Category: Tropo

7th September seems to be again a lucky day for the tropospheric propagation, just like exactly a year ago. This time stations were coming from Finland, Estonia and Sweden. Tropo peaked around 8 UTC and I beat my personal RDS-quality record – three stations from Anjalankoski reached fair stereo+RDS signal at distance 1005km, with levels up to about 20dBf. Enhanced tropospheric conditions lasted from 4th to 9th September, but the strongest and the farthest ducting took place on 7th September.

I’ve been asked by our fellow Polish DXer to comment a little on his reception of a distant Ukrainian station in OIRT band. So, this time it’s not my DX, but someone elses. Alan’s report went unnoticed on Radiopolska Forum, but there’s a chance it will contribute the history of Polish FM DXing. That’s the reason to give it some attention here…

I’ve been watching live propagation maps for few days. The upcoming tropo was staying somewhere between UK/Ireland and Austria, without any signs at my QTH. Finally on 15th November interesting conditions reached Poland, too. In the evening, stations appeared from Teutoburger Wald, Kreuzberg and Hoher Meißner, but with poor signal levels. Well… something is always better than no reception at all! ;-) The next day was much better  – I got Ederkopf, Ahrweiler (!) and Olsberg in the morning. As usually when the tropo starts I must go out. Anyway, remote tuner controlling via internet is really a brilliant thing.

Autumn is well known as a perfect season for tropospheric ducting. First notable long-path ducting occurred this year on September 7, but it was just a short propagation. This time, good tropo conditions lasted much longer. Everything started in the evening on October 18 with strong tropo from Lithuania and Belarus. I also got some stations on OIRT band (66 – 74MHz) including Babrujsk (~650km, 73.01 stereo O=5-). Actually I don’t have any OIRT-dedicated antenna and my all receptions were made using Körner 19.3. Stations from Vilnius reached RDS & clear stereo signal (98.3, 102.6, 106.8). Although the distances were not so great, I have received some stations for the first time.