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Cairns, Queensland DXpedition with XHDATA D-808 & 28 inch/70 cm loop

William Renton
 

Hi all,

Back in June, I travelled to Cairns, Queensland for a mini break/DXpedition with another DXer (don't think he's in the group). Some of you may have seen the footage already but for those who haven't, the videos are contained in this YT playlist:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVhguPkHv5WOYui8gOCL9cv6oSQVsKwlB

We were fairly pleased with the performance of this loop/radio combination. Conditions are much better in Cairns compared to Sydney; e.g. of the US stations, only KBLA 1580 and KUAU 1570 are regulars down here. There is also much less QRM from domestics as Cairns is well away from most of the big gun stations. 

A final point- is the D-808 considered a UL radio? I do have a Tecsun PL-380 but haven't used it in years. I need to use the XH-DATA's SSB down here to get rid of splatter from the Aussie domestics. 

Best regards,

William. 
Paul Blundell
 

Excellent report and great to see some video. 

I am not sure if the D-808 counts "officially" but if you had fun, that is the main thing...


On Mon, Oct 21, 2019 at 12:01 PM William Renton via Groups.Io <william_renton=yahoo.com@groups.io> wrote:
Hi all,

Back in June, I travelled to Cairns, Queensland for a mini break/DXpedition with another DXer (don't think he's in the group). Some of you may have seen the footage already but for those who haven't, the videos are contained in this YT playlist:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVhguPkHv5WOYui8gOCL9cv6oSQVsKwlB

We were fairly pleased with the performance of this loop/radio combination. Conditions are much better in Cairns compared to Sydney; e.g. of the US stations, only KBLA 1580 and KUAU 1570 are regulars down here. There is also much less QRM from domestics as Cairns is well away from most of the big gun stations. 

A final point- is the D-808 considered a UL radio? I do have a Tecsun PL-380 but haven't used it in years. I need to use the XH-DATA's SSB down here to get rid of splatter from the Aussie domestics. 

Best regards,

William. 



--
Paul


--
Paul - Moderator
UltralightDX
Gary DeBock
 

Hi William,
<<<   A final point- is the D-808 considered a UL radio? I do have a Tecsun PL-380 but haven't used it in years. I need to use the XH-DATA's SSB down here to get rid of splatter from the Aussie domestics.    >>>

Unfortunately the D-808 is too large too be within the 20 cubic limit for Ultralight Radio qualification, although it is an effective DXing portable based on the CC Skywave SSB model (from which the Chinese gained a lot of "inspiration," to use a very generous term).

Both the XHDATA D-808 and the CC Skywave SSB model are manufactured in the Chinese city of Shenzhen, with D-808 coming out from the new XHDATA company a few months after the Skywave came out of the factory of Redsun, C.Crane's manufacturing partner in Shenzhen, China. Despite its dubious design pedigree the D-808 is a real bargain with its SSB performance, especially considering the $169.99 price of the Skywave SSB. 

Gary DeBock (in Puyallup, WA, USA)
   



-----Original Message-----
From: William Renton via Groups.Io <william_renton@...>
To: main <main@UltralightDX.groups.io>
Sent: Sun, Oct 20, 2019 6:01 pm
Subject: [UltralightDX] Cairns, Queensland DXpedition with XHDATA D-808 & 28 inch/70 cm loop

Hi all,

Back in June, I travelled to Cairns, Queensland for a mini break/DXpedition with another DXer (don't think he's in the group). Some of you may have seen the footage already but for those who haven't, the videos are contained in this YT playlist:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVhguPkHv5WOYui8gOCL9cv6oSQVsKwlB

We were fairly pleased with the performance of this loop/radio combination. Conditions are much better in Cairns compared to Sydney; e.g. of the US stations, only KBLA 1580 and KUAU 1570 are regulars down here. There is also much less QRM from domestics as Cairns is well away from most of the big gun stations. 

A final point- is the D-808 considered a UL radio? I do have a Tecsun PL-380 but haven't used it in years. I need to use the XH-DATA's SSB down here to get rid of splatter from the Aussie domestics. 

Best regards,

William. 

William Renton
 

Hi Gary,

I suspected that. Are there any ULRs with full SSB functionality on MW that you would recommend (if they exist at all)? I presume the CC Skywave also falls foul of the size limit for ULRs. The SSB on the D-808 produces quite good audio when set at the higher bandwidths (3-4 kHz) and I actually prefer it to the rather muffled sound of the Tecsuns at 1 kHz (really ~3 kHz). 

For me personally, the aim is to receive trans-oceanic DX on an inexpensive mass-market receiver; the D-808 clearly fits this brief. 

Looking forward to your next DXpedition- maybe you should go to somewhere in the middle of the Indian Ocean like the Maldives or the Seychelles, if finances allow (and before they disappear!) 2BL Sydney has been received in the Seychelles on a barefoot Tecsun PL-390- phenomenal! (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABacWz8jTLg). 


Best regards,

William.
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