Re: [IRCA] Fwd: [Amdx] black gospel 1550 is WPFC-Baton Rouge
I just got to this e-mail string, too. WPFC-1550, black gospel and some IDs + more mentions of Baton Rouge has been dominant in the evenings here Running full power, most certainly. Also, on 1180, WJNT, listed Pearl, MS, but many mentions of Jackson is a news-talker also running full power at night (probably) and aiming at a seemingly black audience. FCC, what FCC John Bryant Stillwater, OK WinRadio G313e + Ultralights Wellbrook Phased Array At 09:11 AM 2/2/2010 -0500, you wrote: Guess i shoulda looked at my next email. Hi! 73. Todd -Original Message- From: Steven Wiseblood stevenwis...@yahoo.com To: a...@lists.wtfda.info Sent: Tue, 2 Feb 2010 00:30:04 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Amdx] black gospel 1550 is WPFC-Baton Rouge 1550 black gospel is WPFC Baton Rouge, LA undoubtedly running a full 5kW at night. I think they are suppose to be 40 watts at night! They are a frequent visitor here in the evenings Steven Wiseblood Brownsville, TX ___ This is Amdx - The WTFDA AM DX List. Amdx mailing list Post to: a...@lists.wtfda.info Your Info Page: http://lists.wtfda.info/listinfo.cgi/amdx-wtfda.info Visit the WTFDA Forum at http://www.wtfda.info to view or upload your audio files! Register first. ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com
Re: [IRCA] Here's an interesting sidebar to the Haiti Disaster
Some of us should be able to hear this, even with ultralights... Commando Solo is an AM band signal, likely on the lower band and, unlike the local Haitian stations, the equipment should be operating at 100% efficiency. One of the best opportunities ever to hear Haiti. WHAT FREQUENCY??? This link gets to a CNN story that does not list the frequency the video clip... great to see/listen... shows several shots where the transmitted frequency is just off camera... RATS. Help from anyone?? John Bryant Stillwater, OK WinRadio G313e + Ultralights Wellbrook Phased Array At 10:39 AM 1/27/2010 -0500, you wrote: From Tom Taylor's column on today's Radio-Info newsletter Haiti's newest radio station is broadcasting from the skies. Thanks to a specially-equipped U.S. Air Force C-130 that's flying very slowly above the Caribbean country, broadcasting an AM signal in Creole. The programming is mostly Voice of America, though CNN http://radio-info.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=16f606482a795f a597872a8f1id=5dec445caee=491e0cea53 says there are also announcements from Haitian officials about the latest on the earthquake emergency. The AM antenna is a 264-foot long wire that's dangling from [the plane's] belly like a plumb line. It's kept vertical by a 500-pound lead weight - not exactly your usual antenna setup on the ground. The plane also has four FM antennas, mounted on the wings and fuselage of the workhorse aircraft. They call the plane Commando Solo - and the CNN report is a great reminder of radio's role during emergencies. Just to make sure the target audience can hear the Commando Solo, the Department of Defense has distributed thousands of solar and hand- crank-operated radios. ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com
Re: [IRCA] What a night!
Patrick, I, too, figgered from your message title that you were, once again, hearing India Geez, that sounds like quite a storm! I'm really glad that you paid a fairly light penalty, after all. I'll bet that you have some neighbors in considerably worse shape. Hang in there, buddy John Bryant At 09:27 AM 1/18/2010 -0800, you wrote: Hey Patrick: Hang in there. I know you're used to tough weather down there, but it's never fun. Hopefully you'll have everything back in working order by tonight. When I first looked at the title of your email, I was hoping that you were writing in about an opening to India and Africa during which you logged 137 new stations! Take care - Kevin S Hi everyone, You are probably asking, what am I doing up at 5AM? Well, I bsically have been up al night. Here is the story. Well, the weatherman stated that we may have wind gusts 60-65 MPH, so no biggie. The wind would come up last night around 8 PM. 8PM came and gone and no wind. Showers off and on, but nothing else. Ch 12 Portland did not run their news at 10PM, so I waited until 11 PM. I called NOAA and the same weather forecast from earlier. At 11PM, Rod Hill cut in on Ch 8 and said something odd about this storm was happening. Instead of being a coastal thing, it had cut across and came up the valley as it was getting very windy in Salem. Still nothing here except for a downpour or two. I called NOAA and talked to the guy and he was changing the forecast and was busy, You are about to get hit hard! and Rod Hill said this storm was turning out to be worse than first thought. At about 11:30, all heck broke loose. The wind switched from SE to South, like in a minute and came up with gusts 60-70 MPH. Within an hour, the gusts were more present and were in the range of 80-90 MPH. The whole house shook. Of course no one could sleep, and the lights have been on in houses all night. I tried to sleep, but I could feel my BP going up every time the wind shook the house. I was right, I checked my BP and it was 147/99. It has not been that high in several years now. It has come down to normal now. I went back to bed and listened to KGO. Ray was on talking about his early years in broadcasting and when he met Martin Luther King. It was very enjoyable and relaxing. I got up a few times trying to see my antennas, but really couldn't. The dishes looked ok. I went back to bed again. Then the wind started to slightly die down about 3 AM and all of a sudden I heard a vey LOUD hissing. I was half asleep. I woke up and I could hear it from the bathroom off the bedroom. I walked in to water all over and It looked like a water pipe broke, as water was shooting out of the wall behind the toilet. I immediatelly threw on my slippers ran out in the winds still gusting about 70 MPH and turned off the water. I came in and started to mop up the water. Some had run into the heat vent on the far side of the floor. I figured there wasn't much I could do about that, but I mopped up the rest. Took everything out of the bathroom and then after I dried everything out on the floor, I thought, Wait a minute how could water be coming out of the wall? This is a manufactured home and the pipes come up from the floor. Remember when I ran out, I was half asleep. So at closer looking, I fould the connection where the flexable hose connected to the toilet had snapped. The flexable hose is metal but the connection on the tubing is plastic! I am glad it did not happen when I wasn't home. The whole house would have been flooded. So I turned off the turnout to the toilet, when out and turned the water back on and everything is fine, so I will go to Fred Meyer or Home Depot today (If they are open, Fred Meyer will be) and buy a new hose. An easy fix, but what a pain. Well, after all of that, I could not sleep. I put on my clothes and decided to check out the antennas in the backyard with a flashlight. This is at 4:15 AM. Gusts are still 45-50 MPH. But you know me. I discovered that the Eastern beverage lead was pulled down to the ground and very tight. I shot the light back to the back trees, but not seeing anything, I decided what the heck, I would walk on down in the wind and check it out. I got down behind the neighbors house a found my problem. A big branch off the Spruce tree and fallen and across the beverage. I came in, got my limb cutter and went out and cut the limb in pieces to pull the antenna loose, and it popped back up in place pretty much and I came back to pull it back to the nail and I found the wire had snapped because of the weight of the pull. OK, I came back in, got the cutters and fixed the wire. I will solder it later, as it in in the backyard. I am beginning to relax and I am getting tired, so I think I will try and get some sleep as I want to fix the piping in the bathroom later. But what night! I still need to check out all the antennas, but that will wait. In
[IRCA] QSL from 675 - Radio Voice of Vietnam
Heh, Heh, Heh! Yesterday I got a GREAT early Christmas present from Vietnam! I had reported 675 kHz - VOV1 at least three times from our Orcas Island, Washington home over the years and received no reply at all. Last winter, I finally did what I should have done MUCH sooner: Ask Patrick Martin what to do! He had sent a report at the same time as my first one and HE got a QSL (of course!) He said that he reported 675 and a parallel shortwave outlet and got an answer. He thought that reporting shortwave was the key. Well, I waited patiently until 675 was coming in well on Orcas Is. this fall and then I began to search for an audible SW parallel. That proved more difficult than I expected, but I finally got a morning where 675, 5975 and 7210 were all coming in, with 675 being the best signal. All were //. So, then I wrote the best report that I knew how, sent them a CD of the entire reception mostly from 675... and included several post cards from my home islands, some US station stickers and $2.00. I got back a VOV sticker, a little doll/key chain of a Vietnamese woman in traditional clothing (now on the Christmas tree) and the following letter on plain paper: Dear Mr. Bryant We have checked your CD and realize that it is Voice of Vietnam, Channel One, which features news and current affairs. After listening to the content, we admire your devotion to radio broadcasting. However, we can just send you a reply letter, a frequency list and a souvenir but not a verification card because the program you heard was from the domestic service. Thank you very much for listening and we hope to get some feedback from you about our English service. Sincerely yours, English Service Voice of Vietnam Am I going to count the above as a QSL for 675 - Voice of Vietnam??? Was Ronald Reagan a Republican??? Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas and Happy 2010 to each of you and yours. My Christmas is already memorable! John Bryant Stillwater, OK WinRadio G313e + Ultralights Wellbrook Phased Array ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com
[IRCA] The New Wellbrook K9AY Phased Array
This is just a brief first impression of the new Wellbrook K9AY antenna trhat I am in the process of evaluating. I LOVE IT! Since we have returned to Oklahoma 10 days ago, I've managed to erect both the older first generation ALA100-based Phased Array and the all-new K9AY version. Both arrays incorporate twin Delta Loops with the two loops 40 meters apart. I erected the two arrays parallel to each other, pointing due North-South for evaluation they are separated by about 300 feet, so there is little chance of interaction. I've just spent two evenings running the two arrays, but I'm seriously in love. The ALA100 array has been my antenna of choice for the past three seasons and has been a wonder. The K9AY Array is even better, especially for domestic DXers. Similarities in the two Arrrays: Both have two 40 meter apart small delta antennas, the antennas are amplified at the head unit in each case Both phase their two elements against each other to achieve very deep nulls that are instantly swappable fore and aft at the shack (very important for domestic DXers and sometimes trans-oceanic ones.) Both units can be easily expanded to operate two separate arrays so that one may cover all four cardinal directions, N, S, E, and West... or any two angles, since the two 2-antenna arrays are NOT interdependent. I'm actually running the two different arrays with one controller in the shack. Both units were/are quite expensive (they are multi-unit Phased Arrays, after all) Differences: The K9AY array has a narrower front lobe (the ALA100 Array is, functionally, a full 180 degrees wide) This should help both in S/N ratio and in giving very different views of the band in each of four directions. The K9AY array has deeper nulls so deep that they may not be fully measurable here in the winter, even at solar noon. EZNEC predicts about 5 to 10 dB deeper than the already deep 45 dB nulls of the ALA100 array. The K9AY sports somewhat larger loop (base of each Delta is about 30 feet, where the ALA100 unit base is about 20+ feet.) and the amplifier is technically even better and about 10 dB stronger. The K9AY requires good grounding at each antenna element for best performance; the older ALA100 unit required no grounding. Early Results: I used my very accurate Winradio for these tests. HOWEVER, I paid no attention to the S-meter after peaking up the null before checking a frequency. One test was at the lower part of the band from 540 through 730. I maximized the null against the dominant southerly or northerly and then reversed the array. I did this for each array, about 15 or 20 seconds apart. There were 20 channels examined in that range (540 through 730.) On 15 of the channels, I marked something like Much clearer on the K9AY or Much better on the K9AY and, on virtually every channel, there was one station looking north and another looking south, at least on the K9AY. One channel, 600, I marked ALA100 seems better and on one... 620 with Dallas and CKRM, the two antennas both performed equally well. The remaining three were inconclusive. A couple of interesting notes: WWLS in Norman on 640 is one of my semi-local pests. It is nearly impossible to completely null it with the ALA100 Array, especially at night. The K9AY Array nailed it. WLS on 700 is off to the ENE and not nullable with this set-up, however, I had a strong Mexican beneath on the K9AY and nothing on the ALA100 Array. I also snuck up to mid-bander 930, my favorite rock and roll station 50 years ago and a local pest that is VERY difficult to null with any antenna. I had CJCA to the North mixing with residual WKY on the ALA 100, but CJCA alone and stronger on the K9AY array. WONDERFUL! . On the upper part of the band, I just looked at 1600 to 1500 and the K9AY Array was superior here, too. 1600- had Cedar Rapids and Mexico, with the K9AY superior; 1590 was inconclusive as was 1580. 1570 was my old buddy growing up, XERF. The K9AY was superior, but there was nothing identifiable in the null. 1560 was inconclusive; 1550, 1540, 1530, 1520, 1510 and 1500 each showed the K9AY Array clearly superior! So three channels were inconclusive, due most likely to station locations and seven had the K9AY Array as the star. 1520 is worthy of special mention: that is the old rock and roll 50,000 watts of KOMA, 50 miles due south of me, now a talker as KOCY, I think. It and 50,000 w - 740 KRMG in Tulsa, an equal distance to my east, is my worst nemesis. I have never been able to null KOMA-1520 with any antenna that I have ever usaed. KOMA is the only station that I had ever received here on 1520 until two nights ago. The K9AY Array put KOMA in the mud about 90% of the time and I heard WHOW, Clinton, Illinois-1520 along with at least one other station with almost no KOMA remaining. I have yet to do any daytime test comparisons of the antennas or more formal evaluations,
Re: [IRCA] The New Wellbrook K9AY Phased Array
Patrick, On the new Wellbrook K9AY Phased Array, the separation between the two antennas is still 40 meters or about 133 feet. Add to that the half triangle sticking outside beyond the poles on each end and you've got about 165 to 175' in the directions that you want to look. It is nowhere as big or even half as big as a Beverage, but it does take some room. John B. At 10:50 AM 12/21/2009 -0800, you wrote: Thanks John. How much room is needed for your new K9AY array? The ALA100 needs a lot of room. The new K9AY has interested me, mainly because of the grounding situation. Merry Christmas and the best of DX in the New Year. 73, Patrick Patrick Martin KGED QSL Manager ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com
Re: [IRCA] KHOW-630
Bill, I was doing my first antenna testing of the K9AY Array (wonderful) this AM and had Khow well about 1200 or a bit before. Good going on KIDD! John B. in Oklahoma At 10:34 AM 12/19/2009 -0700, you wrote: Hi Bill, I wasn't awake this morning to check the dials. KHOW is on the air right now. If they had problems they are now fixed, at least temporarily. Congrats on KIDD! Chris Knight Fort Lupton, CO -Original Message- From: irca-boun...@hard-core-dx.com [mailto:irca-boun...@hard-core-dx.com] On Behalf Of Bill Block Sent: Saturday, December 19, 2009 8:05 AM To: IRCA Hard-Core Subject: [IRCA] KHOW-630 While TP DXing today I went by 630 and did not hear KHOW so they may have been off the air. Anyone in the Denver area know if they were off the air or not? I did hear one new station at 0918 ut when I heard a weak ID from KIDD in Monterey. Bill Block Prescott Valley, AZ ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com
[IRCA] Radio Trackside New Zealand QSL + Info
I sent about four or five follow-ups in November for the summer DU Season and got my first reply today from Graham Stevens, Trackside Media Consultant. He QSLed their outlet on 1071 kHz. in Asburton (coastal South Island, just south of Christchurch.) I was DXing from Grayland, using the first generation Wellbrook Array and my G313e. He sent along an informative pamphlet on Trackside Radio in Kiwi Country. They simulcast on both AM and FM throughout NZ. Currently they have 9 AM and 10 FM on the North Island and 6 AM + 6 FM on the South Island... a total of 31 outlets to pretty well cover the country. From local 6AM to noon, they do a sports talk network BSPORT. The rest of the time they run live races, race commentary and race feature programs of thoroughbred, harness and greyhound racing. Off track betting is the name of the game. The 15 AM stations of Radio Trackside are located: Hawke's Bay 549 kHz Wellington711 Wanganui828 Manawatu828 Tauranga 873 Waikato 954 Nelson 990 Ashburton 1071 Dunedin 1206 Invercargil 1224 Timaru 1242 Christchurch 1260 Auckland 1476 Gisbourne 1485 Rotorua 1548 John Bryant Stillwater, OK (currently) WinRadio G313e + Ultralights Wellbrook Phased Array ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com
[IRCA] QSL: China Radio Int'l 963 via Poro Finland
Well, I now have Europe QSLed from the Pacific NW. Yesterday, I received a very nice QSL (without location) for 963 Poro for a recent report sent to the CRI address, as opposed to the general Audience Response address for CNR. It came from Ying Lian of the English language section and had a CRI folder, QSL card, note card, sticker and paper cuts. So, it appears that CRI is still QSLing foreign language broadcasts, at least some of the time. Very pleased, to say the least. It is the only TA that I reported, so Europe is 100% replied for me! :) John Bryant Stillwater, OK WinRadio G313e + Ultralights Wellbrook Phased Array ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com
[IRCA] Finally Back on the South Prairie
Just a warning that we finally made it back to the South Prairie portion known as Stillwater, OK. When we left Orcas Island, Washington a week ago minus about three hours, we thought that we might actually make the shortest run to Oklahoma down thru Salt Lake and Cheyenne. Our first overnight in Portland allowed us to look at single digit lows in southern Wyoming and turned us to our official Winter Route which basically is, Down I-5, straight south to Bakersfield and turn left which takes us through central Arizona and in through Amarillo to northcentral Oklahoma. When we got to Needles on the CA/AZ border, we heard of a nasty snow storm in Eastern NM, running as far south as Houston, so we diverted even further South, having a nice reunion with Linda's ASU nursing school classmates in Phoenix and then on thru Tucson, El Paso, Midland-Odessa and Ft. Worth to see the grandchildren then a carefully-timed run straight north to Oklahoma. A 3.5 day 2,100 mile trip turned into a 7-day 3,000 mile trip, but we are back in Stillwater, never once driving on icy roads... and having seen some good friends and family. Of course, here in Oklahoma, we got to freezing temperatures (for highs) and tomorrow night we'll see single digits. Thursday and Friday should warm into the 40s and I'll put up parts of the Wellbrook array then and morf into a serious ultralight domestic MW DXer once again. While on this highway odyssey, I worked on three MW articles that will soon see the light of day: Using the NRC Pattern Book as a Serious DX Tool Adding an Integral Outside Antenna Port to the PL-310 and the PL-380 Having Fun with Universal's Portable Radio Stands So, we are back in Oklahoma (Monday at noon) and getting READY TO RADIO! John Bryant Stillwater, OK WinRadio G313e + Ultralights Wellbrook Phased Array ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com
[IRCA] Non-TPs from Orcas Island
