Miscou DXpedition
October 1-7, 2004

by Jacques d'Avignon

Miscou 04 Dxpedition has now been held from October 1st to the 7th, and plans are now underway for Miscou 05. Miscou is located at: 47d 59m 39.8s N 64d 32m 51.9s W. The participants this year were: Brent Taylor, late October 1st and October 2nd (ICOM R-75 with Kiwa mods); Ken Alexander and Jacques d’Avignon, late October 1st to October 7th, and Niel Wolfish, October 3rd to October 7th. Ken, Jacques and Niel each used AOR AR 7030+ receivers. Kevin Carey was unable to attend Miscou Dxpedition this year.

Ken Alexander (left), Niel Wolfish and Jacques d'Avignon (Copyright K. Alexander)

The weather conditions were unusual this year compared to previous Miscou Dxpeditions, we had a few hours with no wind at all, we had fog and for the first time we heard the foghorn located at the headland, then we had a very brisk wind from an unusual direction battering the large aperture loop from an unguyed direction. In summary: very unusual weather patterns and cold mornings.

Following our noise experience of last year, caused by the various 12V power supplies used for the receivers, the splitters and other ancillary equipment, we decided this year to operate all our equipment from a large lead acid battery. So a 75 A/h deep cycle battery was pressed in service and we recharged this battery during our down time. This set up worked very well and at no time did we found any of our equipment acting up due to low voltage.

During the planning of Miscou 04, we might have foreseen the noise caused by our various power supplies, but we were not ready for the power utility “frying pan” noise that was awaiting us in Miscou. This noise was heard 24 hours a day in bursts lasting from 1 minute to 10 minutes with some quiet time of 20 to 30 seconds between bursts! Depending on the time of day the noise varied from S5 to S9+20. This had never happened before and even the noise blankers on the receivers had great difficulty coping with this QRM.

Our working space, mostly 7030 and Wellbrook equipment. (Copyright J. d'Avignon)

The power company, New Brunswick Power, tried for 4 hours and without success to clear this noise that we had been able to DF as coming from outside the immediate area of our cottage. Two linemen with cherry picker platforms worked on this problem but had to give up when they were called to an emergency: a power pole in town had fallen down! We sincerely hope that the power line problem will be cleared before Miscou 05 next October.

Miscou still remains the location of choice for a Dxpedition, as it is “normally” very RFI quiet and easy to access by road in a timely fashion. One problem that we cannot fix is the salt spray that is constantly coating the insulators with a conductive path to ground and is probably the major cause of problem this year.

Antennas system

As in previous years, we had three BOG (Beverage On the Ground) pointed in various directions and one Wellbrook ALA 100 Large Aperture loop. Two of the BOGs were terminated and the beach one remained unterminated thus bi-directional. This year we insured that none of our antennas got close enough to the ocean to be drowned at high tide! Once again the Wellbrook loop was the quietest antenna and allowed excellent reception on an East-West axis of LW and MW signals.

Each antenna was feeding a four-port Wellbrook antenna splitter so that each participant could have access to any of the four antennas as required and be totally isolated from the other receivers. We did find that the ground wave of one broadcast station located in Caraquet about 10 miles away over the bay, did cause some problems with the splitters and it might be necessary in the future to somehow shield the splitters.

Summary of LW monitoring at Miscou 04

The LW results of Miscou 04 were not comparable to the results obtained in the previous years. The major source of power line interference discussed above did cause some problems. Over 100 LW frequencies of European NDBs had been previously entered in the memories of one of the AR 7030+ receiver prior to the start of the Dxpedition, but it became clear after some intense listening that many of these frequencies were also used in North America by high power beacons and that it was not possible to hear European NDBs on these frequencies. Another irritant was the splatter from the various DGPS stations located on the East Coast masking some promising European marine beacon frequencies.

Two new Spanish beacons were heard. A marine beacon “BA” Estaca de Bares on 292.5 kHz was heard one night, and one new aero beacon: “C” La Coruna on 410 kHz was intercepted another night. For the first time we hard the NDB GP from Lajes in the Azores.

Compared to the previous years, only one NDB from Greenland was heard, and the normally reliable Ascension beacon heard nearly every year before was nowhere to be found. Similarly no beacons from the Caribbean, except for DDP, were heard during the week.

Once again the NDBs in Iceland, Ireland, Britain and the Scandinavian countries have eluded us. From discussions with overseas correspondents on this subject, this paucity of results might be due to the fact that the European NDBs are using much less power than the North American beacons.

Again this year we experienced the phenomenon of the LW broadcasters appearing early afternoon (our local time: UTC -3) for about 30 minutes, disappearing for a few hours and then reappearing at a much higher strength. We have not made any correlations between this phenomenon and the grey line or sunsets on both sides of the Atlantic.

Summary of MW monitoring at Miscou 04

By examining the MW logs of Miscou 04, it is evident that conditions were conducive to a large series of very interesting logs. Two incidents are really worth mentioning: listening to Saudi Arabia, 1521 kHz, on a car radio while driving over the bridge between Île Miscou and Île LaMèque; and the second incident of note was listening to Croatia 1134 kHz on a portable while walking around the cottage grounds.

The same noise problems that plagued the LW monitoring also affected the MW but at a slightly lesser degree because of the power used by the broadcasters on MW, their signals were able to punch trough the noise.

