Date   

Puyallup, WA Ultralight TP's for 11-17

Gary DeBock
 

Hello All,
 
The Asian DX season seems to have gone into a deep freeze, with clunker propagation in full force again this morning. A couple of miserably weak carriers on 1566 and 1593 around 1500 UTC were the only evidence of TP signals, and these bailed immediately. My sincere condolences to Guy (and any others) who spent good $$ to visit an ocean beach in search of DX the past week.
 
73, Gary DeBock (in Puyallup, WA, USA)
 
 


Puyallup, WA Ultralight TP's for 11-16

Gary DeBock
 

Hello All,
 
Dennis' TP report from Kalama pretty much describes the lackluster Asian session here this morning, with several anemic big guns showing up under the domestic splatter for a few brief minutes each between 1415 and 1445. 594-JOAK, 693-JOAB, 972-HLCA and 1566-HLAZ were the only stations to reach audio, and of these only 1566-HLAZ managed to hit a fair level (around 1435). The miserable session was similar to yesterday's, and fairly typical of November propagation so far.
 
73, Gary DeBock (in Puyallup, WA, USA)
7.5" loopstick Tecsun PL-380 Ultralight +
15" FSL antenna
 
 


Re: PL606 barefoot SW DX

Dan Sheedy <wpe6bvt@...>
 

Hi Rob..
 
white fluffy things falling out of the sky, ya? so the migrating geese are molting? we're still in a severe drought & no rain in the forecast..on a brighter note, just got out of the water, still 18+C (air temp running 21-23) with slightly improving waves, so the next few days could be fun..
 
speaking of fun...CFRX akchully showed up for a few minutes last night (0600 UT), so if i can delay falling asleep, some kind of sketchy rpt may be possible--guess i'm fortunate not to have the "ground-wave/skip zone" challenge..
 
good listening, keep your "tadluk/tadluark" handy & have a pleasant mid-November..
 
Dan
WB6FJD 


On Saturday, November 15, 2014 11:00 AM, "Robert Ross va3sw@... [ultralightdx]" wrote:



On 2014-11-15, at 1:09 PM, Dan Sheedy wpe6bvt@... [ultralightdx] wrote:

> Good Morning from Encinitas..
>
> conditions have been fairly good this week with the following added to the "barefoot" log:

Dan..Thanks for sending in the ULR Shortwave Loggings!! Nice to see what's being heard on the SW Bands with ULRs!!!



> found out that RHC has left 6070 for B14, which ought to make chasing CFRX for a rpt a bit easier, but no-o-o-o-o! CFRX has been JBA/imaginary level audio for several days--i enjoy a challenge but this is just silly..next up: Xoriyo/VoOromo Liberation-17630 & Oromo Voice Radio-17850.


Well don't worry Dan…I'm not doing much better with CFRX on 6070 kHz….and I'm only 100 Miles from the Transmitter!!! The signal here is FAIR at best. I have been listening for them for about 2 weeks trying to get a GOOD Signal out of them, and it hasn't happened yet!! I guess I'm too far for Ground Wave and too close for the skip zone!!

I did get enough to send a reception report off though. Steve Canney of the ODXA is still handling the QSL Duties and I sent the report to him. He just informed me that he has filled out my Card and it's on the way!! Says he will write with more details on the station when he gets on his big computer…instead of his I-Phone!!


>
> cheers from the beach to the ULR crew..
>
> Dan
> WB6FJD



OK Dan…keep loggin' 'em on the Beach…..sure wish I was sitting on a Beach somewhere!! Temp here at present is 30 Degrees F with these funny little white fluffy things falling from the sky!!


73..ROB VA3SW

Robert S. Ross
London, Ontario CANADA

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Re: PL606 barefoot SW DX

robert ross
 

On 2014-11-15, at 1:09 PM, Dan Sheedy wpe6bvt@... [ultralightdx] wrote:

Good Morning from Encinitas..

conditions have been fairly good this week with the following added to the "barefoot" log:
Dan..Thanks for sending in the ULR Shortwave Loggings!! Nice to see what's being heard on the SW Bands with ULRs!!!



found out that RHC has left 6070 for B14, which ought to make chasing CFRX for a rpt a bit easier, but no-o-o-o-o! CFRX has been JBA/imaginary level audio for several days--i enjoy a challenge but this is just silly..next up: Xoriyo/VoOromo Liberation-17630 & Oromo Voice Radio-17850.

