3.7. - 28.7: Poor Es-conditions continue

This summer has been one of the worst Es-seasons so far, especially for the time around mid-summer, which has normally been the best time for that!
After 8th June there has been Sporadic-E on FM only on three days: 25 and 26.6 and 2.7!!
Last over 3 weeks 2.7 - 26.7.2008 have been silent!! Incredible!

We have still some time, until the end of August (which is usually the worst after June-July) but this does not look good!
One nice thing is that Es does not disturb workdays. I am now building new FM-station to Turku.

A few e-mail-FM-QSLs!

I have not sent so much messages to the stations of their signal in Finland, but I got a some QSLs for my few reports:

- Russkoje Radio Kaliningrad - 96.3 MHz. DJ Daddy confirmed my mp3-clip in Russian langauge e-mail. Kaliningrad is my 47th QSLed FM-country (Tnx JUS for e-mail)! mp3
- Hit FM, Gdansk, Poland - 94.6 MHz. I had nice e-mail from Marta Uzarska. She is a morning presenter at the station. On Sunday morning I heard her clip from the past week. mp3

- Radio Europa Stereo, Lucera (FG), Italy - 99.0 MHz. This is a small station in Foggia-province in south Italy, in Lucera. I got short confirming e-mail wit only two rows.

- Radyo Onbes, Istanbul, Turkey - 101.2 MHz. Short e-mail in Turkish. I also wrote them in Turkish. They knew about this FM-"signal-path" to other countries! Listen the excellent reception (ID in the end): mp3

Italy and Serbia on Wed 2.7.2008

Another interesting opening to southern Italy was on Wednesday 2.7.2008. Also a few Serbians popped up but no luck wit id's. Here I log some of the identified stations.

LOG Wednesday 2.7.2008 (Mainly southern Italy)

87.6 MHz - R Potenza Centrale, Potenza (PZ), Italy. This stn is now quite wide network and more pro than 2-3 years ago. About 25 tx's. 08.04-
88.4 MHz - R Company, Benevento (BN). Every summer 2-3x here in S-Finland. 07.48-
88.6 MHz - I: Publiradio Network, Taranto, Italy. Parabitassa-tx (LE). 08.29-
89.5 MHz - Radyo Günes FM, Kirikkale, Turkey. Location 60 km east from Ankara! Nice surprise. 300 W acc. to FMLIST. No contact-info-found. 06.19-
90.2 MHz - Ciccio Riccio, Brindisi (BR), Italy. LE-tx. 08.46-
91.7 MHz - Radio Venere (LE), Italy. 08.09-
91.8 MHz - R Skyline, Ancona (AN), Italy. 15.12-
99.0 MHz - R Europa Stereo, Lucera (FG), Italy. I had e-QSL from this station next day! 08.41- -Logo below>
99.1 MHz - R Linea, Civitanova Marche (MC), Italy. 08.50-
101.8 MHz - Studio 100 R, Statte (Taranto) (TA), Italy. LE-tx. Big station. 08.40-
105.2 MHz - R Gamma, Barletta (BA), Italy. Faded out immedeately after R. Gamma-word. 08.49-

Balkan area on Thursday 26.6.2008

On Thursday 26.6.2008 was the best FM-opening so far here in SW Finland. The conditions started at 05.50 UTC and fade away at 09.15 UTC. Also some more weak signals later during the day (mainly France).

I identified many new Greeks which are observed first time in Finland. There were also some Turkish, Bulgarian and Serbian stations - even Albania.
Also Radio Prizren from Kosovo on 88.4 MHz was a nice surprise!

