FM DX - 09 April 2011

One FM DX station to report for my late-night
DX session last night, 00:00-01:00 AM CDT
(0500-0600 GMT) on 09 Apr 2011:

89.1 KSTX TX San Antonio with BBC World Service
programming. Heard 00:30-00:50 AM CDT using
Sangean PR-D5 portable with telescopic whip.
Signal was consistently strong with no fades.
Station website is at this link.

New Ultralight Radios Added to My Collection

Okay, so I haven't been quite as active in posting to this blog as I had intended to be, but life and work have intervened. Anyway, I have added a few more Ultralight Radios to my collection since my last post. Namely, the new radios are:

Tecsun PL-310

Tecsun PL-360

Thanks to Colin Newell and Ian McFarland at DXer.ca and David Zantow, N9EWO, for their excellent reviews of these two radios.

If you haven't caught the Ultralight "bug" or want to know more about what this fantastic aspect of the DX hobby is, let me gladly direct you to the Ultralight DX Yahoo Group!

73 and Great DX'ing!!

I'm Still Around!

I'm still around, but have not been very active (as you can tell!) in the "blogosphere." I have been active, however, in adding to my collection of Ultralight Radios. What is an "Ultralight Radio" you ask? Simply put, an Ultralight Radio is a radio that is readily available (i.e., not a kit radio), one that doesn't have a lot of bells and whistles (like SSB, MP3 players/recorders, etc.), and, most of all, is considered to be a "pocket-sized" radio (approximately 20 cubic inches). There are many radios that fit into this category. For great pictures and reviews, point your web browser to dxer.ca and go to the Ultralight Library (it's labeled 'ULR Library' in the Menu on the left side of the web page).

Anyway, I have recently acquired an Eton E-100 and a Grundig G8. Both are outstanding performers! Both are digital radios, but the Grundig G8 adds a DSP chip that greatly improves its FM selectivity. You can find excellent reviews of both radios on the website I mentioned above.

I don't have any photos of my radios that I can post here yet, but when I do, I will.

73's and Good DX'ing!

My Ultralight Radios

There's a new "community" of DX'ers that have started using small AM/FM radios called "ultralight portables." These radios are usually between $15 and $100 ($100 being the FIRM upper cost limit). The primary determining factor for an ultralight is that it must be able to be carried in one's shirt pocket. The excitement of DX'ing with these radios has been so "addictive" that there is even a website dedicated to the hobby: www.dxer.ca

I was bitten by the bug myself a few months ago when I first started reading about the unbelievable DX being heard by users of the Sony SRF-59. So, I bought one myself!



I was amazed! I had forgotten how much fun DX'ing with an analog radio could be! The SRF-59 has AM and FM bands (FM stereo with earphones!), is powered by a single AA battery, comes with Sony "Air" headphones, and is about as simple to operate as a radio can get! The DX this little radio grabs is truly unbelievable. All for under $20!

Then I started reading about the Sony SRF-M37V. It had DIGITAL tuning! I thought, "Cool!" So, I bought one!



Like the SRF-59, the SRF-M37V tunes AM and FM (FM stereo with earphones), but has digital tuning! It has 2 FM bands so you can add all your favorite FM stations as memory presets, TV Channels 2-13, and US National Weather Service Channels 1-7!! It uses one AAA battery and comes with headphones, just like the SRF-59.

I had to have more! I read about a "signal-grabber" made by the Sangean Corporation called the DT-200V. This radio also had AM,FM/FM-Stereo, and the TV Channels 2-13, but was a little larger than the two Sony models.



Unlike the Sony models, this radio has a 90-minute sleep timer, so I use it next to my side of the bed at night. Similar to the Sony models, the headphone cord serves as the FM antenna, but I've found that, at least with some of the local FM stations, they do just fine without the headphones. The DT-200V takes 2 AA batteries. The battery life seems to be very good.

My most recent ultralight is the new Sangean DT-400W. It's the "brightest" of the bunch:



The case is a bright yellow-orange color! Unlike the DT-200V, the DT-400W has a clock. The TV channels have been replaced with the weather service channels, which is a smart move on Sangean's part, since here in the USA, all analog TV channels will go dark in February 2009. It has a 90-minute sleep timer, stereo FM to the headphones, but adds a stereo-mono switch so that you can cut the "hiss" if you're on the fringe of a DX station on the FM band. It also has a "Deep Bass Boost" switch for enhanced audio, but I never use it. One drawback is that you must have either some headphones or the supplied antenna wire plugged into the radio to hear anything on the FM or Weather bands. The AM band is more selective than the DT-200V. The Mexican station on 730 KHz is completely in the clear on the DT-400W, but on the DT-200V, all I hear is splah from my local on 740 kHz.

