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Ultralight DXing Report - Launceston Tasmania - 22/02/2014
Paul Blundell
Date: 22/02/2014 Time: 22:10 - 23:15 Local Location: Home, Launceston - Tasmania Radio: 7.5” Loopstick Tecsun PL-380 Total stations logged: 111 New stations logged: 1 Furthest station logged: 1386kHz- Radio Tarana (2430km)
Notes: Last night was the first time in about a week that I have had the radio out. Checking my test frequencies of 711kHz, 909kHz and 1386kHz first all showed signals of a decent level with 1386 kHz being a little bit down in signal level compared to normal. I then started at the bottom of the band where I found a real surprise of a new station for the log, 4QL on 540kHz which is also used by a 7SD running 5KW about 45km from my location. This was the first time I have ever logged a second station on this frequency, I did notice the audio of 7SD was dropping in and out about every 5 seconds and this allowed me to hear enough audio to add 4QL to the logs.
Moving up the band didn’t produce any new stations to add to the logs and a number of stations I normally hear towards the top of the band were missing in the noise. By the time I got back up to 1386kHz the signal levels had really dropped off and it was barely audible. At this point I called it a night, happy with a new station added to the logs. http://ultralightdxing.blogspot.com.au/2014/02/ultralight-dxing-report-launceston_23.html |
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Re: Puyallup, WA Ultralight TP's for 2-22
Paul Blundell
I also like reading your reports, quite often they give me the kick I need to check the bands :) On Sun, Feb 23, 2014 at 9:06 AM, <D1028Gary@...> wrote:
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Re: Shortwave Broadcast bands DX ??
Paul Blundell
Thanks for that, I have just sent a join request to that group. Paul On Sun, Feb 23, 2014 at 6:34 AM, <cfa@...> wrote:
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New Radio Carry Case
Paul Blundell
http://ultralightdxing.blogspot.com.au/2014/02/new-radio-carry-case.html
Recently I have been looking for a good carry case for my ultralight radios. In the past I have used a couple of digital camera bags and cases with various levels of success. After doing some research on a better way to carry these I had settled on a Pelican brand carry case (which was very expensive) until I was browsing at my local super cheap auto store where I came across a new range of cases they are stocking, the case I decided on was this model which is 1/6 the price of the equivalent Pelican brand model. This cases fits my two ultralight radios, earphones, spare batteries, note pad and some pens. |
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Re: Puyallup, WA Ultralight TP's for 2-22
Hi Jerry,
Thanks for your comment.
It helps to know that the TP-DX reports are fun reading, even though we are basically receiving the same big gun Asians over and over :-)
73, Gary
-----Original Message----- From: ww0e To: ultralightdx Sent: Sat, Feb 22, 2014 11:19 am Subject: Re: [ultralightdx] Puyallup, WA Ultralight TP's for 2-22 Fun reading as usual Gary.
-- Jerry WWØE
From: D1028Gary@... To: irca@..., ultralightdx@... Sent: Saturday, February 22, 2014 9:50:50 AM Subject: [ultralightdx] Puyallup, WA Ultralight TP's for 2-22 Hello All,
Although Asian propagation hasn't yet fully recovered from the recent meltdown, sunrise enhancement did raise up several good TP signals here again this morning, mostly on the low band.
The band was completely devoid of Asians around 1400 but increasing daylight brought 1593-CRN1 up out of the noise first around 1430, reaching fair to good signals in the 1590-Seattle splatter for most of sunrise enhancement. Shortly thereafter both 594-JOAK and 603-HLSA came up out of the noise, both of them reaching good signals around 1445 during peak propagation. 693-JOAB also managed fair signals in the Vancouver splatter around this time, and a presumed 738-BEL2 was in and out with fair Chinese audio. The high band didn't seem very impressive this morning except for 1593-CNR1's steady fair to good signal, with both 1566-HLAZ and 1575-VOA struggling to stay in audio. The usual high band regulars 1377-CNR1 and 1503-JOUK were missing in action during what seemed to be primarily a low band morning here. Best signal of the session was from 603-HLSA at 1448, with typical Korean pop music hosted by the usual deep-voiced Korean male DJ. Overall it wasn't one of the better February sessions, but certainly nothing to complain about after the last few days.
