With Dave Kenny & Alan Pennington
Overall conditions did not favour long distance mediumwave reception. Most of the time there was little or nothing audible from North America and even the east coast "regulars" that we managed to hear were weak and difficult to prize out of the splatter. There was one brief opening towards Ontario around 0800 on Tuesday 11 November which brought nice steady signals for about an hour and a slight improvement in our last two days. The rest of the week it was mainly weak Latin American and Puerto Rican signals. Asia did not fare much better, with few of the usual Far East regulars that we are often able to hear well at Sheigra. The Middle East was better with a particularly nice signal from Voice of the People of Kurdistan on 1206 kHz. and Pakistan on off-channel 1403.85 was a first on MW from that country for us.
The weather was dominated by severe gales during the first week and again at the end of the second week, with several calm clear and sunny days in between. Daytime temperatures averaged around 8 degrees.
Unlike in March this year, when we had terrible problems with aerials damage by sheep, there were very few sheep to worry us this time - so no breaks in any aerials at all during the whole two weeks - a first for us!
Sheigra is very quiet now with only four houses currently occupied and two others available as holiday lets. We stayed in one of these - the same one as in March (see April Communication). This backs straight onto uninhabited moorland to the south and east, with easy access for Asian aerials (which if unterminated will provide reasonable if splattery signals off the back for Central and South America). Unfortunately there are no possibilities for long Caribbean or South American beverages. It may also be possible to put up a short wire of perhaps 100m in length at 240 degrees, although it would be pointing straight at Sheigra’s high voltage power line so we have not tried it. North America is a little tricky so we only attempted to put one wire up to the north west. This has to cross the corner of an adjacent garden, then come down to ground level to cross the public road and down again to cross the drive of one of the houses, before heading up over the hill towards the clifftops. Thanks to Martin Hall for providing some virtually unbreakable steel wire which we used successfully to cross the roads. Unfortunately this aerial was prone to suffer from electrical interference some mornings, rendering it almost unusable when signals were weak. There seemed to be two sources of interference on this aerial, probably from televisions in nearby houses. It may also be that the wire is crossing underground power cables and picking up interference from there. The storage heaters within the house also cause interference on all aerials when they are operating. Although they can be switched off we generally preferred to stay warm and DX at other times! The "quiet" times are approx 0830-1230, 1430-1830, 2030-0030.
As always it was a very enjoyable holiday, even though propagation conditions were not as good as on previous visits to Sheigra. We never tire of the wild dramatic and remote landscape here at the far north western tip of the Scottish mainland.
Dave Kenny - AOR AR 7030 Plus and tuneable pre-amp
Alan Pennington - AOR AR 7030 Plus and Palstar AA30 active aerial tuner
