Re: [IRCA] September 14 - TP/DU - Victoria B.C. (531 kHz)

[Tony Ward]

Hi Gary: Was 531 -PI the station that moved from a Manukau antenna location to  
(temporarily?) join the co-phased collection of stations at the Henderson site? 
I will be in NZ next year from Feb to June, and may have a little time to 
photograph some sites. I remember when (then) 4XD which eventually became the 
531 location I think was started, and it is as near true desert as anywhere in 
NZ. Certainly not an ideal site for propagation without a lot of copper 
underneath.  The Manukau site was perfect — salt-water marsh. Henderson (where 
all the big BCNZ stations transmit from) I always thought should get out far 
better than they do, as it is again right adjacent to the salt-water and on the 
Eastern Waitemata harbour. The Fijians were winter midday catches with any 
antenna at all, and on the big antennas at Whangaparaoa we could get as far as 
Melbourne and Adelaide on a good day under midday winter conditions. 

Janet and I will be based in Howick (East Auckland) with family during our 
visit, but will travel the entire North Island and the South before we leave at 
the beginning of June. Apart from 1976-1982 I left NZ in 1968 for Canada. When 
I was most active in MW there were only 28 stations in the whole country, and 
only 2YA on after midnight. The Australians had about 1 all-nighter in each 
main city. It was a DXers paradise! 

Think about what you would like a photograph of and let me know. Things have 
changed… (G)

Tony Ward (VE3NO/ZL1AZV)
http://www.nyaa.ca
tonyw...@rogers.com 

Enhancing Universal Entropy since 1942!





> On Sep 15, 2015, at 5:57 PM, d1028g...@comcast.net wrote:
> 
> <<<   1323 UTC - 531 - murmurs but nothing definable in the muddle - there 
> has 
> almost always been signals here for the last 6 mornings but not much 
> intelligence   >>> 
>   
> For Colin and others who may not have spent much ocean beach time this 
> summer, there has been a fairly major shake-up in the 531 kHz DU pecking 
> order recently. 
>   
> The 5 kW New Zealand Samoan-language station 531-PI was previously the best 
> bet for west coast reception, reaching almost mythical levels at the Rockwork 
> 4 ocean cliff site last summer. Unfortunately some antenna work done among 
> the Auckland stations this spring has reduced its signal strength 
> drastically, to the point where multiple 531 stations are now walking all 
> over it. 
>   
> The Australian station 531-4KZ has been the primary beneficiary of this 
> change, becoming the best bet on the frequency on most days. 531-PI's demise 
> has also brought the 2 kW New Zealand rock station 531-More FM into play, 
> especially on mornings when Kiwi propagation is favored. This rare South 
> Island Kiwi was heard walking all over PI during both the June and August 
> Rockwork DXpeditions, despite the fact that it had apparently never been 
> heard in North America (at least under this name). The Australian station 
> 531-2PM also has a better chance of getting through now, although to my 
> knowledge nobody heard it during the summer DXpeditions. Bill Whitacre 
> reported hearing the 500w HPONS station in Adelaide, Australia on the 
> frequency, something that eluded the Rockwork 4 group. On the other hand, the 
> 531-More FM receptions of the Rockwork 4 group apparently eluded Bill. In 
> summary the frequency has turned into a free-for-all, with multiple DU 
> stations in play. 
>   
> 73, Gary DeBock (in Puyallup, WA) 
>   
>   
> - Original Message -
> 
> From: "R. Colin Newell"  
> To: "Mailing list for the International Radio Club of America" 
>  
> Sent: Monday, September 14, 2015 8:47:02 AM 
> Subject: [IRCA] September 14 - TP/DU - Victoria B.C. 
> 
> Agree with Walter - my forecast for stellar conditions did not quite 
> materialize - somewhat down from yesterday - but some unusual observations 
> relative to what Nick was displaying on his Live Fish Barrel. 
> 
> 1323 UTC - 531 - murmurs but nothing definable in the muddle - there has 
> almost always been signals here for the last 6 mornings but not much 
> intelligence 
> 
> 1324 UTC - 567 - JJ YL - good carriers on 558 and 576... 
> 
> 1324 UTC - 594 - JJ Talks kind of sub-par against the NHP fish barrel view 
> 
> 1326 UTC - 603 - Light music on channel but never hot enough to get much 
> out of it. 
> 
> 1327 UTC - 774 - Arm chair English lessons // 828 kHz (which read much less 
> on the NHP F.B.) 
> 
> 1330 UTC - 1386 - Music and great level JJ YL talk 
> 
> 1333 UTC - 1566 - Spiritual music at arm chair levels for a minute here and 
> there 
> 
> 1334 UTC - 1575 - SE Lang YL much below the level of Thailand on 1575 
> 
> Other things noted: Occasional audio on 747, 828, 891, 972 and 1053... the 
> usuals. 
> 
> The surprising things were the instances of where Nicks live fish-barrel 
> gave out good readings and I heard nothing 
> and where Nick's fish barrel indicated 7 db of signal to 

