By: David Braun (dcbraun@delanet.com) Sat, 19 Jan 2002

We’ll start this time with some more thoughts on QSL’ing.

Frank Doosey <Frank.Doosey@MWHSE.com>: Morning all, I haven't QSL'd any stations since 1995, so I'm a bit rusty. When I used to QSL stations I had a 75-80 percent success rate. My technique was to mail the chief engineer, since they tend to be radio nuts like us and could use the reception report to brag to their friends as to how well the signal gets out (at least in my opinion).

My question now is that since more and more stations are automated and probably mostly unmanned, is there generally a better method for getting reports verified now? I know from when I worked in radio in ages past (at WQXA in York, PA and WERA (now dark) in Plainfield, NJ) that engineers can work multiple stations concurrently and only appear when problems arise. So failing the CE, who else would be a viable go-to?

Ginnie Lupi <ginnie@nrcdxas.org>: Frank, years ago I too used to address my mail to the CE. I now address it to "reception verification", and usually include a stamped, self-addressed envelope. I’m getting a good response (probably about 80%), improved once I started adding the SASE.

Greg Myers <tmyers01@tampabay.rr.com>: There have been a couple of threads concerning current practices in attempting to verify stations, I've been meaning to through this out for some time- that is the use of the NRC's "Broadcasters Guide to DX" brochure. I have been using them for almost all of my short lived 23 years of DX'ing. I continue to receive letters that the signer uses the example in the brochure to provide nice full data veries as well as comments and thanks for sending them. The brochure goes a long way to explain the hobby and appeals to all levels of the station personnel. This coupled with good report writing and return postage should increase your chances.

Robert Foxworth <rfoxwor1@tampabay.rr.com>: When I was QSLing stations in the '70's (lots of them GYers) I would add a short line saying the reply would be for a souvenir and had no legal significance, the hope was this would calm the fears of station personnel who may have thought they weren't supposed to be heard so far away. (I have a couple of letters like this) It may have helped a bit, probably worth trying today.

While we’re in the "Q’s", here’s some information on various QRM sources and/or problems.

Richard Dale <holden_mcgroyne@hotmail.com>: I have horrible noise which blocks out at least 1/3rd of the BCB. I traced it to the phone line area, and that was confirmed even more a while back when a car hit the power pole down the street and power was out to most of the neighborhood. However, a phone repairman said it wasn't on the phone lines, but he didn't convince me since the power was on. I wonder if it couldn't be coming over the cable TV lines. It does sound like a raster scan or something similar. It's horrible, and everyone denies responsibility. I saw a power company guy out one day with a receiver and a beam antenna. I mentioned it to him, but he obviously didn't find anything.

Guy Kudlemyer <Gwkuddles@aol.com>: Having the same trouble here--a hellacious buzz that knocks out the lower 1/3 of the BCB. I’ve had the cable people out with a leakage tester, the phone line guy out with a leakage tester, and the underground utilities guy out. I showed everyone the problem using a transistor radio tuned to 530. Everyone agreed that the problem was bad, but denied it being their problem. The utilities guy seemed the most concerned, and spent nearly two hours with me tracking the buzz up and down the street. It appears to be the worst at a junction box between my neighbor's house to the west, and his neighbors' house, west of him. I was offered the "consolation" of, "It must be something INSIDE one of those two houses, which is out of our jurisdiction." The neighbor next door denies any fish aquariums or other exotic appliances, but the neighbor next to him has a heart condition and is on oxygen, etc. The guy with the heart problem let me come inside his house with my radio, but denied that any of his radios make that kind of buzz--and he's an ex-building electrician!

Anyone know of some sort of medical equipment he might be using that might be causing the problem?

Paul Smith, W4KNX <paul@sun-ray.com>: There was a thread here a year or so ago about this type of thing. It was traced to a remote reading municipal water meter. You might consider that.. It's also been my experience that power line noise affects the high end of the BCB more than the lower end.

Bruce Conti <BACONTI@aol.com>: I get the opposite; power line noise is worse at the low end, and especially on longwave during rainy weather. Noise reduction makes a significant difference as I don't pick up noise from the house. Any noise I'm receiving is radiated from nearby power lines and easily eliminated on MW with phasing when it's a problem.

Russ Edmunds <wb2bjh@nrcdxas.org>: My experience with both power-line noise and TV noise is consistent with Bruce's.

Kevin Redding <amfmtvdx@qwest.net>: My problems with noise run from 750 kHz to 870 kHz. It on occasion runs up to 1100 kHz. It’s a loud buzzing, mostly from my TV.

Patrick Martin <mwdxer@webtv.net>: Kevin, Can't you turn off the TV? Or maybe some shielding my help. Some RF filtering maybe?

