[IRCA] TP 22 Jan

[Walter Salmaniw <salmaniw@xxxxxxx>]

A little more about this mornings TP opening.  As some of you might have noticed, I've had a relatively low profile owing to numerous family and work commitments.  After spending a few hours yesterday afternoon rejigging my ALA 100, I resumed dxing this morning, if only for a few minutes before rushing off to the OR (I was only 2 minutes late!).  First, after reading the ALA 100 review in PWBR, I decided to change the dimensions in a big way.  I initially kept the loop at only a few feet (about 10 or 15' diameter).  It worked quite well, but in most cases not nearly as good as my K9AY (also a Wellbrook product).  PWBR recommends a 40' circumference square elevated off the ground.  Well I accomplished this duplicating the 40' square and elevating the bottom of the square about 15 to 20' off the ground.  It's invisible having used black insulated wire, and it's buried inside a holly tree or three.....not fun, let me assure you.  I kept the direction about the same, at approximately  a bearing of 45 to 50 degrees/225 to 230 deg.

The first thing noticed was that this antenna really pulls in the signals.....virtually as well, and sometimes better than the much larger K9AY.  Surprising too is that it does not overload.  Even when tuned to or adjacent our local MW stations, there doesn't seem to be any trouble.  I'm impressed and very tempted to order another ALA 100 for travel purposes.  A great performer on LW too.  Thanks to Colin Newell for pointed out the PWBR article before I had my own copy.

This morning the bottom half of the band was quite lively with many carriers, and even a number of audios, although they were all relatively weak.  Here's my list:  279 R Rossii, 621, 639, 747 (the best at a 7 with TP at 15:00), 828, 837, 873, 972 and 1287.  The upper band was pretty dead with 1566 and 1575 notably absent.  Most of the audios were "6"'s only.  For those interested I keep a visual log each morning so if you want a copy let me know.  Perhaps the bands are slowly coming back to life after a pretty miserable few months?  .........Walt Salmaniw, Victoria
PS:  Quite a few Pacific signals were audible last night around 07:00 UTC as well as I was trying out the "new" and improved ALA. 


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