[HCDX] the latest Pan-American mediumwave DX logs (perhaps forever, as the IBOC nightmare is destroying our hobby !)

[aurel chiochiu <acq@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Repport from:
Bogdan Alexandru Chiochiu in Pierrefonds / Montreal's West Island, QC
Equipment: Sanyo MCD-S830 w/ it's internal ferrite bar antenna

530 TURKS & CAICOS   RVC, South Caicos SEP 16 0153 - w/ promo for NYC area churches. Strong. I don't recall if Cuba was underneath, as I didn't tape this listening session. (Chiochiu-QC)

600 CUBA   CMKV, Radio Rebelde, Urbano Norris SEP 16 0418 - talk about Cuban reggaetón followed by a Cuban reggetón track, inside the "Solo Música" pgm. Very strong, over/under WICC Bridgeport co-channel QRM. (Chiochiu-QC)

670 CUBA   CMBA, Radio Rebelde, Arroyo Arrenas SEP 16 0427 - briefly atop for about 1 or 2 minutes w/ "Solo Música" px over the AWFUL (!) WFAN IBOC hash. Unfortunatly, nulling out WFAN-660 also nulls out Cuba-670, so what's the point in DX'ing anymore in a abnd such badly organised with the IBOC bandwith restricted to as much as 10 kHz inside of 5 kHz (which was rejected by the Ibiquity's headquarters due to a money-loose issue). (Chiochiu-QC)

750 VENEZUELA   YVKS, Radio Caracas Radio, Caracas, DF SEP 17 0052 - spots for the "fútbol" (soccer) coverage of the station followed by complete station ID. Fair reception. The only South American noted that week-end, as HJAJ-760 and YVNM-780 (the 2 other most regularly noted ones) were both severely hammered off by the AWFUL (!) WABC IBOC hash. (Chiochiu-QC)

760 COLOMBIA   HJAJ, RCN Cadena Basíca, Barranquilla SEP 17 0254 - Pres. w/ bits of guitar-dominated Spanish music (perphaps bolero) barely that I could barely distinguish through the awful WABC-770 hash. RCN carry since a couple of months (around 1 year) the "Domingo Bolero" px on Sunday evenings, so it might have been them. (Chiochiu-QC)

770 CUBA   Radio Rebelde SEP 17 0018 - Spanish discussion beneath WABC // 600 and 5025. Seems like the sidebands support a noise harder to stand out than the right-on-channel QRM of the WABC "pest". (Chiochiu-QC)

780 VENEZUELA   YVNM, Radio Coro, Coro, Falcón SEP 17 0417 - Tentative - trompet dominated Latin music completly jammed by the WABC-770 hash. While I can null out CFDR and WBBM which are perpendicular to Venezuela, I cannot do the same for the WABC pest. It's a shame the Ibiquity's owners, concerned by their OWN money, didn't wnat to know about compressing the bandwith out to 5 kHz instead of 10 kHz on each side of the channel (in this case, WABC-770). With this stupid money issue in my head, I'm more frustrated than rewarded by trying to reactivate again. DXing for me was never much of a domestic (aka North American) nature. For me, it was the magic of pulling out 1 day out of 2 goodies such as Radio Coro 780 and picking up TAs such as Spain-585 that did it for me !!!! Now it's gone... (Chiochiu-QC)

1180 CUBA   CMBA, Radio Rebelde (La Sensacional 96.7 / Música Viva), Villa Maria SEP 16 0352 - Reggaetón as well as Dance-oriented Spanish CHR mx slightly under rather strong remnants of residual WHAM Rochester. Thansfully, WLIB-1190 not on IBOC yet, or it would have killed that ! (Chiochiu-QC)


Well that's it !!! I was very busy with pedagogical-related and academical-concerned work, looking for a sensitive and passionated girl (as well as for Aventure FM airchecks) and other such things, but I did manage to send my last logs...

