www.fmdx.es: #fmdx : Band II Tropospheric Loggings for 15 November 2015

Hi All,

A late submission of my loggings for yesterday, because I wanted to take some time to paint the picture of the amazing Band II tropo event as it took place yesterday.

The tropo forecast for yesterday showed a short period with some enhancement that was expected to develop during the day. All that happened was gale force winds and battering rain until late in the afternoon. So I did not expect any tropo to develop and took this for another inaccurate forecast.
Despite of this, I decided to check Band II in the early evening and... after carful listening found nothing. Except for some interference on 98.3 MHz, under a pretty strong Vivacité signal. I stayed on this channel and after a while with nothing happening I wanted to switch everything off. But then came a short drop of the Vivacité signal and I heard a very weak France Culture. So this was Rennes, which is at a good distance from my location. So I decided to make one more scan of the whole band. This all of a sudden brought in a nice selection of DX signals. Nothing spectacular and all signals very weak. Then I did another scan and I found more DX and also from further afield. Some signals had increased in strength.
To make a long story short, the tropo intensity continued to increase throughout the evening, with stations at bigger distances becoming audible. All in all this developed into the best Band II tropo opening towards the south-southwest that I have known. Getting Spain with tropo is extremely rare since the path is mainly over land, getting Spain on eight frequencies is unprecedented. Again, with this opening I had several first time catches.

So this was Band II tropo opening number six in a series of very good to best ever openings over the last six weeks (I missed number five last week). On average one big event per week! I do not know what is causing this, but if it is global warming then I am a fan of global warming from now on. And we will be seeing more of these intense events.

These are for FMLIST: the Euskadi Irratia transmitter on 87.7 MHz must be radiating the licensed 2 kW. I can't believe it has only the 400 Watts as per FMLIST E. The France Bleu transmitter from Limoges must be with h-pol or mixed pol. Otherwise I would not have received the station on my horizontal antenna.

Best regards,
Janpeter van Dijk, Zoetermeer, The Netherlands.

Sunday 15 November 2015
Band II Tropospheric Loggings:
MHz UTC ITU Program + Location Details km
87.70 2242 E Euskadi Irratia, Azkoitia (PVA-SS) 1116km

88.10 0005 F France Inter, Autun/Bois du Roi (71) 565km *)
88.20 2245 F France Culture, Ussel-Meymac/Mont Bessou (19) 743km
88.30 2159 F France Culture, Laval/Mont Rochard (53) 550km
88.50 1746 G BBC Radio 2, Rowridge (EN-IOW) 435km
88.50 2010 F France Culture, Bourges/Neuvy (18) PI: F202 PS: _CULTURE 548km

89.00 2033 F France Culture, Le Mans/Mayet (72) 564km
89.50 2059 F France Culture, Auxerre/Molesmes (89) 502km
89.70 1747 F France Musique, Chartres/Montlandon (28) 477km
89.70 2248 F France Inter, Bordeaux/Bouliac (33) 886km
89.80 1946 F France Culture, Argenton-sur-Creuse/Malicornay (36) 645km
89.90 2210 F France Musique, Rennes/Saint-Pern (35) 622km

90.40 2312 F France Inter, Clermont-Ferrand/Puy-de-Dôme (63) 709km
90.80 2129 F France Musique, Guéret/Signal du Maupuy (23) 685km
90.90 2205 E EITB Musika, Jaizkibel (PVA-SS) 1079km

91.10 2056 F France Musique, Niort/Maisonnay (79) 732km
91.40 2023 F France Musique, Troyes/les Riceys (10) 455km
91.50 1751 F France Culture, Caen/Mont Pinçon (14) PI: F202 PS: _CULTURE 499km
91.70 2251 E Radio Euskadi, Bilbao=Bilbo/Ganeta (PVA-BI) 1130km
91.80 0034 F France Musique, Bourges/Neuvy (18) 548km *)

92.00 1758 F France Musique, Rouen/Grand-Couronne (76) 390km
92.10 1815 F France Musique, Laval/Mont Rochard (53) 550km
92.70 1753 F France Inter, Neufchâtel-en-Bray/Croixdalle (76) 335km
92.80 2037 F France Musique, Auxerre/Molesmes (89) 502km

