{"id":34524,"date":"2018-10-30T10:29:45","date_gmt":"2018-10-30T14:29:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/?p=34524"},"modified":"2018-10-30T10:29:45","modified_gmt":"2018-10-30T14:29:45","slug":"dxpeditions-bruce-remembers-hunting-for-rare-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2018\/10\/dxpeditions-bruce-remembers-hunting-for-rare-game\/","title":{"rendered":"DXpeditions: Bruce remembers “hunting for rare game”"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Many thanks to SWLing Post<\/em> contributor, Bruce Atchison (VE6XTC), who shares the following notes from a DXpedition over 30 years years ago. Bruce writes, “While going through some old blog posts, I found this one about a\u00a0DXpedition I took in 1984.”<\/em><\/p>\n

HUNTING FOR RARE GAME.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In past posts, I’ve mentioned my passion for radio. It began with my discovery of distant stations on my dad’s car radio when I was ten years old and continues to this day. Because my memoirs deal with subjects other than distant signal reception, referred to by radio aficionados as DX, I haven’t been able to write much about this infatuation.<\/p>\n

One aspect of hunting for DX is travelling to remote locations that are free of man-made interference. When I learned that my cousin Wayne, was going hunting near Lodgepole in October of 1984, I begged a ride with him.<\/p>\n

In a clearing along a cut line, I erected a seventy-foot-long wire antenna and connected it to my general coverage receiver which I powered with a car battery. While Wayne hunted moose, I tracked down exotic stations. Just as the fresh autumn air invigorated me, so did the crystal-clear reception of stations which I could barely hear back home.<\/p>\n

At our makeshift camp site, I often let my cousin listen to the radio. This occasionally led to some strange situations. As we ate breakfast early one morning, I tuned in a station from Papua New Guinea. To my astonishment, the announcer began playing country music. There we were, two Canadians in the Alberta wilderness, listening to American country tunes from a station on the other side of the Pacific ocean.<\/p>\n

Another memorable radio moment happened one night when I picked up a coast guard station in contact with a ship somewhere in the Pacific. Somebody on board it was hurt and needed a doctor. The radio man could barely speak English and the American on shore could barely understand the sailor’s accent. If it wasn’t a serious situation, it would have been comical.<\/p>\n

My uncle Bob, who hunted in a different part of the forest, met us one evening as we relaxed by the fire. When he asked what I was doing with that fancy radio, I showed him by tuning in Deutsche Welle, Germany’s international broadcaster.<\/p>\n

Uncle Bob gawked at the set and listened in awestruck silence for a minute. “I can understand that,” he exclaimed as a news announcer droned on in German. “I can understand everything he’s saying. How can you pick up a signal all the way from Germany?” he marvelled.<\/p>\n

I couldn’t even begin to explain the intricacies of F2 radio wave propagation to him so I said, “Signals like that always come in like that on the short wave bands.”<\/p>\n