Well don't worry Dan…I'm not doing much better with CFRX on 6070 kHz….and I'm only 100 Miles from the Transmitter!!! The signal here is FAIR at best. I have been listening for them for about 2 weeks trying to get a GOOD Signal out of them, and it hasn't happened yet!! I guess I'm too far for Ground Wave and too close for the skip zone!!

I did get enough to send a reception report off though. Steve Canney of the ODXA is still handling the QSL Duties and I sent the report to him. He just informed me that he has filled out my Card and it's on the way!! Says he will write with more details on the station when he gets on his big computer…instead of his I-Phone!!


cheers from the beach to the ULR crew..

Dan
WB6FJD

OK Dan…keep loggin' 'em on the Beach…..sure wish I was sitting on a Beach somewhere!! Temp here at present is 30 Degrees F with these funny little white fluffy things falling from the sky!!


73..ROB VA3SW

Robert S. Ross
London, Ontario CANADA


PL606 barefoot SW DX

Dan Sheedy <wpe6bvt@...>
 

Good Morning from Encinitas..

conditions have been fairly good this week with the following added to the "barefoot" log:

9520/7420 Nei Menggu PBS (Hohhot) 1440-1532, 1552-1605* 13 Nov., 1553-1605* 14 Nov. Soothing/snoozy CH chat o/ piano, some MOR CH songs, orchestral theme @ :57 w/ CH annct., 5+1 pips @ 1600, CH/Mongolian/EG IDs ("Radio Inner Mongolia-Voice of Inner Mongolia"), closes with 5 minutes of "new age-y" violin/piano or guitar/flute & quick ID. Much better on 9520 since 7420 has ACI from CNR2-7425 (closing @ 1605 as well), & huge ACI from Firedrake-7420 @ *1600 (v. RFA in CH). Slightly more "zippy" programming on the 14th (it's Friday night in Hohhot).

15275 AWR (Kigali) *2029-2033+ 13/14 Nov. OC, AWR theme, EG ID/web info, into Yoruba programme w/ same ID/web info.

13640 AIR (Bengaluru) 1543-1600* 15 Nov. Gujarati service--mostly chat with a string of SMS#s & office #s ("extension 408") followed by 10 minutes of segued S-C songs, :59 W w/ closing info/sked.

13605 AIR (Bengaluru) 1543-1615* 15 Nov. Swahili service w/ segued dance/romantic pop, Swahili annct @ TOH ("sauti ya..."), more tunes, closing programme @ :15 w/ freq./ID & opening seamlessly into Hindi *1615-1622 (sked 1615-1730) w/ ID/sked.

11665 YHWH 1612-13* 15 Nov. Surprised to find 'WH chatting away for a minute or so, off mid-sentence @ :13..dunno how long they'd been on, but the freq. is clear after RTM (Wai/Sarawak FMs) closes @ 1600, so worth another look this week.

found out that RHC has left 6070 for B14, which ought to make chasing CFRX for a rpt a bit easier, but no-o-o-o-o! CFRX has been JBA/imaginary level audio for several days--i enjoy a challenge but this is just silly..next up: Xoriyo/VoOromo Liberation-17630 & Oromo Voice Radio-17850.

cheers from the beach to the ULR crew..

Dan
WB6FJD


Puyallup, WA Ultralight TP's for 11-15

Gary DeBock
 

Hello All,
 
Asian signals made a very halfhearted recovery this morning, with three big guns managing anemic audio during sunrise enhancement around 1500. 693-JOAB was the most persistent of the three, hitting fair peaks in Vancouver splatter for about 10 minutes.
 
Unlike yesterday, at first check at 1400 there were some moderate carriers on 594, 693, 1566 and 1593. These were still at similar strength at 1430 while still in the darkness, joined by a weak carrier on 1575 a few minutes later. Most of these never reached audio, but a sunrise enhancement boost at 1455 brought 693-JOAB up to fair levels in and out, and both 1566-HLAZ and 1593-CNR1 up to poor levels. 693-JOAB stuck around fighting CBU splatter until about 1510, when it joined the other anemic Asians in sinking back into the noise. Not exactly an exciting session, but certainly better than yesterday's clunker.
 
