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What a fantastic night it was for AM DXing
- Thread starter gar hi
- Start date
The purpose of having tropical banders in the tropics is exactly the same as having longwave stations in colder climates, to provide national and regional coverage.
Longwave stations are more solid and stable, work 24/7, and do not fade in the day, but suffer from higher noise levels and can be many, many times more expensive to run.
Tropical banders, even ones with modest power levels are not too useful in the daylight, but provide extended night coverage and first hop fading is similar to the mediumwave band.
Since they often relay local mediumwave and FM stations, groundwave/skywave interaction is not much of an issue.
In short, tropical banders usually "sound" domestic, but from afar.
Another band to consider is between 26 and 30 MHz in the FM mode.
While not really "stations" in the truest sense of the word, these studio-transmitter links and remote relay links are definitely local and have great audio quality.
I had a ten meter FM rig and would hear lots of south Americans between 29.7 and 29.995 MHz during long, hot summer days, and there are or were many more beyond my tuning range.
Longwave stations are more solid and stable, work 24/7, and do not fade in the day, but suffer from higher noise levels and can be many, many times more expensive to run.
Tropical banders, even ones with modest power levels are not too useful in the daylight, but provide extended night coverage and first hop fading is similar to the mediumwave band.
Since they often relay local mediumwave and FM stations, groundwave/skywave interaction is not much of an issue.
In short, tropical banders usually "sound" domestic, but from afar.
Another band to consider is between 26 and 30 MHz in the FM mode.
While not really "stations" in the truest sense of the word, these studio-transmitter links and remote relay links are definitely local and have great audio quality.
I had a ten meter FM rig and would hear lots of south Americans between 29.7 and 29.995 MHz during long, hot summer days, and there are or were many more beyond my tuning range.
I always preferred MW DXing because the local aspect to the broadcasts, it is like travelling to California or Canada or Utah (or wherever) without leaving your house, bed or armchair.
Some SW broadcasts are similar -- lately Radio Australia, for example, has included a lot of ABC Radio National programming on 9580 khz. Last time I tuned in to R. Australia, I heard Triple J programming.
Another reason lately that I do more MW DXing than SW is that there usually is something to hear on MW, even on poor DX nights. When SW is down, the bands are sometimes completely empty.
I personally haven't done FM DXing because usually all I hear is locals only, and maybe the odd tropo from Victoria BC Canada. Living in a hole doesn't help FM DX much. So it's the AM band, SW (including hams), and maybe LW if I feel like hearing data or morse code beacons. In that order.
Some SW broadcasts are similar -- lately Radio Australia, for example, has included a lot of ABC Radio National programming on 9580 khz. Last time I tuned in to R. Australia, I heard Triple J programming.
Another reason lately that I do more MW DXing than SW is that there usually is something to hear on MW, even on poor DX nights. When SW is down, the bands are sometimes completely empty.
I personally haven't done FM DXing because usually all I hear is locals only, and maybe the odd tropo from Victoria BC Canada. Living in a hole doesn't help FM DX much. So it's the AM band, SW (including hams), and maybe LW if I feel like hearing data or morse code beacons. In that order.
Late last night, I had a chance to go out to the new deck on the property away from all the background noise I had mentioned earlier because it finally wasn't raining.
I tuned to 1116 kHz looking for the station from Brisbane, Australia and when there wasn't too much splatter from 1110 KAOI, I heard a very faint signal that was talk and I think it was an Aussie accent.
Since it was barely audible, I couldn't confirm it as an official catch and I'm going to have to wait until I can clearly hear that Australian accent with a much stronger signal to make a video and call it a catch.
Since we get over 150 inches of rain a year and how the showers pop up with no notice at all even on a crystal clear night, I'm going to have wait for a night without the usual trade wind shower pattern.
And I saw a YouTube video someone did of 1116 4BC being heard in Honolulu a few years back and the signal was very strong.
Aren't they running only 6.3 kw at night? Or is it highly directional?
I was also wondering what other stations I could possibly hear on 1116, if at all, from other countries.
I tuned to 1116 kHz looking for the station from Brisbane, Australia and when there wasn't too much splatter from 1110 KAOI, I heard a very faint signal that was talk and I think it was an Aussie accent.
Since it was barely audible, I couldn't confirm it as an official catch and I'm going to have to wait until I can clearly hear that Australian accent with a much stronger signal to make a video and call it a catch.
Since we get over 150 inches of rain a year and how the showers pop up with no notice at all even on a crystal clear night, I'm going to have wait for a night without the usual trade wind shower pattern.
And I saw a YouTube video someone did of 1116 4BC being heard in Honolulu a few years back and the signal was very strong.
Aren't they running only 6.3 kw at night? Or is it highly directional?
I was also wondering what other stations I could possibly hear on 1116, if at all, from other countries.
Actually, Tropical Band stations do very well for intermediate range daytime coverage. My usual example is Radio Quito on 4923 in Quito back when the band was important. It had a nice daytime signal going down to the Cuenca / Loja area, up to the Colombian border and up and down the coast from Machala to Esmeraldas. At night, it was a regional signal hitting Peru, Colombia, parts of Brazil, etc.
It sounds like you heard Brisbane. When I heard them on Oahu about 7 or 8 years ago they were talk. A few times I caught them with a good signal in February. Keep trying you'll get them.
Yeah, 60m is like 49m. WYFR had a high angle 49m antenna for northern Mexico in the daytime, but I suspect that 90m and 120m are more like mediumwave.
Did you try using your external loop as well? Works with my PR-D5 at night on weak signals. It might have brought it up out of the mud, even 2db increase can make a difference in IDing.
Then there's R. Rebelde on 5025....a little above the tropical band. Good daytime signal over much, if not all, of the Florida peninsula.
60m officially goes to 5060.
What time was it in Brisbane, Australia when you caught it?
QLD is 20 hours ahead of Hawaii, so say midnight in HI is 8pm in Brisbane.
There is only a 4 hour real time difference between Brisbane and Honolulu. Brisbane is, however, on the other side of the International Date Line, so the day will be different.
Midnight in Brisbane is 4 AM in Honolulu.
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