Unusual phenomenon

During Miscou 04, Ken and Niel experienced one instance of the Luxembourg Effect on Roumoules’ transmission on 216 kHz, where 162 France Inter was almost equal strength with Roumoules. Time was 0417 UTC on Oct 5th. The interfering/modulating program was positively identified as being France Inter’s transmission on 162 kHz.

As reported by Jim Renfrew in the April 2001 issue of The Lowdown (page 13), it would appear that this phenomenon is alive and well even if it is not reported regularly. At 0500UTC of February 18/2001, the signal from Roumoules, France, on 216 kHz was being intercepted in North America with a "tinge" of what appeared another French language broadcast underneath. The only other broadcaster on 216 is Azerbaijani Radio, and I doubt if they use French! The intercepts of Feb 18/01 were made in two locations far remove from each other: Northern New York and Eastern Ontario. Over 200 miles separated the listening sites.

The listeners of the Luxembourg effect in Eastern Ontario in the February 2001 incident were also Ken and Niel, so they know what to look for and thus are able to identify the phenomenon when it occurs.

I do not believe that we have had any instances of the Luxembourg effect occurring during the previous Miscou DXpeditions.

Summary

Miscou 04 was once again a very restful Dxpedition and a good forum to exchange ideas and debate various radio-related topics. Dxpedition is not only a time to intercept interesting stations and fill your logbook, it is also a time to be with friends and bounce around ideas about the hobby in general. The 2004 MW collection of logs are extremely rich and the LW collection of logs are slightly disappointing, but it would be dull if the logs were always numerous and interesting.

We now have 11 months to prepare for Miscou 05 and elaborate plans in case the power line noise problem has not been solved.

