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Author Topic: Reception based on East coast/West coast  (Read 3049 times)

Matt285

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Reception based on East coast/West coast
« on: January 14, 2020, 2019 UTC »
Was curious if anyone copies stations from countries such as China, Korea, Philippines or any other Asian stations on the East coast. I know there would be an obvious advantage listening on the West coast for such stations. Just wanted to know. I tend to mainly pick up European, South/Central American, Caribbean and Canadian stations at my QTH here in Florida.

Offline Sealord

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Re: Reception based on East coast/West coast
« Reply #1 on: January 14, 2020, 2119 UTC »
I can periodically pick up N Korea on 6250 ~ 10:00z in the morning (it's weak and I have to listen in LSB mode when it's audible) & get decent to good reception of NHK at midnight (05:00z) on 6155.
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Offline Pigmeat

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Re: Reception based on East coast/West coast
« Reply #2 on: January 14, 2020, 2148 UTC »
What Sealord said. You have to stay up late or get up early in the morning to catch them on the greyline. A loop really helps for greyline dx'ing the Asian stations.

Offline Josh

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Re: Reception based on East coast/West coast
« Reply #3 on: January 14, 2020, 2214 UTC »
The further a tx is from the rx (as in near-antipodal work), the lower the angle of arrival of their sigs, so having something that responds well to low angle of arrival, ie a vertical, is a great help.
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Matt285

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Re: Reception based on East coast/West coast
« Reply #4 on: January 15, 2020, 0054 UTC »
Interesting point about using a vertical. I tend to stray away from them as a lot of people say 'They radiate poorly in all directions' I have used verticals for QRP portable ops with a bit of success. I have thought about adding one for various operation anyway. Im always welcome to another antenna in yard! Yes. I need to utilize Grey line better in general. It's a simple method, that just involves being in the shack at the right time. Any favorite sites for Greyline mapping? Yes I have used some, just curious if there are opinions on this. Thank as always!

Offline Josh

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Re: Reception based on East coast/West coast
« Reply #5 on: January 15, 2020, 0138 UTC »
Set up one of your verts and see how it plays. Your greyline will be an hour or so before sunrise to an hour or a bit more after, same for sunset.

I had a sloper (vertical polarised) heading east and a horizontal firing east and west, often, especially at fade in/fade out one would often far outperform the other, to the point of the signal being unheard on one but good on the other until it was completely gone for the day.
« Last Edit: January 15, 2020, 0143 UTC by Josh »
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Offline redhat

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Re: Reception based on East coast/West coast
« Reply #6 on: January 15, 2020, 0322 UTC »
Interesting point about using a vertical. I tend to stray away from them as a lot of people say 'They radiate poorly in all directions' I have used verticals for QRP portable ops with a bit of success. I have thought about adding one for various operation anyway. Im always welcome to another antenna in yard! Yes. I need to utilize Grey line better in general. It's a simple method, that just involves being in the shack at the right time. Any favorite sites for Greyline mapping? Yes I have used some, just curious if there are opinions on this. Thank as always!

The folks claiming verticals suck are the same folks that use two radials on said antenna in a suburban lot with no view of the horizon, just the neighbors plasma tv, then wonder why the match sucks and is noisy as hell.  I've had quite my fill of ham 'experts'.

The right tool for the right job...verticals really shine in a low noise environment with a clear shot to the horizon.  They do not do well in a crowded suberbopolis.   In such situations a mini whip or a loop is a much better choice.

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Offline Treehouse SWL

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Re: Reception based on East coast/West coast
« Reply #7 on: January 15, 2020, 0345 UTC »
As a lifelong West Coaster who sometimes visits the East Coast, I sometimes am jealous of the East Coast's better reception of African/Middle East stations.

I didn't realize how much I take our morning reception of Asian stations (SO many CNR and CRI stations are audible most days before 10 a.m.) for granted out here.
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Offline BoomboxDX

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Re: Reception based on East coast/West coast
« Reply #8 on: January 15, 2020, 0426 UTC »
^^^^^ True, the 49 and 41 meter bands are packed with Chinese and other Asian stations in the mornings when conditions aren't dead. I've only heard Europe over the pole or when conditions were better (i.e. 6-7 years ago or more).  Greece sometimes comes in on 9420 khz during the evening, however. How they do it when the rest of Europe is missing (even on the ham bands) is beyond me.
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Re: Reception based on East coast/West coast
« Reply #9 on: January 15, 2020, 1009 UTC »
I used to pirate with vert's and dx before and after the tx. The tropical bands were wide open an hour before you started hearing het's with other antennas.

