[IRCA] Good MW TAs in NE Oregon
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[IRCA] Good MW TAs in NE Oregon



I spent all of the first couple hours on MW, only checking for LWBC later at 0230 utc. Very poor for LWBC with only 153 and 171 with poor audio (compared to the previous two evenings). But MW was a very different story, with good hets beginning already at 2350 utc, the first time I turned the radios on. From then on, things just got better, with several TAs eventually heard with fadeups for decent audio. One could spend several hours at the dials just checking for TAs, and do this for several nights in a row, if these good conditions keep going! I have other things I should be doing in the evening, that just aren't getting done! I finally broke off for supper, and when I came back at 0315 utc, the band had completely changed. Only a few weak hets (apologies to Glenn Hauser, they're hets to me), and no audio at all. On LWBC the same, only a couple of weak hets.
But prior to that, for awhile, the band had hets on almost every 9 kHz channel (where there wasn't strong domestic signals covering up being able to hear a het).
 
I've been wanting to try a EWE antenna on MW for a number of months now, and hearing TAs lately was the impetus to get out today and actually make one. It took a number of hours (practically all day, actually), but I have one up and running, and used it tonight. I only have one tree for a support to the south, so I had to find a matching tree to the north, for my TA EWE. After finding one, and using a tape measure to check for a decent horizontal run (130'), I climbed the north large pine tree and cut off the dead branches, for a clear shot to the south tree. The EWE turned out as a 25x130x30 foot version pointed NNE. I used a 10kohm pot, the first one I came across in the junkbox, and used an LF beacon to the south to try to get an approximate null, but just about any value I tried below 2000 ohms gave a 5 S unit null on the beacon. I need to find a more accurate nulling method! But the EWE certainly works, both on LF and MW. My other TA antenna for MW is a south-pointing unterminated (N/S) 400' longwire. The EWE is not as sensitive as the wire below about 800 kHz, but from then on, is equal to or better than the longwire antenna, and on many frequencies the EWE is much better due to the nulling action to the south cutting out the splatter from that direction--very impressive. After 15 minutes of switching back and forth between antennas, I eventually just stayed on the EWE. (I left the pot set to 1000 ohms. I also need to find out if nulling at LF is the same as nulling at MW, for the same pot position, but from my first results, I doubt that the pot needs to be precisely set--the null resistance seems to be fairly broad and non-critical. But more tests need to be done on how to properly null, once I figure out how to do that.)
 
All I have for TA identification is the September 2005 EMWG--is there something better I should be using? I'm very new to this TA game!
 
Steve Ratzlaff
Elgin, OR (NE Oregon)
 
819  Egypt. 0205 utc, weak with Arabic chanting
864  two stations heard, presume Egypt and France. 0227 utc, dominant audio had man talking at poor level
1017 presumed Turkey. 0203 utc, poor, man talking
1089 not sure, Russia or England. 0216 utc with music then deep-voiced man talking, weak, couldn't get the language, didn't sound English. EMWG gives Russia sign-on at 0200.
1134 Croatia. First audio at 0202 utc, with man talking; later with music, poor at the start. All my TAs have deep fading cycles.
1215 England, Virgin Radio at 0211 utc playing modern rock music at weak/medium level
1314 Norway. Audio first heard 0106 utc, playing big band jazz, weak. This lasted to my last check around 0230 utc, with heavy fading, and audio coming and going. My best TA.
1575 UAE. First audio at 0117 utc, with modern pop music heard, at weak level. As with 1314, lots of fading up and down, until last 0230 check.
 
 
 
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