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Today's Topics:
1. Re: Worldwide, DXpeditions Hunt Elusive Radio Signals
(James Renfrew)
2. TP DX for Sept 12 (Bruce Portzer)
3. Re: GeoClock (Sylvain Naud)
4. Re: GeoClock (Sylvain Naud)
5. Re: Worldwide, DXpeditions Hunt Elusive Radio Signals (Chuck)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
Date: Thu, 12 Sep 2013 22:57:01 -0400
From: James Renfrew <jim.renfrew@xxxxxxxxx>
To: Mailing list for the International Radio Club of America
<irca@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: [IRCA] Worldwide, DXpeditions Hunt Elusive Radio Signals
Message-ID:
<CAH8MWVPoirsDpJED5sZg-cPQfXUPnRwH1Mi8qsfSSFWEGNBajw@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
Restaurant choices are limited - it's off season, and all of the places are
some distance from Cappahayden. As a vegetarian (no fish either) it's
positively meager around there. As for the time required for Perseus files
review - I'm still working on files from 2010 and 2011 - why it's very hard
to submit a complete report to the DXing world after the fact. And I'll
probably have to go over them again before my life is over, perhaps once I
master Portuguese! Seems pure folly to go again this fall to add to the
backlog - but who ever claimed that DXing was rational?
Jim Renfrew, Holley NY
On Thu, Sep 12, 2013 at 10:04 PM, Mark Connelly <markwa1ion@xxxxxxx> wrote:
On the Newfie DXpeditions we usually just did lunch around noon (after
catching some minimal amount of sleep in the 6-11 a.m. stretch). By 2 p.m.
local, TA DX was already rumbling in on the Beverages even though it may
have been 2+ hours pre-sunset. By the time it was dark for an hour or so
and we were getting blase about the initial rush of DX from Europe, Africa,
the Mideast, and sometimes India, then the Brazilians, Argentinians, and
many other southerly goodies started rolling in. Depending on conditions,
these could persist well into the wee hours of the morning. Additionally,
as westerly-progressing sunrise knocked out one group of TA's after
another, lower powered British and other stations on the western flanks of
Europe and Africa, signals previously buried by Mideast megawatters, would
come into their own.
In essence, maybe only about 6 hours out of 24 could be considered non-DX
time.
There were some decent fish places in the area the first few times I went
up to Cappahayden (e.g. 1991, 1993). The poor economy caused by the
decline of the fishing industry around there resulted in one restaurant
after the other "going dark" as the years passed.
Typically the communal DX shack room had snack material (chips with dip or
salsa, pretzels, nuts, crackers, cookies) of dubious nutritional merit. At
least once in a while, oranges or other fresh fruit showed up. No matter
how you looked at it, however, there was nothing distinguished from a
culinary standpoint.
Drinks? When actually DXing, it was usually about the caffeine: tea,
coffee, hot chocolate, and cola prevailed. Beer, wine, and that
distinctive local "hooch" known as "Newfie Screech" weren't usually trotted
out until the last DXpedition night as a celebration of the "job well done"
and as a sort of farewell send-off. DX efficiency typically declined a few
notches at that point. Some of us had very early flights out the next day
so we couldn't get too blasted. On the subject of diminished DX
efficiency, of course nowadays with SDR's, most of the serious DX analysis
goes on weeks or even months after the actual reception times. So as long
as you're not so inebriated that you delete (or fail to save) the capture
files, you can still make a go at some good DX as long as the alertness is
there when you finally do get to dig through all those captures. Even with
the benefit of an eventually-bigger logbook, the after-the-fact nature of
DXing with SDR's does take away some !
of the old-school "fun factor" of immediate gratification and in-person
real-time success-sharing with your DXpedition comrades ... stuff that the
late John Bryant celebrated so well in his kid-in-a-candy-shop-enthusiasm
writings from the ol' knob-twisting and cassette-recording "dark ages".
After-the-fact DX also tends to take useful tools such as shortwave
parallel checking, webstreams, and remote web receivers out of the game.
