Beyond the static...there are voices, music, and stories that travel hundreds — sometimes thousands — of miles. DX Central: From the Static uncovers them all, from weekly livestream highlights to in-depth interviews and tales of radio discovery. Step into the world of DXing and hear what lies beyond
HOUR 1- We wrap up our current active "sprint" challenge: 910 kHz and will be focusing on a new frequency range: 740-780 kHz.- We will be reviewing the current progress on the Season-long marathon sprints- We take a look at the Bill Hepburn Tropo Forecast maps because Tropo season is here for a good number of DXers! HOUR 2- This is a great time of the year for Transoceanic propagation/DX! From the Eastern half of the US, stations from Europe and Africa abound, on the West coast stations from Asia. The middle of the country has been hearing a lot of Australia/New Zealand! We talk about some…
Tune in our season premiere of Season 7 of DX Central Live! Hour 1 - We introduce the new, completely overhauled and rebranded DX Challenge and DX Challenge custom-built app!Hour 2 - A brief, high-level overview of the summer Sporadic Es season followed by your shoutouts - and there were a bunch to get to!Live DXSession 1 - 1590 kHz - WPSL in Port St. Lucie, FLSession 2 - 910 kHz - HRVS - La Voz de Suyapa - Tegucigalpa, HondurasSession 3 - 910 kHz - KRIO - Radio Esperanza - McAllen, TXNew Sprint Challenge -Duration: 1 weekFrequency: 910 kHz
NOTE: This podcast was recorded on August 1, 2026. Any activity after that date will not be reflected in our data/recap. We continue our series of Data Analysis episodes with a look back at the month of July 2026 for the North American Sporadic Es FM DX season as part of our Sporadic Es Data Analysis Project (SEDAP) at fmdxdata.com. Somehow, even the word "historic" seems insignificant in the shadow of what we have seen from this season and that definitely rose to new dizzying heights in July. We dive into the numbers - including some we have never looked at before - to see if we can try to…
NOTE: This podcast was recorded on July 8, 2026. Any activity after that date will not be reflected in our data/recap. The 2026 Sporadic Es season is off to a roaring start, and June was the day that lit an absolute fire on the band(s). High MUFs, massive openings, thousands of logs. But what is in the data that can help us make sense of it all? For Episode 32 of the From the Static podcast, we dive into the data from June 2026 for North American FM Sporadic Es. How did it stack up with previous years and can we gleam anything from the data to look ahead at the rest of 2026?
NOTE: This podcast was recorded on June 5, 2026, before the ionosphere absolutely exploded with activity between June 8 and June 10. For more information on that recent activity, be sure to pick up the July 2026 edition of The Spectrum Monitor magazine at The Spectrum Monitor. The 2026 Sporadic Es season is off to a roaring start, but things took a while to get going in May, despite some considerable activity over a three day period in the third week of the month. For Episode 31 of the From the Static podcast, we dive into the data from May 2026 for North American FM Sporadic Es. How did it…
- Introduction to SEDAP (Sporadic Es Data Analysis Project) and walking through the new dashboard and data visualizations including our groundbreaking Sporadic Es Cloud Tracker - Introduction of the 2026 Summer of DX challenge with an all new visual and interface, new bands, new challenges, bounties and more! - Season ending shoutouts
Using other bands to spot openings on FM from Tropo and Sporadic Es. Some folks use 6 Meters for Es and 2 Meters for Tropo as early warning signs of FM openings. How reliable are they? We talk through it. Sporadic Es season is so close, here are your last minute preparations you need to wrap up to be ready, come what May (get it?) The tropo forecast for next week looks promising. A bit too early to get excited but we may have some folks seeing the first "real" opening of the year! Meteor Scatter - yes, Tropo and Es get all the headlines.....but Meteor Scatter can pay off too. Contrary to the…
