[HCDX]: AM DX NewsFlash 10-2-97
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[HCDX]: AM DX NewsFlash 10-2-97
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WELCOME TO IRCA's AM-DX NEWSFLASH - October 3 1997
Vol 3 No 27
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PLEASE, PLEASE include your location with your reports...
Deadline for next issue = Thursday, October 9 1997 @ 1930 UTC (1230 PDT)
Send all contributions to Phil Bytheway @ Philip_Bytheway@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
The AM DX NewsFlash is sent weekly from Hughes Aircraft in Mukilteo WA
All contributions will be used
Comments regarding content are appreciated
With your submission, please include as a minimum:
Your name, location and email address
Tell your email friends about "AM DX NewsFlash"
To receive this email newsletter, send your email ID, name and location
to Philip_Bytheway@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Folks who's bulletins are returned twice in a row are dropped from the list.
If your email address changes, please let me know!
Information appearing the the NewsFlash can be quoted provided the original
author and "AM DX NewsFlash" are given proper credit.
Soft copies of the latest IRCA BookStore and Reprint Updater are available
from: Philip_Bytheway@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
To join the IRCA, send the appropriate dues to: IRCA HQ
PO Box 1831
Perris CA 92572-1831
US - $25.00/year (30 issues)
Trial (US only) - $ 9.50/10 issues (one time only)
CANADA - $27.00/year (30 issues)
Overseas Surface - $28.50/year (30 issues)
Overseas Air (CA & SA) - $35.00/year (30 issues)
Overseas Air (Europe) - $38.00/year (30 issues)
Overseas Air (rest) - $41.00/year (30 issues)
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CPC DX tests summary
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Lynn Hollerman - gmholler@xxxxxxxxxx
DX season is fast approaching, so here's notice of an upcoming DX test...
PLEASE NOTE: Even if you don't hear a test, be sure and drop a card,
letter, or e-mail to the station personnel, thanking them for going to the
trouble to run a test!
Here's a reminder of upcoming DX tests; if anyone has any additions or
corrections, please contact me. Times are EST. For UTC add 5. * - new!
DX season is fast approaching, so here's notice of an upcoming DX test...
Saturday, October 4, 1997 - KTGG-1540, Spring Arbor, MI will conduct a
DX test from 12:00 to 12:30 am EDT at 450 watts nondirectional. The test
will include classical, march, and Christian rock music, plus voice IDs,
test tones, and morse code IDs. Reception reports may be sent to:
Mr. Lewis Munn
Chief Engineer
KTGG-AM
c/o Spring Arbor College
106 East Main Street
Spring Arbor, MI 49283
E-Mail: lmunn@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
WWW: http://www.arbor.edu/wsae/ktgg.htm
(Arranged by J.D. Stephens.)
Also, if you hear a test, PLEASE, PLEASE let me know, via e-mail or the
newsgroup! And, if you send a reception report to a station, please remember
to include return postage with your report...
One final note...both IRCA and NRC are without CPC chairmen...without
someone to arrange the DX tests, there won't be many tests, only the few
that some members have been able to arrange! CPC chairman isn't a terribly
difficult or time consuming position; if you can volunteer, please, please,
PLEASE do!! (you can e-mail me for more info!)
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HOT STUFF
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Lee J Freshwater 414 SE 3rd St, Ocala, FL 34474
FAX 352-732-7223 E-mail Lfreshwate@xxxxxxx
The F.C.C. has started putting CALL LETTER changes in their computer data
base...We will include them here as time and space permits.
PREPARED ON 10/2/97
Call Signs reserved for Pending Sales Applicants **
NEW CITY AND STATE FREQUENCY FORMER
CALL CALL
WJWR NEWARK, NJ 620 WXLX
KCTD LOS ANGELES, CA 1540 KXMG
WHYT MARINE CITY, MI 1590 WIFN
** Commission grant and consummation does not automatically grant call sign
application. The new licensee must provide written notice to the call sign
desk upon consummation of the transaction and await authority from the
Commission to use the new call sign.
CALL SIGN CHANGES
NEW CITY AND STATE FREQUENCY FORMER
CALL * CALL
WZDB CHICAGO, IL 950 WEJM
WJNA WEST PALM BEACH 1040 WJNO
KOTK PORTLAND, OR 1080 KWJJ
KJQY MORRO BAY, CA 1150 KBAI
WJNO BOYNTON BEACH, FL 1230 WJNA
WYUR DEARBORN, MI 1310 WDOZ
KMYR WICHITA, KS 1410 KQAM
KSUH PUYALLUP, WA 1450 KKBY
KQAM WICHITA, KS 1480 KZSN
* The F.C.C. does NOT list the frequency in their database. I have tried to
suppliment this with information from my own database,, so look it over
"carefully" before you change anything in yours.
