Welcome to my virtual shack! I am a ham radio operator holding Extra-class callsign K7WV.   Having been an avid shortwave listener and MW DXer for the prior 23 years, I finally took the plunge into ham radio in 1994 after leaving the Air Force. With the difficulty involved in operating from condos & apartments, I have had to wait until the purchase of my present QTH to become active.  As of 1999 I am QRV, making contacts and collecting cards from here in the greater Seattle area (Brier, Washington grid CN87ut).  Here are my previous briefly held licenses and callsigns:

 
I never was a Novice or Tech, but a General from day one, having been a walk-in, sitting for and passing three writtens and the 13wpm code.  I then advanced a class at each subsequent testing session at the CFARS club (administered every two months) in North Carolina until I had my Extra two testing sessions (four months) later. Despite this I never made an HF contact using my ex-calls.

I obtained my present "1x2"callsign through the FCC's "Vanity Callsign Program" (Gate 1).  My Amateur Extra class license is the highest of the amateur license classes and allows me full priveleges on all bands authorized to the radio amateur.  The new restructuring rules make it vastly easier to obtain this class of license.  I had to pass a 20 wpm morse test; today the morse requirement is no more, devaluing the specialness of the Extra license somewhat (at the time only 5% of hams were Extra) but still the one to get for full privileges.

I went QRV on Aug 15 1999 on the 40 - 10 & 6 meter bands. (Also have 2M FM). The antenna for 40 thru 12 is still a "DXEE" 40-foot-long "shortened" dipole with resonator coils, mounted above the rooftop as an inverted V.  Not a great performer but I did just manage to work KC4AAA at the South Pole with it on 20M. [Nov 19 2000]  Installed homebrew 2-element monoband yagi for 10 meters.  [Mar 11 2001] 100th DXCC country worked on 10M.  [Sep 10 2001] QRV on PSK31, RTTY and SSTV modes.

On the "Magic Band" (6M) I'm using a 3-element yagi up 30 feet (9 meters), running 100 watts. In May 2000 I went QRV and started working toward VUCC. The 6-meter VUCC award requires 100 grid squares confirmed by QSL.  My grid count is currently 214 worked, 158 confirmed.and I hold 50 Mhz VUCC #1105, the first to be awarded in the new millennium. I'm now chasing 6M WAS. I only need 1 more state (KY) and would certainly have worked it already with a 5-element antenna (future upgrade?) UPDATE: The 3-element antenna was destroyed by a falling tree along with the rest of the yagis, and I had a "water in the cable "issue before that. As of July 2014 replacement antenna and cable are deployed and upgraded (Davis 9914F and M2 6M3) and I am finally back in the game.

I hope to be QRV on 144 Mhz SSB with 20 watts using a modified Microwave Modules transverter and 7-element M2 antenna. I actually have 2 of these antennas now as I was able to repair the damaged one from the tree fall. I can therefore dedicate one each to horizontal and vertical polarization.

Most of my ham operating time is dedicated to 6 and 10 meters since I have gain antennas for these bands and there are multiple propagation types and opportunities.  Max RF power output is 100 watts HF-6M.  I do not at present use a linear amp on any bands.

Click on buttons below for more details:
 

DXCC Progress...Click for my countries/entities worked and QSL status:
Progress Toward 6-meter WAS showing states worked/confirmed since May 2000:
6-meter grids of Japan worked (via F2 propagation November-December 2001):
Grid map for tracking my 6M VUCC progress; shows worked/confirmed since May 2000:
Map of the 40 DX zones of the world and my progress toward the Worked All Zones award
Details and images of Ham Radio Awards achieved by K7WV (incl. WAS, VUCC, WAC)

My QTH is sited atop steeply sloping, wooded 1/3 acre 13 miles (21 km) north of downtown Seattle. Downward slope to the NE. I am 4.5 miles E of the Puget Sound (salt water) and 3.3 miles N of Lake Washington.  Within 1 mile ridges to the SW and E rise about 200' higher than the property, with a clear shot to the N and SE.  Mt Rainier is visible from the rooftop. All ham antennas are roof-mounted at this time. QTH Elevation: 272' (82.9 meters) MSL.

   Stack with 2-element 10m , 3-element 6m & 7-element 2m antennas installed on NE side of house. 

     

My operating position downstairs. Click any pic to enlarge.

           

Here is my self-designed QSL card to go with my callsign:

Like one?  Just work me on the air or send a reception report!   

   Transceivers/Transverters/Receivers
   Icom IC-756 HF+6m Transceiver (the original 756, a superb performer, purchased new)
  Yaesu FT2500M 5-25-50 watt 2M FM Transceiver
  Microwave Modules MM 28-144 2M SSB Transverter (Mod: output doubled to 20W) My MMT unit
  Icom R71A quad-conversion HF Receiver, Collins mech filter mod (6.0 & 2.4 khz), 6 other upgrade mods
  Wouxun KG-UV2D Inexpensive but decent quality HT with backlit buttons, mine selected for 2M and 220 Khz.
  Also have the optional hand mic and programming cable.
  Antennas
  Alpha-Delta DX-EE (multi-wire shortened dipole 10-40M) Used to work the South Pole on 20M, and 40M WAS work
  Alpha-Delta DX-SWL sloper (erected as an SWL receive ant, makes a usuable 20-80M xmit ant)
  Cushcraft A50-3S 6-meter yagi (3-element) DESTROYED! Used to achieve VUCC and 49 states confirmed.
  Replaced with M2 6M3, now at QTH. (Deployed on rotor and operational Jun 2014) Pic HERE
  Homebrew 10-meter monoband yagi (2-element, AA1DO's "Two on 10" from Apr '99 QST) DESTROYED! (Rebuilt as of 2014)
  (Re-deployed on rotor and operational Jan 2014)
  M2 2M7 2-meter SSB Yagi (7-element, horizontal polarization) DESTROYED! Replacement at QTH,
  original is repairable which testifies to the M2 build quality. One will be deployed vertically, dedicated for FM on a non-conductive mast.
  Cushcraft A148-3S 2-meter FM (3-element verical polarization) for remote use, "mountain topping".
  Davis 9914F* runs for 2 & 6 meters, RG213 for the DXEE, RG8X for the 10 meter beam.
  * Replaces Belden 9913F which took on water after several years of excellent performance. 9914F is not hollow like 9913F.

  Accessory Equipment
  Channel Master HD/9515A rotor (to turn above 3 monoband yagis for 10, 6, 2 meters) The motor seized and failed after 19 years of good service. Replaced the motor (only) with the
  CM 45-12931 which appears identical and yes, the original "30-volt" indoor azimuth selector is compatible. However, this rotor seems considerably more loose and poorly made. It works perfectly, 
   but I will replace with a reliable Yaesu G-450A in 2018. HERE is the new rotor motor installation in place with 6-meter and 10 meter yagis (Nov 1, 2017).
  Tokyo Hy-Power HC200AT 200W autotuner (upgrade / replacement for MFJ 969 below) (*This company went bankrupt in 2013. Loved the name, Tokyo being my favorite city on the planet)
  MFJ 969 roller inductor antenna tuner which works great (now relegated to backup duty for autotuner above)
  MFJ 921 144 / 220 Mhz Tuner (hamfest purchase)
  Astron RS-35M 35-amp linear regulated DC power supply with current and volt meters
  Pyramid PS-14K 14-amp linear regulated DC power supply For 50-watt FM units
  Icom SM8 Desk Mic. Discontinued, but many reports of "good audio" and many asked which mic I was using.
  Bencher BY-2 iambic paddles on chrome base
  NanoVNA H4 antenna, coax and ferrite choke analyzer
  Autek Research QF-1A audio filter
  Radio Shack straight key, all-metal "ball bearing" type (1971 vintage)
  Hakko 936-12 Soldering Station
  Davis Vantage Pro II Weather Station with internet uplink, Weather Underground online station KWABRIER4
  WeatherLink 5.8.2 and Virtual Weather Station V.14 Weather Station - Internet interface
   Digital Equipment
  Dell XPS 8700 with Intel I7-4790 CPU
  Dell U-2415 Ultrasharp 24-inch monitor
  MFJ-1205 Rig interface for digital modes (replaces BuxComm unit below, USB connection and cables/jumper chips available for any rig)
  BuxComm RASCAL (original, kit) works wonderfully but obsolete (uses serial connector)
  Software: Digipan 1.6d / MMSSTV 1.04 / MMTTY 1.61 (used long ago, will download new software)

Alternative / renewable power devices for remote MW/LW DXpeditions and category 1E Field Day ops at full 100W:

    This collection of new and discontinued solar panels was acquired over many years. They work very well together and can fully charge a half-depleted 35 AH AGM battery in about 3 hours.

    Sunsei 18-watt solar panel/ Instapark 30-watt solar panel/ 2 GoalZero Boulder 15-watt panels Total: 78 Watts. Note: now upgraded to 90 Watts.
   [The older Sunsei (top of pic) is amorphous silicon, the others are monocrystalline silicon] UPDATE: The 18-watt Sensei panel was retired as obsolete. Replacement is a modern 30W
   Monocrystalline silicon. System power is now 90W and all mono silicon (which is to the liking of the Genasun MPPT charge controller). My 90-Watt Present System as of November 2020.
   The Sensei panel, being amorphous silicon, has certain low light and hot environment advantages and can still be plugged into the wiring harness if desired.
   Self made custom wiring harness connects 1, 2, 3, 4 or all of the above solar modules in parallel and outputs to Anderson Powerpoles.
   Solar Module Clips Quick release levers fasten panels together at campsite or release for easier transport
   Solar DC Power Box (MTM SPUD6-40) with the following built in (less the inverter which is carried loose inside)  Nov 2020: Improvements made to include state-of-charge meter.
    MTM SPUD6 dry box to contain battery, charge controllers, cables, watt meters and inverter for renewable field power (inspired by KF7IJZ's video)
    15A Powerpole inputs from solar modules and 45A Powerpole outputs from battery
   Sunsei CC10000 10-Amp 2-stage PWM-type charge controller (now the backup to MPPT controller below)
   Genasun GV-5 5-amp true MPPT charge controller for SLA batteries only
   DPDT toggle switch to instantly switch between charge controllers for comparative purposes
   AGM-type 35 AH deep cycle Battery (for remote field power; will operate the Icom 100W transceiver at full xmit power. About 210 Watt-Hrs to 50% depletion)
   AGM -type 9 AH deep cycle Battery for Perseus field use when more portability and less overnight power is required
   Watts Up WU-100-B inline DC power analyzer for solar charging measurements to battery (solar charge input)
   [In the above linked pic 53.9 watts is being produced and input from 3 of my solar modules (63 watt rated) using the MPPT charge controller]
   Turnigy 130A backlit DC power analyzer for measuring output (power consumption) from battery
   [In the above linked image we see 0.43 amps or 5.4 watts being consumed by two Light-a-Life camping lights]
   West Mountain Radio RigRunner 4005 Fused DC power distribution unit
   Anderson Power Poles to connect up panels, CCs, Rig Runner , battery and power analyzers
    Samlex 300-watt pure sine wave inverter for powering full size monitor, TV, satellite receiver and other 120VAC
    NOCO Genius G1100 smart charger for ultrasafe, low-impact charging of 6V and 12V AGM and Li-ION batteries when AC power is available, 1.1 amp max

    Future: Conversion from SLA battery to LiFePO4 battery. This will also involve new charge controller(s). I like Genasun as they are compact and not "sweep and sleep" like cheaper units'
   However they cannot be used for both types of battery, they are Pb or Li specific. I may purchase a commercial power box as they are readily available.

I have been intriqued with the hobby of "DXing" (seeking distant signals) on the AM broadcast band (Medium Wave) since 1970, when I started keeping a log.  I had logged 35 states and over 600 stations from both Albuquerque, NM and later on, Fayetteville, NC.  From here at my home in the Seattle area I have logged over 660 stations, around 90 trans-Pacific stations such as JOZB 1512 Matsuyama, Japan at 5KW, and 3RN 756 khz Wangaratta, Australia at 10KW.  In addition, 14 Alaskans and 5 Hawaiians are in the MW logbook. 36 US states on MW and on the expanded band I have heard 1KW stations on the east coast and even copied a 60 watt TIS station in Texas clearly from this QTH. Primary equipment has been the KIWA loop or large homebrew loops with the modded Icom R71A and a phaser, and as of Nov 2009, the Perseus SDR and the ALA-100M combo.  SEE MW LOG

X-band: The expanded AM broadcast segment from 1610-1700 Khz presented for several years a clear window of opportunity to hear 1kw AM stations on the opposite coast. (Almost all X-band stations operate 10kw day/1kw night). In 1998 I logged NJ, FL, AL, GA and more.  This seldom occurs now that around 60 stations are operating in the band but can still be accomplished on occasion (it helps to use an SDR to make lots of overnight TOH recordings). The Feb 2011 catch of WBCN 1660 Charlotte, and WHKT 1650 Portsmouth, VA in April 2011 are examples.

Another window of opportunity, the enjoyment of listening to distant-market AM stations online has closed thanks to the lawyers. So once again mediumwave DXing is the only way to listen to distant markets with the local flavor (commercials, weather and announcements) intact. Even the 10" Select-a-tenna is at times able to bring in Midwesterns like WLW, WHO, KSTP, etc with listenable signal strength. The 12" KIWA loop does alot better and my homemade 42" gets stuff that doesnt even register on the commercial loops. For years I have been using a self-made 60-inch monster loop for AM broadcast with great results. Now, the outdoor Wellbrook ALA-100M broadband loop is outperforming everything when used with Perseus.

