Category Archives: DX

Simple Wire Antenna: Giuseppe’s Mediumwave DXing Adventures from the Tyrrhenian Sea

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Giuseppe Morlè (IZ0GZW), who writes:

Dear Thomas and Friends of SWLing Post,

I am Giuseppe Morlè from Formia, Central Italy, on the Tyrrhenian Sea.

This time, I want to share a very simple antenna setup for listening to and attempting extreme DX on Medium Waves.

I first saw this antenna in several videos, and many DXers have used it during various expeditions.

For my setup, I used a 15-meter-long wire. At around 11 meters, I formed a small coil with 8 turns, then continued the wire for another 3 meters.

I began with some tests on my balcony by laying the wire flat along the ground for its entire length. I used my small Sony SRF-37V as a receiver. By placing the receiver within the coil of turns, I immediately noticed a significant difference compared to the built-in ferrite antenna.

In the early afternoon, I tuned into a Chinese language broadcast on 1377 kHz. You can watch a video of this experiment on my YouTube channel:

Encouraged by the excellent results, I decided to head to the tourist port of Caposele di Formia the next day in the early afternoon. I set up on the pier overlooking the sea. This time, I laid the wire in an eastward direction — towards the night, where the sun had already set, while it was still high for another two hours on my side.

Once again, I achieved amazing results.

I was able to hear the same Chinese station on 1377 kHz, but this time with much clearer audio than from my balcony, where electrical noise interfered. By the sea, the signal was clean and strong.

After a while, I tuned into VOA broadcasts from Thailand on 1575 and 1395 kHz, both with surprisingly good audio quality. You can see this second experiment here:

Sometimes, all it takes is a bit of wire and a small coil to create an excellent, ground-level antenna — in this case, oriented eastward.

I also tried using my loop cassette and a Tecsun PL-660 but couldn’t hear anything. Yet the little Sony SRF-37V proved itself to be a true “DX killer” on AM — truly impressive.

I even caught a segment of the VOA program “World Today,” discussing the Chinese economy and Southeast Asia.

As the sun set, the DX signals faded, making way for closer European and Asian broadcasters.

I will definitely return with a longer wire to see if this surprising setup can be improved even more.

A warm greeting to all the Friends who follow SWLing Post and to you, Dear Thomas.

73, Giuseppe IZ0GZW

More Reception Videos:

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Unlocking Rare DX Treasures with SDR-Console’s Powerful Data File Analyzer Tool

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Finding Rare DX with the Data File Analyzer

By Don Moore

Don’s DX traveling stories can be found in his book Tales of a Vagabond DXer. 

I’ve been a real jack-of-all-trades in my over five decades of DXing. I began with SWBC (shortwave broadcast) but soon branched out to medium wave and voice utility. Later I added longwave beacons and more recently I’ve gotten into digital utility stations. My goal has always been to log lots of different stations from lots of different places. And the rarer they are, the better.

For SWBC and medium wave stations, as well as scheduled utility broadcasts such as marine and aeronautical weather reports, the DXing process is simple. You tune to a frequency at a time when a station is scheduled to be on the air. It’s either there or it’s not there. If it’s not there then maybe propagation isn’t right or maybe your antenna/receiver setup isn’t the best for that frequency band or the station’s power level. You tune away to find something else with plans to try again another day.

But it’s not always that easy. Most utility stations do not have fixed schedules and only come on as needed. The best example of that is two-way marine, aeronautical, and military voice communications.

In eastern North America, tune to 8906 kHz anytime from late afternoon until morning and set your receiver to USB mode. You’ll probably hear empty static at first but it’s unlikely that more than ten or fifteen minutes will pass before you’ve heard some aeronautical traffic. The frequency is assigned for communication on the North Atlantic and is heavily used by aircraft communicating with New York Radio, Gander Radio (Newfoundland, Canada), and Shanwick Radio (Shannon, Ireland). If you keep listening, the frequency will probably be occupied around 25% of the time. Wherever you are in the world, there are a few heavily used air frequencies like 8906 kHz and listening to them can be fascinating. But I want to log more than just a few easily heard stations.

