Bob Klinger <Rklinger97@aol.com>: I have a question for all who wish to reply! What are some of your best catches on a portable receiver as well as types on antennas (IF ANY!) used? For me in central Pennsylvania I have bagged KOA in Denver for domestic and have heard Norway on 1314. Both were heard on a Sangean ATS- 505 and Radio Shack loop.

Thought I would try to stir up some memories!

Frank Doosey <Frank.Doosey@MWHSE.com>: My top notch catch was KFI, followed by KOA in

Denver, from my location in central NJ using a DX-440 with a longwire.

When I lived in Indiana, I caught KVIS in Miami, OK and KSL. Same radio, no wire.

Kevin Burnett <kjb@us.ibm.com>: The best ones I've had from here in the SF Bay Area are WLW in Cincinnati, and WWL in New Orleans, on my old 2010. This was back in the 80's.

Bruce Conti <BACONTI@aol.com>: Spain and other common TAs were relatively easy catches on my Sony ICF-2010 with Kiwa filter upgrade, using phased wires. The 2010 was also the receiver used in my first Newfoundland DXpedition. I used to receive KFI as an early morning regular on the Realistic TRF in the late '70s DXing from Rhode Island.

Kevin Redding <amfmtvdx@qwest.net>: I can back this up. I heard KFI and KSL several times in the very early 80s from Middletown RI using a Sony ICF 6500W. Rhode Island is one of the best places I ever DXed from.

Phil Bytheway <phil-bytheway@teknologic.net>: I heard Brazil on 1000 and Chile on 1180 on an old Radio Shack TRF with Space Magnet loop, albeit it WAS in the mid 70s.

Ronald Gitschier <wgsr1570@alltel.net>: Radio Moscow on 891khz. They were playing a Western Contemporary Pop Music program, might of been a countdown. This was on my then-ship USS Theodore Roosevelt CVN-71 using a JVC AM/FM CD/double cassette boombox about 400 miles south of Cape Hatteras in the Atlantic. I was aiming for sunset signoffs of 890 stations on the east coast. I was floored. I may still have the aircheck buried somewhere.

Russ Edmunds <wb2bjh@nrcdxas.org>: My best here is KOA on a car radio & whip 3 or 4 different times. Best ever on a portable was on an old barefoot RS TRF 12-655 on which I heard a few TA's from North Jersey (back in the early 1970's).

Paul Swearingen <PlsBCBDXER@aol.com>: From the 29 Palms beverage site in the Mojave Desert, Bogotá-1040 on a Sharp FV-610 passively coupled to a 2000-foot (or so) unterminated beverage pointed at downtown Bogota...and various NZ's and JJ's on the western beverage. The antenna makes all the difference, of course. Barefoot? HJAQ-1000 Cartagena on a Sony SRF-A100, my favorite bedside portable, from Topeka.

Wally Wawro <WWawro@wfaa.com>: Mine would have to be around 1990, using a Sony 2010, Radio West Loop. I caught KFBK-1530 with Sac Kings vs. G State Warriors basketball. Several minutes later there was KNBR-680 with G State Warriors vs. Sac Kings basketball.

One other would have been CKTA-1570 and CFOR-1570 fading in and out over XERF, that too would have been back in the late 80's.

Paul LaFreniere <plafren@boreal.org>: Heard on Zenith Transoceanic in late 70's CHTN Charlottetown, PEI and KEX Portland, OR at same time on 1190 with no outside antenna. Judging from the replies to this thread their seems to have been some DX back in the 70's.

Kevin Redding <amfmtvdx@qwest.net>: Radio Beijing on 990 AM in the mornings in Honolulu when I lived there. They were giving the Chinese lessons in Japanese at 5 AM Honolulu time. You could hear it almost every morning in the winter. This was back in 1979-80.

Benjamin Dangerfield <ben-dangerfield@worldnet.att.net>: I have no "best". In recent years I have traveled with a SW-100 and KIWA pocket loop due to space needs is the luggage we carry. On the northern shore of Kauai, in Hawaii, I had decent signals from some Japanese stations above 1200 kHz, and in Honolulu I heard Western Samoa-540. Most recently on our cruise around the southern tip of S. America this past Feb., I logged South Africa-1098 while off the Argentina coast. But maybe the one I liked best was Faroe Islands-531 heard with good signal at noon off the Dorset coast of South England while by just turning the radio around I was getting Beromunster, Switzerland, also at noon.

Patrick Martin <mwdxer@webtv.net>: Best DX catch on a portable. I have not "really" DXed with a portable in 35 years. The best I can come up with is Germany-1586 over the Pole around Noon in the Winter from Seward AK. I also heard lots of DUs, JJs, but I had a longwire antenna connected to the 17 transistor Norelco portable. I wish I had that radio today!

