October 16 Update - Afternoon

Nice signals from many Hawaii stations. A new Alaska log for us: 1430 KMBQ Wasilla nice signal at 1400Z with their TOH ID. Only minutes before KBRC Mount Vernon WA dominated.

October 16 Update - KONG19 Countdown Completed

The KONG crew arrived as scheduled 1148Z today. As we unpacked, we enjoyed signals from 1500 KUMU Honolulu HI and 1035 Newstalk ZB. The first day starts up in a light manner radiowise, as we will attend the biweekly Pub Quiz at Neptun Pub at 1900.

Conditions last night was a bit up and down due to the disturbance, short flashes with good west coast conditions. At the time of writing (1330Z) lots of Hawaiian stations with good signal strengths.

October 15 Update - KONG19 Minus 1 Day

Not much to report since I haven't checked much. OJ heard 1240 KNRY Monterey CA at 0900Z yesterday. This morning, conditions appeared to be quite good but westerly oriented with 1230-KKEE, 1240-KTIX and 1490-KEYG at 0700Z. At 0800 the band was empty! It turned out it was not a faulty antenna but a sudden disturbance. At 1130 the band is slowly returning to normal. Right now I'm listening to 1500 KUMU Honolulu HI with fair strength, and Japan is getting stronger too.

Less than 24 hours until the rest of the KONG crew lands on ENBV.

October 13 Update - KONG19 Minus 3 Days

Been away a couple of days, so I don't know much about what's heard, but OJS reports that Tonga-1017 and Marshall Islands-1098 were well audible today. The internet connection with Kongsfjord was lost at 1223Z today. I don't know if it's the modem or the line. We'll see by Thursday.

Two veries: 1210 KTBK Auburn WA and 1350 WWWL New Orleans LA. Entercom-owned, like its big brother on 870, WWL. Their nighttime pattern isn't exactly favourable.

And now only three days until Odd-Jørgen Sagdahl, Arnstein Bue and Tore Johnny Bråtveit arrives! I'm in heavy shopping mode.

October 10 Update

Some New Zealand stations were heard on October 9 from 1215, unfortunately what seemed to become a great opening fizzled out and at 1300 only Newstalk ZB 1035 was left. Around 1220 the following Kiwis were noted: 1008, 1035, 1080, 1107, 1116, 1143, 1242, 1296, 1332, 1341 and 1386. Possible NZ also on 954, 972, 981 and 1359.

The 58 beverage proved superior to the QDFA this time.

Not too exciting conditions toward North America on the 9th and 10th, but I did hear 1270 WWWI Baxter MN for the first time on the 9th. Also an unidentified on 1240, starting their full-hour ann. with "Since 1939..." The audio is here, first with, then without the Perseus noise reduction. Suggestions?

EDIT: Solved. WJMC Rice Lake WI.

One QSL: KZZJ Rugby ND 1450.

Weather: Sun, wind, rain, sleet, snow; everything within 10 minutes or so. 3 Celsius right now

October 7 Update

Not much to report. From the October 3 opening, two new stations were found, 1370 KGNO Dodge City KS and 1600 WRPN Ripon WI. Today very good signal strengths, but conditions were "wide", allowing the dominants to - well - dominate. 1210 KTBK Auburn WA with its new (since when?) 10 kW night power was quite strong. Spoke with Mika Mäkelainen on the phone from Lemmenjoki this afternoon; his impressions were the same. Quite a few Hawaii stations audible around 1300Z.

A few new veries lately: 1600 WRPN Ripon WI, a very friendly email from 1350 KCAR Clarksville TX and finally 1130 KWKH Shrewport LA.

October 3 Update

Only a small fraction of tonight's recordings have been checked, still a few new stations for me, like 1130 KWKH Shreweport LA, 1350 KCAR Clarksville TX, 1350 WWWL New Orleans LA and 1450 KZZJ Rugby ND. Romanticas on 930 may have been WKY, the way conditions were last night.

Nothing of interest during the afternoon here, only modest signals from Japan and nothing (at least noteworthy) from Down Under.

October 2 Update - Still New Zealand

More from Down Under! We are monitoring the BOH og TOH and enjoying periods with excellent signals from Newstalk ZB 1035 kHz in between. Listen to this! Or click on the recording in the box.net box below.

Edit: The Newstalk ZB file was recorded from the Perseus SDR in Synchronous AM mode, bandwidth 5.55 kHz. Antenna: QDFA.

September 30 Update - New Zealand!

Semi-interesting conditions towards North America. The afternoon was very interesting though, as OJ spotted a DU dialect on 1233 and then on 1224. First thought to be the Australian. Absolutely not. A "B-Sport, Sports news update" revealed that this was Invercargill, New Zealand! Several other NZ stations found on the full hour at 1600Z including 927, 1080, 1107, 1116, 1152 and 1233, 1287 and 1458. The familiar Newstalk ZB Wellington 1035 had a very potent signal.

First September log of New Zealand in Kongsfjord. Albeit only 8 hours away from October...

Antenna in use: QDFA. We should have compared it with the original NZ antenna, the 58 beverage but we didn't pay attention to the stations until after we had recorded the full hour on the Perseus'.

One verie last night, 1370 WFEA Manchester NH.

September 29 Update

A few interesting stations, such as 1230 KSYM Mankato MN on the 28, and also a few Aussies, but nothing like the DU bonanza experienced in Lemmenjoki on the 27. Well, we weren't listening at that time, were we... Interesting conditions today - OJ reports that the QDFA has nailed its first Hawaiian with 1500 KUMU Honolulu at 1300Z. We were complaining that the QDFA didn't work in daylight. OK so maybe it does...

In any case, the 350 degree bearing of the QDFA makes it a much more westerly oriented antenna than I had expected, given its broad front lobe. The 310 hears eastern North America better, but the QDFA sort of takes the rest, including Hawaii and Japan. The big question is: Is it too broad? Will the more directive beverages prove better in the long run? Time will tell.

Recent veries: 1330 WRCA Waltham MA, 1230 KSYM Mankato MN, 1410 KOOQ North Platte NE and 1490 KCFC Boulder CO.