DX that makes all the effort worth it

[Toomas Losin]

There are times when the ionosphere decides to play nice and something very unusual happens. Thursday morning was one of those times. I was recording 1566 kHz overnight hoping to hear HLAZ from Korea again when, in the ninety minutes before sunrise, there was a great opening to Korea and probably Japan. It was the best I've heard. The signal was strong enough at times that my r71a's AGC actually had something to do! There was a half-hour of music that was barely interrupted by some fading. At the end of it all, the signal was actually booming in five minutes after sunrise! I wish I'd been awake for this. I expect the Grundig G8 would have had no problem with this signal barefoot.

Something that's always disappointed me about DX listening is that it's at the mercy of ionospheric conditions which could change with zero notice. I'd like to actually *listen* to the DX station and hear its programming rather than catch an ID and move on. This morning was a rare example of an extended listen.

I wonder what tonight might bring...

[jon]

Which also brings up the point that it is easy to "write off" AM (530-1710) DX to just the winter months, but this is a positive reminder that there are possibilities throughout much of the year, if you are on the right frequency at the right time.

As for sleeping through DX opportunities, I know that SDR (Software-Defined Radios) can be programmed to create alerts when they detect carriers on frequencies you specify. The next logical step would be to get an SDR to wake you up.

[Toomas Losin]

The last two mornings were very disappointing. Maybe it was bad luck to turn my attention to the low end of the band, listening for Australia on 576, which is one of the few channels without much domestic splatter. I do need to get an SDR to record the whole band at once, at least.

Apparently the Summer season, June through September, is the season for trans-pacific DX in North America; advancing from New Zealand + Australia up through Japan as the the season advances. That's where my interest lies right now.

Domestically, I did hear KJNO 630 Juneau two weeks ago, so it's wise to listen whenever one's in the mood. The only way to hear something is to listen.

[Eldon-Mr.CFAY]

Greetings Everyone,
Congratulations Toomas on your summertime AM DX. I guess not ever dx night is going to be that good. Interesting point Jon the alert factor of SDR radios. I am not a big fan of them but that is one thing that could be very helpful. I was talking to my radio friend Mike Brooker in Toronto the other night and he is a big AM dxer and has previously been an editor of a radio club medium wave dx column. Anyway Mike kind of sticks to September to mid-Spring DX and kind of writes the summer season off due to static, thunderstorms etc. Toronto over the years has been good to him for dxing but he has told me that increased noise and interference has been a problem in recent years at times!!! I told him that he will have to make it out to this nice area out in the Northumberland County Hills for quiet and wonderful dxing opportunities. If you could avoid some of that nasty Poisin Ivy (that we do not have in the Fraser Valley area of B.C.) a nice long beverage could be put up on the backyard forested hillside ridge which is a lot of land area of forest and height too!!! I have not done that here but at Baltimore Park ten years ago I did an experiment with a beverage antenna in an unused area of the park, its quite large and got some good results! Have not done that this time though. Hope to do some serious AM dxing here once get time and hopefully Mike can make it out here on a weekend to do it with me according to his schedule.

As far as listening to program details and not just an ID. Toomas I agree with you. That propagation can be annoying sometimes. When you hear a rare station it is always nice to hear it longer!!!! Mike was telling me he likes doing that too and not just hearing an Id.. I asked Mike about SDR Radios and he is not that big a fan of them. He likes live dxing not automated dxing as he put it. So when he dxes he likes to be part of the experience. He does still use a cassette recorder for taping some stations even though he has computer equipment and has his own website. Mike also made a trip to India some years ago and actually did serious live dxing there on the AM Band. I believe his website goes into details about that. You can google Mike Brooker and it should come up if you want to get a lot of his dxing experience and his comments from all through the years!!! He has been an AM dxer for many years and has heard and verified an amazing amount of pirate radio stations too!!!!

I wish they would get Superconductive Components mass produced and put into AM receivers to enhance dxing weak stations etc.. I have several books going back 20 years ago on Superconductivity in Electronics and equipment including receivers. Its amazing what can be done if its working properly with reliable components!!! One of the Books is a Tab Book called "Superconductivity" published 20 years ago or more, don't know if its still available but a great read if its in your library!!!!

Take care everyone, Eldon (Keep the great dx coming!!!)