Updates: The 5-foot (1.5 meter) MW loop is complete and is proving it's worth with dozens of first-time loggings (Examples: KENI 650 Anchorage, CHWO 740 Toronto and around 20 Trans-Pacifics such as CNR-1 639 Beijing and JOBK 666 Osaka). Nine turns of #16 surplus wire tunes 510-1830 KHz.

The Alpha Delta DX-SWL Sloper was installed in 2007 and is currently being phased against the 5-foot loop to enable deep steerable nulls using the Quantum Phaser. This has put dozens of new stations in the log in since I acquired the phaser. I have been able to null everything local except KIRO 710 to reveal stations underneath.

May 2008: I am now using the above two antennas and phaser to feed the Perseus SDR, along with a DX Engineering RP1-A preamp. "Drift Net DX-ing" is a reality with the 1600 Khz record feature!

Nov 2009: ALA-100M operational, feeding Perseus. Five Russian LW stations, new MW catches from N. Korea and Taiwan on a morning referred to as "very poor" on the IRCA email reflector. New loggings from CA and MT during the day, Brownsville TX on 1700 in the early evening, all on the first day.  Some fun! Loop element oriented NW/SE and exhibiting directionality.

Dec 2009: Added 2nd loop element E-W. New 375-watt ND station KDDR, and KDKA Pittsburgh in the log right away, 25-watt NDB from MI on longwave. Highly directional, like the original loop element. Performance eclipses anything I've ever used here.

Jun 2010: I have acquired an MSI Wind U-100 netbook, quality 2GB Corsair RAM and factory overclocking BIOS. This opens up Perseus portable ops by battery power for full 1600 Khz spectrum recording to the internal 160GB drive or a 3.5" internal drive in a USB docking station. My unit records 1600Khz of spectrum perfectly and will soon be deployed at a seaside State Park. The solar recharged 35-AH AGM battery should supply endless power for tent camping and Perseus ops. I have acquired the necessary equipment to operate without noisy inverters.

                          
                             Sailor R108 marine radio receiving KXL 750                                    The EEB-moded Icom R71A and Ameco TPA                              

Quantum Phaser in operation                                          DX Sloper Apex / Lead-In    

Equipment I'm using for MW/LW DX reception:

    Kiwa air core inductor loop (12" indoor antenna with remote control panel and preamp, unit # 1376)
    Palomar Engineers LA-1 amplifier base + plug-in BCB Loop (6-inch ferrite)
    Homebrew plug-in ferrite 12" head for longwave (homebuilt in 1996 for use with Palomar LA-1)
    42-Inch (just over 1-meter) spiral-wound air core loop (homebrew, built for Sailor R-108)
    60-Inch (1.5 meter) spiral-wound air core loop (homebrew)
    Wellbrook ALA100M Wide-bandwidth single-turn loop for LW/MW DX with Perseus, current loop: NNE/SSW. Also used on DXpeditions. Purchased in 2009.
    Wellbrook FLG100LN Originally purchased for broadband experiments with FSLs, now in use at the home QTH for the NW/SE loop. Also used on DXpeditions. Purchased in 2013.
   Wellbrook ALA100LN The newest loop from Wellbrook, purchased (2017) as a replacement for the ALA100M. Some interior wires and a diode broke inside
      the ALA100M bias tee during a DXpedition, rendering it dead. Ordered this as a replacement but I have since fully repaired the ALA100M
      and it is back in service as good as new. I have set this up in place of the 100M (new, bigger NE/SW wire loop created) and dedicated the 100M to air 
      travel and experimental use (big loop on a rotor, vactrol tests). The ALA-100M has been withdrawn from production so I'm glad I have a working one.
      You may have noticed that I am a big fan of these broadband loop antennas made in the UK. They are well made and work well. 50 Khz - 30 Mhz.
      NOTE: Andy Ikin, owner of Wellbrook, has retired and these products are no longer available for order.
    Mini-Whip antenna kits Ebay purchase of two unassembled kits; PA0RDT circuit design.
   PA0RDT Mini-Whip antenna, assembled, ready to use.  This fully assembled 3-piece PA0RDT unit was acquired from DXer Chris Black (N1CP). To be purposed for LW beacon hunting at home and/or away.
    Daiwa CS-201A Two of these 2-way antenna switches picked up used at a hamfest for $20. Used when the phaser is not needed to quickly switch antennas at the home QTH.
    Common Mode Choke 1:1 using type 77 material in a 2.4 inch toroid for LW/MW. For DXpedition use in supressing noise.
    Select-A-Tenna 10" tunable loop with mutual inductive coupling. I have 2 of these classics.
    C Crane Twin Coil Ferrite powered 8-inch ferrite rod for use with ultralights for portable DX ops. Works surprisingly well.
    Icom R71A general coverage receiver, EEB High Performance Package #7 (mods include dual
     Collins mechanical filters , AGC time constant changes, front-end upgrade, audio section upgrade
     and more). After 22 years of ownership it was the finest MW DX machine I'd used until I placed the
     2008 order for my Perseus SDR). Seldom used anymore.
   Autek Research QF-1A CW/ SSB filter, hamfest purchase, enhances audio out using analog filters, even helps with Perseus for NDBs
   Timewave DSP-59+ Digital audio filter works decently for CW
   Sailor R108 Danish-made marine RDF receiver (150-4500 KHz in four bands, 12-36 volt input) Picked up at Goodwill for $10! Quality navigational unit popular with yacht owners and coastal vessels.
   Perseus SDR I have one after ordering from Woodbox Radio in Italy in Mar 2008. 1600 Khz spectrum record capability
   for "drift net" MW Dxing. The ultimate weapon for MW DXpeditions! 12 years later--still the best!
   Airspy HF+ Discovery I purchased one in 2019 after 11 years with the Perseus as my only SDR. Inexpensive and well made, it works very well indeed. Excellent DXpedition potential on LW.
   Sanshin Electric Co. FR-662B "Coastal Navigator" Marine RDF that I picked up at Goodwill 20 years ago, perfect classic rig (~1970) for the "Barn Door CLE" events we have at NDBlist.
   Realistic DX-302 General coverage receiver (My primary unit 1981-1986; inop and not currently used;
     freqency readout restored as I have secured several rare and obsolete M54826P replacement chips) NOTE: I acquired two chips from an Australian vendor that I found online.
    Grundig G8 ultralight with advanced DSP chip for MW/FM for portable DX ops. Excels at FM. My first ultralight.
    C Crane Skywave (original) Another DX ultralight of good reputation. Great all-around radio in a small package.
    3-inch and 7-inch FSLs shown below in Ferrite Sleeve Loop Antennas section
   Aiworth voice / audio recording device: Records ultralight + FSL output using "Line in"
   Marantz PMD620 professional recording handheld, records to SD cards. MP3 and WAV from "line in"
    Carver TX11a (modified to 11b standards) wideband AM stereo tuner
    Ameco TPA 1980's active tunable preselector, modified w/ aluminum internal shielding
    MFJ 16010 long wire antenna tuner
    Quantum Phaser A well built and highly useful tool for MW DX. Some pots and switches worn but functional. A well-built Misek-Lankford phaser (on loan) outperformed the Quantum by a moderate but clear margin in personal testing.
    Misek/Lankford Phaser: I have acquired my own hand-built "Misek/Lankford Phaser 2, Version 7" from builder Everett Sharp N4CY.
    DX Engineering RPA-1 low noise RF preamp
    MCL ZSC-3-2 3-way splitter .01-30 Mhz
    Alpha-Delta DX-SWL Sloper (outdoor MW/SW antenna with resonator coils)
   Dell 11 3000 series "2 in 1" netbook, 2 TB Samsung EVO 860 SSD,  Pentium N3540
   Sennheiser HD 579 Headphones "Hi-Fi" type beats "Communications" type for Broadcast DXing
   Griffin PowerMate A real knob for tuning SDR radios such as Perseus / SDR-IQ.
    Sola 5V 3A Linear Regulated Power Supply SLS-05-030-1 for ultra-quiet powering of Perseus with AC mains
   Jameco linear regulated "wall wart" 12V power supplies (3). Used to fight line noise at Casa-Sea-Esta where it's very raspy.
   NanoVNA H4 antenna analizer. New purchase to analyze antennas, coax and ferrite chokes.

   Co-Channel Cancellation with Airspy SDR# software (2022)
   Airspy's SDR# improved Co-Channel Canceller (2024)

See Alternative/ DXpedition power devices shown under Amateur equipment above
   Futurlec MiniPower 12 - 5VDC regulated converter board for quiet, inverterless portable/vehicle ops with Perseus
   PowerWerx USB Buddy 3A 5VDC converter from 12VDC input for powering Perseus and phone charging. Best used with foil wrap at DXpeditions.

I attended my first Grayland DXpedition on the coast of WA on the weekend of Oct 20 2007. The experience was a revelation and I learned much from the expert veteran DXers present. It gave me a totally new outlook on what equipment I should be looking at acquiring/ making for future DXpeditions as well as at home. My first experience with Beverage antennas! To see my log click HERE. After seeing SDR units in action (SDR-IQs) at Grayland I was astounded and had to have one. After conducting research I purchased a PERSEUS from Italy a few months later in Mar, 2008.  This is the future of MW DXing. Looking forward for a return to Grayland!

Update: Attended a two night Grayland DXpedition Oct 04 2008 weekend with the Perseus SDR and full MW spectrum record capability. The DX rolled in on the NW Beverage. 24 Alaskans with ID's, over 40 JAs including 1 KW stations plus the usual S. Korea, N. Korea, China and Russia tier 1 stations. Also heard: Taiwan, Philippines, Vietnam and Thailand, all on MW. My log is HERE.

Big Loops I made in 2004:

 
                                            

The 42-inch (107 cm) spiral-wound MW air core loop (13 turns #20 wire and salvaged variable cap) connected to Sailor R108. Tunes 480-1790 Khz with astounding performance. No metal used in the plane of the windings. All of my big loops feature an inner sense loop at the optimized distance from the main windings for direct inputs to receiver terminals.

