baseball (or “beisból” as it’s called in Spanish) game featuring the team Navegantes del Magallanes. Navegantes del Magallanes is the team of RCR, says Claudia Camperos at the Gte. Producción RCR, who sent me an e-mail confirming my reception today. Claudia says the station mainly transmits news and what she calls “programas de opinión”, but that they also have a lot of sports especially at the weekends.

CKLW Windsor ON 800

800 kHz is normally occupied by VOWR in Newfoundland at my place, but on the November 2007 DX-pedition at Lista we also noted both CHRC and CKLW on this frequency. Of these two stations, CKLW in Windsor, Ontario, had the better signal with “Coast to Coast A.M.” and other talk programmes.

Anne Marie Isshack, PSA Director at CHUM Radio Windsor, confirmed my reception of the station with a kind e-mail some days ago.

Radio Shumen 963

DX-ing local radio stations from Eastern Europe is may be not very common in the small DXing community To me, however, DX-ing small stations in Europe can be just as fun as catching the signal of a station in say Florida or Colombia.

One of these local European stations noticed on the January 2007 DX-pedition to Lista was Radio Shumen in Shumen, Bulgaria. Although this station is supposed to broadcast with a power of 50 kilowatts on 963 kHz, it is not a commonly heard station. In January 2007, Radio Shumen was heard quite well, however, interfering with the British radio stations Club Asia in London and Asian Sound Radio in Manchester. Neither of the two British stations have ever bothered to reply to my reception reports (there have been quite a few over the years). Radio Shumen, on the other hand, replied with a full data verification letter signed by both its director Iv. Savov as well as Dipl. Eng. Lazarova, Head of the Technical Department.

ZYJ455 Super Rádio Tupi 1280

In January 2007, we experienced some geomagnetic disturbances at Lista and we managed to hear a number of stations from Brazil and Argentina. Stations from that part of the world are otherwise rarely heard at Lista, mostly due to the antennas which we use which are usually pointed to the Caribbean or to North America.

One of the stations heard was Super Rádio Tupi in Rio de Janeiro on 1280 kHz. I sent an e-mail to the station back in October 2007, but didn’t get any reply untill now when Technical Manager José Claudio Barbedo sent me a very kind e-mail in English confirming my reception of the station. José Claudio apologized for the delay in responding and says the reason for this was that my e-mail was first considered as spam by their e-mail server! He tells the station has a Harris DX-100 transmitter with 100 kWs of power which is almost doubled by the directional array. José Claudio included a couple of photos, including the following which shows the transmitting plant of the station:

CHGM Gaspé QC 1150

CHGM in Gaspé, Québec, is the most commonly heard North American station on 1150 kHz at my place. CHGM had a good signal on the November 2007 DX-pedition at Lista, playing mostly French-Canadian pop and rock music. Benoît Trépenier, journalist at the station, kindly confirmed my reception of the station with an e-mail. Benoît also tells that both CHGM and its parallel CHNC in New Carlisle on 610 kHz will leave the AM band in favour of FM soon. He says this will probably happen later this fall depending on the time it will take them to put up the antennas and test.

YLE Helsinki 558

Finnish state broadcaster YLE doesn’t really count as a DX object here in Norway, but I was tempted to tune in to their very last broadcast on AM on December 31, 2007. On this date, the Helsinki transmitter on 558 was switched off. I listened in around 12.00 UTC, and as this was during mid winter their signal was heard quite well even at this time of the day.

Jorma Laiho at YLE Tekniikka confirmed my report with a special “last day of transmission” QSL card. The card confirms my report and also states that: “This was the last transmission of YLE on MW. Transmitter was located at Helsinki: 25°1′48″E 60°8′39″N“.

CKGA Gander NL 650

CKGA in Gander, Newfoundland, is one of the most commonly heard North American radio stations here. The station can be heard almost every night in the winter season on its frequency 650 kHz, provided you have a decent radio and antenna of course. CKGA is part of the VOCM Radio Network in Newfoundland and simulcasts the mainstream VOCM programming most of the day.

On both the November 2007 and the February 2008 DX-pedition to Lista, CKGA could, however, be heard signing on at 06.00 a.m. local time with a local station identification. The station identification was announced as: “6-50 C-K-G-A Gander, a Newcap Radio Field Communication Station”. 6.00 a.m. equals 10.30 our local time and it was a bit surprising to hear CKGA so late in the morning as 10.30 was about 2 hours past our local sunrise. The ever so kind Richard King, Program Director, who has confirmed a couple of my other reports of VOCM radio stations previously, also confirmed my audio clip of CKGA with an e-mail.

