And a Happy New Year!

I spent a lot of time on non-radio projects this month, primarily moving my daughter from a loft to a condo (oh – my aching back). Bad news is that there is still some of her stuff here that has to go there. Good news is that she is now only 20 minutes away (versus 35 minutes).

Lost my 80-meter dipole during a storm a couple of weeks ago. I can’t climb a ladder to fix it because I messed up my knee hiking in the woods.

So the antenna farm is down to three: the 120-foot Loop under Ground, which is only for receiving, the Hy-Gain 18AVT/WB-A vertical, which has seen better days (it’s about 50 years old) and the ICOM AH-7000 discone, which is 30 years old, but is in good shape and still an excellent performer.

Finally, that is Kainuk in the photo above. She is an orphaned elephant that I adopted at the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust. My daughter gifted me the adoption and I will be contributing regularly to support Kainuk in 2022.

73 and good DX in the coming year!

Colombia on 770

Two new loggings to report:

November 8 : WBRV on 900 kHz transmitting 52 watts from Boonville, New York, 179 miles to the northwest. 

November 10: WABC (770 kHz) was off the air for maintenance for about an hour. Band conditions were poor due to a recent sun flare, yet I heard three very weak Spanish language stations and managed to identify one: JX (RCN Radio) in Bogota, Colombia, transmitting 100 kW 2555 miles to the south (photo above).

Both loggings were with the ICOM IC-R8600 receiver and Hy-Gain 18AVR/time WB-A vertical antenna (WBRV) and 120-ft Loop on Ground antenna (JX).

Fun on 1080

Friday at 2150 UTC, I turned the radio on and randomly tuned up the AM band from 860 kHz. When I arrived at 1080 kHz, I found no one there! I live 12 miles from the transmitter site of WTIC, a 50,000-watt IBOC station on 1080 and because of that proximity, I have never logged another station on 1080 except WTIC. I don’t know why WTIC was off the air, but here was an opportunity to log something new on 1080.

Initially, I heard nothing except splatter from WBAL on 1090. Gradually, a gospel station starting building strength, but I never heard a station ID, nor could I match it with any AM radio simulcasts on the Internet. 

A second station appeared, a religious station with a preacher preaching. The signal eventually came up. There was no station ID, but I did match it exactly with WWNL’s Internet simulcast. WWNL is located in Pittsburgh transmitting 25,000 watts west-southwest of this location.

WTIC returned to the air at 2232 UTC with no mention as to why it was off the air,

It was fun while it lasted!

Earlier in the week, Wednesday at 0545 UTC, I logged a new one on 550 AM: WAME in Statesville, North Carolina, transmitting 53 watts, 586 miles to the southwest.

The WAME logging was better DX than the WWNL logging, but the WWNL logging was a once in a lifetime (so far) logging!

Loop on Ground Antenna Test

I assure you that there is a Loop on Ground (LoG) antenna in this photo.

Over the long weekend, I tested my newly installed Loop on Ground (LoG) antenna.

I compared the LoG’s reception with the other antennas installed here at WA1LOU by noting the signal strength of 23 random stations across the AM band using the dBμ reading [absolute voltage (Terminated)] of my ICOM IC-R8600 receiver. (The other antennas here are an 80-meter dipole, a Hy-Gain 18AVT/WB-A vertical and a ICOM AH-7000 discone.)

The following stations were used in the comparison: WMCA on 570 kHz, WPRO 630, WFAN 660, WOR 710, WGY 810, WNYC 820, WCBS 880, WLAT 910, WPKX 930, WNTY 990, WINS 1010, WBZ 1030, WTIC 1080, WMRD 1150, WWCO 1240, WSPR 1270, WATR 1320, WFNW 1380, WVEI 1440, WFED/WFIF 1500, WQEA416 1670, WPTX 1690 and WRCR 1700.

