[IRCA] KMTI Maintenance Test Results and Possibly another Utah Test!

["Les Rayburn" <les@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

UTAH #2 AND THE PROSPECT FOR UTAH #3 SOON
===============================================

Maintenance Test Results-KMTI 650khz Manti, Utah
March 19, 2007 12:00AM-02:00AM Mountain Time

Our thanks to Mr. Doug Barton for one of the most successful and widely 
heard
maintenance tests of the past several seasons. We received report after 
report that indicated
that KMTI represented "Utah #2" in the log. Doug also promised to consider 
test material when

KSVC 980khz completes it's antenna upgrade! Details at the end of this 
report.

This test was heard literally coast to coast, and in nearly every state of 
the union
including Hawaii at a distance of almost 3,000 miles! Now let's look at the 
reports:

One of the highlights of the reports was that received from Richard Wood in 
Keaau, HI. He
used his Icom R75 and an 1800 foot unterminated beverage antenna to log the 
entire test,

including the voice announcements. He reported that KTMI was dominant on the 
frequency!This
logging is from almost 3,000 miles away!

Also receiving the test was Rob Roberts of San Bernardino, CA, William 
Wilkins of Springfield,
MO, and Jim Paige of Sterling Heights, MI. Other lucky DX'ers included Ernie 
Wesolowski of
Omaha, NE, and Dennis Vroomski in Vancouver, WA. Dennis used his trusty JRC 
545 along with a
high performance active whip and H-800 active whip with the Quantum Phaser 
to pull in the
signal. Dennis was one of many who enjoyed the test in "real time" using the 
#mwdx chat room
on www.starchat.net. If you haven't tried a DXing sessions (especially a 
test) while logged on
to this chat room, you're really missing out.

Patrick Martin pulled the signal in easily from his home in Seaside, OR 
using the beverage
antenna. An EWE antenna "came through again" for James Niven, who logged a 
new one thanks to
the test. Bill Block of Prescott Valley, Arizona added the Southwest to 
those regions of the
country hearing the test, while your editor, Les Rayburn managed to null WSM 
in Nashville to
put Utah #2 into the log from Central Alabama.

Pete Taylor used a Sony 2010 and the mighty Kiwa Loop to hear this test from 
Tacoma, WA. Jim
Renfrew struggled for a while to pull in a complete ID, but finally put 
"Utah #2" into the
logs from his shack in Western, NY. Nice catch, Jim!

Neil Kazaross used two BOG's (beverages on the ground) phased against each 
other to null QRM
from WSM and CKOM to pull in KMTI. The Golden State was well represented by 
Martin Foltz who
logged "semi-regular" KMTI easily during the test from his home in Mission 
Viejo. Despite the
nearly urban location, Martin hears a lot out there on the coast.

IRCA President Nick Hall-Patch used his flag antenna with remote termination 
to null nearby
CISL and log the test from Victoria, BC, Canada. Curtis Sadowski managed to 
overcome a booming
signal from WSM to pull out the sweep tones and code in Paxton, IL. Saul 
Chernos in Ontario,
Canada, Patrick Griffith in Westminster, CO, and Kevin Redding in Arizona 
all managed to log
the test as well.

Another "happy camper" was Jim Chenard of Blairstown, NJ who used his Drake 
R8 Receiver and
the famous Kiwa loop to null WSM well enough to make out several Morse Code 
ID's and sweeps
from KMTI.

Marc DeLorenzo suffered long and hard in the #mwdx chat room as others 
reported hearing the
test from around the country, while Marc continued to struggle. Finally 
narrowing the
bandwidth of his receiver did the trick and he managed to log this one all 
the way in South
Dennis, MA which is over 2100 miles away! Great job, Marc!

Brandon Jordan of Memphis, TN also used CW mode and narrow filtering to make 
out the test
signals and overcome the nearby country legend to hear a new one. Brandon 
runs the incredible
web site, www.dxtests.info which makes tracking upcoming DX tests easy! 
Thanks for all you do
Brandon!

Bob Rodriguez may help sell a few Quantum Loops, because he managed to log 
the test from his
home in Poughkeepsie, NY using only that antenna and a Sangean 818! That's 
almost 2000 miles
folks!