I had my worst TP morning of this trip mainly because I packed my radios yesterday. Today is final packing and then tomorrow we head down I-5 to Bakersfield/Barstow and hang a left. We are going to try to break the trip up some this year, with a day here and half a day there, so it will likely be about a week before we make it to the South Prairie in Oklahoma. Thanks very much from all of the help from the other members of the NW Gang. One of the real pleasures of DXing out here is having such close friends to enjoy this insanity along side. My only regret is that I got to see so few of you in person. I totally missed the Victoria guys this year and saw far less than half of the Seatac crowd. Still, we've been doing this together long enough that is a good visit, if only by e-mail. It was exactly twenty years ago this February that Guy and I made that fabled first tip to the Grayland motel. We heard almost every Pacific Island nation, including Tuvalu and were hooked on TPs on MW. In March of 1990, there was a massive DXpedition at the Grayland Beach State Park with Dave Clark from Toronto and more than half of the NW group that is still making trips down there. I got a real laugh a couple of months ago when several of us were discussing a lovely campground west of Port Angeles on the Washington side of the Strait of Juan de Fuca. It looks like a perfect place for fall DXpeditions for Asia. Nick Hall-Patch pointed out that the worst thing about this place was that one had to CAMP OUT. He allowed as maybe the soft beds, flush toilets and complete kitchens in the Grayland Motel units had spoiled him for the vagaries of CAMPING OUT. Why I remember full well the DXpeditions in the 80s and first half of the 90s when Nick drove his little pickup truck to various DX sites and DXed mosta the night from the cab and then slept half the day in the seated position all in the cab of that little truck. I also remember going potty in the deep brush while keeping watch (both ways) for the local mama bear and her cub. Time marches on, eh It's been a fabulous Fall Season... I hope that each of my co-conspirators enjoyed it at least half as much as I did! John B. WinRadio 313e + Ultralights Wellbrook Phased Arrays, SW and NW Grayland, WA, USA ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com
Re: [IRCA] Non-TPs from Orcas Island
Thanks, Walt... Mutual admiration society... that is what we've got! I guess that you will fly over our heads as you wing your way north. We'll be on I-5 for Tuesday, Wednesday and most of Thursday, overnighting in Salem, Oregon, Sacremento and preobably Needles, CA or jusrt across the line in Arizona. Next spring, we are coming over to see you all and the Hall-Patches. WE REALLY WILL WANT TO SEE A SLIDE SHOW OF YOUR MONTH!!!. No kidding! Have a great holiday season and we'll see you soon! John B. At 11:42 PM 11/30/2009 +, you wrote: John, you've always had a wonderful way with the written word! I'm so grateful that I've had the honour to have known you and DX'd with you over the past almost 20 years as well! Sombrio, Grayland, my Haida Gwaii cottage, and your lovely Orcas Is home...it's been fantastic in each of these locations. I've learned so much from your methodical ways and prolific writing since the days of Waist gunner on the NRD 525 or something like that! Safe travels, and looking forward to your winter exploits in OK, and your return to the Pacific North-West in the spring! ...Walt Salmaniw, Victoria, BC (but still on the high seas). ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com
Re: [IRCA] Non-TPs from Orcas Island
Thanks Patrick, I'll be at the Seaside Convention for sure. The last one there was just fabulous. See you then, if not before!!! JOhn B. At 02:16 PM 11/30/2009 -0800, you wrote: John, I am sorry Dave and I missed seeing you this year too. Between my busy schedule and the weather, we never made it up to Grayland. Hopefully next year. It has been a fantastic season for everyone's DX. I have typed up so many tips of new loggings that have never been heard anywhere in North America. With the sunspots being so low, hopefully next season will be just as good. Have a safe trip home and a wonderful Christmas Season and stay well my friend. Dave sends his best too. By the way, remember the 2010 IRCA convention will be once again in Seaside in September. Hope you can make it. We had a blast in 2006! 73, Patrick ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com
[IRCA] Orcas OIsland TPs for Saturday
I suppose that I heard about what Nick did this ,morning, minus the DUs, but my experience was probably more negative. I heard the 603 Korean especially well this morning and also noted either two or most probably three stations on 675. One was Vietnam, surely, but the others??? Otherwise, the others in audio above a murmur were 747 and 774, NHK-2; 918 without an echo, but still CC; 1287-JOHR; 1566 and 1575. HLAZ in CC was actually putting in some audio. I was hoping that it was someone else, but they played a Christian hymn, so it was surely HLAZ. Less audio than there should be for the amount of carrier, but still better than the recent past. Otherwise, about 25 or 30 murmurs... this with the Wellbrook array and 15 extra dB of RF amplification, since I was working on a crystal set, too. I'll listen Sunday morning and Monday, as well, then its the last antenna in the car and outta here, regretfully. John Bryant Orcas Island, WA, USA Winradio G313e and various Ultralights Wellbrook Phased Array + Superloops ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com
[IRCA] TPs from Orcas Island: Nov. 27
Well, if this isn't the beginning of the dreaded Mid-Winter Anomaly, it is certainly a great imitation of it! Conditions were down, even from yesterday's poor showing. The only non-murmur above 972 was VOA 1575 and it wasn't all that wonderful. Below 972, there were a few of the biggest JJ guns in something like decent audio and quite a few murmurs of other big giuns. If I was used to swapping over to domestic DXing out here, now is when I'd swap. Gee, if things were booming in, I'd find it much harder to head for Oklahoma. As it is. John Bryant Orcas Island, WA, USA Winradio G313e and various Ultralights Wellbrook Phased Array + Superloops ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com
[IRCA] TPs Oceas Island
Bill and Nigel may well have gotten nothing in audio. I had next to nothing, especially if you eliminate the murmur level stations Less than half a dozen of the historically strongest made it into fair level audio this AM. I hoipe everyone else slept in! John B. Four more Mornings ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com
[IRCA] TPs Orcas Island: Nov 23
It was a fairly poor morning, with levels of audio quitew low in most cases and the few that were coming in well were only on short-lived peaks, for the most part. I DXed from 1500 until 1540 with LSR at 1530 or so. In ampongst the mediocrity, though, were a few jewels. The more interesting: 594 had a CC with echo on it along with the usual JJ at 1510 765 and 783 were also in well enough for landuage ID: it was CC in both cases, not //, not CNR1 or 2. Both were likely in Manchuria or close by. 945 CNR1 had an echo for a while this AM. They have several low power repeaters here, along with the 400 kW in Jilin. 1026 was likely the usual Beijing Economic, doing as well or better than I've ever heard them. 1494 at LSR, 1494 peaked up for one of those rare occasions and I nailed it as //1287. It is JOTL, 1 kW in north central Hokkaido. You can bet your booties that a reception report is going out at noon today. Its been a long hard slog over several years to finally nail this baby! 1575 I've listened every morning for the past two weeks to 1575 at TOH 1500. I was primarily listening for Radio Farda mixing with VOA, but it was a week ago today that I heard Radio Saranrom clearly ID in EE and go into a 30 minute EE business news program focused on Pres. Obama's trip to Asia. Each of the intervening AMs have been a new program starting at 1500, but probably in Thai. These half hour broadcasts in Thai are by Saranrom and pointed to Thai's living in other SEA countries. Apparently 6 days a week, this is in Thai and on Monday's, its in EE. Gonna send a report here, too. Finally, there was a peak, starting about ten minutes before dawn and lasting for 10 to 20 minutes after LSR. For a poor morning, I've got two reception reports to send. By the way, I did send one reception report in early November. October was the 60th Anniversary of the founding of the Peoples Republic of China and the 30th Anniversary of Deng's Modernizations/Reforms all quite a big deal. I had my own celebration all month, trying to hear as many CNR-1 and -2 channels as possible. I heard 26 different channels. I reported them all in one lengthy report and story to the Audience section of CNR. Back when CNR was a very reliable QSLer, I'd verified about 8 or 10 of these outlets. I'm hoping to get an answer to this latest letter that might be enough for me to count the other outlets that I reported as QSLed, too. Well, for a relatively poor morning, it sure was fun! John Bryant ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com
[IRCA] Morning TPs: Orcas Island
If this had been August, it would have been a very good JJ morning, at least the part that I enjoyed from 1500-1530, LSR=1527. The bottom half of the band was well over half full and all of the usual suspects, JJ variety, were doing quite well, at least part of the time many were in strong for a good bit of max dawn. The upper half of the dial was well represented, too, with two dozen in audio. ... and levels were generally up for mosta the JJs. Of special interest: 882 was a CC doing fairly well for a while, but neither CNR1 or 2. Was most likely Dalian at 50 kW on the Shandung Peninsula. 1089 was the usual Liaoning, but dominating that was the much rarer JOHB, NHK2 out of Sendai 1224 JOJK, NHK1 was doing rather well this AM, too. 1503 JOUK, NHK1 Akita was as strong as I've ever heard them with a solid 9 1566 HLAZ was putting in an S-8 almost O.C., but faintly in the background, I could hear some audio. I assume that it was them, rather than another station beneath. 1575 was VOA by itself and not doing very well. A very enjoyable JJ morning. wonder what it was like at 1200 or 1300??? John Bryant Orcas Island, WA, USA Winradio G313e and various Ultralights Wellbrook Phased Array + Superloops ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com
[IRCA] Modest TPs Here, Too: Orcas Island
I had about 50% of the TPs of yesterday AM and none were particularly strong or of special interest. Still, I've only a little more than a week of ANY TPs left, so John Bryant Orcas Island, WA, USA Winradio G313e and various Ultralights Wellbrook Phased Array + Superloops ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com
[IRCA] Excellent TP Morning on Orcas Island
Got up early this morning (1300 with LSR at about 1530) and decided to check in with our late season phenomenon of having good Japanese reception in the 1200 and 1300 range. Well, it turned out to be Japanese (which died down some by 1500) and Chinese (which came up even more late) and it was pretty darn good. Combining early and late, I had audio of some sort, from somewhere on about 90% of the lower band and about half of the uppere band. It was the bast AM that I've had in a month from here on Orcas. The most interesting EARLY stuff: 810 was the Russian, big time at 1305... sometimes with KGO beneath, sometimes by itself 846 was the NHK1 synchros (fairly rare) at a fairly low level all morning. 1017, the CRI KK was walking tall early and still doing decently clear to 1530 1323 was CRI Russian // 963 around 1320 (good) and still around at a low level at 1530 1539 was CNR1 early at a fairly low level and built slowly all morning. After 1500 is was a solid 8. This is a new log for me (I think) 1593 was CNR1 early at a very listenable level early and slowly declined throughout the morning. The most interesting LATE stuff: 594: I had the semi-Chinese, clearly with echo again this AM around 1520. The only thing in PAL that makes sense is two transmitters on Taiwan. NHK was there in the background. 1341: I had CNR1 WITH AND ECHO at about 1515. There is no question about who it was or the fact of the echo. PAL lists a CNR1 near Canton, but it is supposed to change to CRI EE, Tagalog, etc until 1500 and then be silent. There were TWO CNR1s at 1515, no question. 1548: I had audio after a fashion from 1520 to 1525 and it might have been Hindi. I've been watching for DW-Sri Lanka here, but doubt that anything that far away will ever punch through nearby 1550. 1575: I enjoyed Farda and VOA again this morning from about 1456 to 1504 just for the heck of it. Neither made much of a deal of TOH, but each had a single pip at what they believed to be the TOH (about .75 seconds apart.) There has been no repeat of that EE program on VOA at 1500. It must have been a special half hour because of Pres. Obama being in the Far East. In any case, I did stop to think what a rare privilege it is for any of us to sit there and listen to medium wave signals coming from so far afield as Thailand and UAE and mixing on our radios. Someone made the comment on here that once you hear Farda, you'd always recognize them. I did not understand that, though I'm beginning to suspect that was a West Coast person who only heard traditional Persian music. When I was listening to Farda from Easter Island, they were playing a mixture of old Michael Jackson records and new Farsi rap songs I swear! Neither many of us nor the imams would recognize that. Well, it was a really great late season morning here on Orcas Island and now, I have to go out and chain saw the MAJOR limbs that have been knocked down in the last two storms. (The antennas are still up, though, so my priorities are intact.) John Bryant Orcas Island, WA, USA Winradio G313e and various Ultralights Wellbrook Phased Array + Superloops ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com
[IRCA] Dull AM of TPs on Orcas
Less than a third the normal low banders and very few above in audio. (1251, 1377, 1575) The only real interest was 720, where there were CC, JJ and KK stations, and maybe more. I swear that somebody left the air (not willingly???) at 1507 and I think it was an UNID language, but it was pretty murky. SOMEBODY left the air though. 909 was the Chinese today, rather than the JJ. Otherwise, it was fairly bad. John Bryant Orcas Island, WA, USA Winradio G313e and various Ultralights Wellbrook Phased Array + Superloops ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com
[IRCA] TPs from Orcas Isla: 17 Nov
This is the first year since we have been spending 6 months out here that we have not left for Oklahoma on Monday, almost two weeks before Thanksgiving (yesterday). This year, we are leaving on Tuesday, December 2, so I've two more weeks to appreciate the late season conditions. Speaking of which, the main season sure went by in a hurry, didn't it??? Wow, about 6 to 8 weeks, with Japan dominant the first half and China dominant the second. It's enough to get ya to buy a Perseus, eh? To today: I was a really decent late TP morning here... particularly good at the lowest end early and a real dawn-post-dawn enhancement, especially up high. The most interesting stuff: 909: was JOCB, NHK2 at 1525 1377: Was walking tall all morning, still very solid at shutdown, 1535. LSR = 1525 1386: NHK Synchros was in well 1530, as were 1431, 1485, 1494, 1503 (huge!), 1512, 1548 was in at 1530UT but 1550 kHz is so strong, 1566 very under mod., and 1575. I spent most of my time on 1575. It was more Farda than it was VOA. At 1500, it was Farda all the way and they did not ID. Was traditional Persian (pres,) instrumental mx until about 1502 and then a woman talking softly in presumed Persian. Music resumed about 1504. At times after 1500, I could hear VOA underneath, with a man talking, but I do not think that it was EE. I'd have loved to ID both 1485 and 1494. They were both small JJ commercial outlets. I'm pretty sure that 1494 was JOTL, one of the HBC feeders on Hokkaido. The next time that I hear it, I'll try to //1287. I was not smart enough this time!! John Bryant Orcas Island, WA, USA Winradio G313e and various Ultralights Wellbrook Phased Array + Superloops ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com
Re: [IRCA] DXing from the South Pacific 16 Nov2009
Absolutely wonderful to read that log, Walter!!! I've heard a number of outlets of all of those networks. It was really a thrilling read. I'll keep this one for sure. PLEASE KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!!! I've sure been looking for FF on 666 for New Caledonia for the past several years. I've heard them twice before on the last solar cycle, but they failed to QSL., Good to hear that they are getting out. We'll be looking for them next season, too. I'll bet that you and Wanda LOVED New Zealand, as most everyone, especially from the NW, does. Please keep sending us stuff. You have not missed anything weather-wise here. The entire month has been just as we tell the tourists. We have had less than an hour of direct sunlight since late October half today, between storms. I'm learning the difference in weather forecasts: Showers with Sun Breaks; Scattered or Occasional Showers; Showers; Scattered Rain; Rain; Heavy Rain; Storms (means the wind is blowing HARD) may be used in tandem with any of the other 6 forecasts. They actually look you in the eye on TV and argue between just which one of those 6 it was, today! Even Arizona may look a little better after a full month of the above six forecasts :) John Bryant Orcas Island, WA, USA Winradio G313e and various Ultralights Wellbrook Phased Array + Superloops At 02:59 AM 11/18/2009 +, you wrote: */Dxing report from the South Pacific (sailing toward Tonga) for November 16, 2009:/* Hello, everyone! We’re now 2 days outbound from The Bay of Islands, New Zealand and bound for Tonga. During these at-sea days, there’s more time and energy to do some serious DXing and that’s exactly what I’ve been doing. On November 16^th , I concentrated on the 9 kHz channels, whereas last night it was the 10 kHz channels. A lot of what I heard I’ve recorded with a running mp3 recorder (iRiver 795T). The MW noise from the ship, at least at the aft end is remarkably absent and using Gary’s modified eton e100 with the Murata filter and large ferrite rod (tuneable) has enabled me to do some good Dxing in a very small package. It’s rather fun sitting in the semi-dark with ear buds holding my tiny receiver and rotating it this way and that. Have had a few people ask what I was up to, though! Of course on the first night, New Zealand dominated. I’m surprised by the huge number of transmitters carrying the same program (especially the Newstalk ZB network, and to a lesser extent New Zealand’s Rhema, Southern Star, and Radio New Zealand National. They sure get out. Don’t bother with legal local IDs. Instead they all seem to carry local ads which easily ID the station and location. I simply made notes, and later went through my loggings and was usually able to ID the station with the help of PAL. Thanks, Bruce and David for that! Here we go for Nov 16^th . Assume approximately the same time as the previous loggings as I pretty much systematically went from 531 upwards: 531 08:42 531PI in Auckland with 5 kw in presumed Samoan mentioning Easter Island and then an English ad for an appliance store in Hunter’s Corner, and other English ads. Excellent. Weaker cochannel with music. 549: 09:00 Rhema from Kaltaia, Northland with 2 kW and cochannel Radio Trackside 1 kW from Napier. 558: Radio Fiji 1, Naulu 10 kW with Trackside Sport ID at 10:50 (listed as Radio Sport, Invercargill 5 kW…note the different ID). I was surprised how well the Invercargill and Dunedin stations came in. 567: Radio NZ National, Wellington with 50 kW. Very strong at 09:06. 576: The Word, Hamilton with 2.5 kW with religious programming and weaker cochannel, presumed ABC Sydney with 50 kW. 585: unid oldies 594: unid with modern pop music 603: unid modern soul music. 612: unid , // 594 and 621. This is either ABC Brisbane (with the others being 3WV Horsham and ABC Melbourne) or possibly Rhema. Not sure. 630: Radio NZ National, Napier-Hastings with 10 kW with NZ news re Wellington bus accidents. // to 639 (weak) 2 kW from Alexandra, Otago. 648: 10:51 ID for NZ’s Rhema. Very strong. From Gisborne, 5 kW. 657: strong pop music, and EZL music. Presumed Southern Star, Wellington with 50 kW. 666: RFO, New Caledonia. 20 kW, Noumea. Very good reception with lots of French talk (Bonsoir, bonsoir, bonsoir….). //729 barely audible. At 09:59, heard cochannel ABC jingle to TOH, making this 2CN, ABC Canberra with 5 kW. Later on at 11:02:40 noted “RFO” ID at excellent level. 675: Radio NZ National, Christchurch 10 kW. NZ weather. Excellent. 684: 2KP ABC mid-North Coast, Kempsey 10kW. Call in program discussing the Rural Parks Service, fires. Phone # given as 1300 222 … 690: possibly KHNR, Honolulu with 10 kW. Thought I might have heard CBC, but not sure (which would have made in CBU, Vancouver). Fair reception. 693: Radio Sport, Dunedin 5 kW discussing Nigeria’s disqualification from the world cup. 702: Radio Live,
[IRCA] TPs Orcas Island: Nov 16
It was a fair to poor late season morning here, with the only thing seriously in audio above 1100 kHz. being 1575 (more later). Below that, about half the channels having at least some audio, a few times at decent level. The JJs Guns were all there, most at poor levels, strong audio at least briefly on 531, 594, 639, 738, 819, 828, 918, 945 and 1017: a gen-u-wine eclectic mix. 1575 was quite interesting. I had the dominant VOA Thailand in Burmese or something before 1500. I was also hearing Farda at times beneath (// internet) At 1500, there were two sets of pips of somewhat different character, off time by about a third of a second. There was no VOA ID on Thailand at 1500 and it began a news program in EE, with a bit of music... it was focused on Pres. Obama's trip to Asia and relations/activities between the USA and various governments in East Asia. It announced, in EE as Radio Saranrom, 1575 kilohertz.) It was an interesting program that I listened to most of the time from 1500 until 1530. At 1530, they began a program in (maybe) Korean. What fun. I don't know if this is a regular 30 minutes of EE news or a special program due to the Obama trip. In any case, it and the Farda occasionally beneath it, enlivened an otherwise dull late season morning! John Bryant Orcas Island, WA, USA Winradio G313e and various Ultralights Wellbrook Phased Array + Superloops ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com
[IRCA] OK, so what's on 594: TPs Orcas Island.
