Music Non Stop

If you are a regular listener to "Retro Nouveau" on Cloudmix, it will be no surprise to yourself, that I listen to a lot of music, new and old. It's strange, sometimes, like waiting for a Bus, nothing shows. Then out of know where, a pile up!
Where to start..... Phew, a ZZ Top 10 Album Box Set that selling at a silly price £23.00p approx, A complete John Denver Box Set that has 25 Albums, another superb Box Set from Jean Luc Ponty "Electric Fusion", a five disc set by Otis Redding.
New albums by Inner Road, Lindsey Stirling, Laura Marling and yet another fantastic metal album by Jorn.
As you can imagine, this will take time to digest, but rest assured you will get to hear them and more on forth coming editions of "Retro Nouveau".

If you don't succeed, try, try again. I finally manage to get my new Blake FM8 antenna up and running on the weekend. It's funny, my new QTH is only a quarter a mile for my last home, so you wouldn't really expect that much in regards to a change in reception. A few finding so far, as I haven't had chance to do a full band scan. I used to receive "City Talk" 105.9Mhz from Liverpool, that's now gone, due to yet another Sunshine Radio Relay in Wooferton Doh!!
On the positive side, it's seems I can now get LBC 97.3Mhz and BBC Radio London 94.9Mhz most of the time, which isn't to shabby, being that I am in the West Midlands. I will of course, when completed, post a full band scan.

As you may have noticed, I am really enjoying these old movies, that are now being released on Blu Ray. My all time favourite comedy, The Jerk staring Steve Martin is due out in August. If you have never seen it, it really is Steve Martin at his best, but be warned, it really is silly humour.
Fathers Day was really kind to me, I received a Spike Milligan DVD, and a Frank Carson Live DVD...."It's a cracker!"
On the TV front, we have been enjoying the new series of "Mad Dogs" on Sky 1 which is now in it's 3rd Series, and the fantastic "Playhouse Presents" on Sky Arts 1, Playhouse is superb, really I don't know whats going to happen next, week after week, it covers so many topics and themes. I can recommend this Series for a purchase on DVD.

Well, I guess I should sign off now, until the next update, and take a look back soon for the next release of Retro Nouveau.

73's
Damien

WiNRADiO WR-G35DDCi SDR as good as it gets?

Over the last week Win Radio released details of their new SDR reciever. The WiNRADiO WR-G35DDCi has really seemed caused a bit of a debate on discussion forums ,due to yet another advancement in technology.

Little did I know when I joked in my BDXC review of the G33DCC , that I would be eating my words so soon. So whats the amazing advancement, Win Radio's new unit will captured a staggering 32Mhz of bandwidth, yes...you have read correctly. Although this is the DXer's dream, it does come at big price, I believe it is going to be over $5000 US dollars, no UK price has been mentioned yet.

So the dream will be shortly the reality, but I have to admit, the G35DCCi is clearly aimed for commercial uses, GCHQ etc, rather than the average DXer. Being a user of the G33DCC I struggle to use it's full 4Mhz of bandwidth, so the jump to 32Mhz seems crazy. Valid points have been mentioned about the unit, when would one get the time to listen to such a vast amount of bandwidth, apparently a 4TB hard drive covering 32Mhz will last 7 hours. Thankfully you don't have use the maximum bandwidth, although I would imagine we could see follow DXers swapping Hard Drives.

Of course all this power comes at a cost, you will realistically have to use a fast PC to get your monies worth, probably a Intel i7 with at least 8Gb of Ram, forget going portable with a laptop, as unlike the G31DCC or G33DCC, the G35DCCi runs as a PCI-e card that sits straight on your motherboard. The G35DCCi  specs are pretty similar to the G33DCC, I do wonder about the unit having only one pre-selector, this may be a major problem if you suffer with overload from various different ends of the frequency spectrum and you want to record 32Mhz in one hit.

I have to admit, I can't wait to read the first review, and being that no one has had a play with unit yet, there may be some more surprises install. Personally, I wish someone would release some dedicated  software for playing Win Radio DCC recordings back, if the price was reasonable, it would make a good amount of cash for Win Radio, and in reality most users are after a clearer, and not so crammed screen, for the playback of files.