594 JOAK Tokyo, Japan Female vocal music
temporarily at fair to good level at 1445
603 HLSA Namyang, S. Korea Korean pop
music at good level at 1448; best TP signal
of the session
73 and Good DX,
Gary DeBock (in Puyallup, WA, USA)
C.Crane SWP 7.5" Slider loopstick Ultralight +
12" Experimental FSL antenna
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Re: Shortwave Broadcast bands DX ??
Ken Kizer
On 22 Feb 2014 02:51:48 -0800, <tanger32au@...> wrote:
I have been playing around on shortwave on and off since 1999? Since getting my UL radios I do at times have a listen but never anything too serious. I might take some more time to do this and post up my results.If you don't already know about this, Dan Ferguson publishes- daily- an excellent SW schedule at the SWSkeds Yahoo group. It's a compilation of just about all the other schedules out there. Hard to know the players w/o a program... Ken Paul |
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Re: Puyallup, WA Ultralight TP's for 2-22
ww0e@...
Fun reading as usual Gary. -- Jerry WWØE From: D1028Gary@... To: irca@..., ultralightdx@... Sent: Saturday, February 22, 2014 9:50:50 AM Subject: [ultralightdx] Puyallup, WA Ultralight TP's for 2-22
Hello All,
Although Asian propagation hasn't yet fully recovered from the recent meltdown, sunrise enhancement did raise up several good TP signals here again this morning, mostly on the low band.
The band was completely devoid of Asians around 1400 but increasing daylight brought 1593-CRN1 up out of the noise first around 1430, reaching fair to good signals in the 1590-Seattle splatter for most of sunrise enhancement. Shortly thereafter both 594-JOAK and 603-HLSA came up out of the noise, both of them reaching good signals around 1445 during peak propagation. 693-JOAB also managed fair signals in the Vancouver splatter around this time, and a presumed 738-BEL2 was in and out with fair Chinese audio. The high band didn't seem very impressive this morning except for 1593-CNR1's steady fair to good signal, with both 1566-HLAZ and 1575-VOA struggling to stay in audio. The usual high band regulars 1377-CNR1 and 1503-JOUK were missing in action during what seemed to be primarily a low band morning here. Best signal of the session was from 603-HLSA at 1448, with typical Korean pop music hosted by the usual deep-voiced Korean male DJ. Overall it wasn't one of the better February sessions, but certainly nothing to complain about after the last few days.
594 JOAK Tokyo, Japan Female vocal music
temporarily at fair to good level at 1445
603 HLSA Namyang, S. Korea Korean pop
music at good level at 1448; best TP signal
of the session
73 and Good DX,
Gary DeBock (in Puyallup, WA, USA)
C.Crane SWP 7.5" Slider loopstick Ultralight +
12" Experimental FSL antenna
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Puyallup, WA Ultralight TP's for 2-22
Hello All,
Although Asian propagation hasn't yet fully recovered from the recent meltdown, sunrise enhancement did raise up several good TP signals here again this morning, mostly on the low band.
The band was completely devoid of Asians around 1400 but increasing daylight brought 1593-CRN1 up out of the noise first around 1430, reaching fair to good signals in the 1590-Seattle splatter for most of sunrise enhancement. Shortly thereafter both 594-JOAK and 603-HLSA came up out of the noise, both of them reaching good signals around 1445 during peak propagation. 693-JOAB also managed fair signals in the Vancouver splatter around this time, and a presumed 738-BEL2 was in and out with fair Chinese audio. The high band didn't seem very impressive this morning except for 1593-CNR1's steady fair to good signal, with both 1566-HLAZ and 1575-VOA struggling to stay in audio. The usual high band regulars 1377-CNR1 and 1503-JOUK were missing in action during what seemed to be primarily a low band morning here. Best signal of the session was from 603-HLSA at 1448, with typical Korean pop music hosted by the usual deep-voiced Korean male DJ. Overall it wasn't one of the better February sessions, but certainly nothing to complain about after the last few days.
