Wed 8.6.2011 - Nice Turkey-opening

On Wednesday-afternoon we had nice 50 minutes long opening to Istanbul and around. Luckily there were also stations up from Adapazari, Kocaeli and Gebze-cities, which made this more interesting. (Red= First time in Finland)
Conds started from Adapazari and moved slightly to Istanbul.
87.800 -1155- TUR: Radyo 34, Istanbul. Adapazari-tx. Later on 88.0 MHz.
88.200 -1158- TUR: Lalegül FM, Istanbul. Unlisted frequency. RDS. Also heard on 88.4 when area moved to Istanbul.
90.300 -1221- TUR: Kocaeli Radyo Sahin, Kocaeli (Mam). Jingle an ads.
91.600 -1231- TUR: 91.6 Türkiyenin Haber, Istanbul. Station gives id: "91.6 - Haber". Ex-Radyo 24.
91.700 -1237- + TUR: Radyo Gül, Gebze (Koc). RDS-id and adverts. Bulgarian went over just in a dramatic moment to have also audio-id.
94.000 1203- + TUR: R Aktif, Adapazari (Sak). My 3rd different Aktif from Turkey, but this is not a network.
94.500 -1157- + TUR: R Sakarya, Adapazari (Sak). Simple jingle between music.
95.400 -1136- + TUR: Gebze FM, Gebze (Koc). I got e-mail and sms-message from this station for my message of their signal in Finland!

Also IDed Viva, PAL FM, Kral Pop, Kral Türk etc.

Utö9 starts this Friday 10.6.2011

I will join to the traditional Utö-FM-pedition for the 5th time this summer (previous 2004, 2008, 2009, 2010).
This will be named as Utö9. The camp is on from 10.6 - 19.6.2011. We arrive late Friday evening by m/s Eivor.
http://uto-fmdx.blogspot.com

There will be 8 listeners this year; last year crew + Juha Ylönen from Central Finland.
This year we have extra challenge with antennas. Finnish army now forbid us to connect our masts to the barrier close to the houses. We had to arrange holes to our antenna-masts. New antenna-masts will be drilled on the rocks:

Heteka-antennas from the 70's

I started my FM-DXing in the 70's. Till the end of the 70's decade we used Finnish traditional Heteka-beds as antennas.
Here is one historical photo of my old 1-element Heteka-antenna - my grandmother's old bed as antenna!

We had excellent results even with 1-element. In the end I had 3-elements (laminated, 1977). The negative point was that it usually gave extra creaking sound to the recordings (during heavy wind). Click the photo for better view.
............................Late and bad April Fool joke

Fri 3.6.2011 - Italy, weak France

We are waiting fro the BIG BANG-opening - not seen yet this summer!! Moderate cond-days continued on Tuesday. Strong signals to Italy in the morning, very weak to France in the evening.

Log Fri 3.6.2011
88.000 -1744- F: RCF Vendée, La-Roche-sur -Yon (85). "Vous écoutez sur RCF Vendée dans émission Grande de Sambles...". Local-id just during that minute when it was up. Weak signals from Bretagne for 45 minutes. Short peaks.
88.200 - 1723- F: Radio Caroline, Pontivy-tx (56). Chérie FM 90.8 and FUN 94.1 from this same city.
88.300 - 1723- F: MFM. Also on 88.8.
89.300 -0620- HRV: Novi Radio, Zadar. 3rd time this summer!
91.100 -0711- I: R Cinque, UNID-QTH. "Radio Cinque, radio a cinque stelle". What is this station. NEW?91.900 - 0705- I: Radio Parsifal, Pescara (also 99.5 tent.)
95.600 -0655- I: R Marte, Napoli (NA). The only new for today.
97.300 -0652- I: Antenna Adriatica, Termoli (BA). RDS-id and spots.

Tue 31.5.2011 - Romania, Balkan, Italy

This May has been one of the most interesting May in my 35 years FM-DX-history (Yes, I heard my first E-skip in 1976, Bayerischer Rundfunk and Radio Novi Sad). This May I have not heard so many new stations, but from quite many countries, and so often. Most of the openings have been weak with short lasting skips. 31st May gave the strongest signals.

