Hello Walt, Thanks for that great DX report from the South Pacific, with extremely useful information for every Grayland summertime DU-chaser. Like John, I plan to save your post as an essential archive for Kiwi station information, and appreciate the time and effort that you used to compile it for us (and others). I'm very happy that your modified E100 is bringing in some nice DX, which reminds me of my Navy days DXing in the South Pacific in 1975 (although it wasn't exactly a pleasure cruise). The ocean propagation never ceased to amaze me, and it's obvious that you are enjoying similar results. Have fun during the rest of the cruise, and thanks again for the very informative DX report. 73, Gary DeBock (in rainy and windy Puyallup, WA) In a message dated 11/17/2009 7:19:56 P.M. Pacific Standard Time, can...@gmail.com writes:
*/Dxing report from the South Pacific (sailing toward Tonga) for November 16, 2009:/* Hello, everyone! We’re now 2 days outbound from The Bay of Islands, New Zealand and bound for Tonga. During these at-sea days, there’s more time and energy to do some serious DXing and that’s exactly what I’ve been doing. On November 16^th , I concentrated on the 9 kHz channels, whereas last night it was the 10 kHz channels. A lot of what I heard I’ve recorded with a running mp3 recorder (iRiver 795T). The MW noise from the ship, at least at the aft end is remarkably absent and using Gary’s modified eton e100 with the Murata filter and large ferrite rod (tuneable) has enabled me to do some good Dxing in a very small package. It’s rather fun sitting in the semi-dark with ear buds holding my tiny receiver and rotating it this way and that. Have had a few people ask what I was up to, though! Of course on the first night, New Zealand dominated. I’m surprised by the huge number of transmitters carrying the same program (especially the Newstalk ZB network, and to a lesser extent New Zealand’s Rhema, Southern Star, and Radio New Zealand National. They sure get out. Don’t bother with legal local IDs. Instead they all seem to carry local ads which easily ID the station and location. I simply made notes, and later went through my loggings and was usually able to ID the station with the help of PAL. Thanks, Bruce and David for that! Here we go for Nov 16^th . Assume approximately the same time as the previous loggings as I pretty much systematically went from 531 upwards: 531 08:42 531PI in Auckland with 5 kw in presumed Samoan mentioning Easter Island and then an English ad for an appliance store in Hunter’s Corner, and other English ads. Excellent. Weaker cochannel with music. 549: 09:00 Rhema from Kaltaia, Northland with 2 kW and cochannel Radio Trackside 1 kW from Napier. 558: Radio Fiji 1, Naulu 10 kW with Trackside Sport ID at 10:50 (listed as Radio Sport, Invercargill 5 kW…note the different ID). I was surprised how well the Invercargill and Dunedin stations came in. 567: Radio NZ National, Wellington with 50 kW. Very strong at 09:06. 576: The Word, Hamilton with 2.5 kW with religious programming and weaker cochannel, presumed ABC Sydney with 50 kW. 585: unid oldies 594: unid with modern pop music 603: unid modern soul music. 612: unid , // 594 and 621. This is either ABC Brisbane (with the others being 3WV Horsham and ABC Melbourne) or possibly Rhema. Not sure. 630: Radio NZ National, Napier-Hastings with 10 kW with NZ news re Wellington bus accidents. // to 639 (weak) 2 kW from Alexandra, Otago. 648: 10:51 ID for NZ’s Rhema. Very strong. From Gisborne, 5 kW. 657: strong pop music, and EZL music. Presumed Southern Star, Wellington with 50 kW. 666: RFO, New Caledonia. 20 kW, Noumea. Very good reception with lots of French talk (Bonsoir, bonsoir, bonsoir….). //729 barely audible. At 09:59, heard cochannel ABC jingle to TOH, making this 2CN, ABC Canberra with 5 kW. Later on at 11:02:40 noted “RFO” ID at excellent level. 675: Radio NZ National, Christchurch 10 kW. NZ weather. Excellent. 684: 2KP ABC mid-North Coast, Kempsey 10kW. Call in program discussing the Rural Parks Service, fires. Phone # given as 1300 222 … 690: possibly KHNR, Honolulu with 10 kW. Thought I might have heard CBC, but not sure (which would have made in CBU, Vancouver). Fair reception. 693: Radio Sport, Dunedin 5 kW discussing Nigeria’s disqualification from the world cup. 702: Radio Live, Auckland 10 kW >> cochannel 711: Radio Trackside, Wellington 5 kW with sport play by play with het. Fair reception. 