ODXA's Mediumwave Notebook January 1998 -- edited by Ken Alexander 

This month's Mediumwave Notebook comes to you from the frozen near-north woods outside Coe Hill, Ontario where Tim Flannery, Niel Wolfish and I are here for our third DXpedition of this DX season. Once again I've let my editorial deadline catch me off guard, leaving me with a mere 36 hours to write something. What follows is an account of what took place over the weekend.

Friday December 12 - 1330 UTC Having long ago realized that a standard length weekend isn't enough DXing time for us, we now take Fridays off work and head up to Coe Hill right after work on Thursday. Friday is our antenna raising day. For all of our previous trips we have used unterminated beverage antennas running anywhere from 500 or 1000 feet. Since our main DX targets are European mediumwave stations we orient the antennas at a bearing of roughly 45 degrees which through previous experience gets us into Europe the best. Unfortunately, unterminated beverages are directional off both ends of the wire which means we pick up lots of interference from U.S. stations after dark.

Following our last DXpedition in mid-November we resolved to try using a terminated beverage in hopes of reducing the interference. A terminated beverage is one in which one end of the antenna wire is grounded through a resistor whose resistance is equal to the characteristic impedance of the antenna. A beverage terminated in this manner is directional off the terminated end of the wire. This, we hope, will give us the edge we need to hear our target Europeans more clearly.

The ground in this area is very rocky, and where the rocks aren't exposed the topsoil is only a foot or so deep, so driving ground rods is out of the question. Besides, who wants to schlep a sledgehammer thousands of feet through the woods? We decide to lay out a series of ground radial wires to serve as a counterpoise. We cut sixteen 20 foot wires and solder them all together in a bundle, taxing my poor 35 watt soldering iron to the limit. To the junction of the radials we soldered a 390 ohm resistor. The antenna wire is connected to the other side of the resistor.

The antenna feedpoint is connected to a Longwire Impedance Matcher from Aurora DX Supply, which matches the high impedance to 50 ohms so we can use coaxial cable to run back to the cottage. In this way, signals that arrive from the "front" of the antenna (the end with the termination) travel along the wire, through the Impedance Matcher and down the coaxial cable to the receiver. Signals that arrive from the "back" of the antenna travel down the wire through the resistor and to ground through the ground radial system. Without the termination the signal would "see" the end of the antenna wire as an infinitely high impedance and reflect back along the wire and into the receiver, resulting in a bi-directional reception pattern.

The antenna goes up without a hitch and we promptly return to the cottage for refreshments and to try the new antenna. The terminated beverage seems to work well, but of course we have nothing to compare it to. Tomorrow, we say, we'll put up a second wire to compare with it. In the mean time we have groceries to buy, receivers to set up and signals to chase.

2015 UTC On a good day up here you can start hearing European broadcasters on longwave any time now. That's right, longwave from across the ocean when the sun is still up However, today doesn't seem like one of those days.

2100 UTC Things are looking better now and we have several longwave stations in the logbook, and the Africans are also rolling in in the 60 Metre band. I start my first "carrier check" of the medium wave band. A few months back, while the weather was still good enough for comfortable roadside DXpeditions I started putting frequencies of European MW stations into the memories of my Kenwood R-5000 so I could scan them quickly to look for activity and assess band conditions.

Somewhere in the process of doing this I realized that most of the stations are so weak that I couldn't hear anything as I scanned the frequencies I had in memory. Then I came upon the brilliant idea (if I do say so) of storing the frequencies into memory in either upper or lower sideband, but also 400 Hz off frequency Now as I scan through the stored frequencies I hear the 400 Hz tone made by the station's carrier and can quickly determine by the strength of the carrier's audio whether it's worthwhile stopping on that channel, zero-beating the carrier and looking for audio. This technique has greatly increased the speed at which I can scan through the bands and has resulted in reception of many new stations that I might otherwise have missed. I'm sure I wasn't the first to use this technique, but if your receiver allows you to store frequencies in memories then you should consider trying this too!