We have put this information in order of frequency rather than location.
Send any suggestions, changes AND corrections to the above E-Mail address.
Only ONE entry this week from the FCC.
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Doug Smith - desmith@xxxxxxxxxxxx
WZRS-710, Smyrna TN. I can confirm this change on my semi-local. There's
also a minor format change. It had been local southern gospel; it's now a
relayer of WMBW-FM (88.9) Chattanooga, and runs a triple ID with this
station and WFCM-FM (91.7) Murfreesboro. And Chattanooga weather. (though
WFCM AM&FM are much closer to Nashville than to Chattanooga..) All are
Moody Bible religion.
Don't think I've seen this elsewhere yet, but also locally, WYOR-560
Brentwood TN is back on the air as "Nashville's Sports 56" (that's the only
ID they use, even on the hour..) and One-on-One Sports. Former Nashville
One-on-One affiliate WHEW-1380 Franklin is now silent.
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1997 M STREET RADIO DIRECTORY
The IRCA Bookstore is proud to announce that the 'M Street Corporation' has
agreed to offer a discount on their 1997 'M Street Radio Directory' to
NewsFlash members ordering through the IRCA Bookstore. The Directory
contains a complete listing of over 15,000 radio stations (AM/FM, US/Canada)
including the following information: facilities, ownership, formats, LMAs,
station personnel, phone numbers (and FAX), addresses, ratings, as well as
information on almost 400 radio markets in the US and Canada. Stations are
listed by location (complete info), frequency (frequency, call, location,
power and pattern) and call (call, frequency, location) and market
(frequency, call, location, rating, format). It also includes a former call
reference (old call, location and current call). Major network information
(addresses/phone numbers/etc) and several interesting radio articles are
included as well.
The price to US and Canadian NewsFlash members ordering through the IRCA
Bookstore is $44.95 post paid (UPS address required). The book is expected
to be out by the end of May (usual disclaimer on date 'cause we can't be
sure!). Retail will be 55.95. NOW DUE OUT IN THE FALL, perhaps!!!
Europe - add $5.00 for surface, $19.20 for airmail delivery.
Australia/New Zealand - add $5.00 for surface, $27.25 for airmail delivery.
IRCA Bookstore, 9705 Mary NW, Seattle WA 98117-2334
Please make checks payable to: Phil Bytheway.
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INDIVIDUAL LOGGINGS
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BROADCAST BAND INTERNATIONAL LOGS FROM
SHAWN M. AXELROD VE4DX1SMA
30 BECONTREE BAY WINNIPEG MB R2N 2X9 CANADA
TELEPHONE NUMBER: 204-253-8644
E-MAIL: saxelrod@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
DX'ING FROM WINNIPEG MB
RECEIVER: ICOM ICR-70 & DRAKE R8
ANTENNA: 4 FOOT BOX UNAMPLIFIED LOOP / QUANTUM LOOP
145 FOOT LONG WIRE / 100 FOOT INDOOR WIRE
PAN-AMERICAN DX
530 Turks and Caicos IS Radio Vision Cristiana Sept 28 0131 Man and woman
doing a religious family program. Good signals (Axelrod-MB)
1020 Turks and Caicos IS Caribbean Christian Radio Sept 28 0148 A religious
program on the "real" differences between men and women. Way over
KDKA wiping it out completely (Axelrod-MB)
1685 Colombia Mercaderes MER E Sept 28 0511 Beacon with Morse code ID as M
E R E with pause between R and last E. (Axelrod-MB)
Not great conditions. The season has seemingly not climbed as fast as I
thought it might. Mind you the Colombian beacon on 1685 is a good catch here
at home.
SPECIAL
1140 KSFN NV North Las Vegas 09/28 0754 The Fan Sports Network with sports
talk program. ID on the hour as "AM 11-40 KSFN North Las Vegas".
Ex-KNXO NEW (SA-MB)
OTHER
780 KKOH NV Reno 09/27 2135 Poor signals with a talk program u/WBBM
(SA-MB)
860 KKOW KS Pittsburg 09/27 2150 Fair signals under CBC French station
with oldies program. Several Cow ID's. (SA-MB)
Again this week conditions have been up and down with weird skip. Only one
new station out of all of this but You do have to take it as they come.
