[Lowfer] WF9XIH in Kansas

[JD]

It wasn't what you'd call "easy listening" in any sense of the word, but the 
signal was there at 472.510 khz (with frequency wandering around a couple of 
hertz either side, and even taking a brief temporary 10+ Hz jump at one 
point).  I returned to the field about 10 PM CST (0400 UTC) specifically to 
listen for it, and could tell that "Oh Holy Night" and the largo movement of 
some classical work that escapes me at the moment were being repeated, with 
male voice after one and female following the other.  At one point I heard 
the male voice give the call sign and moments later mentioned "1906," but 
beyond that I could not distinguish what was being said.  Fortunately, 
melodies performed in fairly clear, basic arrangements do stand out well 
enough for the ear to recognize, if not necessarily appreciate all the 
subtleties.

I had to use either USB or LSB mode most of the time, as the sideband filter 
was able to reject XSH/7 but the AM filter couldn't.

Later, I went up to 137 kHz and watched MP, XES, and VO1NA all produce 
dogbones (listed in order of decreasing intensity as well as frequency, I 
might add) from 11:00 PM to about a quarter of midnight.  At that point, all 
three faded for a while.  MP decreased to merely "normal" levels, the upper 
part of the leading edge of "H" disappeared, and the VO1NA trace got weak 
and ragged for a little while.  They all gradually recovered after about 15 
minutes.

Soon after, I shut down the computer so the light would not attract 
attention to me in the car.  I reported some suspicious activity at the sale 
barn across the highway to the sheriff's office, after which there were 
enforcement vehicles dashing back and forth for a while, stopping and 
questioning a couple of late night celebrators.  I thought a glowing screen 
full of "Ho Ho Ho" might be a little awkward to explain, so I waited until 
they were all gone and then packed up and came home.

John