Tom and I had all the real estate we wanted at the ocean cliff this morning as all the "visitors" cleared out. When you drive up to the cliff in total darkness you never really know what to expect, and you need to be prepared for bizarre weather, strange "visitors" and loud audio frequency QRM from 18-wheelers.
Propagation pulled a sudden switch this morning as moderate Oz propagation suddenly morphed into excellent Kiwi conditions. The relatively obscure NZ stations 576-Star (2.5 kW) and 936-Chinese Voice (1 kW) finally showed up on the cliff after 6 days, along with a blistering signal from the relatively obscure Oz station 639-5CK. The Kiwi bonanza occurred late in the session, however, so there was no time to go after other exotic fare like 585-Ruatoria (Radio Ngati Porou). Like 531-More FM, that is an another ultra-rare Kiwi station that has never shown up anywhere else on the west coast. This was Tom's last session at the cliff, and it has been a lot of fun to chase DU-DX with him at this awesome site. This was by far the most thrilling trip we have ever experienced here, with two Western Australians (531-6DL and 558-6WA), multiple receptions of 531-More FM, 558-Fiji (over and over), 639-5CK at monster level, 936-Chinese Voice, 1017-Tonga (over and over) and many others. The choice of early August for optimal Rockwork 4 DU propagation proved to be spot on, and Tom will probably enjoy reviewing his Perseus files from the dazzling August 4th session for months to come. 531 PI Auckland, NZ, 5 kW Strong Samoan music and speech at 1319; occasionally in a mix with 4KZ and More FM https://app.box.com/s/e8zw2gq5uz991fc0bxfciql9c360vstk 576 Star Hamilton, NZ, 2.5 kW The "dwarf star" finally shows up with music // 657 late at 1327 https://app.box.com/s/e9ddentnlmrxkxlayqgql1di62w2ezhc 594 3WV-Star mix The Oz big gun had a serious edge over the falling Stars with a health related LR network program at 1253 https://app.box.com/s/rhdqyg98kxtazesu8edtwmy8uvt4fx8w 639 5CK Port Pirie, Australia, 10 kW One of the big surprises of the session with a blowtorch signal // 891 at 1307 from this obscure DU https://app.box.com/s/o0jujrozx7w0wf7t4dnqq5dn7g20j0tr 936 Chinese Voice Auckland, NZ, 1 kW The rare, low-power Kiwi station finally makes a decent appearance at 1307 during enhanced conditions https://app.box.com/s/k59fahu3g93b1cha02gyyas4co0endwq 73 and Good DX, Gary DeBock (DXing at the Rockwork 4 ocean cliff near Manzanita, OR, USA) 7.5 inch loopstick CC Skywave and Tecsun PL-380 + TSA-spooking 17 inch and 15 inch FSL antennas _______________________________________________ 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
