Introducing Gabby Patrice

IT is always a pleasure to introduce new musicians on Reporting From The Fox Tower, today introducing Gabby Patrice.

I would like to bring you Gabby's short biography, as featured on her website:

"Gabby Patrice is a signer songwriter based out of Nashville, TN [Tennessee].  She was born in Hingham, MA [Massachusetts] and made the move to the South in January 2016 to pursue her music career.  Since her move to Nashville she has release three singles on iTunes and Spotify and is working on an EP for June 2017."

Visit Gabby's website, a link to which is featured in the introduction to her above biography, to hear two examples of her work, the singles 'You' and 'Fun'.

Miss Patrice, following a crowdfunding appeal, recorded and released the 'Get To Know Me' EP, which included the tracks 'Get To Know Me', 'I Would Go', 'Maybe I'm Ready', 'Moonwalking', 'Treated' and 'Two More Months'.

I hope you have enjoyed this introduction to Gabby and her music. Learn more by visiting Gabby's social media pages on Facebook, Instagram, Soundcloud, Twitter, YouTube, Spreadshirt and Google+.

Gabby is also on ReverbNation, Spotify, Apple Music and more, but I shall let you do the research to find those pages and more. I shall close this post with another portrait of Gabby; Enjoy.

🎶

Season 2017/18: The Season So Far - Part 3

⚽

MAY I begin with an apology to the regular readers of Reporting From The Fox Tower, for not bringing you an update for over three weeks. I took some time out for myself, after a hectic couple of weeks, I hope you understand.

Another month has almost passed, as we have moved back to Greenwich Mean Time and with Hallowe'en just around the corner, the football fixtures for October have been completed by Carlisle United Football Club. So here, in The Season So Far - Part 3, the results for October and the fixtures for November:

October 2017: Results

Tuesday 3rd: Football League (EFL / Checkatrade) Trophy: United 0 - Leicester City 1

Saturday 7th: Sky Bet League Two: United 0 - Exeter City 1

Saturday 14th: Sky Bet League Two: Colchester United 0 - United 1

Tuesday 17th: Sky Bet League Two: United 3 - Wycombe Wanderers 3

Saturday 21st: Sky Bet League Two: United 1 - Notts County 1

Saturday 28th: Sky Bet League Two: Chesterfield 2 (McCourt 40'; Dennis 84') - United 2 (Grainger 55'; Bennett 73')

November 2017: Fixtures

Saturday 4th: FA Cup: United v Oldham Athletic (3pm)

Wednesday 8th: Football League (EFL / Checkatrade) Trophy: United v Fleetwood Town (7:45pm)

Saturday 11th: Sky Bet League Two: United v Yeovil Town (3pm)

Saturday 18th: Sky Bet League Two: Grimsby Town v United (3pm)

Tuesday 21st: Sky Bet League Two: Luton Town v United (7:45pm)

Saturday 25th: Sky Bet League Two: United v Morecambe (3pm)

C'mon Ye BLUES!

Wallpaper of the Week: Facing West(ward ho!)

WHILST I can't guarantee that this great picture was taken at Westward Ho!, the Devonshire coastal town as alluded to in the title of this post, I can guarantee that Caitlin and Sidney Powell do feature as Wallpaper of the Week. Or should I say Birthday week! As Caitlin and Sidney have both celebrated their Birthdays recently. So this post is also a belated Happy Birthday to both.

Also alluded to in the title of this post is Caitlin and Sidney's day job - They are the band Facing West.

Until next time, enjoy!

⛵ 🎶 📷

Season 2017/18: The Season So Far - Part 2

CATCH Part 1 and the season preview post by clicking on the links provided. Ready? Here are the Carlisle United Football Club results for September 2017:

Saturday 2nd: Sky Bet League Two: United 1 - Mansfield Town 1
Saturday 9th: Sky Bet League Two: Accrington Stanley 3 - United 0
Tuesday 12th: Sky Bet League Two: Coventry City 2 - United 0
Saturday 16th: Sky Bet League Two: United 1 - Barnet 1
Saturday 23rd: Sky Bet League Two: Crewe Alexandra 0 - United 5
Tuesday 26th: Sky Bet League Two: United 0 - Stevenage 2
Saturday 30th: Sky Bet League Two: Crawley Town 0 - United 1

⚽

The fixtures for October 2017 are as follows:

Tuesday 3rd: Football League (EFL / Checkatrade) Trophy: United v Leicester City (7:45pm)

Saturday 7th: Sky Bet League Two: United v Exeter City (3pm)

Saturday 14th: Sky Bet League Two: Colchester United v United (3pm)

Tuesday 17th: Sky Bet League Two: United v Wycombe Wanderers (7:45pm)

Saturday 21st: Sky Bet League Two: United v Notts County (3pm)

Saturday 28th: Sky Bet League Two: Chesterfield v United (3pm)

⚽

Enjoy the football this autumn!

Medium Wave, September 2017

MANY say Medium Wave is becoming increasingly redundant, which may be true, as a number of broadcasters switch off their AM transmitters in favour of FM, DAB and online. For those that are remaining, however, reception conditions become favourable, as the number of co-channel broadcasts are reduced and broadcasts can cover greater distances, especially after dark.

