Re: [IRCA] [NRC-AM] [coastalroundtable] Re: Recent DXpedition to Grayland, WA & Florence, OR

[Russ Edmunds <wb2bjh@xxxxxxxxx>]

Elevation almost NEVER hurts. In combination with sea gain, it can be awesome. Somebody years ago took a portable up to the top of a lighthourse right on the shore up in New England and compared between reception on the ground and at the top, but as far as I know that isn't documented except in some brief description somewhere in one or both of the bulletins.


Russ Edmunds
15 mi NNW of Philadelphia  
Grid FN20id
<wb2bjh@xxxxxxxxx>
FM: Yamaha T-80 & Onkyo T-450RDS w/ APS9B @15'; Grundig G8
AM:  Modified Sony ICF 2010's barefoot


--- On Tue, 8/7/12, Bill Whitacre <bw@xxxxxxx> wrote:

> From: Bill Whitacre <bw@xxxxxxx>
> Subject: Re: [NRC-AM] [coastalroundtable] Re: Recent DXpedition to Grayland, WA & Florence, OR
> To: coastalroundtable@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Cc: am@xxxxxxxxxxx, irca@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Date: Tuesday, August 7, 2012, 9:54 PM
> Thanks Gary.  Let me ask if
> you've ever done 'cliffside' DXing closer to sea level but
> just as close to the sea?
> 
> I'm thinking, maybe, it is the proximity to the sea that is
> more important than elevation.  In all your elevated,
> cliffside locations are you not literally 'perched' over the
> ocean?  If you were suddenly transported vertically
> down you'd be in the water, right?
> 
> I saw a number of pull-offs at or near sea level on the way
> from Grayland down towards Yachats a few of which looked
> like they had enough room for a DKAZ -- these were actual
> parks, not the precarious pull-offs you're so fond of! 
> I volunteer to check one of these out next time I'm out
> there or look for a rental that's closer to the sea and
> closer to sea level.
> 
> I'm also wondering if one put a DKAZ or flag out on the
> beach at Grayland we might not get a little better
> signals?  That's an awfully wide beach and except at
> really high tide you're a few or several hundred feet from
> any breaking waves when you erect antennas in the 'back
> yard' behind Room 15.
> 
> Just some thoughts.  I wonder what others' experiences
> are with elevation and proximity to water -- salt or fresh?
> 
> ---
>  
> On Aug 7, 2012, at 3:47 PM, D1028Gary@xxxxxxx
> wrote:
> 
> > Hi Bill,
> > 
> > Thanks very much for your detailed investigation of
> relative DU signal
> > strengths at the 800 ft. high ocean coast elevation
> near Florence and
> > at the much lower elevation near the Grayland Motel.
> I'm sure that your
> > detailed work will be very helpful in clarifying the
> principles
> > affecting ocean cliff propagation. Thanks also for
> posting the links to
> > many Australian and New Zealand signal recordings made
> at each
> > location, all of which are most interesting. Having
> recently gone
> > through the process of recording and posting many MP3
> recordings from
> > the recent Cape Perpetua ocean cliff DXpedition, I can
> certainly
> > appreciate all the time and effort that was required.
> > 
> > In regard to the relative signal comparisons, the DKAZ
> antenna seems to
> > have done a great job at both locations, and I'm
> surprised that the San
> > Suci recordings at 800 feet do not show much of a
> signal advantage over
> > the Grayland recordings near sea level. I would have
> loved the
> > opportunity to set up at the Cape Perpetua ocean cliff
> site with the
> > PL-380 and 8" FSL antenna (the same combination used
> during the recent
> > trip to receive DU's at very strong levels) at exactly
> the same time,
> > and record some MP3's to add to the comparison. I have
> no doubt that
> > the PL-380 + 8" FSL combination would lose out
> miserably to the Perseus
> > SDR + DKAZ antenna combination at either of your
> locations if there was
> > a relative reception comparison, but because of the FSL
> antenna's
> > unique ability to set up at the very narrow ocean cliff
> site at Cape
> > Perpetua it apparently was able to tap into DU
> propagation of highly
> > unusual strength, even with the modest Ultralight radio
> receiver. With
> > the much more sensitive Perseus SDR the 8" FSL may well
> have produced
> > legendary DU signals at the ocean cliff site, instead
> of the booming
> > ones that were overloading the modest PL-380's front
> end.
> > 
> > Most of us have had the experience of listening to a
