Broadcast Technology
A handful of regular mediumwave DXpeditions have
become world renowned for their contributions to the DX community. There’s
Cappahayden, Newfoundland, with a saltwater path to Europe, Africa, and deep
South America for ’round the clock DXing; Valhalla Beach, Manitoba, where
snow buries the Beverage antennas but not the DX; the pastoral farmland of
Sheigra, Scotland, with antennas aimed at the Americas; Lemmenjoki, Finland,
where Alaska, Hawaii, and graveyard stations from the western U.S. are
received through the auroral doughnut hole, and Grayland, Washington, where
a tsunami of Asian and South Pacific signals rises with the sun. There’s
always something new to be learned at these DXpeditions. Sometimes it’s an
opportunity to showcase new technology, to check out a new receiver or
experiment with new antennas. While the Beverage might be the antenna of
choice, new ideas like the K9AY antenna, the Kaz Beverage termination, and
Byan remote-controlled termination have been DXpedition proven. Sometimes
DXers will dig up an exotic signal never before received, or discover a new
radio station unlisted in any published resources. At the Spring 2002
Grayland DXpedition, it was something completely different, what one might
say was of catamount proportion.
After digging a hole and pounding in a copper pipe, Guy Atkins fills the hole with clay clumping cat litter.