In truth, by body count standards, it was a poor morning... About half the normal number in audio, high and low and generally, the audio was poor. On the other hand, there were some real interesting things. 639 CNR1 was walking tall most of my 1440-1525 morning 828: a bit after 1500, it was probably Beijing Business Radio with another CC beneath. I presume that NHK2 was off by then 882: Who was that masked man? 918: BIG echos on the usual Shandong at 1450 1098: I'm pretty sure that it was Radio Taiwan International doing much better than usual, with 4+1 pips and nice TOH routine at 1500 1575: Radio Farda, presumed, was putting in some ME music under VOA at 1525. But the big one was, around 1515, who the heck was on 594 I had no other channel with presumed NHK1 on it in audio and what I had on 594 was NOT Japanese. It was also not standard Chinese and it was not Korean. further, it had a distinct ECHO. My best guess would be Taiwan, there are three transmitters there, two with the same program... Taipei 2. I should have tried to // this on the 'net, but I did not. ANY IDEAS!!! I don't think that it was Mayak, either. Recording on request. John Bryant Orcas Island, WA, USA Winradio G313e and various Ultralights Wellbrook Phased Array + Superloops ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com
Re: [IRCA] TP DC DX - Nov. 14, 2009
Bill, Could 738 have been Tahiti??? Nice logging/musing! John Bryant At 07:18 AM 11/14/2009 -0500, you wrote: I don't keep a blog or diary, but if I did, this would be my 'DX' entry for today: Nov. 14, 2009 TPs were not as good this morning as they'd been for the past few days. LatAms were nothing special either. [Gotta figure out a way to use on-line geomagnetic indices to learn what to 'expect' on any given day.] Very weak 'traces' from 0845utc on; 747, 774, 873, 945 and 1098kHz -- I finally figured out how to put these in the Perseus memory now. Finally, around 1050utc, got near some audio on 747 - recorded. Everything on the north beam gone by 1120utc or so. Something odd on 738kHz. Trying to null 'AM 740' at some point I noticed a 'polar-flutter-trace' on 738. It was barely visible on the north beam -- it came in best on the WEST beam! Recorded at 1130utc or so - doubt there's any audio ... but while the north-facing TP stuff was gone by 1120utc, the 738kHz outlet continued on 'til past 1145utc when 'local' on 730 either signed on or went to full power. It was as if 738 were coming from Asia but from further south than Japan, Korea and China, skirting the auroral donut. Every 'session' has a silver lining and sometimes a 'mystery' is as good as something new -- gives you something to think about for the rest of the day and look forward to solving tomorrow. Oh yea, also had KFI on 640kHz with audio // web-feed and TWR via Albania on 1394.82kHz last night -2200*. Bill Whitacre b...@his.com Alexandria, VA Perseus/Wellbrook 4-element phased array ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com
[IRCA] Fair AM TPs from Orcas Island
It was a fair morning with TPs... not quite a good as yesterday, but a decent late season morning. The only REALLY listenable audio was the big gun JJs, some of whom had a co-channel. Plenty of other audio around, it was just somewhat lower and the usual suspects. Soon, this will be the good old days. Sounds like Walt Salmaniw is having a ball in New Zealand, but that the radio situation looks worse and worse. Glad that I got quite a few QSLed before the slippery slope became too steep. John Bryant Orcas Island, WA, USA Winradio G313e and various Ultralights Wellbrook Phased Array + Superloops ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com
[IRCA] No TAs for Me
Out for da evening... social life interfering with radio. Must rethink priorities. John B. ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com
[IRCA] Another Good TP Morning: Orcas Island
It was another quite good TP morning, with 85 to 90% of the lower band in audio at some point and close to half of the upper band. For a change, there was a REAL dawn boost from 1440 until LSR at 1530. In truth, it was pretty poor from 1420 tune-in until the boost started, then things were really quite nice. The most interesting: 531 the JJ was doing much better than usual 648: The Chinese here was almost certainly Voice of Russia CC Service 675: Vietnam was blasting in 936: Throughout the AM, as rockin' 1170 very nearby, but had something under it. Rare here. 1377 CNR1 was great, late BIG NOTE: FOR ABOUT A MONTH, I HAVE A SECOND SIGNAL ON 1575 LATE. IT IS N*O*T FARDA, BECAUSE ITS FREQUENCY IS ACTUALLY 1594.950, plus or minus a scosh. DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY IDEAS??? John Bryant Orcas Island, WA, USA Winradio G313e and various Ultralights Wellbrook Phased Array + Superloops ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com
[IRCA] Farda Big Sig on Orcas @0042
___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com
[IRCA] TPs on Orcas Isl: Nov 12
Pretty poor.. The biggest guns in with a small boost on the upper band after LSR. About the only thing of interest was an unknown Chinese, not JJ, on 1332. Well, listening to Arman, suburban Magadan on 234 last night and finding the transmitter site on Google Earth was fun. Good program on Rossii, too. John B. ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com
[IRCA] TA Orcas
Low audio on Farda 1575 at 0105. Nothing, I mean NOTHING else. John B. ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com
[IRCA] 963 Pori is In Audio: Orcas Island
ID just before TOH ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com
[IRCA] TPs: Orcas Island Nov. 11th
This is another one of those days where its a privilege to TP DX and it was even better than yesterday. I happened to get up two hours before dawn today (1300) and DXed for an hour at thatr time it was like September. GREAT JJ signals in some cases and a number of JJ stations unheard in months. On my second run a half-hour before dawn to half hour past, some of the stronger JJs were less strong and some of the weak JJs were gone, but they were more than made up by CCs and KKs and a few RRs. Combining the two sessions, I had TP audio, often GOOD audio on all but a dozen channels below 1440. counting the zero ending channels that fall in the 9 kHz pattern, 540, 630, 720, etc. It was a wonderful morning. The most interesting stuff: 549 was Russian, big time at 1320 and still doing decently at 1440, now with echo! 720, briefly at 1315 was JJ. The only one listed is a 1 kW JOIL feeder station on the northern tip of Kyushe and I'm certain of the language. Later, this was a jumble, still later it was CNR2 837 was JJ: JOQK, Niigatta all morning, strong at 1330 990 was JORK, NHK1 Kochi, a rare but not unknown visitor in the early session 1278 was JOFR Fukuoka at 1345 1458 was in again at murmur level at 1500 and I was hanging on every mur... I was rewarded by two sets of Chinese-style pips, about 6 seconds apart. One was almost certainly Nei Menggu, but the other one Gosh, it was a fun morning and would have been funner at Grayland! John B. ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com
[IRCA] TAs Orcas Island
Had Farda well and some audio on 1539. Het only on 1503 all around 0025 1278 France Bleu at 254 918 Almost audio Slovenia? 702 Ment on Iran but could be any lang. at 0306, gone by 0315 VOIRI with half a meg at sunrise at the transmitter on south shore of Caspian??? 963 probable Pori in low audio 1152, maybe Roumania in low audio at 03209. John B. ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com
[IRCA] TA + TP at 0500
Nigelk, Its interesting that we were both listening to 702 at almost the same time. I came in at 0303 and it was news, primarily by woman, mentioning Iran, but any newscast in the world might fit that description. I'll listen to the recording tomorrow morning. Right now, I'm listening to armchair copy of Radio Rossii from Arman to the west of Magadan, hidden from us by the Kamchatka peninsula. This is what I heard much wealker a couple of days ago I think this is the most northeasterly of the Siberian longwavers Doing very well at 0519. Good program! John B. ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com
Re: [IRCA] Beverage - Wellbrook Array Comparisons
Rus, You guys at LBI appear to have had a heck of a good time and gotten some fine DX, despite it being toward the end of the traditional Fall Season. Your question appears to have been how short is too short for a BOG. I have to observe, what difference is there between a BEV, a BOG and a BUG??? Geez, I really don't know in the context of a sandy beach. Its likely determined by how high the water table is right now how high has it been recently (as in damp sand) as well as the character and number of intervening bushes, tall grass and small trees that might raise parts of a BOG into the BEV class. I guess that I'm asking partly out of frustration of having carefully put BEVs up on 3' poles on top of a lawn on top of damp or dry sand for about a decade. Finally, one day, I ran one on the ground about 100 feet away from the one on the poles. At Grayland, that day, there was no noticeable difference. I finally quit using poles I'm not sure that some of the others ever did use poles. As far as how long? If Kaz is feeling good enough to sit at the computer, he may have differing views, but I'd say that longer is better and straight at the DX is better, until at least 1500 feet. That being said, I've used a 600 foot measured and barely grounded (heck, consider it ungrounded) BOG, right on a mowed lawn, pointing generally at central or Western Australia to DX Downunder for close to 20 years... well, on the ground for the last ten. I've well over 100 DUs QSLed as well as Tuvalu (on a longer BOG) Vanuatu, Tonga, and several other exotic island nations. Would I have heard more DUs or heard them better on a BOG pointed right at eastern Australia and 1500 feet long. Almost certainly. Unfortunately, High Tide and property ownership hits the Grayland at about the 600 to 700 foot mark, so.. I don't know what else to say, John Bryant Orcas Island, WA, USA Winradio G313e and various Ultralights Wellbrook Phased Array + Superloops At 04:02 AM 11/10/2009 -0800, you wrote: --- On Mon, 11/9/09, John H. Bryant bjohnor...@rockisland.com wrote: So, what is the best antenna for seaside locations? If you can solve the liability and ownership problems that abound along most coasts, a well-grounded 1400 or 1500 foot long Beverage is likely the antenna of choice. If your antenna possibilities are any less than that, at all, then the less than 200' long Wellbrook Super Array is likely VERY close to that long Beverage and clearly a major improvement over the ALA-100 Array. This is a question we wrestled with at LBI again this year. We had the following: a - terminated 1000' BOG aimed roughly 35-40 degrees b - terminated 800' BOG aimed 230-235 degrees c - a 6' preamplified broadband loop d - a 16 x 24 ( not sure on dimensions here ) pre-amplified corner fed superloop e - Wellbrook 1530 single turn loop We determined that on any given night one antenna might prove to be the star depending on conditions, but that within that, some receptions simply did better with one antenna vs another. This may be as discussed elsewhere in the prior post due to the nature of what signal was available on the other end. It may also depend on what signals are coming in off the sides. Our conclusion was that despite the physical effort involved in totally burying a BOG in the sand ( needed to keep if from being tripped over or removed on a public beach ) we'll employ at least one BOG going forward. That begs another question also raised in this thread - the optimum length for a BOG, or more precisely, where is the length beyond which adding more isn't productive. We had determined years earlier that in our case a 1000' antenna was just as good reception-wise as a 1500'. We'll be forced to reduce our South BOG to just under 700' if we use it again as the past 3 years SUV traffic through an entry to the beach has broken it off there. My sense is that if we reduced from 1000' to 700' on the North BOG we'd probably not lose much either... Russ Edmunds Blue Bell, PA ( 360' ASL ) [15 mi NNW of Philadelphia] 40:08:45N; 75:16:04W, Grid FN20id wb2...@yahoo.com FM: Yamaha T-80 Onkyo T-450RDS w/ APS9B @15' AM: Modified Sony ICF 2010 barefoot ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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
Re: [IRCA] TPs again
Bill, I'm really glad that you have retaken the DXer banner after all of these years far too large/long a hiatus, IMHO. John B. At 08:08 AM 11/10/2009 -0500, you wrote: This morning [10/10] I had 'traces' of various strengths on the Perseus waterfall graph in 'zoom' setting on; 594, 693, 747, 774, 828, 837 and 1134kHz. 945 was the most 'consistent' but 747 had the best shot at providing any audio -- despite horrible 'splash' from an over-modulated and non-limited 'AM 740.' I started listening at 0920utc with a peak in 747's 'trace' at 1010 and around 11ut. I doubt that I have any audio but I've yet to review a 1000utc TOH recording. I finally figured out how to take a screen shot on a PC [on a Mac it's easy ... of course] and will post a link to that when I get to the office. Bill Whitacre Alexandria, VA Perseus SDR/Wellbrook 4-element phased array ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com
[IRCA] TPs for 10 Nov: Orcas Island
It was one of those mornings where it is not at all difficult to remember that it is a PRIVILEGE to hear any DX at all from over the waves. This morning was one of the very best of the late season mornings. The dial was basically full below 1070 and many of the signals were VERY robust. Above 1070, there was audioo at some time around dawn on about 1/3 of the channels. The things of particular interest: 540 CNR1 was booming in 594: I believe the KK was on top part of the morning 630: CNR2 was on top and in the clear part of the morning 648: I have not been hearing the VOR transmitter in audio that others have noted. This AM, before 1500, I had a decent level CC... I'll bet that was VOR in CC, but I did not ID 675: VoV has been pretty anemic for the last couple of weeks. It was at full blast today. 720: CNR2 in EE was huge at about 1440 810: Was probably the Russian for a while, over KGO 990: I believe was the JJ it was definitely Asian for a while 1143: Was actually very good and //738 Taiwan Fisheries 1188: FEBC Seoul with Christian hymn at 1510 1566 was poor and also badly distorted this AM It was a really nice AM! John Bryant Orcas Island, WA, USA Winradio G313e and various Ultralights Wellbrook Phased Array + Superloops ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com
Re: [IRCA] west coast TA
Farda doing very well here w/fades at 0042 LSR John B. At 12:24 AM 11/11/2009 +, you wrote: Looking mildly promisingweak audio on 1215, enough to match to Absolute's website. A few other carriers including snippets of 1539, 1575, 1503, 1134, 1377 Nick * Nick Hall-Patch Victoria, BC Canada ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com
[IRCA] TAs so far on Orcas
Got Radio Farda on 1575 big time as mentioned. I also had Iran at 0058 to 0103... some Koranic chanting just before TOH and more modern Persian (?) music at 0102. I did not know of // on internet then... but I'm counting this baby. Had Egypt on 819 with decent copy at around 0112 to 0115 1098 was maybe Iran and 1251 may have been Voice of Africa from Tripoli or ??? Lotsa of other hets for a while. I was never in right place at right time. Things are quiet now (just after 0300.) Gonna try sporadically throughout evening. My report to China Radio International via Pori goes out tomorrow to Beijing. Does Pori answer reports of tranny lease programs??? John B. Orcas Island ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com
[IRCA] Who the Heck is on 234 LW
Not too much beside Droitwich was doing at 0500 on MW, so I dropped down to longwave on a lark and caught something on 234 kHz. Initially, it was at a listenable level, but by 0525, it had slid to murmur level I am not at all good on European languages. It sounded sorta like Russian/German/ or what I think is the Germanic sounding Dutch. Is this RT Luxembourg??? Or something else entirely Even more ignorant than usual on Orcas Island, John Bryant ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com
[IRCA] Orcas Island TPs: Nov 9
There I was at 10PM local time, concentrating on 774 hoping for Spain, probably... heck, it was 3:00PM in Tokyo... As I concentrated on the murmur, it began to rise and I was listening in my best Mexican Spanish, while not forgetting a big Hungarian and a Morrocan station co-channel, and then my aging brain sez naw, that isn't Japanese (I used to be fairly fluent.) And then I heard unmistakable JJ words... whole bunches of them entire sentences of them! Isn't winter DXing wonderful, especially this far North? I'll be heading back to the South Prairie after Thanksgiving and I will miss this! In this instance, I went to bed! This morning, my first sweep was at 1425, about 40 minutes before LSR. I quit about an hour later. It was a low-average late season morning, with all of the strongest JJs, KKs and even CCs except HLAZ-1566 which was just a nubbin of a carrier. There was a post-dawn boost, though largely of the stronger Chinese. The Echo on 918 (Shangdung) was back to at least three transmitters this morning and 639 CNR1 was walking tall. The big news of the morning was that I had CNR1 with an echo on 1359 there are a bazillion 1 and 10 kW transmitters there I'd only heard this frequency at Grayland once this year, and never here. So, I learned several more things... all useless, but interesting. John Bryant Orcas Island, WA, USA Winradio G313e and various Ultralights Wellbrook Phased Array + Superloops ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com
Re: [IRCA] TA...yawn?
