Here is my log for this exceptional opening which I was gobsmacked and also how
the locals just crumbled and gave way to to foreign stations.
Also Sutton Coldfield 116 Km giving 70 db+ signal even Real radio from winter
hill 19 Km dropped into the noise and that is usually solid.
I hope we get more openings like this as this reminds me of similar openings
from the 80's although I was doing TV dx then.
I was busy recording radio and TV so I have a lot to go through but one german
station SWR4 K7 was here solid from 18:00 to 01:00 this morning when I switched
off.

2012-11-15
MHz UTC ITU Program + Location Details Remarks km
99.60 1029 F France Inter, Caen/Mont Pinçon (14) PI:F201 PS:__INTER_ 524km
94.00 1034 F France Culture, Rouen/Grand-Couronne (76) PI:F202 PS:_CULTURE
530km
96.50 1041 F France Inter, Rouen/Grand-Couronne (76) PI:F201 PS:__INTER_ 530km
95.60 1046 F France Musique, Caen/Mont Pinçon (14) 524km
87.60 1225 F RMC, Le Havre/Harfleur (76) 487km
100.70 1248 F France Bleu Cotentin, Cherbourg-Octeville/Digosville (50) 439km
105.60 1301 F France Info, Calais/Mont d'Hubert (62) PI:F206 PS:__INFO__ 417km
101.30 1342 F France Bleu Auxerre, Auxerre/Molesmes (89) PI:F209 PS:BLEU.AUX
786km
87.60 1358 D hr3, Sackpfeife (Biedenkopf) (hes) PI363 PS:__hr3___ 816km
88.70 1525 F France Culture, Vendôme/la Poterie (41) 689km
88.70 1635 F France Musique, Lille/Bouvigny le Mont [62] (59) 502km
94.70 1756 F France Bleu Nord, Lille/Bouvigny le Mont [62] (59) PI:F20A
PS:BLEUNORD 502km
103.70 1757 F France Inter, Lille/Bouvigny le Mont [62] (59) 502km
105.60 1807 D SWR4 Rheinland-Pfalz, Donnersberg (rlp) 851km
106.40 1810 G Kiss FM, Ipswich/Mendlesham (EN-SFK) PI:C3AC PS:__Kiss__ 293km
99.10 1823 D SWR1 Rheinland-Pfalz, Donnersberg (rlp) 851km
100.70 1843 LUX Radio 100,7, Dudelange/Ginsterberg (gld) PI:7212 PS:RADIO___
757km
87.70 1916 F France Culture, Strasbourg/TDF Nordheim (67) 893km
104.70 1923 D WDR Eins Live, Nordhelle (nrw) 757km
99.50 1929 BEL RTBF Musiq' 3, Liège/Bol d'Air (wln-lie) PI:6353 PS:MUSIQ3__
652km
91.80 1939 D WDR 2, Warburg/Stapelberg (nrw) 833km
90.40 1941 F France Culture, Chaumont/Chalindrey (52) PI:F202 PS:_CULTURE
853km
90.20 1942 F France Musique, Neufchâtel-en-Bray/Croixdalle (76) PI:F203
PS:MUSIQUE_ 500km
90.00 1944 D SWR3, Haardtkopf (rlp) PI3A3 PS:__SWR3__ 786km
89.60 1953 F France Culture, Villers-Cotterêts/Fleury (02) PI:F202 PS:_CULTURE
621km
107.90 2106 D BR Klassik, Kreuzberg (Rhön) (bay) PI314 PS:BR-KLASS 936km
96.80 2218 F France Inter, Reims/TDF Hautvillers (51) 673km
98.00 2221 F France Culture, Lille/Bouvigny le Mont [62] (59) PI:F202
PS:_CULTURE 502km
100.00 2223 G Classic FM, North Hessary Tor (EN-DVN) 340km
105.20 2228 F France Info, Lille/Bouvigny le Mont [62] (59) PI:F206 PS:__INFO__
502km
87.60 2338 BEL RTBF Classic 21, Léglise/Vlessart (wln-lux) PI:6354 PS:CLASS.21

More more please!

Andy

This is the best tropo so far this year I think there was some same time last year to it seems better in winter time than summer now.

Not particularly exciting here with my tiny radio - the only German station I've heard is 1Live on 105.5 from Teutoburger Wald at 522km. A couple of the Lille stations were noise-free but with no RDS. Hopefully I've picked a good day to have a long weekend off work, though - I'll have another listen later!

