wrote:
bpnjensen wrote:
Here in SF Bay Area, CA, weak but barely readable at 22:30 onward on
11092.50 kHz USB. Basically doesn't move the needle, but the frequency
is quiet, and modulation is pretty good. Would be fairly easy to read
if the local noise levels around here weren't so high.

Bruce Jensen

You did better than I did here in San Jose, California. Tried off and
on from 1800 to 2130, and listened continuously from 2200 to 0100.
Might have heard some hints of voices or music under the noise, or it
could have been my imagination. Using a Drake R8 with a 10m longwire
running N-S. Got RSH on two out of five previous attempts.

It had to be the noise at your QTH - although the RSH signal was weak,
it finally came through clear and readable after about 23:00. The
switch to NA was a bit wobbly at 23:30 - some cut outs reportedly due
to physical interference from an adjacent comm tower - but finally I
was able to nab better than 95% copy once they went to N. America.
This on a R75 with two antennas, both effective - a 15m random wire N-S
and a DX Ultra, separately and phased together. It really helped to
have all three preamps on to simply get the volume up, but it would
have been possible without them. Listened all the way through 01:10,
when their "sign-off music" finally quit :-)

And by the way, a BIG thanks to John Plimmer, Terry and DXAce who
brought this to my (our) attention - it really boosted the spirits on a
somewhat mediocre day :-)

Bruce Jensen

bpnjensen wrote:

wrote:
bpnjensen wrote:
Here in SF Bay Area, CA, weak but barely readable at 22:30 onward on
11092.50 kHz USB. Basically doesn't move the needle, but the frequency
is quiet, and modulation is pretty good. Would be fairly easy to read
if the local noise levels around here weren't so high.

Bruce Jensen

You did better than I did here in San Jose, California. Tried off and
on from 1800 to 2130, and listened continuously from 2200 to 0100.
Might have heard some hints of voices or music under the noise, or it
could have been my imagination. Using a Drake R8 with a 10m longwire
running N-S. Got RSH on two out of five previous attempts.

It had to be the noise at your QTH - although the RSH signal was weak,
it finally came through clear and readable after about 23:00. The
switch to NA was a bit wobbly at 23:30 - some cut outs reportedly due
to physical interference from an adjacent comm tower - but finally I
was able to nab better than 95% copy once they went to N. America.
This on a R75 with two antennas, both effective - a 15m random wire N-S
and a DX Ultra, separately and phased together. It really helped to
have all three preamps on to simply get the volume up, but it would
have been possible without them. Listened all the way through 01:10,
when their "sign-off music" finally quit :-)

And by the way, a BIG thanks to John Plimmer, Terry and DXAce who
brought this to my (our) attention - it really boosted the spirits on a
somewhat mediocre day :-)

It was fun, but after over 7 hours of listening I find that today I'm suffering
from RSH burnout!

I had the radio on 11092.5 here from 1700 and during that hour I could have
sworn that they were testing the transmitter and indeed they confirmed that they
were later on.

Not much of a signal here at 1800 sign on and audio a bit muddy but I soon
discovered that switching to a narrower filter cleared that up nicely.

All in all an interesting bit of fun, though I would have liked to have seen
just how much of a difference the directional antenna would have made here had
they been able to rotate it this way without a problem.

Past transmissions as I recall used a fixed antenna aimed at Ascension Island
which put it on a heading to North America all the time.

It seems as though they'll be back next year, or sooner? It would be nice I
suppose if they just kept the equipment running and relayed their regular MW
service.

dxAce
Michigan
USA

I have got to quit watching so much College Football on sat's. I seem
to always miss the "good" stuff

73, Ken


wrote:
Weak but still readable in Tucson, AZ. Managed to get their Email
address and send a report.

Terry - how do you like that AOR receiver? Ugliest damn thing I've
ever seen!

Frank
K3YAZ

dxAce wrote:
bpnjensen wrote:

Here in SF Bay Area, CA, weak but barely readable at 22:30 onward on
11092.50 kHz USB. Basically doesn't move the needle, but the frequency
is quiet, and modulation is pretty good. Would be fairly easy to read
if the local noise levels around here weren't so high.

Hang in there Bruce and see if the signal improves with the 2330 broadcast. It's
been good here most of the afternoon.

dxAce
Michigan
USA

dxAce wrote:
bpnjensen wrote:

wrote:
bpnjensen wrote:
Here in SF Bay Area, CA, weak but barely readable at 22:30 onward on
11092.50 kHz USB. Basically doesn't move the needle, but the frequency
is quiet, and modulation is pretty good. Would be fairly easy to read
if the local noise levels around here weren't so high.

