Recent Auroral logs & new states heard

[kilokat7]

I've been DXing some spectrum recordings I made two weeks ago using a new SDR. Auroral activity on the 7th made for some interesting DX on the higher part of the band. Southerly conditions were great with many new stations logged around 8pm EST including two new states. I had just about given up on Florida, but this all changed on the 7th! I'm still going over the recordings looking for more good stuff, but here are some highlights:

820 Radio Reloj Cuba, on 819.52 offset
900 UNID, Spanish talk w/ many references to Central America, possible "Radio Luz" ID, could be WKDA (TN) ???
1030 UNID, Cuban sounding music, no talk, no TOH ID
1170 KFAQ, Tulsa (OK)
1290 WHKY, Hickory (NC) w/ Performance Racing Network programming
1310 WDXI, Jackson (TN) LSU Tigers baseball coverage
1330 WEBY, Milton (FL) Slogan: Florida's Talk Radio (finally Florida!)
1390 WTJS Jackson (TN) Newsradio 13-90, Mention of Kim Komando, TJ Metro?, and legal ID @ TOH
1420 UNID, this is a strange one - Morse code call letters heard @ TOH that sounded like W__G (middle two letters not heard clear enough to ID - not Reloj).
1420 WVJS, Owensboro (KY)
1440 WZYX, Cowan (TN) Oldies mx, Rod Stewart song
1540 WSMI, Litchfield (IL) w/ sign-off announcement
1560 WMRO, Gallatin (TN) Slogan: Today's Best Hits, Magic 15-60
1570 UNID, "Cool 15-70" w/ oldies music
1570 UNID, w/ Mexican music (WVOJ Florida?)
1590 WVNA, Tuscumbia (AL) Slogan: Newstalk 15-90
1600 WKZK, North Augusta (SC) w/ ID and mention of 103.7 FM (new state!)

Anyone else in the Midwest notice these unusual conditions two weeks ago? The next night, the band was back to normal here...

 

[cd637299]

As I live in FL, I was wondering, was 1030 possibly WONQ Oviedo (Orlando), FL? They play Latin music, as far as I know.

Also maybe the 1420 was WRCG Columbus GA.

(I'm going by the fact that most of the stations were in the Southeast. Be sure to use www.radio-locator.com 's Advanced Search where you can enter only a frequency, and maybe your unID will be an ID. Google helps too. You can enter something like "Cool 1570" * and get a result.)

[ *When grouping words together like "Cool 1570", always use quotation marks. That'll narrow the search. ]

cd

 

[cd637299]

Or, how about:

http://www.indiana1570.com/

They go as "Kool 1570". never thought to change the spelling....

cd

 

[kilokat7]

Ah yes, Kool not Cool. I had previously googled "cool 1570" which returned nothing relevant. As for the Morse ID on 1420, yes there's WRCG (GA) & WIGG (MS) that this could have been.

 

[Icangelp]

Ah yes, Kool not Cool. I had previously googled "cool 1570" which returned nothing relevant. As for the Morse ID on 1420, yes there's WRCG (GA) & WIGG (MS) that this could have been.

What SDR did you purchase? How do you like it so far?

I've been trying to decide if I want one.

 

[audioguy]

You mentioned that you are using an "SDR". Is that a software defined radio? What model is it?

 

[storrs19]

1570 might have been WNDA from Clarksville, IN (near Louisville, KY). They are a 1kw station so you got lucky pulling them in. I live here and they fade in and out at night, LOL! I was picking up oldies country on 730 AM last night but never heard an ID so I went to sleep listening to it after dialing up from 720 WGN where I listened to the 1:00AM EST news.

 

[kilokat7]

What SDR did you purchase? How do you like it so far?

I love it! I looked at the Perseus and QS1R software defined receivers, and also considered a used Drake R8B. They are all around the same price, the QS1R a little less. After considering these three options for a year now, I ended up buying the Perseus. It has a larger user base and there seems to be more frequent software updates and improvements from the manufacturer. The Perseus takes a fairly modern computer to run. I bought a cheap netbook that I've tweaked for max performance so that I can now record at the highest sampling rate. For recording the whole band, you also need a good broadband antenna.

