MW DXing in Alaska

[ka3jjz]

You want DXing in the cold? Try this on for size

Paul’s thoughts about Mediumwave DXing in Alaska

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Paul Walker, who has kindly allowed me to published some notes he recently shared among MW DXers about DXing in McGrath, Alaska, USA: During a Zoom hang out …

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Mike

 

[mmckenna]

When in port, I used to sit up on the bridge at night and use our direction finder receiver to listen in on AM broadcast band from the lower 48. I could easily pull in AM stations that were local to where I grew up. Was sort of heart warming to hear local radio personalities, ads, news, when so far away from home.

Getting out away from all the noise was a good thing.

 

[majoco]

MMckenna wrote:

Getting out away from all the noise was a good thing.

As an ex-Radio Officer from the 1960's, miles out to sea is a great QTH for HF listening.. Most marine receivers have good sensitivity and no need for filters to get rid of local QRM, and long antennas via an antenna tuner pick up every squeak of a signal. The receiver in the DF is unusually sensitive and with a steerable antenna to null out interfering stations too - the BBC longwave station on 200kHz (now198kHz) travels some amazing distances.

Operating mainly CW, you could quite often hear the other stations signal both ways around the world - and even weirder was to hear your own signal on a simplex frequency in between morse characters with full break-in.

 

[mmckenna]

We had a couple of hams on board and they'd periodically get on HF. Never did myself.
But those direction finder setups we had were amazing receivers. Nice thing was that I could listen to AM stations 2000 miles away and the needle would point right at it. I've tried to find a surplus one, but no luck.

 

[KB2GOM]

IMHO, the MW ultralight DXers are way cool . . . Paul Walker is one of them. They use pocket radios and wild FSL antennas to DX MW stations at astonishing distances. The darn things look like electric motors, but, man, do they ever work!

Here's the homepage for the group: main@UltralightDX.groups.io | Home

And here are a couple of presentations about their antennas that I think are worth the time:

Paul Walker will be using a couple of those antennas this upcoming DX season.

 

[DXerPaulAK]

Hi!

Funny enough, I had no idea about this thread.. but a community member who has news alerts set to email her anytime McGrath is mentioned somewhere pointed this thread out to me.. and she has no interest or care about radio.

I'm the program director for KSKO 89.5 in McGrath which has FM repeaters in other communities (Class D non commercial educational licenses, not translators) which is the large reason why Im here, willingly at that... but DXing was a a somewhat large part of why I came back here after working 150 miles in Galena 5 years ago with time in the lower 48 in between.

Yes, its cold, yes stuff is expensive here.. no its not complete darkness in winter nor is it quite complete sunlight in summer. Now thats out of the way

Let me present you with some examples of how amazing Gary's FSL antennas are and how amazing Alaska AM DX is. I use nothing mroe than the FSL and a CC Skywave.

Listen to Clip 1 here.... you'll hear time tones and then a news theme. Thats ABC Radio Australia's news theme! Then in clip 2, at 21 seconds you hear "Low of 15, top of 21.. ABC Radio Hobart." Thats 10kw 7ZR 936kHz Hobart, Tasmania 8000 miles away!

Clip #1: 7ZR 936khz Hobart, Tas, Aus Wed Mar 24, 2021 1400UTC 600AM AK Time.mp3
Clip #2: 7ZR 936khz Hobart, Tas, Aus Wed Mar 24, 2021 1406UTC 606AM AK Time.mp3

I contacted 7ZR, they interviewed me live on the radio and one of their people passed my details onto ABC TV and the producer of their national News Breakfast showed contacted me and I was live on TV with them. Here's video of that:

I was also interviewed on 2NC 1233khz, Newcastle NSW after picking up their 20KW AM signal. It's weak, but this is Nightlife with Phillip Clark, a talk show: 2NC 1233kHz Newcastle, NSW, Aus Tue Mar 16, 2021 1347UTC 547AM AK Time.mp3


