KONG-HQ March Logs, Network Changes, And a Theft...

March turned out to be quite an interesting month, with eight personal first logs on my part. March also marked the most significant change for Japan's NHK network for many decades, as two MW networks merged into one. And I fell victim to a theft - a truly absurd one.

This month's log is here.

March 3rd was a very good day, with interesting DX from North America (like KTTR-MO and KDRO-MO both on 1490  within 30 minutes), New Zealand, Philippines, and a new log from Japan! The 1-kW Tsuruoka relay of NHK-2 Yamagata was heard on 1035 kHz with sign-off on this very noisy channel. Happy with that one!

Nothing new from New Zealand, but in terms of stations logged, maybe the best NZL opening this season.

On March 5th I monitored the last minutes of CJVB Vancouver BC 1470. They turned their transmitter off  at 07:45. It remains to be seen if someone else will take their place, like what happened in Winnipeg on 1290. CJVB will continue on FM.

March 12th and 13th also provided good reception, especially from North America. 1060 brought me KNLV-NE and XERDO-TAM as new logs within four minutes! Other stations worth mentioning were KRPU-CA 1210, KGLB-MN 1310 and another exceptional log of WZBU-1520, drowning the 50-kW giants with their mere 550 watts (assuming daytime power)!

A few days later, WEUR-IL surfaced briefly on 1490 (thanks OF!) and I got my second personal first from Japan this month with 5-kW NHK-1 Toyama on 648. Two days after that, KRDU-CA was noted briefly on 1130, and I noted a new Aussie for me with ABC New England NW-NSW on 648, together with several other stations from Australia.

On March 22, KPUR-TX 1440 was noted on the air again with assumed day power - it's been silent for a while. Likely on air to maintain their license.

Nothing much happened until the two last days of March, when I noted unusual stations like KLWN-KS 1320, KENN-NM 1390 and KQAM-KS 1480.

Station of the month: CJVB's final English-language goodbye-announcement, before leaving dead air followed by transmitter close-down.

Another major change I followed was the merger of Japan's NHK-1 and NHK-2 networks into the new NHK AM network. From 15:00 to 15:05 on Sunday March 29th there was a lengthy announcement with information about the merger, and how to access the NHK on MW and other platforms. Then, just before 15:05 came the last ever local ID from the NHK-2 network, as recorded here from 1-kW JOJC Yamagata, 1521 kHz.

Later that day (actually in the morning the day after in Japan), I noted the new network's name when I monitored the local ID from JOJK Kanazawa on 1224. No longer was it "dai-ichi hoso", but "AM hoso"! Here is the first ever local ID on the NHK AM network.

So, who wants to steal a beverage transformer?

A couple of weeks ago I noticed that the signal level from the 50-degrees beverage had dropped significantly. Usually when that happens, there is a reindeer involved. And since this is reindeer migration season, I suspected it was.

Last weekend I drove to the KONG-HQ for some tests. While there, I inspected the beverage. It looked nice and sharp! So, why the signal loss? I walked to the starting point, where the coax feedline, antenna wire and ground meet in a DX-Engineering transfomer, inside a battery box. So I opened the battery box, and.... no transformer! Now, this was obviously man-made since no reindeer I know is capable of opening a belted batteri box, unscrew the antenna and ground leads, unscrew the F plug from the transformer, remove it, and replace the lid and belt on the box! By all means, it's not a major issue in any sense compared to what's going on around us these days. It just felt so.... absurd. Like...why? What was going on in that person's mind? Did he feel any personal achievement? Did he have a beverage antenna waiting for a transformer?

We will likely never know. Anyway, I had a spare transformer at hand, so the beverage is up and running again.

Below are some photos from the area (including the empty battery box) from last weekend. Very little snow left after a very mild March. But April could be totally different.

Transformer gone missing

On the path to the 340 beverage (facing south). Crusty and battered snow from recent thaws and wind storms.

Snow drift - hard as concrete

In a few days near the end of Easter I will probably go back and lower the beverages to the ground, or reel them in, as this season is about to end. And the reindeer will mess around with our wires anyway. The dark nights will eventually give way to the Midnight Sun six weeks from now.

And then we will prepare for the FM season!

KONG-HQ February Logs

February turned out to be quite interesting, DX-wise. The massive solar disturbances we saw in January had waned off considerably, and we even saw spotless days in the second half of the month.

The February Log is here.