2200 UTC Greyline conditions are upon us, which is a new experience for me at least as far as mediumwave DX goes. Werner Funkenhauser has told me that I should be on the lookout for trans Atlantic DX around our local sunset. There are two advantages to this. First, propagation to Europe is enhanced as the sunset terminator passes over Ontario, and secondly because most of North America is still in daylight there is less interference from domestic stations to the west. Our sunset session proves to be as Werner predicts and nets us several interesting catches, several of which we have heard before, but never this clearly. Greyline DXing the mediumwave bands works and so does our new antenna We break for refreshments before settling in for an evening's listening.

Saturday December 13 - 0300 UTC My ears have had about as much as they can stand so I head off to bed. Tim is already asleep and Niel looks like he's had it, too. The last thing I remembers is setting my alarm to get me up at 0500 to see what conditions are like as the dawn greyline starts to pass over Europe.

0730 UTC I know that the clock radio came on at 0500 as planned, but the talk show that was on must have put me back to sleep I eventually get up at 0730 but most of Europe is in daylight and there's nothing to hear, so I go back to bed.

1130 UTC The approach of local dawn see us up to catch a few stations from southeast Asia before it's too late. Tim, Niel and I catch a few on shortwave before breakfast. There's plenty to hear as we dine this morning in addition to shortwave and mediumwave. Coe Hill happens to be at the south end of a large military aircraft training area and a steady stream of Hercules aircraft pass overhead through much of the morning as they make their way to the training area from CFB Trenton. Tim has one of the banks of his scanner loaded with military aviation frequencies so we can listen to the pilots as they contact Trenton on UHF.

After breakfast we settle into one of the best parts of the weekend, that period where there's no DX to hunt for and nothing much else to do except relax with a few pots of coffee and enjoy the day.

1700 UTC Tim's getting itchy to listen to the military aircraft HF frequencies he loves and decides to put up a shorter antenna that he can use for that purpose. He runs a 500 foot wire due south from the cottage and agrees to share it with us if propagation goes bad and we can't hear any Europeans and decide to try for Latin Americans instead.

I sit and puzzle over the performance of our new, terminated beverage. Was terminating it really effective in reducing interference from signals arriving off the back of the antenna or not? At first I ponder over other methods of terminating the antenna, including going back into town to look for something to use as a ground rod, but I kept remembering how easy it was to quickly lay out those 16 radials with Tim's help.

Finally I decide to leave the antenna as it is and run out a second 1000 foot wire parallel to the terminated wire. The second antenna will be unterminated and spaced about 100 feet from the terminated antenna. The new antenna goes up easily, and immediately we're able to see that the terminated beverage does indeed reject signals off the back On some frequencies the difference appears to be as much as 10 db on my S-meter!

1845 UTC With nothing much better to do to wait out the afternoon I decide to head down into the longwave band and check for broadcasters. I know, I know, it's not even 2:00 pm local time - so imagine my surprise when I get to 189 kHz and hearing Iceland with a fair signal This is by far the earliest we have ever heard anything like this on longwave. Our previous record has been at 2030 in the dead of winter, but then again Iceland was not active on this frequency until recently and I'm sure that their unique location relative to the rest of Europe is what makes them audible so early. Interestingly, on other occasions we have noted that Iceland is usually the first station to be heard, consistently the strongest, and then the first one to drop off the band. It's usually difficult for us to hear them past 0300 or so. Anyway, this bodes well for the rest of the day. Refreshments are served and we get back to exploiting this mid-afternoon longwave DX opening.

2200 UTC Sunset enhancement conditions have begun on mediumwave. Tim, Niel and I begin calling out new frequencies where we're detecting audio which send us flying like mad fools from one end of the band to the other. This continues until 0000 UTC, when we break for a new Coe Hill DXpedition tradition: the Fist Annual Coe Hill DXpedition Christmas/Hanukkah feast. Luckily, we ate in front of our receivers because by the time the meal was over none of us felt we could have moved more than a few steps!

Sunday December 14 - 0330 UTC After dinner we were back to our receivers, where we stayed until 0330 after which Tim fell asleep on the couch, Niel switched over to listening to pirates and I sat down to write the narrative you are now reading. Except for the odd re-check of band conditions that was the end of the DXpedition. The previous year, our December DXpedition provided us with spectacular propagation. We listened continuously from 2200 until almost 0900 UTC the next day, actually listening to the strength of trans-Atlantic mediumwave stations peak as the dawn terminator swept across Europe That wasn't to be this year, but we all agreed the DXpedition was a success because we came home a little smarter, and confident that the new knowledge we acquired will make future trips even more productive. We'll keep you posted!

