Monday, September 11, 2006

This Weekend's DX

Not bad at all. Saturday evening and Sunday morning were the best DX so far this season, with X-and Australians at good levels, and a mix of East Coast NA, Caribbean and Venezuela.

Sunday morning brought good strengths from the usual dominants but also stations like WZAM-ME 970, WEAV-NY 960, WZON-ME 620 and the new CKDO-ON 1580. Format changes from last season was noted for WLIB-NY 1190 (gospel, inspirational) and WMCS-WI 1290 ("Milwaukee's ESPN Radio").

Several Cubans noted, especially Rebelde 710 killing WOR's signal. Good signals from Radio Nacional de Venezuela 1310 and RCR 750.

And two very interesting French-language stations, one on 640 (presumed Guadeloupe), the other on 930. Only one French there that I can think of, Cap Haitien. I have a recording of a couple of minutes that someone fluent in French must listen to.

Sunday evening wasn't very exciting, and Monday morning even less so with signals fading out well before they should - nothing interesting either.

Two QSLs found their way to my inbox during the weekend: On Friday I received an email from WMDD Fajardo PR 1480, and early Monday morning one from Radio Fiji Two, 1467 kHz. Email me if you want details.

And the Icom IC-7000 has proven that it is indeed a very capable DX receiver. You simply can't go wrong with this one, if you're willing to pay the price (USD 1,500 or equivalent). The coming days will see if I could have saved myself $1000 by going for a different receiver - The Eton E1 is supposed to show up today, and of course I am going to set it up against the IC-7000!

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