Mediumwave DX Meets the eReader

We have seen how to create personalized station lists at no cost in the first installment of this series. We can even create a file system of antenna pattern plots. But, as stated, who wants to print all of this and haul it around, not to mention the expense of all the paper and ink?

A couple of ideas come to mind. Save the desired station lists and pattern plots to a flash drive, then take it and our laptop to the field where we will have access to the information. But even a laptop is cumbersome to haul around when you are already carrying radios, headphones, loop antennas, wire, etc. And a laptop generally only has a battery life of a couple of hours before it is dead.

A number of years ago I toyed with the idea of loading text files on a PDA (Personal Data Assistant) device, like a Palm Pilot. There were ways to do this at the time, and you had to be a bit of a geek to figure it out. My idea was to load station lists and other textual documents for reference in the field. But upon further examination, it seemed like reading text on such a tiny device with poor screen resolution was not the way to go. I resisted, waiting for technology to advance. It did.

The dedicated ereader device appeared. At first they were cumbersome to use, and extremely proprietary - having almost no support for anything but books. Finally a couple of years ago the market shifted directions. Manufacturers had at last gotten the word that the public wanted some versatility in their ereader. Text files and .PDF files became compatible and well-supported, along with a host of other common file types like HTML, images, and video.

And with that direction change came the Kindle 3 by Amazon and the Nook Color by Barnes and Noble. I bought a Nook Color. It cost $250. Natively, it will display text files and HTML files, as well as .JPEGs and other image formats. It has a marvelous .PDF viewer. Most of these modes have zoom capability, making viewing easier. Amazon's Kindle 3 ereader device has similar features, though getting .PDFs and text across to them is a little quirky. Tablet computers also abound today, like Apple's iPad2 and the Samsung Galaxy. Virtually all have the ability to handle these same file types.

So, we are set. What we will do is load our saved station reference files to our ereader device. The 7-inch Nook Color ereader is small, the size of a paperback book, and thin, hardly 1/2 inch thick. It is ultimately portable, and can be carried easily wherever we want to go.

The ereader with its 8 gigabyte memory can hold the entire US mediumwave station reference if we choose, and many times over. And that includes the antenna pattern plots if we elect to save them too. No paper, no ink. It can be carried anywhere. Its battery life can be 8 hours (Nook Color, LCD display) to almost a month with one hour per day of reading (Kindle 3 or Barnes and Noble Simple Touch, both e-ink displays). Files are usually searchable. This means that you can locate a frequency or station call sign or format or whatever you are searching for quickly. Not as easy with a 500+ page paper volume.

The only requirement is that we come up with some sort of way to arrange our mediumwave files in an organized fashion so we can have quick access to them. Easily done.

Some ideas on file arranging:

1. Create folders named by frequency or by frequency block (range) to hold station files.
2. Create folders by state name to hold station files from that state.
3. Create folders by city name to hold station files from that city area.
4. Name the files themselves to include call sign and frequency to aid in recognition.

Our master copy folder and file scheme can be created on the laptop and housed there for safe keeping. It will be a simple matter of transferring the master database over to the ereader by dragging and dropping files or folders from one unit to the other when the ereader is cabled to the laptop through the USB port.

For those that have tablet computing devices instead of dedicated ereaders, the procedure would be similar. I am convinced the ereader or tablet device is the way to go for taking mediumwave station lists to the field. Give it some thought.

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Mediumwave Along the Erie Canal, Part 2

Continuing with our exploration of mediumwave station sites along the Erie Canal.

We are walking the Erie Canal path in the Rochester, New York area, headed west from Lock 33. Within a one mile stretch there are three mediumwave stations lining the canal. In the last part of this series we passed within sight of WXXI-1370.

Walking just a little further along the canal path, coming into view is the four tower array of WHTK-1280 protruding above the Winton Rd. overpass, and shown in the photo just below. Its equal height .339 wavelength towers stand in a perfectly-aligned row at the northwest corner of Winton Rd. and Henrietta-Townline Rd. behind an industrial park, and just across the canal to the south. Passing under the overpass and walking about 100 yards further we get a great view of WHTK's towers.

WHTK-1280, also known as Sportsradio 1280, obviously airs a sports radio format. It is fully simulcast on WHTK-FM (107.3). WHTK is a Clear Channel Communications affiliate and is owned by Citicasters, Inc., featuring programing from Fox Sports Radio and Westwood One as well as New York Yankees, Rochester Americans and Rochester Red Wings games among other local and national sports. It transmits in AM-HD (IBOC). Both daytime and nighttime powers are set at 5KW.

