Hello! My name is Mike and I'm retired. I've been DXing in one form or another for around 55 years. I spent 35 years in the office copier industry as a technician for Minolta, Saxon, Savin, Ricoh and (my favorite) Canon office copiers. I also serviced Canon fax machines and IBM selectric typewriters, Anyone remember them? Now I spend my time playing with Linux distros on my computers and searching for weak, distant AM and FM radio signals (and DTV signals, too) using my SDRs.
I'm a member of the WTFDA, which is a dx club specializing in TV and FM DXing. I've published their bulletin called the VHF-UHF Digest for over 20 years and still do. I also am the one responsible for the creation of the WTFDA FM Radio Station Database in 2013, which undoubtedly is the best thing I've ever done for the club and the FM DX hobby in general. You can thank me now.
I have over 3,100 FM stations logged, around five of which are double-hop Es receptions from Mexico, the longest being around 2,100 miles from the port of Veracruz. On television I've had double hop analog Es with video from Nicaragua, Colombia and Venezuela, and in Mexico from Monterrey, Mexicali and Guadalajara on lowband (among others). I've never seen analog Es from Europe although I did have a carrier from Iceland once and the carrier many times from Madrid on E2 on an Icom R75. And I'm old enough to remember hearing BBC audio on 48mhz by F2 skip using a cheap 30-50mhz radio with a 20' run of wire in an upstairs bedroom when I was around 16. Time flies.
Besides FM Dxing, my other hobbies are model trains (N scale) and Linux computing. Actually, Linux is not a hobby, it's more a way of life, just as using Windows was to people until they found out that using Linux is so much better. What's really nice is that I don't really need to use Windows anymore to enjoy my DX hobby. There's software I use now that rivals SDR Console or SDR Sharp.
To comment on anything in this site, send an email to mbuga46@gmail.com. Have fun poking around the site. -Mike