There can be lots of arguments about whether its better to use one of the new high tech radios for SWL or BCB DX-ing or whether to go with a more complex table top model. My own experience has been that the table top unit gives better performance for digging out deep-buried DX but that a high tech portable in the hands of a skillful user can do very well. On the other hand, to get the most out of the table top radio also requires a certain amount of skill and getting to know the radio.
The new portables particularly have the advantage of providing much better frequency readout than many of the old desk top "boat anchors" could provide, while the older receivers can often provide more robust handling of very strong signals and deal better with connection with outdoor antennas.
The older rigs can also provide better selectivity than the new portables. They do this through the use of crystal filters and in some cases Q-Multipliers.
The issue of Q-multipliers came up on a Facebook Group of which I am a member this week and questions about its use and "whether it was working or doing anything" resulted in a short note to the poster describing the use of the device in a rather abbreviated way. I thought perhaps sharing a more detailed information about their operation and use might be in order here.
Just what is a Q-Multiplier? Well the abbreviation "Q" in the electronic sense refers to the "Quality Factor" of an inductor or tuned circuit. Without getting into the esoteric details, what it boils down to is it generally can refer to selectivity or how broadband a device might be. A tuned circuit or antenna with a High Q would have a narrower bandwidth whereas a tuned circuit or antenna with a Low Q would tend to be rather more broadband. There are many factors that go into determining the Q of a coil or antenna. In the case of coils, wire diameter, turn spacing, diameter of the coil winding and resistance of the wire or surrounding circuit are the major factors, along with any loading on the circuit. The bandwidth of antennas is a whole other issue that could take up its own entire article!
The name " Q-multiplier" then can almost be surmised as being a device that somehow "multiplies the Q" of a circuit or in this case, does something that increases its selectivity. In superheterodyne receivers, the real selectivity takes place in the Intermediate Frequency amplifiers. The superhet design basically converts all incoming signals down to one frequency where high gain, stable amplifiers are easier to design to operate in a fixed-tune mode. The concept as created in the 1920's and 30's has remained with us ever since.
Different boat anchor designs, just like different new portable designs, came with different price tags depending on the complexity of the circuits and the cost of the components placed in them. The basic design that is of most use to DX-ers is one that has at least one stage of tuned radio frequency amplification ( one R.F. Stage) and two stages of Intermediate Frequency amplification ( two I.F. stages) Most single conversion radios had a 455 kHz IF. Some dual conversion radios had a 1650 kHz First IF and 455 kHz Second IF. The triple conversion receivers often made a further conversion to 50 kHz.
Q multipliers have been around since the very creation of the superhet design as a means of improving selectivity in the Intermediate Frequency stages. It basically brings the advantage of a regenerative receiver to add to the greater advantages of the superhet design it had been determined earlier that the use of feedback or regeneration in an amplifier stage would artificially increase its Q by overcoming losses in the circuit. A small portion of the output would be coupled back to the input at a level just below that which would cause oscillation.
This can actually be done in the IF stage itself to a degree but is difficult to control because of the action of the Automatic Gain Control circuits. When the gain goes up in the absence of a signal,the stage is pushed more toward oscillation. If the internal feedback is set at this level, it does not do much good when the gain of the stage is then pushed down by the presence of one or more stronger signals, which is the exact time more regeneration is needed.
The device covered by the term Q multiplier generally refers to what amounts to a separate IF amplifier operating in parallel with those existing in the receiver. It is often connected to either the plate of the last converter tube if there is but a single IF stage or the plate of the first IF amplifier stage if there is more than one. It must be tuned to the same IF frequency as that of the receiver to which it is attached. For the " add-on" devices this was most frequently 455 kHz.
I am not sure if anyone knows who first published designs for outboard Q multipliers or extra circuits of one built into a receiver but they have been around for a long time. They were also around in abundance as add-ons in the form of kits in the 50's and 60's, most notably the Heathkit QF-1 and its descendants. Some receivers, including many of the general coverage Heathkits had jacks on the back to allow easy connection of the Q-multiplier.
There are also many construction articles on how to build one and connect it to a receiver in the archives of many magazines such as QST, CQ, Popular Electronics and Electronics Illustrated. Older editions of the Radio Amateur's Handbook published by the American Radio Relay League also have information on the theory, design and actual construction and connection of them. I am sure the same goes for Radio Society of Great Britain and organizations in other countries. Most of these articles and designs tell of how power to operate Q-multipliers may be taken from the receivers to which they are to be connected and how to set them up. Others may be built with their own internal power supplies.
Using the devices is a bit of a learned art, much as the actual tuning of a receiver is such. While instruction may be given, there is nothing like the "hands on" practice of making them work to get the most out of them.
Most Q multipliers have the same minimum controls: Tuning and some form of gain control. It might be labeled " selectivity" or in the case of the Drake Q multiplier meant to be used with the famous 2B receiver it is called " Q balance". Some many have additional controls to chose between peaking and notching signals. The Heath also had a "Broad" and " Narrow" switch. Some radios with built in Q multipliers may not have the tuning control.
I will leave the adding and/or building of a Q multiplier to other articles. Here I will cover the operation and use of one.
The first thing to do is turn the device on and set the "gain","selectivity" or whatever form the operating level control might be to about mid scale. Start with the radio in the AM mode and tuned to a quiet spot or with the antenna disconnected. Then rock the Q multiplier tuning control back and forth and listen for a "swishing" sound. If you don't hear one, run the "selectivity" control up a bit more ( clockwise) until you do. Note where on the tuning control the "swish" seems to have the lowest pitch or sounds like it is " bottoming out". This will be the spot that corresponds to the center of the receiver's passband. Note that spot for future reference. Depending on the alignment of the receiver and the Q multiplier, this might not necessarily be at the center of the control's travel. This can be corrected but should not be attempted without proper understanding of the receiver and Q multiplier circuit operation. In no instance should an attempt be made to realign the IF stages without a signal generator of known frequency calibration or proper calibration and tracking of tuning on the main tuning dial can be negatively affected!!
For tuning AM signals, it is best to start with the Q multiplier tuning set in the center of the passband. Once the signal is tuned in and centered, you can try swinging the tuning back and forth to get the best readability without slicing too much off the sidebands. If the selectivity is too tight, all the highs will be sliced off and the station will sound muffled. You can try tuning off to one side or the other with the Q multiplier tuning which can act much like passband tuning.
If there is a strong heterodyne or splatter interference on one side you can try tuning the station in with the main tuning placing its carrier on the edge of the passband placing the splatter farthest from the center, with the desired side centered in the passband. Then crank up the Q multiplier and make adjustments with its tuning.
This is where the art of using the device comes in. It is only with practice and patience that the full effects and possibilities of this device can be learned and attained.
It is on cw and single sideband that the Q multiplier can really show its maximum potential. There are probably a number of " set up " methods for cw reception with one, but here I will describe the one I have used and found to be one that at least works for me!
The first method involves a receiver with a variable pitch BFO. The first step is very similar to that with which the Q multiplier tuning is determined. Tune the receiver to a quiet spot or disconnect the antenna. Turn on the receiver's BFO ( Beat Frequency Oscillator) and rock the pitch control back and forth. you will hear the "swish" similar to what was heard with the Q multiplier tune set up. Once again the "swish" will " bottom out" or have a noticeable lower pitch when it is moved through the center of the passband. This is, of course, not where you really want it...it is where you want the desired signal to be, so at this point move the pitch control a slight amount to the right or left ( as you turn the knob) from center.
For practice, connect the antenna and tune in an AM signal that is not too strong, but which is of a fairly steady strength. Probably the best place and time to do this is in the daytime with an AM broadcast station other than a powerhouse local station. If your receiver has an S-meter. carefully center it up for the maximum meter indication. If you have no S-meter, by ear rock the tuning back and forth and with practice on a weaker signal you can hear when the signal is centered. If the receiver has fairly good selectivity to begin with you can hear the little " swish" as the carrier moves through the passband or you can hear the lessening of the high frequency sounds on the sidebands as its is centered.
Again, this ability to notice things comes with practice. The accurate and careful tuning of a receiver is much more than just dialing the tuning to a spot and finding something. There are a number of subtleties that can be recognized only with practice and that are often hard to describe in words. The receiver cannot do the work for you, no matter how complex or expensive it may be. I think I have noted before that a skillful operator can pull out DX with a simple receiver that a casual tuner cannot find with a much more expensive one. Practice, practice, practice and learn to take advantages of the capabilities and avoid the weaknesses or your receiver!