Daytime coverage is omni-directional, using only one tower. The four tower array in use at night broadcasts with a main lobe at 346 degrees, and a minor lobe at 166 degrees. Gain in the favored direction, north again towards the main population center, is a respectable 7.5dB, pushing an effective 28.3KW towards Rochester.

The station was first known as WVET, signing on in 1947 under ownership of a group of returning World War II veterans calling themselves Veterans' Broadcasting Company. It operated successfully for many years with a personality full service adult popular music format. It changed callsign from WVET to WROC when Veterans bought WROC-TV from Transcontinent Television Corporation in 1961. Simultaneously an FM sister station, WROC-FM, signed on, first playing classical music and later automated jazz and pop standards. Veterans Broadcasting sold all the WROC stations in the mid-1970s. The AM station continued with its full service format until late in the 1970s, when it tried an all-news format first as WROC and then as WPXN (AM). It would later simulcast its FM sister station, by the early 1980s known as WPXY (FM) amd airing the personality contemporary hit music format which it still runs today. Late in the 80s, after changes in ownership, it would migrate to pop standards and then to mostly syndicated "hot talk", a lineup of talk and sports programming meant to appeal to young adult men. At that time it adopted the WHTK callsign (the "HTK" meant to stand for "hot talk") which it still uses today.

Shown below is WHTK-1280's nighttime pattern plot. On the plot are shown various co-channel stations around the region and where they fall into WHTK's pattern.

Stay tuned for Part 3 of this series.

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Mediumwave Along the Erie Canal, Part 3

Continuing with our exploration of mediumwave station sites along the Erie Canal.

We are walking the Erie Canal path in the Rochester, New York area, headed west from Lock 33. Within a one mile stretch there are three mediumwave stations lining the canal. In the last part of this series we passed within sight of WHTK-1280.

Hiking along the canal past WHTK-1280 perhaps another half mile brings us to the Clinton Ave. overpass, situated just shy of the four-lane I-390 overpass. Poking above the trees to the north are the four equal height towers of WROC-950, and shown in the photo just below. Three are in direct alignment and the fourth sits off some distance broadside to the northeast. They are each .193 wavelength in height. Take the side path off the canal to the north about 50 yards and you have a good view of the tower site. WROC-950 is one of Rochester's oldest AM radio outlets. Both daytime and nighttime powers are set at 1KW.

The tower configuration at WROC is a bit curious. Three towers are used at night, those three in direct row alignment, broadcasting with a main lobe at 353 degrees, and a very minor lobe at 173 degrees. Gain in the favored direction, north towards the main population center, is 6.2dB.

Daytime coverage is bi-directional, using two towers, tower #3 from the aligned row and tower #4, the tower broadside to the northeast. The main lobes are at 343 degrees and 163 degrees, generating about 4.8 dB gain each.

WROC-AM's call sign is a reference to WROC-TV. While the stations are not and have never been co-owned, WROC-AM has an agreement with WROC-TV to provide local news coverage, and the borrowing of the WROC call signs from WROC-TV is included in this agreement. Coincidentally, the WROC-AM call sign was previously held at WHTK-1280 from 1961 into the 1970s, and was co-owned with WROC-TV while at that location.

WROC-950 began broadcasting in 1947 under the call sign WARC. It was an early affiliate of the ABC radio network, but later changed to a locally programmed, personality-driven popular music station. It was purchased by the B. Forman regional department store chain in 1953 and changed its call letters to WBBF, the last three letters of which stood for "Buy B. Forman". In 1966 it was sold to LIN Broadcasting for what was then a market record of over $2 million, but retained its popular music format and personality lineup until the early 1980s.

As WBBF, 950 AM was a popular Top 40 music station in Rochester, often leading the market in ratings surveys from the 1950s through the early 1970s, and ranking among the city's top stations through the late 1970s even after strong format competition arrived in 1972 from WAXC-1460 and later on the FM band from WPXY. Consistent success was achieved although as a relative latecomer to the AM band in the postwar era, WBBF's coverage area had to be restricted to the east and west to prevent interference with other stations on the same channel. In 1982, as hit music radio listeners were migrating to FM, the station evolved into a talk format. WBBF served a short stint as WEZO from 1998 to 2002, then adopting the WROC call sign. The WBBF calls are now in use in Buffalo, New York.