CKNB Campbellton NB 950

 

CKNB in Campbellton, New Brunswick, is by far the most common North American radio station on 950 kHz at my place. General Manager David Montgomery sent me a brief e-mail confirming my report from the November 2007 trip to Lista yesterday. CKNB had a huge signal on 950 kHz all nights on this DX pedition.

HJJZ Radio Manantial 1310

I have been trying hard to get a verification from Radio Manantial in Bogotá, a station which I have heard several times at Lista on 1310 kHz. A few years ago, I also heard this station when the station Colorín Color Radio used this frequency. Radio Manantial can occasionaly be heard at Lista beating the much more common signal of Radio Nacional de Venezuela on the same frequency.

Last week, however, I finally received an e-mail from the station. This was for a report from the February 2008 DX pedition to Lista.

WPHT Philadelphia PA 1210

Marc Rayfield, SVP Market Manager/General Manager of WPHT-AM, sent me an e-mail last Saturday confirming my reception of WPHT in Philadelphia on 1210 on the November 2007 DX pedition to Lista.

At Lista, WPHT is the most commonly heard station on 1210 kHz along with VOAR in Newfoundland. On a southernly location such as Lista, however, where you can almost see the transmitting towers of Virgin Radio in Scotland on nearby 1215 kHz, the signal of Virgin Radio  is often so strong that it entirely spoils reception of any AM stations on nearby 1210 and 1220 kHz. During November 2007, the signals of both VOAR and WPHT on 1210 as well as WHKW on 1220 were at times sufficiently strong to be heard through the splash. WPHT brands itself both as “The Big Talker” as well as “Philly’s No. 1 For Talk Radio”.

WPHT is my 100th verified U.S. radio station! (including both medium- and shortwave).

SER Radio Santander 1485

Another station responding to a follow up sent a few days ago was SER Radio Santander in Santander, Spain. The station says they receive quite a number of e-mails and letters from “radioaficionados” in the Nordic countries every year. Radio Santander is an easy catch here in Norway on 1485 kHz, but getting a reply hasn’t been easy (I’ve tried a number of times previously). My report was from the February DX pedition to Lista.

CJRS Montréal QC 1650

The summer holidays have resulted in very few reception reports being sent, and as a result the number of QSLs has of course also dropped significantly (in July the number was zero). I sent out a couple of follow-ups yesterday, one of them resulted in a brief confirmation in French from CJRS President Founder Robert Levy.

CJRS Radio Shalom in Montréal can be heard every now and then on its frequency 1650 kHz. There is usually quite a lot of interference from WHKT in Virginia with their Radio Disney programming, but on the February DX-pedition to Lista CJRS had the strongest signal one morning with the programme “Jewish Travel Guide”. Radio Shalom has got a number of interesting progammes, one of them being “The Rockin’ Rabbi Show”… A lot of their programmes, including “The Rockin’ Rabbi”, are available as podcasts on the website of the station.

XEVOZ Radio Tráfico 1590

XEVOZ Radio Tráfico in México City was a rather unexpected catch at Lista in November 2007. The station came through with pretty good quality one morning on 1590 kHz announcing the time every minute and giving traffic reports from Mexico every third minute. Ing. Miguel Angel Barrientos V., who is their Director de Ingeniería y Desarrollo Tecnológico, replied with a registered letter including a small full data QSL certificate.

Radio Tráfico has obviously not been a huge success because the station is now a part of the FM station “88.9 Noticias”. On 1590 AM, you can hear the music service “Luz 1590″ with the slogan “Luz 1590 – la música que hace la diferencia”. All stations are owned by the Grupo ACIR radio group.

930 CFBC St. John NB

930 kHz was also an interesting frequency during the November 2007 DX pedition to Lista and I managed to hear 2 stations which were new to me: WBEN in Buffalo, New York, and CFBC in St. John, New Brunswick. The dominant station on this frequency is CJYQ in St. John’s, Newfoundland, but during these 3 days CFBC usually had the better signal on this frequency.

Paul Jensen, Program Director at CFBC, replied to my recording with a kind e-mail yesterday. He says they  increased the station’s power last year and this probably explains the improved quality in reception here in Norway.

