[IRCA] Some random thoughts on TP reception

[cafe@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

If I was to note ONE station that, without fail,
appears every single night of the year...
is the first in and last out every day,
it would have to be Tahiti on 738khz.

Now although they run less than 50% modulation (ostensibly
to save wear and tear on their equipment), their carrier
is usually "in" prior to Tahitian sunset every day of the
year.

This time of year, a lot of wacky stuff starts to happen
on medium and long wave. Prior to conventional wisdom, the
dead of winter is not the best time for medium wave DXing.
In fact, September and October are prime time for medium
and long wave DXing. We have something called the
Mid-Winter Anomaly that kicks in -- generally sometime
in late October to early November. Granted the term "Mid-winter"
is probably inaccurate but the effect is the same.
The effect appears to be related to the auroral zones near the
Earth poles. For obvious reasons, those of us North of 40 appear
to suffer more.

That said, in November and December we do experience odd
openings where Japan appears on the Medium-wave dial
upwards of an hour prior to their sunset.
It is not unusual, in Victoria on Vancouver Island, to
have Japan on 774khz or 747khz and 828khz, clear as a bell
as early as 0615-0630 UTC.

The secret to taking advantage of this trans-pacific and
trans-polar reception is to maintain an open mind.
It (DX) can appear anytime there is darkness or grayline between
you and the transmitting site, and sometimes way outside of that.

I corrected a local dxer recently who said: "I cannot hear Japan
on medium-wave on the West Coast... it's too difficult... to much
interference... not enough signal... etc etc..."

After several weeks of hammering home the point: "It happens
all the time and at remarkable signal levels..."
He started hearing the DX and on a regular basis.
His problem? Not his equipment. He has more stuff and
better antennas than I do.

The problem: Something I called Dxers mental block.

Yea. It is pretty much self-explanatory how it works.

So keep your radio on and your mind open.


--
Colin Newell
Editor-Creator www.coffeecrew.com | www.dxer.ca
Webmaster - www.bobharris.com

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