Log Tue 31.5.2011
88.300 -1643- + I: R Ritmo 80, Barletta (BA). First time in Finland.
88.400 - 1613- BIH: Slobomir FM, Biljeljina. 3rd time this month!
89.200 -1755- I: Tentative: R Ottanta, Belluno (BL). BL is rare to hear here although Radio Company Belluno 88.4 is very common.
90.700 -1635- SRB: R.Republike Srpske. I think no compression in audio on this station.
90.800 -1622- ROU: Radio Iasi.
91.100 - 1644- I: Radio Centrale Puglia with RDS-music-only.
91.900 - 1315- ROU: Itsy Bitsy. Station for kids. The only one in Europe?
92.100 -1619- HNG: Klasszik Rádió, Budapest.
92.200 -1634- BIH: R Tesanj. Pronouncing stationname like not expected.
92.200 -17.25- I: Radio Jukebox, Lamezia Terme (CZ). Comes here often.
92.200 - 1630- ROU: Rock FM (Ex-One FM?)
94.000 - 1630- BIH: Radio Tuzla. Blind-recording.
94.000 -1319- ROU: Tentative Radio Unu, Satu Mare. Spot to Satu Mare.
95.600 - 1330- ROU: R Cluj.
96.500 -1336- POL: Radio Maryja. Poland is quite rare here because short skip is needed.
96.900 -1332- ROU: R Impact, Baia Mare.
97.500 - 16.47- I: Radio One, Bitonto (BA).
99.100 -1630- HRV: Gradski Radio, Osijek.
99.100 -1651- I: Radio Laser, Pisticci (MT).
99.600 -1626- BIH: Radio Avaz, Celic. RDS. I think announced also another frq.

Sat 28.5.2011 - Weak Balkan, France

Weak May conditions continued on 28.5.2011. Nothing special. I heard only one new station for me.

Log Sat 28.5.2011
88.1 - 1742- SRB: Station from Valjevo. Must be pirate, strong 50Hz hum in audio.
88.2 - 1702- ROU: Europa FM.
88.3 - 1705- ROU: Radio OK, Ploiesti. Only RDS with music.
89.1 - 1735- SRB: Star FM, Cacak. Only new station today.
90.o - 1738- UNID: Radio Marija. From Albania or Serbia. RDS only.
91.0 - 1710- BUL: Darik Radio.
95.6 - 1927- F: Contact FM. The only id'ed French station from short peak

Thu 26.5.2011 - Mainly strong Italy (Emilia Romagna)

Once again very different day with skips around Europe, but mostly strong Italian Reggio Emilia-stations. This area is the most common Es-skip area in SW Finland. Now I have heard all FM-stations from Modena (from free frequencies) !!

Log Thu 26.5.2011
87.600-1641- HRV: R Trsat, Rijeka. Nonstop classic rock for over 10 minutes.
88.400 -1757- ALG: RTA, Nador. On 94.7 MHz possibly R local Tlemcen. News in Arabic!
88.400 -1925- F: Mixx, Cognac (16). RDS and audio-id.
88.400 -1400- I: R Sportiva, RE-tx. This is one of the most common tx to receive here from Europe!
88.700 -1646- SVN: R Center, Ljubljana. Gave net-address.
88.800 -1517- I: R Alfa (MN). Many times with RDS this season.
88.800 -1837- SUI: R Basilisk, Basel. 7 min. Luckily till jingle.
89.100 -1657- I: R Fantasy, Cervignano del Friuli (UD).
89.3 -1049- HRV: Novi R, Zadar. Many times this season with RDS.
89.600 -1836- F: La Radio Plus, Thonon Les Bains (74). Blind recording. I expected to have a Swiss station from this frq because hey were up, but surprisingly it was French near Switzerland. This station at the same time on 93.0 MHz.
90.100 -1919- F: RMJ - La Radio des Meilleurs Jours, Magnac Laval (87).
90.100 -1656- HRV: R Zona, Buzet. RDS. 90.600 -1700- I: R SorRriso, Castelfranco Veneto (TV). Three R-letters, one big. "SorRriso Notizie". .
91.000 -1523- I: R City solo musica italiana (AL).
91.900 -1520- I: R Parsifal, Pescara (PE). Blind recording series from this frq 60 minutes: Multiradio (MC) > Radio Nostalgia (BI-tx) > Radio Parsifal (PE).
93.000 -1659- + I: R Gente Umbra, Foligno (PG). Station id as "R.G.U".
93.200 -1527- I: R Pico Classic, Mirandola Modena (MO). The last station from Modena to id.
95.000 -1453- I: R Erre, Reggio Emilia (RE).95.100 -1539- SVN: R Celje. Also Radio Koper from unlisted 94.7.
95.200 -1840- SUI: Yes FM, Geneve. I heard before on 95.6 MHz , which tx is on the French side.
96.200 -1529- + I: Canzoni e Sorrisi, Modena (MO). Accordeon-station with rare id's. Finally I was lucky the get audio-id. I tried twice last summer!
107.200 -1432- I: R Tirol. Bozen (BZ). German language station in N-Italy