My next post should be soon, where you will see a return of my usual gossip of music,films and life in general!

73's

Damien 

JC your alright by me...

Well it's been a while, since my last blog, and it's May Day Bank Holiday, giving me a time to catch up.

Now that the dust has settled on the football front, you would think I would be flat DX-ing. It's not that I haven't tried, last weekend I tried to install my Blake FM8 antenna, and in a small lapse of concentration, I dropped the antenna and snapped the centre boom in half, I also managed to cut my wrist in the process. As you can imagine, I was annoyed and gutted, as this was at the final stage of fitting!

So I order another Blake FM8 that's landed this Saturday, and yes, just my luck it's arrived damaged in transit, however it's not a surprise, as they shipped in just in a hessian sack! So, no antenna, however I have to say Blake themselves have  superb customer services, I emailed "Paul Blake" at 6pm, just to report the damaged, and he personally emailed back to apologize, saying that it was shipped out in error, without being packed properly. I believe you can only tell how good a company is, by how well they respond to problems, "Well Done Blake".

The family has been catching up on films and TV, my wife and I have been watching series five of "Fringe", we also have been enjoying "The Voice"and "Playhouse Presents". On the film front my lads loved "Forest Gump" and have also watched "Robocop 1 & 2"

Yesterday we watched my all time favorite musical "Jesus Christ Superstar", I've been waiting for this to be released on Blu Ray for sometime, and it's best I have ever seen the film. My eldest son seemed to absorb the film, as I briefly explained what was happening in between songs, he really liked the song "I Don't Know How To Love Him". Although I had a Catholic up bringing, and I no longer believe in religion, the story of Jesus has to be the best stories in ever, and JCS still moves me today. While we were watching JCS, we all had the wind sucked out of us by "Ted Neeley" performance on "Gethsemane", when it finished, I looked at my wife and we knew it was one of those moments. Have a look at his magical clip via You Tube below

If you managed to compose your after that, I was watching "Breakfast" on BBC 1 this morning and stumbled across a really interesting artist named " Lindsey Stirling", in a nutshell she is an American, plays the Violin, and fuses Classical Music with Modern Dance Music "Trip Hop" and ballet and dance, she also has a big following on "You Tube", have a listen, this lady has got something going on, have a look at this fun video "Moon Trance", it's a bit of a spoof of "Michael Jackson's Thriller", so it's fun on the eyes, having played some samples on Amazon, I will be purchasing this album, and no doubt will be appearing on my next edition of "Retro Nouveau"

73's Till Next Time

Damien

Wembley,Victory....The Perfect Weekend!

Well, as promised a round up on my visit to Wembley Stadium for the Blue Square Premier League Play Offs. Being thats it's now old news,my side Newport County won promotion to League two, but more on that, as I tell you about my perfect weekend.

So, part of the plan to visit Wembley was to take my two lads to London, so they could do some site seeing. Both had never been to London, my youngest couldn't wait to see Big Ben and the London Eye. We set off from Stourport on Severn, Worcs around 07.30am and after some 130miles approx arrived at Stanmore Underground Station Car Park at 09.30am. Being that it was Sunday, parking was cheap, a crazy £1.50p for all day!

We then purchased tube tickets from Zone 5 to Zone 1, it's worth pointing out that Kids travel for free if under 10 years old.. Both my kids were really excited as we travelled down Jubilee Line to Westsminster, and it was great to see big smiles on both faces as they got to see Big Ben, and the London Eye, we even walked over Westminster Bridge, which was really hard, due to tourists taking photo's.

Well we didn't stop then, a quick meal at MacDonalds then off to Buckingham Place, this was a bit of a disappointment, as there was a guards parade inside, and it was totally packed out. Next we went to Piccadilly Circle, then Oxford Street for a very quick look in HMV megastore, then back on the tube to Wembley. My kids loved it, it was a shame it was a flying visit, but we plan to all go back, with more of a plan, rather than a trolly dash!

