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Dear fellow DX-ers, Last night (early UTC morning Jan 23.) was one with sharply rising geomagnetic activity. So, normal wisdom predicts one should not have high hopes of getting much TA DX on mediumwave from NE of USA. However also in the past I found that such nights sometimes may carry pleasant surprises. Tonight was one of these occasions : In the period 0230 - 0315 I heard several US MW stations at good level, but only in the high range of theMW band (over 1200 kHz). Not only most regular WNRB (1510) and WTOP (1500), but also the X band gave signals on nearly each channnel. I positively identified WHKT (1650) and WWRU (1660). Further I had weak signals on 1620 (WPHG ?), 1630 (KCJJ ?), 1690 (WMDM ?) and 1700 (WAFN ?). Too much to ID. Moreover, I heard a US station on 1380 kHz at surprisingly good level (recording available). Based on a local ad from NC, I presume this was WTOB (Winston Salem, NC) - only NC station listed here. I did not get a true ID. Around 0300 also some traces of LA stations on 1380 and 1390, as well as a mixture of two (unid) US stations on 1470 kHz All this is surprising, as I normally have great difficulty in receiving US stations on AM at my location (SW Germany). It was striking that the good conditions disappeared more or less abruptly after 0315. This suggests that in unstable geomagnetic conditions short unexpected openings may be present, that do not follow the normal patterns. Does anyone else have similar experiences, both in Europe or in USA ? 73's Aart Rouw Bühl, Germany AR7030 + 15m longwire. |