BZ, CL, LUA

Conditions were excellent last night and I added three navigational beacons to the log.

CL on 207 kHz from Charlo, New Brunswick, Canada, transmitting 1000 watts, 544 miles to the north-northeast at 0615 UTC.

LUA on 245 kHz from Luray (Luray Caverns), Virginia, transmitting 25 watts, 355 miles to the southwest at 0557 UTC.

BZ on 407 kHz from Statesboro (Bulloch), Georgia, transmitting 25 watts, 797 miles to the south-southwest at 0522 UTC.

The three were received with my ICOM IC-R8600 receiver and 128-foot Loop on Ground antenna.

WAZX and WLCO

Added two new stations to the log.

WAZX on 1550 kHz transmitting 50,000 watts from Smyra, Georgia, 833 miles to the southwest. Logged on January 9 at 0100Z.

WLCO on 1530 kHz transmitting 5,000 watts from Lapeer, Michigan, 537 miles to the west-northwest. Logged on January 12 at 0225Z.

Received both with my ICOM IC-R8600 receiver and ICOM AH-7000 discone antenna.

Longwave conditions have been very good to excellent lately, but I have not heard anything new.

3047 Miles on 365 kHz

Longwave band conditions were very good overnight and I logged four new navigational beacons including one that represents the longest distance navigational beacon in my log. 

Here are last night's log entries:

At 0512 UTC, AQE on 230 kHz in Greenville, North Carolina, transmitting 25 watts, 474 miles to the south-southwest

At 0516 UTC, EZF on 237 kHz in Fredericksburg, Virginia, transmitting 25 watts, 333 miles to the southwest

At 0521 UTC, UDG on 245 kHz in Darlington, South Carolina, transmitting 25 watts, 624 miles to the south-southwest

At 0542 UTC, PAL on 365 kHz in Guayaquil, Ecuador, 3047 miles to the south. The power output of PAL is not listed. 

PAL's signal was not the weakest received here overnight and I did not think much of it except that it was a new entry in the log. And then I looked it up and was shocked to see what I had worked, bettering my previous navigational beacon DX by almost 1100 miles! Not to mention that PAL was off the side of my new Loop on Ground (LoG) antenna.

The ICOM IC-R8600 was my receiver with the 128-foot LoG.

Bigger LoG Antenna

Yesterday was a rare 73℉ November day – perfect weather for antenna work. So I put down a 128-foot Loop on Ground (LoG) antenna to replace the 60-foot LoG that my lawn mower ate during the summer.

Over twice the size of the old LoG, I expected the new LoG to outperform the old LoG and I was not disappointed!

Tuesday evening, I tuned the whole AM band listening to each station I encountered, which I found on almost every channel from 530 to 1710 kHz. I switched between the LoG, an 80-meter dipole and a Hy-Gain 18AVT/WB-A vertical to compare reception of each station and in nearly all comparisons, the LoG outperformed the 80-meter dipole often by 5, 10 and even 20 dB according to the ICOM IC-R8600 receiver S-meter (the vertical was left in the dust). Worst case – in three comparisons, the LoG was only equal to the 80-meter dipole.

Whereas the old LoG was deaf on longwave, the new LoG outperformed the 80-meter dipole, the antenna I usually use on longwave. I even logged a new navigational beacon with the new LoG: HXO in Oxford/Huntsboro, North Carolina, transmitting 25 watts, 478 miles to the south-southwest.

I am very pleased with the new antenna and will take measures to keep it away from my lawn mower’s blades. 

My Faux QSL Cards

I just created a new webpage, My Faux QSL Cards, to accompany this blog.

I don’t send listener reports to broadcast and utility radio stations because of the time and expense involved. Instead, I create my own QSL cards for stations I log and write about in my blog.

My new webpage collects all the QSL cards I created including cards that have never seen the light of day on the blog. I hope you enjoy viewing the collection and check back often because I will add new cards to the page as I create them.

Dit dah dit

Six on the Sixth

UN on 388 kHz in State College, Pennsylvania

Good conditions/propagation this morning resulted in six new entries in the longwave log.

LE on 242 kHz transmitting 100 watts from Lexington, Kentucky, 670 miles west-southwest

D7 on 350 kHz transmitting 25 watts from Kincardine, Ontario, 472 miles west-northwest

AZ on 370 kHz transmitting 25 watts from Kalamazoo, Michigan, 648 miles west

IRS on 382 kHz transmitting 25 watts from Sturgis, Michigan, 644 miles west

UN on 388 kHz transmitting 25 watts from State College, Pennsylvania, 353 miles west

IL on 407 kHz transmitting 25 watts from Wilmington, Ohio, 585 miles west-southwest

ICOM IC-R8600 receiver and 80-meter dipole antenna were my receptors.