The same design philosophy was used to build this 60-inch (1.5 meter) monster loop. Both big loops typically far exceed the superb Kiwa Loop gain-wise and equal it in nulling performance. The nulling ability was a truly surprising result considering that Litz wire and a "balanced" winding scheme were not used. Size matters! However the unwieldly size is also the main disadvantage as portability is not an option.   FERRITE SLEEVE LOOP ANTENNAS Ultralight MW/LW enthusiasts have recently developed Ferrite Sleeve Loop (FSL) antennas. Compact and portable, they perform like much larger air core loops. These were made by Gary DeBock in 2012 for reception enhancement of ultralight radios. Local DXer Gary DeBock, using an FSL wound for longwave, has successfully received trans-Pacific NDBs from a seaside overlook location on a Tecsun ULR. Read about it HERE. As thrilling are the robust MW signals from New Zealand and Australia that enthusiasts are hearing from the location. As of Sep 2012 it appears that FSL's have been successfully adapted for broadbanding to an SDR such as Perseus. This is an exciting breakthrough that unlocks previously impossible DXing locations such as those cliffside pulloffs overlooking the ocean. With a Perseus and an FSL you could set up on a picnic table anywhere and record spectrum! 7-INCH FSL 02/23/2013 Update: Gary has provided me with a 7-inch FSL optimized for MW and broadbandable to Perseus using a Wellbrook FLG-100LN preamp. When the preamp arrives, I will be comparing this lightweight and compact unit at first with the non-broadband 5-foot air core loop, the KIWA loop, Palomar Loop, and the broadband Wellbrook ALA-100M (with a short wire loop to compare nulls). I should also have a PA0RDT Mini-Whip assembled by then as well. Then I intend to take it DXpeditioning to the coast. The "Rockwork 4" cliffside site in Oregon in particular should maximize the advantage of this FSL and its small profile. This FSL weighs in at 7.5 lbs. Meanwhile, Gary is working on a 12" FSL, one each for MW and LW, to be ready for this summer's DX season. 03/12/2013 Update: The Wellbrook FLG100LN has arrived and now broadband testing with Perseus will begin! 03/22/2013  It really works! However the signal strength is way below the ALA-100M and a short loop of wire which is my standard reference. In practice at the Oregon cliffside sites where unusual NZL MW/LW enhancement occurs, The ALA-100M and a short 40-foot circumference loop appears the best compact broadband performer to try there. 02/23/2014 Having consulted with FSL creator Gary DeBock at Bruce Portzer's 2014 DXer get-together, I will be adding a variable cap to the 7" FSL (preferably one with vernier control if I can find one) and tuning it like a standard loop as the broadband output with the FLG100LN is exceedingly low as opposed to the ALA-100M and a short length of wire (The ALA-100M also hears LW and MW simultaneously without tuning). Direct comparison to my big air core loops and the KIWA can then be made (which I am most curious about), and key benefits of the FSL (compact size) can be exploited at ocean side State Park campsites and other situations where wire deployment is impractical. Gary has outfitted his 12" MW model with large diameter Litz wire for even greater sensitivity and equipped it with a High/Low band switch with separate windings.  Update: I have added the latest and highly regarded 384pf 8.1 drive air variable to this 7-inch FSL. I'm thinking of upgrading the Litz wire to 1162/46 as well although I have not worked with it before (maybe it is time I learned). A compact lightweight FSL for car trips where DXing may be a secondary reason for travel, but the opportunity might arise. I have also obtained a solid-state recording device for this use. Note: Upgraded Litz wire is still available on ebay. THE FSL BROADBANDING EXPERIMENT'S WELLBROOK MODULE The FLG100LN is the RF amp of choice for use with a DKAZ and other highly successful wire antennas being used at Grayland so it has readily found new uses. My most successful Rockwork 4 DXpedition sessions made use of it, including the 2017 DXpedition and every subsequent Rockwork DXpedition since, including 2022. It seems more resistant to adjacent splatter than the ALA100M and record MW/LW hauls have resulted. It again produced record results at the cliffs in 2019, and at Grayland 2019 a month later, and it is my main NW/SE antenna at the home QTH. I now own and use 3 different Wellbrook modules with great results. A 'BABY' FSL! 08/07/2017 Thanks to Gary I am now working with a newly designed 3.5-inch "Baby FSL" (pictured below at "Rockwork 4"), one of the "frequent flier" types which is light and designed for air travel portability, even OK to be taken onboard as a carry-on. Sometimes when traveling there is just no suitable location to set up a Perseus and Wellbrook loop, laptop, power supply and cables in the predawn darkness with hotel security, parking lot surveillance and so on. It has happened to me (Kona, Hawaii in 2015 for example). One can still enjoy DXing from a hotel balcony (noise permitting) or beach nearby with one of these and an "ultralight" like the CCrane Skywave or Grundig G8 (the two I own), and capture exotic station IDs and music on a small recording device. You can carry everything easily and take up a few square feet attracting little attention. These are passive devices requiring no power. I gave this unit a tryout at Madras, OR the night prior to the solar eclipse. Works very well indeed! This DXing style is reminiscent of my youth as a USAF Navigator in the 1980s when I used to travel with a battery powered radio-recorder and a Select-A-Tenna and tune stations overnight from places like Kwajalein and Guam. A guy approached me one night in Antigua and thought I was playing a video game (actually I was DXing Venezuelans). Mostly, you can go unnoticed. I have tested the Baby FSL against the 10-inch Select-A-Tenna and the FSL easily outperforms it. Mine is the older version "frequent Flier", Gary is now making them with ferrite bars; lighter and no loss of performance. One upgrade to mine is the 384P air variable with 8.1 drive which Gary claims offers superior tuning performance. Incidentally, Gary is now working with a 15-inch monster that is probably the largest FSL in the world. I have seen it in action. But refinements of these small ones seems to be the current focus of FSL developers. The law of diminishing returns appears to have made greater than 15-inch models impractical for the size, weight and cost involved.   RECENT WEST COAST MW/LW DXPEDITIONING WITH PERSEUS              08/07/2024  Rockwork Ocean Cliff DXpedition Aug 2024 results The 14th annual, my 12th visit and my 10th straight year of attendance. MW results now posted. NDB results also posted which exceeded 2023 totals and impressively favoring NZL. MW reception on 08/06/2024 was much better than last year with robust signals and officially the most Kiwi-centric session I have ever experienced here. Fiji One 558 was in at armchair levels yet again. Aug 07 was good for Longwave only, but decent on that band with 17 Fr. Polynesians and both Cook Islands beacons in. 11 Hawaiians on MW was rather sparse but a lot better than Grayland a week earlier, and we only had 2 mornings here. The solar max condx continue to take their toll but very decent DX is still to be had. After years of QRM the KTIL spur on 1710 (heard as far away as Haida Gwaii, BC) is finally gone, allowing renewed reception of "Part 15" station KHMB and TIS/HAR DX on 1710 Khz. EARLY AUGUST ROCKWORK DXPEDITIONS COMPARED [MW] YEAR HAWAIIANS KIWIS AUSSIES DU's # DAYS RATIO 2015 14 58 29 87 3 2:1 2017 16 72 41 113 5 7:4 2018 17 64 45 109 5 7:5 2019 16 65 36 101 5 7:4 2020 18 74 53 127 4 7:5 2021 17 83 74 157 4 9:8 2022 12 82 26 108 3 3:1 2023 14 40 33 73 4 5:4 2024 11 68 20 88 2 7:2 08/01/2024  Casa-Sea-Esta DXpedition (Grayland) Jul 2024 results A 3-morning coastal DXpedition with 5 DXers in attendance. The first night (Jul 30) was pretty good with at least 57 MW Australians and 37 Kiwis in for 94 DUs. The next two mornings were very poor. Results posted. There will probably not be an October 2024 DXpedition. We all have intervening issues :-( 10/20/2023  Casa-Sea-Esta DXpedition (Grayland) Oct 2023 results  This is the 3-day October DXpedition to Grayland, WA that we hold annually. NDB results were outstanding to Alaska and Russia, with 33 Alaskans and 5 stations north of the Arctic Circle in. New MW beacon TF 786 from Russia heard all 3 nights. MW had some highlights too: 25 Alaskans in early in the evening on the 18th including two Fairbanks and both Nome stations. 17 Hawaiians also in for an excellent 42 AK+HI station count, only exceeded once (in 2022) by one station. Dawn on the 18th featured good AUS and NZL including a lively Australian X-Band. Interesting low power US stuff such as half-watt KHMB on 1710 Khz. That about sums up the good news. Otherwise, for Japan, Korea, Taiwan and China the conditions were well below average. Only 46 Japan stations and 11 China does not compare well to our previous October exploits here at Grayland. Sunspots take their toll at peak of cycle. 08/05/2023  Rockwork DXpedition Aug 2023 results A 4-day cliffside DXpedition with two guest DXers put 3 of us on the cliff each morning.  With the sunspots hitting 20-year highs the conditions were degraded but far from absent entirely. All logs complete. We were light on MW stations, especially upper band lower powered Kiwis, but did manage a new station for me at this location: 6PNN 1152 from Western Australia. There was a surprise Pacific beacon in the NDB logs and four Australian beacons and 2 Kiwis did make it on LW. No AUS or NZL beacons heard at either Grayland DXpedition this year. We were treated to awesome full lunar sea reflections and extreme low tides this time exposing interesting sea life in tide pools after our DX session 06/30/2023  Casa-Sea-Esta (Grayland International DXpedition) 2023 results  NDB log and MW logs complete. There were good and robust signals heard on high band MW and some rare stations from Australia and NZL (at least 70 Kiwis and 45 Aussies identified). Hawaiians numbered 18 and were very strong including the graveyard KEWE 1240. Just days after the Summer Solstice, a surprising 11 Alaskans were in including graveyard KIFW 1230. This DXpedition greatly exceeded expectations despite a 20 year high sunspot count. On LW a few South Pacific beacons made it including Samoa otherwise condx to the SW were poor although Alaska was good on LW too. A pleasure to DX once again with Naka-san (Hiroo Nakagawa) from the Totsuka DXers Circle in Yokohama, Japan, a guest of honor. 10/14/2022  Casa-Sea-Esta (Grayland) 2022 results (160' DKAZ at 290°) Best Japan ever, over 100 stations including the elusive MARTIS stations on 1663.5 Khz, Three Russian MW beacons and also TM 1630 from NZL. Outstanding Alaska with 30 MW and 35 LW. Best China I've ever heard with at least 42 stations. 1 KW stations from both China and Taiwan. All logs complete and posted, with audio clips added. 08/07/2022  Rockwork DXpedition 2022 results Complete logs posted. Aus/Nzl/Pac NDBs down considerably from 2021. MW: Very New Zealand centric with much fewer Aus than usual but 6WA was in. Massive haul of Kiwis, at least 82. Triple digits on number of DUs once again. Only 12 Hawaiians. 10/16/2021 Rockwork DXpedition II 2021 MW In Work, LW NDB results published. 38 Alaskans, 2 Russians, 26 Australians. My first good Northern Path DX observed from here with excellent AUS also. 10/01/2021  Grayland DXpedition Sept/Oct 2021 A 3-night DX session at Casa Sea-Esta. A number of unusual / previously unheard stations were in this time, particularly abundant Vietnam and Taiwan. See linked page for complete results. 08/06/2021 Rockwork DXpedition I 2021 See linked web page for my MW and NDB results. A record 85 AUS/NZL/PAC NDBs ID'd includes 35 from AUS alone. MW numbers: 83 Kiwis ID'd, 74 Australians for an overwhelming personal best. Yes, I finally did find a solid parallel for 6WA at 1312 on 8/5, a program discussing rare book prices // 4QR 612. Since I also logged 8AL Alice Springs, all AUS states were heard. The MW Log spreadsheet may be downloaded HERE for sorting or combining purposes. Otherwise see the dedicated website HERE. 10/29/2020  Grayland DXpedition Oct 2020 Another 3-night October Grayland DXpedition was held at Casa Sea Esta Oct 26, 27, 28. DXers Chuck Hutton, Jeroen Bet and myself were in attendance, with Bruce Portzer joining us for the third night. Details and results on the linked web page. 08/11/2020  Rockwork DXpedition 2020 Yes, two of us did hold one on this 10th anniversary of DXpeditioning from these Highway 101 pulloffs in spite of Covid-19 with great results. Details on the linked web page.   09/10/2019 Post-IRCA Convention: Grayland DXpedition (Sep 2019)  At the conclusion of the 2019 IRCA Convention (held in Tukwila, WA this year) a major DXpedition was held in Grayland with both Breakwater Inn and Casa Sea-Esta manned by numerous veteran DXers from the US, Canada and Japan. By far the biggest DXpedition I have ever attended. I was with the Breakwater bunch for 2 of the 4 nights. In addition to the 160-foot shared DKAZ, I put up the small flag for LW action, the same setup as used at Rockwork. The Casa-Sea-Esta folks had their own 160-foot DKAZ. Australia produced personal record hauls for me on both MW and LW. On Longwave from my own dedicated LW antenna, AUS beacons were in with a vengeance on Day 2. I noticed many during live listening such as COM, CWR, even previous personal distance record holder WYY in Tasmania, now a new personal NDB distance record of 13197 km /8202 mi (Grayland is farther away from AUS than Rockwork, OR where WYY was first heard in NA a month earlier). 395 MER (49 watts) was heard for a North American "first" while trading places with PMQ on the same frequency and 401 ARM is another "NA first". Finally, 49-watt LTV 486 was found during file review, making for a 4th NA First. In all a personal record 16 AUS beacons. Interestingly, 12 of the 16 were received by me just one month earlier at Rockwork. So they are stations that get out well and make good West Coast targets. Curiously, other than the robust AUS beacons, all of the other Pacific/DU beacons fell short of the record Rockwork ocean cliffs results a month prior. 21 new beacons were added to the Grayland NDB logs (I have only had good NDB results there on one prior occasion, 2016). Results listed here: 2019 Grayland DXpedition Page (IRCA) MW results: In just two DX sessions: Over 230 DX stations! 14 Alaskans and 19 Hawaiians with IDs. Absolutely massive haul of 85 Australians with IDs is by far a personal record. ALL Aussie states including NT (8AL 783 Alice Springs) were in. The X-band was the best I have ever heard it, most frequencies with 2 AUS stations or more and audio on every channel. The unid Greek station on 1692 Khz now known to be Radio Symban, at 60 watts! At least 45 Kiwis in as well for 130 DU's, and probably more can be mined from the recordings. This blows away DU results totals at the Rockwork cliffs although here it is Australia-centric rather than NZ-centric. The elusive 2 KW "More FM" 531 Khz (Alexandra, NZ) was finally heard at a west coast location other than Rockwork although it was much weaker than typical cliffside reception. I did hear two good IDs. It has been tried for many times at Grayland and Sans Souci, Oregon closely timed to the early August Rockwork DXpedition but not heard anywhere else in North America until now. Fine showing of Pacifics with both Kiribatis, Tuvalu, Fiji, Tonga, Guam, Marshalls and so on. Japan reception definitely subdued with slightly over half the usual station count (33 heard) of a typical October DXpedition here. Some N/S Korea and China also in but the prominent "big gun" stations only. MW results with audio clips are now up on the dedicated website. On the day after I departed the guys were treated to excellent Alaskans including the Fairbanks area stations (KFBX, KJNP etc) not heard by me since the 2010 Grayland DXpedition. Too bad I had to cut it short at 2 nights due to lack of vacation time from work. There were 9 DXers in attendance so pre-DX we enjoyed some "Shortwave" (the beer from B.C.) and comparison demos of the Airspy HF+ Discovery with Perseus. Totally convinced, I bought one for dedicated DXpedition LW monitoring so I will not need to choose between the DKAZ and the LW flag (and missing DX) in the future. The unit has proved very effective on LW, perhaps a bit cleaner than even Perseus. Most of my peers are already using 2 SDRs or more at these DXpeditions so now I will too. Even live KiwiSDRs are being set up these days for remote DXpedition listening by non-attendees. And as if that was not enough, Nick set up his online "DX Fishbarrel" DX spotting tool at the site as well, which made for some interesting compares with Victoria at the same time. Results, audio clips and pictures are up on my dedicated website: 2019 Grayland DXpedition Page (IRCA). At this years IRCA Convention in Tukwila, WA I was invited to give a presentation about these cliffside DXpeditions. The powerpoint and recorded audio of the talk are available HERE. Go to the 'Seattle 2019' section at the page bottom. 