[IRCA] TPs Oct 9: Very Interesting

["John H. Bryant" <bjohnorcas@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

It was another very good morning to East Asia, with loads of JJs and 
KKs and quite a decent number of Chinese. Conditions seemed a bit 
disturbed as some of the normal stuff was noticeably weaker, some 
stronger than usual. There was no real pattern to this, just a bit 
more disturbed than usual.

I'm continuing to test the beta Wellbrook array against my best giant 
EWE (70' x 100') and the Wellbrook continues to be the clear winner. 
I've never really DXed Alaskans from here, only having QSLed 6 in 
recent years.... I've always found them much more difficult to hear 
from here than you would expect, due to unfortunate regional 
co-channels in the West and, possibly to polar absorption.  Anyway, 
three days ago, I stated trying a bit in the late evening and a bit 
during lulls in the dawn Asian stuff.  Its been rewarding so far, 
though I'm sure that I'm picking off the easier ones.  This morning, 
I heard 580 KRSA, Petersburg over KIDO in Boise; KFQD-750 Anchorage 
over KXL; 780-KNOM, Nome over KKOH, Reno; KINY-800 Juneau over nearby 
Penticton, BC and probable KICY, Nome over KHHO in nearby Tacoma. The 
two Nome stations are new for me..... I particularly enjoyed the 
local news on KNOM.  The city council just passed an ordinance that 
prohibits trapping and snaring of wild animals within the city 
limits, if the traps or snares are within 100 feet of a residence or 
50 feet of a walking trail.  Seems as though overly enthusiastic 
local subsistence hunters are, far too often, catching the pet dogs 
of their neighbors.... causing numerous recent altercations!!!!  And 
all of this within the "city" limits, mind you!  Local radio at its 
best.................

Since the mass of Alaska is one to two time zones to my west, evening 
DXing is not yielding too much, yet.... before my early Dawn DXer 
bedtime, anyway. However, in the last couple of evenings, I've 
managed to catch 620-KGTL, Homer over the Vancouver, WA/Portland, OR 
semi-local; KTKN-930, Ketchikan over Edmonton and the local-but-weak 
KBAI, Bellingham and KAGV-1110, Big Lake over KBND, Bend, OR.

Despite a serious and quite expensive ground system for the EWE, the 
Wellbrook array continues to have a much better F/B ratio in DXing 
situations.... and, since my EWE is not reversible, I find the 
Wellbrook much handier as a DX tool.... Flipping the switch to 
reverse things is quite helpful in making sure that I'm not DXing the 
remains of the dominant that I've got nulled down.

I'm going to try to get an overall article on Beta testing the 
Wellbrook pulled together in about another week..... And I've not 
really heard from Wellbrook when the commercial version is hitting 
the market, but I'd judge it to be in early spring.

John B.

    

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