594 JOAK Tokyo, Japan Female vocal music
temporarily at fair to good level at 1445
603 HLSA Namyang, S. Korea Korean pop
music at good level at 1448; best TP signal
of the session
73 and Good DX,
Gary DeBock (in Puyallup, WA, USA)
C.Crane SWP 7.5" Slider loopstick Ultralight +
12" Experimental FSL antenna
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Re: Shortwave Broadcast bands DX ??
Paul Blundell
I first started on shortwave in 1999? Since then I have played around with it a bit but nothing to serious.
Since getting in to ULDXing I do sometimes have a listen on the SW bands but not to the same level as I do chasing MW stations. Paul |
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Re: Shortwave Broadcast bands DX ??
Paul Blundell
I have been playing around on shortwave on and off since 1999? Since getting my UL radios I do at times have a listen but never anything too serious. I might take some more time to do this and post up my results.
Paul |
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Re: Ultralight FM Radio DXing?
Paul Blundell
Thanks everybody for the replies on this topic. I am in a location where from home this would not be very fruitful however I suspect some of my DXing locations might produce better results, something for me to look in to more in the future.
Paul |
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Re: ULR DX…..One New Station Last Night…. .960 WTGM Salisbury, MARYLAND
Paul Blundell
Well done Ross, it is always a good feeling to add another one to the ultralight log.
Paul |
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ULR DX…..One New Station Last Night…..960 WTGM Salisbury, MARYLAND
Hi Guys:
Been away on Vacation in Hawaii for the last 2 weeks so didn't get any ULR DXing done since the end of January. Still suffering extreme jet lag, but managed to tune around a bit last night and logged a NEW ONE for the ULR Log. It is a RELOG with CALL CHANGE however for the OVERALL LOG. Although I took 2 ULRs along to Hawaii with me….I didn't even turn them on for the entire 2 weeks I was there. Too many Fun things going on and way too tired at the end of the day to stay awake and DX!! Great intentions when I packed them in the Luggage though…… RADIO USED……………………….SONY SRF-T615 Ultralight BAREFOOT ULR LOG TOTALS are now………1,077 Stations Logged 73…………..ROB VA3SW Robert S. Ross London, Ontario CANADA ******************************************************************************************** 960 WTGM Salisbury, MARYLAND Feb/20/14 2138 EST EE FAIR. Mixing with WFIR-Roanoke, VA, which had talk. Standup Comedy Skits. IDs as "Comedy 960". Talk and IDs by both Male and Female Announcers. EX-WSBY last heard in March 1986!! RELOG NEW CALLS….But NEW for ULR LOG # 1077 5 KW ROSS, ONT. ********************************************************************************************* |
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Puyallup, WA Ultralight TP's for 2-21
Hello All,
Asian propagation continued to recover at a slow pace from the recent meltdown, with a couple of big gun TP's actually managing good audio briefly during peak sunrise enhancement.
Although there were still far fewer Asians making an appearance than usual both the low and high band had some propagation from 1420-1500, with 1575-VOA the best performer with steady fair to good audio for most of the period. Peak sunrise enhancement was around 1450 here, with 594-JOAK (good during peaks), 603-HLSA (poor), 693-JOAB (fair) and a presumed 738-BEL2 (fair) showing up on the low band. 972-HLCA was also in and out with fair audio during this time, while 1377-CNR1 (fair), 1503-JOUK (fair), 1575-VOA (good) and 1593-CNR1 (fair) were in and out of the domestic splatter on the high band. Nothing exotic was to be found, and the entire group of anemic Asians bailed prior to 1505. Although it was definitely another mediocre session, at least the Asians seem to be in a recovering trend.