Also I identified the following stations whichI have tuned here many times: Linea R (87.9) / Ciao R (90.1, BO) / Studio Delta (96.5) / R Stella (Modena, 96.8), R Bruno on many NEW frequencies / Studio Piú (107.9 and 108.0) / Onda Libera (PG, 89.6 and 105.9) / Isoradio RAI 103.2 / Multiradio (91.9( / R Nostalgai (91.9) / R Reggio 101.6 / R Azzurra (107.6) / Subasio (106.5) / Stella FM (VI, 104.2) / TRM 88.0 / TRC Int 2 (99.5) / R Delta Uno (CH, 96.1) / Play Capital (104.8) / R Ketchup 106.1 / R Center Music (99.1) / R Company (BL, 88.4) / R Camaldoli Stereo (88.6) / Skyline R (89.2) / R Fantasy (89.1) / R SorRriso (90.6) / New Radio Star (97.8) / Rete 96 (95.9) not listed in FMLIST?? / Ravegnana R (87.9) / Primaradio (88.9) / R Sond Piacenza (94.6) / Amica R (88.4) + national comm. networks all around.

Wed 25.5.2011 - Rhodos, Samos, Istanbul

Wednesday evening 25.5 gave again weak but interesting signals - now from Turkey and far away Greece, Samos and Rhodos (very rare here). += first time in Finland.

Log Wed 25.5.2011
87.900 -1629- I: Love FM, Bari (BA). This network is spreading.
88.000 -1635- + GRC: R Ena, Rhodos. Fading in and out for long period but luckly came up for id. Very nice surprise.
88.000 -1630- GRC: R 34, Istanbul. Big and dramatic Burasi-id.
89.400 -1607- TUR: R Damar, Istanbul. Ex-Yasam.
90.200 -1605- TUR: R Turkuvaz, Istanbul. The only one with RDS.91.700 -1625- + TUR: Aktif FM, Aliaga (Ege). Giving id as "Aktif Radyo" (2x). Distance to Izmir only 40 km. After two minutes ERA Net Samos-tx came up.
95.600 -1621- GRC: Tentative: Anemos FM, Samos. Supermarket-ad to Karlovasi in Samos.

Tuesday 24.5.2011 - Weak signals

Once again May-evening opening. Not strong signals but some new catches for me. This evenings's highlight was Marseille-opening, but unfortunately nothing new from there.

LOG Tue 24.5.2011 (rarely signals around Europe. mostly weak and mostly Italians)
87.900 -1702- F: R Maritima, Marseille (13). Long time with strong signal. but no sign of other Marseille-stations, only 90.0 Skyrock Sud (supposed) was audible well but with no local content.
88.400 -1730- F: LFM, Lausanne.
88.700 -1520- HRV: R Nasice, Nasice.
88.900 -1532- BIH: Ljubic R, Prnjavor.
89.400 -1546- I: R Centrale, Montorio al Vomano (TE). Up twice.
90.000 -1526- I: R Torino International, Torino (TO). Romanian language station in Torino!!! Big surprise to hear Romanian and Italian spots in a row. ID in Romanian and Italian.
90.200 -1537- HRV: R Vallis Aurea, Pozega. Rolling RDS-PS was corrubted for long period but finally audio-id released.
95.700 -1613- I: R Voghera (PV). Up 10 minutes. Also I identified old familiar stations: Radio Zeta 102.8, Gamma Pavia 89.6, Radio Milano 89.6, Radio Amica 88.4 , Radio Veronica 93.6, Radio Fantastica 89.3.

First opening 21.5.2011: France, Germany, Balkan

This season's first opening was very good, on Saturday, mainly to France. In the first place I hunt new stations for me, or never-heard-before-in Finland ( + = in the log). That makes this more interesting, to have challencies.
The interesting point of this day was that I idenfied 6 different French private stations on 88.8 !!! (Of course dozens of TDF-Radio France transmitters were audible around the band and I identified many Virgin, NRJ, Nostalgie etc. networks with no local content).