720: Radio NZ National, Invercargill 10 kW with talk program at good level. 729: Radio Sport, Wangarei 2.5 kW discussing rugby 738: Radio Live with ID at excellent level. Christchurch 5 kW. Ad giving a phone number as: 0-800-CONTAINER, and ID as “Christchurch 99.3 FM”. No sign of Tahiti. 747: 2 cochannels at poor/fair level. 750: KFQD, Anchorage at fair level at 09:28 with ID as, “Newstalk KFQD”. Happy to hear this one at this distance! 756: Radio NZ National, Auckland 10 kW. With call-in about the future of music at good level, with a weaker cochannel music station. 765: unid with pop music ?Napier? 774: Radio Sport, New Plymouth 5 kw with talk about ball control, and cochannel ABC Melbourne 50 kW. 783: Access Radio, Wellington 10 kW. Very strong with music. 792: Radio Sport, Hamilton 5 kW with talk about a player needing shoulder surgery. 810: Radio NZ National, Dunedin 10 kW. Very good reception, // 819 also very good from Tauranga with 10 kW. Also weak cochannel with music. Discussing building a business using the internet. 828: Radio Trackside, Palmerston-North 2 kW. Fair with sports, and cochannel too. 837: Radio NZ National, with 2 transmitters in the Northland at 2 and 2.5 kW. Excellent reception with NZ business. 846: 2 cochannels at fair level. Newstalk ZB, Masterton 2 kW and ?ABC 855: Rhema, Hamilton 2 kW with “God’s Word” and weaker cochannel with music. 860: ? WCNA with music at poor level. 864: Newstalk ZB, Invercargill 10 kW // to 873 below. 873: Newstalk ZB, Ashburton 1 kW at good level, and cochannel sports (Radio Trackside, Tauranga 1 kW). 882: probably Southern Star, Auckland with 10 kW with “The best songs of all times”. Less likely 4BH, Brisbane with 5 kW. Good level 900: Southern Star, Dunedin 10 kW with song, “In the Summertime” at fair/good level plus another cochannel with music. Just noticed that I should have checked if // 882! Duhh! 918: Radio NZ National, with 2- 2.5 kW transmitters with sports talk at fair level. 927: very muffly audio, impossible to understand. ? Fiji? And cochannel Newstalk ZB Palmerston North with 2 kW. 936: New Supremo 936, Waiuku, 1 kW with Chinese at very good level. 954: Coast, Dunedin 1 kw at fair to good level with music. 963: Southern Star, Christchurch with 10 kW at excellent level. With EZL music. 972: NZ’s Rhema, Wellington 5 kW at good level about enhanced education outside the classroom. 981: Radio NZ National, Kaikohe, Northland 2 kW with Conservation Minister call-in and cochannel with music. **990: A bit of a mystery for me. Hindi (or possibly Arabic) sounding music at very good level. Did the Radio Trackside, Nelson station change format?? Seemed too strong to be from Australia. What format is 4RO, Rockhampton? 1008: Newstalk ZB, Tauranga 10 kW at very good level about different cultures. 1017: A3Z Nuku’Alofa, Tonga (our next destination) with drums, Radio Tonga ID, hymns at good level with cochannel music. 1026: Newstalk ZB with echo. There are 2 transmitters here and not exactly in sync: Whangarei 2 kW, and Kaitaia with 2 kW. Interesting sound! 1035: Newstalk ZB, Wellington 20 kW. “11 to 11” time check. (09:49) with px about, “should we teach Asian history in our schools”. 1044: Newstalk ZB, Dunedin 10 kW with “Dunedin’s Newstalk ZB” ID and a carpet ad. Good reception. // to 1053 at poor/fair from New Plymouth with 2 kW. 1062: unid at poor to fair with seeming ID as “??? Greatest hits”. Not sure who fits the format. 1071: loud het with 2 cochannels: Call in show from Radio NZ National, Masterton 2.5 kW and Radio Trackside, Ashburton 6 kW with play by play). 1070 from presumed WCNA also just audible. 1080: Newstalk ZB, Auckland 10 kW at very good level. // 1098 also very good from Christchurch, 5 kW. 1107: Radio Live with a Bay of Plenty ad at good level. 2 tx listed with 1 kW from Tauranga and 10 kw from Rotorua. 1116: Radio NZ National, Nelson 2.5 kW. Good level 1125: unid pop music and a het from ? source. Cochannel Radio Sport, Napier with 1 kW. 1134: Radio NZ National, Queenstown with 2 kW at fair to good level. // to 1143 at 09:58 at very good level, which is Hamilton with 25 kW. 1152: Newstalk ZB, Timaru 2 kw at good level with news at 10:00. 1161: unid station, mentioning, “update at YKU”. Is this the Maori station in Wellington with 5 kW? 1179: unid station at good level with music. ?Maori station in Auckland? 1188: Radio NZ National , Rotorua with only 0.4 kW at very good level. RNZ ID with news and weather. 1197: Newstalk ZB, Wanganui, with 2 kW with call in show at good level. 