But I digress. Once you have your " test signal" tuned in, turn on the BFO and rock the pitch control back and forth. Listen for where the " Zero Beat" occurs,. The zero beat definition will be obvious as you do this. It is the point at which the pitch of the heterodyne of the beat frequency oscillator goes lower and lower in pitch and at one point becomes "zero".
Note again where the zero beat occurs on the pitch control. If your tuning has been careful, you should notice that it is at or very near the same spot as you noticed the lowest pitch " swish" when rocking it when listening to no signal.
At this point, leave the receiver tuning alone and move the pitch control to one side of zero beat or the other to obtain a pitch comfortable for you to listen to cw. Then turn the Q multiplier on and set the selectivity control fairly high. If there is a "peak-notch" or " peak-null" switch, set it to peak. Now move the Q multiplier tuning control to peak the level of the resulting beat note. Or watch the S meter for a peak. Run the selectivity control as high as you can without the device going into oscillation itself. If you keep it right on the ragged edge of oscillation you will be at the tightest selectivity point.
Now to test if your adjustment has been good, move the receiver tuning control back through zero beat and back up the other side. If the Q multiplier is doing its job and your adjustments have been proper you should notice that as you tune to the other side of zero beat, the signal should be much weaker. In other words, on one side of zero beat you will have a strong signal and on the other side of zero beat it should be much lower. The idea is to have the BFO injection offset in the receiver passband to make any signal that would have the same pitch as your desired signal to be out of the passband on the other side of zero beat.
This results in what is called " single signal" cw reception. Otherwise, as you tune through a crowded band, each signal will actually show up twice, resulting in effectively an undesired signal giving QRM to a signal that you might otherwise hear from the other side of zero beat. Effective set up of BFO pitch and Q multiplier tuning can thus for all practical purposes doubled the tightness of selectivity of the receiver! The ability to bring this about effectively comes only with practice. It is best done listening to a good steady carrier and doing the set up over and over and finding the best settings for your particular receiver.
Tuning in single sideband signals is a bit more complex. Without the Q multiplier on, tune in a good fairly steady SSB signal and practice making it intelligible. Once again, start with the BFO offset to one side or the other of the center of passband. This is why you want to remember or note the position of the control at dead center zero beat. You want to have the desired SSB signal centered in the passband and the BFO injected on a frequency offset and near the edge of the passband. Just as with single signal cw reception, you will eliminate QRM coming from " the other side" of the BFO.
The trick is the required position of the BFO pitch control is different for upper sideband ( USB) signals and lower sideband ( LSB) signals. This, again, will take practice to determine. One thing that makes it a little easier is the fact that by convention, on the amateur bands, everyone operates lower sideband ( LSB) on 160, 80, and 40 meters and upper sideband ( USB) on 20, 15,17,15,12 and 10 meters.( there is no phone operation on 30 meters).
Once you have a known LSB signal tuned in, juggle your dial tuning and BFO pitch to obtained the best overall intelligibility and note the position of the BFO pitch control. Then turn on the Q multiplier and starting with the selectivity control somewhat lower than for CW, adjust the Q multiplier tuning for most intelligible or strongest signal and run the selectivity control up until it starts to "bite" into the high frequencies of the voices and begins to make them sound muffled. Note the positions of the controls so you can always come back to them.
Then do the same with an upper sideband signal. Note those control positions. As you listen more and more, you may refine them somewhat. Note that the conventions for USB and LSB apply only to the amateur bands. While tuning in military or other utility stations you will have to make s determination of which sideband they are using. Most often aviation related stuff appears to almost always be on USB, as does military ops, but you never know....
With more advanced receivers, there may be a fixed tuned BFO that makes all this a little easier. Some receivers have function switches with USB and LSB that do all that BFO presetting for you. Then all you have to do is peak and tune the Q multiplier to tighten things up.
If you have a Q multiplier that has the " Notch", "Null" or "Reject " position, it will provide you with the ability to eliminate on possible source of interference, such as a strong heterodyne very close to the desired frequency. Tuning is pretty intuitive. Switch to "null" or whatever it is called with your unit, run the selectivity up and tune the Q multiplier tuning to get rid of the undesired signal. The downside of this is you lose the ability to tighten up the overall selectivity of the set up. For this reason I have rarely used the null feature. I am sure there are times that it might be useful.
This is only a very basic primer on Q multiplier operation. As in tuning any other portion of a receiver, it takes practice, practice, practice. Particularly with adjustments for single signal cw operation use of a steady carrier from a standard broadcast station is handy in that it provides a good, stable test signal. For SSB, you pretty much have to work with the real thing. The thing to remember is to get the desired signal in the middle of the passband and set up the BFO to give maximum intelligibility with BFO injection near one edge or the other of the passband.
The most effective Q multiplier/receiver combination I have ever seen is that of the old Drake 2B used with the Drake 2BQ Q multiplier. I have had one for over fifty years and have learned to set it up on cw such that a signal on the other side of zero beat simply does not exist.
The Q multiplier is one device or feature available on some of the older receivers or that might be added. There are also crystal calibrators and preselectors or preamps...we will look at them at another time!
Good hunting!
Sunday, November 1, 2015
Sunday, October 25, 2015
Books, Books, Books
Almost all SWL and Ham shacks have a collection of books that accumulate over the years. I have recently gone through and given my collection a bit of a "haircut" because desk space was becoming limited and some, quite honestly, had not been opened in years. There is some merit in keeping books for historical sense and some for sentimental reasons, but sometimes it gets to be a bit much. Some I simply boxed away, like dozens of old World Radio TV Handbooks that might be of some reference value later, but were just taking up too much room on the shelf. Others have been shared with younger listeners and hams in the area who might learn from them.
But some simply must be kept. High on the list was the very first WRTH I ever had. It was actually a Christmas present from my grandparents.
This marked a true turning point in DX-ing for me because I had for the first time a list of stations other than those in the magazine columns to help me identify stations other than those on the broadcast band.
Other books that have kept a spot on the shelf include many connected with my career in broadcasting and in amateur radio. Others were obtained to simply learn things or to assist in making repairs to the many radios that crossed my desk as soon as relatives learned I was " playing" with the things.
Engineering books often have good application to hobbies and vice versa. There have been times I have used information from the ARRL Antenna book or the Radio Amateurs Handbook in dealing with problems or designs for projects at broadcast sites. And there have been times that I have used data from the old RCA Antenna Engineering Handbook for amateur antennas in small spaces.
There is of course a move to having more and more books in electronic form. This has its place and one of them is allowing one to keep a larger number of texts in a smaller space. It might also allow some of us to find titles that might otherwise be out of print. But sometimes its good to have an old fashioned book in your lap and to turn the pages.
In any event, whether its full sized books or collections of magazines with radio articles in them, they do find a place in the shack along with the radios!
But some simply must be kept. High on the list was the very first WRTH I ever had. It was actually a Christmas present from my grandparents.
This marked a true turning point in DX-ing for me because I had for the first time a list of stations other than those in the magazine columns to help me identify stations other than those on the broadcast band.
Other books that have kept a spot on the shelf include many connected with my career in broadcasting and in amateur radio. Others were obtained to simply learn things or to assist in making repairs to the many radios that crossed my desk as soon as relatives learned I was " playing" with the things.
Engineering books often have good application to hobbies and vice versa. There have been times I have used information from the ARRL Antenna book or the Radio Amateurs Handbook in dealing with problems or designs for projects at broadcast sites. And there have been times that I have used data from the old RCA Antenna Engineering Handbook for amateur antennas in small spaces.
There is of course a move to having more and more books in electronic form. This has its place and one of them is allowing one to keep a larger number of texts in a smaller space. It might also allow some of us to find titles that might otherwise be out of print. But sometimes its good to have an old fashioned book in your lap and to turn the pages.
In any event, whether its full sized books or collections of magazines with radio articles in them, they do find a place in the shack along with the radios!
