[IRCA] Hawaii Ultralight DXpedition-- Exotic and Memorable MP3's

[Gary DeBock <d1028gary@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

     From November 3-8 my wife and I took advantage of an outstanding Costco Travel package to the Aston at Poipu Kai on Hawaii's Kauai island ("the Garden Island"), which included round trip airfare for two (nonstop from Seattle), six days in a new 2-BR condo right near the island's best salt water beach and a newer, full-sized rental car-- all included in the $2.3K cost. But the biggest value turned out to be the awesome ocean beach transoceanic DXing.

     After two trips to Kona (on the Big Island) with Ultralights and a 5 inch "Frequent Flyer" FSL  I did have some Hawaii DXing experience, but the transoceanic results during those trips were limited to East Asia and the Pacific islands. For this trip the 5 inch FSL would have an upgraded variable cap, and be boosted by a 4 foot PVC base. As it turned out, these modest improvements would transform the tiny ferrite antenna into the ultimate compact DXing thriller. MW stations in Oman, Egypt, Iran, India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand were all received, along with multiple stations in the Philippines and Taiwan. 800-PJB off the coast of South America also crashed one of the evening sessions. This was like the "final exam" of the Frequent Flyer Ultralight gear-- which demonstrated the potential of this forward Pacific DXing paradise for both Ultralight and SDR-DXers alike. If anyone feels bored in their radio hobby, a quick trip to Kauai can provide the permanent cure!

621  Radio Tuvalu   Funafuti, Tuvalu, 5 kW   The usual S9+ signal with female speech in the island dialect at 0928 on 11-3, with drums pounding for emphasis  https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/5089jtrmpi5eajk330uwukvz4brqfoyk

630  VoV?   Animated male-female speech in apparent Southeast Asian dialect dominant over CNR synchros at 1523 on 11-4; Jari S. "guesses" this is Vietnamese, but no chance at the time to check the 675-711 parallels  https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/k0ttlujgsp2p11817uhakkgrqwrzdlvj

675  VoV   My Hao, Vietnam, 500 kW   Female speech at very good level // 711 at 1637 on 11-7  https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/9sg4yp7lgfob6e5hw1wphlklnljbvwyq

675  Cheng Sheng BC   Peikang, Taiwan, 5 kW   Male-female call in talk program in a Chinese dialect at 1655 on 11-7; Hiroyuki Okamura says this is Taiwanese  https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/aqd2vjmbcvofpsygksaqx4cqhc0nfbjf

693  Bangladesh Betar   Dhaka, Bangladesh, 1000 kW   The super power exotic station finally broke through wicked 690-KHNR Honolulu splatter (10 kW at 113 miles) at 1639 on 11-8 with an apparent Islamic sermon (having mentions of "Allah" at 27 and 31 seconds)  https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/haye98bfrypbt1cdb1wgma2mx01wskpx

702  BBC Arabic Service   A'Seela, Oman, 800 kW   One of the big surprises of the DXpedition, this station was amazingly strong for the 8,586 mile (13,818 km) distance at 1604 on 11-6. Thanks to Mauno and Mika for the language and station investigation  https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/cwgqhpm3hy0thmthw4o018i7c70y0b8i

702  VoV   Danang, Vietnam,  50 kW   Male and female speech at 1612 on 11-4 with announcers and format sounding very much like those on 675 and 711 (although not parallel); Jari L. says this is Vietnamese  https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/idw17ybpwsblr8evf440xnlr13z4l5c9

711  VoV   Thoi Long, Vietnam, 500 kW   Female speech at good level // 675 at 1529 on 11-6; this station often had co-channel issues with Korea and Taiwan  https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/j2vsyc02skttocssv3dxpxc6hknivx0s

720  UnID-TP   Mystery Asian station (apparently not in any east Asian language) mixing with the Chinese opera station at 1536 on 11-4; Mauno and Jari S. mentioned VOIRI (Iran) as a possibility, but the Tajik and Uzbek languages being broadcast around that time are tough to identify  https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/8l5utr5yxvybjzb2wrmaxvkoazuqmdf9

729  Myanma Radio   Yangon, Myanmar, 100 kW  Male-female speech in unique Asian language with clear mention of "Myanmar" at the 46 second point at 1541 on 11-4 (thanks to Chuck for deciphering). Unfortunately 576 and 594 were wiped out by Hawaii splatter  https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/yq7uqray3bq93a6zu76kb92enk46wvq6

729  Myanma Radio?   Fading up all alone at 1625 on 11-4, this male speaker's language and voice sound a lot like the ones in the previous recording (thanks to Bruce for language suggestion, and to Ken Alexander, a Canadian retiring in Thailand, for the improved audio file)  https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/24c46lrjjm2329x4e1h634u3m7swn3f5

729  VoV   Dong Hoi, Vietnam, 200 kW   Male speaker in Viet-sounding language at 1615 on 11-4 with apparent mentions of "Vietnam" at the 1 second and 32 second points; Jari L. says it sounds like Vietnamese  https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/9va1h709ki2cqyaz0z7eg380w2k8xmcr

800  PJB   Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles, 440 kW   Hijacking the 801 frequency at 0921 on 11-3 with an S9 signal and "Transmundial" ID at 6 seconds, this signal was typical of powerful North and South American stations that would mix with the Asian and Pacific island stations each evening in a wild competition. 5.981 miles/ 9,627 km  https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/wiotqzpyghyinwl4o1f0c3vw2s1brtbw

864  HLKR-UnID Philippines   The Korean big gun is in a wild S9 snarl with a mystery Filipino station at 1539 on 11-3; this was a typical snarling Asian mix very common in the salt-water-boosted Kauai propagation  https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/edbmedfei6kjn85jvs9k21lwe8d89cxn

918  ERTU   Bawiti, Egypt, 10 kW   Some awesome investigative work by Mauno determined that this modest signal at 1628 on 11-6 was Egyptian Arabic-- one of the biggest surprises of the trip (otherwise it would have remained an UnID). Thanks for the extra effort! (8,921 miles/ 14,357 km)  https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/hhdwsw42ok5pcevh41amx9i7ln3cxmag

918  RNK   Phnom Penh, Kampuchea, 200 kW   One of the biggest stars of the DXpedition, with S9-level Kampuchean pop music almost every morning around 1630, burying Shandong in the dust. This music was at 1655 on 11-3  https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/wciwhvoeqasvojbifrg8x4u54bm6qshq

Booming pop music at 1653 on 11-8  https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/yimn4viqpff60d85ek5cvt1yxe6d5orb

Burying Shandong at 1635 on 11-8  https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/geenpiko5i7rkohvdxwhfnbkavb928fe

Full National Anthem at 1700 sign off on 11-8  https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/wfcfv169exidtnlflx3g0ikag1xdg7ql

927  AIR   Visakhapatnam, India, 100 kW   India news in English by female announcer at 1531 on 11-8 (mixing with China); with mentions of "also approved Indian..." at 9 seconds and "for India to express" at 25 seconds. Thanks very much to C.K. Raman of India for matching the recording to the AIR archives  https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/ozrw09zrlayks7nt3dxt95zeaibqmwd7

1440  Radio Kiribati   Bairiki, Tarawa, 10 kW   The usual female announcer speaking the island language got a boost from semi-auroral conditions at 0845 on 11-6 to thunder over JOWF's Japanese female announcer  https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/cpgfb9jg414gez35y94k0aaghhh6ffcy

 1575  Iranian Jammer   Causing severe interference to VOA-Thailand's Bengali program at 1620 on 11-8, the "official" target of this prolific Jammer is Radio Farda in the U.A.E. The transmitter location is unknown, but likely distance to Kauai is around 8,000 miles/ 12,875 km  https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/pn1iwgnxq3vzgf5tj9b2ek0pb6p14qg3

73 and Good DX,

Gary DeBock (DXing in Poipu, Kauai, Hawaii from November 3-8; DXpedition setup photo at https://dreamcrafts.box.com/s/w6ra0umwncy238cfzui8pqxetw8taare

                        
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