[HCDX]: medium wave notes, comments

[WA1ION@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Medium wave notes - Cape Cod, MA - Mark Connelly, WA1ION

I listened on the evening of 3 April and noted fairly good 
European reception at sunset (just after 2300 UTC), but a 
drop off in conditions later on.  Of special interest was 
the likely move of Azores from 837 down to 836.  Ben
Dangerfield in PA has also noted this.  Canaries on 837 
was a good deal stronger than 836 this time around.  
I checked 846 hoping for a reappearance of South Africa, 
but Italy was very strong.  Indeed the Africans were at a 
deficit to Europeans: 765 had Switzerland and Senegal 
alternating at first, then a complete Swiss takeover.

I expect to be going out to Rockport for car-DX after work 
some night; I'll combine that report and Saturday's stuff 
into a full-data log report to be issued in a week or so.  
With all that's going on in central Europe, this is the 
time to monitor both what broadcasters are saying and how
military actions are affecting the entire layout of the
dial: some stations boosted in power and schedule to spread 
propaganda, other facilities knocked off the air, etc.  
For US DXers, Granite Pier in Rockport, MA offers the
one of the best vantage points for intercepting incoming 
signals from across the Atlantic.

Here's a survey of the frequencies on Christoph Ratzer's
Balkans list, from here in eastern Massachusetts, USA
at typical peak European reception time (presently
2230 to 0100 UTC):

558    Spain dominates, not a really strong signal; WGAN-560 
       splash
594    Portugal over Morocco; rarely Germany
612    Ireland and Spain.  Morocco used to dominate strongly,
       but it's been inactive.
648    Usually Spain, rarely Gambia or Saudi Arabia
684    Beograd is occasionally noted, but it's Spain 90% of
       the time and a good deal of WRKO-680 splash
774    Spain over Egypt (and rarely Morocco)
810    Spain is the dominant European.  Usually 810 is domestics
       WGY and CJVA, as well as signals from Colombia, Puerto
       Rico, the Bahamas, and Brazil.
837    Canary Islands / Spain synchros. rule here.  See prior
       note about co-channel Azores probably sliding back
       down to 836.
882    COPE Canary Islands and BBC UK take turns dominating
       this channel.
918    Spain dominates; Syria sometimes creeps in underneath
1107   Spain is very strong here with Egypt occasionally behind
1125   Croatia is noted (// 1134), but Spain is more common.
       Madeira Islands occasionally noted also.
1134   Croatia and Spain alternate.  Both are often strong.
       WBBR-1130 can be substantially reduced with cardioid
       antenna array (loop phased against vertical whip)
1350   Europeans are seldom noted on this channel.  CKAD-NS,
       WGPL-VA, and WOYK-PA alternate dominance.
1395   Albania occasionally noted, though not too strong lately.
1413   Spain prevails here.
1458   Albania has become rather strong here lately.  It had a
       very good signal two nights ago around sunset at Nauset 
       Beach, Orleans, MA.  News had American officials speaking
       in English about Kosovo.  The announcer then translated 
       the talk into an eastern European language.  Has this
       boosted power ?  There was a background growl from a 
       station on a slightly different frequency.
1503   Nothing very strong on this channel.  Low-power Spain,
       AFN Azores, Iran, and a few others are occasionally
       noted.  Near the channel are Angola-1502 and Togo-1502.4.
       WNRB-1510 chops up 1503 and 1512 with hard-to-null slop.

On recent hardcore-DX and other matters, briefly ...

Boston Area DXer Jerry Berg has a great new book on the history 
of shortwave broadcasting.  Go to " http://www.mcfarlandpub.com "
and request "On the Short Waves, 1923-1945: Broadcast Listening
in the Pioneer Days of Radio".  ISBN is 0-7864-0506-6.  I highly
recommend this !

Regarding the Hately cross field antenna to be used by Isle of 
Man - 279: If Egypt-864 is using this, the thing definitely 
works.  864 was blasting in with a huge signal Saturday evening
over at Nauset Beach.

Re "The public release of the ABU data is to be condemned ..."
Say what ?  Now that someone knows this "classified" info, 
I guess Agent 007 (Bond, James Bond) will have to "liquidate"
someone in a back alley in Bhutan at midnight.  I hope this
manifesto about the sacred database was indeed an "April Fool's" 
deal.  The release or non-release of this stuff can't really be 
this serious.  I think it's about time to open up a brew, pop 
on some highlife music (or Jimmy Buffett) and unwind.

Last week at work was extremely hectic.  I don't think I need 
to get stressed about hobby things also.  A side effect of the 
"crunch" at work is that a lot of E-mail has accumulated here.  
All of you who corresponded, please be patient.  Responses will 
be forthcoming in a while.

A matter I recently mentioned was the famous coastal utility
station WCC.  This long-time resident of Chatham, MA has now 
passed into history.  The ultimate nostalgia-filled WCC Web 
page may be accessed at " http://www.qsl.net/wv1k/wcc.html ".

Alf Aardal asked about baluns.  Small baluns / RF transformers
suitable for receiving applications may be bought from Mini-
Circuits (" http://www.minicircuits.com ").  They have numbers
like T1-6, T4-6T, T9-1, T16-6T, etc.

73 / good DX ... Mark


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