Previous
years' results and more pictures can be found on Radiodxing.com.
LBI-9 / 2010 Attendees
Dave Hochfelder ( N2HTA)– Albany, NY – Drake R8B & Quantum Phaser
Russ Edmunds ( WB2BJH ) – Blue Bell, PA – Drake R8; Modified Sony ICF 2010
Rob Stonier ( WE2Z ) – Hawthorne, NJ – Drake R8
Brett Saylor ( N3EVB) – State College, PA – Perseus SDR, TenTec RX-320
Bill Harms – Elkridge, MD – RFSpace SDR-IQ
Chuck Rippel (WA4HHG) – Chesapeake, VA – Perseus SDR
Jim Chenard – Blairstown, NJ – Drake R8 ( Friday night only )
Bill Whitacre – Alexandria, VA – Perseus SDR ( Saturday night only )
Kris Field – Philadelphia, PA
Antennas:
- North BOG: 1000’ terminated @ 33 degrees
- South BOG: 850’ terminated @ 213 degrees
- 8’ pre-amplified Superloop
- 6’ pre-amplified Broadband Loop
- Wellbrook ALA-1530
Brett speaks:
As
in 2009, this year’s LBI was a three night DXpedition, running from
Thursday through Sunday in the second weekend of November. The first
night Russ, Rob, Bill and I camped out in a single DX room using only
broadband loop antennas (30 and 350 degree orientations), forgoing the
usual deployment of north and south beverage antennas until Friday. We
did this in part to test the feasibility of a BBL-only DXpedition as
well as to wait for more reinforcements for the (increasingly) arduous
task of burying nearly a half-mile of BOG wire under the sand. On
Friday we moved to our normal side-by-side DX rooms and reeled out the
beverages in addition to the loops. We had great weather this year with
temperatures reaching into the 60’s during the day but, unfortunately,
the solar weather didn’t cooperate as the A index spiked to 14 the
first night and up to 17 on Friday night. This year’s logs reflect
these degraded conditions and may point to a general downturn in the
reception of trans-Atlantic stations as the new solar cycle starts its
uphill climb. I would rate the overall conditions as “average” compared
to the past several years. Long wave was noticeably poor all weekend
and conditions from South America never really developed despite the
elevated A and K indices. However, I was still able to log several new
stations such as 1179 Canary Islands which was audible with Sweden off
the frequency. As with previous DXpeditions, I anticipate that I will
be reviewing my Perseus SDR logs well into next year.
We
missed regular attendees Bruce Collier, Bob Galerstein and Michael
Temme-Soifer who couldn’t make it this year, but welcomed returning
Chuck Rippel and new participants Kris Field, Jim Chenard and Bill
Whitacre. They each added a unique dimension to the event and I hope to
see everyone back next year.
Dave speaks:
It's
hard to believe that we've been trekking to LBI for nine years now for
our annual November DXpedition! Unfortunately, conditions were
less than spectacular--though the DX would have been fantastic from my
home in Albany, NY. We logged very few new stations or countries,
and didn't have the success that our Newfie counterparts did on the
same weekend. Still, it was great to spend a weekend with old friends
and to chat with them about radios, dxing, and the quirkiness of our
mutual hobby. I always enjoy LBI, even when the DX is not great, and
I'm already looking forward to next year.
Russ speaks:
LBI-9
was one of those events where you end up being very happy for the
company and the discussions with both old and new friends because the
DX conditions were pretty average. Unlike the past four years,
where we’d been spoiled by very good to even excellent conditions as a
result of the prolonged sunspot minimum, conditions were indeed very
average. TA’s were mostly a local sunset occurrence, with only a few of
the regular powerhouses hanging around much beyond that. Conditions to
Latin America were equally average, and so we had more than the usual
time to talk instead of DX’ing.
As
a result, we’re actively exploring new antenna possibilities for next
year, in terms of larger broadband loops and multiple loops with
different directionalities.
This
time also featured multiple antennas – the usual North and South BOGs
of roughly 1000’ each, plus the 6’ Broadband loop and the 8’ superloop
directional North, the latter both preamplified. Whereas the last
two years most of my time was spent with the loops, this year it was
mostly the BOGs, as signals seemed to be better there. I also had the
opportunity due to both of my Sony 2010’s being down and/or out for
repairs, of using Brett’s Drake R8 along with Rob’s 2010. While the R8
is a solid DX machine, the 2010’s perform very well in comparison, with
the Drake having a solid advantage with 1- and 2-kHz splits.
Again,
there was no clear ‘winner’ in terms of selection of antennas even
though once again we ran one night with only broadband loops. Although
it gets harder each year to lay out two 1000’ BOG’s, the directionality
they provide isn’t match with the loops or flags, nor are the signal
levels, although with pre-amplifiers, they can get close and with less
noise.