MR4, 1188khz, 400kw form Hungary. Was like a semi local for 10 minutes:

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Talk Sport 1089 form the UK (300kw or 500kw, i forget) was nearly like a local for 15 minutes one morning:

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Here's Turkey on 1062khz.. 500kw? I think:

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And to wrap it up, 20kw Radio Deckhova 1233khz from The Czech Republic. Not great ,but you can hear it: Rádio Dechovka 1233khz Czech Republic Sun Jan 17, 2021 917AM Ak time 1817UTC.MP3

 

[KB2GOM]

Paul,

Thanks for posting that.

In your SWLing post on MW DXing in Alaska, you said: " Lower 48 theory and ideas just don’t hold a bunch of weight up here … I’ve had ideas and suggestions from some really smart people that just didn’t work out. "

It would be great if you could post something that would compare and contrast "Lower 48 conventional wisdom" vs. "Alaska reality."

I find this absolutely fascinating!

 

[DXerPaulAK]

Paul,

Thanks for posting that.

In your SWLing post on MW DXing in Alaska, you said: " Lower 48 theory and ideas just don’t hold a bunch of weight up here … I’ve had ideas and suggestions from some really smart people that just didn’t work out. "

It would be great if you could post something that would compare and contrast "Lower 48 conventional wisdom" vs. "Alaska reality."

I find this absolutely fascinating!

WEll one of those things was ... pre sunset dxing... when it was already or almost dark in the lower 48 and stations hadnt dropped power yet and nto quite dark here.. that didnt work. Pre sunset dxing doesnt happen up here.

 

[mmckenna]

In your SWLing post on MW DXing in Alaska, you said: " Lower 48 theory and ideas just don’t hold a bunch of weight up here … I’ve had ideas and suggestions from some really smart people that just didn’t work out. "

I lived in Kodiak for a while and got to travel around quite a bit.
Most people arriving from the lower 48 have no clue what they are walking into. And no, taking a cruise ship to Alaska does not represent real life.

When I was there, it was like a very well developed 3rd world country. Not in a bad way, in a good way. Niceties like paved streets and 'everything on demand' were just not common in most places. The social rules that apply elsewhere don't fly up there. I remember on a Saturday morning watching a couple of kids on BMX bikes riding out of town with .22 rifles slung over their shoulders. No one cared. Try that down here and the cops would have been all over them.
Very little about living up there was easy. The 18 year old kids reporting in right out of boot camp were kind of interesting to watch. Many just could not adapt, and often it didn't end very well in one way or the other. Those that did adapt, thrived in the challenge. If I was younger, I'd love to move back up there, but I think my wife would have something to say about it.

 

[DXerPaulAK]

The social rules that apply elsewhere don't fly up there. I remember on a Saturday morning watching a couple of kids on BMX bikes riding out of town with .22 rifles slung over their shoulders. No one cared. Try that down here and the cops would have been all over them.

thats another big thing, social rules... we have two lane roads but unpaved and some people walk or ridevarious things that arent automobiles...and if im not on the side of the road exactly.. maybe standing in the middle talking a picture or something.. no one honks and swears..... they just putter around me. i cant say ive heard a single car horn honk in my 10 months here. Honest to god.

It's nothing on a weekend or late at night to be just lollygagging in the middle of the main road here.. and just kinda.. soak it all in, and have no cars pass by while im on the phone or some such

 

[KB2GOM]

I lived in Kodiak for a while and got to travel around quite a bit.
Most people arriving from the lower 48 have no clue what they are walking into. And no, taking a cruise ship to Alaska does not represent real life.

