[HCDX] Grayland, WA USA DXpedition Logs

["Guy Atkins" <dx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

This weekend marked another enjoyable DXpedition to Grayland, WA with Don
Nelson and John Bryant and myself. See note at end of logging for Beverage
antenna details. This time we had a GPS receiver along to help verify the
antenna lengths & bearings.

Don is busily constructing an Elecraft K2 transceiver, and was working on it
during the day at Grayland. This QRP unit is highly rated by QST magazine.
Don also enjoyed PSK31 mode amateur radio contacts with numerous "deep"
South American (and other) hams using an ICOM 756 PRO (I think it was) and a
Cushcraft R8 antenna, along with single-band phased verticals of some sort.
Don was kind enough to restrict his transmitting to the less-desirable
daytime DX hours <g>.

A Winradio G303i receiver in use during the DXpedition provided excellent
realtime displays of split-freq foreign DX. The G303i's spectrum display
showed even weak, closely spaced signals "ripe for the picking". We believe
this unit's features will surpass Nick Hall-Patch's excellent DX Radar in
usefulness.

I noted that my R75 and AR7030 (both modified with better filters and other
mods) were consistently equal in sensitivity (both in-line with ARR Beverage
preamps and splitters at the communal antenna network and another ARR preamp
before a splitter in my mobile equipment case). The AR7030 always provided
more enjoyable and clean audio quality, and less "monkey chatter" from
adjacent channels when mediumwave DXing the splits. Both the ICOM and AOR
receivers have 1.8 kHz INRAD crystal filters installed (the R75 has them at
both IF frequencies), yet the AR7030 was clearly the winner in these
toughest of DXing situations. For instance, R. Fiji 2 on 891 kHz was cleaner
on the AR7030 and had less QRM from the domestic outlet on 890. However, a
modified R75 is a serious DXing machine and an excellent value at less than
1/2 the price of the AOR receiver.

MEDIUMWAVE:
--------------------------------------------

531 AUSTRALIA 2PM Kempsey, Jul 12 1042 - A mix of island music and C&W, at
very nice levels at times. This station's target audience is the Pacific
islands, hence the island-style programming. (Atkins-WA)

549 NEW ZEALAND 2XC Gisborne, Jul 12 1138 -  Weak signal of Christian pops
and male announcers on R. Rhema Network at 1138, but much stronger at 1221
recheck. 'New Zealand's Rhema Network' ID at 1224. 'Reign In Me Again' song
at 1225. (Atkins-WA)

720 HAWAII KAUI, Jul 12 0935 - Presumed. Fighting it out beneath 2 other
stations. Island music, then country music selection followed by possible
slogan 'Island Country'. Poor to fair level. (Atkins-WA)

738 TAHITI RFO Papeete, Jul 12 1001 - Woman with news items in French to
1003, then male and female announcers with poss. ID or slogan. 'Bonjour
Papeete' at 1004. Fair level. Much better at 1135 with French rock and roll
tune. Also strong at times on Jul 13. This station was a comparison target
as Don, John, and I compared different impedance ratios of matching
transformers. Earlier during the day we measured the Beverages' impedances
from 6 MHz on down with test equipment, and discovered that our Beverages
had impedances >1250 ohms on mediumwave. (Atkins-WA)

891 FIJI R. Fiji 2, Jul 13 1115 - This one noted sporadically during the
morning with very brief bursts of low-level Hindi programming. More
frequently the station on this frequency was 5AN Adelaide, especially the
previous evening. (Atkins-WA)

909 NEW ZEALAND Southern Star, Napier, Jul 12 1237 - Scraps of
English-language contemporary Christian tune. Parallel to 981 R. Rhema.
Poor-fair signal. Heard on Jul 13 again with very nice signal of piano music
at 1215. (Atkins-WA)

1017 TONGA A3Z Nuku'Alofa, Jul 13 0940 - Male announcer speaking of 'island
reform' in a soft-spoken voice, non-Aussie or NZ accent. Into Tongan
language at 0949. Into sign-off routine with choral hymn at 0955;
announcements in Tongan 0957; national anthem 0959. Low level signal.
(Atkins-WA)

1035 SOLOMON ISLANDS R. Hapi Isles, Honaira, Jul 12 1110 - Brief window of
male announcer in poss. Pidgin language, and island music. Poor. (Atkins-WA)

1098 MARSHALL ISLANDS V7AD Majuro, Jul 12 1008 - Noted briefly with island
music and male announcer in presumed Marshallese. Faded down by 1009, then
back up at 1012 with more local music. Strong signal briefly at 0959 on Jun
13. (Atkins-WA)