I guess what I advocate is a 50/50 blend of SDR-band-capture modernity and
Bryantesque "waist-gunner onna NRD-525" (or was it SX-28?) "live" DXing.
Back on the food topic ... local group DXpeditions here on the
Massachusetts coast, not surprisingly, sometimes have a seafood restaurant
get-together meal prior to the set-up of mobile DX gear / antennas at a
suitable shore site in time for high-productivity listening starting 15-30
minutes before sunset. See "DX Clams" reports such as <
http://www.qsl.net/wa1ion/dx_clams_2005.htm> for an example.
Mark Connelly, WA1ION
South Yarmouth, MA
<<
The only 'big meal' we normally have at the LBI DXpeditions is breakfast,
when
there's little to no DX.
Lunches and dinner are usually nearby takeout pizza, subs, etc. Of course
there's also beer, soda
and various munchies in stock.
?
Russ Edmunds
15 mi NNW of Philadelphia
Grid FN20id
<wb2bjh@xxxxxxxxx>
________________________________
From: Walter Salmaniw <canswl@xxxxxxxxx>
To: Mailing list for the International Radio Club of America
<irca@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, September 12, 2013 12:48 AM
Subject: Re: [IRCA] Worldwide, DXpeditions Hunt Elusive Radio Signals
Seems that the culinary and beverage side of DXpeditions on this coast has
been sadly lacking.? Although we did go for some nice meals in Grayland,
once in a while!? We must take DXing much more seriously.? Who has time to
eat, when the DX is so good!? 73,....Walt Salmaniw, Victoria, BC
On Thu, Sep 12, 2013 at 4:29 AM, Nick Hall-Patch <nhp@xxxxxxxx> wrote:
> What are these "beverages (often of alcoholic origin) " of which the
> author speaks?? All these years, I thought they were antennas, hi.
>
> Some years ago I think the Nagoya DX Circle provided a link to photos of
> Japanese DXpeditions which looked as if there was a strong culinary
streak,
> not to mention, ah, beverages.
>
> Nice link, capturing the international flavor of DXpeditioning.
>
> best wishes,
>
> Nick
>>
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------------------------------
Message: 2
Date: Thu, 12 Sep 2013 19:57:57 -0700
From: Bruce Portzer <bportzer@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: Mailing list for the International Radio Club of America
<irca@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [IRCA] TP DX for Sept 12
Message-ID: <52327F35.40304@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
The high powered NHK stations were in quite well today. Otherwise,
conditions were down slightly from yesterday. As has been the norm
here, most of the action was in the lower half of the band.
Really good audio, mostly understandable by a native speaker
693 - JOAB briefly good 1323 w/EE lessons
747 - JOIB EE lessons //693 1322, featuring a hypothetical ticket
purchase ("may I have the credit card number please", etc)
774 - JOUB, EE lessons peaking a bit later than 693/747 1326
972 - Korea, KK talk, signal up and down, peaking 1318 & 1327
Somewhat OK audio, a few words and phrases understandable by a native
speaker
529 SQM (presumed), transcribed weather report 1258
750 KFQD, jingle ID & CBS nx u/Portland 1300
828 JOBB EE lessons much weaker than 693/747/774
850 "Serving (unintelligible), this is KICY Nome" ID by woman u/KHHO 1300
963 male talk fading up for a minute or so 1322, sounded Russian
981 CNR1, CC talk at times, for some reason this one has become my most
reliable Chinese signal lately
1053 jammer, possibly mixing with a human voice from another station
1566 HLAZ
Not so good audio, recognizable program content but not much more
594 - JOAK bits of talk
648 - weak talk, probably VoR
657 - DPRK
738 - traces of talk
936 - bits of talk
1017 woman w/KK-like inflections 1319
1035 bits of talk
1206 Yanbian
1323 talk possibly //1323
1575 VOA
1593 CC-like inflections, probably CNR1 but too much 1590 slop to
establish // with 981
Carriers = 585 603 666 675 729 792 801 837 846 864 873 891 909 918 927
1008 1026 1044 1062 1071 1098 1116 1134 1143 1179 1197 1287 1386 1404
1476 1494 1503 1512 1602
Bruce in Seattle
Winradio Excalibur, K9AY antenna
------------------------------
Message: 3
Date: Thu, 12 Sep 2013 23:05:56 -0400
From: Sylvain Naud <sylvainnaud62@xxxxxxxxx>
To: Mailing list for the International Radio Club of America
<irca@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: [IRCA] GeoClock
Message-ID: <52328114.7010306@xxxxxxxxx>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
Thank you gentlemen. Thankfully,the hard drive of my dead Vista laptop
is still working so I might find the missing map files.