All in all, if DX'ing is dead, it may not be that bad (personally speaking)... Before I discovered DXing and learned Spanish at school, I was hooked on a tape recorded in 1988 by someone in Paris who runned away from the communism. The station was called Aventure FM and was runned during 2 years by the French Army, along with Bayard Presse, Scouts de France and La Guilde Européenne du Raid. I discovered many airchecks of 80s French radio, but noone of them captured my heart as much as Aventure did, for several reasons: the endlessly harmonic and atmospheric jingle package of the station ("écoute sur écoute sur Aventure FM" / "listen after listen over Adventure FM" is the best melodic liner to ever came up from a radio station WORLDWIDE !!!!), the highly eclectic, yet cohesive musical mix, the revolutionary discussions carried over it's airwaves during a musical break (anthropology, acomoclitism, how to washing your military clothes to the rhythm of the music and how to feel identify yourself to the kaki clothes when you fight against your ennemy, as only the soldiers are wearing them - how to feel the love you have for your military clothes while washing them...-> all this was hugely astonishing when I relistened to the tape back in 1998 a few months after I came to Canada (with a one-night stay in Paris prior to the 2nd and last Air France flight), as I came to forget it (I listened to it a couple of times during my childhood, but it was HERE in Montreal, that I came to really understand and appreciate it to it's real value). Unfortunatly, I became quite hyperactive after the first ROR and DPT shouts and, without paying much attention, I came to accidently delet ALL OF IT !!!!!

So my project is to actually investigate over all of the French messageboard in order to come up with airchecks or jingles of AVENTURE FM...

To get further, I'd also like to make it relive again, maybe as a webradio...

Other than French stuff (especially Aventure FM), I'm still into WORLD MUSIC, underground Dace Music and even Viking/Black Metal.
 
I switched to a new college (where the persons are more open-minded, both musically, emotionally and intellectually) in order to study languages (as I'm almost fluent in both English and Spanish like most of you already know). Here I'm DOING a show at the college station... Right now, I'm into a project of travelling the World among the French-speaking countries of Europe, Africa, North America (Quebec) and the West Indies (there is a lil' amount of French content to be respected)... Between the songs, I usually throw in 1 or 2 philosophical comment about the lyrics of the song previously played or just regarding the artist itself and I must say I LOVE IT, since I'm very expressive and I LOVE RADIO...

As far as DXing is concerned, you never know how this awful IBOC issue might end; if it ends I expect to come-back, but, otherwise, what's the point of DXing, since what fascinated me was to push the boundaries and to get in touch with distant cultures ? Well, when you are fascinated by being able to pick up 1 time out of 2 signals such as Radio Coro 780 or simply of picking up something entertaining on mediumwave and this fascination is destroyed by money-making jamming, well, you aren't hooked on mediumwave anymore. What are you thinking about my point of view ?

Theoretically speaking, as must of you saw, I'm on-an-off, but when I'm into DXing, I'm really into it.

As to end this discussion, there still is SHORTWAVE RADIO and even DRM (wherever it will became affordable), since it appears that DRM is way much less disturbed by adjacent channel QRM than IBOC is...

Even there, the demise of domestic shortwave broadcasters is incredible !!!!! There are no more YVs on SW, only a handful of HJs (although those handful of HJs are interesting catches DX-wise - I was really hooked by the warm growl that accompanied the LA VOZ DE TU CONCIENCIA reception on SW-6010 !!!) and almost-only the state-owned Africans (the private-owned ones are restricted to FM for political reasons) along with the demise of major international services toward North America, but there are plenty of intriguing weak SW signals in India, China, Gabon (Africa Numéro Un - an interesting challenge, although EXTREMELY regular it is fairly challenging to listen to with the multipath distortion that come with)...

As I wrote this, some of the interest did pick up again.

Well, concerning SHORTWAVE, our 20-meters long-wire was harmed by an early-spring winter storm, but we may put it back in a week or so, when I have a school break for 1 week at my brand new college (college, not high school) !!!

That being said, the AVENTURE musical programming consisted of 35% alternative rock (metal / punk / indie rock), 35% Dance Music (British Acid House, Chicago's House, Detroit's Techno, Electronica, Francodance) and 30% variated stuff (zouk, raï, French variety, WORLD, Afropop, Reggae, etc.), so enjoying world music is trying to understand a tiny part of the Aventure FM's musical concept. Part of the devise of that station was also to bypass the boundaries, to look further that most people are looking, a commun value to both the army and the adventure and appreciating other cultures is an efficient way of looking further than most people are looking -> an efficient way of devoting to the life as a whole... 

As I said, depening on my academical schedule, I may devote some time to SHORTWAVE DXing or I may not. However, I think I can start calling myself an "inactive mediumwave DXer". What are you thinking about my decision ?

May the good DX be with all of you !
Bogdan Chiochiu in Pierrefonds/Montreal, QC
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"écoute sur écoute sur Aventure FM !"
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