Rain is coming down hard and rumbling is getting louder, but still the E's are trying!

It's all gone quite here all the rain and thunderstorms have bypassed us as we have only had a light shower and I hope it stays that way.

I have logged 16 stations today which is my record this year and FM -LIST has helped immensely as when looking at the virtual logbook I could follow the skip from Italy to Spain.

Andy

Nice E skip earlier on today from Spain & Portugal. Ended about 3PM. Nothing else since, although heard something weak on 87.7 a moment ago. Tropo is still good here, not as good as yesterday although France & Belgium still being received.

Very frustrating conditions this evening - long periods of nothing punctuated by brief spells where there are a handful of mostly weak signals. Two have produced RDS so far:

90.8 IS_90.8_ - RR Radio Iaşi Câmpulung Moldovenesc/Rar (ROU)
89.7 MARIA_R. - Mária Rádió Erdély Gheorghieni/Harghita-Băi (ROU)

I wish it would get going properly!

Hi,

I got the 8-111-77 bit with a pi code of 5158 on 87.7. There are two choices for that PI Code. Radio Mater from Italy or Radio Canela from Spain. I picked this up at 11:59 to 12:16. If you go on the Radio Mater web site their phone number doesn't match. As I picked up Europa FM before this and Hit FM after it - I'm pretty certain its the Spanish station located at Sierra de Carrascoy in Southern Spain - unless some ones different.

In the same period of reception on 87.7 - which was unattended monitoring while I was at work - I also got Ant1 from Portugal. They are logged on FM List and you can see the close scatter of locations.

Activity at the bottom of band 2 plenty unid's.

Andy

Nothing here for the last 30 minutes or so. It's all going over my head.

It just tried to open briefly again with Romanian on 87.9 and a couple of others. Gone again now.

Sat in Wigan at about 3pm, with a t-storm in vicinity, I was picking up "Radio Voz" from North West Spain on 106.1 , right over the top of Real Radio XS. I was parked up in car but it lasted a good five minutes, registered on the RDS as well.

Having checked on my way back from work, I can confirm Supreme FM's audio is ludicrously bad at the moment.

Thanks smorris.

It would have been Unique FM I heard last night as they were playing slow reggae.

Back to the Es, since my last post there haven't been any. Fed up with listening to dead air on 87.7 and have given up on them for today.

For any DXers on the west coast and particularly Ireland, it may be worth beaming west. The trans-Atlantic activity on 6m looks very good. US Channel A4 audio is being reported in Germany (around 71.75 MHz).

Hi. What is channel A4 ? Is it an American tv station on band 1? Is it being received on scanners via tropo.

Yes this is a North American TV channel. I believe it's being received with a SDR receiver (Winradio). The propagation mode is double-hop Sporadic E, not tropo.

Looks like TA activity is tailing off now.

Interesting reports of Scotland into the Netherlands on FM via Es! Very unusual. The Es are intense off NE England this evening.

Well thanks to Alessandro Groppazzi I got some IDs on the above.

1) The music station that fades out then back in at the TOTH is Radio Dalmacija,Brac/Vidova Gora, Croatia.

2) The parliamentary debate on 88.0 is probably Radio Crne Gore 1,Niksic/Tovic-Suina Glava (NK), FYR Macedonia

3) The other station on the clip (not Antena M) is F Radio from Bar, Crne Gore (FYR Macedonia). I think I had RDS from this actually.

4) 92.8 is probably RTRS Radio Republike Srpske, Leotar (TRE), Serbia

5) is F Radio again; the second station remains unidentified

6) the language is Serbian but the station remains unidentified.

So although a fairly short opening it seems that most former Yugoslav countries were audible: Croatia, Serbia, FYR Macedonia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, and Montenegro. Greece and Italy were also heard.

What with that Es opening and the tropo it was a good day to have off work

Tropospheric:
91.1 0747 F Skyrock, Dunkerque/Tour Emery (59) Vocal ID in ad 274 km
90.6 0812 D WDR 5, Teutoburger Wald/Bielstein (nrw) OM talk, as web stream. Clear 591 km
105.5 0813 D WDR Eins Live, Teutoburger Wald/Bielstein (nrw) Noise free on peak 591 km
105.6 0819 D SWR4 Rheinland-Pfalz, Donnersberg (rlp) Poking through the noise. Vweak as web 657 km
89.0 2255 F France Culture, Le Mans/Mayet (72) Noise free and stable 599 km

