Hello All,
Thanks to the Victoria DXers (and their comments about the relative
desirability of Grayland as a DXpedition site), it was with a newfound
appreciation that I started the 2 hour drive to the Grayland Motel's
Room 14 on
Saturday afternoon. When the 93 degree inland heat gradually became
63 degress
on the cool ocean coast, I was appreciative indeed.
On Saturday morning, by fortunate coincidence, fellow Puyallup, WA
resident
Guy Atkins had just received the latest DSP-enhanced wonder in the
Ultralight Radio market, the Kchibo D92L. This radio represents a
serious new
effort by Kchibo to manufacture high-quality portables with DSP-
enhanced
selectivity, and has the option of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6 kHz
selectable DSP filter
settings. Provoking intense interest in the Ultralight radio
enthusiast
group, this new model (along with its D96L sibling) offers the
possibility of
great AM selectivity without the need to transplant premium Murata IF
filters (in rather tricky modification jobs). The chance to test
out this new
wonder in the ultimate challenge of split-frequency TP-DXing was
irresistible, so Guy and I quickly arranged a transfer operation
with military-like
precision, prior to the Grayland trip.
Mutual travelers on southbound I-5 gaped in disbelief as they viewed
the
bizarre collection of disassembled PVC-framed monster loops crammed
into my
compact car-- and seemed to give me a little extra space as a
precaution.
Representing my own fanatical contribution to the recent boom in ULR-
related
experimentation, I had taken along a collapsible-frame
8' (diagonal) PVC
Loop, a collapsible-frame 6.5' model, and an all-PVC altazimuth
support
base. These three items just barely fit in my compact car-- and
probably made
fellow I-5 travelers convinced that I was just barely sane.
Arriving at the Grayland Motel's Room 14, the 6.5' tuned passive
loop was
set up inside the room next to the window (again, just barely
fitting), but
the 8' loop was left in the car, to be assembled on the ocean beach
at 1100
UTC (0400 local time) the next morning. Viewing this contraption in
the
car, the curiosity of several of the motel residents was apparently
aroused,
and they couldn't resist asking me what in blazes the thing was.
They must
have thought I was nuts when they heard it was a custom loop
antenna, to
hear Australian stations on the AM band. But when I told them that
this was
really just a small-sized version of the 13-foot fixed frame
version at
home, they seemed convinced that the Room 14 resident was not
playing with a
full deck.
The first TP to reach audio level was 738-Tahiti at 0815 UTC (0115
local
time), which had weak French on the 6.5' loop during its sunset
peak. As I
grabbed Guy's new D92L to make a relative selectivity comparison
with the
C.Crane SWP Slider model, 738-Tahiti's audio quickly fizzled out--
along with
any chance of much sleep before the notoriously early DU dawn
enhancement.
Arriving at the Grayland Beach Road picnic table in total darkness
at 1100
UTC (0400 local time), DU heterodynes were plentiful and strong on
the SSB
spotting receiver I was using (a slightly modified ICF-2010, with a
30"
transplanted loopstick). I wasted no time setting up the 8' passive
loop on
the PVC altazimuth tilting base, and started checking for audio on
the 9 kHz
splits. As usual, the New Zealand big guns (567, 657 and 1035) were
the
first to have much signal strength, around 1150. But with the
mission to
thoroughly compare the selectivity of the new DSP-enhanced Kchibo
D92L against
the Murata CFJ455K5 filter model C.Crane SWP Slider, for the first 30
minutes of dawn enhancement my focus was on finding DU's with
significant
domestic splatter, to run relative reception tests (and record
MP3's). This was
more challenging than it might appear, since DU's rarely hold their
signal
levels for minutes on end, and I needed to throw out some tests (and
recordings) when DU signal levels dived-- which would have given an
unfair
advantage to one of the tested radios. Finally, after several
attempts, I had good
MP3 recordings of 738-2NR and 567-2YA on both radios inductively
coupled to
the 8' loop, which clearly showed how much they could limit the
domestic
splatter from KCBS-740 and KVI-570, respectively.
Wrapping up the Ultralight testing, I eagerly searched the modified
ICF-2010 for DU audio on never-before-logged frequencies, and found
that
Australian stations were very strong-- but the NZ stations and
Pacific Islands were
pretty anemic. I quickly made new Ultralight loggings of 576-2RN,
594-3WV,
684-2KP and 1008-4TAB, with a couple of UnID's on 531, to make things
interesting. The full log was as follows, all received on the
C.Crane SWP 7.5"
Slider loopstick model (with Murata CFJ455K5 filter) inductively
coupled to
the 8' tuned passive loop:
531- Two UnID's mixing at 1230, including the repeated pop music
station
(presumably 3GG)
567-2YA The first NZ station to reach audio level, had weak music
at 1151
576-2RN ABC News at 1230; new Ultralight logging
594-3WV Weakly heard with ABC program at 1318; new Ultralight
logging
612-4QR Good signal at 1232 with ABC talk program
639-Radio Fiji Weak choral music audio at 1238; never very strong
648-Radio Rhema Threshold audio at peak dawn enhancement (1245)
657-2YC Had decent audio just before 1200, then became anemic
afterwards
684-2KP Strong signal with ABC news at 1300; new Ultralight logging
702-2BL Strong throughout dawn enhancement with ABC programming
738-2NR Provided great signal at 1258 for D92L Ultralight
selectivity test
774-3LO Another Aussie powerhouse for most of the morning
792-4RN Booming in with the rest of Aussie big guns at 1245
891-5AN All alone on the frequency at 1308 for a local-like MP3
recording
1008-4TAB Fine signal at peak dawn enhancement (1246); new Ultralight
logging
1017-Radio Tonga In and out at threshold audio level for most of
morning
1035-2ZB Like the other Kiwi big guns, "Newstalk Zed-B" took a
dive after
1200
1116-4BC "Sharina the Psychic" weaker than usual at 1255; not
booming in
like 2 weeks ago
The modified ICF-2010 had audio on many other weak Aussie stations,
but
with about half of the dawn enhancement period devoted to the
testing of the
Kchibo D92L, there was limited time to go after all of them on the
C.Crane
SWP Slider model. After returning to Puyallup, it was unfortunately
discovered that Guy Atkins' new D92L model had a cracked loopstick
ferrite bar,
which undoubtedly affected the Grayland test results. There is
currently an
ongoing discussion about the new Kchibo D92L DSP-enhanced model
among the
Ultralight DX group, specifically relating to possible congenital
issues. A
full report on the suitability of the model should be available
shortly, but
until detailed information in promulgated to the group, DXers may
wish to
hold off on purchasing the model.
Thanks again to John Bryant for his detailed Ultralight DU logging
information, and to Guy Atkins for the opportunity to test out the
D92L. Thanks
also to the Victoria DXers (Walt, Nick and Colin) for giving me a
newfound
appreciation of the Grayland DXpedition site, with its unique
combination of
isolation and convenience :>)
73 and Best Wishes,
Gary DeBock
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