Sticking to aeronautical DX, there are many assigned frequencies for different regions and air routes around the world. But propagation to those distant areas is unpredictable and less-used routes have fewer flights. Fewer flights mean less radio communication and more empty static. The most interesting frequencies may only see traffic a few times a week.

Hearing the rarest voice utility DX requires listening to lots of empty static just to get a brief DX catch. For years my process was simple. I would set my receiver to an interesting frequency and leave the tape recorder running while I sat nearby listening and doing something productive. I got some very good DX over the years that way. But I don’t want to think about how many long hours of empty static I listened to in order to get that DX.

 

SDRs offered some improvement. Instead of audibly monitoring a specific frequency I could now make a spectrum recording that included a band of interest, say the 8815 to 9040 aeronautical band. During playback I could visually monitor the SDR waterfall for interesting signals. That works. But watching an SDR waterfall scroll by for three or four hours gets tedious quickly.

(When I refer to SDRs, I mean ones consisting of a small box that is connected to and controlled from a computer using a software program. None of this applies to models such as the Malachite line or the Icom IC-R8600, which use SDR technology inside but mostly function as a traditional receiver.)

Finding a Better Way

That better way is, I think, one of the most exciting DX tools out there – the Data File Analyzer in the SDR-Console program. Since I learned about it a few years ago, the Analyzer has gotten me all kinds of catches that I probably wouldn’t have gotten otherwise. Let’s start with an overview and then dig into the how-to.

SDR-Console is one of the better-known SDR programs and it works well with most of the common SDR radios on the market, including the Airspy, Elad, Perseus, and SDR-Play models. Here’s what the main window looks like:

The Data File Analyzer is a second window that produces a scrollable waterfall display for the entire length of an SDR spectrum recording. The display is similar to a standard waterfall with frequencies along the bottom and times along the side. However, there is also a scroll bar on the right side for browsing through the entire length of the recording. Instead of watching a four-hour spectrum recording slowly roll by in real time, I can scroll through the window looking for DX.

And this is what makes the Data Analyzer really useful. When I spot an interesting signal, I click on it and that causes the main window to start playing at that time and frequency. Now going through a four-hour spectrum recording takes from a few minutes to around half an hour, depending on how much DX I find.

Here’s a closeup of part of that same screen of spectrum recording made on 24 October 2024 at a DXpedition in western Pennsylvania, USA.

“A” marks a short exchange between an aircraft and Ndjamena Radio in Chad on 8894 kHz. “B” is Niamey Radio in Niger on 8903 kHz. “C” is Gander Radio on 8891 kHz. Just to the left of that is a string of digital signals. “D” is New York Radio on 8918 kHz. Again, there is a string of digital signals just to the left. Finally, “E” is communication from Dakar Radio in Senegal and Sal Radio in the Cape Verde Islands on 8861 kHz. I caught four African aero stations in just four-and-a-half minutes. I could also show you long stretches of time when there was nothing interesting coming in. With the Data File Analyzer I was able to visually find and focus on the DX and not waste my time with the empty static.

Here’s another image taken at the same DXpedition. Notice the three transmissions between 8820 to 8845 that seem to be mirroring one other.

That turned out to be Flightwatch Brisbane, the Australian regional aeronautical network. It uses multiple transmitter sites on 8822, 8831, and 8843 kHz to cover the entire country. I had never logged it before and I doubt I would have found it if DXing in the traditional manner.

The How-To

Here I’m going to assume that you already have SDR-Console installed and know the basics of how to use it, including making spectrum recordings. (If not, see the links at the end.) This article was written using version 3.4 of SDR-Console. Some of the functionalities described are not in earlier versions, so upgrade if you are not up to date. And I should point out that while you can do this on a single monitor, it works more smoothly if you have a dual monitor setup and can put each window on a different screen. Continue reading →

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Clear Channel Stations: Dan’s gateway into the world of DXing

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Many thanks to Dan Greenall, one of our dedicated Shortwave Radio Audio Archive contributors, who shares the following guest post:

Clear channel BCB stations – My Introduction to the world of DXing

by Dan Greenall

Sometime in the mid 1960’s, I acquired a Japanese made AM only transistor radio similar to the one pictured.

