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Re: [IRCA] July 26th Grayland ULR DXpedition-- Aussies Boom In
Hi Derek,
Thanks for your comments, but I have a long way to go before being anything
like a "GO-DX."
It does feel neat to design a little trick like a collapsible-frame PVC
Loop, however, which suddenly makes a $40 homebrew antenna turn into a
seriously sensitive TP-chaser on an ocean beach. I'd like to see every interested
DXer have the opportunity to enjoy one of these cheap DXing monsters, and
enjoy the same kind of fun I have experienced recently.
73, Gary
In a message dated 7/28/2009 4:46:09 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time,
eargazimm@xxxxxxx writes:
Two words..... Great job!!!!! I've been listening to the 531 clip all
day.. I hope I get the chance to meet you or some of the other GO-DX
((giants of DX)) at grayland this season.
Keep up the goodwork and get that info on the monster loops so I can
increase the population of loops down here!!!
Thank you.....
Derek Vincent
Vmedia360.......everywhere
On Jul 28, 2009, at 9:49 AM, D1028Gary@xxxxxxx wrote:
> Hello All,
>
> Thanks to the Victoria DXers (and their comments about the relative
> desirability of Grayland as a DXpedition site), it was with a newfound
> appreciation that I started the 2 hour drive to the Grayland Motel's
> Room 14 on
> Saturday afternoon. When the 93 degree inland heat gradually became
> 63 degress
> on the cool ocean coast, I was appreciative indeed.
>
> On Saturday morning, by fortunate coincidence, fellow Puyallup, WA
> resident
> Guy Atkins had just received the latest DSP-enhanced wonder in the
> Ultralight Radio market, the Kchibo D92L. This radio represents a
> serious new
> effort by Kchibo to manufacture high-quality portables with DSP-
> enhanced
> selectivity, and has the option of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6 kHz
> selectable DSP filter
> settings. Provoking intense interest in the Ultralight radio
> enthusiast
> group, this new model (along with its D96L sibling) offers the
> possibility of
> great AM selectivity without the need to transplant premium Murata IF
> filters (in rather tricky modification jobs). The chance to test
> out this new
> wonder in the ultimate challenge of split-frequency TP-DXing was
> irresistible, so Guy and I quickly arranged a transfer operation
> with military-like
> precision, prior to the Grayland trip.
>
> Mutual travelers on southbound I-5 gaped in disbelief as they viewed
> the
> bizarre collection of disassembled PVC-framed monster loops crammed
> into my
> compact car-- and seemed to give me a little extra space as a
> precaution.
> Representing my own fanatical contribution to the recent boom in ULR-
> related
> experimentation, I had taken along a collapsible-frame
> 8' (diagonal) PVC
> Loop, a collapsible-frame 6.5' model, and an all-PVC altazimuth
> support
> base. These three items just barely fit in my compact car-- and
> probably made
> fellow I-5 travelers convinced that I was just barely sane.
>
> Arriving at the Grayland Motel's Room 14, the 6.5' tuned passive
> loop was
> set up inside the room next to the window (again, just barely
> fitting), but
> the 8' loop was left in the car, to be assembled on the ocean beach
> at 1100
> UTC (0400 local time) the next morning. Viewing this contraption in
> the
> car, the curiosity of several of the motel residents was apparently
> aroused,
> and they couldn't resist asking me what in blazes the thing was.
> They must
> have thought I was nuts when they heard it was a custom loop
> antenna, to
> hear Australian stations on the AM band. But when I told them that
> this was
> really just a small-sized version of the 13-foot fixed frame
> version at
> home, they seemed convinced that the Room 14 resident was not
> playing with a
> full deck.
>
> The first TP to reach audio level was 738-Tahiti at 0815 UTC (0115
> local
> time), which had weak French on the 6.5' loop during its sunset
> peak. As I
> grabbed Guy's new D92L to make a relative selectivity comparison
> with the
> C.Crane SWP Slider model, 738-Tahiti's audio quickly fizzled out--
> along with
> any chance of much sleep before the notoriously early DU dawn
> enhancement.