LOG Thursday 26.6.2008 (Mainly Greece but also Albania, Serbia, Bulgaria etc.) (Underlined are received first time in Finland)
88.4 MHz - Radio Prizren, Kosovo. 09.01-
89.5 MHz - NRJ, Sofia, Bulgaria. 06.58-
91.0 MHz - Radio City, Kozani, Greece. 07.10-
92.1 MHz - Radio Pancevo, Serbia. I visited this station in May -08. 07.56-
92.2 MHz - Space 92.2, Kavala, Greece. 07.22-
92.9 MHz - Hit Radio, Kragujevac, Serbia. 07.44-
93.3 MHz - Alfa Ex Radio, Beograd, Serbia. 08.18-
93.4 MHz - Radio Hit 7, Sofia, Bulgaria. 07.12-
93.4 MHz - Mythos, Thessaloniki, Greece. 07.29-
95.5 MHz - Radio AS, possibly from Novi Pazar, Serbia. 07.58-
95.5 MHz - Antenna 5, Skopje, Macedonia. 08.26-
98.5 MHz - Roadstar, Serbia. National network. 07.40-
98.5 MHz - Radyo Can, Tekirdag, Turkey was nice surprise. 06.01-
99.0 MHz - Srefikos 99.3, Feres, Greece. 06.07-
99.8 MHz - Athina 98.4, unknown tx-location, Turkey. 06.16-
100.5 MHz - Radyo Sev, Balikesir, Turkey. 06.17-
101.7 MHz - Radio Nova, Sofia, Bulgaria. 06.28-

Wed 25.6.2008 Weak and wide European FM-opening

This June has been very poor for Sporadic E, perhaps the worst ever. I was away from home (not a chance to DX) for two weekends etc., but there were no conditions!! The FM-band was empty between 8.6-24.6.2008!!! This has usually been the best time for the Sporadic E-skips, but this year nothing!
On 26.6.2008 I heard several stations widely accross Europe. Weak and short skips!!

LOG Wednesday 25.6.2008 (Weak signals from all over Europe)
87.5 MHz - Lynx FM, London's pirate. Audible again! Also pirate-signals on 90.8 and 92.2 MHz. No iDs unfortunately. Only short skip to UK today (MUF 96.6 MHz Plymouth Sound). 08.26-
88.3 MHz - Radio Classique,Paris, France. 07-59-
88.3 MHz - Radio Virgin, Italy. 08.16-
90.2 MHz - Radi Kiss Delta, Mladá Boleslav-tx, Czech. 05.40-
90.3 MHz - Radio Ena, Sežana-tx, Slovenia. 05.44-
91.0 MHz - Omroep Brabant, Holland. Nice jingle. 08.03-
96.9 MHz - Radio Studio 7, Trento (TN), Italy. First time in Finland! 05.56-

LOG Sun 1.6 and Fri 30.5.2008

30.5.2008 I observed brief opening to southern Italy. Only for about 15 minutes! On Sunday 1.6.2008 FM was opened to France for a few minutes. Very poor conditions this summer!!

LOG Sunday 1.6.2008 (Very short France)
90.7 MHz - Brume FM, Lyon, France. Also Lyon Premiere 90.2 MHz was audible. 17.56-

LOG Friday 30.5.2008 (Shortly to Italy)
92.2 MHz - R.Jukebox, Lamezia Terme (CZ), Italy. Bari-tx. Listeners can order music by SMS by dialing a code for a song. 15.43-
96.3 MHz - Radio Enny Sound, Bari (BA), Italy. Rare station. 15.47-

On 7-14.6.2008 we were listening FM in the southest lived island, Utö, for one week. I had FM-DX-pedition with Jukka Soini (from Kurikka, midwest Finland) and Jussi Suokas (from Joensuu, mideast Finland). Nice pedition in excellent QTH. Read more!

Opening to Romania on 28.5.2008

The first good Sporadic E-opening for me was on the 28.5.2008.
There were strong signals from Romania and Bulgaria here in southwest Finland. Here some of the obeserved stations:

LOG Wednesday 28.5.2008 (Romania, Bulgaria, strong signals, UTC. Underlined are identified first time in Finland!)

