May Day

Two things: new radio and new logging.

I purchased a new radio, an ICOM IC-7300 transceiver. And with it, I logged a new station, WEZR relaying ’80s oldies station WIGY on 780 kHz transmitting 18 watts from Rumford, Maine, 234 miles to the north-northeast. Antenna was the 128-foot Loop-on-Ground.

Next few weeks, I will be doing a lot of antenna work.

Two New This Week

Night time conditions have been interesting – hearing lots of DX from the south, like a very strong CMBR from Havana on 530 kHz, but nothing new to add to the log. I had better luck listening for the hour before sunset and logged two new stations this week.

WGFP on 940 kHz transmitting 1 kW from Webster, Massachusetts, 64 miles to the east-northeast.

WENU on 1410 kHz transmitting 1 kW from South Glen Falls, New York, 123 miles to the north-northwest.

Heard with my ICOM IC-R8600 receiver and 128-foot Loop on Ground antenna (WGFP) and 80-meters dipole (WENU).

Four New Loggings

Since my last post, I added four stations to the log.

February 17 at 2140Z, “Classic Country Radio" station WVTL on 1570 kHz in Amsterdam, New York, transmitting 1,000 watts, 110 miles to the north-northwest, 

February 26 at 0420Z, navigational beacon LC on 376 kHz in Columbus (Pickerington), Ohio, transmitting 25 watts, 531 miles to the west-southwest

March 13 at 0458Z, WENR on 1090 kHz in Englewood, Tennessee, transmitting 1,000 watts, 757 miles to the southwest running a DX test for radio hobbyists

March 13 at 0458Z, religious station WILD on 1090 kHz in Boston, Massachusetts, transmitting 1,900 watts, 110 miles to the east-northeast

All stations were heard on my ICOM IC-8600 receiver and 128-ft Loop on Ground (LoG) antenna.

BZ, CL, LUA

Conditions were excellent last night and I added three navigational beacons to the log.

CL on 207 kHz from Charlo, New Brunswick, Canada, transmitting 1000 watts, 544 miles to the north-northeast at 0615 UTC.

LUA on 245 kHz from Luray (Luray Caverns), Virginia, transmitting 25 watts, 355 miles to the southwest at 0557 UTC.

BZ on 407 kHz from Statesboro (Bulloch), Georgia, transmitting 25 watts, 797 miles to the south-southwest at 0522 UTC.

The three were received with my ICOM IC-R8600 receiver and 128-foot Loop on Ground antenna.

New Year, New Logging

WCPH ran 2-hour tests during the early mornings of December 26 and January 2. I missed the December 26 test, but did catch the January 2 test for about ten minutes. Here is my log for the test.

0155 EST Alarm clock sounds

0156 EST Power up receiver. 

0156 EST Hear WHKW religious talk, a station in the mud playing music and some sweep tones. Discount sweep tones as some kind of anomaly because test was not supposed to start until 0200 EST.

0200 EST sweep tones

0202 EST Morse code too weak to decipher followed by clear code “WCPH WCPH”

0203 EST sequence of 5 or 6 tones rising in pitch

0204 EST Morse code too weak to decipher

0206 EST sweep tones

0207 EST slow Morse code “V V V … WCPH WCPH WCPH”

0209 EST sweep tones (strong enough to see on waterfall display)

0210 EST Morse code “V V V  V V V  D I (sic) WCPH WCPH…”

0211 EST Back to bed

Receiver: ICOM IC-R8600

Antenna: 128-ft Loop on Ground (LoG)

Location: Wolcott, CT, USA – 761 miles to WCPH transmitting 1000 watts from Etowah, Tennessee. Not a new state on AM, but a new station on AM – first new one in 2021!

UPDATE: I learned that the test started one hour earlier than originally scheduled, so the sweep tones I heard (and discounted) at 0156 EST were actually part of the test.

WSTL in the Seekonk River

Monitoring 1220 kHz, I logged two new ones, WGNY which I mentioned in my previous post and a Spanish language station that I was unable to identify. 

Radio-Locator listed a few Spanish stations on 1220, but none of them matched up with what I heard. 

I did record about 20 minutes of the station's audio with my IC-R8600 and I finally had time to listen to the recording looking for clues to identify the station. I clearly heard “Providence” mentioned by the female announcer, so I checked Radio-Locator for 1220 kHz activity in Providence, Rhode Island and WSTL was listed as a “Tropical” format station rather than “Spanish.” Listening to the entire recording confirmed that the station was indeed WSTL transmitting 1,000 watts, 82 miles to the east-northeast.

Radio: ICOM IC-R8600
Antenna: 128-ft LoG