08/08/2019  Rockwork DXpedition 2019 I attended for 5 mornings again this year and encountered astonishing LW NDB reception along with Gary (who wisely switched over to beacon hunting on the two hot mornings), it was great fun with record results from both styles of DXing. Last year's phenomenal NDB total was well exceeded, 8 NDBs never reported heard from North America, and an initial personal NDB distance record of 12907 km (8020 miles) on a beacon of only 49 watts. The brief antenna reorientation towards the NW on a couple mornings also paid off with NDBs received from Alaska to Iwo Jima to Russia and loud Japan MW big guns. MW compilation had to wait until the IRCA Convention and it's related DXpedition to Grayland concluded. Those final results are posted HERE. Once again I was able to DX from Rockwork 4 exclusively for all 5 mornings. The interlopers were not the force to be reckoned with that they were last year, and I was able to share the available set-up space with Craig and Gary (and some of the largest FSLs in the world) all 5 mornings. Record DXpedition NDB Results: K7WV NDB distance record extended to 13147 km (8168 miles) with solid ID from WYY 302 Wynyard, Tasmania (AUS) on Aug 06. Aug 06 was best for AUS while Aug 08 was best for NZL on LW. My NDB results smashed all previous NDB records for a West Coast DXpedition. 10 NZL, 3 AUS and 1 OCE never reported heard from North America. 73 DU / Pacific beacons, a 17 station increase over last year's record, including a record 14 from Australia and a record 18 from NZL. Even here, NZL won out over AUS! The amazing haul from NZL represents 72% of all beacons operating in that distant country. We were also rewarded with ALL known beacons from French Polynesia having been logged from Rockwork. Results with audio clips here: August 2019 Rockwork DXpedition Page. Medium Wave results are posted to the above linked page. Not quite the same record-breaking results here, just slightly off from recent years but still very good. Above 1300 khz it was a bit thin with only around 17 stations in audio over the 5 mornings, and rather weak signals as well. PACIFICS: 16 Hawaiians, Tonga and Fiji, (same as prior years), plus V7AB 1098 at signoff with the Marshallese anthem. ASIA: 11 first tier Japanese, a couple S. Koreans and the 1143 Khz Taiwan Fisheries station in this time, seldom heard during the first week in August. AUS/NZL: 101 DUs overall, 65 Kiwis and 36 Aussies (7 to 4 ratio) which is solid (similar number of Kiwis as last year and just 7 short of my personal record) but overall the hoped-for improvement during the solar minimum did not materialize mainly due to an underperforming upper band. Low band (and especially LW) was king. Results here: August 2019 Rockwork DXpedition. You will always come away with more Kiwis than Aussies on MW here, and 2019 was no exception (see graphic below). The 100 Kiwi MW DXpedition remains an unachieved possibility for future DXers to try for from the NZL-enhanced cliffs. If it happens, it will be here! Update:: I am booked into Manzanita for 4 nights in early Aug 2020. Unknown if guests will be accepted due to COVID-19 but Gary and I plan to be at the cliffs once again! The action is too good to ignore. 10/15/2018 Grayland DXpedition (Oct 2018) I attended a 3 night DXpedition at Casa Sea-Esta, the furnished rental house just a short walk from the old Grayland Motel, with veteran DXers Chuck and Bruce. We set up the 160-foot DKAZ out back and even used a vactrol for the first time which definitely proved beneficial. Propagation was not as great as expected on MW or LW. Not a shut out by any means, but more numbers and exotic fare was expected during "bottom of the cycle" conditions. Unfortunately there was also a lot of QRM as we set up too close to the house, as confirmed by Bill Whitacre who has DXed from there often and sets up on the beach side of the berm with a 400' lead-in coax. We did mitigate the noise somewhat on Day 2 and 3 by turning off switches all over the residence. Even so there were some surprises such as 17 Alaskans on Day 3 (only), 990 Gold FM from Fiji, an excellent ID from 1575 Misawa "The Eagle" and a robust 1440 Kiribati. Also 53 JA's is actually pretty good although we were about there or surpassed that in 2015 and 2016. For the first time we had "graveyard" stations in from both AK and HI likely due to the vactrol. LW was unimpressive with just a few of the more prominent Pacific Beacons like AI 320 and PNI 366 being audible. LW DGPS yielded just two Aussies (of the expected 6). Australia /NZ/Hawaii MW numbers were much reduced from previous years. Upon listening to the MW recordings for logging purposes, the results proved to be somewhat better than my original impression, and the QRM less overwhelming, resulting in some good audio clips to be posted with the log on a dedicated web page. We have already produced a combined 3-DXer log that Chuck reported to the DX community HERE. My updated log may be viewed in detail here along with some pics and many audio clips: October 2018 Grayland DXpedition Page. On a related note, as urged by Bill Whitacre, we visited the new owners of the (former) Grayland Motel and they are almost done refurbishing the cottages, which look nice inside and out. The Motel, now called the Breakwater Inn, is projecting a "Spring 2019" reopening. They seemed pleased to have DXers stay there and no objection to erecting antennas during their stay. The new owners are electrical contractors and are totally re-doing the electrical setup themselves so we will have to assess noise at the site with a tryout DXpedition after they reopen. 08/08/2018  Rockwork DXpedition 2018 I attended for 5 mornings this year and caught outstanding conditions, especially Aug 05, 07 and 08. Curiously and due to "squatters" and limited space, I was the only DXer of the five present to use Rockwork 4 exclusively. Rockwork 3, 5, and 6 were all used by my partners with no apparent effect on results. LW: August 7th and 8th were by far the best for longwave; they were in fact the only days that mattered for NDBs. I thought the 5th was an excellent morning but not so much for LW. The longwave NDB haul is absolutely bedazzling as I have already identified an amazing 56 Australia/NZ/Pacifics (crushing last year's record 39) with 6 stations being first ever loggings from North America, and one being a 2nd-time logging (first heard in 2009). The results may be viewed here: August 2018 Rockwork DXpedition Page. Featured is my farthest ever NDB reception: 332 BHI, Broken Hill, NSW Australia at 7965 miles (12816 KM) and the power is only 100 watts. We also had 6 Australian DGPS stations in solid, and a 7th loggable (a North American "first"), a record haul from DU-land. While onsite I had no idea it was this good. Gary picking out NF-260 on an ultralight on the 8th (for the first time in years) was, it turned out, a great indicator.   MW: Results include 17 Hawaiians identified. One more than last year, and as most mornings include just one TOH opportunity, it's probably the best that one can do cliffside with small portable antennas. "Down Under" MW DX was as impressive as LW with 64 Kiwis and 45 Aussies ID'd, 109 DU's. There were more Australians than I realized, more than received last year, with unusually good reception to South Australia. But again, NZ stations outnumbered AUS by a 7:5 ratio, thanks to the curious NZ-favored cliffside enhancement.The completed MW log is now up and may be viewed on this dedicated page: August 2018 Rockwork DXpedition with numerous audio clips. I am booked for Aug 03-07 2019 for another round of this impessive cliff enhancement. 08/02/2017  Rockwork DXpedition 2017 I attended for 6 mornings this time and caught outstanding conditions on several mornings, particularly the 4th and 5th. My partners were Gary DeBock and Chuck Hutton. My results are now available on this page: August 2017 Rockwork 4 DXpedition Page. MW and LW logs are posted, with numerous MP3 audio clips. 72 Kiwis and 41 Aussies made for 113 DU's on medium wave at the cliff, a new personal record by a wide margin. A 7 to 4 ratio, as always favoring the Kiwis.There were 17 Pacifics heard, including 16 Hawaiians plus Fiji. I did not set up early enough to go after Tonga or Tuvalu (One of the restrictions of "cliffhanger" DXing is that you must set up and tear down for every session, so no overnight timer recording). DXpedition partner Gary DeBock shared in the bounty and now holds the Ultralight World Record for reception of a 10 KW signal with the unexpected appearance of 531 6DL on Aug 04. The longwave results were just as impressive as MW, with a record total haul of 39 DU and Pacific beacons to include 14 of the elusive French Polynesia beacons, plus two Aussie DGPS decodes from Victoria and South Australia that are North American "firsts". The first week of August appears to be the optimum time for this DXpedition and we are scheduled for the same week in Aug 2018. The NZ-centric enhancement offered by this site is for real (7:4 ratio of NZ to AUS stations in 2017) and hopefully we will encourage more SDR and ultralight DXers to consider a Manzanita, OR vacation in 2018. 10/16/2016  Grayland DXpedition (Oct 2016) I attended a 2-day DXpedition with Chuck and Bruce at the Grayland Motel as is usual for me during October (but apparently for the last time). The so called "Storm of the Century" (which did produce a tornado at the other DXpedition hotspot: Manzanita, OR) did not dissuade us from erecting antennas. While no one wanted to set up a Beverage in these conditions, we set up a 160-foot DKAZ at 270 degrees true as we did last year. The morning of the 15th had the MW band full of Filipinos which was most unusual. Chuck and Bruce found 16 while on site in one recorded file. Also some good Japan as the K-index actually dropped to K=2 that morning, and vast numbers of loud Aussies. The next morning on the 16th was terrible during darkness, not even Hawaiians were in. Bruce actually went out and checked the antenna. I went back to bed but came back in for possible dawn enhancement. Wow, we sure got that and now conditions were outstanding. About 1 wonderful hour of Japan and Hawaii, absent earlier, and louder than Day 1. Good IDs from KIPA 1060 Hilo (relaying "102.7 The Beach"), 22 Hawaiians in all, a personal record haul. JOLF 1242 was in long after sunrise and still going well at 15:30 UTC. K=3 that morning. The complete logs are now posted on this dedicated page: October 2016 Grayland DXpedition Page. Conditions exceeded last year in every way with over 65 AUS/NZ, over 20 Philippine stations, well over 50 Japan and vibrant Pacifics such as Marshall Islands, Tuvalu, Guam, Tonga and even Yap, Micronesia. The only downside was static crashes on Sunday from the storm. See 2-year comparison chart below: Very similar propagation numbers but a little more "magic" happened in 2016.   DXpedition Date October 10, 11 2015 October 15, 16 2016 Location Grayland Motel Grayland Motel K-index 2 / 2 2 / 3 Solar Flux 81.4 / 84.6 84.9 / 80.9 Sunspot # 22 / 36 35 / 25 Antenna 160 foot DKAZ 270 degrees 160 foot DKAZ 270 degrees Receiver Perseus SDR Perseus SDR -----STATION COUNTS----- Japan 50 58 Australia 33 47 Hawaii 20 22 Philippines 3 21 New Zealand 12 20 Pacific Isles 4 7 Alaska 1 3 Comparison of K7WV Grayland MW results 2015 vs 2016 As a special side project, I also erected a delta loop with 17 feet per side, feeding a ALA100M for Long Wave action. Results were outstanding with a personal record 7 NDBs from mainland Australia including a couple never reported heard from North America, HN 242 from Hawaii only heard outside Hawaii once before in 2005, two from Fiji, Norfolk Island, Kosrae and Pohnpei FSM, two from the Marshall Islands, Iwo Jima, Minami Tori Shima, Midway, Nauru, Soloman Islands, Rarotonga, four NZ, Samoa and more. Also, four Australian DGPS stations were in with hundreds of logs each, two of them never reported from North America. Also in was TM 1630, the New Zealand MW aero beacon, heard on the DKAZ. Results posted to NDBlist and DGPSlist. Not in were the 16+ French Polynesian beacons heard from Rockwork 4 last year. In plotting the catches the antenna turned out to be exceedingly directional and needed to be reoriented more southward to get those. The directionality also explains the Rockwork 4 longwave results in which the Western Pacific went mostly unrepresented in lieu of massive Fr. Polynesia beacons. Now I know to reorient. And one last thing: The Grayland Motel ceased operating in Feb, 2017 so it looks like this will be my last DXpedition from there, ever. A 30+ year West Coast tradition comes to an end. There is still Grayland State Park, but more austere conditions and not exactly DKAZ or Beverage friendly. A search is underway for a replacement, possibly the "Casa Sea Esta" rental property used by Bill Whitacre. Bill has used a DKAZ and even 1000-foot BOGs at the location and recorded great results, just 800 feet SW from the Grayland Motel. We plan to hold a DXpedition of some kind in/near Grayland in Oct 2018. 07/11/2016  Rockwork DXpedition July 2016 I attended a 3-day International DXpedition at the Oregon ocean cliffs where as an American I was outnumbered! Two Americans, two Japanese and one Canadian collected DX by various means including SDRs and FSLs/modified ultralights using very different small-footprint antennas. My overall impression was that propagation did not reach the amazing levels of my previous two trips there last year in June and August, but there was still much to hear and much fun and comaraderie to be had. My results may be viewed here: July 2016 Rockwork 4 DXpedition (K7WV results).  Over 50 DU signals (41 NZ) on MW along with 14 Hawaiians have been ID'd so it was far from being a shutout. Audio clips and pictures provided. 10/11/2015 Grayland DXpedition (Oct 2015) I attended a 2-night DXpedition in Grayland, for the first time using a DKAZ with FLG100LN and fixed termination in lieu of the usual Beverage. It worked just great and I was very impressed, especially as we "split the difference" with a 270 degree due west orientation, meaning neither DU-land nor Japan were on boresight and yet stations under 1 KW were heard from each. Japan received on 50 frequencies, best Hawaiians I've ever heard outside the Islands with 20 in nicely with IDs including Hawaii's "graveyard" station on 1240 all alone. Over 40 Aussie and NZ stations "off season" in October was a wonderful haul and the clear ID from KGUM Guam would have to be my best catch. However China and the Koreas were practically absent, as was Alaska. The other downside was no LW, the DKAZ was very low output there. Overall though...great antenna! My log is here, complete with audio clips:  October 2015 Grayland DXpedition Log. I joined Chuck Hutton, Bruce Portzer and Chris Black (N1CP) for this 2-night session at the famous DX locale The Grayland Motel. I have been DXpeditioning there annually during an October weekend since 2007. 06/28/2015  Two Rockwork 4 DXpeditions in 2015 Links to my web pages created for my participation in the two ocean cliff DXpeditions in June and August, using a 3-sided delta loop 13' per side made from 40 feet of wire and some tomato poles as spreaders, amplified by the excellent ALA-100M. Very small antenna produced big results beyond my expectations on both MW and LW. Attended with Chuck Hutton and Gary DeBock. I have now acquired fiberglass spreaders and a new Dell "2 in 1" small laptop with a mobile quad core Pentium to replace the Atom N270-based netbook used with Perseus that could barely operate it at full bandwidth with 24% overclocking. I want to get more wire in the air directionally next time as well, much more and I will need to switch to my FLG100LN as the amplifying module as the ALA-100M approaches overload with around 45 feet of wire. Pics, my logs, audio clips and comments for each of my 2015 sessions are posted at these links: June 2015 Rockwork 4 DXpedition (K7WV results) August 2015 Rockwork 4 DXpedition (K7WV results)