So, February started off with a few stations not often heard here such as KKSE-CO 950, KIMM-SD 1150 and KSAL-KS also on 1150. The following day, the Smøla-HQ followed up with stations like WPWC-VA 1480 and WSYB-VT 1380. 

In the evening of FEB-07 we spotted a nice opening towards Australia, with three new logs for me, 3CS-1134 from Colac, Victoria; Easy Music 3MP-1377 Melbourne, and 2QN-1521 from Deniliquin, NSW. Especially the latter was a great surprise with 2 kW on a very noisy frequency. All three are within a small area which obviously propagated well.

FEB-09 was another nice day at the KONG-HQ with WMGG-FL 1470 as a new log.

A proper "daytime" opening happened at Midnight UTC on FEB-14/15. Only one new log for me from that opening, KFXR-TX 1190,  but nice catches like KCAP-MT 950, KIHU-UT 1010,, KCRN-CO 1120 and KXJJ-CO 1570 were also noted. Later in the night KVOE-KS 1400 surfaced for a new log, along with interesting stations from the south.

On FEB-17 we had proper "spot" conditions with much enhanced signal levels form eastern North Dakota and western Minnesota. Other areas were subdued. Stations from that area are rather common, but I managed to nail KHND-ND 1470 for a personal first.

On FEB-21 we heard a few stations from New Zealand, one of few openings in that direction this season. Massive signals from Newstalk ZB on 1035 and Radio Spice on 1107 with Punjabi programming. Nothing too exciting though, perhaps Sport Nation with 1 kW on 1548 was the least common of the ones we heard.

Then followed days with low signal levels and nothing of interest, until the last day of the month when one top of the hour stood out with many west coast stations at high signal levels, and even rare ones like KKIN-MN 930 and KVSC-UT 980.

February also saw a new player on the European MW scene, ZoomRock FM from the Finnish city Turku in the far south-west, 1119 km away from me. The signal was weak and barely readable. They have been heard in Central Europe as well. They operate on 1242 kHz with 500-1000 watts. A nice and colourful QSL too!

Station of the month: KRFS Superior NE 1600, 500 watts days, 44 watts nights. There is little doubt KRFS was running with their daytime rig, but 500 watts are not a lot compared with high-powered competition from "everyday" stations like WAAM-MI, KGYM-IA and KEPN-CO. They were audible several days in February. Click on the station  name for audio. The signal level may surprise you.

Perseus For Sale - Reflections

No, none of my seven (!) Perseus are for sale. But a recent sale on a Perseus reflector sparked a little  reflection of my own– if you pardon the pun.

It’s amazing that in a world where electronic devices are regarded as obsolete after 3-4 years, the Perseus (and other SDRs like the Winradio Excalibur series for that matter) stand their ground as excellent devices for RF monitoring.

Three Perseus

I get a notification from Ebay every time a Perseus is up for sale. They don’t show up too often, maybe 2 or 3 per month, not counting the vastly overpriced Japanese offerings. They typically go for 500-600 USD. That is twice the price of a new SDRPlay RSPdxR2 or Airspy Discovery which are not bad RF performers and have larger frequency ranges. So, the Perseus SDR obviously has a role to play even today, 18 years after it was introduced. And not only for hobbyists, but for professional users as well.

Why is that? The Software Development Kit. You can use the Perseus with your software of preference, or make your own bespoke solution. Had the Perseus software been the only choice I think it would have faded into oblivion rather fast.

At this point I’d like to give the RFSpace Cloud-IQ a mention. It was an excellent SDR, every bit as good as the Perseus, super sensitive and with ethernet connection as well as two antenna ports! I bought two, anticipating it would replace the Perseus at some point. Unfortunately, it became victim of proprietary and convoluted (although superb performance) software and not being willing to or able to open it up sufficiently for other software developers (yes, I know that it works with SDR Console).

A Cloud-IQ on top of an Intel NUC

What are the implications for the Perseus22? In my view: The missing API. The current software development will not attract many unless bespoke software can be developed, or it gives access to existing software developers. There are other Perseus22 glitches – why 9VDC instead of the much more common 12VDC, and why inherently flimsy SMA antenna connectors instead of F or BNC – but the Perseus22 is an excellent SDR. It deserves to be used.

New on Vintage

I’m not pointing fingers. I assume there are good reasons why the P22 hasn’t been developed further, and it would be inappropriate to ask for detailed insight. But whatever it is, it doesn’t help the future for the P22.

