It was another very good morning to East Asia, with loads of JJs and KKs and quite a decent number of Chinese. Conditions seemed a bit disturbed as some of the normal stuff was noticeably weaker, some stronger than usual. There was no real pattern to this, just a bit more disturbed than usual.
I'm continuing to test the beta Wellbrook array against my best giant EWE (70' x 100') and the Wellbrook continues to be the clear winner. I've never really DXed Alaskans from here, only having QSLed 6 in recent years.... I've always found them much more difficult to hear from here than you would expect, due to unfortunate regional co-channels in the West and, possibly to polar absorption. Anyway, three days ago, I stated trying a bit in the late evening and a bit during lulls in the dawn Asian stuff. Its been rewarding so far, though I'm sure that I'm picking off the easier ones. This morning, I heard 580 KRSA, Petersburg over KIDO in Boise; KFQD-750 Anchorage over KXL; 780-KNOM, Nome over KKOH, Reno; KINY-800 Juneau over nearby Penticton, BC and probable KICY, Nome over KHHO in nearby Tacoma. The two Nome stations are new for me..... I particularly enjoyed the local news on KNOM. The city council just passed an ordinance that prohibits trapping and snaring of wild animals within the city limits, if the traps or snares are within 100 feet of a residence or 50 feet of a walking trail. Seems as though overly enthusiastic local subsistence hunters are, far too often, catching the pet dogs of their neighbors.... causing numerous recent altercations!!!! And all of this within the "city" limits, mind you! Local radio at its best................. Since the mass of Alaska is one to two time zones to my west, evening DXing is not yielding too much, yet.... before my early Dawn DXer bedtime, anyway. However, in the last couple of evenings, I've managed to catch 620-KGTL, Homer over the Vancouver, WA/Portland, OR semi-local; KTKN-930, Ketchikan over Edmonton and the local-but-weak KBAI, Bellingham and KAGV-1110, Big Lake over KBND, Bend, OR. Despite a serious and quite expensive ground system for the EWE, the Wellbrook array continues to have a much better F/B ratio in DXing situations.... and, since my EWE is not reversible, I find the Wellbrook much handier as a DX tool.... Flipping the switch to reverse things is quite helpful in making sure that I'm not DXing the remains of the dominant that I've got nulled down. I'm going to try to get an overall article on Beta testing the Wellbrook pulled together in about another week..... And I've not really heard from Wellbrook when the commercial version is hitting the market, but I'd judge it to be in early spring. 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