Previous years' results and more pictures can be found on Radiodxing.com.

LBI-9  /  2010 Attendees

Dave Hochfelder ( N2HTA)– Albany, NY – Drake R8B & Quantum Phaser

Russ Edmunds ( WB2BJH ) – Blue Bell, PA – Drake R8; Modified Sony ICF 2010

Rob Stonier  ( WE2Z ) – Hawthorne, NJ – Drake R8

Brett Saylor ( N3EVB) – State College, PA – Perseus SDR, TenTec RX-320

Bill Harms – Elkridge, MD –  RFSpace SDR-IQ

Chuck Rippel  (WA4HHG) – Chesapeake, VA – Perseus SDR

Jim Chenard – Blairstown, NJ – Drake R8  ( Friday night only )

Bill Whitacre – Alexandria, VA – Perseus SDR ( Saturday night only )

Kris Field – Philadelphia, PA


Antennas:

Brett speaks:

As in 2009, this year’s LBI was a three night DXpedition, running from Thursday through Sunday in the second weekend of November. The first night Russ, Rob, Bill and I camped out in a single DX room using only broadband loop antennas (30 and 350 degree orientations), forgoing the usual deployment of north and south beverage antennas until Friday. We did this in part to test the feasibility of a BBL-only DXpedition as well as to wait for more reinforcements for the (increasingly) arduous task of burying nearly a half-mile of BOG wire under the sand. On Friday we moved to our normal side-by-side DX rooms and reeled out the beverages in addition to the loops. We had great weather this year with temperatures reaching into the 60’s during the day but, unfortunately, the solar weather didn’t cooperate as the A index spiked to 14 the first night and up to 17 on Friday night. This year’s logs reflect these degraded conditions and may point to a general downturn in the reception of trans-Atlantic stations as the new solar cycle starts its uphill climb. I would rate the overall conditions as “average” compared to the past several years. Long wave was noticeably poor all weekend and conditions from South America never really developed despite the elevated A and K indices. However, I was still able to log several new stations such as 1179 Canary Islands which was audible with Sweden off the frequency. As with previous DXpeditions, I anticipate that I will be reviewing my Perseus SDR logs well into next year.

We missed regular attendees Bruce Collier, Bob Galerstein and Michael Temme-Soifer who couldn’t make it this year, but welcomed returning Chuck Rippel and new participants Kris Field, Jim Chenard and Bill Whitacre. They each added a unique dimension to the event and I hope to see everyone back next year.

Dave speaks:

It's hard to believe that we've been trekking to LBI for nine years now for our annual November DXpedition!  Unfortunately, conditions were less than spectacular--though the DX would have been fantastic from my home in Albany, NY.  We logged very few new stations or countries, and didn't have the success that our Newfie counterparts did on the same weekend. Still, it was great to spend a weekend with old friends and to chat with them about radios, dxing, and the quirkiness of our mutual hobby. I always enjoy LBI, even when the DX is not great, and I'm already looking forward to next year.

Russ speaks:

LBI-9 was one of those events where you end up being very happy for the company and the discussions with both old and new friends because the DX conditions were pretty average.  Unlike the past four years, where we’d been spoiled by very good to even excellent conditions as a result of the prolonged sunspot minimum, conditions were indeed very average. TA’s were mostly a local sunset occurrence, with only a few of the regular powerhouses hanging around much beyond that. Conditions to Latin America were equally average, and so we had more than the usual time to talk instead of DX’ing.

As a result, we’re actively exploring new antenna possibilities for next year, in terms of larger broadband loops and multiple loops with different directionalities.
This time also featured multiple antennas – the usual North and South BOGs of roughly 1000’ each, plus the 6’ Broadband loop and the 8’ superloop directional North, the latter both preamplified.  Whereas the last two years most of my time was spent with the loops, this year it was mostly the BOGs, as signals seemed to be better there. I also had the opportunity due to both of my Sony 2010’s being down and/or out for repairs, of using Brett’s Drake R8 along with Rob’s 2010. While the R8 is a solid DX machine, the 2010’s perform very well in comparison, with the Drake having a solid advantage with 1- and 2-kHz splits.

Again, there was no clear ‘winner’ in terms of selection of antennas even though once again we ran one night with only broadband loops. Although it gets harder each year to lay out two 1000’ BOG’s, the directionality they provide isn’t match with the loops or flags, nor are the signal levels, although with pre-amplifiers, they can get close and with less noise.