DX Clams 2005: Rockport, MA, USA
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COMMENTS
The annual Boston Area DXers "DX Clams" event for 2005 was held on Thursday, 28 July. At 5 p.m. EDT, three DXers - Bruce Conti, Paul Graveline (K1YUB), and Mark Connelly (WA1ION) - enjoyed clam dinners at Woodman's Restaurant in Essex, MA.
When dinner was done, it was off to Granite Pier in Rockport, MA to set up antennas and receivers to catch longwave, medium wave, and shortwave DX starting around 8 p.m. EDT (0000 UTC) just before local sunset. Gary Thorburn, who couldn't make it to the dinner, showed up at the pier with his homemade loop antenna.
The first Transatlantic signal received was Ceuta-1584. Other high band medium wave signals followed, then activity moved lower on the dial. As is often the case, signals from Spain, Algeria, Morocco, southern France, and other locales near the western end of the Mediterranean Sea were the first to rise to good strengths. Stations from the UK, Germany, and other somewhat more northerly countries began arriving about an hour after sunset. Not much was noted from Norway-1314, so there was a mild degree of auroral effect involved.
Longer-haul Africans were mostly covered by stronger signals from Spain. Djibouti-1431 at about 11000 km distant was most likely the farthest DX heard.
Latin Americans were relatively scarce - a few Venezuelan and Caribbean Islands stations primarily. Radio Globo - 1100 from Sao Paulo, Brazil was the most distant Latin American logged. Many 10 kHz spacing channels were quite clogged with domestic interference even before complete darkness.
Really good high-latitude conditions would have produced rarer DX; a serious aurora would have done that too. Still, a decent amount of DX could be heard and the aspect of the group activity always adds to the fun.
LOGS
Times / dates = UTC / 2005
Rockport, MA
(GC= 70.622 W / 42.667 N)
Granite Pier
========================================
Mark Connelly's logs
Receiver: Drake R8A
Antennas (cardioid array on roof of car):
* Vertical: 3 m whip (MFJ-1954) to DX Engineering AVA-1 buffer amplifier;
* Loop: broadband, in vertical plane, square, 2 m per side, to 1:1 transformer to DX Engineering RPA-1 line amplifier, peak east-west, null north-south
Accessories: DXP-6 phasing unit
*** TRANSATLANTIC DX ***
153 | ALGERIA | Chaine 1, Bechar, JUL 28 2346 - Arabic male vocal; at low audio level on good carrier.
162 | FRANCE | France-Inter, Allouis, JUL 29 0136 - Caribbean style instrumentation.
171 | MOROCCO | R. Mediterranee Internationale, Nador, JUL 28 2345 - slow Arabic vocal; fair.
183 | GERMANY | Europe No. 1, Felsberg, JUL 29 0137 - tone test; strong.
198 | ALGERIA | Ouargla, JUL 28 2347 - bits of Arabic music; over subaudible heterodyne likely from UK.
198 | UNITED KINGDOM | BBC R.4, Droitwich et al., JUL 29 0138 - radio drama with man & woman.
234 | LUXEMBOURG | R. Luxembourg, Junglinster, JUL 29 0139 - rock music; fair to good.
252 | ALGERIA | Tipaza, JUL 28 2348 - music mixing with Ireland.
252 | IRELAND | RTE R.1, Clarkestown, JUL 29 0133 - // 567 with talkshow; fair.
531 | SPAIN | RNE R.5 synchros, JUL 29 0136 - // 585 with Spanish talk by man; poor to fair.
549 | IRELAND | Irish Christian Broadcasters, Monaghan, JUL 29 0135 - likely this with folksy religious vocal; over Algeria & Germany.
567 | IRELAND | RTE R.1, Tullamore, JUL 29 0133 - // 252 with talkshow in English; fair over Spain.
585 | SPAIN | RNE R.1, Madrid, JUL 29 0131 - // 684 with two men in Spanish; good with WEZE phased.
684 | SPAIN | RNE R.1, Sevilla, JUL 29 0131 - // 585 with men in Spanish; fair with WRKO phased.
693 | UNITED KINGDOM | BBC R. 5 Live, Droitwich et al., JUL 29 0037 - sports-related talk mentioned Belgium; good with CINF phased.
711 | FRANCE | Rennes, JUL 29 0125 - // 1206 with hard rock; fair over rumble.