In the meantime, Nico’s strike of genius from 18 years ago continues to deliver, day after day, year after year.

KONG-HQ January Logs

 If December was "less than spectacular", January was a misery. Not only were conditions in general "meh" - but the solar storm we encountered - the worst since 2003 - wiped out everything. And I mean - everything. Had I not known about the extreme Solar Flux levels I would have droven off to find out who had cut off all the antennas.

We did have an interesting opening on the evening of January 8 when several stations were heard prior to their sunset. None that hadn't been heard before, yet an interesting opening and always one that may come up with suprises.

During January's last days, the signal path recovered with some interesting twists. CKNR-ON 960 on January 29th is a rare catch, almost alone on its frequency with the common Canadian prairie stations  (like 50-kW CFAC-AB) all but gone. Two days later came the real surprise: 550-watt (daytime power) WZBU New Holstein WI showed up amidst all the 50-kW powerhouses which were mostly absent. They're a daytimer with an FM translator, so I assume a technical or human error allowed them to stay on so I could log them at 07Z. No complaints from me.

Another surprise that day was Radio VEA from Ciudad de Guatemala on 1570. While quite common in most of the rest of Europe, Central America south of Mexico is inherently difficult to log at my northerly location. Excellent signal.

Not many Alaskans on this log - they are all, with a few exceptions, very common stations. KLAM Cordova 1450 isn't that common and with 250 watts it makes an impressive footprint sometimes.

So then, here's my January log! It will not be a long read.

As of writing, we're seven days into February. Already at this stage I can reveal that the February log will be more interesting, with several new loggings for me. From a continent much farther away than North America!

Othen January-related news is that the sun returned on January 17th after it's 2-month vacation to the southern hemisphere. At my home we're already seeing the sun for 6 hours, although at a low azimuth so there's no wamth from it. 

We also experienced a week of low temperatures. The inland saw down to -42 Celsius. Here at Vadsø, located mid-fjord, the thermometer stopped at -18. I wonder how the tourists from Switzerland, UK, France and Germany felt when they departed their planes in Finnish Lapland.

Cold jog in January!

KONG-HQ December Logs

 Apart from the first couple of days, December was less than spectacular. Lots of common stations are listed, even more were heard.

No new logs this period, but a few noteworthy ones:

KDDR Oates ND 1220 isn't heard often, but managed to break through the WHKW/CJRB barrier on December 3rd. First time I heard KDDR was in 2009 and it's possibly my only reception until now.

WNAM Neenah-Menasha WI 1280 was common until their close-down at Midnight CST on December 31st. They ran test transmissions the two preceeding nights and on the last one I heard them quite well.

CFRW Winnipeg MB 1290 was a very common station until it was shut down by Bell Media in June 2023. The license didn't go away though, and the station was bought by Akash Broadcasting last year. Heard testing with presumed full power (10 kW) on December 17th. It will probably be a new dominant on 1290.

KFOO Riverside CA 1440 was heard on December 1st, the first (and last) time I heard them was in March 2020.

And the pdf log is here.

WNAM Neenah-Menasha WI 1280 Leaves the MW Band - With a DX-Test

 WNAM signed on 1280 kHz in May 1947. After keeping their frequency and call letters for more than 78 years, they will sign off at local midnight on December 31st. And they finish their job with a proper DX Test, in cooperation with the Courtesy Program Committee (CPC) of the NRC and IRCA. The DX test ran on the nights to December 30th and 31st, CST.

The first Norwegian to hear WNAM was Geir Stokkeland, in November 1985. At the time Geir was at work on Bjørnøya (Bear Island), one of Norway's Arctic islands. I believe he had a Yaesu FRG-8800 at the time. Below is the friendly response from the station's Chief Engineer (published with permission):

I don't remember when I heard WNAM for the first time, nor when I received their QSL. Probably after June 1992 when they were allowed 5 kW nights.  During the late 1990s and onwards we had put some serious DX equipment at the KONG-HQ, and WNAM turned out to become a very frequent guest on 1280, together with Denver and Hamilton (CHAM). Many other stations were also heard. In later years, WWTC Minneapolis became the most dominant station due to transmitter and antenna upgrades. However, WNAM have been heard regularly up here for decades, including many times this season. Their 5-kW transmitter  antenna array points to the northeast, so most of their power come "our way" - because their main market is located in that direction.

