LEM144 DXpedition
Equipment
December 2nd - 10th 2000
by Mika Mäkeläinen
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| NRD-545 DSP |
On the right you
can see Mika's JRC NRD-545 DSP. In addition, Mika
had an NRD-535D - on loan - and Jim two pieces of
NRD-535D. Two receivers come in handy especially
when hunting stations which have local identifications
relatively rarely. RAI (Italy), all Spanish networks
and NHK-2 (Japan) stations are good examples of
this.
Additional equipment included
amplifiers and antenna tuners. Both had a switchboard
designed by Roland Sandberg to select the antennae
and, if necessary, to split a particular antenna
between the two receivers. An "active splitter"
was used to divide some essential antennae between
the listeners.
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| Sony MZ-R35 minidisc player
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Just like last year, the Lemmenjoki
QTH was this year equipped with 14 beverage (terminated)
or longwire antennae (not terminated). Both users
can exclusively have five antennae and the remaining
four are divided with a splitter, so that in effect
both listeners can choose between nine wires. Each
antenna is 0.8 - 1 kilometer (0.5 - 0.6 miles) in
length.
Because of the reindeer, antennae
need to be 3-4 meters above the ground. Whereever
trees are not available, poles have been erected.
Antennae are directed at the following areas:
- Southern part of South America (Brazil, Uruguay,
Argentina, Chile), Spain and the United Kingdom
- Northern part of South America (Venezuela, Columbia,
Ecuador) and the Caribbean
- Eastern Coast of North America and Central America
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| Sony MDS-JE520 minidisc deck
(left bottom) and switchboard (left top) with
the receiver |
- Midwest
- Rocky Mountains
- West Coast of North America
- North (Alaska, Hawaii)
- Far East (Japan, Koreas) at direction 55 degrees
- East Asia (China, Taiwan, the Philippines) at 65
degrees
The recording equipment also
merits a note. Mika used only minidiscs (Sony MDS-JE520
deck and a portable Sony MZ-R35) and recorded some
50 minidiscs (roughly 125 hours). Jim still relied
on portable cassette decks.
  
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