[Lowfer] EAR, MP & MX

[JD]

Conditions weren't as good here in Kansas last night as they were yesterday 
afternoon or on Christmas Eve.  Had MP solid both of those times (apart from 
the usual sunset fade on Wedneday), but only fair last night.  I had high 
hopes because we seemed to skip the sunset fade yesterday evening, but a 
deep fade from around 0225 to around 0340 nearly obliterated the signal, 
which usually exhibits dogbones by that time of night.  Did see traces of 
something where VO1NA should be, but not enough to make out any characters.

(Sure felt the absence of the usual Christmas Eve greetings and "decorative" 
activity on 2200 m.)

At 1750 m, I only could see SIW last night, and not as well as usual because 
of more static than I thought there would be.  The racket wasn't exactly 
terrible, but certainly not helpful.  A quick check for MLS showed nothing 
definite, either, so I didn't try for EAR.  Need to be able to take one of 
my radios that has a 250 Hz filter and IF shift to the field, as soon as I 
can either keep a big battery safe from thieves out there, or else my back 
recovers enough to heft one around on a daily basis again.  The little 
CommRadio is eminently portable but lacks those two features, which makes it 
more difficult to separate EAR from neighboring carriers.

By the time I decided to tune lower, it was too late for decent copy of 
DCF77 (had some signal from it as early as 2:30 CST yesterday afternoon) and 
too early to hear JJY by ear, but both showed carrier on Argo.  Only the 
"usual suspects" among the naval MSK and FSK signals... nothing appreciable 
at 26 kHz.  The main Alpha frequencies yielded one active station at 11.9, 
two at 12.65, and one at 14.9 kHz, +/-.

John