756 | GERMANY | Deutschlandfunk, Braunschweig & Ravensburg, JUL 29 0043 - // 1422 with jazz; poor to fair.
765 | SWITZERLAND | RSR Option Musique, Sottens, JUL 29 0123 - soft-rock French vocal; good.
837 | AZORES | Centro Regional da RDP, Pico da Barrosa, JUL 29 0034 - Portuguese newstalk; fair, over France and Spain-Canaries.
864 | FRANCE | France Bleu, Villebon-sur-Yvette, JUL 29 0031 - romantic French vocal; good.
882 | CANARY ISLANDS // SPAIN | COPE synchros, JUL 29 0021 - Spanish teletalk; fair.
882 | UNITED KINGDOM | BBC R. Wales, Washford, JUL 29 0031 - BBC discussion; now over COPE.
890.98 | ALGERIA | Chaine 1, Algiers, JUL 29 0030 - Arabic male vocal at light audio level.
909 | UNITED KINGDOM | BBC R.5 Live synchros, JUL 29 0118 - bit of music, then British English talk; fair through WABI slop.
945 | FRANCE | France Info, Toulouse, JUL 29 0117 - // 1206 with sad emotional male French vocal; to good peak.
981 | ALGERIA | RTVA Chaine 2, Algiers, JUL 29 0020 - Arabic group vocal; fair.
999 | SPAIN | COPE, Madrid, JUL 29 0019 - man in Spanish, musical interludes; good.
1017 | GERMANY | SWR Cont. R., Wolfsheim, JUL 29 0024 - woman in German.
1044 | SPAIN | SER synchros, JUL 29 0146 - // 1116 with Spanish teletalk; fair to good.
1053 | UNITED KINGDOM | TalkSport synchros, JUL 29 0145 - segment of "You Wear It Well" by Rod Stewart, then advert about winning a million; to good peak.
1089 | UNITED KINGDOM | TalkSport synchros, JUL 29 0026 - teletalk about bombers; fair.
1098 | SPAIN | RNE R.5 synchros, JUL 29 0017 - Spanish teletalk, Radio Nacional de Espana mention.
1107 | SPAIN | RNE R.5 synchros, JUL 29 0112 - Spanish talk; over growl from Egypt on approximately 1106.8.
1116 | SPAIN | SER synchros, JUL 29 0051 - slow Spanish talk by woman; good.
1125 | unID | JUL 29 0111 - classical music; somewhat over Croatia & Spain.
1134 | CROATIA | Glas Hrvatske, Zadar, JUL 29 0109 - Slavic talk; HUGE, over Spain.
1134 | SPAIN | COPE synchros, JUL 29 0109 - Spanish talk; clearly audible under the Croatian powerhouse.
1152 | SPAIN | RNE R.5 synchros, JUL 28 2358 - echoey Spanish talk by man & woman; fair.
1170 | UNITED ARAB EMIRATES | R. Sawa, Dabiya, JUL 29 0106 - mideast female vocal; over/under phased WWVA. Iran-1169 not noted at this time.
1179 | CANARY ISLANDS // SPAIN | SER synchros, JUL 29 0016 - fast Spanish teletalk.
1188 | BELGIUM | VRT Radio 2, Kuurne, JUL 29 0107 - late '80s or early '90s dance hit "Baby Don't Hurt Me"; good.
1197 | SPAIN | Euskadi Irratia, Vitoria, JUL 29 0108 - woman in Spanish; barely over pile-up with apparent UK and others.
1206 | FRANCE | France Info, Bordeaux, JUL 29 0015 - French music. + JUL 29 0038 - HUGE with guitar rock and male vocal.
1215 | UNITED KINGDOM | Virgin R. synchros, JUL 29 0104 - Virgin Radio mention, female pop-rock vocal; fair, over Spain.
1224 | SPAIN | COPE synchros, JUL 29 0059 - // 1296 with Spanish discussion; poor.
1287 | SPAIN | SER synchros, JUL 29 0102 - // 1116 with news; poor to fair.
1296 | SPAIN | COPE, Valencia, JUL 29 0059 - // 1224 with two men and a woman with Spanish discussion; good.
1296 | UNITED KINGDOM | R. XL, Langley Mill, JUL 29 0101 - Indian music; under Spain.
