The field & me at Quoddy House with Campabello Island, NB behind.
DXpeditions
Ever since a trip to Grayland, Washington with Guy Atkins in February 2010 I've been visiting coastal locations to hear far off mediumwave [MW] DX at much better levels than I can at home. In the process I've learned a lot, met some great people and rediscovered a hobby I left behind in 1982 to start a family and career.
My style of DXing can best be described as 'TiVo DXing.' I record the MW band throughout the night using a Perseus SDR and JAGUAR software for later review. I'm an early riser and easily bored so I don't enjoy spending hours late at night chasing 'live' DX.
My style of logging is different as well. After nearly 40 years working at VOA, I find a sound sample preferable to text describing what someone has heard. If you visit the page links below you'll find the only text is in the headings for the table that contains my 'loggings' in the form of sound samples - accessed via a 'play' button. You'll get the hang of it and might even learn to like it.
Each location has a 'master log' so I can track what I've heard over the years. May be of some use to others.
Grayland, Washington & San Souci near Florence, Oregon
Grayland is the 'holy grail' of coastal northwest DXing. It's not as far north or west as Walt Salmaniw's place in Massett, Haida Gwaii but it's a lot easier to reach and has been visited by 10's, if not 100's, of DXers over 30+ years.
For many years the Grayland Motel was THE place to go for DXing until February 2017 when it closed.
Since the summer of 2017 I have been using the Casa Sea Esta [CSE] Airbnb rental house just a few hundred yards south of the former Grayland Motel.
Several summers between 2012 - 18 I visited a beautiful cabin near Florence, Oregon called San Souci [SS]. 900 feet above the Pacific Ocean with an amazing view and pretty good DU reception. Results are included in a number of the Grayland webpages.
Grayland Master Log
Grayland 1 - Feb. 2010
Grayland 2 - Apr. 2010
Grayland 3 - Feb. 2011
Grayland 4 - Jul. 2011
Grayland 5 - Feb. 2012
Grayland 6/SS - Jul. 2012
Grayland 7 - Feb. 2013
Grayland 8/SS2 - Jul. 2013
Grayland 9 - Feb. 2014
Grayland 10/SS3 - Jul. 2014
Grayland 11 - Feb. 2015
Grayland 12/SS4 - Jul. 2015
Grayland 13 - Feb. 2016
Grayland 14/SS5 - Jul. 2016
Grayland 15/CSE - Feb. 2017
Grayland 16 - CSE2/SS6 - Aug. 2017
Grayland 17 - CSE3 - Feb. 2018
Grayland 18 - CSE4/SS7 - Aug. 2018
Grayland 19 - CSE5 - Feb. 2019
Grayland 20 - CSE6 - Sep. 2019
Grayland 21 - CSE7 - Feb. 2020
Grayland 22 - CSE8 - Sep. 2020
Grayland 23 - CSE9 - Feb. 2021
Grayland 24 - CSE10 - Sep. 2021
Grayland 25 - CSE11 - Feb. 2022
Grayland 26 - CSE12 - Sep. 2022
Grayland 27 - CSE13 - Feb. 2023
Grayland 28 - CSE14 - Sep. 2023
Grayland 29 - CSE15 - Feb/Mar 2024
Quoddy House - Lubec, Maine
Quoddy House [QH] is a former lightkeeper's house built in 1855. It was 'discovered' by Dallas Lankford in 2009 as a potential location for good TA DX with enough room to erect several antennas.
The quality of DX here is somewhere between Cape Cod and Newfoundland though it does have its share of gems - India, Sri Lanka, South Africa and Alaska to name a few.
QH has new owners since 2018 but continues to be rented, thank goodness! There are other locations along this part of the Maine coast and you will see Lubec Bay Cottage [LBC] mentioned in a few DXp webpages.
Quoddy House Master Log
QH 1 - Nov. 2011
QH 2 - Jun. 2012
QH 3 - Dec. 2012
QH 4 - Nov. 2013
QH 5 - Nov. 2014
QH 6 - Nov. 2015
QH 7 - May 2016
QH 8 - Nov. 2016
QH 9 - May 2017
QH 10 - Nov. 2017
QH 11 - May 2018
QH 12 - Nov. 2018
QH 13 - May 2019
QH 14 - Oct. 2019
QH 15 - Oct. 2020
QH 16 - May 2021
QH 17 - Oct. 2021
QH 18 - May 2022
QH 19 - Oct. 2022
QH 20 - May 2023
QH 21 - Oct. 2023
Bay House/Waters Edge - Reedville, Virginia
Along about 2012, in order to get a bit more DX-time in, I found a place less exotic but a lot closer to home in Virginia's 'northern neck' near Reedville. Right on the Chesapeake Bay, Bay House [BH] has an all-water path down the east coast into the Caribbean and Latin America. After the owners of Bay House came home to live full-time I found another, similar, location down the road called Waters Edge [WE] that offered the same great visual and radio views down the Chesapeake.
Update Spring 2020: Waters Edge has been sold and I'm on the lookout for another similar location in the area.
Bay House/Waters Edge Master Log
BH 1 - Jul. 2012
BH 2 - Oct. 2012
BH 3 - Oct. 2013
BH 4 - Apr. 2014
BH 5 - Oct. 2014
BH 6 - Jun. 2015
BH 7 - Sep. 2015
WE 1 - Jan. 2015
WE 2 - Sep. 2015
WE 3 - Jun. 2016
WE 4 - Dec. 2016
WE 5 - Ded. 2017
WE 6 - Oct. 2018
WE 7 - Dec. 2018
WE 8 - Jan. 2019
WE 9 - Apr. 2019
WE 10 - May 2019
WE 11 - Jul. 2019
WE 12 - Jan. 2020
WE 13 - Dec. 2021
Cappahayden, Newfoundland
Finally, the invitation and my calendar aligned and I visited Cappahayden just a week prior to our twice-anual visit to Quoddy House in the autumn of 2022. Look at a map and you'll see part of what's special about Newfoundland - location! That and the Beverage antennas used make all the difference.
Cappaheyden Master Log
Timeline of major DXpeditions
Videos