Greetings from the Gulf South!

[DXCentral]

Bienvenue de Louisiane!
My name is Loyd Van Horn (ham call W4LVH) and I have been a member of WTFDA for a while but had forgotten about the forums until tonight when I talked about them during my live DX livestream (DX Central Live!).

A bit about me:

• I have been in the radio hobby for more than 30 years, focusing mainly on AM and FM DX.
• I am a licensed ham and enjoy 6m (obviously) and the HF digital modes the most
• I have DXed from home locations all over the South, most recently in Charleston, SC before moving back home to Louisiana in fall of 2021
• My wife, Megan, is super supportive of my DXploits (which I am eternally grateful for)
• I run a website and YouTube channel called "DX Central" which specializes in all things AM and FM DX. From September to May, I run a weekly livestream called DX Central Live! where we do live DX sessions (mostly AM DX). Though, I am hoping to livestream some Es openings this summer.
• In addition to DX, I am a musician with three albums released (loydvanhornmusic.com) and am getting back into playing gigs now that I am settled here in Louisiana. I also enjoy being outdoors including camping, bike rides (pedal powered) and rides in my 04' LJ Jeep Wrangler or my 74' Chevy Cheyenne Super 10 squarebody truck.
• My dayjob is as a Senior Account Manager at a software company

For FM DX, my gear includes:

• SDRs: Elad FDM-S3, SDRPlay RSPdx, Airspy HF+ Discovery
• Portables: TEF6686, Sangean HDR-14 and- -16
• Desktop: Sony XDR-F1HD (modded by XDRguy)
• Antennas: Channel Master Stereo Probe 9 (thanks to Les Rayburn) @ 15' on an RCA rotor, Centerfire dipole @ 21', homebuilt Faulkner loop (about to add a homebuilt hourglass loop and a 5/8 vertical)

I did a little FM DX last season, but not a whole lot....so I am restarting my totals from here in Mandeville from 0. So, not much to report on the numbers just yet but am going to be putting my logbook up on a Google Site to share for those interested. I am enjoying the tremendous tropo we get here on the Gulf South, giving receptions from Florida all the way into Texas and Mexico! and even up into Arkansas from time to time!

Hoping for a legendary Es season this summer, something like the 2021 season would be great!

73 and best of DX to you all!

Loyd

[bdalbor]

Aayyy, bienvenue! '73 from St. Martinville, LA! Good to finally see you on this website!

[DXCentral]

Thank, Broc! Been watching your tropo logs with excitement!

[FMDX_Will]

Few hundred miles east of you on the FL panhandle. I'd love to pick your brain sometime. I always enjoy chatting with DX vets.

Edit: just picked up who you were... I'm a subscriber to your YouTube channel... Because of you I got to take part in an AM night day power test a couple years ago. This was that night.

[DXCentral]

Will,
Definitely would love to compare notes. I have completely restarted my Mandeville FM DX from 0 this season, not that I did much last year (my first year here). So, still learning what to expect, what is normal, what isn't. Had a nice little enhancement the other night over by your neck of the woods and my RDS autologger was grabbing some good decodes from P-cola.

Thank your for being a subscriber!!! And glad you were able to be part of the WBOB test.....hoping we can have some more good tests coming up in the next season. We had a few in the works, just ran out of time to include with the livestream, but perhaps we can make them work in the fall.

Definitely reach out over on Twitter if you get a chance: DXCentral - happy to compare notes!

73 ad best of DX
Loyd