Today's activity was part two after last Saturday's activity.. This time, the goal was to lay the BOG out at a 90 degree angle to the layout I used last weekend, in the same location, at about the same time of day, and compare the results. I've done some thinking, researching, and discussing since my first trip out last weekend, and I'm pleased to say that my results have been consistent with some of the ideas I've formed during that process. Here are some details.
Time of Day: I got started around 4:40 PM, and left by 6:00 PM. Local sunset was at 7:12 PM.
My Location: Oklahoma City (I was at Eldon Lyon Park.)
Antenna Orientation: North/South
Here are some of my observations and reactions:
This weekend, I connected things exactly as they'd been last weekend for my signal strength observations, but after that, I connected the receiver's ground to the car body, and looked to see what was different. Boy oh boy, were things different! When I connected ground, I had the antenna disconnected, with the receiver tuned to the frequency of a strong local. There was nothing but receiver noise to hear, both before I connected ground, and after. Obviously, the ground connection was not, in and of itself, acting as an antenna in any way. But, once I reconnected the antenna, the differences were dramatic. The noise floor went from S-0 to S-9. The signal strengths on all frequencies were up by about that much, including the ones with signals. Only on the weakest stations was there any readability improvement associated with having ground connected, and even that was slight. In some cases, it just seemed to make the noise worse. The signal strengths of locals were right off the scale ("pegging" the digital S-meter graphic). I noticed that on lower frequencies, around 200-300 KHz, there were quite a few images of MW BCB stations. All things considered, I think connecting the receiver ground to the car body is a wash. It helps this a little, hurts that a little, but mostly, is just different, more so than better, or worse.
Comparison of MW BCB Stations Heard | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Observations on 9/26 | Observations on 10/3 | ||||||
Frequency | Station | Signal Strength | Readability | Station | Signal Strength | Readability | |
540 | UNID | 0 | D | UNID | 6 | B | |
550 | UNID | 0 | F | UNID | 8 | B | |
570 | UNID | 0 | D | UNID | 7 | B | |
580 | UNID | 0 | F | UNID | 0 | C | |
620 | UNID | 0 | D- | UNID | 7 | B+ | |
660 | KSKY (Dallas/Ft. Worth) | 0 | D | UNID | 7 | B | |
690 | UNID | 0 | D+ | 690 | 0 | C | |
710 | KGNC (Amarillo, TX) | 0 | C | --- | --- | --- | |
720 | --- | --- | --- | UNID | 0 | F | |
740 | UNID | 8 | B+ | UNID | 8 | B+ | |
770 | --- | --- | --- | UNID | 0 | D | |
780 | UNID | 0 | D+ | UNID | 0 | D | |
820 | --- | --- | --- | UNID | 6 | B | |
850 | --- | --- | --- | UNID | 0 | C | |
870 | --- | --- | --- | UNID | 0 | D | |
950 | --- | --- | --- | UNID | 0 | D | |
960 | UNID | 5 | C | UNID | 8 | A | |
970 | UNID | 0 | D | UNID | 0 | D | |
1020 | UNID | 0 | D+ | UNID | 7 | B | |
1030 | UNID | 5 | B | UNID | 5 | B | |
1040 | --- | --- | --- | UNID | 0 | F | |
1050 | UNID | 0 | F | --- | --- | --- | |
1070 | --- | --- | --- | UNID | 0 | D | |
1080 | --- | --- | --- | UNID | 6 | B | |
1170 | KFAQ (Tulsa, OK) | 5 | C+ | UNID | 0 | D | |
1190 | --- | --- | --- | UNID | 0 | D | |
1220 | UNID | 8 | A | UNID | 8 | A | |
1240 | UNID | 0 | D | UNID | 0 | D | |
1270 | UNID | 0 | F | KRVT | 7 | B | |
1280 | --- | --- | --- | UNID | 0 | D | |
1290 | --- | --- | --- | UNID | 0 | D | |
1300 | UNID | 7 | A | UNID | 2 | B | |
1310 | --- | --- | --- | UNID | 0 | D | |
1320 | UNID | 6 | C | --- | --- | --- | |
1340 | UNID | 9 | A | UNID | 9+ | A | |
1360 | --- | --- | --- | UNID | 0 | F | |
1370 | --- | --- | --- | UNID | 0 | F | |
1380 | UNID | 0 | D | UNID (mult.) | 0 | F | |
1390 | UNID | 0 | D | (co-channel) | 5 | ||
1420 | UNID | 5 | B | UNID (mult.) | 0 | F | |
1440 | UNID | 7 | B | UNID | 8 | A | |
1480 | UNID | 0 | F | UNID | 0 | F | |
1490 | UNID | 6 | C | UNID | 0 | F | |
1530 | UNID | 0 | F | (co-channel) | 9+ | ||
1540 | --- | --- | --- | UNID | 8 | B | |
1590 | UNID | 0 | D | UNID | 3 | D | |
1600 | UNID | 3 | B | UNID | 8 | A | |
1630 | UNID | 0 | D | UNID | 7 | A | |
1700 | KTBK (Dallas/Ft. Worth) | 0 | D | UNID | 7 | B |
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