73 and Good DX,
Gary DeBock (in Puyallup, WA, USA)
C.Crane SWP 7.5" Slider loopstick Ultralight +
12" Experimental FSL antenna
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HIMNOS Y BANDERAS DE MEXICO - YouTube
Stephen Ponder <stephen_ponder@...>
Just found this playlist on YouTube. The videos use the same background with the flag of the state CGI'ed on it, but at least you get to hear the hymns of each of the Mexican States.
http://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6CA310CE18DB0E1E I have bookmarked this playlist for cross-reference. 73 & Good DX, Steve Ponder, N5WBI Houston, TX ---------------------- |
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Re: Internal Loopstick Mods on PL-380 for LW?
Hello John,
<<< ***Has anyone come up with an INTERNAL modification to the stock loopstick antenna or other INTERNAL solution to upping the LW sensitivity of the PL-380? ***
I would like to make something for the old PL-380 so that I can use it on LW for LW BCB and NDB DX'ing. I can barely hear AP-260 NDB (strong local NDB) on any of my PL-380s with a ny antenna configuration I have tried which blasts in on my not so portable Raycom R1307A GR LW receiver. >>>
In order to provide a significant internal Longwave sensitivity boost to the PL-380, John, you will need to dramatically increase the inductance of the loopstick Litz wire coil up to a level of around 1700 uH (from the stock loopstick's MW-oriented value of around 250 uH). This is fairly easy to do with an externally-mounted loopstick, but very tough to do with the internal midget 3" loopstick.
To provide 1700 uH of inductance a Longwave-optimized Litz wire coil on the PL-380 stock loopstick would need to be about 7 times as long as the existing 250 uH MW-optimized coil, an impossibly long length on the 3" midget rod (when the same diameter of Litz wire is used). You could possibly try using extremely small diameter Litz wire in an attempt to get 1700 uH of coil inductance on the midget rod, but in such a case you would end up with reduced sensitivity because of the tiny diameter Litz wire. In general, Longwave-optimized loopsticks require serious lengths of high diameter Litz wire for best performance-- requirements that don't match up very well with the extremely limited space inside the PL-380 cabinet.
73, Gary DeBock (in Puyallup, WA, USA)
-----Original Message----- From: kugellager To: ultralightdx Sent: Thu, Feb 20, 2014 11:33 am Subject: [ultralightdx] Internal Loopstick Mods on PL-380 for LW? A couple of years back I got into the Ultralight DX scene because I wanted something small and portable to DX MW BCB when I travel. I got the Tecsun PL-380 and built the 7.5" loopstick. I quickly realized I prefer to inductively couple a low-noise vertical or other external wire antenna rather than just use the loopstick alone. So I would always travel with the 7.5" loopstick and take-down support frame I made along with my vertical antenna components and six-turn coupling coil.
A couple of months back I decided to experiment with torids and other ferrite cores to try to match my coax lead in directly to the antenna input of the radio as I wanted to ditch the loopstick and frame. I had originally removed the stock internal loopstick of the PL-380 from the time I originally got the radio when I built the 7.5" loopstick so I need to find something else to match the coax to the radio.
My goal was to match the signal strength across the MW BCB I got when I inductively coupled my external antenna to the 7.5" external loopstick.
I tried FT50A Type J, FT50-61, FT87-J, FT140-J, FT43 power cord RFI slugs fashioned into a rod with various windings and inductances on the primary and secondary. The closest I got to matching the performance of the 7.5" was a FT50A-75 with 27T:3T ratio with the three turns to the coax and the 27 turns (about 3100 uH) to the radio. The signal strength was actually better on the high end of the MW BCB than the loopstick but about 5-10+ db lower on the lower end of the MW BCB.
