At 09:35 AM 9/3/2008 -0700, you wrote:

Some of the logs as follows:

830 khz - WCCO St. Paul - Minneapolis, Minnesota 9/1/08 2:40 UTC w/
WCCO ID by woman, several PSA's and WCCO.com mentioned ; fair *** STATE #
23 on ULR

1140 khz - WQBA Miami, Florida 9/1/08 8:40 UTC w/ La Voz De Miami
ID, spanish music and talk *** STATE # 24 on ULR

1160 khz - KSL Salt Lake City, Utah 9/3/08 7:25 UTC w/ Piano
Liquidation AD , Leanne Rimes concert promo, Newstalk 1160 KSL ID ,
tempreatures for Logan, Sandy etc. ; good *** STATE # 25 on ULR

940 khz CJGX Yorkton, Saskatchewan 9/2/08 7:50 UTC w/ " GX 94 " iD
by woman , country music , weather ; fair *** PROVINCE # 7 on ULR

670 khz - CMBA R. Rebelde , Arroyo Arenas, Cuba 9/1/08 3:35 UTC w/
spanish talk and music; R. Rebelde mentioned; good *** COUNTRY # 55 on ULR

1017 khz - TRT 1 Mundanya, Turkey 9/2/08 23:30 UTC w/ Turkish music ,
commentary and songs ; Turkiye mentioned; fair *** COUNTRY # 56 on ULR

73

Allen Willie
St. John's, Newfoundland
SRF-M37V and SRF-39FP barefoot

WOW...amazing stuff Alan!!! We're gonna have to change the Award Name to
the "ALAN WILLIE 10 Day Challenge!!".

I haven't done too much AM BCB Dxing yet this Season....as the FM Band has
been going nuts....and I've been spending a lot of time DXing FM Tropo
Conditions!! I'm gonna have to get busy!!

Keep up the good work!!

73........ROB.


Robert S. Ross VA3SW
London, Ontario
CANADA

Antique/Vintage Radio Enthusiast
Amateur Radio Stations VA3SW/VE3JFC

Defy Physics.....Play Table Tennis!! (Ping Pong with an Attitude)
«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«

Hi Everyone,   Spent the last 3 days out of the city at Old Perlican, Newfoundland  and was  able to DX with the Ultralights in a location away from the powerhouse stations of St. John's.    The last 3 days  have been wonderful as I was able to add another 62 stations to  my Robert Ross 30 Day challenge list.   Conditions were ideal to say the least , as I was able to hear and add some new countries, states and provinces to my ultralight and overall  count as well as some firsts.    Some stations were  heard as my first time ever on any radio at all. After  9 days the count stands at 272 stations heard for the challenge.     Some of the logs as follows:   830 khz - WCCO  St. Paul - Minneapolis, Minnesota  9/1/08  2:40 UTC  w/ WCCO ID by woman, several PSA's and WCCO.com mentioned ; fair *** STATE # 23 on ULR   1140 khz  - WQBA  Miami, Florida   9/1/08  8:40 UTC  w/ La Voz De Miami ID, spanish music and talk  *** STATE  # 24 on ULR   1160 khz  - KSL Salt Lake City, Utah   9/3/08  7:25 UTC  w/ Piano Liquidation AD , Leanne Rimes concert promo, Newstalk 1160 KSL ID , tempreatures for Logan, Sandy etc. ; good  *** STATE # 25 on ULR    940 khz CJGX Yorkton, Saskatchewan   9/2/08  7:50 UTC  w/ " GX 94 " iD by woman , country music , weather ; fair   ***   PROVINCE # 7 on ULR   670 khz - CMBA R. Rebelde , Arroyo Arenas, Cuba   9/1/08 3:35 UTC  w/ spanish talk and music; R. Rebelde mentioned;  good *** COUNTRY #  55 on ULR   1017 khz - TRT 1 Mundanya, Turkey   9/2/08  23:30 UTC  w/ Turkish music , commentary and songs ; Turkiye mentioned; fair  *** COUNTRY # 56 on ULR     73   Allen Willie St. John's, Newfoundland SRF-M37V and SRF-39FP barefoot

Yahoo! Canada Toolbar : Search from anywhere on the web and bookmark your favourite sites. Download it now!

