[IRCA] Oregon Beach Ultralight DU's for 8-14

[d1028gary@xxxxxxx]

Hello All,

One of the highest ocean beach cliffs in northwest Oregon became a 
spur-of-the-moment DXing venue this early morning, as a PL-380 
Ultralight radio and an 8" Ferrite Sleeve Loop antenna were set up in 
about 2 square feet of space. The location was the "Rockworks" ocean 
view point on Highway 101, just south of the border between Clatsop and 
Tillamook counties on the Oregon coast. The ocean view from this 400' 
high cliff is awesome, but it turns out that the Trans-Pacific DXing 
advantage was even more fascinating.

A mystery from last month was a station on 639 kHz that apparently was 
the 2 kw New Zealand National Radio relay station in Alexandra (4YW), 
which both Walt and I believed that we had heard last month during our 
trips to Masset and Lincoln City. The parallel programming with 675-3YA 
was checked and confirmed this morning, as the FSL brought the National 
Radio programming on 639 kHz in very nicely (with almost no trace of 
Fiji again, as last month). Other Kiwi  and Pacific Island stations 
were also very vibrant, with 603-Waatea, 657-Southern Star, 675-3YA, 
738-Tahiti and 891-5AN all at the strongest levels ever heard during 10 
Pacific beach trips (several of these stations were maxing out the S/N 
display reading on the PL-380). A mystery station on 531 kHz was also 
heard with good signals and foreign-sounding speech, presumably 531-PI 
because of the Kiwi-slanted propagation. 603-Waatea's Maori-language 
choral music was sounding local-like at times, and compensating 
somewhat for the almost total absence of the Radio Fiji One stations 
heard in Lincoln City last August (558, 639 and 684 kHz). With the 
notable exception of 891-5AN the Australian "big gun" stations seemed 
to be missing in action again, and an apparent 666-Noumea was managing 
only a trace this time, unlike in July when its French International 
programming was strong enough to match with the 738-Tahiti parallel.

This "cliffhanger" DXing venue on the Oregon coast offers a huge amount 
of transoceanic gain for anyone willing to set up a listening post 
there, but of course there isn't any AC power, rain cover, or space for 
beverage runs. The Ultralight radio + FSL combo can set up practically 
anywhere on the Pacific Coast, though, and I'm sure that even higher 
ocean beach cliffs will soon be drafted into service for this 
fascinating activity. Have fun, guys!

73, Gary DeBock (currently in Cannon Beach, Oregon)



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