Hello All,
The propagation deep freeze on the Grayland beach let up somewhat
this morning-- to be replaced by the arctic deep freeze moving in from Canada.
While some moderately interesting DX showed up on frequencies like 846, 864 and
873, the 37 degree ocean beach temperature and 15 mph wind chill was anything
but moderate. After yesterday's clunker session I was highly motivated to track
down some good DX on this last day of the trip, and made every effort to hit
the cold beach very early at 1030 UTC (0330 local time)-- a big mistake. The
wind chill's punishment increases by the hour, and Asian signals can propagate
for a very long time on ocean beaches.
After yesterday's solar-challenged session the Asians at least
made a halfhearted recovery, although most of the TP signals were nowhere near
their Saturday levels. The Japanese and Korean big guns were potent as usual on
the ocean coast, but the second-tier Asians on 558, 603 and 657 had trouble
managing any real energy. Checking the band for any special propagation trend
was tricky in the subfreezing wind chill, but it certainly seemed like the
middle and high band had the edge over the low band, with the Japanese and
Koreans doing better than the Chinese. 864-HLKR was mixing with an
apparent Japanese station at 1347 (one of the 7 listed), but nailed down the
frequency in a big way by 1527, pounding in with good strength. 873-JOGB had an
apparent mix with a Chinese station just before the 1300 TOH, and 846 had a
mystery station at a fair level around 1353 (sounded Japanese). The
major challenge after 2 hours on the beach was not tracking down exotic Asian
DX, but tracking down some warmth from the car heater (to thaw out stiff fingers
and toes). The Asian propagation was nothing to shout about, but a moderate
sunrise enhancement boost around 1500 did prolong their pedestrian signals long
enough to make me deeply regret having ever shown up to face the bitter wind
chill as early as 0330 local time. After four and a half hours my frozen
ICF-2010 spotting receiver's frequency readout went on the blink, and my
PL-380's battery display showed empty (although the radio had fresh batteries
installed, right before the session). The frozen radio breakdowns gave me a
convenient excuse to finally retreat from the frigid beach without feeling
guilty about wasting valuable ocean beach DXing time (and the $65 a night I was
paying for the Grayland Motel's luxuriant Room 11).
864 HLKR Gangneung, S. Korea Strong Korean male
speech overcoming some Portland splatter at 1527
864 HLKR mix Vibrant mix of an apparent Japanese station (with
talk) fighting it out with HLKR's music at 1347
873 China + JOGB mix Another S9 frequency fight between an
UnID Chinese station and NHK2's JOGB, with JOGB taking over the frequency with
its 3 + 1 time pips and English lessons at 1300
1566 HLAZ Jeju, S. Korea Not every Asian signal suffers when
a propagation drop off occurs on the ocean coast-- HLAZ seems to have total
immunity
1593 CNR1 Changzhou, China Fair to good male Chinese speech
at 1440
1593 CNR1 + NHK2 mix These stations were fighting it out for
most of the morning. It sounds like two Chinese stations, but only because the
NHK2 synchros were broadcasting Chinese lessons at 1445
73 and Good DX,
Gary DeBock (DXing at the Grayland, WA ocean beach this morning;
now back in Puyallup-- almost thawed out)
7.5" loopstick Tecsun PL-380 Ultralight +
17" DXpedition FSL antenna
