from Bruce Conti MAINE DXPEDITION REPORT Two extremely different nights of DX were experienced over the Columbus Day weekend while camping in Maine. Saturday night OCT 9-10 featured transatlantic DX, with mostly the usual stations from Spain, and a promising early sunset appearance of Norway on 1314 that quickly disappeared with the sun. The typical sunrise boost of Caribbean and Latin American signals never really materialized with the exception of a few Cuban stations. The next night, OCT 10-11, was somewhat auroral with lackluster TAs and strong Latin American signals. However instead of getting stronger, southern signals seemed to weaken into the morning, leaving Canadian signals in the clear such as CHNC Radiomedia on 610, and the CBC stations on 540, 640, 750 and 1070. The absence of Mexico in the early morning hours perhaps better indicated the abnormal conditions. If I had known that conditions were going to deteriorate, then I would've listened during European sunrise for potential openings to France and West Africa instead of catching a couple hours of rest before American sunrise. Brazil was essentially a no show, the only real disappointment of the weekend. Albania loggings are listed as tentative, only because one abruptly left the air without any announcements, and I didn't have the patience to stick around for an ID on the other. Catching 100-watt AFN Azores on 1503 at sunset was a nice surprise. Puerto Rico on 840 was a new one for me. Loco the DX Cat slept through most of the action, preferring to chase chipmunks and birds during the day rather than chasing radio stations all night. His only DX interest was in tangling the fishing line, rope, and antenna wires during installation. Transatlantic DX 639 SPAIN RNE synchros OCT 9 2240 - Fair; telephone talk in Spanish // 684. [Conti-ME] 675 NETHERLANDS Lopik OCT 9 2245 - Oldies music weak through buzzing noise (jammer?). [Conti-ME] 693.7 AZORES RDP Santa Barbara OCT 9 2255 - Good; music and low frequency het against 690. [Conti-ME] 765 SWITZERLAND RSR Sottens OCT 9 2310 - Good; uninterrupted light French vocals. [Conti-ME] 774 SPAIN RNE synchros OCT 9 2315 - Fair; talk // 684. [Conti-ME] 836 AZORES RDP Pico da Barrosa OCT 9 2335 - Good; music // 693.7, het against 837. [Conti-ME] 846 ITALY RAI Rome OCT 10 0020 - Good; emotional Italian vocals // 6060. [Conti-ME] 855 SPAIN RNE synchros OCT 9 2345 - Good; talk // 684. [Conti-ME] 864 EGYPT ERTU Santah OCT 9 2350 - Good; Koranic recitations. [Conti-ME] 891 ALGERIA Alger OCT 9 2355 - Excellent with huge signal but weak audio; instrumental music. [Conti-ME] 936 SPAIN RNE synchros OCT 10 0025 - Fair; nostalgic instrumental // 855. [Conti-ME] 954 SPAIN R.Espana, Madrid OCT 10 0030 - Good; in-studio discussion in Spanish. [Conti-ME] 1017 GERMANY SWR Wolfsheim OCT 10 0050 - Good; pop music and woman in German, over presumed Turkey with Middle Eastern music. [Conti-ME] 1053 ENGLAND Talk Radio synchros OCT 10 0125 - Good; "Good morning..." and talk about train accident. [Conti-ME] 1098 SLOVAKIA Slovensko 1, Nitra OCT 10 0140 - Fair; music over RNE-Spain. [Conti-ME] 1107 SPAIN RNE synchros OCT 10 0145 - Fair; talk with synchro echo over an unID station. [Conti-ME] 1134 CROATIA HRT Zadar OCT 10 0150 - Good; Slavic rock music. [Conti-ME] 1143 SPAIN COPE synchros OCT 10 0155 - Fair; woman in Spanish with synchro echo, over an unID station. [Conti-ME] 1215 ENGLAND Virgin Radio synchros OCT 10 0210 - Fair; "This is Virgin... good morning!" and rock music, well over Spain. [Conti-ME] 1251 LIBYA Tripoli OCT 10 0225 - Fair; man and woman in Arabic, and music // 15415. [Conti-ME] 1296 SPAIN COPE synchros OCT 10 0245 - Good; telephone talk // 1143, no sign of Sudan through 0300. [Conti-ME] 1314 NORWAY NRK Kvitsoy OCT 9 2145 - Good; country/folk music, signal gone an hour later. [Conti-ME] 1386 unID OCT 10 0315 - Fair; choral chants, similar to popular Gregorian chants. [Conti-ME] 1395 ALBANIA RTV Flakke OCT 10 0410 - Tentative; uninterrupted upbeat jazz/R&B music. [Conti-ME] 1458 ALBANIA R.Tirana/TWR, Flakke OCT 10 0325 - Tentative; light vocal by a woman, signal was cut before the end of the song at 0330. [Conti-ME] 1503 AZORES AFN Lajes OCT 10 2220 - Good; Denver Broncos vs. Oakland Raiders NFL football game in English. [Conti-ME] 1521 SAUDI ARABIA BSKSA Duba OCT 10 0340 - Good; man in Arabic. [Conti-ME] 1530 VATICAN R.Vaticana OCT 10 0345 - Fair; interval signal and talk, was // 4005 before 0345 IS. [Conti-ME] 1548 KUWAIT VOA Kuwait City OCT 9 2210 - Fair; news report about Clinton support of nuclear weapons treaty, over an unID music station. [Conti-ME] Pan American DX 530 TURKS & CAICOS RVC South Caicos OCT 10 2210 - Dominant sunset to sunrise; religion in Spanish over CIAO. [Conti-ME] 550 CUBA R.Rebelde OCT 10 1005 - Fair; nostalgic vocal // 670. [Conti-ME] 550 VENEZUELA YVKS Mundial, Caracas OCT 11 0245 - Fair; ID and salsa under R.Rebelde-Cuba. [Conti-ME] 555 ST. KITTS ZIZ Basseterre OCT 11 0250 - Good; easy listening music. Other Caribbean splits were also good in pass-bys but not logged. [Conti-ME] 560 CUBA R.Rebelde OCT 10 1008 - Parallel 550 and 670, under WGAN. [Conti-ME] 580 PUERTO RICO WKAQ R.Reloj, San Juan OCT 11 0300 - Good; "WKAQ Radio Reloj, la hora las once," Sears ad, and news. [Conti-ME] 630 PUERTO RICO WSKN Super Kadena, San Juan OCT 10 0935 - Fair; Impacto promo with zip+4 address in Spanish, "...San Juan, Puerto Rico 00936-3634," in WPRO null. [Conti-ME] 650 DOMINICAN REPUBLIC R.Universal, Sto Domingo OCT 11 0220 - Good; Universal jingle, merengue music, over Colombia. [Conti-ME] 660 COLOMBIA R.Autentica, Cali OCT 11 0202 - Fair; "Estereo Cristiana presenta..." religion with many Colombia mentions. [Conti-ME] 660 ST. LUCIA R.St.Lucia, Babonneau OCT 11 0205 - Fair; "We hope that you have enjoyed listening to Radio St. Lucia..." sign-off announcement and anthem, under/over Colombia. [Conti-ME] 670 CUBA R.Rebelde, Arroyo Arenas OCT 10 0945 - Fair; nostalgic vocal // 5025. [Conti-ME] 670 VENEZUELA R.Rumbos, Caracas OCT 11 0200 - Good; NotiRumbos promo, salsa music. [Conti-ME] 680 PUERTO RICO WAPA San Juan OCT 11 0140 - Good; in-studio discussion in Spanish about human rights, in WRKO null. [Conti-ME] 690 ANGUILLA Caribbean Beacon, The Valley OCT 9 2250 - Good; Dr. Gene Scott preaching from Genesis. + OCT 10 2150 - Good; het noted on low side. [Conti-ME] 690 CUBA R.Progreso, Jovellanos OCT 10 1000 - Good; R.Reloj cut off for start of Progreso programming with anthem and "Radio Progreso, cadena nacional" ID, // 640, over Anguilla. [Conti-ME] 690 VENEZUELA Barquisimeto 690, Barquisimeto OCT 11 0135 - Good; "...de servicio, Barquisimeto Seis Noventa" and romantic vocals. [Conti-ME] 700 BRAZIL R.Eldorado AM, Sao Paulo OCT 10 2230 - Tentative; assumed this with a woman in Portuguese, quickly lost to Venezuela. Conditions simply weren't supporting reception of Brazil during what is typically prime time for hearing South America's largest country. [Conti-ME] 700 VENEZUELA R.Sur, Puerto Ordaz OCT 10 2245 - Good; "...de Radio Sur sietecientos, diferente" ID, Latino pop music. [Conti-ME] 720 VENEZUELA R.Oriente, Porlamar OCT 11 0130 - Good; speech about Venezuela economy and education, no sign of CHTN. [Conti-ME] 740 PUERTO RICO WIAC R.Puerto Rico, San Juan OCT 11 0110 - Fair; Radio Puerto Rico IDs and telephone talk in Spanish. [Conti-ME] 740 unID OCT 11 0835 - Fair; IDs as "Siete Cuatro Cero AM" and Latino pop music. [Conti-ME] 750 VENEZUELA RCR Caracas OCT 9 2300 - RCR promo and Vivancia Natural program, good after WAAT sign-off. [Conti-ME] 760 COLOMBIA RCN Barranquilla OCT 11 0105 - Good; "Colombia Argentina en directo por RCN" promo. [Conti-ME] 780 VENEZUELA R.Coro, Coro OCT 9 2330 - Good; "Coro estereo, Coro AM" jingle ID, Latino pop music. [Conti-ME] 840 PUERTO RICO WXEW R.Victoria, Yabucoa OCT 9 2340 - Good; Radio Victoria ID and jingle, Latino pop/tropical music including hit by Radio Pirata. [Conti-ME] 860 DOMINICAN REPUBLIC R.Clarin, Sto Domingo OCT 11 0020 - Fair; romantic vocals and ID in R.Enlace-Venezuela null. [Conti-ME] 860 VENEZUELA R.Enlace 860, Valle de la Pascua OCT 11 0015 - Good; "Musicales 860" nostalgia program, UTC-4 time checks. [Conti-ME] 940 PUERTO RICO WIPR San Juan OCT 10 0010 - Good; radio drama in Spanish. [Conti-ME] 1020 TURKS & CAICOS CCR Grand Turk OCT 10 2310 - Good; religion in Spanish over KDKA. [Conti-ME] 1080 VENEZUELA R.Barcelona, Barcelona OCT 10 0135 - Poor; ID and pop music under WTIC. [Conti-ME] 1320 unID OCT 11 0700 - Fair; romantic ballads, repeated jingles that didn't even come close phonetically to anything in WRTH, listened past 0800 when CKEC became too strong. Maybe domestic; Hollywood, Florida? [Conti-ME] Bruce Conti, Camden ME; R8A, MWDX-5, 75-m wire sloping southeast, unterminated 15-m triangular loop aimed east-west, ICE matching xfmrs, DieHard deep cycle marine gel cell.