Argentina in the Expanded Band!

Werner Funkenhauser forwards this note from Al Merriman of Chincoteague Island, VA who reports that a station from Argentina has taken up residence in the expanded band on 16220 kHz. Al writes:

DEC 15 0450Z - they're back Mixing with and at times topping the TIS's. Mix of music, about 4 minutes of what sounded like teletalk and now what sounds like a preacher. All Spanish. 0501z now completely on top and 100% copy, 0502 into the mess and now back on top at 0503 with teletalk, man/woman, 0505 modern religious rock, English lyrics. Go get'em!

And Werner adds:

I listened on-and-off amid the TIS talkathon clutter from 0405 to around 0605 and heard similar programming, the SS tele-talk, SS preacher and what sounded like gospel music bridges. Totally atop the others only a few times here with the ever present TIS.

International Loggings

526 BAHAMAS, ZLS, Stela Marris: Beacon at 0523 with 6 CW bursts/min, poor in CIAO/RVC slop on Nov 10. (WRF-K) Heard with the same format on Dec 13 at 0451, also poor. (WRF-KL)

555 ST. KITTS, Radio ZIZ, St. Kitts. Heard from 0458 with Caribbean accented OM hosting tele-talk with reggae music bridges, no ID, no news at top of hour. Fair Dec 13. (WRF-KL)

620 CUBA, R. Rebelde synchros - likely CMGN, Colon. From 0510 w/two Spanish female speakers in conversation playing romantic music, fair // 5025 on Nov 10. (WRF-K)

700 COLOMBIA, HJCX, CARACOL Occidente, Cali (presumed). Always under WLW First noticed at 0511 with man reading news bits with numerous Colombian items, Loteria Colombia spot at 0558, fanfare and quasi-ID as "En ColombiaInformativa!", fadey signal, weak under WLW on Nov 15. Again at 0648 with male reading news at 0648 and "CARACOL La Radio de Colombia!" punctuated spot with a rooster crowing. Very poor-poor on Nov 17. Also at 0429 with news, 0430 BONG w/TC, fanfare, jingle & announcements, many Colombian items including WC mentioning "La Costa". Very poor on Nov 18 (WRF-K)

780 VENEZUELA, YVMN, R. Coro, Coro. Latin pop tear-jerker at 0419, R. Coro jingle, ID, and "R. Coro presenta!" then lively Afro-Cuban vocal. Poor in WBBM null on Nov 25. (WRF-K)

940 CUBA, R. Reloj synchros - likely CMKD, Holguin. Cuban Clock format at 0306 consisting of OM/YL news-team alternating w/seconds ticking, "Radio Reloj" spoken ID and a CW "RR" every minute. Poor modulation and CBM QRM on Dec 13. (WRF-KL)

1000 MEXICO, XEOY, R. Mil, Mexico. Distinctive 4 note IS (which sounds like a hot-rod car horn). Spanish male announcer playing romantic ballads, Time check at 0139 "siete y quarenta (7:40)" again at 0144 "siete y quarenta cinqo" (1 minutes off) and another IS. (WRF-K)

1125/1134 CROATIA, Zadar. First observed on 1134 at 2256 with orchestral music and bits of woman talking. Poor on December 13 (WRF-KL) Again at 2357 with Hungarian csardas to 2359, male then woman in presumed Croatian, ID not discerned at 0000, into news and on-the-spot report, at 0006 a second man with possible weather check then woman speaking with man. A second station was also here. // signal on 1125 first noted at 0010 but weak and hard to clearly discern until 0235 when the same woman sang a folk tune, clearly evident on both channels. (WRF-LL)

1314 NORWAY, Kvitsoy (tentative). 0241. Man speaking in a quiet voice (or poorly modulated) just above noise/QRM, too poor to remain with it for a definite ID on Dec 15. (WRF-LL)

1375 ST. PIERRE & MIQUELON, RFO. Just discernible with 1370/1380 slop, possible // on 5054.5, very poor on Nov 13. Poor at 0435 w/Beatles "Love Me Do" Nov 17. (WRF-K)

