Hi again,

Maybe details of this long-term project are not relevant for folks in Oz or overseas, but at least I would like to add some details our listening exercise in Spain and Portugal.

Eight people from Spain and Portugal have been involved in the first listening session in March. They are marked as a red dot in the Iberian Peninsula map that I am sending here. The Iberian Peninsula includes three countries; Andorra, Portugal and Spain, but just two, Spain and Portugal keep MW transmissions. It measures, more or less, 1.200 km (axis SW-NE) by 935 km (axis NW-SE). Unfortunately we haven't any monitors in the Northwest quadrant so we cannot cover the entire territory.

I work the IN83ag grid square in Cantabria (the northernmost red dot in the map). From there I monitored the entire MW band on 1st March at local cenit time. Midday time was 13:31UTC. We fixed a one hour window including 30 minutes before and after the central time. Our intention choosing that midday time was minimize the ionospheric component of the wave (which is not always possible in winter time, due to the shorter daylight period).

I used the XHDATA 808 and the Tecsun AN-200 loop. That two small pieces of gear pairs really well and the already known good Medium Wave performance of the XHDATA is boosted by the passive loop. I logged 60 stations with the loop and just thirty-six ones without the AN-200. No more to say!

Maximum distance was Radio Béchar from Algeria at 1.308 km, with a weak signal and quick fading. This shows a double component in the wave, the ionospheric and the ground one (this one weaker I guess). But I wonder if the QSB was noticeable because of the interaction of two waves travelling by the ionosphere and arriving here (almost) together. Any idea? 90% of the distance from Béchar to Cantabria is ground (sand, rocks and mountains) so, despite its 400 kW it's a long way to jump!

We will be listening to the band every first week of the month until the end of 2021. We will try to get series and study the propagation and stations heard. 

I also attach a screenshot of the excel sheet with the compiled stations ordered in columns showing the distance got, given signal (S1-5) and some comments (NOTAS). Records in red are those from abroad.

¡73 y buen DX!

Jorge Garzón Gutiérrez "IberiaDX" 

(EB7EFA · EA1036 SWL · BDXC Member 1409) 

QTH: IN83ag / 43º15' N · 03º56' W

Urb. San Roque 95, casa 5 (Villasevil)

39698 Santiurde de Toranzo (ESPAÑA - SPAIN)

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Blog: IberiaDX  · Twitter: @IberiaDX

En jueves, 25 de febrero de 2021 8:05:55 CET, Jorge Garzón Gutiérrez <iberiadx@...> escribió:

Hi, 

Paul's (Blundell) projects unfolded our wings and we start a LT project in Spain. Pedro and me (both also members at IberiaDX e-group) proposed the following to Iberian DXers:

Name: Reto OM Iberia Diurna. (Daylight Iberian MW Challenge) 

Dates: 1st week of each month of the year. 

Times: On the Sun cenit time, with a 30' window before and after the exact time. 

Equipment: ULR receivers or small portables. External loops, ferrites, or wires inductively coupled are allowed. Receiver+Antenna system will remain the same every listening session. 

Place: Same grid locator during sessions. 

This activity is aimed to check daylight propagation and variations on groundwave/sky wave components during the year. Also to get up-to-date info on Iberian (E+POR) MW stations. Of course it will show the outstanding performing of small receivers when a good listening spot is chosen, promoting its use. 

¡Saludos y buen DX! 

Jorge Garzón Gutiérrez "IberiaDX" 

(EB7EFA · EA1036 SWL · BDXC Member 1409) 

QTH: IN83ag / 43º15' N · 03º56' W

Urb. San Roque 95, casa 5 (Villasevil)

39698 Santiurde de Toranzo (ESPAÑA - SPAIN)

..................................................................................

Blog: IberiaDX  · Twitter: @IberiaDX

For those of you not on Facebook, there will be a 2021 Ultralight Radio Shootout completed soon, providing extensive reviews of the XHDATA D-808, the Radiwow R-108, the C. Crane Skywave, the Tecsun PL-330 and the Tecsun PL-380.

Although the 27.2 cubic inch size of the XHDATA D-808 model places it outside of the "official" Ultralight Radio guidelines it is still a very popular AM-FM-SW-LW-AIR band portable providing excellent value for the $100 price-- and was included in the full article as a "reference model." Read the full details on this popular model in the full 6-page review posted at the following link, which is an excerpt from the full Shootout article to be published soon 
https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/8y6855bnfmy45rnk46mzr7hb4pwjz8u8

Gary DeBock (in Puyallup, WA, USA)

Who says MW listening is dead?

 

I’m very proud to say that the latest issue of Medium Wave News is the large issue in its 66 year history.

 

The March issue distributed to members today tops out at 94 pages – we couldn’t afford to print & post beyond 64 so had to resort to a digital supplement.

 

73 and good listening

Steve

 

For those of you not on Facebook, there will be a 2021 Ultralight Radio Shootout completed soon, providing extensive reviews of the XHDATA D-808, the Radiwow R-108, the C. Crane Skywave, the Tecsun PL-330 and the Tecsun PL-380.

Although the 27.2 cubic inch size of the XHDATA D-808 model places it outside of the "official" Ultralight Radio guidelines it is still a very popular AM-FM-SW-LW-AIR band portable providing excellent value for the $100 price-- and was included in the full article as a "reference model." Read the full details on this popular model in the full 6-page review posted at the following link, which is an excerpt from the full Shootout article to be published soon 
https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/8y6855bnfmy45rnk46mzr7hb4pwjz8u8

Gary DeBock (in Puyallup, WA, USA)