I am pleased to bring you logs of an evening spent listening to the Medium Wave band in September. I spent the evening of Thursday 21 September listening to the Roberts R881 and here is what was heard [Housekeeping notes: Times in UTC (GMT), frequencies in kiloHertz (kHz), transmission powers in watts and kiloWatts (kW)].

• 21 September: 1826 UTC: 1260 kHz: Smooth Radio, UK. Strong to moderate reception. Either 1.6 kW via Mangotsfield for Bristol & Bath, or via Farndon for Wrexham and Deeside. Music: Four Tops 'I'll Be There', ad break: Co-op Food, patio doors, PPI 'The Claims Guys'. Music: Rod Stewart 'You're In My Heart', ID 'Smooth Century on Smooth Radio', music: 'You Might Need Somebody'; Bob Seger 'We've Got Tonight'. Chris Skinner is the host. Ad break: Crimestoppers, Local Heroes [British Gas], Thompson Cruises, Moody Blues / Justin Hayward on tour. Music: Daniel Bedingfield 'If You're Not The One'. To 1850 UTC.
• 21 September: 1857 UTC: 1269 kHz: COPE, Spain. Good to poor reception. Either 10 kW via Ciudad Real, or 5 kW via Badajoz / Zamora. Birdsong...? Speech, in the Spanish language. Predominantly male speech, with some female speech. To 1909 UTC.
• 21 September: 1918 UTC: 1278 kHz: Pulse 2, UK. Strong to moderate reception, 430 watts via Tyersal Lane, Bradford, West Yorkshire. Music: Lionel Richie 'Three Times A Lady', Billy Joel 'Uptown Girl'. ID: 'Greatest Hits of all time...' Ad break: SCS sofa, £99 summer offer on Dacia Sandro at Bristol Street Motors, Bradford. ID: 'Pulse 2'. Music: Eric Carmen 'Hungry Eyes', ID 'Across West Yorkshire, this is Pulse 2'. Music: Johnny Nash 'I Can See Clearly Now', Adele 'Hello'. To 1931 UTC.

• 21 September: 1949 UTC: 1287 kHz: SER, Spain. Moderate reception, either 10 kW via Radio Lugo, 5 kW via Radio Lleida or 2 kW via Radio Castilla, Burgos, Ctra Madrid. Spanish speech, football commentary? Male speech, anchor in studio linking to reporters, music, male speech. Time pips at 20 UTC, male speech. To 2002 UTC.
• 21 September: 2005 UTC: 1296 kHz: Radio XL, UK. Strong to good reception, 10 kW via Langley Mill B, Birmingham. ID for Radio XL, ad for dealer of Mercedes-Benz spare parts, travel - Radio XL weather sponsored by Southall Travel. ID, music. ID: 'On 1296, this is Radio XL'. Ad: Southall Travel, Rainbow casino, programme trailers. Music. Male speech with contact telephone number: 0121 753 1296. ID: 'Birmingham's only 24 hour Asian station, this is Radio XL'. Ad break: Tile store. ID: 'Across the Midlands, this is Radio XL', music. To 2024 UTC.

The evening concluded by tuning to 1305 kHz, where a number of broadcasts were audible on the channel; Strongest seemed to be Smooth Radio and Premier Christian Radio. I felt I could not logically separate and log these broadcasts, but for the purpose of these footnotes, Smooth Radio on 1305 kHz serves South Wales (Christchurch, Newport, 200 watts); Premier Christian Radio serves South and North London, 500 watts.

I also tuned to 1314 kHz, where inaudible broadcasts were present... Better luck next time. I brought the evening to a close at 2050 UTC, on the frequency of 1314 kHz.

📻

My DX Archive: October 1992

MAY I begin by saying a big 'Thank you!' to all who viewed my previous DX Archive post, which took us back to the Summer of 1992. One hundred views in one week is a great achievement. Thank you.

Continuing the visit to my DX Archive, I present a very productive month: October 1992. As with the previous post, here are the logs from that time, with QSL verifications and images. The broadcasts were received on a Hitachi TRK-5854 E.
[Housekeeping notes: Times in UTC (GMT), frequencies in kiloHertz (kHz), MegaHertz (MHz) and/or metrebands (m). Logs transcribed from the original notes.]

• 20 October [1992]: 1832 UTC: 6045 kHz / 6195 kHz (49m): BBC World Service "Discovery"
• 20 October: 1844 UTC: 9525 kHz: Polish Radio (Warsaw) "Cookery programme followed by News Headlines from the Newsdesk, Weather -9°c in East to 13°c in West".
• 20 October: 1858 UTC: 9700 - 9760 kHz: Voice of America "Science Programme. News at 19UTC".
• 20 October: 1914 UTC: 11630 kHz: Radio Moscow World Service "Press Reviews - 'Update' show".
• 20 October: 1931 UTC: 11940 kHz: Radio Romania International "Youth Programming".
• 20 October: 2011 UTC: 13 MHz / 25m: Radio Canada International "Broadcasting to Canadian Peace-keeping forces in Croatia, Somalia & Cyprus".

