Dx Stories
I decided to add this to the web site because I have a few old magazine articles and columns that I used to write. More to do with DX trips etc. It's a bit of a timeline actually and is a work in progress. It actually helps me piece together what I used to do and where I used to dx.
Woodside Beach - 1997
After some encouraging signs last July in Jack Smith's swamp Dave Headland & I planned to take advantage of the Melbourne Cup Weekend and headed back to our Woodside Beach dx site on the Ninety Mile beach here in Victoria. Before the trip Dave & I discussed what we were going to do as far as the dx was concerned. Its always a good idea to plan a listening trip right down to the angle of the dangle. A lot of people go away & tune blindly hoping for good dx.. but an experienced MW Dxer knows what he's after & gives himself every chance of hearing stations from a particular region on the other side of the globe by planning ahead.
Although Woodside Beach is untapped as far as dx is concerned, it is shaping up to be a very good Medium-wave site for North & Central American dx. Dave Headland a veteran of many a good dx trip rates reception at this site close to Coolum in Queensland. The good news for Melbourne DXers is that it is only a 2.5 - 3 hour drive from the City.
We arrived at the site just after lunch on the Friday (November 1) and set up a well organised camp on the dried lake bed not far from where we had camped earlier this year. The weather was warm and terrific, the location ideal for camping.. somewhat exposed to the elements but the gentle sea breeze blowing in off Bass Strait was superb. The feeling in our water was that it was going to be a darn good trip for dx.
Lucio Coceani was kind enough to lend us his 9x9 tent to do the listening in.. we had the card tables, banana chairs.. we were doing this trip in style. It was very comfy laying back listening to dx in the tent.. Feet up on the milk crates with an endless pit of minties, crackers, Freddo Frogs and hot tea/coffee & even a nice cool jug of cordial.. No booze this trip.. Craig Edwards was missing!
Sleeping quarters was again the back of the Mustard Bus.. but hey! with a mattress, doona & pillow it was as comfy as home. The only hassle being you were awake at the crack to a spectacular sunrise or the odd lightning bolt.. Dave H went for the Everest tent at ground level.. something I may invest in.. One with double mozzie & Joe Blake protection..
The receivers were again the Drake R7 & SPR4. We had 5 car batteries some of which I had only purchased the day before for $3 each from the wreckers. The batteries were semi clagged of course.. not 100% to start a car but had ample juice to run the receivers. We also had the solar panel to charge the batteries during the daytime.
After setting up camp Dave & I spent quite a bit of time studying the seasonal sunrise/sunset charts looking at when & where sunrise would pass over the various N.American cities.. We stored this in the back of our minds & set about looking for suitable locations to run the antennas. Studying the charts shows you where the signal path is in darkness and at what time a signal is likely to peak. As a rule a signal at the far end will peak on their sunrise. With Nth Americans I have found that signals have TWO peaks.. the first being close to our sunset & the other on their Sunrise. It might sound complicated but it is very easy to work out. Sunset/sunrise charts are around the clubs..
In the past 6 months or so I have taken a real interest in the mechanics of the beverage antenna. For some time now I have wanted to know whether there was any notable difference between listening on 300, 600 or even 1000+ metres. I also wanted to know whether there was any significant difference in running the antennas along the ground or on poles and what effect terminating had on dx signals.
Basically I want to get to the stage with my Dxing where I can put a beverage antenna out in a proper manner & feel confident that it will do its part in bringing home the bacon when conditions are ripe. But to achieve this.. we have to work out a good working length and what methods are needed for proper operation.
Before the trip I was divided on whether we should use 4 separate 450m beverages at Canada, USA, The Caribbean & Latin America or go for two long ones over 1000m at Nth America & the Caribbean.
On the first three nights we settled on the 4 antennas at 40, 70, 90 and 110 degrees (All aimed at the above). It was unfortunate that we could only run 450m between 60 -110 degrees because of the ocean. The antennas at 70, 90 and 110 degrees ran to within 10 metres of the waters edge but were not terminated due to poor soil conductivity (sand).
Our main antenna for the first two nights was a 600 metre length at 40 degrees on poles which although not ideal for the U.S was the best we could do (length wise) from the lake bed. In fact 40 degrees is pointed at absolutely nothing.. We were counting on the antenna having a wide beamwidth.. Which to some extent it turned out to have.
Later we were to move 300m inland to the grassier areas where we nearly sneezed ourselves to death.. This allowed us to get 870m at 70 degrees.. Let me point out at this stage that only the 40 & 70 degree antennas were on poles. The other two ran along the ground. All 4 were unterminated.
Before heading down to the site I purchased 30 hardwood tomato stakes for around $24 at our local Mitre 10 and inserted some small brass hooks into each near the top to support the antenna wire. I can tell you.. try carrying 30 of these over 800 metres. We used the 'Smart Saver' approach on the final day and did the garbo run on the back of Dave's Land Rover.
DX on the first night was solid but not spectacular. As expected the signals from Canadians were superb with 1470 CJVB; 930 CJCA; 1040 CKST; 1060 CKMX; 1130 CKWX; 1200 CKXM; 1300 CJME & 1410 CFUN being some of the stronger ones. Some of the better Yank stations were 1390 KGER; 1320 KCTC & 850 KOA. I was disappointed that the Alaskans never made an appearance given the direction of the antennas.
