HFU HF Underground
Loggings => MW Loggings => Topic started by: Ct Yankee on March 03, 2024, 0006 UTC
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Good reception with fades - English service. On St. Augustine Beach, FL using Tecsun PL 600. About 450 miles away from my qth - 54,000 watts.
2359 Unid Jazz
0000 West Indies accented male with ID and Nassau location then "This is the Bahamas Radio Network"
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This is a tough one here in MI with KXEL dominating the freq.
Can occasionally hear some what sounds like Gospel music breaking through, but not enough for a positive ID.
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Hey All,
ZNS-1 was one that I have been wondering about over the last year or so re whether they were still on the air. Didn't ever log them though. I was going to do a dedicated DXpedition to the South coast of MA to try and grab them, but "life " got in the way :(.
WAY (WAY!) back in the day from MA ( some on my crystal set ) I was able to log "some " Caribbeans - from really fuzzy memory : Caymans,Jamaica, Turks/Caicos, St Kitts , LOTS of Cubans and maybe one or two others.
Apparently ZIZ 555 Kc St. Kitts put in a good split frequency signal to NYC. Folks back in the stone age (using analog car radios) used to be able to cruise around the Big Apple and blast ZIZ . I am not sure if they have now QSY'ed to a 10 Kc allocation.
Due to local sometimes severe QRM/QRN from recently apt. building electronic systems (and also other factors), my days of LONG AM Dx from my local QTH may be pretty much done. I can still copy "some" (SOME) of the Eastern US big guns ( big whoop ). Working on reducing or "solving " some of these technical issues ,as time allows.
Thankfully my favorite music station (WMEX 1510 , 100 watts night , omni, around 6-8 mi ) is pretty good ,but I am working on some outboard audio tweeking to bring it up a bit better.
My # 2 music station , MA regional WCRN 830, is also "OK" , but not fantastic either .
I USED to do awesome here , but not so much now. I suppose I can now look at it as a "challenge" :o.
K
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Per several sources, looks like St. Kitts is FM nowadays.
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Hey Pinto,
Interesting note re ZIZ, It wouldn't surprise me at all if St. Kitts is off AM now.
I am kind of amazed that ANY Caribbeans are still active on AM (!). If I recall correctly, more than one AM antenna system has been trashed by hurricanes.
I am also curious as to what coverage range these island stations are really looking for. "Generally", I believe that any serious Dx coverage may be viewed by management ( and maybe even the engineers) as kind of a "waste".
As much as I LOVED Dxing the Caribbean AM'ers, I never really understood why they couldn't just use a 200 Ft multi bay FM tower , which would mostly be operating over a generally flat environment.
A beefy 200 ft tower would seem to be "harder " take down compared to a similarly heavily guyed 300 to 400 ft one .
I am not sure re making a comparison of a tall AM vs a shorter FM and their expected field strengths with respect to any mountainous area coverage.
Perhaps ( way back when) , some of the leadership of the island wanted a local station that also had an element of an "external" service or presence, so that the island would be able to "make itself known " outside the local area ("prestige "? ).
Since SO few folks now listen to AM, such a concept today wouldn't seem to be worth the trouble on AM re big electricity bills,tall tower "vulnerability" and low listenership.
Frankly I can't even see how most of the tin can AM'ers here in the US manage to stay on the air (re making a profit), even without as much of severe weather threat to the towers.10 or 15% of the AMer's here make 90% of the money.
I may be full of beans, but just spitballing.
NQC