540 0746 10/11 CBT Grand Falls (Pres) NL BBC WS relay // 600 1400 etc 560 0719 9/11 CHVO Carbonear NL C&W music // VOCM 590 570 0818 8/11 KNR Nuuk, Greenland YL in Danish // DR on 243 & KNR on 650 720 900 580 0705 8/11 CJFX Antigonish NS Broadcast News; "..a look at CJFX weather…" 590 2210 4/11 VOCM St Johns NL 5-day forecast" 600 0659 8/11 CBNA Saint Anthony NL relay of Radio Australia, CBC ID 620 0735 7/11 CKCM Grand Falls NL VOCM News // 590, 740 640 0720 10/11 CBN St Johns NL relay of Radio Sweden px. 650 0715 7/11 CKGA Gander NL C&W music // VOCM 590 650 0807 5/11 KNR Qeqertarsuaq, Greenland News in Danish // DR 243 kHz 660 0900 10/11 WFAN New York NY TC 4 o'clock; Sports scores, lots of WFAN IDs 680 0820 11/11 CFTR Toronto ON "All News Radio - 680 News" Toronto wx & traffic 710 0712 7/11 CKVO Clarenville NL C&W, wx with "VOCM 5-day forecast" 720 0815 8/11 KNR Simiutaq, Greenland music // 650 & 900 kHz. 740 0734 7/11 CHCM Marystown NL C&W music, "VOCM First News" 740 0810 11/11 CHWO Toronto (Pres) ON standards, "AM 740" jingles 750 0714 9/11 CBGY Bonavista Bay NL relay of Radio Sweden px - CBC Overnight 760 0803 8/11 WJR Detroit MI DJ talk inc ID " I'm Don ??, WJR" 770 0800 12/11 WABC New York NY ABC nx, ads, "Newstalk Radio 77 - WABC" 780 0757 8/11 WBBM Chicago IL "WBBM Newstime 1-57" nx, wx reports 780 0851 10/11 CFDR Dartmouth NS C&W mx. ID: "Kix Classic Country, 780 Kix" 790 0845 10/11 CFNW Port au Choix NL C&W music - DJ: "with CFCB" ID 800 0817 5/11 VOWR St Johns NL EZL music, ID 800 0850 11/11 CKLW Windsor ON Art Bell show. "AM 800 CKLW" ID 820 0754 8/11 WBAP Fort Worth TX Midnite Trucking Network on Newstalk 820 WBAP 820 0807 11/11 CHAM Hamilton ON "Hamilton's 820 Cham" C&W 870 0805 11/11 WWL New Orleans LA ID, C&W mx 890 0758 11/11 WLS Chicago IL ID, ABC News 900 0816 8/11 KNR Uummannaq, Greenland Nx in Danish // DR 243 & KNR 650, 720 930 2305 6/11 CJYQ St Johns NL Canadian mx, "Radio Newfoundland" wx 930 0742 12/11 CFBC St John NB Oldies, "93-CFBC" ID 950 0758 8/11 CKNB Campbellton NB "music & information for the north shore & Gaspe Bay coast, 95 CKNB" 960 0814 7/11 CHNS Halifax NS Now oldies format. ID "… Oldies 96" 1000 0825 11/11 WMVP Chicago (Pres) IL ESPN Radio ID, ad for Chicago company. Sports 1010 0650 11/11 CFRB Toronto ON 'phone-in, "CFRB" & "Newstalk 10-10" IDs 1010 0654 11/11 WINS New York NY wx in New York; "Wins 10-10" ID 1020 0725 11/11 KDKA Pittsburgh PA 'phone-in, ads, "Newstalk 10-20 - KDKA" ID 1030 0723 11/11 WBZ Boston MA "News Radio 10-30" "WBZee means news" 1050 0735 11/11 WEVD New York NY "New York Sports - 1050 ESPN Radio" 1070 0805 10/11 CBA Moncton NB CBC Radio 1 ID, Deutsche Welle EE // 1140 etc 1130 0745 7/11 WBBR New York NY "Bloomberg Money" px. ID: "Bloomberg 11-3-0" 1140 0805 10/11 CBI Sydney NS CBC Radio 1 ID then Deutsche Welle EE px 1180 0930 11/11 WHAM Rochester NY "News Radio 1180 Wham" 1190 0713 15/11 WLIB New York NY "… on AM 1190, WLIB" 1210 2343 14/11 VOAR Mt Pearl (pres) NL rcdng Canadian Remembrance Day church service 1250 0812 10/11 CBGA Matane (Pres) QC CBC French - YL DJ with rock & pop. 1270 0925 12/1 CJCB Sydney NS "CJCB" ID between C&W tracks 1320 0823 10/11 CKEC New Glasgow NS 2 x DJ IDs "on CKEC", + sung jingle 1350 0824 15/11 CKAD Middleton NS "…. on AVR - the Best Country Music station" 1360 0735 4/11 WKAT Miami (Pres) FL Classical mx, ID "WK--", "Miami Herald" mention 1360 0830 12/11 CJBC Bathurst NB ID "1360 (zed?) - CKBC Better Music". Pop 1375 0806 9/11 RFO St Pierre & Miquelon relay of France Inter, "France Inter" ID, FF football 1390 0000 14/11 WZHF Arlington VA ID "WZHF Arlington" and fanfare 1400 0936 11/11 CBG Gander NL Newfoundland wx, Remembrance Day special. 