When I was there, it was like a very well developed 3rd world country. Not in a bad way, in a good way. Niceties like paved streets and 'everything on demand' were just not common in most places. The social rules that apply elsewhere don't fly up there. I remember on a Saturday morning watching a couple of kids on BMX bikes riding out of town with .22 rifles slung over their shoulders. No one cared. Try that down here and the cops would have been all over them.
Very little about living up there was easy. The 18 year old kids reporting in right out of boot camp were kind of interesting to watch. Many just could not adapt, and often it didn't end very well in one way or the other. Those that did adapt, thrived in the challenge. If I was younger, I'd love to move back up there, but I think my wife would have something to say about it.

I've heard the mosquitoes have twin engines and FAA tail numbers . . .

 

[DXerPaulAK]

I've heard the mosquitoes have twin engines and FAA tail numbers . . .

Thats the understatement of the century if youre in a village on a river. The skeeters in summer could carry my 6 foot 2 240 pound self across the river. its awful

 

[chrismol1]

I've seen those mosquito videos in Alaska, its amazing that any animal stays alive from the blood sucking and annoyance. There is nothing I've ever seen like that, not even in any alien movie or any other scifi action, any other organism could predict the assault of Alaskan Mosquitos. If aliens came to earth, they'd stand no chance in Alaska. Its amazing to see people in protective gear look like a black blob

 

[DXerPaulAK]

Here's a few more clips of some of my DX form this past winter. Ive picked these out because .. maybe I liked the song, or its a low power station, its far away.. or something about it i just liked. This represents not even 5 percent of what I heard over the winter, but what I consider my best or most unique loggings. The message board systems should link to the Google Drive file by showing you station name/frequency/date/time in the link.

This one is one of my more favorite clips, 5KW from nearly 7200 miles away. A semi regular visitor in mid to late winter.
Magic Talk 1107kHz Tauranga, NZ Sat Mar 13, 2021 1441UTC 541am AK Time.mp3

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[ai8o]

I was in Barrow July 12-19.

I tried listening to MW during the Middle of the Night

(Middle of the NIGHT in Alaska?)
Midnite sun at 0230 local time made it possible for the neighborhood kids to be out riding their bikes, and made MW DX condx poor.

Another factor was something that every few hours would fire up with weird buzzing noises, blanking out reception of LF, MW HF, low VHF and everything else below 2m, but KBRW (680 KHz).
I was less than 1 mile from both the AF DEW line big Golf Ball radar, and the FAA S&A radar at PABR.
So I am guessing that the something they operate was causing fundamental overload of my ETON S450DLX.

 

[DXerPaulAK]

I was in Barrow July 12-19.

I tried listening to MW during the Middle of the Night

(Middle of the NIGHT in Alaska?)
Midnite sun at 0230 local time made it possible for the neighborhood kids to be out riding their bikes, and made MW DX condx poor.

Another factor was something that every few hours would fire up with weird buzzing noises, blanking out reception of LF, MW HF, low VHF and everything else below 2m, but KBRW (680 KHz).
I was less than 1 mile from both the AF DEW line big Golf Ball radar, and the FAA S&A radar at PABR.
So I am guessing that the something they operate was causing fundamental overload of my ETON S450DLX.

MW DX doesnt really happen here from April to mid/late September

HF/SW DX is gangbusters year round.

 

[DXerPaulAK]

Here's another clip.. this is my FARTHEST east heard station, believe it or not. (I've heard several UK stations but east of me was in daylight at the time, so i had to have gone.. west to hear them)

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I'm unsure if they were testing with 1KW non directional, which theyve been doing in the past or were running their 10kw/9 tower night pattern. The station with the Barbra Streisand song is in fact CFAJ, and the ID is at the very end, 1 minutes 12 seconds in, "another hour of great music on 1220 CFAJ St Catharines, Niagra"

 

[DXerPaulAK]

Here are some of htis seasons logs, starting to trickle in:



A3Z 1017kHz Nukualofa, Tonga at 1421UTC on Fri. Sept 10th with a nice signal and some good, clear island music. Audio A3Z 1017kHz Nuku'alofa, Tonga Fri Sept 10, 2021 621am AK Time.mp3