Hour 1 - Logging stations using FMlist.org and why this is important - FM Antenna shootout - last week we looked at SDRs for FM season, this week we tackle Antennas Hour 2 - Logging stations using WTFDA's WLogger and why this is important - Early warning of openings - how to be ready just in case TOH DX: FM DX with hopes of some at least mild tropo
HOUR 1 FM DX Webservers: Using them as a DXer, hosting one for yourself and other DXers Updating SDR Console with the latest RDS information HOUR 2 RDS Autologging through Rabbitears: How to use this information as a DXer, how to host your own autologger SDR Options for high bandwidth (~10 MHz) IQ recordings for FM TOH DX We navigate the local FM band, keeping an eye on MW If time permits, we will go through our 8/13/25 Sporadic Es recording
HOUR 1 Welcome to April! Time to change our focus to all things FM. Before we do, though, a quick hit on MW: We wrap up The Frequency Challenge this week and what a challenge it has been! Just under 3,000 logs in one challenge? Unbelieveable! Also, Loyd heard Uruguay this week! To get us started on FM DX Preparedness Month, we do a quick recap on Tropo: how it works, how to know when it is happening and what to expect Our new challenge launches: The FM Bandscan Challenge and this is unlike anything we have ever done before (details, below) HOUR 2 We dive into our new FM Bandscan Challenge,…
- Tropo getting going on the Gulf Coast - We look at the Tropo forecast to see how long the fun will last - AM DX heating up to the South - not just Latin America - but even further South along the grayline! - Portable FM DX with a custom built Arrow Antennas Yagi antenna - Sporadic Es already underway - at least in Europe - We check in on the progress with The Frequency Challenge - only one week left!
HOUR 1 Bruce Conti's Right Triangle Terminated Loop TEF AM Webserver? Yup, we did that Nearly 2000 logs in one week? Ya'll are incredible HOUR 2 FM Tropo engine is ramping up on the coasts Notorious BoG to the rescue! Our new RDS Autologger is up and running and......wow TOH DX All Hours - Working down our 3 logs per frequency quota backlog
Hour 1 With me on the road this week for the dayjob, there was no time for DX. Except for a little FM DX I was able to enjoy on the airplane. Flying 35,000 feet above central Louisiana, my little NXP Nano TEF radio pulled in some interesting stuff! I did notice a lot of chatter in the Slack Channel while I was out about antennas, specifically terminated loops such as KAZ, Flags and SuperLoops. So, let's revisit these popular antennas! NEW CHALLENGE: As we wind down the 650-690 kHz challenge, a new challenge awaits and this one......this is a doozy. The Frequency Challenge! Hour 2 Did you…
HOUR 1 We sadly say good bye to the US State Challenge. That has been a fun one, hasn't it? I didn't get OR or ID here, wasn't for a lack of trying, but still managed to get some new ones and revisit some old friends i hadn't heard in a while. A new TEF has arrived here at the house - the NXP Nano. It may be a tiny little thing, but it performs just as well as it's larger brothers. New challenge! | We return to a frequency based approach for this week, focused on the range of 650-690 kHz. An interesting one.....some domestic big guns, some little surprises at grayline......and some Latin…
Hour 1 - Wait, what? Late February Es? Yup, more than once this week, the FM band once again surprises us! We take a look at who got in on the action and discuss what - if anything - it means for our upcoming season. - The US State Challenge, first week, has been a rousing success. Our DXers have already logged the entire "lower 48", submitted nearly 600 logs and we still have a whole other week to go! Hour 2 -Spring Equinox, Spring Solstice, Daylight Savings Time, the first week of March. What do these have in common? They make for some fantastic grayline MW DX. We take a look at why. TOH…
We are back, baby!Hour 1- We have a new, THIRD, FM DX Webserver. And tonight, we walk through what you need to do to have your own TEF-powered Webserver!- New Challenge Launches! - The challenge site is active again with a new challenge - the US State Challenge. Try to log as many states as you can, with up to 2 logs in each getting you points....just like the Country Challenge we did earlier this year!Hour 2Hate F-Connectors? Me too. I found something much, much better!TOH DXHOUR 1: We take a look at conditions - both FM and AMHOUR 2: We hunt US States on the MW band!