HJJX RCN Radio Bogotá 770

Ana Maria Davila, Asistente Nacional de Gerencia Producción at RCN Radio in Bogotá, sent me an e-mail confirming my reception of HJJX RCN Radio on 770 kHz. RCN is quite possibly the Colombian station which can be heard most often and with the best signal at my place and can be heard even if conditions are only so-so towards the Caribbean or South America.

My recording was from the November 2007 DX pedition to Lista when RCN Radio could be heard well on the first night despite conditions being much better towards North America than towards the Caribbean/South America.

WBAP Fort Worth TX 820

820 kHz was one of the most interesting frequencies on the November 2007 DX pedition to Lista. Normally, only Radio Paradise in St.Kitts-Nevis can be heard on this frequency with their (very boring) overnight TBN programming. During the 3 nights we were at Lista, several other stations both from Latin America and North America were competing with Radio Paradise, however.

One of the stations which was heard was WBAP in Fort Worth, Texas. WBAP was heard all 3 nights, usually peaking in the mornings. Operations Manager Tyler Cox kindly confirmed my e-mail report today. 

WSB Atlanta GA 750

WSB in Atlanta, Georgia, was another November 2007 catch at Lista. The station faded up briefly on top of the hour one morning on its frequency 750 kHz beating the signal of dominant station CBGY in Newfoundland. WSB is not an easy catch at Lista, as CBGY usually has a very strong signal.

Program Director Pete Spriggs kindly confirmed my e-mail report some days ago.  Later I also got a nice e-mail from Mark Alewine, Anchor/Reporter, who was the anchor reading the news bulletin I received at 1.00 a.m Georgia Time. WSB, by the way, means Welcome South Brother.

WYLL Chicago IL 1160

Another Chicago station heard at Lista in November 2007 was WYLL on 1160 kHz. WYLL is the dominant North American station on the channel and was heard with a good signal at times. There was quite a lot of interference from Radio Tay in Scotland on nearby 1161 kHz though as Scottish stations are incredibly strong at Lista. WYLL is a Christian radio station branded as “Chicago’s Christian Talk”.

Chief Engineer Paul Easter sent me an e-mail confirming my report. Paul is, by the way, also a HAM with the call sign W9PA.

WWVA Wheeling WV 1170

WWVA “News Radio 1170″ located in Wheeling, West Virginia, had a good signal at times on 1170 kHz during the morning on November 12 at Lista. Their signal had to fight several UK stations on the same frequency, notably Magic 1170 in Newcastle, but had a decent strength at times.

News Director Paul Morgan replied immediately to my report saying he is amazed that their signal could be heard that far away from their area. I’m also amazed, but that’s because his e-mail was written at 6.09 a.m. local time!

Radio 4VEH 840

Catching Radio 4VEH on 840 kHz was one of the highlights of the November 2007 DX pedition to Lista. Although Radio 4VEH has been logged quite frequently in Scandinavia during the last year, it was still a pleasant surprise to catch the signal of this station. This is the first time I have ever been able to hear a radio station from Haïti at my place.

Radio 4VEH, “La Voix Évangélique d’Haiti”, is a Christian radio station broadcasting from Cap-Haitien. The station has been on the air since 1950 and also used to broadcast on shortwave many many years ago. Rev. Storly Michel, 4VEH General Manager, kindly replied to my e-mail report (written in very poor French) yesterday.

WBBM Chicago IL 780

Several stations from Chicago came through quite well during the November 2007 DX pedition to Lista beating more commonly heard stations located further east. One of these stations was WBBM on 780 kHz which was heard with an equally good signal strength as the normally very dominant CFDR in Nova Scotia.

Ron Gleason, Director of News and Programming, sent me a brief e-mail confirming my reception of the station yesterday. WBBM, also known on-air as “Newsradio 780,” is an all-news radio station owned by CBS.

CJYE Oakville ON 1250

Another Ontario station logged on the November 2007 DX pedition to Lista was CJYE in Oakville on 1250 kHz. The station airs a Christian music and talk format branded as “Joy 12-50″. Another slogan used is “Christian radio for Southern Ontario”.

Brian Smith at the Ontario DX Association sent me a full data QSL card and also included a program schedule, 3 bookmarks and 2 CJYE car stickers.

WBEN Buffalo NY 930

One of the stations which turned up rather unexpectedly on the November 2007 DX pedition to Lista was WBEN in Buffalo, New York. Their frequency, 930 kHz, is usually dominated by 2 Canadian stations, CJYQ in Newfoundland and CFBC in New Brunswick. On this DX pedition we enjoyed good conditions towards the Great Lakes though, and one of the stations which benefited from this was WBEN which surfaced from the Canadians a few times.

