[DX] The old is new again

[J Dyer]

Many of today's new hams got their introduction to the magic of radio by way of
a Radio Shack and the Public Safety band.  A generation or two ago, that was not
the case. As a kid, I didn't know how to spell propagation but I did know that
after dark my truck's radio would pick up such classics as WSM's Grand Ole Opry
and KWKH's Louisiana Hayride. I can't leave out the blowtorch signals of KOMA
from Oklahoma City and Wolfman Jack from across the Rio Grande.  I eventually
began keeping list of the stations that I heard. Today we would probably call
that a log. Those scraps of paper with the details of those old receptions are
long gone as are many of the call letters that I heard back in those days but
the mystery is still there. I decided to try something different last night.  I
had spent some time on the WARC bands yesterday evening but I no longer was
hearing anything that I needed. That was when I started tuning the Medium Wave
band. One of the first stations logged was in Wisconsin and running only 1000
watts.  Mississippi, Minnesota, and others came rolling in. One interesting
logging was KGBC-1540 in Galveston with only 250 watts. All told, I logged 20
states with the best stateside DX being slightly over 1000 miles.  Best DX was
Radio Vision Christiana in VP5 land on 530 KHZ.  I swapped back and forth
between my Butternut vertical and the 80 meter dipole as signals changed. 

If you would like to try something different, spend an evening tuning the "Talk
Radio" band. It is a fun change of pace but very similar to picking a call sign
out of a pileup. Right now, I have the head phones on and am listening to three
stations compete with KXFR in Dallas. I think one of them is WOWO in Indiana;
another is probably  XEWK in Guadalajara. Sure wish they would give a CW ID.



John
AE5B