DX tests are set up in a variety of ways, depending of course on station management's preferences. The WNAM test was a novelty for me, as it actually intercepted regular programming. It was set up to run from minute 3 to  minute 5 after the top of the hour, from local midnight until 5.05 am - corresponding to 06:03 to 11:05 UTC. For two nights!

Neenah-Menasha to Kongsfjord, 6300 km.

My beverage antennas and Perseus+Jaguar combo are doing continuous IQ recordings, so I didn't have to do much more than pay attention, and check back recordings if necessary. Propagation is always a factor here - the band could be dead, especially in periods with high solar activity like now. It's always nice to take part in the few DX tests we have, and I have in fact logged a few stations I would never have heard if it wasn't for the sweep tones and morse code IDs that penetrated the noise.

So, what did I get out of the DX test? I had positive IDs from WNAM both on the 28th and 29th, and with ionospheric conditions not too bad, I was hoping for the best.

December 30th was dismal. Lots of weather induced noise due to heavy snow showers coming in from the Arctic Ocean - at speed! And a very dominant WWTC. I did hear snippets of sweeps and morse for a few seconds on the 06 and 07 UTC slots. But really not conclusive.

However on December 31st, WWTC was much weaker, and the noise-free periods between showers were longer. So, on the 06 slot I got very good reception with voice-ID, sweeps, morse IDs, more sweeps, an announcement and finally a WNAM jingle. Reception on the following four hours didn't match the quality of the first one, but were still conclusive. The test at 11 UTC was unproductive.

Thanks very much to the CPC for arranging this DX test. Everything seemed to go according to plan. Job well done!

WNAM will air a special 3-hour broadcast on December 31st from 9:00 pm to midnight CST, corresponding to 03:00 to 06:00 UTC on January 1st. I will keep an eye (or an ear) on that one as well.

Pre-Christmas Check At The KONG-HQ

 A quick detour to the KONG-HQ today, on the way to Berlevåg where I will stay most of the xmas days. A failing Intel NUC PC necessitated the stop, but I also suspected something had happened to the dual, staggered 340 beverage since the signal levels seemed to be lower than anticipated, given the propagation levels.

I was right. One of the two wires was in a sorry state. A lone reindeer is the likely culprit, I saw its tracks all around my house and along the beverage antennas. These animals should have migrated inland a long time ago.

A sagging beverage

Luckily, the eastern wire of the 340 phased beverages was fine, so I removed the phasing unit and connected the good antenna to the feedline. Signal levels on the higher end of the MW band increased a few dB as a result.

The other antennas were (at least so far) not damaged by the forsaken reindeer who hadn't listened to his mom.

After finishing the feedline switch, I took this image facing southwest before moving inside to warm up cold fingers. A little under two hours after local noon.

Polar Night Light

It looks cold, but the forecast for the coming days 4-5 days is anything but. Gale force winds, lots of rain, 4-5 degrees Celsius. The roads will be a mess. My jogs will be a mess. But we will have company with awesome people and enjoy excellent meals, so why worry.

Merry Xmas, or Christmas, or Yuletide, or just another ordinary week, to all. Or as we say in Norway: 

ArcticDX Makeover (And Some Sunny Stuff)

I suddenly realised that I had kept the same layout (and background image) on my blog for the better part of 15 years. Time to change!

Apart from the photo which of course changes the colour scheme altogether, changes are subtle. A bit more transparency perhaps, hopefully without interfering too much with the blog text. 

The photo was taken eight days ago, and the road, named FV890, is a vital commercial route for fish export to the European markets. It connects two communities with the rest of Norway's road infrastructure. It is exposed to weather from all directions, from October through April. Road closures and convoy driving are regular occurences, and even when the road is open this 50-km mountain crossing may pose a challenge for those not accustomed to snow drifts, blowing snow, reduced or no visibility, icy surfaces and strong sidewind.

The photo was taken at 11:51 CET  on December 6, when the sun's elevation was -4.3 degrees (civil twilight). The maximum elevation of the sun on this spot on Winter Solstice will be -4.1 degrees. So, this is as light as it gets when the sky is clear nowadays.

Back to radio stuff! Polar signal paths are open, but only the usual dominants are heard with any signal strength from North America as you can see from the image below (collected data from the 340-degrees beverage).

You can check the Yaslogs links for yourself on the right-hand sidebar (KONG-80 and Smøla-315 are currently not in use).

