Hi Guy,
I'm sorry to hear that this morning's TP-DX at the Rockwork cliff didn't meet
your expectations (and those of Chuck). I wish that I could have checked the
propagation that you faced this morning, but I was stuck at one of the worst
possible Oregon locations for either TP's or DU's-- Grant's Pass, surrounded on
all 4 sides by high hills. This place makes even Puyallup look good!
I don't know if something's
wrong with my wiring, or if the Flag's performance was totally screwed up
from the vehicle's metal body and/or Chuck's nearby Flag loop. TP signal
levels were also very low, unlike November's sterling DX when I was using a
ALA100M (bi-directional) head unit for a smaller 4.5 ft. X 6 ft. loop.
Well, I've found out the hard way that Murphy's Law loves those cliffs, and the
only way to survive is to keep everything simple, and carry backup radios,
FSL's and audio recorders so that Mr. Murphy can't knock you out completely
with only one or two strikes. It's kind of a puzzle about the propagation,
though. I've never had a bad day of TP-DXing at the Rockwork or Cape Perpetua
cliffs (18 days total). Like Bill W. always says, though, everything about the
two approaches is completely different-- radios, antennas, spectrum capture Vs.
single-optimized-frequency, TOH recordings Vs. signal peak recordings, etc.
Probably the only real way we will ever sort out all the variables is to have a
side-by-side DXpedition (and it's unfortunate that we couldn't arrange it this
week).
This afternoon I'm
switching my antenna back to the ALA100M bi-directional loop setup, and
hoping for better results tomorrow. I trust we can get the DX conditions
fully warmed up in time for Gary DeBock's arrival in a few days (after
Chuck and I return home, unfortunately).
Good luck to you and Chuck tomorrow morning, Guy. I remember your excellent
TP-DX recordings at the same site in early November with the ALA100M
bi-directional loop setup, and am pretty sure that once you switch back to the
same simple system, you will have better results. You really don't need much of
an antenna at a site like Rockwork 4-- the ocean cliff does the most of the
work for you, with its propagation enhancement (the DU-DXing results with the
tiny, simple FSL's are ample evidence). As long as Murphy's Law doesn't mess
with your antenna or receiver(s), you should have good results.
73, Gary DeBock (in Grants Pass, OR
until Tuesday night)
-Original Message-
From: Guy Atkins d...@guyatkins.com
To: Mailing list for the International Radio Club of America
irca@hard-core-dx.com
Sent: Sun, Apr 6, 2014 4:00 pm
Subject: [IRCA] Rockworks 4 DXpedition - April 6th
This morning was the first of three sunrise DXing sessions planned for the
~440 ft. high Rockworks 4 cliff, south of Cannon Beach, Oregon.
Chuck Hutton (Seattle) and I met at the very foggy cliff side pullout at
1215 UTC (5:15 a.m. local), in anticipation of strengthening DU / TP medium
wave signals as the 1345 sunrise approached.
We each battled our own antenna gremlins as we sought to get settled and
start recording DX to our hard drives via Perseus SDR receivers.
Once Chuck got his Flag loop antenna wires readjusted and the weighted
concrete bases for the masts in place, it looked to be about 15 ft. X 12
ft. in size. It was hard to tell for sure in the dense, night time fog,
though!
I'm using another variation on the SUV-top loop I used very successfully
last November at the same Rockworks 4 location. This morning I had a Flag
configuration of approx. 8 ft. X 7 ft., with a Wellbrook FLG100LN module
and a remote, transformer-based termination resistance (Mark Connelly's
design). On the advice of Andy Ikin of Wellbrook, I used the DC interface
box from a ALA1530S+, which has an additional 9db gain. I also have an
additional Wellbrook preamp of 12-15db gain to use if needed (small Flag
loops are not very sensitive).
Unfortunately I was only getting about 10db of nulling to the east, at the
best setting of the remote termination control. I don't know if something's
wrong with my wiring, or if the Flag's performance was totally screwed up
from the vehicle's metal body and/or Chuck's nearby Flag loop. TP signal
levels were also very low, unlike November's sterling DX when I was using a
ALA100M (bi-directional) head unit for a smaller 4.5 ft. X 6 ft. loop.
Neither Chuck nor I found any DX worth noting; only a few big guns were
in, such as 738 Tahiti, 972 HLCA, and 1566 HLAZ. Perhaps there's something
of interest lurking on our hard drives yet to be found, but I think
conditions were basically mediocre.
The weather on the Oregon coast is getting better by the minute, and sunny
skies and mid 60s F. are in the forecast for tomorrow. This afternoon I'm
switching my antenna back to the ALA100M bi-directional loop setup, and
hoping for better results tomorrow. I trust we can get the DX conditions
fully warmed up in time for Gary DeBock's