I was entering my teenage years and living in southern Ontario, Canada in relative proximity to the U.S. border, and was immediately fascinated that I could receive American stations from places such as Buffalo and Rochester NY as well as Detroit MI with amazing clarity.

Before long, I discovered that signals from much further afield would begin to come through at dusk and throughout the night time hours. Although I was unaware at the time, many of these would be from so-called “clear channel” stations, those operating on frequencies with the highest level of protection from interference from other stations.

In addition, many of these stations ran a full 50 kw of power.  Signals from the Atlantic seaboard to the Midwest could often be heard at near local strength if I turned my radio to just the right angle.  At this point, I was beginning to learn about the directional properties of the built-in ferrite rod antenna.  It gave me great pleasure to be able to listen to their local ads, newscasts, or a far away sporting event from the comfort of my home.

I recall listening regularly to WOWO in Fort Wayne IN on 1190 for their play by play announcements of the Fort Wayne Komets hockey games.  Then there was a station identifying as WFAA in Dallas.  That was back when they shared 820 kHz with WBAP whose famous cowbell you can hear in one of the audio clips below.

By the end of 1969, a friend of mine had encouraged me to try shortwave, and I “borrowed” my parents Philips kitchen radio for a few months, but that is another story. I wonder how many others got “hooked” in this manner?

A few brief recordings of clear channel stations that I made in the early 1970’s are presented here. Many, but not all, of the stations heard in the last two links are from clear channel stations. Reception for these recordings was made using a Realistic DX150A or a Hallicrafters S-52 receiver hooked up to an outdoor long wire antenna.

KFI Circa 1971:

Audio Player

WOAI Circa 1973

Audio Player

KSTP Circa 1970s:

Audio Player

Vintage AM Radio Airchecks 1973:

Audio Player

Vintage AM Radio Airchecks 1973 Part 2:

Audio Player

As a sidebar, the National Radio Club has put out a number of books showing the daytime/nighttime directional antenna patterns of AM broadcasting stations in the USA and Canada.

I gave up my copy from 1973 a number of years ago, but you can find this one and others online. I found this very useful.

For example, it is easy to see why I was more likely to hear WBT Charlotte NC on 1110 kHz from my listening post in southern Ontario, Canada, rather than KFAB Omaha, NE.

The links below will take you to the 1973, 1975 and 2018 versions of these books.

https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Radio-Logbooks/NRC_Logs/NRC-Pattern-Book-First-1973.pdf

https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Radio-Logbooks/NRC_Logs/NRC-Night-Pattern-Mapbook-2nd-1975.pdf

https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Radio-Logbooks/NRC_Logs/NRC-Pattern-Book-8th-2018.pdf

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Join Us: Become a Contributor for the SWLing Post!

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The SWLing Post has been online since 2008, and over the years, I’ve seen our readership grow into a vibrant, international community of radio enthusiasts who support each other.

From the beginning, my goal for the SWLing Post has never been to focus on me, but rather to highlight the diverse ways people enjoy radio and to share news about international broadcasting. To achieve this, I’ve invited select individuals to contribute as guest writers and provided them with accounts to post their own content.

As our community has expanded, I want to open the door even wider and invite more of you to contribute directly to the SWLing Post. This will help alleviate the bottleneck of getting timely information out, especially as I am currently in one of the busiest stages of my life.

If you’re interested in receiving a volunteer contributor account, which will allow you to create and submit posts for approval and publication by me or one of our editors, please contact me via email or leave a comment on this post.

To qualify for a contributor account, please note the following requirements:

Community Involvement: We prefer to see that you’ve been an active, long-standing member of our community by commenting on posts. If you’re new to us, we will first need to review and post your contributions before granting you an account. This is due to the high volume of spam guest post requests we receive—often dozens each week.

Comfort with WordPress: You should be comfortable creating posts in WordPress, the platform we use for the SWLing Post. Unfortunately, we do not have the resources to train individuals on WordPress, but numerous tutorials are available since it’s the most popular blogging platform in the world.