Well, that's all I have for now. Coincidentally, that's all the radio budget, too!

73 and Great DX'ing!

FM Bandscan - Bossier City, LA - 06/22/08

While in Bossier City, Louisiana, for family business, I did a very quick FM bandscan starting at 12:00 AM CDT on Sunday, June 22nd, using my Sangean DT-200V and a pair of headphones as my antenna.

Here's my list of stations heard in a quick 30 minute period. If I'd had more time and not been so sleepy, I probably could have heard more stations by orienting the headphone cord (a.k.a "antenna") in various directions.

MHz	Call	Location	Kw	Website
89.1	KFLO	Shreveport, LA	20.0	http://www.miracle891.org/
89.9	KDAQ	Shreveport, LA	100.0	http://www.redriverradio.org/
91.3	KSCL	Shreveport, LA	2.6	http://www.centenary.edu/life/kscl/
91.7	KMSL	Mansfield, LA	12.0	http://www.afr.net/
92.1	KSYR	Benton, LA	6.0	http://www.ksyr.fm/
93.7	KXKS	Shreveport, LA	95.0	http://www.kisscountry937.com/
94.5	KRUF	Shreveport, LA	99.0	http://www.k945.com/
95.7	KLKL	Minden, LA	50.0	http://www.oldies957.com/
96.5	KVKI	Shreveport, LA	95.0	http://www.965kvki.com/
97.3	KQHN	Waskom, TX	42.0	http://www.mixfm973.com/
98.1	KTAL	Texarkana, TX	100.0	http://www.98rocks.fm/
98.9	KTUX	Carthage, TX	100.0	http://www.ktux.com/
99.7	KMJJ	Shreveport,LA	50.0	http://www.997kmjj.com/
101.1	KRMD	Oil City, LA	97.7	http://www.krmd.com/
102.1	KDKS	Blanchard, LA	20.0	http://www.kdks.com/
102.9	KVMA	Shreveport, LA	42.0	http://www.magic1029fm.com/
103.7	KBTT	Haughton, LA	6.0	http://www.1037thabeat.fm/
104.5	KBEF	Gibsland, LA	6.0	http://www.todayschristianmusic.com/
105.7	KYKX	Longview, TX	100.0	http://www.kykx.com/
106.7	KYLA	Homer, LA	50.0	http://www.klove.com/
107.5	KXKZ	Ruston, LA	100.0	http://www.z1075fm.com/

If the list doesn't come out formatted properly, it's most likely because I imported a CSV file into this e-mail.

The Shreveport-Bossier City area is a fantastic location for DX'ing. There aren't a lot of local AM/FM stations and the northern states really boom in loud and clear on AM at night.

73 and GREAT DX'ing!

Some HF Thanksgiving Logs

While waiting for the "gang" to arrive for a very
late Thanksgiving meal, I was tuning around the HF
utility bands. Here's what I heard ...

DATE: Thursday, 22 Nov 2007
TIME: 19:53 - 20:13 UTC
RCVR: Sony ICF-SW55
ANT: Stock Whip

19:53 UTC 8427 ssb NMN Portsmouth, VA - Morse Code IDs
19:55 UTC 8423 ssb WLO Mobile, AL - Morse Code IDs
19:57 UTC 8425 ssb NMC Pt. Reyes, CA - Morse Code IDs
19:59 UTC 8421 ssb WLO Mobile, AL - Morse Code IDs
20:10 UTC 7811 ssb AFRTS Key West, FL - Ed Schultz Show

Hope everybody had a great Thanksgiving!

NWS Weather Radio Logs

I had a few minutes to spare while visiting relatives in Bossier City, LA, so I tuned around the NWS Weather Radio frequencies on my Icom IC-T7A hand-held dual-band transceiver. Here are the stations that I heard:

Date: Friday, Aug 17, 2007
Receiver: Icom IC-T7A
Time: 9:00 - 9:30 PM CDT
Stations Heard:

162.400 MHz WXJ97 LA Shreveport (1 kW)
162.425 MHz KWN32 TX Gilmer (1 kW)
162.450 MHz KWN34 TX Palestine (1 kW)
162.500 MHz WXN87 LA Natchitoches (1 kW)

There were faint signals heard on the other frequencies (162.475, 162.525, and 162.550 MHz), but no clear IDs were heard.

73 and Happy DX'ing!!