In September of 2004, WROC signed on with the liberal Air America network, having previously carried conservative talk. In September of 2008, WROC became an ESPN affiliate. The format is closely affiliated with Buffalo sister station WGR-550.

Shown below is WROC-950's nighttime pattern plot. On the plot are shown various co-channel stations around the region and where they fall into WROC's pattern.

This concludes this series. Hope you have enjoyed it.

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Mexican Governmental Mediumwave List Updated

About a month ago, the Mexican government finally updated their official mediumwave station list, now dated June 30, 2011. Updates to this list do not come very often, perhaps every year or so. The previous list was dated December 31, 2009, 18 months ago. It's been a long time coming.

The list, in .PDF format, documents station location (city and state), owner, call sign, frequency, daytime and nighttime powers, and license expiration date or status. It is unfortunate that actual latitude and longitude coordinates of transmitter sites are not included. However, latitude and longitude can be extracted from the matching entry in the US FCC database if you look carefully and wade through the huge number of redundant and outdated Mexican records to find the right one. I am working on creating a combined list using my Radio Data MW program. That will allow the creation of a list in many forms, sorted at will by call sign, frequency, power, location, signal strength, etc.

To my knowledge, Mexico does not maintain an internet downloadable, official database in file form like the FCC or Industry Canada does. It would be nice if they did.

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Mediumwave Station Reference Lists

I DX a lot outside, whether on the road in a vehicle or just to be outside and away from the extreme household noise that we find today. Whether you be a mediumwave DXer, shortwave DXer, or DXer of another kind, the problem in DXing away from home has always been the lack of ready DX reference materials nearby. You have to pack and carry all that stuff. And I like to travel light. My outdoor DXing is often casual and spur of the moment, with a ULR or portable. Who might that weak station be under KHOW-630? I need a station reference.
At minimum, a reference guide of stations helps you to know what to look for and what to expect, so it is important to have one close by. In recent years there were two common radio DXer guides in bound-book form, the World Radio TV Handbook (WRTH) and Passport to Worldband Radio. I used to buy them faithfully every year. Passport had a great radio review section, but its station reference only covered the shortwave bands. Passport also folded last year and ceased publication. It was a great shortwave guide.

WRTH covers longwave to 30 MHz and also FM and TV, listing nearly every broadcast radio and TV station a country has. Unfortunately, its US mediumwave coverage is not complete, in that it doesn't cover many lower powered and graveyard stations. The information is scant, basically only station addresses, power, and antenna type. The recent list price: $35.00 per issue, though it can be had at a discount later in the year. That's a lot of dollars for a little bit of usable information if you are just interested in mediumwave.

The National Radio Club publishes its AM Radio Log every year, and it's a winner. The current, 32nd edition of the log contains some 300 pages in 8.5 x 11 inch size, 3-hole punched, in U.S. loose leaf format. Current cost is $20 for members and $26 for non-members.

The NRC also publishes an Antenna Pattern Book, helpful in determining which direction stations are favoring in their broadcast pattern. The current, 6th edition (late 2005 data) is 238 pages containing both daytime and nightime patterns for stations in the US, Canada and parts of Mexico. It is in the same format as the AM Radio Log, and is designed to be used as a companion to it. The "book" fits in a 1 inch three ring binder. The current cost: $17 for members and $23 for non-members.

We are starting to accumulate a lot of paper (500+ pages so far). And the cost is going up. As you can see, reference guides can be expensive to buy. They also go out of date quickly. Thirdly, they can be heavy and take up a lot of space. We are back to the packing and carrying problem.

In the article, Radio Station Databases 101, we explored several countries' mediumwave databases which might help us in creating our own lists of mediumwave stations to aid us in our DX quests.

However, database information is not generally in a readable format. In most cases it is hundreds or thousands of lines of incomprehensible textual data. It is mainly useful to the software hobbyist who might want to write a database program or create an XCEL (.XLS) file to display station information in various sorted forms. This is obviously a highly technical and tedious endeavor which most people are not equipped or trained to do. My own project in this area is the Radio Data MW program. I will write more on this project at a later date.