Longwave logs

FREQ CALL ST/ PR/ ITU LOCATION DATE UTC TIME UTC

20.9 HWU F LEBLANC 2004-10-03 17:30
24 NAA ME CUTLER 2004-10-03 17:25
25.2 NML4 ND LAMOURE 2004-10-03 17:23
37.5 NRK ISL GRINDAVIK 2004-10-03 17:22
40.8 NAU PTR AGUADA 2004-10-03 17:21
45.9 NSY I NISCENI 2004-10-03 17:18
51.95 GNY1 G THURSO 2004-10-03 17:17
57.4 NRK ISL GRINDAVIK 2004-10-03 17:16
60 MSF G RUGBY 2004-10-03 17:14
60 WWVB CO FORT COLLINS 2004-10-03 17:14
77.5 DCF77 D MAINFLINGEN 2004-10-03 17:13
153 BDCST ALG RADIO ALGER 2004-10-02 21:21
162 BDCST F FRANCE INTER 2004-10-02 21:23
171 BDCST MRC RADIO MÉDITERRANÉE 2004-10-02 21:24
177 BDCST D DEUTSCHLANDRADIO 2004-10-02 21:25
183 BDCST LUX EUROPE 1 2004-10-02 21:26
189 BDCST ISL RIKISUTVARPID RAS 2004-10-02 21:26
198 BDCST G BBC RADIO 4 2004-10-02 21:27
198 DIW NC DIXON 2004-10-04 02:17
203 KL QC KNOB LAKE 2004-10-04 02:24
205 YRQ QC TROIS RIVIERES 2004-10-04 11:22
211 K7 QC STE ANNE DES MONTS 2004-10-04 11:24
212 SJ NB ST JOHN 2004-10-04 11:25
216 BDCST F RADIO MONTE CARLO 2004-10-02 21:28
216 ME QC MATANE 2004-10-03 18:00
219 W7 QC DU ROCHER PERCE 2004-10-04 11:28
220 BX QC BLANC SABLON 2004-10-04 02:29
221 HM ON HAMILTON 2004-10-04 02:30
229 PD NS PORT HAWKESBURY 2004-10-04 02:33
232 GP QC GASPE 2004-10-04 02:34
234 7H NL WINTERLAND 2004-10-04 11:30
234 BDCST LUX RTL 2004-10-02 22:22
239 FE QC FORESTVILLE 2004-10-05 10:53
242 3E NS N. TRIUMPH PLATFORM 2004-10-03 17:33
248 UL QC MONTREAL 2004-10-04 11:32
250 UAC QC ERIC 2004-10-04 02:38
252 3S NS THEBAUD PLATFORM 2004-10-04 11:35
252 BDCST IRL RTE RADIO 1 2004-10-02 21:32
253 YTF QC ALMA 2004-10-04 11:36
254 5B PE SUMMERSIDE 2004-10-04 11:37
260 YAT QC WAPISK (ATTAWAPISKAT) 2004-10-05 00:09
263 QY NS SYDNEY 2004-10-04 02:40
266 YZX NS GREENWOOD 2004-10-03 18:01
270 FLO AZR FLORES 2004-10-02 23:01
270 ZNF NL WABANA (ST JOHN'S) 2004-10-04 02:41
273 ZV QC SEPT ILES 2004-10-03 17:39
276 YHR QC CHEVERY 2004-10-03 17:54
278 NM QC MATTAGAMI 2004-10-04 02:45
278 PQ ME PRESQUILE 2004-10-04 11:44
280 QX NL GANDER 2004-10-03 18:02
283 PT ON PELEE ISLAND 2004-10-04 01:20
289 YLQ QC LA TUQUE 2004-10-04 02:46
292.5 BA E ESTAC DE BARES 2004-10-02 22:35
303 YPP QC PARENT 2004-10-04 02:48
323 UWP NL ARGENTIA 2004-10-03 17:40
326 FC NB FREDERICTON 2004-10-03 18:16
327 POR POR PORTO 2004-10-04 01:39
329 OU QC STE FOY (QUEBEC) 2004-10-03 18:17
329 YHN ON HORNEPAYNE 2004-10-05 00:13
332 PH MI PORT HURON 2004-10-04 02:54
332 YFM QC LA GRANDE 4 2004-10-03 17:41
335 FK NL JUNCTION (DEER LAKE) 2004-10-03 17:56
336 BV QC CHAMPLAIN (QUEBEC) 2004-10-03 18:04
338 5Y NS TRENTON 2004-10-03 17:57
338 DE MI DETROIT 2004-10-04 01:26
338 PST MDR PORTO SANTO 2004-10-04 01:12
340 YY QC MONT JOLI 2004-10-03 18:18
341 GF NS AYLESFORD (GREENWOOD 2004-10-03 17:43
341 GP AZR LAJES 2004-10-05 00:20
341 YYU ON KASING (KAPUSKASING) 2004-10-04 01:48
344 CL OH CLEVELAND 2004-10-04 01:28
344 YGV QC HAVRE ST PIERRE 2004-10-03 18:07
350 DF NL DEER LAKE 2004-10-03 17:44
351 YKQ QC WASKAGANISH 2004-10-04 01:46
353 QG ON WINDSOR 2004-10-04 02:08
354 ZZV QC MONAGHAN (SEPT ILES) 2004-10-04 01:31
356 AY NL ST ANTHONY 2004-10-03 18:23
356 YBG QC BAGOTVILLE 2004-10-03 18:08
358 NL NL SIGNAL HILL (ST JOHN'S) 2004-10-04 01:11
360 PN QC PORT MENIER 2004-10-03 18:09
364 ZHZ NS SPLIT CROW (HALIFAX) 2004-10-04 11:56
366 YMW QC MANIWAKI 2004-10-04 03:24
366 ZMN NB LEWISVILLE (MONCTON) 2004-10-03 17:49
370 GR QC GRINDSTONE 2004-10-03 18:10
371 MGL AZR PONTA DELGADA 2004-10-04 00:55
373 2Q QC MONT LAURIER 2004-10-04 02:04
373 YXK QC RIMOUSKI 2004-10-02 21:56
378 HO NL HOPEDALE 2004-10-03 01:28
378 RJ QC ROBERVAL 2004-10-03 17:50
380 FIL AZR HORTA 2004-10-04 00:57
382 LAR POR ARRUDA 2004-10-04 00:59
382 SF GRL SONDESTROM 2004-10-05 02:35
382 YPL ON PICKLE LAKE 2004-10-04 03:33
384 F8 QC VICTORIAVILLE 2004-10-04 02:01
385 NA QC NATASHQUAN 2004-10-03 18:12
386 D8 QC DOLBEAU - ST FELICIEN 2004-10-04 01:59
386 GMA NH WHITEFIELD 2004-10-04 01:57
386 SP F ST PIERRE 2004-10-03 18:13
387 6E NB GRAND MANAN 2004-10-03 01:31
390 JT NL STEPHENVILLE 2004-10-03 17:51
391 DDP DR PUERTO PLATA 2004-10-07 01:39
392 ML QC CHARLEVOIX 2004-10-03 17:52
394 YB ON NORTH BAY 2004-10-04 03:36
396 JC NL RIGOLET 2004-10-03 01:32
397 ZST NB ALPINE (ST JOHN) 2004-10-03 17:53
398 ZQG ON LAUREL (WINDSOR) 2004-10-03 01:34
400 CI MI SAULT ST MARY 2004-10-04 03:41
400 ZYG PE CAVENDISH 2004-10-04 03:43
407 ZHU QC HAUTS BOIS (ST HUBERT) 2004-10-05 12:11
409 YTA ON PEMBROKE 2004-10-06 23:51
410 C E LA CORUNA 2004-10-05 00:34
411 VFU OH VANWERT 2004-10-07 00:01
417 HHG IN HUNTINGTON 2004-10-07 00:02
419 RYS MI DETROIT 2004-10-04 03:49
423 PCW OH PORT CLINTON 2004-10-04 03:50

Mediumwave Logs

The October 2004 Miscou Island, New Brunswick DXpedition
By Brent Taylor and Niel Wolfish

[BT-1] Loggings by Brent Taylor VE1JH of Doaktown, DXing alone on the evening upon first arriving. "I set up in the dark and had only a 500-ft unterminated BOG at 075 degrees." Receiver ICOM R75 (Kiwa mods).

[BT-2] Loggings after the arrival of two of the other participants, Ken Alexander and Jacques d'Avignon, and the full antenna setup, with 1000-ft BOGs at 000, 045 and 090 degrees, as well as a Wellbrook ALA-100 active loop. "Although the entire event ran from 01 to 08 October, I was only there for the first 2 days (02-03 OCT UTC). Most of the loggings of 2 OCT are pre-sunset."

[NW] Loggings by Niel Wolfish of Toronto, Ontario: AOR-7030+, 3 Beverage antennas.

