Kevin Schanilec and I were able to get both Wellbrook arrays up on
Friday afternoon: a phased array of 2 triangular K9AYs and another
massive new array of two 17' x 60' Super Loops. Both arrays were
pointed NW and were separated and staggered by about 150 feet. It
was quite a job including a total of 6 self-supporting masts and two
large sets of radials (for the K9AYs.) After one night of testing,
the Super Array appears to be superior to the K9AY in forward gain,
and possibly having a slightly narrower front lobe and each rejects
the backside about equally (which means that the Super Loops are
actually rejecting things much better given their larger size and
increased forward gain.) There is a lot more testing to go, and a
possible decrease in the size of the Super Loops, but things are
looking REALLY promising.
We were talking over when to get up this morning and remembered that
this late in the season, things are often better an hour or two
before sunrise, with dawn enhancement being very mild. So, we started
out 1220UTC (LSR=1440) and were welcomed by almost wall to wall DX
with many signals the strongest that I have heard them this season!
It was exactly like September, all over again: the Japanese, large
and small were very much favored, with little or no co-channel
interference from mainland stations. 531 JOQG Morioka, NHK1, usually
at murmur or, at most, fair level was stronger than I've ever heard
it. I enjoyed a bit of the Japanese World Series between Tokyo and
somebody. "Home-uh Run-uh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Just like in September,
the Big Gun Chinese and Korean stations were in, too, but the second
and third tier were missing.
By 1315, still 90 minutes before dawn, the band had dropped in
average signal about to wqhere we have been experiencing it lately
and the smaller mainlanders began to appear. There was a bit of a
boost at dawn, but it was certainly weak compared to "normal," and
the coastal effect kept the DX coming in until 1540, a full hour
after dawn. When we shut down, all of the Big Guns were still
putting in audio, but the real DX was gone.
The more interesting loggings:
549: Mayak/ Rossii with an excellent signal and a definite echo //279
which was booming in, itself. The 549 signal was likely
Vladivostok+Magadan. 576, usually the far stronger Russian, was
totally missing (and we thought off the air) until near dawn when it
was noted in parallel.
738//1143 Taiwan Fisheries was excellent much of the time and 1143
was really strong at dawn.
810 R.Rossii totally dominated KGO at times throughout the morning.
837 In the early going, this was JOQK, Niigata, NHK1, by itself.
Later, presumed Harbin was on top.
999 early was a Chinese, not CNR1 or 2. Most likely Liaoning. Later,
it was the Korean Christian station, HLCL
1026, Beijing Economic Radio was in very well and was IDing "FM xx.x,
AM 1026!" They did that four times in as many minutes. Is this the
beginning of the end of AM radio in China??? IDing FM first,
WOW! Big change for the Chinese to even have FM simulcast, much less
ID it first!
1116 JODR, Niigata was the big catch for me this morning. Its a
relatively small commercial station on the Japan Sea side of Honshu.
New station for me.
1134 had the JJ and KK on it, but it also had the rare CNR1 in
Qinghai Province, over near Tibet.
The imponderable of the morning was on 900 at 1500. With these
antennas, Victoria was largely missing until WELL after dawn. At
1500, it was beginning to come up. There was another station under
it, also playing quiet music. At 1500, the CNR time pips were heard
and what seemed to be the fanfare/anthem and other parts of the CRN2
TOH routing. If so, this is the OTHER station in Golmud,
Qinghai.... If I had Perseus, I could re-run that at check parallels. Oh
well!
So, that is it for day one.... Meeting Kevin S. face to face for the
first time has been fun. Little did we know, but we both go to the
same barber (our heads resemble bowling balls :>)
More tomorrow!
John Bryant
Winradio G313e + Wellbrook Arrays
Grayland, WA