Auroral propagation provided another thrilling session on the cold ocean beach at Grayland this morning, with powerful Australian signals booming in during a sharp sunrise enhancement from 1300-1400. 531 kHz especially was a real circus, with 4KZ hitting S9 peaks after temporarily dispatching PI around 1305, only to have the Samoan Kiwi station come back with yet another co-channel to make the frequency a total zoo by 1345. In comparison to a typical Rockwork 4 Kiwi-slanted opening this Grayland session was heavily dominated by Australia, and the lack of any solid rock cliff to provide domestic signal attenuation was noticeable in the increased splatter. An initial carrier check in my motel room at 1030 confirmed that Asian propagation was on the skids, but DU signals hadn't yet hit their stride, either. My ocean beach session started at 1255, by which time Australian signals were already potent in the clear and cold conditions. 531 kHz already featured a wild snarl between 4KZ and New Zealand's PI, a competition which continued for a full hour. 4KZ went on a monster run with its Cassowary Coast weather report and pop music around 1310, hitting an awesome S9 level before falling back down into a 3-station DU mix. One of the 855 LR network stations had a huge peak at 1317 before falling back into the splatter, while the RN network big gun parallels on 576 and 792 boomed in with jazz music at 1327. 585 had a strong rock music station not // 576 (probably 2WEB) around 1333, while 603-Waatea was one of the few Kiwis to dominate temporarily over an Aussie with its Maori music at 1337. A return check to 531 kHz at 1345 revealed 3 DU stations in a graveyard mix-- obviously with 4KZ and PI, but the third one was a mystery (Theo, are you there?). There were many modest Kiwi signals (567, 657, 675, etc.) and 558-Fiji which were victims of domestic splatter-- a situation which would probably have not occurred on Rockwork 4 (with its splatter-limiting solid rock cliff). During the wild Aussie conditions the single monster FSL antenna (15" model) taken along on this trip was used with a 7.5" loopstick CC Skywave model to record all of the MP3's below. A single 3" FSL Tecsun PL-380 model generally could receive the same DU's, but at somewhat weaker levels. A/B antenna testing proved that the monster FSL did provide significantly better signal strength in this long-range challenge (relative strength MP3's will be provided later). 531 4KZ Innisfail, Australia Clearly the star of the session with its best signal ever (S9 peak during pop music) https://app.box.com/s/vrb0e6nc3nc8evgkqrkw4j2ww7zhlga7 531 Wild 3 DU snarl at 1345 (4KZ, PI, and a third mystery station) https://app.box.com/s/fydun1ag41mjp6n765jfhl7fqb908yjr 576 2RN Sydney, Australia Strong jazz music // 792 at 1327 https://app.box.com/s/qr4ng5skaygnktft2880j120qywz20bl 585 2WEB Bourke, Australia (Presumed) Pop music not // 576 at 1333; format matches that of station https://app.box.com/s/g6a9sphgc7h7o07o88txgyo23s46fohg 603 R. Waatea Auckland, New Zealand One of the very few Kiwis to dominate over an Australian; Maori music at 1337 https://app.box.com/s/7mrq8vmv3n3xogqqpoidatljcjz48ftl 792 4RN Brisbane, Australia ABC news at a potent level // 576 at 1401 https://app.box.com/s/59x3svhswkj3bg2vdfm1kg8s12c4dami 855 Australia One of the 10 kW LR network stations with a strong peak at 1317 https://app.box.com/s/qro77sfx73h6ebpq2o10mz3bnqj4cvdy 73 and Good DX, Gary DeBock (in Grayland, WA) 7.5" loopstick CC Skywave + 15" FSL antenna Grayland ocean beach Ultralight DXpedition session photo posted at https://app.box.com/s/3rp3mvk90sw9lv1iel8prpzlrxoqd9pv _______________________________________________ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/irca
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