Longwave is generally defined as those frequencies below 530 Khz.  In Europe and Asia broadcasting occurs in the band, but in the Americas the region 198-530 Khz is primarily reserved for aeronautical navigation beacons called NDBs. These are a DXer's dream as they continuously identify themselves with a slow Morse ID.  Although GPS has seemingly obsoleted these beacons, no politician wants to be the one to turn off a backup safety system so most should remain for years to come. DXing them has become a challenging niche of the radio hobby. Other activity on the band includes DGPS, NAVTEX, and amateur experimentation. The Longwave Club of America has lots of info on this overlooked band. I caught the NDB DXing bug in 1995 when I built the homebrew 12" plug-in ferrite loop pictured below for the Palomar LA-1 base, left.

I began longwave DXing at this QTH still using the Palomar Engineers LA-1 amplifier-base and a 12-inch ferrite loop that I designed and built myself back in 1994 that plugs into the LA-1 (A 6-inch commercial LW plug-in loop is available).  The S9 noise that prevented reception here for years abated enough that I could receive lots of NDBs thru the lowered noise floor.  Here is the cumulative beacon log started Summer 2001:

Beacon Log stats: more than 635 Aeronautical NDBs and 10 Amateur LW beacons received from 12 Canadian provinces/territories, 33 US states, Mexico, numerous Caribbean and Pacific islands, the South American continent (Equador) and even Russia. I've actually received more Alaskan beacons (54) than from any other US state, and have more Canadian NDBs in the log than from the "Lower 48". Most distant received here: SON 412 Khz, Santo Pekoa (Vanuatu) at 6147 miles (9893 km). All NDB's received at the K7WV home QTH and ID'd by aural means only (audio ID of morse callsigns by ear, no sonograms or visual means used to date). Tools used are the Perseus SDR, Perseus V5 software, Studio One, HDSDR (free software), and the ALA-100M with several directional loop elements (which are just ~50-foot lengths of wire loops assembled among trees in the back yard). Oct 20 2017: Now using opposing loops, the NW/SE one amplified by the FLG100LN and the E/W one by the ALA100LN. The original ALA100M continues to be used at DXpeditions and for future rotor loop project, it is still going strong.

In January 1996, an early test of my self-designed ferrite loopstick LW receiving setup at a quiet location in Albuquerque, NM (DM65pe) using the Icom R71A yielded 100 beacons in 17 states in one 2-hour session. To view that log click here. Compare with Perseus / ALA-100M log from the exact same location 18 years later: click here. Note that the homebrew ferrite loopstick/Palomar Engineers base is pictured above.

Update Nov 15 2009: Five Russian R. Rossii longwave broadcast stations (which I had heard before only at Grayland) were ALL in the log within minutes of activating the new Wellbrook ALA-100M for the first time here at the QTH. At last, a quiet S2 noise floor on LW thanks to the remotely located loop and this innovative product. 279 Khz was "armchair copy" like a local.
 

Note: In the subsequent seasons I have logged additional LWBC stations from the Far East, such as Radio Rossii 171 Yakutsk (150 KW) and Mongolia on 164 Khz (Mongolyn Radio 1 500 KW).

Update Sep 15 2015: The Russians have ceased all broadcasting on LW and almost all MW outlets in the Far East. End of an era.
 

My photos of a typical U.S. NDB. This is AE 351 Khz "DUDLE" near Albuquerque, NM (DM65pf). This simple configuration is widely used in the USA. 

Note: The 2-letter ID denotes a Compass Locator (ComLo) or co-located Marker Beacon for an ILS approach. In the case of an Outer Marker/NDB combo, it is called a LOM (Locator Outer Marker) and takes the first two letters of the airfield ID (which is AEG in this case). The vertical wire is the only radiating element, and is omni-directional. The three horizontal wires between the wooden poles serve as support for the vertical element, and as a capacitive "top hat". The small cinder block building houses the 25-watt (or less) transmitter and antenna coupler. Note the 2-foot lightning rods atop the wooden poles for lightning protection, and the sloping wires to ground. I have heard this station from my QTH in WA, 1181 mi /1901 km distant. It has been reported heard as far away as OH and MI. Updated photos taken January 2017. Click on pic for a larger image. HERE is another closer view of the transmitter and vertical radiator. A closeup of the transmitter cabin is HERE. The "V" shaped red yagi array is for the 3-watt, 75 MHz signal to illuminate the "outer marker" light on the ILS panel in the aircraft. The pilot "homes" to this point using AE, then switches over to ILS (Instrument landing System) to begin his instrument approach. The ILS glideslope and localizer transmitters are located at the airfield.

I have many other NDB photos, of numerous Alaskan NDBs in particular. These can be seen on the NDBList website under Photos.

NDBs:

After years of inactivity due to constant local S9 noise on the band, I resumed actively hunting NDBs in 2009, thanks to the ALA-100M and Perseus. Some spectacular results can be seen in the K7WV home QTH BEACON LOG where around 70% of all beacons heard have been added since deploying the ALA-100M in Nov 2009. Locating it remotely from neighbor noise was a major breakthrough.

These NDB's (well over 100) received during 'daytime' (within 2 hours of local noon) at K7WV:  Daytime NDB's

Jan 10 2012: SECONDARY QTH: For the past 5 years I have made numerous 2-minute MW / LW Perseus recordings from Albuquerque, NM, 1180 Miles distant from my WA QTH, from late December to early January coinciding with holiday visits. The Wellbrook ALA-100M was deployed in 4 different loop orientations. The ABQ NDB log may be seen HERE. More than 465 beacons in 33 states including HI, numerous Caribbean islands, Central and South America, 11 Canadian provinces/territories and 4 Mexican states have been identified to date. The ABQ NDB log and the Beacon Log from my home WA QTH have a surprising number of stations in common. The ABQ NDB log serves well as a list of known, operating DX targets to try for from WA. Now ready to send up to RNA for inclusion in the database.
In addition to the above log, using a loopstick of my own design, a Palomar Engineers LA-1 Amplifier/base and the modded IC-R71A on Jan 4, 1996, I compiled this 100-station log from the exact same location : ABQ NDB 1996. This pre-DGPS log is interesting to compare to the modern log above, especially the 285-325 Khz range.

Aug 07 2010: At local midnight in a parking lot next to my hotel in Litchfield, MN I made a couple 2-minute 1600 Khz bandwidth recordings using Perseus and the MSI Wind Netbook on battery power. LW was noisy (S5 - S7) due to incoming T-storms, and auroral conditions were in play, resulting in just 60 ID's. Still enough to make a useful beacon log. View it HERE. Loop directionality was N/S. Aside from the two NC super beacons and one QC, all stations heard were from MN and surrounding states/provinces. Mediumwave was much more productive.

Sep 22 2010: Membership in the NDBlist group to share and compare beacon hunting results with fellow enthusiasts. I was already using their superb RNA listing to ID beacons but needed to convert all my logs over to their NDB Weblog system to be included in it. The logs from my primary WA QTH are now in RNA as of Oct 2011. WWSU was very useful in accomplishing this. The New Mexico logs will go up next, with around 460 beacons ID'd at that secondary QTH.

Mar 11 - 12 2011:  I made a series of full MW + LW Perseus recordings from North Charleston, SC. The MW band was loaded with Cubans and there was a Havana beacon in the quick LW check I made. When I get the time I'll put together a beacon log from the the LW band recordings. Unfortunately inverter noise will severely limit this log as it did the Litchfield log above. I have since procured a 5 VDC downconverter for 12 VDC source which is inverterless and proven quiet with Perseus.
  
Nov 28 2012: Acquired two "Mini Whip" antennas of PA0RDT's design on Ebay in kit form. Those on the NDBlist that have already built it are reporting excellent results on LW and MW. Most beacon hunters are using mini-whips and report superior results over my current antennas of choice: Wellbrook loops. One of these will be deployed at the primary QTH and the other used for DXpeditions. You can even try one out online in Europe by clicking HERE. They work very well indeed for NDB work.

May 22 2013: Tried to make some Perseus recordings from Key West, FL with the ALA-100M and found the perfect spot to set up but had difficulties as I was missing some cables and suffered a blown fuse on the ALA-100. Still managed to make two 5-min full spectrum recordings during the daytime which are fascinating with Cubans everywhere. Hopefully I can find a good airfare sometime and return to do it right.

Feb 24-27 2012: I participated in a Coordinated Listening Event this weekend decoding Differential GPS signals on longwave, 285-325 Khz. Result here was 43 stations successfully decoded including 4 AK and 2 HI and as far east as Michigan, approx 1/3 of all stations receivable from North America. Intriguing enough to keep experimenting with software and DX the mode from time to time. I have also joined DGPSlist. When I discover how to setup for playback of Perseus WAV files, I can mine past recordings made during the solar minimum, and from the Albuquerque QTH. UPDATE APR 2014: Another DGPS CLE is coming up and my favorite decoder Spectrum Lab 2.79 b13 (freeware) is working perfectly for me, now supports Windows versions beyond XP and has additional useful modes like Hellschriber and QRSS. The other two popular decoders are not freeware, Multipsk and DSCdecoder, but offer much improved ease of use. Still not set up to play recordings and have to operate "live" on this mode. --K7WV's DGPS Decodes-- Late April 2014's CLE181 is complete and increased to 49 DGPS stations decoded total. Got Cape Hinchinbrook, AK two mornings in a row and am the only list member to decode this station. I also experimented with antenna phasing and had good results nulling the dominant to expose underlying stations in a couple situations. I tried DSCdecoder installed on an evaluation basis to try to decode recorded Perseus files using sound card input. Using my Alaskan Perseus recordings, it decoded all 9 Alaskan DGPS stations.

Notice--Aug 2015: The Coast Guard is proposing the decommissioning of most inland and numerous coastal DGPS stations. Reasons include lack of DGPS adoption of commercial GPS makers in favor of WAAS and declining use in the maritime industry. Bad (and good) news for DGPS fans but all good news for NDB DXers. After years of cursing DGPS I learned to love decoding it.

Feb 14 2016: My first sampling of the mode since they started turning off stations. Got my 50th DGPS station tonight with Hartsville, TN on 317, a result of Alma - St. Paul currently operating at reduced power. Everything appears to be still on with only 290 Pahoa, HI and 292 Cape Hinchinbrook, AK being decommissioned so far.  Sadly, these were two of my favorites and all the pests remain.

Aug 05 2016: 37 DGPS stations have just been permanently decommissioned. It's for real this time and it includes several pests. It is possible to decode Potato Point and Kenai (Alaska) now if we get a nice low K-Index some night. UPDATE: I have already received my first new station to be unblocked by the decommissioning. #896 Kenai, AK 310 Khz (ref id=292) was decoding nicely with a K index of 2. It will most likely take a K-Index of zero and an exceptional night to decode the weakest and only remaining AK station to be decoded here, Potato Point. My revised log shows the new catch and those stations logged here that are now decommissioned. Of the 51 previously logged only 28 are still operating. 12 new ones have been logged since Aug 2016 on newly opened up frequencies resulting in 63 stations logged.

Oct 07 2016: Using the wonderful new Amalgamated DGPS software for the first time, it works great for me using Win 7 / 64-bit but only with I/Q recordings so far (not live Perseus for unknown reasons). A big breakthrough in DGPS reception, it decodes the whole band at once and only Message 6's and 9's can be selected for accuracy. Oct 08 2016 was an unusually clear night and I wound up with five new ones from the East Coast by making numerous 10-minute recordings. These and more have been confirmed with numerous repeat receptions since. I have adopted 10 decodes as a minium threshhold for logging consideration (other things have to check out too) but have had some bizarre stuff hit 8 and 9.

Nov 21 2016: On the same exceptional night noted in the NAVTEX info below, Potato Point, AK was decoded from CA. Always thought I would be first with that one. I have just had a breakthrough and got the impressive Amalgamated DGPS decoder working for live decodes so with overnight runs commencing it is only a matter of time. Nov 24: #895 Potato Point makes it at last! Finally I have decoded all 9 (including 2 decom) Alaskan DGPS stations from the home QTH. 
Dec 05: Potato Point was in again with over 100 decodes from around 30 minutes of overnight recording intervals. It takes an absolutely exceptional night as this was. 35 Alaskan NDBs were in this morning as well, and even Russian beacon 437 OG!

