[IRCA] Long Beach, Washington DXpedition - Day 1

[satya@xxxxxxxxxxxx]

Hi all:

Greetings from Long Beach, WA!  It's about 60 miles south of fabled
Grayland, WA, and a whole lot further away from my strong locals in
Seattle.  I'm with the girls, staying in a stand-alone A-frame cottage
with no RF to speak of, and an extra bedroom full of all my stuff.  I'm
about 800 feet or so from the beach.

I am using an Icom R75 and a dual Crate Loop plugged directly into a
Quantum Loop base unit as the main ?spotter? receiver. (I also have a few
Ultralights and larger portables.)  While no Beverage or other outdoor
antenna is being used, this morning didn't really require one! I got up at
0330 local (1030 UTC), and delightfully found hets on virtually every 9
khz channel, and at least 25-30 had intelligible audio.

The powerhouses were in on the smallest of Ultralights, with armchair copy
on 594, 774, 828 and 972 khz.  693 was battling 690-Vancouver and 747 was
battling KXL-750, but both came in well on the little guys with help from
a passive Crate Loop.  774 was in well all morning and lasted until well
after local sunrise, embarrassing 770-Seattle at times.

The highlight was at 1356 UTC when both 774 and 891 came in from
Australia.  I got 891 barely mumbling on the WRX-911 barefoot, but with
the Crate Loop the horse racing report came in well, as well as a TOH ID. 
 774-ABC was only strong enough to hear on the R75/Dual Crate combo.

I was struck at how un-dominant the Portland stations are here.  Long
Beach must be in something of a Portland shadow, while Seattle stations
were much more meddlesome.  Also, 690 out of Vancouver was amazingly
strong, whereas near Seattle where I live (much closer to Vancouver), it
often struggles to be heard, so I must live in a Vancouver shadow!

Some equipment notes:
 - The e100 Slider with the Murata filter did very well, picking up much
of what the spotter receiver was hearing.  However, with the Crate Loop
augment, the Slider was hearing a lot more.  In many instances, mumbling
on the Slider was rendered clear with the Crate Loop.  So, if I had to
take only one radio and loop to the beach, that combo would be it.
 - The Sony M37V, with its replacement filter, did OK but often needed
help.  The Crate Loop really helps out with the selectivity if the
correct orientation (facing/adjacent) is chosen.
 - The Kaito WRX-911 fared quite well, although the lack of digital
readout can be a drag at times when chasing TPs.
I also have a Sony 7600GR, SRF-39 and Tecsun PL-450 along, but there
wasn't enough time to try all of them.

So, for my first proper DXpedition, quite a morning.  Time for a nap and
some sightseeing with the girls, then up again early tomorrow for Round 2.

Kevin S
Long Beach, WA
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