First DX NDB!

This past Sunday was an odd day, even by Sunday standards. We had a massive storm coming in from the Atlantic, so everyone had gone into that usual pre-storm do nothing sort of mode. I spent all day reading The Great Post Office Scandal, an issue I've followed for years but hadn't acquired the book.

To make some use of the day, I went to bed and got up a couple of hours later to take the PA0RDT whip into the field, where the spectrum is interference-free.

A bright moon was hanging in the west, with clouds flitting by very quickly in a wind that, though the storm centre had passed, was still knocking around the 50mph mark.

The whip went up at its usual 7m up and I made 20 minute recordings for later analysis and listening.

I was very pleased that, this morning, when I ran the spectra through PskovNDB, the first NDB to pop out, and to do so confidently, was CA, located in Cartwright, Newfoundland - my first DX reception of an NDB!

 The surprisingly clear signal forming the 'CA' characters. The transmitter is, however, 1kW and based at the coast. Even so, it's a good reception for such a tiny 'antenna' at such a low frequency.

 

 

After trawling through dozens and dozens of NDBs from across Europe and some in Africa, I eventually hit upon ZDX in Antigua (200W).  Pretty amazing, for a hand-sized E-field probe!

ZDX, St. John's, Antigua.