Athens HF-FAX service improves its transmission quality

The local HF-FAX service, Athens, suffered from bad transmission output (probably too much audio level in an SSB transmitter). See my older post. Nowadays all seems to work fine; the image quality is superb:

8105 kHz USB, 03/08/2008, 1007z

8105 kHz USB, 03/08/2008, 1019z

Both images logged yesterday morning on 8105 kHz USB mode with a +20dB signal. Athens also transmits on 4481 kHz (had an S9 signal). Usually the lowest frequency is better received at my QTH, but if ionosphere permits (relative) local propagation on higher frequencies, the 8 MHz transmission is better, with less multipath distortion (fuzziness of the lines).

At last! Some activity at the higher freqs!

Yesterday morning I was able to hear CB stations (27 MHz) from Italy and Turkey with the R75 (and my brother's wireless mouse at 27.1 MHz...) Even the scanner (R20) could receive them outside, with its stock antenna.

And for the first time in my life (yes!) I heard some true activity on the 6m band! Some CW stations (except the beacon from a nearby town; even this one is not all days audible!) and some USB voice. I don't remember any call signs now, but I do have logs and sound samples!

A nice HF-Fax picture from Tokyo

Last night I decided to give a try to JMH HF-Fax service. I only got this nice picture at 1930 UTC on the highest (13988 kHz) JMH frequency:

13988.5 kHz, 1930z

24HR SURFACE PRESSURE, WIND, FOG, ICING, SEA ICE PROG

The following transmissions were noisy so 1930z sets a limit for the reception on 14 MHz from Japan to my Location.

ART2 and EZI together

This morning as I was browsing Icom's memories and I stumbled on a noisy (buzz) E10 carrier on 6840 kHz and decided to record it. Suddenly ART2 and EZI appeared on air at the same time (~0526 UTC) for some moments, then the buzz stopped and EZI continued with an S9 signal. Sound sample!

New edition of rfax.pdf available

Check out http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/marine/rfax.pdf for an updated HF-Fax schedule compilation from NOAA, as of 30 May 2008.

E25 -1 h shift confirmed

Egypt switched to DST and the expected -1 hour shift of E25 slots happened. The problem is I have a few logs confirming this phenomenon (only 3):

1. 29 April 2008 a message sent to "111" at 0800z instead of 0900z.
2. 30 April 2008 a "control" message sent to "200" (200 9) at 0800z instead of 0900z.
   
3. 04 May 2008 a message sent to "128" and a "control" message sent to "126" (126 6) at 0945z (well 0952z actually but you know E25's punctuality!) instead of 1045z.

It is a quiet period for E25, I hope they are ok and didn't chance anything regarding their frequencies! BTW the mechanical YL still tries her best :-)

New non-oriental song from E25

The new mechanical YL delivered this message today at 0914z and after that, two minutes later, a different kind of music appeared! It started at 0921z and finished at 0928z. Both transmissions (message & song) were in AM mode having an average of S9 with some QSB, esp. during the message (S5-S9). During the song, the signal reached 10 dB over S9.

Attention:

Egypt switches to DST soon! A -1 hour slot shift is expected! Let's see what will happen!

Local time	DST?	UTC offset	Zone
Thursday, April 24 at 11:59:57 PM	No	+2 hours	EET
Thursday, April 24 at 11:59:58 PM	No	+2 hours	EET
Thursday, April 24 at 11:59:59 PM	No	+2 hours	EET
Friday, April 25 at 1:00:00 AM	1 hour	+3 hours	EEST
Friday, April 25 at 1:00:01 AM	1 hour	+3 hours	EEST
Friday, April 25 at 1:00:02 AM	1 hour	+3 hours	EEST