Kevin Redding: When my wife decides not to watch TV then DXing is ok. DXing is fine when I use the outside noise reduced wire.

Bruce Conti: I was about to ask why you weren't using noise reduction. When implemented properly, noise reduction should eliminate all household noise including computers and TV. Anything that remains will either be conducted emissions entering the receiver through the power line or radiated emissions being picked up outdoors from such things as electric fences, outdoor lighting, and utilities. Conducted emissions can be eliminated by going to battery power or filtering the AC input. Phasing can be used to null outside radiated emissions until problems with the local utilities or noisy neighbor are resolved.

Kevin Redding: I was a good boy and ran the coax and wire and all. I get a little noise even from the buried wire that’s 10 feet below my wire but its VERY little. Even weak signals get over the powerline noise there. My problems are only when I am using a loop indoors with the TV on. I prefer the loop because I don't have a phaser. I will work on getting one after I go back to work, if it ever happens. The economy is wrecked out west. I run EVERYTHING off a car battery. I do NOT ever use the AC power. It’s real noisy here. (Phasing is) all that’s left for me. I would like to get a phaser one day.

Jim <K1ygg@aol.com> I had a horrible carrier type noise centered on 1310 kHz and at 100 kHz either side of it. I finally determined it was my son's computer even when it was turned off. I finally unplugged the computer and the noise went away! I plugged it back in and the noise came back even though the computer was not powered up. Now the computer is either on or unplugged.

Benjamin Dangerfield <ben-dangerfield@worldnet.att.net>: Be careful of supposed hets: they could be computer caused, as we know. If I hear a het that does not coincide with a TA [or other known frequency] I check it very carefully. Also be aware that these computer caused noises will creep and do not always appear at the same spots. And then, too, these things sometimes seem to be on the exact place of a TA frequency. Look for genuine audio, and check the exact frequency with your sideband tuner.

Ivan Lewyckyj <ivalew@hotmail.com>: Would it not be a good assumption that a het at a specific location could be man made by an electrical device while a het heard at various locations would be at best odds considered a true broadcast signal?

I base my theory on the fact that as I sit here in my home study there is het on 1010. I do not hear that same het on 1010 in my car. The noise must be in close proximity to my Sony radio on the shelf. One could argue that it is a man made het probably from the computer, fax, or building alarm system. When you read messages from Mark, Bruce, Fred and others they hear a het at various locations. The odds of a het being heard at a distance of 1 km being man made are very low. But the odds of a signal causing the het propagating through the ionosphere and being received at various locations points to it being a real transmission. Do I make sense in my statistical analysis?

Richard Dale: And just because the computer is "off" is no guarantee. If in doubt, unplug it. My computer still generates noise if the power strip is plugged in.

At one time I had a calculator that made a lot of noise. Police scanners can do it, too. Fortunately my cell phone doesn't make noise unless it's sitting literally on top of the radio.

Doug Smith W9WI <w9wi@w9wi.com>: In fact, a wide variety of devices in your home are capable of generating this kind of thing. Answering machines, digital clocks (and clock radios), TV sets & VCRs (even if turned off), computer peripherals (printer, external modem, monitor, scanner, etc.), security system. I've never heard of a car causing problems but I'd be pretty sure it's possible.

I would think a good way to check what's a real signal and what's local interference would be to use a cheap portable radio with minimal antenna. If you can hear the signal on a pocket portable, it's probably not a TA/LA het! (unless you live on Cape Cod..)

Frank Doosey <Frank.Doosey@MWHSE.com>: I tried out my 2010 last night - at least it works, and the signals which weren't fighting with anyone were very clear, like all the NYC blowtorches and the clear-channel stations. I was getting some awful buzzing on most other channels most likely due to all the electrical noise in the area. Apart from all the crap running in the house, there are power lines about 1000 feet from the house. I was using the AC adapter, and tonight I will try out batteries, but does anyone have some suggestions for cutting down the electrical noise using the AC adapter?

Michael Battaglino <radio_head2214@yahoo.com>: Frank, Have you tried the "wandering around the house and the property" method of noise source detection?? Check for the usual culprits-TVs, PCs, dimmer witches and my favorite, those nasty halogen indirect lighting units, which can also be on a dimmer as well.

Yeah, I know the neighbors might think you're a little weird walking around the house with your headphones on and radio in hand, but it will help determine where your noise is coming from.

I am by no means an expert on this subject, but every little bit helps I hope. By the way, before I got my R8B I also used a 2010 with the AC adapter and did not experience a noise problem emanating from the adapter itself.

Frank Doosey: Mike, Haven't tried it, but I'd bet that'll work. One thing I did notice is that I HAVE to be by a window to get a decent signal. I don't know if the brick exterior of the building is screwing with reception or not, but I noticed that WSNR, which comes in poorly next to the bed, is almost unkillable when near a window.