WCSN QSL verification, March 1993

• 20 October: 2027 UTC: 13770 kHz: Christian Science Monitor (WCSN, Scotts Corner, Maine, USA) "Monitor News on APR (American Public Radio)".
• 20 October: 2053 UTC: 13650 kHz: Radio Canada International "Spectrum".
• 20 October: 2109 UTC: 15205 kHz: Voice of America "News (World Report)".
• 20 October: 2116 UTC: 13770 kHz // 15665 kHz: World Service of The Christian Science Monitor "Curtain Call".
• 20 October: 2129 UTC: 15 MHz: Deutsche Welle ID : "Caribbean Relay Station - Antigua".
• 20 October: 2140 UTC: 15150 kHz: Radio Canada International English to Africa: "Spectrum".

• 20 October: 2144 UTC: 15590 kHz: BBC World Service "British News: The BBC, Neil Kinnock".
• 20 October: 2148 UTC: 15270 kHz: HCJB, Quito, South America "Featuring a programme from a Broadcast Center, Texas, USA: 'Mountain Meditation'."
• 20 October: 2209 UTC: 15150 kHz: Radio Canada International 'CBC News'.
• 27 October: 2130 UTC: 1179 kHz MW Radio Sweden : News with Alan Pryke, weather: -17°c in the far north to +2°c in Stockholm. "60° Degrees North": News & Current Affairs show: Yugoslav Prisoners of war in Sweden. Ikea purchases Habitat (Retail chain). "Mediawatch" segment: European DX Council meet in Finland. News headlines at 22 UTC, "60° Degrees North" continues with a review of current publications, to programme close at 2230 UTC.

That concludes this visit to my DX Archive - I do hope you enjoyed reading this selection of logs, originally broadcast almost twenty five years ago. Until next time, 73s and Good DX!

📻

My DX Archive: Summer 1992

WELCOME to the second visit to My DX Archive - Read the first post here. Following the February 1992 logs in that previous post, this post looks at logs from July, August and September 1992, including some QSL verifications from those early years. Enjoy.
[Housekeeping notes: Times in UTC (GMT), frequencies in kiloHertz (kHz), MegaHertz (MHz) and/or metrebands (m). Logs transcribed from the original notes.]

• 11 July [1992]: 1905 - 1921 UTC: 49m / 6 MHz : Radio Australia - Melbourne "News headlines, followed by 'Sports Roundup', Aussie rules football, Tasmanian football, rugby results, New South Wales league results, Barcelona Olympics - Yugoslavian athletes, Basketball - Republic of China, general sports news from China.
• 12 July: 1230 - 1330 UTC: 5955 kHz / 49m band: Radio Netherlands (International) "Happy Station" Music from Acker Bilk, Tom Meyer (host) and Pete Myers (co-host) talk of Pete's broken leg. Terry Cooper of Scunthorpe wrote to Pete. Celebrity birthdays. Tom Meyer is leaving "Happy Station".
• 12 July: 1900 UTC: 5 MHz - 6 MHz / 49m band: Radio Czechoslovakia "(Broadcasting in Spanish)"
• 12 July: 1923 UTC: 6 MHz / 49m band: Voice of America "Newsline"
• 12 July: 1937 UTC: 6 MHz / 49m band: Polish Radio - Warsaw "Music request programme".
• 12 July: 2000 UTC: 6 MHz / 49m band: BBC World Service - London

August 1992

• 5 August: 1925 UTC: 6 MHz: BBC World Service "Multitrack 2 featuring Genesis: Phil Collins, Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford"
• 5 August: 20 UTC: 9 MHz: Radio Exterior de España "Madrid 28080 Spain"
• 5 August: 21 UTC: 15665 kHz: Christian Science Monitor "WCSN, Scotts Corners, Maine, USA"
• 5 August: 2151 UTC: 19m band: KOL Israel Radio, Jerusalem "Israel, The Vatican, Jews & Catholics"
• 5 August: 2207 UTC: 12 MHz: Radio Sofia, Bulgaria "News & Aspects in co-operation re: Business course"

Radio Sofia QSL, 1992

September 1992

• 15 September: 1842 UTC: 5 MHz / 49m band: Radio Moscow "Africa As We See It (Soccer results!) Radio Moscow News at 8pm [19 UTC]."
• 15 September: 1905 UTC: 6045 kHz: BBC World Service "Outlook. News; A Captain of the Canadian Army discusses his new book"
• 15 September: 2029 UTC: 9920 kHz: Radio Beijing "Current Affairs".
• 15 September: 21 UTC: 15000 kHz: Voice of America "World Report"
• 15 September: 2130 UTC: 15610 kHz: WCSN (Christian Science Monitor)
• 15 September: 2134 UTC: 17-18 MHz: Radio Havana Cuba "DXers Unlimited".

Radio Havana Cuba QSL, September 1992

That concludes the logs from the Summer of 1992. Until the next time, good DX!

📻

Introducing Lexi.

LEXI Downie at work . . .

