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Re: [IRCA] [CapeDX] DXpedition to Chesapeake Bay

--- Begin Message --- Hi Bill. Paraguay 780 is a nice catch. Chris Black had it a few years ago at the Fort Hill Park site, Eastham, MA. I had another Paraguay (1020) at the Rowley, MA salt-marsh several years ago (and long-gone 645 way back in the '70s). PEI guys had Paraguay on 920 last autumn. Seems to be too much WHJJ, CKNX, and WURA on this end to extract much from Latin America on 920. 
On 780, Radio Coro (Venezuela) is the typical big dog here at night, 
followed by ZBVI and WBBM.  WCKB does pop into the mix around sunset 
but vanishes quickly as darkness conditions settle out.

I heard Radio America (Argentina) 1190 from Granite Pier in Rockport, 
MA in the early 2000s.  Also I've had 1190's from Colombia and Puerto 
Rico there.  Combo WLIB-NY groundwave and skip make 1190 a rougher go 
here on Cape Cod.

1070 should be the best Argentina here.  I heard them in the '80s from 
my parents' place about 3 miles west of here.  Even though CBA was 
still on then, the aurora was so good that the weak remnant CBA 
groundwave was out of the game on an antenna aimed SSE.  1070 is kind 
of an "I-bocky" mess nowadays and mostly what I get is Colombia.

1030 Argie has been heard in recent years by Roy Barstow in Falmouth, 
MA.  Nulling WBZ is the trick here, again (like the NYC stations) a 
messy skywave + groundwave proposition unless aurora kills the skip.  
Then you could be in fat city with just easily-nullable groundwave (and 
that's not even an issue for WBZ south of the NJ shore).

I'm surprised that you have a lot of domestics on channels that are 
usually crushed by Cubans here, e.g. 600, 670, 710 where the Rebeldes 
are fire-breathing monsters.  Also interesting that there are empty 
channels such as 750 (typically YVKS/Cuba/CBGY/WSB shoot-out here with 
a once-in-a-blue-moon Brazilian at beach sites).  And wow, nothing - 
770, where Cuba and WABC battle it out regularly high on the S-meter 
here with Colombia occasionally "backgrounding" or "underrumbling" (as 
we might say in Hauserese).

It's obvious, by the absence of NY etc. stations, that the antenna and 
conditions were jacked to the south.

You will likely find a lot more as you go over the captures.  Having 
noted Brazil on 1100, it would not be surprising to find it on 1220 
too.  The reverberated Globo ID's and synthesized "wolf whistles" blow 
through the other crud (typically ME & OH here) on a regular basis even 
when other aspects of the programming aren't as clear.

Nothing noted on 1340 and 1350 probably means, in the 1340 sense, that 
your DKAZ is doing a good job blocking Atlantic City.  Would 1350 still 
have slightly-off-channel WGPL Norfolk, or are they off?

Seems like 1390 would probably be Charleston, SC.  (It's mostly WEGP 
here since WPLM doesn't get out its backyard - but your antenna wasn't 
aimed this way.)

1650: VA, Canadian, or nothing?  I would guess VA.


I didn't see TA's but I think that Mauritania 783 might have a chance.  
Also look for Sao Tome VOA 1530 around 0300 UTC sign-on with "Yankee 
Doodle."  This can definitely cut through the domestic crud.

Thanks for this good report!

Mark Connelly, WA1ION
South Yarmouth, MA

-----Original Message-----
From: Bill Whitacre bw@xxxxxxx [CapeDX] <CapeDX@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>

To: Mailing list for the International Radio Club of America 
<irca@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>; am <am@xxxxxxxxxxx>; CapeDX 
<CapeDX@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>; lbi-dx <lbi-dx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>; 
coastalroundtable <coastalroundtable@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>

Sent: Mon, Jan 12, 2015 9:57 am
Subject: [CapeDX] DXpedition to Chesapeake Bay







I just returned from a short, cold and windy DXpedition to a house 
called Waters Edge near Fleeton, VA -- just a couple of roads down from 
a place I've been a few times in the past - Bay House.

Conditions were 'interesting' - both from a propagation and weather 
perspective.

I'm still going through wav files and putting up sounds but you can 
have a look at what's there now and 'follow along' over the next week 
or so as I add more at this URL:

http://realmonitor.com/am_logs_we.php


Highlights included, so far; Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, tons of 
Cubans and what must be nearly every station in Florida!  Some of this 
on a night [Jan. 7-8] with an A index up well above 30 but a couple of 
de-telescoped masts on my 160' DKAZ facing ~145 degrees.

Anyway, now that I've had a chance to warm up, it was fun and 
educational -- NEVER by crappy tie-wraps and expect them to last 
through REALLY cold weather and wind!

Bill Whitacre
Alexandria, VA




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       Posted by: Bill Whitacre <bw@xxxxxxx>
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--- End Message ---


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