Winter E's 2011

With things rather dead at the moment (just some Western Victoria tropo this morning, which seems to be almost a daily reception at this time of the year to some degree), I thought I would look back at Winter 2011.

Last Winter was the first time I managed to log Sporadic E during that season.  While Summer is the predominate period for receiving SpE, a small window of opportunity does become available in Winter.  For me, the date of reception was June 6th and July 6th.

6/6/11
4.10pm
91.3 2MAX Narrabri
93.5 2PNN Inverell
94.5 2NRR Richmond/Tweed
95.3 2ABCFM Richmond/Tweed

6/7/11
2.30 - 3.30pm
89.9 4DDD Dalby
90.0 TAB Richmond
90.7 4CSB Wondai
91.1 4MCY Nambour
92.5 4SB Tarong Coal Mine
93.3 4SBS Brisbane
94.1 KIX Country Middlemount
94.5 4PNN Gympie
94.9 4MIX  Ipswich, with RDS
95.3 4SCR Gympie
96.1 4NNN Gympie
96.5 4FRB Brisbane
96.9 4ABCRN Gympie
97.3 4BFM Brisbane, with RDS
98.1 4EB Brisbane
98.5 4ABCFM Wide Bay
99.3 4JJJ Wide Bay
104.1 4JJJ Darling Downs

The return of E-Skip

After something of a hiatus, an SpE opening lasting 90 minutes this morning. Reception from Port Macquarie up to Brisbane.

10am - 11.30am CDT

88.5 2NWR Walcha

88.9 2YOU Tamworth

90.1 2ABCRN Walcha

90.5 Racing Tamworth

91.1 2CBD Deepwater

91.3 2MAX Narrabri

91.5 2JJJ Grafton/Kempsey

92.3 2MRR Grafton/Kempsey

92.9 2TTT Tamworth

93.3 2BBB Dorrigo

93.3 4SBS Brisbane (3 bars)

93.5 2PM Port Macquarie

93.5 2PNN Inverell

93.9 2ABCRN Tamworth

94.5 2NNR Richmond/Tweed

94.7 2JJJ Tamworth

94.9 4MIX Ipswich w/- RDS

95.3 2ABCFM Richmond/Tweed

96.1 2JJJ Richmond/Tweed

96.3 2JJJ Manning River

96.5 4FRB Brisbane

96.9 2ABCRN Richmond/Tweed

97.1 2ABCRN Manning River

97.3 4BFM w/- RDS

97.9 2ABCFM Grafton/Kempsey

98.5 2PB Richmond/Tweed

98.7 2ABCFM Manning River

99.5 2ABCRN Grafton/Kempsey

100.7 2PQQ Port Macquarie

104.1 2CHY Coffs Harbour

Additionally, tropo from Western Victoria was in all morning.

Tropo report

Finally, some sort of action after being dead for ages.  Tropo mostly within SA and strong. Here's the log:

89.9 5CCC Pt. Lincoln
90.7 5KIX Kangaroo Island
91.5 5PNN Tumby Bay
93.1 5ABCFM Pt. Lincoln
99.3 8SAT Streaky Bay
100.9 5ABCRN Streaky Bay
101.9 5ABCRN Tumby Bay
106.9 8SAT Wudinna
107.3 5ABCRN Wirrulla
107.7 5YYY Whyalla


also:
100.7 6ABCRN Salmon Gums - Identified via time given which was 2.5 hours behind SA therefore, WA.  Seems most likely location being 100kms north of Esperance.  Esperence stations blocked by Adelaide locals so couldn't try for them.


105.3 Unknown JJJ, different time zone to SA as I checked Adelaide on 105.5.  Murray Valley ruled out as even when this one was in at reasonable levels no sign of other Murray Valley.


10am noted very weak Tropo from Albany for about 20 minutes.  94.5 and 96.9 were the best heard.


This morning saw 89.3 Gulf FM, 90.9 Flow FM Maitland and Spencer Gulf stations at 3 bars on the Sony.  This also meant strong DTV from Port Pirie, with watchable pictures.

SGS-40 Port Pirie (Southern Cross Ten)

GDS-42 Port Pirie (Southern Cross Nine)

GTS-44 Port Pirie (Southern Cross GTS/BKN)

Recent Observations

As expected, it appears the Sporadic E season has now definitely ended.  Even Tropo has been horrendous lately; just the occasional Mildura and Western Victoria appearing weakly out of the noise.  Did also briefly hear 93.5 Bendigo one morning.