I got a brief e-mail from Tim Wenger, Program Director at WBEN, confirming my report today. WBEN usually identifies as “News Radio 930 WBEN”. WBEN has been on the air for more than 80 years – the station actually signed on as early as 1922!

WJR Detroit MI 760

WJR in Detroit, Michigan, was the dominant station all 3 nights on 760 kHz on Lista in November 2007, and had a very good signal at times. WJR is the most commonly heard North American station on this frequency, but I have not heard them untill this DX pedition. WJR is a talk station branding themselves as “The Great Voice of the Great Lakes”.

Operations Manager Steve Stewart sent me a brief e-mail confirming my report today. WJR is my first verified station from Michigan, but I am hoping for more as we heard a few other Michigan stations in November 2007.

COPE Menorca 1134

It’s been years since I last sent a reception report to a station in Spain. I have given priorities to stations in North America, Central America and South America instead. Spain is an interesting DX target though with many stations on the AM band. Spain seems to be one of only 2 European countries (the other one being the UK) where people actually still listens to AM radio.

Today I sent out a couple of e-mail reports to some Spanish stations which I have heard in the past. One of them was COPE Menorca in Menorca in the Baleares Islands. This seldomly heard station came through on 1134 kHz late one morning at 10.59 local time on the January 2007 DX-pedition to Lista. Francisca Marqués of the Dep. Comercial de Cope Menorca replied with a prompt e-mail this morning.

KFAN Minneapolis MN 1130

1130 kHz is a frequency which is usually completely dominated by 1 North American radio station in Southern Norway: WBBR in New York with their “Bloomberg Radio” programming. Last November, however, KFAN in Minneapolis came through briefly one morning on Lista with ESPN programming. Luckily, some local promotions were noted as well, so I could send a long a MP3 file some days ago.

Director of Engineering Jess Meyer replied promply with a nice PDF letter confirming my reception of the station. This is the first, and so far the only, station I have ever managed to hear from Minnesota. There is, by the way, an interesting web page out there offering a “KFAN Transmitter Tour“.

CHWO Toronto ON 740

Stations from Ontario came through very well on the November 2007 DX pedition to Lista and CHWO in Toronto on 740 kHz was one of the stations which was heard with a very good signal. There was some interference from co-channel CHCM in Newfoundland at times, but CHWO generally had the better signal playing nostalgia music and identifying as «Prime Time Radio».

CHWO is one of several Ontario stations QSLed by the good folks at the Ontario DX Association. Earlier this week I received a reply by postal mail from ODXA containing a full data QSL card (yes, they still exist!), a program schedule, an interesting leaflet about the history of the station and 2 CHWO bookmarks as well as some information on the ODXA and about the Hammond Museum of Radio located in Guelph.

CKHJ Fredericton NB 1260

One of the better catches from the November 2007 DX-pedition to Lista, was CKHJ in Fredericton, New Brunswick on 1260 kHz. This frequency is usually dominated totally by WMKI in Boston with Radio Disney, but in the evening on November 11 CKHJ surfaced briefly with a promotion for their “Country Gold” programme.

Tom Blizzard, Group Program Director of Astral Media Radio Atlantic, kindly replied to my e-mail today saying that my recording is just about the best quality his heard (frankly, I thought the quality was rather poor… ). Tom also mentions CKHJ changes pattern at night to avoid any interference with WMKI.

CIGM Sudbury ON 790

Another Ontario station which was heard on the November 2007 DX-pedition to Lista was CIGM in Sudbury, Ontario, on 790 kHz. CIGM was station I had never heard previously, but on this DX-pedition the station could be heard several times.

Today, Program Director Chris Johnson sent me a friendly e-mail confirming my reception of the station. Chris says they are only able to reply to reports by e-mails because of the large number of requests for QSL responses they receive, especially from Scandinavian DX-ers.

CBGY Bonavista Bay NL 750

CBC Newfoundland is one of most commonly heard AM stations from North America in Southern Norway. Both CBN St. John’s on 600 kHz, CBGY on 750 kHz and CBG on 1400 kHz are easy catches.

The only one of these 3 transmitters which I had not verified previously was CBGY in Bonavista Bay on 750 kHz. Today, however, I received a brief e-mail from Keith Durnford at CBC Newfoundland confirming my reception of the station. This was another report from the successfull November 2007 DX-pedition to Lista on the southwest coast of Norway.

