NFDX report, part 2 of 8

[WA1ION@xxxxxxxxxxxxx (Mark Connelly )]

This message is sent by WA1ION@xxxxxxxxxxxxx (Mark Connelly )
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     "It seems only my abominable lack of proficiency in Portuguese 
limited the number of Brazilians I could put into the log, at least 
not without extensive further reviews of my tapes.  Much the same 
could be said for my Spanish, considering the incredible number 
of deep South Americans from Uruguay and Argentina that were there 
for the picking.  In spite of bothersome and uncharacteristically 
high static levels that we experienced on two of the nights I was 
present, the equinoctial season surely was an important contributing 
factor to the ideal trans-equatorial propagation that was evidenced 
every day.  Only Chile, a much sought-after target for us all, 
was distinguished by its absence.
        
     "Most of my DXing from home has, for some years, been focussed 
on the Tropical Bands, with Asians and Africans being favoured 
targets.  And so, hearing All India Radio, at times with a 
steamroller signal on 1566 kHz, was a special treat, notwithstanding 
its high power transmitter; likewise for my singular catch from 
South Africa.  The crowning touch for me, and I think for the 
others of our DXpedition team too, fittingly came on the final 
evening.  East Africa constitutes a long and relatively difficult 
path, even on the Tropical Bands.  Just imagine our collective 
reaction (manifest in the extreme by my own personal outburst 
of exuberance!), when Kenya Broadcasting Corporation opened up 
its General Service morning transmission with a good steady signal 
on 1386 kHz.  This was an opening to be exploited to the fullest 
and within minutes, Jean and I set about looking for other 
parallel channels.  The fact that several more KBC signals were 
poking through on other predominantly QRM'ed frequencies was the 
ultimate reward.
        
     "The old adage which attributes the whole as greater than the 
sum of the parts certainly holds true in my mind. I think our 
collective achievement during Newfoundland DXpedition-IV is a 
tribute to the common sense of purpose, teamwork and good old-
fashioned comradeship amongst a group of truly dedicated and 
experienced DXers.  To Jean, our host, and to Mark, Bruce, Neil 
and Jim whom I met for the first time in person, I say thanks 
and let's do it again!"

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

     Upon Mark Connelly's arrival, some of us noticed that the 
Drake receivers were given preferential treatment.  The  table 
that Jean and Stephanie purchased for the DXpedition had become 
the exclusive domain of the Drakes.  Next time, guys, I'm bringing 
a Drake R8A to reserve my place at the table !  Actually, it was 
all in good fun.  Space was tight with the 6 DXers and equipment 
sharing the same room.  But we all worked well together, regardless 
of the limited space and other adversities, as Mark attests in his 
summary.

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

Mark Connelly:
     "I arrived in Newfoundland on Thursday, 12 October.  Other DX 
team members Jean Burnell, David Clark, Bruce Conti, Neil Kazaross, 
and Jim Renfrew were already on the scene.  Some had been at the 
Inn since Sunday the 8th.  The Cappahayden site had been set up 
with the usual European, (east) Brazilian, and Deep South America 
Beverages.  About 10 km / 6 miles north of the DX Inn, a site in 
Renews (near the lighthouse) was used again.  In 1991, that site 
provided superb African reception.  The two main "guns" at Renews 
were Beverages pointed towards northern Africa and towards southern 
Africa.
        
     "On Thursday evening, I tuned the band on the car radio as I 
drove Route 10 along the rugged and beautiful coastline from 
St. John's to Cappahayden.  Northern Europeans such as Norway-1314 
and Sweden-1179 were strong at times, but they were sometimes covered 
by Spaniards running considerably less power.  Early on, highband 
USA domestics such as WBBR-1130, WEZE-1260, WNRB-1510, and WQEW-1560 
were very strong.  It was evident that conditions were a good deal 
less auroral than during the total high-latitude blow-out of the 
November 1991 DXpedition.  However, high-latitude stations had 
considerably less punch than in October 1993 when blockbuster 
signals from Finland-963, Faroes-531, and other far-north 
transmitters were abundant.  The conditions, therefore, were 
intermediate between those of the two previous autumn DXpeditions.  
That was good news in a way: any northern countries lost to poorer 
propagation on these routes would be offset by better reception of 
African countries that were heard in 1991 but were absent in 1993.
        
