CFH Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada Meteo HF-Fax

The recent solar storm still disturbs the ionosphere but I keep trying DXing Fax stations. Maybe I should rename the blog into HF-Fax-something ! My recent addition is Halifax, which sometimes interferes with E10 numbers station. What defines interference? When listening to PCD on 4270 kHz, Halifax is interference, while when DXing for Halifax, the strong carrier from E10 is interference! Most of my fellow numbers stations fans will probably adopt the first point of view!

Back to subject now: 4271 kHz (among others) is the Halifax HF-Fax service and in between Fax transmissions are RTTY transmissions. More info can be found in the Canadian Coast Guard Internet Site. And here is the image:

4271 kHz 0100z

Not a stunning image but a nice addition to my collection! As the conditions improve, I hope for better ones! By the way, I was browsing old Fax pictures of mine from 2001-2002, when I started playing with shortwave. Compared to nowadays reception quality, then conditions were amazing! Later I may show you later a sample from those images. Then Japan HF-Fax was easy and clear, today is hard (for me at least). Alas, the effect of solar cycle minimum...

Emission for syntony Valparaiso Playa Ancha Radio CBV

A better "tuning aid chart" received today. While this is better than the previous one, still needed image processing (slant fix) and it's not complete. It is obvious I got the final part of the transmitted "chart".

8678 kHz, 2247z

The following transmissions were noisy so I didn't uploaded any of them. Again it is a stormy day, we had 2 X-ray flares within 20 hours.

3-day Solar-Geophysical Forecast issued Dec 14 at 22:00UTC

Solar Activity Forecast: Solar activity is expected to be moderate to high. Isolated X-class flares from Region 930 remains a possibility.

Geophysical Activity Forecast: The geomagnetic field is expected to range from active to major storm levels for 15 December. This activity is due to the CME observed on 13 December. Unsettled to active conditions are expected for 16 and 17 December.

That's not a promising forecast... It really discourages me from hunting other HF-Fax transmission from distant places... But right now I have Louisiana... Stay tuned...

New images from downbelow

Here are more images from CBV Valparaiso, Chile HF-Fax service. The quality is not stunning but remember, these traveled 13500 km under stormy weather! (Another X-ray flare occurred today, magnitude X3.4).

The frequency was 8677 kHz (-1.9 kHz if you use USB, as myself) and the time was 2210-2341z

8677 kHz, 2220z and 2241z



8677 kHz, 2310z and 2331z

The last one obviously is a sat image. The fact that the third picture is the best is in par with VOACAP's prediction of maximum SNR at 2300z. Impressing!

JJC Kyodo News Agency, Japan, HF-Fax

How a newspaper looks like if faxed through shortwave? My receiver gives an answer!

12746 kHz 1200z

That's how it looks like! Kyodo News provides weather, news & sports in Japanese & English via HF-Fax. Probably it is the only HF-Fax station which provides such info.

One thing to note, the service uses 60 RPM, in contrast to 120 RPM which is more common. Here and here (hi Chris!) you can read more about HF-Fax reception instructions and jargon.

Additional info can be found in Wikipedia's entry about Radiofax.

VMW Wiluna Australia Meteo HF-Fax : New image!

18060 kHz 0943z (left), actual (right).

For your convenience I present you side-by-side my received image vs. the original one found at this page. I rotated the original so you don't have to turn your head! Luckily the image found there is the one sent this morning.

HLL2 Seoul Meteo HF-Fax

As mentioned in my previous post, I managed to log Seoul Meteo HF-Fax transmission. The chart depicted below started at 0714z on 13570 kHz. I also got a couple of other charts, but this one is the less noisy. You can identify the Korean Peninsula if you turn your head towards your left shoulder!

13570 kHz 0714z

I hope my images encourage you to try DXing these stations. My setup is really simple and you can see the results it can achieve!

CBV Valparaiso Chile Meteo HF-Fax

This evening I decided to hunt for other Fax transmissions. I got Seoul and Chile! I tuned to 8677kHz at 2308z just in time to let the station introduces itself! Lucky me!

8677 kHz 2308z

The original decoded image was slanted, but I did my magic by simple image processing! Distance from me is about 12500 km. The farthest HF-Fax image I have! That's real DX!