DXing from the Cliffside by Tom Rothlisberger K7WV  Part II: August Sessions

DXpedition II  August 07, 08 and 09

Below are audio clips, pictures and logs from my participation in the August 07-09 Rockwork 4 DX sessions. Again partnering with Gary DeBock and Chuck Hutton on all three mornings. For the duration of the DXpedition the site was clear of interlopers and we had it to ourselves. Conditions were just great with epic signals from NZ and AUS. Each morning had its own distinct flavor with the 8th heavily favoring Australia. The other two mornings were pretty good for Australia as well but focused more on New Zealand as we expected from past experience.

August 07: Departing my home QTH in Brier, WA at 11:00 PM I had an easy, unobstructed , traffic free drive to the cliffside site, arriving there at 3:15 AM. I reclined the electric drivers seat and proceeded to catch an hour's sleep. I was awakened by headlights turning into the pullout: Gary and Chuck were arriving. Time to begin setup in complete darkness. I realized an hour into the drive that I had left my folding stand for the spreaders at home and would have to improvise with that useful tool known as duct tape. As a result my antenna was rather misshapen for the 3 mornings but it didn't seem to affect DX reception much. I once again used the pine tree as the apex of a somewhat center-fed delta using 40 feet of wire and the Wellbrook ALA-100M. Conditions were wonderful, with loud 1 KW NZ signals and a number of Australians. Focus was definitely on new Zealand though. Using Perseus I made 1600 Khz bandwidth recordings to capture LW and MW. Listened to the oldies on 702 Magic for a bit, it was so loud. Comparing notes at the end of the session we were all pretty jazzed about the good condx.

August 08: We all showed up within a few minutes of each other from different directions, myself driving in from Seaside and took our favorite spots on the pullout. Out came the duct tape again but I had secured a PVC stub at a hardware store the previous afternoon. It didn't help much and the antenna resumed its irregular shape as the stub slumped. Things were very different than I had ever heard them this morning as DX got started. Reception seemed heavily weighted toward Australia with lots of big gun stations in, particularly on the low band. Lots of parallels on the ABC LR network on the lower half of the dial. There were loud NZ stations here and there, but definately an Australia morning. Later we discovered a lone Aussie at 1566 playing oldies and quite listenable. Chuck and I both had hets from 1602-1710 every 9 Khz. Seemed promising for the analysis to come. Several 5 KW Aussies were in complete with commercials, not to mention a 400-watt ethnic station on 1701 Khz. Queensland was definitly the center of the action although I received stations from all Aussie states except Northern Territory. That includes 6WA from WA at 9153 miles (14730 km). On LW things were similarly skewed west and the Pacific NDBs were almost absent while the furthest DX of the August sessions was heard. But the DX could not match June 28 and contained no Aussie NDBs (one was heard nicely in June) and was thus a bit of a letdown.

August 09: Thanks to Chuck I was able to secure lodging near Manzanita for a third morning session at the cliffs. Things got started later today but we once again experienced a Kiwi morning with a few Aussies in as well. 1 KW signals like 936 Chinese Voice achieved epic levels but would fade completely and reappear. Good opportunity to log more than one station per frequency as conditions were excellent but in flux. The elusive "More FM" on 531 Khz once again did not make my logs. As in June, it was in nicely the morning after I left (Gary has some good recordings with IDs).

For my earlier June 2015 Rockwork 4 DXpedition results, click HERE.

August pics taken at "Rockwork 4" just north of Manzanita, OR. (Click on each for enlargement).

     

The weather was better than it had been in June resulting in some nice scenery at the cliffside site with the exception of a foggy Aug 08 morning. All 3 mornings were exceptional. I wound up with at least 56 Kiwis and 25 Aussies, not bad for 40 feet of wire!!

           

Location:

Rockwork 4 Pullout just north of Manzanita, OR
Coordinates: N 45° 44' 36.5" W 123° 57' 28.9" Elevation 575 feet (175.4 meters)
GPS Coordinates: N 45 44.608 W 123 57.482
Google Maps Satellite View

Equipment:

Perseus SDR
MSI Wind U100 Netbook with Atom N270 processor, 24% overclocked, 500GB internal SSD.
Wellbrook ALA-100M antenna modules
40 feet of multi stranded copper wire, jacketed (Deployed as a center fed delta with 13-foot sides, somewhat misshapen)
PVC stub, 2 6-foot tomato poles duct taped end to end
50 feet RG8X coax with BNC connectors

Mediumwave results: