Logs 24 JUN 2005 Report from Mark Connelly - Times / dates = UTC / 2005
[Connelly*rw-MA] = Rowley, MA, USA (GC= 70.829 W / 42.745 N) (Stackyard Road / Parker River - Nelson Island wildlife refuge: salt-marsh) Receiver: Drake R8A Antennas (cardioid array on roof of car): Vertical: 3 m whip to 81:1 transformer to DX Engineering RPA-1 amplifier; Broadband loop in vertical plane: square, 2 m per side, to 1:1 transformer to W7IUV amplifier, peak east-west, null north-south Accessories: DXP-6 and Superphaser-2 phasing units e-mail = "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" ====================================================== *** COMMENTS *** This is the closest my schedule would permit to a "longest day of the year" (summer solstice) DXpedition. I arrived at the Rowley salt-marsh around 8:10 p.m. EDT (0010 UTC), about 15 minutes before sunset. It wasn't that warm an evening, about 20 C, but swarms of insects greeted me at the site. So while it wasn't as interesting(?) as some of the Aussie DXpedition adventures with crocodiles and poisonous snakes, annoying members of the animal kingdom were still very much on the scene. I'd thought of laying out a 60 m run of coaxial cable along the eastward dirt path to an active whip at the far end for phasing against the one on the car. With deer ticks quite likely on the path and my "Off" repellent being the only thing keeping me from being a cheeseburger in paradise for all the gnats, mosquitoes, and biting flies, I scrapped ideas of phased-whips or BOG's this time. Maybe in September. The default car-roof loop-versus-whip cardioid system worked well although I think the loop inhales a little more high angle pick-up than desirable. Medium-wave conditions were fair to sometimes good to North Africa and, although slow to get started, eventually OK to South America and the Caribbean. Northern Europe was pretty much out of the picture even though all the Newfoundland stations on similar bearings (but about a quarter the distance) were up to typical good levels. Longwave was different inasmuch as Iceland-189 and Ireland-252 had decent signals from a good deal farther north than any medium-wave Europeans were observed. Police showed up at the site around 9:30 p.m.; luckily the officer could figure out that I was just a hobbyist, not a terrorist or someone talking to drug-smuggling boats. The next day was a work day so I departed shortly after 10 p.m. / 0200 UTC. Getting home was a slow-go since highway work crews with their klieg lights and traffic cones were out everywhere. Usually-smooth 65 mph speed roads were down to rough pavement and 45 mph instead. No stunning logs this time, but just a good amount of DX that I know I wouldn't have heard at home the same time. I guess, when you get right down to it, that's what makes the hour drive each way, the bugs, the cops, etc. bearable. *** TRANSATLANTIC DX *** 153 | ALGERIA | Chaine 1, Bechar, JUN 24 0206 - Arabic vocal & strings; good. [Connelly*rw-MA] 162 | FRANCE | France-Inter, Allouis, JUN 24 0028 - male French vocal; good, best LW Transatlantic at the time. + JUN 24 0206 - jazzy vocal; excellent. [Connelly*rw-MA] 183 | GERMANY | Europe No. 1, Felsberg, JUN 24 0205 - French talk by man, then a folk-rock vocal; good. [Connelly*rw-MA] 189 | ICELAND | Rikisutvarpid, Gufuskalar, JUN 24 0204 - "With a Little Luck" by Paul McCartney; very good. [Connelly*rw-MA] 198 | UNITED KINGDOM | BBC R.4, Droitwich et al., JUN 24 0203 - BBC news by man & woman; poor over a second broadcaster and the DIW beacon. [Connelly*rw-MA] 207 | MOROCCO | RTM, Azilal, JUN 24 0030 - man in Arabic; fair through QI and MJ beacons. + JUN 24 0202 - man in Arabic; over second station that was probably Germany. [Connelly*rw-MA] 234 | LUXEMBOURG | R. Luxembourg, Junglinster, JUN 24 0032 - French vocal; weak. + JUN 24 0202 - French news; fair. [Connelly*rw-MA] 252 | IRELAND | RTE R.1, Clarkestown, JUN 24 0201 - woman in English reading news about something in Dublin; fair. [Connelly*rw-MA] 549 | ALGERIA | Alger Chaine 1, Les Trembles, JUN 24 0156 - man in Arabic; to fair peak over WDEV slop. [Connelly*rw-MA] 585 | SPAIN | RNE R.1, Madrid, JUN 24 