I ran the test on three consecutive mornings and on one evening. In general, the results were consistent during all four runs of the test. The only anomaly was hearing WFED loud and clear on 1500 kHz at 1447 UTC on 29 November. WFED is always loud and clear at night here, but is usually down in the mud under WFIF during daylight. Go figure.

After the first and second run of comparisons, I eliminated the vertical and discone antennas from the test to save time because the dipole consistently scored higher than the vertical and discone.

On average, the LoG performed 8.5 dBμ units higher than the 80-meter dipole. With a 22 dBμ unit difference, WSPR had the greatest signal improvement on the LoG. Right behind WSPR were WBZ, WWCO, WATR and WVEI with 17 dBμ improvement on the LoG.

The dipole performed equal to or slightly better (by 1 or 2 dBμ units) with WPRO (daytime only), WGY (daytime only), WCBS (all times), WLAT (all times) and WNTY (all times). WPRO and WGY were stronger on the LoG in the evening by 9 and 6 dBμ units respectively, which represents a 11 and 7 dBμ swing between day and night.

Overall, the LoG performed better at the top and bottom of the AM band and less so in the middle of the band (810 to 1150 kHz) except for one outlander: 50kW WTIC 1080, which is line-of-site from here. WTIC consistently scored in the low to mid 70’s dBμ-wise.

The first three tests were run under dry conditions, while the fourth test was run with the antenna covered with about six inches of snow. The snow did not seem to have any effect on the performance of the LoG.

In conclusion, I am very impressed with the LoG antenna. It is a keeper and I plan to install a larger version in the spring.

Loop on Ground Antenna

Wednesday, 40 degrees, breezy, overcast, rain in the forecast – a good day to put up a new antenna – NOT. But I was not to be deterred by Mother Nature.

Actually, I did not put up a new antenna; I put down a new antenna: a Loop on Ground (LoG) receive-only antenna as described by Matt Roberts, KK5JY: 60 feet of insulated

wire stapled to the earth in a square configuration (15 feet per side).

I had prepared the wire the day before the install, so it only took about two hours to complete the install. The most time-consuming part was running the RG-6 into the radio shack from outdoors.

I was not sure how well the antenna would perform. Due to the holiday, I did not have a lot of time to give the antenna a thorough test, but the initial results were very good. Tuning through the AM band for about 30 minutes Wednesday evening, nearly all the stations I checked were stronger on the LoG antenna than on my other antennas (80-meter dipole, Hy-Gain 18AVT/WB-A vertical, ICOM AH-7000 discone).

After I digest today’s Thanksgiving feast, I plan to devote a lot more time to kicking the tires of the LoG and I will report my findings here.

Antenna Weirdness

I was monitoring an unknown station on the FM band using my ICOM IC-R8600 receiver and ICOM IC-AH-7000 VHF/UHF discone antenna. The station was weak and not intelligible enough to identify due to splatter from a strong station on the next FM channel.

Just for laughs, I switched to my Hy-Gain 18AVT/WB-A HF vertical antenna and the station's signal improved dramatically and I was able to identify it.

I would have never expected a HF vertical to perform better than a VHF/UHF antenna on the FM band. Go figure!

For the record, here are my latest new loggings:

WYPH-LPFM on 102.5 MHz transmitting 100 watts from Manchester, Connecticut, 25 miles to the east-northeast (Antenna: Hy-Gain 18AVT/WB-A)

WNHA-LPFM on 107.5 MHz transmitting 26 watts from New Haven, Connecticut  23 miles to the south  (Antenna: ICOM IC-AH-7000)

YBM on 230 kHz transmitting 25 watts from St. Bruno de Guigues, Quebec, 514 miles to the north-northwest (Antenna: 80-meter inverted Vee)

CN on 235 kHz transmitting 100 watts from Cochrane, Ontario, 644 miles to the north-northwest (Antenna: 80-meter inverted Vee)

YBG 356 kHz transmitting 250 watts from Saguenay-Bagotville, Quebec, 471 miles to the north (Antenna: 80-meter inverted Vee)

CBI and WTIC

Entered radio station CBI in the log Thursday evening. The Sydney, Nova Scotia station transmits 10,000 watts on 1140 kHz, 703 miles to the northeast. Equipment used was an ICOM IC-R8600 receiver and a Hy-Gain 18AVT/WB-A vertical antenna.

