Miscou DXpedition
October 3-10, 2003

by Jacques d'Avignon

Came back from Miscou on October 10 after spending one full week in Miscou NB (FN77). The DXers were this year: Ken Alexander, Kevin Carey, Jacques d’Avignon, Geoff Rivett, Roger Roussel, Brent Taylor and Niel Wolfish. The conditions were not as I would have expected on the NDB part of the LF band. We only heard one more mainland Europe NDB than we had heard in the previous years: GE in Madrid, Spain.

Ascension Island NDB was barely audible but was there like during Miscou 01 and 02. The Greenlanders were heard most of the week but at a reduced level.

The LF broadcasters were present every day, and the quality was excellent. We encountered an unusual propagation situation, the LF broadcasters would be heard for about 20 minutes in mid-afternoon (our time AST), then they would be gone for a few hours. Then they would re-appear at a very good level in early evening.

We think that the first appearance of the broadcasters was when the grey line was passing over the transmitter sites and then the signal would come back when the full transatlantic path was in full darkness.

On MW, we heard many countries as far east as Greece (possible). This was the furthest East we heard MW stations. A station from Oman was also heard.

We had an "interesting" submarine antenna situation. We had layed out a 1000 ft long wire on the beach and we could not understand why the pattern was changing during the evening listening period: it was omnidirectional for a while and then became directional North/South like a Beverage.

It turned out that we had forgotten about the high tides around the full moon when we laid down the wire. Upon inspection the next day, we found that the furthest 1/3 of the wire was under water for part of the evening and then the tide would change and the antenna became dry again and become directional again!!! The same antenna was also buried in the beach for the first 1/3. This was caused by the extremely high wind that was blowing all week.

Our best antennas for this DXpedition were the long wire on the beach and an ALA100 loop from Wellbrook. The Wellbrook loop was the quietest antenna by far every day of our DXpedtion.

We were plagued by unusual noise and we have decided to operate strictly on battery power during Miscou 04. We know that some of our equipment was causing noise, but the same equipment was quiet last year, we are trying to find out why.

The equipment was a mix of: AR 7030+, Drake R8, and Grundig. We used four Wellbrook antenna splitters so that all the receivers would have access to all the antennas. The 12V was supplied by an Astron power supply.

The weather was excellent all week, but the howling wind was present every day. Sand was found everywhere:over the antennas, in the tool boxes, even in the pots and pans!

Travel to and from Miscou was again done in one day: 14 hours of driving each way. The fuel cost was about 20 percent higher this year compared to last year.

Now that Miscou 03 is over it is now time to start thinking about Miscou 04!

Broadcast logs

153 ALGERIA Chaîne 1 Béchar OCT 7 2339 – With Arabic singing parallel to 549 and 891.

153 GERMANY Deutschlandfunk Donebach OCT 8 2139 – Good with woman in German. // 1422. Usually Algeria dominated 153.

162 FRANCE France Inter Allouis OCT 7 2120 – Fair with man and woman talking in French. Parallel to 1557-Nice

180 TURKEY TRT-4 Polatli OCT 10 0000 – News by man and Middle Eastern-style music from 0003. Poor.

189 ICELAND RUV Gufuskalar OCT 7 2140 - Fair with live Echo & The Bunnymen music.

225 POLAND Radio Polonia Raszyn OCT 9 2349 – Poor with lounge music and also a tune by Louis Armstrong.

234 LUXEMBOURG RTL Junglinster OCT 10 0105 – Fair with The Police’s “Spirits In The Material World”. No sign of // 1440.

531 ALGERIA Chaîne 1 El Ain Beida OCT 8 2244 – Under Spain with woman announcer and music on stringed instrument. Parallel to 153. Sounded like there was more than one Spanish station here at this time.

549 ALGERIA Chaîne 1 Les Trembles OCT 7 2244 – W/man singing. Weaker than //891. Stronger @ 2339 and also //153.

558 SPAIN RNE R.5 synchros OCT 7 2249 - Man talking about the economy. Fair signal.

567 IRELAND RTE Radio 1 Tullamore OCT 7 2258 – With guitar music. ID at top of the hour after time pips into an English newscast by woman. Fair over top of a second station.