0200 from Orcas... some hets plus audio on 1539 (VOA???) and 1575 Farda both below language recognition. JOhn B. At 12:44 AM 11/10/2009 +, you wrote: Well, it's sunset, and there are lots of TA carriers, and audio traces on 945kHz briefly. Everything else is also very erratic. Nick * Nick Hall-Patch Victoria, BC Canada ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com
[IRCA] Beverage - Wellbrook Array Comparisons
At 18:22 11/8/2009, Chuck Hutton wrote: Nick Hall-Patch had his ALA-100 array at Grayland with myself and Bruce Portzer Oct. 3 and 4. During that period, we compared it with a 1400' Beverage at 320 degrees that was terminated via 3 six foot ground rods. A different antenna than a 600' Beverage, to be sure. It was no contest at all according to Nick. The Beverage was in a league by itself. Perhaps Nick can provide details if needed. The Beverage provided Chinese adio on at least 111 channels, and there are some recordings still in the can that I have not checked. Chuck At 6:22AM 11/9 Nick Hall Patch wrote: I might want to temper what Chuck has said, seeing that I am on the record now . First, the Wellbrook array could hear some things better than the big Beverage could. For example, no KFBK-1530 on the array at all except in reverse position. 1530 was effectively an Asian channel on the array, and I could hear Japanese trading places that were just garbage fighting under what was left of KFBK on the Beverage. A phased pair of Beverages would possibly (likely?) have levelled that playing field. If there was a distinct source of interference off the back end, the Wellbrook could deliver a better signal to splatter ratio. This did not always mean a better quality of DX however, because, sorry guys, size matters, at least in the antenna world; I won't venture into other worlds, but I'm sure the contents of your junk folder will tell you all you need to know. I don't really know the technical reasons for this, but it makes sense that a big antenna will deliver a more robust signal than a smaller one will. In the demodulation process, generally the more signal you have, especially in those AM sidebands, the better the readability you will have, even if there is relatively more interference as well (within limits). This is I believe the source of the difference Chuck alludes to. I've observed this locally, comparing a fine Flag antenna I have versus a more haphazard corner fed loop which has about twice the enclosed area. The Flag has observably better rejection off the back end (thereby nulling all my domestic interference with varying degrees of effectiveness), and is a quiet joy to listen with. But the corner fed loop, relatively extra splatter and all, often delivers more readable DX, as it is enclosing a larger portion of the incoming wave fronts, and delivering more raw signal which is demodulated better. It's crisper, less murky, i.e. more readable, and it looks good on the S-meter too. (and yes, bulking up the Flag's signal with a preamplifier to match the corner-fed's signal often doesn't seem to be enough) If it's a matter of real estate, the Wellbrook array wins every time however. 50m worth of a straight line will get you a darned nice antenna with, in this part of the world, rejection of pretty much all of North America's signals, leaving you with a great starting place to hear Asia and Oceania. 50m of wire will get you world class splatter in the same location, no matter how well you match it to your receiver. What is staggering about the Wellbrook array is that, according to John Bryant, it is competitive with a 600m wire, which is a Beverage antenna, at least above 1000kHz. With the price of land, that's a serious advantage. Having said all that, my feeling (and it is mostly a feeling) at this point is that if you have the opportunity to use a man-sized Beverage antenna, especially if you can enhance it with phasing as with Neil's BOGs, then you will still likely hear better DX than with the smaller and truly wonderful phased arrays. It's up to you to decide how many more years you will wait until retirement in order to be able to afford the land needed for a serious Beverage array at the seashore, hi. best wishes, Nick John Bryant's response 9:00PM 11/9 There have been several good exchanges amongst several DXers relative to antenna theory in general and comparing these two very different antennas in particular which are not directly relevant to my own remarks, so I have not reproduced them here. As far as Chuck's allusions and Nick's clear report of the comparison of his Wellbrook ALA-100 Array and Chuck's favorite 1400' well-grounded Beverage, I think that subject is well covered, too. What Chuck seems to ignore is that the Wellbrook family of Phased Arrays has gone rather far beyond the unit that Nick A/Bed with Chuck's Beverage: there are currently two new Arrays, both of which have been A/Bed at Grayland and each of which represents a very noticeable improvement over Nick's ALA-100 Array in the ability to hear very weak DX signals from an ocean-side location. The results of all of those A/B tests have been reported here; why does Chuck ignore them??? Over recent months, Wellbrook's family of non-resonant, large single turn loops has expanded from one to three. These are my personal observations of
[IRCA] TPs from Orcas: Nov 8
I'm still living in the glow of Farda and Pori and plotting an assault on Iran tonight... I had a second maybe Iran on 1026... But to the present: It was a good but not great late season morning. Most of the lower band had audio at one time or another. The upper band was less populated, but still doing quite well. There was really nothing new that I could identify, but still, there were points of interest: 594 had someone walking all over them at 1430. Sounded CC. Later was all NHK 720 CNR2 was mostly excellent from 1430 on 756 CNR1 was excellent at 1445 1152 was NHK2 synchros at around 1505 Just before dawn, a CC was on woith the usual VOA on 1575 The real boost seemed to be post-dawn (after 1505) on the upper half of the dial. Most of the usual JJ and CC suspects, including 1350 and 1440. Most of the AM, HLAZ-1566 had a big fat carrier and almost no modulation. It was worth spending the morning at the dials, but it's only 8 hours until Middle Eastern fade-in. Here's hoping!. John Bryant Orcas Island, WA, USA Winradio G313e and various Ultralights Wellbrook Phased Array + Superloops ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com
Re: [IRCA] UNID TP on 945 heard in New Jersey
Try // 5030 which is a boomer CNR1 here on the Left Coast. John B. At 07:33 PM 11/8/2009 +, you wrote: At 19:16 11/8/2009, you wrote: Bill: By far the most likely from Grayland is the CNR1 outlet in Jilin. Any CNR1 parallels available (SW or MW?) Also by far the most likely inland from Grayland.the last couple of seasons at any rate. Nick * Nick Hall-Patch Victoria, BC Canada ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com
Re: [IRCA] Faroe Islands-531
I had a strong het on 531 about the time of my Pori, Finland logging, so I was saying a strong DXers prayer for Faroes, already logged by near-by Nick Hall-Patch. Prayer went unanswered yesterday, but I have hope for tonight! John Bryant Orcas Island, WA, USA Winradio G313e and various Ultralights Wellbrook Phased Array + Superloops At 09:34 PM 11/8/2009 +, you wrote: Faroe Islands-531 fair with jazz piano mx // webstream batlling Spain Algeria 2126 UTC. By 2132 Spain well atop with RNE News by man woman in Spanish. 531 is a fascinating frequency here and has become favorite! Marc DeLorenzo South Dennis, Cape Cod, Mass. http://www.wtfda.info/showthread.php?t=228 ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com
[IRCA] Definite JJ on 774 at 0600 UTC
I couldn't believe it especially since I was also following carriers on 576 and 666 plus low audio on 747. Geez, I'm going to BED! John B. ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com
[IRCA] Good TPs: Orcas Island
I was at the dial from 1450 until I quit for breakfast at 1525, with things still going fairly well. LSR=1505 or so. It was a very good late season opening with 50 or 60 in some form of audio, from bottom of the band to the top. Most were the usuial suspects at greater or lesser strength than recently. However there were a few things of special interest: 585: There were two stations o/u One was NHK1, the other, I think, was the VOR transmitter at Belogorsk, running RR. 594: I think that I had than new Korean running with NHK1 675: A generic CC was o/u VofV 720: CNR2 again 810: The Russian, again 918: The echo was so pronounced and lagged so far, that I though there were two stations there for a few minutes. I'm still watching 1548 like a hawk and I'm picking up a het on channel and an even stronger one that is 50 cycles or so to the downside of 1548. I think that I'll give the Europeans a serious try tonight, despite my granite filter. John B. ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com
[IRCA] 1575 Farda first Audio at 0047
My first try for Farda bore fruit... I noted the first carrier at 0017, coming and going, then steady by 0043 and very low audio (clearly WELL modulated) soon after. Could barely distinguish the speaking, but the music wasn't bad and WAS // internet stream. A bit over 7300 miles... the same distance as the central Queensland coast. Local sunset 0041. John Bryant Orcas Island, WA, USA Winradio G313e and various Ultralights Wellbrook Phased Array + Superloops 60 degrees off the Farda signal ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com
[IRCA] Good Farda at 0200
Also hearing the weakest audio on 1503. Saudi? John B. ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com
Re: [IRCA] Good Farda at 0200
As you and Chuck both suggested, it was probably IRIB Radio Iran. I mis-read the WRTH. It peaked at about 0220 with definite audio and then dropped like a stone 5 minutes later and has not come back at all... So, the het was there from 0044 and the audio peaked at 0220. That may have been sunrise at the tx... it sure sounded like it. No 1548 yet gonna take a good signal to get around 1550 and my wrong way antenna. John B. At 07:10 PM 11/7/2009 -0700, you wrote: John, If the mideast is coming in, Iran is the most likely on 1503. If you can get by 1550, give 1548 a try as R.Sawa from Kuwait has been my best TA signal here tonight, better than Farda. 73, Nigel Pimblett Dunmore, Alberta John H. Bryant wrote: Also hearing the weakest audio on 1503. Saudi? John B. ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com
[IRCA] TAs Orcas
Quite a few hets all over the band now most low level. Very limited audio from 1089 (Britain?) 1278 (France) and 918 () Will keep watching. John Bryant Orcas Island, WA, USA Winradio G313e and various Ultralights Wellbrook Phased Array + Superloops ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com
Re: [IRCA] test: Am I getting through?
We'uns be hearing you! John B. At 03:50 AM 11/8/2009 +, you wrote: Not sure whether this email address is connecting with IRCA. Please confirm! ..Walt (bobbing around in the S. Pacific) ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com
[IRCA] TAs Still Going, but I'm not!