Some recent observations...some heard using the Sony, others while listening with the Onkyo:

31/1
5.50pm - 102.7, this was ABCFM, strong steady signal lasting a minute perhaps.  Normally hear NewsRadio Spencer Gulf here.  The ACMA station list shows only 2 possibilities: Mildura or Central Tablelands.  I quickly checked 101.1 for any sign of Triple J Mildura, but nothing. Then went back to 102.7 to find ABCFM still there.  I then tuned higher to see if I could find anything else, but found nothing to match.  On going back, it was gone.  Am presuming it was perhaps a quick E-skip reception of Central Tablelands (Muz's territory!)

1/2
11am - A fleeting E's opening from Gold Coast: 88.5, 90.1 & 91.7

7.37pm - 87.9, this one is a mystery.  Landed on it to find a strong, but fluttery signal lasting maybe 10 seconds or so.  Consistent with Meteor Scatter.  Obviously a narrowcast, given it's frequency, playing what appear to sound like some sort of Muslim (?) chanting.


Also heard a weak short-lived signal on 97.9.  Only made out an ID or partial ID of "97.9 FM". Not SA as only Flow FM (8SAT) is on this channel.


3/2
Approx 10.45 - 10.50am, several short bursts on a number of frequencies.  Unsure if they are connected or all separate: 88.3, 92.9, 93.5 & 104.5.

3.14pm - 95.3, strong but a little fluttery, lasting approx 10 seconds.  Playing Material Girl by Madonna.

Meteor Scatter audio

Following on from a follow DXer's audio post on his blog, showing some reception via an unattended recording, I decided to do my own while I was outside doing some gardening.

I decided on 90.7 as the frequency to monitor, and it turned out to be a good one, as I received 3 bursts of MS in the space of minutes.  The first one on the clip, would have been at 11.24am.

Scrrenshot of the Meteor Scatter audio

bits and pieces

Very little around yesterday, just the following noted around Midday:

92.1 6PNN
92.9 6JJJ
94.5 6ABCFM
all Southern Agricultural, plus
95.3 6AAY Albany


Did not stick around. Also was not sure of reception mode, but I think it may have been a short-lived bit of Tropo.  I saw earlier last week that long haul Tropo from Albany was getting into Melbourne.  I checked for any here at that time but no sign of it.


Meanwhile, the Healing HHT894 set top box arrived today.   My main disappointment with it is the manual tuning, which I find to be cumbersome.  This is because you have to manually enter in the centre-channel frequency (for example: 613500 for Channel 40) as opposed to simply selecting a channel number.

11.15am CDT update:  After further checking, I have come to the conclusion that I am better off just using the inbuilt digital tuner that comes with the TV (a DSE GE6607).  In fact, it's signal levels were reading slightly better than the STB.  In light of that, I have moved the Healing to the CRT TV in the bedroom to replace the DGTec STB I have on there.  Despite a solid picture, the DGTec has a habit of having audio drop outs of 10 to 15 seconds.

Tropo log 25/1/12

Tropo was first noted last night and carried through to this morning.

88.9 3HFM Hamilton

89.9 5CCC Pt. Lincoln

91.5 5PNN Tumby Bay

93.1 5ABCFM Pt. Lincoln

95.7 3ABCRN Nhill

96.9 5ABCRN Keith

99.3 8SAT Streaky Bay

99.7 5EZY Victor Harbor

100.9 5ABCRN Streaky Bay

101.3 3WWM Horsham

101.9 5ABCRN Tumby Bay

102.5 5JJJ Mt. Gambier

103.3 5ABCRN Mt. Gambier

104.1 5ABCFM Mt. Gambier

104.5 5TCB Keith

104.9 5RCB Mt. Gambier

105.7 5PB Mt. Gambier

106.1 5TCB Bordertown

106.9 8SAT Wudinna

107.7 5ABCRN Wudinna

plus Western Victoria stations at 2 bars.  Spencer Gulf also 2 bars.

Permanent semi-locals Gulf FM Victor Harbor 89.3 and Flow FM Maitland 90.9 at 3 bars this morning.

Headed out for something in the afternoon and came home just before 5pm to find Spencer Gulf in at 3 bars. Decided to check for DTV and was able to get a few grabs of ABNS-38 and SBS-41.  Also a few pictures on Channel 57, I think this was SAS Adelaide Foothills.

DTV - ABNS38 Spencer Gulf