Randy Stewart <jrs555t@smsu.edu>: This is all from Springfield MO... In the early 1970s I was using a 6-band Japanese-made portable (brand name Baylor... yeah, I've never heard of it either) with the ferrite loopstick in the handle, so you could get added (capacitive) signal strength by grasping the handle. November 2, 1972 was a DEEP aurora, most North American stations basically wiped out. ZDK Antigua was weak but totally ALONE on the channel around 6:35pm CST, and later that evening I bagged TGN Guatemala City on 730 in XEX null (never logged it since!). Both QSLed for me. Two days later (11/4/72) must've still been quite auroral, as I logged HJCU Radio Melodia in Colombia on 730 around their sign-on time (4:30am CST), and later that evening PJA6 Aruba, Netherlands Antilles on 925 with "Back to the Bible" (and other than Belize-834, this was NOT a radio selective enough for splits most of the time!). Probably the domestic-DX highlight on that radio was KKHI-1550 San Francisco at 12:30am CST New Years Eve 1973, coming out of a Sunday-evening opera program Weber's "Der Freischutz" with Nicolai Gedda & Birgit Nilsson).

Then I spent several years in the late '80s/early '90s using a Realistic TRF (the later 12-656 model) modified with a 4kHz MuRata ceramic filter, and a 4-ft. passive spiral loop. Best catches? CJFT-530 Ft. Erie ON (12/17/90); R. Belize on 830 with a political speech on 2/19/91; HJPM-890 R. Galeon, Santa Maria, Colombia totally dominating the frequency around midnight CST 11/4/91. (Of course,

conditions were SO auroral in 1990/91 that things like HRVW Honduras-650 & R. Sandino Nicaragua-750 were nightly loggings and ceased to be "good catches" anymore; JBC1 Jamaica-700 was a pest! Disturbed conditions are at least fun when that kind of reception occurs on a regular basis, which has made the current sunspot "peak," such as it has been, extremely disappointing...)

Bob Klinger <Rklinger97@aol.com>: WOW, I didn't think I would have started something like this concerning the best catch on a portable! Thanks for all the responses! Maybe there is hope for me and California! :)

Charles C Boehnke <kale@juno.com>: Many many years ago while in North Hollywood I heard Brazil on 1070 when local KNX was off and another DXer called me with the tip. I was using a Zenith Portable with the wavemagnet on a window. It was not a Transoceanic but just a standard BCB only portable. The other DXer helped me get a verification from them for both of us but unfortunately I do not have it anymore, after too many moves it is lost.

More recently a friend of mine in Cordoba Argentina heard WSM 650 on his CCradio barefoot. He was an Airline Pilot on vacation visiting his girl friend's home.

Ginnie Lupi <ginnie@nrcdxas.org>: hi all, my best catches with my dx-398 and select-a-tenna would have to be:

1. CJCH, 920, Halifax, Nova Scotia, heard in Saratoga Springs, New York on 11.26.99. the qsl letter said, "You are very lucky to receive us south of Halifax/Dartmouth. during the evening hours we change our signal pattern and transmitter power levels to protect U.S. radio signals at 920 kHz."

2. KXEL, 1540, Waterloo, Iowa, heard on 10.26.00 in Ithaca, New York.

Eric Breon <eabreon@worldnet.att.net>: Well Bob my best catches just across the Susquehanna river from you are as follows:

- KFI, logged two times

- KFBK, logged once

- WAYY, Alabama, logged once (supposedly only 250W, but loud as a local for about a minute) caught them for the ID at sunset signoff

All of these with a TRF hooked up to a 75' longwire back in 1981-1982. Thanks to a DXtip I relogged KOA within the past two months on the TRF barefoot - so there is a little hope left.

David Hochfelder <hochfeld@rci.rutgers.edu>: As far as my best catches, I can't match Frank Doosey's KFI from my area or the TA's that DXers in the northeast get. I've caught KOA but not KSL or anything west of Denver and I have only Mauritania tentatively logged. So I'll reframe the question and think of it as my favorite loggings. I enjoyed listening to a baseball game on R. Caracas R. on 750

about a year ago on my Superadio III. The first weekend I got my ICF2010 last January I logged a bunch of new stuff on the x-band, including stuff under my two locals which I couldn't do with the Superadio. I spent a lot of time indoors that weekend because I had a bad cold that weekend. I also enjoyed a rash of Latin Americans in late March and early April last year, and hearing Jamaica and Puerto Rico on my birthday in October. But probably my top favorite is hearing TWR Bonaire on 800 with CKLW off on Sunday night; this was over 20 years ago in Chicago on an old tube radio lying around the house when I was a kid. That's what got me hooked doing this.

I love LA's in case that's not obvious. Bring on the aurora!

Thomas Giella <kn4lf@hotmail.com>: KFI 640 kHz L.A. from Dade City, FL. in 1982 on a R.S. TRF with internal loopstick!

Mike Brooker <aum108@idirect.com>: Virtually all of my DX has been on portable receivers: Sony TFM8000W (1975-78) Panasonic RF-2200 (1978-), first-generation GE Superadio (1979-1986), Sony ICF7600D (1986-1993), Panasonic RFB-45 (1993-) I've never owned a communications receiver, be it a Yeasu, Kenwood or other Japanese model or an old domestic Hammarlund or Collins boat anchor.

