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Author Topic: DXpedition to Cuttyhunk Island, MA  (Read 681 times)

Offline NQC

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DXpedition to Cuttyhunk Island, MA
« on: September 05, 2021, 0109 UTC »
Hey All,

I just returned  from a Dxpedtion  in the town of Gosonold on Cuttyhunk Island , Buzzard's Bay , MA.

Since Island life is really laid back , so was the  logging .  Highlights  from 9/1/21 through 9/3/21, no particular order.

Gear:  Sangean ATS 803 A ,  single tuned crystal set ( R.S. 28-177 coil  but  with air variable) , hand held scanners, home brew  ferrite tuner /coupler,  misc small  goodies, 400 ft "D.O.G" antenna ( "Dipole - On- Ground "), 40 ft HF end fed, , etc, etc.

640 CMLA /R. Progresso Cuba   copied   before full  darkness, but beat up by local /regional WPRO 630.
 
8503 NMG /New Orleans Wefax

6095 USB bootleg maritime net, OM swearing   like a sailor (hi).

10, 15  WWV

11780 R Amazonas/ R Nacional Brazil

5025 R. Rebelde Cuba
 
6000 R. Havana  (in  full daylight ! )

US MW kind of  a mess. Pile ups on  the long DX frequencies . Open to  Eastern  of US half (or a bit  less) ie only  GA to TN to IL arc.

Only one HF broadcast each  on 16, 19 or 22 M. Beyond dead any higher in frequency.

Ham :20 M.  40 M (even in daylight). Both   open to Eastern  1/2 half  of    US , especially on CW.

NO audio off any Transatlantic Broadcast Dx, but  copied a few aligned beat notes (FWIW) :

198 BBC, 639 Senegal, 837 Senegal, 954  Spain, 1044 Morocco,1107 Spain. Basically - LW b'cast was dead (or gone !) and MW b'cast was extremely poor (near dead)  to the Afroeuro .Also US MW opened up MUCH sooner than expected ,crushing what little Afro Euro action that could have been had . I have had trans Atlantic  MW and LW very good at times in years past, but not on this round :'(.

Crystal set DX : the usual 50 Kw suspects from around the NE 1/3 or so of the U.S.

7 KC lightning / "Tweeks" / "Natural Radio" copied ( confirmed at 700 miles and maybe a out  LOT further to thousands of miles) by a pair of NICE  Hi Z "crystal " earphones in series ,shorted by 1 M bleed pot. RF input  by  one leg of D.O.G. antenna onto each side of pot .

Notice to Mariners  on VHF marine channel 22A. Not heard this one in 15 or 20 years !

Also the owner of the Bed and Breakfast were I stayed (who I've known for  many years ) gave me a Trans Oceanic Royal 300-1. It didn't work on the island , but  I cleaned up battery holder  at home  and VIOLA  -  a working T/O !  So I went down there with one HF rig and came home with TWO !

Very late Wednesday /  Thursday  ( 9/1, 9/2) impacts from Ida : TORRENTS of rain - around 5 " in 5 hours . Gusts 45 to 55 (estimated). Waterspout 3 miles to our East  over ocean  .2nd water spout 12 miles East over ocean. Tornado  at Falmouth , Cape Cod MA 6 or 10 mi  Northeast. Vicious  cloud to ground white lightning on Island and Northward  into Buzzard's Bay.Yet ALL three day light hours were nice -  cloudy/dry -or- sunny /dry.

Ate lots of  seafood , fairly warm water  ocean swimming , relaxing , long walks with wife, etc. Took night trip on boat  going back to New Bedford.

GREAT trip, REALLY needed it !

K

« Last Edit: September 05, 2021, 0152 UTC by NQC »
Station main receiver : Bed springs to  blue razor blade detector to 2000 ohm cans to steam  radiator. Grid FN 42