[IRCA] DXpedition to Gearheart, OR - Day 1

["Kevin S" <satya@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi all:

I?m on business for a couple nights on the Oregon coast near Seaside.  I
had a great dinner with Patrick Martin last night, the local DX master,
and really enjoyed gabbing on and on about DX with him!

My hotel room is unfortunately an RF zoo, so I ended up finding a nice
quiet picnic table at the shore, a couple miles north in Gearheart, OR,
arriving at about an hour prior to the 1250 UTC (0550 local) sunrise.  I
used an active/passive Crate Loop, coupled to a Tecsun PL-380 via a little
ferrite coupler, and a Sony 7600GR barefoot spotter.

Things were ominously dead for the first 30 minutes, then picked up a bit,
although conditions were nowhere near as good as they were for Gary DeBock
last week, who was a few miles south at Cannon Beach.  Oh well ? as least
it was lightly misting/raining the entire time :-)

I managed to pick up a few tidbits from the ionosphere, all DU, with
reception continuing until 1320, about 30 minutes after local sunrise:

567	Nearly intelligible EE male and female announcers at 1245, presumed NZL
594	Male announcer at 1247, to weak to tell language
612	Good EE announcer at 1257, mention of ?Australia?, so 4QR-Brisbane. 
Another ?Australia? at 1313.
648	Presumed EE by cadence at 1311
657	Chariots of Fire music at 1216, presumed Wellington, NZL
675	Good EE voice at 1233, presumed 2C0 (AUS) or 3YA (NZL), still sorta
there at 1309
702	Came on late at 1304 with EE male, presumed 2BL-Sydney, possible ID at
1305 (need to check recording)
738	Weak French (Tahiti) at 1219, burbles at 1236, excellent FF at 1247
with 2NR Grafton AUS occasionally on top; the two were still battling it
out at 1257, but almost gone at 1307
765	Brief music at 1222, unknown
774	Weak EE female voice at 1318, presumed 3LO, couldn?t make out words
though
792	EE newscast with ?ABC Radio? ID at 1319, so 4RN-Brisbane confirmed
891	EE news at 1237 presumed 5AN Adelaide, barely there at 1252, better EE
male at 1259, mention of ?Australia? at 1322 apparently confirming 5AN
972	Sounds like EE at 1237, no clue who though
1071	Good late het at 1322, not enough to hear anything though
1098	Brief EE? News at 1240, unknown
1116	Good EE signal at times, but buried under 1120-KPNW

So, not quite what I had hoped for, but given the infrequency of my
getting out to the beach, I?ll take anything I can get!  One more shot
tomorrow morning, perhaps trying Cannon Beach instead, then back home.

Kevin S
Bainbridge Island, WA

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