Just finished another band scan and things were down, until I got to 963 and there was decent audio. It was almost TOH 0500, so I stuck around and, sure enough, it was Finland Radio China International ending one Baltic language and starting another. And I got a recording of most of the ID in CHINESE So, two new countries: 1575 Radio Farda at 0050 // InternetUAE 963Radio China Intl via Pori at 0500Finland Two probables: 1503 Radio Iran at 0220 Iran 1089 TalkSport Synchros maybe// internet at 0400 Britain Not too bad for my first try at TA DXing :) I clearly should not have assumed that my granite mountain would rule out Western Europe. I'm gonna try this some more, by golly!!! John Bryant Orcas Island, WA, USA Winradio G313e and various Ultralights Wellbrook Phased Array + Superloops ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com
[IRCA] Wellbrook Arrays at Grayland (was re: Day ONE @ Grayland)
At 05:17 PM 10/31/2009 -0500,Neil Kazaross wrote: (SEE MY RESPONSE BELOW - Bryant) : This is good news about the arrays. Once again I will stress that I think end fire arrays of two cardioid antennas will be a major step forward for those with the room to use them (home users need a good sized yard) and whom are only interested in one general direction. I presume that you were using Wellbrook components for both arrays? My appologies to all for not yet testing the 2 KAZ (delta flag) array here. My bad back has returned and is becoming chronic once again. I can cope with the pain to lay out wires on the ground and phasing them, but getting up a ladder to trees for cardioid antennas is currently out of the question. Anyhow..I am so happy to see you guys testing two loops !!! I presume that both these arrays are basically set and forget and give great back end nulls across the entire band? If so then there's all sort of interesting possibilities for pattern improvements..ie more narrow main beam or phasing something out off to the side of the main beam if you phase one array vs the other (although I think you'd space them further than 150 feet apart) Hmmm Russia clobbering KGO 810.. that sounds like awesome F/B to me! Your Chinese logging on 900 past Victoria indicates a rather narrow beamwidth as well ! Looking to read more.. 73 KAZ Bryant's reply: Kaz, Really sorry to hear that your back is acting up again. I know from personal experience how persistent and debilitating those things can be. I'm sure that Andy Ikin is anxious to get your insight on his new FLG100 antenna and two loop array, but I'm certain that he understands. As it happens, I'm ending up doing some of the evaluation in your stead mostly from necessity. I'm just amazed at the progress in antenna design that has been made, mostly by Andy and Wellbrook, but also some others working on their own and Dallas Lankford teaming up with Guy Atkins. The first step in this whole revolution was the growing appreciation of large, broadband single turned loops, vertically, as antennas. The Wellbrook ALA100, still an exceptional antenna, was one of the prominent commercial versions of that movement. The advantage in noise rejection, relatively small footprint and relative stealthiness made it a real winner for DXers on small urban and suburban lots. Its classic wide figure-of-8 pattern was an advantage in many applications and a weakness only for DXers desiring either much narrower lobes or a cardoid, uni-directional pattern (or both). I'd guess that the ALA100 will be a staple in Wellbrook's lineup for many years to come. As phasing developed over the years, most of the work (Misek, Connelly) focused on combining signals from two long wire antennas, usually Beverages until the last decade, or so. Most phasers were also designs that required at least tweaking at each frequency of interest. DXers did and still do amazing things with that technology. Three things excited me about Andy's original phased array: a) the fact that it was broadband, basically allowing the DXer to set and forget b) the fact that it was based on two small ALA100 loops, excellent antennas themselves, arranged in a fairly small footprint and c) that it was reversible with the flick of a switch. One array of two loops could cover the horizon, but two pairs (N, S, E, W) cloudy really cover the horizon. I loved that array and found that it equaled or surpassed the short 600' and 900' Beverages that I routinely deploy at Grayland. That original ALA-100 Array is still the best antenna in some limited situations, IMHO. That is the antenna that I've used for the past 30 months or so and I still love it. The other interesting line of development in recent years has been the broadly-based development of a whole stable of DIRECTIONAL single-turn broadband loops. At this point, I don't really remember whether the EWE, the Flag or the Pennant came first, soon to be followed, of course, by the KAZ. Anyway, with those antennas, individually 15 dB or more of F/B ratio, I guess that it was just a matter of time until Andy (and surely others soon) to combine broadband phasing with already directional loops. Andy says that he has gotten over 50 dB F/B in field tests. I've not yet gotten to that range, but I'm restricted here by poor ground, rocky terrain, cliffs, etc. I'm sure that I'll get better that 50 dB in some configurations when I get back to my cow pasture in Oklahoma in another month or so. As I understand it, Andy has brought out two new DIRECTIONAL single loop antennas and two new Arrays, each based on one of those new loop designs. What I have here is four K9AY loop heads. With the right base units in the shack, each would be a separate REVERSIBLE K9AY directional loop. Using the biggest Phased Loop Array controller, you can phase and reverse two phased pairs of k9AYs. With the tighter front lobe
[IRCA] 17 x 30 Super Loops + Day THREE
I got up at 3:00 on Monday morning, expecting to antenna test for about an hour and then DX until dawn as per usual. I did that first hour of antenna testing with very interesting results, but at that point, I pulled the plug. Conditions were down considerably from Sunday and down even more from Saturday morning, so I said What the heck! and dived back under the covers for three more hours of sleep before taking down all six masts, accompanying wire, coax, power feeds (for the K9AYs) and general junk. By 9:30, I was one tired puppy, but on my way back home. I arrived here on Orcas Island at 5:30PM, as usual. Boy, that makes for a very tough day at the end of the DXpedition. So, the 79 or so stations that I logged the first two mornings are it as far as my contribution to the cause. I'll upload the loggings to the appropriate places in the next 24 hours or so. The final A/B tests done Monday morning were quite revealing, though the results were largely those that were expected. The K9AYs had produced very consistent 30 dB nulls with a few approaching forty degrees. They were exactly 40 meters apart and were 35' x 15' high squashed Deltas. The combined included area is 525 sq.ft. I shortened the previous 60'x17' Super Loops to 30' x 17' and maintained the maximum spacing. So, the new spacing was 45 meters, center-to-center. The new smaller Super Loops out-gained the K9AYs only about 3 to 5 dB... maybe a little more in a few cases. That 3-5 dB additional gain was present from top to bottom of the dial. The major differences were in F/B ratio across the dial, nulling specific stations on the back side, and in narrowness of front lobe. In all of these parameters, the Super Loop was considerably superior to the K9AY. I rush to point out that this is not a general condemnation of the K9AY... It was working against four radials that were laid atop damp sand and were operating as a much less than perfect ground. In situations of good grounding, the K9AY's ability to be switch reversible is a non-paralleled advantage in domestic DXing and a handy attribute even in shore side trans-oceanic DXing. However, it this situation of shore side DXing from rocky or sandy beaches, the use of antenna elements THAT DO NOT REQUIRE GROUNDING just makes all kind of sense. On top of that, array elements made of Super Loops (or KAZs, or flags or pennants) that themselves, individually, offer significant directionality is just that much more reason to favor them in shore-side situations. I made several careful runs up the band, noting channels where one or the other antenna was OBVIOUSLY better. I made note of 15 channels. In each and every case, the Super Array was the one that was superior. In some cases, it was clear that it was gain that was making the difference. In others, it seemed that the biggest advantage was S/N. Looking at narrowness of front lobe I compared the two systems on 690 (about 20 to 30 degrees off the front side) and there was a clear advantage top the Super Loop. There was no difference on 1130 (further to the right, but still front lobe) and there was a slight advantage to the Super Loop on 1600 (front lobe); so, to, 900. Backside nulling was noticeably better on the Super Loops... about 10 dB or more. It was particularly noticed on 810, 1080, 1530 and 1440. All in all, the array of two Super Loops with twice the sail-area, proved consistently superior to the K9AY array in these tests. That is it from my most recent DXpedition to Grayland. I'll get the loggings up in the next day or two. John Bryant Grayland, WA Winradio 313e and two NWterly Wellbrook Arrrays ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com
[IRCA] Day TWO at Grayland
Having had such a productive Japanese opening very early yesterday, on our first morning here, Kevin and I got up at 1115UTC, now the equivalent of 3:15AM LST, a full hour ahead of yesterday's start. Like Day ONE, this morning we found the band already rather full of fairly strong signals from Japan and the most regular of the Koreans. Also like yesterday, the early opening lasted until just after 1300 when signal strengths fell away quite a bit, while simultaneously working their way farther west. There was a selective recovery at dawn enhancement where most signals came up a bit and a scattered few came up a lot. So, the pattern was exactly as yesterday; however, over all things were not as good as on the previous morning much more pedestrian. Although I logged an additional twenty stations, missed in the rush yesterday (most) or not present (a few,) what I did log were stations that have been semi-regulars in the last several Fall seasons. There were a few of the more obscure NHK synchro channels present and we had a spotty opening to DU, with 1116-4BC Brisbane present at 1200, 2.5 hours before LSR. (Wow!) DUs were also present on 531 and 612 nearer to dawn with each fighting it out with the JJ regular on that channel. 900 Victoria was more prominent this morning than yesterday; however, I was sitting on that channel at 1500, hoping the CNR2 from Qinghai province (NE of Tibet) would fade up briefly, as it seemed to yesterday. Sure enough, something came up just a bit and I heard what seemed to be 5+1 pips at the hour. Unfortunately, nothing else made it through Victoria today. The Wellbrook experiments continued, with the Super Loop array being clearly superior to the poorly grounded K9AY array in every situation that I checked. That is a great report, actually, since the K9AY Array was proven superior to the ALA-100 Array that was Wellbrook's standard (and my antenna of choice) for the last couple of seasons. The two-loop K9AY phased array was also the one that, though poorly grounded, held its own with the new Lankford 4-loop array in tests two weeks ago. With the newest Super Array, however, there were a few instances of overloading (yes!) on 774 Japan and once on a nearby local, so I'm going to reduce the sail area of the Super Loops by half during the day today. I'll still have significantly more included area in the Super Loops than in the K9AYs and, with the two phased Super Loops, I have an antenna that does not depend (like the K9AY does) on the quality of grounding for any of its directional gain/nulling. Keven Schanilec left this morning to return to greater Seattle and the World of Work. It was great getting to know him on a face-to-face basis and to have two DXers in the room. I'm staying one more morning, to conclude this round of Wellbrook tests and to try to scarf up a few more TPs before I close out my DXpeditioning for this year. I'll be reporting on Day THREE when I return home to Orcas Island likely uploading on Tuesday AM John Bryant WinRadio G313e + two NW Wellbrook Phased Arrays ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com
[IRCA] Day ONE at Grayland
Kevin Schanilec and I were able to get both Wellbrook arrays up on Friday afternoon: a phased array of 2 triangular K9AYs and another massive new array of two 17' x 60' Super Loops. Both arrays were pointed NW and were separated and staggered by about 150 feet. It was quite a job including a total of 6 self-supporting masts and two large sets of radials (for the K9AYs.) After one night of testing, the Super Array appears to be superior to the K9AY in forward gain, and possibly having a slightly narrower front lobe and each rejects the backside about equally (which means that the Super Loops are actually rejecting things much better given their larger size and increased forward gain.) There is a lot more testing to go, and a possible decrease in the size of the Super Loops, but things are looking REALLY promising. We were talking over when to get up this morning and remembered that this late in the season, things are often better an hour or two before sunrise, with dawn enhancement being very mild. So, we started out 1220UTC (LSR=1440) and were welcomed by almost wall to wall DX with many signals the strongest that I have heard them this season! It was exactly like September, all over again: the Japanese, large and small were very much favored, with little or no co-channel interference from mainland stations. 531 JOQG Morioka, NHK1, usually at murmur or, at most, fair level was stronger than I've ever heard it. I enjoyed a bit of the Japanese World Series between Tokyo and somebody. Home-uh Run-uh Just like in September, the Big Gun Chinese and Korean stations were in, too, but the second and third tier were missing. By 1315, still 90 minutes before dawn, the band had dropped in average signal about to wqhere we have been experiencing it lately and the smaller mainlanders began to appear. There was a bit of a boost at dawn, but it was certainly weak compared to normal, and the coastal effect kept the DX coming in until 1540, a full hour after dawn. When we shut down, all of the Big Guns were still putting in audio, but the real DX was gone. The more interesting loggings: 549: Mayak/ Rossii with an excellent signal and a definite echo //279 which was booming in, itself. The 549 signal was likely Vladivostok+Magadan. 576, usually the far stronger Russian, was totally missing (and we thought off the air) until near dawn when it was noted in parallel. 738//1143 Taiwan Fisheries was excellent much of the time and 1143 was really strong at dawn. 810 R.Rossii totally dominated KGO at times throughout the morning. 837 In the early going, this was JOQK, Niigata, NHK1, by itself. Later, presumed Harbin was on top. 999 early was a Chinese, not CNR1 or 2. Most likely Liaoning. Later, it was the Korean Christian station, HLCL 1026, Beijing Economic Radio was in very well and was IDing FM xx.x, AM 1026! They did that four times in as many minutes. Is this the beginning of the end of AM radio in China??? IDing FM first, WOW! Big change for the Chinese to even have FM simulcast, much less ID it first! 1116 JODR, Niigata was the big catch for me this morning. Its a relatively small commercial station on the Japan Sea side of Honshu. New station for me. 1134 had the JJ and KK on it, but it also had the rare CNR1 in Qinghai Province, over near Tibet. The imponderable of the morning was on 900 at 1500. With these antennas, Victoria was largely missing until WELL after dawn. At 1500, it was beginning to come up. There was another station under it, also playing quiet music. At 1500, the CNR time pips were heard and what seemed to be the fanfare/anthem and other parts of the CRN2 TOH routing. If so, this is the OTHER station in Golmud, Qinghai If I had Perseus, I could re-run that at check parallels. Oh well! So, that is it for day one Meeting Kevin S. face to face for the first time has been fun. Little did we know, but we both go to the same barber (our heads resemble bowling balls :) More tomorrow! John Bryant Winradio G313e + Wellbrook Arrays Grayland, WA ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com
[IRCA] Down - A Lot: TPs from Orcas
My spectrum chart does not look as bad as it should, though it is pretty bad. Most of the signals that were there put in quite brief peaks of audio and then disappeared in the murk. Even at that, I only had about half the audios of yesterday on the lower band. The upper band was about the same as yesterday... not bad, just mediocre. There did seem to be a bit of a late post-dawn peak at around 1455-1500, but things were dying quickly by then, so it was hard to be certain.. There was really nothing of great interest. I'm packing today for a (probably) last trip to Grayland. Kevin S. and I will be there Fri and Sat nights and then I'll extend through Sunday night. One of the main goals is testing a new version of the Wellbrook Array that uses two Conti Super Loops as elements. Its much like Wellbrook's latest K9AY array, but does not depend on good grounding for effectiveness. Gee, I hope that conditions improve at least a bit over the weekend. John Bryant Orcas Island, WA, USA Winradio G313e and various Ultralights Wellbrook Phased Array + Superloops ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com
[IRCA] TPs from Orcas Island
Sorry that I didn't report yesterday: it was just so depressing! I worked on my attitude overnight and, sure enough, things were improved quite a bit this morning! The lower band was at least at some point between 1400 and 1500... about 80% full of audio... up markedly from yesterday, especially in the 800 to 1100 area which was largely missing yesterday. The upper band (1100 up) had 7 stations at least murmuring yesterday and it had 20 stations this morning. As Nick noted, few of the signals stayed at good strength for very long, but there WAS quite a bit of improvement. That said, there wasn'r much that I found interesting The most interesting thing has been to watch the residual ionization conditions increase as the season gets later. I'm hearing more and more stuff from the Prairies, especially the Canadian Prairie Provinces that are lasting clear until dawn out here, even past dawn. It is just not normal to hear 540 Manitoba at LSR dawn here... and Idaho wiping out Portland on 1080 (that's probably a daytimer issue) and W-1440 at dawn (up near Edmonton) wiping out the Japanese and two Oregon stations. There are a number of other examples. Its kinda nifty to see seasonality at work, but geez, I wish it would stay away from the 9 kHz. splits! I was also interested to see two other channels (along with 1107) that clearly had multiple carriers, spread over half a kHz or so: 1035 and 1503 this morning... both really spread out. I've seen 1503 a number of times like that before, but rarely 1035. Now that I know what to look for, thanks to Chuck and Bruce, I'll probably see others. I remember last year, there was what must have been a mid-level carrier on with 675 Vietnam. It never bothered the audio and the top of the carrier spike of VoV was clean and steady, but this funny other carrier oscillated back and forth in frequency about .3 kHz above and below VoV, about 2 or 3 times a second. The combination of the two carriers looked just like a hula dancer shaking her hips. I've obviously been DXing too much starting to see porn on the oscilloscope! So, conditions seem to be improving, though I obviously need to get out more. John Bryant Orcas Island, WA, USA Winradio G313e and various Ultralights Wellbrook Phased Array + Superloops ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com
[IRCA] TPs Not So Bad: Orcas Island
I guess that my glass was half full, were Walt's was half empty! The band was very much like the last several days pretty useless above1000, but below there, I had wall-to-wall audio at some point during dawn. Although most channels were occupied by the usual suspects, there were several quite interesting ones, too: 549: Briefly occupied by the Mayak // 576 which was doing wonderfully well... They were running some kind of harangue, probably political, by an excited male speaker. 720 was CNR2, again, but 630 was just KJNO and Seattle 765: I heard the CC echo station there again, though I now think that it is Korean... I wasn't smart enough to //819. The most interesting was 603 which I checked late at post dawn to make sure that it was the Korean and it WAS NOT! Actually, the Korean was there for the first ten minutes, but mostly way beneath the dominant. The dominant was playing nondescript music until after 1500. However, at TOH, there were two sets of pips... with the dominant giving 5+1, I think. At about 1503, they began a series of 60s rock classics with the Beatles Yesterday leading off. Twice, there were short periods of talking by a male... anmd it may have been in Russian, but things were getting quite weak as it neared 30 minutes post-dawn. There are two Mayak stations listed on the Amur River, so it might have been them running non-Mayak late night stuff, though it could have been a lot of other things, too. This evening, I'm going to try to process the audio some and then see what I can make out. Will report. So, not a classic good morning, but still very interesting. John Bryant Orcas Island, WA, USA Winradio G313e and various Ultralights Wellbrook Phased Array + Superloops ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com
Re: [IRCA] TPs heard in Calgary AB + Alaska TWB on 529 this AM
Deane, I have Level Island here every morning unless the sub-Arctic is totally wiped out. They get out well! John Bryant near Vancouver, BC At 10:39 AM 10/26/2009 -0600, you wrote: Listened this morning on the SR-II barefoot from 1330 to 1400, JOAK-594 and JOIB-747 both had good audio at times but conditions not as good as early last week. Had an interesting station on 529 when I went to check 531 - one of the transcribed weather broadcasts (TWB) from Alaska. Per the Hepburn site this could have been FDV / KBN 58 Nome or SQM / KQA 59 Level Island - I suspect the latter as it is much closer. Anyone else log those? 73, Deane McIntyre VE6BPO Calgary Alberta ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com
[IRCA] TPS Recovering on Orcas Island
I'm with the group who heard TPs beginning to come back. As Bruce said, maybe not quite up to the Seasonal Average for this wonderful October, but still pretty fine stuff. Both the lower and upper band were better than yesterday and things seemed kind of disturbed... a few things stronger than normal and a few other things that should have been there weren't. That being said, the ragged conditions let me add two more stations to my Heard but not QSLed Log. At 1353, I heard something overrunning NHK on 666. As it neared 1400, I was sure that it was Russian. At 1400, I heard the TOH routine from either Mayak or Rossii... I think Mayak. I've gotta send a clip to Walt to be certain. My other reception was more tenuous but at least as interesting. Just after 1430, I noticed some CC on 702 and I checked CNR1 and 2 shortwave //s. It sounded like CNR2 and then shifted into EE. I went back to CNR2 on 6155 and, sure enough, it was a program called something like Classroom Worldwide an on-the-air class about international students studying in the USA. The teacher was speaking in USA EE and I have no idea whether the thing was produced in China or the US. It ran until 1500. I also have no idea how often this is on the air, but it darn sure wasn't the first episode in the series. The only likely candidate listed on 702 in PAL is a CRI outlet sometimes in EE from near Canton. Hum. I also caught something (it sounded KK) briefly under 1170 KPUG. I'm much closer to the antenna than the folks in Victoria, so I rarely hear this unless I'm at Grayland, even though the KK/JJ service is fairly common for them. So, things are looking up here, for sure! John B. ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com
[IRCA] TPs from Orcas Island
We were all listening to the same band this morning! Pretty useless above 972. However, the bottom 25% of the band had some interesting things: 558: Like Gary, HLQH, KBS 2 in Daegu was a new station for me. I could hear Kobe beneath the KK, but it was way beneath. 585: There was a second Asian over NHK1, but I could not ID the language 603: KBS2 Seoul tends to be poor here until post-dawn... its just a habitual late bloomer, as is 954 JOKR, that is poor to non-existent until post-dawn, year after year. I don't understand this at all. 675 had something almost as strong as Vietnam. I think that it was NHK1 Synchros 720 CNR2 again. 729: Had Chinese this AM at moderate level instead of the usual JOCK. No pips at 1400, too weak to hear the ID, of course. Jiangxi, the province just inboard from Fujia has about 300KW here and there is only one other mainland CC in central China. There is a Taiwanese, but it is only 500 watts, so this was almost certainly Jiuangxi. Would be a new station for me 792: Had European classical music here briefly. There are two R. Rossii stations, including one on Sakhalin Island. Maybe. 810 had CC for a while just after 1400. Not CNR1 or 2. Likely Zhejiang RGD news from Hangzhou on the coast near Shanghai. It was KK later, I think the KCBS station. So, for a lousy morning, it was quite interesting. After a couple of runs up the entire dial, I concentrated on the lower 25%... was sort of fun! Yeah, I know buy a Perseus! John Bryant Orcas Island, WA, USA Winradio G313e and various Ultralights Wellbrook Phased Array + Superloops ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com
Re: [IRCA] Alberta TPs for 21 Oct 2009
I'd been meaning to comment on Nigel's GREAT morning on Oct. 21... That was a real peak here, too... but MAN I've have rather heard Nigel's stations! Urumqi, as the capitol of Xinjiang province is a nasty industrial city from what I hear, but it is surrounded by some of the most exotic cultures imaginable, both modern and very ancient... A few others in the NW have heard Urumqi, but not me. and then there is Sri Lanka. Wow! Great going, Nigel... those would be worth celebrating on SWBC, much less MW! John Bryant Orcas Island, WA, USA Winradio G313e and various Ultralights Wellbrook Phased Array + Superloops At 10:15 PM 10/21/2009 -0600, you wrote: With the lack of TAs, I actually have time to post my observations of this morning. A rather unusual one here, as it seemed the over the pole signals were favoured. Highlights: 1548 - DW Sri Lanka with bits and pieces of German from 1300 past 1345. 1521 - CRI Russian in nicely. Far better than //1323 1134 - CNR1 in quite nicely, with virtually no Korean QRM. My main problem was an unusual one, trying to find a CNR1 parallel on MW 1107 - Urumqi in unID language with good signal 873 - Another station was fading in and out with the Japanese, playing EZL music with some talk by a woman. Not a lot of signals, but the ones that were in were interesting. 73, Nigel Pimblett Dunmore, Alberta ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com
[IRCA] 1107 from Asia
Gary DeBock and I have both been watching this frequency lately, in fact I've been watching it all season. Using my detailed spectrum display on the 313e (4 kHz = about 4 in a oscilloscope-type display) I can see that usually there is an on-frequency carrier there that is ragged and muddy... and the graphic spike, clean, crisp and nearly vertical with a good transmitter is all rough and it is more spread out at the base than normal. There is usually at least one well-tuned transmitter there, too. Often, that is HLAV from South Korea, but it has been one of the two or three smaller JJ commercial stations, too. Usually the two (or three?) signals combine to just produce garbage audio. However sometimes, usually near band-fade, the nasty transmitter will fade out first, or the clean signal will dominate. This same situation was going on all last Fall season, too. Does anyone have any idea who the nasty transmitter is??? Surely not Urumqi??? John Bryant Orcas Island, WA, USA Winradio G313e and various Ultralights Wellbrook Phased Array + Superloops ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com
[IRCA] Bottom Heavy TPs from Orcas Island
Bill Brock mentioned that it was a strange morning, with only the low stuff working, but that pretty good. Same here. The bottom half of the band was almost 100% audio sometime during dawn enhancement; the top half was about as bad as I've seen it in the last two months. Further, only the lowest 25% from 828 on down had anything above language recognition level. However, that lower 25% was doing FINE. The run from 531 thru 639 was universally in the 8s and 9s... the strongest that I've ever heard that run together. The nicest thing was I heard a new station at least new to my Heard-but-not-QSLed list that I'm constructing this year: 630-CNR2 dominating the Seattle station and KJNO in Juneau. The Chinese was actually stronger than the very strong 6155 parallel during part of the morning at 1400. In fact all of the hyper-strong activity was noted in early runs before 1420UTC. 639 was quite strong as CNR1 as was 756. The lower Koreans were doing very well, too. So, very frequency-dependent and only the lowest part of the band, but a new station is ALWAYS a reason to celebrate! John B. ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com
[IRCA] EXCELLENT Morning: Oct 21 on Orcas Isl.