I was disappointed that I got close but not as close as I wanted. I then dug out the original loopstick that had about 250 uH of inductance and added a six-turn coupling loop as close to the original stock windings as I could. Bingo! It was the best so
ultion yet. Go figure! It was not a perfect match but was about 10-12 dB more signal on the high end of the MW BCB and 4-5 dB low at worst on the low end of the MW BCB.
So I bought a brand new PL-380 and quickly modified it by adding a six turn inductive coupling loop to the stock ferrite rod and connecting it to a 1/8" phono plug for the external antenna connection. Works almost identicle to my experiments with the other radio and its original ferrite rod loopstick antenna.
None of these of course work well on LW.
***Has anyone come up with an INTERNAL modification to the stock loopstick antenna or other INTERNAL solution to upping the LW sensitivity of the PL-380? ***
I would like to make something for the old PL-380 so that I can use it on LW for LW BCB and NDB DX'ing. I can barely hear AP-260 NDB (strong local NDB) on any of my PL-380s with a
ny antenna configuration I have tried which blasts in on my not so portable Raycom R1307A GR LW receiver.
In my experimenting with the toroids I found the radio is very forgiving to whatever inductance I used on the windings connected directly to the radio.
The specifications for the si4734 (http://travelx.org/Si4734.pdf) indicate 2800 uH for LW but in my toroid testing this did not seem to make a huge difference on LW when I went up to several 1000 uH.
That said, I have not done extensive LW testing though...just a quick switch while playing with my MW experiments.
John
];') Lakewood, Colorado
Tecsun PL-380 w/7.5" Loopstick 25' vertical inductively coupled to loopstick. 50' non-resonant "dipole" inductively coupled to loopstick. |
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Internal Loopstick Mods on PL-380 for LW?
kugellagers
A couple of years back I got into the Ultralight DX scene because I wanted something small and portable to DX MW BCB when I travel. I got the Tecsun PL-380 and built the 7.5" loopstick. I quickly realized I prefer to inductively couple a low-noise vertical or other external wire antenna rather than just use the loopstick alone. So I would always travel with the 7.5" loopstick and take-down support frame I made along with my vertical antenna components and six-turn coupling coil.
A couple of months back I decided to experiment with torids and other ferrite cores to try to match my coax lead in directly to the antenna input of the radio as I wanted to ditch the loopstick and frame. I had originally removed the stock internal loopstick of the PL-380 from the time I originally got the radio when I built the 7.5" loopstick so I need to find something else to match the coax to the radio.
My goal was to match the signal strength across the MW BCB I got when I inductively coupled my external antenna to the 7.5" external loopstick.
I tried FT50A Type J, FT50-61, FT87-J, FT140-J, FT43 power cord RFI slugs fashioned into a rod with various windings and inductances on the primary and secondary. The closest I got to matching the performance of the 7.5" was a FT50A-75 with 27T:3T ratio with the three turns to the coax and the 27 turns (about 3100 uH) to the radio. The signal strength was actually better on the high end of the MW BCB than the loopstick but about 5-10+ db lower on the lower end of the MW BCB.
I was disappointed that I got close but not as close as I wanted. I then dug out the original loopstick that had about 250 uH of inductance and added a six-turn coupling loop as close to the original stock windings as I could. Bingo! It was the best soultion yet. Go figure! It was not a perfect match but was about 10-12 dB more signal on the high end of the MW BCB and 4-5 dB low at worst on the low end of the MW BCB.
So I bought a brand new PL-380 and quickly modified it by adding a six turn inductive coupling loop to the stock ferrite rod and connecting it to a 1/8" phono plug for the external antenna connection. Works almost identicle to my experiments with the other radio and its original ferrite rod loopstick antenna.
None of these of course work well on LW.
***Has anyone come up with an INTERNAL modification to the stock loopstick antenna or other INTERNAL solution to upping the LW sensitivity of the PL-380? ***
I would like to make something for the old PL-380 so that I can use it on LW for LW BCB and NDB DX'ing. I can barely hear AP-260 NDB (strong local NDB) on any of my PL-380s with any antenna configuration I have tried which blasts in on my not so portable Raycom R1307A GR LW receiver.