** Personal Skegness ' First' via tropo

Sporadic E:
87.9 0840 I Radio Linea Network, Rapino-Maiella-Rifugio Pomilio (ch) 5588 1595 km **
87.7 0841 I Veronica MyRadio, Tolentino/Colle del Redentore (mc) 5218 Vocal ID 1458 km
88.4 0843 I Radio 105 Network, Verucchio/Monte Ventoso (rn) 5211 1353 km **
88.0 0847 F France Musique, Ajaccio/Coti-Chiavari Chialone (20A) F203 MUSIQUE_ 1414 km
88.2 0847 I Radio Deejay, Tempio Pausania/Monte Limbara (ot) 5214 _DEEJAY_ 1521 km
89.4 0848 I RTL 102.5, Tempio Pausania/Monte Limbara (ot) 5218 RTL102.5 1521 km
87.5 0852 I Radio Norba, Casacalenda/Contrada Cerro del Ruccolo (cb) 5353 R-NORBA_ 1672 km
88.3 0854 I Radio Norba, Mirabello Sannitico/Contrada La Rocca (cb) 5353 R-NORBA_ 1680 km
89.1 0855 I Kiss Kiss Italia, Castelfranco in Miscano (bn) 531F 1720 km **
87.7 0906 I Radio Margherita, Buti/Monte Serra (pi) 522A MARGHRTA 1286 km
87.5 0907 I Radio Italia Solo Musica Italiana, Ercolano-Vesuvio/Area Osservatorio (na) 5220 R_ITALIA 1730 km
87.9 0913 F France Culture, Porto Vecchio/Punta di a Varra (20A) F202 1450 km
88.9 0914 I RAI Radio1, Tempio Pausania/Monte Limbara (RAI) (ot) 5201 _RADIO1_ 1521 km
89.6 0915 F RFM, Ajaccio/Coti-Chiavari Pinselli (20A) F212 __RFM___ 1414 km **
90.3 0916 F MFM Radio, Saint-Raphaël/col de la Madone (06) F225 Jingle ID 1163 km **
92.9 0918 F Skyrock, Briançon/Puy Saint-Pierre (05) F214 SKYROCK_ 1025 km **
87.6 0921 I Radio Frejus, Monte Genevris (to) 5159 Jingle ID 1020 km **
92.0 0924 F Virgin Radio, La Clusaz 1/Combe de Balme (74) F219 Jingle ID 920 km **
92.4 0924 F France Inter, Ajaccio/Coti-Chiavari Chialone (20A) F201 __INTER_ 1414 km **
93.0 0925 F Nostalgie, Ajaccio/Coti-Chiavari Pinselli (20A) F218 1414 km **
93.8 0926 F Virgin Radio, Vars/Arrivée-de-Peynier (05) F219 _VIRGIN_ 1061 km
94.4 0927 F France Bleu Azur, Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat. Pres (06) F207 BLEUAZUR 1172 km **
95.8 0928 F Chérie FM, Nice/Mont Vinaigrier (06) F224 1168 km
87.7 0930 F Rire et Chansons, Nice/Mont Vinaigrier (06) F226 _RIRE__ 1168 km **
91.5 0931 F Radio Azur, Cannes-Vallauris/Centre Héliomarin (06) F441 R._AZUR_ 1173 km **
87.7 1005 E Europa FM, Alcalá de Henares (MAD-M) E5ED EUROPAFM 1439 km
87.8 1005 E Los 40 Principales, Madridejos (CAM-TO) Jingle ID 1550 km
87.7 1010 E Hit FM, Jerez de la Frontera/San Cristóbal (AND-CA) E200 HIT_FM__ 1904 km
87.8 1011 MRC SNRT Chaine Inter, Unlisted site 1002 Several Chaine Inter IDs **
88.1 1028 E Onda Cero, Chinchilla de Monte Aragón (CAM-AB) E2EE ONDACERO 1590 km
92.5 1030 E SER, Daya Nueva (VAL-A) E279 R._DENIA 1595 km
92.7 1030 E Kiss FM, Albacete (CAM-AB) E2EC KISS_FM_ 1584 km **
93.6 1031 E RNE R.Clásica, Chinchilla de Monte Aragón (CAM-AB) Classical music 1590 km
94.3 1034 E RNE R.3, Santa Pola (VAL-A) E213 RNE_3___ 1662 km
95.1 1035 E Radio Intereconomía, Madrid/Torrespaña (MAD-M) E256 ECONOMIA 1447 km **

** Personal Skegness ' First' via sporadic E

My aerial finally got plugged in after arriving home again late evening. Shame I had to miss the conditions earlier. Reception of Spain seemed to be almost to the top of the band on the car radio after I left home. We have family coming to stay over the weekend so my listening time will be at a minimum, if I get chance to listen at all. I will try and squeeze in some listening time tomorrow if I get chance.

Earlier I posted about my reception of the Cannes transmitter in SE France. After some thought I have decided to change this to the Nice transmitter. I think it was more likely that I had Nice. I remember the FM reception on the car radio when I visited those areas last year and I feel more confident that the sites are as stated above based on that. Nice and Cannes share frequencies for some of the networks, but it was the simultaneous reception of the St-Jean-Cap-Ferrat transmitter next door which convinced me, though the opening moved west and Cannes was received on 91.5 a couple of minutes later. It's difficult to be 100% certain in cases like this though. Any comments welcome.

Good DX!

