Re: [IRCA] July 26th Grayland ULR DXpedition-- Aussies Boom In
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Re: [IRCA] July 26th Grayland ULR DXpedition-- Aussies Boom In



Hi Derek,
 
Thanks for your comments, but I have a long way to go before being anything 
 like a "GO-DX."
 
It does feel neat to design a little trick like a collapsible-frame PVC  
Loop, however, which suddenly makes a $40 homebrew antenna turn into a 
seriously  sensitive TP-chaser on an ocean beach. I'd like to see every interested 
DXer  have the opportunity to enjoy one of these cheap DXing monsters, and 
enjoy  the same kind of fun I have experienced recently.
 
73, Gary
 
 
In a message dated 7/28/2009 4:46:09 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time,  
eargazimm@xxxxxxx writes:

Two  words..... Great job!!!!! I've been listening to the 531 clip all   
day.. I hope I get the chance to meet you or some of the other GO-DX   
((giants of DX)) at grayland this season.
Keep up the goodwork and get  that info on the monster loops so I can  
increase the population of  loops down here!!!


Thank you.....

Derek  Vincent

Vmedia360.......everywhere

On Jul 28, 2009, at 9:49 AM,  D1028Gary@xxxxxxx wrote:

> 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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