What a week, what an amazing experience and what phenomenal turnout from DXers to submit their logs! This week, we challenged DXers to thoroughly hit the expanded band and give us everything they could and I would say we covered it fully!
As a reminder, our live streams on Sunday nights have been so much fun getting to interact and hear about what you heard in the previous week. If you haven't been able to make it to a livestream yet, you are missing out! Join us Sundays at 1945 CST / 0145 UTC (Monday morning, UTC) on our YouTube channel: youtube.com/c/dxcentral
A total of 30DXers from three countries (Mexico, Canada and the US) and 22 US States brought in 508 (!) logs for Week 10 of our MW Frequency Challenge. 98 unique stations in 28 states and seven countries made it to this week's log. In addition to the 67 broadcast stations available in the expanded band, DXers could also log any TIS station heard and it would count in the totals. Let's dive into the numbers:
Most Logged Stations: South Carolina's Rob Keeney brought in the top spot for the second week in a row, with a staggering 44 stations logged this week. Weekly contender Bill Coury (MI) was in second place with 34 stations logged, followed closely by Tom Laskowski (IN) and his 32 loggings.
Most Logged States: Rob Keeney once again took this honor with 21 logged states this week!: AL, AR, FL, GA, IA, IL, KS, LA, MD, MI, MS, ND, NE, NJ, NY, OK, TN, TX, VA, WI, WY
Most Logged Countries: Mark Connelly (MA) and James Niven (TX) both brought in five countries this week. Mark logged receptions in Canada, Cuba, Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands and the US. James brought in logs from Cuba, El Salvador, Mexico, Puerto Rico and the US.
Furthest Logging: Bruce Portzer (WA) and his reception of 1620 - Radio Rebelde in Cuba took our top spot for furthest reception at 2,716 miles! Stephanie Battaglino (CA) also received Rebelde for a reception of 2,183 miles for the second spot. The rest of the mileage top 10 included: Charles Williams (CA) for 1610 - CHHA in ON at 2,164 miles; James Niven (TX) for 1660 - WGIT in Puerto Rico at 2,156 miles; Stephanie Battaglino (CA) for 1610 - CHHA in ON at 2,089 miles; Bruce Portzer (WA) for 1610 - CHHA in ON at 2,024 miles; Mike Jeziorski (Mexico) for 1610 - CHHA in ON at 1,999 miles; Brent Taylor (PEI) for 1620 - Radio Rebelde in Cuba at 1,924 miles; John Johnson (AZ) for 1610 - CHHA in ON at 1,875 miles and Mike Jeziorski (Mexico) for 1660 - KQWB in North Dakota at 1,829 miles.
Loyd/DX Central Numbers:
25 stations logged
14 states logged AL, AR, FL, GA, IA, IL, KS, LA, MI, MS, ND, OK, TX, WI
4 countries logged (USA, Cuba, Canada and Puerto Rico)
1,728 miles for 1660 - WGIT in Puerto Rico
Most Logged Station: 1610 CHHA in Ontario, Canada was the most widely heard station, logged by 21 DXers. 1630 KCJJ in Iowa City, IA was close behind with 18 reported receptions.
Most Logged State/Province: The most logged state/province was Texas with 46 stations logged, followed closely by Ontario and their 45 logged receptions.
Most Logged Country (outside of US): Canada was the most widely heard country outside of the US with 73 total logged stations heard. Cuba (19), Mexico (12), Puerto Rico (4), US Virgin Island (3) and El Salvador (1) rounded out the rest of the logs.
Busiest Time of Day: This week, it is no surprise that overnight hours took the top spot. 60% (304 logs) of all receptions were made during overnight hours. Sunrise saw 17% (84 logs) of receptions, Sunset had 16% (81 logs) with Daytime seeing 6.8% (34 logs) of the workload.
Most Used Receiver: With this many frequencies to work with, most DXers turned once again to their favorite SDR for DX with 64% (304 logs) of all receptions made on a SDR. SDRPlay models once again reigned supreme with 38% of all SDR logs (116 logs) being made on an SDRPlay model. Airspy (94 logs or 31%) and Perseus (74 logs or 24%) were widely popular options as well. Portables were still used to great effect with 16% of all logs (80 loggings) coming on a portable radio with C. Crane and Sangean both being the most commonly used with 29 logs each (36% each or 72% total of all logs made with a portable were on one of these radios). Car radios (30 receptions of 6%) and desktop receivers (43 logs or 8.5%) rounded out the usage.
Most Used Antenna: Once again, DXers continued to turn to their magnetic loops to bring in the DX. 184 receptions were made using these antennas or roughly 37% of all loggings. The Wellbrook continues to dominate this category with 79 loggings or roughly 43% of all magnetic loop receptions. The Airspy YouLoop (49 receptions of 27% of all mag loop logs), MLA-30 (33 receptions or 18% of mag loop logs) and W6LVP loop (23 receptions or 13% of mag loop logs) rounded out the usage. Termed loops also remained popular with 77 receptions (15% of all logs), while other loops (62 logs or 12%), internal antennas (59 logs or 12%) and wire antennas (47 logs or 9%) rounded out the usage.
See the full export of data at our Google Sheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1OGFboZ48CaYbPi7vOV2vhp5u48uzgb7X42ELCnl5xcQ/edit?usp=sharing
Our focus now turns to week 11 and our new frequency: 1490 kHz. We return to the graveyard for the challenge of more than 100 radio stations on a single frequency all with nearly the same power and antenna pattern. Our last foray into the graveyard produced a large number of logs (our biggest at the time). Will this one follow suit?
Our Google Form for Week 10 can be found here: https://forms.gle/pdGXPnbkHzKWTGxF9
RULES:
Logs for Week 11 will only be accepted for stations received between 0300 UTC Sunday, January 30, 2022 and 0300 UTC Monday, February 7th (will be announcing the closing during our live stream of DX Central Live!). Logs must be for licensed stations received on 1490 kHz. Logs must be from your own equipment using WebSDRs is allowed for reference, but will not be counted towards the challenge (unless it is YOUR WebSDR). If you do log from a WebSDR, be sure to mark your location as from the location of the WebSDR itself, not your home location. All loggings must be submitted using our Google Form at https://forms.gle/pdGXPnbkHzKWTGxF9 Submissions by any other form including social media, email, etc. will not be accepted.
An eCertificate will be sent to the DXer with the most logged stations during the challenge time period. Additional eCertificates may be presented at the discretion of DX Central.
Have fun, 73 and best of DX!
Loyd - W4LVH