Although we were at the site for Nth American dx I thought I would try my luck with some of the Europeans in the morning. I jumped out of bed close to dawn around 1930 UTC & scanned the band for signs of life. Be it propagation or just a lousy site for Euro's the only real dx I heard was Kenya & the Arab on 1386; BBC Orfordness 1296; Vatican 1611; V.O. Sahara 1544 and the odd Arab on 1521 & 1440. This was to be my only attempt in the mornings as I wanted to preserve the batteries. Mind you heavy rain over the next few days helped convince me to stay under the doona.
Listening in tents during fine weather can be very comfortable compared with being cramped in a car, but when mother nature turns nasty as it did on the Sunday then things can get a bit damp & awkward. I'm not keen on electrical storms and when you have 4 huge antennas terminating in a 9x9 tent.. errrr you tend to get nervous.
On Saturday evening after our traditional meal of dx noodles & tinned fruit we hopped back into the listening at 0740 UTC. Conditions were marginally better than the previous night with good Yank signals being heard from 680-KNBR; 780-KKOH; 850-KICY; 860-KTRB; 1020-KNKQ; 1100-KFAX; 1110-KFAB/KRLA; 1120-KPNW; 1160-KSL; 1480-KWIZ; 1520-KOMA. The Canadians were again good with 1060-CKMX; 1200-CKXM; 1300-CJME & 1470 CJVB which had me stumped the previous night with its Vietnamese. Strangely enough the Mexicans were not to be heard except for 1290-XEDA. Overall Day Two of the listening was steady but not spectacular. We hit the wall pretty quickly around 1120 UTC and were in bed by about 1200. (11pm local)
After sunburn on the first two days Sunday saw Dave & I make friends with several frogs in our Swimming Pool which doubled as a dx tent. DH & I had a chuckle to ourselves as we helped pull two bogged baitheads out of the swamp and recalled our hopeless situation earlier this year.
Fearing a repeat I drove the Mustard Bus out to high ground. A wise move indeed. Within an hour the lake was 3 inches under water & impossible to escape from even with a 4 wheel drive. Luckily we had a few days for things to dry out & yet we still had to carry a lot of gear out by foot. 5 car batteries over a few hundred metres aint fun.
A lot of people ask what happens during the day when you aren't listening? Well apart from catching up on sleep there are plenty of dx related things to do like writing reports, going through tapes for ID's or trying different things with the antenna.
Its not all dx though as you tend to burn out pretty quickly if you spend hour after hour with it.. Its not uncommon for Craig Edwards, Dave Headland & myself to slip off down to the local pub to have a few beers.. put a few bets on & watch a bit of cricket on the TV. Then there's the fishing... I'm big on 'White Pointers' especially during the holiday season..
On the Sunday afternoon Dave & I drove along the coast to Seaspray (100km round trip) and checked out every dirt track in search of the 'perfect location'. We had no luck. On the way back we dropped into the huge VLF Omega Navigational station which transmits on frequencies around 13 kHz. We watched a short video & learnt a bit about the stations operations. The antenna is HUGE and at the time of completion back in the 80's it was the tallest structure in the Southern Hemisphere..
On our return to camp we decided on a few antenna experiments. On previous dx trips we had never been able to get any proper null's by terminating the antenna with an earth rod & variable resistor. This frustrated me & I wondered many times why this should be.. It appears that the height of the antenna from the ground plays a critical part in nulling.. without going into the nuts & bolts.. running the antenna along the ground can stuff the voltage up in the antenna & it has a cancelling type effect on null's..
Armed with the UHF handheld (A great piece of dx equipment) I took off up to the other end of the beverage and terminated the antenna with a 1k-pot and a 4 foot earth pipe hammered into the soil. Dave was back in the Banana Chair next to the receiver while I copped wicked sunburn on the 'Prince Charlies'. We spent about an hour travelling up & down the band observing where the pot was tuned. On some signals the pot increased signals by moving it Clockwise, others anti-clockwise. In some cases signals dropped right away but the most interesting aspect was that on some signals we were able to get some remarkable null's.. In fact 1242 3TR Traralgon some 80km away was almost nulled out completely...
We took bearings of where the stations were.. In front, to the side & back of the beverage & observed where the pot was turned.. but it made no sense.. All we know is that it was doing some screwy things to signals and is really something we have to investigate at a later date.. I'm curious to know what it does to dx signals later on in the evening. The nulling only works on groundwave signals.. not those coming in via skywave. Oh & before I forget.. with the terminating of the bev it is important to have a gradual slope of no more than 12 degrees to the earth stake. You do not want a vertical element throwing the whole dynamics of the antenna out.
Speaking of vertical effects.. We came across an interesting problem late in the afternoon when the groundwave & skywave signals were starting to mix. Dave H had complained about a sudden increase in noise levels in our antennas that ran up and over the sand dunes down to the ocean. Armed with the handheld again I set off on foot across the swamp to see if I could reduce the noise levels by dropping the antenna off the poles and onto the ground.
Well.. what an interesting find.. not only did the groundwave signals decrease by dropping the wire but so did the noise levels by up to 3 -4 S points.. Even standing at the receiver end & raising the antenna off the ground & above our heads had surprising results. Now whether the fact that the antenna ran part of the way along the ground and up over the dune (like a hump) at 45 degrees had a screwy effect.. bringing a vertical element into the antenna dynamics.. I am not sure.. It is very likely because when I broke the antenna just before the dune the noise levels dropped quite a lot.