📷

. . . and at play

🐦

Season 2017/18: The Season So Far - Part 1

REPORTING From The Fox Tower introduced you to the 2017/18 Season with the 'Are You Ready?' post in July, now I can bring you the first set of results for August 2017:

Saturday 5th: Sky Bet League Two: United 1 - Swindon Town 2
Tuesday 8th: Football League (EFL / Carabao) Cup: Fleetwood Town 1 - United 2
Saturday 12th: Sky Bet League Two: Cambridge United 1 - United 2
Saturday 19th: Sky Bet League Two: United 3 - Cheltenham Town 0
Tuesday 22nd: Football League (EFL / Carabao) Cup: United 1 - Sunderland 2
Saturday 26th: Sky Bet League Two: Lincoln City 4 - United 1
Tuesday 29th: Football League (EFL / Checkatrade) Trophy: Morecambe 0 - United 2

⚽

A reminder that the fixtures for September 2017 are as follows:

Saturday 2nd: Sky Bet League Two: United v Mansfield Town (3pm)
Saturday 9th: Sky Bet League Two: Accrington Stanley v United (3pm)
Tuesday 12th: Sky Bet League Two: Coventry City v United (7:45pm)
Saturday 16th: Sky Bet League Two: United v Barnet (3pm)
Saturday 23rd: Sky Bet League Two: Crewe Alexandra v United (3pm)
Tuesday 26th: Sky Bet League Two: United v Stevenage (7:45pm)
Saturday 30th: Sky Bet League Two: Crawley Town v United (3pm)

⚽

COME ON YOU BLUES!

An island life for Renee

RENEE Somerfield

'An island life for me'

🌴

Renee's Perspective @SomerfieldSwim

A post shared by RENEE SOMERFIELD (@reneesomerfield) on May 2, 2016 at 2:09am PDT

💦

Meet the Somerfield Swim girls

promoting 'Fresh white combos'

😍

Look What You Made Me Do.

Taylor Swift

'Look What You Made Me Do'

from the forthcoming album

'reputation'

Composers: Taylor Swift, Jack Antonoff, Richard Fairbrass, Fred Fairbrass & Rob Manzoli.

🎶

Taylor Swift presents Reputation.

AFTER a week of social media blackouts, a 'blank space' on her website and teases which included video snippets, Taylor Swift has posted details of new music - The first was the above image of a new single to be released late Thursday / early Friday, wherever in the world you are at the time of release. Then came the next image . . .

. . . The image of the sleeve of Reputation, the sixth studio album by Taylor.

The third image released by Taylor confirms the album:

#TS6 - Reputation - is here!

🎶

20 Years: Be Here Now.

IT was twenty years ago today - Oasis released their third album

Be Here Now

. . . Which featured this BELTER of a track 'D'You Know What I Mean?'

Enjoy the memories.

🎶

31 metres, August 2017

WELCOME to another collection of radio broadcast logs, here on Reporting From The Fox Tower.
The title of this post, 31 metres, refers to the 31 metreband on short wave radio, where you will find transmissions of 9000 kHz / 9 MHz onwards. 31 metres is also the length of each wave released on a 9 MHz frequency.

On to the logs of broadcasts received August 2017. Housekeeping notes: Times in UTC (GMT), frequencies in kiloHertz (kHz) and transmission powers in watts or KiloWatts (kW).
A log of broadcasts received on the Short Wave band of the Roberts R881, Wednesday 16 August 2017:

Snapshot of the Bible Voice Broadcasting website.

• 16 August: 1740 UTC: 9400 kHz: Bible Voice Broadcasting, Canada. Strong to moderate reception, 100 kW via Kostinbrod, Sofia (Bulgaria) [Spaceline]. Male speech, Persian, music. Female speech, email address, off air at 1759 UTC.
• 16 August: 1804 UTC: 9400 kHz: Overcomer Ministry, USA. Moderate to poor reception, 100 kW via Kostinbrod, Sofia (Bulgaria) [Spaceline]. Brother R G Stair, speech with music. To 1812 UTC.
• 16 August: 1813 UTC: 9410 kHz: BBC World Service, UK. Good to moderate reception, 250 kW via Al Dhabbaya, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. English to East and South Africa. Male speech, studio and on location, female speech with a report regarding trade deals that the United States has, looking at the deal the US has with Canada. Male speech, speaking of a writer? Noise disturbance. UK borders with Republic of Ireland after Brexit. To 1827 UTC.
• 16 August: 1905 UTC: 9410 kHz: BBC World Service, UK. Strong to moderate reception. English to East and South Africa via Al Dhabbaya, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. 250 kW. Top of the hour news bulletin comes to an end with news from India, the feature programme is looking at the affairs of Eastern Africa. Focus moves to South Africa, with the impact of Manchester United Football Club expanding their brand into South Africa. Female reporter speaks to African women about how they feel about their safety, following some high profile crimes. How women use the internet in Africa. To 1935 UTC.
• 16 August: 1942 UTC: 9420 kHz: Voice of Greece [ERT / Helliniki Radiophonia], Greece. Strong to good reception, 170 kW via Avlis, Greece. [Best reception conditions of the night!] Continual music: Female vocalists. Male vocalist, male and female vocal group. Instrumental in the style of Jazz. Speech from a male, Greek, ID. To 1953 UTC.