After walking around outside Wembley we stop at a Ice Cream van that was outside Wembley Arena, it made myself laugh, the Ice Cream seller couldn't stop praising both Wrexham and Newport Supporters, saying we are so friendly, it reminds himself of being back home in Turkey.

So fast forward, and we are now in the Stadium, the first thing I noticed was the poor turn out from the Newport Supporters, with only 16,000 ish Wembley and Wrexham bringing 10,000 we where really outnumbered, not that it bothered me. One of the downsides to the play off were, only five days notice and it's also on May Day Bank Holiday and a price rise from £36.00 to over £40.00p on a ticket, I'm pretty sure this was the reason for the low attendance, I know of people would just couldn't arranged the time off due to short notice, or they had a plannned holiday booked.

The match itself was a nervous affair, Wrexham missing a number of chances, and with thankfully Newport's keeper playing a blinder. It wasn't to the until 87 minute that Newport broke the deadlock, with Christian Jolley managing to get a yard on Wrexham defence, to be honest it was when substitute Arron O'Conner came on that made the difference, Wrexham defence,with all there experience, simply tired, and lucky for Newport, there two forwards where just to fast, which resulted in the 2nd goal from Arron O'Conner. Yes, it was smash and grab win for Newport, and it's not very often a goal keeper gets awared man of the match! Newport's keeper Lenny Pidgeley had an outstanding match, and that just shows you how hard Wrexham tried.

I can tell you, I was simply on cloud 9, when 1st when in, you don't get carried away, then when the second came, every Newport Supporter went crazy, I am still buzzing 5 days later! Having followed the club through thick and thin, I still have to pinch myself, we are back into the football league, some 25 years later. And to think, Newport County will now appear on FIFA 14!

I feel I should also say a thank you to both parties of fans, no trouble, fighting etc that I was aware of, a perfect day if you are a Newport fan. My heart does go out to my fellow Welshmen,  Wrexham.... I am pretty sure that you will be up in the football league soon, don't give up hope!

The following day, my phone rang with congratulation messages via text and facebook. Being that it was a Bank Holiday, we had a family picnic at Holt Near Worcester, yes...it's really was a perfect weekend.

My next blog will be back to normal, less football...honestly! And more of a general mix of comments on music,film radio and life.

I will leave you with a 30 second video clip, taken by myself at Wembley while in the crowd, as all the Newport Fans Celebrate. Just click on the link below.

73's

Damien

Wembley...! Come on Newport!

Yes, indeed...Wembley again! I have to pinch myself, that I am off the Wembley for the 2nd time, as my football team Newport County have made it the Conference play off finals after beating Grimsby Town today. And just to add to the excitement, it will be a all Wales final, as Newport County take on Wrexham for that final promotion spot. Of course I can't wait, but I will admit, I'm going to be really nervous on the day.

So now I have got that off my chest, you may have noticed a few changes to the Music And Wires Site. As you can see, I'm starting to get to grips on how to get things working. So I have added DX Robot and HF propagation gadgets for all the DXer's.

As some of you may be aware, I've been a pretty active member of the British DX Club for a number of years, and occasionally I have written the odd article or equipment review. You can now view all my articles via a PDF download.

The Medium Wave DX conditions haven't been up to much (Last Months Logs Below), so it's given me more time to do household tasks, painting and mowing the lawn. I have also decided to back track on using Mixcloud for Retro Nouveau. It's seems that most people like to use this service these days, so why not ? Speaking of which Retro Nouveau 3 is now available for download (Click on links Below) or have a listen on Mixcloud. Feel free to post some comments.

Retro Nouveau 3                                       Retro Nouveau 3 Track Listing

Now that we are into FM season, I am really missing the fact I don't have my FM Beam up anyone. Although I am planning on erecting a simple dipole, so I can capture some Sporadic E's, and get to play with the new SDR dongle a bit more.
 We will just have to wait and see how time pans out, as I want to do as much as possible (Don't we all) I am really behind on doing some planned articles for the BDXC, so I need also sort that out. I want to try and make a new MW antenna design that was posted on SkywavesMW via Mark Davies of Anglesea (Where have Gone Mark?). Try and make a small wooden cabinet for my Blunkpunt Car Radio.....I doubt all of this will be done, but I will give it a  go.