My best catch on a receiver not intended for DXing (i.e. a 8-transistor cheapie) was KSL, in 1975.

Dave Marthouse <dmart@lynchburg.net>: Hi Folks, My best catch on a portable was in 1996 when I was living in Metuchen New Jersey. I was able to hear Norway on 1314KHZ using my Sony2010 with the standard antenna. I heard the het while dialing around and switched to the narrow filter and was able to pull them out of the noise.

Robert Foxworth <rfoxwor1@tampabay.rr.com>: I have heard KFI about three times in the past couple of years just around 7 AM local time in winter months, from Tampa, using a small boombox portable from Sears and its included antenna. Most of the time there is no sign of them in the jumble but occasionally they are in there, and will fade in and out.

I suppose my best ever DX on a portable was in March 1997 just after I had come down here, had a het from Kuwait-1548 on a RS DX-390, and by putting it in narrow mode and tuning to about 1547 and using a Radio West loop inductively coupled. I could pull readable audio. Had Saudi-1521 at the same time. But not since, with the higher sunspot counts My 1550 local is not a problem here at night, and this was before my Greek language local on 1520 became so loud at night.

Bob McCoy <n0sce@alltel.net>: This topic really got my attention. Almost all of my DXing for the past 28 years has been done on portables, including a 12-655 TRF, RF2200,Digital Superadio,and a Sony WFM-SRFM30 Walkman. My single best catch was Westdeutscher Rundfunk on 1586 kHz in January 1977. The Franklin, NH (WFTN-1240) test on 1240, made in 1976, was one I cherish, especially as our local KFOR went NSP after that. All of this from Lincoln, NE.

Maybe a companion thread would be the best catch made on the most "unconventional" radio. My thought would be CBT-540, made on a GE "Great Awakening" digital clock radio. I got even better results from placing a SM-1 Space Magnet next to it! Maybe we can see what has been done with old Radio Shack stuffed animal radios? After all, DX is DX.

It would seem that my "best" catches were made in the 1970's, but some of that may have been that I was spending more time listening, and the bands were quieter at night. The X-band's appearance has given me some more recent DX.

Now, if I could get Alaska, Maine, and Vermont, all would be complete.

Rick Kenneally <woodlandview@yahoo.com>: Anybody remember DXN loggings from Mike Tuggle made on a Lynodyne (do I remember that right?) crystal set?

Mark Connelly <MarkWA1ION@aol.com>: In 1977 from Ireland, using just a Realistic TRF, I heard many US East Coast stations at strong levels in the predawn hours. A few more distant US stations were heard, with WOAI-1200 the most distant; also got WWL-870, WOWO-1190, KMOX-1120, a few from Chicago, and maybe WHO-1040.

China - 1525 was heard at W. Yarmouth, MA with the TRF. I heard Saudi Arabia - 1521 from El Paso, TX on a Sony ICF-2010 and Japan - 774 from a hotel room in Mountain View, CA, also with the Sony '2010.

In all cases the receivers without external antennas could pick up the stations mentioned.

Eric Loy <eloy@wdws.com>: Well folks, I still do most of my weekend DX on the TRF, and 20 years ago, Colombia was nearly nightly. XEMO was pretty good from here, and one Panamanian when WLS was off.

But LAST NIGHT!(December 3, 2001 - dB) great opening straight South with many Mexicans (thought none new) and Cubans (some new), Radio Nicaragua absolutely wrecking 620...and...

860 HONDURAS HRBS San Pedro Sula Dec 4 0231-45 in mess with two other SS stations, nice fade up at 0245 with "Radio San Pedro" and San Pedro Sula mentions. New country, station #1000! Time GMT.

My own best catches on a portable would include, while listening as a youngster in Fort Wayne, IN in the early 70’s, trying to hear the Pacers basketball games, I would often hear KOA and KSL better than WIBC on a glorified clock radio. While in college in Valparaiso, IN in the early 80’s, using a Wards Airline multi-band receiver, I heard KNMX, Las Vegas, NM and CBK on 540, in addition to KNX and KOMO (during a WCFL silent period). And the Miami, OK station on 910 was a regular visitor – maybe not a great catch, but it was odd how it dominated the frequency there so often (then again, maybe not so odd now that I have a pattern book to refer to!). During trips home to Falls Church, VA in the college years the same radio brought in many lower powered southern stations at sunset, as well as KMBX-980 while in the shadow of then-WRC. In Delaware I have "graduated" to tabletops for most DXing, but the Superadio II brought in Norway-1314 one evening screaming over 1310 and 1320. All of these catches were without any external antenna.

So what does all this mean to today’s DXer? Well, other than an interesting bit of nostalgia, perhaps not much. But it does show that you don’t have to have an expensive receiver to hear great DX. Conditions, both "propagation" and "band" conditions, have more of an effect than any other factor on what you are able to hear. And while many will utter a loud "duh" at that statement, it’s important for the newer DXers to understand that, and not get disappointed at what they may perceive to be mediocre catches blamed on their equipment, so that the enjoyment of the hobby remains - whatever your equipment.