• 16 August: 2016 UTC: 9440 kHz: China Radio International, China. Strong to moderate reception, English to Europe, Middle East, Africa via Kunming, China, 500 kW. China Radio International appears to have branched off into an audio 'soap' - Male, appears to be on a night out with 'Barbie / Miss Lee', he steps on her foot and she ends up in hospital, then in a taxi to go home... To 2024 UTC.
• 16 August: 2040 UTC: 9600 kHz: China Radio International, China. Strong to good reception, English to Europe, Middle East, Africa via Kashi, China, 500 kW. Narration of a literature; Narrator is named Ian [Sounds British]. This is a celebration of Chinese literature. Butcher Li Ang [with a West Country accent] deals with an agitated customer, who calls him a 'pig fucker'! The customer kills him... To 2049 UTC.
• 16 August: 2053 UTC: 9610 kHz: Radio Romania International, Romania. Strong to good reception, English to Europe, America via Tiganesti, Saftica, Romania, 300 kW. Tourists visiting the UNESCO heritage site in Romania, Moldovan Ministries and caves, tourists like to visit music festivals. Programme identifies as 'This is Romania'. Male has transmission details for Western Europe and North America. Also listen online. Email address. Close of broadcast at 2056 UTC; Interval signal. Transmitter off at 2057 UTC.
• 16 August: 2105 UTC: 9620 kHz: Voice of Turkey, Turkey. Strong to moderate reception, English to Asia, Australasia via Emirler, Turkey, 500 kW. Female speech, male speech, music. Female speech with frequencies, times, contact details, 'Questions of note'. Music: Male and female vocals. Female and male speech, speaking over the music. ID by male: "You have been listening to the Voice of Turkey English Service..." with details of forthcoming transmissions on short wave - Announcement made at 2122 UTC - Also listen online. Music. Off air at 2129 UTC.
• 16 August: 2141 UTC: 9730 kHz: Voice of Vietnam, Vietnam. Good to poor reception, English to Europe via Hanoi-Santay, 100 kW. Music, followed by female speech: "You are listening to the Voice of Vietnam". Result of an election: President celebrates victory. Other news: Ministers hold an emergency meeting. News update from Latin America. Speech from male and female - Speech from male includes details of programme schedules. Deterioration of signal. To 2150 UTC.

Voice of Vietnam QSL, April 1993.

That concludes the log of short wave broadcasts for August 2017. Thank you for visiting Reporting From The Fox Tower and please feel free to leave any comments below this post!

📻

My DX Archive: February 1992

EVERY month, here on Reporting From The Fox Tower, I bring you a log of broadcasts heard on Short Wave or Medium Wave. This post is different. I'm taking you back to the very beginning of my time listening to the radio, to my very first logs. Taking you back to February 13, 1992. Enjoy.
Housekeeping notes: Times in UTC (GMT), frequencies in kiloHertz (kHz), MegaHertz (MHz) and/or metrebands (m). Logs transcribed from the original notes.

• 13 February [1992]: 2023 UTC: 31m / 9655 kHz: Radio Sweden International "S 105-10 Stockholm Sweden".
• 13 February: 2034 UTC: 25mband: Radio Roma ; Swiss Radio International (Switzerland) 12035 kHz - 25m band (Based in Berne).
• 13 February: 2053 UTC: Radio Canada International - Including Canadian Newspapers.
• 13 February: 2102 UTC: 13700 kHz / 19m / 22m band: Radio Netherlands International "Media Network" Programme.
• 13 February: 2114 UTC: 15 MHz / 19mband: Voice of Algeria "(Or is it Voice of America?)"
• 13 February: 2116 UTC: 15 MHz / 19mband: Radio Portugal International "Broadcasting from Lisbon, Frequency news, 'Portugal Past & Present'".

A more recent logo from "Radio Portugal International"

• 13 February: 2124 UTC: 15566 kHz / 19m or 17750 kHz / 16m: Family Radio (WYFR) "- I think!".
• 13 February: 2152 UTC: 19mband: Voice of America - "Winter Olympics news, logo for '96 Summer Olympics unveiled in Atlanta, Georgia".
• 13 February: 2200 UTC: 19mband: World Harvest Radio "PO Box 12, INDIANA 46624 USA".
• 13 February: 2210 UTC: 17875 kHz / 19mband: C B C (Radio Canada International?) - News.
• 13 February: 2216 UTC: 12095 kHz / 25 m band: B B C World Service : London.
• 13 February: 2227 UTC: 9950 kHz / 31 m band: All India Radio "Open University information (1845 - 2230 UTC)".

All India Radio logo

That concludes the logs from February 1992. The DX Archive may become a regular feature, I am not sure yet. I hope to bring you DX logs for August 2017 in the coming days, so please stay tuned for that. Good DX!

📻

Stereophonics at Kendal Calling

Watch live video from kendalcallingfestival on www.twitch.tv

STEREOPHONICS at Kendal Calling

Friday 28 July 2017

🎶

Holly Willoughby . . .

. . . is Harley Quinn!