I got my antenna mods completed yesterday before the rains returned and I really don't know whether my excellent results here reflect excellent band conditions or some improvements in the Wellbrook Array or both. I suspect the latter. For me, the band was all about China. The JJ regulars were there, but the season is far enough along that they are down somewhat in strength and their co-channel CCs (mostly) are beginning to at least equal them in strength. That was the case on 774 and 828 this morning. 1026, Beijing Business Radio was the strongest I've ever heard it, running close to S-9 and 1377, CNR1 was running 10 dB over S-9 with full quieting It was my first Perfect 10 of the season. I also noted the plethora of NHK1s down low that Walt mentioned, but they were really the only example of boosted JJs that I noticed. The most interesting stuff: 720 had at least two Asian stations at various times this morning. I need to review a recording. 792 had very nice romantic instrumental music for a while. The only thing that jumped out at me from the PAL list is Love FM from Seoul 981 CNR1 was HUGE 999 CNR1 was strong enough to overcome the off channel spike on the low side, for the first time logging them here on Orcas 1008 was clearly a weak CNR1 for the first time ever for me. PAL lists three synchros in SW China, Yunnan province. The catch of the season from here. 1080 Had an Asian running mostly far underneath. It seemed // to CNR1, but I could not be sure and no CNR1 is listed on 1080 1359 Was not only CNR1... a semi-rare visitor, but it had several echos on it. 1377 CNR1 was above S-9 every time I checked between 1423 and 1446 and was still audible at 1500 when I quit. (LSR = 1440) Walter, did you have a recording SDR running??? Geez, what an excellent AM! John Bryant Orcas Island, WA, USA Winradio G313e and various Ultralights Wellbrook Phased Array + Superloops ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com
[IRCA] TPs for Oct 20 from Orcas
I'm in the midst of making some minor modifications to the Wellbrook Array here and that may have affected my morning results. In any case, my results were Uninspiring this morning they weren't bad, weren't good, just sorta low normal. The upper band seemed down, especially, though there was still a double handful of audio there. The items of interest: 594: Something was doing almost as well as NHK in a real fur ball just after dawn. It may have been the DU, but it was gone before I could sort things out 1224: Was clearly in Korean, rather than the usual low level JJ. The only one listed is a KBS3, HLAA. 1260: I've been noticing a northerly NAm station growing in power as the season changes and inhibiting JOIR in the dawn and post-dawn period. Today, I heard enough Canadian EE and discussions of regional hockey to conclude that CFRN Edmonton is hanging in much longer now, due to northern darkness. 1440: Had a similar experience here, with CKJR, Wetaskiwan, Alberta, running several ads for businesses in nearby Camrose, AB. and pretty well wiping out JOWF around 1440 UTC. What ever happened to the Canadian movement to FM, anyway??? Some DXers are wringing their hands about the Mexican AM stations being mandated to move to FM in 5 years. Frankly, I can't feature small city independent Mexican station owners doing much of anything that Mexico City bureaucrats mandate. And the big city owners??? They'll likely only move if it's proven that listeners have abandoned AM. It will be entertaining to watch, I suspect. Many thanks to Bruce P. bird-dogging the NHK2 sign-off schedule. I do wish that the news had been better! John Bryant Orcas Island, WA, USA Winradio G313e and various Ultralights Wellbrook Phased Array + Superloops ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com
Re: [IRCA] Puyallup, WA TP's for 10-20... More Fun
Fellas, CNR1 was running an hour long music program this morning starting at about 1403... not classical opera, at least when I was listening. It was more an Asian pops program. I think that it was an hour long. John Bryant At 07:14 PM 10/20/2009 +, you wrote: At 18:43 10/20/2009, you wrote: Hi Nick, Yes, I remember the discussion over Walt's initial 1170 Chinese MP3 made at 1358 on 9-9, in which the Chinese dialect was clearly identified here as Mandarin, not Cantonese. I believe that Bill Harms also mentioned that VOA would have a Cantonese program at the time of Walt's recording, not Mandarin. From what I recall, the conclusion was that Walt was not receiving VOA-Phippines, in that September 9 MP3. This morning the 1170 Chinese station format sounded very much like the typical CNR1 programming (with Chinese music), but the signal dipped below a loud KBS signal before any check could be made of a parallel. I don't know if VOA Philippines would play Chinese music or not during their Cantonese program, but Bruce's recent Grayland report mentioned CNR1 mixing with KBS on 1170, both over KPUG. The Chinese station received this morning is still an UnID mystery, and will be investigated more here in the next few days. Meanwhile, I have my own 1170 mix MP3 of both TP's, winning the battle over KPUG OK, thanks Gary. I recall that discussion now, but thought at that time KBS w/CC as scheduled was likely (and a couple of weeks later heard at sea myself w/ KBS ID). Of course at this later time, KBS is supposed to be in Korean according to WRTH. It will be interesting to see what you track down, as I was hearing CC type talk myself this morning on that channel, but didn't stop to figure out if it might be Cantonese or standard Chinese (not being an expert in such matters). But CNR1 on that channel would be new for me also, and I didn't hear it at Grayland. best wishes, Nick * Nick Hall-Patch Victoria, BC Canada ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com
Re: [IRCA] NHK2 s/off
Yup, Like I observed yesterday, 747//774//828 all just kept trucking at 1500. I quit at 1512, with 747 still going well, but the other two were there with only poor audio. John B. At 04:03 PM 10/19/2009 +, you wrote: NHK2's s/off seems to have moved back to 1600 at least. Presently (1603UT) , the music box is struggling with splatter on 747, 774 and 828 best wishes, Nick * Nick Hall-Patch Victoria, BC Canada ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com
[IRCA] TPs Oct 18 from Orcas Island
Things continued to be quite good this morning, with the Chinese seeming somewhat better than usual. 540 was the strongest CNR1 that I've heard there at 1430 dawn 765 seemed to be Chinese, but with an echo that I've not heard before... and none listed in my version of PAL 1062 just after 1400 had an Asian language mixed with a few EE words, so that might have been our old friend DZEC, as my first Filipino of the year. Too weak to solve. 1278 Hebei RGD had echos from their usually absent relay transmitters... maybe for the first time this year 1359 was QSLed CNR1, a rare visitor here on Orcas and not that usual at Grayland I really appreciate Walt's tip on Farda QRMing VOA on 1575. I went there at 1440 and had something giving VOA a hard time, but I couldn't dig out any exotic music or Farsi. The last time that I heard Farda was two years ago on Easter Island when they were playing Michael Jackson records and Farsi rap music (yes!) Well, it was a nice morning, but I'm still looking for Sri Lanka and Dushanbe! John Bryant Orcas Island, WA, USA Winradio G313e and various Ultralights Wellbrook Phased Array + Superloops ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com
[IRCA] Ionospheric Viagra + Orcas Isl. TPs Oct 18
Normally here at mid-season, I see a post-dawn period that varies between 15 and 30 minutes. Not so long as the post-dawn period that we enjoy routinely at Grayland, but welcome, nonetheless. With local SR at 1427 today, I was hoping to hear the JJ Big Guns at TOH 1500 and maybe hear them sign-off at 1507 or so as they used to do on Sundays. Well, things hung in fairly well and there was plenty of audio from the stronger stations at 1500 and also at 1515... and the NHK2s did NOT sign off. Am I confused as to which day??? I thought that I read that they were signing off again? Anyway, I was so impressed with things still going at 45 minutes after dawn that I rechecked at 9:30AM PDT (1630 UTC) two hours after dawn. Yup, there were still hets all over the place and listenable JJ audio on 594 and 1242!!! I also had threshold audio on 774, 837, 945, 972 and 1143. Unfortunately, I had to leave the house right after that, so I don't know when the last audio faded... But WOW! As they say in the financial field past performance does not necessarily predict future results BUT, if I had an antenna that looked toward the TAs, I sure think that I'd plan to be at the dials at dark tonight. The main TP opening today seemed above average, but not excellent. The upper band was open as was the slightly more populated lower band and I image that I had about Nigel's 60-plus audios. The more interesting catches were the Amur River Russian on 810, along with but dominating North Korea and an unid CC on 927. 630 was KJNO, Juneau for a while and then CNR1 and North Korea took over. The most fun of the morning was some WILD Central Asian music on 1503. During the Asian season, JOUK, NHK1 Akita in northern Honshu just owns 1503. This music did not sound like normal NHK1 fare at all, it was louder than JOUK usually is, and it WAS NOT // TO NHK1 ON 531 AND 594! A quick glance at PAL showed a VOR 500 kW transmitter at Dushambe, Tajikistan and I was much excited! However, my house of cards came crashing down when the music finally ended and a Japanese lady closed out the program with a few judicious comments and went into the NHK 1400 Time Check and TOH routine! I had checked parallels twice in the ten minutes or so... and there was no question but what JOUK was running a local program. The reason that it sounded Central Asian is because it was probably early Japanese music. All of East, Central and South Asian early music was heavily influenced by Indian music which reached those areas as Buddhism spread out from Northern India between 500BC and 500AD. It is rare to hear that kind of music on NHK and the fact that it was a local program makes me wonder if they weren't covering a music festival or something. Akita is the northern headquarters for NHK, so JOUK is a staffed station, with local news, production staff, etc. Geez, I wish it had been Dushanbe!!! Well its only four or five hours until dark!!! John Bryant Orcas Island, WA, USA Winradio G313e and various Ultralights Wellbrook Phased Array + Superloops ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com
[IRCA] NHK2 Sign-Off Schedule
At 05:48 PM 10/18/2009 -0700, you wrote: Nick had reported hearing NHK2 s/off at 1500 in late September. I subsequently found the NHK2 schedule on their website, and confirmed that they are now signing off every night at 1500. That's good news as the season progresses, since it will make 693 747 774 828 873 and others a bit clearer for other stuff. I'm not sure how long this has been the case. Bruce Walter Salmaniw wrote: John, the NHK2 sure were signing off last weekend when I was in Masset. Right at 15:00 with there local IDs and prolonged s/off procedure. Not sure what's happened since. Do you think they've had their clocks moved back for DST yet, or do they even do that in Japan? ...Walt I guess that I better give a listen in the morning... I guarantee they did not sign-off this AM maybe they went back to 24/7 again??? Gosh, I hope not. Walter, I remember your mention of the odd program on 531. Maybe its some sort of special program that regional stations can run when they wish. Weird! I think I'll make my motto: Gee, I sure wish that it had been Dushanbe! John Bryant ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com
Re: [IRCA] Victoria TP's for 10/17/09 First Flush
Well, I'm somewhat glad to hear of the pedestrian conditions. I went out yesterday in the rain to re-install my Wellbrook loop heads here after the trip to Grayland and then set the alarm this morning for well before dawn. Got up, fired up the receiver and ZAP! the lights went out on three of the four islands in our off-shore county. They were out for well over two hours. All three islands that went dark are served by the same undersea power cable and that is probably what went out. Happily, there is a backup cable or our power outage would have been a whole lot longer. In any case, I heard no TPs this morning, but there is definite hope for tomorrow! John Bryant Orcas Island, WA, USA Winradio G313e and various Ultralights Wellbrook Phased Array + Superloops At 11:57 AM 10/17/2009 -0600, you wrote: I'd concur with Colin, an uninspiring morning. In fact, when I first tuned in it was downright dreadful, however it recovered enough to be uprated. I also noted the Japanese big guns to be well down from yesterday. For some reason what seemed to be a Chinese station playiing a lengthy vocal by a woman was doing quite well at 1330, but that was about the only unusual reception noted. Other more regular Chinese catches, such as 945, 1044, 1206 were either feeble or missing entirely. 73, Nigel Pimblett Dunmore, Alberta c...@islandnet.com wrote: Listened from 1345 to 1422UTC - And although the lower band (531 to 855) was perky, it was a pretty empty water closet over all. High lights included catching the NHK pips over the hour on 531 and listened to KFQD on 750 (IDed with the webstream...) All the top tier JJ stations were WAY down; S5 to S7 instead of S9+ on the Dual Wellbrook phased array (Drake R8) Good audio on 639 from China. 603 was the jumble that NHP described yesterday. Nothing new here folks. Back to bed. -- .. Colin Newell - Editor - CoffeeCrew DOT Com --- Victoria, British Columbia - Blog - Coffee DOT BC DOT CA DXer DOT CA and Bob Harris DOT Com -- ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com
[IRCA] Power Outage on Orcas Island
Believe me, Nick, I really thought about the current draw on that receiver when I punched on the 313e and my shack lights went out less than 30 seconds later. I was quite relieved when I looked out the windows and found the entire town also jet black. Had I known in advance, I'd have gotten a 12 VDC supply from my deep cycle battery (for the Wellbrook) and used my E-1 for some TP DXing on an AC-less island.. Instead my Polar Fleece Lap Robe grabbed me around the ankles and threw me, bodily, into my Lazy Boy Rocking Recliner. Retirement is a nasty job, but sumbuddy has to do it! John Bryant Orcas Island, WA, USA Winradio G313e and various Ultralights Wellbrook Phased Array + Superloops At 06:33 PM 10/17/2009 +, you wrote: At 18:11 10/17/2009, you wrote: Got up, fired up the receiver and ZAP! the lights went out on three of the four islands in our off-shore county. They were out for well over two hours. Uh, John, shouldn't you be checking the current draw on your receiver? (hi) Correlation may not be causation, but the islanders won't be happy if it happens again tomorrow morning. Nick (ducking for cover) * Nick Hall-Patch Victoria, BC Canada ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com
Re: [IRCA] Puyallup, WA TP's for 10-16... Late Boom
Fabulous report, Gary... I'm sorry to say that I've yet to reattach loop heads, etc. for my antennas, so I slept in on a very good Asian morning. I'd love to have both 891 and 792 MP3s... for obvious reaspons, especially as 792 is concerned :) Be sure and turn in your log to Ol' Rob, Sergeant-of-Arms (or is it Ears) of the Ultralight Awards program. We'll send you a FANCY set of THREE certificates for your great achievement of passing the Century mark for TPs!! BRAVO, sir! John Bryant Orcas Island, WA, USA Winradio G313e and various Ultralights Wellbrook Phased Array + Superloops At 12:18 PM 10/16/2009 -0400, you wrote: Hello All, What sounded like a modest band prior to 1400 suddenly came alive with strong Asiatic signals, including the best signals yet this season on 792, 891 and 1125 kHz. 792 kHz was very strong at 1415 with both China-Shanghai and Thailand, which was identified // to the 891-Thailand station, which was also strong (mixing with JOHK). 792-Thailand was Ultralight TP #100 here, and a nice MP3 was made of the station mixing with music from China on the 9' PVC box loop. An MP3 of 891 kHz yesterday also had the same female-voiced Thai announcer, with the signal dominant over JOHK (either or both MP3's are available upon request). Thanks to Derek Vincent for sending his own MP3 of 792 kHz a month ago, which helped me to sort out these stations. 1125 kHz came up to audio again for brief periods, and is almost certainly Mandarin Chinese. That makes the 5th UnID Mandarin Chinese station received on the huge box loop, since it was raised on October 3rd. Since most of these are near the noise level, it will be very tough to ID them before the TP season drops out (especially in a mediocre location like Puyallup). 1107 kHz had more music this morning, but no ID clues. So the band was very exciting with a late TP peak here-- as the 9' loop continues to perform like it is somewhere near an ocean beach :-) 73, Gary Spotting receiver: Modified ICF-2010 (30 loopstick) Main receiver: Modified C.Crane SWP ultralight (7.5 Slider loopstick + Murata CFJ455K5 IF filter) 9' PVC-frame tuned passive loop (in a calm back yard) ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com
[IRCA] Belated Day FOUR Report from Grayland: Oct 14
