261 KHz broadcast

[krokus]

I just picked up a broadcast on 261 KHz, that I am not sure of the origin. It is fairly strong into southeast Michigan.

I am not sure of the language(s) the songs are in. Still listening for some sort of station ID.

 

[ka3jjz]

Maybe Moscow or Radio Ropa Germany, both listed on this frequency. What are you using for an antenna and radio? Either is a nice catch; the Euro LW broadcasters are slowly dying out in favor, sometimes, of FM....Mike

 

[krokus]

Just heard a US station ID of WCXI, which is 1160. Now it makes a bit more sense why the signal sounds a little better at 260 KHz.

This might be an image, as I am not far from WCXI's sister station transmitter, which has been playing the same feed. Now to try and find the IF freqs for my portable.

 

[krokus]

Maybe Moscow or Radio Ropa Germany, both listed on this frequency. What are you using for an antenna and radio? Either is a nice catch; the Euro LW broadcasters are slowly dying out in favor, sometimes, of FM....Mike

RS 20-629 portable, with a newly strung random wire, which is inside. (Just messing around, until I have time to put the antenna outside.)

I do find it odd that I have not heard this until now. (I was just doing a QRM check.)

 

[ka3jjz]

The Russian is reported inactive, but you found the issue anyway. It's not unusual for portables to have mixing problems from strong MW stations. As there is no LW broadcasts from the US, there's little interest in building a good front end for this band, hence the overloading.

Mike

 

[ka3jjz]

You can do LOTS better than a wire antenna if you are stuck indoors. Assuming you have the parts (or can get them), this little project is very neat as you basically get a huge L network that can help with getting rid of overload and mixing products

The Carpet Loop -- antenna special on hard-core-dx.com

One modification to the schematic; take the diodes out and put a choke in its place, as discussed here

Static drain for outside long wire antenna

Up until now I've used the old tube radios I collect and restore for DXing. I use a 50' outside wire for my antenna. Static (other than lightning) isn't a problem for tube radios. But I decided I wanted to try one of the new portable radios and ordered a Tecsun PL-880, which should arrive in a...

forums.radioreference.com

I built this for my RX320d when I had it and it really perked things up. Better than a good outdoor antenna? No way. Better than just a wire on the ceiling or similar? Yup.

Mike

 

[krokus]

I am planning on putting up an end-fed, which should handle 80m, and general reception use. Otherwise, I will build a mag loop, for reception.

 

[ka3jjz]

A passive loop like the Chameleon should provide some protection against overloading but that end fed almost certainly won't. Hopefully you won't be bothered too much with that with a good ham transceiver, but if you do (and that portable probably will have issues with this) you will likely need to add some MW filters, or a passive preselector and a T/R switch.

Fixing the portable with this issue will be a tough nut to crack. A plastic case doesn't help matters (it's transparent to RF) and the wall wart might act in some cases as an unintended radiator. Something like this will help some, but won't solve the problem entirely....there's a section on filters and passive preselectors in our wiki....GL

Improving HF Reception - The RadioReference Wiki

wiki.radioreference.com

Mike

 

[Boombox]

For best results on LW with the RS 200-629, I would build or purchase a Longwave loop to inductively couple to the radio, similar to ones used on MW (the 200-629 is excellent on MW with such loops, by the way). There's a guy in Maine that used a 200-629 to DX Europe on Longwave, so they will DX there. You just have to have the right antenna or set-up, not just to bring in the signals, but to filter local MW images. Good luck.