In the "demo" version, there are four maps apparently named MAPxx.EGA so
I have to verify on my older hard drive, how much more filename with
that extension there is (there should be 45 for my basic version).
Sylvain Naud
Le 2013-09-12 06:37, Russ Edmunds a ?crit :
Early on, all of the maps were in VGA format. Those were converted
to EGA format in conjunction with a
GeoClock version change at least 10 years ago. I haven't needed to
change anything since then and it
still runs as it should. That said, there are also the "space view"
maps which did present a problem, and I
did have to obtain replacements from him, but again that was close
to 10 years ago.
Russ Edmunds
15 mi NNW of Philadelphia
Grid FN20id
<wb2bjh@xxxxxxxxx>
________________________________
From: Tony Ward <tonyward@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: Russ Edmunds <wb2bjh@xxxxxxxxx>; Mailing list for the
International Radio Club of America <irca@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, September 11, 2013 9:24 PM
Subject: Re: [IRCA] GeoClock
I am still running XP in the PC World, but most operations are now
on Apples. I do recall having to change all the suffixes of the
maps (I think) sometime ago on one of the GeoClock updates. I
bought the full version and even my own Whitby-Centred VE3NO map,
and my usage goes back 25 years or so, through many updates. If (as
Russ says) there was a version update with Win7, I suggest you
check the map-names, particularly the suffixes Sylvain.
Tony Ward (VE3NO) NYAA Starfest
Whitby, ON
tonyward@xxxxxxxxxx
http://www.nyaa.ca
A few strings short of a full Universe...
________________________________
From: Russ Edmunds <wb2bjh@xxxxxxxxx>
To: Mailing list for the International Radio Club of America
<irca@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, September 11, 2013 9:01:53 PM
Subject: Re: [IRCA] GeoClock
If you saved/backed up the map and data files somewhere you should
be able to re-load them. I've always kept backups
which I've used for that purpose when any became corrupted.
Russ Edmunds
15 mi NNW of Philadelphia
Grid FN20id
<wb2bjh@xxxxxxxxx>
________________________________
From: Sylvain Naud <sylvainnaud62@xxxxxxxxx>
To: International Radio Club of America <irca@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, September 11, 2013 8:47 PM
Subject: [IRCA] GeoClock
Hi All,
A couple of years ago, I purchased the basic version of GeoClock to get
more maps than the demo version. It worked well until recently, after
changing my Vista laptop with a Win 7 machine. I went trough the
registering processas it should and I entered my license key.
Now, the software seem having been registered but I only have the 4 demo
maps instead of the 45 maps I should normally have. I emailed the author
some days ago
asking for help but I'm still without any answer.
I'm now wondering if there's any kind of support nowadays for this
program? Is there something more "up to date" on the market that
doesthe same job, or even better?
Any hints would be welcome.
Thank you.
Sylvain Naud
Portneuf, QC
www.quebecdx.com
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------------------------------
Message: 4
Date: Thu, 12 Sep 2013 23:16:49 -0400
From: Sylvain Naud <sylvainnaud62@xxxxxxxxx>
To: Mailing list for the International Radio Club of America
<irca@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: [IRCA] GeoClock
Message-ID: <523283A1.1040201@xxxxxxxxx>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
Thank you Nick,
I've tried this software once but at the end, I've stuck with the
DOS-like GeoClock for its simplicity.
