Once again the largest collection of ferrite this side of the Ukraine
crossed over the Columbia River bridge at the bizarre hour of 2:30 AM this
morning, kicking off the major Rockwork DXpedition on the ocean cliff near
Manzanita, Oregon. Unfortunately nobody seemed to have informed the "sleeping
squatters," who had jammed up Rockwork 4 with three large RV's. An attempt to
set up in between two of them didn't quite go according to plan, as the owner
of the closest RV attempted to back up his turf claim with some loud, colorful
language. As such, Craig Barnes and I relocated to Rockwork 5, which featured
only one sleeping squatter (with a bicycle), who turned out to be quite tame.
Rockwork 5 is also a little too narrow for foul-mouthed RV owners, and provided
one of the most exciting DU-DXing sessions we had ever experienced.
The main attraction was phenomenal signals from both 558-Fiji and
1017-Tonga, which both hit S9+ levels for extended periods. This was the best
performance these two Pacific island stations have ever had at the Rockwork
cliffs, and made it a special morning to remember. Craig and I had a blast
tracking these and the usual Kiwi blasters, including the Maori parallels on
603 and 765, 531-PI and others. The session had some decent Oz reception as
well, but most of the recordings have yet to be reviewed. A special watch was
kept for the Western Australians on 531 and 558, and some interesting signals
did show up (which need further attention). The obscure Kiwis on 576, 585 and
936 were missing in action, however. So the really exceptional signals were
from both 558 and 1017, seemingly the first time that has ever happened at the
cliffs. Craig and I plan to head back to Rockwork 5 tomorrow morning, which
seems to have all the space that FSL users need for setup (and none of t
he wacky turf claims).
558 Radio Fiji One Suva, Fiji Awesome signal with island music and medley
song ID on the half hour at 1230 (including "Radio Fiji One, Na Domoiviti" at
1:36) https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/4d86k1snsvks1alioju565k2l4zhq0j0
765 Radio Kahungunu The usual S9 signal from this 2.5 kW overachiever with
distinctive Maori music at 1218
https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/ejwv81klsuy5j2phywh9cssyan2rafmt
1017 A3Z Nuku'alofa, Tonga Monster signal with island music at the start
of the session at 1221
https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/ime1qsdd32h6wh0pumkrsozhwy6xestn
Monster signal with island music near the close of the session at 1314 (in
other words, all session long)
https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/xgw85zga7d337r8905bnyu1qdgmvepn8
73 and Good DX,
Gary DeBock (DXing with Craig Barnes at the Rockwork 5 ocean cliff near
Manzanita, Oregon)
7.5" loopstick CC Skywave SSB and XHDATA D-808 portables +
Very airport-unfriendly 15" and 17" FSL antennas (guaranteed to cause a
security alert)
Session photo (with Craig at the prime position) posted at
https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/49owffx8wi0zre3jmbaeggfxfwxkzgsx
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