73 and Good DX,
Gary DeBock (in Puyallup, WA, USA)
7.5" Tecsun PL-380 Ultralight +
15" FSL antenna
 
 


Re: Puyallup, WA Ultralight TP's for 11-14

Tony Magon
 

Hi All

Still in Guangzhou PR China - Will be leaving by bus for Hongkong tomorrow (Sunday) afternoon. Fly out to Sydney from Hongkong tomorrow just before midnight (hongkong time).

Conditions were not bad at LSS - 0945utc - but deteriorated by 1030utc - then improved at lot at around 1500/1600utc - then by 2000utc they deteriorated. So went back to bed.

Some Taiwan stations are easy to id by listening to their frequencies in parallel - For example Fu Hsing - BCC and Han Sheng, but Cheng Sheng and Taiwan Bcasting (on 936) seem to be running seperate programs - Some Taiwan stations do not id on the hour which can be a problem - but BCC Networks and Han Sheng and Ching Cha (Police) stations ID on the hour.

Visited Macau a few days ago - no sign of Vila Verde on 738 - listed as 10kw so should have had a good signal around Macau and surrounding areas. I can only surmise that it has moved to FM or temporarily off the air. There was good reception of all Hongkong stations, except 1584, which is an RTHK low powered outlet.

Regards

Tony Magon



On Sat, Nov 15, 2014 at 12:12 AM, D1028Gary@... [ultralightdx] <ultralightdx@...> wrote:
 

Hello All,
 
The Asians were almost completely comatose here this morning, slipping backward even from yesterday's miserable propagation.
 
Whereas two high band TP's managed fair audio briefly yesterday, there was no Asian audio at all this morning, and almost no Asian carriers either. A total shutout was in effect until 1455, when the weakest of carriers showed up on 1053 (presumably from the Korean Jammer). The band seems to have been in the Clunker Mode since Monday, and according to Nick's reports, pretty bad since last Saturday (when I was in Grayland, and temporarily escaped the mediocrity).
 
73 and good DX,
Gary DeBock (in Puyallup, WA, USA)
7.5" loopstick Tecsun PL-380 Ultralight +
15" FSL antenna
 
 



Re: Puyallup, WA Ultralight TP's for 11-14

bbwrwy
 

Gary:

I listened for about two hours this morning, suspecting I wasting 
my time.  Stations from south of the border were much stronger 
than usual.  It continues to be a very frustrating season thus fare. 
Hopefully tomorrow!

Richard Allen.


Puyallup, WA Ultralight TP's for 11-14

Gary DeBock
 

Hello All,
 
The Asians were almost completely comatose here this morning, slipping backward even from yesterday's miserable propagation.
 
Whereas two high band TP's managed fair audio briefly yesterday, there was no Asian audio at all this morning, and almost no Asian carriers either. A total shutout was in effect until 1455, when the weakest of carriers showed up on 1053 (presumably from the Korean Jammer). The band seems to have been in the Clunker Mode since Monday, and according to Nick's reports, pretty bad since last Saturday (when I was in Grayland, and temporarily escaped the mediocrity).
 
73 and good DX,
Gary DeBock (in Puyallup, WA, USA)
7.5" loopstick Tecsun PL-380 Ultralight +
15" FSL antenna
 
 


Re: Eton Travelr III

keith beesley
 

Anxiously awaiting your reviews, Jay :-)

Regards, 

Keith Beesley


On Thursday, November 13, 2014 10:55 AM, "microcode@... [ultralightdx]"


 
Nice and to the point review.

Few thoughts. The upgraded PL-310ET is available for 40 USD delivered. That
makes the Eton 50% more expensive and that's not including the shipping
which you didn't specify. That means the Eton is not in the 310's price
class. At all.

True, I don't find the AM performance on my 310ET all that great, especially
compared to my PL-660 which does much better and often hears things my 310ET
doesn't hear at all. But I don't hear any hets or pumping on my 310ET
either. Are you comparing against the ET or the first model 310?

