70 cm Repeater VE3VOP

Ok, this isn't DX. But for me part of the DXing hobby is about exploring the radio spectrum to see what's there, and about exploring new aspects of DXing. Since I've spent very little time on the UHF band, and very little on the 70 cm amateur band (440 MHz), anything I hear there is new. I spent a bit of time listening to the 70 cm band today (Nov. 15) and I heard some talk in an unknown language on 443.325 MHz. I didn't catch the callsigns of the stations, but at one point I heard a Morse code ID. The hams I heard were talking on a repeater, and the Morse code ID was the repeater's automated ID. This was VE3VOP, the repeater of the Mabuhay Amateur Radio Club. Time was 00:23 UTC. It's a local repeater, located here in Toronto. Signal was excellent, as you'd expect from a local.

Catching a local repeater isn't much of an achievement. But it does show that hunting for amateur radio repeaters is another possible facet of DXing. There are unusual propagation conditions that allow VHF and UHF signals to travel long distances, so this could be another niche of DXing.

DARC WAE RTTY Contest

My DXing activities on Nov. 14, 2010 were about logging stations in an amateur radio contest: the DARC (Deutscher Amateur-Radio-Club) Worked All Europe RTTY Contest. I was on the air making contacts and kept a log of all the stations I heard. I was only on two bands (20 and 40 metres) and logged 21 stations. And even though this was a European contest, radio conditions were not so great so all the stations I caught were in North America - one in Canada, one in Mexico, and the rest in the U.S. And I only actually worked seven of these on the air. The Canadian station was VY2SS in Prince Edward Island. The Mexican one was 4B1EE, in Queretaro, Mexico.

WGNY-AM 1220

This morning I caught a station on the AM band I've never received before: WGNY-AM on 1220 kHz from Newburgh, NY. Until recently 1220 was pretty effectively blocked by semi-local CHSC in St. Catharines, Ontario. But that station shut down at the end of September leaving the frequency clearer, although it is still partly blocked here by WHKW in Cleveland, Ohio. CHSC's departure made the reception of WGNY possible.

Details: Nov. 8, 2010, 1220-1230 UTC (7:20 local time), playing oldies. Also heard report of current weather conditions, and slogan "Fox Radio" and station URL foxradio.net. Signal fair-poor, mixing with and usually under WHKW. Received on the Kaito KA-1103 portable and also tuned in on the Eton E-100 so I could add the logging to the ultralight log. This is ultralight logging 339.

Amateur Radio DXing - 2010 ARRL CW Sweepstakes Contest

On Nov. 7, 2010 I spent some time making contacts in the 2010 ARRL CW Sweepstakes contest. I also kept a log of all the stations I heard. I heard 37 stations (and worked 20 of them) on the 40, 20, and 15 metre bands. All were in North America, except one, CX/N3BNA, in Uruguay. CX/N3BNA wasn't actually participating in the contest but he was on 15 metres at the time of the contest, so I worked him on the air.

All the other stations were in the continental U.S. or Canada, except for NP2X in the U.S. Virgin Islands. One Alaskan station was also heard, KL7AF, which is located at Elmendorf Air Force Base.

This shows one reason why SWLs should consider DXing the amateur bands. As far as I know, there are no shortwave broadcasters left in Uruguay or in the U.S. Virgin Islands. So if you want to hear those countries on the air, the amateur bands are really the only practical option.