We are looking for original content that reflects the genuine spirit and kindness of our community. Our goal is to ensure that contributions are not only informative and engaging but also embody the warmth and enthusiasm that characterize our shared love for radio. As long as your content is respectful, informative, and true to the spirit of radio enjoyment, it will align with our standards and be a valuable addition to the SWLing Post.

If you’re interested, please comment on this post or email me directly, and I will get back to you via email.

Thank you!

Thomas Witherspoon (K4SWL)

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Dan asks: “What is your longest DX?”

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dan Greenall, who writes:

What is your longest DX (from transmitter to receiver)?

Assuming we are limiting the discussion to planet Earth, Perth, Australia would be represent one of the farthest land based locations to hear at 18145 km or 11275 miles as the crow flies from my receiving post in southern Ontario, Canada.

That would mean the ABC outlet that I received on 9610 kHz in the early 1970’s is the winner for me. Not far behind, however, would be tiny Amsterdam Island (part of the TAAF, Terres Australes et Antarctiques Francaises) in the Indian Ocean at 18031 km or 11204 miles. I was able to log marine radio FJY4 on 8690 kHz CW on a number of occasions and even managed to extract a PFC QSL direct from the station in 1973.

There are a number of distance calculators for this on the internet, such as Free Map Tools at
https://www.freemaptools.com/how-far-is-it-between.htm

Of course, the longest DX may not necessarily be the best. CKZN running 300 watts on 6160 kHz from St. John’s, Newfoundland from right here in Canada was harder to hear than the ABC in Perth, Australia!

Who can top this distance? What is your longest DX? Please comment!

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Checking out the CCRadio SolarBT

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By Jock Elliott, KB2GOM

The syllables coming through the headphones were unknown to me. Clearly it was a language, but not one that I knew. So I logged it: 2/18/24, 1101Z, 1660 kHz, unknown language, orchestral music. (I later found out it was a Korean language station from New Jersey.) Then I moved on down the band.

Next stop: 1650 kHz, male voice French. Then: 1630 kHz, pop music, followed by “Arabic sounding music” on 1610 kHz, and so on down the medium wave band. It was a pre-dawn morning, and I have had a great deal of fun, creeping along in 1 kHz increments using the 2.5 kHz bandwidth, turning the radio from side to side in my hand, trying to tease out distant stations, and hoping to hear my first transatlantic DX.

In my lap was a radio that very much resembles a brick, but a very elegant designer brick. In the words of the instruction manual: “The CCRadio Solar is likely the first emergency radio that doesn’t look like one.” The folks at CCrane sent me one for review without charge.

The CCRadio SolarBT measures 6 inches wide by 3 inches high by 2.5 inches deep and weighs just a bit over a pound with batteries installed. Most of the SolarBT’s case is white polymer, but the bottom, top, and sides are covered with a gray rubberized “skin.” The end effect is a solidly built unit that is pleasant to view, easy to handle, and won’t readily slide off a slippery surface.

The CCradio SolarBT can receive AM (MW) band from 520 to 1710 kHz, FM from 87.5 to 108 MHz (76-108 MHz in expanded mode), and 7 NOAA Weather Radio channels from 162.400 MHz to 162.550 MHz. In addition, the SolarBT has a wealth of other interesting capabilities, and we will get to those in just a bit.

Clearly, the CCrane folks are serious about this radio’s emergency capabilities. There are five different ways of powering the SolarBT: (1) an 18650 Li-ion 3.7 volt rechargeable battery which provides around 50 hours of playing time (the manual advises fully charging the internal battery before use), (2) 3 AA batteries (not included, but good for about 40 hours of playing time. The manual warns: don’t use Lithium batteries), (3) a 110 mA solar panel (park the radio in a sunny window to keep it trickle charged), (4) a wind-up dynamo generator (300-500 mA at about two rotations per second. 90 seconds of winding will power the radio for 8-13 minutes or will charge your cell phone enough to make a few quick calls), or (5) a 5-volt DC, 1000 mA micro USB cable or optional AC adapter.

