[IRCA] Grayland Report for Oct. 16th

[Guy Atkins <dx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Kevin Schanilec and I are back at the Westport coffee shop typing out some
comments from last night, but wouldn't you know it... we both forgot to
bring our notes & DX loggings with us from the "shack" in Grayland! So, this
report will be short on specifics, and I'll just comment on the reception
regions and conditions in general.

We started out the evening with excellent fresh seafood at "The One Eyed
Crab" restaurant, which is right across the street from the harbor that
serves the commercial fishing community of Westport. Fresh fish? You bet!

The only DU signal last night was a probable Aussie on 531, but the Japan
NHK station took over fairly quickly on that frequency. The MW band
throughout the night was dominated by Japan, but mainly the 1st and 2nd tier
stations. On only a couple of the frequencies where a maze of low power JJs
is a possibility did we hear any Japanese language at all... so it wasn't an
outstanding JJ evening but a satisfactory one. Only one Chinese station was
noted. I forget the frequency but I had a probable Heiliongjiang RGD, noted
in parallel to a shortwave outlet (7230 kHz I think).

Kevin heard R. Rossii, Razdol'noe, on 810 kHz, at approx. 1030 UTC. Also,
no South Pacific stations were heard last night.

Kevin and I reoriented the ALA100 array in the afternoon yesterday, so that
might be partly why weren't picking up DU-land or the South Pacific. We
moved the loop elements to approx. 300 degrees which is much more
appropriate for Asian reception. The current location of the loops is the
best-ever discovered for this particular yurt #Y115 at the park; we found
clearings among the dense trees and bushes to *barely* allow clearance for
the wires and for visually aligning both loops. It's easily the most
straight and accurate ALA100 array I've ever erected at Grayland Beach State
Park...I'm taking photos and making notes regarding the exact placement of
the poles and wires for the next trip!

The rearward nulls observed on this array are the best ever, too. Yesterday
I was able to null a few of the Portland, Oregon stations by as much as
estimated 58 dB  (from S-9 +10dB down to S-1 or below). The great nulls on
Portland stations helped with 1440 kHz for instance, in order to hear JOWF
Sapporo on that frequency.

Kevin spent a couple hours shivering by the trail to the beach last night
while DXing NDB beacons and LW broadcast DX from 12:30-2:30 a.m.  He was
bundled up with so many layers he looked like the Michelin Man. His large
FSL performed well but he said LW conditions were only average. He logged
six R. Rossii stations on long wave, and had a number of Alaskan and Hawaii
beacons among others. He had hoped to log some rarer NDB stations from some
small South Pacific islands... maybe he will tonight.

MW reception around local sunrise didn't reveal any new or interesting DX,
so I moved up to the tropical bands to see what was still lurking there. All
but one of the 60 meter band Indian regional stations were absent from the
previous night's haul, but I did find a very strong Radio Fly, Papua New
Guinea signal with enjoyable programming up on 5960 kHz. All the 120 meter
band Aussies were in at good strength too.

Overall, MW DX was much improved on the 16th compared to the night before at
Grayland. My fingers are crossed for conditions to get even better this
evening.

73,

Guy Atkins
DXing at Grayland Beach State Park, WA
Wellbrook ALA100 phased array
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