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Mark Connelly - wa1ion@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
I put a new antenna system to the test last night (Sunday, 28 SEP) and
it worked even better than expected. This consisted of two MFJ-1024 active
whips to the further-modified (Al Merriman take note !) MFJ-1026 phaser.
The MFJ-1026 phasing unit had all of the initial modifications, as
documented by my previous E-mails and by DX News (vol. 64, no. 30 ... date:
22 SEP 1997).
The MFJ-1026 was modified for this by providing an extra main antenna
input jack (RCA phono) that was tied to the regular main input through a 0.1
uF DC-blocking capacitor and to the +12 VDC line through a 2.2 mH Mouser
high-current RF choke. This allows +12 VDC to be fed out on a coaxial line
to one of the two active whips. The existing RCA phono jack that is
associated with the Auxiliary input (tied to the corresponding SO-239) was
altered to run to the SO-239 via a 0.1 uF capacitor and to +12 VDC through a
2.2 mH choke in a manner similar to the added Main input phono jack. The
reworked Auxiliary RCA phono input can now pass power to, and accept RF
from, "active whip #2".
The trick to making this system work is to provide a physical separation
between the two whips equal to at least 1/16 wavelength at the lowest
operating frequency. I set the system up at the house in East Harwich (Cape
Cod, MA) with each whip fed by 22 m (72 ft.) lengths of coaxial cable.
Coaxial cables ran out a south-facing window, one off to the east, the other
to the west. Because of short lengths of cable inside the room, the actual
distance between the MFJ-1024 whip east of the house and the one west of it
was about 40 m (131 ft.). This is about 1/16 wavelength at the low end of
the MW band. When the phase is correctly adjusted on the MFJ-1026, cardioid
patterns with a null to the west or a null to the east can be produced. The
null to the west is of most use in my situation, unless I want to hear a
ballgame on a domestic that is being severely trashed by an Algerian (a
not-uncommon occurrence on Cape Cod !).
Nulls of domestics to the southwest / west / northwest, even pesty
short-skip New Yorkers, set up beautifully. The 1220 to 1490 section of the
dial, with many domestics per channel, was a "tough nugget", but other
frequencies were eminently DXable. Hets on the car radio well before 2200
UTC / 6 p.m. local (before sunset) told me that the TA's were going to be
screaming as soon as the real DX gear was set up. "Everything and its
mother" was piling in on the TA channels below 1200 kHz. I'd have to rank
the best catches as Syria-827, SER Spain on 810 kHz (// 792) sometimes
beating CJVA and nulled WGY, and Italy on 900 kHz (// 846) mixed with CKDH
and CJBR (FF) with the other 900 kHz domestics pretty much absent from the
"playing field". Reception UTC times: Spain-810 @ 2219, Italy-900 @ 2251,
Syria-827 @ 2356. The heavy hitters from Spain, Morocco, and Algeria were
"body-slamming" the R8A with S9+40 signals. WABC-770 was sometimes weaker
than ...and slopped by (!) ... Switzerland-765 and Spain/Egypt-774.
Morocco-207 longwave was quite useful to parallel with 594, 819, and 1053
(all of which dominated their respective channels with big signals much of
the time). The Arab North Africans all the way from Egypt to Morocco were
generally huge and ran roughshod over any attempted co-channel competition
from UK and German stations. Egypt-864 roared in, ruining any chance at
hearing the Irish low-power pirate. After 0600 UTC would work better for
this.
So that's it for the story of the "phased vertical array" (and we're not
talking broadcast towers here). The 2-whip array is broadband for easy
parallel checking and "frequency agility". This should be a useful system
for beach DXpeditions at sites with insufficient space for Beverages, but
adequate room (and privacy) for setting up something better than the typical
vehicle-mounted loop / whip cardioid array. Though the loop / whip set up
works well, it requires varactor tuning that can slow you down during a
"killer" opening.
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MISC ITEMS
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Fellow AMNF Subscribers
The National Radio Club would like to announce the new NRC AM Radio Log for
the 1997-1998 DX Season edition. This is the Eighteenth edition and has
been updated through September 1997.
This annual edition contains 310 pages, 8 1/2" x 11" size, 3-hole punched,
loose leaf format with over 5,400 A.M. Radio station listings from the
United States and Canada. Each station listing consists of its location,
frequency, call, format, network affiliation, station address, station
slogan, day and night transmitter powers. There are cross references by
city and by call letter.
The AM Radio Log is available to NRC/IRCA members for $16.95 post paid.
