[IRCA] Oregon Cliff (Rockwork 4) Ultralight DU's for 8-2

[d1028gary@xxxxxxxxxxx]

The stars were dazzling at 0920 UTC (0220 local time) as I drove up to the Rockwork 4 cliff, hoping to catch some exotic Pacific island sign offs on 540, 621 and 1440 (that I had heard at S9 levels in Kona, Hawaii, but all of which were completely plastered by west coast QRM this morning). I noticed a "sleeping squatter" in Chuck's prime antenna setup spot, and remembering that Tom was also driving in overnight from Seattle, it was clear that real estate at our ocean cliff turnoff site would be in serious demand. 

1017-Tonga once again cooperated fairly well for its sign off at 1103, ending up with the usual island choral music (the apparent national anthem) before cutting power. Chuck showed up around the same time, and set up his broadband loop in between the "squatter" and me. When Tom also drove in from Seattle around 1130 (still in total darkness) I was ready to relocate to Rockwork 2 or 3, but since DU propagation wasn't quite up to yesterday's high level only two monster FSL's needed to be deployed to cover everything interesting, and I stayed put at the edge of the rock spire. Chuck came over several times expressing his disdain for the propagation, but in my opinion there were some interesting signals, including another strong appearance from 558-Fiji, a moderate appearance from 585-7RN, huge signals from the big guns on 594 and 657 (3WV and Star), and an UnID on 1017. Yesterday's monster signal from 531-More FM in Alexandra (with the cool winter weather) was replaced by the usual snarl of 4KZ and PI, with the latter having the edge at near S9 level for most of the session. Overall it was an interesting morning because of another strong run by 558-Fiji around 1302, indicating that the transmitter and antenna may finally be working as the Japanese donating group intended. 

531 PI Auckland, NZ, 5 kW Potent Samoan speech and island music at 1312, dominating over a lackluster 4KZ for most of the session 
https://app.box.com/s/7i377b31k71o8fa9xbro2fhlbsw5j582 

531 4KZ Innisfail, Australia, 10 kW Oldies music very briefly on top of PI at 1256, but generally fighting a losing battle 
https://app.box.com/s/ebwixs5qag3u89wwj33upa2f5hxtp2qt 

558 Radio Fiji One Suva, Fiji, 10 kW Another potent appearance from this rejuvenated wonder at 1302 (the second day in a row) 
https://app.box.com/s/f2lkogkmloww9vo6uehffdqenh7v8l0i 

585 7RN Hobart, Australia, 10 kW Not especially strong but this male DU English speech was clearly // 792 at 1315 
https://app.box.com/s/sma3mjwvlky8q0xzp72ac0gocwv7xrta 

594 3WV Horsham, Australia, 50 kW Blistering signal from the Oz big gun at 1245-- typical of the LR Network powerhouses on 774 and 828; weak "Dwarf Stars" way down underneath https://app.box.com/s/m7d0fgnzxhzsg1hhxawzm1mtzct5zudw 

657 Star Wellington/ Tauranga, NZ, 50/ 10 kW Not every "Star" was weak this morning-- this signal (at 1250) was as strong as any DU on the band 
https://app.box.com/s/wj5chv6w11ez7zgcxws077gqo9ofd5pr 

1017 A3Z Nuku'alofa, Tonga, 10 kW The last minute of the station's sign off routine, including island choral music (the National Anthem?) and the abrupt signal cut off around 1103 https://app.box.com/s/oijccc92lwz29gth8f7ba8dt7b5ipzxa 

1017 UnID-DU The mystery of the morning-- male DU English at 1310 (after the Tonga sign off) with apparent sports-related numbers 
https://app.box.com/s/0643sj50l9kpivgvz3hou584t2lvqe0n 

73 and Good DX, 
Gary DeBock (DXing at the Rockwork 4 ocean cliff near Manzanita, OR, USA) 
7.5 inch loopstick CC Skywaves and Tecsun PL-380's + 
17" and 15" No-Fly-List FSL antennas 







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