TP DX this morning was slightly better than the past two days. Surprising was the post-sunrise reception of 567, 594, and especially 1566.
567 JOIK barely audible traces in KLIF-570 QRM at 1213. Barely audible at 1219-1223 (LSR at 1210).
594 JOAK barely audible at 1133. Barely audible-to-poor between 1211 and 1225.
702 unID heterodyne from northwest at 1145.
747 JOIB fair signal with severe WSB-750 QRM at 1131; barely audible talking at 1242-1247.
774 JOUB fair at 1123; poor talking at 1249.
828 JOBB piercing heterodyne with poor audio at 1129; poor in WCCO-830 QRM at 1240.
972 HLCA with strong het but no audio at 1126 and throughout listening session.
1566 HLAZ barely audible-to-poor at 1225 until finally fading away at 1236 (26 minutes past LSR).
Receiver: Skywave with ALA1530LNP

Richard Allen, near Perry OK USA

Accept, please, my very best
greetings to all "Ultralight DX Radio Group".

IK7JGI, Alfredo Gallerati (Radiolistening Manager of The A.R.I Italian Amateur Radio Association)

Copied from the WoR io group for USA/European listeners. Off-Air Time at 2300 EST Sat. to 0500 EST Sun. (0400 - 1000 UT Sun)
Regards
Paul S. in CT FN31nl


WCBS to be off the air on Saturday night
From: Glenn Hauser <wghauser@yahoo.com>
Date: Sat, 16 Nov 2019 13:39:49 EST

Yesterday, 08:31 PM #1
Joylovepulse967
Location Central islip

WCBS 88 be off air

Attention, Cat's Whiskerers!

We've been informed that 50KW ND WCBS (AM) 880 New York will be taken off the air at 11PM EST Saturday night (11.16.2019) to perform antenna system adjustments. They will be done at or before 5AM ST Sunday morning.

Go crazy, everybody! ;-)

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: 'Mark Connelly' via NRC-AM <nrc-am@googlegroups.com>

Subject: [nrc-am] Fwd: [irca] WCBS to be off the air on Saturday night

FYI - DX opportunity with WCBS silent period - lots of 880 domestic and Latin America targets + 882 TA / TP with a major slopper / IBOC hasher out of the way.

Mark Connelly, WA1ION
South Yarmouth, MA

From: John Varljen via Groups.Io <IRCA@groups.io>
Date: Saturday, November 16, 2019

I saw this posted on another forum.

https://www.radiodiscussions.com/showthread.php?721426-WCBS-88-be-off-air

John Varljen

Hi Dean,

I use this coupling method all the time.

Example, I have a 25 ft. vertical in the back yard connected with coax through an RF Systems 9:1 Magnetic balun at the base of the vertical. The coax runs into the house. Now how to couple that to the radio.

Find an old 4 inch ferrite bar. Strip the coax and using the two ends, wind about 15 turns  of insulated wire (#24 telephone wire works well) around the ferrite bar. Connect the coil to the ends of the coax.

The number of turns is not totally important but you don't want or need too many and you want enough to make a difference. You're not tuning a circuit here, just providing inductive field to couple to the radio.

Have fun!

Bill
SW Arizona
RADIO-TIMETRAVELLER
https://radio-timetraveller.blogspot.com

Hi Dean,

I'm not sure what you're trying to do but in the Files, the opening page at the bottom is a .pdf called "matching transformers using binocular core". Maybe that will give you some ideas.

https://ultralightdx.groups.io/g/main/files/5%20Antennas%20and%20Equipment/Matching%20transformers%20using%20Binocular%20%20Core.pdf

I've never tried coupling a FSL to a radio other than the usual inductive coupling by setting the radio near the FSL.

73,

Steve

Hi:

I was just thinking ;
I"ve have made a   dirty- lash-up  coupling loop for another project ,this is the first attempt that i have made and i want to get it right ,,but i was thinking is there a relationship between turns on the coupling loop (that sets next to the radio ) and the pickup loop on a FSL ? , ,,Should they be the same uH or different values ?

I'm thinking about  max transfer to the radio of the fsl ,,and effects on the loop too ,,any ideas ? thoughts ?

Thanks
Dean

Hi,

I own a PL-880 and can confirm it's a good performer with my PK Loop. However, it suffers from bad overload and spurs at my QTH. There are no problems when listening in an area away from 50 kW blowtorches. 

Great to read of another successful DXpedition! 

Regards,

Will.

Hi Chris,

Thanks for your generous comments, and of course it was our great honour to welcome you to Hawaii!