Thankfully, a number of web sites exist which have done much of the work for us, tabulating this data and presenting it in one form or another which can be useful as a reference. These web pages, or in some cases, files, can simply be printed and placed into a binder of some sort, then used in your shack or carried to an outside DX location and used there. We have at least saved cost, though not paper.

Let's explore what's available for free on the web.

Pre-eminate in the field, the FCC maintains an AM Query web page that utilizes and searches its standard database for all US stations - AM, FM, and TV, as well as Travelers Information (TIS) stations. I have found the FCC information for US stations to be highly accurate. Be wary of Canadian and Mexican information. Much of it is either redundant or out of date. Properly used, the FCC AM Query will output a large text file of all MW stations.

Opening the web page and selecting the dropdown boxes, "Authorization type: Licensed Records Only (Daytime + Nighttime" and "Output-- AM Short List (or AM List)", then clicking the Submit Data button returns a huge list of active stations. Save this to a file, print it, and you have the entire US mediumwave listing. But it is huge, some 8 megabytes in some cases. You can also search by frequency or state, thus you can create customized lists, saving and printing them.

The FCC also makes antenna pattern plots available. Virtually all stations with multiple towers have directional patterns and the FCC makes this plot available in PDF form. Once displayed in your browser, this PDF can be saved to a file for future reference. Pull up the page for the station of interest to get to the pattern link. Example: WWKB-1520 facility and WWKB-1520 pattern.

radio-locator.com, a favorite site of mine, also has an advanced station search page. Many of us think of radio-locator only as the site that shows us mediumwave antenna pattern plots. The great thing about their page is you can also plug in parameters to filter stations by frequency or state. You can even search by broadcast format. Results are returned in formatted HTML pages. Save the resultant pages to file, print them, and create your own database of stations.

As just stated, radio-locator.com is another site which produces antenna pattern plots. These particular plots depict the expected signal coverage area of the mediumwave station over a map. The pattern plot is displayed as a GIF image. Once displayed in your browser, this GIF can be also saved to a file for future reference. Example: WWKB-1520 pattern.

am-dx.com is a simple textual site that tallies all US stations by frequency. Canada and Mexico are also available. Pick a frequency, display the list, save it, then print it.
The AM Logbook by Lee Freshwater is another interesting site that lists stations in a myriad of ways. Frequency, call sign, state, city, sites (transmitter), slogan, etc. Again, select your preference, display the list, save it, then print it. US and Canadian stations are represented.

AM Logbook also provides its current AM database in spreadsheet (XCEL) format. You must of course have an XCEL (.XLS) viewer. You'll find the link on the Updates page.

Topaz Designs is a basic textual site with search box, returning results by frequency, state, power cutoff (100W), and broadcast format. US and Canadian stations are represented.

Mediumwave List is a comprehensive site that offers a lot of information, including transmitter mapping, logbooks of users, and station news. Worldwide mediumwave stations are represented, including of course North America - Canada, Mexico, Cuba, the Caribbean, etc. To create your station list, login if you are a member or click "Continue as guest". This site will also allow you to download files from their huge database of stations, by region or country. The output is in PDF form. Registration is required for certain information beyond the basic.

Outside of the US, the Mexican government provides a very nice list of their mediumwave service in PDF form. Australia provides a list of their mediumwave service in XCEL form. Using the Industry Canada site, you can search the Canadian mediumwave service and create various lists in text, HTML, and XCEL form.

Note that most of these sites return station lists in a web page (HTML format) versus a simple text page. Lists can be saved as a web page by the Save As function in your browser. But there is also another way. It is possible to select the important data on the web page, copy it to the Windows clipboard (CTRL+C), then paste it into a text editor (CTRL-V). The text can then be saved as a text file, which may require a little editing. Sometimes it is easier to read this way. If you go this route, be sure to use a text editor that supports Unicode text format, like Window's Wordpad, Notepad++, etc. Window's Notepad does not, and you may get a jumble of text with no line breaks.

So, we have several options available for saving and/or printing station lists. We have two options available for saving and/or printing antenna pattern plots. If you choose to print some or all of these and place the pages in a binder of some sort, all well and good. But a comprehensive list of the entire US database is still a lot of paper to store, pack, and carry around. Of course we could just save all these files to a laptop and take the laptop with us. There is also one another option.

