South Padre Island, TX

Second visit: May 27-31, 2011

We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express, which is 3 or 4 miles north of the center of the island. Having been here 6 years prior, I had an idea of the DX possibilities. What I wasn't sure about is if being here two months later when it was noticeably warmer made any difference. Well, it seems as if it did. I didn't attempt any digital TV DX, and while I checked FM while driving around (best logging was WXBM-102.7 Milton, FL) my main attention was on NOAA Weather Radio. I ended up getting my furthest ever NWR tropo logging from any location by a couple hundred miles! The full log appears below. As before, I was using my ICOM R-10 scanner. We were on the 4th floor at the end of the building facing northeast.

NWR Log

Loggings with a * were new (i.e., not heard during my first visit in 2005).

CallsFreq.CityMiles
KHB33 .400Pharr, TX 63
WXK34 .400Victoria, TX 186
KHB42 .400Lake Charles, LA * 367
KIH38 .400Jackson, MS * 600
WNG601.425Rio Grande City, TX101
WWG40 .425Bay City, TX 209
KWN37 .425Sweetwater, TX * 480
KHA99 .425Muenster, TX * 520
WNG696.450Three Rivers, TX 165
KJY78 .450New Taiton, TX * 226
WWF90 .450Kerrville, TX 296
KWN33 .450Stephenville, TX * 418
WXL26 .475Port O'Connor, TX 164
WNG641.475Seguin, TX * 250
WXK28 .475Beaumont, TX 329
WXN89 .475Coleman, TX * 417
WXK78 .475Alexandria, LA * 490
WXK22 .475Sherman, TX * 520
KIH47 .475Hattiesburg, MS * 586
WNG523.500Dilley, TX 214
WWG55 .500La Grange, TX 264
KXI55 .500Lake Livingston, TX349
KJY83 .500Carthage, MS * 510
WWG49 .500Fredericktown, MO *886
WNG609.525Riviera, TX 89
KXI56 .525Gonzales, TX 234
WNG600.525D'Hanis, TX * 257
WNG650.525Center, TX * 433
WNG521.525Bogalusa, LA * 550
WNG643.525Marvell, AR * 691
WWG34 .550Brownsville, TX 27
KHB41 .550Corpus Christi, TX 115
WXK67 .550San Antonio, TX * 243
KHB40 .550Galveston, TX 260
WXJ96 .550Monroe, LA * 536

I logged 35 stations total this trip. My total NWR log for two trips is now 40 stations! Most impressive to me was logging 11 stations further than my longest NWR catch in 2005. Fredericktown, Missouri is my furthest NWR tropo from *any* location by almost 300 miles. The signals were reasonably strong too. I never cease to be amazed by the magic of Gulf tropo... although in the case of Missouri, a lot of that path was obviously land!

First visit: March 21-24, 2005

We spent three nights at the La Quinta Inn on South Padre Island (SPI), situated about 4 miles north of the causeway (TX 100) from Port Isabel. This appeared to be the furthest north hotel on SPI. We were in room 207, facing northeast with a partial view of the shore (see below photo, taken from the balcony).

For DX equipment, I had a very simple setup. I used my WinTV-USB with rabbit ears connected to my Dell laptop PC. I used my ICOM R-10 handheld scanner for weather radio DX. Reception was much better on the balcony so I took the equipment outside for almost all the loggings. Fortunately the direction we faced was right towards the best signals!

The afternoon and evening of the 22nd featured the best conditions. The morning of the 24th when we left was good also, but featured more inland signals than the coastal DX from the 22nd. Overall it was a great time; I had forgotten how much fun Gulf DX could be! Even more interesting, I logged more NWR signals (21) in three days than I did in over 2 years in Tallahassee, FL! Granted there were fewer stations on air in the early 1990s, but it was still impressive.

TV DX Log

CityStation(s)Miles
Biloxi/Gulfport, MS WMAH-19, WXXV-25590
New Orleans, LA 8, 26, 32, 38 515
Baton Rouge, LA WLPB-27, WVLA-33465
Lafayette, LA KADN-15, KLPB-24410
Lake Charles, LA KLTL-18, KVHP-29375
Beaumont, TX KBMT-12, KITU-24345
Killeen, TX KAKW-62 320
Austin, TX 24, 36, 42, 54 290
Houston, TX 8,11,13,most U's260

TV DX Photos

WMAH-19, Biloxi, MS (592 mi) WXXV-25, Gulfport, MS (586 mi)
WGNO-26, New Orleans, LA (514 mi) WNOL-38, New Orleans, LA (514 mi)
KADN-15, Lafayette, LA (419 mi) KLTL-18, Lake Charles, LA (388 mi)
KAKW-62, Killeen, TX (320 mi) KTBE-55, Conroe, TX (309 mi)
KPXB-49, Conroe, TX (308 mi) KXAN-36, Austin, TX (291 mi)
KEYE-42, Austin, TX (291 mi) KHWB-39, Houston, TX (258 mi)

NWR Log

CallsFreq.CityMiles
KHB33 .400Pharr, TX 63
WXK34 .400Victoria, TX 186
WNG601.425Rio Grande City, TX101
WWG40 .425Bay City, TX 209
KWN51 .425Uvalde, TX 268
WNG696.450George West, TX 165
WWF90 .450Kerrville, TX 296
KWN34 .450Palestine, TX 400
WXL26 .475Port O'Connor, TX 164
WXK28 .475Beaumont, TX 329
KIH23 .475Morgan City, LA 442
WNG523.500Dilley, TX 214
WWG55 .500La Grange, TX 264
KXI55 .500Lake Livingston, TX349
WNG609.525Riviera, TX 89
KXI56 .525Gonzales, TX 234
WNG649.525Milano, TX 317
WWG34 .550Brownsville, TX 27
KHB41 .550Corpus Christi, TX 115
WNG692.550Carrizo Springs, TX230
KHB40 .550Galveston, TX 260