0155 - Spanish discussion; fair to good over VOCM slop with WEZE phased. [Connelly*rw-MA] 612 | MOROCCO | RTM A, Sebaa-Aioun, JUN 24 0152 - Arabic talk seemed // 207; poor to fair in CHNC/WGIR slop. [Connelly*rw-MA] 621 | CANARY ISLANDS // SPAIN | RNE R.1 synchros, Santa Cruz de Tenerife et al., JUN 24 0039 - man in Spanish; fair to good through WZON slop. [Connelly*rw-MA] 639 | SPAIN | RNE R.1, La Coruna et al., JUN 24 0150 - Spanish talk; in CBN slop. [Connelly*rw-MA] 711.06 | WESTERN SAHARA | RTM, Laayoune, JUN 24 0042 - Arabic string music; fair. [Connelly*rw-MA] 783 | MAURITANIA | R. Mauritanie, Nouakchott, JUN 24 0046 - man in Arabic; fair, better than // 4845 which had some interference to it. [Connelly*rw-MA] 890.98 | ALGERIA | Chaine 1, Algiers, JUN 24 0050 - Arabic music; in WAMG slop. [Connelly*rw-MA] 981 | ALGERIA | RTVA Chaine 2, Algiers, JUN 24 0135 - woman in Arabic; through WCAP slop. [Connelly*rw-MA] 999 | SPAIN | COPE, Madrid, JUN 24 0134 - Spanish talk, music bridge, then teletalk; fair. [Connelly*rw-MA] 1431 | DJIBOUTI | R. Sawa, Arta, JUN 24 0110 - bits of excited Arabic talk by man; mostly just a het against WXKS. [Connelly*rw-MA] 1503 | SPAIN | RNE R.5 synchros, JUN 24 0114 - Spanish news; slopped by WTOP-1500 & WWZN-1510. [Connelly*rw-MA] 1548 | KUWAIT | R. Sawa, Kabd - Kuwait City, JUN 24 0116 - man & woman with Arabic talk, Sawa mention; fair. Almost dawn on their end. [Connelly*rw-MA] 1557 | FRANCE | France Info, Fontbonne, JUN 24 0120 - group pop-rock vocal; through WQEW splash. [Connelly*rw-MA] 1584 | CEUTA | RadiOle, JUN 24 0117 - folk Spanish male vocal & guitar; to good peak, way over SER stations. [Connelly*rw-MA] *** PAN-AMERICAN DX *** 530 | TURKS & CAICOS | R. Vision Cristiana Internacional, South Caicos, JUN 24 0158 - clearly dominant and loud with Spanish religious talk. Background station (about 10-20 dB weaker) may have been CIAO, a TIS, the new Cuban, or the airborne station. [Connelly*rw-MA] 535 | GRENADA | GBC, St. George's, JUN 24 0157 - accented talk; at noise threshold level. [Connelly*rw-MA] 555 | ST. KITTS & NEVIS | R. ZIZ, Basseterre, JUN 24 0156 - Caribbean English talk by man; to fair peak through WGAN slop. [Connelly*rw-MA] 700 | BRAZIL | R. Eldorado AM, ZYK686, Sao Paulo, JUN 24 0147 - reverberated Portuguese talk and "goal!" screams; to fair peaks over others with WLW phased. [Connelly*rw-MA] 750 | VENEZUELA | RCR, YVKS, Caracas, JUN 24 0142 - talk "en la capital de la Republica de Venezuela"; over/under CBGY. [Connelly*rw-MA] 820.09 | unID | JUN 24 0140 - het growl against WNYC & St. Kitts. [Connelly*rw-MA] 1000 | BRAZIL | R. Record, ZYK522, Sao Paulo, JUN 24 0207 - Portuguese talk with "goal!" screaming; over two Spanish-language stations. [Connelly*rw-MA] 1100 | BRAZIL | R. Globo, ZYK694, Sao Paulo, JUN 24 0208 - reverberated sports-related Portuguese talk, crowd noises; fair to good with WTAM phased. [Connelly*rw-MA] 1110 | VENEZUELA | R. Carupano, YVQT, Carupano, JUN 24 0210 - tropical jazz Spanish vocal; huge, way over S-9 on meter, sounds like a megawatt. [Connelly*rw-MA] 1180 | CUBA | R. Rebelde, Villa Maria, JUN 24 0106 - // 5025 with Spanish talk about workers; loud, way over WHAM & 1179 het. [Connelly*rw-MA] 1500 | VENEZUELA | R. Dos Mil, YVRZ, Cumana, JUN 24 0123 - Dos Mil ID; under WTOP. [Connelly*rw-MA] 1620 | US VIRGIN ISLANDS | WDHP, Fredriksted, St. Croix, JUN 24 0117 - calypso instrumental, then soca vocal; good / dominant. [Connelly*rw-MA] ---[Start Commercial]--------------------- World Radio TV Handbook 2005 is coming out. Preorder yours and support open communications for DXers: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0823077942/hardcoredxcom ---[End Commercial]----------------------- ________________________________________ Hard-Core-DX mailing list Hard-Core-DX@hard-core-dx.com http://dallas.hard-core-dx.com/mailman/listinfo/hard-core-dx http://www.hard-core-dx.com/ _______________________________________________ THE INFORMATION IN THIS ARTICLE IS FREE. It may be copied, distributed and/or modified under the conditions set down in the Design Science License published by Michael Stutz at http://dsl.org/copyleft/dsl.txt