Christmas Eve UTC Loggings

My 200th longwave logging was a doozy!

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

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

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

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

Merry Christmas and Good DX!

Good Night

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

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

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

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

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

Montezuma Logged

Longwave band conditions were very good last night. Navigational beacon signals were coming from all directions... the Canadian Maritimes, the Caribbean, the midwestern USA, etc. and I managed to log one new one: IZS in Montezuma, Georgia, transmitting 25 watts on 426 kHz, 883 miles to the southwest.

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

Loop on Ground Antenna Logging

Today at 0015 UTC, I logged my first new station with my new Loop on Ground (LoG) antenna: WWRK on 970 kHz in Florence, SC, transmitting 31 watts, 632 miles to my south-southwest!

Receiver is my ICOM IC-R8600.

Loop on Ground Antenna Test

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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