88.4 MHz - R Trinitas, Romania. Nationwide religious station. 16.08-
92.8 MHz - Radyo Tempo, Bursa,Turkey. FMLIST gives location Bursa for this. 17.09-
92.9 MHz - C FM, Constanta, Romania. Ids in English!!! 17.40-
95.4 MHz - Radio Favorit, Beius, Romania. 1722-
95.5 MHz - Vocea Sperantei, Romania. Bacau-tx. Another religious. There is even 3rd one! 16.52-
97.3 MHz - Radio Veronika, Sofia, Bulgaria. 16.56-
100.6 MHz - Itsy Bitsy FM, Bucuresti, Romania. Bacau-tx. Channel for children. Very rare!16.48-
101.2 MHz - Radyo Onbes, Istanbul. Many Onbes-tx's on this frq. In July I got e-mail QSL from this station !! 17.55- mp3

Utö FM-DX-blog to a separate blog!

I moved all Utö FM-DX-data to it's own blog-address www.uto-fmdx.blogspot.com.

So, everybody can check circumstancies for FM-DXing in Utö island from there - and I can update this FM-blog separately.
We were listening FM in Utö for one week - 7-14.6.2008.
Good site for FM-DX!

Short report from Serbia Tour (17-25.5.2008)

I visited Serbia for one week (17-25.6.2008) with another fanatic DX-er Jim Solatie (from Espoo, Finland).
We visited 19 FM-stations in Central-Serbia and fetched QSLs for ourselves and our DX-friends in Finland. Here is a report of this busy week.
>> CLICK THE PHOTOS TO LARGER VERSION >>

First some basic facts about Serbian radio today:
There have been hundreds of FM-stations broadcasting without license for many years. The things are now chancing. Forexample in Belgrade over 10 stations are closed within 2 years.

Serbian broadcasting authority has just published a list a frequencies and new license holders for the whole country. About 2/3 of the stations broadcasting today will be closed down. Forexample only a few frequencies will be given to Pozarevac where even 20 stations are now on the air!!
The MD of Boom 93 (Pozarevac) said that the illegal broadcasters will have heavy penalties.
The owner will get 7000 € and the station separately 15000 € penalty! We will see if they will really raid the stations, especially in the countryside.
A few stations we visited, were already closed down, or will lose license - or they even have to move to new area!! It is supposed that most of the stations without a license will close during a few next months. This means that Serbian FM-radio will be less attractive in the future!
So, this was the last chance to visit many of these stations!

We visited these stations for QSL. I am ashtonised of very kind people everywhere: >Click photos>

Pancevo 18.5: - Radio Safir 89.6 MHz. This station was closed week before! Standing at the door was frustrating experience...
- Radio Ritam 105.4 MHz (not heard, but was in the same building)
- Radio Pancevo 92.1 MHz (We have QSLs but had time to see the station)

Sabac 19.5: - Vikom Radija 91.1 MHz (QSL to JMS, HKU e-mail). This station was closed but we found the mother of the owner from the old address and phoned him! Mother wrote QSL after phonecall and she found us also big old RTV Vikom-stickers!
- Radio AS 103.7 MHz. Quite big station. (QSL to JMS)

Bogatic 19.5: - Radio Nesvil 93.2 MHz (QSL to HKU, PÄ). Real countryside station. The owner found my old C-casette/report. Very poor audio now on their signal.

Vladimirci 19.5 : - Radio Vladimirci 89.6 MHz (Heard by HKU). Small countryside station.

Koceljevo 19.5: - Tim Radio 91.7 MHz (QSL to HKU, JMS e-mail before). The sexiest station ever seen!!
- Radio 5 90.8 MHz (QSL to JMS, MWE)

Valjevo 20.5: - Radio Valjevo 88.6 + 1386 kHz. We were on the air. The chief engineer gave complete tour at the radio-museum. He put old 50 W tx on air for us at the museum!! (QSL to JMS, JUS, MWE, MB)
- Radio Glas Crkve 90.1 /94.7 MHz. Religious. (QSL to JMS, HKU)
- Radio Desetka 91.9 MHz. Station was closed. One sticker was found from the window of their ex-office!