[Eldon-Mr.CFAY]

Hi Everyone,
Just a quick update. I just checked Mike Brooker's website and you can still get it on Google. However you may see a lot of other stuff on it to give a good profile of him, If you want to just focus on his dx activities over the years and even see details of his AM dxing in India just go to the DX DHARMA title on the left as you scroll down the site, Go on that and you will see photos of QSL Cards and lots of other radio oriented dx information plus a photo of him in his dx shack!!! I thought it was quite well presented!

Anyway take care and best of dx in the upcoming dx season to you all!!! Eldon

[Toomas Losin]

Another surprise tonight. According to my logs I hadn't listened on 920 kHz in way too many years, so I listened for an hour tonight and when KXLY Spokane faded out its place was taken by CFRY in Portage La Prairie, Manitoba. Perhaps there may be some good east-west propagation tonight.

[skyvalleyradio]

CFRY is a nice catch on 920!! Whether night-time AM propagation favours an east-west vs predominantly north-south path is usually related to how active or quiet the auroral/geomagnetic field is - currently it is rated 'quiet' Nice catches on the trans-Pacific late August DX - that doesn't happen many days at this time of year. That will soon change as we approach the equinox. My own extensive AM DXing from Tofino/Ucluelet and Jordan River reveal that Oct-Mar are the best months for snagging the overseas stuff. I was out at Port Renfrew the morning you had trans-Pacific DX coming in. I was too lazy and never thought to get up early to check the AM band, concentrating instead this trip on late-August FM tropo down the west coast. (successful too!) I take DX gear out to Long Beach every fall - a 600' roll of 18 gu open copper wire I string through the trees parallel to the ocean front. I use a 1970's vintage Sony ICF-6700, Sony ICF-SW7600GR, a Grundig 'Melody Boy' analogue AM/FM/SW receiver & a GE Superadio III. My wanted signal targets have gotten harder,rarer and from more exotic locales as I continue to conquer reception from Pacific Rim countries and islands.

[Eldon-Mr.CFAY]

Hi Everyone,
Good going on CFRY 920 Toomas!!!! Thats a tough one to hear out in B.C.. While coming to Ontario I listened to them while travelling through Manitoba. The morning show has a lot of local agriculture and farm programming. Quite interesting as I don't hear much of that out in B.C. anymore. Its a very local oriented station with country as the main music format but lots of local information and news too!!! I have tried to hear them out in B.C. in the past with no luck. I also do not have a music survey from them in my extensive collection over the years. Wrote to them years ago and they did not have one at that time but I am sure at several times they did. If anyone has a CFRY music survey from any time please let me know. I*d love to get a copy!!!!

Sky Valley good to see you on commenting. That was great touching base with you on the landline too. The envelope is on its way to you!!! I know a lot of dxing by radio club members in the past was done at Jordan River. I think Dan participated in one DX Marathon, I think I have photos of him in a car with a radio club dx marathon at Jordan River a few years ago. Sky Valley would be most interested in hearing about your FM DX down the coast, could you post a few highlights from your trip here about what you heard on the west coast of Vancouver Island. I am sure others would be interested too. Thats great you can do this out there with all the radios. Believe it or not I have never done any dxing on the west coast of Vancouver Island. How is the Tofino and Long Beach area for long distance FM and AM compared to Jordan River which is further south??? Better the same or worse??? Anyhow hope you had a nice trip or having a nice vacation break Sky Valley!!!!

Also hope everyone else is having a great summer and enjoying any vacations you may take!!!!! I hear Florida right now is having Hurricane problems so might not be a great time to take a vacation there!!!! Wonder how that affects dx near a Hurricane if at all???

Take care everyone, safety first, 73s From Eldon

[Dan Sys]

That was a few "decades" ago Eldon during the GWDXA convention we hosted in Vancouver back in 1980. One of the highlights was the field trip to River Jordan where Victoria DX'er Nick Hall-Patch set up a beverage antenna (kind of complimented the many other beverages we had in the cooler at our makeshift campsite). Lots of fun, but I don't think I've ever witnessed it rain so hard in my life as it did that particular night. We all got drenched and it kind of ruined the trip, but I do recall hearing stations from Japan and Australia. Thank goodness for those "other" beverages as they kept us going through that monsoon. It would be fun doing something like this again, but maybe check the long range weather forecast first this time. Maybe shoot for sometime next year?

