NEW CHALLENGE

We continue with a new frequency range, another littered with large stations with smaller gems hiding in their shadows: 1500-1540 kHz. This will be a 1 week challenge.

HOUR 1

See ya next season, FM: We seem to have officially entered that 'dead band' period for FM where it is too cold and stable for most tropo, meteor scatter slows to a crawl and Es - while they can happen at any time - we are likely now in the waiting game until April/May. So, what can we do during this time to start early preparation for the upcoming season? Plenty, it turns out!

Quasi-Auroral Condx on MW?: There was a nice CME earlier in the week, a bit smaller than our recent activity, but that didn't stop some folks from seeing some Au condx on the MW band.

HOUR 2

Computer setup options for DXers in the modern shack - why 1 PC may not be your best bet anymore

Social Media Log Farming - dos and don'ts.

TOH DX

Hour 1 - 1180-1220

Hours 2 & 3 - 1500-1540

New Challenge!

Week 14 of the MW Frequency Challenge is here where we focus on 1180-1220. Lots of big guns in this range but can you pick out the ones in their shadows? Some good international DX in here too!

Hour 1

Sporadic Es Bonanza - almost every day this week saw someone somewhere in the US getting that elusive Winter Es opening. We look at the maps and check the current conditions. And maybe do a little recording review of our own opening to Mexico earlier in the week.

DX Radio is live - As of 2000 Central/0200 UTC, the long awaited DX Radio is officially live! 24/7/365 radio with DX themed music, announcements and reminders from the DX Central ecosystem and a dysfunctional staff that each bring their own brand of fun to the station. Head to thisisprobablydxradio.com and give it a listen. Also on YouTube at youtube.com/@ProbablyDXRadio.

Hour 2

We take a quick look at Linrad - that mysterious bit of SDR software that typically has most DXers scratching their heads. Well, while not an expert, I have begun to gradually crack the code.

TOH DX

Hour 1: 1350-1360 wrapping up that challenge

Hours 2 and 3: 1180-1220 starting our new challenge

Leaving lots of room for shoutouts since we missed last week

HOUR 1

it's the end of the year, and that means it is time to look back at 2025 and reflect on a year of DX. AM, FM, NDB, NOAA WX DX.....it's been quite a year!

We finally got our Airspy HF+D paired with a splitter from our big Southern-facing KAZ. Let's just say, the CCC and that antenna are a match made in DX heaven. And it is already producing for us!

I spent the week working on my brand new online logbooks! These will be embedded at a future Web site I am working on for Northshore Studios. But, both MW and FM have shiny new dashboards thanks to Looker Studio. And they are already coming in handy during my DX sessions!

Common mode chokes? Nah, we are getting ready to strangle some common mode noise around here thanks to 10 brand new TDK N30 toroids. Yup. TEN!

HOUR 2

Tropo has been flaring and looks to be continuing the next few days and not just here on the Gulf Coast. Let's spend a little time talking FM - besides, this is prime time for a little mid-Winter Es opening action!

Improving the Low-noise vertical? Let's throw down some radials!

I finally did it, I downloaded Linrad. Now, anyone know of a university engineering course that I can take to learn to use it? :)

NEW CHALLENGE

We launch into Week 12 of Season 5 of our MW Frequency Challenge with a return to a dedicated frequency range: 1350-1360 kHz. 1350 is our least "covered" frequency in the past five years with only 58.5% of licensed U.S. stations reported by our DXers. Let's remedy that, shall we?

DX TESTS

1280 WNAM-WI is going off the air permanently - but not before a nod to the DX community with a special DX Test. We have the details to share.

TOH DX

Hour 1 - We will actually be checking FM, because the tropo conditions seem to be getting going

Hour 2 & 3 - We will be checking our new challenge frequencies of 1350 and 1360.

HOUR 1

We test out and demonstrate our new phasing set up using our 35' low noise vertical and a W6LVP loop through an RSPduo. Demoing diversity mode, showing how it works and how well it can help get rid of the unwanted (noise, pest stations, etc.) and pull up DX!

We launch a new challenge for the week: The 3rd Annual Daytime Challenge! A slight tweak this year: the period runs 2 hours after LSR to 2 hours before LSS. This is a tighter window this year to reduce the prevalence of grayline influence in our logs.