Sunday, October 11, 2015
New Shack Arrangment
After room repairs necessitated by a broken water pipe, there have been some changes to the main operating position. The primary receivers on the lower two rows are the Hallicrafters SX-96 which is very useful for SWBC and BCB DX work To its right is the Hallicrafters SX-111 which is excellent on the amateur bands with great bandspread for an analog receiver and really sharp selectivity with its 50 kilohertz final IF. Because the receiver has a band position for receiving the 10 MHz WWV, with the bandspread available it also provides excellent coverage of the 31 meter SWBC band.
On the lower row on the left is the Yaesu FT-757-GX with narrow SSB filters that also operate in the AM position and 300 hz CW filter. Then comes the Icom R-75 with 250 Hz cw filters in both IF's and mod for 4 kHz filter that operates in the open or AM position.
To the far right is my old DX standby for over fifty years, the Drake 2B with 2BQ Q-multiplier.
This is a triple conversion receiver with 50 kHz final IF that with the Q-multiplier in operation can really slice! With aux crystal positions filled and using the 40 meter amateur position and one of the ten meter positions filled with a substitute crystal, it can receive SWBC on 60, 49, 41, 31, 25,19 and 16 meters. Even with the analog dial it can provide frequency readout easily to 1 kHz.
To the far right is my old DX standby for over fifty years, the Drake 2B with 2BQ Q-multiplier.
This is a triple conversion receiver with 50 kHz final IF that with the Q-multiplier in operation can really slice! With aux crystal positions filled and using the 40 meter amateur position and one of the ten meter positions filled with a substitute crystal, it can receive SWBC on 60, 49, 41, 31, 25,19 and 16 meters. Even with the analog dial it can provide frequency readout easily to 1 kHz.
Medium Wave Seasons Change
We have now passed the Autumnal Equinox. Days are getting shorter and nights are getting longer in the Northern Hemisphere, with the opposite happening in the Southern Hemisphere. September 21-22 will mark the equal length days and nights. The hours of grey line prop are changing and for some of us, the hours of optimum prop are shifting through our days.
My time traveling to work is now right at sunrise local time. that means my "mobile DX targets" are becoming available again. In the U-S where many Medium Wave stations change power and directional antenna patterns between day and night interesting things can happen.
While power and pattern change times are supposedly adjusted for the " worst case" interference possibilities, there is some averaging. That means that toward the end of the months in which days are getting shorter, there will be some days when stations are still switching to daytime power while some night time prop is going on. That means the opportunity to hear some stations not usually heard.
At the beginning of a month, there is also another opportunity brought about by errors. Often stations are set up to change power and pattern by timer rather than human switching. If, on the first of the month, someone hasn't reset a timer, power change might come at the time set for the previous month and a few stations may end up on high power or day directional pattern while night prop characteristics are in place. Sometimes if the duty of power and pattern change is left to a morning disk jockey or news announcer, that person might forget about change times coming later and manually change early. While this may result in fifteen minutes or a half hour interference to some stations, it will provide DX opportunities to the alert tuner of the dials.
As these " new signals" appear on the band in the mornings, something else swill be noticed that might not be apparent while tuning the Medium Waves when it is already well dark. Signals at the top of the band will be propping better than those at the bottom. One might not think that there would be that much difference for signals relatively close together in frequency, but when one looks at the percentage of the bandwidth over the frequency itself, the situation becomes more apparent. A 500 kHz spread in frequency over a band at 15 MHz might be only a small percentage but at 1 MHz ( or 1000 KHz) its quite a bit! The D layer that does a lot of the absorbing at MW frequencies is already starting to form, and the frequencies at the bottom or even middle of the band are affected much more than those at the top.
In my drive to work in the morning, this is really apparent as the Chicago stations on 670,720,780 and 890 though all broadcasting non directionally with the same power are often of very different strengths. The lower stations may be very weak as the sun is just rising, while 890 will be stronger. Sometimes the lower ones are inaudible or even covered by other stations from Mexico that are in the same time zone or to the west of me.
Stations from Mexico City provide another such "barometer". Usually stations on 730, 900, 940,1000. 1030,1060 and 1220 from Mexico City are audible here. They are a bit to the East as well as being South of here. Oftentimes the stations on 1000,1060 and 1220 are much stronger than 730 and 900 even though they actually run less power. This situation is the reverse when the path is well in darkness.
Other stations from Mexico show similar characteristics, though the comparison is not really as good because they are from different locations and are different distances. The 1050 ( XEG) from Monterrey will be much stronger than the 540 from San Luis Potosi. The 990 will be stronger than the 540 or 730. The 800 from Juarez ( XEROK) will be much stronger mainly because it is from the West of me by several hundred miles ( I am in Waco, Texas) while the 1570 ( XERF) is always the strongest of all, even an hour after sunrise while in the same time zone. Of course, its is also the closest being just across the border from Del Rio.
At sunrise, conditions seem to change very rapidly. A station that is fairly well audible low on the dial when I leave the house at 1140 GMT might be taking heavy QRM hits or be fading down by the time I get to work at 1200 GMT. Stations high on the dial will still be fairly strong.
Another thing I have noticed this time of the morning. As the sun begins to creep over the horizon, skip on relatively nearby stations gets shorter. Stations like KMOX from St Louis-1120- will come up in strength,sometimes covering a new daytime station in the Austin area that has just signed on for the day. KWKH in Shreveport, Louisiana--1130--will come up above the Mexican station that sometimes dominates the frequency. KCTA in Corpus Christi on 1030 will come up over Mexico City's XEOY.
Just as a note, KCTA is an interesting DX target. They are a Christian station that is day time non directional on 1030 KHz. However, because their dominant station, or the station they must protect, is WBZ in Boston, well to the east, they get to sign on an hour before sunrise Central Time. They also have a presunrise authority of around 250 watts. A DX-er to the West might have a good chance of logging them just before sunrise Texas time if he could null Mexico City.
In addition to the changes as time passes through sunrise, there are also significant changes day to day due to other conditions. In years past, I had sort of assumed that prop in the Medium Wave band was pretty much stable day to day. This thought may have been somewhat reinforced by dealing with construction of stations and being aware of requirements for protection of other stations from interference at night.
However, over the years I have noticed that such is not the case. There can be considerable variance in signal strength from night to night, and particularly during the " grey "hours of dusk and dawn.
It is one thing that I have enjoyed observing as I drive to work each day and even after over fifty years of DX-ing continue to learn. At the same time on consecutive mornings, the same station might have considerable different signals, particularly at the low end of the dial. For example, WIBW on 580 from Topeka, Kansas is a regular here just before sunrise. Some mornings it comes in almost like a local station. Yesterday, however, it was almost covered by a Spanish speaking station. ( probably Piedras Negras) Once XEMU goes to daytime power, Topeka is gone. But with the border station on night power, WIBW usually makes it pretty well, though there can be exceptions.
I have a couple of good barometers for enhanced prop. Two stations from the Dallas area have relatively low power at night but have directional antenna systems that still deliver fair signals to the South and into Waco, KSKY on 660 and KAAM on 770. A quick punch to those frequencies as I start the truck up in the morning ( I have preset buttons for them just for this purpose) will give a good indicator if something is up. If they are in with fairly clear signals, I check the higher part of the band for DX. However, if they are being covered or have signals significantly causing them to "hop", I know there is a chance of hearing something good down low in the band and I can spend the few minutes of driving DX hunting on that part of the dial.
Other good "barometers" are 880 which is usually KVRN from Nebraska with some Mexican QRM and 980 which is usually Kansas City.
The thing to note is that even the medium waves are not the same every day. Things can often change radically from day to day, particularly if there is some kind of major solar activity. Its worth checking your own "barometer" stations daily to get a clue if it worth checking for possible new logs.
An example is the past couple of days ( October 9-11) when there was solar activity that totally mangled the upper HF bands but led to enhancement of MW and LW bands. here in Waco, Texas, a semi-local station ( WTAW 1620 in College Station, Texas 90 miles away) is usually audible day and night, though with some co-channel interference heard at night, usually from radio Rebelde in Cuba. This past Friday night, Rebelde was propping in so strong it completely covered WTAW. You could not even tell it was there! That led to tuning the rest of the band and logging a half dozen new stations.