Next up: Mediumwave DX Meets the eReader

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Mediumwave Along the Erie Canal, Part 1

Let's explore some mediumwave stations whose transmitter sites line the Erie Canal at Rochester, New York. Three sites are in such close proximity to the canal that their ground radials almost dangle in its waters.
The Erie Canal is a waterway that runs about 363 miles from Albany, New York, on the Hudson River to Buffalo, New York, at Lake Erie, completing a navigable water route from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes. The canal contains 36 locks with a total elevation differential of about 565 ft. It was first proposed in 1807, and remained under construction from 1817 to 1825.
The canal was the first transportation system between the eastern seaboard (New York City) and the western interior (Great Lakes) of the United States that did not require portage. It was much faster than carts pulled by draft animals, and cut transportation costs from $100 per ton to $10 per ton. The canal fostered a population surge in western New York state, opened regions farther west to settlement, and helped New York City become the chief U.S. port. It was enlarged between 1834 and 1862. In 1918, the enlarged canal was replaced by the larger New York State Barge Canal.
Canal boats were pulled by horses and mules along a towpath which ran alongside the canal. In modern days, the old towpath has been turned into a walkway for hiking and biking in many places. A one mile section along the Erie Canal through Rochester, New York plays host to no less than three mediumwave stations. Walking the canal, one passes within 500 yards of stations WXXI-1370 (5KW), WHTK-1280 (5KW), and WROC-950 (1KW).

Let's take a walk along the canal in this area and I'll describe what we see, radio-wise.

Pictured just below is the tower array of WXXI-1370. Starting at Lock 33 on Edgewood Ave. and proceeding west, after a few hundred yards we see WXXI-1370 off to the north about 500 yards and behind an apartment building just off of French Rd. WXXI's four towers stand in a rectangular trapezoidal-shaped array. Both daytime and nighttime powers are set at 5KW.

Daytime coverage is omni-directional, using only one tower. The four tower array in use at night broadcasts with a main lobe at 354 degrees, and a minor lobe at 157 degrees. Gain in the favored direction, north towards the main population center of Rochester, is just over 5dB. WXXI is one of those rare stations that reference all towers in their orientation, spacing, and phasing to a non-primary tower: Tower 2.

WXXI is Rochester's National Public Radio outlet on the AM band. It also broadcasts in HD on the FM band. WXXI dates its origins to July 2, 1984, when it signed on with a mix of NPR news programming, local news and talk, and public affairs programming geared to serve adult listeners in the six-county Rochester metropolitan area. The station is the successor to WSAY, a facility founded and built by the late Gordon P. Brown in 1936 as a small local area station with a 250 watt signal on 1210 kHz. It moved to 1240 kHz in 1941. In the pre-war era WSAY became best known as the home of local music programs at a time when its network-affiliated competitors were airing a mix of local news and sports with national drama, comedy and music/variety shows supplied by the NBC and CBS networks. WSAY also was the first station to hire an African-American announcer for a regular shift.

Following World War II WSAY received FCC permission to improve its signal by moving to the regional 1370 kHz frequency. It relocated its transmitter from a downtown Rochester building with rooftop antenna to a modern four-tower plant in suburban Brighton. It increased power first to 1000 watts and shortly afterward to 5000 watts full time. Over the next three decades WSAY operated under a number of formats, from pop standards to top 40 to progressive rock to country. Gordon Brown owned WSAY until his death in 1979, and his estate sold it to the Dickey family. The Dickeys operated it from 1980 to 1984, also under a variety of formats from personality adult contemporary to country to talk, eventually changing its callsign to WRTK. The license and facility was eventually sold to the WXXI Public Broadcasting Council, and briefly taken dark before its summer 1984 relaunch as WXXI-1370 with a round-the-clock non-commercial format of news, talk and public affairs. The WXXI news and public affairs department produces local newscasts seven days a week and local talk programming every weekday, along with NPR news programming and locally produced documentary and specialty offerings. It currently operates from modern digital studios in the downtown Public Broadcasting Center, and upgraded transmitting facilities at the Brighton location first brought on line by Gordon Brown in 1946.

Over the past 25 years WXXI-1370 has achieved success in attracting a sizable audience for its news and public affairs programming, consistently ranking second in audience size among the Rochester market's AM signals and second among stations on either AM or FM with spoken-word (news, talk, or sports) formats according to Arbitron quarterly audience measurements. It has also won numerous local, state and national awards for its program offerings.