1470 0759 7/11 WLAM Lewiston ME relay WMTW "local f'cast on News Radio, WMTW" 1480 2355 13/11 WSAR Fall River MA px "…bought to you by ?? Union Bank & WSAR" 1500 0731 4/11 WTOP Washington DC nx, "WTOP Radio Sports", "WTOP time, 2-31" 1510 2346 13/11 WWZN Boston MA "Boston's Celtic Basketball - 1510, The Zone" 1520 0720 11/11 WWKB Buffalo NY "Business talk radio 1520 - WWKB" 1540 0938 12/11 WPTR Albany NY "WPTR" sung jingle, "Good,Bad & Ugly" theme mx 1540 2308 14/11 CHIN Toronto ON brief pk over WPTR/Bahamas - CC YL inc "CHIN" 1560 2258 9/11 WQEW New York NY "AM 1560, WQEW, New York City". Radio Disney 1590 0659 13/11 WARV Warwick RI "Life saving radio - 1590, WARV" 1590 0707 13/11 WSMN Nashua NH "ESPN Radio 1590 - The Tiger". Sports 1630 0750 15/11 WRDW Augusta GA WRDW ID, promo 1630 0759 15/11 KNAX Fort Worth TX EE ID heard in the mix 1630 0800 15/11 KCJJ Iowa City IA "Iowa's most powerful radio station, KCJJ" 1650 0746 13/11 WHKT Portsmouth (pres) VA Radio Disney - pops - Abba etc 1660 0800 14/11 WCNZ Marco Island FL "News Radio 1660" "WCNZ, Marco Island, Naples, Fort ?? . radio1660.com" 1670 0800 7/11 WRNC Warner Robins GA "Number 1 gospel stn…. AM 1280 WLCG & AM 1670 WRNC" 1680 0018 14/11 WTIR Winter Garden FL Tourist info, "TIR" jingle 1680 2229 4/11 WTTM Princeton NJ 'phone-in Hindi & EE for Diwali. "EBC Radio" IDs 1690 0658 13/11 WPTX Lexington Park MD "Maryland's most up to date News… Newstalk 1690 AM - WPTX" 1700 0730 9/11 WJCC Miami Springs FL SS pop, "Voz Cristiana" spoken & jingle IDs
530 0800 10/11 R Vision Cristiana, Turks & Caicos. EE ID: "..R Vision Cristiana Intl 530 AM.." SS rel 820 0010 6/11 R Paradise, St Kitts (pres) US preacher // KTBN 7505 kHz 890 0752 15/11 R Progreso, Chambas, Cuba SS Nx "en Progreso" 1160 0000 8/11 Caribbean R Lighthouse, Antigua ID, BBCWS nx in EE. 1180 0933 12/11 R Rebelde, Cuba OM/YL in SS, nx, ID: "Rebelde de la Madrugada" 1280 2238 5/11 VSB2 Hamilton, Bermuda (Pres) US EE rel px, scriptures, "Amazing Grace" 1280 2300 5/11 WCMN Arecibo, Puerto Rico SS, several "WCMN" IDs heard 1350 2324 4/11 WEGA, R Las Vegas, Isabella PR sung jingle: "W-E-G-A..…Radio Las Vegas" SS mx 1390 2340 4/11 WISA R Puerto Rico, Isabela PR Latin mx & ID "Radio Puerto Rico 1400 0035 4/11 Harbour Light of the Windwards, Carriacou, Grenada "Good Tidings Hour" - hymns 1480 2308 8/11 WMDD Fajardo, Puerto Rico Advert inc "Plaza Fajardo". "Tropical" jingle 1540 2305 14/11 ZNS1 R Bahamas, Nassau Caribbean News inc Grenada, Bermuda, Bahamas 1600 2259 9/11 WLUZ San Juan, Puerto Rico "WLUZ 1600 AM (Miami?) San Juan, Puerto Rico" 1610 2230 4/11 University Network, Anguilla Dr Gene Scott // 9725. Mentioned "Secret 15" 1620 2350 3/11 WDHP Frederiksted Virgin Islands "...WRRA 1290, simulcasting…WDHP 1620 AM…" 1660 2302 4/11 WGIT Canovanas, Puerto Rico Puerto Rican mx, "Cadena Gigante"
730 0740 15/11 HJCU R Melodia, Bogota, COL distinctive mx, "Melodia"/ "R Melodia" IDs 850 0710 9/11 YVZC R Fe y Alegria, Maracaibo, VEN timecheck, ID 900 0703 7/11 YVMD R Mara Ritmo 900, Maracaibo VEN promo, ID "Mara Ritmo Nueve Cien" 950 0701 9/11 LR? R Belgrano, Buenos Aires ARG "Radio Belgrano, la primera con ...noticias" 980 0755 5/11 HJES RCN Cali, COL SS ID, "RCN" promo 1070 0006 6/11 LR1 R El Mundo, Buenos Aires ARG ID, medical 'phone-in 1070 0011 6/11 YVMA R Mundial Zulia, Maracaibo VEN SS IDs "Zulia", "…Mundial Zulia…" 1070 2346 5/11 HJCG R Sante Fe, SF de Bogota, COL SS 'phone-in, 2 x "R Sante Fe" IDs 1120 0104 4/11 ZYK274 R Rural, Porto Alegre, BRZ PP anns ""1120" & "R Rural", ballads 1130 0730 9/11 YVRL R Ideal, Maiquetia, VEN SS IDs, promos. 