[IRCA] Puyallup, WA DU's (really) for 8-19

[D1028Gary@xxxxxxx]

Hello Guys,
 
I had always assumed that my home location of Puyallup was a DU dead zone,  
but it appears that one of the new large passive loops here has resurrected 
them  from the dead.
 
After solving the main challenge of getting out of bed at 0430 local  time, 
I set up my typical Grayland DXing equipment in my suburban back  yard. An 
8' (diagonal) collapsible PVC tuned passive loop was set up  on its 
altazimuth base, and the 30" loopstick ICF-2010 was used as a spotting  receiver. A 
C.Crane SWP 7.5" Slider ultralight was ready for any unlikely new TP  
loggings (as well as an MP3 recorder).
 
The conditions were miserable around 1200, with only a few very weak  
carriers from JOAK-594 and JOIB-747. Not even the monster loop could bring them  
anywhere near audio. Like Walt says, it was a total bust for Asiatic TP's. I 
was  looking for DU carriers around this time, but with darkness still 
hanging  around, it looked like a bust for them, too. Around 1230, DU carriers 
from  639, 648, 657 and 738 starting showing weak signs of life, although 
their level  was still well below audio strength. The large loop simply made 
the carriers  stronger, but couldn't produce audio on them.
 
Just when I was kicking myself for getting up this early (0430 local)  for 
nothing, at 1250 UTC the carrier from 738-Tahiti suddenly became much  
stronger on the modified ICF-2010. When this SSB spotting receiver was  coupled 
to the monster loop, 738-Tahiti had pretty strong French audio--  the first 
DU audio I had ever heard in Puyallup (after receiving 23 of them at  
Grayland).  The C.Crane SWP Slider ultralight was then tuned to 738  (actually 737, 
following the trick discovered by John Bryant last year), and  inductively 
coupled to the loop. 738-Tahiti was then easily heard on the  ultralight, 
and a nice MP3 was made of my first ULR logging of a DU at  home.
 
Around this time, several DU carriers were pretty strong. 648- NZ Rhema had 
 threshold audio on the 2010/loop combination at 1259, and 639-Radio Fiji 1 
came  into weak audio at 1300, on both the 2010 and the C.Crane SWP Slider 
(when  they were coupled to the loop).
 
Unlike at Grayland, however, the DU morning enhancement here in  Puyallup 
fizzled out very early. By 1315 the DU carriers were very anemic again,  and 
they were gone by 1330. The long, deep morning enhancements of the  ocean 
coast made this short episode seem very modest. On the other hand, I  think 
that the ocean beach DU propagation must have been fantastic  this morning, 
and I hope that Guy (in Oregon) was able to experience it. The  final verdict: 
it was worth it to get up at 0430 this morning, but not as a  habit. 
 
73, Gary DeBock (in Puyallup, WA-- no longer a DU dead zone)
 
 
      
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