And finally, I apologize for a lack of posts the past few weeks. We have been making repairs to our home following a water pipe break that flooded part of the house, requiring a replacement of a wall and removing and replacing the flooring in the room where the radios and computer are located. Luckily none of the electronic equipment was damaged, but all had to be moved out and stored during the repairs. Happily all is ( almost) back to normal now and hopefully at least weekly updates will be available from here out. You are invited to scroll back through the archives. Many articles are not time sensitive and hopefully will provide some entertainment if not useful information about a life behind the lighted dials! Good DX.
My time traveling to work is now right at sunrise local time. that means my "mobile DX targets" are becoming available again. In the U-S where many Medium Wave stations change power and directional antenna patterns between day and night interesting things can happen.
While power and pattern change times are supposedly adjusted for the " worst case" interference possibilities, there is some averaging. That means that toward the end of the months in which days are getting shorter, there will be some days when stations are still switching to daytime power while some night time prop is going on. That means the opportunity to hear some stations not usually heard.
At the beginning of a month, there is also another opportunity brought about by errors. Often stations are set up to change power and pattern by timer rather than human switching. If, on the first of the month, someone hasn't reset a timer, power change might come at the time set for the previous month and a few stations may end up on high power or day directional pattern while night prop characteristics are in place. Sometimes if the duty of power and pattern change is left to a morning disk jockey or news announcer, that person might forget about change times coming later and manually change early. While this may result in fifteen minutes or a half hour interference to some stations, it will provide DX opportunities to the alert tuner of the dials.
As these " new signals" appear on the band in the mornings, something else swill be noticed that might not be apparent while tuning the Medium Waves when it is already well dark. Signals at the top of the band will be propping better than those at the bottom. One might not think that there would be that much difference for signals relatively close together in frequency, but when one looks at the percentage of the bandwidth over the frequency itself, the situation becomes more apparent. A 500 kHz spread in frequency over a band at 15 MHz might be only a small percentage but at 1 MHz ( or 1000 KHz) its quite a bit! The D layer that does a lot of the absorbing at MW frequencies is already starting to form, and the frequencies at the bottom or even middle of the band are affected much more than those at the top.
In my drive to work in the morning, this is really apparent as the Chicago stations on 670,720,780 and 890 though all broadcasting non directionally with the same power are often of very different strengths. The lower stations may be very weak as the sun is just rising, while 890 will be stronger. Sometimes the lower ones are inaudible or even covered by other stations from Mexico that are in the same time zone or to the west of me.
Stations from Mexico City provide another such "barometer". Usually stations on 730, 900, 940,1000. 1030,1060 and 1220 from Mexico City are audible here. They are a bit to the East as well as being South of here. Oftentimes the stations on 1000,1060 and 1220 are much stronger than 730 and 900 even though they actually run less power. This situation is the reverse when the path is well in darkness.
Other stations from Mexico show similar characteristics, though the comparison is not really as good because they are from different locations and are different distances. The 1050 ( XEG) from Monterrey will be much stronger than the 540 from San Luis Potosi. The 990 will be stronger than the 540 or 730. The 800 from Juarez ( XEROK) will be much stronger mainly because it is from the West of me by several hundred miles ( I am in Waco, Texas) while the 1570 ( XERF) is always the strongest of all, even an hour after sunrise while in the same time zone. Of course, its is also the closest being just across the border from Del Rio.
At sunrise, conditions seem to change very rapidly. A station that is fairly well audible low on the dial when I leave the house at 1140 GMT might be taking heavy QRM hits or be fading down by the time I get to work at 1200 GMT. Stations high on the dial will still be fairly strong.
Another thing I have noticed this time of the morning. As the sun begins to creep over the horizon, skip on relatively nearby stations gets shorter. Stations like KMOX from St Louis-1120- will come up in strength,sometimes covering a new daytime station in the Austin area that has just signed on for the day. KWKH in Shreveport, Louisiana--1130--will come up above the Mexican station that sometimes dominates the frequency. KCTA in Corpus Christi on 1030 will come up over Mexico City's XEOY.
Just as a note, KCTA is an interesting DX target. They are a Christian station that is day time non directional on 1030 KHz. However, because their dominant station, or the station they must protect, is WBZ in Boston, well to the east, they get to sign on an hour before sunrise Central Time. They also have a presunrise authority of around 250 watts. A DX-er to the West might have a good chance of logging them just before sunrise Texas time if he could null Mexico City.
In addition to the changes as time passes through sunrise, there are also significant changes day to day due to other conditions. In years past, I had sort of assumed that prop in the Medium Wave band was pretty much stable day to day. This thought may have been somewhat reinforced by dealing with construction of stations and being aware of requirements for protection of other stations from interference at night.
However, over the years I have noticed that such is not the case. There can be considerable variance in signal strength from night to night, and particularly during the " grey "hours of dusk and dawn.
It is one thing that I have enjoyed observing as I drive to work each day and even after over fifty years of DX-ing continue to learn. At the same time on consecutive mornings, the same station might have considerable different signals, particularly at the low end of the dial. For example, WIBW on 580 from Topeka, Kansas is a regular here just before sunrise. Some mornings it comes in almost like a local station. Yesterday, however, it was almost covered by a Spanish speaking station. ( probably Piedras Negras) Once XEMU goes to daytime power, Topeka is gone. But with the border station on night power, WIBW usually makes it pretty well, though there can be exceptions.
I have a couple of good barometers for enhanced prop. Two stations from the Dallas area have relatively low power at night but have directional antenna systems that still deliver fair signals to the South and into Waco, KSKY on 660 and KAAM on 770. A quick punch to those frequencies as I start the truck up in the morning ( I have preset buttons for them just for this purpose) will give a good indicator if something is up. If they are in with fairly clear signals, I check the higher part of the band for DX. However, if they are being covered or have signals significantly causing them to "hop", I know there is a chance of hearing something good down low in the band and I can spend the few minutes of driving DX hunting on that part of the dial.
Other good "barometers" are 880 which is usually KVRN from Nebraska with some Mexican QRM and 980 which is usually Kansas City.
The thing to note is that even the medium waves are not the same every day. Things can often change radically from day to day, particularly if there is some kind of major solar activity. Its worth checking your own "barometer" stations daily to get a clue if it worth checking for possible new logs.
An example is the past couple of days ( October 9-11) when there was solar activity that totally mangled the upper HF bands but led to enhancement of MW and LW bands. here in Waco, Texas, a semi-local station ( WTAW 1620 in College Station, Texas 90 miles away) is usually audible day and night, though with some co-channel interference heard at night, usually from radio Rebelde in Cuba. This past Friday night, Rebelde was propping in so strong it completely covered WTAW. You could not even tell it was there! That led to tuning the rest of the band and logging a half dozen new stations.
And finally, I apologize for a lack of posts the past few weeks. We have been making repairs to our home following a water pipe break that flooded part of the house, requiring a replacement of a wall and removing and replacing the flooring in the room where the radios and computer are located. Luckily none of the electronic equipment was damaged, but all had to be moved out and stored during the repairs. Happily all is ( almost) back to normal now and hopefully at least weekly updates will be available from here out. You are invited to scroll back through the archives. Many articles are not time sensitive and hopefully will provide some entertainment if not useful information about a life behind the lighted dials! Good DX.
Saturday, September 5, 2015
Record Keeping Part II-Stats
One may ask " Why keep stats?" Maybe it is a variation on the idea of collecting things. Maybe its a means of measuring performance or the radios or the antenna-or maybe even the operator! Maybe its a means of learning things about prop, digging out the tough ones. Maybe its for keeping the hobby fresh by always having something new to do in looking for the new ones-a new country, a new country on a given band, new states or grid squares or greater distances. Maybe its for "bragging rights."
In truth, its probably for a bit of all those things. I would suggest that for those who just tune randomly listening to what comes along that setting up a log and a secondary log for keeping stats will open a whole new "freshness" to the hobby and perhaps provide some direction out of the randomness. It will also provide a good way to reflect back on the hobby years or decades later.
The nature of the stat keeping can vary greatly, and if allowed, can grow into almost as big a job as general log keeping itself. I have gone through variations in general log keeping over the years, at times keeping one master log with all entries for all kinds of listening in one log. I am kind of back there now. Everything is kept in a day to day log that is almost a journal of listening.: Shortwave Broadcast, Medium Wave, FM and TV DX, amateur band listening, low frequency non directional beacons, and all forms of utilities. All are logged straight down as they come in the receiver and are identified.
