HFU HF Underground
Loggings => Shortwave Broadcast => Topic started by: kmorgan on September 12, 2014, 1456 UTC
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Say- just because conditions are said to be terrible next few days does not mean you shouldn't attempt DXing. Some of my most remarkable catches were during storms- odd things happen during aurora times - one b'cast station fades out and something from the other side of the planet fades in.
Keep dxing- I'm heading over to a "radio quiet" area in Cave Creek AZ this weekend to do some serious dxing! (actually, it's for "Pug-sitting" but I of course bring some receivers with me ha ha) It's about 35 mi. NE of Phoenix AZ in the middle of the desert- with practically zero RFI/EMI around me :)
If you get a chance to go on your own "dxpedition" in a relatively isolated location, do so. It is well worth it.
My best location ever was in the mountains of Morocco - as far as the eye could see not a radio tower nor electric pole as far as you could see! It was like traveling back in time a few hundred years - in a village with no roads nor electric power grid. Can you imagine??? Talk about reception!! I also got to visit the fam in the actual "Quiet Zone" in W VA years ago- but that was pre-listening days for me :( wish I had known about HF radio hobby back then... sighs..
ANYWAY-
I'll post any items of interest later this evening God willing- can't wait for my mini-dxpedition tonight. Love those "quiet" areas. The only interruptions I will be hearing late tonight will be coyotes....
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A very good point!
I have heard MW DXers refer to this as "mixing the pot", giving you a different set of stations to listen to. Unusual propagation can result in unusual catches.
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Well said kmorgan,
Good Luck on your DXpedition.
Hope you catch a lot.
Before I recently got back into HF listening, I remember that in my youth these "Stormy Times" were sometimes exceptional for me as far as DXing goes.
They were also the most fickle.
Conditions can turn against you in a second or few... and then pffft, the signal from across the globe... is gone... :( :(
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Conditions can turn against you in a second or few... and then pffft, the signal from across the globe... is gone... :( :(
Just before they were about to ID.
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Good luck, and take a looooong spool of wire with ya!
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Cave Creek AZ
Thanks I DID take a looong spool of wire with me- i tossed it on top of the very high roof of the guest house I stayed in. Welp- I managed to leave my logs there at the house ??? No remarkable catches I can remember off hand, but an anomaly was that I did manage to receive N American stations that are usually *not* receivable in my location (Phoenix) somehow the Eastern N Am. stations don't make it west usually. WWCR, WWRB, and Voice of America out of Tennessee were excellent. Other than that lots of China - that is all I can recall without my logs. The "usuals" were all there- Radio NZ, Radio Aus- good good- and like I said, N American transmitters all came in miraculously well. I could not force myself to do some nite owl listening as after feeding exercizing and mucking out stalls for TWO big horses I was exhausted & hit the hay early!!
It would have been better had the property not parked on site a miserable 5th wheel "trailer" they rented out to some tenants about 30 feet from my location! miserable miserable hash- NO radio "silence" but noise at every 20 khz on 3MHz and below- to be repeated starting about 14MHz and above! Every 20khz- bzzzzzz...dammit! That really ticked me off- as the trailer was not at this location previously, and the location was my own little dxpedition "hut". After speaking with the tenant in the trailer, I asked if it got hot in there? "Oh no- we've got two air conditioners running": this trailer is powered by one, big, long extension cord tapped off at the swimming pool power panel!!! Ho-lee Crap! Talk about fire hazards- well I'm not the homeowner.... I think a call to the city code enforcement should be in order as this can't be legal- let alone safe.
wasted HF trip- so much noise it made listening almost useless as no faint stations were to be heard over the RFI/EMI etc.
Instead of the HF I did bring a digital trunk tracking scanner, at least VHF was good. I had programmed the scanner with stuff local to the area, so while not having HF to do some serious listening, the novelty of police calls and EMT/Fire Dept had its moments.
By the by- quite a few hams in the Cave Creek/Scottsdale areas as there were many many towers erected in people's yards around me.
Too bad my dxing was not as I had hoped for- and I hope NEXT time god willing I house/pug dog sit that dam#$%d trailer will be history.