567 SPAIN RNE R. 1 synchros OCT 8 2330 – Noted under Ireland with time pips. Parallel to 684.

576 GERMANY SWR Mühlacker OCT 8 0040 - Woman and man in German talking over top of a second station.

576 SPAIN RNE R. 5 Barcelona OCT 9 0110 - Poor w/man and woman in Spanish and laughing a lot. “Radio Cinco” ID heard.

585 SPAIN RNE R. 1 Madrid OCT 7 2302 – News read by woman w/ID @ 2302 at end of nx. A second station was underneath.

594 MOROCCO RTM A Oujda OCT 7 2251 - Parallel to 207 with Arabic music. Soon lost to Portugal.

594 PORTUGAL Radio Renascença Muge OCT 7 2256 – Station promo by man with web address given. Fading above Morocco now. OCT 10 0121 – Good with Nelly Furtado’s “Like A Bird”

603 FRANCE France Info Lyon OCT 8 0103 – Parallel to 1557 with French newscast.

612 IRELAND RTE Hitradio 2 Athlone OCT 8 0106 – With pop music and liner/ID that sounded like “the nation’s best music”. Fair signal that soon surrendered to Morocco.

612 MOROCCO RTM A Sebaâ-Aioun OCT 8 2339- Parallel to 207 and 594 with man singing.

639 SPAIN RNE R. 1 La Coruña OCT 7 2307 – //684 with interview. Sounded like another TA was off frequency on the low side.

666 GERMANY SWR Rohrdorf OCT 8 0050 - Presumed with German announcer playing Aretha Franklin/George Michael and Commodores tunes. ID at 0100. Over/under Spain. Also a bit later at 0134 with Sheryl Crow’s cover of “The First Cut is The Deepest” and The Cardigan’s “Love Fool”. OCT 10 0112 - Man in German, parallel to 7265. Fair.

675 NETHERLANDS Arrow Classic Rock Lopik OCT 8 0138 – On top with Joe Cocker, Aerosmith and Lenny Kravitz tunes and Neil Young’s “Like A Hurricane”. Male announcer. OCT 10 0053 – Fair with Van Halen, Kansas and Steve Miller Band.

684 SPAIN RNE R. 1 Sevilla OCT 8 2236 – Parallel to 693 with 2 men in a discussion. Strong signal. [Wolfish-MB]

693 ENGLAND BBC R. 5 Droitwich OCT 7 2310 – Frequency a real mess at this time, but a woman in English kept poking through.

693 SPAIN RNE R. 1 synchros OCT 8 2236 – Parallel to 684 with 2 men in discussion. No sign of BBC at this time on the frequency. [Wolfish-MB]

702 ??? OCT 10 0044 – Arabic singing. Poor. I assume this was probably Morocco but unable to find any parallels.

711 FRANCE France Info Rennes OCT 10 0010 - Poor and parallel to a stronger 1206 with French female vocal.

738 SPAIN RNE R. 1 Barcelona OCT 9 0007 - ID by woman at end of newscast into talk by man. Fair signal.

756 GERMANY Deutschlandfunk Braunschweig OCT 8 0144 – Presumed the one here with classical music. No luck finding parallel signal on 153, 207, 1422 etc.

756 SPAIN Radio Euskadi Bilbao OCT 9 0012 – Several IDs by a man and an excited woman heard after some light music had been played. Mixing with a second station playing classical music (Germany?).

765 SWITZERLAND Radio Suisse Romande Sottens OCT 7 2313 – Playing mellow French songs and oldies. Strong. OCT 10 0015 – W/The Beatles “Girl”. What sounded like a jingle at 0029. The strongest non-Spanish TA signal tonight.

774 SPAIN RNE R.1 synchros OCT 7 2320 - Good and parallel to 684 with what sounded like a inebriated Spaniard trying to sing a Frank Sinatra tune. A comedy program?