So.. my advice is to try & get beverages as straight as possible.. and as level as possible.. avoiding sharp turns & rises. Some of the Kiwi & Nth American Dxers acknowledge that hills can be an advantage & a disadvantage.. running a bev downhill at 12 degrees is supposed to be great.. but anything over that can spell disaster..
We hit the dials again at 0805 UTC on the Sunday evening with a full gale blowing.. The tent annex went flying a dozen times & we for ever having to get outside to guy the tent in horizontal rain. The tent walls started to leak & we were soon flooded out.. We only managed to get two hours of listening in before we abandoned the nights session & headed for the warmth and comfort of the Mustard bus & Everest tent. The highlights of the night were huge signals from Fiji on 891. The new Melbourne Middle Eastern station on 1701 kHz and a few stations that we had heard on the previous two nights: 780-KKOH; 860-KTRB; 1300-CJME & the Mexican XERCN on 1470 kHz. It was a poor night on all fronts. Weather & propagation.
What's that famous saying? 'There's always tomorrows dx'! Well with this in mind I awoke on the Monday morning chock full of confidence that our final session at the dials later that evening would be our best. Over breakfast that morning which included Cereal, Mud pies & live Freddo frogs, Dave and I decided that it was going to be a do or die effort & we decided to pull up camp and move a further 300 odd metres inland allowing us to erect one big 870 metre antenna at 70 degrees. There were a few hurdles in doing this. Firstly it meant that the antenna had to cross the road in four places. This was a pain in the compass especially when you have fishermen (Baitheads) hooning around in 4 wheel drives.
Although not ideal we ended up gently slopping the antennas down to the ground & burying the wire under the road. Ideally we would have rather used tall poles or trees but we had not prepared for this & had to make do with what we had.
The other problems that we faced were that in order to get our antenna at the right angle we had to make camp in flowering 1.5 metre high grass. To Hayfever sufferer's like Dave & I this was living hell. It was one of the worst days I have ever experienced as far as sneezing & itchy eyes is concerned. In the end it was quite a sight seeing me getting around with toilet paper up my nose acting as plugs.. Hehehehe! But.. It worked & that's all that counted. The other problem we faced was putting out the 30 odd poles in a straight line especially through the snake infested & swampy terrain. Even though we had the rubber boots on up to our knees it was slow going through the grass. Only one brown popped its head out to see what we were doing.
With the weather clearing & the 'Last Supper' on the boil (Pasta shells & spag sauce) we sat down and prepared for our final assault on the Nth Americans. I remarked to Dave that I would have been content to go home with what I had regardless of what we heard on the final night. I had 20 new stations to that point.. I was happy.
0815 UTC or 7:15pm local time the signals started to roll in.. as did those pesky mozzies. It didn't take long for Dave & I to sit up & take notice. There were stations every 10 kHz & not just at audible levels.. they were huge! To this day I have never heard Nth American signals like it.. Within an hour the W calls were rolling in 670-WMAQ; 750-WSB; 840-WHAS; 1040-WHO; 1660-WJDM. They were all reported.
It was back to the days of Panic Tuning! I recall mentioning to DH at the time.. If only we had a few more guys along on the trip to take full advantage of what we were hearing. You can only be on one frequency at a time & I can't help but wonder how many prize catches got away because we were busy reporting. But that's Dxing eh! A lot of luck is needed.
This was the first Dxpedition I have ever been on where propagation conditions were steady to one particular region of the world for 5 to 6 hours solid. No quiet periods.. It was just solid dx. There were so many stations that we just couldn't stay on to ID which was a shame. But you have to decide whether you want to scan for trail items or goo home with a few reports.
Some of the better Nth Americans that evening were 640-KFI; 660-KTNN; 760-KFMB; 770-KKOB; 780-KKOH; 790-KABC; 860-KTRB; 910-KNEW; 930-KKHJ; 1020-KTNQ; 1100-KFAX; 1110-KFAB; 1180-KERI; 1190-KBBS. Mexicans: 1220-XEB; 1320-XECMQ; 1410-XEKB; 1470-XERCN; 1560-; 1570-XERF; 1590-XEVOJ & finally a tentative XEXXX 0n 1680 kHz which we presume was a 2 x 840 harmonic.
By 1400 UTC we had just about had enough. 6 hours of solid Dxing & reporting is hard work but it was well worth the effort.
It was a very enjoyable 4 days away. As I keep telling people it is no good trying to dx MW from your kitchen table unless you live in the rural areas. Getting away from the noise, powerful stations & distractions from home is important. Sure we roughed it for a few days & it got a bit damp at times.. but so what? we got what we came for.. Good dx. My rule is if you make the effort to get away & listen.. then become focused on what you are doing. You are there for a reason.. So just do it. Hopefully a few more guys will be inspired by what we do & join us on a Dxpedition somewhere in 1997.