1359 | SPAIN | RNE, Arganda del Rey, JUL 29 0101 - fast-talk Spanish news by woman.
1377 | FRANCE | France Info, Lille, JUL 29 0057 - // 1206 with man in French; good, pushing by WMYF pest.
1413 | unID | JUL 29 0055 - two stations, one most likely Spain, the other sounded Middle Eastern: Oman or perhaps a UK ethnic station ?
1422 | GERMANY | Deutschlandfunk, Heusweiler, JUL 29 0043 - // 756 with early '50s "cool school" Lionel Hampton style vibraphone jazz; good, over Algeria.
1431 | DJIBOUTI | R. Sawa, Arta, JUL 29 0044 - Arabic female pop vocal; peaking over WXKS/WNSW/WENE slop.
1503 | SPAIN | RNE R.5 synchros, JUL 29 0003 - Spanish news; fair with WTOP phased.
1512 | SAUDI ARABIA | BSKSA, Jeddah, JUL 29 0053 - Arabic talk, vocal; over others, fair with WWZN phased.
1548 | KUWAIT | R. Sawa, Kabd - Kuwait City, JUL 29 0048 - pop Arabic group vocal with strings and drums; loud, way over UK station.
1557 | FRANCE | France Info, Fontbonne, JUL 29 0004 - French news by woman; fair.
1575 | UNITED ARAB EMIRATES | R. Farda, JUL 29 0006 - mideast dance music; over Spain.
1584 | CEUTA | RadiOle, JUL 28 2314 - Spanish vocal on early fade-up; over co-channel SER and slop from WARV-1590.
1602 | SPAIN | R. Vitoria, Vitoria, JUL 29 0050 - "Mrs. Robinson" by Simon & Garfunkel, Spanish talk, more pop music; good, over SER.
*** PAN-AMERICAN DX ***
530 | TURKS & CAICOS | R. Vision Cristiana Internacional, South Caicos, JUL 28 2350 - mellow Spanish religious music; pre-sunset fade-up.
1100 | BRAZIL | R. Globo, ZYK694, Sao Paulo, JUL 29 0113 - reverberated Portuguese talk, Globo ID; good, over nulled WTAM.
1620 | US VIRGIN ISLANDS | WDHP, Fredriksted, St. Croix, JUL 28 2313 - accented English talk, reggae music; fair over Boston Haitian pirate, about an hour before sunset.
========================================
Bruce Conti's logs
Receiver: Drake R8B
Antennas (cardioid array on roof of car):
* Vertical: 6 m whip, to 16:1 transformer;
* Loop: broadband, 3 m by 4 m, to 1:1 transformer, peak east-west, null north-south
Accessories: MWDX-5 phasing unit
*** TRANSATLANTIC DX ***
756 | GERMANY | Deutschlandfunk, Braunschweig & Ravensburg, JUL 29 0139 - Good; classical music parallel 1422 kHz.
1053 | UNITED KINGDOM | TalkSport synchros, JUL 29 0126 - Very good, better than 1089; Mike Dicken talk.
1125 | SPAIN | RNE5 synchros, JUL 29 0011 - Good; talk parallel 1107 kHz.
1134 | SPAIN | COPE synchros, JUL 29 0009 - Good; discussion parallel 1143 kHz, synchro echo.
1413 | SPAIN | RNE5 synchros, JUL 29 0111 - Good; talk parallel 1107 kHz.
1422 | GERMANY | Deutschlandfunk, Heusweiler, JUL 29 0110 - Good; classical music.
1431 | DJIBOUTI | R.Sawa, Arta, JUL 29 0106 - Good; Bollywood-sounding Mideast pop vocal.
1503 | SPAIN | RNE5 synchros, JUL 29 0036 - Excellent; talk parallel 1098 kHz (also excellent).
1521 | SAUDI ARABIA | BSKSA, Duba, JUL 29 0206 - Huge open carrier burying 1520 WWKB.
1548 | UNITED KINGDOM | BBC R.Bristol, Mangotsfield, JUL 29 0212 - Good; presumed this with British-accented telephone talk, over unID pop music.
*** PAN-AMERICAN DX ***
1500 | VENEZUELA | YVRZ R.Dos Mil, Cumana, JUL 29 0045 - Fair in WTOP null; Radio Noticias promo in ad string.
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