[IRCA] Grayland DXpedition Report - Oct. 20-21 - First 2 Nights

["Guy Atkins" <dx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

-----Original Message-----
From: Guy Atkins [mailto:dx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Saturday, October 21, 2006 2:03 PM
To: coastalroundtable@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Grayland DXpedition Report - Oct. 20-21 - First 2 Nights


The first two nights of John Bryant's and my "dual solo" DXpedition were
very enjoyable, if not spectacular in terms of DX heard. I have one more
night to go, while John is not planning to leave until after the DX fades on
Monday morning. The weather thus far has been wonderful, with mostly sunny
skies, clear nights, and daytime temps in the sixties.

This is the first time I've done a camping-style DXpedition in the newer
portion of Grayland Beach State Park. This particular site is very nice for
DXing purposes, being not too close to neighboring campers (less noise
possibilities), and privately situated for erecting unobtrusive masts for
EWE antennas, large loops, etc. among the trees. There is also the
possibility for over-the-shoulder Beverages through the pine trees and
brush. As in the original portion of the park, all AC mains are underground
in this area; I'd imagine that the newer condition of the power
transformers, power vaults, and so on contribute to the quiet RFI conditions
I've found here.

At the Grayland Motel a half mile away, John put up a single
Northwest-orient Beverage wire. When comparing notes during the day, we
found equal conditions and signals on the band from the night before. It
appears that my 12 ft. X 35 ft., east-west ALA 100 antenna (20 ft. high at
the top) and the PA0RDT Mini-Whip hoisted 30 ft. high on a DK9SQ mast,
performed admirably, and generally on par with John's Beverage antenna.
Hearing 972 kHz HLCA, Korea, stay in audio all the way to a 1700 UTC (10
a.m. local) sign-off is indication that it's more about propagation
conditions that optimum antennas!

John and I tried contacting each other with "10 mile range" FRS
walkie-talkie radios to stay in touch during the DXpedition, but we never
had reliable reception despite the mere 1/2 mile distance.

The local noise was typically very low as I expected, and the Mini-Whip
(true to form) was noisier than the ALA 100. However, the omni-directional
Mini-Whip was an advantage most of the time, providing better S/N ratio than
the loop on most signals. I had expected auroral conditions to knock out
Asian signal paths, so I split the difference with an east-west orientation
for the loop; perhaps this would be a DXpedition of DU conditions.
Nope...both nights have been strongly Asian. The loop would have performed
better I'm sure, if it was on a Northwest bearing (the broadside nulls are
very noticeable).

The night of the 20th was completely "big gun" Japanese, Korean, and Chinese
signals (plus ever-present 738 Tahiti) up until just before local SR (1435
utc), when reception suddenly switched to modest signals from Australia and
a couple of likely Kiwis. About a half hour to 45 minutes after dawn,
signals changed back to Asian, and they slowwwly faded down into the mud,
most of them between 1-1/2 and 2-1/2 hours past SR. Prime examples of this
were 972 HLCA mentioned earlier, and China CNR1 on 981, as late as 1623 UTC
and parallel to 6030 and 9800.

The second night of the 21st was even more Asian, with only the faintest,
brief hint of DU reception before sunrise. Signals were not as strong as on
the 20th, overall, with a lot of "mumble-mumble" audio on  many splits, that
just wouldn't rise above the muck long enough for IDing the station or
content. The strongest Asian signals on the band faded out much quicker this
morning, and by 1515 UTC the DX was pretty much gone.

I'll hold further details, some loggings, and an overall bandscan from the
three nights of DXing until tomorrow afternoon and evening. I'm uploading
this report from the Westport public library; here's hoping that I'll have
news of even better reception from tonight!

73,

Guy Atkins
Puyallup, WA
DXing from Grayland Beach State Park
www.sdr-1000.blogspot.com

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