WOODSIDE BEACH DX TRAIL
November 1 - 4
RECEIVERS: Drake R7 & Drake SPR 4
ANTENNAS: 4 x 450m, 1 x 600m & 870m all at Nth America & Caribbean at various degrees
Although Woodside Beach is untapped as far as dx is concerned, it is shaping up to be a very good Medium-wave site for North & Central American dx. Dave Headland a veteran of many a good dx trip rates reception at this site close to Coolum in Queensland. The good news for Melbourne DXers is that it is only a 2.5 - 3 hour drive from the City.
We arrived at the site just after lunch on the Friday (November 1) and set up a well organised camp on the dried lake bed not far from where we had camped earlier this year. The weather was warm and terrific, the location ideal for camping.. somewhat exposed to the elements but the gentle sea breeze blowing in off Bass Strait was superb. The feeling in our water was that it was going to be a darn good trip for dx.
Lucio Coceani was kind enough to lend us his 9x9 tent to do the listening in.. we had the card tables, banana chairs.. we were doing this trip in style. It was very comfy laying back listening to dx in the tent.. Feet up on the milk crates with an endless pit of minties, crackers, Freddo Frogs and hot tea/coffee & even a nice cool jug of cordial.. No booze this trip.. Craig Edwards was missing!
Sleeping quarters was again the back of the Mustard Bus.. but hey! with a mattress, doona & pillow it was as comfy as home. The only hassle being you were awake at the crack to a spectacular sunrise or the odd lightning bolt.. Dave H went for the Everest tent at ground level.. something I may invest in.. One with double mozzie & Joe Blake protection..
The receivers were again the Drake R7 & SPR4. We had 5 car batteries some of which I had only purchased the day before for $3 each from the wreckers. The batteries were semi clagged of course.. not 100% to start a car but had ample juice to run the receivers. We also had the solar panel to charge the batteries during the daytime.
After setting up camp Dave & I spent quite a bit of time studying the seasonal sunrise/sunset charts looking at when & where sunrise would pass over the various N.American cities.. We stored this in the back of our minds & set about looking for suitable locations to run the antennas. Studying the charts shows you where the signal path is in darkness and at what time a signal is likely to peak. As a rule a signal at the far end will peak on their sunrise. With Nth Americans I have found that signals have TWO peaks.. the first being close to our sunset & the other on their Sunrise. It might sound complicated but it is very easy to work out. Sunset/sunrise charts are around the clubs..
In the past 6 months or so I have taken a real interest in the mechanics of the beverage antenna. For some time now I have wanted to know whether there was any notable difference between listening on 300, 600 or even 1000+ metres. I also wanted to know whether there was any significant difference in running the antennas along the ground or on poles and what effect terminating had on dx signals.
Basically I want to get to the stage with my Dxing where I can put a beverage antenna out in a proper manner & feel confident that it will do its part in bringing home the bacon when conditions are ripe. But to achieve this.. we have to work out a good working length and what methods are needed for proper operation.
Before the trip I was divided on whether we should use 4 separate 450m beverages at Canada, USA, The Caribbean & Latin America or go for two long ones over 1000m at Nth America & the Caribbean.
On the first three nights we settled on the 4 antennas at 40, 70, 90 and 110 degrees (All aimed at the above). It was unfortunate that we could only run 450m between 60 -110 degrees because of the ocean. The antennas at 70, 90 and 110 degrees ran to within 10 metres of the waters edge but were not terminated due to poor soil conductivity (sand).
Our main antenna for the first two nights was a 600 metre length at 40 degrees on poles which although not ideal for the U.S was the best we could do (length wise) from the lake bed. In fact 40 degrees is pointed at absolutely nothing.. We were counting on the antenna having a wide beamwidth.. Which to some extent it turned out to have.
Later we were to move 300m inland to the grassier areas where we nearly sneezed ourselves to death.. This allowed us to get 870m at 70 degrees.. Let me point out at this stage that only the 40 & 70 degree antennas were on poles. The other two ran along the ground. All 4 were unterminated.
Before heading down to the site I purchased 30 hardwood tomato stakes for around $24 at our local Mitre 10 and inserted some small brass hooks into each near the top to support the antenna wire. I can tell you.. try carrying 30 of these over 800 metres. We used the 'Smart Saver' approach on the final day and did the garbo run on the back of Dave's Land Rover.
DX on the first night was solid but not spectacular. As expected the signals from Canadians were superb with 1470 CJVB; 930 CJCA; 1040 CKST; 1060 CKMX; 1130 CKWX; 1200 CKXM; 1300 CJME & 1410 CFUN being some of the stronger ones. Some of the better Yank stations were 1390 KGER; 1320 KCTC & 850 KOA. I was disappointed that the Alaskans never made an appearance given the direction of the antennas.
Although we were at the site for Nth American dx I thought I would try my luck with some of the Europeans in the morning. I jumped out of bed close to dawn around 1930 UTC & scanned the band for signs of life. Be it propagation or just a lousy site for Euro's the only real dx I heard was Kenya & the Arab on 1386; BBC Orfordness 1296; Vatican 1611; V.O. Sahara 1544 and the odd Arab on 1521 & 1440. This was to be my only attempt in the mornings as I wanted to preserve the batteries. Mind you heavy rain over the next few days helped convince me to stay under the doona.
Listening in tents during fine weather can be very comfortable compared with being cramped in a car, but when mother nature turns nasty as it did on the Sunday then things can get a bit damp & awkward. I'm not keen on electrical storms and when you have 4 huge antennas terminating in a 9x9 tent.. errrr you tend to get nervous.