Transatlantic DX Log

153 ALGERIA Chaîne 1, Béchar OCT 5 0242 - Strong with a woman singing. Parallel to a strong 531. [NW]

153 GERMANY Deutschlandfunk, Donebach OCT 5 0400 - Under Algeria with German newscast by a man. Parallel to 207 and 756. [NW]

171 MOROCCO R.Méditerranée Intl., Nador OCT 4 0047 - Man in French playing "Layla" by Derek & the Dominoes; good. [NW]

183 GERMANY Europe 1, Felsburg OCT 5 0239 - Strong with Eminem's "Stan." [NW]

189 ICELAND RUV Gufuskalar OCT 4 1637 - Poor with talk by a man; much stronger later in the afternoon at 2046 with AC/DC tune "Thunderstruck." Did not seem to be as strong or consistent as in previous years. [NW]

207 GERMANY Deutschlandfunk, Aholming OCT 6 2126 - On top (with no sign of Morocco); man in German talking about the Middle East. Parallel to 756 (poor) and 1422 (mixing with Algeria) at this time. [NW]

207 MOROCCO RTM A, Azilal OCT 5 2139 - On top of Germany with Arabic singing. Normally the dominant 207 station. [NW]

216 unID OCT 5 0418 - Could hear a second station underneath R.Monte Carlo at this time with the same programming as on 162 France. [NW]

252 IRELAND RTÉ Radio 1, Clarkestown OCT 6 2303 - "RTÉ News" read by a man, followed by a woman with sports headlines. Good over Algerian. [NW]

270 CZECH REPUBLIC OCT 5 0422 - Presumed with a man and woman talking in what I assume was Czech. Played pop song "I've Had The Time Of My Life." Poor signal. [NW]

531 ALGERIA Chaîne 1, El Ain Beida OCT 5 0242 - Under Spain with woman singing. Parallel to a strong 153. [NW]

531 SPAIN RNE5 synchros OCT 4 2232 - Poor; woman in Spanish, parallel to 558. [NW]

549 ALGERIA Chaîne 1, Les Trembles OCT 4 0055 - Over Spain with woman singing. Parallel to a very strong 890.98 and also a very quiet 153. [NW]

549 IRELAND Irish Christian Broadcasters, Monaghan OCT 7 2235 - Male announcer with Irish accent playing inspirational (Christian) music. Strong at this time (no sign of Algeria). [NW]

558 SPAIN RNE5 synchros OCT 4 2232 - Same woman as on 531. Fair signal. [NW]

576 SPAIN RNE5 Barcelona OCT 4 0105 - Football scores given, ID as "Radio Nacional de España informativos" by a woman; good over a second station on the frequency. [NW]

585 SPAIN RNE1 Madrid OCT 2 0055 - Woman talking and taking callers in Spanish, then musical ID at 0058, into slow bed song at 0059, then time pips at 0100, with "Radio Nacional de España" ID at top of the hour, and then a man and woman alternating reading the news. [BT-1] OCT 7 2249 - Fair; a man being interviewed by a woman. A second station was underneath. [NW]

594 MOROCCO RTM A, Oujda OCT 5 2137 - Parallel to 207 with Arabic music - man singing. Strong. [NW]

594 unID OCT 5 0334 - Somebody playing Roxy Music's "More Than This." [NW]

603 FRANCE France Info, Lyon OCT 6 0057 - Lounge-type music, 3:00 a.m. time check heard at 0100. Good and parallel to 1206, 1377, 1404 and 1557. [NW]

621 CANARY ISLANDS//SPAIN RNE synchros OCT 4 0108 - Uptempo Latin American-style music. Parallel to a 639 (fair), 648 (fair), 657 (good), 684 (fair) and 774 (good). [NW]

639 SPAIN RNE1 La Coruña OCT 6 0107 - Spanish pop music. Good signal and parallel to 1359. [NW]

666 GERMANY SWR Rohrdorf OCT 6 2132 - Man in German, possibly a newscast. Good signal over a second station. Parallel to 7265. [NW]

675 LIBYA OCT 4 2249 - Libyan National Anthem heard and then nothing - sign-off, I assume; fair signal. [NW]

675 NETHERLANDS Arrow Rock Radio, Lopik OCT 2 0101 - Fair to good, with Rolling Stones song at 0103. [BT-1] OCT 5 0251 - Strong with songs by The Eagles, Peter Gabriel and Sheryl Crow. + OCT 6 2140 - Very good; Pink Floyd's "Brain Damage," Arrow jingle and a Bob Dylan song afterwards. [NW]

684 SPAIN RNE1 Sevilla OCT 2 2121 - Good; female host playing audio clip of another female with rapid-fire sports play-by-play. Found parallel on 738 at 2123 and parallel 855 at 2125. [BT-2] OCT 7 2321 - Parallel to 774 with song by a woman. [NW]

693 ENGLAND BBC R.5 Droitwich OCT 5 0255 - Parallel to a stronger 909 with a discussion about a book. [NW]

702 unID OCT 6 0120 - Arabic singing. Big het, but seemingly undermodulated. Noted again at 2140 with Arabic music. Morocco or Tunisia? [NW]

711 FRANCE France Info, Rennes OCT 5 0329 - Fair; parallel to 945 with ID and talk by a man. [NW]

729 SPAIN RNE1 OCT 4 0114 - Man and woman talking, parallel to 738, which was slightly better. [NW]

738 SPAIN RNE1 Barcelona OCT 2 2123 - Female with sports talk, parallel 684 and 855. [BT-2] OCT 4 0119 - Same program as on 729. Fair signal. [NW]

747 NETHERLANDS Radio1, Flevoland OCT 8 0157 - Depressing sounding accordion music. ID and URL address given by a man in Dutch at 0159. [NW]

747 unID OCT 2 0105 - Religious music, church organ with choir. Not sure which of the candidates on this frequency might run religious programming. Never heard preaching or identified language. [BT-1]