With a bit of luck, I will be reporting back on my visit to Wembley next week. So as promised here are last months MW TA Logs, also a special thanks to Chrissy Brand for the mention of my logs in her superb section in "Radio User".

73's
Damien

930      06.02   CFBC,St Johns,NB, ID “93 CFBC”                                                               211   23/04 DER

1130    06.00   WBBR,New York,  “Bloomberg News”                                                          222   21/04 DER

1370    06.06   WDEA,Ellsworth,ME  ID at end of news                                                       212   23/04 DER

1390    06.04   WEGP,Presque Island,ME, ID after adverts                                                  111   23/04 DER

1400    06.02   CBC,Gander,NL “CBC News”                                                                       111   23/04 DER

1430    06.03   WENE,Endicott,NY. Sports chat                                                                   111   23/04 DER

1510    06.36   WUFC,Boston, NBC Sports Radio                                                               323   28/03 DER

1520    06.44   WVOZ,San Juan,PR, Religious Preecing in SS ID “RadioVoz”                    232   28/03 DER

1520    07.01   WWKB,Buffalo,NY. NBC News on the Hour                                                 221   21/04 DER

1560    06.38   WQEW,New York, Radio Disney, Great Signal Back To Back Mx               333   28/03 DER

1570    06.35   CJLV,Laval,QC Back To Back MX, ID in FF                                                  212   28/03 DER

1600    06.32   WUNR,Brookline,MA ID in SS, LSB                                                              211   28/03 DER

1620    06.30   WNRP,Gulf Breeze,FL. AM 1620 your “Coast to Coast Staion”                   211   21/04 DER

1620    06.30   Radio Rebelde Cuba, Big Organ Theme and  ID                212   23/04 DER

1650    06.41   CINA,Mississagna, Radio Seena. Asian pop mx                                           323   20/04 DER

1660    06.05   WCNZ,Marco Island, FL ID during back to back MX                                     323   28/03 DER

1670    05.41   CJEU,Gatineau,QC. Usual mix of FF music                                                 211   21/04 DER

1700    06.02   KVNS,Brownsville,TX  “Fox Sport Radio” Very weak!                                   101   21/04 DER

A Split Past

It's does make me worry sometimes...What type of world do we really live in ?
I will admit, I have found the remarks about Margaret Thatcher recent passing pretty awful, how bad can human behavior get? Parties to celebrate her death...Honestly..Is it me ? As you can gather, I think this lack of respect is terrible, and it dosen't stop, only yesterday I recieved a email from a t shirt company, advertising "I Hate Margaret Thatcher" t shirts!, I of course deleted it.Really what is wrong with the world.

Now, you may think I am into politics, and Margaret Thatcher Fan. Well, I'm not really into politics, like many people, I have stopped voting.  Margaret Thatcher is did amazing things that people take for granted, she also got a lot of things wrong, I loved her spirit, and "Anne Robinson" really reminds me of her, without a doubt she put Britain first, unlike the past and current governments.

RIP Margaret Thatcher....You where a great leader.

So whats next.....O..North Korea........What a crazy world....Enough Said!

It's been a while since my last blog and we all seem to be over of winter colds at last, the TA MW radio has been really quiet, and now that we are in mid spring (Thats a joke hear in the UK) conditions will not be so good. I'm pretty please with my 1st serious season of TA MW loggings, and as promised on my last blog, I will include last months logs at the end.

I have managed to get my £11.99p USB radio dongle working via SDR software, it's not a simply task, and I found the solution on how to install the drivers in this month "Radio User". It looks like the dongle can tune from 52Mhz up to 1Ghz, with a gap somewhere. And now, the MW season is over, I will be playing with a bit more, so I hope to report back my findings soon.