On Saturday evening after our traditional meal of dx noodles & tinned fruit we hopped back into the listening at 0740 UTC. Conditions were marginally better than the previous night with good Yank signals being heard from 680-KNBR; 780-KKOH; 850-KICY; 860-KTRB; 1020-KNKQ; 1100-KFAX; 1110-KFAB/KRLA; 1120-KPNW; 1160-KSL; 1480-KWIZ; 1520-KOMA. The Canadians were again good with 1060-CKMX; 1200-CKXM; 1300-CJME & 1470 CJVB which had me stumped the previous night with its Vietnamese. Strangely enough the Mexicans were not to be heard except for 1290-XEDA. Overall Day Two of the listening was steady but not spectacular. We hit the wall pretty quickly around 1120 UTC and were in bed by about 1200. (11pm local)
After sunburn on the first two days Sunday saw Dave & I make friends with several frogs in our Swimming Pool which doubled as a dx tent. DH & I had a chuckle to ourselves as we helped pull two bogged baitheads out of the swamp and recalled our hopeless situation earlier this year.
Fearing a repeat I drove the Mustard Bus out to high ground. A wise move indeed. Within an hour the lake was 3 inches under water & impossible to escape from even with a 4 wheel drive. Luckily we had a few days for things to dry out & yet we still had to carry a lot of gear out by foot. 5 car batteries over a few hundred metres aint fun.
A lot of people ask what happens during the day when you aren't listening? Well apart from catching up on sleep there are plenty of dx related things to do like writing reports, going through tapes for ID's or trying different things with the antenna.
Its not all dx though as you tend to burn out pretty quickly if you spend hour after hour with it.. Its not uncommon for Craig Edwards, Dave Headland & myself to slip off down to the local pub to have a few beers.. put a few bets on & watch a bit of cricket on the TV. Then there's the fishing... I'm big on 'White Pointers' especially during the holiday season..
On the Sunday afternoon Dave & I drove along the coast to Seaspray (100km round trip) and checked out every dirt track in search of the 'perfect location'. We had no luck. On the way back we dropped into the huge VLF Omega Navigational station which transmits on frequencies around 13 kHz. We watched a short video & learnt a bit about the stations operations. The antenna is HUGE and at the time of completion back in the 80's it was the tallest structure in the Southern Hemisphere..
On our return to camp we decided on a few antenna experiments. On previous dx trips we had never been able to get any proper null's by terminating the antenna with an earth rod & variable resistor. This frustrated me & I wondered many times why this should be.. It appears that the height of the antenna from the ground plays a critical part in nulling.. without going into the nuts & bolts.. running the antenna along the ground can stuff the voltage up in the antenna & it has a cancelling type effect on null's..
Armed with the UHF handheld (A great piece of dx equipment) I took off up to the other end of the beverage and terminated the antenna with a 1k-pot and a 4 foot earth pipe hammered into the soil. Dave was back in the Banana Chair next to the receiver while I copped wicked sunburn on the 'Prince Charlies'. We spent about an hour travelling up & down the band observing where the pot was tuned. On some signals the pot increased signals by moving it Clockwise, others anti-clockwise. In some cases signals dropped right away but the most interesting aspect was that on some signals we were able to get some remarkable null's.. In fact 1242 3TR Traralgon some 80km away was almost nulled out completely...
We took bearings of where the stations were.. In front, to the side & back of the beverage & observed where the pot was turned.. but it made no sense.. All we know is that it was doing some screwy things to signals and is really something we have to investigate at a later date.. I'm curious to know what it does to dx signals later on in the evening. The nulling only works on groundwave signals.. not those coming in via skywave. Oh & before I forget.. with the terminating of the bev it is important to have a gradual slope of no more than 12 degrees to the earth stake. You do not want a vertical element throwing the whole dynamics of the antenna out.
Speaking of vertical effects.. We came across an interesting problem late in the afternoon when the groundwave & skywave signals were starting to mix. Dave H had complained about a sudden increase in noise levels in our antennas that ran up and over the sand dunes down to the ocean. Armed with the handheld again I set off on foot across the swamp to see if I could reduce the noise levels by dropping the antenna off the poles and onto the ground.
Well.. what an interesting find.. not only did the groundwave signals decrease by dropping the wire but so did the noise levels by up to 3 -4 S points.. Even standing at the receiver end & raising the antenna off the ground & above our heads had surprising results. Now whether the fact that the antenna ran part of the way along the ground and up over the dune (like a hump) at 45 degrees had a screwy effect.. bringing a vertical element into the antenna dynamics.. I am not sure.. It is very likely because when I broke the antenna just before the dune the noise levels dropped quite a lot.
So.. my advice is to try & get beverages as straight as possible.. and as level as possible.. avoiding sharp turns & rises. Some of the Kiwi & Nth American Dxers acknowledge that hills can be an advantage & a disadvantage.. running a bev downhill at 12 degrees is supposed to be great.. but anything over that can spell disaster..
