World of DX-ing
My antenna mast (16 m + antennas) needed a long overdue paint job. Colour: wood green.
The electrics have been cleaned up and a new casing for motor and winch is on its way.
It took me a few hours of grinding, sanding and cleaning and then balancing on a ladder with a can of paint and a brush, but there it is: all shiny again with the Körner 15.11 at the top and DAB-aerial just below it.
Yesterday Clem Schmidt from Softsyst put out a test release QIRX 2.1.1.5.
From version 2.1.1.4 services have been improved and with 2.1.1.5 users can download the DAB database from fmlist.org and one from Ofcom (UK).
Jan Van Katwijk’s DAB-SCanner 1.3 was published today.
In the current version, one chooses – after selecting a device – for either “controlled” running, i.e. running a specified number of cycles, or for “continuous”, i.e running cycles until one explicitly decides to stop.
In “continuous mode” TWO output files are generated, one with the regular output, and one “summary” file, a file with for each recognized ensemble a single line, such as
; channel 5B; MTVNL ; ensembleId 8181; frequency 176640; time of recording 2019-aug-10:18:19; services 4; SNR 14; transmitterId(s) (13 12) (13 10) to be viewed using Libre Office Calc or another spreadsheet program. For windows an installer is available.
MHz Block UTC ITU Ensemble + Location Details Remarks km
176.64 5B 0539 BEL NAM-LUX 1, La Roche-en-Ardenne [DAB] (wal-lux) 108km
180.06 5D 0542 BEL DAB+ VLAANDEREN2, Meerhout (vlg-ant) 27km
183.65 6B 0543 BEL LIEGE 2, Avernas [DAB] (wal-lge) 41km
185.36 6C 0543 BEL NAM-LUX 2, La Roche-en-Ardenne [DAB] (wal-lux) 108km
201.07 8D 0545 BEL LIEGE 1, Verviers/Château d’eau de Andrimont (wal-lge) 93km
185.36 6C 0546 BEL NAM-LUX 2, Léglise/Anlier [DAB] (wal-lux) 149km
178.35 5C 0550 D DR Deutschland, Düsseldorf/Rheinturm (nrw) 145km
178.35 5C 0550 D DR Deutschland, Aachen/Karlshöhe (nrw) 97km
178.35 5C 0551 D DR Deutschland, Ebbegebirge Herscheid (nrw) 214km
178.35 5C 0551 D DR Deutschland, Köln/Colonius (nrw) 155km
178.35 5C 0552 D DR Deutschland, Siegen Süd (nrw) 233km
178.35 5C 0552 D DR Deutschland, Bonn/Venusberg (nrw) 170km
181.94 6A 0555 BEL HAINAUT 2, Anderlues/Mont-Sainte-Geneviève (wal-hnt) 76km
181.94 6A 0555 BEL HAINAUT 2, La Louvière/Houdeng [DAB] (wal-hnt) 70km
181.94 6A 0556 BEL HAINAUT 2, Flobecq/Vloesberg (wal-hnt) 73km
188.93 7A 0557 HOL 7A Zuid NL, Loon op Zand/Alticom Toren (nbr) 72km
188.93 7A 0557 HOL 7A Zuid NL, Gilze/Prinsenbosch (nbr) 61km
188.93 7A 0557 HOL 7A Zuid NL, Roosendaal/Alticom Toren (nbr) 61km
188.93 7A 0557 HOL 7A Zuid NL, Gemert – de Mortel/Alticom Toren (nbr) 91km
188.93 7A 0557 HOL 7A Zuid NL, Roermond/Alticom Toren (lim) 90km
188.93 7A 0558 HOL 7A Zuid NL, Eys/Alticom Toren (lim) 87km
206.35 9C 0558 HOL MTVNL, Loon op Zand/Alticom Toren (nbr) 72km
206.35 9C 0558 HOL MTVNL, Eindhoven/PNEM Mast (nbr) 76km
220.35 11C 0601 HOL DAB+, Gilze/Prinsenbosch (nbr) 61km
220.35 11C 0601 HOL DAB+, Gemert – de Mortel/Alticom Toren (nbr) 91km
220.35 11C 0601 HOL DAB+, Eys/Alticom Toren (lim) 87km
220.35 11C 0601 HOL DAB+, Loon op Zand/Alticom Toren (nbr) 72km
220.35 11C 0602 HOL DAB+, Roermond/Alticom Toren (lim) 90km
208.06 9D 0604 HOL 9D Zuidwest NL, Westdorpe/Verkavelingsweg (zee) 65km
208.06 9D 0604 HOL 9D Zuidwest NL, Westdorpe/Verkavelingsweg (zee) 65km
208.06 9D 0604 HOL 9D Zuidwest NL, Roosendaal/Alticom Toren (nbr) 61km
208.06 9D 0604 HOL 9D Zuidwest NL, Goes/Alticom Toren (zee) 81km
227.36 12C 0605 HOL NPO, Loon op Zand/Alticom Toren (nbr) 72km
227.36 12C 0606 HOL NPO, Gemert – de Mortel/Alticom Toren (nbr) 91km
227.36 12C 0607 HOL NPO, Winterswijk/Beukenhorstweg (gel) 176km
227.36 12C 0607 HOL NPO, Ittervoort/Alticom Toren (lim) 81km
MHz UTC ITU Program + Location Details Remarks km
72.47 1123 UKR Yaskrave Radio, Vinnytsya/VFKRRT, vul. Maksymovycha, 23 (VI) // web 1694km
70.91 1125 UKR Radio Mariya v Ukraini, Vinnytsya/VFKRRT, vul. Maksymovycha, 23 (VI) // web 1694km
The RTL SDR I ordered from Amazon arrived after 9 days.
