Another week down and it was another fantastic one full of logs! For me personally, this was a pretty tough week of DX with semi-local WXOK up the road from me and several other dominant stations that kept our logs down. Before we look ahead to week 9, let's take a look at week 8's results.
A total of 25 DXers from three countries (Mexico, Canada and the US) and 19 US States brought in 102 logs for Week 8 of our MW Frequency Challenge. 45 unique stations in 28 states and three countries made it to this week's log. Let's dig into those results:
Most Logged Stations: For the second week in a row, Michigan's Bill Coury took our top spot with receptions from 13 stations. Right on Bill's heels was Rob Keeney (SC) with 11 logged stations.
Most Logged States: Rob Keeney (SC) brought in our top spot for logged states with 9 U.S. states received this week: AL, FL GA, KY, NC, OH, PA, SC, WV
Most Logged Countries: A total of 9 DXers heard two countries this week with logs of stations in either the U.S and Canada or U.S. and Mexico.
Furthest Logging: Washington's Bruce Portzer took the top spot for mileage with his reception of KZNT at 1,032 miles. Just on his heels was Mark Connelly (MA)'s reception of WQOP at 1,014 miles.
Loyd/DX Central Numbers:
3 stations logged
3 states logged (FL, GA, LA)
1 country logged (USA)
501 miles for furthest catch (WQOP in FL)
Most Logged Station: KXNO (IA) and WKAM (IN) both took the top spot for most heard station of the week with 7 receptions each. They were followed closely by WQOP (FL) with 6 receptions.
Most Logged State/Province: IN (8) was our most heard state of the week with IA and PA just behind with 7 logged stations each.
Most Logged Country (outside of US): Mexico took the top spot with 5 loggings this week, with Canada just behind with 4 receptions.
Busiest Time of Day: With 48% of all receptions this week (49 logs), the overnight period was once again bringing in the vast majority of DX. Sunset (25% and 25 logs), followed by Sunrise (23% and 23 logs) and finally daytime (5% and 5 logs) rounded out the rest of the day.
Most Used Receiver: Use of portable radios rose dramatically this week, but SDRs still took the top spot with 64 receptions logged followed by 25 for portables. The top SDR used continues to come from the SDRPlay family of SDRs with 28 receptions) but Airspy (19) and Perseus (14) were close behind. Retekess portables showed in our logs this week for the first time and took the top spot amongst portables with 9 receptions. Sangean (8) and C. Crane (4) were close behind.
Most Used Antenna: DXers continue to bring in great DX with their magnetic loops, taking the top spot this week with 43 logs. Terminated Loops with 19 receptions and other loops (18) were close behind. DXers using the Wellbrook loop series were the predominately used mag loop with 22 receptions. MLA-30 users were close behind with 13 loggings.
See the full export of data at our Google Sheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1yzjh061PG4jNEGZYOQlNoL33fUnFHJMWG0sSGJHhGPQ/edit?usp=sharing
And now we turn our attention to Week 9 and another one of my all-time favorite frequencies: 550 kHz. There aren't as many stations to hear, here, but what is available should be interesting. Stations are relatively well spaced out and there are lots of 5kw stations to be found. Sunset/Sunrise DX will be especially critical for DXers this week.
Our Google Form for Week 8 can be found here: https://forms.gle/Cg89Lij3tKwDyqH99
RULES:
Logs for Week 9 will only be accepted for stations received between 0300 UTC Sunday, January 16, 2022 and 0300 UTC Sunday, January 23rd (will be announcing the closing during our live stream of DX Central Live!). 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/Cg89Lij3tKwDyqH99 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
Just discovered this fun challenge - I have two very beginner questions! Please be gentle...
First, is this only open to US-based DXers, or can anyone try, and log what they receive?
Second, I may be missing something, but how does one receive more than one station on a given frequency? I guess distant stations fading in and out? But how are some folks getting ten different stations on the same frequency and in the same location?