756 GERMANY Deutschlandfunk, Braunschweig OCT 5 0400 - German newscast by a man. Good signal, parallel to 153 (under Algeria) and 207 (under Morocco). Again at 2151 with a man in German, but with noticeable echo from multiple transmitters at this time. [NW]

756 SPAIN R.Euskadi, Bilbao OCT 4 0116 - Presumed with a man on phone with somebody. Gave phone number out. Fair. [NW]

765 SWITZERLAND RSR Option Musique, Sottens OCT 5 0257 - Playing light French vocals. ID and time check at 0300 by a woman into a newscast. Strong. [NW]

774 SPAIN RNE1 synchros OCT 4 0120 - Man in Spanish. Almost as strong as 684 at this time. [NW]

774 unID OCT 4 2300 - Woman in Arabic over top of Spain. + OCT 6 0124 - Arabic under Spain. Couldn't find a parallel to determine if this was Egypt or Morocco. [NW]

783 MAURITANIA ORTM Nouakchott OCT 7 2316 - Brent Taylor's favourite station parallel to 4845 with a man speaking in Arabic. Fair to good signal. [NW]

792 FRANCE France Info, Limoges OCT 5 0005 - Fair; jazz music parallel to a much better 1377. A second station (SER, I assume) audible underneath. [NW]

837 CANARY ISLANDS//SPAIN COPE synchros OCT 7 2329 - Strong with promo for a program on the weekend and commercials. No sign of France at this time. [NW]

837 FRANCE France Info, Nancy OCT 6 0124 - Parallel to 711 with Bob Marley tune. Over top of COPE. [NW]

855 SPAIN RNE1 synchros OCT 2 2125 - Female with sports talk, parallel 684 and 738. [BT-2] OCT 6 0130 - "Radio Nacional de España Radio Uno" ID. Fair signal and it sounded like there might have been something in English underneath. [NW]

864 EGYPT Holy Koran R., Santah OCT 7 2331 - Man reciting Koran; fair and then surrendered to France. [NW]

864 FRANCE France Bleu, Villebon-sur-Yvette OCT 7 2337 - Over Egypt with Phil Collins song. Parallel to a weaker 1494. [NW]

873 SPAIN SER synchros OCT 6 0138 - Guitar music, parallel to 1116. Good signal. A second station was underneath, possibly in English. (Was hoping maybe the second station was BBC R.Ulster, but couldn’t parallel it to 1341.) [NW]

882 WALES BBC OCT 4 2314 - Strong with what sounded like inspirational music and talking phone calls from listeners. Second station underneath, which I was assume was Spain. [NW]

891 ALGERIA Alger Chaîne 1, Alger OCT 5 2305 - Woman reading news in Arabic, with many mentions of Israel. Sounded like a station promo (woman talking over piano music) at the end of the newscast. Strong and parallel to 153 and 531. [NW]

900 ITALY RAI Radio 1, Milano OCT 6 2150 - In mess with CKDH (and CKTS); woman and man talking. A news sounder type jingle was heard at 2152 and 2154 and at that point I was able to parallel it to 1575. To clinch things, a "Rai Radiouno" was ID heard at 2155. + OCT 8 0011 - Surfaced with man in Italian and mention of "nottorno Italiano." Couldn't find any other parallel Italians (e.g. 1062, 1332 or 1575) at this time. [NW]

909 ENGLAND BBC Radio 5 synchros OCT 4 2234 - Talk about premiership football, ID: "This is the home of the UK's live news and live sports, 5 Live." Fair signal. [NW]

909 unID OCT 5 2157 - Arabic music heard under BBC Radio 5. [NW]

936 SPAIN RNE5 OCT 6 0147 - Poor; parallel to a much better 657 with talk by a man in Spanish. [NW]

945 FRANCE France Info, Toulouse OCT 5 0326 - Fair; man and woman with discussion in French. Parallel to 711. [NW]

963 TUNISIA R.Tunisia International, Tunis OCT 6 2232 - Presumed with woman in French. Newscast? Mention of "programme nationale." Another station in here also. [NW]

963 unIDs OCT 4 0142 - Somebody playing "Great Balls of Fire." Later heard "Islands In The Stream" at 0157, and even later heard "Lay Lady Lay" by Bob Dylan at 0321. At 0300 time pips and what sounded like a Spanish newscast. R.Euzkadi? More than one station in here. +++ OCT 6 0149 - Shania Twain song. Not sure if this was the same station that had a woman on the phone in Spanish at 0155. At 2211 somebody surfaced briefly with Chicago oldie "If You Leave Me Now." [NW]

972 GERMANY NDR Info, Hamburg OCT 7 2300 - Presumed; woman in German and later a man in German at 2309. On top of Spain (which was parallel to 684). At 2313 recheck I could now hear a man singing in Arabic here as well. [NW]

972 unID OCT 6 0120 - Bluesy music: "Don't Touch Me If You Don't Love Me." Fair and then gone. [NW]

981 GREECE ERA Athens OCT 7 0136 - Presumed; Greek music and two men talking in a language I did not recognize. Over a second station with country & western music (Ireland?) At 2347 again with talk in a non-Romance language. Mixing with an Arabic station slightly off frequency, which I assume was Algeria. [NW]

990 SPAIN SER OCT 4 2344 - Poor with CBY. Female announcer and male pop vocal. Parallel to 873, 1025, 1044 and 1080 at this time. [NW]

996.78 unID OCT 2 0140 - Never got any audio, but a nice clean carrier here. Varied in strength, so I'm suspecting it was not some local mixing product or freak of nature. [BT-1]