>
> Arriving at the Grayland Beach Road picnic table in total darkness
> at 1100
> UTC (0400 local time), DU heterodynes were plentiful and strong on
> the SSB
> spotting receiver I was using (a slightly modified ICF-2010, with a
> 30"
> transplanted loopstick). I wasted no time setting up the 8' passive
> loop on
> the PVC altazimuth tilting base, and started checking for audio on
> the 9 kHz
> splits. As usual, the New Zealand big guns (567, 657 and 1035) were
> the
> first to have much signal strength, around 1150. But with the
> mission to
> thoroughly compare the selectivity of the new DSP-enhanced Kchibo
> D92L against
> the Murata CFJ455K5 filter model C.Crane SWP Slider, for the first 30
> minutes of dawn enhancement my focus was on finding DU's with
> significant
> domestic splatter, to run relative reception tests (and record
> MP3's). This was
> more challenging than it might appear, since DU's rarely hold their
> signal
> levels for minutes on end, and I needed to throw out some tests (and
> recordings) when DU signal levels dived-- which would have given an
> unfair
> advantage to one of the tested radios. Finally, after several
> attempts, I had good
> MP3 recordings of 738-2NR and 567-2YA on both radios inductively
> coupled to
> the 8' loop, which clearly showed how much they could limit the
> domestic
> splatter from KCBS-740 and KVI-570, respectively.
>
> Wrapping up the Ultralight testing, I eagerly searched the modified
> ICF-2010 for DU audio on never-before-logged frequencies, and found
> that
> Australian stations were very strong-- but the NZ stations and
> Pacific Islands were
> pretty anemic. I quickly made new Ultralight loggings of 576-2RN,
> 594-3WV,
> 684-2KP and 1008-4TAB, with a couple of UnID's on 531, to make things
> interesting. The full log was as follows, all received on the
> C.Crane SWP 7.5"
> Slider loopstick model (with Murata CFJ455K5 filter) inductively
> coupled to
> the 8' tuned passive loop:
>
> 531- Two UnID's mixing at 1230, including the repeated pop music
> station
> (presumably 3GG)
> 567-2YA The first NZ station to reach audio level, had weak music
> at 1151
> 576-2RN ABC News at 1230; new Ultralight logging
> 594-3WV Weakly heard with ABC program at 1318; new Ultralight
> logging
> 612-4QR Good signal at 1232 with ABC talk program
> 639-Radio Fiji Weak choral music audio at 1238; never very strong
> 648-Radio Rhema Threshold audio at peak dawn enhancement (1245)
> 657-2YC Had decent audio just before 1200, then became anemic
> afterwards
> 684-2KP Strong signal with ABC news at 1300; new Ultralight logging
> 702-2BL Strong throughout dawn enhancement with ABC programming
> 738-2NR Provided great signal at 1258 for D92L Ultralight
> selectivity test
> 774-3LO Another Aussie powerhouse for most of the morning
> 792-4RN Booming in with the rest of Aussie big guns at 1245
> 891-5AN All alone on the frequency at 1308 for a local-like MP3
> recording
> 1008-4TAB Fine signal at peak dawn enhancement (1246); new Ultralight
> logging
> 1017-Radio Tonga In and out at threshold audio level for most of
> morning
> 1035-2ZB Like the other Kiwi big guns, "Newstalk Zed-B" took a
> dive after
> 1200
> 1116-4BC "Sharina the Psychic" weaker than usual at 1255; not
> booming in
> like 2 weeks ago
>
> The modified ICF-2010 had audio on many other weak Aussie stations,
> but
> with about half of the dawn enhancement period devoted to the
> testing of the
> Kchibo D92L, there was limited time to go after all of them on the
> C.Crane
> SWP Slider model. After returning to Puyallup, it was unfortunately
> discovered that Guy Atkins' new D92L model had a cracked loopstick
> ferrite bar,
> which undoubtedly affected the Grayland test results. There is
> currently an
> ongoing discussion about the new Kchibo D92L DSP-enhanced model
> among the
> Ultralight DX group, specifically relating to possible congenital
> issues. A
> full report on the suitability of the model should be available
> shortly, but
> until detailed information in promulgated to the group, DXers may
> wish to
> hold off on purchasing the model.
>
> Thanks again to John Bryant for his detailed Ultralight DU logging
> information, and to Guy Atkins for the opportunity to test out the
> D92L. Thanks
> also to the Victoria DXers (Walt, Nick and Colin) for giving me a
> newfound
> appreciation of the Grayland DXpedition site, with its unique
> combination of
> isolation and convenience :>)
>
> 73 and Best Wishes,
> Gary DeBock
>
>
>
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