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General Radio Discussion / Re: Dumb it down for this crusty, 72 year old fart still, for the most part, living
« on: October 01, 2021, 1303 UTC »
UncleJohn, MW DX has been less than it was early last decade, like SW it began to dip around 2016.
MW still has a lot of DX, but it will pick up as the new solar cycle progresses, so don't lose hope on hearing some good catches. The guys who get the best catches now have beverage antennas or big loops with amplifiers.
In 2011-2014 I was hearing all sorts of stations on my MW DX radios that I don't hear now. Cuba's Radio Rebelde on 1180 (behind a regional station and KOFI Kalispell, used to be heard many nights, although I had to listen through the other signals to ID it. I even heard it on a Realistic TRF with no extra antenna.
Rebelde, unfortunately, hasn't been heard here in 5-6 years on MW. KVNS Brownsville on 1700 used to be a regular, although it would mix with XEPE (Baja California). I haven't heard KVNS in a while, either. Periodically, I get a new station, so not all is lost. But yeah, there is a lot of talk and ranchero music on the MW. I'm just glad the signals are there. SW sometimes is mostly empty.
As for choice of radios, I prefer my Superadios or my Panasonic RF-B45, sometimes with a tuned loop next to them, as the slightly wider selectivity (around 6 khz I think) helps ID stations. My PR-D5 has narrower selectivity but it sounds a little muddy, and sometimes you need to hear a bit more to ID a station, even if there is more splash. It's always a flip of the coin, I guess.
MW still has a lot of DX, but it will pick up as the new solar cycle progresses, so don't lose hope on hearing some good catches. The guys who get the best catches now have beverage antennas or big loops with amplifiers.
In 2011-2014 I was hearing all sorts of stations on my MW DX radios that I don't hear now. Cuba's Radio Rebelde on 1180 (behind a regional station and KOFI Kalispell, used to be heard many nights, although I had to listen through the other signals to ID it. I even heard it on a Realistic TRF with no extra antenna.
Rebelde, unfortunately, hasn't been heard here in 5-6 years on MW. KVNS Brownsville on 1700 used to be a regular, although it would mix with XEPE (Baja California). I haven't heard KVNS in a while, either. Periodically, I get a new station, so not all is lost. But yeah, there is a lot of talk and ranchero music on the MW. I'm just glad the signals are there. SW sometimes is mostly empty.
As for choice of radios, I prefer my Superadios or my Panasonic RF-B45, sometimes with a tuned loop next to them, as the slightly wider selectivity (around 6 khz I think) helps ID stations. My PR-D5 has narrower selectivity but it sounds a little muddy, and sometimes you need to hear a bit more to ID a station, even if there is more splash. It's always a flip of the coin, I guess.