Shown below is WXXI-1370's nighttime pattern plot. On the plot are shown various co-channel stations around the region and where they fall into WXXI's pattern.

Stay tuned for Part 2 of this series.

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Mediumwave DX Meets The Tablet Computer

A previous series on this blog talked about the wealth of information we mediumwave DXers have for listing stations, and ways to reference it in the field. Last year about this time I bought an eReader (a Nook Color), with the idea of using it to read books and other saved documents. What I discovered was how easy it was to create customized station lists from various web sources using my laptop, then transfer them to the eReader for reference in the field when DXing. The second part in that series talked about using the eReader for displaying DX lists.

After a summer's use it became apparent that a tablet computer might be an even more usable device, as it would allow better web access, more options for file reader software, and a bigger screen (10 inch vs. 7 inch). This spring I purchased an Asus Transformer TF101 Android tablet. It has been a good choice.

As mentioned previously, typical station lists can be created in several forms using various web or other sources. Reader apps for tablet computers can handle .TXT (text) file format, .PDF (Adobe's Personal Document File) format, .HTML (web) format, and others - even .XLS (XCEL) spreadsheet files or comma-separated value text (.CSV) files.

Three favorite web sites of mine for mining mediumwave AM data are Lee Freshwater's AM Logbook, MWList, and the FCC's AM Query. Let's review what they have to offer.

AM Logbook will generate a single web page list of stations by frequency, callsign, state, city, transmitter location, and others. US and Canadian stations are represented. The page can be saved locally by your browser and transferred to your tablet through either a hard connection, WiFi, or a Cloud service like Dropbox or Box. AM Logbook also supplies its AM list in downloadable XCEL spreadsheet form.

MWList, a more complicated site, attempts to document all AM stations worldwide, by country. It encourages users to register, but its data is also available to non-registered users. MWList has the ability to create a customized country file in PDF form which is then made available for your download. This is really the way to go on this site. Enter the site, login if you are a member or click "Continue as guest", then click the "Downloads" heading tab. Check off the countries desired, then download your PDF file. Transfer to your tablet as indicated above.

MWList also outputs country data to a generated web page, like AM Logbook. Country data is initially displayed by frequency, but the data columns on the page can be click-sorted by location, callsign, state, etc. Data is presented in an HTML "frame" within a parent page, so saving the web page core data in this way is not as easily done. Sometimes it is necessary to break the frame out into its own window, and this is the technique that I use. Some browsers allow this option and present a right-click menu item to accomplish it. Firefox and Opera include this function. Once the frame is broken out into its own page it is easily saved as HTML. Text formatting is maintained this way.

Data from both AM Logbook and MWList are based on a variety of sources, one being actual reception reports. Canadian data seems accurate for both, as it is not drawn from the FCC database. Ditto Mexico and other countries for MWList.

The third option, the FCC's AM Query, can also be used to create a station reference file. US data should be highly accurate, but be suspicious of any foreign data. You would be better off with AM Logbook or MWList for Canada and Mexico or other countries. Output can be displayed as a simple web page or a text file, easily transferred to a tablet, as above.

My own Radio Data MW program has the capability of creating station list files in HTML and CSV formats. I often use its files on my tablet, as I can set them up to show expected signal strengths and sunrise/sunset times for each station, something not available with any of the other sources.

Much reader software (in the form of apps) is available for the tablet. Adobe Reader (free) and ezPDF Reader (less than $5) are good ones for displaying PDF format. Your tablet already has text reading software and an HTML browser, though many others are also available for free through the Google Play Store (previously known as Google Marketplace). Apple's iPad has similar software available at their App Store.

An advantage to staying with the HTML format for your AM list is the tablet browser's pinch-to-zoom function. With file sizes fairly large, and long line lengths, it is advantageous to be able to zoom the text smaller and larger. Most PDF readers have the pinch-to-zoom capability, but not all work as well as the web browsers. Basic text (.TXT) reader software doesn't always have an appropriate zoom capability, or may wrap long line lengths causing confusion. HTML is the better choice here.

Tablet batteries typically last 6-10 hours, more than enough for a casual afternoon or night of DXing. All tablets seem to have sound recording capability, and most have video and sound recording, both. Thus your device can also be used to create a record of your DX catch for personal record or verification purposes, an added bonus to owning a tablet.

Turn your tablet device into a mediumwave DXer's station reference!

Viewing a MW database on a tablet

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