I have also gotten in the habit of logging everything, not just the new things I hear. That is to provide a way to look back and judge band conditions on given days or even weeks or months and get a handle on trends in prop. ( I am still learning the "Black Magic" of it all!)
There have been times when I split out certain types of listening into specialized logs. I would log Medium Wave stations in a separate log, had utility stations in a separate log ( see previous posts) long wave stations in their own and TV DX in its own. There are advantages in that, too. I am now thinking about taking my amateur VHF loggings and splitting them out. Care must be taken in doing this because it can create a lot of work and not a little duplication, but the upside is learning about band conditions and things that create certain kinds of openings. The work involved does pay back dividends in things learned and gives the DX-er something to do on the days when the bands are fully and truly dead or thunderstorms make it an unhealthy proposition to sit in front of a metal box connected to a giant lightning rod outside!
So where should one start? The simplest thing is to start with counting countries. I actually started doing this back in 1958 while doing only Medium Wave DX with my old Watterson five tube table radio. I wasn't even keeping a full listening log then, just a list of stations heard. On a separate sheet, I kept a check list of countries heard.
When shortwave listening began for me with my first home built receiver tuning other than Medium Wave that list began to grow. When I began listening to the amateur bands and later got my amateur license, it grew even more. Soon I began to split the listings into amateur, Medium Wave and All Others. Then the amateur listings split into bands. Then the All Others split into Shortwave Broadcast and Utilities.
This a few years ago during a period of particularly bad weather and remodeling to the house that precluded radio time ( they were all stored away for a time) the time presented itself for going back and "clarifying" all my listings. This might be considered Obsessive-Compulsive by some, but it was a fun way to relive the DX-ing experience over the years and helped deal with the "withdrawal" from being in front of the lighted dials.
In my early amateur operating days, I always listed stations I called unsuccessfully along with the stations that I actually worked. This meant there were lots of stations and not a few countries that could be counted as SWL catches that had not been counted. There was country-count gold there to be mined.
I had already begun using the same ARRL County List charts for tracking amateur countries worked. It was a matter of getting another copy of the chart and adapting it for SWL use. There are numerous ways of determining what is and what is not a DX country or " entity" and there can be some debate over which is " correct". I am not here to join the debate or take one side or the other, but just to report that I happen to have chosen the DXCC list simply because it is at least something to go by.
Some modifications to the list had to be made to adapt it for my purposes. As it stands, the chart has a list of countries in order of prefix assignments, with columns to mark off each entity for the various bands 160-6 meters. I added another column to the left of the entity listings for Medium Wave DX Countries. There were two other columns to the far right of the band columns that were originally labeled " QSL's Sent" and "QSL's Received". I just relabeled them " SWBC" and " Utility"
This "updating" turned into quite a job. Starting at the very beginning, I went through my logs beginning back in 1958 page by page, carefully making down on the "Countries" chart in the appropriate column and line the countries as they appeared in the logs. The entries came from both the purely SWL logs and my amateur logs. Of course from the ham logs, any country actually worked counted as an SWL country on a given band because to have been worked, it had to be heard. And since in those early days, I wrote down the callsign, frequency and signal report information from even the stations heard and unsuccessfully called, there were some other additional countries for the SWL log even if they did not make it as an amateur " worked" station. In those early ham days, my antennas might have been pretty fair for receiving but were in some cases less efficient for transmitting. Also, I had not learned the intricate dance sometimes involved in working a DX station in a heavy pileup, resulting in many good ones heard but not worked.
This sweep of the old logs took some weeks. Some of it was done while watching TV, some at night before drifting off to sleep, some at times when storms precluded getting on the radio, some done while radios were in storage during work on the house, and some time just taken to get it done.
After all the updates to the countries chart had been completed, it was a matter of going down each column and counting the entities in each one. I made up a separate tally sheet to list the tallies for each category: MW, 160,80,40,30,20,17,15,12,10 and 6 meters, with the last two columns for SWBC and Utilities. There was also an entry for overall grand total countries. This number was obtained by once again counting the entry lines of the countries chart, counting each line for which there was any entry at all.
I regret at that time that I did not make a separate breakout for the different SWBC bands. It would have been interesting to see what the results would have been looking at DX performance for the separate 120, 90, 60, 49,41, 31,25,19, 16 and 11 meter bands. Then if I went totally crazy, I could have broken out the utility or maritime bands. Maybe there is such a thing as going too far!
I have mentioned in an earlier post that I wish there were a SWL logging program that would allow doing such. I simply have not found one that is as easy to work with as the basic ham "LOGGER" program, with a simple one line entry. With ham calls, the programs can easily handle dividing things up into entities by looking at the callsign prefix. With SWBC and Utility calls, this is not so easy, but could be handled by the program having an entry column for manually putting in the ITU country prefix or identifier rather than relying on the callsign.
But I digress. After the tally sheet was completed it is now just a simple matter of updating the tally sheet each time I log a new country on a given band. When I make the X-mark in the appropriate column on the ARRL countries chart, I just go to the tally sheet and add one to the appropriate band or category number. I must also remember to add one to the total country total, but only if, in fact, there had been no entry for that entity before.
So how did I come out. Here is the list as it stands today(September 5, 2015) going back to when the first station was written down in January of 1958.
Total Countries: 326
Medium Wave Countries: 26
SWBC Countries: 136
Utility Countries: 84
160 meter amateur: 66
80 meter amateur: 117
40 meter amateur: 210
30 meter amateur: 185
20 meter amateur: 256
17 meter amateur: 177
15 meter amateur: 252
12 meter amateur: 172
10 meter amateur: 215
6 meter amateur: 15
2 meter amateur: 5
NDB/LF BC: 10
TV-DX: 7
FM-DX 4
I must note at this point that I had kept separate logs for two meters, TV, FM and LF/VLF with their own running tallies. Also, all of these tallies are for stations received in Texas and Louisiana. They do not include anything from the days listening from other locations, including the Washington, DC area and overseas locations. I feel they should be counted separately and within their own context.
OK, so these numbers probably don't equal those of the big time, hard core DX-er. But I have never claimed to be one of those. I always figured I was one of the " little guys" who just likes to play with the radios, figuring it keeps me out of the saloons! Besides, its cheaper than a bass boat!!
So is it worth doing all this? Well there is something to be said for doing it for your own satisfaction of seeing an overview of what you have accomplished. For myself, there were some interesting observations to be made when going through logs that covered a year or more in one sweep at a sitting.
It gave an interesting overview of how certain receiver/antenna combinations did at certain locations. One thing that was particularly enlightening was how well I managed to do during a six year span of my life spent living in apartments, using " make do" antennas, often indoors, or in stealth antennas hung around the complex into trees and such and in instances of operating portable.
It was also interesting going through logs against a backdrop of sunspot cycle charts. It showed some amazing catches on 16,15,13,11 and 10 meters on a less than stellar National SW-54 receiver that probably was more a function of the cycle rather than the receiver performance or teen aged operator expertise!
Also, comparing logging times with what I later learned about world time zones, sunrise and sunset times and grey line prop explains a lot about what I was hearing at the time. If I had only had that knowledge then when I had more listening time flexibility during summer school holidays, I might have chosen listening times more carefully and logged a lot more DX!
So what does all this really mean? Probably that careful record keeping is good for providing an overview of your DX career and can provide some real education about how band conditions and prop work. It can also provide some new "fire" for the hobby when conditions or other things drain enthusiasm a bit. And maybe it can provide a little "bragging material" for visits with fellow DX-ers.
Actually, on a serious note related to that last, comparing notes with fellow DX-ers when you have complete records can result in learning a lot about receiver and antenna performance, prop, and even the performance of stations you have both logged.
Hopefully it doesn't just lead to a new outlet for obsessive-compulsive behavior! Perhaps this would be a good time for that old reminder from a friend who will say after a particularly big endeavor: "after all, it is just a hobby".
As always, please share your thoughts through "comments" or provide an email address if you have longer form thoughts to share...and Good DX!
In truth, its probably for a bit of all those things. I would suggest that for those who just tune randomly listening to what comes along that setting up a log and a secondary log for keeping stats will open a whole new "freshness" to the hobby and perhaps provide some direction out of the randomness. It will also provide a good way to reflect back on the hobby years or decades later.
