Re: [HCDX] DX-conditions on Canary Islands?

[Henrik Klemetz <hklemetz@xxxxxxxx>]

 --- Karel Honzik <karel-honzik@xxxxxxxx> skrev: > Hi,
> 
> is there anybody who can write something on winter
> DX-conditions on La Palma
> island (Canary Islands) or on Canary Islands in
> general?
> 
> I am interested in various bands: AM (MW), tropical
> bands, SW, FM...

Karel,

I am unaware of winter conditions on the Canary
Islands, but I have an idea of what they are like
in summer, and during equinox.
 
I  stayed in Maspalomas, Gran Canaria, from June to
September 1971, where I was using a Grundig Satellit
with a random outdoor wire not exceeding 10 metres in
length. 

I have read several rather negative accounts from the
Canary Islands, but they all had
one thing in common: their listening was done during
?standard DXing hours?, i. e. in the evening and late
at night.

In my opinion, reception condition during the dark
hours of the day was generally rather poor, excepting
one hour prior to and past local sunset and sunrise,
when the tropical bands and MW came alive with lots of
interesting DX.

At the times mentioned, propagation favoured E/W
directions rather than N/S.
On the 49 metre band I used to listen to XEWW on 6165
and HRQ 6125 every
morning, and Radio Colosal, in Colombia, 4945, was
excellent and audible much later
than many of the other TA DX stations.  A completely
new station of SW discovered
during my stay at Maspalomas was  Radio Super, in
Bogotá, 6065. Radio New Zealand was regular every
morning on 6080 peaking at local sunrise just before
0700 UTC. On the other hand, Brazil, Argentina and
Uruguay were practically out of reach on the lower fqy
bands. (I could hear them on 25 and 19 meters, but on
no other band).

On MW I enjoyed good reception from all over the
Caribbean, Venezuela as well as the Eastern seaboard
of the USA and Canada. Interestingly, the lower part
of the MW band was quite good, too. WQAM, 560, was a
common catch.

Just prior to local sunset, the Africans were all over
the place on 60 and 90 metres.

Shortly after sunset, however, conditions usually
deteriorated a lot.

If you are looking for some of the more elusive
stations in the Pacific, Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands
etc., I think the Canary Islands would be an ideal
place provided you look for them just before local
sunrise.

Knowing I could use one local address for three months
and even a little longer, I sent out a number of QSL
requests, and I was pleased to see that the QSL
percentage was clearly higher than from my usual QTH. 

Henrik Klemetz, Sweden  


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