Ron,

In certain climates (like our crazy climate here in
Houston), wouldn't static buildup/discharge be a
concern with the cotton and the plastic case rubbing/
sliding together? I'd be afraid I'd damage the radio
somehow ...

73,

Steve N5WBI
Houston TX

Hey Gary:

I've got the Quantum Stick as well - very nice for travel, and LW to
boot, plus it acts as a coupler. As you say, for some reason it
doesn't seem to do much for certain receivers - I get something on my
Eton e100, but not as much as I would expect. In fact, with most of
my Ultralights, the positioning seems to be the key - very finicky to
find the right position. Try putting the Q-Stick on the side of the
receiver such that the ferrite of the Q-Stick is in-line with the
ferrite in the e100 - this adjacent orientation seems to work better
than when the Q-Stick and receiver are face-to-face.

In comparing the Q-Stick and my home-brew just now with a variety of
ULRs and the Sony 7600GR, the gain and tuning sharpness on the home-
brew was substantially greater, often the difference between mumbling
audio and discernable reception, so it's become an instant accessory
in my ULR arsenal.

73 - Kevin S
Bainbridge Island, WA

my quite inexpensive solution to the case problem has been solved by
utilizing some old half socks that are too worn for wearing but make a
nice cotton cocoon for these little radios and pack nicely as i travel
on the weekends. if you like more protection just use 2 socks

Hello all,

As another alternative "portable" MW antenna for ultralights, the
Quantum Q-Stick works well with the DT-200VX (and presumably with
the DT-400W). Unfortunately, it doesn't do much at all with the
E100, which is a shame. It also works well with the larger E10 and
7600GR.

Regards,
Gary

--- In ultralightdx@..., "dhsatyadhana" <satya@...>
wrote:

Hi all:

I just posted a couple photos of a recent project on the
UltraLight DX Yahoo group. I recently got a high-Q basketweave
loop on eBay from the seller "noseknowsnose". It's a 3.5" Litz
coil with a Q around 800. I popped it into a small plastic box
designed for old PC diskettes, used double-stick foam tape to put
a 2x260 variable cap on, and Voila! I stuffed some tissue in the
box to keep the coil from bouncing around -
really high-tech at this point...

The high Q of the loop really adds tuning sharpness to
UltraLights, making it easier to shade one sideband over the other
or notch a pest out of the way. The gain is pretty good as well.

73 - Kevin S
Bainbridge Island, WA

Hi Dennis,

I bought my Fry's refurb E10 in August 2007. Other than a "jumpy"
tuning knob, similar to that on my E100, I'm pretty happy with it.

I generally use external chargers for all of my rechargeable
batteries. The Maha charger that I have charges each cell
individually, which can't be done if I charge them inside a radio
(in this case they are all charged in series).

Once one of the Eton 1100 mAh NiMH batteries went belly up, with
corrosion showing on the positive terminal of the battery, I
started using a set of PowerEx 2300 mAh NiMH batteries that I bought
for my PRO-96 scanner. It's possible that alkaline batteries, with
their higher voltage, may provide better performance. This is true
with the 7600GR -- the sync lock is better with a higher voltage.

I agree that the E10 is not worth $130, but at $30 I couldn't pass
it up. The 7600GR is more sensitive on MW, but the E10 seems a bit
more sensitive on SW. The E10 has far better sound quality than the
7600GR, but the latter is much more selective, with the selectable-
sideband sync detector and a true SSB mode. A combination of the E10
and the 7600GR would make a fine compact radio. Adding a good sync
detector to the E5/G5 would make a very nice unit as well.

Let me know if your E100 has any funny "hets" around 640 kHz (see my
other post). They seem to be internal to my unit (birdies), not due
to external signals.

Regards,
Gary

--- In ultralightdx@..., "Dennis Gibson" <wb6tnb@...>
wrote:

I've never needed to resort to an external charger after that first
time when the voltage was so low the radio couldn't charge them.

Gary - how long have you had your Fry's refurb E10? I got mine last
November. If I was going to have a corrosion problem it would have
happened already. I live about 1/4 mile from the beach and unless
it's raining the window facing the ocean is almost always open
into the room with the radios.