999 SPAIN COPE Madrid OCT 2 0129 - Fair; regular Spanish talk. Arabic chanting clearly discernable underneath. Not sure if this would have been Morocco or Saudi Arabia. Could not pull any audio out of the published parallel frequencies for RTM A. [BT-1] OCT 4 0145 - Very strong with Spanish teletalk, parallel to a weaker 837. One of the best TA signals all week. + OCT 5 0330 - Time pips at bottom of the hour, and ID as "La Cadena Cope." An Arabic station was audible underneath (Morocco?). [NW]

1008 unID OCT 6 2242 - Stevie Wonder and Jackie Wilson oldies, mixing with a Spanish station. [NW]

1017 unID OCT 2 2113 - Fair; jazzy piano music. Never heard any vocals or IDs. Not typical of the RNE stations copied elsewhere, so I suspect Wolfsheim, Germany. [BT-2]

1017 GERMANY SWF Wolfsheim OCT 7 2355 - Man and woman in German. Parallel to 7265. Fair signal. [NW]

1026 SPAIN SER synchros OCT 2 2111 - Fair; typical SER high-energy talk and sports in big jumble. [BT-2] OCT 8 0000 - Spanish newscast. Parallel to 1044, 1080 and 1116. [NW]

1044 SPAIN SER Valladolid and San Sebastian OCT 2 2110 - Good; typical SER sports yelling and play-by-play clips. Hearing both cities here at the same time, with echo-reverb sound typical of synchros broadcasts. Also, talk in another language in background, but too weak to ID. [BT-2] OCT 4 2344 - Fair; female announcer and male pop vocal. Parallel to 873, 990, 1080 and 1116 at this time. [NW]

1053 ENGLAND TalkSport OCT 4 2323 - James Whale Show taking phone calls from listeners and telling their fortunes. Fair and parallel to a better 1089. [NW]

1053 LIBYA R.Jamahiriyah, Tripoli OCT 6 2255 - Libyan national anthem heard. Mixing with TalkSport. [NW]

1062 unIDs OCT 5 0428 - Woman in an unID language; five time pips plus a longer one at 0430. + OCT 8 0008 - Somebody playing the new U2 song "Vertigo." Not parallel to Italy on 900. [NW] Denmark?

1071 unID OCT 8 0017 - Somebody playing "Drive" by The Cars and a Ray Charles tune. [NW]

1080 SPAIN SER synchros OCT 4 2328 - Under WTIC Hartford with the same Spanish talk as on 1026. [NW]

1089 ENGLAND TalkSport, various OCT 2 2106 - Good; "TalkSport sports" being read by woman, into programming promo at 2107, and then thick-accented Scots man with talk in English, and playing audio clips. [BT-2] OCT 4 2327 - James Whale Show. Good. Parallel to a weaker 1053. [NW]

1098 SPAIN RNE5 synchros OCT 2 2105 - Fair to poor with GY-sounding flutter; man and woman alternating talk. [BT-2] OCT 4 2351 - Station promo which used music from the TV show "Dynasty" as a soundbed. Fair and parallel to 1152 and 1305. [NW]

1107 SPAIN RNE5, various OCT 2 2103 - Good; news being read alternately by a man and woman. Mention of Valencia. Echo sound due to multiple transmitters. [BT-2]

1116 SPAIN SER synchros OCT 2 2103 - More talk and play-by-play. Seemed to be parallel 1179. [BT-2] OCT 4 2347 - Fair; female announcer and male pop vocal. Parallel to 873, 990, 1025, 1044 and 1080 at this time. [NW]

1134 CROATIA Hrvatski Radio, Zadar OCT 2 0135 - Good; woman interviewing man. [BT-1] OCT 4 2357 - Fair; jazzy music, ID by a woman and then by a man just before top of the hour. + OCT 6 0212 - Voice of Croatia English broadcast. Good signal. [NW]

1152 SPAIN RNE5 synchros OCT 4 0155 - Music being played, which sounded horrible with the synchro echo. [NW]

1169 IRAN OCT 3 0137 - Open carrier, strong and stable; unID at the time, but after returning home and posting a prelim report, Mark Connelly pegged it as Iran, formerly on 1171 and now on 1169 to intentionally interfere with R.Farda, UAE. [BT-2] OCT 6 2208-2214 - Presumed; Middle Eastern-style music and female announcer. Strong for awhile, with a very noticeable het on 1170. [NW]

1179 SPAIN SER, various OCT 2 2100 - Good; talk, promos and man taking callers at 2101. Lots of energy and yelling, and sounds like sports play-by-play recaps heard so many times before. Still in at 2137 with same conditions. [BT-2]

1179 unID OCT 2 0040 - Fair/poor in WHAM slop. Slow ballad, man singing with accordion backup. Didn't sound Spanish, but not really sure. Not parallel 1044 as far as I could tell. I tried the other parallel frequencies for Romania and Sweden with no luck. Into talk by a man at 0043 and back to music at 0047. Pop vocal at 0050. Probably Spain, but wish it wasn't. [BT-1]

1197 ENGLAND Virgin Radio, various OCT 4 2340 - Poor; Maroon 5 song. Parallel to a better 1215. [NW]

1206 FRANCE France Info, Bordeaux OCT 2 2059 - Good signal; woman speaking in French. Parallel 1242. [BT-2] OCT 7 2345 - Good; French MoR/pop music. Parallel 711 and 1557. [NW]