For anyone interested in the Perseus or SDRs in general, I recommend downloading the free demo version of the Perseus software as it allows anyone to playback spectrum recordings uploaded from other DXers around the world without having the physical hardware connected to your computer. Go to this page and look for the Demonstration Version to try it for yourself.

1570 might have been WNDA from Clarksville, IN (near Louisville, KY). They are a 1kw station so you got lucky pulling them in. I live here and they fade in and out at night, LOL! I was picking up oldies country on 730 AM last night but never heard an ID so I went to sleep listening to it after dialing up from 720 WGN where I listened to the 1:00AM EST news.

Thanks, indeed it was WNDA that I heard. As for your unid, I see six C/W stations listed on 730 according to this lookup page including one in KY and one in TN - maybe one of those?

 

[cyberdad]

Kilokat....

WEBY is an interesting catch....and a great one. Congratulations.

The reason I say it "interesting" is that where Mrs. Cyberdad & I stay on the beach about 22 miles southwest of Pensacola, WEBY is the strongest a.m. on the dial. By far aside from WWL. 20kw (or whatever) aimed right at me. Since the ground conductivity in the area is horrendous and there's no saltwater path to help out, the other Pensacola am stations....which are closer than WEBY....all have rather puny signals.

But then there's the WEBY flamethrower blasting right in! That is until they go to flea power at night and disappear without a trace (along with all the other Pensacola AMs, except for WCOA which manages to stay on top of 1370....barely).

So presumably you got them on their day pattern. Still a nice catch!

 

[kilokat7]

WEBY is an interesting catch....and a great one. Congratulations.

Hey thanks! I'm happy to finally log something from Florida. Here are some more new loggings from the same night (April 7th), an hour later in the evening. My first time hearing Puerto Rico, and 1kw WKCU Mississippi came in blasting like a local:

680 WAPA, San Juan (Puerto Rico) Slogan: Cadena WAPA (pronounced "Wappa") Radio @ TOH
900 Radio Progreso (Cuba) Clear Radio Progresso Punto ID @ TOH
950 Radio Reloj (Cuba) Time pips & morse code RR heard under WNTD
960 Radio Reloj (Cuba) Time pips & morse code audible
980 WPGA, Perry (GA) ABC News @ TOH
1020 Radio Reloj (Cuba) Faint morse code RR heard under another SS UNID
1050 WIQB, Conway (SC) Slogan: ESPN Radio for the grandslam, 93.9, 93.7 & 1050 AM, The Team
1100 KDRY, Alamo Heights (TX) w/ Religious prg
1130 KWKH, Shreveport (LA) w/ LSU Baseball and local ads
1150 WGGH, Marion (IL) Slogan: Southern Illinois trusted voice since 1949 w/ classic c/w mx
1250 WRAY, Princeton (IN) Slogan: Newstalk 12-50, w/ AP News @ TOH
1270 WFUL, Fulton (KY) w/ various show promos & ID
1350 WKCU, Corinth (MS) w/ urban or gospel mx, TOH clear ID
1360 WBLC, Lenoir City (TN) w/ local business ad for Muffler, Brakes, and More then ID
1370 WDXE, Lawrenceburg (TN) Slogan: Classic Country Music
1380 WMJR, Winchester (KY) Slogan: Real Life Radio, Spot for Faith & Science Catholic religious prg
1430 KZQZ, St. Louis (MO) Slogan: All New KZQZ Cool Oldies 14-30 AM

 

[cyberdad]

1150 WGGH, Marion (IL) Slogan: Southern Illinois trusted voice since 1949 w/ classic c/w mx

Sidebar story.... I once worked with a guy who'd been at WGGH. I once said to him, I didn't realize Marion had a radio station.

Without batting an eye, he shot back "They damn near don't"! Actually, this station has a really good daytime signal.

Also, regarding your catches. Where we stay on the beach, R. Reloj on 950 is one of the better nighttime signals. 1020 is quite a bit weaker, but still a regular. WAPA is also a great catch, and congratulations once again. 680 in the Pensacola area is usually WCNN. Earlier this month when I was in Orlando on business, WPTF was almost like a local at night.