Now a quick update, we went to see Eric Johnson in concert (Be was amazing at times, and at times I got bored, but overall a pretty good gig), Took the Kids to see the "The Croods" very good family entertainment, and we watched the Blu ray of  Moulin Rogue, yes we are still going with the musicals! On a sad note, Rubens, the light Indian Curry stall in Merry Hill Shopping has left! I'm gutted, and I will really miss, their Chille Noodle and Chille Chicken Curry.

On the Football front, my side Newport County have made it the to the Conference Play Off  Semi Finals, so I may be a few games off going to Wembley again...Up the County.

Before I sign off, hear are the links to Retro Nouveau 2. I hope you enjoyed the music, again you will find this months offering, a real mixed bag of goodies.Again,I suggest you listen first, then checkout the track listing after, it's simply more fun then! Please feel free to comment.

73's
Damien

Retro Nouveau 2                                                      Retro Nouveau 2 Track Listing
March 2013 MW logs

580      04.12   CFRA, Ottawa reference to Ottawa                                                             111  17/03         

590      06.00   VOCM, St Johns, ID top of the hour, Pop Mx                                                222   17/03

600      05.00   CBNA,St Antony,NL  ID on the Hour “CBC News”                                        222   17/03

620      04.03   CKCM,Grand Falls,NL. ID as VOCM                                                             111   17/03

640      04.00   CBN, St Johns,NL  “CBC News”                                                                   232   17/03

650      04.02   CKGA,Gander NL. Playing Dixie Chicks, carring VOCM                              222   17/03

660      04.03   WFAN,New York. Usual sports commentary                                                121   17/03          

680      04.05   CFTR,Toronto, News in Toronto                                                                   211   17/03

730      04.57   CKAC,Montreal, Traffic info FF. Hard to ID                                                   212   17/03

800      06.57   VOWR, St Johns, Laidback mx.                                                                    212   17/03

820      06.00   WBAP, Forth Worth,TX  “ID on hour,including 96.7 Freq”                             121   17/03

840      06.00   WHAS,Louisville,KY. ID on hour                                                                  222   17/03

930      00.57   CFBC,St Johns. ID “93 CFBC”                                                                     212   14/03

950      04.01   CKNB,Cambleton, ID “Your Station 95 CKNB”                                             323   17/03

1010    04.00   WINS, New York, Weather for New York                                                      212   17/03

1010    04.01   CFRB,Toronto, Canada News Report For  Toronto Mxing with WINS            212   17/03

1100    06.02   WTAM, Cleveland,OH  “Fox News ID” ref to Ohio                                        121   17/03

1130    06.00   WBBR, New York, Weak Signal normally a needle bender!                          212   13/03

1140    04.01   CHRB, High River,AB, Ref to CBC during news                                           112   17/03

1170    06.00   WWVA,Wheerling,VA ID just caught under a pile of UK TX’s                        111   12/03

1180    06.00   WHAM, Rochester, NY. ID on the hour,USB, ref to Rochester                       111   12/03

1200    06.00   WXKS, Newton, MA. Ref Central University,QRM From 1215khz                  111   12/03

1290    04.04   WRNI, Providence,RI, Weak LSB, ID help via Skywaves                              211   27/02

1310    05.13   WLOB.Portland ME,News then ID “1310 All News Radio”then sports             211   28/02

1420    06.00   WKCW,Warrenton,VA ID on the hour,LSB                                                   111   10/03          

1430    04.00   WENE, Endicott,NY, ID on hour                                                                    212   27/02

1430    01.13   CHKT, Toronto,ON. Indian Mx, ID “Sanjha Punjab Radio”                     212   14/03

1500    06.00   WFED,Washington DC.  ID on hour                                                             221   13/03

1510    05.00   WUFC, Boston, ID & plug for NBC                                                                222   14/03          

1540    06.00   CHIN, Toronto ON, ID and CBC News Jingle LSB                                        222   13/03

1560    06.00   WQEQ,Radio Disney Usual back to back pop mx                                       222   13/03