CFFX Kingston ON 960

CFFX in Kingston, Ontario, was the most commonly heard station from North America on 960 kHz at my place untill they switched off their AM transmitter on January 15, 2008.

Luckily, I managed to hear their signal before they switched off their AM transmitter. On the November 2007 DX-pedition to Lista, CFFX was heard quite well mixing with WEAV. At that time the station already simulcasted with their FM transmitter on FM 104.3 identifying simply as “Lite 104.3 FM”. Chief Engineer Roger Cole of Corus Kingston sent me a kind e-mail confirming my reception of CFFX earlier today.

CFTR Toronto ON 680

CFTR in Toronto was heard with terrific quality all through the night on 680 kHz on the November 2007 DX-pedition to Lista. WRKO in Boston was also heard at the same time, but CFTR was usually the dominant station. CFTR only identifies “6-80 News” without call letters.

John Hinnen, Vice-President and General Manager, confirmed my reception report today with a brief e-mail. A few weeks later, I also received a nice e-mail from Anne Lavrih, News Editor.

DX-pedition to Lista January 31 – February 3, 2008

The 2nd DX-pedition of the season to Lista took place between January 31 and February 3, again accompanied by Torgeir Nyen. Unfortunately, we were not so lucky with the conditions this time as we were in November. Conditions were quite good towards the East Coast of North America on the first night. The last 2 night only brought stations from Latin America and hardly any stations at all from North America, and almost exclusively on frequencies below 1000 kHz.

Highlights so far: 620 Antigua BS, 700 Jamaica, 700 Radio Sucre (stations from Ecuador are rare!), 1460 WHIC Rochester NY, 1570 WECU Winterville NC and 1590 WAUB Auburn NY. Hopefully, a few more interesting stations will turn up while we review our recordings.

Update September 2008: A first version of the log has now been published.

CHCM Marystown NL 740

CHCM in Marystown, Newfoundland, is one of the most commonly stations heard on the AM band from North America. The station has only got own programming during the local mornings and afternoons, otherwise they relay VOCM from St. John’s. CHCM do have some local commercials and station identifications though during the VOCM programming, usually identifying as “CHCM 7-40 Country”.

Program Director Gary Myles replied to my reception report today with an e-mail. This was for an audio recording made on the November 2007 DX-pedition to Lista when I heard the station with a terrific signal carrying local commercials at night.

XEPE Tecate 1700

XEPE in Tecate just south of the U.S.-Mexican border was one of the best catches on the January 2007 DX-pedition to Lista when the station was heard with good quality for more than an hour. XEPE is a common catch in Arctic Norway, but it is definitely not easily heard here in Southern Norway. Even though this station broadcasts from Mexico, I’ll count this as my first catch of a U.S. West Coast station on the AM band. At the time I received the signal of the station, XEPE broadcast business talk and identified as “Cash 1700″. The station has since changed format to talk radio and is now branding itself as “The Talk of San Diego”.

As this was my first ever reception of a U.S. West Coast station, I was very pleased to receive an e-mail from Bill Lipis in my inbox yesterday confirming my reception of the station.

KLO Ogden UT 1430

KLO in Ogden, Utah, was a pleasant surprise on the January 2007 DX-pedition to Lista, when the station was heard one  morning on 1430 kHz. KLO is a common catch in Northern Scandinavia, but on a southernly location such as Lista things are completely different. Hearing station west of the Rockies is not at all common there. KLO is the first and so far the only station I have ever heard from Utah (except for KUSW on shortwave, that is).

Dan Jellop, Operations Director, sent me a brief e-mail confirming my reception of the station some days ago.  He says the station is running 10 kilowatts daytime and 5 kilowatts at night.

WJCC Miami Springs FL 1700

WJCC in Miami Springs, Florida is one of the most regular of all North American AM stations at my place. WJCC can be heard whenever the band is open to North America on their frequency of 1700 kHz.

I have been struggling to get a verification from the station, but a few days ago George Butch, Chief Engineer of Multicultural Radio Broadcasting, sent me a nice e-mail confirming my reception of the station. He tells me the station broadcasts with 10,000 watts of power during daylight hours, and 1,000 watts at night. The transmitter is in Hialeah and transmits from a tower shared with station WNMA, 1210 KHz.

For a night time power of just 1,000 watts, WJCC does remarkably well!

