Sunday, December 16, 2007

Blog Logs - Radio St. Helena


Following is a sampling of logs posted from DXers, from yesterdays Radio St. Helena Anniversay broadcast. Hope you were able to hear it. Best ever reception at my location in North Carolina.
Gayle VH

Radio St. Helena - December 15, 2007

All times UTC
11092USB Radio St. Helena. 2201-2319. 15 Dec 07. English. The North American service of the special 40th Anniversary Special of Radio St. Helena was heard well here in the hills of East Tennessee. Tony Leo hosting the show with call ins from around the US. Several emails were read, including mine mentioning the WDXC, NASWA, MARES, and NZDX League. IDs and TCs as GMT at almost every vox portion of the show. Music from Tom Jones, The Beach Boys, and others. I never did hear “Life on the Ocean Wave.” The signal for the vox portions of the program were better than the music. The signal died around 2300, and was completely gone by 2319. Overall, one of the better receptions of RSH. F-G. (Joe Wood, TN)

Very good reception St Helena here on the Highlands of Scotland. Strong 45445 signal.
A joy to listen to!
R&S EK 07D receiver
SLOOPER antenna
Wellbrook ALA 1530.
Enjoy!
Hans de Zeeuw, Scotland

11092.5 Radio St. Helena, 2120-0100*, 12/15/2007, English. Annual Radio St. Helena Day broadcast with very enjoyable pop music, announcements, call-ins, etc. Signal was poor but readable at 2120 improving greatly after 2145 when the North America East segment began. Was quite strong until around 2245, after which it steadily declined. Faded slightly above and below noise level after 2310 but peaked sufficiently for closing announcements, "We Wish You A Merry Christmas", and national anthem at 0100* sign-off. My best reception of RSH in the many years I've heard them. Reception was greatly aided by recording on a new SDR-14. (Jim Evans, TN)
11092.5USB Radio St. Helena 2115-2345 Dec 15. Started fading inaround 2115 or so and steadily improved; peaked around 2230, with nonoticeable change when the beam was switched to WCNA at 2245. At peak wasS-9 on the outside RW and S-7 on the indoor loop! Started deteriorating abit after than but still good until 2330 when there was a sudden drop,presumably the switch to SAm beam. Continued to deteriorate and was gonebefore 0000. (John Wilkins-CO)
15/12/2007, 2015-2145 utc, 11.092.5 kHz, Radio St. Helena, music, talk, phone-in, reading reports, super signal with 800 Watts, in English. htpp://worlddx.narod.ru/sounds/helena.mp3 - mp3 of St. Helena. (Ivan Lebedevsky, Pushkin, Russia via Cumbre DX)

11095.50 - Radio St. Helena - Coming on strong at 2250 with pop vocal by Carole King (So Far Away); solid ,clear ID by M anncr , but began fading quickly after that. Missed opening thanks to imaging QRM from nearby 50 kW. tx ( KFNX, 1100 kHz.), but had RSH at SINPO 44233 after I rid myself of KFNX. Still audible here, but just above noise at 2307, 2330, 0012 0059. Faded out after 0100 and gone as this posting (0121).(Rick Barton , AZ 12/15)

11092.5 , 1930 12/15 to 0005 12/16/07. Listened to 2007 broadcast for 4.5 hours but here in the midwest the Eastern NA beam proved to the best. Signal reached S6. Enjoyed mx, phone calls, and reading of emails. Frequent IDs and time checks. Signal dropped to S1-2 when beam was pointed to Western NA. (Jerry Strawman-IA).

Signal detected here just before 1730 sign on, but difficult copy, music more discernable of course. I've recorded the audio but wasn't paying too much attention to the signal from s/on to now - at 1900 some better but still not comfortable copy. I have the log periodic aimed east from here but when I saw Micks comment about 225 degrees I turned the antennea the full 360 degrees to see if there was a better path, but while there was a signal in the SW area, east seemed a bit better at this time anyway. But still only S1 and the signal only shows a small blip on the screen of the Icom 7800.
Well by 1915 or so signal was fine and increased after the afternoon progressed (and their beam came closer around to us). Great signal to levels over S9 with no background noise and the only occasional data burst. Maybe just here in western canada but right around 2330 their signal took a major dive - S9 to almost nothing - as they turned the antenna? In theory they were turning more towards us at that time. It was also close to local sunset too. (Don Moman, Alberta, Canada via HCDX)

Here in Helena, MT at tune-in around 2325 UTC, it was the best that I have EVER heard it since its first broadcast back in 1990. It was running S7 to S8 with no noise. Strange thing was is that I was only able to receive it on my inverted-V trap dipole; it was not audible at all on my Hustler 5-BTV vertical. It was even audible on my Panasonic RF-2200 with the built-in whip antenna. I was using an Icom IC-718 Transceiver.(Source: Terry Palmersheim, KC7LDP Montana via HCDX)