Yet Another Good Night

Conditions have been very good this past week.

Saturday evening, the 162-MHz NOAA weather radio band lit up and I was copying at least one station on each of the weather radio channels, which is not normal. Nothing new to enter in the log, but I was very surprised to find that band opened at this time of year and that time of day (2330 UTC).

Later in the evening, I noticed Cuba’s Radio Rebelde besting WHAM on 1180 MHz. Again, not a new log entry, but I did copy two other stations that were new to the log:

WQLR “The Fan” on 1660 kHz transmitting 10 kW from Kalamazoo, Michigan, 650 miles to the west-northwest

Navigational beacon ZNS on 385 kHz transmitting 25 watts from Halifax, Nova Scotia, 531 miles to the northeast.

The ICOM IC-R8600 receiver, ICOM AH-7000 discone antenna (for WQLR) and 80-meter dipole antenna (for ZNS) were my ears of choice.

WXM45 Logged

Lately, I check the vhf bands for enhanced propagation everyday after breakfast. I hit paydirt this morning on 162.425 MHz where I heard the Albany NOAA radio station WXM45 loud and clear for over an hour starting at 1230 UTC.

WXM45 transmits 300 watts from Middleville, New York, 147 miles to the northwest, which I received on my ICOM IC-R8600 receiver and ICOM AH-7000 discone antenna. At 147 miles, it is the most distant NOAA radio station I have received so far.

NOAA Radio Times Three

On the morning's of July 4 and 5, NG0E's APRS map indicated that there were VHF band openings along the East Coast.

On the air, I logged three new stations on the NOAA radio channels that are quiet here during normal conditions:

162.425 MHz: WNG574 - Gloucester NOAA Radio in Essex, Massachusetts, 130 miles to the northeast

162.450 MHz: WXM60 - Howell Township/Lakewood NOAA Radio in Southard, New Jersey, 120 miles to the south-southwest

162.450 MHz: KZZ40 - Deerfield NOAA Radio in Deerfield, New Hampshire, 136 miles to the north-northeast

Equipment used: ICOM IC-R8600 receiver and ICOM IC-AH7000 discone antenna.