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Mini DXpedition

The technical side of broadcasting. Think IBOC is a sham? Talk about it here! How about HDTV? Post DX reports here as well.
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Turkeytop
Posts: 8854
Joined: Mon Aug 16, 2010 9:27 pm

Mini DXpedition

Post by Turkeytop » Tue Nov 09, 2021 10:50 pm

Every fall I pick a day and head out into the country for a few hours to do some DXing on the short wave bands. I call it my Mini DXpedition. I take along a radio or two and some wire for erecting an antenna I go to the same location every year. It's a conservation area, about 35 miles from the city, about ten miles inland from Lake Huron. The area is perfect. There are no power lines or any other source of man made noise around. There are trees around so I can get an antenna up off the ground.

It's becoming a little more of a challenge every year, because, one by one, the big international broadcasters are shutting down. The challenge is even greater this year because we're still deep in the trough between solar cycles

I always pick a day in early November, after we have reverted to standard time. This allows me to take advantage of the earlier darkness. I arrive there around 4:00 PM. This gives me enough time to get set up before it gets dark. I stay there for 4 or 5 hours

The day I picked for this year was Monday, Nov 8. The weather can be unreliable at that time of year, but in the twelve years I've been doing it, I've never had bad weather. Indeed, on one or two occasions, it's been balmy, Indian summer weather. This was one of those years

It wasn’t a very productive day, but a few hours of solitude in the country is priceless.

The day’s loggings

3330 KHZ - CHU
6070 KHZ - CFRX
5800 KHZ - Radio Taiwan
6501 KHZ -USB – US Coast Guard Command, Norfolk VA
2598 KHZ – Canadian Coast Guard Newfoundland
5505 KHZ – Shannon Volmet, Shannon Ireland
9690 KHZ – Spanish National Radio, Madrid.
5960 KHZ – Voice of Turkey
13750 KHX – Radio Thailand
5990 KHX – Radio Romania International
7350 KHZ – China Radio International
6165 KHZ – Radio Havana



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I started out with nothing and I still have most of it.

k8jd
Posts: 603
Joined: Fri Jun 28, 2013 3:35 pm
Location: Commerce, MI

Re: Mini DXpedition

Post by k8jd » Wed Nov 10, 2021 5:00 pm

Sounds like fun !
What form of antenna were you using, up in those trees, was it a band specific design ? I know the lower frequencies can be more reliable when sunspots are not going very strong :D
Today I managed to have a nice CW chat with a ham located on an island North of Seattle on 24.910 MHz. I used 90 W and a 19 ft long dipole antenna up 20 ft. Usually those bands like 15, 12 and 10M are pretty quiet !



Kennelly Heaviside
Posts: 145
Joined: Fri Jun 11, 2021 12:06 am

Re: Mini DXpedition

Post by Kennelly Heaviside » Wed Nov 10, 2021 5:27 pm

When I was resetting my clocks, I received the following. Much electrical interference. Inside with telescoping whip.

3330 kHz CHU
5000 khz WWV
10000 kHz WWV

No 15000 kHz WWV
No 7850 khz CHU.

A week of so ago, I heard WWVH in the background on 10000 kHz and 15000 kHz. There were good conditions, and I heard some Canadian hams doing DX tests, using USB, repeating their callsigns over and over, on 80 meters. One was in the Horseshoe of ON, one was in Alberta.

Definitely the Auroral conditions are wiping out the signals somewhat for the last week or so.


Kennelly Heaviside. The best Technical Consultant no money can buy.

k8jd
Posts: 603
Joined: Fri Jun 28, 2013 3:35 pm
Location: Commerce, MI

Re: Mini DXpedition

Post by k8jd » Wed Nov 10, 2021 5:45 pm

Today evaluated HF time signal levels. at 18:30 UT
WWV 2.5 mHz no signal
CHU 3.330 S7
WWV 5.0 S5
CHU 7.985 S9+10dB
WWV 10.0 S9+10 dB
CHU 14.67 S4
WWV 15.0 S8
WWV 20.0 S9
WWV 25.0 Barely heard carrier, no S reading
For each reading I selected the antenna (of several) that gave best signal readings.
Will try again later this evening to contrast day and night conditions.



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Turkeytop
Posts: 8854
Joined: Mon Aug 16, 2010 9:27 pm

Re: Mini DXpedition

Post by Turkeytop » Thu Nov 11, 2021 12:29 am

k8jd wrote:
Wed Nov 10, 2021 5:00 pm
Sounds like fun !
What form of antenna were you using, up in those trees, was it a band specific design ? I know the lower frequencies can be more reliable when sunspots are not going very strong :D
Today I managed to have a nice CW chat with a ham located on an island North of Seattle on 24.910 MHz. I used 90 W and a 19 ft long dipole antenna up 20 ft. Usually those bands like 15, 12 and 10M are pretty quiet !

The antenna was nothing sophisticated. Just a 75 ft. length of wire stretched from tree to tree to tree.


I started out with nothing and I still have most of it.

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