We hit the dials again at 0805 UTC on the Sunday evening with a full gale blowing.. The tent annex went flying a dozen times & we for ever having to get outside to guy the tent in horizontal rain. The tent walls started to leak & we were soon flooded out.. We only managed to get two hours of listening in before we abandoned the nights session & headed for the warmth and comfort of the Mustard bus & Everest tent. The highlights of the night were huge signals from Fiji on 891. The new Melbourne Middle Eastern station on 1701 kHz and a few stations that we had heard on the previous two nights: 780-KKOH; 860-KTRB; 1300-CJME & the Mexican XERCN on 1470 kHz. It was a poor night on all fronts. Weather & propagation.
What's that famous saying? 'There's always tomorrows dx'! Well with this in mind I awoke on the Monday morning chock full of confidence that our final session at the dials later that evening would be our best. Over breakfast that morning which included Cereal, Mud pies & live Freddo frogs, Dave and I decided that it was going to be a do or die effort & we decided to pull up camp and move a further 300 odd metres inland allowing us to erect one big 870 metre antenna at 70 degrees. There were a few hurdles in doing this. Firstly it meant that the antenna had to cross the road in four places. This was a pain in the compass especially when you have fishermen (Baitheads) hooning around in 4 wheel drives.
Although not ideal we ended up gently slopping the antennas down to the ground & burying the wire under the road. Ideally we would have rather used tall poles or trees but we had not prepared for this & had to make do with what we had.
The other problems that we faced were that in order to get our antenna at the right angle we had to make camp in flowering 1.5 metre high grass. To Hayfever sufferer's like Dave & I this was living hell. It was one of the worst days I have ever experienced as far as sneezing & itchy eyes is concerned. In the end it was quite a sight seeing me getting around with toilet paper up my nose acting as plugs.. Hehehehe! But.. It worked & that's all that counted. The other problem we faced was putting out the 30 odd poles in a straight line especially through the snake infested & swampy terrain. Even though we had the rubber boots on up to our knees it was slow going through the grass. Only one brown popped its head out to see what we were doing.
With the weather clearing & the 'Last Supper' on the boil (Pasta shells & spag sauce) we sat down and prepared for our final assault on the Nth Americans. I remarked to Dave that I would have been content to go home with what I had regardless of what we heard on the final night. I had 20 new stations to that point.. I was happy.
0815 UTC or 7:15pm local time the signals started to roll in.. as did those pesky mozzies. It didn't take long for Dave & I to sit up & take notice. There were stations every 10 kHz & not just at audible levels.. they were huge! To this day I have never heard Nth American signals like it.. Within an hour the W calls were rolling in 670-WMAQ; 750-WSB; 840-WHAS; 1040-WHO; 1660-WJDM. They were all reported.
It was back to the days of Panic Tuning! I recall mentioning to DH at the time.. If only we had a few more guys along on the trip to take full advantage of what we were hearing. You can only be on one frequency at a time & I can't help but wonder how many prize catches got away because we were busy reporting. But that's Dxing eh! A lot of luck is needed.
This was the first Dxpedition I have ever been on where propagation conditions were steady to one particular region of the world for 5 to 6 hours solid. No quiet periods.. It was just solid dx. There were so many stations that we just couldn't stay on to ID which was a shame. But you have to decide whether you want to scan for trail items or goo home with a few reports.
Some of the better Nth Americans that evening were 640-KFI; 660-KTNN; 760-KFMB; 770-KKOB; 780-KKOH; 790-KABC; 860-KTRB; 910-KNEW; 930-KKHJ; 1020-KTNQ; 1100-KFAX; 1110-KFAB; 1180-KERI; 1190-KBBS. Mexicans: 1220-XEB; 1320-XECMQ; 1410-XEKB; 1470-XERCN; 1560-; 1570-XERF; 1590-XEVOJ & finally a tentative XEXXX 0n 1680 kHz which we presume was a 2 x 840 harmonic.
By 1400 UTC we had just about had enough. 6 hours of solid Dxing & reporting is hard work but it was well worth the effort.
It was a very enjoyable 4 days away. As I keep telling people it is no good trying to dx MW from your kitchen table unless you live in the rural areas. Getting away from the noise, powerful stations & distractions from home is important. Sure we roughed it for a few days & it got a bit damp at times.. but so what? we got what we came for.. Good dx. My rule is if you make the effort to get away & listen.. then become focused on what you are doing. You are there for a reason.. So just do it. Hopefully a few more guys will be inspired by what we do & join us on a Dxpedition somewhere in 1997.