Oct 16 2016: The Aug 2016 Grayland DXpedition LW experiment using a dedicated delta loop and ALA-100M for Longwave brought in 4 Australian DGPS stations with approx 1000 decodes each using ADGPS. Two of these are North American "firsts".  Details here: 2016 Grayland DXpedition Page

Aug 05 2017: The 2017 Rockwork 4 DXpedition using a 60-foot circumference delta loop and FLG100LN brought in 5 Australian DGPS stations with from 26 to over 1700 decodes each using ADGPS. Two of these are again North American "firsts".  Details here: 2017 Rockwork 4 DXpedition Page

Notice--Aug 2018: The US Coast Guard has finalized their plan to decommission ALL remaining DGPS transmissions in the USA over the next three years. Decommissionings will be in phases.The schedule is HERE.

Aug 08 2018: The 2018 "Rockwork DXpedition" at the Oregon cliffs near Manzanita resulted in a record 7 Australian DGPS stations decoded. Details here: 2018 Rockwork DXpedition Page

Aug 08 2019: The 2019 "Rockwork DXpedition" featured solid receptions of the same 5 DGPS stations each day. The more northerly focus meant getting Cape Flattery instead of Corny Point. Results: Rockwork DXpedition 2019

Sep 10 2019:  The 2019 post-IRCA Convention "Grayland DXpedition" featured Corny Point in but Cape Flattery and Gladstone out, using ADGPS at dawn. 2019 Grayland DXpedition K7WV results

May 10 2020: Australia to decommission all DGPS transmissions July 1, 2020. It's been a fun part of the Grayland and Rockwork DXpeditions. With today's receivers using satellite-based augmentation there is no need to continue with it.

NAVTEX:

Apr 02 2013: I completed my first NAVTEX CLE in which I used YaND (freeware) to decode marine navigational alerts and weather from 518 Khz longwave as well as several SW frequencies. Here is my log containing the CLE (black text) and subsequent decodes (blue text), currently with 50 stations decoded: K7WV Navtex Log. Looks like I have found another mode to enjoy and DX! I joined the NAVTEX section of Yahoo Groups NDBList to be able to send up logs to the RNA database. UPDATE: I am still using YaND 6.4 and consider it the best decoder available for this mode. The NAVTEX group is now HERE.

A NAVTEX-J decoder is needed to decode the 424 Khz stations transmitting in Japanese text; for that task I am using Frisnit 2.1.5-J which is free and really works, but lacks YaND's sensitivity and understandably must decode vastly greater character sets for the Kanji, Katakana, Hirigana and Romanji text fonts. So far I have only successfully decoded the two stations in Hokkaido which are nearest to my QTH: Otaru and Kushiro. See Example of decodes received at K7WV.

CLE192 has concluded, having taken place exactly 2 years after my first NAVTEX CLE. This time only 490 and 518 Khz were in play. I have never received a decode on 490 so I concentrated on 518. I received every station I have ever received on the frequency except Kushiro, all on the last day of the CLE when conditions became quite good. Had to wait until dawn for the night path to Japan to occur and which only lasted minutes at the end of March but was rewarded with JGC Yokohama and JNB Naha. YaND 6.4 was the decoder of choice.

Nov 21 2016: An exceptional night on 518 Khz brought in Trans-Pacifics JNX Kushiro, JNL Otaru, JGC Yokohama (at both 9:20 and 13:20) and JNB Naha from Japan, and HL* Chukpyong from S. Korea overnight with clear decodes. Otaru and Chukpyong all-time new for me and Chukpyong not reported by anyone in 5 years. There were bits and pieces of even more stations, apparently from Vietnam. Really enjoyable to have a night like this with YaND 6.4 performing wonderfully.

Mar 18 2018: JNR Moji (Kitakyushu) Japan was decoded overnight on 518 Khz with 7 perfect messages. I am the first DXer to decode this station from North America.

Oct 30 2018: An exceptional night of superb conditions brought in all 5 Japan stations on 518 Khz twice during the night around 0900 and again around 1300. In addition 3 new ones had good decodes for the log: XSW Kaosiung, Taiwan, UFO Kholmsk, Russia and XSG Shanghai, China. Good to perfect decodes on all. Kholmsk is a first ever reception for North America. There were bits and pieces of even more stations, possibly Upernavik, Greenland in the mix.

Nov 01 2018: The most excellent overnight session ever experienced for NAVTEX. Two more North American "firsts" with UIK Vladivostok and HSA Bangkok. Bangkok, THA is 11966 km distant, by far my most distant NAVTEX log.  Taiwan and Shanghai were back as well. The previous night 424 Khz Navtex-J decodings of Kushiro and Otaru, Japan were obtained with Frisnit with numerous complete messages in Japanese. And on the following night my first ever successful decode on 490 Khz with Chebogue, NS Canada in French! 

Uploaded logs can be seen complete with sample message clips in the NAVTEX DX group HERE. My cumulative log is HERE. New version YaND 7.0 is now available for download in the NAVTEX DX Group Files area. I am using it and the previous YaND 6.4 for these decodes, with the exception of Frisnit for Navtex-J.

Jan 17 2019: An unexpected and good quality decode from CBP Puerto Montt, Chile on 518 Khz early in the evening resulted in my 2nd most distant NAVTEX reception ever (Bangkok is still #1). I have been hoping to catch this one for years. It has been a very good 2018-2019 NAVTEX season, the best ever encountered here.

ALASKA VISITS AND NDB PERSEUS RECORDINGS:    

Aug 02 2013: While visiting Anchorage, AK on primarily a geocaching and sightseeing trip, I deployed the portable Perseus setup and ALA-100M at 1:00-2:30 AM local time and got some decent wideband recordings of the MW and LW bands using two directional loops. 2013 Alaska Beaconlog: It was twilight in the northern sky all night which limited reception of far northern Alaska (in 24 hour daylight) but I ID'd 52 distinct AK NDBs from 200-529 KHz. This data along with observed offsets was sent up to RNA for help in determining just what is still active up there and to increase the chances of AK beacon hunters this DX season. This beacon log is HERE. I missed some known active stations in the far NW of the state due to loop orientation and daylight paths. Others I heard that had never been reported such as OYN and PPC seemed exceedingly weak and unlikely to ever be heard outside AK. 20 TWEB voice aviation weather broadcasts were noted on the indicated beacons and were relaying the indicated originating station as listed on this site. Two beacons were OTS during the session by NOTAM (not counting ADK which never returned to service).

Aug 05 2014: Again visiting Anchorage, AK on vacation, I made some Perseus recordings from the exact same location as last year at almost exactly the same of year using four loop orientations of the Wellbrook ALA-100M from 0950-1220 UTC. Due to the installation of high intensity security lighting in the set up location it was much noisier this time and is no longer a great spot for clean reception. K-Index was 2 (Boulder) which is the same as last year. This time 52 AK beacons were heard. Two heard last time were OTS by NOTAM (VIR 281 and PPC 340), and 2 stations heard last time were not heard this time (GBH 417 because it is so exceedingly weak and the noise floor was raised, and AMF 403 for unknown reasons). However 4 new stations NOT heard last year were in this time with very good signals (OAY 263, BVK 325, AKW 229 and AFE 223). Overall the same numbers as last year's session. Notable also was the rare Yukon beacon YOC 284 in nicely; it was missing from all recordings last year. Results are HERE: 2014 AK Beacons from Anchorage. 19 TWEB broadcasts were heard this session. One very nearby beacon not heard either time, UMM 326, is decommisioned by NOTAM. OAY and BVK may be the ones to watch for this Fall 2014 season. OAY in particular was very robust given the distance. Medium wave was less affected by the noise and was full of loud Hawaiians, NHK and commercial Japanese (with lots of play-by-play baseball up and down the dial) and a few Koreans as well.

Jul 21 2018: Again visiting Anchorage, AK on vacation for some geocaching and sightseeing in various Kenai Peninsula cities, I took the time to make a recording overnight at the same location near the airport. On the downside: It never got dark! This was 21 July. Too light out to see stars. Bad K-Index of 3. And bad QRM which has gotten terrible at this location. Finally, lots of beacons out of service via NOTAM (and one decommisioned: CMQ 338). But I did get 41 signals worth mentioning. It is HERE: 2018 AK Beacons from Anchorage. I also visited and photographed OLT, ACE and IWW in person, each very different designs. I sent numerous pics of these up to NDBlist photos on Groups IO along with the log. 12 TWEB broadcasts were heard so that cool feature of Alaskan NDBs is still around. 

May 27 2021: I've returned from a 4-day visit to the Anchorage, AK area. Fantastic weather, visibility and highs to 71° F or 22° C (!) were most welcome. On May 25 I drove to Talkeetna and did locate and photograph LW aero beacon 305 PEE. Not easy to get to and no Verizon internet in Talkeetna to get exact coordinates. But we did have success and observed (and photographed) this most unusual setup close up. Pics posted to NDBlist photos section. This beacon does not get out well at all and consists of a single pole (which doesn't even clear the trees) with a tiny capacitive hat on top. Looks like cables have been wrapped/draped around the pole in a makeshift manner in several places to try to increase capacitive efficiency. This has been a very difficult beacon to log here in WA and has required a most exceptional night to be heard at the home QTH. Also heard a few times on KIWI SDRs at Grayland, WA and Masset, BC. Just a day or two prior to my visit the offsets were drastically changed to -404/+404. This change seems to have made it a more robust and frequently heard beacon using the Masset BC Kiwi since returning from the visit. Update note: PEE comes in better with the offset change and has beem heard many times here this past season (home QTH) as well as at Oregon's Rockwork DXpedition and Washington's Grayland DXpedition. Still it is not easy or common.

On May 27 I made some Perseus recordings from Anchorage around 2:30 AM local time. Light outside all night, no stars. Instead of buzzing power line noise there was hissing white noise from light poles spoiling things so the recording session was brief.  The recordings obtained were very poor due to noise and condx with only 22 AK beacons identified, plus a Canadian Coast Guard vessel that often visits Alaskan waters. Results HERE. 411 ILI and 346 OLT were both out of service by NOTAM. There is a Letter To Airmen LTA-OSGW-93 proposing OLT be decommissioned so it will probably never be active again. All TWEB service was discontinued throughout Alaska on Jan 01, 2020.

The dedicated portable equipment set aside for airline travel worked fine so maybe we will have better luck and conditions on future trips.

UPDATE! Aug 27 2022: I finally obtained wonderfully clear noise-free recordings from practically the exact same spot as most of these previous visits during this year's visit to Anchorage. Heard was what I believe to be every NDB still transmitting from the state of Alaska which was sadly only 44 stations (VTR 350 soon returned to the air although absent here). A few like SPY and TOG were off by NOTAM and may return but most of the other missing beacons will never be back. There are still some tough and challenging catches to be had but for me nothing unheard at my home QTH remains. View the log HERE: 2022 AK Beacons from Anchorage, audio clips and reception map included.

These are Amateur (Ham) Beacons owned by licensed operators to gauge propagation conditions on 10 Meters. There are about 300 operating in the world at any given time. Most of these run 1 to 5 watts into a vertical antenna. They use autokeyers to ID in CW, from 28100 - 28300 Khz. They are in various degrees of health, with some very bad artifacts notable on many. At the height of the sunspot cycle one can hear nearly all of them worldwide. 2W beacons from Greece, Russian beacons over the pole, even Antarctica's only beacon and all Australian states (and beacons) have all been heard here. A rotatable gain antenna is a big help with these. I use a homebrew 2-element monoband yagi with a DX Engineering RPA-1 preamp.

Nov 27 2013: NDBList's Coordinated Listening Event (CLE) #176 introduced me to DXing these 10M HAM propagation beacons. 70 beacons were heard here over the weekend using Perseus and the Wellbrook ALA-100M, same Wellbrook antenna used for LW DX.

Jan 27 2014: The RYO 10-meter 2-element Monobander of AA1DO's design (see April 1999 QST for build instructions) is re-deployed and back in operation after being completely destroyed by a tree fall in 2009. Testing on 28 MHz low power propagation beacon reception with Perseus has been highly successful with over 370 heard in 42 countries and 45 US states. ALL seven continents heard (to include Antactica's only beacon VP8ADE, and all 7 Australian states). Here is my K7WV 10-Meter Ham Beacon Log. These beacons typically run a few watts into a vertical antenna and are reportable to NDBList and the RNA database. I have been the first or only reporter of a number of the North American ones. The antenna appears to function as before with excellent directionality and forward gain.

July 1 2014: The new M2 6M3 is now on the same mast as the homebrew 10M yagi and turned by the same rotor. See it HERE. As of July 2014 These 50 MHz Beacons have been heard on 6 meters (new antenna operational on July 1). These are also reportable to RNA. 

Nov 1 2017: The rotor motor failed after 19 years; Replaced with identical unit CM 45-12931. Picture of new rotor motor is HERE and it is fully compatible with original indoor azimuth selector. Build quality of the new motor seems a bit questionable. (Note: unit still working perfectly 7 years later. CM no longer selling this product so this option is no longer available)

Feb 8 2023: The amateur beacons are back with the rise in solar activity and world wide F2 skip. With horrible noise now present on LW at the home QTH I'll be getting back into the 10M game out of necessity for the time being. 

UPDATE! Feb 24 2024: Problem: the 2-element monobander was underperforming the Wellbrook loops at 28 Mhz so something was wrong. Rooftop maintenance included de-oxidizing and replacing parts. The RESTORED ANTENNA captured 25 European beacons this morning on 10 meters! A dozen had never been heard here before.

