When I was at the late lamented CKCK Radio in Regina, we occasionally got QSL requests to verify that radio DX’ers in Scandinavia had picked up snippets of our late night/early morning programming. Sometimes we’d get people sending cassettes of what they’d managed to glean off air. Always fascinating stuff.

Last edited by BowmanvilleBob (December 4, 2025 10:56 pm)

RadioActive wrote:

I wonder why it only ever seems to work in one direction. 

Because you're probably not in a rural setting, well away from radio transmitters and excessive noise sources, and working off 1000 foot-long wire or 20x20x20 foot triangular loop antennas (or variations thereof).

I'd get over the Atlantic but for one factor - my antennas are aimed north-south and one-directionally wsw. But I recently had Mexico south of Tijuana on 1090 and last AM season had two Argentinians on 750.

When the solar cycle returns to its minimum (we're at the south-favouring the maximum now), I will likely rotate my antenna to favour ene. But I also have my fill of trans-atlantics from occasional trips to coastal Newfoundland. From Cappahayden we can get Spain and the UK in pretty much broad daylight in wintertime.
 

1,000 metres is insane for a DX set-up. I love it! Imagine the work to string wire atop such a long series of poles as straight as possible through a forest where trees and brush don't just move out of the way. I've been told that at some point, possibly about 1,000 feet, there's a sweet spot between too short and overly long. I've wondered if overly long makes things too directional. But multiple antennas solves that problem because you can adjust as conditions change, or simply work multiple directions simultaneously. These folks can record the entire band at the top and bottom of every hour for IDs, and each SDR will be attached to a different antenna. Not like the old days of random listening and catching maybe just two hourtop IDs at best. This group is using pretty top-notch equipment, and set-ups are more or less permanent (or at least for a season's direction). If I lived or had land in coastal Labrador, I'd do pretty much the same thing. By contrast, when I used to lay groundwire (I now have a different kind of loop system) here in the Kawarthas, it would max at just over 500 feet and run atop the ground, meandering around various obstacles. I'm limited by a small cliff, very thick growth, and too many curiosity seekers. It's cottage country, nowhere near as remote as this Scandinavian DX site seems to be. I think there's one DXer in Finland who runs a kind of DX Paradise bed and breakfast. Maybe what's in the article is what I'm thinking of. I could handle that lifestyle so long as I was within a 2 hour drive of Helsinki and had a permanent home there. It's an incredible city. Otherwise I'd go squirreley from being too remote too much of the time. Do note the name of the DXer who submitted the report: Graham Bell.
 

tvguy wrote:

Copper thieves in Canada would have a field day with 1000 metres of wire!!!!  Saw a report on CTV's Halifax station last week about copper theft in the Atlantic provinces.  It's gotten to a point where essential telecom services - like 911 are being disrupted.  I suspect that "if" caught, the thieves are granted bail and out the door within hours.  (not a political comment)

I vaguely recall one of our wires disappearing from along our coastal Newfoundland DX site many years ago. Could a hiker along the East Coast Trail have spotted it? Perhaps; the entire perimeter of that area of coastline is public access via a hiking trail. Could a moose have tangled with it and dragged it off? Again, not to be ruled out - we did once find a somewhat complete moose skeleton when we were laying wires out on one trip there. When the wires are up during our trips there, we walk each line daily to spot potential trouble spots. Of course, if something disappears or is cut, we'd notice pretty quickly from our radios. Wires are raised as much as possible off the ground, as high as reasonably possible, held up by the forest's thick growth. At my own DX site, I used to have all manner of wires. I had some crossing a road, and in winter I'd use white-coated wire to blend with the snow, for the portion near to and leading over the road . When snow was absent from the road, the wire was brown or blended with a view to camouflage. The wire in the woods was brown to match the leaves. Good luck finding the one spot at the far end which is raised upwards along a tree truck so it isn't buried under the snow. I'd have been much better off with the whole thing raised, but this would have been impractical for many reasons in my case. Just too populated by people walking the road, hikers taking to the forest, hunters... In isolated coastal Labrador or Finland, I'd do it...

One of the U.S. DX Clubs, the IRCA, did a technical article 4-5 years ago with some pretty impressive evidence that the path from North America over the North Pole to Europe is "more conductive" than the reverse path.  All that said, here in Edmonton, I have heard one or two Carriers from England before the higher powered stations were shut down a few years back.  Back in the 1960s, a late DXer in Edmonton heard quite a bit of stations from Europe before sunset in the Winter afternoons, especially an hour or two before an Aurora hit Edmonton.

Another example of how radio flies - a DX-er hears a B.C. signal on 950 AM - in Finland! You can hear what he heard in the story below.

CFAM Radio 950 was picked up 7,000 kilometers away from a listener in Finland

RadioActive wrote:

Another example of how radio flies - a DX-er hears a B.C. signal on 950 AM - in Finland! You can hear what he heard in the story below.

CFAM Radio 950 was picked up 7,000 kilometers away from a listener in Finland

Small correction - the Pembina Valley is in Manitoba as CFAM is licensed for Altona.

Multiple factors make this a fairly routine catch from Scandinavia - the station gets out fairly well to the east (it's an early morning and even an overnight staple here in southern ON and also at a DX site I occasionally visit in Newfoundland unless conditions are auroral (and the north is shut out). Plus, there's a solid salt water path from across the Atlantic. And it's all solidly northern latitude. In Newfoundland, for instance, the dial will be loaded with signals from all across Canada, and the northern US (eg, Dakotas) right around Newfoundland (ie., local) sunrise. It's also a good time for trans-polar paths to work to yield Japan, S & N Korea, etc). Because the path is total darkness towards the west, and already daytime in other directions (thus downgrading signals from those directions). From Newfoundland, it's the best time to try for Alaska. I've never managed Alaska from Nfld when I've tried, but others have.