[HCDX]: summary of DX on recent Cape Cod trips

[WA1ION@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

I started the summer with a couple of family trips to East 
Harwich and West Yarmouth, MA on Cape Cod.  I also did a brief 
(roughly hour-long) sunset DX stop in Plymouth, MA.  I've been 
away from the E-mail for awhile and I'll try to respond to all 
of the individual messages over the next few days.

Several of you have mentioned their own DX doings during the
late spring and early summer - a time thought by many to be 
unproductive.  Most notable are Jean Burnell's fine logs from 
the West Coast, as well as some TA's and South Americans heard 
from near his home base in NF.  Pat Martin has been doing well
with Down Unders making it into Oregon.  Ben Dangerfield mentioned 
that his Bermuda trip wasn't as much of a DX bonanza as one might 
suspect, but that it was an enjoyable adventure nonetheless.  Al 
Merriman has been working feverishly on several antenna projects 
so he'll be "loaded for bear" when late August and early September 
bring back longer cooler nights and strong, reliable foreign DX 
signals once again.  Bruce Conti is planning on a Maine coast 
DX / camping vacation.  Sometime in late July or early August, 
several of us here in the Boston area will be meeting for a 
seafood dinner; then we'll drag radios, wire, phasing boxes, 
and insect repellent out into the Rowley salt-marsh. 

=====

Anyway, here's a summary of DX from my recent trips.  Logs on
29 JUN to 2 JUL '98 are from East Harwich; those on 6 JUL from 
West Yarmouth; and 7 JUL from Plymouth.  Dates and times are UTC.

29 JUN / 0000-0059: Canaries-621, Venezuela-750, Colombia-610

29 JUN / 0100-0159: St. Kitts & Nevis-555, Venezuela-640, 
Venezuela-580, Puerto Rico-580, Grenada-535, Venezuela-600,
Brazil-720, Venezuela-720

29 JUN / 0200-0320: Venezuela-780 (YVOD // 4980), Colombia-810
(// 5076.8), Cuba-860, Ireland-567

29 JUN at 1510 UTC (daytime groundwave): Turks & Caicos-530

30 JUN / 0100-0159: Canaries-621, PJB Neth. Antilles-800,
unID SS Latin American - 820.22

30 JUN / 0200-0330: Puerto Rico-630, Colombia-650, St. Kitts &
Nevis-830, Saudi Arabia-1521, unID (Vatican ?)-1530, unID
het-1529.5, Spain-1107, Spain-1044, Canaries/Spain-837

1 JUL at 0050 UTC: tentative ZBVI-780, severe static from nearby
thunderstorms

2 JUL / 0000-0059: Western Sahara-711.05, St. Kitts & Nevis-895,
Algeria-891, Cuba-860, St. Kitts & Nevis-830 (killing WCRN)

2 JUL / 0100-0159: YVOD-780 (o/ Coro & CFDR), Colombia-770,
Colombia-760, Guyana(t)-760, unID het-729.12 (not sure if TA
or PanAm), St. Vincent-705, Colombia-700, Colombia-690 (Recuerdos),
Azores-693, Azores-837, Spain-684, Cuba-660, Cuba-640, Ireland-612

2 JUL / 0200-0259: Germany(t)-549 mix Algeria, ZLS Bahamas-526,
Ireland-567, Cuba-570, Cuba-600, unID SS-734.7, Haiti-840 (o/Cuba), 
Cuba-890, Cuba-900, Colombia-940, UK-1089, UK-1215, Libya-1251

2 JUL / 0300-0430: Germany-1422, Anguilla-1505, unID blank 
carrier-1404 (France ?), Spain-855, Spain-603, Algeria-549 LOUD !, 
Spain-1521, Spain-1539, Spain-1584, Sao Tome VOA - 1530  HUGE, 
annihilating WSAI at 0430 UTC - maybe the strongest signal ever 
from this ! 

6 JUL / 0126-0304: Cuba-1180, Cuba-710, Colombia-1100, 
Colombia-1170, Cuba-1060

6 JUL / 0848-0935: Cuba-620, unID SS-600.08 QRMed by Cuba-600,
St. Kitts & Nevis-555 fading out, Cuba-540, Cuba-570, Cuba-690,
Cuba-940, Cuba-640.  Comment: This dawn-period DX session was
a quest for western South America, Central America, Jamaica, 
Mexico, western USA, and Trans-Pacifics, but, as is often the 
case, it just produced wall-to-wall Cubans and routine domestics 
from eastern and midwestern areas.
  
7 JUL / 0005-0109: Senegal-765, Azores-837, Azores-693, 
Morocco(t)-819, Spain-855, Spain-873, Canaries/Spain-882,
Algeria-891 (measured 890.95), Spain-954 very good, Spain-999,
Spain-1071, Canaries/Spain-1179, UK-1053, Spain-1044, 
Portugal-1035, UK-909, Spain-738, Spain o/unID-729, Spain-639,
jumbled messes on several TA channels (747, 756, others).
1350 didn't have a 1349 het, so maybe Mauritania is having
technical problems.  Normally 1349 shows up a half-hour or 
more before sunset at coastal sites.

=====

On either Thursday 9 JUL or Tuesday 14 JUL, I plan to make 
an after-work DX trip to Granite Pier in Rockport, MA.  Also 
I expect to do another Cape Cod session sometime during the 
weekend of 18/19 JUL.  When I have the logs from these 
activities, I'll merge them with the above-noted receptions
for the full-details "Summer 1998: Road Trip Report #1".

I'm eagerly awaiting the reports of others as the nights
gradually lengthen and the 1998-1999 DX Season starts to
accelerate.  Don't hesitate to bring a radio on seaside
holidays, camping trips, and other summer adventures away
from home.  In a month or so, the static will be decreasing.
For the immediate future, think trans-equatorial.  With solar 
activities on the rise, we can expect some good auroral "blow 
outs" that can do amazing things like putting a 1550 Bolivian 
on top of Ontario and the other co-channel domestics.
 
73 / good DX ... Mark

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