The lack of a keypad on a modern digital SW radio is inexcusable. I am
really surprised about this.

I didn't see anything in the review about the Eton's memories. The 310ET has
550 memories and some amount of ETM memories. I can never remember how many
or if they're carved out of the 550. Anyway the ETM mode is great for band
scanning since it doesn't affect the "normal" memories but simply dumps all
the stations it can hear into the ETM bucket for scanning or listening. This
is a really nice feature for DXing since you can do a bandscan, save it, and
then start looking for new suspects, all without messing up your regular
memories.

I admit the 1 KHz and to a lesser degree 2 KHz bandwidths of the 310ET border on
useless given the lack of a BFO but the 3 and 4 KHz bandwidths are great for
DXing and can make the difference between logging stations or not, even on
AM and how much more so on SW.

For such a major price difference I can't see spending the money for a radio
like the Eton with so few features although it is very attractively
presented as usual for Eton. The display is really nice and clear. It
doesn't have as much info as the Tecsun displays have but it looks like it
would work better in the dark. With the extra 20 bucks and shipping you
could buy a Sony SRF-59.

I don't know who these Etons are marketed to. If to travellers as the name
would imply, then the Tecsuns win on size, weight, sound clarity (from your
notes) and 3 batteries vs. 4. I would think travellers would prefer a hotter
FM section and not care about SW at all. And a few alarms might be nice too,
not just one.

OTOH for DXers a DSP radio that's not hot on FM, doesn't have selectable
filter bandwidths, and no keypad, all at a price point at least 50% higher
than a Tecsun 310ET or 380, is not going to appeal to many smart shoppers either.

I had the old analog Traveller decades ago and I think by now Eton should
have done away with that awful, space consuming world time zone knob under the
cover. Having the time zones is excellent for travelling and I used that and
the alarm a lot. In fact, as I recall that radio was better as an alarm
clock than a radio. But that huge knob is totally passe and should have been
replaced with a tiny multifunction button by now. Just think how nicely a
keypad could fit in all that wasted space...




Re: Eton Travelr III

microcode@...
 

Nice and to the point review.

Few thoughts. The upgraded PL-310ET is available for 40 USD delivered. That
makes the Eton 50% more expensive and that's not including the shipping
which you didn't specify. That means the Eton is not in the 310's price
class. At all.

True, I don't find the AM performance on my 310ET all that great, especially
compared to my PL-660 which does much better and often hears things my 310ET
doesn't hear at all. But I don't hear any hets or pumping on my 310ET
either. Are you comparing against the ET or the first model 310?

The lack of a keypad on a modern digital SW radio is inexcusable. I am
really surprised about this.

I didn't see anything in the review about the Eton's memories. The 310ET has
550 memories and some amount of ETM memories. I can never remember how many
or if they're carved out of the 550. Anyway the ETM mode is great for band
scanning since it doesn't affect the "normal" memories but simply dumps all
the stations it can hear into the ETM bucket for scanning or listening. This
is a really nice feature for DXing since you can do a bandscan, save it, and
then start looking for new suspects, all without messing up your regular
memories.

I admit the 1 KHz and to a lesser degree 2 KHz bandwidths of the 310ET border on
useless given the lack of a BFO but the 3 and 4 KHz bandwidths are great for
DXing and can make the difference between logging stations or not, even on
AM and how much more so on SW.

For such a major price difference I can't see spending the money for a radio
like the Eton with so few features although it is very attractively
presented as usual for Eton. The display is really nice and clear. It
doesn't have as much info as the Tecsun displays have but it looks like it
would work better in the dark. With the extra 20 bucks and shipping you
could buy a Sony SRF-59.

I don't know who these Etons are marketed to. If to travellers as the name
would imply, then the Tecsuns win on size, weight, sound clarity (from your
notes) and 3 batteries vs. 4. I would think travellers would prefer a hotter
FM section and not care about SW at all. And a few alarms might be nice too,
not just one.

OTOH for DXers a DSP radio that's not hot on FM, doesn't have selectable
filter bandwidths, and no keypad, all at a price point at least 50% higher
than a Tecsun 310ET or 380, is not going to appeal to many smart shoppers either.

