NFDX report, part 1 of 8

[WA1ION@xxxxxxxxxxxxx (Mark Connelly )]

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	     The October 1995 Newfoundland DXpedition 
	       "Brazil Nuts" or "Of Moose And Men"

Musings by Jean Burnell, Dave Clark, Mark Connelly, Neil Kazaross, 
and Jim Renfrew, narrated by Bruce Conti.

		    ***************************

     Once again, the Lawlor's Hospitality Home in Cappahayden, 
Newfoundland was converted into "The DX Inn" as DXers from the 
United States and Canada descended upon this north Atlantic coastal 
community for a week of unparalleled DX.  Plans for this 8 - 15 
October DXpedition began taking shape shortly after the results of 
a successful Spring '95 NF DXpedition were published.  Jean Burnell 
of St. John's, NF took care of all the initial arrangements for what 
was to be the largest group yet since these DXpeditions began back 
in 1991.  Much of the planning was facilitated by e-mail communications, 
as participants in this and previous NF DXpeditions bounced their ideas 
and intentions off each other.  The following are the accounts of the 
individual October '95 NF DXers in addition to my own comments, 
beginning with DXpedition coordinator Jean Burnell.

		    ***************************

Jean Burnell:
     "This was the fourth "Newfoundland DXpedition" for which I played 
"host", but each event has been very different from the others.  This 
DXpedition had the largest contingent of DXers, and we were active for 
longer than before.  I am very grateful to my wife, Stephanie Kaiser, 
for helping me get everything ready, and for ferrying thousands of 
meters of wire, receivers, a table, food, etc. to Cappahayden.  
I thought the effort was worth it !  It was a lot of fun to DX 
again with the veterans of previous DXpeditions (Neil Kazaross, 
Bruce Conti, and Mark Connelly), and it was a pleasure to welcome 
two new NewfounDXers (Jim Renfrew and Dave Clark).  The quality 
of the DX was very good, also.  The highlights for me were the 
unprecedented numbers of Argentineans and Uruguayans, the ever-
challenging low-powered Brazilians, and the exciting run of Kenyans 
we bagged on the last evening.  I was pleased finally to have a solid 
log of Macedonia on 810 kHz, which was only a very tentative 10-second 
log during NF DX II back in 1993.  Dave Clark and I also indulged in 
an occasional foray into the tropical bands.  We were rewarded with 
a suite of 60 and 90-meter All India Radio stations, including the 
outlet in Gangtok, which "counts" as the DX country Sikkim.  I was 
once again disappointed by our inability to log Chile, and I was 
somewhat surprised that we were unable to receive either Finland 
or the Faroe Islands.  My hardware-highlight was a new Drake R8A 
receiver that arrived during this DXpedition, but it meant that 
I was doing a lot of fumbling with the unfamiliar controls during 
the last couple of nights.  My logbook is evidence that my lack 
of familiarity with the Drake affected my DX productivity, but 
I don't think I missed any major catches because of this.  
Overall, another A-plus outing !"

		    ***************************

     As Jean mentions, a couple of countries key to reaching the 100-
country goal were missed.  The entire team ganged-up on 531 kHz on a 
couple of mornings with the hope of hearing the Faroes sign-on.  
But the slightly auroral conditions combined with interference from 
Spain on 531 kHz and Radio Vision Cristiana on 532 kHz nixed our 
chances.  Bulgaria is a supposedly easy-to-hear country that never 
made the logs.  I sat on 1224 kHz a couple of nights hoping to hear 
the VOA relay that was logged in '93, or at least something parallel 
to a Radio Bulgaria foreign service shortwave frequency; no such luck.  
1060 kHz also consumed a lot of my time in the quest for Chile.  
Brazil and Venezuela were eventually identified on 1060, and hints 
of Mexican-style music occasionally squeaked through, but Chile 
remained an unheard target.  Despite the missed stations, we still 
logged 95 countries, 3 more than our previous (1993) record of 92 
countries.
	
     Another "hardware-highlight" had to be the ICE active antenna 
splitters.  First introduced to NF DXpeditioning by the Spring '95 
team, these maximized efficiency and flexibility by allowing DXers 
to select available antennas without disrupting each others monitoring 
activities.  When conditions were hot in one direction, all of us 
could jump in on the action, sharing the south or the "Euro" wires.  
Even phasing and regenerative tuning were performed on shared antennas 
without interference.  I now consider the active antenna splitters 
indispensable tools for all future group mediumwave DXpeditions.  
Thanks to John Bryant for the loaners, and to Jean for his additional 
just-in-time purchase.
	
