In January Torgeir and myself were again back at Lista for a 4 day long DX-pedition. And what a difference conditions make: 2 months earlier it was, with a few exceptions, all about South America (in particular Colombia) due to disturbed conditions. This time conditions were quiet during the entire period and South Americans were more or less absent and replaced by US and Canadian stations on nearly all transatlantic frequencies..
Our antennas were the usual 700 metre antennas towards the East Coast and a 600 metre long antenna towards the West Coast, both elevated with bamboo canes. Elevating the antennas was an issue this time due to a long period with temperatures well below 0 degrees. The first 12 days of January all had temperatures below 0 at nearby Lista lighthouse going down to -9,1 degrees on January 9, an unusually cold period at such a coastal location as Lista were winters are usually mild and rainy.
The frosty conditions made it difficult to pin the bamboo canes to the ground in a durable manner. Although the wind was not that strong, it was strong enough to blow the canes down on several occasions resulting in less signal level on the antennas. Otherwise nice and cold weather all days with beautiful sunsets and sunrises in the afternoons and in the mornings.
Propagation towards North America was fair to good all days, the first DX-pedition with nice conditions to North America for us since February 2021. Conditions particularly favoured the Great Lakes area, but stations were heard all the way from Texas to Newfoundland. The paths towards the Rocky Mountain area and the West Coast were unfortunately closed with a few exceptions for 1070 KNX and 1140 CHRB.
Reviewing the recordings has just started and will no doubt keep us busy for many months to come. Our log will as usuak be continuously updated in a Google Docs document. Interesting stations noted at this stage include 1070 WFRF Tallahassee FL, 1080 WWNL Pittsburgh PA, 1100 WTWN Wells River VT, 1220 WSLM Salem IN, 1310 WICH Norwich CT, 1340 WNCO Ashland OH, 1350 WIOU Kokomo IN, 1350 WHNM Laconia NH, 1350 WWWL New Orleans LA, 1350 WRNY Rome NY and 1560 WRIN Rensselaer IN with more hopefully to be added to the log later.
Arild's DX Diary 