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Author Topic: wherein I boggle my head off, 06/13, 2300 UTC  (Read 1875 times)

Offline Chanter

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wherein I boggle my head off, 06/13, 2300 UTC
« on: June 14, 2014, 0309 UTC »
I can't believe this.  I came home from work and started twirling the radio dial around 10 meters.  At first it didn't sound like I was going to get a darn thing, and given how WWV and CHU were coming in in various places, I wasn't all that surprised.  But then...  Holy cow.  *This* happened. 

28275, NP2SH - Saint John, Virgin Islands beacon, 2249-2300.  Long dash transitioning immediately into VVV, then beacon ID and location information - I clearly heard 'islands' here, and less clearly Virgin Islands.  Signal weak to fair at best in very tough copy, high noise floor and deep fades.  SINPO 32232, RST 229. 

Yes, that does say US Virgin Islands.  It took me several minutes to pull the call and the location info out of the mud, but when I did--hoooo-eeee!  I just about fell over.  for me, this feels akin to snagging a definite log of the MW X-band station based in the USVIs.  XD! 
Madison, WI, U.S.A. 
Tecsun PL-660, Yaesu FT60R handheld, and Realistic DX-398 (back up and running!) 
QSL's appreciated 

There's a geeklady turning that dial!
SWLer, MWLer, LW and HF beaconeer, technician class ham, DXer of all bands and program listener. 
RNW forever.

Offline BoomboxDX

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Re: wherein I boggle my head off, 06/13, 2300 UTC
« Reply #1 on: June 16, 2014, 1450 UTC »
Good catch. Virgin Islands isn't common to hear in much of the U.S., even on sideband.

The CW beacon section of the 10 meter band is sometimes the only part of that band that has signals. 

When 11 meters is happening, and I hear a lot of Mexican Spanish on the 11 meter outband (especially 27445, which seems to be one of their calling channels), I'll switch up to the 10 meter beacon band and see what's in.

I mostly hear 10 meter beacons from Texas and the lower Midwest, from my location here in the Pacific Northwest.

I haven't heard a Caribbean area beacon on 10 meters yet. I do hear Caribbean guys in Spanish on 27445, though. Usually Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico.
An AM radio Boombox DXer.
+ GE SRIII, PR-D5 & TRF on MW.
The usual Realistic culprits on SW (and a Panasonic).