1116 AUSTRALIA 4BC Brisbane, Jul 12 1020 - Possibly this newstalk station
with Aussie man and woman with discussion. Sounded like interview with a
book author. Faded 1030. Poor level mostly, with brief peaks to fair/good.
(Atkins-WA)

1125 NEW ZEALAND R. Sport, Hawkes Bay, Jul 13 1145 - Poor to fair signal
with male announcers in a discussion of sports, noted parallel to 1503
Wellington. (Atkins-WA)

1503 AUSTRALIA 2BS Bathurst, Jul 12 1228 - Oldies country music and
Aussie-sounding announcers. Talk of musicians from Australia and mentions of
Melbourne.  No sign of R. Sport, Wellington at this time. Fair-good level
between fades. (Atkins-WA)

1503 NEW ZEALAND R. Sport, Wellington, Jul 12 1149 - Two male announcers
with sports discussion. Mentions of 'Radio Sport' at 1152. Sounded parallel
to 792. Poor-fair level. (Atkins-WA)

1566 SOUTH KOREA HLAZ Chenju, Jul 13 1125 - Low-level Chinese language talk
by male. Presumed, as Chinese is scheduled until 1230. HLAZ was the only
high latitude foreign MW DX noted during the DXpedition. (Atkins-WA)

---------------------------

TROPICAL BANDS:

2960 INDONESIA RRI Manggarai, Jul 13 1205 - Tentative. Woman announcer in
Indonesian, with possible local news items. Best on western Beverage
antenna. Poor, and lost to local QRM at 1214. (Atkins-WA)

3290 PAPUA NEW GUINEA R. Central, Jul 13 1117 - Excellent S9+ signal!
Booming in with nice PNG pops in Pidgin. R. Central ID at 1130.
Unfortunately, no sign of R. Mekamui 3850 was noted on Jul 12 or 13,
although Don heard them from Grayland earlier in the week at good level.
(Atkins-WA)

4606.4 INDONESIA RRI Serui, Jul 13 1140 - Male announcer slowly &
continuously reading a list of names in Indonesian. Rather monotonous, but
finally played a nice lagu romantik tune at 1152. ID 1158 and into Song of
the Coconut Islands 1159. Network relay 'Radio Indonesia, Waktu Indonesia
Barat' at 1200. Excellent S9+10db signal with great modulation. New Japanese
transmitter for Serui? (Atkins-WA)

4775 INDIA AIR Imphal, Jul 13 1231 - Presumed this with gospel choir music
in English. Song 'Blessed Assurance' at 1238. Local sunset in Imphal is
1240, nearly perfect grayline conditions with Grayland. Fair-good until 1254
when it had deteriorated into the noise. No other possibilities on 4775 that
I can think of, and I've heard Christian programming on a few Indian outlets
before. (Atkins-WA)

4800 LESOTHO LNBS, Jul 13 0405 - Noted in passing with poor signal of
definite Mbqanga music. Nearly in the noise by 0412. (Atkins-WA)

4820 BOTSWANA R. Botswana, Jul 13 0402 - Fair level with bouncy afropops and
female announcer in presumed Setswana. Male announcer with mentions of
Botswana 0410. (Atkins-WA)

4870 INDONESIA RRI Wamena, Jul 13 1257 - Powerhouse signal of call-in show
and lively announcer. Quick ID at 1259 and back to calls and short music
segments. Excellent S9+10db level. (Atkins-WA)

-------------------------------
Guy Atkins
Puyallup, WA USA
DXing at Grayland, WA
modified AR7030/ modified AR7030 / Kiwa MAP
Terminated Beverages:
740 ft. @ 250 degrees; 740 ft. @ 265 degrees (7/12)
845 ft. @ 246 degrees; 740 ft. @ 265 degrees (7/13)



---[Start Commercial]---------------------

World Radio TV Handbook 2003 is out! Order it now!

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0823059677/hardcoredxcom

---[End Commercial]-----------------------
________________________________________
Hard-Core-DX mailing list
Hard-Core-DX@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://www2.hard-core-dx.com/mailman/listinfo/hard-core-dx
http://www.hard-core-dx.com/
_______________________________________________

THE INFORMATION IN THIS ARTICLE IS FREE. It may be copied, distributed
and/or modified under the conditions set down in the Design Science License
published by Michael Stutz at http://dsl.org/copyleft/dsl.txt