HOUR 1 Solar Storm (Take 1 - The Demo Version) - Well, that wasn't much to sneeze at, was it? The Bz stayed more positive than a motivational speaker on their 2nd pot of coffee. As such, we didn't get a visual or radio event from this one. There was a definite radio blackout - even down here we noticed. Some folks saw little pockets of enhancement this week, but not what we were hoping for. Some folks way up North did manage some FM AuEs! Solar Storm (Take 2?) - There are some space weather folks forecasting more to come. We shall take a look. NEW CHALLENGE: We say "see ya" to 1500-1540 and…
NEW CHALLENGE We continue with a new frequency range, another littered with large stations with smaller gems hiding in their shadows: 1500-1540 kHz. This will be a 1 week challenge. HOUR 1 See ya next season, FM: We seem to have officially entered that 'dead band' period for FM where it is too cold and stable for most tropo, meteor scatter slows to a crawl and Es - while they can happen at any time - we are likely now in the waiting game until April/May. So, what can we do during this time to start early preparation for the upcoming season? Plenty, it turns out! Quasi-Auroral Condx on MW?:…
New Challenge! Week 14 of the MW Frequency Challenge is here where we focus on 1180-1220. Lots of big guns in this range but can you pick out the ones in their shadows? Some good international DX in here too! Hour 1 Sporadic Es Bonanza - almost every day this week saw someone somewhere in the US getting that elusive Winter Es opening. We look at the maps and check the current conditions. And maybe do a little recording review of our own opening to Mexico earlier in the week. DX Radio is live - As of 2000 Central/0200 UTC, the long awaited DX Radio is officially live! 24/7/365 radio with DX…
HOUR 1 it's the end of the year, and that means it is time to look back at 2025 and reflect on a year of DX. AM, FM, NDB, NOAA WX DX.....it's been quite a year! We finally got our Airspy HF+D paired with a splitter from our big Southern-facing KAZ. Let's just say, the CCC and that antenna are a match made in DX heaven. And it is already producing for us! I spent the week working on my brand new online logbooks! These will be embedded at a future Web site I am working on for Northshore Studios. But, both MW and FM have shiny new dashboards thanks to Looker Studio. And they are already coming…
HOUR 1 We test out and demonstrate our new phasing set up using our 35' low noise vertical and a W6LVP loop through an RSPduo. Demoing diversity mode, showing how it works and how well it can help get rid of the unwanted (noise, pest stations, etc.) and pull up DX! We launch a new challenge for the week: The 3rd Annual Daytime Challenge! A slight tweak this year: the period runs 2 hours after LSR to 2 hours before LSS. This is a tighter window this year to reduce the prevalence of grayline influence in our logs. Antenna projects galore! New verticals, transformers, laying Cat 6…
HOUR 1 We have launched a new station target list - "Loyd's Go-To Pan-American 'Beacon' Frequencies" and will review that and some use-cases for it in the show. More solar fun - The sun was playing with our ionosphere again this week like a kitten with a ball of string. And it wasn't just signals to the South that were the result! New video has dropped on YouTube - the 35' Vertical Antenna! The Country Challenge rolls on and we take a look at the numbers so far, cause WOW! HOUR 2 New podcast episode coming up as a companion to my column in the January edition of The Spectrum Monitor Going to…
Show notes for Season 6, Episode 9 of DX Central Live!, a livestream devoted to AM/MW and FM DXing with live DX sessions, tips, tricks, shoutouts from DXers for their DX catches from the previous week, DX challenges and more! HOUR 1 The active regions of the Sun are now once again Earth-facing. Already, conditions on MW have been improving towards the South. We had a big opening to Peru here on Wednesday night. Will this continue? Not only was AM DX bumping on Wednesday night, but we had a rare December FM DX Tropo opening to the Southeast as well! Stations along the Florida Gulf Coast were…
HOUR 1 The new low-noise vertical. Talking through the install, the setup, the unique "Jeff Imel-inspired" chemical ground and checking out the performance LIVE! Unveiling the new MW Frequency Challenge - All Season Data Analysis! You all have been checking out and the feedback has been fantastic. Now, we unleash it to the world. A few sections are still under construction (the audio locker and the seasonal stats). A new MW Frequency Challenge announced! Using our data from the All-Season data analysis, we zero in on two more of our least "covered" frequencies: 1470 & 1480 kHz. There are…
