Corné

Comments

The last couple of days I have made several sweeps of weak stations to 'see' what's out there. Yesterday evening at about 20.00 local time (GMT+2) I started a MW sweep from top to bottom. Using all the information that I gathered at the pervious sweeps I was able to identify a lot of stations in a relative short time (about 2 1/2 hours). Distance record so far 3668 km (2279 miles) BSKSA General Arabic, 2MW on 1521kHz from Duba in Saudi Arabia.

One of the challenges is all the different languages. Languages heard so far:
Dutch
German
English
Russian
French
Spanish
Portuguese
Italian
Turkish
Greek
Swedish
Chinese (CRI Luxembourg)
Slavic (Czech ,Croatia, Bulgaria, ...)
Arabian (Tunisia, Algeria, Saudi Arabia)
Hindi (Sunrise Radio in Great Britain)

Corne













Full Size Schematic

The radio has a width of 190mm (7.5 inch) and the depth is 161mm (6.3 inch). The antenna coil is made from 50x0.071mm Litze wire and has a diameter of 80mm (3.15 inch). Because I didn't have a suitable fine tuning capacitor I made one myself from a small 2x6-selector switch with a plastic cover. I removed the contacts and replaced them with two brass plates. I can't measure the capacity but I suspect the maximum is in the 5pF to 10pF range.

The metal can behind the right 49 contains both inter stage and output transformers and the 0.22uF capacitor and one 1M resistor. The resistor and capacitor make the 1:2 ratio inter stage transformer behave like a 1:3 transformer. For convenience I've mounted the 9V B+ battery under the chassis.

Controls:
Top left to right:
* Headphone jack
* fine tune
* main tuning using 4:1 reduction
* regeneration control


Bottom left to right
* audio gain select 20dB, 26dB, 14dB only works in 2AD mode
* 1AD/2AD switch
* Low frequency switch (added later, seen in top picture)
* on/off switch
* 9kHz filter select switch

The fine tuning works really well. Zero beating a carrier is easy and tuning for SSB works fine too. 



Location: Eindhoven The Netherlands


Note:
* If a 'D' follows the frequency (1611D) it's a digital transmission which sounds like very strong white noise.

