Hello Guys,

 

     Sometimes everything just seems to fall into place!  Not only was I able to book Room 15 at the Grayland Motel on short notice, but I had the whole motel to myself, with no RF pollution of any kind.  I had always wondered what it would be like at Grayland on a fantastic TP morning, and today I found out!

 

     18 new TP's were received on the stand-alone Slider E100 (for a total of 70 now), with many second-tier Japanese, Korean and Chinese stations that never could make it to my inland Puyallup location.  The stock Sangean DT-400W also ran wild, with easy loggings of VOA-1575 in Thailand, VOV-675 in Vietnam and Taiwan-738, as well as about 12 other TP's.  The band was still going strong in broad daylight at 1545, and two new Ultralight countries were logged (Alaska and the Marshall Islands). A booming mp3 of choral music from 1098-Marshall Islands was obtained at 0741 on the Slider E100, along with many other recordings of obscure Japanese stations. Guy Atkins was set up at the Grayland Beach State Park about a mile south of me, and he also had a fantastic time with his Perseus, Wellbrook Array and SRF-39FP prison radio.

 

     One of the main objectives of this trip was to compare the performance of the different E100 modifications (stock, filter only, Slider loopstick only, and fully modified E100) in actual TP DXing conditions, and some very interesting information was obtained for an upcoming "E100 Four Variant Shootout" article, to be posted on DXer.Ca.  This should prove useful for any DXers considering E100 modifications of any kind.

 

     A heavily modified ICF-2010 (30" loopstick) was used as a spotting receiver for the Ultralights, and was extremely useful in checking all the booming frequencies.  Here are the loggings, all on the Slider E100 (7.5" Amidon loopstick + Murata CFJ455K5 narrow IF filter), unless otherwise noted. Carrier strength was checked on the modified ICF-2010:

 

531   JOQG   NHK1 program strong throughout morning. Logged on DT-400W at 1127

549   Strong carrier throughout morning, but too much 550 slop to ID

558   JOCR  Up and down after 0820, heard on DT-400W at 1231 (fair signal)

567   JOIK   NHK1 booming in all morning;  strong on DT-400W at 1205

576   R. Mayak synchros up and down in strength; weak on DT-400W at 0906

585   JOPG  strong throughout morning with NHK1 program

594   JOAK  blowtorch signal from 0704 straight through to 1535; easy on DT-400W

603   HLSA at moderate level after 0800 until past sunrise

612   Decent carrier, but never came up to audio

621   Presumably Pyongyang at 1220 with good KK audio under KPOJ slop

639   CNR1 with moderate strength after 0830; weak on DT-400W at 1421

648   VOR  Somewhat weaker than expected on this stellar morning

657   Pyongyang  Booming as usual; heard on DT-400W at 1403

666   JOBK  Near blowtorch level all morning; easy on DT-400W at 1425

675   VOV great signal late; weakly heard on DT-400W at max dawn (1436)

684   Weak audio at 1431 presumed Pyongyang, with typical obsolete music

693   JOAB Booming in with NHK2 all morning, easy catch on DT-400W at 1233

702   NHK2 synchros very tough catch in domestic splatter at 1117, // 747

711   Very strong carrier here in KIRO splatter at 1428, but too much KIRO to ID

729   Another strong carrier that never quite made it to audio

738   BEL2 moderate to strong all morning; weak on DT-400W at max dawn (1434)

747   JOIB  As expected, incredibly strong on every Ultralight in the room

750   KFQD over/ under KXL during SSS (0400) on the Slider-only E100 

756   KBS at a decent level around dawn enhancement (1413)

765   Weak Korean at 0826, presumed HLCQ

774   JOUB King of the NHK blowtorches all morning long, well past 1515

792   Weak Chinese at 1501;  Shenyang?

819   Obviously NK with extremely ragged carrier in KGNW slop, but no audio

828   JOBB another NHK2 blowtorch causing hearing damage to careless DXers

837   Chinese mystery station at decent level all morning; DT-400W at 1445

846   NHK1 synchros heard weakly at 1139

855   Pyongyang at 1141 with female vocal music and ragged carrier

864   HLKR decent signal after 0900 through to sunrise, with KBS program

873   JOGB NHK2 powerhouse most of morning, strong on DT-400W at 1205

890   KBBI  Homer, Alaska easiest of the Alaskans during SSS at 0303

891   JOHK and another weak station (CC?) fighting it out at max dawn (1432)

909   Decent carrier for most of morning, but no audio

918   Shandong CC at good level around sunrise, 1417

927   Not as strong as 918, but audible in CC at 1421

936   Anhui CC audio pretty strong around 1445; weak on DT-400W at 1450

945   CNR audio easily audible through KJR splatter, 1411

954   JOKR heard with difficulty through KJR splatter at 0847 due to IF filter mod

963   CRI signal weaker than expected throughout the morning

972   HLCA blowtorch as usual on every Ultralight in sight, DT-400W at 0835

981   CNR1 strong in CC with some domestic splatter, 1256

999   Strong carrier right next to KOMO, but way too much splatter to ID

1008  JONR heard in JJ through KOMO splatter at 1212; on DT-400W at 1214

1017  Good DU carrier at 0727, but never came to audio (presumably Tonga)

1035  Monster carrier with no modulation heard throughout morning

1044  China as expected around sunrise (1445), but not very strong

1053  Jammer + JOAR + unID Chinese fighting it out around 1431

1062  UnID CC at fairly good level, 1355

1098  Radio Marshalls booming in with choral music for nice mp3 at 0741

1134  JOQR very strong all morning; strong on the DT-400W at 1149

1206  China Yangbyan Korean service strong at 1206 for nice mp3

1242  JOLF suddenly came up in JJ through graveyard splatter at 1405

1278  JOFR weakly heard at 1225 with local JJ program in domestic hash

1305  UnID weak Chinese audio at 1421 (max dawn enhancement)- CNR1?

1332  JOSF weak with JJ female audio at 0843, but strong at 1434

1422  JORF finally came up to audio at 1504 in JJ, after hours as carrier

1467  HLKN strong in Korean KBS program at max dawn (1417)

1475  RTM Sabah E.Malaysia heard in weak audio only on ICF-2010, 1453

1566  HLAZ true blowtorch for most of morning, strong on DT-400W at 1451

1575  VOA Thailand very strong late, with booming mp3 on DT-400W (1455)

1593  CNR weak signal on DT-400W at max dawn enhancement, 1433

 

     With all this DX fun on stand-alone Ultralight portables, it's hard to imagine how this hobby can get any more exciting!  Thanks to John Bryant and Walt Salmaniw for their recent DXpedition reports, which helped provide identification for many of the above TP's. Thanks also to Guy Atkins and Steve Ratzlaff for their assistance in developing these modified E100's, which truly provide outstanding DX performance in a very tiny package.

 

     73,  Gary DeBock