     Newfoundland DXpedition alumnus Neil Kazaross was the first to 
arrive.  Jean and Neil had installed the requisite European and 
Brazil Beverages at Cappahayden on Sunday, 8 October, for the 
first night of DX.  They were both already logging the exotic 
by the time I arrived later that night.  Neil championed efforts 
to log low-power Brazilians, to the extreme of extending the Brazil 
Beverage length to over one-mile (2 km) for the following night !  
However, poorer than expected performance prompted an inspection 
the next morning, whereby it was discovered that the extension 
was dragged off-course by a moose during the night.  Although Neil 
had been quite successful with a mile-long Beverage when he used 
to have a residence in Rhode Island, the Brazil Beverage was 
restored to its original 1 km length for the remainder of the 
DXpedition, fearing that anything longer would once again be 
damaged by moose or hunters.

		    ***************************

Neil Kazaross:
     "Once again it was a DX pleasure to travel to Cappahayden and 
DX with my old friends Jean, Mark, and Bruce, and meet some new ones, 
Dave and Jim.  Clearly this is a special DX spot, far, far away from 
most locals and resulting in many clear frequencies where very distant 
low powered DX could be heard.  The combination of long Beverage 
antennas up to 3280-feet (1 km) and sea gain is what allows 
250-watt Brazilians to be heard on many channels like 1550 and 
1590 kHz, and also allows word-perfect arm chair copy of hundreds 
of TA's.  In the mid 80's I had the pleasure of a seacoast Beverage 
home in Ogunquit, Maine.  But this site, due to lack of QRM, blows 
Maine away.  Once again I leave there in awe of seacoast Beverage 
antennas and wishing I had a square mile farm here in Illinois, 
to put up more antenna length than my 200-meter wires.
	
     "I spent most of my DX time chasing rare and difficult DX like 
Brazilian graveyarders and didn't bother to listen to the easy stuff.  
For me it's the thrill of the rare log that would be impossible most 
anyplace else at a comparable distance.  Conditions this time were 
not very auroral, but I still think this was the best South American 
DX yet, and I loved the many Argentina and Uruguay loggings we got.  
African DX was not as good as the first time here (1991 DXpedition), 
when a huge aurora wiped out many of the European pests, but it still 
was great to Botswana.
	
     "Thanks to the magic of e-mail, I will often be talking to my 
friends from this DXpedition, but I doubt I will have the pleasure 
of seeing many of them 'til Newfie-5, whenever that may be !"

		    ***************************

     Neil also experimented with a Byan remote-controlled termination 
antenna system I installed in a southerly direction at Cappahayden.  
The antenna system is named after its originator, fellow DXer Steve 
Byan, who developed a method of being able to vary the terminating 
resistance at the end of the wire by remote-control from the DX 
shack, using an incandescent vactrol as a termination device.  
Some experimentation with ground radials at the termination and 
lead-in noise reduction resulted in successful field test of this 
concept.  Neil fine-tuned the termination from the comfort of the 
shack to add to his Brazil loggings, and we both demonstrated 
significant nulling of local stations in both day and night 
conditions.  Expect to see more on this concept in the DX press, 
as more DXers become familiar with the system.
	
     I picked up Jim Renfrew at the airport on Monday, the second 
official day of the DXpedition.  For Jim, it was his first time, 
reminding me of the DX overdose I experienced on my first Newfie 
DXpedition.

		    ***************************

Jim Renfrew:
     "Hearing stations from countries as diverse as India, Belarus, 
South Africa, Ascension Island, and Paraguay (not just once but 
almost every time we tried for them) reveals the amazing potential 
of this Newfoundland site.  In just one week, I personally logged 
over 300 stations, from almost 90 countries.  I have logged half 
that many countries in 20 years of DXing from Rochester, NY, so 
it was absolutely breathtaking to spin the dial and find rare DX 
in almost every direction.  It's been a bit depressing returning 
to Rochester DXing, because it is almost impossible to recover 
the same constant thrill that was present in Newfoundland.
	
     "When I first walked into the DX room and plugged antennas 
into my radio, the DX was so overwhelming it was hard to know where 
to start !  Should I just methodically work up the dial for an 
initial bandscan ?  Should I work the TA Beverage or the Brazil 
Beverage ?  Should I just follow the lead of others as they hunt 
for particularly enticing stations ?  In practice, I did all 
three !  My logbook shows Brazilian logs next to Asian logs and 
back again to Brazil.  A simple throw of the antenna switch would 
produce an entirely new band of unduplicated DX.
	