HOUR 1 FM DX - recent tropo and Auroral Es. We take a look at Bill Hepburn's Tropo Forecast New gear is here! - VE3PSZ model V3A High-Z Amplifier - this is going to be the matching unit and amplifier for my new ~35 foot low-noise vertical antenna that (hopefully) will be going up this weekend. New gear on the way! - We take a look at two new pieces of gear on the way for testing: Also in Hour 1, we will be introducing our new MW Frequency Challenge frequency range for the week as well as our brand new data analysis dashboard for the weekly challenges! HOUR 2 We are talking about feedlines!…
Back in 2022, we recorded an interview with IRCA President, Bruce Portzer. It was originally intended to be broadcast in our season 3 premiere of DX Central Live, as we had done the previous season with our interview with Publisher Wayne Heinen of the National Radio Club. However, the fates conspired against us with corrupted video files and then, we lost access to the files altogether. Fast forward three years. We have now officially launched our podcast and while doing prep work, we actually found the audio-only files of our interview with Bruce. There were a few missing pieces but the…
This episode is brought to you by the letter "S" as in "Solar Storm"! Tons of shoutouts with a definite "Latin theme" to them this week as auroral enhancement brought signals from the South to DXers all over the United States. EPISODE 6 AGENDA: HOUR 1 - Attack of the Sun - or - Getting DX from down South (and I don't mean Waffle House territory) - We dive into the week of amazing DX, Latin American enhancement, 3 CMEs and all the fun that came with it. HOUR 2 - Antennas for MW DX - To follow up with our discussion two weeks ago on SDRs for AM DX, we explore some popular antennas to help pull…
Show Notes: Season 6, Episode 5 MW Frequency Challenge: The Grayline Challenge - October 31 through November 14 - The challenge continues! Only stations received 45 minutes prior to through 45 minutes after local sunrise/sunset. In years past when we did similar challenges around grayline periods, we had a much larger window. I am tightening that up this year to try to reduce skywave influence a bit. Agenda for Season 6, Episode 5 HOUR 1: Storage for IQ Recordings - what are the options out there for holding, archiving our IQ recordings? As with most questions like this, there is no single…
Show notes from Season 6, Episode 4 | October 31, 2025 HOUR 1: Logging and logbooks - with a special focus on the Google Suite and using Google Forms, Google Sheets and Google Sites for logbook entry and analysis. We also take a quick look at the new DX Central Live! Web site and show archive and discuss "Studio C," the new DX Central Patreon!HOUR 2: Choosing the right SDR for AM DX - With so many options on the market, how do you know which one is the right choice for you? We break down some of the more common options with pros and cons for each.GRAYLINE CHALLENGE: - We take a look at the…
In this debut episode of DX Central’s From the Static: The History of Radio series, we journey back to the dawn of broadcasting — to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and the transmitter that changed everything. It began with hobbyists, tinkerers, and a garage in Wilkinsburg where engineer Frank Conrad strung up an antenna and started sending music into the ether. From those humble beginnings came KDKA — a call sign that would ignite the age of commercial radio. As we weave through the history and legacy of KDKA, this episode explores the evolution of communication from the age of Morse code to the…
About DX Central’s From the Static Podcast
Beyond the static...there are voices, music, and stories that travel hundreds — sometimes thousands — of miles. DX Central: From the Static uncovers them all, from weekly livestream highlights to in-depth interviews and tales of radio discovery. Step into the world of DXing and hear what lies beyond
DX Central’s From the Static Podcast is a English leisure & travel podcast from DX Central. Melo plays each episode straight from the publisher's own feed — no ads added, no account needed — and remembers where you stopped, in this browser only.
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