Re: [IRCA] Back On the List

[Bill Block <billwblock@xxxxxxx>]

Hi John
 
Its good to have you back on the list.
 
 
Bill Block
Prescott Valley, AZ
 
 
> Date: Sat, 8 Sep 2007 17:01:08 -0700> To: irca@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> From: bjohnorcas@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> Subject: [IRCA] Back On the List> > Folks,> > I didn't DX from our winter home in Oklahoma this past winter and > then was busy with travel and other affairs from the time of our > arrival in the Pacific Northwest (mid-May) untiol just two weeks ago. > I finally got cranked back up and have been DXing TransPacific at > dawn for the past few days. I live on Orcas Island, one of the San > Juan group of US islands that lay in the waters between Vancouver > Island and the mainland of British Columbia. My primary antennas last > year (and probably this) are two Monster EWEs. Thanks to having a > home site covered with 90' Douglas Fir trees, the two EWEs are 70' x > 100'. One is pointed at 310 degrees, straight up the inland sea > between Vancouver Island an the mainland... that is the Great Circle > route to the Asian coast.... which I hear fairly well. The other EWE > is pointed due west and looks across the Olympic peninsila and > mountains for 50 miles or so before hitting the open Pacific. I do > not hear DownUnder too well here at home.> > Recently, Guy Atkins and I have been Beta testing the upcoming > Wellbrook Phased Array, which looks VERY promising. I'm preparing an > article on the early findings from that Beta testing and I'll be > submitting it in the very near future.> > The TP season so far seems to have started a bit better and a bit > earlier than in the last several years and the Chinese stations > (usually the darlings of October) are already showing well amongst > the more common Japanese. So, things are promising on several fronts.> > I'll be uploading my comments each morning, along with the rest of > the Pacific Coast dawn crowd and look forward to the general > conversation of the group once again.> > John Bryant.> P.S.> Here are my comments from this morning... 1245 to 1345 on September 8:> > Sorry that I'm late this morning.... I was "scheduled" to go pick > blackberries right after breakfast... and the DX lasted until > breakfast time, for the first time this season. This is my best > morning so far. I started at 1245, intending to make at least two > leisurely trips up the dial. Things seemed normal and Asian until I > hit 621. That frequency has been teasing me on several of the good > Asian AMs so far, but had never produced real audio. Well, this time > it did and there was a guy talking in RUSSIAN (I'm almost certain.) > Was playing pop music, too. I was shocked, since the only Asian thing > that I've heard on 621 is Heillongjiang PBS in Manchuria. PAL showed > me a Russian station in Kharbarovsk, only 50 kW, vs. the 200kW of > Heillongjiang, but there it was. PAL also showed a scheduled > sign-off at 1300 so I sat on 621 for 15 minutes and MAY have heard an > anthem right before the typical TOA fade. Things came back up some > right after the hour and there seemed to be a Russian talking > briefly, then an OC, with CC underneath.... then the CC dominated > (sure to be H. PBS.) The Russian is completely new for me.> > As I moved up the dial, there were Koreans, Chinese and Japanese > everywhere.... a geographically broad opening. It was a bit spotty as > some of the KK and CC regulars weren't doing all that well while > others were. There were a lot of frequencies, much more than usual, > with two audios present. Coming up the dial, the next news worthy > event was hearing the KOREAN in the clear on 702, where 2BL, Sydney > has resided every AM so far this season at about this time. On 810, > also late, San Francisco had faded down and the superb Wellbrook > Array knocked Ephrata, WA in the head and there sat probable > Zheijiang RGD on the central Chinese coast, doing quite well for > about 5 minutes before semi-local Ephrata took back over. That is > the first TP DX that I think that I've ever heard on 810.> > 909 has also teased me for years here, sitting in the massive slop of > the local Victoria station on 900. The Victoria station has the > broadest slop pattern that I've ever experienced. Never before here > on Orcas have I been able to get any audio out of 909. This morning, > thanks to the quite broad rear null on the Wellbrook, there sat JOCB, > NHK2 Nagoya. I have heard that down at Grayland VERY occasionally, > but never ever here on Orcas.> > I guess that the other news is that the high band was back after a 48 > hour near-absence... oh, again thanks to the superior S/N ratio of > the Wellbrook, I heard the NHK2 synchros (3 at 1 kW) for the second > or third time this fall.> > Boy, if there was ever an argument for the importance of > Signal-to-Noise Ratio, its comparing my Monster EWE to the rather > diminutive Wellbrook Array. The gain of a loop is roughly > proportional to its included area. The 70' x 100' EWE encloses 7,000 > square feet... and that is just considering the above ground portion. > The two Deltas of the Wellbrook include about 400 square feet, > total.... Yet, the Wellbrook is outperforming the EWE every time > (sometimes only by being a bit more intelligible thanks to S/N, > sometimes by quite a bit, thanks to a far superior F/B ratio.)> > Well, that is it for today! Come on QCIDX!> > > _______________________________________________> IRCA mailing list> IRCA@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/irca> > Opinions expressed in messages on this mailing list are those of the original contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the IRCA, its editors, publishing staff, or officers> > For more information: http://www.ircaonline.org> > To Post a message: irca@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> 
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