Lazarevac 20.5: - R. Kiss 87.6 MHz (JMS had e-mail-QSL before and his photo was on the wall!!). Pro station for younger people with nice jingles!
- Radio Lazarevac 89.3 MHz . We were interviewed to the programme (QSL to HKU).

Smederevo 21.5: - Radio Smederevo 96.1 MHz. We were on the air live and Lordi + Teräsbetoni was played!! (QSL to JMS)
- Radio S 97.9 MHz. This station was closed. Nothing found...

Pozarevac 21.5: - X Radio 100.5 MHz. They made CD for us!! (QSL to HKU,JMS,JJS)
- Boom 93 93.4 MHz, The most pro station we saw! (QSL to HKU, JMS, JJS)

Belgrade 21.5: Beograd 202 104.0 MHz/national. We were on the air live nationwide on Wed evening with DJ Alek. (QSL JMS)

Jim's family arrived to Belgrade so I visited 3 stations alone on 22.5.
Grocka 22.5: - X Radio 90.4 MHz . I got nice photo-album! (QSL to HKU, JJS)
Belgrade 22.5: - MIP Radio 93.7 MHz. Owned by big Partizan foot-/basketball team. They gave me complete tour and jersey with my name!!! Great !!!! (QSL to HKU)

- Radio S 104.7 MHz. Very big national station!!! (QSL to HKU, JMS, MB, MWE)

Utö FM-DX-pedition 7-14.6.2008

We are listening FM in Utö-island (map) for one week. Listeners are Harri Kujala (HKU, from Naantali), Jukka Soini (JJS, from Kurikka) and Jussi Suokas (JUS, from Joensuu).
We have four H- and V-antennas (4 x 8 el. yagi) with amplifiers.
QTH is nice cottage (own kitchen, WC, bedrooms) close the sea with open view to S and SW.
The cost of this is 100 € / night. Seems to be good place for FM-DXing.
We leave antenna towers here, so it is easier to come again - or anybody else. CLICK THE PHOTO >>>

LOG Sat 7.6.2008 (Times utc)
Short opening to Italy, about 15 minutes going up and down

88.4 MHz - Radio Cuore with local ad to Pisa-area but this is supposed to be MO-tx. 08.58-
90.15 MHz - Radio Zeta, Caravaggio, Italy. Never heard befpor on this frg / 87.5 MHz. 09.00-

NICE OPENING TO SOUTH ITALY from 16.40 to 19.00 UTC.

A few highlights ! Red= First time in Finland:

89.3 MHz - Radio Day, Frosinone, Italy. Possibly Rome-tx. 1642-
90.6 MHz - Radio Celje, Celje, Slovenia. 1648-
91.4 MHz - Radio Omega Sound, Rome. 18.02-
100.0 MHz - Radio Play Capital, Chieti province. New network owned by Delta Uno. 16.59-
100.5 MHz - Idea Radio Alternativa, Latiano (BR). 17.30-

I am going to Serbia, 17. - 25.5.2008 !!

I am going to Serbia in May 17-26th, just before and during Eurovision Song Contest in Beograd.

I will visit many local legal FM-stations (at least 10 stations) in Beograd and in smaller cities around the capital. I will do that trip with my DX-friend (Jim from Espoo), so it will be radio 24h, FM- and pirate-radio.

We hope that we can be on the air on some bigger MW-pirate radio from Serbia on some late evening. It could be interesting to try to reach Europe from Serbian pirate between 1600 - 1700 kHz!
I will inform here about the possible broadcast from Serbia. It would be fantastic to take GSM-phone-callings and reports during the brodcast.

The happenings in Serbia does not look good just now. I hope everything will go better because we have already booked the flights!!