Ultralight Dxing at Castle Rock - 11th March 2009

Google Earth Image of the dx location at Castle Rock, looking north towards Millers Point with False Bay to the east.

Castle Rock is situated just south of Millers Point on the picturesque coastal route between Simonstown and Cape Point, approximately 45 km south-east of Cape Town. It is a short 20 minute drive from my QTH in Fish Hoek and an excellent location for early evening MW DX.

From the mountain side, looking south east across False Bay.

A previous visit with the Sony SRF-M37V was encouraging, so I decided to take the ultralight receiver along again. My main aim was to check out the barefoot reception with this tiny receiver. I also set up a modest 20 metre "over the shoulder" "sloper" antenna.

Another view of the dx location against the mountainside, towards the west.

Despite a fair amount of static, the reception with the SRF-M37V was quite surprising ! Highlights included the barefoot reception of 1449 Maldives (10kw) over 7 152 km / 4444 miles and 1575 Mauritius (2kw) over 4 124 km / 2 562 miles. 1566 India and Korea also made it through barefoot.

Barefoot Highlights :

666 1854 REUNION Radio Reunion, St.Pierre w ann in FF by YL

720 1740 AUSTRALIA 6WF Perth with talkback

1134 1715 CHINA CNR 1 w piano mx

1323 1721 CHINA CRI in EE w "China Drive"

1323 1908 CYPRUS BBC Relay Zygi w news in EE

1359 1845 TAIWAN Family Radio Fangliao w hymns - strong

1377 1723 CHINA CNR1 Zhengzhou w anns over music bed

1413 1908 OMAN BBC Relay A'Seela w news in EE

1413 1900 MOLDOVA Voice of Russia, Grigoriopol, Kremlin bells and ann

1422 1842 MALAWI MBC Radio 1 w interview in EE

1440 1928 TANZANIA Radio One, Dar-es-Salaam w R&B mx

1449 2010 MALDIVES Voice of Maldives, Male w dramatic radio play (10kw)

1458 1817 MAYOTTE RFO, Pamandzi w interview/discussion in FF

1503 1830 IRAN R. Iran, Busherh w id

1503 1815 TAIWAN Fangliao w anns

1512 1810 SAUDI ARABIA BSKSA Jeddah in AA

1521 1810 SAUDI ARABIA BSKSA Duba in AA

1539 1810 UAE VOA R. Aap Ki Dunyaa, Al-Dhabbaya w id

1566 1725 INDIA AIR Nagpur w ragas and EE news by YL at 1730 UTC

1566 1725 KOREA HLAZ Jeju w discussion

1575 1915 MAURITIUS BBC Relay Bigara in EE w mention of an upcomming interview with a winemaker (2kw)

1575 1725 KUWAIT Radio Fada w anns

All stations received with a barefoot Sony SRF-M37V.