1600    04.00   WUNR,Brookline MA, ID on the hour LSB                                                     211   27/02

1630    06.00   KCJJ, Iowa City,IA  Very weak ID on hour                                                     111   12/03

1640    06.00   WTNI,Biloxi,MS Ref to 967 sports                                                                 222   17/03

1650    06.00   CINA, Missisagna,ON  ID “1650 CINA”                                                          211   12/03

1650    04.00   CJRS, Montreal,QC  ID as “Radio Shalom” strong signal                            333   27/02

1650    05.00   WHKT,Porstmouth,VA ID on Hour very weak                                               111   27/03

1660    05.05   WCNZ, Marco Island FL, ID after Van Morrison Song                                   333   28/02

1660    06.20   WGIT, Camby PR, Advert for PR                                                                  222   03/02

1660    04.00   WWRU,Jersey City,NJ ID on the hour                                                          222   06/03

1670    04.00   CJEU,Gatineau,QC Usual French chat with children                                   222   27/02           

1680    05.03   WTTM,Lindenwold,NJ  ID just after the hour                                                 212   28/02

1680    05.04   WOKB, Winter Garden,FL  ID “your Urban Empowerment station”             212   28/02

1690    04.01   CHTO, Toronto,ON, ID top of the hour                                                          222   27/02

1690    05.05   WMLB,Avondale Estate,GA. ID after news “The Voice Of Arts”                   111   28/02

1700    04.00   WJCC, Miami Springs FL,  Spanish songs, mention of Palm Springs         222   27/02

1700    06.00   KVNS, Brownsville,TX  “Fox Sports ID on Hour”                                           111   10/03

Don't Mention The R Word!

What could I possibly mean? Don't mention the R word! Well, thats certainly not radio, it is Rugby of course!
Having lived in England for 7 years now, the Wales Vs England Rugby match is a big affair in the "Read" household, with Wales winning the 6 Six nations it was a great day to be Welsh.

Things on the radio front have been very up and down of late, and although we haven't enjoyed the needle bending conditions of early September 2012, there have been quite a few fellow DXers managing to recieve new signals, the answer really is to keep plugging away listening. As usual I will post a full list of my TA MW logs on my blog at the end of the month.

As you may be aware in past post, family film nights have becoming quite a regular affair, we recently watched a film "battleship"over 4 school nights, generally in 30 to 45 minutes a night. I have to say, that I love it when the whole family spends and shares a film together.
We have now on to the action movies at the moment, and Terminator 1,2 and 3 has been viewed, my lads loved them, I had to laugh....My oldest Son said to myself the day after watching Terminator 2, "Dad.. I think Arnold Swarchenegger is the best actor in the world", I chuckled and told him to keep that thought to himself! Tomorrow it's back to musicials, a film that I'm not sure if I am going to like "Rock Of Ages", I worry, as I grew up during the 1980's Hair Metal Period, so I'm am expecting some classic's to be murdered, I just hope it's not as bad as "Mama Mia".

You may have noticed that it's been a while, since my last blog, well that been because I been thinking of doing something different.... Anyone who know's myself,  will be aware that I have been a music lover all my life, and I have amassed a pretty large collection of music of the years, so listening to music has always been a big part of my life.
It is for that reason alone, I have decided to share my passion with yourself, as from this point in time I will be posting a monthly music download named "Retro Nouveau".
In short it will be a selection of old and new songs from many years of listening. The Musical Podcast will be roughly a one hour long, and will feature many different styles and genres of music. I am hoping that it will perhaps help lead you to you discover a new artist, so whatever you age, give it a go!
Can I suggest you listen to the music first, then download the track listing after, that way it's a surprise.
Simply just click on this link to download                Retro Nouveau

And for the track listing                                       Retro Nouveau Track Listing

I realised I could have done this via a service called "Cloudmix" that also runs on Facebook, but I simply prefer to be in total control, sharing music is a personal thing for myself, so I'm not so keen on going global with facebook.
Before I sign off tonight, if you enjoy any of the music played, and would like to hear more, just leave a comment on this blog.

73's
Damien