😍

Season 2017/18: Are You Ready?

Reporting From The Fox Tower

supporting

Carlisle United Football Club

THE 2017/18 football season starts Saturday 5th August - And as with previous seasons, Reporting From The Fox Tower will be keeping you up to date with Carlisle United - The Blues - Bringing you the fixtures and results, starting right here, with the fixtures for August through to the end of October.

⚽

AUGUST 2017

Saturday 5th: Sky Bet League Two: United v Swindon Town (3pm)

Tuesday 8th: Carabao [Football League] Cup: Fleetwood Town v United (7:45pm)

Saturday 12th: Sky Bet League Two: Cambridge United v United (3pm)

Saturday 19th: Sky Bet League Two: United v Cheltenham Town (3pm)

Saturday 26th: Sky Bet League Two: Lincoln City v United (3pm)

Tuesday 29th: Checkatrade [Football League] Trophy: Morecambe v United (TBC/7:45pm)

⚽

SEPTEMBER 2017

Saturday 2nd: Sky Bet League Two: United v Mansfield Town (3pm)

Saturday 9th: Sky Bet League Two: Accrington Stanley v United (3pm)

Tuesday 12th: Sky Bet League Two: Coventry City v United (7:45pm)

Saturday 16th: Sky Bet League Two: United v Barnet (3pm)

Saturday 23rd: Sky Bet League Two: Crewe Alexandra v United (3pm)

Tuesday 26th: Sky Bet League Two: United v Stevenage (7:45pm)

Saturday 30th: Sky Bet League Two: Crawley Town v United (3pm)

⚽

OCTOBER 2017

Tuesday 3rd: Checkatrade [Football League] Trophy: United v Leicester City U21 (TBC/7:45pm)

Saturday 7th: Sky Bet League Two: United v Exeter City (3pm)

Saturday 14th: Sky Bet League Two: Colchester United v United (3pm)

Tuesday 17th: Sky Bet League Two: United v Wycombe Wanderers (7:45pm)

Saturday 21st: Sky Bet League Two: United v Notts County (3pm)

Saturday 28th: Sky Bet League Two: Chesterfield v United (3pm)

⚽

I hope this preview has given you a flavour of what to expect over the course of the season and at this point, there is only one thing left to say -

COME ON YOU BLUES!

Images courtesy of Carlisle United Football Club.

Happy Mondays at Kendal Calling

Watch live video from kendalcallingfestival on www.twitch.tv
THE 2017 Kendal Calling festival is well underway and this year, the performances have been streamed, including the Happy Mondays, presented by Amazon Music. Enjoy the magic of Shaun Ryder, Rowetta, Bez and co ☺

🎶

Support the Sunflowers at Kendal Calling!

KENDAL Calling festival is getting underway and, amid all the festivities, you can support Hospice at Home Carlisle and North Lakeland by supporting their sunflower appeal, details of which you will have learned in the above video.

Enjoy the weekend and support the sunflowers!

🌻

Wallpaper of the Week, 23 July 2017

WALLPAPER of the Week is a visit on the B6270 to Tailbridge Hill, Nateby, the view is to the northwest and to the fore is a stone cairn. This image was captured 20 September 2016 at 1330 in the early afternoon. To add what you can see in the distance: The town of Kirkby Stephen can be seen to the far right of the shot; The village of Nateby is centre, though slightly obscured by the peak of the cairn and to the left is the view towards Ravenstonedale. Further into the distance are the lakeland fells. Enjoy the image.

📷

Introducing Amy

INTRODUCING Amy Willerton to Reporting From The Fox Tower - Amy is a former Miss Great Britain and a Miss Universe Finalist (2013). Amy stepped into the national spotlight when she appeared on ITV's 'I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!' Amy then made the big step into television presentation, as well as modeling, with a move to the United States, where she became the presenter of 'Every Little Step', which reached seventy five million households in the United States.

Amy has also featured in the British television series 'The Jump' - Amy was the winning female of the series. Amy's modeling work continues, voted the fourteenth 'Sexiest Woman In The World' by FHM.

Keep up to date with Amy:

Visit her website

Follow Amy on Twitter

Amy on Facebook

Amy on Instagram

Amy on Pinterest

Amy on Tumblr

📷

And finalé

CONGRATULATIONS Chris Froome, winning Le Tour de France for the fourth time!

Image courtesy of ITV.

🚴

Midsummer Medium Wave, July 2017

JULY 2017 on the Medium Wave band began with an evening tuned to 1179 kHz, which, in days gone by, was home to Radio Sweden. Let's take a trip down memory lane with this 1991 QSL card!

A log of broadcasts received on the Medium Wave band of the Roberts R881, Tuesday 11 July 2017.
Housekeeping notes: Times in UTC (GMT), frequencies in kiloHertz (kHz) and transmission powers in watts or KiloWatts (kW).