Mar 07 2024: Turning the beam to 260° this afternoon brought in 5 AUS and 3 NZL HAM beacons. 2 AUS and 1 NZL were new loggings at this QTH. See K7WV 10-Meter Ham Beacon Log for received beacon list.

Oct 25 2024: 30 European beacons identified under very fine conditions, 6 new. Also some (but not all available) ZS, ZL and VK beacons. 10M remains hot. November 2024 update: I have received ALL VK and ZL beacons in current operation. VK3RMH was tough, mine is the only heard log in North America of this Melbourne beacon.

Best worldwide shortwave amateur beacon resource, updated daily: Shortwave Amateur Beacons

FM DXing:

                           
                            
Etude and Signal Sleuth receiving KINK Portland                                APS-14 below CM Quantum 1162A TV antenna

Equipment used at K7WV for broadcast FM DX reception:

   Antenna Performance Specialties APS-14 (208" boom length, 14 element). No longer available; my FM DX "secret weapon"
   Magnum Dynalab FT101A "Etude" tuner (features manual weighted tuning knob for precise tuning)
   Magnum Dynalab 205 "Signal Sleuth" tunable RF Preamp (Up to 30 db added gain)
   Carver TX-11a FM Tuner
   Sony ST-10F Japanese-frequency AM/FM stereo tuner (76-90 Mhz) Obtained in Japan for use there; tuned in my favorite station FM Gunma / エフエム群馬 and so many others.
   Sony XDR-F1HD AM/FM Tuner with RDS and 'HD Radio' decoding. Spectacular FM performer
   FM+ Downconverter for Perseus (SN#00032) SDR for FM band, lacks 'HD Radio', features user variable bandwidth.
   Blonder Tongue MWT-2B Tunable Notch Trap Useful in eliminating adjacent channel splatter
   Yaesu G-450XL rotor (to turn the APS-14) This has been replaced by the G-450A, virtually identical.
   Yaesu G-450A upgrades and repairs I have never had to repair mine in 19 years, but the upgrades are interesting. Just purchased a second unit.
   55' (17 m) RG-6 quad-shielded cable (choked at APS-14 feedpoint with numerous ferrite beads; APS-14 is 75-ohm)
   63' (19 m) Times Microwave LMR-400-75 RG-11 run from stereo rack to ham shack (APS-14 feed for the FM+)
    Radio Shack 6-element FM-only yagi antenna (discontinued) for remote FM campsite ops
    Grundig G8 ULR with excellent FM receiver for travel use

The mast for the receiving antennas is 1.5-inch EMT conduit mounted at the roof apex and rotated with a Yaesu G-450 ham radio rotor. I have both the APS-14 and a Channel Master Quantum 1162A (with pre-amp module) TV antenna secured to it. The TV antenna (with amplifier module) did a decent job bringing in analog Canadian TV (before going digital in 2011). These days it is providing surprisingly decent service by pulling in 55 digital channels from the south to include the new 1-KW KBTC Seattle repeater on digital channel 28 (NHK World over the air at last!). The dual antenna installation has survived windstorms with 70 mph gusts (and the magnitude 6.8 Nisqually Earthquake). This year marks 20 years of flawless operation.

The MD Etude had been my primary FM tuner since acquiring it, due to its high build quality, switchable filters, and a manual knob tuning, an advantage for DXing in a large metro area with a crowded dial. The new Sony XDR-F1HD out-DX's it but the audio quality of the stock unit falls short. The Sony can be modded for "audiophile grade" audio but the guy who was doing the mods has recently ceased doing them.  There is a cheap and easy fix for the bad sounding rolloff that involves adding a couple caps which I may do instead. I now posess an FM+ downconverter for Perseus which is really more fun and sounds better than the XDR-F1HD, with similar DX performance. PI RDS readouts too.

DX performance of the APS-14 computer-optimized 75-ohm 14-element 208" antenna is almost magical. 116 FM stations and 13 translators are often receivable here despite a valley location with nearby hills and mountains in all directions. These include all Vancouver BC stations, 18 (of 22) from Portland OR, all Victoria BC and even 2 from Spokane (across the Cascades).  During tropo enhancement, 8 stations can be heard from Eugene-Springfield OR. This does not include sporadic E openings of course. My Radio Shack 6-element FM antenna, by comparison, was only capable of bringing in 66 stations in 1997 (but numerous new stations in the coverage area have signed on since then).  There was nothing comparable at the time for FM DX (later version, the 200" APS-13, was almost identical; reportedly a cheaper, more flimsy build but with a better average F/B ratio of 30db; unfortunately both of these fine antennas are long discontinued). In 2011 DXers had a Swedish-made alternative in the Körner 19.3 and smaller 15.12 (made by VHF Teknik). You guessed it, they are no longer made. Today's FM DXers will probably have to settle for the 138" CM 3025 Stereo probe 9, also discontinued but probably obtainable on auction sites as so many were made. After 20+ years installed, the APS-14 here at K7WV just keeps putting out. Sadly, it is irreplaceable unless one undertakes the project of building the Körner 19.3 (I am considering it, the performance is that much better than my APS-14 that it would actually be an upgrade).
UPDATE: Good news! As of May 2012 a new player has arisen in InnovAntennas of the UK. They ship to the US and offer a 14-element model! Better order one while you can! Performance specs are similar to my APS-14 and the build quality is considerably higher. For the ultimate in FM DX specialization they now offer 17 and 18 element models! These offerings have me seriously thinking about replacing the APS-14!

Sep 2022 UPDATE: A new tool for FM co-channel cancellation is available in the latest SDR# software for Airspy Discovery and related SDRs. Video demo HERE.

Early in 2004 a half-dozen Seattle FM stations began broadcasting in IBOC. This digital + analog scheme now known as "HD Radio" (for Hybrid Digital, NOT High Def) has spread like the plague and has been extremely destructive of the adjacent channels, completely wiping out stations such as CHQM 103.5 which were full quieting in stereo prior to the onslaught. The FCC political leadership is heavily invested in Ibiquity, the HD monopoly, so they will continue to support massive intentional interference on both AM and FM. The scourge has grown to afflict so many more local stations that available FM DX channels have been reduced to a handful. Subsequently I no longer devote much time to serious FM Dxing. I still enjoy using my equipment to listen to distant markets though, and have acquired a Sony XDR-F1HD to compare its breakthrough 80db adjacent channel selectivity, RDS and even to try its HD Radio decode capability with the mighty APS-14 antenna. It performs as the reviews stated, making it a "reference" by which all other tuners must be compared (and will fall short of in performance). Truly amazing to receive distant stations in stereo at full quieting at all times (there appears to be no "stereo penalty" or DX hiss with the Sony on Analog or Digital). Sony discontinued the XDR-F1HD in early 2011 and says it will make no further HD Radio products. There is hope for a restored FM band as the HD Radio business model is failing and no other country (not even Canada) has adopted it. 2016 Update: Looks like it is here to stay, for better or worse. Northern Mexico and Canada are now using it. I acquired an exceedingly rare and sought-after Clarion Subaru OEM CP635U1 HD Radio head unit for my 2010 Subaru Forester in 2014 and I must confess to enjoying HD radio on the road, sounds much better than FM or Satellite but has limited range.

  

I now have a new add-on for Perseus SDR owners: The Microtelecom FM+ downconverter (which is NOT sold in the US and now discontinued). Some observations and comparisons with Sony XDR-F1HD follow. RDS codes: PI, PS, PTY (European RDS, not North American RBDS decodes, so a rock station sending PTY code 5 will read EDUCATION instead of ROCK) while the XDR-F1HD provides PS and RT; Ability to record 2 Mhz chunks of spectrum at a time directly to hard drive. DX performance as good as the XDR-F1HD, except it can't come close to the Sony's stereo quieting on weak signals. (New Studio 1 software improves FM stereo quieting to XDR-F1HD levels and provides PI, PS and RT RDS decodes.) No "HD Radio" decoding with this European-made unit. It offers user-variable custom bandwidth, a powerful tool not available on the Sony. It sounds way better than the somewhat fatiguing sound of the stock XDR-F1HD with a decent computer sound card. It doesn't get hot when operating like the Sony. Operable on 12 VDC for field use. Switchable deemphasis for Europe or North America. Vastly superior signal strength display and readability than the small Sony display. Can experience overload with the APS-14 pointing directly toward Seattle while the XDR-F1HD does not.

Overall I find the FM+ a lot more fun to use. I'm now using Studio1 software to enhance it even further. The XDR-F1HD is in the stereo component rack upstairs while the FM+ is in the downstairs ham shack. Each unit is connectible to the APS-14 using RG11 runs to a wall plate. Different "missions" mean both units get semi-regular use. Both units have been discontinued.

CKPK Vancouver w/ RDS on XDR-F1HD           KWJJ Portland w/ RDS on FM+ and Perseus          CHHR Vancouver w/ RDS using Studio1
                                                                         

LINKS TO RELATED SITES:

---Amateur Radio---
 

         K7WV (My original radio page, mostly mirrors this one with fewer pics)
         QSL.NET (Licensed Ham? You can get free space for a web page like this one!)

         ARRL Homepage (Latest news and links for U.S. hams)
            RAC Radio Amateurs of Canada (Canadian callsign directory, many links)
         JARL English Website (Japan Amateur Radio League)

         QRZ Callsign Database (Callsign directory, ham web pages, QSL pics)
         Buckmaster HamCall  (Callsign Lookup, over 1.5 million US & DX calls)
         WM7D Callsign Database (US / Canada, updated daily)
         UALR Callsign Lookup (US only,updated daily from FCC files)

         10-10 International  (Organization for users of the 10-meter ham band)
         10-10 Number Search (Enter 10-10# or callsign)
         10 Meter Amateur Beacons 10 Meter Amateur Beacon Database, kept up to date

         Last 25 HF DX Spots (Real-time DX spots)
         Log Searches (Find out if you're in the DX log)
         eHAM.net (News, equipment reviews, forums, articles)
         DX Summit (Search old spots for posted QSL info)
         KA9FOX's Ham Radio Contesting and DXing (great HF contesting info)
         K4UTE quick QSL Manager lookup (with QSL mgr's complete address)
         KL7J Amateur Radio Page (Alaskan Radio/Propagation Info)
         AC6V's Amateur Radio & DX Reference (Detailed info on all aspects of ham radio)
         Geratol Net  (80-meter Extra class sub-band WAS group offers nice award)
         QSO/SWL Real-time Maps from latest spots, separate maps for 28 Mhz and up, including FM DX.
         10 Meter Beacon List (WJ5O) comprehensive 10M amateur beacon listing
         Shortwave Amateur Beacon List (All Bands including complete up-to-date 10 Meter List)
         NCDXF Beacons - (Frequencies, Status, Schedule)   
         
         Solar Cycle Progression (Latest NOAA/SEC charts of Cycle 25)
  
         Make More Miles on VHF (Meteorscatter & aurora links for VHF radio amateurs)
         W8WN HSMS Nomepage (FSK441 Meteor Scatter, JT44 EME w/ free software)
         NOAA Real-Time Auroral Oval Auroral Oval and CMEs in real time, Northern hemisphere (Southern hemisphere available)
 
         International Space Station Visual Sighting  (ISS sighting opportunities)
         N2YO Amateur Satellite tracking and info (select ham satellite and track)

         OMISS (Runs WAS nets on several bands for those working on award)
         HHH Net (A late-night 40-meter WAS net, 0700z on 7.235)
         3905 Century Club (CW, RTTY, PSK31, SSB WAS nets on several bands)

---Broadcast and Beacon DXing---

         IRCA I have been a member off and on over the years. Now a renewed member. I was a presenter on the Rockwork DXpeditions at the IRCA convention in September, 2019.
         IRCA Group Very active discussion group with daily MW DX reports, equipment, DXpeditions and more.
       NDBlist Group Very active beacon enthusiasts, member loggings comprise RNA/RWW, most comprehensive and up-to date lists of NDBs worldwide
         National Radio Club (MW DXing info, DX Audio Service) The "other" BCB DX club (I am in the IRCA)
         DXing the Graveyard Channels Tips and techniques of successful GY DXing (NRC article)
         Graveyard DX Info and resources for the GY enthusiast

       AM Expanded Band  (Latest list of AM stations 1600-1700 Khz)
       1601-1701 Khz stations--Asia / Australia List of expanded Band AM stations known to be operating in Asia / Australia
       Asian X-Band (1600-1701 Khz)
       Low Frequency Amateur Beacons Currently on the air, updated by LWCA.
       Rockwork 4 DXpedition 2013 Report Gary DeBock with tricked out PL-380 and 12" FSL
       Listening For LowFERs (Large LW loop antenna construction ideas, pre-SDR old school techniques)
       Listening for LowFERs II (Part II of above)
 

        Univ. of Twente WebSDR, Enschede, Netherlands; Tune a real-time SDR in Europe! Available 24/7 and accepts multiple users. Sensitive antenna.
       KiwiSDR: Kiwi SDRs for public use. Up to 4 simultaneous users. Occasionally set up at DXpeditions on a temporary basis.
        WebSDR Other SDR tuners available for use over the Web.
       Perseus SDR Server Map Users make their Perseus units available for worldwide free use online through this utility (dated and abandoned by creators, still works)

         Navaid Database (Identify that NDB/low frequency beacon!)
       NAVTEX world wide messages captured from receivers worldwide using the Frisnit decoder; compare your decoded msgs
       VE7SL (Steve) Radio Blog (Active NDBlist reporter and beacon experimenter, CW enthusiast from LW to light)
       Counting Radios Kit building, antennas and radio-related blog (including building the PA0RDT Miniwhip kits available on Ebay)
       Shortwave Central Happenings on the SWL frequencies, tropical bands, etc
       Negative Keying Tool: Negative keying is an anomaly that occurs from time to time with NDBs. Transpose negative keying to a useful ID.
       DX Fishbarrel TP MWDX spotting tool from Victoria, BC (Nick Hall-Patch). Nick will also set up this feature at DXpeditions that he attends.
       Masset BC DX Fishbarrel See conditions live from Haida Gwaii where a KIWI SDR is available for world-class LW/MW DX usage
       Totsuka DXer's Circle downloadable PROPAGATION journals. This Yokohama based club publishes an annual journal of their activities. Some of their members have DXed with us!