John
Skegness, Lincolnshire (JO03dd) 1m ASL

Receivers:
Sony XDR-F1HD (tropospheric)
Kenwood KT6040 (sporadic E & meteor scatter)
Icom IC7000 (OIRT)
Conrad RDS Manager

Aerials:
Rooftop Triax FM5, 8m AGL
Yaesu G-5500 azimuthal/elevation rotator

Software:
RDS Spy v0.97
VAC v4.10

Back when I was tv dxing I used to see liege/maghera CH E3 quite often so don't discount short distant skip.

Here is my massive log for yesterday
.
2012-06-28
MHz UTC ITU Program + Location Details Remarks km
87.50 0905 I Radio Subasio, Sigillo/Monte Columeo (Monte Cucco) (pg) PI:53FD PS:SUBASIO_ 1600 km
87.80 0909 I Radio Radicale, Vernasca/Costa di Vigoleno [29.3] (pc) PI:5210 PS:RADIO_*_ 1328 km
87.60 0920 I Radio Maria, Borgio Verezzi/Poggio Albenga (Cava Vecchia) (sv) PI:51CC PS:R.MARIA_ 1312 km
87.60 0924 I RDS - Radio Dimensione Suono, Piombino (li) PI:5264 PS:*_RDS_*_ 1526 km
87.80 0927 I Radio Onda Libera, Castiglione/Altobrando (pg) PI:5363 PS:__ONDA__ 1590 km
87.50 0934 I Radio Italia Solo Musica Italiana, Ercolano-Vesuvio/Area Osservatorio (na) PI:5220 PS:R_ITALIA 1903 km
87.60 1035 E SER, Mora d'Ebre (CAT-T) PI:E239 PS:__SER___ 1400 km
87.70 1043 E Europa FM, Alcalá de Henares (MAD-M) PI:E5ED PS:EUROPAFM 1452 km
87.70 1108 E Radio Torre-Pacheco, Torre-Pacheco (MUR-MU) PI:E079 PS:RADIO___ 1759 km
87.70 1131 I Radio Italia Anni 60, San Rufo (sa) PI:5495 PS:R.ITALIA 1993 km
87.70 1212 E Europa FM, Alcalá de Henares (MAD-M) PI:E5ED PS:EUROPAFM 1452 km
88.20 1436 E RNE R.Clásica, Monte Páramo (GAL-LU) PI:E212 PS:RNE-CLAS 1240 km
91.60 1437 E RNE R.Clásica, Culleredo/Monte Xalo (GAL-C) PI:E212 PS:RNE-CLAS 1216 km
87.80 1438 E COPE, Vigo - Moaña/Monte Domaio (GAL-PO) PI:E2CA PS:COPE__FM 1319 km
98.10 1438 E RNE R.Clásica, Santiago de Compostela/Monte Pedroso (GAL-C) PI:E212 PS:RNE-CLAS 1255 km
87.60 1446 E Los 40 Principales, Ourense/Seminario (GAL-OU) PI:E04A PS:CUARENTA 1299 km
87.70 1948 F Rire et Chansons, Nice/Mont Vinaigrier (06) PI:F226 PS:_RIRE_&_ 1311 km

Andy

My friend picked up TSF on 105.3 from Portugal on the way from Carlisle to Newcastle yesterday evening. I assume this doesn't happen very often?

It's Europa FM I have just found a recording from last year and I will upload it later.

Andy

The station with the phone number is definitely Radio Canela from Spain. They use dynamic RDS every time I have received them including that phone number.

RSL station in Hampshire - for anyone using 87.7 as their E skip finder & can hear a station right now on
that frequency, it is an RSL station named YCFM which transmits a few days a
year. So for me its 87.5 or 87.9 to catch any early Es.

You are right Sleeper I was jumping the gun as I was going out after I my last post and was in a rush.
Looking at the recording I have shows Europa FM fighting with Radio Canela so googling that comes up with this below.

http://www.canelafm.net/

It does have 968111777 as one of their phone No's so another mystery solved.

Andy

Hi Jordan,

This is due to the ionosphere (about 75 miles up) becoming like a mirror, reflecting radio signals from a long distance.

This happens randomly, but quite often during late-May through to mid-August (ish).

It's known as "Sporadic E" (E layer of ionosphere).

If you tune an FM radio to the bottom end of the band, 87.5 through to 88.0, (not normally used in the UK, therefore there are no local stations), you are likely to hear stations from between 500 miles - 1500 miles away.
It will only happen when "Sporadic E" is occurring, and cannot be predicted.

This type of reception usually happens during summer-time daylight hours only.

Car radios work really well for this type of reception, because they are technically better than your average portable radio.

Hope this helps you to understand.

Chris.

Whilst a good TV band 1 signal was being received on E4 from RUV (Iceland) I decided to take a look on FM and was rewarded by hearing a strong signal from RAS 1 on 92.40Mhz. .Another new one for me.

Thank you for the informative post Chris. I never actually understood this Eskip thing apart from the beaming fm signals for miles. It's nice to know.

You're welcome.

I wrote the above because Jordan seemed new to DX reception and I guessed he needed some sort of explanation.

Chris.