On the left of the front panel, you’ll find a 2-inch, 3-watt speaker. To the right of that is an LCD panel which serves as information central for the SolarBT. The display’s backlight will stay illuminated for about 10 seconds after each button press; you can set the light to stay on continuously if the SolarBT is plugged into continuous power. To the right of the display are a couple of up and down tuning buttons. Press quickly to advance to the next tuning increment. Press and hold to automatically tune to the next strong station. Hold continuously to cycle through the entire band.

Below the display are 5 memory station buttons that have some additional functions we’ll get to in a while. To the right of the memory buttons is the volume knob.

The top of the radio is dominated by a solar panel that, if exposed to direct sunlight for 8 hours will provide 10 to 14 hours of playing time at medium volume. Surrounding the solar panel are 4 buttons: one for power, one for the flashlight, one for changing radio bands, and one for BlueTooth functions. At the extreme back edge of the top is a fold-out telescoping antenna for FM and weather band reception. Inside the case is 10-centimeter a ferrite bar antenna for AM reception (by comparison the ferrite bar inside a CCrane Skywave is 7 centimeters).

CCrane’s attention to detail is evident: the button for the flashlight glows in the dark (very handy if you awake to find the power is out), and the instruction manual is very informative and well-written. In fact, it’s been my experience that CCrane consistently delivers the best-written user manuals in the radio business. Well done!

On the left side of the case is the LED flashlight. On the right side is a soft rubber hatch that provides access to a jack for auxiliary input, a radio power/charging jack, a switch for selecting between the 3 AA batteries or the 18650 rechargeable battery, an earphone jack, and a standard USB port that can be used to charge your cell phone.

On the back of the SolarBT is the fold-out crank for the dynamo generator and a hatch for accessing the 3 AA batteries and the 18650 rechargeable battery. That’s it.

Judicious pressing of the memory buttons provides access to the clock and alarm functions, to selecting 9 or 10 kHz AM band tuning steps, to designate clock or frequency while listening to the radio, to select 1 kHz running steps on the AM band, and to choose among 3 different bandwidths for the AM band: 6 kHz, 4 kHz, or 2.5 kHz. The manual will tell you how.

Yes, you say, but how does it perform? Bottom line: just great.

The SolarBT may be small, but, in my opinion, it punches above its weight and provides excellent sensitivity for its size on the AM, FM, and weather bands. You might buy it as an emergency radio, but my guess is that you will soon discover the joy of DXing with it.

I would be remiss if I didn’t add the following. Normally, I “play radio” using headphones to help compensate for a hearing deficit. Lately, however, I have been listening to the NOAA Weather Radio on the CCRadio SolarBT through the speaker, and I have found that the sound coming through the speaker is very pleasing indeed.

A final note: I did not test any of the Bluetooth connectivity because at present I do not own any gadgets that would connect through Bluetooth.

Bottom line: I liked the CCRadio SolarBT a great deal and can happily recommend it. You might buy it as your emergency radio, but don’t be surprised if you find yourself using it for general listening or for DXing distant stations.

Click here to check out the CC Radio Solar BT at C.Crane.

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How to DX the 2024 Solar Eclipse!

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Nick Hall-Patch, who shares the following article originally published in the IRCA’s DX Monitor:

2024 Solar Eclipse DXing

by William Scott, WE7W

DXing the mediumwaves promises to be an exciting event on April 8 during the 2024 total solar eclipse.    I’ve been mulling over the DX possibilities a lot lately and have come to some conclusions. I think it boils down to three promising DX scenarios:

  • Scenario 1. For those who live within or very near the path of totality (see Figure 1), I believe best chances of DX would be first to listen to your southwest, along the path where totality is approaching. Darkness will already have happened in that direction, and a certain amount of residual de-ionization of the ionosphere will still remain. After the point of totality passes your location, I would swing my attention to the northeast.
  • Scenario 2. For those living within about 800 km (or about 500 miles) of the path of totality I believe best chance would be a perpendicular path across the totality path to a point roughly equidistant on the other side. This puts the signal reflection point right at the center of the totality path, or the deepest point of darkness.
  • Scenario 3. For those living more than about 800 km from the path of totality I believe best chance would be along a line from your receiving site to a perpendicular intersection to the totality path. This should define the greatest shaded path.

