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[IRCA] Grayland Ultralight DXpedition-- Nov. 2 (TP's by the Truckload)
Hello Guys,
Sometimes everything just seems to fall into place! Not only was I
able to book Room 15 at the Grayland Motel on short notice, but I had the whole
motel to myself, with no RF pollution of any kind. I had always wondered
what it would be like at Grayland on a fantastic TP morning, and today I found
out!
18 new TP's were received on the stand-alone Slider E100 (for a total
of 70 now), with many second-tier Japanese, Korean and Chinese stations that
never could make it to my inland Puyallup location. The stock Sangean DT-400W
also ran wild, with easy loggings of VOA-1575 in Thailand, VOV-675 in
Vietnam and Taiwan-738, as well as about 12 other TP's. The band was still going
strong in broad daylight at 1545, and two new Ultralight countries were logged
(Alaska and the Marshall Islands). A booming mp3 of choral music from
1098-Marshall Islands was obtained at 0741 on the Slider E100, along with many
other recordings of obscure Japanese stations. Guy Atkins was set up at the
Grayland Beach State Park about a mile south of me, and he also had a fantastic
time with his Perseus, Wellbrook Array and SRF-39FP prison radio.
One of the main objectives of this trip was to compare the performance
of the different E100 modifications (stock, filter only, Slider loopstick
only, and fully modified E100) in actual TP DXing conditions, and some very
interesting information was obtained for an upcoming "E100 Four Variant Shootout"
article, to be posted on DXer.Ca. This should prove useful for any DXers
considering E100 modifications of any kind.
A heavily modified ICF-2010 (30" loopstick) was used as a spotting
receiver for the Ultralights, and was extremely useful in checking all the
booming frequencies. Here are the loggings, all on the Slider E100 (7.5" Amidon
loopstick + Murata CFJ455K5 narrow IF filter), unless otherwise noted. Carrier
strength was checked on the modified ICF-2010:
531 JOQG NHK1 program strong throughout morning. Logged on DT-400W at
1127
549 Strong carrier throughout morning, but too much 550 slop to ID
558 JOCR Up and down after 0820, heard on DT-400W at 1231 (fair signal)
567 JOIK NHK1 booming in all morning; strong on DT-400W at 1205
576 R. Mayak synchros up and down in strength; weak on DT-400W at 0906
585 JOPG strong throughout morning with NHK1 program
594 JOAK blowtorch signal from 0704 straight through to 1535; easy on
DT-400W
603 HLSA at moderate level after 0800 until past sunrise
612 Decent carrier, but never came up to audio
621 Presumably Pyongyang at 1220 with good KK audio under KPOJ slop
639 CNR1 with moderate strength after 0830; weak on DT-400W at 1421
648 VOR Somewhat weaker than expected on this stellar morning
657 Pyongyang Booming as usual; heard on DT-400W at 1403
666 JOBK Near blowtorch level all morning; easy on DT-400W at 1425
675 VOV great signal late; weakly heard on DT-400W at max dawn (1436)
684 Weak audio at 1431 presumed Pyongyang, with typical obsolete music
693 JOAB Booming in with NHK2 all morning, easy catch on DT-400W at 1233
702 NHK2 synchros very tough catch in domestic splatter at 1117, // 747
711 Very strong carrier here in KIRO splatter at 1428, but too much KIRO
to ID
729 Another strong carrier that never quite made it to audio
738 BEL2 moderate to strong all morning; weak on DT-400W at max dawn (1434)
747 JOIB As expected, incredibly strong on every Ultralight in the room
750 KFQD over/ under KXL during SSS (0400) on the Slider-only E100
756 KBS at a decent level around dawn enhancement (1413)
765 Weak Korean at 0826, presumed HLCQ
774 JOUB King of the NHK blowtorches all morning long, well past 1515
792 Weak Chinese at 1501; Shenyang?
819 Obviously NK with extremely ragged carrier in KGNW slop, but no audio
828 JOBB another NHK2 blowtorch causing hearing damage to careless DXers
837 Chinese mystery station at decent level all morning; DT-400W at 1445
846 NHK1 synchros heard weakly at 1139
855 Pyongyang at 1141 with female vocal music and ragged carrier
864 HLKR decent signal after 0900 through to sunrise, with KBS program
873 JOGB NHK2 powerhouse most of morning, strong on DT-400W at 1205
890 KBBI Homer, Alaska easiest of the Alaskans during SSS at 0303
891 JOHK and another weak station (CC?) fighting it out at max dawn (1432)
909 Decent carrier for most of morning, but no audio
918 Shandong CC at good level around sunrise, 1417
927 Not as strong as 918, but audible in CC at 1421
936 Anhui CC audio pretty strong around 1445; weak on DT-400W at 1450
945 CNR audio easily audible through KJR splatter, 1411
954 JOKR heard with difficulty through KJR splatter at 0847 due to IF
filter mod
963 CRI signal weaker than expected throughout the morning
972 HLCA blowtorch as usual on every Ultralight in sight, DT-400W at 0835
981 CNR1 strong in CC with some domestic splatter, 1256
999 Strong carrier right next to KOMO, but way too much splatter to ID
1008 JONR heard in JJ through KOMO splatter at 1212; on DT-400W at 1214
1017 Good DU carrier at 0727, but never came to audio (presumably Tonga)
1035 Monster carrier with no modulation heard throughout morning
1044 China as expected around sunrise (1445), but not very strong
1053 Jammer + JOAR + unID Chinese fighting it out around 1431
1062 UnID CC at fairly good level, 1355
1098 Radio Marshalls booming in with choral music for nice mp3 at 0741
1134 JOQR very strong all morning; strong on the DT-400W at 1149
1206 China Yangbyan Korean service strong at 1206 for nice mp3
1242 JOLF suddenly came up in JJ through graveyard splatter at 1405
1278 JOFR weakly heard at 1225 with local JJ program in domestic hash
1305 UnID weak Chinese audio at 1421 (max dawn enhancement)- CNR1?
1332 JOSF weak with JJ female audio at 0843, but strong at 1434
1422 JORF finally came up to audio at 1504 in JJ, after hours as carrier
1467 HLKN strong in Korean KBS program at max dawn (1417)
1475 RTM Sabah E.Malaysia heard in weak audio only on ICF-2010, 1453
1566 HLAZ true blowtorch for most of morning, strong on DT-400W at 1451
1575 VOA Thailand very strong late, with booming mp3 on DT-400W (1455)
1593 CNR weak signal on DT-400W at max dawn enhancement, 1433
With all this DX fun on stand-alone Ultralight portables, it's hard to
imagine how this hobby can get any more exciting! Thanks to John Bryant and
Walt Salmaniw for their recent DXpedition reports, which helped provide
identification for many of the above TP's. Thanks also to Guy Atkins and Steve
Ratzlaff for their assistance in developing these modified E100's, which truly
provide outstanding DX performance in a very tiny package.
73, Gary DeBock
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