Running SDRs on ARM-Powered Windows PCs: What to Expect

Updated 13-DEC 06:40Z

All of the six PCs I use for my SDRs are Intel-based. And they are all, for practical reasons, desktop PCs. The PC I use when relaxing in my recliner was a Dell Latitude laptop which was recently replaced with a Microsoft Surface Laptop. Instead of an Intel CPU, the processor is a Snapdragon. This new (for Windows) ARM64 architecture is said to have some compatibility issues with older software and hardware. It's my first Surface for around 10 years.

2 x USB-C, 1 USB-A, 13.8". And such a wow-feeling compared to my old Latitude.

So what about SDRs and SDR software? They obviously were developed long before Snapdragon became a PC thing. So, I decided to do a test. After all, "Test" is my middle name.

What we do know at this stage is this: As per its user manual, ARM is not supported by the Perseus22. We also know that the Winradio G31DDC does support ARM, by their latest software update late 2024.

For SDRPlay, we know that Linux ARM64 and macOS ARM64 are supported. No details on Windows but after the test I was informed that the SDRPlay SDRs work with SDRUno.

The laptop I bought runs on Windows 11-Pro, 64-bit. The SDRs I'm testing are the legacy Perseus, Perseus22, Winradio G31DDC and SDRPlay RSPdx.

So, first off: SDRPlay: I downloaded the install file for SDRconnect, and this was what met me when I tried to proceed:

Not a good start! However, after downloading the v3.15 API, I did get the RSPdx to run with SDR Console and HDSDR. Since they aim to replace SDRuno with SDRconnect I assume (or actually expect) that a future SDRconnect version will play on this platform.

Winradio G31DDC, v1.73 which is ARM64-prepared according to release notes. And....does it work? Yes, and I was able to record an IQ file, and play it back. I then opened Definitions in SDR Console, added the G31DDC and it played beautifully. I also checked release notes for the G33DDC but despite a very recent software update there was no mention of ARM64 support.

Perseus22 - stated in the manual as incompatible with ARM64. And yes - during installation I was notified that the WestBridge driver which should be installed (and later replaced), was unaccessible. Theoretically one can build one. I don't feel tempted.

Perseus - Will a 17 year old SDR play game? "Unknown unit" - "Remove this unit". Right....

So. Out of four SDRs tested, only one, the Winradio G31DDC installed and worked with its native software.

For playback of IQ files, SDR Console, Jaguar, HDSDR and WavViewDX are all good choices. So, they needed to be tested. After all, it's not likely that I will be using this laptop for live DX-ing.

SDR Console: I installed v3.4 (a beta), which went well, and opened a Jaguar file for playback. No problems, and with API 3.15 it also runs the RSPdx

HDSDR is by far the oldest software in this test, especially if we count the Winrad years. Installs fine, loads fine, plays back Jaguar files fine! And, with API 3.15, it runs the RSPdx.

Jaguar: Starts and works without any problems, and plays back IQ files. All that I could ask for. Of course since Perseus driver installation failed it can only be used for playback.

WavViewDX: Returned an error message from the installer. However a direct download bypassed the problem and WVDX works well on this platform. Hopefully the installer issue is temporary.

So then. Definitely mixed results. Out of four SDRs, Perseus, Perseus22, SDRPlay RSPdx (likely all of the SDRPlay range if you use SDRconnect), failed to install. Only the Winradio, with recent software update to comply with ARM64, worked. SDRPlay devices (at least the one I tested) do work with HDSDR and SDR Console with API v3.15.

Out of four "playback" softwares, all candidates seem to work well, although WavViewDX has a small issue with the installer.

What can we learn from this? Don't buy a Windows PC running on Snapdragon for use with SDRs unless you have checked hardware compatibility.

Brief Pre-Xmas Visit To The KONG-HQ

Driving in darkness with a full moon and clear skies during winter is a magic experience! But cold - down to -20C inland so I wasn't tempted to stop to take pictures until I arrived at the KONG-HQ. I'm amazed at how these 'night mode' settings on my mobile phone seem to magically transform a dark night, albeit moonlit, into almost broad daylight.

The aurora to my southwest is a sign of troubled RF conditions. Indeed, after a couple of useable days in the beginning of December, reception on polar paths is now very poor.

Anyway, part of the reason I went was to collect SDRs of different makes for a compatibility test at home. More as it happens.