There was a few French FM stations picked up last night from Roun and Lille and plenty of distant UK stations. But nothing about today. Will try later

Pretty much back to normal here now. A few things were still left this morning though:

87.6 hr3 Biedenkopf, very choppy & unstable
87.9 MDR Figaro Inselsberg very weak
88.9 RTL Radio Letzebuerg QSB
100.5 WDR 4 Teutoburger Wald unstable
100.7 Radio 100,7 QSB

Interesting how some transmitters were like beacons during this tropo with often good and stable, long-lasting signals:

Biedenkopf
Großer Feldberg
Donnersberg
and later, Teutoburger Wald

Also of interest is the fact that there have been several excellent tropo openings this year, in the spring and autumn rather than the summer, and the fact that they were covering broadly similar areas i.e. central/eastern France and southern/central Germany. Previous years have seen more tropo activity during the warmer months and often better in the Midlands/north with areas such as northern Germany and Scandinavia predominating.

This year has reminded me of the 80s both weather and propagation-wise.

For those of us (probably only me) who weren't alive in the 80s does this mean more good tropo to come?

It's almost back to normal here, a few of the BBC Locals are hanging in there with the Dutch still trying and Kiss is still doing well!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lwGo5j9NRY

An excellent day yesterday, wish we could have more. Unfortunately 87.6 HR3 is not in the video, which is a shame since it had the best signal. For some reason, Windows Movie Maker did not like it & kept on removing the sound, even when I tried re-editing it.

An excellent video sleeper! Is this the first time you've had tropo to Germany?

91.1 might be SWR 1 Rheinland Pfalz from Scharteberg. I had this one myself.
100.5 is from Teutoburger Wald near Bielefeld.

For me the tropo opening started on the evening of Tues 13th with an enhancement to the south-east giving some lower power French stations.

All told I've logged some 200 entries on FMList for the period of 13th-16th November - and I didn't bother to record the higher power Belgian and Dutch stations that were coming through. High point was receiving Austria on both the 14th and the 15th October, Radio Norwich with full RDS at 0% bit error rate on the 15th, and BRF1 from Liege on the 16th. Locals and semi-locals were swamped and I also noted that local stations were much weaker.

However I think the latter is due to the FM front end being unable to cope as I suspect the front end of the radio has automatic gain control before the IF section or early on in the IF section before the main selectivity and the mass of very strong signals reduced the internal gain. One of my reasons for thinking this is that were channels with very quiet stations on them, between channels with strong stations, but there was no noise. Still we can't have everything.

Wednesday late evening I had German stations virtually every 100kHz. Below is a straight list of frequencies on which I received DX between 13th and 16th - mostly horizontally polarised - just to give you an idea and I've added in most of the nearest french/belgian stations that I don't usually log. Full log is posted on FM list.

David

Sittingbourne

87.6 87.7 87.9 88.0 88.5 88.7 88.9 89.3 89.4 89.5 89.6 89.8 89.9 90.2 90.3 90.4 90.5 90.6 90.7 90.8 90.9 91.0 91.1 91.2 91.5 91.6 91.7 91.8 92.0 92.1 92.3 92.5 92.7 92.8 93.0 93.1 93.2 93.6 93.7 93.8 94.0

94.1 94.2 94.6 94.7 94.8 95.0 95.1 95.4 95.7 96.0 96.1 96.2 96.3 96.5 97.0 97.2 97.4 97.6 97.7 98.0 98.1 98.3 98.4 98.5 98.6 99.0 99.1 99.2 99.6 99.7 99.8 100.0 100.1 100.3 100.5 100.6 100.7 101.1 101.2 101.3 101.4

101.6 101.9 102.1 102.3 102.5 102.6 103.0 103.3 103.5 103.8 104.0 104.3 104.4 104.5 104.6 104.7 104.8 104.9 105.2 105.3 105.5 105.6 105.7 105.8 105.9 106.2 106.3 106.4 106.5 106.6 106.7 106.8 107.0 107.1 107.2 107.3 107.4 107.6 107.8 107.9

A couple of local / community radio stations. The first one is local 24/7.

106.9 PI: CC97 PS: 1069 SFM - Sittingbourne FM - this is 24/7 local radio for Sittingbourne.

107.8 Academy FM - Thanet - which I received quite clearly earlier this month

Very interesting Dave. I noticed yesterday evening that some channels were like soup/mush due to multiple signals mixing. Semi-locals were pushed aside in some cases. The T-2 seemed good at separating the signals when the band was really packed.

One interesting example was reception of WDR 1Live on 105.5, from both the Teutoburger Wald and Eifel/Barbelkreuz sites simultaneously. Both signals were at equal strength and this was causing beat/cancellation/phasing effects making the station pretty much unlistenable.

The best reception was late evening when Bayern 2 came in on 91.6 from Cham/Hoher Bogen in eastern Bavaria near the Czech border. This was strong enough for a short while to make the stereo lamp flick on & off. Bayern 1 Wendelstein also appeared during this time briefly on 93.7.

I have lots of clips to finalise & upload but hopefully I will be able to post them before the end of the month!

Yes it is Nick. Thanks for the info + corrections here & on Youtube, which I have added already to the video description. I also had Luxembourg throughout most of Thursday on 88.9 & 100.7, although I left it out since I received both stations during the last big tropo opening, which I showed on a previous video. Look forward to your recordings as well.