WOODSIDE BEACH DX TRAIL
November 1 - 4
RECEIVERS: Drake R7 & Drake SPR 4
ANTENNAS: 4 x 450m, 1 x 600m & 870m all at Nth America & Caribbean at various degrees
- 640 1334 KFI Los Angeles. CA. MA "This is KFI news" ads & info. (DO)
- 660 0925 KTNN Window Rock AZ. Ad for Guitar lessons, ID & further ads C/W tunes. "Coast to Coast on the voice of the Navajo Nation". (DO)
- 670 0836 WMAQ Chicago IL. Weather forecast.. "Still ahead stay tuned news time is 2:40" Road conditions then "WMAQ time 2:42" Footy results Bears/Seattle. (DO)
- 670 0827 KBOI Boise ID. Elton John 'Sad song'. KBOI ID then Eagles track. (DO)
- 670 0831 WVNS Claremont VA. Tent: as not known if this is on air yet. MA w/jingle then mention of Claremont, later Richmond & Chesapeake Bay. Heard for only a few minutes before being swamped by KBOI. (DO)
- 680 0843 KNBR San Francisco CA. Boat smart ad & Dept of Transportation 1800-424 9396. Many ID's & very strong later around 1300. (DO)
- 740 1110 KTRH Houston TX. Sports results & talk on Dallas Cowboys. Poor. (DO)
- 750 0823 WSB Atlanta GA. Jingle then MA conversation/report w/yl. Weak.(DO)
- 760 1102 KFMB San Diego CA. News then Art Bell at strong level. (DO)
- 770 1110 KKOB Albequerque NM. Talkback w/male caller. ID & jingle then gave WWW site for company promo/ad. (DO)
- 780 0927 WBBM Chicago IL. Election talk & Wall St journal ad. Jingle & ID. (DO)
- 780 1049 KKOH Reno NV. Art Bell "East of the Rockie's ya on the air" KOH ID. (DO)
- 790 1219 KABC Los Angeles CA. "Good morning 790 KABC.. 22 past the hour" with promo for Larry ??? Show (DO)
- 840 0905 WHAS Louisville KY. Poor for most. Mixture of sport nx & 70's tracks. (DO)
- 850 1100 KOA Denver CO. "Its 38 degrees in Denver Colorado this morning.. It's 4 O'clock on KOA" (DO)
- 850 1045 UNID Mx station here but could not make out format. May have been KICY w/its religion. Mixing w/KOA Talk. Very weak. (DO)
- 860 1010 KTRB Modesto CA. Jingles, SS Ballads.. Male vocals. Fair-Poor. (DO)
- 860 1045 UNID C/W Back to back C/W tunes.. Jingle in mud. Mixing KTRB.(DO)
- 880 0910 KRVN Lexington NE. TENT: C/W tunes & ads for agricultural produce. (DO)
- 910 0954 KNEW San Francisco CA. Very strong with C/W tunes.(DO)
- 930 0852 UNID with EZL/Oldies format. Came up on the hour with "Every Hour..." jingle and then went straight back into mx. No Nx. Very weak. (DO)
- 930 1213 KKHJ Los Angeles CA. SS talkback . Big at times. (DO)
- 930 0932 WKY Oklahoma City OK. FA w/sports report. Ice Hockey. Poor (DO)
- 930 0939 CJCA Edmonton AB. Modern relig pop tune & readings from bible. (DO)
- 940 0935 UNID. C&W format w/female vocals. Average.Possibly CJGX (DO)
- 940 0851 XEQ Mexico. Not the strongest Mexican but reportable w/ballads. (DO)
- 1020 0847 KTNQ Los Angeles CA. SS talkback w/female caller. Excellent. (DO)
- 1030 0845 WBZ Boston MA. Nations weather & big "10-30 W-B-ZEEE" ID (DO)
- 1030 0910 UNID talkback. Weather for the 'Deep South' Gave 1800 number 592 0700 & a guy named David Willmot. Went into program similar to Dr Laura. (DO)
- 1040 1022 CKST Vancouver BC. Back to back elevator mx & oldies(DO)
- 1040 1027 WHO Des Moines IA. Weather for De Moines & Oklahoma City. Numerous ID's & weather '42 degrees on election eve' Hint of other talk under CKST possibly KLHT(DO)
- 1060 1004 CKMX Calgary AB. Sport results ???..lost to Montreal last night' Poor. (DO)
- 1070 0845 KNX Los Angeles CA. Not flash. News & weather report. (DO)
- 1100 0915 KFAX San Francisco CA. FA with promo for 'Fast Track' a teaching aid for reading. One of the strongest over the 4 nights. (DO)
- 1110 1005 KFAB Omaha NE. Talk Huge Id's/ads. Caller talking about lifestyle. (DO)
- 1110 1013 KRLA Pasadena CA. Old time tune from the 30's mixing KFAB (DO)
- 1120 0904 KPNW Eugene OR. ABC News, ID & Legal ads. Very Strong. (DO)
- 1130 0940 CKWX Vancouver BC. News & sport mixing w/KWKH Hard channel to pick with 3 stronger talk stations here.(DO)
- 1130 0946 KWKH Shreveport LA. Election talk & parts of Bob Dole speech. (DO)
- 1130 0940 UNID Pop mx station mixing below CKWX & KWKH. (DO)
- 1160 1013 KSL Salt Lake City UT. More election talk. Ho hum.. Numerous KSL ID's. (DO)
- 1160 1010 UNID C/W Brief M/A with "Nice tune that" Mixing w/possible WJJD or KSL. (DO)
- 1180 1010 KERI Wasco CA. Poor w/MA & relig program. Mixing w/Marti. (DO)
- 1180 1012 R.Marti Marathon FL. SS program. Poor & suffering from stronger KERI. (DO)
- 1190 1112 KBBS Dallas TX. News/talk. Discussion on the impact of Millionaire Perot on these elections.(DO)
- 1190 1006 KEX Portland OR. MA. Jingles/ID & then "This hour we're gonna be talking about Taxes" (DO)