                          Transmitter information from FMSCAN.ORG
         time  freq  country abbreviation + station + Pdir + Tpwr + distance
7/27/08  GMT+2  
001      18:12  549  D   Deutschlandfunk Nordkirchen Münsterstr. 34 Piekenbrock 16d 100 147km
002      18:14  621  BEL RTBF La Première Wavre - 300 99km
003      18:17  648  G   BBC World Service Orfordness 1990d 500 277km
004      18:20  603  F   France Info Lyon/Tramoyes - 300 621km
005      18:21  675  HOL Radio Maria Lopik - 100 68km
006      18:22  711  F   France Info Rennes/Thourie - 300 640km
007      18:23  720  D   WDR 2 Langenberg (Velbert) Rommelsweg - 63.5 116km
008      18:26  747  HOL Radio 747AM/Radio 1 Zeewolde (Flevoland) - 400 103km
009      18:28  828  HOL CAZ! Heinenoord - 20 79km
010      18:30  891  HOL Radio 538 Hulsberg/Emmaberg - 20 69km 
011      18:35  927  BEL VRT Radio 1 Wolvertem - 300 97km
012      18:36 1008  HOL GrootNieuws Radio Zeewolde (Flevoland) - 200 103km 
013      18:45 1233  BEL RTBF Pure FM Liège/Rocourt 5d 5 88km 
014      18:47 1251  HOL Radio 747AM/Radio 1 Hulsberg/Emmaberg - 10 69km 
7/29/08
015      20:25 1611D CVA Vatican Radio Santa Maria di Galeria - 25 1169km 
016      20:29 1602  HOL Radio Seagull Leeuwarden - 1 201km 
017      20:30 1593D D   WDR 2 Klassik Langenberg (Velbert) Richard-Tormin-Str.3 Hordt - 10 116km 
018      20:31 1575  D   Voice of Russia (AM)/Oldie Star (AM/DRM) Burg/Brehm - 250 452km 
019      20:36 1575  F   Radio Nouveaux Talents Meudon/Tour Hertzienne - 5 375km 
020      20:39 1566  G   BBC Radio Bristol & Somerset Sound Taunton - 0.63 597km 
021      20:43 1557  G   Gold (network)  
022      20:40 1557  F   France Info Nice/Fontbonne - 150 866km  
023      20:46 1548  MDA TWR/Voice of Russia/China Radio Int. Grigoriopol/Maiac 300d 150 1787km
024      20:46 1539  D   Evangeliumsrundfunk Mainflingen/Mainhausen Steinweg - 700 295km
025      20:48 1530  CVA Vatican Radio Santa Maria di Galeria - 600 1168km  
026      20:52 1521  ARS BSKSA General Arabic/Call of Islam Duba 2000d 2000 3668km
027      20:54 1494  F   France Info (network) 
028      20:56 1494  F   France Bleu/Radio Corsa Frequenza Mora Bastia/Serra di Pigno - 20 1018km 
029      20:58 1485  E   SER (network)
030      21:00 1476  AUT Radio Austria Int./Radio 1476/Radio Afrika Int'l Wien-Bisamberg - 60 856km 
031      21:01 1467  F   Trans World Radio/Vatican Radio Roumoules (3AM4) 1000d 1000 853km
032      21:02 1458  G   Sunrise Radio Brookmans Park/4 wire T aerial 250d 125 391km 
033      21:03 1449  I   RAI Radio1 (network)  
034      21:03 1440  LUX RTL Radio / China Radio International Marnach 480d 1200 162km 
035      21:04 1431  D   Voice of Russia Dresden-Wilsdruff/Birkenhainer Höhe - 250 561km
036      21:05 1422  D   Deutschlandfunk Heusweiler/Am Sender-Nähe Schwimmbad 950d 600 256km  
037      21:07 1413  E   RNE R.5 (network) 
038      21:08 1404  F   France Info (network)
039      21:09 1395  HOL Radio London (Big L) Lelystad/Trintelhaven - 30 132km
040      21:11 1395  ALB Radio Tirana/Voice of America/Trans World Radio/China Radio Int'l Fllakë - 500 1550km 
041      21:14 1386  RUS Voice of Russia/Russian Int Radio/Universelles Leben Bolshakovo - 1200 1145km  
042      21:15 1359  G   BBC Radio Solent Fern Barrow - 0.85 521km 
043      21:18 1350  LVA Radio Tatras International Kuldiga - 50 1233km 
044      21:19 1341  HNG Magyar Katolikus Rádió 
045      21:21 1341  G   BBC Radio Ulster Lisnagarvey/Blaw-Knox mast - 100 841km  
046      21:23 1332  CZE Ceský rozhlas 2/6 Domamil (Moravske Budejovice) - 50 774km 
047      21:25 1323  D   Voice of Russia/Russian International Radio/Universelles Leben Wachenbrunn/Themar Rittersrain 250d 800 372km
048      21:26 1314  E   RNE R.5 (network) 
049      21:27 1305  BEL RTBF Pure FM Marche-en-Famenne 10d 10 140km  
050      21:28 1296D G   BBC World Service Orfordness 560d 70 277km 
051      21:29 1287  E   SER (network)
052      21:30 1278  F   France Bleu Strasbourg/Sélestat 240d 300 383km   
053      21:31 1269  D   Deutschlandfunk Neumünster/Ehndorf Ehndorfer Moor 300d 300 412km
054      21:34 1260  G   Gold (network) 
055      21:36 1260  E   SER (network)   
056      21:37 1242  G   Virgin (network)
057      21:39 1224  BUL BNR Horizont/R.Bulgaria/R.Free Europe Vidin/Gramada (RPS1) - 500 1533km 
058      21:41 1215  RUS Voice of Russia/Russian Int Radio Bolshakovo - 1200 1145km 
059      21:42 1215  G   Virgin 1215 (network)
060      21:43 1206  SRB Radio Majdanpek Majdanpek - 1 1451km   
061      21:44 1197  G   Virgin 1215 (network)
062      21:45 1188  D   MDR Info Reichenbach/Bandmachergasse 1 - 3 650km  
063      21:46 1179  S   Sveriges Radio 1/Radio Sweden Intl Sölvesborg/Björkenabben 600d 600 787km  
064      21:48 1170  BLR Belaruskaye Radio 1/Radio Minsk/Voice of Russia/local px Sasnovy 700d 700 1572km 