• 11 July: 1957 UTC: 1197 kHz: A trace of audio on this frequency, most likely to be Absolute Radio, UK [400 watts via Wallasey, Merseyside].
• 11 July: 2006 UTC: 1215 kHz: Absolute Radio, UK. Strong to good reception, up to 200 kW via Moorside Edge, West Yorkshire. Music: Guns 'n' Roses 'Sweet Child O' Mine', Kings of Leon 'Down South' recorded live at BST Hyde Park. Station ID (transmission echo on the audio!), music news: Mark Knopfler to play on the new Killers album? Music: Radiohead 'High And Dry' from the album 'The Bends', Dire Straits 'Romeo And Juliet'. To 2022 UTC.
• 11 July: 2045 UTC: 1233 kHz: Absolute Radio, UK. Good to moderate reception, most likely to be 300 watts via Sheffield. Promo for the Absolute Radio smartphone app, music from Bob Marley and the Wailers 'Could You Be Loved', station ID, ads: British Gas boilers, 'Game of Thrones' on Now TV. Music: U2 'One' from the album 'Achtung Baby', Gorillaz 'Dare' and Madness 'It Must Be Love'. To 2113 UTC.

• 11 July: 2117 UTC: 1242 kHz: Absolute Radio, UK. Strong to moderate reception, most likely 1 kW via Stockton-on-Tees. Music: No Doubt 'Don't Speak', station ID (transmission echo audible). Music: Ash 'Shining Light', promo for the Christian O'Connell breakfast show. Music: Fleetwood Mac 'Everywhere' and Liam Gallagher 'Wall Of Glass'. To 2130 UTC.
• 11 July: 2138 UTC: 1251 kHz: Smooth Radio, UK. Good to moderate reception, most likely to be 760 watts via Great Barton, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk. Music: Spandau Ballet 'True', station ID for Smooth Radio, male speech, lost to the noise floor. Ad break: Dartford Crossing, The Sun, PPI, hearing solutions, British Gas new boilers. Music: 'What Becomes Of The Broken Hearted', ID 'Smooth Love'. Music: Christina Perri 'Jar of Hearts' and Phil Collins 'Groovy Kind of Love'. To 2153 UTC.

I also heard a mix of broadcasts at 2159 UTC on 1260 kHz, one of which I believe was Smooth Radio, most likely to be via Bristol, Bath or Wrexham. I heard Al Green 'Let's Stay Together' and a 2200 UTC news bulletin: Wimbledon 2017: Johanna Konta [GB] in the Semi Finals. I could also hear music of an Asian flavour, though I believe I heard a Smooth Radio ID at 2206 UTC.

That completes the log for July 2017. Enjoy the weekend!

📻

We must catch up!

REPORTING From The Fox Tower has been quite quiet recently, due to a technical outage at RFTFT HQ, which, thankfully, was resolved by the good people at KTD, Kendal.

The plan for posts over the last couple of weeks was to address the summer of sport which is now upon us, which I shall bring you, but as Wimbledon 2017 is coming to a close, one Penrith business is thriving as they supplied Traybakes to the Championships. Learn more from this recent ITV Border report by Kate Walby:

WATCH: A Cumbrian bakery will serve almost 30,000 of its handmade traybakes at Wimbledon. Kate Walby explores why it's ace for business: pic.twitter.com/DWHc5VqNuO

— ITV News Border (@ITVborder) July 5, 2017

Here is a recent photograph of the team at Traybakes, Redhills, Penrith, who have won a contract to supply cakes to TV chef Paul Hollywood and also to Wimbledon.
[Managing Director Justine Carruthers, centre, with sales administrator Chris Raffel, left, sales and marketing manager Judith Keating, right and their bakery technician team, back; 16 May 2017. PAULA THANNER]:

The Traybakes team, May 2017

As this post is a 'hello again' after a couple of weeks, I shall be back in a day or so to re-establish regular posts. Until then, enjoy the weekend!

M a r t i n

Wallpaper of the Week, 26 June 2017

TAKING you down memory lane to a recent stop - August 2016 - for Wallpaper of the Week.
The image is of Christ The Redeemer in the foreground, with the Rio 2016 Olympic Stadium in the distance, with colours of the nightlights peppered throughout. Enjoy the image.

Best of Luck, Katy!

ONE of the athletes who competed at #Rio2016 was Katy Sealy, (pictured above, at the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games) representing Belize. Reporting From The Fox Tower first introduced Katy on March 28 with the 'Meet The Olympian!' post, followed by the '...5 Gold Rings' post on April 2.

Katy is currently in Tegucigalpa, Honduras for the Central American Senior Championships, taking place this coming weekend. Here is a Tweet from Katy, in Honduras!

pic.twitter.com/6ltPMm795J

— Katy Sealy (@KatyBelize) June 26, 2017

The picture was Tweeted June 26. For more of Katy on social media, here she is in training for the hurdles, shared on Vimeo:

katysealyvideo1 from D Sealy on Vimeo.

Finally, I hope you have learned a little bit more about Katy and join me in wishing her well for the Championships.
If you want to find out more about Katy, visit her website. If you would like to make a donation to assist Katy in reaching her targets, visit her GoFundMe page. Keep up to date with Katy via her social media: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Good Luck, Katy!

A Midsummer Night's DX (June 2017)

FIRST of all, I recently found the above spinning globe on the internet and thought it would decorate a post about radio broadcasts traveling the world quite nicely, so I have given it the privileged position at the top of the post.

