[IRCA] Grayland, Wednesday July 9: Very Good

["John H. Bryant" <bjohnorcas@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Conditions continued to improve this morning, with the lower 2/3 of 
the band full of hets and threshold audio when I tuned in at at 1050, 
90 minutes before dawn. Things improved steadily from there until 
dawn; the early post-dawn show from 1220 UTC was the best of all. At 
that point, even the upper band was full of either hets or at least 
threshold audio. Most of the low band Usual Suspects were in 8 level, 
good audio, for at least a while this morning, with 774-3LO Melbourne 
leading the pack at a solid 9 at dawn.

There were a number of stations available at max. dawn or after that 
have been in my log since the early 1990s, but are not that often 
heard in the last several years. These included:

684 Radio Fiji //639 noted at 1135 and later with 2KP Kempsey mixing
882 1YC as Southern Star, Auckland doing well, with Star ID at 1250
936 7ZR Hobart, TAS Metro Svc //774 at 1210
1044 4ZB Dunedin heard at an 8 //1035 1217
1413 2EA Newcastle (presumed) with DU talk 1230


For the first time in two years, this morning also brought me DUs 
that I've never heard before or don't have QSLed:

765 5CC Port Lincoln, SA I FINALLY caught an ID on this one that I've 
been hearing lately running classic rock. Reallky please to have 
heard this one as a new 5 KW distance record on Ultralights, too, 
with the E100.

1287 Probable 2TM Tamworth with DU EE discussion for about 4 minutes 
around 1230. The only other possible
is NZs Radio Sport and this was a non-saport telephone talk 
show.  Gonna check with 2TM.

1251 Probable 1XG, Radio Rhema noted with music and DU talk at band fade 1302

The Japanese were there early, as has been usual, peaking about a 
half hour before dawn.  A real surprise, though was 1134-JOQR, Tokyo 
just blasting in at 1220 dawn. Who knew?

I managed to find time to do some good with the ultralights, an E100 
hooked to the Wellbrook Array, logging five new ones:

765 5CC Port Lincoln, SA
936 7ZR Hobart, TAS
1044 Newstalk ZB, Dunedin, NZ
1134 JOQR, Tokyo
1233 2NC, Newcastle, NSW

I also reviewed things from Tuesday AM and found that I also logged 
KHVH-830, Honolulu with the E100 at about dawn, running Coast to 
Coast. This morning, the Hawaiians were largely absent, though I had 
little time to devote to them, anyway.

As you may have noted, I was joined last night at the Grayland Motel 
by Gary DeBock who drove the two hours down from Puyallup to catch 
the dawn this AM. We had a great session on Ultralights and mods last 
night and again this morning before he headed back North. Since Gary 
is attempting DUs with the much more difficult ferrite bar 
modifications and Barefoot, his loggings aren't quite as numerous as 
mine using the Wellbrook Array. Nevertheless, the modified E100s with 
Amidon ferrite bars and an upgraded IF filter are turning out to be 
real DX Hogs in their own right. Gary's loggings were very 
impressive.  I'm sure when we get to the Fall Asian Season with the 
generally higher signal levels, the hand-held modified E100s are gonna shine.

Well, I've got one more morning at Grayland and find myself greedy for more!

John B.
WinRadio 313e + Ultralights
Wellbrook Phased Arrays, SW and NW
Grayland, WA, USA






_______________________________________________
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