Antenna projects galore! New verticals, transformers, laying Cat 6 feedines.....gonna be a busy week or two at Northshore Studios

HOUR 2

DXpeditions - while our friend Sean Kutzko is on the road for a DX getaway, we talk about our experiences at taking your DX out and away from home. There are definitely some things you will want to keep in mind.

TOH DX:

We check our usual Latin America/Caribbean beacon freqs as the band has been running Southerly again the last few days!

HOUR 1

We have launched a new station target list - "Loyd's Go-To Pan-American 'Beacon' Frequencies" and will review that and some use-cases for it in the show.

More solar fun - The sun was playing with our ionosphere again this week like a kitten with a ball of string. And it wasn't just signals to the South that were the result!

New video has dropped on YouTube - the 35' Vertical Antenna!

The Country Challenge rolls on and we take a look at the numbers so far, cause WOW!

HOUR 2

New podcast episode coming up as a companion to my column in the January edition of The Spectrum Monitor

Going to reshoot the Jaguar video - again - as I just learned of a new feature I want to try out!

At 20:30 CST, Louisiana will fire the monthly EAS test. We will be taking requests and tuning around looking for stations. Maybe a few we don't already have in the logbook!

TOH DX

We are looking South with DX catches from Ecuador, Peru, Colombia, Guatemala, Bonaire and more!

Show notes for Season 6, Episode 9 of DX Central Live!, a livestream devoted to AM/MW and FM DXing with live DX sessions, tips, tricks, shoutouts from DXers for their DX catches from the previous week, DX challenges and more!

HOUR 1

The active regions of the Sun are now once again Earth-facing. Already, conditions on MW have been improving towards the South. We had a big opening to Peru here on Wednesday night. Will this continue?

Not only was AM DX bumping on Wednesday night, but we had a rare December FM DX Tropo opening to the Southeast as well! Stations along the Florida Gulf Coast were coming in strong, all the way to Orlando and Mount Dora! We review the logs and look ahead to see if tropo conditions will return!

DX TESTS RETURN! We have to wait until February, but the West Coast will soon be the home to sweeps, tones and morse code thanks to a series of DX Tests. We cover the details and the 'Save the Dates" (yes, we will be doing live streams for each!)

I cannot say enough good things about the low-noise 35' vertical antenna! It has been a remarkable surprise just how good it actually is! How good? We are going to put up another one! (More on that next hour).

HOUR 2

Another antenna change here at Northshore Studios and around the corner at Mamacita's shack? Well, thanks to Barry, yes....we will be making some changes. We talk through our thought process.

With those changes in store, we take a look at phasing for MW DX. If you have a phaser such as the MFJ-1026, we talk through what you can do by just turning a few knobs!

The ATS-25 "Max Decoder" portable radio has arrived. What do we think so far?

We explore some "beacon" frequencies for our new MWFC Challenge.

NEW CHALLENGE

With the Solar conditions what they are, this is the perfect time to bring back one of our more popular "theme" challenges from Season 4, "The Country Challenge". Try to log as many countries as you can. 5 points if you log one station from the country. 10 points if you log two. Max of 10 points per country (countries like BVI and Antigua with 1 station, we are awarding the full 10 points for hearing them). The US counts as a country, so be sure to throw two logs in there for an easy 10 points!

Top-of-Hour AM DX SESSIONS:

Hour 1 - Finish up on 1470-1480

Hours 2 & 3 - Start Country hunting!

HOUR 1

The new low-noise vertical. Talking through the install, the setup, the unique "Jeff Imel-inspired" chemical ground and checking out the performance LIVE!

Unveiling the new MW Frequency Challenge - All Season Data Analysis! You all have been checking out and the feedback has been fantastic. Now, we unleash it to the world. A few sections are still under construction (the audio locker and the seasonal stats).

A new MW Frequency Challenge announced! Using our data from the All-Season data analysis, we zero in on two more of our least "covered" frequencies: 1470 & 1480 kHz. There are lots of opportunities here for most of us, at least, to flush out our logbooks.

The Airspy Semi-Annual Sale is on!

HOUR 2

A preview of Loyd's new logbook analysis, using the same tool we are using for our DX challenges.

Review of target stations for our new challenge frequencies

FROM THE SLACK - A tip on some unique audio to listen for from Radio Santa Maria on 590 kHz from the Dominican Republic.

TOH DX:

Hour 1 - Finish up on 580-600

Hours 2 & 3 - Start 1470 and 1480

HOUR 1

FM DX - recent tropo and Auroral Es. We take a look at Bill Hepburn's Tropo Forecast

New gear is here! - VE3PSZ model V3A High-Z Amplifier - this is going to be the matching unit and amplifier for my new ~35 foot low-noise vertical antenna that (hopefully) will be going up this weekend.

New gear on the way! - We take a look at two new pieces of gear on the way for testing:

HOUR 2

We are talking about feedlines! 50 ohm, 75 ohm, coax, twisted pair and even Cat 5/6 (I know Notorious B.O.G. is gonna love this!). Whether we are talking about AM DX, FM, shortwave, or beyond.....how to make sure this critical component of your signal chain doesn't let you down!

We look at our new challenge frequencies and identify possible target stations

NEW MWFC Frequencies - I used our new MWFC All-Season Data Analysis tool to help find some frequencies where we have much lower coverage/completion, while still offering a nice assortment of states and countries to chase. So, the data pointed very clearly to 580 - 600 kHz!

TOH DX

Hour 1 - We finish up on 910-930, to put a finish to Week 6 of the MWFC.

Hour 2 - We take a look at our new challenge frequencies of 580-600 kHz.

Hour 3 - We continue with our new challenge frequencies - 580-600 kHz.

Back in 2022, we recorded an interview with IRCA President, Bruce Portzer. It was originally intended to be broadcast in our season 3 premiere of DX Central Live, as we had done the previous season with our interview with Publisher Wayne Heinen of the National Radio Club.

However, the fates conspired against us with corrupted video files and then, we lost access to the files altogether.

Fast forward three years. We have now officially launched our podcast and while doing prep work, we actually found the audio-only files of our interview with Bruce. There were a few missing pieces but the meat of the interview was intact!

So, as part of our DXC 1-on-1 series here on the podcast, we present to you - for the first time anywhere - our 2022 interview with IRCA President, Bruce Portzer. We talk about Bruce's origins in AM DX, we talk about his techniques, gear and more!

You can join the IRCA by visiting ircaonline.org and clicking "Join IRCA"!

This episode is brought to you by the letter "S" as in "Solar Storm"!

Tons of shoutouts with a definite "Latin theme" to them this week as auroral enhancement brought signals from the South to DXers all over the United States.  

HOUR 1 - Attack of the Sun - or - Getting DX from down South (and I don't mean Waffle House territory) - We dive into the week of amazing DX, Latin American enhancement, 3 CMEs and all the fun that came with it.

HOUR 2 - Antennas for MW DX - To follow up with our discussion two weeks ago on SDRs for AM DX, we explore some popular antennas to help pull in those distant signals. We will also touch on components for MW antennas including handwound transformers and variable resistors for termination purposes.

MW FREQUENCY CHALLENGE - This week, we say goodbye to the Grayline Challenge and say hello to a new challenge. In this one, we quite literally return to our roots both because after nearly a year-long break, we are focusing on a specific frequency range for our challenge: 910 to 930 kHz. Also, 910 kHz was the very first frequency we used for our very first MW Frequency Challenge back in November of 2021 - so nearly four years later we come full circle! Full details will be available at dxchallenges.com.

ADDITIONAL TOPICS:

We will take a look at 910 to 930 kHz looking for potential target stations for DXers, especially Latin American and Trans-Oceanic DX

TOP-OF-HOUR DX

HOUR 1 (0100 UTC) - We check Latin American beacon frequencies looking for any remaining enhancement from this week's solar storms.

HOUR 2 (0200 UTC) - We launch our new challenge and as such, spend our first hour focused on 910 kHz. This can be a treasure trove of Latin American DX with San Andres y Providencia (a unique country from Colombia for DX purposes), Costa Rica, Venezuela, Cuba, Honduras and Mexico all possible along with some really good Domestic DX.

HOUR 3 (0300 UTC) - We return to our challenge frequencies, this time focusing on 920 and 930. Both of these frequencies can also support excellent Latin American DX and we will cover some options during the show.