The nature of the stat keeping can vary greatly, and if allowed, can grow into almost as big a job as general log keeping itself. I have gone through variations in general log keeping over the years, at times keeping one master log with all entries for all kinds of listening in one log. I am kind of back there now. Everything is kept in a day to day log that is almost a journal of listening.: Shortwave Broadcast, Medium Wave, FM and TV DX, amateur band listening, low frequency non directional beacons, and all forms of utilities. All are logged straight down as they come in the receiver and are identified.
I have also gotten in the habit of logging everything, not just the new things I hear. That is to provide a way to look back and judge band conditions on given days or even weeks or months and get a handle on trends in prop. ( I am still learning the "Black Magic" of it all!)
There have been times when I split out certain types of listening into specialized logs. I would log Medium Wave stations in a separate log, had utility stations in a separate log ( see previous posts) long wave stations in their own and TV DX in its own. There are advantages in that, too. I am now thinking about taking my amateur VHF loggings and splitting them out. Care must be taken in doing this because it can create a lot of work and not a little duplication, but the upside is learning about band conditions and things that create certain kinds of openings. The work involved does pay back dividends in things learned and gives the DX-er something to do on the days when the bands are fully and truly dead or thunderstorms make it an unhealthy proposition to sit in front of a metal box connected to a giant lightning rod outside!
So where should one start? The simplest thing is to start with counting countries. I actually started doing this back in 1958 while doing only Medium Wave DX with my old Watterson five tube table radio. I wasn't even keeping a full listening log then, just a list of stations heard. On a separate sheet, I kept a check list of countries heard.
When shortwave listening began for me with my first home built receiver tuning other than Medium Wave that list began to grow. When I began listening to the amateur bands and later got my amateur license, it grew even more. Soon I began to split the listings into amateur, Medium Wave and All Others. Then the amateur listings split into bands. Then the All Others split into Shortwave Broadcast and Utilities.
This a few years ago during a period of particularly bad weather and remodeling to the house that precluded radio time ( they were all stored away for a time) the time presented itself for going back and "clarifying" all my listings. This might be considered Obsessive-Compulsive by some, but it was a fun way to relive the DX-ing experience over the years and helped deal with the "withdrawal" from being in front of the lighted dials.
In my early amateur operating days, I always listed stations I called unsuccessfully along with the stations that I actually worked. This meant there were lots of stations and not a few countries that could be counted as SWL catches that had not been counted. There was country-count gold there to be mined.
I had already begun using the same ARRL County List charts for tracking amateur countries worked. It was a matter of getting another copy of the chart and adapting it for SWL use. There are numerous ways of determining what is and what is not a DX country or " entity" and there can be some debate over which is " correct". I am not here to join the debate or take one side or the other, but just to report that I happen to have chosen the DXCC list simply because it is at least something to go by.
Some modifications to the list had to be made to adapt it for my purposes. As it stands, the chart has a list of countries in order of prefix assignments, with columns to mark off each entity for the various bands 160-6 meters. I added another column to the left of the entity listings for Medium Wave DX Countries. There were two other columns to the far right of the band columns that were originally labeled " QSL's Sent" and "QSL's Received". I just relabeled them " SWBC" and " Utility"
This "updating" turned into quite a job. Starting at the very beginning, I went through my logs beginning back in 1958 page by page, carefully making down on the "Countries" chart in the appropriate column and line the countries as they appeared in the logs. The entries came from both the purely SWL logs and my amateur logs. Of course from the ham logs, any country actually worked counted as an SWL country on a given band because to have been worked, it had to be heard. And since in those early days, I wrote down the callsign, frequency and signal report information from even the stations heard and unsuccessfully called, there were some other additional countries for the SWL log even if they did not make it as an amateur " worked" station. In those early ham days, my antennas might have been pretty fair for receiving but were in some cases less efficient for transmitting. Also, I had not learned the intricate dance sometimes involved in working a DX station in a heavy pileup, resulting in many good ones heard but not worked.
This sweep of the old logs took some weeks. Some of it was done while watching TV, some at night before drifting off to sleep, some at times when storms precluded getting on the radio, some done while radios were in storage during work on the house, and some time just taken to get it done.
After all the updates to the countries chart had been completed, it was a matter of going down each column and counting the entities in each one. I made up a separate tally sheet to list the tallies for each category: MW, 160,80,40,30,20,17,15,12,10 and 6 meters, with the last two columns for SWBC and Utilities. There was also an entry for overall grand total countries. This number was obtained by once again counting the entry lines of the countries chart, counting each line for which there was any entry at all.
I regret at that time that I did not make a separate breakout for the different SWBC bands. It would have been interesting to see what the results would have been looking at DX performance for the separate 120, 90, 60, 49,41, 31,25,19, 16 and 11 meter bands. Then if I went totally crazy, I could have broken out the utility or maritime bands. Maybe there is such a thing as going too far!
I have mentioned in an earlier post that I wish there were a SWL logging program that would allow doing such. I simply have not found one that is as easy to work with as the basic ham "LOGGER" program, with a simple one line entry. With ham calls, the programs can easily handle dividing things up into entities by looking at the callsign prefix. With SWBC and Utility calls, this is not so easy, but could be handled by the program having an entry column for manually putting in the ITU country prefix or identifier rather than relying on the callsign.
But I digress. After the tally sheet was completed it is now just a simple matter of updating the tally sheet each time I log a new country on a given band. When I make the X-mark in the appropriate column on the ARRL countries chart, I just go to the tally sheet and add one to the appropriate band or category number. I must also remember to add one to the total country total, but only if, in fact, there had been no entry for that entity before.
So how did I come out. Here is the list as it stands today(September 5, 2015) going back to when the first station was written down in January of 1958.
Total Countries: 326
Medium Wave Countries: 26
SWBC Countries: 136
Utility Countries: 84
160 meter amateur: 66
80 meter amateur: 117
40 meter amateur: 210
30 meter amateur: 185
20 meter amateur: 256
17 meter amateur: 177
15 meter amateur: 252
12 meter amateur: 172
10 meter amateur: 215
6 meter amateur: 15
2 meter amateur: 5
NDB/LF BC: 10
TV-DX: 7
FM-DX 4
I must note at this point that I had kept separate logs for two meters, TV, FM and LF/VLF with their own running tallies. Also, all of these tallies are for stations received in Texas and Louisiana. They do not include anything from the days listening from other locations, including the Washington, DC area and overseas locations. I feel they should be counted separately and within their own context.
OK, so these numbers probably don't equal those of the big time, hard core DX-er. But I have never claimed to be one of those. I always figured I was one of the " little guys" who just likes to play with the radios, figuring it keeps me out of the saloons! Besides, its cheaper than a bass boat!!
So is it worth doing all this? Well there is something to be said for doing it for your own satisfaction of seeing an overview of what you have accomplished. For myself, there were some interesting observations to be made when going through logs that covered a year or more in one sweep at a sitting.
It gave an interesting overview of how certain receiver/antenna combinations did at certain locations. One thing that was particularly enlightening was how well I managed to do during a six year span of my life spent living in apartments, using " make do" antennas, often indoors, or in stealth antennas hung around the complex into trees and such and in instances of operating portable.
It was also interesting going through logs against a backdrop of sunspot cycle charts. It showed some amazing catches on 16,15,13,11 and 10 meters on a less than stellar National SW-54 receiver that probably was more a function of the cycle rather than the receiver performance or teen aged operator expertise!
Also, comparing logging times with what I later learned about world time zones, sunrise and sunset times and grey line prop explains a lot about what I was hearing at the time. If I had only had that knowledge then when I had more listening time flexibility during summer school holidays, I might have chosen listening times more carefully and logged a lot more DX!
So what does all this really mean? Probably that careful record keeping is good for providing an overview of your DX career and can provide some real education about how band conditions and prop work. It can also provide some new "fire" for the hobby when conditions or other things drain enthusiasm a bit. And maybe it can provide a little "bragging material" for visits with fellow DX-ers.
Actually, on a serious note related to that last, comparing notes with fellow DX-ers when you have complete records can result in learning a lot about receiver and antenna performance, prop, and even the performance of stations you have both logged.
Hopefully it doesn't just lead to a new outlet for obsessive-compulsive behavior! Perhaps this would be a good time for that old reminder from a friend who will say after a particularly big endeavor: "after all, it is just a hobby".