Re: [IRCA] September 14 - TP/DU - Victoria B.C. (531 kHz)

[d1028gary]

Hi Tony, 
  
<<<   Was 531 -PI the station that moved from a Manukau antenna location to  
(temporarily?) join the co-phased collection of stations at the Henderson site? 
  >>> 
  
Actually, Tony, Theo D. originally gave us the full details on the Auckland/ 
Henderson antenna work going on around April, which temporarily shut down all 
of the Auckland MW broadcasters. Theo is apparently on another transoceanic 
cruise at this time (according to the September NZRDXL's DX Times, where Theo 
is the Mailbag editor, and I'm a member), but this message was received from 
him last winter: 
  
<<<   This means all AKL AM'ers will be on two masts., which must be a record 
of sorts for multi-plexing. 
The location is actually two separate single-mast sites on either side of the 
Northwestern Motorway: 

< https://www.google.ca/maps/@-36.8474404,174.6320034,895m/data=!3m1!1e3 >   
>>> 
  
As far as the transoceanic signal results of the Auckland antenna shuffle, 
531-PI's signal has taken a drastic nosedive, 603-Waatea sounds about the same, 
702-Magic sounds about as strong as 702-Radio Live did last year, and 
936-Chinese Voice's signal has improved dramatically. 
  
As for antenna photos, Tony, anything you can take in NZ would be of interest 
here. I f not for the fact that our son is approaching the age for college 
tuition needs Ruth and I would be greatly tempted to join you and Janet in 
"Paradise" next year :-) 
  
73, Gary DeBock 
(improving my Kiwi English skills by listening to 702-Magic's Live Stream) 
  
  
  

 

- Original Message -

From: "Tony Ward" <tonyw...@rogers.com> 
To: irca@hard-core-dx.com 
Sent: Tuesday, September 15, 2015 7:24:52 PM 
Subject: Re: [IRCA] September 14 - TP/DU - Victoria B.C. (531 kHz) 

Hi Gary: Was 531 -PI the station that moved from a Manukau antenna location to  
(temporarily?) join the co-phased collection of stations at the Henderson site? 
I will be in NZ next year from Feb to June, and may have a little time to 
photograph some sites. I remember when (then) 4XD which eventually became the 
531 location I think was started, and it is as near true desert as anywhere in 
NZ. Certainly not an ideal site for propagation without a lot of copper 
underneath.  The Manukau site was perfect — salt-water marsh. Henderson (where 
all the big BCNZ stations transmit from) I always thought should get out far 
better than they do, as it is again right adjacent to the salt-water and on the 
Eastern Waitemata harbour. The Fijians were winter midday catches with any 
antenna at all, and on the big antennas at Whangaparaoa we could get as far as 
Melbourne and Adelaide on a good day under midday winter conditions. 

Janet and I will be based in Howick (East Auckland) with family during our 
visit, but will travel the entire North Island and the South before we leave at 
the beginning of June. Apart from 1976-1982 I left NZ in 1968 for Canada. When 
I was most active in MW there were only 28 stations in the whole country, and 
only 2YA on after midnight. The Australians had about 1 all-nighter in each 
main city. It was a DXers paradise! 

Think about what you would like a photograph of and let me know. Things have 
changed… (G) 

Tony Ward (VE3NO/ZL1AZV) 
http://www.nyaa.ca 
tonyw...@rogers.com <mailto:tonyw...@rogers.com> 

Enhancing Universal Entropy since 1942! 





