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KAX 2006-2007, SDR DXing in Lapland
Report and
log from Kaamanen, Finland,
from November 12, 2006, to April 5, 2007
by Jim
Solatie and Mika
Mäkeläinen
These are the results of the
first season of remote DXing in the village of Kaamanen
in the Finnish Lapland. A 1-kilometer-long Beverage
antenna was set up, pointing to the East Coast of
North America (at 300 degrees), in the hope of catching
loads of rare AM stations during an excellent AM
DXing season. To our knowledge, this was the first
time that such a monitoring station had been established
in Scandinavia, marking an important milestone in
AM DXing.
The purpose was to try to take
advantage of good conditions without having to be
personally present. The signal from the antenna
was divided into four SDR-14 receivers, each recording
a 190 kiloherz wide section of the AM band on external
hard drives, connected to the SDRs via four laptop
computers. Normally the receivers would be run for
a few hours per day during the early morning hours
before and after sunrise, which was determined to
be the most productive time of the day. Both of
us had two receivers, which were programmed separately,
mostly without knowing the frequencies and times
that the other listener would be covering. As a
result, the log contains some stations caught by
both of us, but mostly the catches are unique to
either one.
Cabin in the wilderness |
The recording times and frequency
ranges were constantly changed by our local assistant
according to our instructions in order to cover
the sections which we expected to yield the most
interesting DX catches under the prevailing conditions.
Unfortunately, strong local electrical noise remained
a persistent problem throughout the season, severely
affecting the results, and effectively preventing
daytime listening, which traditionally has been
the best way to log stations from North America
in midwinter Lapland.
Also, signal strength was considerably
weaker than at the famous Lemmenjoki DXpedition
cabin located only some 50 kilometers away. As a
result, under poor or average conditions we always
found dozens of recordings over several days without
anything of interest. Nevertheless, we netted a
bunch of nice catches listed below. Quite a few
recordings still remain to be checked, so the log
is expected to grow in the future.
The sun also rises |
During the season either one
of us would periodically visit Lapland for more
traditional DXpeditions in Lemmenjoki, giving a
chance to check and maintain equipment also in Kaamanen.
External hard drives were retrieved and replaced
during these visits, and adjustments were made to
SDR parameters. Human errors and technical problems
were abundant. Initially the recorded sections kept
shifting unintentionally. For most of December,
the system was out of order. It remains to be seen,
how well the equipment survive extreme conditions,
including temperatures falling to -30 degrees also
inside the cabin.
Four of everything: laptops,
SDRs, hard drives |
Still, the enterprise was made
possible only by the kind assistance of our host,
who agreed to place the receivers in a small cottage
next to his home. The location was challenging and
truly remote; although there is electricity –
and unfortunately surprisingly strong electrical
interference – there is no road connection,
so the lakeside cottage can only be accessed by
boat during the short summer or by snow machine
during the long winter, or by walking through forests
and vast swamps. The cottage is located at 69N02
27E00, at an altitude of about 150 meters above
sea level.
Hundreds of more or less regular
catches have been omitted from the following log,
listing only stations that we found to be new, rare
or otherwise personally interesting. The majority
of these catches were made by Jim, while Mika still
hasn’t checked most of his recordings.
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KAX
2006-2007 Log
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| North
America |
| kHz: |
day.month. |
time
UTC: |
station,
comments: |
| 540 |
28.12. |
0800 |
CBGA1
New Carlisle, QC. French CBC stations give their
call sign at the top of the hour. I wish English
speaking CBC stations would do the same. “Ici
Radio Canada … Premiere Chaine CBGA …” |
| 540 |
28.12. |
0805 |
+
WFLF Pine Hills, FL. Was heard with a weak signal
under the dominant CBC station in French. A
promo mentioning “540wfla.com”. Also
heard in Lemmenjoki (see LEM239
DXpedition log) and Parkalompolo at roughly
the same time.  |
| 540 |
28.1. |
0600,0700 |
CBT
Grand Falls NL. Good conditions to Newfoundland
this morning, though no local programs from
CBC stations |
| 550 |
30.12. |
0830 |
KFYR
Bismarck, ND. WSAU is clearly the dominant here,
this is the second strongest. |
| 550 |
31.12. |
0805 |
WKRC
Cincinnati, OH. “55 KRC”. |
| 570 |
29.1.
6.3. |
0657
0700 |
WKBN
Youngstown, OH. One of the friendliest replies
this season. They have a very nice QSL policy.
I wish other stations would be like WKBN! |
| 600 |
22.2. |
0503 |
KSJB
Jamestown, ND. “Classic Country KSJB Jamestown,
North Dakota”. |
| 630 |
28.12. |
0845 |
CHLT
Sherbrooke, QC. In a promo they mentioned “musique
traditionelle a CHLT”, otherwise just talk. |
| 680 |
2.3. |
0500 |
+
WNZKn Dearborn Heights, MI. Tentative. Arabic
programme with a few announcements and Arabic
music. Also heard on 21.2. with Macedonian show,
but only with non stop music then. A true ‘nighttimer’,
since they change their frequency to 690 AM
at sunrise. |
| 680 |
22.2. |
0505 |
WRKO
Boston, MA. Surprisingly difficult, since CFTR
and CJOB are so strong. |
| 690 |
22.2. |
0533 |
KTSM
El Paso, TX. “Welcome back to Al Colmes
show on Newstalk 690 KTSM”. |
| 820 |
4.12. |
0500 |
+
WOSU Columbus, OH. Was heard for almost two
hours, dominating the frequency all the time.
Antti Aaltonen in Lemmenjoki was the very first
Finn to hear this station, thanks Antti for
the hint. |
| 820 |
5.12. |
0800 |
+
WMGG Largo, FL. “La Mega Clásica”
& “La Original”. Audible for 45
minutes with Spanish hit music. |
| 850 |
5.12. |
0657 |
WNTJ
Johnstown, PA. “The NTJ Newstalk Network”.
|
| 870 |
5.12. |
0745 |
WHCU
Ithaca, NY. “Newstalk 870 WHCU”. |
| 890 |
20.11. |
0546 |
KVOZ
Del Mar Hills TX, “La Cadena Nueva Radio
Cristiana”. |
| 920 |
4.12. |
0800 |
WBAA
West Lafayette, IN. “Jazz all night long,
this is AM 920 WBAA West Lafayette”. |
| 920 |
5.12. |
0820 |
+
WIRD Lake Placid, NY. “Sports Talk AM 920
WIRD Lake Placid”. A most welcome surprise,
since the frequency is usually dominated by
CJCH, CKNX and WOKY. |
| 930 |
17.11. |
0500 |
KOGA
Ogallala NE. |
|
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| Central
America & Caribbean |
| kHz: |
day.month. |
time
UTC: |
station,
comments: |
| 660 |
28.12. |
0845 |
XEEY
“La Consentida”, Aguascalientes. The
strongest Mexican this morning, as always during
the winter. Also XEAR La Mexicana, Tampico and
XEDTL Radio Ciudadanos, Mexico were heard this
morning on 660. |
| 690 |
6.3. |
0300 |
XEN
Mexico. “XEN 690 de AM con 100 mil watts
de potencia, desde la Ciudad de Mexico, Constituyentes
1154, Colonia Lomas Altas”. |
| 760 |
15.11. |
0626 |
+
XEES Culiacán CH, “Antena 760”.
|
| 790 |
15.11. |
0626 |
XEBI
Aguascalientes AG, “La B-I”. |
| 830 |
5.12. |
0816 |
XELK
“LK”, Zacatecas. “LK, la estación
de la palabra”. |
| 840 |
22.11. |
0601 |
CMKC
Radio Revolución, Santiago de Cuba |
| 900 |
22.11. |
0555 |
CMKP
Radio Progreso, Cacocun HO |
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| South
America |
| kHz: |
day.month. |
time
UTC: |
station,
comments: |
| 580 |
12.2. |
0630 |
YVMJ
La Voz de la Fé, Maracaibo. |
| 640 |
12.2. |
0610 |
+
Radio Morena, Guayaquil. This was a very strong
Ecuador-morning. I wonder what could have been
heard, if the antenna had been the right one
(now it was 300 degrees, 30 degrees too far
north). Morena was audible for 20 minutes. Thanks
JPR & HK very much for help with this. |
| 690 |
12.2. |
0530 |
HJCZ
Radio Recuerdos, Bogota. “Radio Recuerdos
690”. |
| 700 |
12.2. |
0530 |
HCRS2
Radio Sucre, Guayaquil. Huge signal over two
hours. |
| 700 |
12.2. |
0637 |
YVMH
Radio Popular, Maracaibo. “Radio Popular
700 AM”. |
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Published
on November 18, 2007 - updated later
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