DX-pedition to Lista November 11-14, 2007

On November 11-14, I was back at our regular DX-pedition QTH at Lista, this time accompanied by Torgeir Nyen. Conditions were quite good and we were able to hear a lot of stations from the USA and Canada which we hadn’t heard previously. Stations from Ontario and Québec were heard especially well while we hardly heard any stations from South America at all.

We both had 2 SDR-IQ radios in addition to a couple of conventional radios so we have a lot of recordings to check! The log already includes more than 120 different North American stations, but will hopefully grow further. Our incomplete log can be found – so far in Norwegian only – as a text document at Google Docs. We will update the log as we check our recordings. Updates done during the last week will be marked with red letters.

Radio Nacional de España, Ávila 1098

I was very surprised to find a large envelope from Radio Nacional de España in my mailbox just before Christmas. The reply came from the regional station in Ávila and was a reply to a reception report which I sent to the station more than 4 years ago.

Obviously, my letter must have been collecting dust there for a long long time before it was found by Francisco Javier Fernández Nieto, Jefe de Emisiones y Producción de RNE Ávila. Señor Fernández sent not only a full data QSL-card, but also a letter, a pin, some stickers, a 70 page booklet about the history of RNE Ávila 1952-2002 and even a CD. The CD accompanies the booklet and includes a.o. several historical audio clips of RNE Ávila and its predecessors Radio Ávila 1952-1960, Radio Gredos 1960-1980, RCE Radiocadena Española 1980-1989 and finally RNE / RNE5 1989-2002. The station also has a nice web site about the history of the station – very interesting!

My report, by the way, was for a report on the RNE R5 Ávila outlet on 1098 kHz back in October 2003 when I heard the station during a fierce solar storm at Lista. The storm completely knocked out the usual dominant transmitter in Slovakia. Many other Spanish stations were also heard at the same time.

Emisora Nuevo Continente 1460

Emisora Nuevo Continente in Bogotá was heard briefly on the November 2006 DX-pedition to Lista on 1460 kHz. Yesterday I received an e-mail with a Word attachment confirming my reception of the station and also some pictures of their studios and their staff.

Emisora Nuevo Continente is a religious station branding themselves as “Nuevo Continente – La Alternativa Diferente”. The station also has a live audio stream on the Internet.

Radio Monte Carlo 930

At the January 2007 DX pedition to Lista, we heard a number of stations from the La Plata region, for a change. Lista should be a good QTH for receiving stations from this part of the world, but we have never really erected antennas directed towards this part of the Americas. One of the stations which came through on the last night was CX20 Radio Monte Carlo in Montevideo, Uruguay on 930 kHz. Radio Monte Carlo is one of the big stations in Uruguay and probably one of the easiest AM stations to hear from this country. I have never succeeded in hearing them untill this January night, however. Nestor Larossa of the Departamento Técnico of the station sent me a very nice e-mail confirming my reception of the station. Nestor tells that the station uses a 50 kilowatts “last generation” Harris Destiny 3DX-50 transmitter and a dipole antenna which is 72 metres tall.

KCJJ Iowa City IA 1630

When conditions favours North America, KCJJ in Iowa City, Iowa, is a “No. 2″ station on 1630 kHz at my place. WRDW in Georgia is much more common. I have heard  KCJJ “The Mighty 1630″ a number of times at Lista, usually playing pop or rock music. I have also sent a couple of reports to them, but no replies untill yesterday when I received a brief reply from Tom Suter, General Manager of KCJJ for a report from last Januarys DX-pedition to Lista.

ZNS Bahamas 1540

ZNS in The Bahamas is frequently heard on 1540 kHz here. The station has a powerful AM transmitter of 50 kilowatts which at times make it across the Atlantic Ocean with a tremendous signal. Getting a verification out ot the broadcasting house in Nassau has been notoriously difficult though. A few days ago, however, I received a short but adequate verification e-mail from J. Carlton Smith, Sr. Deputy General Manager of the Broadcasting Corporation Of The Bahamas. This was for a report made at the November 2006 DX pedition to Lista, when ZNS could be heard with a good signal for several hours.

XEAI Radio Fórmula 1470

I was quite surprised to hear XEAI Radio Fórmula in México City on 1470 kHz at the DX-pedition to Lista in January 2007. Radio Fórmula is a station which I never expected to hear at Lista -it is surprises like this which still makes DX-ing fun! The station was heard late in the morning for quite some time carrying the “Fórmula de la noche” night programme.

