pjxii
Member
Just wanted to vent my frustration, hope you all don't mind.
HF Reception Is Still Terrible
- Thread starter pjxii
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ridgescan
Member
I didn't catch what region of the US you're in. Here in San Fran it's pretty good at the moment.
pjxii
Member
Southwest Florida. I've found it poor since spring with an occasional decent day. What are you pulling in? All I'm getting right now are China and US religiius broadcasters.
ridgescan
Member
All the usual stuff like 5085 WTWW is my fav at night for the tunes. WRMI on 9395, Heleniki Radiophona on 9420, lots of stations. And if this gives you an idea, here's Voice Of America transmitting from Botswana at 10,373 miles from me
https://youtu.be/YwF2kr8fNAg
https://youtu.be/YwF2kr8fNAg
pjxii
Member
All the usual stuff like 5085 WTWW is my fav at night for the tunes. WRMI on 9395, Heleniki Radiophona on 9420, lots of stations. And if this gives you an idea, here's Voice Of America transmitting from Botswana at 10,373 miles from me
https://youtu.be/YwF2kr8fNAg
Wow, very nice! What are you using for an antenna with that fine receiver?
I was just tuning around LW, surprisingly lots of beacon hets coming through but we have a massive thunderstorm off in the gulf right now so just an odd dit or dah, couldn't put anything together. Too tired to swap ferrite sticks to try Botswana!
ridgescan
Member
This rig, the Icom R8600, runs on the Wellbrook ALA1530s loop antenna up on the roof. So does the Realistic DX-160 at the right side of my bed which I use to fall asleep every night
The Icom R75 in the living room at my easy chair, and the Hallicrafters SX-88 at the left side of my bed, both run on a 100' end-fed wire on the roof.
Both antennas are up 50' from ground-level.
Ferrite sticks? One for shortwave? I never knew of these. What radio are you using? Maybe we can plan a better antenna system for ya.
Horrible here compared to 2014 or so -- same antenna (which I know is working) and same radios. Earlier this evening I heard maybe 15 stations. Not all of them readable. Two QSO's on the 40 meter ham band. One CW QSO.
Most of the SWBC stations I heard were in the 49 meter band. S1-S3 at best. Grainy reception.
It was worse the night before.
Five years ago I would have heard that many stations in the 31 meter band alone.
I hope to re-erect a 100 foot outdoor antenna before Winter. Not sure if that will be all that much of an improvement over my second story 30 ft. indoor antenna. I suppose there is one way to find out.
Most of the SWBC stations I heard were in the 49 meter band. S1-S3 at best. Grainy reception.
It was worse the night before.
Five years ago I would have heard that many stations in the 31 meter band alone.
I hope to re-erect a 100 foot outdoor antenna before Winter. Not sure if that will be all that much of an improvement over my second story 30 ft. indoor antenna. I suppose there is one way to find out.
ka3jjz
Wiki Admin Emeritus
You really can't compare reception conditions between coasts. The paths signals take are totally different, and therefore the stations you will hear will also be different. Ridge's location on the west coast gives him a distinct advantage for Asian and Pacific stations. pjx's location is unfortunate right now because of the nearby tropical storm (and Florida is well known for being the lightning capital) but he has an advantage for Latin America and Caribbean MW stations. He would be very hard pressed to hear all the things Ridge does on a consistent basis and vice versa.
Of course the better the gear and the more you understand propagation, the better your results will be (to a poimt). Don't forget the many online SDRs out there - just to give an example, there's been several reports of hearing Bhutan using these receivers, a country that is very difficult here in the States.
Unfortunately these horrid conditions aren't going to change for quite a while. There are some signs that Cycle 25 has already begun (which has surprised many folks) but until old Sol gets its act together, it's going to be 'business as usual' for the foreseeable future.
Mike
Of course the better the gear and the more you understand propagation, the better your results will be (to a poimt). Don't forget the many online SDRs out there - just to give an example, there's been several reports of hearing Bhutan using these receivers, a country that is very difficult here in the States.
Unfortunately these horrid conditions aren't going to change for quite a while. There are some signs that Cycle 25 has already begun (which has surprised many folks) but until old Sol gets its act together, it's going to be 'business as usual' for the foreseeable future.
Mike
pjxii
Member
I use a Palstar LA30 and found a company in Germany called BAZ that makes lots of ferrite loopsticks which will fit into the 1/4 jack. It actually works very well from 3-14 MHz.
Being on the top floor of a three story condo limits what I can do. This has been the only thing that can keep noise away (acceptably, anyway). I'm okay with it for now, in a couple of years I'll be ready to build a house on a rural lot I own. Already have a brand new RF Systems T2FD in the closet waiting to go up and a PAR EF-SWL which will have the 45' of flexweave replaced with 300'.
pjxii
Member
This is EXACTLY how I'm finding HF conditions. Even six months ago I was pulling in a bit of aerotraffic but now all I get is New York Radio's aviation weather.
ridgescan
Member
I was getting Gander and faint AC responses on 8891kHz USB last night as I do every night here. If you'd like a video of that I could do one tonight.
a29zuk
Member
Wow ridge, when did you get the new Icom?