1180 0749 9/11 ZYJ232 R Guacu, Toledo BRZ adverts, IDs 1290 0640 7/11 YVLF R Puerto Cabello, VEN station promos, many IDs, SS 1350 0815 9/11 YVZZ R 1350, San Jose de Guanipa, VEN IDs " Radio 13-50, 24 horas" x 2 1350 2310 4/11 YVTJ R Falcon, Pto Cumarebo VEN ID " Radio Falcon mil cincuento AM" 1380 2335 5/11 YVNG Ondas del Mar, Puerto Cabello, VEN Long ID / promo 1390 0030 3/11 YVZA R Fe y Alegria, Caracas VEN ID, promo, SS mx 1390 2358 11/11 R Farol, Touros, BRZ PP songs, full ID / jingles @ 2359 1440 2230 11/11 Super 1440 AM BRZ (poss. ZYJ469 Rio de Janeiro?) IDs "Super 1440 AM" 1470 0031 6/11 CX147 R Cristal del Uruguay, Los Piedres ID, promo, 'phone-in programme 1470 0757 9/11 OAX4B CPN Radio, Lima PERU ID, ads, promos "esta es CPN Radio…" 1470 2348 5/11 ZYH779 R Cidade, Goias, BRZ IDs / promos PP 1470.07 0020 4/11 YVSY R Vibracion, Carupano VEN DJ: "Vibracion!" (pron Vee-bra-shun) mx 1580 0759 9/11 HJQZ R Maria, Barranquilla COL ID: Radio Maria - La Radio de la fe….." 1590 0057 6/11 CX159 R Real, Colonia, Uruguay "Radio Real" ID, SS promo for "futbol"
180 2303 14/11 TRT1 Polatli News in Turkish // 954, 1017 711 2200 reg two Arabic stations - probably IRIB Ahwaz and R Cairo Youth Programme 846 1845 3/11 Republic of Iraq R, Baghdad AA songs // 909. ID & nx @ 1900 846 1900 3/11 R Radonezh, Noginsk, Russia RR church music, ID 908.94 1850 3/11 Republic of Iraq R, Baghdad AA songs, ID // 846 kHz 918 1450 9/11 AIR Suratgarh, India Indian classical songs // Delhi 4860 kHz 954 2300 14/11 TRT1 Trabzon Nx in Turkish // 1017 1017 2300 14/11 TRT1 Mundanya nx in Turkish // 954 1080 1628 10/11 Turkmen R (2 tx sites) Turkmen music // 5050 kHz 1080 1639 5/11 IRIB Abadan, Iran AA service. ID "Idaat al Teheran" // 6025 1134 1435 14/11 CNR1 (unknown site) China Chinese talk // 6030 7230 1134 1645 6/11 R Kuwait, Sulaibiyah AA talk about Koran // 9880 kHz 1161 1530 14/11 IRIB Abadan, Iran External service Arabic news // 1224, 15125. ID 1206 1640 6/11 V of the People of Kurdistan, Sulaymaniyah Kurdish songs // 4025. Strong! 1224 1712 6/11 IRIB Abadan, Iran Arabic external service // 1080, 6025 kHz 1242 1630 11/11 V of Vietnam, Thoi Long sign-on English service, news 1295 1900 6/11 Azerbaijani R, Pirsaat (Baku) ID in (pres) Azeri. (EE @ 1801 10/11) v.low mod 1341 1708 6/11 R Kuwait Main Arabic service // 9880 kHz 1359 1634 6/11 IRIB 1 (unlisted site) News // 1503 & 15084 kHz 1368 1632 5/11 IRIB 1, Sari OM/YL news in Farsi // 15084 1403.85 1510 14/11 Pakistan BC, Dera Ismail Khan YL & OM - News in Urdu // 5027 (Quetta) inc several "Radio Pakistan" IDs in dialogue. 1431 1655 6/11 IRIB Isfahan Talk in Farsi // 1503 15084 kHz 1476 1440 14/11 R Thailand, Lamphun (pres) YL talk in Thai, exotic songs, bells @ 1500 1476 1535 4/11 UAE Radio, Dubai Arabic talk // 13675 kHz. Strong 1494 1515 11/11 Xinjiang PBS, Urumqi Chinese // 5060, 5960 kHz 1494 2220 6/11 R Jordan, Al Karanah AA nx 2230, ID 2258: "amman wa-kadim" 1503 1530 4/11 IRIB Bushehr, Iran News in Persian // 15084 1557 1431 14/11 Family R, Kouhu, Taiwan Family R signature tune into Mandarin talk 1566 1600 5/11 R of the Two Rivers (CIA) Kuwait s/on, AA mx, IDs "idaat wadi al rafidaya" 1575 1530 10/11 VOA Bangkok, Thailand Special English // 6160, 11995 etc kHz 1593 1615 5/11 AIR Bhopal, India Indian singing // 3315 kHz 1593 1700 5/11 VOA Farsi via Kuwait News in Persian // 6160, 9680.