Bad news is that WTIC AM on 1080 kHz is back to full power and is stronger than ever here 16 miles from its 50,000 watt transmitter. Actually, their signal and IBOC crud seems worse than ever and occupies over 30 kHz of radio spectrum!

Oh, What a Night!

I spent about an hour (2230 to 2330 UTC) last night tuning up and down the AM/MW band and noted more transatlantic carriers than I ever recall hearing before and one new station for the log on a frequency where I seldom expect to find anything!

Tuning from 530 to 1710, I was very surprised to clearly hear a station on 1070. Usually all I hear on 1070 is slop from WTIC on 1080, but last night I found WPLB with an S-9 signal. WPLB, "Mid Century Radio," is a daytimer located in Plattsburg, New York, transmitting 5,000 watts 207 miles to my north.

Examining WTIC's signal on my IC-R8600's spectrum scope, it was obvious that WTIC's signal was not as wide and strong as it normally appears here (16 miles from their 50 kW transmitter). Was there a problem with their transmitter or antenna? Did they shut down their IBOC? Dunno, but I will keep checking their signal to see if the change was temporary or permanent.

Meanwhile, I noted the following 23 "transatlantic" carriers, an amazing number (to me): 531, 549, 567, 684, 693, 774, 855, 936, 954, 963, 1008, 1044, 1053, 1152, 1179, 1215, 1278, 1296, 1305, 1539, 1584, 1593, 1602.

Comparing my collection of carriers with WA1ION's recent loggings from Cape Cod (142 miles to my east), I presume I heard the following station carriers:

531 - Algeria, F'Kirina, Radio Algerie
549 - Algeria, Sidi Hamadouche, Radio Algerie
567 - Spain, Murcia/Torre de Cotillas, Radio Nacional de España, Radio 5
684 - ?
693 - United Kingdom, BBC, Radio 5
774 - Spain, València/El Palmar, Radio Nacional de España, Radio 1
855 - Spain, Murcia/Torre de Cotillas, Radio Nacional de España, Radio 1
936 - Morocco, Agadir/Aït Melloul, SNRT (Société nationale de radiodiffusion et de télévision)
954 - Spain, Madrid/Pozuelo de Alarcón, Radio Onda Cero
963 - ?
1008 - ?
1044 - Spain, San Sebastián/Monte Igueldo, Sociedad Española de Radiodifusión (Spanish Broadcasting Company)
1053 - United Kingdom, Droitwich/Mast, talkSPORT
1152 - ?
1179 - ?
1215 - United Kingdom, Moorside Edge, Absolute Radio
1278 - ?
1296 - ?
1305 - ?
1539 - ?
1584 - ?
1593 - ?
1602 - ?

Equipment used here were an ICOM IC-R8600 receiver and a Hy-Gain 18AVT/WB-A vertical antenna.

What a night!

Old is New

After some needed hardware arrived last week, I finally got my 37-year-old Hy-Gain 18AVT/WB-A vertical back on the air. On the AM/MW front, I was immediately rewarded with three new entries in the log!

Compared to the 80-meter inverted Vee, the noise floor of the vertical is much lower, while signal strength on the vertical is slightly lower on the vertical with most stations. On the other hand, switching back and forth between antennas, I heard a handful stations on the each antenna that I could not hear at all on the other.

Anyway, here are the new stations I heard with the vertical:

WMBS on 590 kHz in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, transmitting 1 kW, 376 miles to the west-southwest.

WSLB on 1400 kHz in Ogdensburg, New York, transmitting 1 kW, 248 miles to the north-northwest.

WJFK on 1580 kHz in Morningside, Maryland, transmitting 50 kW, 282 miles to the southwest.

The receiver was the ELAD FDM-S2/SW2.