Christmas Eve UTC Loggings

My 200th longwave logging was a doozy!

RT (photo above) on 284 kHz at 0518Z, December 24, transmitting 500 watts from Rankin Inlet, Nunavut, Canada, 1659 miles to the north-northwest. The 1659-mile logging was impressive enough, but the Nunavut logging also represents my first logging of that Canadian province. (Truth be told, I had never heard of Nunavut until I logged RT and looked it up on the LW Radio Beacon list.)

My 201st longwave logging occurred 30 minutes later and it was unusual, too.

SJX on 382 kHz from Beaver Island, Michigan, 688 mile to the northwest. It was unusual because when I looked it up, it wasn’t on the list, which made me wonder if I decoded the Morse code ID correctly. The signal was very weak and buried with static crashes. I listened some more and confirmed that SJX was correct, so I checked other online resources and finally found it at AirNav.com.

As usual, my ICOM IC-R8600 and 80-meter dipole were the receptors.

Merry Christmas and Good DX!

Good Night

Good night last night with three new longwave entries in the log:

UMP on 338 kHz transmitting 25 watts from Indianapolis, Indiana, 695 miles to the west at 0542Z

IWJ on 344 kHz transmitting 25 watts from Blakely, Georgia, 962 miles to the southwest at 0547Z

CFY on 420 kHz transmitting 25 watts from Lake City, South Carolina, 653 miles to the southwest at 0607Z (photo above)

ICOM IC-R8600 and 80-meter dipole were the receptors.

A Good Night

Schefferville - Squaw Lake, Quebec, Canada

The longwaves were in very good shape last night and I worked three new navigational beacons.

9Q on 291 kHz transmitting 25 watts from Amos, Quebec, Canada, 544 miles to the north-northwest

OU on 329 kHz transmitting 25 watts from Quebec City - Ste. Foy, Quebec, Canada, 365 miles to the north-northeast

KR on 323 kHz transmitting 250 watts from Schefferville - Squaw Lake, Quebec, Canada, 952 miles to the north-northeast

All were heard on my ICOM IC-R8600 receiver and 80 meter dipole antenna.

Longwave Awakening

Good news! Longwave is perking up these days.

Nothing new to log, but last night Radio Algerienne was loud and clear on 252 kHz and as was navigational beacon AY in St. Anthony, Newfoundland (1000 watts over 1043 miles) on 356 kHz.

Equipment used: ICOM IC-R8600 receiver and 80-meter dipole antenna.

YTL and HF on LW

Conditions have been very good lately and the longwave band has been wall-to-wall navigational beacons. I have previously logged all but two new ones:

HF on 241 kHz transmitting 100 watts from of Hearst, Ontario, 760 miles to the northwest.

YTL on 328 kHz transmitting 1 kW from of Big Trout Lake, Ontario, 1148 miles to the northwest.

Using my ICOM IC-R8600 receiver and 80-meter inverted Vee antenna.

Good Night

Navigational beacon EMR in Augusta, Georgia

I turned on the radio before midnight and found the longwave band full of navigational beacons. In two hours, I logged 14 new stations, ten in the USA and four in Canada, which is unusual because I typically hear Canadian beacons and occasionally USA beacons.

I also heard a lot of previously logged beacons including CBC in Cayman Brac and FIS in Key West, 1574 and 1287 miles away, respectively.

Here is a list of the new loggings:

232 kHz: GP in Gaspe, Quebec, 645 miles NNE*

248 kHz: FRT in Spartanburg-Fairmont, South Carolina, 675 miles SW

335 kHz: ZKF in Kitchener - Wellington, Ontario, 395 miles NW*

348 kHz: BUP in Pittsfield - Burnham, Maine, 279 miles NE*

351 kHz: MSQ in Brandy Station, Virginia, 337 miles SW

353 kHz: QG in Windsor, Ontario, 512 miles W

361 kHz: HB in Burlington - Alamance, Virginia, 529 miles SW

367 kHz: FVX in Farmville, Virginia, 416 miles SW

383 kHz: 7P in Iroquois Falls, Ontario, 618 miles NNW

385 kHz: EMR in Augusta-Emory, Georgia, 750 miles SSW

400 kHz: CI in Sault Ste. Marie - Kincheloe, Michigan, 660 miles NW

412 kHz: CTZ in Clinton, North Carolina, 545 miles SSW

417 kHz: HQT in Coats - Harnett, North Carolina, 528 miles SSW

417 kHz: SLP in Shelby - First River, North Carolina, 642 miles SW

Receiver used: ICOM IC-R8600
Antennas used: Hy-Gain 18 AVT/WB-A except three asterisked (*) loggings: 80-meter inverted Vee antenna,