As always, please share your thoughts through "comments" or provide an email address if you have longer form thoughts to share...and Good DX!
Sunday, August 30, 2015
DX Record Keeping: The Log
I have mentioned that I use a paper
log for initial logging. Its not that I am anti-technology, it is
just what I am used to and it really does not slow me down. When
logging amateurs, I often enter the callsigns directly into the log
without use of scratch paper if the signal is strong and clear. If
not, I have a half sheet of paper or folded sheet lying on top of a
portion of the log page for use as scratch paper.
I am sure everyone has their
preference for logging and I present mine not as any kind of
inference that it is superior, just to share what I have been doing
over the years. I am sure there are much better ways to get the job
done.
I use regular school notebooks for
logs, usually the spiral bound ones. I leave a little margin on
the left for special notations, then make columns for times in GMT,
the station callsign or identifier, frequency, mode if not obvious,
signal report ( I still use the old RST system...it's one I know and
am familiar with and provides me the info I need for comparison
later) and the location. I take a full line for entering the date,
always putting it at the top of the page if starting over or if
carrying over from another page. I usually put the receiver I am
using and antenna at the top left of the first page when I change
rigs. It is decidedly low tech, but it is inexpensive and
convenient. I can always transfer the entries into the computer
logging program later. Its not a chore for me and its like reliving
the DX experience.
I use the computer logging program for
amateur logings mostly, having not found a log appropriate for how I
like a log to look for broadcast and utility stations. The SWL
logging programs seem to have way too much information to enter. I
am interested in a straight, one line logging of the format that I
use in the notebooks, but that would allow me to keep track of
countries overall and countries for each band. If someone has a
suggestion for one that would do that, I would be very happy.
Attempts at adapting amateur programs have not worked well.
Below are some samples of my paper
logging over the years. The first was probably not technically a log
in the purest sense of the word. In my beginning days of broadcast
band DX-ing, I just kept lists of stations heard. This was back in
my pre teen years, beginning in 1958. I had the lists just segregated into US and
foreign stations. the receiver used was a Watterson 5 tube table radio with 70 foot longwire up 20 feet. A sample of that is shown below:
When I began to listen to shortwave in late 1959 and 1960, the simple listing continued. Again there was no record keeping of time and date, just lists of the stations received. During this period I was using a home brew receiver for listening. Note the use of call letters a lot more in those days, particularly for the Voice of American transmitter Sites!
Later I began using the ARRL logbooks to enter my received stations, and began including date and time information. It was in this period that I used a National SW-54 and later a National NC-88 for listening.
Thus followed the pattern for several years. When I landed in East Africa in 1972-73 , I used a Radio Shack log for keeping track of stations heard in Asmara, Ethiopia using a Hallicrafters SX-99 Receiver and a 125 foot longwire fifteen feet above the roof of a three story barracks building..
When I got back to the US and found myself at Ft Polk, Louisiana DX-ing in the barracks with a National NC-190 and 125 foot longwire strung between two barracks buildings up about 25 feet. I was back to using the ARRL logbooks
Later in the civilian world I began using spiral notebooks. At one point, I kept a separate log for utility stations, using a different kind of spiral notebook bound at the top. Note use of the Drake 2B with crystals in the auxiliary bandswitch positions for bands outside the amateur frequencies during this session and a listing of which antenna was used in the far right column. The Windom antenna used was 135 feet long up 40 feet. I used a Heathkit roller coil amateur tuner to match the antenna on all bands. I still have that receiver today and it is excellent for all kinds of DX work between 3.5 and 30 MHz.
Now I continue to use the spiral bound books for initial paper logging for all forms of DX-ing, including the medium wave. Note the R-75 was used for this session with the 90 foot long sloper antenna at 45 feet.
The same works well for logging shortwave broadcasts. Again in this session the R-75 and sloper were used.
Where is the DX, Jamming and World News
This previous two week's listening has
been somewhat jumbled because of work and other requirements, and
covers some scattered ground. There has been an obvious continued
drop in solar activity that has left the upper bands a little weak.
However, as far as the amateur bands go, it appears that from an
operator's standpoint, it may have been a self fulfilling prophecy.
I had no organized listening plan for
the weekend of August 22nd-23rd, thinking there would be very little
time, but figured one of the things I would check out would be the
amateur Hawaiian QSO Party. This is one of what I have grown to term
“ smaller contests” that can be listened to or participated in on
a rather casual basis. Hearing Hawaiian amateurs is not particularly
difficult in Central Texas but its a fun place and there are various
time windows for the different bands on which to look for
them, leaving time for other activities with the family or tuning for
other things.
On the morning of August 22, I sat down in front of the radio a bit
after 6 AM local time ( 1100 GMT) and ran a quick check of the WWV
frequencies. Hawaii being to the west of me and it being daylight, it
seemed obvious that the place to start would be the low bands.
Running WWV, I found the 2.5 MHz signal being S-9+20 DB with WWVH (
of course, from Hawaii) being well audible behind it. On 5.0 MHz,
the Ft Collins WWV transmitter was S-9+30 DB with WWVH even louder
than its lower frequency cousin behind it. On 10 MHz, WWVH was
dominant at almost S-9 with WWV down very low beneath.
On the higher frequencies it was a
predictable story. On 15 MHz there were just detectable carriers
with signals so weak that no audio was recoverable. Nothing at all
was audible on 20 and 25 MHz.. ( There was an old joke in a magazine
I read when I was a kid—and I cannot remember what it was to give
credit—but the joke was about a ham or SWL who had sent out a
plaintive cry “ Help, the bands are so bad I can't even here my own
crystal calibrator!”. Wups, guess I gave away my age because some
reading this may not be old enough to know what one of those was for
or what it was!! But I digress...)
A run through twenty meters showed few
signals at all. All were very weak except a few first hop US signals
from the Southeastern US. So it was down to forty meters to look
there.
At first it did not seem like a very
promising morning. No stations were heard calling “ CQ Test” at
the bottom of the band. A tune upward to 7033 did find a group of
stations dropping their callsigns. There it was! The first station
from Hawaii heard for the morning. He was so strong that if I had
not copied the callsign right away, I would have thought he was
Stateside. KH6J was S-9 and above and had attracted a small crowd
This was at 1146 GMT.
A return to the bottom of the band and
the beginning of a sweep upward began to turn up a few Asian signals.
Perhaps it had not been sundown or close enough to it when I first
tuned in and I was hearing the band open. JH1RZY was coming in RST
569 to be the first in the log. A few more then followed.
A few minutes later, a bit of a
mystery developed. I head a bit of a pileup on 7015.6, including
both US and Japanese stations calling someone. There seemed to be a
lot of interest in JA4GXS/4. A check of DX Summit showed a few
stations posting him. Going to QRZ.com did not turn up anything
unusual, just his home QTH without the “/4”. I am not sure if
he was perhaps operating portable on an island or was doing some kind
of special event thing. I marked him for further checking later.
Perhaps something will turn up. If not, at least he is another
station in the log!
While looking on the computer for info
on JA4GXS/4, I was also still tuning and tuning. At 1158, whle down
around 7008 I spotted a weak signal with that “ DX sound” ( how
can I describe it. It just sounded like DX!) After listening through
a QSO or two, I finally picked out the call: VK2AWD at RST 569.
Forty was for sure officially open!
Over the next thirty minutes, signals
from Japan increased in signal strength as the sun came up in Texas
and went down there. Several were heard, among them JA7ORC, JA1NUT (
an old friend on this and other bands) In between over the next few
minutes, a couple of Asiatic Russians, the strongest of which was
RW9JZ peaking at 589 and heard several times while sweeping back and
forth across the band. As conditions improved, I ran across JA7ORC
again The first time I heard him at 1159 GMT he was RST 579, but the
second time I crossed paths with him at 1210, he had come up to S-9 +
10 DB!
Then it was time for breakfast.
OK, healthy diets or no, there is no
way to continue hunting DX on an empty stomach! Weekends around our
house, after a week of low fat, high fiber breakfasts, we break the
mold. It has to be thick bacon, fried eggs sunny side up or
occasionally scrambled with capers, green onions, and cheese, toast
with home made jam and sometimes sliced tomatoes with gravy. Ahhh.
The breakfast of DX champions!