<<<   The PL880 was modified to allow the loop to use the external antenna jack on MW which when supplied by the factory only functions on SW. I was very comfortable using this receiver and antenna combination and have dxed for many hours on both. Whilst the PL880 is not a "Ultralight receiver" in my opinion it is the pick of modern portables and performs extremely well.   >>>

I certainly agree that your PL-880 performed very well, and its SSB capability probably gave you the edge in tracking weak SSB carriers at sunset in comparison to the rather tricky CC Skywave SSB circuitry, which isn't nearly so user-friendly. When a DXer goes to an exotic new ocean beach location and chases unfamiliar transoceanic DX at both sunrise and sunset, he definitely needs to use the radio and loop that he fells the most comfortable with, and have full confidence in his ability to use them effectively, in all situations. There are already enough challenges with the weather, unfamiliar propagation and the occasional worker turning on an electrical switch at a neighboring swimming pool to kill reception :-)

<<<   Having said that I used the C Crane skywave radio at the condominium I stayed at, and the reception from some very desirable Pacific Island stations, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Tuvlalu, etc as well as many of the other stronger US mainland stations were audible at armchair level inside on the modified C Crane Skywave. They were further enhanced with the FSL. The FSL antenna and C Crane receiver together requires a fair bit of practice at getting the best out of it, and in that regard I am just a beginner.   >>>

The new, highly tweaked 5" Frequent Flyer FSL's are actually a pretty extreme type of antenna, where other factors have been sacrificed in order to get the highest possible, razor-sharp, high-Q gain performance from a pretty tiny antenna. Every single part of the new "Frequent Flyer" FSL's has been given an A/B test with similar parts in order to determine whether they actually do provide the highest possible tuning "Q." The end result is a tiny DXing "firecracker," but with the side effects of requiring ultra-sharp tuning, and tolerating some loss of high frequency DX station audio when zeroed in on the potent, high-Q gain boost. It's kind of like tweaking a compact passenger car into a drag strip queen-- you can make the "hotrod" go extremely fast, but you won't get the best results without some serious practice, and you can't expect the "hotrod" to act like a high-economy passenger car. Craig Barnes and I have both been using these fanatical little FSL's for over two years now, so we both have had lots of training with them in DXpedition environments. You certainly made the right decision in going with the easier-tuning PK Loop in your Kauai DXpedition listening, since precious live DXing time should not be used for "on the job training." On the other hand you now have all the components necessary to assemble the ultimate compact FSL DXing package, which may prove useful for you in the future after a little practice.

73, Gary
       


 
   

--
Paul - Moderator
UltralightDX

My equipment used on the trip was a 5" FSL antenna and C Crane "hot-rodded" receiver both provided by Gary and a Tecsun PL880 and a PK Loops 20" amplified loop.
The PL880 was modified to allow the loop to use the external antenna jack on MW which when supplied by the factory only functions on SW. I was very comfortable using this receiver and antenna combination and have dxed for many hours on both. Whilst the PL880 is not a "Ultralight receiver" in my opinion it is the pick of modern portables and performs extremely well.

Having said that I used the C Crane skywave radio at the condominium I stayed at, and the reception from some very desirable Pacific Island stations, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Tuvlalu, etc as well as many of the other stronger US mainland stations were audible at armchair level inside on the modified C Crane Skywave. They were further enhanced with the FSL. The FSL antenna and C Crane receiver together requires a fair bit of practice at getting the best out of it, and in that regard I am just a beginner.

Gary is a wizard at using the FSL's and the Ultralight portables, and the results he gets is absolutely amazing and a credit to his skill both as a dxer and a engineer of both the enhanced radios and FSL antennas.
Most of my dxing carrrer has been done in the past with communications receivers like a Drake R8B and with beverage antennas, and lately with loop antennas as usually on islands where I like to dx from there is no room for a 750m+ beverage antenna in the direction you want to listen to. A FSL or loop antenna is a must if you want to dx successfully in a environment that does not have a lot of room for large antennas.

My results from Poipu beach were numerous, including mainland US stations, various Pacific Island stations, and a few Latin American stations. I logged and identified 74 stations in total. For me there was so much to listen to and just not enough time.

Hi :
Well i only have 2 radio's to tell you about so far (well i have several but just the 2 i have been testing with ).
Tecsun PL 600 ,this set has been my constant companion for FSL antennas and  round the house listening, It works very well with my 3 FSL"s and ok for general listening etc. A rather older model but has given good service since i got it. BTW i had a PL 880 ,but wasn't impressed with it so i returned it.

Sangean ATS 909X ,this set has the mods done by Radio Labs ,Detent removed from the tuning wheel and a couple other things i don't recall what though,Oddly enough it works ok While using a FSL but doesn't seem to give the volume increase like the Tecsun does when you get to the peak on the FSL ? I can only think that the sound mods done on it have changed the AGC, or signal processing  or something ? In the upper part of MW ,Above about 1550 khz the FSL doesn't seem to give much boost but it does help with the signals , I also don't like the signal meter very much it seems to react slowly to boosting ,if it does react ? Almost like the tuning meter isn't as sensitive as my other radio's?

