'DX'

Richard Lee

Member
When Ham Radio guys work a station at a great distance, we call it DX (short for Distance),
like WX is short for Weather. It's a hold-over from the days of CW, / Morse Code.

DX is also frequency based. Low frequency or shortwave (sometimes called HF) is easier for DX,
since the upper atmosphere will bounce space-bound RF signals back down to earth.
So, If I worked NYC from here, on 14.35 MHz, that's not really DX, it's so easy..
But, if I worked NYC on 1.296 GHz, that's real DX! :)
Because 1.296 GHz is in the micro wave band and will just fly off into deep space.. Like UHF..

Anyways, I'm just NW of Boston and this morning, I yelled "Wow DX" ,
when I saw a plane flying just over the Canadian border..
The plane was at 43,000 feet @ 328km or 182nm.. :) I never expected to track AC over Canada. I'm amazed.

http://s46.photobucket.com/user/Xringer/media/1090MHz/Canada_zps27f13429.jpg.html
 
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It's Saturday morning and there aren't a lot of planes around.. Just 70 making noise and 18 trackable (extended squint?).
So, that low noise level might allow some planes to provide a little DX excitement! Wow! 365km=226.8 miles!

Then, I saw the dreaded dotted line track!
Dang, I installed Rev 2.7 adsbScope yesterday and forgot to turn off the "Show Predicted Position" button!
False alarm..

upload_2014-5-3_9-24-31.png


Watching planes flying in to the area always reminds me of that old movie 'WarGames'..
https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5204/5256470469_7d9ee9bcd5_z.jpg
 

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The backyard trees (North side) are getting a lot more leaves this week, and the foliage signal should be getting pretty bad.
But once in a while, some DX makes the wonder how bad the losses are..
This plane popped up about 25 miles north of the US border at 39,000 feet. :)
Not a record, but 206 miles is pretty good range in that direction.

upload_2014-5-25_18-21-21.jpeg
 
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