LOG 21.5.2011 (mainly France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Balkan)
87.800 -1110- I: R Voce nel Deserto, Rovigo (RO). Blind-recording.
87.800 -0926- F: R Star, Montbeliard (25). Blind-recording with rx n:o 5. First SWR Baden-W, then France Bleu Bourgogne and finally this as new station.
88.000 -1800- GRC: ERA NET 105,8, Thessaloniki. The only identified on Sunday 22.5. Popped up from noise for 1-2 minute skip. Only stn on the band.
88.100 -1140- D: R Galaxy. Kempten-tx. Network px.
88.100 -1141- D: Hitradio RT 1, Dillingen. Only words "RT Eins" heard over Galaxy!
88.100 -0738- SRB: R Dedal, Grocka. I visited this city (and X Radio, now closed) exactly 3 years ago.
88.200 -1140- D: RSA,Oberallgau. Only RDS, no talk.
88.300 -1137- CZE: R.Egrensis, Cheb. Kiss Hady from Czech in the morning on this frq.
88.300 -1025- + F: R Campus, Orléans (45).
88.400 -0752- BIH: R Slobomir, Bijeljina. Id: "Slobomir FM". I've heard this tx before under name Radio Step.

88.800 -1130- D: Rock Antenne, Ismaning. Slightly over noise for long time. Strange skip.
88.800 -1023- F: Magic FM, La Souterraine (23). GOOD OPENING TO FRANCE. I identified 6 stations on 88.8 MHz: Magic FM (23), Virgin R (51), Mega FM (45), MFM (44), Alouette (79) and finally Evasion FM (77) twice. All heard before...
89.200 -1043- F: R Plus, Etampes (91). Unreal moment: I turn receiver to 89.4 and I see "PLUS FM"-rds (Blois, 41, heard before). I turn immedeately to 89.2 MHZ where I can id another Plus, Radio Plus!
90.200 -1032- F: VAG FM, Artenay (45). No reply from this station before. 21.5.
91.300 0949- F: R Dreyeckland, Selestat (67).
91.600 -1047- + F: Chérie FM Centre-val de Loire, Saint Avertin (Tours). Long local-id. On 95.7:lla I saw Chérie FM Nancyn local rds: "RDS 95,7".
92.800 1008- F: R Bresse, Le Bourg (71). RDS-level. Replied with letter + CD etc last winter. Thanks!!
94.500 -0912- F: Triage FM, Migennes (89).
95.400 -1040- + F: EvryOne, Evry (91). RDS- ("EvryOne" small letters) + audio-id.
95.600 0925- SUI: Yes FM, Geneve. Ex-Lac FM.
95.800 1038- F: 77FM, Meaux (77).
97.700 -0915- F: R Nohain, Nevers (58).
106.000 -0937- F: Sud Radio, Toulouse. Bordeaux-tx (33).
107.600 -0936- + SUI: RTN, Marin. French lang station. Nice surprise from upper band which I checked only 2-3 times.

I collected 324 FM-QSLs during year 2010

Last year I took a project to maximize collecting QSL-verification replies from FM-stations during one year.
The goal was to pass ex-Finnish record 216 (from year 2009).
Summer 2010 gave good conds and brought a lot of new stations. Also I had many recordings from the past years. So, I mailed hundreds of reports with mp3's during the year 2010.

The final result was 324 replies! So, it is kind of Guinness-record. Almost all were e-mails (about 5 letters. German stations kindly post QSL-cards, 5-7). All replies are confirming my clip to be their station.
The biggest number of replies came from Italy, 47 stations, and from France 35. The rest are devided to almost all European countries + one from Israel and Algeria.
The poorest results came from Greece, Bulgaria, Russia and Turkey (only 10 -20 % replied). I think 65 % of stations replied, but I am not sure because I did not make any statistics.

I have now total almost 1 500 replies from FM-stations, all received in Finland. However, I am not the leader. Mr Jim Solatie (Espoo, Finland) has a bit more. Yes, Finnish DXers are QSL-hunters, since the 70's.
In mails I used their local languages with translations made by different persons in and out of DX-scene (Tnx Istvan and Marius). I used English only to Poland, Slovenia and Albania (and UK-Ireland naturally). I used also Google translator a lot, trying to avoid big mistakes and complicated sentencies.

Above and below you can see logo-collections of some stations which kindly replied to me.