I noticed my TV doesn't affect the radio too much, but we have 4 halogen lights and a zillion Christmas lights which I'm sure didn't help matters much.

Neil Kazaross <neilkaz@interaccess.com>: Well, most of you know my opinion that the FCC has done a terrible job of trying to make AM more successful. What is needed is some pressure on utilities to cut down line noise and some filtering in electrical devices that cause QRM. Also pressure should be put on auto manufacturers to make sure that the do what it takes to hook up the vehicle's antenna with minimal engine noise. The average listener hears some noise and, not being a DXer, simply switches from AM to FM.

Mark Durenberger <Mark@durenberger.com>: I think the biggest new offenders are the mini-fluorescent ring-tube lights found in most hotel rooms these days.

Russ Edmunds: I've got a much bigger problem with static electricity buildup from the tires on the pavement, which gets worse the colder and drier it gets (read that as the past 2 weeks, hi).

Frederick R. Vobbe <fredv@nrcdxas.org>: Also the new Hubble dimmers/starters, X-10 packs, & barn lamps. Stuff that we have out here in rural Ohio.

Bruce Winkelman <bdwink@home.com>: I have to agree with this! Those ring fluorescent's really put out the buzz. Took my new DX-398 on a week-long business trip to Houston in November and could hardly hear the local stations from the hotel room, much less anything close to DX--was hoping to hear some of the Mexicans from closer range to help me on IDs here in Tulsa. Another issue was the high voltage power lines that ran about 300 feet from the hotel as well. Most of my "DXing" was done in the car to and from restaurants in the evenings.

Doug Smith W9WI: How can you hear the fluorescent lights for all the QRM from TV sets?<g>

(DXing from hotels is truly hell. It isn't any better on FM.)

And we’ll start on another discussion of targets – this one a general one of logging the western part of the country from the east -

Emily <AmBandDxers@aol.com>: OK...Keeping in mind that it's me...the novice DXer who's still using portables and is wet behind the ears (Rookie, probie, whatever you call us new DXers) I have a question that will seem very dumb to most of you.

I have heard that you can't get in any stations west of the Rockies, that KOA is the farthest you can hear from NYC(which I NEVER NEVER NEVER get in!!!!).

Is it possible to get in a west coast station from the East cost these days? Have you ever done so?

Paul Smith <paul@sun-ray.com>: I hear KSL Salt Lake regularly here in Florida. Once in a while I get KFI 640 in LA when the Cuban flamethrower on that freq is off late at night. WOAI, San Antonio is here every night. WHO, Des Moines is easily heard here and WBAP, Dallas is also an easy catch here. Some of the harder catches here that I've gotten are WCCO-MN, and I even got KBOI, out of Boise ID before they changed their night signal a couple years ago.

It's funny, but the New York City Clears, WABC, WFAN, WCBS, WWOR do not come in well here in FL. Not exotic DX by any means, but not as good as one would expect.

If you’re looking for Florida Stations, best bets are WOKV 690, Jacksonville. just minutes before sunset while they are still throwing their 50KW out there

Best nighttime Florida try is 540 out of Orlando, Pine Hills, FL. This station is 50KW nights beaming up the east coast. In fact I hear they are regulars in England at night.

Have fun with your DX.

Emily: I have gotten in 2 Florida Stations and one *POSSIBLE* Miami catch.

I got in 540 WFLA on November 29th and I have gotten in WTIR on I think it was 1670.

One time I got in some Spanish talk on 1700, I thought it may have been Miami. This was over a year ago.

Dave Marthouse <dmart@lynchburg.net>: Sure it is possible. It just takes time, patience, and a cooperative ionosphere. Back in 1976 when I was living in Clifton New Jersey I heard KFI on 640 using a portable. It was around 1 or 2 in the morning local time and I only heard the signal once. Keep searching the bands.

Kevin Redding: Don't get excited about using portables. 90% + of the people in the club use them. I use one most of the time.

Well, Bob Foxworth in Florida has heard KFI in LA. And from the west, I have heard WGY. If I can hear that, on the days I can hear the east, you can hear the west. Those times are very rare when it happens though and this is the hardest of all times to DX with all the heavy solar activity. It probably will not ever get worse for DX than this with the awful auroral conditions. There are others that love this stuff, I AM NOT ONE OF THEM.

If you are a NRC member and get the DX News, you will see that people from the east coast do on occasion hear the west coast even now. I have been away from the east for going on 7 years now and I could do it on very rare occasion. Well maybe not all the way to the west coast, but KSL and KOA were both doable then.