Offline ChrisSmolinski

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Re: Reception based on East coast/West coast
« Reply #10 on: January 15, 2020, 1032 UTC »
Yes, Asian stations are quite easy to hear on the east coast, just listen on the right frequencies at the right times. Mornings are very good right now on 49 meters, for example.
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Offline Sealord

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Re: Reception based on East coast/West coast
« Reply #11 on: January 15, 2020, 1336 UTC »
The folks claiming verticals suck are the same folks that use two radials on said antenna in a suburban lot with no view of the horizon, just the neighbors plasma tv, then wonder why the match sucks and is noisy as hell.  I've had quite my fill of ham 'experts'.

The right tool for the right job...verticals really shine in a low noise environment with a clear shot to the horizon.  They do not do well in a crowded suberbopolis.   In such situations a mini whip or a loop is a much better choice.

+-RH

This.

Phased verticals are the trick for me, even with neighbors all around - I had great success using an EWE antenna with just two 8' ground rods originally back in the day.  Granted I was fortunate enough having two pine trees 15' apart that pointed towards Europe.  I added a variable cap dead center of the top horizontal wire (I used lamp cord) and then using my palstar with batteries and earphones adjusted it for best S/N for even better perfomance.
« Last Edit: January 15, 2020, 2025 UTC by Sealord »
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Online Ct Yankee

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Re: Reception based on East coast/West coast
« Reply #12 on: January 15, 2020, 2006 UTC »
I am 15 miles off Long Island Sound, I have a son in Oakland, California.  My antenna at home is 40 feet of copper wire running north/south facing due east - a dozen feet off the ground. Facing east, there is virtually nothing but a 660' hill about a mile away.   When in Oakland, I'm using a portable with its included longwire.

The Asian based transmissions (including the BBC) are an easy catch in Oakland and seldom gets in Connecticut.  Among my Oakland gets in  (check shortwave section HFU posts) late April 2019: Radio Nikkea, Voice of Korea, RNZI, KBS, Voice of Korea, Voice of Vietnam, NHK, FEBC, Voice of the People, KNLS, and KCBS.  I did find the European/African broadcasters and pirates almost nonexistent out there.  However, Radio Habana Cuba boomed in 🙄.
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Offline KaySeeks

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Re: Reception based on East coast/West coast
« Reply #13 on: January 16, 2020, 1953 UTC »
The folks claiming verticals suck are the same folks that use two radials on said antenna in a suburban lot with no view of the horizon, just the neighbors plasma tv, then wonder why the match sucks and is noisy as hell.  I've had quite my fill of ham 'experts'.

+1

I like to explain the dipole/OCF vs. vertical decision as a trade off. 

A vertical is horizontal dipole turned about its centre point. Because a vertical doesn't have that other 1/4 wave leg that a dipole has up in the air, you have to compensate with radials. A lot of radials.* Otherwise, it's just not the same and you are compromising the performance of the antenna.

Some folks can't put up a dipole for one reason or another. A vertical offers the opportunity to use fewer supports to get the radiating element up in the air and this may be of value to some. However, the trade off is that you have to be prepared to put in the radials. If you have the land available, this may be an acceptable trade off.

*The more the better and the incremental benefits diminish as more are added but the data I have seen says that there is an initial barrier to entry (or barrier to reap the benefits) and that seems to be around 10-12 radials, at a minimum.
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Offline redhat

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Re: Reception based on East coast/West coast
« Reply #14 on: January 16, 2020, 2258 UTC »
I use 8 on my portable antennas as anything more in the field does little to improve performance, only adds setup time and p.i.a. factor.  On a permanent setup, 16 is about the point of diminishing returns.  At 8 radials, shifts in ground conductivity due to seasonal and weather shifts will be much more noticeable.  On some models I've seen, the difference between 120 and 16 radials is a few db... not worth the trouble imho.

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