OK, back to the radios to search for
DX. A short sweep through fifteen meters results in only a handful of
US stations. On to twenty meters. By now its 1600 GMT. Only one
Hawaiian heard. KH6Y is very busy on 14033. Seventeen meters yields
only two signals: K7RI on SSB and VE5SD on CW.
OK, lets take a crazy step and check
ten meters. Nothing across the CW portion. But ten meters has one
group of targets that are always there, no matter how much the hams
looking around might be discouraged from making a call. They are the
beacons, generally found between 28150 and 28300. The band had that
“ open sound”, again an undefinable sound that tells the seasoned
listener that something should be there. Its a kind of increase in
the noise level that is not man made QRN, but a general rise in a
soft sounding rustling. I know its not very scientific, but I am sure
some of you know what I am talking about.
Using the FT-757GX for the mornings
exploring, it took spinning the dial many times to go from the
vicinity of 28000 up to 28200. No keypad frequency entry for this
beast! Slowing down above 28200, I ran into the first signal at
28222.1 Beacons are generally very low powered, mostly 5 watts or
less, many just one watt. But there the first one was: W4KLP/B, not
strong, only about S-4, but readable. Up a bit at 28232.1 was a
beacon heard many times here: W4CLM/B stronger at 569. Three others
were logged in short order. All were from the Southeastern US,
indicating the opening was to that area particularly and perhaps even
a Sporadic E opening. The main point is, the band was open and
nobody was home! Nobody noticed.
So it was back to twenty meters, by
now at 1700 GMT...still predominately US stations. Oh well, lunch
break, chores and back at 2200 GMT.
This time was different. In between
the strong US stations, there were some weaker signals. Finally at
2203 the first European came through: IK2CIO, not strong, just 559.
Then as the hour wore on, more and more showed up the strongest being
HA8IB at a healthy 589. It was a matter of digging for them. They
were there, just down in the grass. Its another case of not getting
discouraged if the DX doesn't just jump out of the radio into your
lap.
It definitely appeared the Maximum
Useable Frequency was just plain low, even in mid afternoon local
time. On a total whim, I dropped down to 30 meters just to see what
was cooking.
WWV on 10 MHz was booming in and steady
so things did not bode well, but why not at least look around.
Another sign things weren't too promising was the lack of the non
amateur digital signal that usually appears at about 10101 when the
band is open to Europe. But there was a cluster of signals calling
someone about 10103. it was now 2220 GMT. Admittedly a little early
for 30 meters, but things had been dull on 20 so why not check. It
took listening to three or four exchanges before the surprise of the
afternoon was identified: 4X4WN, David, was working several East
Coast US stations. He was not strong, about S-3 and a bit of a
difficult copy, but there he was! And in the log! Interestingly
enough, careful tuning of the rest of the band turned up almost
nothing. It appeared that anybody who was anybody was on that
frequency trying to work the 4X4!
The rest of the afternoon was spent
back up on twenty. There was DX to be found among the stronger “
local” signals. It just took work to find them. Instead of finding
one every two or three minutes, it was more like one every ten or
fifteen minutes. It took careful tuning but several Europeans were
logged then as later afternoon approached and it became August 23 GMT
0000 things got a little better. KH6J appeared again, along with
RG0A from Asiatic Russia and EA6UN from the Balearic Islands.
Otherwise it was mostly US and Central and South American stations
till radio shutdown at 0100 GMT.
The next morning, Sunday morning
August 23 Texas time or 1145 GMT after feeding dogs and cats and
making coffee, I lit up the FT-757GX once again and proved to myself
that the lower bands are the place to be during low solar activity, I
immediately ran across XE2CQ from Mexico holding forth on 7004 with a
beehive of Japanese stations working him. Some of the JA's were quite
strong, S-8 and greater. The strongest was JH1JBV.
There was DX to be heard elsewhere
than just in that one pileup.Up the band a bit at 7012.5 was DS4AOW
from South Korea coming in quite well with an RST 579 signal at 1157
GMT. Minutes later at 1159 GMT, just 3 Khz down the band was the
prize of the weekend, P29LL from Papua New Guinea, a good log any
day! He was not strong, RST 559, but readable. Over the next few
minutes, several JA's jumped into the log.
A check of the WWV signals showed WWVH
from Hawaii coming in S-9+ on 10 mHz with the US WWV inaudible. On 5
MHz, WWV and WWVH were in together, at S-9+30 DB. Whopping signals.
It was decided to make a swing through the lower Tropical band
frequencies and just see what might be what.
After getting fresh coffee, it was
1235 GMT of 7:35 AM local time here. The very lowest of the Tropical
band frequencies would be already fading. Besides that, as luck
would have it, my local somewhat erratic power line noise was kicking
up, covering the weaker signals any way.
The lower South Korean frequencies
were marked by a more intense than usual jamming. I chalked this up
to the new round of tension between North and South Korea that had
been brewing the previous week. This turned out to be the case as I
worked my way up the band, even as the post sunrise propagation was
beginning to fail.
Moving up through the 80 meter amateur
band and checking for broadcast signals, the usual Radio Nikkei
signal on 3925 was there about S-5, already down from its usual S-9
level that might have been found even a half hour earlier. Radio
Verdad from Guatemala on 4055 was also already down to S-6. Of
course they are an hour earlier sun time wise than my location. Even
with their listed power of about 700 watts, they are sometimes 10-20
DB over S-9 here into Central Texas. I am not sure what antenna they
use, but it obviously must be something with a rather high angle of
radiation.
More intense jamming was found on 4450
at 1239 GMT atop the Voice of the People. Usually here the music is
at least recognizable under the jamming but not this time around. The
same went for the signal on 4557. Prop from that part of the world
was still holding up for the next half hour as VL8A from Alice
Springs on 4835 was about S-8 as an aside, with what ever problems
they have been having with their lower frequency operation, them
spending earlier time on their 60 meter transmitter has certainly
made hearing them here easier. It almost makes one wonder if it
might even be better there and they have just not made the
corrections to the problem. The published reasons I have read have
had something to do with trouble with their automatic timer operation
to change frequency, a problem one would not think would be that
difficult to fix after this length of time!)
Other signals further up the 60 meter
band were as to have been expected, though the lateness of the hour
had some of the “usuals” not showing up. Xinching, China on 4940
was S-7, The AIR transmitter for Kashmir on 4950 was S-5 with its
characteristic rapid fading. And Radio Rebelde on 5025 was its usual
raucous self on 5025 at S-9 + 20DB, though they were even further
into sun. It sometimes is as high as S-9 + 40 or more here and I
remember times when it would actually pin the S-Meter on my
Hallicrafters SX-96!
A the sky became lighter and the
signals further began to drop, I made quick run up to49
meters, finding the Chinese signals on 5915,5925, 5955 and 6000 kHz
all in the S-7 range. The Echo of Hope on 6003 and KBS on 6015 were
about the same, but plagued with jamming.
Rather than a study in post sunrise
prop, this listening session reminded me of another aspect of this
hobby: that of noting things that happen on the broadcast
frequencies during times of political upheaval or tension between
countries. Jamming goes up, Sometimes broadcast schedules are
changed to bring more new and information or propaganda to bear on
the other side of the issue. Sometimes broadcast schedules can add
programming aimed at peripheral countries. In any event, it can
bring another dimension to listening and maybe the chance to log
stations or frequencies that might not ordinarily be available during
certain prop windows. Even with increase dependence on the internet
by some international broadcasters, broadcast schedules might be
beefed up if there are indications that internet service might see
increased censorship. If schedules don't change, it might be a
symptom of some governments or agencies not catching on that this is
the case and indicate a mistaken over-dependence on such delivery
methods. Even transmissions on lower HF and Medium Frequencies might
be affected.
It is interesting to note that jamming
and interference with US broadcasts has not diminished since the
recently heralded change in relations between the US and Cuba. This
is a condition that might be noticed only by DX-ers and SWL's since
it has not been reported in the commercial domestic media!
I am sure there are many other such
changes that have occurred in Eastern and Southern Europe over the
recent months. Perhaps some of this blog's readers would like to
contribute some of their observations. Regardless of one's political
beliefs or positions, it is always interesting to note such changes
from a DX or SWL point of view and to provide information for
possible DX targets or opportunities that might arise.
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