783 MAURITANIA ORTM Nouakchott OCT 9 0041 - Parallel to 4845 with 2 men talking and male solo vocal. Fair signal.

837 CANARY ISLANDS/SPAIN COPE Synchros OCT 10 0040 – Woman in Spanish, parallel to 1296.

855 SPAIN RNE R. 1 synchros OCT 8 0149 – Poor and parallel to 585 with woman in Spanish.

864 EGYPT Holy Koran R. Santah OCT 8 0151 – Man reciting Koran; fair.

873 SPAIN SER synchros OCT 7 2323 - Parallel to 1116 with financial talk. Poor.

945 FRANCE France Info Toulouse OCT 9 0116 – Fair with woman announcer playing the new Travis single “Re-Offender”. Parallel to 603 and 1557.

954 SPAIN Onda Cero Radio Madrid OCT 10 0151 - Poor with man in Spanish.

972 ???? OCT 8 2225 - Poor with man singing in Arabic. Libya? UAE?

981 ???? OCT 10 0120 - What I would describe as Greek bouzouki music occasionally surfacing. Female announcer, but I could not determine what language she was speaking. Poor at best.

999 SPAIN COPE Madrid OCT 7 2326 - Strong with either commercials or station promo. Consistently one of the strongest TA signals all week.

1008 SPAIN SER synchros OCT 7 2004 – Spanish newscast read by woman. Station promo mentioning Valencia at 2007. Not parallel to 1026 at this time. Much stronger at 2032 recheck.

1017 SPAIN RNE R. 5 OCT 10 0153 – Poor and parallel to 1107 with dialogue by woman.

1026 SPAIN SER synchros OCT 7 2012 – Football broadcast. Possibly involving a team fromValencia. Good signal Parallel to a slightly weaker 1116.

1044 MOROCCO RTM A Sebaâ-Aioun OCT 7 2123 - On top of Spain with Arabic talk.

1044 SPAIN SER synchros OCT 7 2124 - Under Morocco with football match, parallel to 1575.

1080 SPAIN SER synchros OCT 7 2157 – Under WTIC-Hartford with the same soccer/football as on 1026 and 1116.

1089 ENGLAND TalkSport UK various OCT 8 2220 - Noted in passing with (what else) talk about sports. Not audible on 1053, 1071 or 1107 at this time.

1098 SPAIN RNE R. 5 synchros OCT 7 2034 - Spanish talk with a woman on the telephone. Parallel to 1107 (poor), 1125 (poor) and 1305 (fair) at this time.

1107 SPAIN RNE R. 5 synchros OCT 7 2034 - Poor with Spanish talk with a woman on the telephone. Parallel to 1098.

1116 SPAIN SER synchros OCT 10 0030 – Time pips and what sounded like a phone-in-show. Fair and parallel to 1026.

1125 MADEIRA RDP Madeira Ponta Do Pargo OCT 7 2057 – In a battle with RNE 5. Male announcer playing easy-listening music. Time pips at 2100 into a Portuguese newscast. Soon lost the battle to Spain.

1125 SPAIN RNE R. 5 synchros OCT 7 2103 – faded over top of Madeira with Spanish newscast.

1134 CROATIA Voice of Croatia Zadar OCT 8 2230 - Fair with end of English broadcast into Spanish broadcast.

1134 SPAIN COPE synchros OCT 7 2206 – Parallel to 1143, 1215 and 1224 with two men in Spanish. Fair signal.

1143 SPAIN COPE synchros OCT 7 2206 – Parallel to 1134, 1215 and 1224 with two men talking.

1152 SPAIN RNE R. 5 synchros OCT 7 2111 – Fair signal parallel to 1503 with talk by man in Spanish.

1179 ??? OCT 7 2329 – Arose from the mud briefly with the distinct sound of recent hit “Bring Me To Life” by Evanescence.

1179 CANARY ISLANDS // SPAIN SER synchros OCT 7 2041 - Parallel to 1116 with either a football broadcast or just highlights from the match. Definitely sounded like one of the 1179 stations was “out of synch” with the rest.

1188 HUNGARY Radio Free Europe relay Marcali OCT 8 2202 – Dominating with a Serbian newscast and then a woman talking about democracy. Getting hammered by annoying splatter from 1190-WLIB. Not present at 2253 recheck.

