Auds'n'Ends: 2/7/14

Henry hoped the homeowner's association wouldn't notice his new inverted L

* With so much snow in various parts of North America this year, remember to turn on the radio when the storm is pounding down snow or ice. Some station might decide to either broadcast from a snowbound area or to potential listeners who are home from school or work. I didn't think about the possibilities earlier this week and missed a few broadcasts.

* I received a few QSLs recently from WHYP, The Crystal Ship, Channel Z, Frederic Chopin Radio, etc. If I write on the blog more often, I should have some more illustrations to keep things happening.

* Kilokat7 wrote an excellent in-depth account of WJDI, a station that, for the days it was on the air, had possibly the best signal of any medium wave station in North America. Even in '89, when the power was "down around a kilowatt," it could be heard across much of the eastern half of North America. Between the tremendous power of 10+ kW and the better propagation of 1620 kHz (as opposed to the low end of the band), WJDI had tremendous coverage in its later broadcasts.

* I guess the propagation on the high bands has been poor lately. I've had the R-5000 sitting on 27700 kHz for most of the week, but I've only had bits of a few SSTV images decoding. Nothing in the images were identifiable and no callsigns were visible.

* Don't forget about the Radio Free Whatever t-shirt sale. Whether you're at the Olympics in Sochi or talking to the president of your homeowner's association about your new inverted L antenna, they're sure to make an impression.

* Time for another song about radio: REM "Radio Song"

* Here's news from a private operation that leases time on licensed stations: Atlantic 2000 will be on the air this Sunday 9th of February from 09:00 to 10:00 UTC (10:00 to 11:00 CET) on 7310 and 9480 kHz. The programme will be streaming at the same time on our website. http://radioatlantic2000.free.fr