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!