In my experimenting with the toroids I found the radio is very forgiving to whatever inductance I used on the windings connected directly to the radio.
The specifications for the si4734 (http://travelx.org/Si4734.pdf) indicate 2800 uH for LW but in my toroid testing this did not seem to make a huge difference on LW when I went up to several 1000 uH.
That said, I have not done extensive LW testing though...just a quick switch while playing with my MW experiments.
John Lakewood, Colorado |
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Re: DXpedition File Review-- A Chore for "Live DXers" Also
josephrot
The SDR "chores" to which many refer can be accomplished with or minimized by a quality SDR software such as SDR-Radio V2 (version 2) or similar product.
Although each SDR user, be one neophyte, intermediate or advanced, has a different set of needs and thus criteria, SDR-Radio V2 ( a product from Simon Brown) has acquitted itself admirably. Joe Rotello / Knoxville, TN / USA |
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Puyallup, WA Ultralight TP's for 2-20
Hello All,
The Asians were still buried in extremely poor propagation for the most part this morning, although there was a very slight improvement over yesterday.
At peak sunrise enhancement three high band diehards rose out of the noise for a brief period, with 1575-VOA hitting a fair peak at 1450, along with poor signals from both 1503-JOUK and 1593-CNR1 (barely audible in domestic splatter). At the same time 594-JOAK and 693-JOAB were flirting with audio on the low band, although they both gave up the effort around 1455. Overall it was a very forgettable session, but at least a sign of some modest improvement.
73 and Good DX,
Gary DeBock (in Puyallup, WA, USA)
C.Crane SWP 7.5" Slider loopstick Ultralight +
12" Experimental FSL antenna
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DXpedition File Review-- A Chore for "Live DXers" Also
Hello All,
There have recently been several posts on the NRC list regarding the DXing tradeoff with SDR receivers-- the advantage of spectrum capture weighed against the disadvantage of needing to review multiple WAV files for potential value. It may come as a surprise to Ultralight radio enthusiasts that the same type of chore is also necessary for live DXpeditioners, to a lesser extent.
On the ocean cliff sides where weather can be harsh, traffic noise is usually awful but where DU propagation becomes superb during a limited sunrise enhancement, the tendency is to record first and ask questions later. This results in a large number of MP3 recordings which must be judged for their value, and in certain cases, in DU station MP3 recordings which are actually quite good but overlooked in the rush to get out a DXpedition report (or prepare for another ocean cliff trip). Links to four such "overlooked" recordings from last year's ocean cliff DXpeditions (to "Rockwork 4," south of Cannon Beach, OR and to Cape Perpetua, south of Yachats, OR) are posted below. These were never included in the original DXpedition reports, and only recently reviewed for judgment. All of these South Pacific receptions were made with a 7.5" loopstick Tecsun PL-380 Ultralight radio inductively coupled to a 12" Medium Wave FSL antenna at the ocean cliff sites.
73, Gary DeBock (in Puyallup, WA, USA)
531 PI Auckland, New Zealand (5 kW) Polynesian
(Samoan?) music at a strong level at Cape Perpetua
on August 16, 2013. This station usually dominates
the frequency on the Oregon cliffs over the Aussie
"talker" stations on 531
531 PI Auckland, New Zealand (5 kW) Another strong
recording from this overachieving station during
the Cape Perpetua DXpedition on August 19, this
time with Samoan language speech
738 Radio Polynesie Mahina, Tahiti (20 kW) S9+ level
rock music (both American and French) from this
usual blowtorch at "Rockwork 4" on July 27, the
last day of the DXpedition south of Cannon Beach
765 Radio Kahungunu Napier-Hastings, New Zealand (2.5 kW)
This Maori language station is the ultimate performer for
its low power level, acting like a "big gun" every day during
summer DXpeditions to "Rockwork 4." Here it is (at typical
strength) with Maori music on July 26th
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