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These coordinated TP listening sessions out west certainly highlight the
differences between coastal and inland sites (even just moderately inland, < 60
miles / 100 km). I wish as many DXers were listening as often on this side of
the continent.
Results greatly agree with my experiences DXing in the metro-Boston area
(1959-2012) at residences in Arlington (7 miles / 11 km inland), Billerica (15
miles / 25 km), and Sudbury (20 miles / 32 km).
When I travelled from any of those home locations to nearby coastal DXpedition
sites (most famously Granite Pier in Rockport, MA), the differences in sunset
period transatlantic and Brazilian receptions were nothing short of astounding.
A two hour session at one of these shore sites could often produce more and
better DX than two months at a somewhat inland home QTH even if the home
antennas were vastly superior (longer, high up in trees) than what could be
placed on a car roof in a narrow parking area on a beach or pier.
Of the consistently active Boston area DXers of the '60s / '70s, perhaps the
best situated was the late Gordon Nelson (WA1UXQ). On a small hill overlooking
the Charles River, he had a direct shot at Boston Harbor 4 miles down the river
(part of which was brackish heading east from the bend near Harvard
University). Nelson's loggings were legendary. He used a 4 ft. homebrew FET
altazimuth loop in his attic shack. Receivers: R-390A, HQ-180A - pretty much
the best "iron" out there at the time. Farther inland was Bill Bailey (W1YPK)
in Holden, MA. Even though he had phased Beverages and a high hilltop site, he
had a hard time getting some of what Nelson routinely bagged with the attic
loop at the near-coast site in Watertown.
On the 160-m ham band (1800-2000 kHz), the late Stew Perry (W1BB) got the first
DXCC: confirmed two-way contacts with 100 countries. This was in the '50s or
'60s when part of that band still had LORAN occupancy. His antenna site was
one to drool over: the wire sloped down to the sea from the top of a water
tower on a bluff in Winthrop, MA. Bluff + water tank height about 200 ft.
I always point people to radio-locator maps of non-directional stations near
the shore to show graphically what the DX boost looks like.
Here's WJDA 1300 Quincy, MA:
http://radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/patg?id=WJDA-AM&h=D
When you zoom out the map, you can see that the signal delivered to western
Nova Scotia at about 250 miles is as good as what you would get on the Mass
Pike (I-90) east of the I-495 intersection in Westborough, MA: only about 25
miles, one-tenth the distance.
You would expect some pretty interesting DX if the transmitter was shut off and
a receiver connected to the WJDA stick around local sunset.
Even though these maps are dealing with groundwave, long haul DX arriving at
low angles can be fairly similar. On the other hand, coastal versus inland
doesn't make that much difference on short skip, stations under 1000 miles /
1600 km. Skywave plots often show very little difference, less than "real" I
think. Florida and Cuba are far enough from here that a significant difference
does occur. I'm about 2-3 miles inland heading that way. There is no way my
previous site in Billerica, MA - with a greater than a 50 mile / 80 km. run to
the water heading south-southwest - could compete. Some nights here sound like
I'm in a boat somewhere off FL or GA. WIOD 610 Miami like a local, Cubans all
over the place. Never had that at the former Billerica QTH even though
differences in the actual distances to the DX aren't much.
Mark Connelly, WA1ION
South Yarmouth, MA
<<
Craig,
You seem to have done far better than anyone else on the west coast this
morning. 1566 came up with a ghostly carrier here at 1330, but that was the
only sign of Asian life. Conditions seem to be practically comatose for
everyone except you.
Gary DeBock (in Puyallup, WA, USA)
________________________________________
Propagation conditions were down this morning. My report seems rather sparse
compared to the last two mornings. I listened from 1305 to 1500.
594 Male and female speaking followed by female singing in spurts, fading inand
out
693 female speaking, deep fades, fair on peaks
774 The star of the show this morning with the best consistency. EE lesson,
strong for quite a while
1422 very weak fluttery audio, under adjacent channel spatter
1566 male and female speaking, subject to deep fades, fair to good on peaks
Hets were received on 621, 702, 891, 972 and 1098.
At Kalaloch I oriented the FSL at about 310 degrees. This morning I used JOUB
as an indicator for optimal direction under these weaker TP propagation
conditions. JOUB was best at about 260 degrees, so I DXed at that directional
setting.
I imagine as Richard Allen alluded to, if I was in Colorado, I doubt that there
would be so much as a het to be had. I'm feeling somewhat spoiled by the
conditions during my first morning DX session at Kalaloch. I also wonder if the
Olympic Mountains to the east of that location help attenuate some of the BCB
signals from the lower 48.
Best of DX
Craig Barnes
Tecsun PL-310, 3.5 in FSL
DXing from Rockaway Beach, OR
>>
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