1521 SAUDI ARABIA, DUBA. From 2223, lute music then Arabic news, mentions of Arabyiah, Islam, some of Radioyah, male w/inspirational sounding talk and brief music interludes some played atop his talk. Fair with S5 levels at times Sat. Dec 13. (WRF-KL) Again at 2203-2209, fair and almost clear of slop on Dec 14. (WRF-LL)

1620 ARGENTINA, a new X-bander. On a tip from Al Merriman and his posts in the HCDX and AMFMTVDX list, I chased this up-and-down signal in a TIS jumble from 0402-0607 and heard an impassioned male preacher who sometimes dropped down to level tones. At 0513 an man and woman spoke with gospel music bridges, followed by an ad-like announcement played atop gospel music at 0518. More talk, gospel music and phone-ins from 0540-0558, followed by a woman speaking atop and with up-beat gospel music. No ID heard at the hour but fanfare and the startup of another program which included punctuated announcements and gospel. Some of my reception paralleled Merriman's in the same time frame on Dec 15. He heard English gospel pieces, but I couldn't tell. (WRF-LL)

Domestic Loggings

560 CJKL, Kirkland Lake ON. 0524. ID as "This is AM 560 CJKL", Fireside Restaurant ad, a phone request. Fair w/CFOS & others nulled/phased on Dec 13. (WRF-KL)

560 WDAK, Columbus GA (tentative). "All in One Sports" with numerous Georgia National Guard spots and spots for Alabama Unlimited Golf course 800 949 4444 (or 3834), web site arnie@oneonone.com. Poor w/CBEF and occasional ranchera bits drifting up (probably XEWA) on Nov 19. (WRF-K)

820 WBAP, Fort Worth TX. Bubble gum song at 0615 then Interstate Battery Nascar Update, 0618 TC as "18 after on the Big Truck Network", 0631 ID as "12:31 on WBAP's 24 Hour Traffic Watch ", WC by "WBAP's Meteorologist". My QTH is right in line of CHAM's cannon fire, poor on Nov 20. (WRF-K)

940 WCPC, Houston, MS. 2225. Many ID's, mentions of Mississippi, and "College Football Scoreboard". Fair over CBM. Nov 8. (DG-M)

1080 WKGX, Lenoir, NC. 1117. Woman DJ with promo for Trading Post at 8:30 am, ID "the country giant, stereo 1080, WKGX. Fair over WTIC. Dec 2. (DG)

1160 WODY, Fieldale, VA. 0252. ID "Your down home Christian ministry station, AM 1160. Poor mixing with WCCS. Nov 19 (DG)

1180 WHJM, Knoxville, TN. 1147. ID as "AM 1180, WHJM" given by male with southern accent. Christian programming. Poor to fair mixing with WHAM. Dec 4. (DG)

1580 WDAB, Travelers Rest, SC. 1205. "the music you hear on WDAB is the classic hits of the 40s, 50s, and 60s." Fair. Dec 4. (DG)

1640 KXBT, Vallejo, CA. 1141. With ads, local wx at 1144, gospel music program. Fair to good using the big Mansfield antenna. Nov 9. (DG-M)

1700 WCMQ, Miami Springs, CA. 0256. Spanish, ID at 0300 then news. Good. Daily since Nov 2. (WH)

Thanks go out to this month's contributors.

DG Dan Greenall, Thamesford, ON. Panasonic RF-3100, 100' longwire w/LIM.

DG-M Dan Greenall DXing at Mansfield. Panasonic RF-3100 and "the Mansfield Monster Longwire"

WH William Hepburn, Brampton, ON. (hepburnw@mail.accent.net) Sony ICF-2002, homebrew preselector, and wire antenna in basement ceiling

WRF-K Werner Funkenhauser, (Hey Werner Are you in Guelph, Cambridge, or where?...KPA) Icom R71A equipped with ESKAB PLAM, using only a Kiwa Loop

WRF-KL Werner Funkenhauser. Icom R71A equipped with ESKAB PLAM and Kiwa Loop/50 foot random wire phased with a Merriman modified MFJ 1025

WRF-LL Werner Funkenhauser. Icom R71A equipped with ESKAB PLAM and two random 50 foot wires phased with the MFJ 1025