- 1200 1012 WOAI San Antonio TX. Dolly Parton song & national road report. (DO)
- 1200 0943 CKXM Victoria BC. Huge at times w/CW. Heard only on first night. (DO)
- 1220 0820 XEB Mexico. Modern SS ballad w/female vocals (DO)
- 1290 1224 XEDA Mexico City. Ranchero mx & MA. Poor but odd good peak. (DO)
- 1300 0849 CJME Regina SK. Surprisingly solid at times with oldies format. 70's songs. First time for me but has been heard by the Wombat here in Vic. (DO)
- 1310 0816 KDIA Oakland CA. Moody Blues song then Subscription promo & 1800 number. MA. It's 17 past the hour. Weak & splattered. (DO)
- 1320 0855 KCTC Sacremento CA. Jingle "With great songs of all time on the station for great music 1320 KCTC Sacremento". Good. (DO)
- 1320 1001 WICO Salisbury MD. Very tentative. Had 3 stations mixing here on the hour & had MA up briefly with call which sounded like "Here on WCO". Is listed as only 1000w on the far east coast . Would be some catch. Unlikely. (DO)
- 1320 0814 XECMQ Mexico City MX. Surprisingly good early but not there on Mexican sunrise. SS FA then Female vocals. (DO)
- 1380 0824 KTOM Salinas CA. C&W tunes at pretty reasonable levels mixing w/talk stn. The dominant station here. (DO)
- 1380 0830 UNID talk station w/mentions of upcoming election. Primary votes etc. (DO)
- 1390 0854 KGER Long Beach CA. Relig format. Readings from the bible. Bursts of organ mx. Not as dominant as past trips. (DO)
- 1400 0940 UNID. Whistling through the graveyard.. Two stations in the mud here. News & C/W. Very poor. Would need to sit on here all night. (DO)
- 1410 0838 CFUN Vancouver BC. U.S. Medical talk show with DR Laura S. HUGE! (DO)
- 1410 1256 XEKB Guadalajara MX. The poorest Mexican. Heaps of splash w/ballads & MA. Only here for 20 minutes & mixing with CFUN. (DO)
- 1470 0845 CJVB Vancouver BC. Ethnic program in possibly Vietnamese. Asian Folk tunes. Never good enough to get positive ID. (DO)
- 1470 1019 XERCN Tijuana MX. Male Vocals SS ballads. Fair to strong at times. (DO)
- 1480 0818 KWIZ Santa Ana CA. Talkback in SS MA & female caller. Mixing w/? (DO)
- 1480 1103 KYOS Merced CA. News w/story on Rupert Murdoch. (DO)
- 1500 0810 Tent: WLQV Detroit MI. Relig talkback program talking about personal relationships with God. (DO)
- 1500 0812 UNID: Elvis song "Falling in love with you" Unsure if this was KUMU or something else.. Not KSTP. (DO)
- 1510 0823 KGA Spokane WA. Talk program w/elections. What else on election eve? (DO)
- 1520 0801 KOMA Oklahoma City OK. Jingle "All oldies KOMA" & ID for 92.5 FM (DO)
- 1520 0805 KFXX Oregon City OR. Sportstalk w/football jingle.. "It's Friday football" (DO)
- 1550 0953 KPIX San Francisco CA. Tent: Very weak w/30/40s tune. Mixing w/unid talk. Unsure if the station below was KPIX given a News/Jazz format & this mx station something else? Hard. with no ID. (DO)
- 1550 0953 UNID talk format. Came up briefly FA 'What's your tip for the election?' (DO)
- 1560 0950 UNID talk station w/hint of XEFAJ. Very weak w/promo's & 1800 number (DO)
- 1560 1232 XEFAJ Mexico City. R.Consentida ID. SS ballads & stronger than most Aussies. (DO)
- 1570 0740 UNID w/oldies. At first thought this was CKTA but they carry C/W. Typical Sad D.Martin love song. Only heard early. (DO)
- 1570 1235 XERF Ciudad Acuna MX. SS ballads at strong levels. Female Vocals. (DO)
- 1590 1234 XEVOJ Mexico MX. Good for twenty minutes w/soft SS ballad. (DO)
- 1630 0930 KXBT Vallejo CA. Not brilliant but reportable. Soul jingles & ID's (DO)
- 1660 1126 WJDM Elizabeth NY. Radio Oz or Arrrhs ID's.. Some whacko jingles in between MOR songs. Very noisy up here w/static bursts. (DO)
- 1680 1237 TENT: XEXX Tijuana. Product of 1422 Super XX. SS ballads at huge level and cute sounding Female announcer on Mexican sunrise. Thanks to Paul Ormandy for detective work on this seeing it mentioned in old magazine. Apparently the station has been putting out a spur here since 1972. (DO) PACIFIC Trail
- 590 1348 KSSK Honolulu HI. Hawaiian Island tunes & quite good at times. (DO)
- 690 0948 KQMQ Honolulu HI Huge at times w/Elton John song. Lots of ID's (DO)
- 870 0929 KAIM Honolulu HI. Relig program. Strongest of the Hawaiians. . (DO)
- 891 0820 R.Fiji 2 Lautoka. Indian mx at huge levels & Hindustani talk. (DO)
- 1420 0944 KCCN Honolulu HI. Weak w/ Hawaiian folk tunes. M/A. Tough signal. (DO)
- 1460 0820 KULA Maunawili HI. KRATER ID & old Bee Gees song. (DO)
- 1701 1022 Richmond, Vic. Surprised to hear this M/Eastern mx. Did not bother sitting on this with all the good dx around. I'm sure the whiz kids will jump on it. (DO) DO = David Onley