(Canadian members funds must be US funds)
The Nonmember and Overseas prices of the AM Radio Log are as follows:
U.S. & Canada US$22.95
Latin America US$23.50
Europe US$24.00
All Others US$28.00
All Overseas prices are shipped via AIR and payment must be in US funds.
Orders may be placed now. The Eighteenth edition of the NRC AM RADIO LOG is
at the printers and will be shipped approximately 10/1/97.
Please mail all orders to:
National Radio Club
Publications Center
P.O. Box 164
Mannsville, NY 13661-0164
We appreciate your past support.
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Dave Kenny - dave_kenny@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
RADIO STATION IN THE UNITED KINGDOM - New 15th edition
A new edition of the popular British DX Club publication "Radio Stations in
the United Kingdom" has just been published. This 1997-98 edition (a 48-page
A5 booklet) has been completely revised and updated to include all U.K.
domestic AM and FM stations currently on the air (both BBC and independent).
It also comes with a free supplement covering radio stations in the Republic
of Ireland.
Features include:
* Many new stations on the air since the last edition was published 18
months ago
* Stations listed by frequency and by name
* Frequencies cross-referenced to show parallel channels.
* Transmitter powers and sites shown for each frequency
* Includes postal and e-mail addresses, telephone and fax numbers.
* Brief background to the various radio services.
* Advice on reception reports and verification signers.
* Details of low-power stations at football grounds/race circuits, etc
RSUK is available from BDXC's London address:
British DX Club,
126 Bargery Road,
Catford,
London, SE6 2LR.
PRICE (covers airmail postage within Europe, surface mail elsewhere):
-UK addresses: 2.50 pounds sterling
-Rest of the World: 3.00 pounds sterling / 7 International reply coupons / 5
US dollars
/ 10 Deutsche Marks (dollar/DM payments in cash only).
E-mail enquiries: bdxc@xxxxxxxxxxx
URL: www.co.umist.as/BDXC [BDXC must be in capital letters]
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Paul Ormandy - paulorm@xxxxxxxx
Just QSL'd Algeria on Longwave - RTVA Ouargla 198kHz, logged in March. Sent
PC QSL, schedule for External Service, sticker and report form. No v/s. For
FF report with US$1-00.
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KIWA Electronics - kiwa@xxxxxxxxxxxx
New Products from Kiwa Electronics
Kiwa now has the PRM or Pocket Regeneration Module available for the Pocket
Loop Antenna. The PRM is an accessory for the Pocket Loop providing
regeneration from 530 kHz to >10 MHz. As the regeneration is increased, the
bandwidth decreases and the receive gain increases. An additional 18 dB
gain can be realized with no change in battery current. This feature is
similar to our big loop and it is very helpful when conditions are noisey or
plagued by interference or when listening to a weak signal.
The PRM is a module that is physically attached to the front vertical
surface of the Pocket Loop. It is installed between the Pocket Loop output
and the coupler or between the Pocket Loop and radio if a direct cable
connection is used. Four controls operate the PRM: Regeneration ON/OFF,
High/Low Frequency switch Coarse Regeneration Tune, Fine Regeneration Tune
PRM - Pocket Regeneration Module price is $48.00 (US)
Shipping and Handling in North America is $4
Shipping and Handling outside North America is $7
We also have a 9 VDC (120 VAC) adaptor for the Pocket Loop Antenna. The
price is $10 plus $2 S&H in North America
DX from your car radio using the Pocket Loop Car Radio Coupler! Kiwa also
has a new coupler for the Pocket Loop that connects between the car radio
and car antenna. The coupler allows the Pocket Loop to enhance weak signal
reception. We supply a 6 ft cable with the coupler so the Pocket Loop can
be placed on the dash or on top of the car (not recommended while
driving!). The coupler uses standard (for most car radios) Motorola
connectors. It also includes a switch to bypass the coupler for FM
reception. Signals that aren't even heard using the car radio antenna will
"jump out" using the Pocket Loop and PRM!
Pocket Loop Car Radio Coupler price $35.00
Shipping and Handling for North America $4
Shipping and Handling outside North America $7
For more information contact Kiwa at:
kiwa@xxxxxxxxxxxx or http://www.wolfe.net/~kiwa
Sales Orders: 1-800-398-1146
Technical Information 509-453-5492
Kiwa Electronics
612 South 14th Ave.
Yakima WA 98902 USA
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If you note any AM changes (call, format, slogan, etc), please send them to
the NRC Log coordinator (Wayne Heinen) @ nrclog@xxxxxxx
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END of 10/2/97 IRCA's "AM DX NewsFlash" - Philip_Bytheway@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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