93.00 1744 F France Inter, Alençon/Mont d'Amain (61) 479km
93.00 2025 E RNE Radio Clásica, Liérganes/Peña Cabarga (CNT-S) 1146km
93.30 2352 F France Musique, Chaumont-Langres/Chalindrey (52) 479km
93.50 1952 F France Bleu Berry, Argenton-sur-Creuse/Malicornay (36) 645km
93.50 0031 F France Inter, Rennes/Saint-Pern (35) 622km *)
93.80 1754 F France Inter, Parthenay/les Chateliers (79) 686km
93.80 2133 F France Musique, Sens/Gisy-les-Nobles (89) 427km

94.00 2000 F France Culture, Rouen/Grand-Couronne (76) PI: F202 PS: _CULTURE 390km
94.00 2354 F France Musique, Vittel/Thuillières (88) 448km
94.40 2204 E Euskadi Irratia, Jaizkibel (PVA-SS) 1079km
94.60 1748 F France Inter, Chartres/Montlandon (28) 477km
94.90 2011 F France Inter, Bourges/Neuvy (18) PI: F201 PS: __INTER_ 548km

95.30 1957 F France Inter, Troyes/les Riceys (10) 455km
95.50 2304 F France Musique, Clermont-Ferrand/Puy-de-Dôme (63) 709km

96.00 1800 F France Culture, Neufchâtel-en-Bray/Croixdalle (76) 335km
96.00 0036 F France Inter, Ussel-Meymac/Mont Bessou (19) 743km *)
96.40 2140 F France Culture, Niort/Maisonnay (79) PI: F202 PS: _CULTURE 732km
96.50 1958 F France Inter, Rouen/Grand-Couronne (76) 390km
96.90 2025 E RNE Radio Nacional, Liérganes/Peña Cabarga (CNT-S) 1146km

97.00 2032 F France Musique, Le Mans/Mayet (72) PI: F203 PS: MUSIQUE_ 564km
97.20 1949 F France Musique, Argenton-sur-Creuse/Malicornay (36) 645km
97.40 2306 F France Musique, Angers/Rochefort-sur-Loire (49) 643km
97.90 1819 F France Culture, Troyes/les Riceys (10) 455km

98.10 1749 F France Culture, Chartres/Montlandon (28) 477km
98.30 1741 F France Culture, Rennes/Saint-Pern (35) 622km
98.40 2357 F France Culture, Clermont-Ferrand/Puy-de-Dôme (63) 709km
98.50 1755 F France Musique, Parthenay/les Chateliers (79) 686km
98.50 2133 F France Culture, Sens/Gisy-les-Nobles (89) 427km
98.80 2130 F France Culture, Guéret/Signal du Maupuy (23) 685km

99.20 2003 F France Inter, Orléans/Traînou (45) 487km
99.50 2036 F France Inter, Auxerre/Molesmes (89) 502km
99.90 1806 F France Inter, Tours/Chissay [41] (37) 576km

100.00 1807 G Classic FM, North Hessary Tor (EN-DVN) 614km
100.50 2257 F France Bleu Gascogne, Bayonne/la Rhune (64) 1076km
100.90 2007 F France Bleu Orléans, Orléans/Traînou (45) 487km

101.30 2042 F France Bleu Auxerre, Auxerre/Molesmes (89) 502km
101.60 2229 F France Bleu Haute Normandie, Neufchâtel-en-Bray/Croixdalle (76) 335km
101.90 1948 F France Inter, Argenton-sur-Creuse/Malicornay (36) 645km

102.00 2139 F Sud Radio, Pic du Midi (65) 1066km
102.50 2311 F France Bleu Pays d'Auvergne, Clermont-Ferrand/Puy-de-Dôme (63) 709km
102.90 2047 E RNE Radio 3, Liérganes/Peña Cabarga (CNT-S) 1146km

103.50 0001 F France Bleu Limousin, Limoges/les Cars (87) 755km *)
103.90 2234 F Sud Radio, Bayonne/la Rhune (64) 1076km

104.30 2013 F RTL, Paris/Tour Eiffel (75) 390km

105.00 2013 F France Bleu Touraine, Tours/Chissay [41] (37) 576km
105.00 2047 E RNE Radio 5 Todo Noticias, Liérganes/Peña Cabarga (CNT-S) 1146km
105.50 0015 F France Info, Clermont-Ferrand/Puy-de-Dôme (63) 709km *)

*) Received early on 16 November.

Equipment:
3 element Channel E3 Yagi (H), height 10 meter above ground level = 6 meter asl
RTL Dongle for OIRT
SDR Console (V2)
FM15.11 (H), height 11 meter above ground level = 7 meter asl
5 element Yagi (V), height 11 meter above ground level = 7 meter asl
Sony XDR-F1HD for Band II and OIRT
GTK Interface by Konrad