1206: Radio Trackside, Dunedin with 2 kW with play by play plus equal cochannel with music, unid. 1215: Newstalk ZB, Kaikohe, 2 kW at excellent level. 1224: Radio Trackside, Invercargill, 1 kW and weak cochannel. 1242: possible 1XX, Whakatane, Bay of Plenty with 2 kW with music at fair level. 1251: Rhema, Auckland with 2 kW at excellent level. 1260: Radio Trackside, Christchurch, with 2 kW at weak level. 1269: pres. Classic Hits, Tukaka, Nelson with only 0.4 kW with EZL music and weak cochannel. 1278: Newstalk ZB with 2 transmitters listed in Eltham (2.5 kW) and Napier (2 kW). Very good level with talk about studying Asian history. // 1296 Hamilton, 2.5 kW at excellent level. 1305: possible Radio Dunedin, 2.5 kW at fair level, with Titanic theme song. 1314: Southern Star, Invercargill with 10 kW with music. At excellent level. 1332: Radio Sport, Auckland with 10 kW with sports talk at very good level. 1341: Newstalk ZB, Nelson with 2 kW giving ad for ?grafitti removal, then call-in number as 0800801080. Fair to good level. 1350: Radio Sport, Rotorua with 1 kW talking about NZ rugby. Fair level. 1359: Oldies music (if you leave me now…) at fair to good level, and weaker cochannel talk. 2 NZ stations listed: More FM, Queenstown with 1 kW and Coast, New Plymouth with 2.5 kW. 1368: Radio Live, Napier with 1 kW at poor/fair level. 1377: Radio Sport, Levin with 2 kW at very good level. 1386: Radio Tarana, Auckland with 10 kW at superb level with Hindi music. No wonder it gets out so well to North America! One of the strongest stations I can hear. 1395: Newstalk ZB, Oamaru, with 2 kW at poor/fair level with call-in. 1404: Rhema, Invercargill with 5 kW at very good level with music, then local ads for Burnside motors and South Center Mall. 1413: Newstalk ZB, Tokoroa with 2 kW at fair level. 1431: unid oldies music. Possibly Radio Kidnappers, Hastings with 2 kW at fair level. 1440: unid with oldie music, then a choral piece. ? Maori station in Tauranga with 0.2 kW at good level. 1449: Radio NZ National, Palmerston North with 2.5 kW at good level with music. // to 1458 Westport, 2.5 kW at fair level. 1476: Radio Trackside, Auckland with 5 kW at good level. // 1485 at Gisborne, with 1 kW at very good level. 1494: Southern Star, Hamilton with 5 kW at very good level with vocal. 1503: Radio Sport, Christchurch or Wellington with 2.5 or 5 kW, with Radio Sport ID and time check for 46 minutes after. 1512: probable ABC National, Newcastle with 10 kW with fair level and cochannel, with special program about Australia’s forgotten. 1521: Radio Sport, Tauranga with 1 kW. 1530: Coast, Napier with 1 kW with, “Timeless music all the time”, at very good level. 1539: Radio Sport, Blenheim with 1 kW and strong het. 1548: Radio Trackside, Rotorua with 0.9 kW and weak cochannel with oldies (Coast, Palmerston North with 1 kW). 1557: Coast, Hawera, Taranaki with 2 kW at excellent level. // to 1530 and 1548 and 1593 (Christchurch, 2.5 kW). 1566: No luck with Norfolk Island with mostly an empty channel until late in the evening with Australia fades in. 3NE, Solid Gold, Wangaratta with 5 kW and announcing “15, double 6” at fair level, and increasing to good by 10:33. Note the website for Norfolk Island broadcasting suggests a very much shorter broadcast day than does PAL. Worthwhile investigating. 1575: Presumed Toroa Radio, Dunedin with 2.5 kW. BBCWS simulcast at very good level and BBC ID at 11:05. Heard consistently here. Not sure who else this would be, but PAL does not list BBCWS at this time, but it’s there! 1593: Radio Samoa, Auckland with 5 kW in Samoan presumably at very good level. 1602: 2XA Levin with 2.5 kW at excellent level with print handicapped programming. _______________________________________________ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/irca Opinions expressed in messages on this mailing list are those of the original contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the IRCA, its editors, publishing staff, or officers For more information: http://www.ircaonline.org To Post a message: irca@hard-core-dx.com _______________________________________________ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/irca Opinions expressed in messages on this mailing list are those of the original contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the IRCA, its editors, publishing staff, or officers For more information: http://www.ircaonline.org To Post a message: irca@hard-core-dx.com