I had the old analog Traveller decades ago and I think by now Eton should
have done away with that awful, space consuming world time zone knob under the
cover. Having the time zones is excellent for travelling and I used that and
the alarm a lot. In fact, as I recall that radio was better as an alarm
clock than a radio. But that huge knob is totally passe and should have been
replaced with a tiny multifunction button by now. Just think how nicely a
keypad could fit in all that wasted space...


Re: Eton Travelr III

Gary Kinsman
 

Here is the full review.

Eton Traveler III (Compared With Grundig G8/Traveler II & Tecsun PL-310

 


Puyallup, WA Ultralight TP's for 11-13

Gary DeBock
 

Hello All,
 
After yesterday's complete clunker session Asian signals made a very weak recovery this morning, with all the anemic audio limited to the very high band. 1566-HLAZ and 1593-CRN1 both managed to come out of the noise prior to 1500, although they didn't stick around for very long.
 
A band check at 1420 revealed a totally comatose situation like yesterday, with no Asian audio or even carriers. It appeared that today might be another such clunker session until around 1450, when decent carriers started showing up on 1566 and 1593, and weak carriers on 972 and 1575. Just before 1500 the big gun 1566-HLAZ came out of the noise to reach a fair level very briefly, then quickly collapsed. 1593-CNR1 also reached fair audio at 1500 and was a little more persistent, fading in and out of the Seattle splatter with poor to fair peaks until around 1510. Both 972 and 1575 had weak carriers around this time but never reached audio level. The session was certainly a miserable one, but at least not as bad as yesterday's.
 
73 and Good DX,
Gary deBock (in Puyallup, WA, USA)
7.5" loopstick Tecsun PL-380 Ultralight +
15" FSL antenna
 
 


Grayland, WA 1044 kHz 3-TP Mix-- UnID Mystery

Gary DeBock
 

Hello All,
 
For any Asian residents (or TP-DXing experts) who might be able to assist in sorting out the unidentified station in this 3-TP jumble, a longer recording is linked below.
 
The UnID station's female raspy voice is mixing with KBS' music starting at :03 into the recording, which has the Japanese female CRI announcer and the KBS Korean male announcer joining in shortly thereafter. These three continue until around :20 into the recording, when all three can be heard talking at once. KBS slowly fades out while CRI's Japanese lady takes over the frequency, but the UnID weak female voice can be heard under CRI's Japanese until around 1:05 into the recording. After that CRI's Japanese lady takes over the frequency in a big way, drowning out all competition (and ending up at an S9 level) by the end of the MP3.
 
 
The weak female raspy voice is the mystery station, and she is speaking in an unknown language. Any assistance or suggestions would be appreciated.
 
73, Gary DeBock (DXing in Grayland, WA last Saturday)
7.5" loopstick Tecsun PL-380 Ultralight +
17" DXpedition FSL antenna
 
  
 
 


PL606 barefoot SW logs..

Dan Sheedy <wpe6bvt@...>
 

Greetings from slightly damp So.Cal.--a couple of morning sessions @ Moonlight Beach have brought some fun stuff:

6050 Asyik/Salam FM (via RTM-Kajang) 1440-1529* 11 Nov. Usual ML pop/listeners' phone calls on Asyik (& no jingles, but occ. "Radio Malaysia" generic 'IDs'), 1500 has 1+1 pips, TC, Salam FM jingle, Negara Ku, another jingle into AR/qira'ut with commentary, some "lagu-lagu Islam" (well, Islamic-influenced tunes @ least), more chat in ML & off mid-word. Most days these guys shut-down by 1502-04, so the additional time is very welcome.

9585 TWR (Manzini) *1453-1504 10 Nov. IS/ID loop in EG into Malagasy programme..sked 1455-1525 daily.

11945 CNR1 1550+ 10 Nov. Echo jam v. RFA (15-17 CH)..//6125 (regular sked).

12115 Reach Beyond Australia/HCJB (Kununurra) 1440-1500, 1525-1530* 11 Nov. "Insight for Living" w/ OZ contact info (phone: 1 300 467 444 & p-mail: POB 443 Baronia, VIC 3155), "Hope for the Heart" opening @ TOH..1525-30* closing ID/sked (1400 UT/8:30 P IST).."This is Reach Beyond Australia--Life-Changing Radio".