     "Living in a city home, I have had no previous experience 
stretching out Beverages, so it was a privilege to see some 
experienced DXers do it right.  Jean, Neil, and Bruce laid out 
the Cappahayden wires before I arrived, but the following day 
at Renews I had the chance to work with the team in laying out 
two Africa Beverages through the bush, complete with the sound 
of gunshots in the near distance, and at least two moose carcasses 
along the Beverage lines !  The Renews operations were slightly 
disappointing, however, because we got "moosed" the first night, 
and then two nights later we discovered that hunters had damaged 
the wires.  It wasn't too big a problem, because I later heard 
just about everything I heard at Renews, at Cappahayden.
	
     "I enjoyed being in the DX "moose-pen" at the Lawlor's with 
the others.  You should have seen us all attacking a single 
tantalizing target with varied approaches.  Some played with 
all of the receiver buttons to lift up the signal, some busily 
consulted various DX lists, others hunted WRTH medium and shortwave 
parallels.  Some could pick out languages well, some could name 
songs, some stuck with the prime frequency waiting to summon others 
at ID time, while others roamed to still new targets in the meantime.  
DXing by committee is a very efficient process !
	
     "Particular loggings that will long be remembered include 
India on 1566 kHz when Dave found a shortwave parallel just before 
sign-off; Paraguay on 920 kHz which I heard at 0900 UTC after 
everyone else had gone to bed; Kenya on 1044 and 1233 kHz which 
caused Dave to jump up and whoop like the home team had scored a 
come-from-behind touchdown; Uruguay on the North American graveyard 
frequency of 1400 kHz logged after a bunch of others from that 
country (when Jean recalled this one had been heard in Europe, 
we tuned in and there it was); hearing Brazil and Uruguay on 
810 kHz with the same soccer game in different languages (with 
Colombia also on 810 kHz featuring its game with Paraguay!); 
the list could go on and on . . .
	
     "Little did I know that my equipment situation would dramatically 
improve during the course of the week.  Bruce installed the Kiwa mods 
that I've carried around for two years to my Sony ICF-2010 on the 
second day for a vast improvement, and on the last day I became 
the proud owner of Mark's Drake R8.

     "In the 29 years I have been DXing, I have met a handful of 
DXers.  My weekend work schedule as a Presbyterian minister keeps 
me from attending most gatherings of DX clubs, so it was a real 
treat to meet Jean, Mark, Bruce, David, and Neil for the first time.  
Thanks, guys, for a memorable experience.  And special thanks to 
Jean who did so much prep work in advance !"

		    ***************************

     Wow !  Jim finally got to hear the DX that he's been typing up 
from others for DX News over the years as the NRC magazine's 
international column editor.  Regarding the recovery period after 
NF, I believe it's a common experience shared by all NF DXpedition 
participants, past and present.  This was my second time, and it 
was still difficult for me to come down from such a DX high!
	
     ODXA columnist Dave Clark arrived on Wednesday, adding yet 
another dimension to the pool of talent as the second Newfie freshman.  
When Dave heard something new and exotic, one could imagine the whole 
Avalon Peninsula being awakened by his uninhibited outbursts !

		    ***************************

Dave Clark:
     "I have DX'ed TP's from the West Coast on several occasions 
with John Bryant and others, so in some sense I knew what to expect.  
But this opportunity to DX TA's and the deeper South Americans from 
this outstanding East Coast site was still very much an eye-opener 
and a novelty for me.  I must acknowledge that I am grateful that 
Jean didn't give up on me, having kept me on his invite list since 
these DXpeditions first began in 1991.  I finally made it.  Now 
I can hardly wait for a return engagement of Cappahayden capers !
	
     "I was only able to be on-site from the early evening of 
October 11th (again thanks to Jean for picking me up at the airport) 
until the early morning of October 15th when I hitched a ride back 
to the airport with Bruce.  Thus I conveniently circumvented any 
duties associated with rolling out or reeling in any of the Beverages 
at the two sites that were so important to our collective success. 
Next time !
	
     "I came home reflecting not only on some of the marvellous DX 
I was able to record and get into my logbook, but also feeling like 
I'd only scratched the surface of what might be heard, given more 
time under a variety of propagation conditions and with better 
advance planning on my part.  So much to hear ... so little time.
	
     "I soon became immune to the higher power Europeans rolling 
up to local-like strength by 2 PM local time, even in mid-October, 
and it was on to more interesting DX signals.  A few years ago 
from my inland Ontario location, I was lucky enough to log most 
of the low-power Radio For The Print-Handicapped stations from 
Australia before they moved from their clear channel out-of-band 
frequencies of 1620 and 1629 kHz.  Yet I was absolutely startled 
to hear how any number of 250 watt Brazilians were fighting it 
out for dominance on many of the higher in-band graveyard channels. 
The manner in which the 500 watt BBC Ascension relay came rolling 
in on 1485 kHz was amazing too.  An all-water path coupled with 
Beverages oriented in the right direction certainly works wonders.
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