I did hear CFRY 920 once last winter when conditions to the east were exceptional. That was the same night that CKDM 730 in Dauphin was blowing Vancouver's CHMJ 730 off the air in Aldergrove. CFRY also ran a DX test for IRCA back in 1995 which I have a verification for.

[skyvalleyradio]

Eldon - FM DX was so-so but did stretch down as far as northern Oregon...farthest heard was KQCB 94.9 Cannon Beach, KMUN 91,9 Astoria & KCYS 98.1 Seaside - heard many times so, ho-hum reception in my books. Another morning brought in the Aberdeen/Hoquiam signals strong. Regular local signals at Port Renfrew are KVIX 89.3 Port Angeles, KNWP 90.1 Port Angeles and KBDB 96.7 Forks.

Tofino/Ucluelet is far superior for FM DX than Jordan River, although one needs to stay as far away from the double 3-phase hydro lines running along Hwy 4 on the Long Beach peninsula. I would imagine that trans-Pacific MW reception is likely the same at both locations. Best FM DX spot in western Canada is by far Radar Hill located within Pacific Rim Park. The high mound at oceanside, coupled with a south facing open shot have brought me over 450 FM stations and translators in Wash, Oreg & Calif. from Radar Hill using a fold-up yagi or just the vehicle antenna. I have also unsucessfully attempted to be the first VE7 to work Hawaii on 144 mHz via tropo - had partial contacts but none completed so far. The 144 mHz beacon (144.170 mHz) from Mauna Loa on Hawaii's 'big island' can be heard from Radar Hill on occasion. Sometimes the tropo is so strong it is prevalent at sea level and one can drive around the peninsula flipping through the car radio listening to exotic DX. One of my best FM DX receptions was a few Eureka, Calif stations heard at sea level on my GE Superadio III with just the built-in whip antenna!!!

[jon]

While DXing aboard a ship or aircraft is probably even more interesting, the best location in the West for broadcast band (530-1710 KHz) appears to be the Islands formerly known as the Queen Charlottes. I've read about a lot of DXpeditions in Washington and B.C., but the recent one there with Bruce Portzer and others has them all beat. The characteristics of "darkness paths" there makes otherwise impossible things possible. I only ever witnessed the effect once: JOBB-830 from Osaka into Burnaby at 8:15 a.m. one bright sunny winter morning in early 1970 because there was no darkness between me and WCCO-830 in Minneapolis.

In the Queen Charlottes, that happens on a regular basis. In fact, you can even get CFYK-1340 from Yellowknife there, because the hundreds of graveyarders (1000 watt non-directional "local channel" stations) in the U.S. and Southern Canada have no darkness in their path to the Queen Charlottes, but CFYK does.

More interesting, of course, is the Asia/Pacific DX you get after darkness disappears between you and even West Coast U.S. stations, let alone those to the East, on or near the same frequency.

But, that's AM. FM, TV and other bands are, of course, different.

The only DXer I ever knew who lived anywhere near there was Ric Heald, for whom an IRCA (radio club) award is named. He lived in Sitka, Alaska, during the late 1960s. Sitka is on an Island not too far North of the Queen Charlottes.

[Tape Splicer]

The characteristics of "darkness paths" there makes otherwise impossible things possible.

Jon; Please explain "darkness paths" - what is this effect? what happens during this effect? I've not heard this term before.

[Toomas Losin]

I heard CFRY again tonight. It faded in and out with country music but for about 10 minutes it was like a local. A "see-fry weather" report predicted a high of 35° for Wednesday. "See fry" indeed!

Light and dark made all the difference to hearing KKEA Honolulu versus KSTP St. Paul on 1500 a few weeks ago. Even then it needed helpful propagation.

Here's something else to consider about trans-pacific DX from the Lower Mainland. If one looks at an Azimuthal Equidistant map centered on Vancouver (or look at a globe) one notices that the great circle path from Vancouver directly up Georgia Strait passes through the area between Japan and the Korean peninsula. What's special about that route is that the mountains at the top of Georgia Strait are below the horizon or very close to being so, which helps that low-angle DX. In every other trans-pacific direction there are mountains along the horizon.

So, does that little gap at the top of the strait facilitate far-east Asian DX or is it the multiple hundred's of kilowatts that punch the signal through when propagation is good?

It's also interesting to note that the southern half of Haida Gwaii is on that same great circle path.

[Tape Splicer]

I was not able to find an azimuth map centered on the metro Vancouver area online, however I did find this colourful map centered on North America with compass reference points.