I think that scenarios #1 and #2 have the best possibility for DX.

Figure 1 (Click to enlarge)

Across the U.S. and Canada, from its entry at Texas to its exit through NE Canada and into the Atlantic Ocean, the totality path width varies from a maximum of 199 km at U.S. entry to about 160 km at Atlantic exit, or 123 to 99 miles.

Important to keep in mind – skywave signal strength analysis is based almost entirely on the condition of the ionosphere at the reflection point, not at the receiving site. For single hop propagation, normally the reflection point is at the halfway point to the station along the great circle route.    That 800 km distance from the totality center I wouldn’t hold as gospel. I’m throwing that figure out as a point where scenario #2 may start to transition to scenario #3.

Timing is of the essence for DXing. The shadow velocity exceeds 1000 mph, increasing from 1587 miles per hour at Eagle Pass, Texas to 3176 mph at Houlton, Maine. You may have only minutes to DX.     I’ll be in Rochester, NY at the time of totality, and we are right at dead center. I’ll be scenario #1. My plan is to listen to my southwest initially, where totality is approaching. I’ll be listening particularly for WLW-800 in Cincinnati, OH, WHAS-840 in Lexington, KY, and others along or near that path.

Scenario #2 possibly holds the most promise. Calculate your distance to the path center line and look for stations on a direct line across the totality path and at an equal distance on the opposite side of the path from you. One such scenario might be WSB-750, Atlanta to a reception point in northwestern Illinois, central Iowa, or southern Wisconsin or southern Minnesota. Many possibilities on cross-paths exist here. I feel best results would be with a signal path that crosses the path of totality closest to 90 degrees.

A question was raised about the possibility of DX from Spokane, Washington, an extreme distance from the path of totality. That particular scenario would be scenario #3, more than 800 km to the path of totality. Maximum obscurity should be when northeast Texas (let’s say the Dallas area) is experiencing full totality, as the great circle line to the totality path intersects at approximately 90 degrees to the line at that point. This would be at about 1848 UTC. I would listen for any signals along a great circle path between Spokane to anywhere from the Dallas area and northward.     Obviously, Spokane to Dallas is an extremely long one hop path, at about 2450 km. At that distance, the reflection point is near Denver, which will have a solar obscuration of 65.1% at maximum.

A Dallas area reception would be next to impossible I would think, but there are many more stations along that great circle path one could try for. Closer stations will obviously move the reflection point closer and start to reduce the solar obscurity. I did a scan along that path and there are some 340 stations within 200 km either side of the line of the great circle path between Spokane and Dallas.

A presumed Scenario #4.

Another scenario was suggested by Nick Hall-Patch, that of reception parallel to the path of totality and outside the 100% totality band. The 2017 solar eclipse across the northern part of the U.S. was DXed extensively and produced some interesting results, which are well documented in IRCA Reprints.  Check their document repository here:

http://dxer.ca/images/stories/2019/irca-reprint-index.pdf

Nick reports: “The receptions of KSL-1160 described in IRCA Reprint # G-096 showed the results of 3 DXers listening across the path of the eclipse (Scenario #2), but the fourth, Dave Aichelman, was monitoring KSL from a location parallel to the eclipse path ( sort of Scenario #1?) and got very good enhancement as well.”    We might name this “Scenario #4”.

I checked out # G-096, that documents the KSL reception from the solar eclipse of 2017. It looks like the Dave Aichelman (at Grants Pass, OR) reception of KSL had a mid-path reflection point of about 95% solar obscurity. The distance was 971 km (602 miles). Graphing KSL, I see it has a nice fat low angle takeoff and impressive skywave strength at 900 km, some 1.3 mV/m for that distance. (ed. note: A map of fractional solar obscuration is in Figure 2, easily converted to the percentage figures quoted in this article. )

Better yet, the article indicated Aichelman also received XEPE-1700 across the Mexican border from San Diego too. That was a mid-point reflection obscurity of only about 83% as far as I can deduct from the maps. The distance was 1238 km (769 miles). The mid-path reflection point there was in the neighborhood of 700 km from the central path of totality.

