Re: [IRCA] Craig Barnes' TP-DXpedition to Princeville, Kauai, Hawaii (Part Two)

[d1028gary@xxxxxxxxxxx]

Chris, 

<<< I recall my very first Chinese tropo opening at my new place in Korea. I had 
assumed no such non-Korean tropo could or would ever exist as it didn't 
exist anywhere inland. I didn't know any Chinese really and all of the 
signals were appearing in between frequencies (like on 90.45, etc.) on my 
radio. I had no idea where they were from, could barely decipher full TOH 
IDs, just nothing at all. And the FM dial from 88 to 108 had more than about 
100 different Chinese signals on it from 250 to 600+ miles and obliterating 
many of my 30-mile locals on my MP3 player with an earphones wire as my 
antenna. It was overwhelming to keep track of them, record them, and fight 
off mosquitoes at night while doing it on my hilltop. That first opening 
lasted nearly 7 straight days. >>> 

Thanks for sharing this, and you certainly had the "crash course" in Chinese tropo FM-DX during that week. You seem to have handled it very well, although it was probably overwhelming at the time. Craig also had the "crash course" in Asian TP-DX during his Kauai visit recently, and now that he knows the potential of the location and its Asian propagation, I'm sure that he will be back for more. His Colorado TP-DXing experience wasn't much to go on in Kauai, but he is a very fast learner, and he only needs to review his YouTube videos from Kauai to refresh his memory on about 30 TP-DX stations. I'm sure that he will be back with his "Frequent Flyer" FSL and the proper recording gear next time-- and others will probably be checking out the rates at the Princeville condo where he stayed :-) 

Gary 




----- Original Message -----

From: "Chris Kadlec" <beaglebass@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> 
To: irca@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 
Sent: Wednesday, May 3, 2017 12:55:29 AM 
Subject: Re: [IRCA] Craig Barnes' TP-DXpedition to Princeville, Kauai, Hawaii (Part Two) 

Gary, 

I recall my very first Chinese tropo opening at my new place in Korea. I had 
assumed no such non-Korean tropo could or would ever exist as it didn't 
exist anywhere inland. I didn't know any Chinese really and all of the 
signals were appearing in between frequencies (like on 90.45, etc.) on my 
radio. I had no idea where they were from, could barely decipher full TOH 
IDs, just nothing at all. And the FM dial from 88 to 108 had more than about 
100 different Chinese signals on it from 250 to 600+ miles and obliterating 
many of my 30-mile locals on my MP3 player with an earphones wire as my 
antenna. It was overwhelming to keep track of them, record them, and fight 
off mosquitoes at night while doing it on my hilltop. That first opening 
lasted nearly 7 straight days. 

I kept those recordings. And later, I was able to ID almost all of them. 
They're the tropo stations I'd hear for years after that and eventually I 
was able to ID them almost instantly the moment I tuned into them. By now, I 
can understand IDs, numbers, and a lot more effortlessly. I also am quite 
familiar with all those stations I'd hear for so many years. I'd later get a 
better radio that could tune AM as well (and yet again started from the 
beginning with that band) and got a quality voice recorder to hook up to 
that to improve my recordings and storage. Apparently I'm considered an 
expert on radio on the Korean peninsula and East Asian AM radio. I mean, 
who'd have thought? (I still don't). 

Everyone has to start somewhere. You just persist and find ways to gain 
knowledge, improve your hobby for yourself and others, and one day it's all 
effortless. Craig will figure out what works for him and he'll be an 
excellent TP DXer in the future if he returns to an ideal location. He's 
obviously got a lot of good help with it. 

-Chris Kadlec 
Seoul AM Radio Listening Guide 
http://www.beaglebass.com/dx/seoul 



> Date: Tue, 2 May 2017 21:47:04 +0000 (UTC) 
> From: d1028gary@xxxxxxxxxxx 
> Subject: Re: [IRCA] Craig Barnes' TP-DXpedition to Princeville, Kauai, 
> Hawaii (Part Two) 
> 
> Chris, 
> 
> Thanks very much for providing your own assessment on Craig's Kauai 
> TP-DXing videos. 
> 
> <<< 837 Because you don't have an actual audio input and a lot of that 
> sound is 
> lost between the radio and your phone, it's hard to confirm this as much. 
> Though you are likely correct on your assumption. Mandarin nonetheless. 
> >>> 
> 
> Sooner or later I'll probably need to convince Craig that much (if not 
> most) of the TP-DX signal strength of these different Asian stations is 
> being lost by the recording format of using an iPhone to shoot a video. 
> The S/N readouts on the PL-310 indicate quite a bit more Asian signal 
> quality than what is showing up in the videos. On the other hand Craig is 
> doing his best to record a torrent of Asian DX in his first major 
> DXpedition, most of which is in unfamiliar languages and on unfamiliar 
> frequencies for him. He is certainly doing his best with the limited gear 
> that he brought along for the trip, and will certainly become a more 
> skillful DXpeditioner as he gets more experience in various travel 
> opportunities. 
> 
> Gary 

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