       Master Index Page for all of Bill's DXpeditions 2010-2024
       Grayland (Casa Sea-Esta) Sep  08-17, 2022 Bill heard a couple of gems here, 1584 T8AA Palau and my favorite: MW beacon 907 UB from Russia!
       Grayland (Casa Sea-Esta) Feb 21-Mar 3 2022 Great Alaskans here, including Fairbanks and Kotzebue
       Grayland (Casa Sea-Esta) Sep 18-25, 2021 Our crew of 4 arrived at CSE just 3 days later with almost the same conditions incl. mediocre Kp but good Vietnam. Our Results
       Grayland (Casa Sea-Esta) Feb 22-28, 2021 Bill's results here. 160-foot DKAZ at 305°.
       Grayland (Casa Sea-Esta) Sep 15-20 2020 Bill had a KiwiSDR set up and I spent many hours being blown away by the awesome Alaskans! Great fun! Kp Index of zero, KBRW, KOTZ in loud and alone.
       Grayland (Casa Sea-Esta) Feb 17-22 2020 Nice haul of Alaskans including KBRW by Bill W. DKAZ at 290°
       Masset, BC DXpedition 2020 Dec 26 - Jan 03, 2020  More DX gems from Haida Gwaii (Formerly the Queen Charlotte Islands). Strong possibility of a remote KiwiSDR being activated full-time in 2020!
       Grayland (Casa Sea-Esta) Sep 08-11 2019 From Bill Whitacre. I also attended this large DXpedition for 2 nights, 800 feet away at Breakwater Inn. My DXpedition web page
       Grayland (Casa Sea-Esta) Feb 18-23 2019 160-foot DKAZ at 287° (more northerly orientation than we used in October)
       Masset, BC DXpedition Dec-Jan 2019 (link to pdf file)
       Grayland (Casa Sea-Esta) and Sans Souci (OR) Aug 06-12 2018 from Bill Whitacre with the usual 160' DKAZ. I was on the Manzanita cliffs then so interesting to compare.
       Grayland (Casa Sea-Esta) Feb 18-25 2018 from Bill Whitacre, using a 160' DKAZ and 1000-foot BOG(s): MW DX logs (Nice Alaskans, including Fairbanks 970)
       Grayland and Sans Souci MW logs Aug 8-13 2017 from Bill Whitacre, again using a 160-foot DKAZ from two locations.
       Grayland logs and audio clips from Bill Whitacre Feb 2017, last DXpedition ever (?) at the apparently closed Grayland Motel and Cottages. DKAZ aimed at 290/300°, 26 AK's
       Grayland and Sans Souci MW logs Jul 25-Aug 1 2016 from Bill Whitacre using a 160-foot DKAZ.
       Grayland logs from Bill Whitacre Feb 2016 using a DKAZ and Perseus. More Asians in than his previous logs as you would expect in Feb
       Grayland & Sans Souci MW logs July 2015 with audio July 2015 Bill Whitacre's results using the 160-foot terminated DKAZ antenna
       Grayland logs from Bill Whitacre Feb 2015 with audio clips for each station logged using his 160' DKAZ at 290°. 24 AK's is really good!
       Grayland and Sans Souci MW logs July 2014 with audio clips by Bill Whitacre using a 160' DKAZ with Perseus.

       Quoddy House near Lubec, Maine May 27-Jun 03, 160-foot DKAZ at 105 and 35 degrees, results by Bill W.
       Quoddy House near Lubec, Maine Oct 18-25 2020 DKAZ at 037 degrees
       Waters Edge DXpedition 2020 (VA) Jan 23-29 2020 Bill provides results from the Fleeton, VA location using a DKAZ.
       Listening Waters DXpedition 2019 (PEI) Results fromthe 2019 DXpedition
       Quoddy House near Lubec, Maine Oct 18-21 2019, 160' DKAZ at 037 degrees
       Waters Edge DXpedition 2019 (VA) July 23-28 2019 using a 160' DKAZ at 145 degrees aimed down Chesapeake Bay
       Listening Waters DXpedition 2018 Prince Edward Island, Canada  They even did FM!
       Long Beach Island DXpeditions Homepage Logs and audio clips, held for 18 years 2002-2019, each year can be viewed
       Listening Waters DXpedition 2017 Oct 28 - Nov 03 Murray Harbour North, PEI
       Listening Waters DXpedition 2016  Murray Harbour North, PEI
       Newfoundland DXpedition 2015 (link to MS Word document) West Coast DXer Chuck Hutton attended
        Listening Waters DXpedition 2014 Prince Edward Island, Canada
       Listening Waters DXpedition 2013 Nov 2-9 2013 Prince Edward Island
       Prince Edward Island MW DXpedition 2012 DXpedition, West Coast TP DXer Nick Hall-Patch attended
       Prince Edward Island DXpedition 2009
       BADX 2009 DXpedition Granite Pier, Rockport, MA

       Interval Signals Online (Highly useful for those TP catches with Perseus)
       BCB DX Logbook (Updated online version of the famous NARTV Station Guides) Archive of deleted site, no updates
       IRCA AM Radio domestic slogans (pdf format)
       DX Central: They offer fun MW challenges such as graveyards or TIS.HARs to test your receiving station and abilities.
       Radio-Locator (Station data and coverage maps , internet bitcasters)
       FCC AM-FM-TV Query (All US stations & translators detailed data)
       Ydun's Medium Wave News (News and reporting concerning MW DX targets)
       Mesa Mike's List of USA AM Stations
       Pacific Asia Log (Edited by MW DXpeditioner Bruce Portzer, this is the essential companion for the Trans-Pacific MW DXer)
       Canada/US AM Station Info Page includes bearing and distance to station
       MWLIST Impressive list by region and frequency, includes offsets, slogans
       List of deleted AM stations AM stations in the USA which no longer exist, with shutdown date
       Aurora: 30-Minute Forecast From NOAA, probability of visible aurora
       3-Day Planetary K-Index from NOAA. Reliable indicator of whether the "northern path" to Alaska and Asia is open for LW / MW (lower # is better)
       Solar Ham.net Solar indices, aurora, coronal holes affecting radio
       Kyoto DST Lack of deviation from zero = good for MW / LW


       DX-302 Mods by W4JBM
       RF Space SDR-IQ SDR and Panadapter (first SDR I ever saw in action, in 2007)
       Perseus Server Map Tune a remote Perseus receiver and listen in real time at global locations
       ULR DX Group Trans-Pacific MW and LW DX using hot-rodded Tecsun and CC Crane pocket radios with FSLs
       Winradio Excalibur SDR  2011 WRTH Award for best SDR, alternative to Perseus
       Ken's TADX Corner DXing with Perseus from Scotland
       Perseus: A life-changing DX Receiver Sept 2009 review
       Sylvan Naud's Quebec DX site using Perseus to DX from Quebec
       SDR Portal Page for users of SDRs such as Perseus.
       Winradio Excalibur Alternative to Perseus and other SDRs
       DXing.info (DXpeditions recent and past, includes some Grayland and Rockwork 4 TP DX logs)
       Trans-Pacific DX on MW (1997-2002 Grayland DXpedition details and logs)
       Arctic DX (MW DX using SDRs from northern Norway
       Jaguar SDR software for MW DXers using Perseus SDRs, popular in Europe and lately at US DXpeditions
       American Bandscan (Domestic MW DX news)
       Solar Wind From ACE satellite at L1 LaGrange Point; can have negative affect on LW
       Real Time Solar Wind from NOAA, various graphs of solar wind measurements
       DX News Tips & Info (MW/ SWL news & loggings)
       The AM Stereo Page (Info & stations broadcasting in C-QUAM AM stereo)
       The AM and FM Dxer's Resource (Links to many resources)
       BAMlog!  MWDX resources
 

WTFDA (Worldwide TV-FM DX Association)

WTFDA FM Database Database updated by their members

Mike's WTFDA TV-FM DX page (Lots of FM & TV Dxing info)

FM DXing Tools Equipment and advanced techniques for FM DX

FM Antenna Phasing (Todd Emslie: Use of 2 similar antennas and phaser to reveal DX)

Carver TX-11 tap point for RDS decoders Add external RDS decoder to classic tuner

The Ray Dees RDS Decoder can be added to certain FM tuners, including Carver TX-11

RDS Wikipedia article explains RDS, RBDS

David's DX Website FM DXer's site from Northern Virginia

Sony XDR-F1HD as a DX Receiver

RDS PI Decoding Kit for Sony XDR-F1HD reviewed by user, pdf file

Hepburn Tropo Ducting Forecast Page (Maps of ducting activity for UHF/VHF/FM)

Tuner Information Center (Tuners for FM DX and filter mod advice)

"Shootout" featuring the XDR-F1HD and the Microtelecom FM+  XDR-F1HD won, good thing I have both!

Insignia NS-HD01 pocket HD radio from Best Buy; way more than $52 worth of fun. Discontinued, discounted

K6STI FM Yagi Performance Graph (Forward gain only; Körner 19.3 wins, APS-13 2nd)

PI Calculator Input RDS "PI" code, get callsign (US stations only)

InnovAntennas UK company offers FM broadcast antennas up to 18-elements, ham VHF antennas too

FM Scan.org (Excellent resource, will predict/map FM, AM, even NDBs given your coordinates worldwide

FM Fool This site will generate a graphic of your FM Broadcast environs for your QTH

Northwest Broadcasters (FM/AM/TV stations of NW Washington and SW BC)

Portland Oregon Radio Guide (Broadcast stations of metro PDX, forums)

Azimuthal Projectons from NS6T   Create helpful antenna-pointing graphics based on your location and given range

                    

Perseus SDR tuning DRM broadcast (YouTube video)

MFJ-1026 Phaser applied to Trans-Atlantic signal on MW (YouTube demo)

Drake R8E vs Perseus SDR on Trans-Atlantic signal (YouTube demo)

Perseus SDR PBT Demo (YouTube demo)

Perseus Running Winrad HD receiving Trans-Atlantic LW Broadcast (YouTube video)

Perseus Receiving Trans-Atlantic MW, comparing WRPlus and Perseus software (YouTube video)

Perseus Running WRPlus (YouTube video)

Perseus Tuning Clear Trans-Atlantic DX (YouTube video)

DXing with Perseus and SpectraVue (YouTube demo)

TransAtlantic MW DXing with Perseus SDR (YouTube demo)

Gary demonstrates a 3-inch Baby FSL with big performance! Huge ultralight boost with the latest variable cap and Litz wire

Gary demonstrates a 3.5-inch Baby FSL This is the one I have, made by Gary himself!

Gary DeBock demonstrates 8-inch FSL vs 4-foot air core loop by inductively coupling to ultralight

Gary, builder of FSLs for many interested DXers, instructs on proper FSL tuning technique  It's not as intuitive as you may think

Gary presents a shootout between a "Baby FSL" and a "Micro FSL"  I have the Baby version, the Micro uses different construction.

Gary demos a 7-inch LW FSL by tuning in Canadian beacon XX in the daytime on an ICF-2010

Gary at "Rockwork 4" cliffside site with FSL antenna (2012)

Gary at Cape Perpetua site  Another OR cliff site with the 8" MW FSL antenna (2012 DXpedition

Gary at "Rockwork 4" 2013 with 12" FSL.

Cape Perpetua site 2013 Gary has a 12-inch FSL this time

Gary at Rockwork 4 with 15" FSL and bedazzling live reception of 531 PI from New Zealand (July 2014)

Gary with Chuck Hutton at Rockwork 4, Chuck with Perseus SDR and small Flag antenna, epic results. (July 2014)

Gary goes for October TP action at Rockwork 2. Great success with Myanma Radio on 576/594 and AIR India on 675. (Oct 2020)

Gary at Rockwork 2 for a solo Mar 03-06 2021 DXpedition. I was in the Midwest at the time and could not join his effort.

Perseus with FM+ demonstrating the impressive variable bandwidth feature, auto and manual. I own one.

Körner 19.3 on a rotor (This monster actually outperforms the APS-14. But you have to build it

592 mile tropo FM reception with a Körner 19.3 and Sony XDR-F1HD

PA0RDT Active Whip demo I have two of these in kit form with drilled and etched boards waiting to be assembled, and one fully assembled

Studio1 demo on FM with SDR Demo of the Studio1 software on FM; wish the US FM band was IBOC-free like this

Perseus decoding C-QUAM AM Stereo from Euro Pirate.

FT8 for beginners New mode has taken over on 6 Meters. Worth trying!

FT8 on Six Meters For better or worse, this mode has absolutely taken over. I have 49 states confirmed on Phone. May never get #50 that way.

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