Re: [IRCA] Grayland Loggings and Antenna Comments - August 25-26

[vroomski@xxxxxxxxxxx]

Guy,

Did you take about pictures of the antennas at Grayland?  It would be cool
to see how you and John set them out.  Your clips were great.  Amazing the way the Wellbrook Phased Arrays (prototypes) knock down the splash from adjacent stations.  

Dennis,
Vancouver, WA

-------------- Original message -------------- 
From: "Guy Atkins" <dx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> 

> Last weekend I joined John Bryant at Grayland, WA for a DXpedition that was 
> first and foremost an antenna testing session, but as it turned out the DX 
> was definitely worthwhile for late August. 
> 
> In his ever-prepared fashion, John had charted out in advance how the 700 
> foot Beverages and our Wellbrook Phased Arrays (prototypes) should be 
> arranged on the property. It must have been a more impressive (annoying?) 
> spectacle than usual, as I can't remember a time when more people asked us 
> about the strange wires than during this DXpedition. One Beverage and 
> Wellbrook array were oriented northwest (approx. 315 degrees) and another 
> Beverage and array were aimed due West (270 degrees). Center-to-center 
> spacing of the loops was 40m (~142 ft.), with their circumference at 60 feet 
> (20 ft. per side, horizontal leg at 3 ft. above ground). 
> 
> The nulls of the arrays are impressively stable, requiring only occasional 
> (and slight) readjustment from top to bottom of the MW band for best 
> performance. John and I did some daytime groundwave testing of Portland 
> stations close in azimuth to the backside of the NW array, and observed 
> nulls between 38-45 dB (as measured with the accurate dBm signal meter of 
> John's g313e receiver). Stations that were approx. 20-30 degrees off-axis 
> were generally 18-25 dB down when the phaser's "reversal" switch was 
> flipped. 
> 
> These relatively compact arrays are the first antennas I've encountered in 
> 18 years of MW DXing that can compete with a Beverage! In nearly every DX 
> situation, reception was equivalent to the 700 footers, and sometimes the 
> arrays provided a bit improved splatter rejection, too. I'm looking forward 
> to comparing the arrays to much longer Beverage antennas in September. 
> 
> My DXing on this trip was with my Eton E1, and occasionally John's E1 for 
> checking parallels. My SDR-1000 is on currently the garage workbench for 
> some substantial mods. 
> 
> I recorded the following two MP3 files to indicate the performance of the 
> Wellbrook phased arrays. Each file starts out with 10 seconds of reception 
> with the E1 and the Wellbrook array, followed by 10 seconds with the 
> Beverage antenna, and then back to 10 seconds with the Wellbrook, etc.: 
> 
> 963 kHz: China Radio Intl. with their Russian language service: 
> http://www.guyatkins.com/files/8.25.07_CRI_963_Well_array_vs_bev.mp3 
> 
> 891 kHz 4TAB Innisfail, Australia with sports talk: 
> http://www.guyatkins.com/files/8.25.07_4TAB_891_Well_array_vs_bev.mp3 
> 
> This file indicates the nulling ability of the Wellbrook array. It starts 
> with 10 seconds of 963 kHz, China Radio Intl. in Russian on the Wellbrook 
> with the beam switch in the NW direction, and then 10 seconds with the 
> reversal switch engaged (nulled signal), and then 10 seconds with the switch 
> in the forward direction again. 
> http://www.guyatkins.com/files/8.26.07_CRI_963_nulled_Well_array.mp3 
> 
> ------------------------------------------------ 
> 
> On to some loggings: 
> 
> 
> 189 RUSSIA R. Rossi, Aug 26 1245 - Orchestral music, parallel to 279. Good 
> level, and quieter on Wellbrook array. (Atkins-WA) 
> 
> 531 NEW ZEALAND 1XPI Auckland, Aug 26 1252 - Church service with choral 
> singing in island language. 1XPI likely, on a local NZ Sunday evening. 
> Poor-fair; probable. At 1300, 2PM Kempsey faded up co-channel, with 'Radio 
> 531, 2PM' ID, equal level to 1XPI. Buzz from an nearby IBOC transmitter was 
> a bit of a challenge while DXing 531 with the Eton E1. (Atkins-WA) 