Today I received an e-mail from Susana Chavarría, Asistente V.P. y Dirección General at Grupo Fórmula, confirming my reception of the station. Susana also enclosed a Powerpoint presentations with some nice pictures of México City.

One week later, 2 CDs with Mexican ranchera music was found in my snail mailbox, sent by Susana with UPS. Although ranchera music is not really my taste of music,  this sure was a nice surprise!

XERF La Poderosa 1570

XERF “La Poderosa”, located in the border city of Ciudad Acuña, is by far the most regularly heard Mexican radio station  here in Southern Norway. Even so, “La Poderosa” is not a regular catch, and the only chance of catching their signal on 1570 kHz is in the late winter mornings.

After a couple of tries, I received a friendly e-mail from Heberto Pérez Espín, Gerente, at the station.  “La Poderosa” lives up to their name and transmits with a power of 100 kilowatts targetting Mexicans living in the USA “without respect to their migrational status”, as Heberto Pérez Espín puts it  According to their home page, XERF “La Poderosa” covers all of Mexico as well as Texas, New Mexico, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Arizona, Colorado and Kansas.

Rádio Renascença 927

I have definitely not sent a lot of reception reports to European radio stations in recent years. Good reception conditions towards the Americas on mediumwave has kept me busy reporting stations from this part of the world instead. Last month, however, I sent out a couple of reception reports to European stations, including a report to Rádio Renascença in Portugal which replied with a full data QSL-card and some stickers in just one weeks time.

 

My report to Rádio Renascença was really a «spin-off-product» from the DX-pedition to Lista in January 2007 when I recorded a 15 kilohertz spectre of the AM band from 915 to 930 kHz hoping to catch some interesting South American stations on 920 and 930 kHz. The signal of Rádio Renascença on 927 kHz was also received and recorded at the same time. Their small 1 kilowatt transmitter in the nice city of Évora was heard very well with night time programming consisting of mainly main stream pop music. In addition to 927 kHz, Rádio Renascença can also be heard on 963 and 594 kHz, the latter usually suffers serious interference from Hessischer Rundfunk on the same frequency though.

DX-pedition to Lista January 12-16, 2007

On January 12-16, I was back at our DX-pedition QTH at Lista on the southern coast of Norway for the last trip of the season, at least the last for my part. I was accompanied by 2 other frequent visitors, Geir Fredheim and Jan Alvestad. Jan only stayed for the first 2 nights, while me and Geir spent 2 more nights at the Norwegian favourite DX-site in Southern Norway (in Northern Norway the favourite DX-site in undoubtably Kongsfjord).

This time we tried installing antennas in 2 new directions: A new one directed towards the northwest (California) and another one directed towards Buenos Aires. Our usual antenna directed towards the west was also installed. Both of the new antennas produced several new stations (and were thus deemed successfull!) while the antenna towards the west didn’t produce much interesting.

Conditions were varied and better than during the last trip in November. The first and the last night were the most interesting nights with the antennas towards northwest and towards southwest giving the most interesting results. On the first night, several stations from Mexico, Utah and Colorado were heard with the best signals coming from XEPE Cash 1700. The best loggings were 1430 KEZW in Colorado, 1430 KLO in Utah and 1470 XEAI Radio Fórmula in Mexico City. These are all commonly heard stations in the north. For us, however, it was a new experience to hear stations from this part of the USA and from Mexico as I have never been able to hear any other stations from West of the Rockies at all!

Conditions were disturbed on the last night giving several stations from Brazil and Argentina the chance to be heard on our newly installed antenna towards the southwest. Among the stations heard were 920 Radio Nacional del Paraguay, 1270 Radio Provincia de Buenos Aires, 1350 Radio Buenos Aires, 1430 Rádio Clube Paranaense and 1610 Radio Guaviyú 1610.

Update on Nov. 16, 2007: The entire log can now be viewed here, on Google Docs (a Google account is not necessary to view the log, by the way).

ZFB Bermuda 1230

Barry Fraser at the Bermuda Broadcasting Corporation confirmed my reception of ZFB in Bermuda on 1230 kHz. My first verification from a station at Bermuda! ZFB was heard at the November 2005 DX-pedition to Lista with quite good quality for an hour or so.

Barry says ZFB now only relays their FM programming and identifies as “Spirit FM” or “Spirit FM 105″. “Spirit” is their Christian Community radio station, but also carries news and music in addition to Christian programming. ZFB now advises their AM listeners to retune to FM, so it looks very much like Bermuda will be gone from both 1230 and 1340 kHz soon.