     "It was about 9 PM local (2330 UTC) when I arrived at the DX Inn.  
This was the first time I had ever met David Clark and Jim Renfrew.  
We, of course, knew of each other through our DX activities and 
frequent e-mail correspondence.  It was great to meet Dave and Jim 
in person to share conversation and "communal" DXing at what is 
arguably the best DX QTH in North America.
        
     "On this trip, all of us met at least one of other DXpeditioners 
for the very first time in person.  The six of us took over all the 
rooms at the DX Inn.  The room chosen as the "DX shack" got quite 
crowded with people and gear.  Some DXers were there up to a week 
away from their families and hometown friends.  Some had worked 
very hard to put up Beverage antennas under challenging weather 
and terrain conditions.  Occasionally, the sewer pipes didn't work.  
Moose collided with Beverages at least once.  Hunters were prowling 
the woods, sometimes shooting "for the hell of it", it would seem.  
Good food and adequate sleep were in short supply.  One would expect 
that some of these factors would cause arguments and dissension 
among the "troops".  This was most definitely not the case.  
The six of us got along as well as if we had gone through college 
together and knew each other's families.  When it was DX time, 
the group operated as a well-oiled machine.  We all bounced 
suggestions of "hot" frequencies and ideas about unidentified 
stations off each other.  Off hours (such as lunchtime at the 
local eatery in Fermeuse) were times of animated discussions 
of many topics, not always related to radio.  The people I met 
came from different and interesting walks of life and they all 
had much to say.  This was certainly not a gathering of single-
minded, one-dimensional techno-nerds.
        
     "Daytime was often "Tool Time" in Cappahayden as a gaggle of 
gadgets went through "battlefield testing".  Gerry Thomas and 
Dallas Lankford may not have been with us, but their innovations 
of delay-line phasing and noise-reducing transformers helped our 
DX efforts in a big way.  Bruce Conti did some very worthwhile 
experiments with the new Steve Byan remote Beverage-termination 
system.  The system worked very well and Neil went home all fired 
up to set up such terminators on his Beverages in the suburbs of 
Chicago.  Jean did some tests with his newly-acquired JPS ANC-4 
and the results were promising.  The unit reduced LORAN chatter 
and served to quiet the hash from local power lines.
        
     "Each DXpedition has certain similarities, yet each is a unique 
experience.  From "Newfie 4", I'll remember the local-like reception 
of India-1566 that we all enjoyed listening to for quite a while.  
The music was a great source of auditory pleasure.  Every time I DX, 
I want to find something worth listening to for entertainment value.  
The Africans certainly did it for me in 1991, British locals were 
a highlight in 1993, and the awesome signal and programming from 
India-1566 did the trick for me in '95.  This time around, I also 
got a charge out of Israel-1206 and South Africa-846; these were 
first discovered by the May 1995 crew (Bryant / Burnell / 
Funkenhauser / Hakiel).  The in-your-face signal from Radio 
Tropical-1190 in Natal on Brazil's eastern tip seems like it 
will be a sure thing for me to get the next time a heavy aurora 
finds me on Cape Cod or Cape Ann.  Ditto for that Brazilian split 
on 1435.  The run of east Africans towards the end of the DXpedition 
will be indelibly etched in my memory.  Newfoundland newcomers 
David Clark and Jim Renfrew went crazy like kids let loose in 
a candy store.  Their skill and enthusiasm materially improved 
our country-count.  One would think that the rest of us - veterans 
of previous efforts - would be jaded.  This could not be further 
from the truth.  We ho-hummed some of the pest Spaniards, of course, 
but we still scanned each channel with a sense of wonder and 
fascination.  Time and time again, the hard work done by the 
early-arrivers paid us all bountifully.  The stations heard on 
the southern Beverages were so different from what was heard 
on the northeastern ("Euro") Beverages that you'd think you were 
listening to two different bands on two different nights from 
locations hundreds of miles apart.  The directionality of these 
antennas was astounding.  The 1 km Brazil Beverage gave receptions 
that one could convincingly claim to be made from a boat within 
view of the lights of Fortaleza.  As in 1991, the number of strong 
250-watt highband Brazilians was mind-boggling.  Some DXers, such 
as Neil, sat on messy Brazilian graveyard frequencies and bagged 
multiple stations in succession on a single channel.  I must admit 
that this is DXing above my level of endurance.  Hour after hour 
of listening to low-fidelity reverberated Brazilian Portuguese 
shouting rising and falling through a swirling maelstrom of 
similar metallic-audio stations and a din of static crashes 
takes a level of skill, patience, and fortitude beyond what 
I have to offer the hobby.  Luckily, although it's a dirty job, 
someone stepped forward to do it.  I concentrated more on TA's 
myself, always looking for new possibilities to hear back home.  
Previous trips had been very beneficial in putting the spotlight 
on stations that were subsequently hunted down successfully from 
sites along the Massachusetts coast.  Off-frequency stations 
(non-9-kHz TA's and non-10-kHz Pan-Americans) are a big interest 
of mine and I took note of every one I could find.  The old-plan 
channel Angolans that are marginally audible at home through a 
gauntlet of slop came through with crystal clarity on the big 
Beverages.  