So, DX is indeed possible where both the station and the receiver are off center from the totality path. It’s looking like anything from at least 80% obscurity at mid-path reflection may have some real possibilities, particularly if you are at the end nearest the path of totality. Lower obscurities, perhaps down to 50% or so may even produce results.

Check out these links.

https://nationaleclipse.com/cities_partial.html

https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEpath/SEpath2001/SE2024Apr08Tpath.html

https://eclipse2024.org/eclipse_cities/statemap.html

Using my pattern mapping program which has extensive area search capability, I’ve compiled a list of all US and Canadian stations that fall within the 2024 Solar Eclipse path of ~100% totality. There are 456 stations. Results are drawn from the March 20 FCC LMS database and Industry Canada database. Sorry I don’t have Mexico available.

If you would like this list, download from this link. https://www.mediafire.com/file/125ih5yrmw4puib/2024-eclipse-stations-by-longitude.zip/file

Across the US and Canada, from its entry at Texas to its exit through NE Canada and into the Atlantic Ocean, the totality path width varies from a maximum of 199 km at US entry to about 160 km at the Atlantic exit off Newfoundland, or 123 to 99 miles.   456 stations are found in this eclipse path. I purposely set the path width to 210 km from start to finish. This gives a few km slop on both sides of the 100% totality path for good measure.

Unzip the downloaded .ZIP file, where you will find 3 files. The stations in each file are sorted by longitude, from west to east. This gives us the progression of the eclipse path, with the eclipse starting at the first station in the list and ending with the last station.

File #1 is a simple text file.

File #2 is in .CSV format. You can easily input it to an Excel file.

File #3 is in .HTML format. It includes links to each station’s Google Map latitude-longitude coordinates for the satellite view of the transmitter tower array.

Another link takes you to the FCC AM Query link for that station.  I hope these files are beneficial. There should be many propagation path possibilities outside of this list as well.

(reprinted from the author’s blog at https://radio-timetraveller.blogspot.com/ )

********

Further sources of information concerning the eclipse include the following websites:

http://xjubier.free.fr/en/site_pages/solar_eclipses/TSE_2024_GoogleMapFull.html?Lat=43.66400&Lng=-76.13690&Elv=88.0&Zoom=6&LC=1

(Clicking anywhere on this map page will give all the information you need about obscuration, length of eclipse etc.at a given location).  Also:

https://www.greatamericaneclipse.com/april-8-2024

https://eclipsewise.com/2024/2024.html

Animations of the path of the eclipse versus time can be seen at:

https://eclipsewise.com/solar/SEanim400/2024_04_08_TSE_400px.gif

http://7dxr.com/4all/100km8Apr-movie–Frissell-HamSCI.mp4

The latter is particularly interesting, as it shows the moon’s shadow at 100km height above the earth, an area of special interest to DXers, as it is the lower edge of the E-region of the ionosphere.  Note especially that as the eclipse ends over the North Atlantic Ocean, that there is a temporary darkness path between Europe and North America, because night will already have fallen in Europe.  So will there be blips of TA DX in eastern North America as the eclipse passes by?   Listen, and find out!

Finally, our DX could be of interest to ionospheric physicists also.   The rapidly changing listening conditions will be indicating a similarly turbulent ionosphere, and DXers’ documenting those listening conditions through SDR recordings could provide information that will be useful to scientists who want to gain a better understanding of the Earth’s ionospheric dynamics.

HamSCI is an organization of volunteer citizen-scientists and professional researchers who study upper atmospheric and space physics, and will be interested in examining MW DXers’ wideband SDR recordings made during the eclipse period, and indeed, in having DXers assist with HamSCI’s research. (see https://hamsci.org/eclipse.  Especially if you are an amateur radio operator, there are several other ways that you might also contribute to the project.)

(This first appeared in IRCA’s DX Monitor and is used with permission.   See https://www.ircaonline.org/default.php for club details)

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