Wow! Very nice. Maybe you could post your recordings of Austria, would be interesting to see how it was received via Tropo. Last time I got Austria on FM was during the 2010 E skip season.

I get similar effects here where the locals get weaker and some disappear only to be replaced by distant signals.
Real radio 105.4 Winter Hill 19 Km which is usually solid went very noisy but SWR4 K7 105.6 was noise free stereo even though the aerial was in S/E position as Germany should be East but I was receiving French TV at the time so I left it at that position.

The Sony 520 regarding the noise level between channels which there's many here just seemed the same as under flat conditions as I the Sony is an excellent receiver much better than the Denons.

As I was recording Tv on the PC I had to record FM on a VCR as I have a 3 way scart selector for the FM tuners that is routed through a VCR to a 2 way scart selector that goes to the PC.
The TV side another 3 way scart selector for the freeview tuners that goes through 2 VCR's to the 2 way scart selector so I can switch between TV/FM.

You should see the cabling in here I would be worth a fortune if I weighed it in.

Anyway I will upload some videos later.

Andy

Surprised to hear France Musique Boulogne coming in on 89.4 here fairly stable with drop outs on occasion. It is reaching fully-quieting levels though. Tacolneston and Swingate are also above average. I was expecting post-tropo flatness today.

Well it totally flat here today lets hope we have another opening like Thursday soon.
I have uploaded a video of SWR4 K7 which was received from 18:00-01:00 when I switched off.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BF3gT8sWiR0

Andy

Has there ever been an opening like thursday night from Denmark or Norway? I've only been actively dxing since March but have never experienced a tropo as strong and as country specific as that. I wouldn't have believed it was possible to get tropo like that had I not experienced it , espeacially after such a dissapointing summer .

Sorry - it was first thing this morning.

I almost didn't bother to turn the radios on when I got up as nothing suggested there would be anything worthwhile. How wrong I was!

My 'local' Belgian and French stations were hammering in - Egem was end-stop on the signal meter on the Yamaha - and on the Sony's I was getting instant RDS on the RTBF stations, on Lille and on Boulogne. In the few minutes I had I decided to use the auto scan to move up the band and got, amongst others - with full instant RDS on the Sonys:

92.80 RTBF Musiq'3 Profondville 308 km
106.4 WDR Eins Live Aachen 388 km

The transmitters 250-260 km away (Brussels/Schoten/Wavre) were all full RDS.

Shame I didn't have more time to listen. Looking back at the Met Office pressure chart it was associated with a nne-swst weather front - which was somewhat to the north at just gone midnight and is now south of us having dumped a load of rain in the afternoon and conditions are now poor.

Interesting Dave. A slight enhancement on Wrotham and BBC Essex 95.3 just now after a very quick check.

Not sure if it's really worth pointing out but I think there might be meteor scatter as I'm hearing short bursts of a station on 87.6 every few minutes. Checked the Sky At Night magazine and there was meteor activity between 20th and 24th, I think it might be leftovers from that. I'm using a 5 element antenna beaming east.

A North American station I believe to be WBBR from New York on 1130 kHz has just been received.It was weak and has dissapeared back into the chaotic crescendo of noise .

Wow, what receiver/antenna do you use? That's impressive I never knew you could receive things from America on the east side of the UK!

I was only using a passive loop antenna facing west and a portable Sony 7600gr. It lasted at an audible level for only a few seconds. I've been doing it for almost 3 weeks solid between 23.00 and 6.00 and this was the first time I've ever received anything. I didn't hear the station ID though, only a female American presenter speaking giving out a website address but WBBR seems like the only higher power candidate . I didn't think transatlantic Dx was possible in the east until I spoke to a mw Dxer who said it was fairly easy to receive at the right time even with a portable.This particular Dxer received Argentina using a Perseus sdr.

the problem is that we here in Europe use a 9kHz separation on our channels and the Americans use a 10 kHz separation, this causes co channel interference. with a number of European AMers closing down the chances are increasing for a wee bit of AM DX

I was getting a lot of splatter from 1125 khz and 1134 khz on 1130 khz from European stations . As you said with some mw stations closing down it may increase Dx potential .I guess I was lucky to get anything .

I used to regularly receive WWZN from Boston on 1510 kHz here in London, it's probably the easiest N American station that you can receive on this side of the Atlantic.

Tune too 1512 kHz from about 11pm UK time (it should be getting dark on the East coast of the US about that time) and if you can hear a 2kHz heterodyne (whistle), then this will indicate that conditions are good towards the states. Tune down slightly from 1512kHz and you should hear WWZN - it used to be sports but the station may have changed hands and possibly it's call also, but it's a 50,000 watt station so you should hear something if propagation is good.

You could have a play here with the SDR receiver in the Netherlands - just type 1510 in the frequency box and click AM or AM narrow - it's like having your own Dx receiver. Have fun!
Last edited by KnobTwiddler : 25-11-2012 at 14:48