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Long Wave DX - anyone here do it?

Mid West Clubber said:
Not from my home, but up in Maine in like 98-99 when it was freezing out, I trid to DX europe and found a very faint station playing Dance music out of all things on 252.. They IDed as Atlantic 252, I think it was in Dublin Ireland.... Ive never heard it again, I think the station has since went off air, and the mast taken down around 2002-2004?????????/
Click to expand...

Yep, you're right. Atlantic 252 was a CHR station that broadcast from Ireland and went off the air in the early 2000s. I have heard that RTE was supposed to take over the frequency, but I am not sure if it's actually on the air.
 
Is there any one particular LW broadcaster in Europe that would be a good target for people on the east coast to try?

If I thought there was a snowball's chance at getting a station, it'd be worth packing an LW capable radio and some wire on my next trip out to the east coast!
 
Zach said:
Is there any one particular LW broadcaster in Europe that would be a good target for people on the east coast to try?

If I thought there was a snowball's chance at getting a station, it'd be worth packing an LW capable radio and some wire on my next trip out to the east coast!
Click to expand...

If it's possible the northeast--Newfoundland would be your best bet.
 
Zach said:
Is there any one particular LW broadcaster in Europe that would be a good target for people on the east coast to try?
If I thought there was a snowball's chance at getting a station, it'd be worth packing an LW capable radio and some wire on my next trip out to the east coast!
If it's possible the northeast--Newfoundland would be your best bet.
Click to expand...

It seems that 189 from Iceland, 198 from the UK, 252 from Ireland, 153 from Algeria and 171 from Morocco come in most often.
Check www.lwca.org There have been several posts on their message board under "LWBC" and "Medi1" Read somewhere that Trans-Atlantic DX on LW and MW is best in the fall and winter and particularly near the equinoxes which would be near March 20 and September 20. Of course, summer reception would be trashed with lightning crashes at times.

Someone in Michigan has been using a Zenith Transoceanic portable without any external antenna and has been hearing LW stations across the Atlantic, another has been using an amplified whip antenna with a Kenwood Ham Transceiver from Minnesota.

They describe their setups and what they are hearing, which is just about every channel from 153 to 279 kHz. It appears that LW reception at this distance from Europe and North Africa is very rare, so you'll have to check on a daily basis between just before our sunset and European/North African sunrise. I have only heard weak carriers on 162 and 198 kHz from what I believe are France and the UK respectively, but no intelligible audio. But then I am only using a Sony ICF-SW7600GR with no external antenna.
I also have an Icom IC-R75 but I need to get/build a filter to put between my 100'+ long wire to help get rid of the local MW image trash that the IC-R75 picks up on LW, or get one of those amplified whip antennas...
 
radioman148 said:
Zach said:
Is there any one particular LW broadcaster in Europe that would be a good target for people on the east coast to try?

If I thought there was a snowball's chance at getting a station, it'd be worth packing an LW capable radio and some wire on my next trip out to the east coast!
Click to expand...

If it's possible the northeast--Newfoundland would be your best bet.
Click to expand...

Yes, Newfoundland is probably as good as it gets in this hemisphere for LW.

With regard to the northeast, it's still really tough to get anything on LW when you're inland (I never, ever got anything from interior New Hampshire aside from beacons - for example). But, if you're very close to the ocean, it should be possible. Not the south coast, but outer Cape Cod, Nantucket, eastern Cape Ann. Places where you're within sight of the ocean AND facing east.

As an aside, my grandfather tinkered around with multi-band radios in his day and I recall asking about the LW band because nothing was ever on it. His reply was that you might hear something from Europe when you take the radio to the beach - but never at home. The "beach" he referred to was Cape Cod, though he'd try it from Rhode Island too. Anyhow, I suspect he was onto something - as his comment came from personal experience and was not theoretical. For what it's worth, he would just use his stock Radio Shack receiver - never any sort of external antenna.

Of course, this was in about 1975 and reception was surely better back then.
 
>>It appears that LW reception at this distance from Europe and North Africa is very rare, so you'll have to check on a daily basis between just before our sunset and European/North African sunrise. I have only heard weak carriers on 162 and 198 kHz from what I believe are France and the UK respectively, but no intelligible audio.>>

Are we really limited to just before our sunset? If you try 8 or 9PM it's still dark in western Europe--at least now.
Certainly not in mid May thru July.
 
No, I think he meant it was between the time just before our sunset and the time when the sun rises in Europe/North Africa. About now, that would be between roughly 6:30 pm EDT and 12:00 am EDT - give or take.
 
BRNout said:
No, I think he meant it was between the time just before our sunset and the time when the sun rises in Europe/North Africa. About now, that would be between roughly 6:30 pm EDT and 12:00 am EDT - give or take.
Click to expand...

Got it--thanks!
 
radioman148 wrote: "Are we really limited to just before our sunset? If you try 8 or 9PM it's still dark in western Europe--at least now. Certainly not in mid May thru July."

"Are we really limited to just before our sunset?" Of course not. I don't recall the effects of ground wave (GW) versus skywave on Long Wave, but I do recall that there is a larger GW component to LW reception than skywave. And there are other effects like the magnetic field of the earth that also influence Low Frequency reception. That's why the GW does not extend out as far on LW on a regular basis out to exceptional distances.

Check this out, this might help in planning when attempting to tune in: http://dx.qsl.net/propagation/greyline.html
The page mentions HF (shortwave) but the map does show what part of the earth is in darkness in [almost] real time.

Perhaps I'll email those guys in Michigan and Minnesota that are saying they are receiving the LW broadcast stations from Europe and North Africa. They might be near water themselves, but the signals still have to cross land mass for either of them, and yet they are hearing LWBC from their locations. An all or mostly water path would be the ideal, and yet they are hearing the stations, and not with a 1000' Beverage antenna! [Though I was reading on the lwca.org message boards that one guy in Iowa has a 2500' Beverage - that's not fair!!!] :)
 
>>[Though I was reading on the lwca.org message boards that one guy in Iowa has a 2500' Beverage - that's not fair!!!] >>

Indeed it's not.
 
radioman148 said:
Are you sure you weren't getting harmonics of a local station?
Click to expand...
Probably was...
Although im not sure 770 would have a harmonic that would go there. all the other oldies AM's are too weak and too far away to be putting out much harmonic out here.
 
LibertyNT said:
radioman148 said:
Are you sure you weren't getting harmonics of a local station?
Click to expand...
Probably was...
Although im not sure 770 would have a harmonic that would go there. all the other oldies AM's are too weak and too far away to be putting out much harmonic out here.
Click to expand...

I live near Chicago and I get 1160AM at 260.
 
radioman148 said:
LibertyNT said:
radioman148 said:
Are you sure you weren't getting harmonics of a local station?
Click to expand...
Probably was...
Although im not sure 770 would have a harmonic that would go there. all the other oldies AM's are too weak and too far away to be putting out much harmonic out here.
Click to expand...

I live near Chicago and I get 1160AM at 260.
Click to expand...
I get 1080 AM at 180 LOL!
 
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