1215 ENGLAND Virgin Radio, various OCT 4 2334 - Over top of Spain, The Verve's "Bittersweet Symphony." Also a station promo and commercials. Parallel to a weaker 1197. Stronger at 0341 recheck with songs by Red Hot Chili Peppers and The Cure. I’m sure had I listened for another five or ten minutes I would have heard a Robbie Williams song or something by Travis. [NW]

1215 SPAIN COPE synchros OCT 2 2052 - Good; promos and commercials in Spanish, ID at 2058. [BT-2] OCT 4 0200 - Paralllel to 1296 with Spanish teletalk. Fair signal. Heard a Spanish version of "Islands In The Stream" at 0335. [NW]

1224 SPAIN COPE synchros OCT 4 2125 - Weak with a woman in Spanish, parallel to a better 1296. [NW]

1242 FRANCE France Info, Marseille OCT 2 2059 - Good signal; woman speaking in French. Parallel 1206. [BT-2] OCT 4 2148 - Fair; ID and what sounded like a newscast. Parallel to 1494 and a much better 1557. [NW]

1296 ENGLAND Radio XL 1296 AM, Birmingham OCT 4 2125 - Tentative; would like to think that this was the one here with the "subcontinental" (South Asian) music under COPE. [NW]

1296 SPAIN COPE Valencia OCT 2 2136 - Good; man talking in Spanish, then into commercial or promo at 2137. [BT-2] OCT 4 2125 - ID by a woman and parallel to 1224. Sounded like a second station with subcontinental music was underneath. [NW]

1305 SPAIN RNE5 synchros OCT 4 2351 - Same station promo as on 1098. [NW]

1341 NORTHERN IRELAND BBC R.Ulster, Lisnagarvey OCT 4 2329 - Poor; lengthy weather forecast for the UK. + OCT 6 2013 - Fair; man and woman hosting some kind of countdown show, which included a Marilyn Manson song. [NW]

1359 SPAIN RNE1 Madrid OCT 6 0107 - Spanish pop music. Fair signal and parallel to 684. [NW]

1377 FRANCE France Info, Lille OCT 5 0006 - Same jazz music as on 792. Good signal. [NW]

1385.95 GUINEA OCT 5 2114 - In French with a political discussion. Fair signal. [NW]

1394.82 ALBANIA TransWorld Radio, Fllakë OCT 2 2038 - Presumed; good signal, and off frequency. Man talking, but unable to ID language. Made a recording and will be forwarding it to Renato Bruni in Italy who strongly suspects Albania over Armenia. Both stations have been heard off frequency recently. [BT-2] OCT 5 2027 - Strong with religious program, ID as "TransWorld Radio Slovakia" and an address given in Bratislava. TWR interval signal followed. [NW]

1404 FRANCE France Info, various OCT 6 0057 - Same lounge-type music as on 1206, 1377 and 1557. Poor signal. [NW]

1413 SPAIN RNE5 synchros OCT 6 2035 - Woman in Spanish with very noticeable echo. Poor and parallel to 1305. [NW]

1422 ALGERIA R.Culture, Algeirs OCT 5 2150 - Female announcer in French. Music on a stringed instrument. Mixing with the German station. [NW]

1422 GERMANY Deutschlandfunk, Heusweiler OCT 5 2152 - Under Algeria, with a man speaking in German. Parallel to 756. [NW]

1422 IRAN IRIB 1 Bakhtaran or VOIRI Kermandshah OCT 2 2203 - Fair; mid-east pop music followed by talk in Farsi at 2204. Man and woman taking in French underneath, so suspect that was Algeria. I'd appreciate help on which of the two Iranians would be more likely to play popular music. IRIB? [BT-2]

1431 DJIBOUTI R.Sawa, Arta OCT 2 2037 - Good, and now a regular visitor here in New Brunswick, with mid-east pop music. [BT-2] OCT 4 2105 - Arabic dance and pop music. Female announcer on phone with somebody. ID and Internet address for station given at 2127. Good signal. [NW]

1440 LUXEMBOURG China Radio International relay OCT 5 2043 - French program with Chinese lessons; fair over/under WJAE. [NW]

1449 unIDs OCT 4 2112 - Talk by a man. Didn't sound Arabic, so perhaps this was Iran? + OCT 5 2127 - Man on phone with woman. Sounded Arabic today. Libya? [NW]

1458 ALBANIA R.Tirana OCT 5 2132 - Newscast by a woman in a language that I assume was Albanian. Sounded like there with many mentions of oil prices in American dollars. Good over a second station with what sounded like subcontinental music (perhaps BBC Asian Network from Langley Mill?). [NW]

1467 FRANCE TransWorld Radio, Roumoules OCT 2 2133 - Excellent signal; Arabic talk and preaching. Caused a stir in the room for a few seconds, but a check of available schedules shows Arabic programming on TWR at this hour. [BT-2] OCT 4 2030 - ID into religious program (in Arabic?). Good signal. [NW]

1476 AUSTRIA ORF Wien-Bisamberg OCT 5 2132 - Strong with a male announcer in German and "oom pa pa" music. (Must be the perfect time to log this, as I heard them last year two days later on the calendar at nearly the same time.) [NW]

1494 FRANCE France Bleu, Basta OCT 5 2047 - Over top of the France Info station (parallel to1557) playing Tears For Fears' "Woman In Chains," and with a female host taking a phone call. [NW]

1494 FRANCE France Info OCT 4 2147 - ID by a woman. Poor signal. Seemed that the France Bleu station was usually the better of the two on 1494. [NW]