As was reported elsewhere, Thursday morning showed significant improvement from our first three days down in Grayland. With Guy's new QDFA antenna working 100% finally, I'd expect some very nice loggings when he finishes reviewing all of his Perseus recordings. Since I still do things the old fashioned way, I can report fairly fully now... I thought that things were improved, but still not excellent Thursday morning. For some reason, China seemed to be coming in better than usual, though kind of spottily. Not all of the regular CCs were at their usual strength, yet all of my new stations ( I finally got some) were CNR1 channels... hum. 1170: 1305 UTC, had KPUG, the RKI Korean broadcaster AND CNR1 //5030 all together. I've probably heard this channel before, but I have just recently started keeping a heard not verified list and this is a new one there. I also heard this at TOH 1400, with the KPUG call embedded in this UN meeting. 999:1331UTC. I'm proudest of this reception. I've been watching 999 all fall and it has always been in low level audio, with a major hum spike (louder than the audio) on the low side at 998.90. I pretty-well have to be in LSB to dodge the vestigial signal of semi-local KOMO on 1000, which means that the low side hum pretty well precludes reception. Once before, I've been able to use the incomparable notch filter on the Winradio 333 to clobber the hum spike and recover some audio, even though remaining in LSB because of KOMO. The previous time the audio was NHK1 synchros from one of two 1 kW. JJs. This time, the real signal was slightly stronger. I set the notch to be 100 Hz wide and set it on 998.9 and was able to get fairly decent audio from the 999 signal: it was two stations in standard CC and one was CNR1 from Heihe, Manchuria. I think that this is probably the most technically difficult TP reception that I've ever made. The now always present spike on 998.9 is almost certainly the big KCBS North Korean, though I've not heard any audio from that signal this season. 1107: Not a logging - Gary, I listened here quite a bit and had two stations: one playing music almost continually was the S.Korean MBC station, I'm pretty certain. The other station there was a JJ synchro. 1134:I enjoyed another UN meeting at 1430 with Japan, South Korea and my first reception of the CNR1 on 1134. PAL lists this as a 1.2 Megawatt tx in Golmud, Qinghai province, over toward northern Tibet... the Chinese equivalent on North Dakota, but wedged between NE Tibet and Mongolia. It is after sunset there, so maybe so??? A new one for me, where ever it is. 1575:I've been watching 1575 for a while. There is often a mid-strength spike on the low side (and no North Korean listed g). I did not decipher that spike, but I did catch the CNR1 transmitter in Jilin (Manchuria) doing well under VOA Thailand. Another I should note that CNR1 is playing a lot of Chinese classical music, often opera, after 1400. It is a real help in IDing //s, especially if the signal you are watching is far underneath a dominant on that frequency. Imagine a herd of cats inside a steel drum, with someone hitting the drum with a ball bat. Sorry if that sounds culturally insensitive. I was on a national delegation to China at the end of the Cultural Revolution and had to attend 8 or 10 two-hour performances (usually on the front row) AND PRETEND TO LIKE THEM. Earplugs would have been excellent. In any case, the Chinese opera is a great help in IDing //s of CNR1!!! John Bryant DXing from Grayland, WA, USA Winradio G313e and various Ultralights Wellbrook Phased Array ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com
[IRCA] Day THREE at Grayland
Conditions seem to be healing somewhat along with the arrival of the fall rainy season. In general, signals seemed somewhat better and the more northerly routes (the Russians) were at least present, if not at full strength. I managed a long log for a reception report (yet again) for Voice of Vietnam, with the 675 signal being up and down a lot, but a solid 9 on peaks. Even better the VOV1 transmitters on 5975, Hanoi and 7210 Buon Me Thuot were both in, with 5975 doing quite well. The third SW transmitter on 9530 did not seem to be on the air, the best that I could tell. Thanks to a tip from Chuck Hutton, I heard Heilongjiang RGD Satellite Synchros on 1341//621, for only my second TP logging on 1341 (the other being NHK1 mini-Synchros some years ago.) Mayak 549 Synchros were in for the first time this trip, doing poorly but clearly //576 which wasn't doing too well either. I also heard 909 JOCB, NHK2 Nagoya totally dominating Tianjin, China for the first time this season. CNR2 was doing especially well this morning, all over KCIS, 630 at max dawn and CNR1 on 540 was knocking down walls, it was so powerful. Lastly 684 was in standard Chinese this morning at 1440 UTC, post-dawn, rather than the usual Pyongyang Bangsong. No way that I could find to try //s and it was gone along with most of the band by 1500, 40 minutes after LSR. So, there it is... Things were marginally better and clearly headed in the right direction. There is hope for tomorrow, my last morning on this trip. John B. WinRadio 313e + Ultralights Wellbrook Phased Array NW Grayland, WA, USA ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com
[IRCA] Day TWO at Grayland
After I uploaded yesterday, I got to thinking how ungrateful I was for the less than wonderful conditions down here. After all it is quite a bit of expense and two long travel days to come to Grayland from Orcas and return... and to find reception no better than at home is a downer. STILL, the first morning at Grayland did bring me more than 60 TP loggings, some at quite good levels. I'm rather sure that in a few years when the Sun Spot Cycle really kicks in, we would all be overjoyed to have 60 TPs on a full DXpedition! So, forgive me for being a whiner! This morning was a repeat of yesterday if anything, it was a bit poorer. Again, the Japanese were in fairly well, but all except the quite regular Koreans and Chinese were missing or down in the mud and no exotic Thai, Indian or god help us, Andaman Islands (!) stations were evident. I did watch 1548 like a hawk for DW Sri Lanka, now almost a Fall regular for Bruce and Chuck, but nothing rose above the murmur level. Still, I added 15 stations to the log, including Aussie powerhouses on 612, 576 and 792 during a minor post-dawn DU opening it may have been a more extensive opening, but the DU path is almost off the side of my Asia all the way Wellbrook aimed at 305 degrees (Aussies are out at 240 degrees or so.) The more unusual JJs were 648 JOIG NHK1, Toyama; 1413 JOIF, Fukuoka; 603, NHK1 Synchros and 1593, NHK2 Synchros wiping out CNR1's synchros. I also managed a reportable logging of KOTZ, 720 Kotzebue, Alaska to see, yet again, if I can get a QSL out of this NPR station. I gotta admit feeling sorry for my long-time DX partner, Guy Atkins on this trip. He is trying out a new Lankford Array down at the State Park, a mile to my south. We have light rain, 45 degrees and fairly high wind now and for the next four or five days; Guy is in a (very nice) tent, camped in low coastal trees and heavy brush, 200 rainey feet from the nearest toilet. Room 15 at the Grayland Motel never felt so good :) Given that this is the heart of the Asian Season, Guy and I both are hoping for improved conditions for tomorrow. John B. WinRadio 313e + Ultralights Wellbrook Phased Array at 305 degrees Grayland, WA, USA ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com
[IRCA] Grayland Day ONE
I'm looking forward to downloading e-mail today (at the Local Tavern, since the Library is closed on Mondays). In general, I hope the NW DX Reports for this morning are Pedestrian, because that is darn sure what Guy and I experienced here. Guy didn't quite get his Lankford Array set up at the State Park, encountering more heavy brush than he expected, so he joined me at the Grayland Motel, RM. 15 at 4:30AM to borrow an antenna. We had a great time from then until after 8:15 PDT (1515 UT) but only have the regulars in the log book mind you, that is about 50 or more TP stations, but still. On Orcas, I would have considered this a good-not great morning. The two more interesting events were: 1. An accidental logging of KOTZ, Kotzebue, Alaska on 720 at pre-dawn 1400. I was trying to sort out a Chinese and KDWN, Las Vegas and heard a pop-up 720, NPR clear as a bell. Unneeded, but still fun. 2. Was checking 1548 for DW Sri Lanka at 1405 when Guy and I both thought we heard a few words of GermanNot enough for a logging, but I'm going to process the recording and see if I can at least confirm the language. So, that is it at least we won't have to spend time in the days ahead logging the regulars. John B. WinRadio 313e + Ultralights Wellbrook Phased Array NW Grayland, WA, USA ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com
[IRCA] TPs on Orcas, Oct 10
I'd taken a couple of mornings off, but was at the dials from 1330 to 1430 this morning... generally, I shoulda taken another morning off. Well below average to poor would be my assessment. Although I did eventually get a modest number of audios, even on the upper band at dawn, things were far below normal. I did have Thailand 891 doing decently for a brief period just before 1400 and I noticed that N.K. 819 had gotten their signal cleaned up... sounded great this morning. With the additional boost that Grayland gets, I hope Dennis had a worthwhile morning before he packs up. Guy and I'll be taking the next shift, starting Monday morning, with me at Rm. 15 at the Grayland Motel and Guy a mile to my south at Grayland Beach State Park. Guy will be testing the latest iteration of the Lankford Phased Array and I'll be testing the new production version of the K9AY Phased Array from Wellbrook. The latter antenna requires a decent ground for maximum effectiveness and the Grayland sands will likely inhibit things a bit. However, even under those difficult circumstances, I'm very hopeful that the new antenna will prove even more effective than my older ALA100-based Wellbrook Array. Guy and I will both heading back during the day on Thursday. John Bryant Orcas Island, WA, USA Winradio G313e and various Ultralights Wellbrook Phased Array + Superloops ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com
[IRCA] Good Morning Late: Orcas Isl. Oct 7
Things have gotten late enough that I've quit setting the alarm so I did not get to the dials until 1403 this AM. (LSR=1420 UTC). Still, it was a very good morning, North Korea 657 seems to have been working on their transmitter: a nice clean signal this AM. 666 was Chinese this AM at 1410, all by itself, rather than the normal JJ. By 1420 they were equal. 828 was all Beijing News (presumed) as I glided by and 891 was Thailand by itself and doing very well. 1107 was Japanese at a moderate level, mixing with whatever has been on that channel with the trashy distorted signal. 1350 was JOER at such a dopminant level that I was originally listening in English and did not recognize this old friend. There was a second station in with VOA on 1575. The new one was mostly carriuer and was on 1574.96 or so. That bears watching. So, it was a really nice morning here. John B. ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com
[IRCA] TPs Uninspiring on Orcas: Oct. 5
Generally at or below average here this morning... and just a tiny het on 882 at 1400. The high band was there but noticeably below recent mornings. About all that I found unusual was NHK1 on 837 dominating Taiwan Fisheries (first time this season, I think) and the Russian-810 beating everyone else briefly about 1410 before North Korea taking back over. Still, I had 90% of the lower band covered with audio and mosta the usual suspects up high. Why do I feel like I just kissed my sister??? Ungrateful and jaded, I guess. John Bryant Orcas Island, WA, USA Winradio G313e and various Ultralights Wellbrook Phased Array + Superloops ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com
Re: [IRCA] KYUK 640Khz - confirmation letter - spot the irony
Nice QSL, Colin. My sense of irony must be turned off... I just missed it completely. Give me some help, eh? Literal on Orcas John B. At 11:21 AM 10/5/2009 -0700, you wrote: I urge all the readers to download this confirmation letter from KYUK and see if you can spot the irony in it. It is very informative - but there is a twist. Enjoy - http://www.dxer.ca/file-area/doc_details/266-vacouver-island-kyuk-reception-confirmation -- .. Colin Newell - Editor - CoffeeCrew DOT Com --- Victoria, British Columbia - Blog - Coffee DOT BC DOT CA DXer DOT CA and Bob Harris DOT Com -- ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com
[IRCA] A Good Asian AM on Orcas, Too.
I bet that the guys at Grayland will have really cleaned up this AM. Here on Orcas, I finally got things fired back up and it was a very good mid-season Asian morning here. Conditions seemed variable. VoV on 675 was almost absent during parts of dawn and at other times, it was romping in near S-9. I noticed the same variability on some off the Korean signals, too. Interestingly, 810 was dominated by CC this morning. I think that must have been Zhejiang RGD News from Hanzhou, on the central coast near Shanghai. I'd like to catch an ID, but did not. 819 North Korea has been the nicest, cleanest signal from the Koreas (except maybe for 1566) all fall, but this morning, it had a big fat spur on one side and was distorted. The most interest for me this AM was 882. The dominant signal was CC, likely Dalian, but under that was an unusual (weak) Asian language and they played distinctive tones at 1400 TOH. If I got a decent recording, I'm gonna try to ID... hoping that it was Sri Lanka, using TWRs 400 kW transmitter. Have all fingers and toes crossed. Mostly, like Patrick said, China, China, China. John Bryant Orcas Island, WA, USA Winradio G313e and various Ultralights Wellbrook Phased Array + Superloops ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com
Re: [IRCA] A Good Asian AM on Orcas, Too.
Thanks very much, Bruce! I'm sorry that I had to be here on Orcas this weekend. It sounds like you guys did very well and had nice weather, too. The 882 that I had today did have some kind of bell or tonal Interval Signal at 1359:45. If it was Sri Lanka, it was TWR themselves and they are pretty DXer-friendly. I'm gonna check that out by e-mail. Good luck on the PAL work. Speaking of which, did you guys hear CNR1 on 675??? I'm almost certain that I did, but it is unlisted. If there is anything that you guys want us to check out, Guy and I will be in Grayland from next Sunday evening thru Thursday morning. John B. At 03:49 PM 10/4/2009 -0700, you wrote: China China China is how I would describe yesterday at Grayland. The Japanese were either missing then or had to contend with Chinese interference, as did many of the usual Koreans (1566 for example was being buzzed by something in Chinese and freqs like 1053 and 1422 were mostly Chinese). We heard several IDs that didn't match anything listed, so Mister PAL Log has some work cut out for him. This morning was closer to average Grayland conditions, being good from just about everywhere. The Japanese were abut normal levels, as were the Koreans, but Chinese stations were still in abundance. 1251 sounded like a Chinese graveyard channel at times. Sri Lanka 1548 was in again, though not as well as Saturday morning. I had 810 China today as well but it was always well below KGO. Chuck and Nick had the Russian there, but I apparently didn't tune past at the right time. We also had something in Chinese on 882, as well as something in an unusual language - we're hoping it's Mongolia but it will require re-listening to audio files to tell what it was. A couple of strange ones from today - 648 at 1420 had weird flute music with a middle east flavor to it. Not sure what that was, maybe Tajikistan but probably something more mundane. 1107 again was heard with weird singing accompanied by a plucked instrument and, later, had talking in a language I didn't recognize. We now have lots of files to listen to. Bruce, back from Grayland John H. Bryant wrote: I bet that the guys at Grayland will have really cleaned up this AM. Here on Orcas, I finally got things fired back up and it was a very good mid-season Asian morning here. Conditions seemed variable. VoV on 675 was almost absent during parts of dawn and at other times, it was romping in near S-9. I noticed the same variability on some off the Korean signals, too. Interestingly, 810 was dominated by CC this morning. I think that must have been Zhejiang RGD News from Hanzhou, on the central coast near Shanghai. I'd like to catch an ID, but did not. 819 North Korea has been the nicest, cleanest signal from the Koreas (except maybe for 1566) all fall, but this morning, it had a big fat spur on one side and was distorted. The most interest for me this AM was 882. The dominant signal was CC, likely Dalian, but under that was an unusual (weak) Asian language and they played distinctive tones at 1400 TOH. If I got a decent recording, I'm gonna try to ID... hoping that it was Sri Lanka, using TWRs 400 kW transmitter. Have all fingers and toes crossed. Mostly, like Patrick said, China, China, China. John Bryant Orcas Island, WA, USA Winradio G313e and various Ultralights Wellbrook Phased Array + Superloops ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com
[IRCA] 1458 Nei Menggu RGD + ?TWR Sri Lanka?