"Oblique Azimuthal Equidistant Map Projection"
http://www.spacew.com/www/40n100w.html

is there a place where one can find an azimuth map centered on this area of the world. I saw one once at cjvb. (I think the map was centered on Boundary Bay airport). The map was used to determine who lived the farthest distance away from the station when a DX contest was held shortly after the station came on the air. I believe the person who won the contest lived in Australia. (at least that is the story I was told).

[Eldon-Mr.CFAY]

Greetings!
Wow! Hearing CFRY 920 again Toomas, that is great!!! I will have to try for them here in Ontario. Not sure what the chances are, I will have to check the coverage map pattern as well. I*m glad you heard them also in Aldergrove Dan, and got them verified!!!! Congratulations. Yes that was a long time ago with that rainy Jordan River Dxpedition. Still sounded interesting for you Dan!!! I would like to make a trip over there one of these days too. Jim and I had talked about doing it quite a few times in the past for a beverage antenna out there but never did!!!

Thanks very much Sky Valley for posting all your FM results of dxing on the west coast. Yes from what you have described I would have to agree that site near Long Beach and Tofino sounds very good!!!! The one place in the Fraser Valley for distant FM or Tropo a lot is Thorne Hill in Maple Ridge East, its about 900 feet to 1000 feet and the road or street goes in a straight line up the Hill due north. It faces south and Oregon stations come in quite often. Jim and I heard and verified KZEL Eugene on FM quite a few years ago there, it was coming in strong. Other Portland and Eugene, and Albany Oregon FM stations come in quite well there near summer and late spring and even sometimes at other times of the year. There has been two names over the years for Thorne Hill, the other was Grant Hill but more commonly known as Thorne Hill, its just Northeast of the Albion area of Maple Ridge, thats where the Fort Langley Ferry ran for many years until Golden Ears Bridge was built a couple years ago. I like Thorne Hill for distant FM listening to the south but the west coast of Vancouver Island location you mentioned Sky Valley sounds much better. I was kind of amazed at you hearing Eureka, California on the GE Superadio etc. By the way what you heard from Seaside and Cannon Beach on FM is quite good, I have never heard those and I don't think the power of those stations as well as KMUN in Astoria is all that much. So congratulations on those too!!! Sounds like you had some interesting reception! Hope the weather was good for you on that vacation break too!

You know Jon I had never thought of Queen Charlottes Islands for dxing, had thought of making a trip there since its quite remote and beautiful from what I have heard. My sister wanted to make a trip up there some years ago for the same reasons. I was most interested in reading what you said about Bruce Portzer doing a dxpedition there, and getting such good results. Thats great, yes that darkness and light patterns can really produce some interesting results. So thats another location on B.C.s coast to consider!!! Had not heard much about any dxing from the Queen Charlottes area in the past. Since I don't like real hot weather in the summer months Ann and I had thought about getting a summer cottage in Prince Rupert to keep cool in the summer and I did think about how dxing would be in Prince Rupert! I know you worked for the CBC in Prince Rupert Jon but can't ever remember if you tried any dxing there and reported it. Is AM Dxing any good in Prince Rupert Jon??? Or do you have to put up with power line noise a lot there??? I imagine few local AM stations so that would not seem to be a problem. As far as Sitka goes I remember Ric Heald in IRCA quite well, is he still alive??? Also I would add that Pat Martin dxed a lot in the mid-60s when his family moved to Seward, Alaska which is somewhat north of Sitka but on the coast. He heard and verified CJJC 850 at 1000 watts from Langley back in 1965 from Seward, the station came in quite well several times there. Not bad for 1000 watts he said. He also heard quite a few other stations from the continental USA and other parts of Canada and thought Seward was a pretty good place for dxing. However he really loves his Oregon coast Warrenton location wth several beverage antennas he uses, Over the years he has had fantastic results from there. Makes me wonder though what kind of stuff you could do from the Long Beach area if you lived there or now Queen Charlottes if you spent a lot of time there dxing!!!! I bet the results on AM dxing there would be fantastic too!!!! Were you ever able to visit the Queen Charlottes when you worked at CFPR in Prince Rupert Jon???

Anyway good topic, thanks for posting everything!!! Keep up the great dxing Toomas and everyone. Always look forward to hearing what everybody has to say. Oh yes the maps help a lot as well, thats an interesting link you put up Tape Splicer!!!

73s Eldon