The previous post of radio activity, logging Medium Wave, can be viewed here. That post opened with "It is raining!" - The weather cannot be anymore different, as this weekend is the hottest days of the year so far!

Let us move on to the subject of this post: A log of broadcasts received on the Short Wave band of the Roberts R881, Monday 12 June 2017.
Housekeeping notes: Times in UTC (GMT), frequencies in kiloHertz (kHz) and transmission powers in watts or KiloWatts (kW).

A QSL from Radio Peking, which would become Radio Beijing, latterly China Radio International.

• 12 June: 1908 UTC: 7385 kHz: China Radio International, China. Good to moderate reception, 500 kW via Kashi-Saibagh, China. Albanian language including male and female speech, current music (Lady Gaga, Justin Timberlake). To 1922 UTC.
• 12 June: 1927 UTC: 7395 kHz: China Radio International, China. Good to moderate reception, 500 kW via Kashi-Saibagh, China. German language including male speech, music, female speech, instrumental music (Vanessa Carlton 'A Thousand Miles'), live music. To 1945 UTC.
• 12 June: 1950 UTC: 7415 kHz: China Radio International, China. Good to moderate reception, 500 kW via Urumqi, China. Czech language 'Learn to speak Chinese' programme, off at 1955 UTC.
• 12 June: 1957 UTC: 7415 kHz: China Radio International, China. Strong to moderate reception, 500 kW via Kashi-Saibagh, China. English language with 20:00 UTC news: Leaders of China and the Philippines meet; New military award created; EU are ready to discuss Brexit with the UK, though a new UK Government is yet to be formed, following the June 8 election; President Macron takes control in France; UK Government announces Cabinet reshuffle. Other news: Military plane crash. Chinese passenger plane returns to Sydney airport, following discovery of engine casing damage. Weather: Hong Kong gale warning. Feature: Paul James presents 'Chinese Theatre', touring China, looking at a Chinese television series. To 2012 UTC.
• 12 June: 2037 UTC: 8700 kHz: Spurious broadcast from Radio Romania International! English language, male speech, Romanian ties with US President Donald Trump - The Romanian President visited Trump at the White House. To 2042 UTC.
• 12 June: 2056 UTC: 9420 kHz: Voice of Greece [ERT / Helliniki Radiophonia], Greece. Strong to moderate reception, 170 kW via Avlis, Greece. Greek language including female speech, music - A Zither! Female vocals. Male and female speech, music. Male speech. To 2120 UTC.

A QSL from ERT The Voice of Greece.

Until the next time, enjoy!

📻

A Somer Holiday.

Lost in paradise ↠ @somerfieldswim

A post shared by RENEE SOMERFIELD (@reneesomerfield) on Apr 3, 2016 at 2:33am PDT

Renee Somerfield

Lost in paradise

for Somerfield Swim.

Season 2016/17: The Ups and Downs

THE 2016 - 2017 Football season has finally come to a close, with the UEFA Champions League Final in Cardiff on Saturday evening.  Here are the placings that matter throughout the divisions, as well as the teams that lifted the trophies this season:

Premier League:
Champions: Chelsea (pictured above)
Relegated: Hull City, Middlesbrough and Sunderland.

EFL Championship:
Champions: Newcastle United
Promoted: Brighton and Hove Albion
Play-Off Winners: Huddersfield Town
Relegated: Blackburn Rovers, Wigan Athletic and Rotherham United.

EFL League One:

Champions: Sheffield United (pictured above)

Promoted: Bolton Wanderers

Play-Off Winners: Millwall

Relegated: Port Vale, Swindon Town, Coventry City and Chesterfield.

EFL League Two:

Champions: Portsmouth

Promoted: Plymouth Argyle and Doncaster Rovers (pictured below)

Play-Off Winners: Blackpool

(Carlisle United finished 6th; Losing on aggregate to Exeter City in the Play-Off Semi-Finals)

Relegated: Hartlepool United and Leyton Orient.

Doncaster Rovers celebrate promotion.

National League:

Champions: Lincoln City

Promoted via Play-Offs: Forest Green Rovers

(Barrow finished 7th)

Relegated: York City, Braintree Town, Southport and North Ferriby United.

Trophies (in chronological order, throughout the season):

EFL Cup: Manchester United

EFL Trophy: Coventry City

UEFA Europa League: Manchester United

FA Cup: Arsenal

UEFA Champions League: Real Madrid.

Real Madrid, 2017 Champions League Winners.

⚽

Ten Years On: Elton John at Brunton Park

BRUNTON Park, Carlisle has played host to Olly Murs and Louisa Johnson this [Saturday] evening, the second night of music, as UB40 and Level 42 performed on Friday night. Other recent concerts at Brunton Park have included Rod Stewart, but Saturday [3rd June] marked the tenth anniversary of Elton John at Brunton Park.

For the Elton John & His Band setlist, thoughts, memories and reflections on an evening attended by over eighteen thousand, take a look at the original Elton John at Brunton Park post on Reporting From The Fox Tower, by clicking here.  Enjoy.

🎶