> 
> 567 JAPAN JOIK Sapporo, Aug 26 1304 - Male and female announcers in 
> Japanese, with world news items. Parallel to 594 JOAK. Fair signal. 
> (Atkins-WA) 
> 
> 576 AUSTRALIA 2RN Sydney, Aug 26 1306 - Noted with jazz music and English 
> announcer, parallel to 792 4RN. Good signal. (Atkins-WA) 
> 
> 594 AUSTRALIA 3WV Horsham, Aug 25 1335 - Man and woman announcer with 
> interview of female C&W musician Elizabeth Cook. Discussion of her concerts, 
> followed by her hit song 'Sometimes It Takes Balls to be a Woman.' Some QRM 
> from JOAK Tokyo. Fair. Parallel to 612 4QR Brisbane at much stronger level. 
> Best signal by far on NW Beverage (!), just past local SR. (Atkins-WA) 
> 
> 612 AUSTRALIA 4QR Brisbane, Aug 26 1312 - Strong signal of an interview or 
> talk show discussing Solomon Islands politics. Parallel to 774 3LO Melourne. 
> (Atkins-WA) 
> 
> 729 JAPAN JOCK NHK1 Nagoya, Aug 25 1144 - Female in Japanese talk; equal 
> signal but slightly less splatter on Wellbrook array. Fair level. 
> (Atkins-WA) 
> 
> 765 AUSTRALIA 2EC Bega, Aug 25 1214 - Tentative, with English language pop 
> music, male and female announcers in English. Announcers sounded more Aussie 
> than Kiwi. (Atkins-WA) 
> 
> 828 JAPAN JOBB Osaka, Aug 26 1210 - Male announcer in Japanese, parallel to 
> 774. Fair on peaks, with unid. music station occasionally in background. 
> (Atkins-WA) 
> 
> 873 JAPAN JOGB Kumamoto, Aug 26 1206 - Fair level with Japanese talk by 
> male. (Atkins-WA) 
> 
> 891 AUSTRALIA 4TAB Innisfail, Aug 25 1227 - Man and woman announcers with 
> sports discussion; at 1228: '4TAB, your sports radio in Innisfail.' Fair to 
> good. (Atkins-WA) 
> 
> 927 AUSTRALIA 4CC Gladstone, Aug 26 1346 - Tentative. Female Aussie 
> announcer in English, with pop variety tunes including Beatles. Fair signal, 
> and then into the noise. (Atkins-WA) 
> 
> 936 AUSTRALIA 7ZR Hobart, Aug 26 1320 - Political discussion about Solomon 
> Islands politics; choral music from Solomons choir. Fair on peaks, and 
> parallel to 612 4QR Melbourne. (Atkins-WA) 
> 
> 963 CHINA CRI, Aug 25 1250 - Chinese orchestral music to fanfare and RR 
> anmts and ID. Good level. (Atkins-WA) 
> 
> 981 AUSTRALIA 2NM Muswellbrook, Aug 25 1310 - Music of Abba's 'Dancing 
> Queen,' Barry Manilow tune, and Billy Ray Cyrus' 'Achy Breaky Heart'. Into 
> brief snippets of 50s/60s oldies tunes for promo, then 2 IDs as '2NM...music 
> station.' Co-channel with CNR1 in Chinese. Fair to good. (Atkins-WA) 
> 
> 1134 JAPAN JOQR Tokyo, Aug 26 1345 - Radio drama in Japanese with silly 
> adult and children's characters. Good level. (Atkins-WA) 
> 
> 1206 CHINA Yanbian RGD, Aug 26 1146 - Tentative. Man and woman in Korean; 
> Yanbian shown in PAL as Korean in this time frame. Fair to good on peaks. 
> (Atkins-WA) 
> 
> 1242 JAPAN JOLF Tokyo, Aug 26 1341 - Brief snippets of definite Japanese by 
> man and woman announcers before fading into the jumble. Fair-good. 
> (Atkins-WA) 
> 
> 1278 JAPAN JOFR Fukuoka, Aug 26 1140 - Female Japanese announcer, and EZL 
> Japanese music at 1142. Poor signal; tentative. (Atkins-WA) 
> 
> 1287 JAPAN JOHR Sapporo, Aug 26 1125 - Man and woman in Japanese with poss. 
> drama program. Japanese pop music at 1132. Good level during peaks. Hints of 
> a Philipino in the background-- DZZH/DXRC?. (Atkins-WA) 
> 
> 1475 MALAYSIA RTM Kota Kinabalu, Aug 26 1328 - Pop music to female announcer 
> in poss. Malay; back to pop music 1332. Poor-fair signal. (Atkins-WA) 
> 
> 1566 SOUTH KOREA HLAZ Cheju, Aug 25-26 - present at moderate levels both 
> mornings, but never really outstanding as is often the case during winter 
> months. (Atkins-WA) 
> 
> 1575 THAILAND VOA, Aug 25-26 - heard both mornings at a fair level. 
> (Atkins-WA) 
> 
> ---------------------------------------------------------- 
> 
> Guy Atkins 
> Puyallup, WA USA 
> DXing at Grayland, WA 
> Eton E1 receiver 
> Wellbrook phased array antennas W & NW (prototypes) 
> W and NW 700 ft. Beverage antennas 
> 
> 
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