[IRCA] WCXH DX Test, and More!

[Barry McLarnon <bdm@xxxxxxxxxx>]

To set the stage... just before hitting the sack at around 2330 EDT, I 
tuned to 780 and got WBBM fairly well nulled.  I also changed my 
usual recording sked (8 minute snippets starting at 1 minute before 
TOH and BOH) to get the full 0400-0500 period.

Checking my recordings today, there were plenty of surprises!  R. Coro 
YVMN was noted before I went to bed, but at 0400, they were 
surprisingly loud and dominant.  Here's a clip:
http://topazdesigns.com/ambc/audio/yvmn-780-0400-29oct07.mp3

No sign of the DX test, however, but messages on the mailing lists 
indicated that the test probably ran an hour late, so I jumped ahead 
to the 0500 TOH recording, and sure enough, some Morse IDs appeared, 
starting about 20 seconds after TOH... but surprisingly weak, under 
Coro and some local crud, probably from my computer:
http://topazdesigns.com/ambc/audio/wcxh-780-dxtest-0500-29oct07.mp3
Nothing much after that, until 0505, when I heard some sweeps:
http://topazdesigns.com/ambc/audio/wcxh-780-dxtest-0505-29oct07.mp3
My BOH recording also revealed some more weak Morse IDs at 0535:
http://topazdesigns.com/ambc/audio/wcxh-780-dxtest-0535-29oct07.mp3

If this was 5 kW ND, they sure don't seem to get out very well (I''m 
389 miles east of WCXH).  That would explain why I've had no success 
catching them before their sunset power-down... the channel at that 
time is always dominated by WTME and CFDR.  It's also possible, 
though, that my phasing setup discriminated against signals to the 
east, since I had no sign of CFDR last night, and they are common 
here.  It sure was working well to the south, though!

Moving on to the 0600 TOH recording, what I initially though was Coro 
again turned out to be R. Nostalgia XEMF, with a nice clear ID:
http://topazdesigns.com/ambc/audio/xemf-780-0600-29oct07.mp3

It gets better!  Moving to the 0630 BOH recording, I found this:
http://topazdesigns.com/ambc/audio/xeld-780-0630-29oct07.mp3
If I'm not mistaken, that is R. Costa XELD!  I've never logged a 
Mexican on 780 before, and then bagged two in half an hour!

Possibilities of further fun were nipped in the bud by the appearance 
of WABC's IBOC just past 0630, thoroughly hissing out 780.  Still, 
I'm grateful to the good folks at Citadel for turning off nighttime 
IBOC - if it was still on, none of these three new catches would have 
been possible.

So, to sum up last night:

Three 780 newies, bringing my 780 total to 13.
Maine logging #29 - I now have heard every AM station in the state, 
except for WLOB, which is blocked by my local 50 kW blowtorch on 
1310.
Two new Mexicans, bringing my Mexico total to 40.

Ya gotta get lucky once in awhile! My commiserations to those who 
missed the test because of the timing problem, but hopefully they'll 
run another one soon.  Thanks to those responsible for setting it up!

Barry

-- 
Barry McLarnon  VE3JF  Ottawa, ON
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