065      21:49 1161  E   Euskadi Irratia San Sebastián - 50 1063km 
066      21:50 1152  E   RNE R.5 (network)
067      21:52 1143  D   AFN Power Network Mönchengladbach-Pongs/Pongser Kamp - 1 72km  
068      21:54 1134  HRV HRT-HR 1/Voice of Croatia Zadar (Nin/Rasinovac) 1900d 600 1083km  
069      21:56 1116  HOL Radio Bloemendaal Bloemendaal - 0.5 121km 
070      21:57 1107  D   AFN Eagle Grafenwöhr/südl.Gartenstr. Lager Grafenwöhr - 10 494km  
071      21:58 1107  D   AFN Power Network Kaiserslautern/Otterbach-Sambach - 10 270km 
072      22:00 1089  G   TalkSPORT (network) 
073      22:02 1071  E   Euskadi Irratia Bilbao/Monte Artxanda - 40 1105km  
074      22:03 1062  CZE Country Radio Praha/Zbraslav - 20 648km  
075      22:04 1053  G   TalkSPORT (network)  
076      22:06 1044  E   SER (network)
077      22:08 1044  D   MDR Info Dresden-Wilsdruff/Birkenhainer Höhe - 20 561km  
078      22:15  990  E   SER (network) 
079      22:20  990  D   Deutschlandradio Berlin Berlin-Britz/Waldkraiburger Str. 8d 100 557km
080      22:23  972  UKR Ukrainske Radio 2 (R. Promin)/Russian International Radio Mykolayiv/Kopani 100d 500 1979km 
081      22:25  936  UKR Voice of Russia Lviv-Krasne 500d 1000 1314km 
082      22:28  891  ALG Chaîne 1 Ouled Fayet - 600 1650km 
083      22:30  846D I   RAI Radio1 Roma/Santa Palomba - 50 1211km 
084      22:31  828  D   NDR Info Hannover-Hemmingen/Berliner Str. - 20 309km
085      22:32  810  G   Radio Scotland (network) 
086      22:33  801  D   on3radio (network)
087      22:34  792  F   France Info Limoges/Nieul - 300 690km
088      22:37  783  D   MDR Info Leipzig-Wiederau (Pegau/Senderstraße) - 100 474km 
089      22:39  774  E   RNE R.1 (network)
090      22:43  765  SUI RSR Option Musique Sottens - 600 541km 
091      22:45  729  E   RNE R.1 (network) 
092      22:45  711  D   SWR Cont.Ra Ulm-Jungingen Senderweg 11 - 5 465km
093      22:48  702  MCO China Radio International Col de la Madone [F] 590d 200 864km   
094      22:50  693D I   RAI Radiodue Milano/Siziano - 25 734km 
095      22:52  693  D   Voice of Russia Zehlendorf (Oranienburg) Liebenwalder Str. - 60 561km
096      22:53  666  D   SWR Cont.Ra Rohrdorf Meßkirch Holzwiesen 150d 150 462km 
097      22:55  657  I   RAI Radio1 (network)  
098      22:58  639  CZE Ceský rozhlas 2/6 (network)  
099      23:05  630  TUN RTT Radio Nationale Tunis/Djedeida - 600 1663km  
100      23:07  621  E   RNE R.1 (network) 
101      23:11  612  BIH RTV Bosne i Hercegovine 1 Sarajevo - 600 1273km 
102      23:13  585  E   RNE R.1 Madrid/Majadahonda - 600 1414km  
7/30/08
103      18:03  531  SUI DRS1 Musigwälle 531 Beromünster - 160 511km
104      18:05  558  E   RNE R.5 (network)  
105      18:07  576  D   SWR Cont.Ra Mühlacker (Stuttgart) Senderstr. 70 Illinger Höhe 100d 100 369km
106      18:08  585  F   FIP Paris/Radio Urgence Paris/Romainville - 8 358km   
107      18:09  594  D   HR-Skyline (network) 
108      18:13  603  G   Gold Littlebourne - 0.1 300km
109      18:16  630  D   Voice of Russia Königslutter (Braunschweig) Scheppau Wohld - 200 373km 
110      18:20  693  G   BBC Radio 5 Live (network)
111      18:25  738  E   RNE R.1 Barcelona/Palau de Plegamans - 600 1128km 
112      18:27  756  D   Deutschlandfunk Königslutter (Braunschweig) Scheppau Wohld 200d 200 373km 
113      18:29  774  D   WDR 2 Bonn/Robert-Koch-Str. 41 - 5 141km 
114      18:31  792  D   NDR Info Lingen/Am Sender (Damaschke) - 5 177km  
115      18:34  819  F   Sud Radio Toulouse/Gauré 50d 20 917km  
116      18:35  837  F   France Info Nancy/Nomeny - 200 291km 
117      18:36  855D D   Deutschlandradio Berlin Berlin-Britz/Waldkraiburger Str. 50d 50 557km 
118      18:37  864  F   France Bleu Villebon-sur-Yvette - 300 385km
119      18:39  873  D   AFN Power Network Oberursel (Frankfurt) Am Weißkichener Berg 380d 150 262km  
120      18:42  882  G   BBC Radio Wales Washford 80d 100 613km 
121      18:50  900  I   RAI Radio1 Milano/Siziano 320d 200 734km 
122      18:52  909  G   BBC Radio 5 Live (network) 
123      18:55  918  SVN Radio Slovenija 1 Ljubljana/Domžale (Radio Cesta) - 300 891km 
124      18:57  945  F   France Info Toulouse/Muret - 300 942km 
125      18:59  972  D   NDR Info Hamburg/Unterer Landweg 93 100d 100 390km 
126      19:00  981  I   RAI Trst A Trieste/Monte Radio - 10 886km  
127      19:02 1017  D   SWR Cont.Ra Wolfsheim/Mainzer Str. - 100 252km 
128      22:20 1116  RUS Radio Rossii / GTRK Yantar Bolshakovo 150d 75 1145km
129      22:22 1125  BEL RTBF Vivacité Houdeng 10d 10 142km  
130      22:43 1359  G   Gold (network) 
131      22:44 1404  F   France Bleu/Radio Corsa Frequenza Mora Ajaccio - 20 1106km  
132      22:51 1026  E   SER (network)
133      22:54 1017  TUR TRT 1 Mudanya (Istanbul) - 1200 2165km 
7/31/08
134      21:05  954  CZE Ceský rozhlas 2/6 (network)