That gets back to a question I asked awhile back that I don't think
anyone answered. Are you using NiMH's or alkalines? Of course
there's a major difference in voltage. I only use NiMH's in the
two radios that charge them internally; the Kaito KA1103 and the
E10. It seems that they would be optimized for them but you can
tell the E10 which type you're using. I've never seen that in
another radio nor the very clever IF shift. I think a full price
E10 ($130.00) is not even close to being worth it; for another
$20.00 you can have an ICF-SW7600GR or E5/G5.

I ordered an E100 and am anxiously awaiting it's arrival so I can
put it up against a number of radios to see how it fares. I'm
paying $15.00 more for the E100 than I did for the E10! Of course
it was a refurb. Any other E10 owners out there?

I was going to go TP hunting this weekend with my new DT-400W but
the temptation to stay in a nice warm bed was too great. Maybe next
weekend. The ocean won't move between now and then.

The DT-400W that I ordered from NewEgg came today. I plan to use the
new one as a spare, in case my original one decides to go bonkers. I
will, however, set it up and use it, but just not all the time like I do
my original one.

I used my original DT-400W all the time during our Hurricane Gustav
alert to monitor WWL 870 New Orleans. Fantastic reception, even during
broad daylight here in Houston!

Question - my original DT-400W is serial # 84011036. The one that came
today is serial # 84011190. I know that several DXers in this group
have this radio - have any of you noticed any issues with yours that are
in the same general S/N range as mine are? Just wondering.

Thanks & 73,

Steve N5WBI
Houston TX

Hi all:

I just posted a couple photos of a recent project on the UltraLight DX
Yahoo group. I recently got a high-Q basketweave loop on eBay from the
seller "noseknowsnose". It's a 3.5" Litz coil with a Q around 800. I
popped it into a small plastic box designed for old PC diskettes, used
double-stick foam tape to put a 2x260 variable cap on, and Voila! I
stuffed some tissue in the box to keep the coil from bouncing around -
really high-tech at this point...

The high Q of the loop really adds tuning sharpness to UltraLights,
making it easier to shade one sideband over the other or notch a pest
out of the way. The gain is pretty good as well.

73 - Kevin S
Bainbridge Island, WA

Hello Richard,

 

     Thanks for your comments on your new DT-400W.  Actually, the DT-400W's usual strong point is good sensitivity all across the band, not that it is far more sensitive than most models on any given frequency.  Its predecessor, the DT-200VX, usually has a drop off in sensitivity either on high band or low band (mine and yours drops off on high band), and all other digital models commonly have a similar sensitivity drop-off (low band for the E100, high band for the SRF-T615, etc).  Accordingly, Sangean's effort to improve wide-band sensitivity by redesigning the DT-400W's RF board is commendable, and makes it possible for a DXer to enjoy competitive sensitivity from 530-1710 kHz in a single model.

 

     Also, Grayland is an exceptional ocean beach location which can make almost any portable perform like a champ.  Even though the DT-400W received 6 TP's and made two great mp3's (from Thailand and S. Korea) last Friday, if I tried the same thing at home in Puyallup (only 80 air miles to the east), it probably would have been a miserable failure.  TA and TP DXers know that an ocean beach is fantastic for DX, and that's why they return there over and over.  Even the very tiny SRF-S84 (about half the size of the SRF-59) managed to receive a TP at Grayland (JOUB-774), with multiple heterodynes (TP carriers) all over the band.  Here in Puyallup, I'll probably need fantastic propagation to have any hope of a single TP on the SRF-S84.

 

     73,  Gary  . 

Yesterday morning(Sept.1,2008) i made a nice new ULR log on the Sony
SRF-M37V.KFYI-550-Phoenix,Az was in from 0708-0712 CDT with i.d. and
Bruce Jacobs(?) morning show and talk about hurricane Gustav.poor to
very poor reception at fade out.According to the FCC this 5 kw day/1
kw night.I think they would have been on the night power at the time
of reception.New ULR log and 2nd ULR log in Az.

Guten tag, Olaf! It's nice to hear how European UltraLighters are doing.
WEGP runs 5,000 watts, so nice catch!

Kevin S
Bainbridge Island, WA

Hello Olaf,

 

     Congratulations on your logging of WEGP-1390 in Maine, using your SRF-59 inside the passive loop in northwest Germany.  We all are impressed at your logging, and greatly appreciate the interest and support of Ultralight radio DXers throughout Germany and the rest of Europe.

 

     My own SRF-59, which received 3 TP stations last November to perhaps start the Ultralight boom, is still being used here.  Best wishes for a great fall DX season!