I felt sad at the end of the week when we packed up and drove toward Edmonton. Though Wayne came back empty-handed, I had the fulfilling experience of listening to far away stations free of annoying buzzes from TV sets and power lines.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Thank you for sharing those wonderful memories, Bruce!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Bruce Atchison (VE6XTC), who shares the following notes from a DXpedition over 30 years years ago. Bruce writes, “While going through some old blog posts, I found this one about a\u00a0DXpedition I took in 1984.” HUNTING FOR RARE GAME. In past posts, I’ve mentioned my passion for radio. It […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5935,3194,3,305,43],"tags":[5351,4098,4342,4094],"class_list":["post-34524","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dx","category-guest-posts","category-news","category-nostalgia","category-shortwave-radio","tag-bruce-atchison","tag-dxpeditions","tag-guest-posts","tag-nostalgia"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pn3uc-8YQ","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":44373,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2020\/07\/guest-post-what-is-fm-lightning-scatter-dx\/","url_meta":{"origin":34524,"position":0},"title":"Guest Post: What is FM Lightning Scatter DX?","author":"Thomas","date":"July 16, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Bruce Atchison, who shares the following guest post: What is Lightning Scatter DX? by Bruce Atchison (VE6XTC) Believe it or not, it's possible to receive distant FM stations during a thunder storm. While lightning makes it difficult to hear AM and shortwave broadcasts, its\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "FM"","block_context":{"text":"FM","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/fm\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/olivier-lance-_10DBASnauA-unsplash-scaled-e1594896743476.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/olivier-lance-_10DBASnauA-unsplash-scaled-e1594896743476.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/olivier-lance-_10DBASnauA-unsplash-scaled-e1594896743476.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/olivier-lance-_10DBASnauA-unsplash-scaled-e1594896743476.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":55355,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2023\/01\/a-dxpedition-to-east-sandy\/","url_meta":{"origin":34524,"position":1},"title":"A DXpedition to East Sandy","author":"Thomas","date":"January 15, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor,\u00a0Don Moore\u2013noted\u00a0author, traveler, and DXer\u2013for the following guest post: A DXpedition to East Sandy By Don Moore When I was in college over forty years ago, seven of us had a small DX club in central Pennsylvania. A couple of times a year we would\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "AM"","block_context":{"text":"AM","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/am\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Don-DXpedition-1.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Don-DXpedition-1.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Don-DXpedition-1.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Don-DXpedition-1.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Don-DXpedition-1.jpeg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":31799,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2018\/04\/gary-debock-shares-most-distant-catch-from-cook-island-dxpedition\/","url_meta":{"origin":34524,"position":2},"title":"Gary DeBock shares most distant catch from Cook Island DXpedition","author":"Thomas","date":"April 28, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Gary DeBock, who shares the following note about his recent\u00a0Cook Island DXpedition: The farthest DX received during the Cook Island DXpedition (on Aitutaki island) was 657-All India Radio in Kolkata, India, at 8,072 miles (12,991 km). Recorded by accident during a sunrise check of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "AM"","block_context":{"text":"AM","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/am\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Map-DX.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Map-DX.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Map-DX.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Map-DX.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":28353,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2017\/09\/preparing-for-your-next-dxpedition-new-videos\/","url_meta":{"origin":34524,"position":3},"title":"Preparing for Your Next DXpedition – New Videos","author":"Rob Wagner","date":"September 16, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Regular readers of the SWLing.com blog will be aware that I am passionate about going portable\/mobile with my radio listening hobby. There's just nothing like communing with both nature and a bunch of electrons whizzing along the wire! As a\u00a0follow-up\u00a0to an article I wrote several years ago, I have now\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Antennas"","block_context":{"text":"Antennas","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/antennas\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Kyneton-Car-Rigs.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Kyneton-Car-Rigs.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Kyneton-Car-Rigs.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Kyneton-Car-Rigs.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Kyneton-Car-Rigs.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Kyneton-Car-Rigs.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":39365,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2019\/08\/jacks-tailgate-dxpedition\/","url_meta":{"origin":34524,"position":4},"title":"Jack’s Tailgate DXpedition","author":"Thomas","date":"August 30, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Jack Blanke (WB5LVP), who shares the following: Really enjoyed your article yesterday, and felt compelled to respond with a similar DX'ing jaunt of mine two days ago. I found myself in the same mindset and ventured out to a nearby peaceful fishing and yacht\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "DXpeditions"","block_context":{"text":"DXpeditions","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/dxpeditions\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/Mike-Blanke-Yachts-Harbor-DXpedition.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/Mike-Blanke-Yachts-Harbor-DXpedition.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/Mike-Blanke-Yachts-Harbor-DXpedition.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":23522,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2017\/01\/the-diminutive-but-brilliant-sony-icf-sw100-a-few-autumnwinter-dx-catches\/","url_meta":{"origin":34524,"position":5},"title":"The diminutive but brilliant Sony ICF-SW100: a few autumn\/winter DX catches","author":"Clint Gouveia","date":"January 20, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Hi there, I posted an article on this brilliant little radio a few months ago because\u00a0it had demonstrated a level of performance way beyond my expectations. Notwithstanding it's incredibly small size the DX results I obtained with it were beyond my ICF-SW55 and up there with the iconic ICF-2001D. 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