135      21:10 1512  GRC ERA Net/ERA 2/ERA Sport Chania - 50 2310km 
136      21:23 1548  G   Gold London/Saffron Green 120d 97.5 395km   
137      21:27 1377  F   France Info Lille/Camphin-en-Carembault 1190d 300 202km  
138      21:32 1125  G   BBC Radio Wales Llandrindod Wells - 1 614km 
139      21:37  999  I   RAI Radio1 (network)
140      21:38  981  ALG Chaîne 2 Ouled Fayet - 600 1650km 
141      21:42  963  FIN WYFR Family Radio (Tests) Pori - 600 1482km  
142      21:47  945  G   Gold (network) 
143      21:50  540  HNG Kossuth Radio Solt - 2000 1110km 
144      22:00  810  MKD Radio Skopje 1/FS/DW Ovehje Polje - 1200 1646km 
145      22:02  819  I   RAI Radio1 Trieste/Monte Radio - 10 886km 
146      22:07  963  G   Club Asia East London/Lea Bridge Road - 0.95 381km 
147      22:09  999  MDA BBC/DW/Voice of Russia/TWR Grigoriopol/Maiac 1090d 500 1787km 
148      22:13 1035  EST Tartu Family Radio Tartu - 100 1574km 
149      22:16 1062  I   RAI Radio1 (network)  
150      22:25 1161  G   BBC Southern Counties Radio Bexhill-on-Sea - 1 357km  
151      22:34 1170  G   Swansea Sound Winsh-wen (Swansea) - 0.58 649km 
152      22:38 1170  G   Magic 1170 AM Stockton - 0.32 571km 
153      22:40 1368  G   BBC Radio Lincolnshire Lincoln 4d 2 454km 
154      22:43 1395  POL Twoje Radio 6 Plus / Polskie Radio Lublin Radzyn Podlaski - 1 1183km  
155      22:47 1503  G   BBC Radio Stoke Stoke-on-Trent - 1 547km 
156      22:50 1521  G   Gold Duxhurst - 0.64 395km 
157      22:53 1584  G   BBC (network)  
158      22:57 1602  E   Euskadi Irratia Vitoria/Cerro Estíbaliz - 25 1132km  
8/01/08
159      20:38 1107  I   RAI Radio1 Roma/Monte Ciocci - 6 1212km  
160      20:58 1035  G   BBC Radio Sheffield/BBC Asian Network Sheffield - 1 516km
161      21:29 1512  IRN IRIB Sarasarye Ardabil - 50 3618km 
162      21:33 1521  E   SER Castellón/Ctra. Valencia - 10 1344km
163      21:39 1449  LBY Voice of Great Homeland Misurata 0.08d 20 2257km   
164      21:44 1413  SRB Radio Priatina 1 Priština - 1000 1512km  
165      21:46 1368  G   Manx Radio Douglas 8d 20 731km
166      21:48 1359  E   RNE R.1/REE Arganda del Rey 0.9d 300 1418km
167      21:50 1350  F   Radio Orient Nice/Fontbonne 1.6d 10 866km 
168      21:52 1323  G   Gold Southwick (Brighton) - 0.5 405km
169      21:55 1251  LBY Voice of Africa Tarabulus=Tripoli 500d 500 2157km
170      21:59 1107  SRB Radio Beograd 1 Novi Sad 160d 100 1200km  
171      22:00 1170  G   Gold (network)  
172      22:02 1143  I   RAI Radio1 (network)
173      22:04 1143  RUS Radio Mayak (network)
174      22:14  963  TUN Radio Tunisia International Tunis/Djedeida - 100 1663km 
175      22:17  936  D   Radio Bremen 1 Bremen-Oberneuland/Am Hollerdeich 80d 50 299km
176      22:22  873  E   SER (network)
177      22:24  855  E   RNE R.1 (network) 
178      22:34  783  E   COPE Barcelona/Ctra. Consería - 50 1147km  
179      22:46  585  TUN RTT Radio Nationale Gafsa - 200 1913km  
180      22:48  576  E   RNE R.5 Barcelona/Palau de Plegamans - 100 1128km 
181      22:49  567  I   RAI Radio1 (network)
182      22:53  540  E   Onda Cero Radio Barcelona - 50 1147km
183      23:01 1098  E   RNE R.5 (network)
8/02/08
184      23:00 1575  I   RAI Radio1 (network) 
185      23:08 1566  G   County Sound Peasmarsh (Guildford) - 0.75 421km  
186      23:35 1341  EGY ERTU Songs Radio Cairo - 100 3175km   
8/03/08
187      00:05 1080  E   SER Radio Huesca Huesca/Estrecho Quinto - 10 1118km
188      00:18  981  POR Radio Renascença Coimbra - 10 1642km 
189      00:22  963  E   Radio Euskadi Vitoria - 5 1135km 
190      00:24  954  E   Onda Cero Radio Pozuelo de Alarcón/Ctra. Carabanchel - 50 1417km 
191      00:39  702  MRC SNRT B Sebaâ-Aioun - 140 2138km 
192      00:40  702  D   NDR Info Flensburg Trögelsbyhof Fuchsberg - 7.5 459km
193      00:43  684  E   RNE R.1 Sevilla/Los Palacios - 300 1820km
194      00:46  666  E   SER Barcelona/Sant Boi de Llobregat - 50 1147km  
195      00:48  639  E   RNE R.1 (network)  
196      00:54  630  ROU Antena Satelor Voinesti - 400 1664km 
197      00:56  531  E   RNE R.5 (network)  
198      01:16 1530  G   BBC Radio Essex Southend-on-Sea 0.09d 0.15 329km 
199      01:30 1161  G   Magic 1161 AM Goxhill/Neatgangs Lane - 0.35 464km 
200      02:01  612  LTU Radio Baltic Waves International Vilnius-Virauliakes - 100 1237km
8/04/08
201      22:33 1188  MRC SNRT C Casablanca - 1 2250km
202      22:40 1035  POR Rádio Clube Português Benavente/Belmonte - 100 1784km
203      22:44  999  E   COPE Madrid/Majadahonda - 50 1418km
204      22:51  936  I   RAI Radio1 Venezia/Campalto - 10 833km
205      22:56  819  MRC SNRT A Rabat-Temara - 25 2191km
206      22:56  819  EGY ERTU General Programme Batrah - 1000 3097km
207      23:05  630  NOR NRK 1/NRK 2/NRK Møre og Romsdal Vigra (LKA) - 100 1234km