Another great catch was Steve Howe, in Saint Albans, Vermont. He used a 
Radio West Loop and
the Sony 2010 to catch KMTI at a distance of over 2000 miles. He commented 
later, "No fancy
phased beverages for me". On the other hand, Bill Harms knows that good 
DX'ers take no chances
when it comes to a rare test from Utah. He used a Western BOG, an EWE, and a 
K9AY antenna all
routed into the Quantum Phaser to null WSM and pull in this one from his 
home in Elkridge,
Maryland. For the record, Manti is on a bearing of 281.4 for Bill, and WSM 
is on nearly the
same bearing at 252.3! Very nice work there, Bill!

Brett Saylor used his Drake R8 and a 100 foot E/W sloper to hear this one 
from the shack in
Central PA. Nigel Pimblett reports that "KMTI is heard fairly often here" 
and the sweeps and
Morse Code made it an easy catch from his home in Dunmore, Alberta. Tim 
Noonan of Oak Creek,
WI sent in a detailed report of the test, which he was thrilled to log. 
Another Wisconsin
DX'er who heard the test was Bill Dvorak of Madison.

Jordan Lopshire of Coldwater, MI heard the test very well at his shack and 
reported it as his
first ever Utah reception! Glad to help put a new one in the log book, 
Jordan! It was also a
new one for Charles Dobbins of Alpine, Texas who needed only the internal 
loopstick antenna on
a Sony ICF-7600 to pull this one in. I guess even the loopsticks are bigger 
in Texas!

KMTI was a new one in the log from Mike Stonebridge in St. Isidore, Alberta, 
Canada and he was
thrilled to hear it. And of course, Canada's only "Bat-Man" whose radar ears 
hear it all,
Barry McLarnon logged this one from his home in Ottawa. Nice catch Barry!

Adam Myrow used only his trusty Q-Stick antenna to null WSM enough to log 
KMTI from his home
in Memphis. His receiver is the YB-400 portable. Don't scoff at this simple 
equipment, he's
also managed to log Croatia on 1134 and Norway on 1314 with only these 
tools! Great job, Adam!
Utah #2 was the battle cry of many a DX'er and that was true for Bruce 
Winkelman of Tulsa, OK.
His Drake R8, Quantum Phaser and two 50 foot wires were up to the task.

Joe Miller, KD8DLU designed the QSL card for this test (and many others the 
past two
seasons) and it's only fitting that he manage to hear the test. From Troy, 
MI it's a
respectable 1500 miles to Utah! Joe noted that this catch was MW#390, Utah 
#1, 650#3 and Utah
is his 36th state heard.

For many, it was the use of sweep tones that enabled them to put a new one 
into the log book.
That was certainly the case for Russ Johnson, of Lexington, NC who managed 
to log the test
after nearly an hour of trying to overcome WSM. The "Doctor of DX", Dr. 
Walter Salmaniw
pulled into a new one from his shack in Victoria, BC, Canada. Nice catch, 
Doc!

Mike Sanburn reported KMTI "heard well" in Bellflower, California as did 
John Tucker in
Mesa, AZ. It was John Tucker's original visit to KMTI and discussions with 
CE Doug Barton that
led to DX'er being included in these maintenance tests. We all owe John 
Tucker a huge thanks
for his efforts! (John, can you visit Rhode Island next?)


Seattle, Washington DX'er Bruce Portzer heard the test quite well, reporting 
voice ID's and
"off hook" phone sound effects along with the usual code and sweeps. While 
in Shorewood, IL,
Tom Jasinksi used a Drake R8A and a Quantum loop antenna to pull the test 
in. Phillip Chiello
in Elm Grove, WI sent in a nice recording of the test, made using only a 
stock Sony 2010!

After 37 years of DXing from his shack in Charleston, West Virginia, Jim 
Wallace used the KTMI
test to put Utah #2 into his log book. Great catch from over 1600 miles 
away! Larry Rusesell
in Flushing, Michigan was another listener who went to bed happy after 
logging a new one. And
our last successful report came in from Dan Riordan in Sherwood, Oregon who 
logged the test
for a successful ID of KMTI, which he had only marked as "tentative" on a 
past effort. Glad to
put that in the logs for sure, Dan!

Despite the widespread success of the test, a few folks did go to bed 
unhappy. Among them
were Mike Hardester of Jacksonville, NC who could not null WSM successfully. 
KMTI lies on
nearly the same bearing as WSM, making it difficult for the Radio West Loop 
to pull out KMTI.

