På svenska Skeppevik DX

The nights

A film and a letter for each week at the radio, latest first. In the film, night rolls across the globe and the stations light up where they were heard: filled dots are identified, rings are tentative.

· Skeppevik and Karlskrona

Across the Atlantic

The night at Skeppevik · 34 s · with sound

The night at Skeppevik: 15 stations, 3 new in the USA, farthest Washington at 6,677 km.

This was the week the MegaLoop arrived. First it was compared with the small loop. Then it hung from a string indoors and still brought 24 identified stations in one evening, among them BBC Wales, BBC Scotland and talkSPORT.

Then an e-mail arrived from St. John's: VOCM verified. That same evening the MegaLoop moved out to the balcony in Karlskrona. The noise there was as low as by the sea, until the neighbour's heater switched on and the whole band rose from 22–24 to 28–30.

At Skeppevik the two antennas then stood side by side. At dusk the loop won towards the east. Just before 02 UTC the Atlantic opened: 1010 WINS and Bloomberg 1130 from New York, and finally “1500 AM … Washington”. That was WFED at 6,677 km, the farthest so far.

31identified stations
16countries
13tentative
3new in the USA
From the workshop · tests and measurements

Figures are RSSI readings from the Sangean radio, lowest–highest, on an empty channel unless noted. Lower means quieter.

  • MegaLoop against the Tecsun, same evening. The noise floors came out almost equal, 26–34 with both. The difference only shows on weak signals.
  • Indoors. The floor was high, 45–49 at the top of the band. I turned the loop a full circle: the noise was strongest to the west (43.5) and weakest to the north (32.5). Eleven units between directions show where the noise comes from.
  • The balcony. The MegaLoop gave 22–24 on 1701 and 1710 kHz, level with Skeppevik, until the neighbour's heater switched on and the whole band rose to 28–30.
  • KAZ against MegaLoop at Skeppevik. In daylight the floor was 22–24 for both, against 32–34 on the ferrite. After dark the KAZ sat at 18–20 and the MegaLoop at 22–23. The KAZ won on everything from America. The MegaLoop won to the east: Radio Eli and a music station on 1197 that the KAZ barely heard.
  • Direction-finding 1503. With the loop at 200° the station vanished. So it lay along the 290°–110° line, which ruled out Trieste, my first guess.
  • The lesson. An A/B comparison has to be made within a minute. Entries nine minutes apart measure fading, not antennas.
· Skeppevik and Karlskrona

From the pirate band to Newfoundland

The night at Skeppevik · 37 s · with sound

Free radio stations on the 1600 band, and the first North American: VOCM at 4,608 km.

The week began on the balcony in Karlskrona: BBC Radio Scotland playing country, Lyca Radio, and a long night that ended with Poland's Jedynka on longwave.

The first evening at Skeppevik opened far away, with a faint, unconfirmed station from Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, 4,317 km off. Then came Tunisia and Algeria. After midnight the pirate band took over. Between 1600 and 1700 kHz came free radio stations from the Netherlands: first Radio Romax playing Whitney Houston, and the next evening Romax again, now certain, together with Radio Paradijs and Radio Balconia. Paradijs and Balconia have since verified.

That same night, at 02:11 UTC, a jingle on 590. It was VOCM in St. John's, Newfoundland, 4,608 km away, the first North American. The reply came four days later.

35identified stations
20countries
10tentative
From the workshop · tests and measurements

Figures are RSSI readings from the Sangean radio, lowest–highest, on an empty channel unless noted. Lower means quieter.

  • Three channels on the balcony. 1701, 828 and 1008 kHz were measured every evening. The lower part of the band was almost always 7–10 units noisier than the top, for example 34–35 on 1701 and 41–43 on 828.
Ferrite against KAZ at Skeppevik, at dusk. RSSI, higher is stronger; for the floor, lower is better.
StationBearingFerriteKAZ
Floor, 1710–23–2518–20
Kossuth 540168°, south43–4425–26
R România 756159°5433–34
Radio Dechovka 792182°4028
talkSPORT 1089263°, west35–4743–44

The KAZ has the lower floor and wins to the west. To the south and south-east, off its lobe, the radio's own ferrite wins. Directivity in numbers.