1197 GERMANY R. Free Europe relay München-Ismaning OCT 8 2217 – Man on phone w/somebody. //1188, but not as strong.

1215 ENGLAND Virgin Radio various OCT 10 0128 – Over top of Spain for a while with Badly Drawn Boy’s “Something To Talk About”, The Coral’s “Pass It On” and The Verve’s “Bittersweet Symphony”. Also heard a station promo with David Bowie saying “you’re listening to Virgin Radio” at 0207. No luck finding parallels on 1197, 1233 or 1242.

1215 SPAIN COPE synchros OCT 7 2046 – Political discussion w/man and woman, //to a weaker 1296. Over top another station.

1224 SPAIN COPE synchros OCT 7 2206 – Parallel to 1134, 1143 and 1215 with two men talking. Poor signal.

1242 FRANCE France Info Marseille OCT 10 0033 - Weak with female in French. Parallel to 1206

1287 SPAIN SER synchros OCT 10 0144 – Poor and parallel to 1116 man in Spanish.

1296 ENGLAND Radio XL 1296 AM Birmingham OCT 8 2147 – presumed the one here with the South Asian music under Spain.

1296 SPAIN COPE Valencia OCT 8 2158 – Strong with “Radio Diario de Valencia” program. Earlier at 2038 it sounded like there were two Spanish stations on 1296, but only one is listed.

1305 SPAIN RNE R. 5 synchros OCT 7 2105 – Newscast . Parallel to 1152 and 1413. Bad hum from somebody off frequency noted all three nights.

1332 ENGLAND ???? OCT 8 0204 - Man reading news. Not sure which station this might have been but it was not parallel to 198.

1332 ITALY RAI Radio Uno synchros OCT 8 2101 – With woman reading news in Italian. Fair to good and parallel to 1575;
OCT 10 0048 – Noted parallel to 6060 (Caltanissetta, Sicily) with Italian jazz music at this time.

1341 NORTHERN IRELAND BBC Radio Ulster Lisnagarvey OCT 8 2154 - Over top of Spain with woman playing lounge-type music. BBC ID and news at 2200. Also noted at 2302 with man giving weather forecast.

1359 SPAIN RNE 1 Madrid OCT 7 2335 - Parallel to 684 with talk by a woman. Poor signal over top of another station.

1377 FRANCE France Info Lille OCT 8 2047 - French discussion. Fair signal and parallel to 1206 and 1557.

1385.9 ??? OCT 7 2103 - somebody off frequency here, but I couldn’t pull out any audio.

1395 ALBANIA Trans World Radio Fllakë OCT 8 2050 – Religious program in Czech. Somebody off frequency around 1394.8 also.

1404 FRANCE France Info synchros OCT 10 0033 - French male vocal parallel to 1206 and 1557.

1413 SPAIN RNE R. 5 synchros OCT 7 2105 – Newscast with noticeable echo. Parallel to 1125, 1152 and 1305.

1422 ALGERIA Radio Culture Algeirs OCT 7 2019 - Strong with woman singing what almost sounded like opera music. Noted later at 2023 with more typical sounding Middle Eastern-style music.

1422 GERMANY Deutschlandfunk Heusweiler OCT 8 2139 – Weak with woman speaking in German. Parallel to 153. OCT 9 0238 – fair with German male announcer and opera music.

1467 FRANCE Trans World Radio Roumoules OCT 7 2129 – Strong with Arabic program which matches TWR’s program schedule. Noted later in English at 2221 with “Through The Bible” program.

1476 AUSTRIA ORF Wien-Bisamberg OCT 8 2128 – Strong with German announcer playing what sounded like “beer garden” music and also some sombre horn music.

1485 SPAIN SER synchros OCT 7 2109 – Parallel to 1026 with football broadcast. Noticeable het on low side-around 1484.6) (Angola?), but couldn’t pull out any audio.

1503 IRAN IRIB Bushehr OCT 8 2124 – Parallel to 15084 with female announcer and Middle Eastern music. Mixing with a second station in Arabic (Egypt?).