1512 BELGIUM R.Netherlands relay, Wolvertem OCT 2 2155 - Presumed. Fair; English interview show. Two men in exchange. Strong suspicion of Wolvertem although last seen schedule doesn't indicate English at this time. [BT-2] OCT 5 2142 - English program about American rap "stars" enjoying Cognac. Strong. [NW]

1521 SAUDI ARABIA BSKSA Duba OCT 2 2020 - Fantastic signal, two hours before Miscou sunset. Arabic chanting and talk by man. Best on 090 Beverage, weaker on the 045 and absent on the 000. Would have thought the 045 would be a better antenna, with better darkness path and more direct also. The 45 degree Beverage did perform best when later heard at 2149, which was nearing local dusk. [BT-2] OCT 6 1938 - Good signal; a man in Arabic talking on the telephone to another man, parallel to both 9555 and 9870 at this time. + OCT 7 2201 - Audible on car radio on the bridge between Isle Miscou and Isle Lamèque with Arabic talk and an annoying het from 1520. [NW]

1530 SAO TOME VOA relay OCT 5 2100 - English ID, Internet info for VOA English to Africa. Soon buried by Vatican Radio signing on. [NW]

1530 VATICAN Vatican Radio OCT 5 2100 - Sign on over top of VOA São Tome with familiar interval signal. + OCT 6 2028 - Audio clips of Pope John Paul II. On top of 1530 at this time. My notes had Portuguese broadcast written down, but apparently they are in Esperanto at this time. Close, I guess! [NW]

1539 SPAIN SER OCT 5 2146 - Poor; Spanish talk, over a second station. Parallel to 1044. [NW]

1548 KUWAIT R.Sawa, Kabd-Kuwait City OCT 5 2150 - Arabic music and ID as "Radio Sawa." Seemed to be a second station underneath in English. [NW]

1550 ALGERIA RASD clandestine OCT 5 2104 - Man in Arabic with many mentions of "Aribiya" in a mess on 1550 with WNTN and CBC SRC station in La Romaine, Quebec. Parallel to 7460. [NW]

1557 FRANCE France Info, Nice OCT 2 2031 - Good; two men in conversation in French, into 20-second musical interlude at 2033 and back to talk. [BT-2] OCT 4 2135 - Fair; ID and what sounded like a newscast. Parallel to a weaker 1242 and 1494. [NW]

1575 ITALY RAI R.Uno synchros OCT 6 2150 - Parallel to 900 with a woman and man talking in Italian. Mixing with Spanish station. [NW]

1584 CEUTA Radiolé OCT 5 2110 - Mixing with Spain. Female announcer playing acoustic guitar music. [NW]

1584 SPAIN SER, various OCT 2 2035 - Fluttery and GY-sounding; man taking female phone caller at 2035 and into sports-sounding play-by-play clip by a man at 2037. [BT-2] OCT 5 2108 - Parallel to 1044 with a man in Spanish. Over/under RadioOlé. [NW]

1602 SPAIN R.Vitoria OCT 5 2204 - Spanish newscast by a man. ID as "Radio Vitoria servicio informativo" at end of newscast. Fair over a second station. [NW]

Pan-American DX Log

555 ST. KITTS & NEVIS ZIZ Basseterre OCT 4 0100 - Time pips on the hour, time check as 1 after 9 into "Old Time Gospel Hour." Fair signal. [NW]

570 CUBA R.Reloj, Santa Clara OCT 4 0211 - Fair; time pips and Morse code IDs under domestic station. [NW]

600 CUBA R.Rebelde, Urbano Noris OCT 4 0215 - Female announcer playing pop music; parallel 710 and 5025. Not surprisingly, no sign of the Nicaraguan Radio Ya on 600 at this time. [NW]

650 COLOMBIA RCN Antena Dos, Bogotá OCT 4 0208 - "Antena Dos" ID and a "La Radio de Colombia" jingle; fair over WSM. [NW]

660 VENEZUELA YVQZ R.Anaco, Anaco OCT 6 2326 - Station promo for a morning program. ID and Latin American music. Fair with WFAN phased. [NW]

670 VENEZUELA YVLL R.Rumbos, Caracas OCT 6 2332 - ID and station promos; fair with WSCR. [NW]

680 VENEZUELA YVQR R.Continente, Cumaná OCT 6 2340 - Latin American music. ID heard at 2347. Poor with CFTR in WRKO phase null. [NW]

690 ANGUILLA Caribbean Beacon OCT 6 2352 - Parallel to 6090 with Dr. Gene babbling and rambling incoherently about Dallas racketeering. Over top of CINF. [NW]

740 unID OCT 4 0235 - What sounded like a heated political discussion in Spanish. Commercial for a rock and roll revue. ID that sounded like "Cadena Nacional." Over top of CHWO/CHCM. [NW]

750 VENEZUELA RCR Caracas OCT 4 0216 - Woman talking about a concert event on October 6, ID as "RCR" at 0220. Good signal and no sign of WSB. [NW]

760 COLOMBIA HJAJ RCN Barranquilla OCT 7 0010 - ID heard in mess with WJR and a second Latin American station. [NW]

860 CUBA R.Reloj OCT 4 0328 - Usual exhilarating programming heard under CJBC. [NW]

1620 US VIRGIN ISLANDS WDHP Frederiksted OCT 6 2307 - ID and country & western program. Good signal. [NW]

Posted on October 31, 2004