Longest distance: 3368km (2279 miles)
026 29/7/2008 20.52 1521  ARS BSKSA General Arabic/Call of Islam Duba 2000d 2000 3668km

Shortest distance : 68km (42 miles) 
005 30/7/2008 18.21  675  HOL Radio Maria Lopik - 100 68km

Highest power: 2 Mega Watt
026 29/7/2008 20.52 1521  ARS BSKSA General Arabic/Call of Islam Duba 2000d 2000 3668km

Lowest power: 100 Watt
110 30/7/2008 18.13  603  G   Gold Littlebourne - 0.1 300km


Countries (43) where the received signals originated:
 * Germany	
 * Belgium
 * Great Britain
 * France
 * The Netherlands
 * Vatican
 * Moldavia
 * Saudi Arabia
 * Spain
 * Austria
 * Italy
 * Luxembourg
 * Albania
 * Russia
 * Latvia
 * Hungary
 * Czech Republic
 * Bulgaria  
 * Serbia
 * Sweden
 * Byelorussia 
 * Croatia
 * Turkey
 * Ukraine
 * Switzerland
 * Monte Carlo
 * Tunisia
 * Bosnia Herzegovina
 * Slovenia
 * Greece
 * Algeria
 * Finland
 * Macedonia
 * Egypt
 * Estonia
 * Poland
 * Iran
 * Libya
 * Portugal
 * Morocco
 * Romania     
 * Lithuania
 * Norway