I guess if you need more info ask away ?
Thanks
Dean_0

On Sun, Nov 10, 2019 at 11:25 PM, Todd wrote:

<<<   Well done Gary and Chris re the MW exotics logged at Hawaii.   >>>

Thanks Todd! It was a great honor to welcome Chris to Hawaii, and learn from his experience in African and South American DXing success.

<<<   I note that Chris was using a PK loops 50 cm (19.7 inch) diameter loop. Interested to hear what signal gain and directivity differences were experienced for the 5 inch FSL versus the 50 cm PK loop.   >>>

Since Chris has both of these antennas (and I don't have any PK loop) I should probably defer to him on the relative comparison between these two very different tuned loops. I do know that Chris was using the Tecsun PL-880 and 20" PK Loop combo for most of his DXing in Hawaii, but that he also used the modified CC Skywave and 5" FSL on at least one occasion. By the way, there is a YouTube video posted (not by me) of a direct comparison between a 4" FSL antenna and a 20" PK Loop, at  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7y2a4gWoGM
As background information, I should add that the current 5 inch "Frequent Flyer" FSL antenna models have been tweaked into a razor-sharp, High-Q tuning state, which provides an exceptional amount of gain for the antenna size, but with the side effect of requiring very careful tuning to exploit the extremely sharp (and deep) gain peaks. If someone is accustomed to using a relatively broad-tuning PK loop in a DXpedition environment (as Chris was, at Rarotonga in June), it's not easy to switch over to the ultra High-Q tuning system of the current "Frequent Flyer" FSL antennas. On the other hand, if someone has years of practice tuning the new, highly-tweaked FSL antennas (as Craig Barnes and I both have), the thrill of having such awesome compact performance is very habit forming.

<<<   I am considering purchasing a 65 cm (25.6 inch) diameter loop for AU $250 including postage from PK Antennas. The 65 cm version is their largest passive (non-amplified) loop that covers the full MW band. My main intended application is taking it away on vacation trips, or to nearby parks, etc. My 102 cm (40 inch) side length square PVC tunable box loop is too big for anywhere but inside the house or outside in the backyard. The smaller 65 cm loop may also be useful for local strong signal null vertical plane tilting at home.    >>>

As I shared with Chris, a DXer needs to use whatever gear he feels most comfortable with. There are many antenna tradeoffs such as portability and gain, highest Q and ease of tuning, highest Q and DX station audio fidelity, etc. Every commercial antenna has design compromises as the manufacturer attempts to appeal to the largest possible number of customers, and make a profit by satisfying their needs. When you design your own antennas (as I did with the PVC air core loops, and the airport-friendly FSL antennas) you have the chance to choose your own design priorities, even to the point of fanaticism, such as with the 9 foot square PVC loop, the 17" diameter monster FSL or the razor-sharp-tuning 5" FSL antenna. Would everyone feel comfortable using these? Of course not. DXing is supposed to be a fun hobby, so choose whatever works for you, and the fun will naturally follow.

<<<   For anyone that can handle mosquitoes and crocodiles, Northern Australia offers a large variety of exotic signals that could be considered for a future ULR MW DXpedition. Australian DXers Dave Onley and Craig Edwards have already conducted a comprehensive DXpedition to Nhulunbuy, Northern Territory [1].   >>>

That sounds interesting, although the 45 degree heat in places like Alice Springs might be even hotter than the DX you track down? Chris mentioned that Queensland is the currently popular hot spot for Australian DXpeditions, although a lot of DXers either hop a plane to NZ or the Cook Islands. I visited Aitutaki in the Cooks last year in April, and it was awesome!

73, Gary
 
                 

Well done Gary and Chris re the MW exotics logged at Hawaii.

I note that Chris was using a PK loops 50 cm (19.7 inch) diameter loop. Interested to hear what signal gain and directivity differences were experienced for the 5 inch FSL versus the 50 cm PK loop.

I am considering purchasing a 65 cm (25.6 inch) diameter loop for AU $250 including postage from PK Antennas. The 65 cm version is their largest passive (non-amplified) loop that covers the full MW band. My main intended application is taking it away on vacation trips, or to nearby parks, etc. My 102 cm (40 inch) side length square PVC tunable box loop is too big for anywhere but inside the house or outside in the backyard. The smaller 65 cm loop may also be useful for local strong signal null vertical plane tilting at home. 

For anyone that can handle mosquitoes and crocodiles, Northern Australia offers a large variety of exotic signals that could be considered for a future ULR MW DXpedition. Australian DXers Dave Onley and Craig Edwards have already conducted a comprehensive DXpedition to Nhulunbuy, Northern Territory [1].

Regards,

Todd
Sydney, AU

1. https://ozclog.wordpress.com/nhulunbuy-gove-peninsula-northern-territory/

<<<   Wow some great catches there. Well done.    >>>

Thanks Dan,

Your comment is appreciated. Wish that you could have been with us!

73, Gary
 

Wow some great catches there. Well done.