> distant AM radio
> > station on a sensitive car radio while we go up a steep
> hill. If the
> > distant AM station is located in a direction down slope
> from the hill
> > we usually can hear the weak station's signal strength
> rise
> > dramatically as we go up the hill in our cars. This
> dramatic effect
> > usually stops at the top of the hill, though, and as we
> go further away
> > from the hill the weak AM signal begins to drop off
> again. It will be
> > very interesting to run more tests on ocean cliff
> propagation to see if
> > this same effect applies to DU and TP signal boosts.
> Thanks again for
> > your detailed work, Bill, which is much appreciated.
> > 
> > 73, Gary DeBock (in Puyallup, WA)
> > 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Bill Whitacre <bw@xxxxxxx>
> > To: Mailing list for the International Radio Club of
> America
> > <irca@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>;
> am <am@xxxxxxxxxxx>;
> coastalroundtable
> > <coastalroundtable@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> > Sent: Tue, Aug 7, 2012 8:17 am
> > Subject: [NRC-AM] Recent DXpedition to Grayland, WA
> & Florence, OR
> > 
> > From July 31 - August 2 I visited Grayland, WA and
> Florence,
> > OR. At each location I set up a Perseus and a an
> 'extended
> > DKAZ' antenna pointing at 235 deg -- towards Hawaii and
> the
> > south Pacific [Aus/NZ]. The best day, of course, was
> the
> > last day and I have put sound samples from 1300 utc up
> > through 1280 kHz from both Grayland and Florence on a
> > webpage for comparison:
> > 
> > <http://realmonitor.com/am_logs_grayland6.php>
> > 
> > I'll be adding more as time permits.
> > 
> > The Grayland location was the famous Grayland Motel
> and
> > Cottages and the location near Florence was a place
> called
> > Sans Suci at about 800ft. elevation and back about
> 1000ft.
> > from the Pacific. There are Google Map links to both
> sites
> > on the webpage above.
> > 
> > Also on the webpage are links to stats [stations
> logged,
> > countries logged, stations/country, etc.], a Google Map
> view
> > of the loggings and something I call AzBar which is a
> bar
> > graph of the number of loggings at given azimuth ranges
> -- a
> > good way to visualize how an antenna works.
> > 
> > There is also a link to a pdf drawing of the extended
> DKAZ
> > antenna, designed by Neil Kazaross. It is the best
> > single-element, non-phased antenna I have ever used.
> It's
> > pretty easy to errect and without phasing doesn't give
> me
> > the opportunity to screw things up! What it does
> require
> > though is some tweaking of the termination resistance -
> Rt.
> > 
> > I know there's been a lot of interest recently in
> cliffside
> > DXing. Perhaps some of the data in this report will let
> you
> > compare simultaneous loggings from two locations at
> very
> > different elevations. Unfortunately, the locations were
> also
> > about 6 hours drive from one another so I make no
> claims on
> > the issue based on these loggings but I won't be
> foresaking
> > the Grayland Motel anytime soon!
> > _______________________________________________
> > The NRC AM mailing list
> > Questions? owner@xxxxxxxxxxx
> > Pre-orders for the 33rd AM Radio Log
> > Now being accepted! Shipping 8/27/2012
> > FM Atlas 21st Edition Close Out Prices!
> > Order both at http://www.nrcdxas.org
> > 
> > __._,_.___
> > Reply to sender | Reply to group | Reply via web post |
> Start a New Topic
> > Messages in this topic (1)
> > RECENT ACTIVITY: 
> >     • New Files 2
> > 
> > Visit Your Group
> > Switch to: Text-Only, Daily Digest • Unsubscribe •
> Terms of Use
> > .
> >  
> > __,_._,___
> 
> _______________________________________________
> The NRC AM mailing list
> Questions? owner@xxxxxxxxxxx
> Pre-orders for the 33rd AM Radio Log
> Now being accepted! Shipping 8/27/2012
> FM Atlas 21st Edition Close Out Prices!
> Order both at http://www.nrcdxas.org
> 

_______________________________________________
IRCA mailing list
IRCA@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/irca

Opinions expressed in messages on this mailing list are those of the original contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the IRCA, its editors, publishing staff, or officers

For more information: http://www.ircaonline.org

To Post a message: irca@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx