[IRCA] Cook Island DXpedition-- North American DX & MP3's

[Gary DeBock <d1028gary@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Aitutaki Island in the Cook group is 2,600 miles (4,184 km)  due south of Hawaii, and the closest point on the USA mainland is 4,550 miles (7,323 km) away. There was a straight ocean path to both of these areas from my DXing spot on the lagoon beach, resulting in several strong transoceanic signals across the Pacific.

Because of various tourist activities scheduled by my wife around sunset and a lingering mindset that North American signals weren't exactly top priority DX to chase, no deliberate effort was made to go after these stations while in the Cook Islands. Despite this 7 USA mainland stations and 2 Hawaiian ones crashed the Kiwi sunset skip DXing sessions about 2 hours after sunset, wiping out the adjacent 9 kHz-split frequencies that I was trying to receive. The most distant of these was 1170-KFAQ in Tulsa, Oklahoma, at 5,642 miles (9,080 km). All were received on the 7.5" loopstick CC Skywave Ultralight alone, which provided good reception of these stations because the reciprocal bearing of New Zealand was ideally directed at North America on the 7.5" loopstick-- so that the DX from both directions was received at optimal strength concurrently.

No doubt many more of these North American stations could have been received if a deliberate effort had been made to go after them, especially around sunset if the 5 inch "Frequent Flyer" FSL antenna had been set up to provide a gain boost (as it was for long range Asian DX, at sunrise). Strangely enough, none of the usual TP-DXing pests in Vancouver, Seattle, Portland or San Francisco made this Cook Island  North American DX list (although to be honest, I really didn't miss them at all!).

610  KEAR   San Francisco, California   (5 kW at 4,610 miles/ 7,419 km)   "Family Radio for the West Coast," Christian religious format received at fair level at 0835 UTC on 4-12  https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/jq81e11f3tq5o4slbe6ytsv477ffwg36

640  KFI   Los Angeles, California   (50 kW at 4,570 miles/ 7,355 km)   Strong (S9) level with commercial ads at 0633 UTC on 4-12  https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/vxrj7014eqhrbok88pw8a3e1y32qerka

1070  KNX   Los Angeles, California   (50 kW at 4.570 miles/ 7,355 km)   Powerful (S7) level with "1070 Newsradio" ID at 3 seconds, followed by national news at 0730 UTC on 4-10  https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/81cy1nzyzr4dokk489sdgh34is3lp4ww

1160  KSL   Salt Lake City, Utah   (50 kw at 5,144 miles/ 8,278 km)   Powerful (S7) level with weather and station ID at 33 seconds, followed by public service ads at 0901 UTC on 4-12  https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/4ymewhcz6x28hikjtcd77y99e85ji2u4

1170  KFAQ   Tulsa, Oklahoma   (50 kW at 5,642 miles/ 9,080 km)   Strong signal over apparent DU English co-channel with "Coast-to-Coast" ID at 44 seconds; thanks to Richard Allen for confirming the broadcast of the program on the station at 0845 UTC on 4-12  https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/u5gtxk6l5qggu2xuf2q09thdnj44sfo8

1430  KMRB   San Gabriel, California   (9.8 kW at 4,577 miles/ 7,366 km)   Cantonese Chinese format at S7 level with commercial ads at 0830 UTC on 4-12  https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/au8ru485mfr57cvspeo0qp4zjvq5pekg

1640  KDIA   Vallejo, California   (10 kW at 4,633 miles/ 7,456 km)   "1640-KDIA" ID at 6 seconds with Christian religious format at S5 level at 0807 UTC on 4-10  https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/k3a631palnk7ntv4xsgrjnv8bciio611


HAWAIIAN STATIONS

As with North American DX, these stations were not exactly high priority DX in the Cook Islands, and no special effort was made to go after them. After two Kona, Hawaii DXpeditions in 2017, there was a lingering memory of too many Hawaiian MW stations running too much power in too few small, congested communities.

590  KSSK   Honolulu, Oahu   (7.5 kW at 2,781 miles/ 4,476 km)   "Variety, 92.3, KSSK" ID at 2 seconds, followed by pop music at 0701 UTC on 4-10  https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/1j20fcstcfhnoon4cq46kctber04ztzt

1420  KKEA   Honolulu, Oahu   (5 kW at 2,781 miles/ 4,476 km)   ESPN sports format at strong level at 0715 UTC on 4-11  https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/dz0s8yxdf9l7cttwuaeewanqlwm5c71q


73 and Good DX,

Gary DeBock (DXing at Aitutaki, Cook Islands from April 8-13)

7.5 inch loopstick C.Crane Skywave SSB Ultralight  https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/oephl2ru7ejk31saxdq2tijqx9db0ros

 

   
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