The VHF DX Podcast VHF DX Podcast

In the 2024 DX season kickoff episode of the VHF DX Podcast, Nick and Bryce host the show from Bryce's home on Cape Cod, enjoying a rare outdoor recording session on a pleasant afternoon.

The highlight of the episode is a discussion about the rare Aurora opening on May 10th, which provided an exceptional opportunity for DXing. This event was particularly notable because it allowed for receptions as far south as Key Largo, FL, and other southern locations, which is highly unusual for aurora propagation. Nick and Bryce reflect on their experiences during the opening, the stations they logged, and the overall rarity of such an event.

The episode also features an interview with Bill Hepburn, a valued member of the VHF DX community who already starred in a previous episode regarding his Tropospheric Forecast Predictions. Bill explains the different types of solar storms and their impacts on DXing, with a focus on geomagnetic storms that produce auroras. He provides insights into the KP and BZ indices, which are used to monitor geomagnetic activity and predict aurora conditions. The discussion covers the technical aspects of aurora-induced DXing and tips for enthusiasts on how to maximize their chances of successful reception during such events. We also speculate with Bill on the potential for similar events in the near future, considering the current solar activity.

Bryce and Nick also return with a tech corner discussion, including new SDR offerings from Airspy and SDRPlay, the new Sky Blue 9 element FM antenna, new RabbitEars.Info FM autologger and OpenRadio FM DX Webserver setups.

73s and Good DX to everyone!

Is spring in the air at your QTH? It won't be long until E-Skip and rumors of Sporadic-E begin floating around the interwebs. Until then, Bryce and Nick bring you another off-season episode of the VHF DX Podcast. After recapping conditions, including a very notable February TEP log from CE3SX (formerly CE3SAD) of 92.7 WEOW from Central Chile, the duo was thrilled to be able to talk with Sjef Verhoeven from the Netherlands!

Sjef talked with us about:


How he became interested in radio receivers and FM broadcast DX
What the TEF chip was originally designed for and how it became part of a portable receiver
How Sjef joined the TEF ecosystem and began working on developing its firmware
Evaluating the right TEF receiver for purchase
Version 2.0 firmware features, including how RDS PI decodes are managed


Sjef also discussed additional ongoing OpenRadio projects, including:


The Sony XDR-GTK
The FM-DX-Webserver plugin and the ability to share your TEF with the world
Maps on FMDX.pl

We highly encourage DXers to join the OpenRadio Discord for the best way to stay on top of firmware updates to the TEF plus engage with an active DX community!

Links from the show:


The super helpful TEF buying guide from Noobish!
OpenRadio Community Discord server
All of Sjef's projects
Sjef's GitHub page
FM-DX Webserver
FM-DX Maps
The helpful YouTube video on running TEF firmware updates we referenced

We thank Sjef gain very much for his time and would strongly encourage buying him a coffee if you enjoy the TEF firmware as much as we do!

Bryce and Nick were delighted to be joined by DXer Chris Kadlec, resident of Fremont, MI, for the second in a two part series. Chris lived in South Korea for several years during the 2010s. Chris shares with Bryce and Nick his observations, not limited to:


The signal environments he DX'ed from in South Korea
What brought him there
Tropo and E-Skip appearances
Jammers on North Korea FM frequencies and any DX he was able to amass originating from North Korea
Hearing China and Japan

Please visit Chris' website at:  ⁠https://www.chriskadlec.com/⁠

He has all sorts of observations from his experience in Korea that are absolutely worth your time to check out!

Bryce and Nick reconvened for the first time in 2024 for a fun-filled episode of the VHF DX Podcast! First, we recapped the recent flurry of January E-Skip reported in the western-half of North America, including some very impressive short skip receptions from the DX ace in the desert, Randy KW4RZ in Goldfield, NV.

Then, we were delighted to be joined by DXer Chris Kadlec, resident of Fremont, MI, for the first in a two part series. Chris has over 25 years of experience as a mobile DX'er, artfully using the curvature of the US Great Lakes and the terrain alongside them to observe some truly remarkable propagation phenomena. Chris shares with Bryce and Nick his observations, not limited to:


His DX backstory
What kind of experiments he's conducted along Lake Michigan, Lake Huron, and beyond, in what Chris deems as "Marine DX"
Differences between right along the shoreline versus inland for tropospheric enhancement
Land/water connections & duct linkages
How the lakes may influence sporadic-E, as well

If you've ever done any sort of DXing near a coastline, or want to learn more about what kind of subtleties are possible, you won't want to miss this talk with Chris, who has done spectacular work for our DX community with his research.

Please visit Chris' website at: https://www.chriskadlec.com/

Stay tuned for part two of our conversation with Chris, as he describes his time FM DXing from South Korea!

The Fall 2023 Tropospheric Ducting season in Eastern North America has been drawing rave reviews, and Bryce and Nick reconvened in Troptober, if you will, to talk about it, and then, play many different audio highlights from the activity.

The duo discussed another historic event that occurred on Labor Day Weekend, with some truly astounding overland paths across the Appalachians, including from Steve Walko, Chris Kadlec, Michael Temme-Soifer, and Greg Conigilo, with paths like Eastern PA to Des Moines, IA, and Western NY to Waycross, GA!

Excellent tropo returned at the beginning of October, including on October 4-5, with Tim Land in TN hearing 94.7 WXBK from Newark, NJ!

We also highlighted a few international receptions, including from Leigh VK2KRR in Australia, spanning across the continent at over 2600 km via tropo!

We also previewed a giveaway the WTFDA will be conducting during the month of November, for an Airspy HF+ Discovery SDR, and a TEF6686 portable. Keep an eye on wtfda.org for more details.

Finally, in our extended audio spotlight, here are the individuals whose receptions on FM we featured:


Tim Land, Kingsport, TN
Matt Sittel, Manhattan, KS
Jim Thomas, Springfield, MO
Chris Kadlec, Fremont, MI
John Hanna (W9HC), Brookfield, IL
Steve Walko (K3PHL), Quakertown, PA
Saul Chernos, Burnt River, ON
Plus, Nick and Bryce's audio highlights!

When history is made, we have to pod about it! And Bryce and Nick returned to recap the Tropocalypse of 2023, one of the largest tropo events ever recorded in North America, from August 19-24.

We highlighted several outstanding reports, including from Chris Lucas, Rob Ross, Andrew Knafel, Greg Coniglio, Dave Nieman, Chris Kadlec, Bill Hepburn, Tim Land, and the magical Marble, NC autologger.

Then, we spoke at length with Matt Sittel of Manhattan, KS, who had some of the most impressive logs of the event, as far east as London, ON, Grove City, PA, and Roanoke, VA. Hear Matt give outstanding insight into his receptions, how he slept right through the Roanoke tropo, and how 87.7 MeTV FM Chicago became his work from home soundtrack.

Matt is a degreed meteorologist and works as the Assistant State Climatologist at Kansas State University. He gave us some great meteorological background for the event, including how watching the dew points climb made a difference, particularly for particularly noteworthy logs he had into Colorado and Wyoming!

This was a great episode, giving a probably once in a lifetime DX event the attention it deserves!

Some key links from the episode:

Tim Land (Kingsport, TN) tropo logs on map: https://wtfda.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Aug-Tropo-Map.jpg

Tim Land's RDS screen captures: https://wtfda.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/RDS-screen-caps.jpg

Matt Sittel's DX and Weather Radio webpage: http://matthewsittel.com/

Matt Sittel's K-State climate blog: http://climate.k-state.edu/