> On Sep 15, 2015, at 5:57 PM, d1028g...@comcast.net wrote: 
> 
> <<<   1323 UTC - 531 - murmurs but nothing definable in the muddle - there 
> has 
> almost always been signals here for the last 6 mornings but not much 
> intelligence   >>> 
>   
> For Colin and others who may not have spent much ocean beach time this 
> summer, there has been a fairly major shake-up in the 531 kHz DU pecking 
> order recently. 
>   
> The 5 kW New Zealand Samoan-language station 531-PI was previously the best 
> bet for west coast reception, reaching almost mythical levels at the Rockwork 
> 4 ocean cliff site last summer. Unfortunately some antenna work done among 
> the Auckland stations this spring has reduced its signal strength 
> drastically, to the point where multiple 531 stations are now walking all 
> over it. 
>   
> The Australian station 531-4KZ has been the primary beneficiary of this 
> change, becoming the best bet on the frequency on most days. 531-PI's demise 
> has also brought the 2 kW New Zealand rock station 531-More FM into play, 
> especially on mornings when Kiwi propagation is favored. This rare South 
> Island Kiwi was heard walking all over PI during both the June and August 
> Rockwork DXpeditions, despite the fact that it had apparently never been 
> heard in North America (at least under this name). The Australian station 
> 531-2PM also has a better chance of getting through now, although to my 
> knowledge nobody hear

Re: [IRCA] September 14 - TP/DU - Victoria B.C. (531 kHz)

[d1028gary]

<<<   1323 UTC - 531 - murmurs but nothing definable in the muddle - there has 
almost always been signals here for the last 6 mornings but not much 
intelligence   >>> 
  
For Colin and others who may not have spent much ocean beach time this summer, 
there has been a fairly major shake-up in the 531 kHz DU pecking order 
recently. 
  
The 5 kW New Zealand Samoan-language station 531-PI was previously the best bet 
for west coast reception, reaching almost mythical levels at the Rockwork 4 
ocean cliff site last summer. Unfortunately some antenna work done among the 
Auckland stations this spring has reduced its signal strength drastically, to 
the point where multiple 531 stations are now walking all over it. 
  
The Australian station 531-4KZ has been the primary beneficiary of this change, 
becoming the best bet on the frequency on most days. 531-PI's demise has also 
brought the 2 kW New Zealand rock station 531-More FM into play, especially on 
mornings when Kiwi propagation is favored. This rare South Island Kiwi was 
heard walking all over PI during both the June and August Rockwork DXpeditions, 
despite the fact that it had apparently never been heard in North America (at 
least under this name). The Australian station 531-2PM also has a better chance 
of getting through now, although to my knowledge nobody heard it during the 
summer DXpeditions. Bill Whitacre reported hearing the 500w HPONS station in 
Adelaide, Australia on the frequency, something that eluded the Rockwork 4 
group. On the other hand, the 531-More FM receptions of the Rockwork 4 group 
apparently eluded Bill. In summary the frequency has turned into a 
free-for-all, with multiple DU stations in play. 
  
73, Gary DeBock (in Puyallup, WA) 
  
  
- Original Message -

From: "R. Colin Newell"  
To: "Mailing list for the International Radio Club of America" 
 
Sent: Monday, September 14, 2015 8:47:02 AM 
Subject: [IRCA] September 14 - TP/DU - Victoria B.C. 

Agree with Walter - my forecast for stellar conditions did not quite 
materialize - somewhat down from yesterday - but some unusual observations 
relative to what Nick was displaying on his Live Fish Barrel. 

1323 UTC - 531 - murmurs but nothing definable in the muddle - there has 
almost always been signals here for the last 6 mornings but not much 
intelligence 

1324 UTC - 567 - JJ YL - good carriers on 558 and 576... 

1324 UTC - 594 - JJ Talks kind of sub-par against the NHP fish barrel view 

1326 UTC - 603 - Light music on channel but never hot enough to get much 
out of it. 

1327 UTC - 774 - Arm chair English lessons // 828 kHz (which read much less 
on the NHP F.B.) 

1330 UTC - 1386 - Music and great level JJ YL talk 

1333 UTC - 1566 - Spiritual music at arm chair levels for a minute here and 
there 

1334 UTC - 1575 - SE Lang YL much below the level of Thailand on 1575 

Other things noted: Occasional audio on 747, 828, 891, 972 and 1053... the 
usuals. 

The surprising things were the instances of where Nicks live fish-barrel 
gave out good readings and I heard nothing 
and where Nick's fish barrel indicated 7 db of signal to noise and I was in 
audio... 
Amazing the difference that a few KM makes. 

Receiver - Drake R8 and AOR 7030+  with N/NW Flag and Wellbrook ALA100M 

-- 

*Colin Newell is the Editor and creator of Coffeecrew.com 
 - Coffee.bc.ca  and 
DXer.ca  -| Amateur Radio VA7WWV | 
Twitter.Com/CoffeeCrew | Victoria B.C. Canada* 
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