Man, this hobby is beguiling... Yesterday, most of my TP compatriots were waxing poetic about the wonderful morning and mine was good but nothing really to write home about. This morning, most folks reporting so far are describing a mediocre morning and I had the best one that I've had in three weeks or so.
I was at the dials two hours before dawn, again (LSR=1506) and the band was jumping. 1300-1330 was almost exclusively JJs , with quite a bit of audio. Dawn was a disappointment for most of the JJs who were either weaker or gone completely. A few of the JJs stayed in and even got a good bit stronger, especially very late.... but most were poorer at dawn. The Chinese and a number of other strange things started getting good about 1400 and most continued to get a bit better over time. Dawn enhancement for me lasted a full 30 minutes after dawn... much later than usual, as Walt also noted. The interesting things: 720 is KDWN, in Nevada... but by dawn enhancement that isn't a problem here... and its completely gone with he Wellbrook... so 720 is my only truly open frequency that contains both NAM ands Int'l stations. I've been watching it like a hawk for Kotzebue Alaska or anything TP.... Nothing all season until this morning when it was Pyongyang Bangsong at a very low level of audio. They either have a really directional antenna or a very sick transmitter on 720. 774 Japan was just HUGE at 1300.... could literally charge batteries with that signal 810 was R. Rossii// a much attenuated 279.... 810 was ever so much better. 837 Harbin was HUGE late... 1515 or so... barely there an hour earlier. 864 I swear that there was an OC here at good level for quite a while early. Later, I got the very low level audio that I've long been curious about. 891 was Thailand doing well in the middle of dawn 836 Anhui hasn't been the arm chair copy this season that it has been the past two, but it was doing great this morning. 945 CNR1 was great at 1300, sorta down at 1400 and HUGE at 1500... go figure. KJR 950 slop was horrible this morning until they switched to their day pattern which points a bit away from me. Made a real difference. That Day/Night pattern shift may be why I've always gotten 954 Japan much better late and hardly at all early. Gee, how many years did it take for me to figure that out? 1062 was HLKQ late.... expecting the Filipino here. Hummmm 1080 that 1.5 megawatt KCBS station was there late, beneath KFXX 1206 China in Korean. I happened to be sitting here listening briefly at 1530UT whit the station booming in. Let me tell you they do a pattern switch at 1530. It dropped like a rock, but I could still see the off-channel carrier way down in the noise. Either that or they blew a major amplifier at exactly 1530 but still kept the carrier sort of on the air. 1242, 1287,1400, 1422 and 1503 were all the usual Japanese and all good only after dawn for me, with 1503 being the weakest. 1386 had the NHK2 Synchros most of the morning, for the first time in weeks. 1548 I've been noticing a carrier here on good far south mornings for the past three weeks. If it is there, it is late. Conventional wisdom would be 4QD, but I don't hear Australia here very well (the Victoria Gang of Three hears them much better. Also, I haven't been hearing DUs much even when they do.... when 639 is Fiji for them, it is ALWAYS either inaudible or CNR1 for me. Yesterday, Walt had Fiji and I had CNR1(!) Anyway, I've dared to fantasize that I might hear the monster DW transmitter in Sri Lanka, since Bruce heard them at Grayland and then again at QCI. Well, late this morning... until after 1535 UTC, 1548 was in audio. It was the stable, unfading audio that I noticed on the longest range signals during the Easter Island DXpedition. Unfortunately, it was stable just at the threshold of intelligibility. No way could I (or anyone else) possibly ID the language (Hindi at that hour.) Nuts, Nuts, Nuts!!! I listened to long stretches of the lowest possible mumble level audio. Well, everybody needs the equivalent of the Search for the Holy Grail, I guess............ A wonderful morning, really! John B. _______________________________________________ IRCA mailing list [email protected] http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/irca Opinions expressed in messages on this mailing list are those of the original contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the IRCA, its editors, publishing staff, or officers For more information: http://www.ircaonline.org To Post a message: [email protected]