I may give DX Altlas a second chance though...
Sylvain
Le 2013-09-12 09:52, Nick Hall-Patch a ?crit :
I rather like DX Atlas (http://www.dxatlas.com/) myself, Sylvain, but
may not fill all your needs; see what you think. The database of
obscure cities is rather intriguing (China is particularly good), and
it's not too difficult to add more.
best wishes,
Nick
From: Sylvain Naud <sylvainnaud62@xxxxxxxxx>
To: International Radio Club of America <irca@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, September 11, 2013 8:47 PM
Subject: [IRCA] GeoClock
Hi All,
A couple of years ago, I purchased the basic version of GeoClock to get
more maps than the demo version. It worked well until recently, after
changing my Vista laptop with a Win 7 machine. I went trough the
registering processas it should and I entered my license key.
Now, the software seem having been registered but I only have the 4 demo
maps instead of the 45 maps I should normally have. I emailed the author
some days ago
asking for help but I'm still without any answer.
I'm now wondering if there's any kind of support nowadays for this
program? Is there something more "up to date" on the market that
doesthe same job, or even better?
Any hints would be welcome.
Thank you.
Sylvain Naud
Portneuf, QC
www.quebecdx.com
------------------------------
Message: 5
Date: Thu, 12 Sep 2013 20:36:46 -0700
From: Chuck <charlesh3@xxxxxxx>
To: Mailing list for the International Radio Club of America
<irca@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: [IRCA] Worldwide, DXpeditions Hunt Elusive Radio Signals
Message-ID: <BLU0-SMTP123616C41A0BF9592B48642FC3B0@xxxxxxx>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-1"; format=flowed
I could not be a helpless victim of circumstance any more. Last time, I
worked out a deal: I provided scallops and Ollie of the B&B wrapped them
in bacon for us.
Added to that was a case of Molson IPA that I carried down from St. Johns.
Progress was made and I hope for more next time. The B&B owners know
some fisherman in the towns up the coast and I am going to pursue that
angle.
Here's what Bjarne and I think is the right DX culinary attitude:
http://www.arcticdx.blogspot.com/ then scroll down to Arctic DX Summit -
Day Two
<http://www.arcticdx.blogspot.com/2013/09/arctic-dx-summit-day-two.html> and
also click to read the comments.
A good memory was clams in linguine sauce at Grayland. The clams had
been living in the Grayland Beach a few hours ago and the pasta was
fresh. The DX can wait.
Bon appetit -
Chuck
On 9/12/2013 7:57 PM, James Renfrew wrote:
Restaurant choices are limited - it's off season, and all of the places are
some distance from Cappahayden. As a vegetarian (no fish either) it's
positively meager around there. As for the time required for Perseus files
review - I'm still working on files from 2010 and 2011 - why it's very hard
to submit a complete report to the DXing world after the fact. And I'll
probably have to go over them again before my life is over, perhaps once I
master Portuguese! Seems pure folly to go again this fall to add to the
backlog - but who ever claimed that DXing was rational?
Jim Renfrew, Holley NY
On Thu, Sep 12, 2013 at 10:04 PM, Mark Connelly <markwa1ion@xxxxxxx> wrote:
On the Newfie DXpeditions we usually just did lunch around noon (after
catching some minimal amount of sleep in the 6-11 a.m. stretch). By 2 p.m.
local, TA DX was already rumbling in on the Beverages even though it may
have been 2+ hours pre-sunset. By the time it was dark for an hour or so
and we were getting blase about the initial rush of DX from Europe, Africa,
the Mideast, and sometimes India, then the Brazilians, Argentinians, and
many other southerly goodies started rolling in. Depending on conditions,
these could persist well into the wee hours of the morning. Additionally,
as westerly-progressing sunrise knocked out one group of TA's after
another, lower powered British and other stations on the western flanks of
Europe and Africa, signals previously buried by Mideast megawatters, would
come into their own.