  • The null behind. Radio Lenta on 1557 sits straight behind the KAZ, at 104°. It gave 25–30 on the KAZ but 35–37 on the ferrite. The null clearly works.
  • Loops affect each other. With the small Tecsun loop in front of the radio and the KAZ connected, the floor dropped to 14–16. When measuring, other loops are now moved away.
· Skeppevik and Karlskrona

Dawn in the south

The night at Skeppevik · 38 s · with sound

The Faroes and Algeria as the sky lightened in the east, farthest Jil FM at 2,659 km.

Evenings on the balcony in Karlskrona belonged to the Mediterranean. Tunisia's RTT Radio Nationale came three evenings in a row, and one evening a faint, unconfirmed Quran station from Egypt, 5,437 km away.

At Skeppevik the first night became a dawn night. The Faroes came in on 531 just after 02 UTC. Then, as the sky lightened in the east, North Africa followed: Radio Algérie and Algeria's youth station Jil FM at 2,659 km. Radio Caroline played Kate Bush, and Manx Radio closed the night. The next evening was thin: mostly unidentified carriers, with BBC Radio Derby and Slovenia's Muravidéki as highlights.

Late in the week I found a flaw in the log: the time on an entry was when it was written, not when the station was heard. Since then I press MARKER on the recorder when something comes through, and the time is taken from there.

23identified stations
15countries
11tentative
From the workshop · tests and measurements

Figures are RSSI readings from the Sangean radio, lowest–highest, on an empty channel unless noted. Lower means quieter.

  • The town floor wanders. The same frequency at the same time of evening gave 28–37 over four evenings in a row. Urban noise changes from day to day.
  • The channel that wasn't empty. At Skeppevik the floor was measured on 657, 1062 and 1683 kHz: 30–32, 30–40 and 40–43. But 1683 was not empty. The lesson: measure on fixed channels known to be empty, and always note the time.
  • Entries in a batch. At Skeppevik log entries were sometimes written half an hour after listening. So the time now comes from MARKER on the recording, not from when the entry was written.
· Skeppevik and Karlskrona

The North Sea's small stations

The night at Skeppevik · 38 s · with sound

Eight small stations from the Netherlands, farthest Kuwait at 3,908 km.

First, on the balcony in Karlskrona, Algeria came in on the small Tecsun loop, both in the evening and again at dawn.

Then the week belonged to the North Sea. One evening at Skeppevik brought one small Dutch station after another: Radio T-Pot with eurodance, MCB with synths, Columbia AM, Radio Seagull and Radio 220. The next night went on with Unique Gold and “Sugar Sugar”, Radio Paradijs and, probably, Radio Romax. In between came Manx Radio, Radio Caroline and a row of BBC local stations. The farthest were Tenerife at 4,013 km and Radio Kuwait at 3,908 km.

The second night also held something the film doesn't show: 23 logged silences. A series of checks towards North America where nothing was heard, all written down anyway. An empty channel is data too.

33identified stations
17countries
13tentative
From the workshop · tests and measurements

Figures are RSSI readings from the Sangean radio, lowest–highest, on an empty channel unless noted. Lower means quieter.

  • Floor, town against country. On the balcony in Karlskrona, with the small Tecsun loop, the floor was 28–29 on 1701 kHz. At Skeppevik with the KAZ it was 19–21 on 1710 kHz, both in the evening and in the middle of the night. The countryside is 8–10 units quieter.
  • The KAZ with 910 Ω. This week the antenna was terminated with 910 Ω. The resistor was later changed to 820 Ω.
  • 23 logged silences. One night I listened for American and Canadian stations the model thought were possible, from Maine to Yukon. None were heard, and every silence was written down. It became the first calibration series, and it showed the model was too optimistic that night.

The figures come from the log. A station counts once per week; silences and unidentified carriers are not counted. Times in the films are UTC.