     "The logs from this and previous Newfoundland DXpeditions are 
every bit as valuable a reference as the World Radio-TV Handbook 
when I go out on mini-DXpeditions to Rockport, Rowley, and Harwich.
        
     "The waning hours of the DXpedition on Saturday night included 
popping open some Black Horse Ale to celebrate.  A photo, audio 
interview, and video session added some levity and then it was 
right back to business with a wild ride through Kenya that might 
go down as the Big Event of the October 1995 trip.  By Sunday 
morning (15th October), the show was over and Bruce, David, 
and I had to depart the DX Inn in the pre-dawn hours for the 
nearly 2-hour drive back to the St. John's airport.  Jean, 
Neil, and Jim did the antenna dismantling as the rest of us 
jetted home.  The DXpedition was a resounding success.  
The friendships renewed and begun will endure long after the 
log reports have been published, read, digested, and filed away 
in dusty archives.  "Newfie 4" was a great experience.  Other 
DXers, wherever they may live, should join up with some of their 
buddies to try similar activities.  It will add an important 
social dimension to this often solitary hobby."

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

     "Let's do it again!" has been the common call after every 
Newfoundland DXpedition.  The alumni of this and past DXpeditions, 
along with more new faces, will undoubtedly join forces again in 
the future for totally new and exciting Newfie experiences.  
Upon departure, with the echoes of a thrilling week of DX fresh 
in our minds, we dreamed of someday purchasing the Lawlor's 
Hospitality Home and turning it into a permanent DXpedition 
site.  May these accounts and the extensive loggings inspire 
others to do as Mark has suggested, and turn their dreams into 
reality through the culmination of more DXpeditions both here 
and abroad!  73 & good DX.

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

EQUIPMENT LIST

Receivers

Jean Burnell:   ICOM R-71A, Drake R8A.
Dave Clark:     Drake R7, Drake R8.
Mark Connelly:  Drake R8, Sony ICF-2010 w/ Gerry Thomas filter mod.
Bruce Conti:    Lowe HF-225 Europa.
Neil Kazaross:  ICOM IC-R70.
Jim Renfrew:    Sony ICF-2010 w/ Kiwa filter mod, and later with 
                Drake R8 purchased from Mark Connelly.

Cappahayden Antennas

1 km / 3280 ft Brazil Beverage (165 degrees)
600 m / 2000 ft "Track" (deep South America) Beverage (175 degrees)
549 m / 1800 ft European Beverage (45 degrees)
518 m / 1700 ft European Beverage (45 degrees)
300 m / 1000 ft Eastern Brazil Beverage (150 degrees), with Byan 
      remotely-controlled termination

Renews Antennas

488 m / 1600 ft African Beverage (110 degrees)
450 m / 1500 ft South African Beverage (130 degrees)
244 m / 800 ft European mini-Beverage (45 degrees)
60 m / 200 ft European longwire (65 degrees)

(Bearings are +/- 5 degrees)

Accessories

MWDX-5 phasing unit, DL-1 phasing unit, Mini-MWT-3 regenerative 
preselector, JPS ANC-4 noise canceller, Industrial Communication 
Engineers (ICE) Models 112-4 (courtesy John Bryant) and 112-4A 
active RF splitters, antenna switches, noise-reducing transformers.

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