In essence, maybe only about 6 hours out of 24 could be considered non-DX
time.
There were some decent fish places in the area the first few times I went
up to Cappahayden (e.g. 1991, 1993). The poor economy caused by the
decline of the fishing industry around there resulted in one restaurant
after the other "going dark" as the years passed.
Typically the communal DX shack room had snack material (chips with dip or
salsa, pretzels, nuts, crackers, cookies) of dubious nutritional merit. At
least once in a while, oranges or other fresh fruit showed up. No matter
how you looked at it, however, there was nothing distinguished from a
culinary standpoint.
Drinks? When actually DXing, it was usually about the caffeine: tea,
coffee, hot chocolate, and cola prevailed. Beer, wine, and that
distinctive local "hooch" known as "Newfie Screech" weren't usually trotted
out until the last DXpedition night as a celebration of the "job well done"
and as a sort of farewell send-off. DX efficiency typically declined a few
notches at that point. Some of us had very early flights out the next day
so we couldn't get too blasted. On the subject of diminished DX
efficiency, of course nowadays with SDR's, most of the serious DX analysis
goes on weeks or even months after the actual reception times. So as long
as you're not so inebriated that you delete (or fail to save) the capture
files, you can still make a go at some good DX as long as the alertness is
there when you finally do get to dig through all those captures. Even with
the benefit of an eventually-bigger logbook, the after-the-fact nature of
DXing with SDR's does take away some !
of the old-school "fun factor" of immediate gratification and in-person
real-time success-sharing with your DXpedition comrades ... stuff that the
late John Bryant celebrated so well in his kid-in-a-candy-shop-enthusiasm
writings from the ol' knob-twisting and cassette-recording "dark ages".
After-the-fact DX also tends to take useful tools such as shortwave
parallel checking, webstreams, and remote web receivers out of the game.
I guess what I advocate is a 50/50 blend of SDR-band-capture modernity and
Bryantesque "waist-gunner onna NRD-525" (or was it SX-28?) "live" DXing.
Back on the food topic ... local group DXpeditions here on the
Massachusetts coast, not surprisingly, sometimes have a seafood restaurant
get-together meal prior to the set-up of mobile DX gear / antennas at a
suitable shore site in time for high-productivity listening starting 15-30
minutes before sunset. See "DX Clams" reports such as <
http://www.qsl.net/wa1ion/dx_clams_2005.htm> for an example.
Mark Connelly, WA1ION
South Yarmouth, MA
<<
The only 'big meal' we normally have at the LBI DXpeditions is breakfast,
when
there's little to no DX.
Lunches and dinner are usually nearby takeout pizza, subs, etc. Of course
there's also beer, soda
and various munchies in stock.
?
Russ Edmunds
15 mi NNW of Philadelphia
Grid FN20id
<wb2bjh@xxxxxxxxx>
________________________________
From: Walter Salmaniw <canswl@xxxxxxxxx>
To: Mailing list for the International Radio Club of America
<irca@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, September 12, 2013 12:48 AM
Subject: Re: [IRCA] Worldwide, DXpeditions Hunt Elusive Radio Signals
Seems that the culinary and beverage side of DXpeditions on this coast has
been sadly lacking.? Although we did go for some nice meals in Grayland,
once in a while!? We must take DXing much more seriously.? Who has time to
eat, when the DX is so good!? 73,....Walt Salmaniw, Victoria, BC
On Thu, Sep 12, 2013 at 4:29 AM, Nick Hall-Patch <nhp@xxxxxxxx> wrote:
What are these "beverages (often of alcoholic origin) " of which the
author speaks?? All these years, I thought they were antennas, hi.
Some years ago I think the Nagoya DX Circle provided a link to photos of
Japanese DXpeditions which looked as if there was a strong culinary
streak,
not to mention, ah, beverages.
Nice link, capturing the international flavor of DXpeditioning.
best wishes,
Nick
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------------------------------
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End of IRCA Digest, Vol 113, Issue 30
*************************************