12115 R. Dialogue (Talata-Volonondry) *1600-1630 10 Nov. Opens in Ndebele/Shona, local "hi-life" style tunes, SMS#s in EG, "jingle string" @ 1625, including "Radio Dialogue-Giving You A Voice", "Radio Dialogue-With The Community At Heart"..poor s/on, but improving nicely by BOH.

15100 RVA (Santa Maria Galleria) (presumed) 1517-1525+ 12 Nov. Pilipino programme w/ nice mix of EG phrases..sked 15-1553 daily.

15470 Vatican Radio (Tinang) 1522-1532+ 12 Nov. Closing Malayalam programme (sked 1510-1530), VR IS, ID, into EG with Pope Francis' "General Audience".

next up? AWR-15275 (Kigali), Nei Menggu PBS 7420/9520 & an audio stroll through 22M, if conditions & my attention span permit.

cheers to all from the beach..

Dan WB6FJD


Grayland, WA 1044 kHz 3 TP MIx-- UnID Mystery

Gary DeBock
 

The recording linked below is a 3 TP mix recorded at 1355z on November 8 at Grayland, WA last weekend. The Japanese female speaker is the CRI Japanese service announcer, and the Korean male speaker is the 10 kW KBS station in Samcheok. There is also an additional female speaker audible under these two stations, speaking in an unknown foreign language in a somewhat raspy voice. Does anyone have any idea who she is? I recall that Bruce also mentioned hearing three TP stations on 1044 kHz during his Grayland DXpedition in October-- maybe this is the same station that showed up for him, Chuck, Nick and Tom last month? Any suggestions would be appreciated!   
 
Gary DeBock (in Puyallup, WA, USA)
7.5" loopstick Tecsun PL-380 Ultralight +
17" DXpedition FSL antenna
 
 


Puyallup, WA TP's (Terminal Propagation) for 11-12

Gary DeBock
 

Hello All,
 
Well, it can't get any worse than this-- no Asian audio, carriers or even hints of a carrier for the entire session. This is the first total shutout here since August 31st, and the worst morning of the entire lackluster season. Fortunately there are some new Grayland recordings here from the weekend, to replay for fun. 
 
73, Gary DeBock (in Puyallup, WA, USA)
 
 


NASWA meeting

kc8iqz@...
 

The North American Shortwave Association  will have its annual SWL Fest  February 27-28 outside of Philadelphia. The exact venue is to be selected, but the recent ones have been at the Doubletree Hotel in Plymouth Meeting, PA.  The details will be posted on their Fest will be on their web page, NASWA Winter SWL Fest


I'm posting to see if anyone would like to give a talk about ultralights. I have attended for the past few years and have not seen that topic presented. As a newcomer to the hobby, I am inviting anyone who has a desire to push the hobby to please contact the Fest organizers below.


Richard Cuff, 42 North 37th Street, Allentown, PA 18104
richard@...

John Figliozzi, 45 Algonquin Rd., Clifton Park, NY 12065
http://www.naswa.net/contact/4/

Thank you...


Gary Donnelly KC8IQZ

Hedgesville, WV 



Puyallup, WA Ultralight TP's for 11-11

Gary DeBock
 

Hello All,
 
One of the major challenges after conducting an ocean coast DXpedition is returning (and readjusting) to the mediocre propagation typical in landlocked home areas.
 
The band lived down to very low expectations this morning, delivering a true clunker session to welcome me back to Puyallup. At a 1330 UTC check the only Asians with audio were 594-JOAK, 693-JOAB and 1566-HLAZ-- all at poor levels in and out. Somewhat spoiled after a weekend Grayland visit and lacking the motivation to chase anemic audio from these big guns I decided to cut the session short, and wait until both propagation and my motivation improve to the point where chasing anemic audio from these TP mega-stations becomes a more appealing option-- which will probably be tomorrow morning.
 
73 and Good DX,
Gary DeBock (in Puyallup, WA, USA)
7.5" loopstick Tecsun PL-380 Ultralight +
15" FSL antenna
 
 


Grayland, WA Ultralight TP's for 11-10

Gary DeBock
 

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