--- Begin Message ---
I just completed my first-ever vacation to Hawaii.
I found both central Maui and the Honolulu area to be just stacked with
powerful AM and FM stations. I am guessing that the transmitter power combined
with very high transmitter locations are an effort to tackle the very
challenging terrain of Hawai’i. Even so, many repeater-translators are used as
hole fillers.
I also became very grateful for my home QTH. I live out in the country where I
have the ability to keep my enviroment quiet and have reasonable antennas. My
home sits over 500 feet ASL with not remarkable but reasonable ground
conductivity.
In Hawai’i, I was nearly at sea level sitting on lava rock with (what seemed
like) a chorus of electronic noise makers that just buried everything. I heard
very very little on shortwave. On long wave I heard POA 332 from Big Island,
VYI 327 in Maui, HHI 373 on Oahu and powerhouse LLD 353 from Lanai. LLD could
inside hotel rooms next to Interstate highways. 2000 watts goes a long way!
On Jan 4, 2018, at 1:22 AM, Gary DeBock <d1028g...@comcast.net> wrote:
<<< Scanning the dial - night one Kona - nothing at all like Gary’s Royal Kona
next door. This is an environment with S9+ video buzz, dimmers, TVI, RFI top of
the dial to the bottom - >>>
Colin,
Depending upon which ocean-facing motel room they place you in, you can either
end up with a TP-DXing paradise or a RFI-saturated zoo. To be perfectly honest,
last month I ended up with the latter. During the "hot season" in Hawaii (which
is the cold season for us here), the less desirable rooms seem to be the ones
we end up with. We pay more $$ and end up with more RFI.
Last month I survived by taking the modified CC Skywave, Frequent Flyer FSL,
digital recorder and logbook down to the ocean side lounge area on the south
border of the Royal Kona Resort property, facing your motel. All this gear can
easily be carried without any hassle, and setting up a TP-DXing station at the
beach level was easy (they even provided a couple of lounge chairs for the
motel guests). In Kona you can chase some of the Pacific island stations (846
and 1098) as soon as it gets dark, and about an hour after that the island
stations on 540, 621, 1017 and 1440 start to come in. With luck you can track
down 558. After about 0800 UTC you can pretty much expect to get plastered by
overpowering Asian stations, though, leaving most of the Pacific island DU's in
the noise. 621-Tuvalu rarely survived until its 1006 sign off without getting
hammered by North Korea and China, while 1440-Kiribati had a running battle
with JOWF until it signed off around the same time. 846 and 1098 usually
survived the Asian onslaught fairly well.
During wild DXing trips like this, my advice would be to expect the unexpected!
Gary
> On January 3, 2018 at 11:22 PM "R. Colin Newell" <coffeecan...@gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>
> Scanning the dial - night one Kona - nothing at all like Gary’s Royal Kona
> next door. This is an environment with S9+ video buzz, dimmers, TVI, RFI top
> of the dial to the bottom -
>
> Many thanks to Gary for sponsoring me with the TSA friendly loop -
> Brought a PL380 and a Kaito KA1103...
>
> As predicted, every year is a slightly different pastiche of noises.
>
> By now there should be a handful of pacific stations audible and maybe some
> Japanese stations. Not so. Just an orchestra of gadgets blaring away.
>
> Tuning in at dawn will reveal if there’s any potential here. Currently just
> the strongest domestics rising above the RFI onslaught.
>
> Colin Newell - Kona - Hawaii.
> _______________________________________________
> 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
--- End Message ---
_______________________________________________
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