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DX locations
- Thread starter Nick23
- Start date
Out in the open I would assume but I have worked many overseas stations driving through my neighbourhood.
Since I don't own a mobile I really don't know if the following information is true:
If you live inland park at the highest elevation possible.
If you live near the coast park as close to the water (ocean) as possible.
I also heard that being right on the saltwater is helpful, I even heard a local say he likes to sit on top of a bridge going over the saltwater. How he manages that is beyond me.
I drive over a bridge that goes over salt water almost every day. It is a tidal inlet and the bridge is not an overhead steel structure. Easy enough to do as long as you don't block traffic. It is however useless to do as being right alongside the water is just as effective.
People often talk about parking on a hilltop. Not sure why they think that is better for DX. The only thing would be if that hilltop was open and clear of buildings and power lines etc. I have worked nice DX while parked in my yard, parked in a shopping mall lot, parked on the beach, but mostly while just driving down the road.
One of my locals used to drive down to the Jersey Shore and park his mobile as close to the Atlantic Ocean as possible. When DX conditions were favorable he was able to work stations from Eastern Europe, Africa and Central and South America.
I used to do the same while driving down the road even on 11m. Nothing magical or drastic happens when you drive down to the shore.There may be a slight advantage, especially with lower noise of receive as you tend to be clear of power lines etc., but on average the difference is quite minimal. If one was on a lower band like 40 or 80m then the difference is more dramatic.
It must have given him some advantage because he was not able to work these stations when his mobile was inland.
Thousands upon thousands of inland mobile stations work millions of contacts a year all over the world. I used to work many transcontinental truck drivers in the Heartland. It could have been propagation changes as well. During the time it took to drive to the sea shore things shifted to be more favorable. I'm not saying there is NO advantage, just that any advantage is minimal and I can't recall ever in 35 years where I had to drive to the shore to make a contact that I couldn't make while driving from up-town to the shore. People's perception of reality can be quite different that the actual facts surrounding it.
for the best DX you need to park in water deep enough to ground your vehicle in it, usually about 1./2 way up the tires. if there's waves you need to go deep enough to stay grounded to the water at each ebb, or your signal will increase/decrease with the gain/loss of the ground plane.
dont forget a jeep wrangler sitting on 35,s in case you forget your parked in the ocean when tide comes in
The tidal range here is between 40 and 50 feet depending on the moon etc. Those 35's wouldn't do you much good here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3LtEF9WPt4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3LtEF9WPt4
judging by the boat/wall and how much it came up,id have to go with 44-52 inch tires and a locker front and rear
maybe a small dingy on top of the jeep just in case:tongue:
i have had water 2 inches below my jeeps bottom edge of window and almost trashed my jeep..i love offroading but that was too close to be worth ruining a perfectly good jeep.
articulation is more up my alley i miss the ole jeep bad and bout time for another one.
maybe a small dingy on top of the jeep just in case:tongue:
i have had water 2 inches below my jeeps bottom edge of window and almost trashed my jeep..i love offroading but that was too close to be worth ruining a perfectly good jeep.
articulation is more up my alley
i miss the ole jeep bad and bout time for another one.Attachments
When i was a kid we would drive down to the beach and drop a chain, attached to the tow hook ,into the sea, seemed to help!Another spot we would go was the local dump You could see the signals on the s meter increase 2 to 3 s points as you drove up to the land fill.Hill tops were a mixed bag, sometimes the qrm from locals outweighed any gains you got. Like said earlier, side of the hill with a clear view in the direction of interest is best.