Hey Nick: I do know that the south end of the Island, of all places on the West Coast, was selected to be the monitoring station for Japanese transmissions during WWII. Per one Web site, "in 1938, with the threat of a second world war looming, the U.S. Navy took over Fort Ward and enlarged it by confiscating surrounding properties. Tests soon showed that the fort was an outstanding location for eavesdropping on radio transmissions from the Far East, especially from Japan. So the Navy built antenna fields and a top-secret military listening post. It was at Fort Ward that the United States cracked the wartime code of the Japanese forces. "
So, there must be something about its location! Per: http://www.usncva.org/books/book-10.html the frequencies of interest were 12 and 16 mhz, not MW :-(. Apparently there was literally miles and miles of wire strung up on mast after mast; according to Wiki, they were big old rhombic antennae. The Wiki is a good read: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Ward_(Washington) I live in the center part of the island, while Fort Ward is at the south end, maybe 5-6 miles away. I have a friend with some land down near there and we keep threatening to do a DXpedition down there. alas, it's only a handful of miles from the big 50 kw transmitters on Vashon Island (KIRO-710, KOMO-1000, etc.), but they are due south, so a good W or NW directional antenna might be just the ticket! Kevin S Bainbridge Island, WA > At 19:01 4/29/2010, you wrote: >>Hey Nick: >> >>Unless my front yard gets flooded during a good rain, I am very >>land-locked in all directions; to the NW are the Olympic mountains and a >>bunch of other non-aquoeous stuff. It was indeed surprising to hear >>anything at all this morning, much less with audio. >> > > > Not entirely tongue in cheek, Kevin, but I wonder if you get some sort of > Fresnel effect from the Olympics? Years ago Don Moman and I heard DU's > on the "other" side of the Rockies (in the Alberta foothills) that I > hadn't heard on the coast of Vancouver Island. > > Nick > > > > > ***************************** > Nick Hall-Patch > Victoria, BC > Canada > > _______________________________________________ > 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] > > _______________________________________________ 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]