 

     73, Gary DeBock 

Hello to the group!

Nothing special for most of you but today in the morning (4:45UTC) I
got WEGP/Maine on 1390kHz with an SRF-59 laid inside my 1m-passive
loop here in northwestern Germany. Around 5200km. Normally I used this
nice radio to hear dutch pirates on 16xxkHz.

73s
Olaf

I've never needed to resort to an external charger after that first
time when the voltage was so low the radio couldn't charge them.

Gary - how long have you had your Fry's refurb E10? I got mine last
November. If I was going to have a corrosion problem it would have
happened already. I live about 1/4 mile from the beach and unless it's
raining the window facing the ocean is almost always open into the
room with the radios.

That gets back to a question I asked awhile back that I don't think
anyone answered. Are you using NiMH's or alkalines? Of course there's
a major difference in voltage. I only use NiMH's in the two radios
that charge them internally; the Kaito KA1103 and the E10. It seems
that they would be optimized for them but you can tell the E10 which
type you're using. I've never seen that in another radio nor the very
clever IF shift. I think a full price E10 ($130.00) is not even close
to being worth it; for another $20.00 you can have an ICF-SW7600GR or
E5/G5.

I ordered an E100 and am anxiously awaiting it's arrival so I can put
it up against a number of radios to see how it fares. I'm paying
$15.00 more for the E100 than I did for the E10! Of course it was a
refurb. Any other E10 owners out there?

I was going to go TP hunting this weekend with my new DT-400W but the
temptation to stay in a nice warm bed was too great. Maybe next
weekend. The ocean won't move between now and then.

Hello all,

Has anyone found a nice compact case for the DT-200VX or DT-400W? I
wish Sangean would have included one as they do with some of their
other radios.

Regards,
Gary

Hello Guys,

 

     One point in the DT-400W vs E100 discussion that was not covered in the Summertime Shootout was the comparison in audio recording ease, and recording quality.  Although perhaps not so important for casual DXers, for ocean beach fanatics, it can have serious implications.

 

     As known by many E100 owners, the model has a common tuning quirk in which the actual received frequency can differ by as much as 1 kHz from the displayed frequency, forcing the user to dial in "529" or "531" if reception is desired on 530 kHz.  Failure to do this may cause distortion in the received signal, which will actually be 1 kHz higher or lower than the desired station's actual frequency.  Of course, such distortion would be reproduced in any audio recording, to the detriment of intelligibility.

 

     As long as the E100's tuning quirk is exactly 1 kHz high or low and the user knows how to compensate for this, all is well and good-- the user can ultimately receive perfect audio.  But what if the tuning quirk offsets 500 hz, or 1.5 kHz?  Obviously, there would be a problem both in audio reception quality and recording quality.  Depending on the individual unit, it may be negligible or serious, but when recording DX signals thousands of miles distant, any radio-generated audio distortion is the last thing you need.

 

     Before making any audio recordings, E100 owners are advised to very carefully check their units for any tuning quirk, and find the optimum frequency offset, if any, for the best audio quality.  The time to do this is before you head for your DXpedition, and receive your first Africa, Asia or Australia DX station :>)

 

     The Sangean DT-400W has no such tuning quirk, and made crystal-clear mp3's of VOA Thailand-1575 and HLAZ-1566 at Grayland, WA for me last Friday. Its compatibility with audio recording devices seems great. With QSL's becoming tougher and tougher to coax out of reluctant stations, its always nice to have a clear mp3 recording as proof of your Ultralight DXing success.

 

     73,  Gary 

Hi Dennis,

I noticed yesterday that one of the Eton 1100 mAh batteries that came
with my Fry's refurb E10 has already gone bad. It wouldn't charge in
my Maha charger. I noticed that it's already corroded around the
positive contact.

Regards,
Gary

--- In ultralightdx@..., "Dennis Gibson" <wb6tnb@...>
wrote:

I figured out why my E10 wasn't working up to expectations. I
realized that I hadn't charged the batteries for quite awhile so I
did that (inside the radio) and everything seems fine now. I
remember being pleased with the performance on MW when I got it last
November. That is after charging the supplied batteries in an
external charger. They were all .70 VDC and refused to charge inside
the radio, which is a refurb from Fry's. After doing that I've never
had trouble recharging them inside the radio.