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Tropospheric reception was the theme for March 2021. During a tropo lift on March 1^st, Simon Hockenhull (Bristol) heard ‘France Info’ on 105.20MHz from Lille at 0145UTC. Tim Bucknall (Congleton) identified ‘South East Radio’ on 95.60MHz from Mount Leinster, Éire, and ‘France Musique’ on 88.70MHz from Lille. Chris Howles (Lichfield) logged various Belgian and German transmitters, the latter on 97.40MHz (SWR-4 Rheinland-Pfalz) from Linz (Rhein/Ginsterhahner Kopf) and on 87.60MHz (NDR-2) from Hamburg-Moorfleet. Stephen Michie (Bristol) identified ‘Magic FM’ on 105.4MHz from Croydon on March 1^st and 2^nd.

   With high-pressure building from the west around the Azores between the 15^th and 19^th, ‘Classic FM’ was heard at fair-strength on 101.7MHz from Black Hill by George Garden (Stonehaven, Scotland). Simon, Stephen and George depend on reception using the receiver’s rod aerial.

   On the 22^nd between 0855 and 1130, Tim received the following Irish stations:-

87.60MHz TWR UK, Wicklow/Ballyguile.

93.20MHz RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta, Magheraroarty (also on 92.9 and 93.5MHz).

93.60MHz RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta, Hollywell Hill.

95.60MHz South East Radio, Mount Leinster.

   Two Isle of Man transmitters identified by Tim were ‘Energy FM’ on 98.60MHz and ‘Classic FM’ at 100.20MHz, both from Douglas/Carnane. Also heard was ‘Cool FM’ on 97.40MHz from Black Mountain (Northern Ireland).

   On the 22^nd, John Ballantyne (Norfolk) logged the following DAB signals between 0434 and 0452:

 

5A BEL DAB+ VLAANDEREN-2

5B F CALAIS, 5C BEL HAINAUT-1

5D BEL DAB+ VLAANDEREN-2

7C F Lille-Local, 7D F LILLE Local-2

8A F LILLE Etendu

9D NL Zuidwest NL

 

Norwegian Captures

 

Gösta van der Linden (Rotterdam) writes: “On March 21^st between 0845 and 1015UTC, Torben Jørgensen, in Hellerup, Denmark,  received two Norwegian TV multiplexes from Halden (60kW) on channels D32 and D38 at a distance of 328km. Twin-stacked Triax 100 aerials (with LTE filtering, namely, channels D21 to 69) were used.”

   DAB signals were noted the following day.

 

DX Down Under

 

Tony Mann (Perth) reports that between March 11^th and 14^th, when the solar flux rose to nearly 80, TEP (transequatorial Propagation) from north Asia was noted, specifically Chinese meteor radar signals on 38.9MHz and the unidentified 10kHz wide noise modulation at 32.675MHz.

 

Remote DX-ing

 

Low-VHF DX was encountered via F2/TEP after sunset on March 20^th. Via Perth, the 32.325MHz East Mediterranean ‘pulser’ at 1040UTC was detected and via Broome (on the Internet Globaltuner between 1040-1130UTC), strong 38.9MHz Chinese radars, including Wuhan and weak 48.2MHz Wuhan radar, were present. Unfortunately, the MUF (maximum useable frequency) did not attain 49.75MHz, the channel R1 video frequency.

   Tony found that the RTL-SDR at Malang, East Java, was providing audio at last; it has a standard Diamond 1300 discone antenna. Its location was confirmed by cross-checking the local FM band with ‘www.asiawaves.net’ and noting that 98.6MHz has RDS which identifies as ‘Radio Elfara’ in Malang. There is no Band III TV, only UHF where 12 channels are used. Surprisingly, the channel E4 TV outlet of TVRI (Televisi Republik Indonesia) is apparently still on the air. The vision carrier was measured at 62.2502MHz with 50Hz and 15.625kHz sidebands. The FM audio carrier on 67.75MHz is carrying the same programme as E42 audio on 644.75MHz which agrees with the ‘asiawaves' listing. The monitoring of E4 hasn’t been carried out for some years with DX-ers thinking it was off the air. How long this Malang SDR will stay around is uncertain, but it is in a prime location for eTEP from Macau, Hong Kong and Guangzhou (China).

 

40 YEARS AGO

 

It is interesting to look through old logbooks. 40 years ago, F2 emerged on March 2^rd and 3^rd, the latter producing the Russian G204 test card on channel R1 (49.75MHz) from 0750. On the 10^th, weak smeary images were observed on R1. At 1655 on the 14^th, a vision buzz was heard on E2 from the south. Band I signals via Meteor-Shower were noted on 13 days: these included Norway, Italy, Spain and Poland.

 

20 YEARS AGO

Meteor-Shower bursts and the odd, weak Sporadic-E opening typified long-distance Band I reception throughout March. To spice things up, Auroral activity was evident, particularly on the 31^st, from 1500, advancing well into the FM band spectrum.

   A 20-minute Sporadic-E opening to Norway was observed on the 15^th on channels E2 and E3, with the news, logo and text pages.

   That’s all for this time. Remember, the start of the new Sporadic-E season is only days away.

Good DX-ing.

 

Stay Tuned!

Please send DX-TV and FM reception reports, photographs and equipment details to us via the e-mail addresses shown at the top of this column.

 

CAPTIONS TO PHOTOGRAPHS: 

 

Fig. 1:     NRK Nyheter HD (Norway) on channel D32 (MUX 1), captured in Hellerup, Denmark.

               Photo supplied by Gösta van der Linden, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

 

Fig. 2:     NRK SUPER HD (children’s channel) received on D32.

               Photo supplied by Gösta van der Linden.

 

Fig. 3:     NRK (Norway) News intro from the early 2000s.

               Photo: Keith Hamer and Garry Smith.

 

Fig. 4:     NTV (Newfoundland and Labrador TV) on channel A21, via the St. John’s transmitter (485kW ERP) at a         distance of approximately 1,040km.

               Photo supplied by Gösta van der Linden.

 

KH | GS 120421