711 2330 8/11 V of Africa, Tripoli, Libya End of AA - into EE nx. FF 2334+. v distorted audio 783 2217 9/11 R Mauritania, Nouakchott Arabic talk // 4845 kHz shortwave 819 1507 14/11 ERTU, Batra, Egypt AA songs // 12020. ID "Huna Kahira" 1251 1735 8/11 V of Africa, Tripoli, Libya Green Book EE // 15435 - not // FF pxs 15220 etc
738 1650 6/11 RFI, Paris English pxs (pres 1600-1700) 846 reg R North, Limavady, Ireland inc religious, country music, oldies pxs etc 1035 1140 14/11 Semenoja R, Tartu, Estonia Russian Bible px, ID, RR songs 1062 reg Danmarks R, Kalundborg 5 min EE nx & wx hrd @ 0930, 1605 & 2100 1080 1510 5/11 R Mordovia, Saransk, Russia Int sig, ID, Oblast nx in RR & Mordovian 1134 0843 7/11 Kool AM, Burnt Mill Schl, Harlow pop, ads, IDs "Kool AM Breakfast" 1224 1540 5/11 R Bulgaria, Vidin Bizerov Sisters songs, RR px mixing with Spain 1233 1948 10/11 Czech R (multi tx) English px // 1071, 1287 kHz 1287 0938 4/11 BFBS (multi tx) YL DJ with quiz - ID "BFBS Radio 1" 1350 0825 5/11 Hospital R Pulse, Redditch Bon Jovi, "Hospital Radio Pulse, 1350 AM" 1350 0833 4/11 Radio Cavell, Oldham ID "This is Radio Cavell - 1350 AM" 1350 0900 9/11 Mid Downs Hosp R, Haywards Heath Clear ID "..from the Princess Royal Hospital…" 1350 0840 13/11 Kingstown R, Hull "Rockin' & Rollin' all over your ward - Kingstown R" 1350.1 1058 14/11 R Nightingale, Rotherham Hosp. R Nightingale request line, oldies, IDs 1385.9 0920 4/11 R Carillon, Loughborough Gen Hosp. "Carillon 1386 is on the air 24 hrs a day, 7 days.." 1386 0959 4/11 Blast 1386, Reading College Promo for new web site: www.blast1386.com 1404 2308 4/11 ERA Komotini, Greece Nx in Greek // 1494, 5865 kHz 1530 2321 6/11 Thunder 1530, Keflavik, Iceland "Thunder 1530 has it all" 1548 1629 5/11 V of Russia, Grigriopol, Moldova tones, Moscow chimes, then ID in (pres) Serbian 1575 0950 4/11 JAM, Hull University "….live from the heart of the campus, this is Jam" 1575 0957 4/11 Stoke Mandeville Hospital R "on1575 AM, this is Stoke Mandeville Hospital R" 1575 1055 14/11 R Tyneside, Newcastle Gen Hosp ID / promo: "contact Radio Tyneside" 1660 1946 10/11 Serbian pirate Serbian music, anns 1682 2230 10/11 Radio Statmos (?Harika) Greek pirate, mx, ID 1695 2228 10/11 Statmos (?Espero) QSO with Radiofonikos Statmos (?Anatolia) Two Greek pirates from Kalamata, mx IDs.
1180 0040 4/11 UNID Brazilian - repeated IDs or slogans sounded like "Radio Viba Vil - Viba Vil" 1476 1600 14/11 UNID relay of BBCWS EE news with tinny clipped audio. Azerbaijan?
73's Alan & Dave