Propagation is bad here, also! There are also too many thunderstorms around here lately.
Jim
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ridgescan
Member
Hey Jim, I got it a week ago today
Seems like propagation is better on this side than the eastern half of the country, although Boombox's post about the same complaint perplexes me as he's over here on this side. I cannot recall what he uses for an antenna but I suspect it's all about getting it up and outside. I too have shortwave portables in the closet that I can run here on their attached antennas, and they for sure won't get as much as good as the rigs running on the roof antennas.
One thing I do notice here, is in my daytime, the SW bands are weaker than usual. But when evening hits here, it all starts pouring in as usual.
Conditions are terrible here, too. Even San Francisco Radio is very weak but somewhat readable on 6673, 8843, and 10057, but forget trying to hear the flights they're contacting.
The 40m ham band is pretty good during evening hours, but not consistently. I can be listening to a ham in Reno, Nevada with an S9 signal and no fading, and a few minutes later he's way down in the noise.
Radio Romania International comes in here on 7375 with a strong enough signal, but the fading is so rapid and severe that I can barely make out a word. Same goes for RNZI: Lots of fading, but pretty strong on 13840 until they switch to 11725 at 0400 UTC, when they drop down into the mud.
Of course my noisy environment and indoor antenna don't help, but I'm on the top floor of a 3-storey wood-framed building, so I'd probably be getting better results under better propagation conditions, esp. with a receiver as good as my R75.
The 40m ham band is pretty good during evening hours, but not consistently. I can be listening to a ham in Reno, Nevada with an S9 signal and no fading, and a few minutes later he's way down in the noise.
Radio Romania International comes in here on 7375 with a strong enough signal, but the fading is so rapid and severe that I can barely make out a word. Same goes for RNZI: Lots of fading, but pretty strong on 13840 until they switch to 11725 at 0400 UTC, when they drop down into the mud.
Of course my noisy environment and indoor antenna don't help, but I'm on the top floor of a 3-storey wood-framed building, so I'd probably be getting better results under better propagation conditions, esp. with a receiver as good as my R75.
I wonder if being so close to the ocean gives you an advantage. I'm landlocked here.All the usual stuff like 5085 WTWW is my fav at night for the tunes. WRMI on 9395, Heleniki Radiophona on 9420, lots of stations. And if this gives you an idea, here's Voice Of America transmitting from Botswana at 10,373 miles from me
https://youtu.be/YwF2kr8fNAg
ka3jjz
Wiki Admin Emeritus
To a certain extent, yes. On MW that effect is more pronounced, but HF as it bends from one hop to another, propagation over water is going to be somewhat better (water is a good conductor, ground not so much). And as mentioned before, the paths that a station's signal will take to get to the West Coast is nowhere near the same as going to the East Coast. There have been numerous MW DXPeditions that have taken advantage of this fact, and many have gotten some really great catches..And at least 1 individual who contributes regularly to the DXLD takes his Eton E1 and a loop to a beach park...
With conditions so crummy, the antenna becomes even more important. Without going too OT here, an antenna mounted nice and high outside and away from the home is far better off than an indoor one. We have a separate forum for receive antennas, so if you want to compare notes on these, please post there.
Mike
a29zuk
Member
75 meters is usually a go in the early evening. But that's about the only thing that is fairly consistent. Listening to them rag chewing is all I've been doing lately.
Jim
Jim
majoco
Stirrer
Deleted - doubled.
majoco
Stirrer
I couldn't spend much time at the radios last evening, but after all the comments I thought I'd have a look. Here's a pic of a signal from China Radio Int.at 0950UTC/2150local - the pic shows about 200uV but he shot up to over 400uV at times. All the little spikes on the spectrum at the bottom are reasonably large signals. I'll have more time tonight to have another look. Fortunately a neighbour has ditched their plasma TV but now there is a strange increase of about 10db of noise between 8 and 12MHz - definitely man-made as the cutoffs are very sharp - more later.
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I've heard of people actually tossing a random length of wire into the water.
Thanks, Mike. I've looked at the various designs for indoor antennas mentioned in that forum. Indoors, my random length of wire does fine when conditions are good. They've only worsened over the last few weeks. They seemed to be at their worst while my area was thickly blanketed by wildfire smoke. That's cleared up somewhat now, and I've noticed a slight improvement, but using the same receiver and antenna a couple of years ago gave me very good reception.
I think there might be some better reception as winter approaches, which would be all for the best, because I tend to spend lots of time indoors during winter, since I'm not into winter sports or cold weather in general. Hmm...that does sound strange coming from a Canadian! :lol:
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