Why buying an RTL when you already own an SDRPlay 1A (metal cased) and an Airspy R2?
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When doing some DAB+dxing it’s vital to find out the TII (Transmitter Identification Information) code to pinpoint the location of the dx reception. These codes can be found on the dab listing of www.fmlist.com.
The codes can also be seen in software decoders lik QT-DAB and QIRX.
Unfortunately Belgian codes are not freely available. So one has to check them near to a local transmitter. Of course there’s no need for a sophisticated SDR or a high gain antenna.
On the contrary! Just a cheap RTL and no antenna will do the trick and eliminate receiving other transmitter than the one you are next to.
It worked nicely with a laptop and SDRPlay1A, but it’s a bit of a hassle always having to unplug the device from your DX set-up.
So a cheap RTL is the way to proceed.
Connecting the RTL SDR to QIRX isn’t easy. You do need ZADIG to install a working driver and perhaps change the QIRX device index in the settings.
I also wanted to run QT-DAB and SDRConsole with the RTL SDR as I did with SDRPlay1A.
Alas, RTL SDR and Zadig don’t like that idea. I did get QIRX running or SDRC and QT-DAB but not all of them. A bit of a bummer. As I need the RTL SDR to check out TII codes, I opted for having QIRX running on the laptop. It works well.
How does RTL SDR compare to the other devices? As to be expected Airspy and SDRPlay1A hooked up to a decent DAB+ antenna hugely outperform the RTL SDR.
Moreover my living room DABMANi250 connected to the same telescopic antenna grabs more stations than the SDR-RTL. But then again all these devices cost 5 tot 10 times more.
Conclusion: if you want to check out some DAB while on the move and don’t want to fiddle with antennas or take along your other devices, RTL SDR will do nicely.
DAB+
MHz Block UTC ITU Ensemble + Location Details Remarks km
202.93 9A 0458 G Trial Norwich, Norwich/Markham Tower (EN-NFK) 300km
201.07 8D 0505 F Dunkerque local, Dunkerque/Saint-Pol-sur-Mer (59) 165km
239.20 13F 0508 NOR NRK Reg3 SørRog, Greipstad/Eidsåvegen (va) 828km
229.07 12D 0510 G Peterborough, Stamford/Old Quarry (EN-LIN) 403km
209.94 10A 0511 D NDR NDS, Lingen-Damaschke (nds) 249km
222.06 11D 0522 D Radio fuer NRW, Düsseldorf/Rheinturm (nrw) 145km
218.64 11B 0526 HOL MTVNL, Markelo/Alticom Toren (ove) 182km
202.93 9A 0620 G Trial London, London/Southwood Park (Highgate) (EN-GTL) 344km
195.94 8A 0623 HOL 8A Randstad NL, Amsterdam/Alticom Toren (nho) 149km
225.65 12B 0644 G BBC National DAB, London/Crystal Palace (EN-GTL) 337km Tentative location – no TII
213.36 10C 0731 G Northamptonshire, Geddington (EN-NHA) 404km TII 65 05
215.07 10D 0835 G Humberside, High Hunsley (EN-EYK) 475km