I was able to spend some time this evening working with 20 minutes of audio from 1458 on October 1. I was unaware of the 1440// that Chuck mentioned hearing. Its not listed in PAL... or at least I couldn't find it. While I was hearing 1458, I did check the SW//s that PAL has for that Nei Menggu outlet and found 7270 active. The top signal on that frequency was a strong Japanese signal, but under that, unmistakably, is the same stuff on 1458, so off that report will go, with fingers crossed for a sympathetic staffer who reads English. I've not had time to deal with the very-maybe-tentative 882 TWR yet, beyond processing the recording. Its got bells or chimes as an interval signal at 1359:45 and then possibly two sets of pips at the hour. If its not TWR, maybe I can post the bells and see if someone recognizes it. I'm darn sure gonna be sitting on 882 at 1400 tomorrow :) John Bryant Orcas Island, WA, USA Winradio G313e and various Ultralights Wellbrook Phased Array + Superloops ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com
[IRCA] Belated Day THREE Report from Grayland
Made it home at 6:00PM after starting to pack at Grayland at 8:00AM. Man, what a drag but worth it. This Third morning, October 1, Thursday was one of my more interesting in recent years. The upper band was quite open and a number of things were there that were far from usual... In fact, there were several that I simply had no idea what the heck they were. The more interesting, in chronological order: 1269 was other weak JJs on Tuesday, but this morning the repeater stations for JOHR-1287 were in better than I've heard them before. Recorded for a reception report 1255-TOH 1458 Man the catch of the DXpedition (I think) was just sitting there as I tuned by. Wham, traditional Mongolian men's chorus doing very well. For several odd reasons, I've heard a bit of traditional Mongolian men's singing and it is unmistakable. It is related to Tuvan throat singing and similar to that type of singing from NE Siberia and the Arctic. It is hauntingly beautiful. After sitting there stunned for a minute (I NEVER hear anything on 1458) I hit the record button and dove into PAL. Sure enough, there is a 200kW station that I've tentatively heard a couple of times over the years in Hohhot, Nei Menggu (Inner Mongolia, China.) Just gotta be this baby! I recorded about 20 minutes worth. There were several solos by men and all of the music was a cappella without instrumental accompaniment. I think Walt may have heard this, too. I fear that I'll not get a QSL... the regional Chinese stations rarely answer English reports. I'm sure gonna try, tho'. Heard from 1304-1324 1593 CNR was in as well as I've ever heard them and so were the NHK2 mini-Synchros on 1602 At 1326, CNR1 and CNR2 were simulcasting. I've never heard that before. 1134 was in Korean for the second or third morning, rather than the usual JOQR. It was running the same special KBS programming as 972. Korea is sure coming in better than usual this year and Japan not quite as well as usual. 1161 I'm almost certain this is the BCC-Country station in Ilan (QSLed a few years ago). They seemed to be in standard Chinese before a nice set of chimes at TOH and into something different, presumed Taiwanese. I got a good TOH recording and want to submit it to the experts. The lower band was rocking, too I had NHK1 on 567//576//585//594. I don't think that I've ever had that run before, all in at once. A few other random notes for the crew going to Grayland tomorrow: 945 is not always CNR1. By process of elimination, I've sort of focused on Chutian Satellite BC (was Mandarin not Manchurian) Rather than the three big Heillongjiang RGD Village radio. In truth, I'm guessing and have not invested the time BUT 945 is sometimes in standard CC but is *not* CNR1... at other times, it is clearly CNR1 801 has some interesting stuff on it as does 1341. I'm not sure of the IDs at either frequency. 792 is possibly Shanghai 1314 heard classical music here, sounded Russian. Who??? 1215 is not always CNR2 1404.02 may have been the Korean Christian Broadcaster CBS GOOD LUCK AT GRAYLAND! Mike's new lady at the front desk is Leslie a cute 40-50 year-old blond. John Bryant Orcas Island, WA, USA Winradio G313e and various Ultralights Wellbrook Phased Array + Superloops ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com
[IRCA] Second Day at Grayland
What a difference a day makes!!! I guess that I should have expected conditions to tank after the extraordinary morning of the 29th - actually I feared that they would and THEY DID! The morning was like a slightly below average morning recently on Orcas, though the conditions continued to really favor Japan, such as they were. I managed to add four stations to yesterday's total, two were co-channels not present yesterday: 1260-JOIR, Sendai and 1350, JOER, Hiroshima. The other two : JOIF-1413 and JOUF-1314 were old friends that were either very poor yesterday or were missed in the feeding frenzy. Also added were 1161- BCC-Country Synchros in Taiwan and WYFR-1557, also Taiwan. These are often present on the same mornings. There were a couple of new Sourth Koreans and one new (for this trip) Chinese, but that was it. Gee, I wish that I could report all sorts of exotic stuff, but it just wasn't there this morning. There was audio all over the dial at some point or other, but most was at murmur level at best. I did have a chance to make two TOH recordings of Radio Anhui-936 at 1300 and 1400 and catch the EE news from 1403 until about 1412. Was coming in the best of the season, for me, so I'll try yet another reception report. I must say that I was rather dumbfounded to read all of the reports from Puget Sound, Victoria AND Patrick that Tuesday, the 29th was a China morning when I had wall-to-wall Japan with only the most prominent CCs making a showing. Wow. Had it just been the bunch to my north hearing China, I'd have thought that it was - maybe - understandable but with all of those northern folks and then Patrick about an equal distance to my South, I was surrounded by Chinese DX and just had the best Japanese morning in memory. Some sort of pipeline propagation, I guess? John B. WinRadio 313e + Ultralights Wellbrook Phased Array to the NW Grayland, WA, USA ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com
[IRCA] First Morning at Grayland
I had been wondering if a trip to Grayland was really worth it for me. I'd be using the same antenna (the Wellbrook Array) as at our home on Orcas Island, and there, I look up the Strait of Georgia at Japan and the Koreas. Just how much better could Grayland be for Asians? That is not an idle question, since going to Grayland, for me, is about a 6 hour combination of a ferry ride and lots of driving. Well, I got the two-ALA-100 Array set up in the rain on Monday afternoon and fired it up at 1200 UTC, 2 hours before dawn on Tuesday morning. My radio happened to be sitting on 1188 as it came on and there was FEBC, Seoul, a very rare visitor on Orcas and it was LOUD. From there, I bounced down to 531 and found JOQG, NHK1 Morioka, which is usually at or just above murmur level on Orcas. It, too, was LOUD. That pretty well defined the morning. L*O*T*S*A Japanese and South Koreans doing well, too. Is it worth all the hassle of coming to Grayland? Oh, yes!!! DXable conditions lasted until after 1440, more than 30 minutes after dawn and the last Big Gun JJs lost audio a full hour after dawn. Over all, things were just noticeably louder here, significantly louder and a lot of murmur level channels or seemingly open channels on Orcas were at or near arm-chair quality at Grayland. It really was a Japanese morning and I ended up with 25 positively IDed JJ stations, mostly through parallels. Most of the 25 were old NHK friends or a few of the stronger commercial stations that are also very commonly heard. The more interesting catches: 540 NHK1 Synchros, rarely heard 648 JOIG NHK1 Toyama, rarely heard 729 JOCK, NHK 1 Nagoya 837 JOQK NHK1 Niigata presumed 846 NHK1 Synchros 909 JOCB, NHK2 Nagoya over presumed Tianjin 936 JONF Miyazaki + repeaters. This was probably the catch of the morning and was only IDed by the fact that it was clearly JJ and had echos. It is the only JJ multi-transmitter net on that frequency. Well over Anhui at 1425. 1008 JONR Osaka 1017 JOLB NHK2 Fukuoka over CNR KK Service 1179 JOOR Osaka 1197 JOWL Ashikawa //1440. This used to be stronger than 1440, but has been unheard this year. Was fairly weak this AM OTHER LOGGINGS OF NOTE: 548.99 Rarely heard Voice of Vietnam 2 was coming in very nicely at 1400. Its 30 years ago this year that I heard a WHOLE LOT of Vietnamese. Some things you just don't forget. Was very nice to hear them. 936 Anhui RGD took over from the JJ station after 1425 and was running a mixture of CC talk and EE business-oriented PSAs. 1170 Radio Korea International owned this frequency all morning, wiping out strongman KPUG, Bellingham, WA. 1134 KBS Haminjok Bangsong, Kimpo. One People Radio may be directional to the North. It dominated this frequency, usually owned by JOQR, Tokyo I also found time to check one last time the effectiveness of the Kchibo D96L against the Murata-ed E100 this morning. On frequencies ending in 1, 2, 8 or 9, there is just no contest: The D96L would have the DX plus a loud het from the adjacent USA station, the Murata E100 would have only the DX. Every time. So, the bullet-proof nature of the D96L will let me DX in the overloaded cess pool of nearby Vancouver, when I'm on Orcas, but on the Coast, the Murata-ed E100 (or Crane) rules! I should add that I only noted three North Koreans, for some reason, and just six Chinese. It really was a Japanese morning. I look forward to my compatriots reports. Was it a JJ morning for them, too. Two more mornings on this trip! John B. WinRadio 313e + Ultralights Wellbrook Phased Arrays, SW and NW Grayland, WA, USA ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com
[IRCA] TPs from Orcas, Sept 27
Like Colin said, hum-drum. Lotsa mid-season Asian signals, but all were the usuals and most were down a bit from recent peaks. 909 presumed Tianjin was doing better than usual (which is poorly) putting in a moderate signal and 918 next door was positively ROCKIN' with the Shangdong echo. Otherwise, I feel guilty about it, but things really were hum drum. Loading for Grayland today and then it is on the ferry before dawn. John Bryant Orcas Island, WA, USA Winradio G313e and various Ultralights Wellbrook Phased Array + Superloops ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com
Re: [IRCA] KCIS 630
Sorry that I did not respond to this sooner, guys. I think that it is possible that KCIS is down a ways. I've found them much easier to null down this past month than I remember them (with the same equipment here) in past years. I'm not certain could be that I just discovered that I can get KJNO in the early part of each dawn and that I can sometimes get an Asian on top. Anyway, they SEEM more willing to be nulled down this fall. Sadly, 900-Victoria has returned to full strength about three days ago. Sadly, the only thing that I heard on 900 was Wenatchee, WA, but it sure did make 909 easier! John B. At 03:41 PM 9/26/2009 -0700, you wrote: Thanks BruceInteresting. They are weaker here, or maybe KWRO is just stronger? Maybe KWRO improved their signal, but KCIS does eem to have a lower S Meter reading Patrick. Patrick Martin KGED QSL Manager ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com
[IRCA] TPs from Orcas: Sept 25
It was another really good morning here on Orcas, down a bit from yesterday maybe, but still awfully good. The bottom 2/3 of the band was quite full. Several interesting things: 630: CNR2 was absolutely wiping out KCIS, Seattle AND KJNO, Juneau for a while. A new station for me. 837 had two at murmur level at 1400, with two radically different TCs, about 2 seconds apart. 1053 After dawn, the jammer was gone and there were two Asian signals there, each just above murmur level. Neither was //2850 1080 had an Asian signal for a while, dominating the channel briefly. I think that it was Korean, but it was not //819 and 2850. 1278 was JOFR, Fukuoka //1287 with ANN 1341 was doing well after dawn with standard CC that might have been unlisted CNR2 and then I tried to kill a moth in the shack and spilled half a cup of coffee on my log book and myself. John Bryant Orcas Island, WA, USA Winradio G313e and various Ultralights Wellbrook Phased Array + Superloops ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com
[IRCA] EXCELLENT TPs from Orcas Island: Sept 24
It's getting difficult to judge the best of the season, so far, but this morning was a candidate, for sure. From 1300 kHz on down, I only had ten channels without at least some Asian audio, including the zero-ending channels. Above 1300, there were ten of the usual suspects. The more interesting ones: 549: Murmur level that was at lang. recognition fairly early. It was the rare visitor R. Mayak out of either Magadan or Vladivostok. I had a slew of stations // to North Korea's KCBS 2850, including the unlisted 675, running about equal with VoV around 1400 Others //2850 noted were: 702, 720, 819, 873. The 873 transmitter has mostly been a widely-spaced LSB + USB growl lately, but today, it was doing just wonderfully. They must have found some parts somewhere. 702.030 had an awful hum: the signal looked like a trident, with the outer spikes being somewhat lower and only modulated by hum. 639 and 756 were both doing unusually well as CNR1//5030. 891 had classical Western music on it like Russian stations often broadcast, but it was not Mayak and I'm not sure of a likely candidate at all. It was not CNR2, either. 990 had an Asian language on it, fairly weak. It was neither standard CC, KK, JJ or VV. Some interesting possibilities. 1080 The sub-dominant sounded like North Korea, but I forgot to check the 2850 listed //. It was a fun morning for sure. I certainly wish that North Korea QSLed! John Bryant Orcas Island, WA, USA Winradio G313e and various Ultralights Wellbrook Phased Array + Superloops ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com
[IRCA] TPs from Orcas Island: Sept 23, EXCELLENT
Gee, It was a very interesting morning! The reception pattern continues to be somewhat unusual, with a very abrupt, pronounced peak for ten minutes right at dawn, rather than ramping up and then dropping rapidly. This morning, for only the second time this season, there was an extended post-dawn Asian morning, with the Big Gun Japanese improving to solid 9s well after dawn. In the pre-dawn enhancement, a full 30 minutes before dawn, things were fairly average or just above, but there were still several interesting things... 540: Beside an echo-ridden CNR1, there was another Asian signal here. Wonder what it was? 756: More CNR1s with Echo effects 810: Intermixed with KGO and the semi-local religious station, I'd almost swear that I was hearing Japanese, but the only one listed is the big AFN US military station, so I guess that it was Pyongyang. None of the Russian or CC stations indicate breoadcasts in JJ. 846 864: Both of these frequencies continue to show what appear to be open carriers, sometimes at quite strong levels. Occasionally, I hear programming that may either be a second station or the primary being WAY under-modulated. WHO? 891: The star of the morning was 891, with occasional pop music numbers and a man talking. I first noted it at 1330, 25 minutes pre-dawn, with an in-your-face level 9 signal. I am not sure of the language unless it is Korean that I recognize with only limited confidence (I'm pretty sure that it was NOT KK) I know that it was not standard CC, RR, JJ, VV or any Pacific Island language. More by elimination than knowledge, I think it was Thailand. They have a megawatt US transmitter on 891 that Patrick has reported in past seasons with some regularity and that several of us have caught a few times at Grayland. The PAL listed // was in-active and Asia Waves frequency for Radio Thailand in Thai was not //, if the 7 MHz. frequency was even them. The signal faded down into the murk after 5 minutes or so, but was present again at 1355 recheck. I followed it to 1402, but it was too low to catch an ID at 1400, of course. It did have a 2+1 TC at 1400, however. This evening, I'll try to post a recording and hope for some assistance. 1053: I continue to hear some programming most mornings here. Only once out of about 20 mornings has it - maybe - been // to North Korea 2850. Unfortunately, it has never gotten to the level of sure language recognition. I'm fairly sure that at least part of the time it is Nagoya, but there may be two or three stations that show here from time to time. The upper band continued to be less than past years, but better than the past weeks. The usual suspects. I'm going down to Grayland for Tuesday through Thursday dawns next week. Maybe I can sort a few of these things out. John B. ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com
[IRCA] TPs from Orcas Island: Sept 22
Things were quite similar to yesterday... The lower band was below average and only really saved by quite a burst just at max dawn and the upper band was the best of the season, for me. Above 1100 was still not great, but yesterday and today were far better than I have seen so far this season. Of the two, today was the most productive. Several of us have been noting that the second and third tier of Japanese have been missing... or have stated that we haven't been hearing many JJ commercial stations. I've kind of concluded that the missing high band has largely been the culprit. Don't know why I haven't put the two things together before. Rapid decline of gray cells with advancing age is likely the cause. The JJ commercials above 1100 kHz, all IDs presumed but pretty solid: 1107 JOMR, Kanazawa (first of season) 1242 JOLF, Tokyo 1260 JOIR, Sendai (first of season) 1278 JOFR, Fukuoka 1287 JOHR, Sapporo 1332 JOSF, Nagoya 1350 JOER, Hiroshima 1422 JORF, Yokohama 1440 JOWF, Sapporo (smokin' at max dawn) Note, too, that these are scattered over the whole long country, not concentrated in Hokkaido and northern Honshu islands as is often the case. The other main interests were: 702, VOR Japanese Service doing fairly well throughout dawn 1224 finally rose up to audio this morning and it was an Asian pop music station in non-JJ or CC. The only real possibility I see is a second KBS 3 Voice of Love station. I don't really remember being conscious of the Voice of Love in previous seasons. Love the name. You all have a great day... another beautiful one in upper Puget Sound/Victoria. John Bryant Orcas Island, WA, USA Winradio G313e and various Ultralights Wellbrook Phased Array + Superloops ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com
[IRCA] TPs - Orcas Island: Sept 20 - Low Average
I heard about what Walt did today and gotta call it low average/lackluster or similar. What action there was fell below 1100, save for 5 of the regulars up top. There was a bit of interest, though, during the very pronounced burst right at dawn: 666: Had Mayak RR//576 loud briefly before it fell back into a fur ball with the JJ and a CC thrown in. It was a real UN meeting for a while. The Mayak is listed at Komsomolsk near the Amur River and a somewhat rare visitor here. 675: V of Vietnam was doing well in the middle part of the morning but was fighting with a Chinese at dawn. 783: I rarely hear audio here but I've had Hebei Province, China here in the past. This morning it was Korean, I'm almost certain and there is a 10 kW KBS1 listed here. 864: Had the OC here again, though somewhat diminished this AM. Walt, did I understand you to say that the Koreans seemed diminished this year to you??? I feel the opposite. I seem to have Koreans all over the dial... little beyond KBS in South Korea, but a slew of those and more North Koreans around than I've ever noticed before. For me, there are two black clouds... one sitting on top of most everything above 1100 on the dial and the other perched squarely over Japan. Did I misunderstand what you meant about the Koreans being down??? That's about it from here on a stunningly beautiful Sunday morning (the kind that we don't tell the tourists about.) John Bryant Orcas Island, WA, USA Winradio G313e and various Ultralights Wellbrook Phased Array + Superloops ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com 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: irca@hard-core-dx.com
