Propagation is wondrous and frustrating

[ditto1958]

This afternoon I did some SW scanning and at first there was nothing. I started down from 13m but it wasn’t until 22 and 25m that I found things. Mostly Radio Marti and other US religious boomers. But then I caught World Christian Broadcasting from Madagascar at 11965 kHz, and a few minutes later when they went off the air I got a different broadcast from them at 11610khz.

DXing is a lot like fishing… 🙂

 

[bearcatrp]

If you could get a wire outside, say 30 feet, you will see the light. But with more reception comes more noise floor. Or if you want to try something different, try the youloop. $29 bucks I think. Bought those suction cups and stuck it to the window. Was very surprised how good it did. Fishing is a good term for looking for frequencies. In the evening, I start at the bottom and scroll up. Sometimes good nights, sometimes no so good. Enjoy.

 

[ratboy]

It is like fishing, sometimes, it's just really dead, nothing but the annoying preachers and big SW broadcasts that someone must listen to, but not me. Other times, jackpot. You hear some really crazy stuff that isn't listenable when the conditions are supposedly good.

Some of the best "oddball" stuff I ever heard on HF was during periods of "bad conditions" when a lot of people didn't bother doing much HF listening. I heard some hilarious fishing boat captain arguments a few times, and some celebrities talking to Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and Bill Clinton.

 

[Boombox]

I've had more than one poor SW DX night were most of the 49 meter and 31 meter bands were dead (aside from WRMI, Marti, and WWCR, and a grainy, semi-readable Radio Educacion on 6185), and voila! There's the BBC to Africa (from either the UK or Ascension), or VOA from Botswana to Africa! Semi-readable, but audible. Or one of the religious broadcasters using Madagascar, often with some cool sounding music included with the African language talk.

You never know what you'll hear (or catch, to use the fishing term). And I agree that the best way to do it is simply tune bottom of band to top. If you depend on the radios auto-scanning feature, it will miss a lot.

 

[ditto1958]

I've had more than one poor SW DX night were most of the 49 meter and 31 meter bands were dead (aside from WRMI, Marti, and WWCR, and a grainy, semi-readable Radio Educacion on 6185), and voila! There's the BBC to Africa (from either the UK or Ascension), or VOA from Botswana to Africa! Semi-readable, but audible. Or one of the religious broadcasters using Madagascar, often with some cool sounding music included with the African language talk.

You never know what you'll hear (or catch, to use the fishing term). And I agree that the best way to do it is simply tune bottom of band to top. If you depend on the radios auto-scanning feature, it will miss a lot.

1. I’m in Wisconsin and 6185 is a catch that eludes me. Most people list it as a reliable catch, but not me… 😢
2. Alas, I must confess that I do a lot of sort of scanning of the bands. I use the Auto step setting in my Qodosen DX-286, and I often go up and down over the same range. Not as through as hand tuning, but still works pretty well.