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[IRCA] Puyallup, WA (Wacky) TP's for 10-23

     What seemed like a routine Asian morning turned upside down after 1400 here, with a Chinese wave hitting the low band in force. Unfortunately the sudden surge occurred when it was too late to deploy to a local park to escape RFI, so a tiny 5" Frequent Flyer FSL was used (because of its superior nulling capability) to track down the Chinese amid S7 electrical noise from the neighbor.

     The results were pretty much a mixed bag, with the Chinese signals and the noise fighting it out for about 15 minutes. The biggest surprise was a near S9 signal from 639-CNR1 around 1410, which was easily its strongest signal of the season so far here (despite the 5" diameter antenna). The tiny FSL did its best to null out the neighbor's noise, but couldn't quite get it all. 603-China was clearly dominant over HLSA at 1404, and 657-China (Henan?) was at equal strength with Pyongyang around the same time. The mid band CRI stations on 963, 1017 and 1044 were also stronger than usual (with S5 peaks), and I'm sure that 756, 918 and 936 would have been in audio except for the neighbor's irritating RFI.

     The 5" bar FSL (a.k.a. Frequent Flyer) was recently improved pretty significantly by the replacement of its variable cap, following some astonishing results after I did a repair for Craig Barnes' identical model. The variable cap of Craig's FSL "went south" during the recent Rockwork cliff DXpedition, and I needed to find a new source for its N50P variable cap. Steve introduced me to a new source (Oren Elliott products) which has apparently made major improvements in the component. The tuning sharpness, S/N ratio and nulling capability were all significantly improved in Craig's model, which was then clearly outperforming my own 5" FSL (which had run wild in the Cook Islands). Of course, my own "Frequent Flyer" FSL immediately received the same replacement. Thanks Steve and Craig-- this discovery had perfect timing (prior to a Hawaii trip next week).


Gary DeBock (in Puyallup, WA, USA)

Stock XHDATA D-808 portable and 5" Frequent Flyer FSL antenna


 

 
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