Santa Maria de la Paz Radio 1560

Santa Maria de la Paz Radio in Medellín, Colombia, is a station which I have  so far only been able to receive a couple of times at sunrise at my home QTH. The station broadcasts religious programming exclusively.

I have sent a couple of e-mail s to them previously, without success, untill I tried once more and received a friendly e-mail from Productor Daniel Marin. Daniel also enclosed a station identification and a couple of MP3 files with Colombian rock and cumbia music.

Rádio 9 de Julho 1600

Marcelo Beltramin at Rádio 9 de Julho in São Paulo sent me a kind e-mail confirming my reception of the station in Norway. Rádio 9 de Julho was heard quite well on 1600 kHz on the last evening of the DX-pedition to Lista last January when we for a change could hear several stations from Brazil and Argentina.

Rádio 9 de Julho belongs to the Catholic “Arquidiocese de São Paulo” and only broadcasts religious programmes. Marcelo tells me also spent several years in Italy working for the Portuguese section of Radio Vaticana.

WLAA Winter Garden FL 1680

I was very pleased to get a reply from WLAA in Winter Garden, Florida, yesterday – a station I have heard and reported many times through the years both as WLAA and as their predecessor WTIR.

WLAA is the most commonly heard station on 1680 kHz here and one of the easiest stations to pick up from Florida along with 1660 WCNZ and 1700 WJCC. WLAA has a Mexican format and usually identifies just with their slogan “La Que Buena”. Marketing / Promotions Director Veronica Cruz also sent along a MP3-recording of the station.

WDDY Albany NY 1460

Robert C. Thompon of Radio Disney in Albany, New York, sent me a kind e-mail yesterday confirming my reception of WDDY Radio Disney on 1460 kHz. The station was one of several stations heard on the DX-pedition to Lista in February 2006. WDDY was the only station identified though – the Radio Disney programming makes that rather easy.

Radio Fé y Alegría 850

Radio Fé y Alegría in Maracaibo, Venezuela, was one of the stations heard at Lista in November 2005 when the station was heard fairly well on 850 kHz. I haven’t had any success in getting any reply from the station, untill yesterday when I received an e-mail with a perfect verification text from Javier Barros.

At my place, Radio Fé y Alegría is fairly regular on 1390 khz via their transmitter in Caracas. Hearing their other outlets, such as the one in Maracaibo, is more difficult.

WHBC Canton OH 1480

I managed to hear WHBC in Canton, Ohio, briefly at the February 2006 DX-pedition to Lista. WHBC is only a “number 3″ station on 1480 kHz at Lista and usually competes with the far more common stations WMDD in Puerto Rico and WSAR in Massachusetts.

After a couple of attempts, I received a friendly e-mail from Chief Engineer Dale Lamm today. Dale apologizes for the delay in anwering, but says he has been with his new job as chief engineer of WHBC. Dale is also a HAM with the call sign NX8J and promises to even send an official confirmation by postal mail.

CBN St. John’s NL 640

Keith Durnford at CBC Newfoundland sent me an e-mail verifying my report to CBN in St. John’s, Newfoundland on 640 kHz. CBN is an easy catch at Lista and I have also heard this station on my modest longwire antennas at home on several occacions. CBN usually has a weaker signal than CBG in Gander on 1400 kHz though.

Radio Mira 1190

I was very pleased to receive an e-mail from Radio Mira in Tumaco, Colombia, when I returned from my holidays last some days ago. It is more than 3 months since I sent my report to then and I supposed they would go into the record as one of many Colombian stations which wouldn’t reply. Not so: The Director Juan Hernán Payan Jimenez sent me an enthusiastic e-mail verifying my reception of the station and telling me they would send me «un saludo en directo» on September 14 (unfortunately, I was still on holiday at that time).

I suppose Radio Mira doesn’t get too many reports as the station is quite rare here in Scandinavia. I have only managed to hear Radio Mira once, during the November 2006 DX-pedition to Lista, when teh station surfaced briefly for a couple of minutes on 1190 kHz. 1190 kHz is normally occupied by another Colombian station, Radio Cordillera in Bogotá (that’s one of the many Colombians which has never replied to my reports) or by WLIB in New York or WBMJ in Puerto Rico.

Radio Mira belongs to the Colombian CARACOL network and always identifies as “Radio Mira de Caracol”. The station has a live audio feed at the interesting and advanced website http://www.tumaco.net