4TAB 1008kHz Brisbane, QLD at 1437UTC on Mon Sept 13th with fair signal and clear racing commentary. Audio: 4TAB 1008kHz Brisbane, QLD, Aus Mon Sept 13, 2021 1437UTC.mp3

MagicTalk 1107kHz Tauranga, NZ at 1356UTC on Mon Sept 13, 2021 with "This Diamond Ring" By Gary Lewis and the playboys. Fair to good signal. Audio: Magic Talk 1107kHz Tauranga, NZ Mon Sept 13, 2021 1356UTC.mp3

4BC 1116kHz Brisbane, QLD at 1350UTC on Mon. Sept 13 with local commercials. Good signal. Audio: 4BC 1116kHz Brisbane, QLD, Aus Mon Sept 13, 2021 1350UTC.mp3

Gold AM NZ 1503khz (which transmitter is unknown, as they have 2 on 1503khz) Sun Sept 12, 2021 between 1450UTC and 1514UTC with several classic hits songs. Audio #1: Gold AM NZ 1503khz Synchro Sun Sept 12, 2021 656am AK Time.mp3 and Audio #2: Gold AM NZ 1503khz Synchro Sun Sept 12, 2021 711am AK Time.mp3

NewsTalk ZB New Zealand 1026khz. Sun Sept 12th at 1411UTC No idea which transmitter this is as they have two 2kw relays on 1026khz and I'm pretty sure I hear an echo. Signal is poor to fair and its a bit hard to make speech out, but you can hear and get the gist of most of it. Audio: NewsTalk ZB 1026kHz Synchro Sun sept 12, 2021 611am AK Time.mp3

 

[KB2GOM]

Here are some of htis seasons logs, starting to trickle in:



A3Z 1017kHz Nukualofa, Tonga at 1421UTC on Fri. Sept 10th with a nice signal and some good, clear island music. Audio A3Z 1017kHz Nuku'alofa, Tonga Fri Sept 10, 2021 621am AK Time.mp3

4TAB 1008kHz Brisbane, QLD at 1437UTC on Mon Sept 13th with fair signal and clear racing commentary. Audio: 4TAB 1008kHz Brisbane, QLD, Aus Mon Sept 13, 2021 1437UTC.mp3

MagicTalk 1107kHz Tauranga, NZ at 1356UTC on Mon Sept 13, 2021 with "This Diamond Ring" By Gary Lewis and the playboys. Fair to good signal. Audio: Magic Talk 1107kHz Tauranga, NZ Mon Sept 13, 2021 1356UTC.mp3

4BC 1116kHz Brisbane, QLD at 1350UTC on Mon. Sept 13 with local commercials. Good signal. Audio: 4BC 1116kHz Brisbane, QLD, Aus Mon Sept 13, 2021 1350UTC.mp3

Gold AM NZ 1503khz (which transmitter is unknown, as they have 2 on 1503khz) Sun Sept 12, 2021 between 1450UTC and 1514UTC with several classic hits songs. Audio #1: Gold AM NZ 1503khz Synchro Sun Sept 12, 2021 656am AK Time.mp3 and Audio #2: Gold AM NZ 1503khz Synchro Sun Sept 12, 2021 711am AK Time.mp3

NewsTalk ZB New Zealand 1026khz. Sun Sept 12th at 1411UTC No idea which transmitter this is as they have two 2kw relays on 1026khz and I'm pretty sure I hear an echo. Signal is poor to fair and its a bit hard to make speech out, but you can hear and get the gist of most of it. Audio: NewsTalk ZB 1026kHz Synchro Sun sept 12, 2021 611am AK Time.mp3

. . . and I get all happy if I can hear Michigan from Troy, NY . . . (sigh)

 

[DXerPaulAK]

FYI, for anyone wondering why I labeled some stations as synchros (synchronzied transmitters) when they actually arent.. thats just my way of noting and remembering I couldnt tell which particular one I heard when months later I look back and see no city listed