WSM also proved too much for Eric Berger of Detroit, MI who managed a null 
on the Nashville
station, only to be plagued by WNMT in Nashwauk, MN...alas that station was 
unneeded for Eric.
Russ Edmunds of Blue Bell, PA also couldn't get past the monster signal from 
down South and
when he did, only UNID Spanish waited in the null. Better luck next time 
Russ.

Bryan Clark had "reasonably good signals from North America", but was unable 
to log the test
from his home in Mangawhai, New Zeeland. Bryan has a first class station 
with an AOR 7030+
receiver and a 100 meter long BOG antenna beamed toward the Americas, but 
all his efforts were
for naught on this one.

FINAL TALLIES
================================================
By my quick count, the test was heard in at least 23 states and three 
providences of Canada!

Receptions ranged literally from Coast to Coast, and for more folks than I 
can count, this
test presented a chance to put Utah #2 into the log books.

Doug Barton may make the next battle cry, "Utah #3!" later this year, when 
he completes work
on KSVC on 980Khz in Richfield, UT. The station will have new, taller towers 
and higher power
levels. When construction is completed, KSVC will have a 400 foot tall 
Non-Directional tower
and 12,000 watts. Doug has promised to consider including Morse Code IDs, 
Sweep Tones, etc.
during some testing when the new array is complete. Stay tuned for 
details---we may all get a
chance to put a third Utah station into the logs!

Our thanks again to Joe Tucker for personally setting up this test, and of 
course, to Mr. Doug
Barton for including us in his station maintenance!


SOAPBOX
======================================

As I thought, a piece of cake to hear with the 10 KW. Voice ID, Morse
code, sweep tones, etc. Creaming everything else off the Eastern
beverage.
-Patrick Martin, Seaside, OR

This will be UT #2.  Guess which one is #1?
-Jim Renfrew, Holley, NY

Tonight WOULD be one of the nights WSM comes in like it was next door. 
Anyway, the DX test is
weak underneath it, just the tones so far.
-Curtis Sadowski, Paxton, IL

After 46 minutes of frustration, KMTI-650 test finally heard with sweep 
tones thru WSM at 0246
EDT.  Big thanks to Joe, Les, Barry, Jim, & Brandon in the mwdx chat room. 
And of course John
Tucker  for visiting the station and Doug Barton at KMTI!!
-Marc DeLorenzo, South Dennis, MA

WSM was being a pain to fully null here in Memphis, and slop from local
WCVR-640 on LSB. I wasn't have much luck in ECSS USB, AM or AM Synch and
finally settled on tuning to 651 kHz in CW mode and narrow filtering.
That did the trick, decent morse code and sweep tones from 0630 UTC onward.
-Brandon Jordan, Memphis, TN

Before the test, I noted that the bearings of KMTI and WSM
(respectively) from my QTH are approximately 290 and 282 degrees. Need I
say more?
-Mike Hardester, Jackonsville, NC

KMTI-650 heard very weakly under WSM several separate times between 0309
and 0330 EDT with sweep tones, but no code or voice IDs, using my ICF-2010
and Radio West loop.  No fancy phasable beverages for me.
-Steve Howe, St. Albans, VT

I was anticipating the KMTI DX test  for over a month now, so needless to 
say I dragged myself
out of bed at 2:00 to hear it!
-Jordan Lopshire, Coldwater, MI

Heard it at Burnt River ON last night, morse code and sweep tones. Not a bad
signal at times, fading up and down in WSM null, mixing with a Coast to
Coast station (Minnesota presumed) and a Latin music station (Venezuela
presumed) and possibly others too weak to do much with. Utah #2 here and
made the last-minute rip here absolutely worthwhile.
-Saul Chernos, Burnt River, Ontario, Canada

A welcome addition to the log indeed, UT #4 and 650 #11.  Thanks to all 
involved!
-Barry McLarnon, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Hooray, the sweep tones punched through.  Extra hooray, I don't have to 
listen to the last
hour of this country music!
-Russ Johnson, Lexington, NC

Les Rayburn, N1LF
NRC/IRCA Broadcast Test Coordinator
Please call anytime 24/7 if your transmitter
will be off the air for maintenance.
(205) 253-4867



























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