I can hear clearly now, the power's out

Friday evening, I added two new stations to the AM/MW log:

WLUI 670 kHz in Lewistown, Pennsylvania, transmitting 5,400 watts, 251 miles to the west-southwest at 2230 UTC

WTME 780 kHz in Rumford, Maine, transmitting 18 watts, 234 miles to the north-northeast at 2300 UTC

Both stations logged with my ICOM IC-R8600 receiver and (believe it or not) my ICOM AH-7000 discone antenna.

Two new stations in one night was very satisfying, but there was more fun ahead.

As I climbed into bed at 0340 UTC, we lost power (vehicular accident took out a telephone pole). So I climbed out of bed, connected my ELAD FDM-S2 to my laptop and powered up. The ELAD is powered by the laptop's USB, so although the power main is down, I still have a operable high-end receiver and can take advantage of the quiet radio bands free of all the spurious noise generated from all the gadgets in the surrounding area.

I tuned to LW band and it was full of signals and empty of noise. I heard a lot of navigational beacons thatI have not heard since last winter and I logged four new ones:

YZX 266 kHz in Greenwood, Nova Scotia, Canada, transmitting 100 watts, 455 miles to the east-northeast

YWP 355 kHz in Webequie, Ontario, Canada, transmitting 200 watts, 1030 miles to the northwest

YNC 385 kHz in Wemindji, Quebec, Canada, transmitting 25 watts, 832 miles to the north-northwest

YHD 413 kHz in Dryden, Ontario, Canada, transmitting 250 watts, 1100 miles to the west-northwest

All four logged with my ELAD FDM-S2/FDM-SW2 receiver and 80-meter inverted Vee antenna.

Six new stations in one night!

Power (and neighborhood gadget noise) returned after a half-hour just as the battery in my laptop was exhausted. Good timing!