Bruce Jensen

You did better than I did here in San Jose, California. Tried off and
on from 1800 to 2130, and listened continuously from 2200 to 0100.
Might have heard some hints of voices or music under the noise, or it
could have been my imagination. Using a Drake R8 with a 10m longwire
running N-S. Got RSH on two out of five previous attempts.

It had to be the noise at your QTH - although the RSH signal was weak,
it finally came through clear and readable after about 23:00. The
switch to NA was a bit wobbly at 23:30 - some cut outs reportedly due
to physical interference from an adjacent comm tower - but finally I
was able to nab better than 95% copy once they went to N. America.
This on a R75 with two antennas, both effective - a 15m random wire N-S
and a DX Ultra, separately and phased together. It really helped to
have all three preamps on to simply get the volume up, but it would
have been possible without them. Listened all the way through 01:10,
when their "sign-off music" finally quit :-)

And by the way, a BIG thanks to John Plimmer, Terry and DXAce who
brought this to my (our) attention - it really boosted the spirits on a
somewhat mediocre day :-)

It was fun, but after over 7 hours of listening I find that today I'm suffering
from RSH burnout!

I had the radio on 11092.5 here from 1700 and during that hour I could have
sworn that they were testing the transmitter and indeed they confirmed that they
were later on.

Not much of a signal here at 1800 sign on and audio a bit muddy but I soon
discovered that switching to a narrower filter cleared that up nicely.

All in all an interesting bit of fun, though I would have liked to have seen
just how much of a difference the directional antenna would have made here had
they been able to rotate it this way without a problem.

Past transmissions as I recall used a fixed antenna aimed at Ascension Island
which put it on a heading to North America all the time.

It seems as though they'll be back next year, or sooner? It would be nice I
suppose if they just kept the equipment running and relayed their regular MW
service.

dxAce
Michigan
USA

It was fun. Their signal to NA didn't sound too much better here than
their signal to Japan. When the signal was at its best, I was easily
able to ID the music they were playing and to partially copy speech,
but it certainly never became 'easy copy'--not for me, at least. I was
listening with the R8B using the 4 khz filter. I will listen for them
again next year.

Steve

On Sun, 05 Nov 2006 07:10:47 -0500, dxAce
wrote:

All in all an interesting bit of fun, though I would have liked to have seen
just how much of a difference the directional antenna would have made here had
they been able to rotate it this way without a problem.

I watched the S-meter on my radio climb during the music break at 2329
as they were swinging the antenna around. They were pumping out S9+
signal here for a few seconds until the 'technical difficulties'
began.

The re-aiming of the antenna seems to have really favored the northern
US/Canada, because once they came back the signal here in the lower
Midwest was significantly weaker than what I'd been listening to
during the European slot...even though 345 degrees should have been
more on-target. I guess I was picking up a side lobe that disappeared
with the re-aim.

Hopefully they can get it sorted out for next year.

MAS wrote:
On Sun, 05 Nov 2006 07:10:47 -0500, dxAce
wrote:

All in all an interesting bit of fun, though I would have liked to have seen
just how much of a difference the directional antenna would have made here had
they been able to rotate it this way without a problem.

I thought I heard them say that microwave tower was just several meters
away from their antenna - does that sound right? Seems like they could
have hardly avoided the problem...

I watched the S-meter on my radio climb during the music break at 2329
as they were swinging the antenna around. They were pumping out S9+
signal here for a few seconds until the 'technical difficulties'
began.

Yes, it was frightening for a few moments - it almost seemed as though
the NA segment was about to collapse - but good luck prevailed! My
un-preamped signal never exceeded S-1, but with relatively quiet
background and no interference, it was never hard to "hear." Copy was
variable. Overall, a very good frequency for this location.

Interestingly, the best reception I had of the entire transmission (in
San Lorenzo, CA, USA)was the segment that followed the end of the
official broadcast at 01:00 - when they were playing "Knights in White
Satin" the S-meter gave its strongest reading and the signal was
clearest. Not a surprise, really, as that was the time when the path
was mostly darkness

The re-aiming of the antenna seems to have really favored the northern
US/Canada, because once they came back the signal here in the lower
Midwest was significantly weaker than what I'd been listening to
during the European slot...even though 345 degrees should have been
more on-target. I guess I was picking up a side lobe that disappeared
with the re-aim.

Hopefully they can get it sorted out for next year.

If they have to avoid that microwave antenna tower to their northwest,
they may have to reposition either it or their own antenna.

Bruce Jensen