1503 SPAIN RNE R. 5 synchros OCT 7 2111 – Good signal parallel to 1152 with talk by man in Spanish.

1512 BELGIUM Radio Netherlands relay Wolvertem OCT 8 2107 - In English with documentary program about a harvest.

1521 SAUDI ARABIA BSKSA Duba OCT 7 2115 – Fair signal with man in Arabic, parallel to both 9555 and 9870 at this time.

1539 GERMANY EvangeliumsRundfunk Mainflingen OCT 8 2111 – On top of Spain with English language religious program.

1557 FRANCE France Info Nice OCT 7 2120 – Fair with man and woman talking. Parallel to 162.

1575 ITALY RAI Radio Uno synchros OCT 8 2121 – On top of Spain with interview with woman on telephone. Parallel to 1332.

1575 SPAIN SER synchros OCT 7 2124 - On top of a second station with the same soccer/football match as on 1044.

1584 SPAIN SER OCT 7 2118 – Parallel to 1026 with football match. Over top a second station playing classical music. (Radiolé?).

1602 SPAIN SER synchros OCT 7 2127 – Parallel to 1044 and 1575 with soccer match. A second Spanish station with talk by a man could be heard underneath (I assume this was Euskadi Radio).

Selected LF loggings

FREQ ID LOCATION / USER Date-Time
162 -- LWBC, Allouis, F 10/8/03-2114
171 -- LWBC, MRC 10/4/03-2317
177 -- LWBC, Berlin 10/8/03-2113
198 -- LWBC, London (BBC) 10/5/03-2130
227 SZO Fryeburg, ME 10/5/03-0329
234 -- LWBC, Luxembourg 10/5/03-2139
242 3E Galaxy Platform, NS 10/8/03-2155
252 -- LWBC, Algeria 10/4/03-2255
257 FVE Frenchville, ME 10/5/03-0347
260 PYA Penn Yan, NY 10/6/03-2348
263 GGP Logansport, IN 10/7/03-0046
265 JH Julianehaab, GRL 10/7/03-0050
270 -- LWBC, Czech. 10/5/03-2140
270 FLO Flores, AZR 10/4/03-2220
272 OLD Old Town, ME 10/5/03-0349
278 BST Belfast, ME 10/5/03-0352
278 PQ Presque Isle, ME 10/5/03-1623
279 SI Simiutaq, GRL 10/5/03-2152
284 5N Rowan Gorilla Platform, NS 10/5/03-1628
298 KU Kook Islands, GRL 10/5/03-2206
323 SMA Santa Maria, AZR 10/5/03-2212
328 LC Laconia, NH 10/6/03-2345
330 CZM Cozumel, MEX. 10/7/03-0126
330 FH Frederikshaab, GRL 10/6/03-0235
334 RM Rockland, ME 10/5/03-2217
336 BDB Melva, VA 10/10/03-0039
338 PST Porto Santo, MDR 10/6/03-0125
356 SUH Rockland, ME 10/5/03-0315
359 NA Narsarsuaq, GRL 10/10/03-0123
360 FMH Falmouth, MA 10/8/03-2313
360 ASN Ascension Island, ASC 10/9/03-0113
371 MGL San Miguel, AZR 10/5/03-2328
375 JRV Morrisville, VT 10/5/03-2333
380 FIL Horta, AZR 10/7/03-2322
382 LAR Arruda, POR 10/10/03-0140
386 CP Constable Pt., GRL 10/6/03-2337
397 OW Norwood, MA 10/7/03-0003
402 MQ Miquelon, SPM 10/6/03-0137
412 6C H. Goodrich Platform, NL 10/7/03-2333
421 PCW Port Clinton, OH 10/7/03-0201
421 GE Madrid, E 10/10/03-0014
444 -- CW Marine traffic 10/5/03-2305
450 PPA Puerta Plata, DOM 10/6/03-0152
521.4 -- CW Marine traffic 10/7/03-0213

Key to ITU Country Codes
ASC-Ascension
AZR-Azores
DOM-Dominican Republic
E-Spain
F-France
GRL-Greenland
MDR-Madeira
MEX-Mexico
MRC-Morocco
POR-Portugal
SPM-St. Pierre & Miquelon

Posted on October 29, 2003