Bruce Conti: Emily: For many on the east coast, I would guess that 640 KFI Los Angeles is a best bet, although I haven't received KFI in years. However, that may not be helpful to you in New Jersey with WWJZ on 640 kHz. 850 KOA Denver and 1160 KSL Salt Lake City are about as far west as I can receive these days. A couple of years ago I caught Tahiti on 738 kHz, but that was more due to luck and diligence. As I just mentioned to a list subscriber off-line, sometimes the best catches are simply a matter luck; being in the right place at the right time.

Russ Edmunds: Emily, you've heard WRONG! I used to DX from North Jersey, and heard KFI from 3 different locations over several years, and KSL also. In addition, I was able to hear several other stations on the West Coast, from both CA and WA (never did hear OR from there, though), so keep plugging! It is harder now, because of more stations on for more hours, but it is still possible.

Lynn Hollerman <lynnhollerman@yahoo.com>: Emily, That stuff about KOA being the farthest west you can hear is something my Dad (he introduced me to DXing when I was 11) told me when I lived in Chicago. Naturally, I believed him. He had been a radioman in the Air Force, so I guess that was something they were taught. Then one day my senior year of college(in Chicago), one of my profs happened to be reminiscing and mentioned listening to LA Dodgers games on KFI from his nearby apartment - I told him that was impossible, and he gave me a lecture on antenna design and ionospheric propagation! Years later, when I lived in Huntsville, AL, a DXer friend of mine told me about his reception of some CA stations, like KNBR-680, KFI-640, and KNX-1070 and urged me to try for them - he told me it was best if I tried after midnight. Well, at about 2am one morning, sitting upside down with the cheap portable I had oriented in a weird manner, in came KNX - a story about a local motorcycle accident, a "KNX news time is..." and an ID! Boy was I excited!(Hubby told me "That's nice, dear. Now let me sleep.") I sent them a reception report and got a QSL back a few weeks later - on it, the CE said they get reports of reception from Europe and South America "all the time".

As far as KOA goes, they were one of my first stations heard from Chicago, along with several clears from the east coast. I didn't pick up KSL-1160 in Salt Lake City until I moved to Huntsville. I logged a LOT of stations from places you wouldn't expect when I lived in Huntsville, most on a DX-440 or a car radio - thanks to a good network of DX friends where someone was always scanning the dials! A mailing list like this one does that excellently these days!

Frederick R. Vobbe: I've heard KFI-640 in Lima. My best western catch was KORL-650 while in Toledo in the early 70's.

Willis Monk <wb5khd@inet75.com>: Well Emily, I can only answer from my own experiences. In 1967 I was in the navy and we were in the English channel. I would take my portable radio up on deck in the early morning hours and listen to the worlds greatest radio station, WBAP-820. I call the world's greatest as that stations comes from my home. Also heard was KFI-640, WLS-890, KCBS-680, KOA-850 and many more. Yes, I would say you can hear the west coast on the east coast. HOWEVER, you need to get you a REAL DX radio. The ones you list are fine, for listening to local stations, but I would invest in some of the older models if you can find them. Models like Hammarlund HQ series, Hallicrafters S series, even the Drake R-8 or R-4C w/ a BCB converter works fine.

Bob Klinger <Rklinger97@aol.com>: KOA twice last year. 2001!

Neil Kazaross: Emily, note that Bruce in NH made mention of hearing KOA last night. I grew up in RI and could sometimes hear KOA thru WHDH at late at night. While there may be another QRMing station or two on 850 nights now, this should still be possible on good nights. Just turn your radio to listen E-W and hope. Good times to check would be when other somewhat western stuff like KMOX and WCCO are blasting in. Also, you might find CBW on 990.

The X-band offers you a good chance to get the west, IMO. I would think you could get Disney from Colorado on 1690 by nulling the Maryland sports station?

Emily: I think that the universe and atmosphere has been conspiring against me so that I cant get in KOA!!!

I am going to wake myself up at 4am and listen until sun up. I am going to try in a few minutes for sunset, but I think that I'll just get in WEII in Boston again.

Neil Kazaross: Listening at your sunset for KOA is futile as it is no where near dark in Denver as you know. The problem with listening around your sunrise is that the eastern stations likely have come on with higher power by then for their morning. I think you best chances are more likely between midnight and 4AM. Again, I'd check to make sure that you have good signals from closer westerly stuff. If you aren't hearing my Chicago pests really well, then just go back to bed!! KOA for you is a two hop signal and is much harder to hear across land the one hop signals.

Russ Edmunds: No need to get up that early - 5:30 ought to do it. But you might have to try a few times, because conditions are variable.

While I've heard KOA four times since early November, I'm still looking for my first logging of Texas on 1700 - either of them! All I ever hear are (in order of what usually dominates) AL, FL, & IA.

And I've not heard anything on 1650 other than VA & IA on 1650, either!

Some more on this subject, some other more specific "by state" targets, and I’m going to try to start catching up on all of the antenna info on hand here next time. See you then.